Chastity's Chess Challenge

Tag: life

  • Assembly Magic

    A programmer is not a magician
    They just know how to use addition
    Those with skill and high ambition
    Don’t hesitate to break tradition

    Reverse addition is subtraction
    There is no need for fancy abstraction
    Do not fall for hype and distraction
    Don’t hesitate to learn, take action

    Repeated addition is called multiplication
    Despite its badly taught reputation
    Teaching math is my obligation
    With my books I will teach the nation

    Subtraction loops can form division
    Conditional jumps make each decision
    Divide by the radix for integer vision
    But a zero divisor can cause a collision

    Programming languages are all the same
    When arithmetic is your favorite game
    It is fun to choose each variable name
    But when my code fails, I take the blame

    But of every language I have used
    I love writing Assembly the most
    And I wrote the chastehex program
    Of which I sometimes like to boast

    I like Assembly language because
    It gives me the complete control
    And brings back the satisfaction
    That the evil tech companies stole

    Anyone can learn to write code
    That is what some people say
    And I agree with this statement
    When they learn in the right way

    People hear that something is hard
    And so they never even try to start
    But if they did they would soon see
    That building software is an art

    I wrote a book to teach my favorite
    Assembly Arithmetic Algorithms
    I am a bit too obsessed with math
    And others suffer from my autism

    I write my books and comment my functions
    So that other people have a chance to read
    And learn what makes computers work
    And do all the tasks that humans need

    And to those who don’t yet understand
    They think my math is some kind of magic
    I rarely meet those who take the time to learn
    And my lonely pursuit is kind of tragic

    But the special way I write my programs
    Is yet another form of Creative Writing
    And because of evil tech companies
    People like me cannot stop fighting

    They fire people and replace them with AI
    But that will only work for a short while
    Because the code is of no use at all
    Unless it can make a human soul smile

  • The War I can Win

    I am a programmer who knows clever tricks I convert integers to bases two to thirty six By using character arrays as strings I can show you amazing math things

    While others talk about politics and sports I read about computers of all sorts Programming languages are all the same When you see arithmetic as a game

    I don’t write code for a job to be paid But to understand the video games I played To see what works and find out why To create, use, study, share, and modify

    I support Free Software and Open Source It is a philosophy that I can endorse Who can own a number, even a single bit? Or tell me what I am allowed to do with it?

    I fight for users who love the games of old Who rebel and don’t do what we are told I made a Tetris game and they said it was no good And that I broke copyright like no one should

    But who decides which person can play a game In math and entertainment there is no shame Can anyone own a letter color or a square? I will fight and debate you if you even dare

    Because integer math is the one war I can win I wrote the code myself and committed no sin And I can tell you that for every byte array There is a game hidden that only a hacker can play

    To humans I am nothing but just a transgender freak And evil men can kill my body because it is weak But the computer has no bias and means me no harm. In this digital world I am safe and I feel no alarm

    No matter what compiler, language, or tool When I code the people see I am not a fool If you take my computer, I am still in control Because the numbers are part of me deep in my soul

    This world is often sad but I still have a great dream Where we all work together as part of the same team And that every person can experience the ultimate thrill Of the binary code that flows where no man can ever kill

  • My Hybrid Resume Review

    Those of you who follow this blog know that I mostly write about Chess here. I have another blog for my main writing. I do a lot of different things and have a lot of skills. Because of this, when I had the task of creating a resume for my recent “Project and Portfolio II: Creative Writing” class, I created one that is a mix of my skills and experience of 3 main areas.

    My writing skills are what I feel are the most impressive, however, my grocery store experience is where most of my paid professional experience has been. Therefore, when I created the following resume, what I was going for was to emphasize how my experience writing as an author, speaking to customers in a grocery store, and my computer skills and knowledge of software all work together to qualify me for many types of jobs.

    Klebs_Chastity_Skills_ResumeDownload

    Of course, on this site, my main focus is that my communication skills have improved to the point where I can probably teach anyone Chess.

    But the truth is that these skills, while they may not be impressive to employers, are the backbone of all the content I have published in my books and on my blogs and social media.

    For example, most employers don’t know much about Chess. They also don’t know what LibreOffice, Inkscape, or the work that goes into writing a publishing a book.

    I submitted that resume for my Portfolio 2 class and this was the professor’s response.

    Here are my recommendations:

    • Omit the summary, or at the very least, shorten it to a few words. Most human resources departments make a preliminary decision about which résumés should result in possible interviews in about 7 seconds or fewer. If a résumé cannot be skimmed well in that short span, the résumé and applicant are instantly rejected.

      (Generally, a summary section appears first on a resume.)
    • Add more relevant skills. As a student, your chief qualifications are neither degrees or work experience, so make the skills list as impressive as possible without lying. Creative writing is not a skill, but a collection of dozens of skills.

    Keep up the good work.

    All best wishes,

    John King

    I appreciate his feedback, but I take issue with the fact that managers at companies are skimming through resumes in 7 seconds.

    What this means is that people creating resumes to obtain jobs must necessarily shorten and omit details that may actually be VERY important to whether or not they are qualified for the job. The impatience of employers to read resumes is very much a problem.

    However, what I am doing is quite different. I am trying to manage different jobs of working at Walmart, doing online college, teaching chess, and writing books and blog posts. Therefore, my resume is longer because it tries to accomplish more than one thing.

    And in the unlikely event that I ever did have a stable full-time job working for a company as a writer, I would hope that the people in charge of decisions would be people willing to read. Reading and writing books is an old art that has almost been lost these days because of the modern constant stimulation of videos on social media. From the beginning, it was not this way.

    And if you are one of the people who has read this post till the end, then congratulations! I think you are more qualified to judge someone than someone who only looks at a resume for 7 seconds. Let me know how you think a resume should be written.