Cuppa Joe

March 13th, 2004 by

I got Java working! I got Java working!

It was probably working all along, but my dumb self just couldn’t see it. In light of this new development, I’ve decided to write my life program in Java, because it’s easier. And I should really focus on one thing before I move on to another i.e. learn Java well before learning C++. I don’t like the way C++ does OOP either. Not that I’m any expert on the subject…

The SP (which I’ve decided against leaving) have also asked me to write a database program for them. My mission, should I choose to accept it, is to write a program which will keep track of their newspaper subscriptions, print labels for envelopes, and remind the user when subs are up for renewal. I’m not sure I’m going to do it yet (or if I can) but it’s tempting. I’ll definitely do this one in Java, possibly storing the data in XML format, since Java has classes for reading and writing XML, and it won’t exactly need a huge, industrial-strength database. But if I can find something already written that’ll do everything they need, I’ll just point them to that.

Posted in Projects and ideas | 200 Comments »

Lawsuit

March 11th, 2004 by

My former employer is being sued by some drunken eejit who cut her finger (it’s a nightclub, lots of broken glass). I was involved. I gave her a plaster, and when that didn’t do any good, somebody else came and dealt with her. I never saw her again. But for some reason I keep getting phone calls asking me to describe what happened, and what she looks like, and did I see what happened, and where it happened… but I don’t know shit. Now I have to meet up with some guy, an “adjuster” I think he’s called and tell him the whole horrible story, and hopefully that’ll be the end of it.

Posted in \"Real\" Life | 75 Comments »

Ciarrai

March 9th, 2004 by

I went to Kerry at the weekend. Twas sweeet. Ate well. Drank some. Jumped in and out of the sea. Walked on a couple of beaches. Read “Count Zero” by William Gibson. It wasn’t half as good as Neuromancer, and somewhat difficult to understand, but I liked it. I think I even got it. A good weekend.

Posted in \"Real\" Life | 219 Comments »

Game of Life

March 3rd, 2004 by

I’ve decided to write a program. It’s not a very exciting or ambitious program, it’s not technically complex or conceptually interesting, but it’s a program nonetheless. I’m finally starting to put into practice my realization that if I want to get anywhere in anything I do, I have to lower my sights and start simple.

So this program is going to implement the life algorithm which I discovered in the appendix of a book called “God and the new physics”. It’s designed to show how behaviour can emerge from a system which operates according to only a few basic, well-defined rules. I’ll be writing it in C++, although I should probably write it in Java. Maybe I’ll do both, and throw Python into the mix for good measure. Should be a blast.

Posted in Projects and ideas | 80 Comments »

Bored yet?

March 1st, 2004 by

I went war-walking in Galway this weekend. The great southern hotel on Eyre square appears to have at least 4 Eircom access points. I found two other networks, one generic, the other belonging to galwaywan.org. I didn’t even know there was a wireless WAN in Galway, but they have an access point in the middle of town!

Posted in Computers | 8 Comments »

Justified

February 26th, 2004 by

Another member of the socialist party voiced doubts to me today, although his reasons were somewhat different from mine. I’m moving towards a less ideology based, but still socialist conception of politics, he’s leaning more towards a liberal-left position because of what he’s been learning on his course. He no longer sees the need or inevitability of revolution. I would still hold that revolution is the only permanent and acceptable solution to the worlds problems, I just see a different way of bringing it about than the SP.

Posted in Politics | 6 Comments »

Oops, sorry!

February 24th, 2004 by

I’m a member of the socialist party, but increasingly I’m starting to think that I’m just not a marxist. To some extent it’s because I think that power structures are inherently a bad thing. Any member of the SP would tell you that it’s a democratic organization, and in many ways it is, but only within the party itself, with little hope that it will ever allow democracy to conflict with its ideology. Which brings me to my second point, which concerns the limits that ideology places on everything. The left is made up of a myriad of conflicting ideologys and movements, just as our society and culture is, but even with that conflict there are common goals and complimentary actions, which are often hindered by dogma and ideology. The SP has one goal: to build the party in preperation for an eventual revolution (taken to be inevitable). In pursuing this goal they frown upon all ideas and action which don’t fit neatly with their own. They don’t seek to empower people in a general way, or build structures and resources which will, they don’t seek to build democratic alternatives to the cultural and societal systems that oppress us at the moment.

