A ROFL moment

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Many a time I’ve seen a Pack of Root beer come with a broken can or sticky where one had broken in another package. Rough handling from truck to stocking shelves I’ve always figured.

I was carrying a plate into the kitchen when some thing fell. I heard a clatter and saw a spray of some thing cross the cabinets. When I flicked on the lights and saw what must have happened, I nearly keeled over laughing.

The falling knife sliced open a can of root beer, through the packaging and it’s a knife that would barely cut butter!!!!!!!!

On closer inspection I found that the position of the knife on the deck indicated it’s most probable trajectories would’ve had the tip-area of the blade strike the root beer carton. The piece of box was cut through and when I removed the can it spewed root beer all over and I found that the can had been cut through! It’s only a milimetre or so thick at the most I’d say. But most Soda cans are made of Aluminum in the USA, while most canned food cans are Steel and some Tin. The knife hit it with enough force for total penetration.

Now if it was a good knife I could understand, no problem but come on. These knifes are probably older then I am. So, I’m 19 and we’ve had them as far back as I can remember. So they’ve got to be at least 15 years old, minimal. They cut food fine, if you work at it enough and it’s not to thick. These are the kind of knife, you like to have for safety. :/ My moms had numerous accidents over the decade where a *good* knife would’ve taken most of her finger, maybe even cut down to the bone. But because she was using *these* dinner knifes, she always managed to get away without even a CUT ! Even me, I’ve dropped them and had them land on my toes -> Not even a scratch!!

Yet with a little bit of Gravity and what not, it packed enough force to CUT through the box (1.5~2mmm thick), through the can, totally gashing open a slit in one side of the can. And the Root Beer had enough force to spray out of the can, box, and a foot (~0.4m?) across the room till it finally hit some thing solid.

You’d probably have to have been there to find it funny, but I was having a real Rolling On The Floor Laughing My Freaking Butt Off (ROFLMFBO) moment!!! I’ve been around these knifes most of my life and have had canned soft drinks like forever. I was laughing so hard my mom was even cracking up at the site of it.

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Hmmm, I new problem to deal with.

I’ve finnally gotten my favorite radio station in this burg to play on my laptop (PC-BSD). The ketch is to do it I’ve got to use an URL in konqueror to launch the window, basically what I do in IE7 and it works the same way. Other then it’s a kaffine plugin rather then Windows Media Player.

The problem is I have to toy with kmix and adjust the sound systems volume to tune it. With the WMP Plugin it’s as easy as sliding the volume switch.

Bloody heck, trying to post this has taken hours….. Trying to get any thing done in this house is very VERY hard unless every one else is sound asleep… which means no sleep fo rme.

Thursdays are always a pain

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Well, even now that I’m not working usual hours on Thursdays… they are still nightmares. Most of the days been a collection of minor disasters of one sort or another.

I’ve managed to actually get two things done today… Just two worth noting.

Working on controlled pairs w/ the G3A3 in RvS, dealing with multiple targets, and my favorite. A quick double tap followed by a follow up to the head/neck to make sure they go down for good. The over riding rule I have in ammunition usage, is I keep firing till I can confirm the targets out of the picture. The first 2 rounds might get him, but I have no problem with firing a 3rd or 4th before they hit the ground. It might be a waste of ammo but if I’m not sure they are neutralised after my normal 2-3rnd burst. I’m shooting the target again! Just the same with multiple targets, Find the most threatening target, hit it, find the next, hit it. Rinse and repeat and keep firing till all targets are down or I’m wishing the game allowed me to throw the rifle at the tango ! I think having to deal with 2 or 3 tangos at once is important. You don’t really have time to make sure you kill any one on the first solvo…. I remember in F.E.A.R. I was pissed at always getting shot at by a bunch of Replicas trying to set up an Ambush. So when I started taking fire, I had enough of that crap. Grabbed my scattergun and came blitz’ing around the corner in Slow-Mo mode. Plugged one Replica with a shell, cycled over to the next and missed. Put a nice hole in the wall :/, no time to argue so I cycled back to the first with another shell as he dropped to the ground (kia) Cycled back to the second Replica again, took him down with a shot to stagger him as I dropped out of ‘Slow-mo’ mode. Then leaped into a nice Round-House that smashed the Replica’s skull on a near ledge in a very awkward way for a Video Game. A crazy and foolish assault but the game made for an interesting chance to engage multiple targets.

