Accompanying music

Out o’ all the superstitious political ideas that still have power, probably the only 1 dumber than laissez-faire is nationalism, ’specially “left-wing” nationalism. Thus it’s with deep misgivings that I see inane laissy libertarianism be surpassed by an e’en dumber ideology. That this ideology’s primary defense is simply to assert that it’s the only thing that’s “practical,” despite no evidence, other than simply arguing that it’s starting to happen now, which is simply appeal to the status-quo, as if we should just blindly accept any patterns that are happening now, as well as making the guilty-by-association argument that anyone who dares to be skeptical o’ a “pro-working-class” ideology that claims to benefit 17% o’ the working-class by screwing o’er the world majority o’ working-class people are just like laissez-faire libertarianism only reveals the intellectual bankruptcy o’ such “nationalist socialism.”

There’s nothing mo’ hypocritical than people who claim to support egalitarianism—so long as it applies to one’s narrow country—but reject international egalitarianism based on arguments logically equivalent to those used by economic elites to defend inequality. There’s nothing mo’ hypocritical than working-class people who criticize the 1% for monopolizing the means o’ production & pushing them out while trying to monopolize the means o’ production for their nation ’way from working-class people o’ other countries. Such people are not trying to make the world mo’ “fair”; they’re simply trying to join in on the corruption themselves by finding an e’en lower class to exploit. It’s not an attack gainst neoliberalism @ all, but simply a further extension o’ its race to the bottom.

There’s a reason ol’ socialists opposed nationalism: “nations” are a concept logically equivalent to private property. Indeed, they are literally private property, held privately by a narrow group based on a convoluted mess o’ inconsistent rationales mostly influenced by tradition. Tripe like “Europe for Europeans,” based on the argument that they are the “rightful” owners, due purely to tradition, is as irrational as the idea that someone is objectively the rightful owner o’ whatever they own, simply ’cause they already have it, without any question o’ the historical complications that led such a distribution to happen. It’s self-perpetuating circular logic, & therefore irrational.

In essence, it is aristocracy. Natural-born citizens o’ a nation are said to deserve their wealth simply ’cause they’re born inheritors, regardless o’ what they themselves have done themselves. Indeed, if anything, it’s mo’ likely that immigrants are deserving than natural-born: to immigrate into the US either requires that the official immigration rules determined one to be competitively skilled gainst the other immigrants trying to come in or that one is skillful @ sneaking past national boundaries, which certainly requires some craftiness. Natural-born Americans could be the laziest, most useless waste o’ oxygen in the world & still be given what immigrants actually have to earn, much as those born rich can be lazy wastes o’ oxygen to earn what those born poor must earn.

Which is, to say, that “natioanlist socialism” is simply capitalism: it’s the use o’ political power to keep property in the hands o’ the few based purely on tradition & the status-quo.

Similarly, the concept o’ “national democracy” is hypocritical. “Democracy ’mong a certain select elite” is typically considered oligarchy when it happens within a nation; ¿why should that be different when treating the world as a whole? Europe & North America (excluding Mexico—though I could include them & the point would still keep) only make up ’bout 17% o’ the population—not quite “the 1%,” but still a considerable minority. To argue that they should determine the power & economic distribution o’ the world—e’en if that’s just to perpetuate arbitrary tradition—is international oligarchy; & anyone who supports this but pretends to support democracy should be laughed right into their inane faces. Thus, logically, the only coherent form o’ “democracy” that could exist would be an international one. Otherwise, we’d have to count tiny oligarchies—that, nonetheless, are democratic within their tiny group—controlling others to be “democratic.”

Economically, nationalism falls under the same problem as “laissez-faire”: before you can leave people to control their own things themselves, you have to determine who has the right to control what, a social issue that could include any sapient human—since any human or combination o’ humans could or could not be a candidate for control. To argue that “Europeans” should decide “Europe’s” economics relies on a nonarbitrary (thus, nontraditional) means o’ determining who counts as “European” & who not & what property belongs within “Europe” & which doesn’t; & anyone who thinks that means that have currently decided that were rational is clearly irrational. E’en “culture,” which is nothing mo’ than a collection o’ traditions, falls under the same—as if some omniscient deity decided that the Latin language should split into Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, & French the way it did.

