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I just wrote a program in Python that tells me what the day's album is and what to learn each day, then set it up to auto-run when I turn on my computer by adding a shortcut of the program to my startup folder (run/shell:startup). I've set it up to read from text files where I can add or remove music and books that I want it to include. It runs in Tkinter; because the shortcut uses the .pyw extension, the console stays hidden while the program runs. If you're interested in us

Today's soundtrack is Thank You Scientist: The Perils of Time Travel. I wrote a fun little industrial electronic piece this morning; not sure yet whether it will be an interlude or an introduction to a larger piece.

Today’s soundtrack is Thelonious Monk: Monk’s Dream. This morning, I’m reading the third and final part of Socrates’ dialogue “Charmides,” from The Dialogues of Socrates, by Plato. The first part is here; the second is here. Picking up where I left off, Critias had just agreed with Socrates that “the discovery of things as they truly are [was] a good common to all mankind” (p. 28), and they continued to discuss the meaning of temperance, and whether temperance was the science

Today's soundtrack is Shiny Toy Guns: III. This afternoon, I'm reading the next ten pages of Socrates' dialogue Charmides, by Plato. Yesterday, I read about Socrates' discussion with Charmides about the definition of temperance. Where I left off, Socrates had proposed to Charmides that the definition of temperance as being "doing our own business" (p. 20) must have been a riddle. It turned out that Critias had given Charmides this definition, and being accused of not under

Today’s soundtrack is clipping.: Splendor & Misery. This afternoon, I'm reading the first 20 pages of the first chapter of Plato's The Dialogues of Socrates, "Charmides." Socrates returned from Potidaea and visited his friends. He told them about his adventures, then asked whether there were any beautiful young men who were interested in philosophy. Critias told Socrates that his cousin, Charmides, was a beautiful person in both body and mind, a philosopher and poet. Socrates

Today's soundtrack is Childish Gambino: "Awaken, My Love!" This evening, I'm reading chapter 3 of John Calvin's The Institutes of Christian Religion, "The Knowledge of God Has Been Naturally Imprinted In the Human Mind." God imparts a knowledge of His existence into every man's mind "so that no one can plead ignorance" (p. 27). If He wishes to, He can increase man's awareness for the purpose of quickening his conscience. Evidence of this fact that a knowledge of God is innate

Today's soundtrack is Christcentric: The Ephesians Project. This evening, I'm reading chapter 14 of Larry Gonick's The Cartoon Guide to Physics, "Capacitors." To make a capacitor, we separate two conductors by an insulator. To charge a capacitor, we transfer charge from one conductor to the other, usually with a battery. To do so, we create a switch that can be opened and closed that connects the battery to the capacitor. A closed switch transfers electricity from the battery

Today’s soundtrack is Crosby, Stills & Nash: Crosby, Stills, & Nash. This afternoon, I’m reading Book 1 of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, a stoic. In this little book, Marcus Aurelius lists the things that he learned from seventeen people in his life, those he is thankful to: Verus (grandfather): morality and control of temper Father (deceased): modesty and manliness Mother: religion, generosity, living simply, and abstinence from immoral acts and thoughts Great-grandfather:

Today’s soundtrack is Noah Gundersen: Carry the Ghost. This morning, I’m working on chapter 22 of Basic Math & Pre-Algebra For Dummies, “Unmasking Mr. X: Algebraic Equations,” in which I will learn how to find out what number a variable stands for, which is “called solving for x” (p. 299). There are four ways to solve algebraic equations: “Eyeballing easy equations[, …] Rearranging slightly harder equations[, …] Guessing and checking equations[, and] Applying algebra to more-

Today's soundtrack is Becoming the Archetype: I Am. This afternoon, I began sketching out the art for the next game that I'll be working on. I'm happy with the direction that this is taking! The next step will be to convert this to pixel art.

Today's soundtrack is Jelly Roll: The Big Sal Story. This afternoon, I'm reading the second chapter of James White's The Potter's Freedom, "Determinately Knowing." Dr. White questions Dr. Norman Geisler's argument that we shouldn't answer, much less ask, the question, "Does God's foreknowledge determine what He decrees or does God's decree determine what He foreknows?" (p. 53), while still claiming to hold to a belief in God's sovereignty. How can one believe that God is sove

Today's soundtrack is Marian Hill: Unusual. This afternoon, I'm reading the ninth chapter of Aristotle's Ethics, in which he continues to examine goodness and happiness. How do we attain happiness? Is it given to us or acquired? Happiness is achieved through the process "of study or application of our mental powers" (p. 44); thus, we can say that "happiness depends upon ourselves" (p. 44). Since "happiness [is] an activity of the soul" (p. 44), we do not say that beasts are h

Today's soundtrack is Ween: The Mollusk. This morning I'm reading the next chapter of Behaviorism: Classic Studies, "Behavior and the Concept of Mental Disease," by John B. Watson. It was originally published in 1916. in the Journal of Philosophy, Psychology, and Scientific Methods. Watson noticed that medical doctors referred to diseases without physical causes as being mental illnesses; as a psychologist, he thought there must be a better way to phrase it. Watson followed F

Today's soundtrack is Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells. This afternoon, I'm reading the first chapter of James White's The Potter's Freedom, "The Vital Issue." The Jesuit Catholics believed that the Protestant Reformation was heretical; one of its proponents, Luis de Molina, wrote the Scientia Media (Middle Knowledge), a philosophical paper that attempted to show that God knows what actions people will take in any circumstances, but leaves them free to perform those actions. The

Today's soundtrack is Kanye West: Ye. This morning, I'm continuing Aristotle's Ethics, in which I'll be reading the eighth chapter. There are three types of good: "(a) external, (c) of the soul, (c) of the body" (p. 41). Aristotle says that the second of these is the most important for our purposes. Since happiness is defined by Aristotle as a prompt to action in accordance with virtue by the soul, resulting in "certain acts or activities" (p. 41), so happiness is seen in peo