Also,

def edit_file( editor=nil, file=nil )

  unless editor
    if Platform::OS == :win32
      #We need to dig in to the registry later
      system( "notepad #{file}" )
    elsif Platform::OS == :unix
      if ENV['EDITOR']
        system( "#{ENV['EDITOR']} #{file}" )
      else
        system( "vi #{file}" )
      end
    end
  else
    system( "#{editor} #{file}" )
  end

end

I got to finish solving a little problem. How to figure out what OS the program is running on in order to adopt, e.g. notepad or vi as an editor of last resort. The Platform module from rubyforge gives us a decent way of finding out if it’s a Windows or Unix based system. I don’t have any access to a Mac… so oh well. :S

Later when I’ve got time, I want to see about pulling the systems default editor for .txt files from the registry, since $EDITOR is not useful on Windows NT. The snippet also shows some thing I really like about Ruby, the unless statement.

# For example, Ruby
unless 5 < 4
  puts '5 is more then 4'
end


/* and in C which has no unless statement */
if ( !5 < 4 ) {
        printf( "5 is more then 4" )
}

while I’ve never cared much for the if ( !expr ) bit in C, I learned to read it fine. In what reminds me of Perl, you can also do a bit of < code > unless expr on one line if you want in Ruby. What I like about the idea of an unless and until statement, is unlike if (!expr) and while (!expr), after a shit load of reading. It’s a little harder to miss the difference when it’s not dependent on seeing the ‘!’. One reason why I use parentheses the way I do, is I’ve found it much easier on the eyes. When I do have enough time. I find my self reading a lot, so when I’m half asleep and I’m trying to remember what I read 2,000 lines ago. It’s pretty dang easy to foul up and have to wait on the compiler to scream. I’m not lucky enough to be able to have both time to read code and to sleep… lol. I remember I once spent like a half hour trying to fix a program that wouldn’t build. The whole dang problem? Was just a comma instead of a period, some_struct,member instead of some_struct.member and after 3 or 4 hours of non stop working… I couldn’t tell the difference between the , and . with my font and tied eyes.

So needless to say, I like to keep in mind that I may not be functioning in a stable frame of mind when I do things. The less I can leave for my self to fuck up, the less I have to smack my self upside the head for not seeing in the first place.

While I’ve never claimed to be decent at it, C is my strongest language. There’s just some thing about C that gets me, like the ultimate balance to my tastes. With Ruby, I’ve found that the pace it allows me to maintain is to good to pass up. Just being able to open a new tab with irb in it; for testing short bits of code. Is so much faster then opening a new tab, writing a scratch file, compiling it, and screwing with it till it works. Before finally adopting it to make use of it in what ever I’m working on. I think theres actually an interceptor for C but I’ve never tried any thing but a compiler.

I’m used to C style syntax, I started learning with C++, not really a good choice but it worked. Java and Perl are pretty similar in the basics. When I found C, I fell in love :/ so I’m pretty used to the idea of having to deal with things when I have to. I know crap about PHP but it’s close enough to the languages I do know that I can get along ok. In Ruby the syntax is very different but it’s kind of nice. You even have the choice of { … } or do … end, I usually use do and end because I feel they fit in well with the syntactic style (imho).

When ever I write some thing, if it’s not short or a quickie I’ll never need again. I try to keep a few things in mind.

  1. That I know what the hell I did, when I haven’t worked on it closely in weeks or months
  2. That it’s fairly easy to understand whats happening
  3. That after you read it, you’ll probably get the jist of how it works. And hopefully what it does by reading the comments

I really hate when I start reading a function and it’s so deep. by the time I get to the functions ending ‘}’ I can’t even remember what the hell it was named — I’ve never written a routine that fat!! lol. When I can, I like things to fit on a screen/screen and a half’ish for what I need to see. If I can’t keep the routine down to a manageable size. I’ll usually write other functions in the module just to help it do it’s job. I’d rather follow the line of execution to another function to make a change, then have like another 40 lines to scroll past in search of it. Most of the personal conventions I have, are ether to make my self clear yet efficient without making it easy for me to screw up. I believe source code is meant to be read by humans and run by machines, in that order. If I think it makes it easier on the reader without much cost, I’ll do it. Thats probably why when I work on some thing, I do it in stages. I make a prototype and some test pieces, I learn from that. Then I adopt and apply it to the main section. Once it’s done and doing what I want it to do. I try to go back over it and see if I can improve its quality.