(To be fair, this applies in the other direction, too: it’s irrational to argue, for instance, that a “Middle-Eastern” man has mo’ right to say what a “Middle-Eastern” woman can or cannot do simply ’cause they reside in the same historically-decided—& largely European-decided, to boot—plot o’ land & ’cause there happen to be some specific traditions historically associated with those lands.)

The rhetoric o’ class conflict used by “nationalist socialists” is also hypocritical, & ironically similar to the narrow economic-only definition Feminists & Friends™ criticized Marxists for, despite “nationalist socialists” usually being anti-Marxist. They, rightfully, treat the conflict caused by economic equality as something that realistically must be dealt with & can’t be ignored, but act as if the immigration issue can just be brushed out o’ the west. They argue that right-wing violence in the west is caused by economic resentment, & thus that further stepping down on poor Westerners will only cause them to become e’en mo’ extreme, but don’t see the connection ’tween economic problems in the Middle East & Islamic Fundamentalism. There’s something arbitrary ’bout humanizing right-wing Westerners with giving them the sympathetic portrayal o’ psychological problems caused by economic hardship, but portraying Islamic Fundamentalists as just brain-dead robots who are hypnotized by the words o’ the Quran. (The blatant hypocrisy o’ these Fundamentalists’ most famous leaders doesn’t make them question this. ¿Remember that supposedly raving hater o’ the west Osama Bin Laden’s love o’ Pepsi? ¿Remember how ridiculously rich he was & how he lived in a huge mansion? Now, I wonder why such a rich person would’ve wanted the poor mass public to focus on religion & being gainst the west & not focusing on other reasons for their poverty… Hmm…)

’Course, pointing out this peculiar inconsistency gets one labeled a “SJW” or “politically correct,” which… doesn’t mean anything. “¡O, no! ¡They have our true name! ¡According to Ursula K. Le Guin, (who knows a lot ’bout ‘political correctness’) that means they can control us!” Furthermo’, arguing that economic issues might influence Islamic Fundamentalism is apparently paramount to arguing that Islam has no affect on Middle Eastern right-wing extremism, which is insane, ’cause… ’cause some people just say it is, that’s why. Either way, both can’t be key influences, or the economic influence can’t just be greater, not the whole, ’cause, duh, nuance doesn’t exist.

From an intellectual point, I’m less disheartened by some o’ the people who fall into this, since there’s always been that ignorant & assholish faction. I’m mo’ embarrassed by the rise o’ hipster “very serious” pundits who fall into this in the name o’ “practicality.” ’Cause nothing’s mo’ practical than electing a 4-times business failure who had to whore himself out as a living cartoon like Paris Hilton¹ to enrich himself & has no political experience @ all. Watching these pundits is like watching someone talk seriously ’bout their imagined acumen while shitting their pants—it’s just comical.

TLDR: 2017 headline: The Western World: O, How the Mighty Have Fallen.

&, yes, I’m ’ware o’ the infamously unsavory word associated with “Nationalist Socialist.” Don’t blame me: they’re the ones who emphasize nationalism & socialism together. Those in a society full o’ people too dumb to learn history are doomed to repeat it.

I don’t know how, but some suns ago I ran into this page full o’ haiku & made the mad mistake to try understanding it through Google Translate. The poetry I received touched me in places so touchy that I had to share them.

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Scaffale:
電信柱（なだらかな緑の山を）

Google Translate:
Telephone pole (a gentle green mountain)

A succinct contrast ’tween humble, e’erlasting nature & the lightning-striking shadow cast by the modern technology brought on by this telephone pole stabbing into the earth like an upside-down sword.

Actually, I have a feeling this isn’t e’en that off o’ a translation.

It gets weirder.

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Scaffale:
少年の死んだ日

Google Translate:
Boy dead day

My favorite holiday.

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Scaffale:
夕方（姉は小さな妹をすかし）

Google Translate:
Evening (My sister watermark a little sister)

That’s what happens when li’l sis uses the 30-day free trial o’ big sis’s eyeliner.

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Scaffale:
夕方（子供が　泣かずに）

Google Translate:
Evening (to not cry children)

A truly Issaesche haiku wherein the perspective is reversed, with the wolves warning o’ the dangers o’ the world’s true monsters: undisciplined children running @ them & possible tugging @ their tails or ears.

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Scaffale:
春（この冷たい目をした）

Google Translate:
Spring (was this cold eye)

Stop watching me in April showers, Spring.

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Scaffale:
餅をつく

Google Translate:
Tell a rice cake

I told e’m.

