Darkscribes Blog for Dartz+IRL

Group Work !==Fun.

March 18, 2008 | No Comments Posted

I officially HATE my goddamned mobots group. They come to me this morning, complaining that the code I spent two weeks writing doesn't work... I shrug, and ask them what happened when they tested it. It'd never been run before in it's entirety, so I knew there were glitches.


The robot goes crazy when we try to start it, they said.

How so? I ask. Bit more information would be helpful.
 

Well, it didn't make the first turn right the first time we ran it, the say. Just spinned around. It went wild the second time we ran it, and only got worse each time we tried to fix it.

I get worried...really worried. Fix it, they'd said. These people who know as much about coding as I know about interpersonal relationships...i.e. fuck all. I'm no genius programmer meself, but I got the bloody thing done, and had put a hell of a lot of effort into doing so.

 
 Well, can I see the code then? I say., a quiver of nervousness rising up my throat.


It appears on screen... a grotesque mishmashed sea of random characters, and even randomer randoms. I read it, taking a few seconds to try and make heads or tails of it, sigh a little, then take a deep breath....

WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO!!?? I scream

There was a load of useless stuff, so we deleted it, they answer nonchalantly. A lot of stuff you just repeated.

Repeated?

Yeah, repeated. Like asking for functions and stuff you've already written earlier. We deleted all that excess crap. It's much smaller and faster now.
 

I blink. Did you backup? I ask


Why? the ask in return. This is better. Why bother saving the old version?

The sound I made, was something like a lemming getting squashed. A sort tooth-gritting of Grrrrkkk


How??!! How the fuck is this better? You deleted the MAIN function! I yell. And tha'ts not all I yelled. I point the muppets to the whole readme I'd done up, explaining just *why* I did everything the way I did it, *how* it all works together and how goddamned fucking stupid they were for not reading it before chaging things at random. No wonder it wouldn't make the turns if you deleted the bloody turning function. No wonder it wouldn't read the passenger if you removed thefunction call for that. It shouldn't have even run at all without the main function, but through some unknown sorcery, some 'wizard did it' magick it did. 


Well, you can fix it there easy enough, can't you? they ask, calm as anything.


Yes! I snap, but it'll take a bloody long time to do...


Well, you'd better get working, we'll be in the pub if you need us, they say.


I want them all dead. I want them shot. I want them hung. I want them roasted alive in a Brazen Bull. I want them to suffer for an enternity in  hell for it. I want to stab them in the back with the pencil on the desk. I want to smash the mobot  over their  fucking heads for messing and meddling with things I put so much effort into. I want to rape their fucking mothers and murder their fathers for it.


But I'm too bloody hungover to give a shit and actually *do* anything... I just sigh, and get to work.  Thank fuck for having my own backup, I tell myself. Even if it is out of date by a bit.


I hope the bastard's pints are flat.

My hair is falling out now. University Group work is so much fun

-Dartz 

Galway....

March 8, 2008 | No Comments Posted

As I type this, I'm sitting on an Intercity train, somewhere between Dublin and Galway. In fact, I think I just crossed the Shannon. Irish Railways are that unique thing. Shite, but you still love 'em all the same. So what if the train was deleayed for a half hour or so? So what if the carriages squeak and rattle over the bumps, or the toilet smells weird? So what if everything is older than I am? It's a good journey.

It's fast, and more comfortable than a bus. The foodcart is usually pretty good, and you'll get were you've paid to go...eventually. There's certainly more legroom than your average car/bus/plane anyway. I can go for a stroll over the length of the train if I feel like.

The one deal breaker is the seat armrests. Fucking solid steel things they are that don't move or fold away. Nearly castrated meself sitting on one of them.

28 Euro return Ticket, it's pretty good. If you come to Ireland, take the train if you get the chance. It's very...real.

The two Japanese railfans I'm having to share the carriage with regard the thundering, clagging diesel monster hauling this roaring, snaking orange behemoth through rolling green countryside with the same mixture of awe and quaintness as we would see an old steam engine.

I only sat in the coach behind the Loco because it's nearest the platform exit..

