Commie Pinko Bastard

devolve_absolve @ 2009-12-18T13:16:00

2009-12-18T00:15:56Z

I didn't mention this before but I'm one of 5 STs build a nWoD Mage the Awakening LARP for Auckland. I'm Nefandi ST - yes, Nefandi is a nickname for Scelesti, no we aren't sticking to the established story. It's a four faction game - Pentacle, Seers, Banishers, and Nefandi, all modified slightly or with groups that are prone to cooperation for the greater good. Should be loltastic.

devolve_absolve @ 2009-11-18T14:48:00

2009-11-18T01:48:32Z

I am quite annoyed that PHP doesn't allow for true OO programming. I can't even delare alternate method signatures! One constructor per class only! Dear God, whatever will I do?!

devolve_absolve @ 2009-11-15T22:50:00

2009-11-15T09:50:00Z

Final exam for the year tomorrow, Computer Architecture, 3 hours instead of the typical 2 hours for CompSci, and with a one A4 page, double-sided, hand written note sheet allowed. Thankfully my previous exams on Data Communications and Operating Systems have given me insight in to parallel systems and OS/Architecture interaction respectively. Then it's two months off until Summer School when I investigate taking up an English degree to follow on from CompSci, which I HOPE to finish next semester.

And, perhaps more importantly, I can finish Dragon Age, start KotOR II, and burn through my Blood Bowl campaign. Huzzah for gaming time.

devolve_absolve @ 2009-11-06T15:02:00

2009-11-06T02:03:09Z

Man, I wish I was as hardcore as Hone Harawira

Oh wait, I am! Kill whitey! Kill whitey! Kill whitey!

devolve_absolve @ 2009-10-25T07:08:00

2009-10-24T18:10:12Z

So despite all the shiney gubbinz and dvds around yesterday, I managed to restrain myself quite well and went only 200% over my tiny budget to purchase the Ergo Proxy collection. Came oh so close to getting Black Lagoon as well, but that'd make my ISP and web hosting provider quite angry with me, I imagine.

devolve_absolve @ 2009-10-23T20:14:00

2009-10-23T07:14:49Z

So I'm gonna be at Armageddon all weekend teaching Magic: The Gathering to newfags and wannabe geeks. It shall be exceptionally loltastic.

devolve_absolve @ 2009-10-05T19:42:00

2009-10-05T06:45:09Z

So been digging for music;

Deathstars - Gothy industrial, pretty good if you're in to that sort of big drums, Type O Negative meets Manson style.
Samael - Fucking bad ass Industrial/Black.
Shadow's Fall - Their new album, Retribution, is quite fucking good.
Scar Symmetry - New vocalists, new album, and it's growing on me despite the clean vocals not having the same level of impact as they did with Alvestam in the band.
Dream Theater - I don't generally do Progressive, but I gave it a shot, along with giving Opeth another try, and I'm quite pleased.

Any other suggestions?

That is all.

devolve_absolve @ 2009-09-30T15:28:00

2009-09-30T02:32:54Z

Good God, C is a truly horrendous language to try and program in when you've used Java/C#/C++/PHP (you know, ones that are somewhat nice) for the past year and a bit.

Global Warming Sing-along Edition

2009-09-05T08:03:00Z

The sky is falling, the end is here, the final warning, the sun disappears.

devolve_absolve @ 2009-07-10T12:53:00

2009-07-10T00:54:09Z

Tonight I make mulled wine for absolutely no reason than I feel like it and I have a stupid amount of RPG writing to do.

So, I know some of you have recipes in your heads. Hit me with them. You have about 5 hours starting... now!

Perfection.

2009-07-09T13:52:47Z

http://www.hell-hotel.com/2009/06/19/awalia/

One of the funniest comics I've read in a long time.

devolve_absolve @ 2009-06-13T21:31:00

2009-06-13T09:32:08Z

*points at All Blacks*
*laughs fucking head off*

Oh man, I needed a lolz like that.

devolve_absolve @ 2009-06-12T16:25:00

2009-06-12T04:31:44Z

Things that have been happening;

Exam season. First one is tomorrow morning. It's Compsci 220, which may as well be called "Algorithm Analysis - It's gonna fuck you up real good". I'm going to fail the paper regardless of how well I do in the exam (I failed to hand in 2/3 assignments due to illness, and I need to pass the assignments overall). Still, gonna learn what I can and sit the exam to get a D and not another DNC (though I already have 9 thanks to fucking around 8 years ago).

To further compound the issue, I am ill. It started off as what I thought was a cold and now, 8 days fucking later, has degenerated in to intense congestion, restricted breathing, and heavy coughing bursts. I'm inclined towards bronchitis of some form at this stage (I've had it numerous times in the past) and I may be a little asthmatic given some events in my past, not to mention my failed genetics. So I can't think overly straight right now either.

