The first time i entered Mr Mapie Pie’s shop it was the first time i saw all the pies. Well, they were not pies, they were adorable white cakes, with white cream filling and white cream covered, sitting on shelves in a white colored store. It had this incredible appeal, although he never noticed me. i don’t think so. At least i don’t remember. Yet. i was mesmerized by the consistency of the white in the cake, you see, it was this brilliant white that i could compare to this powdered sugar shaker that was sitting on a shelf in the back of the counter from a position where you could look at the people coming in, as well as on the pies sitting on the shelf. Now, a little imperfect, when the business talks started and when the business men came in, saying that Mr Mapie could use a little bit of color, and the cakes could use a little bit of color, and somehow they did it. The cakes started deteriorating in the way that, i don’t know, the cream started disappearing in spots here and there, revealing the white cake beneath, but the cake was uneven and imperfect, unlike it used to be. They were all placed on plates now i could see, as previously their brightness and perfection made them seem like almost they were floating in mid air, on the shelves, each with it’s own shine.
Mrs Mapie came in that day and said something about the pies and the place they were in. Mr Mapie was dressed in black, and he was talking with the men with his back turned to me, while i was further away with Mrs Mapie, as the whole shop was appearing to lose it’s brightness. As he kept talking to the men, with suits and suitcases, colored cakes sort of appeared in the shop and the counter caught color, as much color as some of the cakes on it. Then the chairs and the walls, and even the first bright white cake that i saw in the beginning, was now colored, and the people who came were happy and smiling and Mr Mapie was getting smaller.
The only thing that stayed bright, was the can of powdered sugar in my hands. Almost a reminder of what used to be. Now, all the cakes were in cherful brighless colors, sitting on cracked wooden planks in the planted shop, with a dull-colored but grounded-cheeriness Mr Mapie serving behind the counter, with a low-tone smile, the stream of endless customers coming in to buy dull-colored magnificent-looking, brilliance-lacking cakes. And the people sat in queues to buy these cakes, and to them they were delicious, after all, they were good cakes, but they never got to know what brilliance was, neither did they care. After all, the cakes were sweet.
Disappointed, i put the bright can of powdered sugar in my suitcase and i returned to the beginning. The beginning when the store still had the brilliant white interior which almost seemed as if it was glowing, where the cakes swirled perfectly on the counters, glowing and mesmerizing, almost seemingly floating in the air. With a pensive Mr Mapie sitting on a chair, thinking happily at something, and a Mrs Mapie singing softly in the background while doing nothing really behind the counter, because everything was already perfect, as well as the cut cake which i was able to peer inside and the perfect slice i was about to have. Until the men came in and started talking about business and bringing color to cakes, in order to make them more attractive and appealing to the public.
As they started talking, and moving in front of me, surrounding Mr Mapie, i could see the glow of the shop starting to dwindle down and the cakes beginning to look like ordinary, imperfect cakes, one could say almost careless baked, looking like nothing that i would like to eat, but these men were discussing frosting and colors and the amount of money and the people that would eat, and even though the cakes barely started getting any color, there were people lined up at the door of the bakery shop, which wood was colored a dark green, not glowing, and they were all excited to have a portion of something … that wasn’t brilliant at all. At this point, one could even stop for a moment and think or perhaps wonder or maybe even remember, how these cakes tasted in their original form. i left, but not by leaving, the only reminder of the brilliance’s past, in my suitcase, a glowing can of sugar powderer.
It has occurred to me what may be one of the reasons why i have had this weird dislike for programming “languages”. – First off – a language is a means of communication with someone. You immerse yourself in learning a language because you get to see how people using that language see the world. This is because not all languages look the same.
Take Arabic for instance, where you can do all sorts of weird crazy cool cool-looking things in writing. So you’re not just learning merely a way to communicate, but you delve into that people’s culture and who knows, maybe soul.
They say that the most efficient way of learning a new language is by immersing yourself in the learning process, a thing which i can totally understand, because it’s probably a fun process for the one who wants to learn, and focus is important. We don’t like to be disturbed.
Which brings me to the topic of programming “languages”, like Python, C++, Javascript, PHP, etc.
Are they really languages?
Language implies that they are used to communicate, but are you really communicating with anyone or are you just taking energy and running it through some mazes – all the computer microchips and components – and you control it in order to do something you want?
You’re not communicating with anyone. So why is it called a “language” when in reality, it’s a tool for exerting control or an instruction set?
Sure you can do pretty things at the expense of others, but why would everyone agree to call it something it’s not?
As i was doing some Python work, i kept running into things like having some code, then a regex that makes sure the input gets “sanitized” before being passed into the function, otherwise the code may crash or otherwise reveal something about the system that the programmer or the maintainer wouldn’t want to be revealed, and an epiphany occured. You know, i think coding in general is a huge missed opportunity where one could have had the power to solve all world’s problems. Instead, the majority of coders have chosen to build mazes and pile things on top of things, while leaving everything that mattered behind.