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I’ve got such a monster live op planned, the only problem is finding the right day or weekend to do it. We’ve got three maps, a Hostage Rescue, Mission, and Mission.

I had origenally begun planning this op last year. I was thinking, wouldn’t it be interesting if the we had to respond to a local attack. So I found a nice MOUT map, we could use the scenario very well. It’s a large urban complex where you really have to watch your back, using bangs, frags, smoke, gas, and claymores are good ideas. The hostages are not to hard but staying alive is. The little subway station is pretty crappy… but well enough for the live op.

Then I tried to think about how I could create a string of related live operations from it. While still trying to figure out where my first map would take place I cooked up a plan. The [SAS] would travel to Russia in search of intelligence. Which would in turn lead them to find proof of the terrorist actions, and end in a show down.

I found a nice snowbase map with a mission that supported what I needed. A military/terrorist base like map, with a laptop computer to bug. The mission also had lots of crates and hostages hidden around. So Live Operation Arctic Recon was born. Random lead the covert op, laptop was bugged but the owner was no where to be found. The team placed a tracking device in a weapons crate and extracted… When Wiz heard voices in a locker room, the Element came in for a dynamic assault. All went well, one hostage safe, two tangos down, and Wiz killed a second hostage %_%.

As a stop gap, I cooked up an hostage rescue mission using another old Rainbow Six map. Where the [SAS] had to deal with some really pissed off IRA guys that just bungled a bank robbery for funds. They took so freaking long to get ready, I added a condition that the Terrorists would execute a hostage every 5 minutes starting ‘now’, came and gone, several hostages down. But after the rest of his Element was cut down, Miles of the Blue Team stormed the complex and saved the day.

I had found a nice map with a mission with a huge fortress of a map. The Live Op? Prince Charles was kidnapped and the [SAS] gets first crack at the rescue. I hope the op gets done sooon. Should the [SAS] team fail, well an Element of the Royal Protection Squad made up of old school [SAS] Members will suddenly appear out of no where and save the day. Valroe has furnished me with after-action report attachments for both cases, hope we complete this op hehe ^_^

I came up with a nice recon mission, I think the real SAS did some similar ops during the unpleasantness with the IRA. The team was ordered to recon a warehouse, mark weapon caches with GPS Bombs (tracking devices included) and leave un detected. The bombs would be blown via remote once the destinations were known. They also had to bring back any intel they could find, I think they nabbed 5/6 docs.

After playing the map with (C)The_Baroness, (C)Destro, and Grishenko one night I hashed out a live op. The Team would go to Bavaria to knock out an Arms dealer. The guys found so many docs on the last map, it was just too good to pass up. Besides I know the [SAS] Members love to C4 things xD

The final live op, is a monster. Three missions where the [SAS] has been called upon to launch a counter attack and push the terrorists off the map.

Operation Vengeance (RvS) Mission Objectives:

Map #1 — Vipers Edge
1. Neutralise all terrorists
2. Secure the subway station
3. Prevent bomb detonations
4. Prevent civilian casualties.

Map #2 — Leviathans
1. Secure the area
2. Laser designate enemy stronghold
3. Reach the extraction point

Map #3 — Dragons fury
1. Prevent bomb detonations
2. Eliminate the Terrorist Leader
3. Reach the LZ and signal for extraction
4. Neutralise all threats (Optional)

The first map I think will be pretty easy as long as they don’t get killed. The second has a little trick to it. The Element will have a good chance to go above and beyond the call of duty. There will be an optional objective and a secret objective *muhauahuaha*. The last operation is not to hard if you can avoid getting killed getting across the map but I expect the ‘secret’ objective and harsh time limit will cause the Element to fail the op, at least if they take the Optional objective.