The good news is that the two exams I DO give a shit about (CS 373 - Graphics and Image Processing, and Physics 140 - Digital Fundamentals, which I need for next semester) are both going fine. I need something stupid like 23% to pass Physics, which I'll get through knowledge of binary alone. CS 373 I sit on 22.51% completed out of a possible 32.5%, still awaiting 12.5% worth of rather excellent assignment working that I've done to come in. Should be looking at needing only 20% or less to pass the paper. And the third stage one is entirely multichoice, hurrah!

devolve_absolve @ 2009-05-27T19:28:00

2009-05-27T07:29:00Z

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2448498/Mauled-man-known-as-Uncle-Dalu

They shot the fucking Tiger? What the cunting FUCK?!

devolve_absolve @ 2009-05-17T20:01:00

2009-05-17T08:01:50Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa7ck5mcd1o

The perfect movie! Lorenzo Lamas! WOO!

devolve_absolve @ 2009-05-07T20:11:00

2009-05-07T08:11:42Z

I do believe I am somewhat in love with Visual Studio.

devolve_absolve @ 2009-04-26T10:45:00

2009-04-25T22:46:37Z

Image processing... is evil. Truly evil. I need to implement a GUI that will load and save images. I then need to apply either filters, histograms, and crap like that. It wouldn't be so bad if only I could get past the bloody GUI crap. I can build them in Java, but we need to use either C, C++, or C#. My lecturer, he needs murdering.

devolve_absolve @ 2009-04-07T22:37:00

2009-04-07T10:39:23Z

Most cops want drinking age raised

Old enough to fight for your nation.
Old enough to vote for your leaders.
Old enough to uphold your law.
Old enough to be tried as an adult.
Old enough to marry.
Not old enough to drink.

Non-formal logical fail.

devolve_absolve @ 2009-04-05T07:31:00

2009-04-04T19:31:45Z

devolve_absolve @ 2009-03-13T16:42:00

2009-03-13T03:51:07Z

Just so y'all know, I totally wrote off my car last week. It was strangely exhilirating.

Anyway, been music hunting again, and damn it's getting hard. I'm trying to find more melodic metal. Scar Symmetry is my latest addition, but despite digging I'm coming up with nothing now. Hell, the last groups I really found before this were Mnemic and Katatonia some 12-15 months ago. There are too many super-fast "scream like you lost a pair" groups out there. I'm not after fast, I'm just after good. It probably doesn't help that I really do like my grinding rhythm lines. It's really fucking annoying.

devolve_absolve @ 2009-02-10T07:22:00

2009-02-09T18:23:50Z

This is a house in mourning. My parent's three-legged kitten Skoda escaped out the front in the night and was hit by a car. They're both in breakdown. This is the second animal they've held so very close who has been killed due to misfortune or accident and it's hitting them both hard.

devolve_absolve @ 2009-01-25T16:18:00

2009-01-25T03:24:44Z

So any views on the shooting of a 17 year old by cops on the Auckland motorway?

Or should I say, any views on the death of a 17 year old on the Auckland motorway during a gunfight between an armed offender and police?

It's a subtle difference. Naturally the family of the slain man are pointing their fingers at the cops and blaming them. However I have to wonder - stopping in the middle of the motorway with a sawn-off rifle and attempting to hi-jack another vehicle after firing at police during a chase through central suburbs... surely the man posed a very real and dangerous threat to the public? I sympathise with the death of an innocent, but I can't blame the police either. This is one of the tragedies of armed people acting like cunts and the cops having to react. If they didn't react, we could have had another another Karl Kuchenbecker situation where a person was slain because the cops held back. Then the bacon-bites would be in the line of fire for that too.

This, to me, looks like one of the few clear-cut times when an armed response was absolutely necessary. Five shots were fired by police and we don't even know if the guy was killed by a richochet or a straight shot.

Now I sit back to wait and see how the lobbyists respond.

devolve_absolve @ 2009-01-19T22:39:00

2009-01-19T09:44:04Z

So I did about a weeks worth of AJAX work for a job I was meant to have done by tomorrow. For those who don't know, AJAX is Asynchronous Javascript And XML. It is the use of XMLHTTP headers to bounce information from one static server-side page to a client-side script which then processes another server-side script and feeds the information back to the first. Long story short, it lets you check databases on the fly without refreshing a page. It's quite excellent for error checking and ensuring consistent entry fields. And yes, it was a pain in the arse to learn from scratch (I started last Sunday).

So I upload it to the live site last night - it fucks up. Royally. I have a mental breakdown, drink some scotch, and go to bed by 10pm. This morning, I jump on Google and, 4 hours later, find out why. So I then I need to spend another 2 hours relearning both AJAX and MooTools so I can work within the framework I didn't even know existed. It's now 10:43pm, and while things are working, I fear my nightmare is just beginning.

MooTools, however, is quite fucking awesome.

devolve_absolve @ 2009-01-14T11:53:00

2009-01-13T22:58:35Z

Rental firm defiant on billing victim's parents

Now this is interesting. First of all, the emotive headline - "billing victim's parents". While it can be noted that this is a tragedy and that under one definition these two individuals were victims, they are not victims of a crime, only their own stupidity. Let's face it; walking past safety barriers in to a well-documented, highly volatile glacial zone is really idiotic. It's hard to think of them as victims when you classify folks who get mugged in the city as being in the same group.

There is an interesting comment in the comments section too - The towing company didn't waive their fees. The key production comapny didn't waive their fees. These are the fees being passed along, charges from other businesses. Can you blame the guy for passing that down the line? I don't blame my employers for taking tax from my paycheck, I point at Inland Revenue instead. That's the source of the issue.

We also have to weigh up whether it is fair for a business to take a substantial hit because of another's loss. Compassion is one thing, and the guy already waived late fees (something that he CAN wipe away). Should he give them back their money for the initial hire as well? He makes a valid point - emotional blackmail isn't fucking cool

devolve_absolve @ 2009-01-12T11:31:00

2009-01-11T22:31:57Z

You know you're a web geek when this;

http://www.webdesignerwall.com/tutorials/css-gradient-text-effect/

makes you exclaim, quite loudly, "Fuck, that's cool!" Simple too, astonishingly so. I need to play around with layering like that some more.