Can you imagine a world where code would be used to find human problems? i mean imagine this scenario. Someone creates a program, and then that program is being used by other people. Some of those people find program flaws and choose to share it with the programmer and they end up making better versions, but a small part of people, choose to exploit said flaws.
Wouldn’t this be an immense opportunity if programming languages or languages in general would have the ability to pinpoint where these problems are, so we could talk to those people and find out what is going wrong in their life and figure out a solution? Can you imagine a world where code is being used not just to build meaningless products, but actually to be used to lift whoever needs lifting? Can you imagine how different the world would look, if people who make mistakes or bad choices get a second chance at figuring themselves out because that is how the system has been designed? To take care of it’s people? Can you imagine how incredible this would seem? i mean it wouldn’t make it a perfect world right away, but time wouldn’t be an issue would it if there was a world united by a code that connects people and gives people breaks to figure themselves out, become aware that they’ve hurt the system, figure out why they did it, and see if there’s ways to gain understanding and make proper amends, not necessarily in order to make a stronger and more strict and powerful system, but for gaining the ability to intentionally leave parts of it vulnerable, so people can always have the choice of inflicting some form of damage, enough for it to be noticed so that a local healing process can begin. After all, the system is only as good as the quality of it’s people.
You know, i was reading this answer on Quora which went like this:
It is surprising how difficult this passage is for Christians to understand, although it is straightforward when you read it with an open mind. Paul is saying not to seek revenge against your enemies. Paul makes a vague allusion to Deuteronomy 32:35, saying that any revenge should be left to God. He then says that if we go out of our way to be good to those we consider enemies, helping them in any way possible, we will cause them to suffer burning shame (“coals of fire”) with greater effect than any revenge is likely to achieve. He summarises: Do not let evil overcome you, but overcome evil with good.
Tried to leave a comment, but as usual, comments were disabled, so i thought to post my thoughts on it here.
The part that made it hilarious was where it said that “any revenge should be left to god” – So let me get this straight, you’re asking god – someone that had nothing to do with you or your argument with someone, to enact revenge on your behalf. Are you being serious?
You can definitely choose not to punish for various reasons, like for instance if it’s someone who made an honest mistake, out of stupidity and not knowing, without malicious intent, just from lack of knowledge. But if you’re not punishing someone because you’re expecting that punishment to be done by a god, that has nothing to do with you or your situation, or your actions, i think you’re retarded.
i mean, think about it. You believe you’re a good person by “leaving punishment to god”, but are you really? You haven’t made a choice to forgive or erase the debt. You still have expectation for a punishment, for retribution, to be made whole. You haven’t made a conscious choice to let it go just because you can, you still carry the hate in you, but now they are surrounded by expectations that someone else will enact punishment on your behalf. Someone completely unrelated to the problem.
Now … in a twist of events, we can consider this other case for which “ah leave punishment to god, you be a good man and let those bad men go, because god will deal with them” to be a pretty phrase issued by people using religion to be the bad men in question, but are pacifying everyone in order that action to not be taken against them.
After all, we all know that gods don’t need anyone to sit on their knees and pray to them, but men, often do.
Asking for someone else to deal judgment and punishment and execution on your behalf, for a thing they were not involved in, is a stupid thing to do or to expect.
i’ve read this article which caught my attention, about apparently a drug dealer from Malaysia who was convicted of trafficking 42.72 grams of heroin. Here’s the story:
Nagaenthran a/l K. Dharmalingam (13 September 1988 – 27 April 2022) was a Malaysian drug trafficker who was convicted of trafficking 42.72 grams of heroin in April 2009 upon entering Singapore from Malaysia at Woodlands Checkpoint with a bundle of heroin strapped to his thigh. Nagaenthran confessed to committing the crime, but gave statements claiming that he was ordered to commit the crime out of duress by a mastermind who assaulted him and threatened to kill his girlfriend and his family. He also claimed he did so to get money to pay off his debts before he later denied any knowledge of the contents of his bundle.
Nagaenthran was sentenced to death by hanging in November 2010. However, his execution was put on hold due to a moratorium placed on all hangings in Singapore pending judicial changes of the mandatory death penalty laws, which considered and approved the imposition of life imprisonment with or without caning for drug traffickers who were couriers or had mental illnesses. Despite Nagaenthran’s multiple appeals, he was assessed as ineligible for re-sentencing because he was found not substantially mentally or intellectually disabled, which was also confirmed by the psychiatrists called upon by his lawyers.
Nagaenthran also lost his appeal for clemency, and he was finally scheduled to hang on 10 November 2021 after spending 11 years on death row. However, due to both a last-minute appeal and a COVID-19 infection, Nagaenthran’s execution was suspended for five months, until the dismissal of his appeal on 29 March 2022. After this, Nagaenthran was hanged at Changi Prison on 27 April 2022; he was 33.
You know, for a little bit i kept thinking about the motives he gave and how they might or might not be true, but i quickly realized that is not the point.