Only one of these maps has enough that I intend to allow them to do some pre-planning, a short 10-15 minutes. There won’t be time to sit back and have a beer over the briefing. The guys playing this live op will have to dog it through 3 tough maps, destroy the enemy which is estimated to be company size in strength, well armed, on alert and ready to shoot at the drop of a pin. And they have to do it QUICKLY, regular forces get stuck with a mopping up action at best hehe #_#

Not to mention several secret objectives and optional objectives that will effect the mission outcome. This is a huge live op, 3 maps in one op… One day to do it.

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I don’t know why…. but some how every time I start looking at web browsers. Lynx just keeps coming up as #1.

Lynx seems to be able to give me every thing I could possibly want out of my browser. Except for Tabbed Browsing, the options of Images, and most importantly… being able to lay out a page decently !

Links does a much better job on laying pages but I’m more comfortable with Lynx, dang I wish I had time to see what trying to create a new browser based on the Links and Lynx code bases would result in :/

Netscape navigator 9 I like a lot but it’s just too bloody slow.

Firefox 2 I can’t stand, it’s crap as far as I’m concerned… Hopefully 3.x will rock.

I like Seamonkey but since I use only webmail now, theres no need for it when theres Firefox and Navigator.

Opera I like a lot, it’s got a few rough edges but it’s one of the best browsers I’ve ever used. I’ve got to reinstall it on my desktop, keeps crashing…. never had that problem before. It’s nice enough to ask to restore my session on the next run tho.

Konqueror and Safari I like a lot but nether are portable enough for my needs, *yet*

I need to find a decent web browser, some thing I can use consistantly on Windows NT, Linux i386/AMD64, *BSD i386/AMD64, and Mac OS X. While I don’t have a Mac and rarly use Linux Distros. I like to have the SAME program as much as possible between OSes. Like Vim, works on every OS I’m likely to use and nearly any OS I’ll probably bump into. The major difference is I tend to preffer GVim (Vim’s GUI) only when I don’t have a decent terminal emulator, like on Windows XP. CMD.EXE is a poor one compared to Konsole.

How old am I?

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Hmm, let me think.

I was largely trained by [SAS]_Trp_Rand, [SAS]_Cpl_Relish, [SAS]_Trp-Cpl_Wiz, [SAS]_Sgt_James, [SAS]_Cpl_JB, and [SAS]_En4cer, I think he was SSM at the time.

My fellow recruits we’re Rasa and Leon.

Recruits I’ve seen go through the selection course,

// Note that this is from memory and is not in complete chronological order
[SAS]_Rct_Fritz -> Left to care for his mom, was Rct around my time
[SAS]_Rct_Rouge -> Long time server reg, Now a Captain; joined when I was a young Trp.
[SAS]_Rct_Mando -> Made trp but is now vet, one of the youngest, a short but fast rising star. I normally consider Mando the last Recruit of my generation.
[SAS]_Rct_Boone -> Dropped out do to real life issues
[SAS]_Rct_Ghost -> On and off Trp/Vet, very mature & a good member
[SAS]_Rct_Noer -> I think he was our first SWAT4 Trooper, now one of our SSM's.
[SAS]_Rct_Fox -> At first I thought he might be another Random in the making. Rasa and I couldn't even tell him from a Trp he fit in so well as a Rct. Currently [SAS]_LCpl_Fox is on vet, our loss but the militaries gain.
[SAS]_Rct_Miles -> A good friend and now a good Sgt xD made me remember what a lazy good for nothing LCpl I was.
[SAS]_Rct_Hexen -> Maybe the only one to train to the same level as I did as a  Trp, made NCO but left for personal reasons. A very great loss for [SAS]
[SAS]_Rct_Midgit -> A fine player but got to bored
[SAS]_Rct_Lazko -> A young rct but now a great Cpl :-)
[SAS]_Rct_Jso -> Long time server reg turned grade A trooper. Now a vet due to time issues
[SAS]_Rct_Merge -> I've never been so impressed as the first day I played with him. Good chap with real world expierence but his work is to busy to keep him in the SC. When I first played with him I almost thought he might've been an ex [SAS] Member lol
[SAS]_Rct_Langley -> Long time on/off server reg but not active enough for Rct. Might've made LCpl some day !
[SAS]_Rct_Canuck -> About to fail the SC....
[SAS]_Rct_Lukas -> Ex PARA, basically our brother as far as clan history goes. A good trooper but prone to computer problems
[SAS]_Rct_Ranger -> Ex PARA, good trooper but a busy life
[SAS]_Rct_Yuke -> Another fine trooper but lots of school work
[SAS]_Rct_Snipe -> Grade A+ bad to the bone trooper, young but sharp as a razor
[SAS]_Rct_Sniper -> Sneakest S.O.B. I've met in the [SAS] next to myself. I think/wonder if he could do my job in [SAS] in a real life regiment hehe ;-)
[SAS]_Rct_DUKE -> A remarkable member, made a razor sharp trooper and trained to high standards, and now a great LCpl and only the future may tell what lays ahead
[SAS]_Rct_Medic -> A very great player, I expect him to be earning his Troopers tags soon xD
[SAS]_Rct_Mantis -> A very impressive player, every thing I know about him screams that he is probably 'our kinda guy'. But sadly seems to be in-active as a Rct.
[SAS]_Rct_Scout -> A very promising recruit and one of the few I think stand a decent chance of passing his T.T. on the first try.