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Scaffale:
私は甲虫

Google Translate:
I beetle

The cruelly tantalizing title for a Kafka-Asimov crosso’er that’d ne’er happen. The world is a worse place.

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Scaffale:
（ある少女に）

Google Translate:
(Keep yourself silent)

Must be the polite way to tell someone to shut their trap.

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Scaffale:
生ひ立ち II

Google Translate:
Freshness II

Not as good as the original.

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Scaffale:
雨（雨とくさ　くさ）

Google Translate:
Rain (rain cloudsiness)

Well, I know this translation can’t be correct, ’cause “cloudsiness” isn’t e’en a real word.

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Scaffale:
（何といふ）

Google Translate:
(What is it?)

“Epic” by Faith No More.

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Scaffale:
（提燈が一つ）

Google Translate:
(One lantern is one)

“Ayn Rand writes haiku.”

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Scaffale:
赤子に

Google Translate:
In a baby

Eww.

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Scaffale:
切り通し

Google Translate:
cutting

Emo haiku.

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Scaffale:
（茶ぶだうが）

Google Translate:
(Stupid)

I told you to translate, not editorialize, stupid machine.

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Scaffale:
II　胃病患者（兎　兎　健康な兎）

Google Translate:
II Stomach disease patient (rabbit healthy rabbit)

This one’s apparently “incomplete,” as opposed to such complete works as “woman” & “face.” I guess we’ll ne’er know if the patient o’ercomes his pain & eats the health-supplying rabbit’s supple meat or not.

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Scaffale:
骨牌の占ひ

Google Translate:
Occupation of bone tiles

The noble, but forgotten craft.

I think this is the title o’ some “Angry-Men” British play.

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Scaffale:
縫物をする人へ

Google Translate:
To those who do sewing

We sew-lute you.

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Scaffale:
言葉（彼女は私の中に）

Google Translate:
Language (she is in me)

English As She Is Spoke 2.0.

Strangely, most o’ the haiku seem to just be random words like “woman,” “horse,” “face,” “night,” & “November.” & many o’ these e’en I can confirm are those words—’less there’s some subtle extra meaning in those words that I don’t know.

Warm Up:

I probably thought o’ the basic concept ’hind this level—survive a certain ’mount o’ time—before I e’en started this particular version o’ the project; but this particular implementation was made just this day. Other ideas I had were staying on ladders & avoiding Bullet-Bill equivalents; but this one looks much better, & is probably less clunky. Though it may sound rather shallow, aesthetics do make mo’ importance than some people give credit, & I feel the fiery theme o’ this level makes it a li’l less lame than just a “keep from dying for 30 seconds” level. Plus, I like having stories ’hind levels—in this case, somehow Autumn has ended up in a furnace & is being baked ’live.

Mo’ surprising, though I had so much trouble in practicing this level that I doubted I’d be able to record a winning run, I was able to do this well on my 1st try. I only missed 1 gem. Though these beams have quite a bit o’ leeway,—their hitboxes are a few pixels smaller than their graphics, & they only hurt you when they’re all the way on—it’s still quite easy to accidentally bump into 1 by a pixel or so when o’er-correcting movement on the conveyor belt. Worse, it can be easy to bump your head when jumping to the right side & fall to your death. I considered leaving mo’ space, but decided I liked the challenge. It’s not as if you need to jump o’er the hole, anyway, ’less you want to get a high gem score. E’en getting the diamond is pitifully easy when one considers that the game saves the diamond e’en if one dies. It’s truly only my anal-retentive obsession with having a good-looking video that made this level hard for me.

I’m still working on 2 cloud levels & have ideas for 2 other factory levels. Hopefully it won’t take too long to have something presentable from them. I also still have “Sawdust Crush” & “Hot Shop” to finish up so I can show those off.

Source code

& now for something completely different: a top-down maze level that blatantly rips off Pac-Man, but without the fancy voice clips o’ someone swearing whenever they die.

Like Pac-Man, there are 4 antagonists that chase you, in this case eyeballs, ’cause ’twas a convenient graphic I had lying round. They can sort o’ be distinguished by their shade—a limitation due to my insistence on 6-color monochrome palettes; however, this isn’t that useful, anyway, due to a twist I added: every 15 seconds, the eyeballs switch roles. So, to use Pac-Man terminology, imagine after 15 seconds Blinky starts acting like Pinky, Pinky starts acting like Inky, & so on. They don’t change their current position or appearance, just their behavior. They continue cycling down the types every 15 seconds, returning to their original type after 1 minute.