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Been having a go at amateur robotics, as part of a project at college. The whole idea is to build an automated taxi, which can follow a white line on a dark board, pick up a passenger, read information from that passenger, and then navigate around a course to a specific destination. I got lumped in with three electronics guys, so I was the only person on the team with any mechanical or coding experience. The Important thing mentioned there is coding. So, the electronics guys wire up a few sensors, then bash together a robot out of lego, while I'm sitting on some shitbox writing code for three weeks.

It may be shit, it may be inefficient and suck up more resources, and any decent coder, programmer or 'skiddie' might be able to do better, but begorrah it does what it's supposed to. Even if the electrical guy's sensors are shite. I might be able to improve on it, if I can work out how to switch out the While loops for For's, and maybe remove one of three processes.

Interactive-C... C variant that runs on the MIT Handy Board. Can do a few things regular C can't (Without Library's anyway), like call processes, activate motors, or receive sensor inputs. It can't do Switch, which I would've found handy.

Anyway, I'll add the code as a file to the end of this...or find a way to link to it. If you're doing a similar project, you're free to use and modify it with no restrictions. Just be sure to put my name on it.

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Fanfiction...

Been far to busy writing code, and with generally project work, to actually do anything fic-related. If you're coming here looking for news on updates from myself then, sorry bud, but you're going to be disappointed. I might have a wekk or so off, but I'm not going to get much finished in that week.

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Work..

I start my first job on March 31st!... Woo!. 410 Euro a week. What sucks about that is it's ten Euro inside the bottom income tax bracket. All together now...BUGGER. But anyway, it promises to be interesting work involving transformers the size of Double Decker buses. And, it's a State Job, so it won't suddenly dissapear like a few of the other internship placements that have gone missing lately. Guy got a job out of the airport, one of the first jobs available. Just got told his position got cancelled, because the company is about to go tits-up. Lol.

Oh well.

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Itzacon...

The reason I'm on the train......And the reason I'm heading home. It's now nearly eight o'clock, yeah, time break while typing.. and we're about an hour out of Dublin now.

It seems weird... to travel for a total of six hours, to attend a con for four, but I enjoyed it. Never actually been to Galway before, so it was interesting in that respective.

Picked up an RPG while I was down there too. Call of Cthulhu. Seems interesting... Must run a game of it some time. Maybe a forum based game?

Also, whatever you do, if you do come to Ireland...don't fucking go to Supermacs. It is shite. The chips maybe nice, but the burger's are bleeding mouldy, and they're stingy as fuck with the portions. Go to a decent chipper and order a Snack box instead...

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Finally... Good luck to Tenoko with his recovery.

See yous all next time
-Dartz

Wow....

February 22, 2008 | No Comments Posted

Where the fuck did all that shit come from? Jesus Christ I've been tired lately. Don't mind that. Just my own latent depressions and insecurity's coming to the fore once more. Sleep depreivation fucks with my head.

Anybody know a good rope-shope... I'm gonna need about 6-8 feet of it.

-Dartz

End of the line

February 3, 2008 | No Comments Posted

So, Im start back at college at 9am tomorrow.

Joy....

Well, it's only five weeks until I start outright work, for money and stuff.

And the taxman takes a nice juicy bite out of my ass.

Is it just me, or do good things always have a downside. I mean, you get something, but there's always a catch. Like, I just bought a PS3, but it's gotten hijacked by my brother, who's acting like a fucking bear over it. He's a bloody zombie now. I only bought the thing because it'll play BlueRay movies, and Gran Turismo5/GTA4/MGS4

Well, okay, a few games too, 

 That said, Motorstorm is fucking awesome, with a full High definition telly, and a proper surround sound system hooked up. It is astonishing, and this from one of the launch title. I've seen screens of GTA and GT, and frankly, I can't wait for either.

Blue Ray films are crystal clear. This is to DvD, what DvD was to VHS, it's that much better. Of course, I could've chosen a better film to show it with. Ah well 

 If I can get that olittle bollox away from the thing....

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Had my 21st Birthday party a few days ago...

