There are about 3.6M blocks (~125 days) to block 50M and I've decided I'd really like to launch a decentralized product on the Hive blockchain at that time.

Unit-Bias is fun.

A nice round number, block 50M would serve as the genesis block of my game. Anyone running a validator node (previously called proxy-node by myself) would only have to download blocks from 50M and beyond in order to run the game locally on their own machine.

I decided calling it a validator-node makes a lot more sense than "proxy" because you're simply validating the information for yourself rather than providing that service to the outside world by running a full-fledged server. Whatever; semantics.

So I finally opened up MySQL Workbench for the first time ever on this computer that I bought years ago. The last time I used this database I was trying to create a poker database. I actually still have that database up and running with several hands imported into it. I'm using the work I did way back in the day to remind myself how this all goes together.

Speaking of which, I found an old Python script from 2011 that helped me in this process. I was actually able to connect to my database with that ancient code and add those test entries... Pretty cool.

def insert_into_table(table, dict): table = 'test' columns = '' values = '' for col, val in dict.items(): columns += ',' + col + '' values += ',' if isinstance(val, str): values += '"' + val + '"' else: values += str(val) statement = 'INSERT INTO hive.' + table + ' (' +
columns[1:] + ') VALUES (' + values[1:] + ')' print(statement) cursor.execute(statement) cursor.execute('COMMIT')

cursor = db.cursor() dict = { "block": "This is a test block", "block_num": 7 } insert_into_table('blocks', dict)

_{This code is hammered dog shit, but it works!}

I had to modify it a bit from the original file but it works and got me excited about Python again... an awesome programming language that I haven't used for a decade because it was too slow for the likes of my poker database. I ended up rewriting everything in Java and it was 20 times faster after a little optimization.

Unfortunately I'm still not sure if I should even be messing around with Python at the moment. A lot of things on Hive work seamlessly with JavaScript and Node.JS, and adding @holger80's Beem dependency to wrap Python code into Hive might turn out to be an unnecessary complexity.

In the end, I'd like to be fluent with both JavaScript and Python. I'd even like to jump back into c++ and start messing around with Hive's core code. Unfortunately, all that is way too much to put on my plate at once and I seriously need to get some focus or I'll never get anything done.

There's already too much to do. I'm using a Windows machine and keep telling myself I should switch to Linux for obvious reasons... but that switch is an overhead cost. I know embarrassingly little about Github and how to properly use it, that's another overhead cost. I know nothing about running servers or networks and the like. Node.JS awaits, another overhead cost.

The one good thing about Steemit Inc is gone, which was being able to download blocks without getting my bandwidth constantly cut off. So now I have to program some script that jumps around to multiple full-nodes just to get the information I need. Pretty bogus. My @hextech witness team wants to boot up its own full-node that would solve this problem for good, but they are expensive. So much to do, so little time.

It's moments like this that I realize how much time I'm wasting at Amazon doing "unskilled labor". Sure, I get a little exercise, but that's essentially 25 more hours a week I could be working on actual things that matter. Sort your own packages, Amazon! Automation is the future.

Unfortunately, as we all know, the problem with automation is that the greedy goblins in charge of it will destroy the entire economy by not sharing their wealth with the rest of us. Artificial scarcity and capitalism reign supreme. Too bad, so sad. This is why we can't have nice things.

Conclusion

This game that I want to bring to Hive is a really good idea. The more I flush out the details the more I realize it can work. It utilizes decentralized ownership of NFTs and a proof-of-brain aspect that will directly increase the value of the Hive blockchain while giving itself provable scarcity at the same time. I even had the raw gameplay up and running years ago when I was using @steemj to wrap Java code into the blockchain. Considering Java is the core language of Android programming, add that to the never-ending list of shit I don't have time for.

It's really all about lowering the bar of entry so more people can participate in rapid development. Hive currently has two main jobs: Developer and blogger. Both are underpaid. However, it's the developer's function to create even more applications here and help others create content without having to know all this complicated stuff. Let's hope the tipping point comes sooner rather than later.

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