The Path Forward

2025-01-26: Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly.

No one likes reading about the "insider baseball" management of websites (and fewer still enjoy writing about it) but a necessary change was in order. Up until now, I had placed all of my javascript files into one folder. That arrangement was fine in the beginning when the folder only had a few files. However, with the advent of the Unicursal Maze Path Designer and the other platforms derived from it, a lot more javascript files began to be created.

No one likes a crowded file folder; For starters, it's messy and can lead to confusion. Therefore, a change was needed and the folder was subdivided into various categories. It's not a perfect solution (how many perfect solutions are there?) but it's a better arrangement than before. Will more subdivision need to occur future, near or far? Well, you don't need to ask a Magic 8-Ball to figure out that answer if the website keeps growing, but I'm guessing that it would read... Most likely.

Now that this proverbial heavy lifting is over and done with, more 'Peer Review' data can be placed onto the website. When that occurs depends upon how much enthusiasm I have for that particular chore.

And since I'm divulging the inner workings of the website, here's an interesting factoid: The 5x6 original pair map took nearly two hours to create with little slouching along the way. And that's using all of the efficiencies that I've learned along the way in order to transpose them into a website-friendly format.

2025-01-19: Steady as she goes.

I continue to work on "a little bit of this, a little bit of that." Not all of that effort instantly results, though, in customer-facing products, to use corporate lingo. However, it may eventually become as such. Hope springs eternal. After all, the research that ultimately became the UMPD (Unicursal Maze Path Designer) had similar origins.

Writing about projects that eventually come to fruition (as opposed to frustration), there are more original pair maps that have been placed onto the website. I am hoping to place all of them up through 7x9 (determined, naturally; undetermined original starting point maps are fairly simplistic) so that people can have a chance to peruse them at their leisure. Even in their currently truncated form, creating them is still a considerable task to undertake.

Don't look now but the website has 36 followers. As always, I can't write it enough but here it is again: Thank you. I can't give you back your time and so I hope that your time on my website has been enjoyable, relaxing, entertaining and educational. The Internet is the ultimate "pot luck" dinner and all that I can do is bring my own dish to the gathering. The more followers, the more that I am encouraged to provide more content. This stuff doesn't write itself, you know?

2025-01-12: Perfect is the Enemy of Good Enough.

A new section has opened up in The Library - "Original Pair Maps." These are interactive tables that will show all of the original pairs in a determined field, along with derivative pairs and even pairs that are technically original but can't be drawn due to limitations in that particular field.

Is it perfect? Of course not. It merely shows the summary of the research which, by itself, isn't bad. However, it doesn't show all of the detail in the spreadsheets that I use for myself. Is it better than nothing? Of course it is; Otherwise, I wouldn't have posted it.

At some point, I will expand upon the information in order to provide the necessary detail. I have my thoughts on how to do so without needing to retire early (a temptation that I refrain from only due to finances; Everyone has a price) and devote myself full-time in transcribing it all. How quickly I act upon those thoughts shall depend upon a variety of factors that are mostly out of my control at the moment.

Yet I'm extremely pleased with how the project has turned out so far. I hope that it is helpful to anyone who is curious about Unicursal Maze Research.

"Good Enough" has prevailed... At least, for now.

2025-01-05: I have a plan. I can't claim that it's a good plan but it is, at the very least, a plan.

Frequent visitors to the website have duly noted that "The Catalog" section of the website hasn't been updated lately. It's a fair accusation because it hasn't been updated lately. I haven't been ignoring it; Far from it. I still think that it's a nifty addition and if you haven't downloaded the TrueType font yet in order to create your very own unicursal paths inside of a text document... Well, that's your loss. To each their own. What's the adage again? You can lead a horse to water...

And those same frequent visitors shall also note that I've been spending a lot of time adding to the "Peer Review" section of the website because... Well, I have.

The plan is to concentrate all (or so much of them that it may functionally be considered "all") of my efforts on adding to the "Peer Review" section first until it is caught up to my current progress on the 6x6 determined field and the 5x5 undetermined field. After that, my efforts can diverge and fill in sections of "The Parade" and "The Catalog" and elsewhere as warranted.

This plan also reveals an emerging compromise: Going beyond the ol' "Maximum of 7 cycles per day" work load that has been a part of the "Standard Work." Except, of course, it isn't. The standard work shall continue undisturbed. However, the paths created by the standard work shall be a check against the paths created for the website.

As I wrote earlier, it's not a good plan but it is a plan. And, short of me devoting myself to this hobby all day and every day, it's the only viable plan for creating paths beyond the 6x6 determined field before I begin receiving social security checks.

On an unrelated note, it's a new year. You can check out all of the prior year's blog posts below. Who knew I'd be able to keep these posts going each week (and then some) for an entire year? It just proves that anything is possible...