They do do some good work, especially with some of the poorest sections of society, but their tactics and ideas are uninspiring and outdated. Besides, how can I be involved with a group that has such a crappy website?

Posted in Politics | 3 Comments »

More wireless card promiscuity

February 24th, 2004 by

I went shopping for my moms birthday present today, and as I went I once again had my laptop sniffing for wireless networks. I passed the two I found the last day. One of them is on patricks st, around roches and Brown thomas, the other is definitely just at macd’s on winthrop street. I still don’t know exactly where they are though.

I also found a new network: Caseys ground floor. I don’t know what Casey’s is, but it’s on Oliver Plunkett street near an Brog, or in the Grafton Mall. I’m regretting not sitting down in the Grafton mall and seeing what I could learn, but there you go. I’m shy about using technology in public :(

Posted in Computers | 2 Comments »

Dirty ol mess

February 24th, 2004 by

What a piece of crap! Ah well, it can stay like that until tomorrow.

Posted in Projects and ideas | No Comments »

Dagnabbit

February 23rd, 2004 by

The new layout works in internet explorer, but not in mozilla… Feck.

Feck more: I have an assignment to do for my Internet Computing class. Either a profile of a companies online presence, or a guide for new students to UCC. I don’t really like either of those, and it’ll take up all my time. I guess I’ll have to start doing some actual work. Maybe if I’m allowed do a not-for-profit it’ll be ok.

Posted in Projects and ideas | 2 Comments »

Sweet smell of victory

February 22nd, 2004 by

Success! Although the Bodega was too busy for me to stay and read/surf the net etc., the minute I walked up to the door my network found sound started playing. Every other cafe I went to was also too busy, or closed, but on my search I found two more networks, “ANY” and “Wireless”. And they don’t use WEP. One of them was definitely on Winthrop street, just before macdonalds, the other was somewhere close to that, either on Patricks street, Winthrop street or Oliver Plunkett street. I think next time I’ll go war-cycling, and during the day when I can find somewhere to whip out my laptop and see what I can do.

Here’s the log file:

Kismet-Feb-22-2004-2.network:

Network 1: “bitbuzz” BSSID: “00:02:6F:06:12:.D1″
Channel : 00
WEP : “No”
LLC : 232
Data : 0
Crypt : 0
Weak : 0
Total : 232
First : “Sun Feb 22 18:39:40 2004″
Last : “Sun Feb 22 18:40:49 2004″

Network 2: “ANY” BSSID: “00:09:5B:3F:EA:12″
Channel : 00
WEP : “No”
LLC : 2
Data : 0
Crypt : 0
Weak : 0
Total : 2
First : “Sun Feb 22 18:46:26 2004″
Last : “Sun Feb 22 18:46:33 2004″

Network 3: “Wireless” BSSID: “00:09:5B:3F:EA:9B”
Channel : 00
WEP : “No”
LLC : 14
Data : 0
Crypt : 0
Weak : 0
Total : 14
First : “Sun Feb 22 18:46:50 2004″
Last : “Sun Feb 22 18:47:14 2004″

Posted in Projects and ideas | 81 Comments »

The first wardrive

February 22nd, 2004 by

I just reconfigured kismet to use sounds. Later I’m going to restart apmd with different options so the computer won’t sleep when I close the lid, start up kismet, plug in the headphones and wander off into the sunset…

No, I have to make sure everything works first, so I’m just going to go straight to the bodega where I already know there’s a wireless AP. If I make it in one piece I’ll post from there.

Over & out.

Posted in Projects and ideas | 1 Comment »

Unreason

February 22nd, 2004 by

For some reason, I really wanted to run into Nolina tonight. I’ve been expecting it to happen for a while now, and I just want to get it over with. I thought it was her that made that dork comment, but the ip was from the states, so it was either a stranger or one of her friends from home.