Why do I feel old as dirt ? Most of the people that have trained me are no longer here. Most of the people that we’re here when I first came to [SAS] are no longer here… Those that remain I am very glad to stand along side. For those that have come since; I have/am been proud to know them.

In a way, I envy the new generation of NCO’s. The Selection Course has changed so much since I went through it. The SWAT4 end of things has gone from the teething toddler to a running young lad with Six-gun hehe. I’m still very glade to have had the trainers I have had though. Rand thought me the most important stuff, Relish my dynamic instructor. And the rest to guide and refine me. But throughout it all, Wiz I think was the one that really gave me my shot at Recruit. He’s been a Friend, mentor, co-worker, and a senior during my tenor.

It’s been my very great honour to be around the [SAS], as probably annoying pub, hanger-around, server regular, recruit, trooper, NCO and more. Becoming a [SAS]_Trp was one of the proudest days of my life. And needless to say the only plans I have for ever leaving, is feet first.

Live ready

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Trying to set up a live op is crazy for me…

I plan the mission, I get things ready and give people 1-2 weeks notice, usually a clue of when it will be; e.g. probably saturday/sunday yyyy-mm-dd/dd around hhmm-hhmm GMT.

And it takes a month or 3 to get them in the server 8=)

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Some how it figures rofl. I tried to download the .NET 3.0 framework from Microsoft using Opera and they told me the file can’t not be found on their server.

I fire up Internet Explorer 7 and vola ! It works like a charm ^_^

Microsoft.com is very crippled for Opera Users I think, going by the times I’ve dropped in of my own free will. I wonder if they are that pissy to Mozilla or Netscape :/

Managed to get every thing up to date and even cleaned up my start menu. On my laptop I usually just open a konsole or xterm & tell it to run the programs I want (I’ve always got a terminal emulator handy). It’s more bugger then its worth imho to do that with cmd.exe and my %PATH% is fat enough now. So I think this is a nice solution, especially since I do not like the Programs->Vendor->Product->Many files arangement used on Microsoft Windows for the start menu and file system.

Click to view image -> Warning it is a 1600×1200 JPEG !

Techno Nightmares

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Screamers…. now that is a nightmare of a movie.

In the not so far future (2078) a new source of energy was found, berynium on some rock probably in the middle of no where. It looked to be the best thing since coal or sliced bread judging by the intro. But after awhile of mining for it, the process started throwing up huge amounts of radiation. To stop it the workers and scientists banded together to put pressure on the company. Who in turn launched an all out war with the Alliance.

After being Nuked half of the planet… can’t blame them for needing every last trick in their book to hold on. They invented a monster, the ‘Screamer’ an Autonomous Mobile Sword. That tracks targets by their plus and use the cutting buzz saw like blade that makes up most of their body to cut the enemy to death. In the opening a N.E.B. (the company) grunt trying to deliver a message got a leg and an arm chopped off before the screamers finally lopped off his head. Built by an automated factory under the Alliance bunker, they proved valuable at protecting the base and stopping the enemy. The only way they could tell friend from foe required you to wear a ‘tab’ on your wrist to block their sensors. When the poor sap with the message came in it was their first N.E.B. contact in like 6 months.