Remind me to turn 21 more often, since I got about a thousand euro out of it. There was also four full kegs of beer, of which two and a half are empty, a few crates of bottles, shitloads of soft drink, and a free bar set up in the house. There were about thirty peoiple here, and it lasted all fucking night. 6Pm-6am drinking session, a proper Irish party like.

good fucking Christ I'm still hungover from it.

And if I ever see any more whipped cream, I'll puke.

Well, at least the bar's still there, for a few days at least, so I can still get free pints at leisure.

 The hair of the dog that bit me, eh?

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Until whenever..

-Dartz 

Snivelling Shirker

January 3, 2008 | No Comments Posted

I did it!.. I did it!... I got out of jury duty.

As a college student, I'm officially exempt, whahey!

Now all I have to do is concentrate on my upcoming exams, and my Twenty-first Birthday... and get my Provisional Drivers license... and...

Some shitload of other stuff.

Well, meet 2008, same shit as 2007...only with added terrorists and expensive petrol.

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Might buy an old, Iron blocked american V8...preferable in the 7 litre capacity range, the kind with the Carburretor on top, and the loud noise out the back. Import it, and pay no road tax, as I can claim it will run on alcohol based biofuels. I will receive Vehicle registration tax rebate, because I can run it, with zero modification, on E85. Hell, even the E85 fuel will be cheaper, as it's not taxed as much as regular petrol or diesel.

Best of all, I can gun it past a Prius and know, my planet-raping V8 monster machine is technically greener than that leaf kissing fag-mobile, when production CO2, and overall cycles are accounted for.

That's not mentioning the cheap insurance, due to it being a classic car, and the general allround coolness of it. Add to the fact, it'll still butrap a Subaru off the line, even it it'll hate corners like cats hate water.

Now, I just need about thirty grand for the Plymouth Roadrunner I had my eye on...

Therein, lies the problem.

Could I pick up a 1980's Camaro IROC-style for about five grand, and import it perhaps?

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I made the smallest of starts on my original story... It's going under the working titel of Oro, which comes from the title of a traditional song Oro se do Bheatha Abhaile. In Irish, this means 'you are welcome home'. I think..something to do with coming home anyway.

It fits the central idea, which is a journey back to Earth, a century after a mysterious disaster decimated humanity and forced mankind to live on a set of half finished colonies scattered through the solar system.

Of course, we have the traditional motley crew of privateers, who through a rather unfortunate act of kindness, get roped into things bigger than they could possibly imagine. 

Actually started life as an NGE fanfic....

Of course, somebody mentioned a link with Firefly, and the suggestion that I don't watch it until I've finished... of course, what do I do but hop out and buy Serenity to see what the fuss is about. Talk about 'Don't think about a Blue horse'... which I can guarantee you just thought about.

Well, it's not entirely the same....

For one thing, the Icarus is a big, old ship, with a lot of empty space. A legacy of the Golden Age, she, and her class, were built to establish and supply the first Colonies on Mars and Venus, so they have a massive heavy lift and/or passenger capacity. Think 'flying Tramp steamer' with a self defence armament. Of course, with only eight crew, and a lot of automation, there's going to be a lot of lonely spaces aboard....

Also, it may be clear I've been watching a lot of Deadliest Catch lately...

Government, is Fedaral based, with a Spaceguard acting as the General Policeforce. Think, Coastguard for that, aswell as the Irsh police force, which are informally known as the Guards  (Actually Garda Siochana= Guardians of Peace). Something like the US, with most colonies self governing to a certain degree.

I'm looking at Martian, Venusian, Moons of Jupiter and Saturn, and perhaps Mercury for the time being. Mars and Venus are partially terraformed, with the Mars project being almost complete, and the Venus project being abandoned after only a short beginning.

Actually got some cool ideas for this... though not all may be quite realiseable. 

I might have the world, but I'm still working on the characters to fill it... 

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Finally... It's snowing over here, and my sinuses feel like somebody parked a truck on them. Uniflu is the greatest single cold remedy though. I recommend it thouroughly. I don't recommend letting your dog out for a shite, and accidentally locking yourself out in the process.

 -Dartz