Posted in \"Real\" Life | No Comments »

Arabian drunken nights

February 22nd, 2004 by

It’s great coming home at 3 in the morning, drunk and thankfully womanless, knowing that you’ve a whole day to yourself the next day. nobody’s going to fuck with me tomorrow. I’m going to study economics, read “In defense of the October revolution”, finish “no logo”, learn some C++, write some poetry, write some prose, do my washing, do some shopping, buy milk, play some guitar, get started on this website…

Ah bollocks. How do people find the time? It seems like everybody has the time to do the shit they want to do and then some, except me. I won’t get half of that shit done tomorrow, even if I stay at home all day, and if I don’t go to the gym with my flatmate Kris, I’ll end up in the bodega drinking tea. Well, I should go there anyway. I’ll get half the other shit done trying to look intellectual :)

Posted in \"Real\" Life | 7 Comments »

Ima gonna do it

February 21st, 2004 by

I’m going to do something with this site, yes I am. I even did up an image to put at the top:

Whatever else gets done we’ll just have to wait and see how lazy or “busy” I am. I also registered a dot.tk domain, randomhuman.tk to point to here. It’ll take me a while to get my head around the html (I’m considering a major overhaul) but hopefully it’ll be worth it.

Posted in Computers | 6 Comments »

Woo boy!

January 21st, 2004 by

It’s all gone pear-shaped. Life could not be more fucked up than it is right now. And yet… I suspect that how great it was recently was just an illusion. No, that’s not true. It’s been real. Fucked up. Painful. Intense. But real. Maybe I even learned something.

Ha ha, I’m not going to explain. Suckers.

I’m fighting sleep right now. When it gets to 7:15 and you’ve to be up by 7:45 to get ready for your second programming lecture of the year, there’s really no point. On the other hand, I already know what it’s going to be about. I already understand the concepts of objects and classes (yawn).

Oh goodnight.

Posted in General | 432 Comments »

Guess who…

January 3rd, 2004 by

It’s been a while. I was busy with college. Christmas was shit. New years was worse. Soon I’ll be back in Cork though, and everything will be ok… Strange how it feels like home. I don’t feel like I can do anything in Galway. I don’t do much of interest in Cork, but the possibilities are there.

My projects for the new year include quitting smoking (lies, all lies), getting a decent job that’s not too much work, saving for the summer and connecting to the Cork wireless network. They’re all going to be quite tricky. I also get to set up linux on my girlfriends new computer and teach her how to use it. That one will be fun and easy. If I actually do quit smoking I might join the orienteering club in the college as well. I used to enjoy that. I’d even go so far as to say I miss it.

Ah yes, starting to feel better again already. Tomorrow I’ll be back in Cork, Tuesday I’ll see my girlfriend and then I’ll be back on track. This year might even turn out ok.

Posted in General | 77 Comments »

I didn’t have experience, I h …

November 26th, 2003 by

I didn’t have experience, I had education. Other people lived, I was processed. Ok, ok, I exaggerate. Life is a wonderful happy shiny thing.

Posted in General | 229 Comments »

Life and writing and computers

November 19th, 2003 by

Sometimes life gets in the way of computers. Periodically I lock myself in my room for a month and do nothing but tinker with my computers. I only emerge when I get really stuck on something, get fed up, or start thinking that maybe I should be doing something better with my time. I enjoy it, despite the bleary eyes and throbbing head, despite not being able to relate to anybody afterwards, I just wish I had something useful and productive I could actually do with my skills.

I still have to do it though, even if I never achieve anything with it. I have to reassure myself that there’s something, one tiny little thing in this world that I have a hope of understanding. It’s like a drug the way it alters my conciousness and personality. The world melts away. Politics don’t matter. Friends don’t matter. Life doesn’t matter. When I wrote BASIC I used to dream in code. Maybe this is the escape I’m always trying to find somewhere else…

Writing has a similar, but subtley different effect on me. When I’m messing with computers, all my problems and depressing thoughts kind of fade into the background, but when I’m done they come back with a vengeance. When I write, I’m letting the shit out, so I can move on. It gives me the same feeling, but for a different reason. That must be why I’m such a damn perfectionist and never actually write anything, if I get it wrong it’ll ruin everything.

I think I need both.

Posted in General | 1,039 Comments »

Idirline

November 14th, 2003 by

Oh yeah, I got an internet connection! I thought I was going to have trouble setting it up because the instructions were only for windows, naturally, but it was actually easy as pie. It’s ADSL. It’s faster than anything I’ve ever seen before. I did a dist-upgrade with apt-get, and I was getting download speeds between 70 and 100 kb/s! Muahahaha… I’m in heaven. It’s going to be horrible when I go to Galway this weekend though, and when I move into a house next year.

Posted in Computers | 1 Comment »

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