After the journey to respond ensures (hey I’m not spoiling the entire picture:-P) two Alliance soldiers, a green kid and a seasoned local. Meet up with a new and improved version. A little kid claiming to be a survivor in the waste land, begging to come with them. The trick? It’s really a droid, so real you’d think it was human – once it get’s inside the enemies bunker. It releases it’s payload, a deadly ‘Screamer’. A N.E.B. squad they link up with tells how effective it was. The droids murdered most of the N.E.B. forces inside their command bunker during dinner time. Also another model…

A wounded soldier begging for help, go to help him and vola ! You’re ripped apart by the screamer. The things we’re self manufacturing as far as the viewer is able to gather. And some how self improving, more advanced models developed by machines, as it was stated that none we’re sent to the planet from command since the prototype years ago. When the scientists effectively built the factory, pushed the on button and ran like heck. In the N.E.B. base they found another model, simple lizard/reptilian like screamers. Slow walking but flast leaping buggers with a Dinosaur like look & feel, right out of a museum.

When the merry band returns to the Alliance bunker… they find out the same thing that happened to the N.E.B’s destroyed the soldiers there. The voice of the bunkers 2nd in command beckons them in over the radio. A repetitive conversation and multiple personality show its a trap. Faced with an Army of droid children clutching teddy bears and having a screamer inside marching out of the base. Trust me it’s not as corny as it sounds lol. Using their high powered by todays standards weapons til the ammo ran out. Then dropping down to the built in flame throwers… They couldn’t hold off the onslaught. So using a recovered micro-nuke they blow the place to crap.

Only to discover one of the N.E.B’s with them injured, when the green Alliance kid goes to help. He’s ripped apart by the advanced screamer… horrible, not even the ‘tabs’ worked any more. The Screamers now could kill any one and every one. After being put down the last two people left, The Alliance commander and a N.E.B. woman set out for the one way off the planet. The ‘oh crap the place is about to explode’ escape system for the bases commander.

To prove that she is human the commander nearly cuts the womans arm off. To do like wise he almost does the same to his own hand before she stops him. The two apparently falling in love head out, only to be greeted by the commanders friend and the next in the Chain of Command. Another screamer !! The screamer was said to have cut off the mans face and took it, hence the appearance. After disposing of him they find another horror, the escape shuttle only has room for one.

Pulling every trick in the book the commander tries to make sure the N.E.B. woman is the one to go, yet theres some reason why she “just can’t go”. When a duplicate shows up, we know why ! Another screamer… the most advanced yet. The two fight to the last fembot standing, the victor gets a blast of rocket engine as the other dies. Leaving the poor guy to use the shuttle and hope he gets back to Earth… and meets HUMANS !!! It’s made clear that his and the fate of earth may be undesirable…

You’d have to see the movie to really appreciate it but it is really horrifying. Man kind is deadly enough without machines surpassing us. The screamers evolved to the point that they killed their own side. Then to the point that they killed each other. It’s pretty dang sad when your own governments weapons try to kill you !

I hope that People are never removed from war, unless war is removed it self. One can argue that there is no such thing as ‘honor’ in a war. If one see’s the goal as to live to see the end in victory. That’s one thing but there is some point. Where a line is crossed, it’s not a matter of honor or fairness but of right or wrong.

Killing the enemy is one thing but murder is another. In screamers you can’t tell if the person next to you is on your side or even human. The chap you’ve played cards with for the past year might try and rip your arms off the next. It’s a sick idea… when machines have evolved past their creator, all but destroyed their creators, and start killing themselves too.

The Terminator is a scary idea but this is worse, just watch the movie and you’ll find out why lol. I think it’s a good thing when you can have some one sit out of the line of fire. Control a robot and have it drop a bomb on the enemy, thats good. But when your toaster oven is modified to kill the enemy while you go on a smoke & coke break. You’re going to be pretty dang sorry if it tries to kill you after getting an upgrade !