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tcpipNot surprisingly both prior employers have contacted me asking for advice. One requested that I come back in the future saying "that your finger is really on the pulse" on what needs to be done. Er, thanks but no thanks. I still have one hefty web contract outstanding and as such I've spent quite a lot of time reviewing and rebuilding my Apache, PHP and MySQL knowledge along with installing OpenSuSE in preference to Ubuntu on my desktop - and just in time for major changes between Novell and Microsoft. Further, because it rocks, I've started programming in Free Pascal, something I haven't done for a good fifteen years.
Also simpy because I can I've joined NaNoWriMo yesterday. My novel is entitled "The Outcast Girl" and is loosely based on the Ten Thousand Islands PBeM roleplaying game I ran many months ago. In a nutshell, it's a historical and anthropological study of Malay society in the early sixteenth century, with a monomythic narrative. Two thousand words done, fourty-eight thousand to go!
Gaming this week consisted of further development in our DragonQuest world (I'm really enjoying the additional grounding in the earth sciences this is giving me), a new initiative system for AD&D that actually makes sense, Urban Arcana last Sunday where the noble PCs saved St Kilda's prostitutes from a "Jack The Ripper" demon, and Diplomacy and Carcassonne (courtesy of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
anthanum on Tuesday. Came second in Diplomacy, but was thoroughly thrashed in Carcassonne, which I played for the first time. The latter is really quite a brilliant production. The rules are very simple but the strategic depth is excellent. Social life included a wonderful fourtieth birthday party for splodgenoodles with culinary delights provided by tenbears and halloween drinks and zombie movies with severina_242 and _zombiemonkey
In world politics over recent months I've noticed a run of victories for various left-wing and socialist parties, including the re-election of Lula in Brazil, the re-election of the socialist president in Bulgaria, a surprise win by the Social Democrats in Austria, and even little Montenegro. The only exception is Congo where the politics are personality-based rather than ideological. Alongside all of this, the world's biggest union has just been formed. Is the world going a slight shade of red without the mass media noticing? And what will this mean for that Stern Report? It takes New Zealand newspaper to accurately display Australia's view.
Also simpy because I can I've joined NaNoWriMo yesterday. My novel is entitled "The Outcast Girl" and is loosely based on the Ten Thousand Islands PBeM roleplaying game I ran many months ago. In a nutshell, it's a historical and anthropological study of Malay society in the early sixteenth century, with a monomythic narrative. Two thousand words done, fourty-eight thousand to go!
Gaming this week consisted of further development in our DragonQuest world (I'm really enjoying the additional grounding in the earth sciences this is giving me), a new initiative system for AD&D that actually makes sense, Urban Arcana last Sunday where the noble PCs saved St Kilda's prostitutes from a "Jack The Ripper" demon, and Diplomacy and Carcassonne (courtesy of
anthanum on Tuesday. Came second in Diplomacy, but was thoroughly thrashed in Carcassonne, which I played for the first time. The latter is really quite a brilliant production. The rules are very simple but the strategic depth is excellent. Social life included a wonderful fourtieth birthday party for splodgenoodles with culinary delights provided by tenbears and halloween drinks and zombie movies with severina_242 and _zombiemonkeyIn world politics over recent months I've noticed a run of victories for various left-wing and socialist parties, including the re-election of Lula in Brazil, the re-election of the socialist president in Bulgaria, a surprise win by the Social Democrats in Austria, and even little Montenegro. The only exception is Congo where the politics are personality-based rather than ideological. Alongside all of this, the world's biggest union has just been formed. Is the world going a slight shade of red without the mass media noticing? And what will this mean for that Stern Report? It takes New Zealand newspaper to accurately display Australia's view.
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no subject
Date: 2006-11-03 03:25 am (UTC)Anyhow - I haven't touched Pascal in years, but it's the language I grew up on in school. Although we used Turbo Pascal. Strangely enough, when my IT section at work failed to produce any meaningful software, workaround, or response for a request we made for a label printing program when I first started working at the National Library - I wrote one in Turbo Pascal. That was over 10 years ago.
It is still being used today.
Scarey, huh?
They use a dot matrix printer with it and a dos window.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-03 03:53 am (UTC)Not at all. The system in question is quite adaptable.
Scarey, huh?
It shows the resilience of the program. TP is very fast, the code is clean to read and easy to write and from what I've been told, Lazarus (the Delphi-like RAD) is damn good as well.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-03 03:59 am (UTC)Pshaw.
(that's a verbal noise of disgust and dismissal indicating my wish to not get involved in a lengthy discussion especially as I'm using Hero)
no subject
Date: 2006-11-03 04:29 am (UTC)No really, Hero System initiative, all based on SPD, right? Nothing to do with weapon length or weapon speed? No fending? Or retreat/press?
A SPD 3 character with a dagger still gets to attack more times than a SPD 2 character with a halberd?
no subject
Date: 2006-11-03 04:33 am (UTC)I don't know if weapon speed is really a good attribute name - weight would be better.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-03 05:01 am (UTC)That's in 5th edition? Because I sure can't find it in 4th or ... ahh, I stand corrected. Optional rules for Fantasy Hero, p84. They're not too bad either.
I don't know if weapon speed is really a good attribute name - weight would be better.
A sword will always be faster than a morningstar of equivalent weight due to balance.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-03 05:59 am (UTC)In general the writeups for weapons in the genre books are only really for basic attacks. I have seen writeups for more advanced uses.
Such as a shield being a multipower that include a base defence, and a shieldbash attack.
Or a whip that can have the basic damage attack, a disarm attack, or an entangle.
Likewise you can define fast weapons as giving +1 speed.