The eyeball chasers do act like the Pac-Man ghosts, with 3 out o’ 4 o’ them having AI based on ghost behavior. They target a certain tile & test each possible tile they can move to next to see which is closer to that target tile in terms o’ the distance based on a straight line. The top-left eye follows the player, like Blinky; the top-right aims for the tile 4 blocks in front o’ your player, sort o’¹ like Pinky; & the bottom-right eye aims for the player, ’less it’s 8 blocks nearby, in which case it aims for the bottom left corner, like Clyde. The bottom-left eye is the only exception: rather than the immensely obtuse method² Inky uses, it just aims for a random tile every tile it moves. Though part o’ me kind o’ liked the o’ercomplicated nature o’ Inky’s pattern, it requires knowing Blinky’s pattern; & in my game, it’s actually, I’ve just thought o’ a simple way I could do it, ne’er mind.

Truth told, I feel like I’ve ripped off Pac-Man too much. I wanted to add mo’ eyeballs with my own made-up patterns, since it seems like a fun exercise to try, but I felt that’d make the game too hard. Maybe I’ll change the Clyde equivalent, since its pattern is kind o’ dumb, anyway. 1 idea I had was a sort o’ smarter version o’ Blinky. As Birch notes, due Blinky’s distance check for tiles is simply a straight line that ignores solid blocks, there’s a chance it’ll take a less efficient route if the player is to 1 side o’ it but the quickest route is in the other direction. A smarter algorithm would involve using recursive tile searches throughout the whole maze to see which path that ends with the player takes the fewest tiles.

Other than the eyes shifting types & speeding up after 15 seconds, & the Blinky equivalent speeding up after a minute, these eyes’ AI is actually simpler than the original Pac-Man’s, with no “scatter” behavior, &, ’course, no power-pellet or fleeing behavior. This isn’t truly s’posed to be an exact copy o’ Pac-Man, &, if anything, could use a bit mo’ originality.

I suck @ Pac-Man, & as the video shows, I wasn’t able to beat it, e’en with 4 hearts in the corners o’ the maze. You’ll have to take me by my word that collecting all 669 gems beats the level. I’m thinking o’ having this be a bonus level, since it has a high reward o’ 66,900₧, which is mo’ than 3 times the max collectible in any other level. I thought ’bout making the maze smaller, which may ease the difficulty, but I kind o’ like the huge maze. Maybe I should just make ’nother maze level that’s smaller.

Reminder: this game’s sloppy source code can be found @ Github.

Also, I converted project from Code::Blocks to plain Make, since Code::Blocks has this tendency to crash randomly & I prefer the less cluttered interface o’ using text document programs & folders, rather than having the thin bar on the left all the time & having to scour it for the files I want.

The 1 downside—though, now that I think ’bout it, it’s pretty neat, actually—is that Make causes bizarre glitches sometimes when changing header files quite a lot & making without clearing out all the objects. I was lucky ’nough to get a video:

This isn’t a dire problem, since it can be solved simply by running “make clean” before it happens. It just wastes extra time, since I have to recompile the whole program afterward.

There. I said it. Bring on the hate, mannnnnn.

“¿What the fuck are ‘HTML5 games’? I don’t want to hear you talk ’bout that shit—go back to talking ’bout Game Boy Advance games & writing Spanish haikus ’bout suicidal moons.”

Fuck you, reader. Don’t tell me how I do what I do. Nobody gets to.

HTML5 games are JavaScript games. The vast majority o’ programming is done in JavaScript. HTML5 just contributes the canvas tag. Big whoop. Calling those “HTML5” games is like calling 3DS Games “LCD” games ’cause that’s what the screen’s made o’. That’s like calling Flash games “HTML” games, ’cause the vast majority o’ Flash games are played on HTML websites.

Look @ these dipshits @ “Tutorialzine”:

30 Amazing Games Made Only With HTML5

Damn. That is impressive.

O, wait:

HexGL is a futuristic, fast-paced racing game built on HTML5, JavaScript and WebGL. [emphasis mine].

Huh. I must’ve forgotten how English works, ’cause I’m pretty fucking sure “only” means “not including fucking JavaScript & WebGL, you fuckers.”

& unlike laissy libertarians—god, ¿remember when they were still a thing?—I looked this shit up in a dictionary: