Journals

A neighborhood cat has been coming to our front yard and using it as its private toilet.

After spending weeks researching online about the best way to deter the cat (and be very humane about it), we came to the conclusion that trapping it and send it to animal control is the most ideal solution to our problem.

So we ordered a metal cage from Amazon, and set up the trap.

On the first night, we just baited the trap with chicken. Nothing happened.

Last night, my wife brought out canned salmon. In less than ten minutes after setting the bait, the cat was in the bag.

We put the cat in the side yard, because it kept hissing at us. Animal control called back this morning, and they're going to pick up the cat today. They're still not here yet.

The cat is just chilling on the side yard. I think it has given up trying to get out. It peed on the side yard though, so the whole area smells like a homeless shelter.

So, I have decided expand my modding horizons. I've played around with GTA4 which is temperamental at best. Also Fallout 3, which is less so.This is the first step on what will hopefully lead to additional quests and locations. A replacement for Jericho, one of the evil companions who you can employ to follow you around.

Incidentally, if anybody wants a copy of me to follow them around the wasteland, I'll send you the file. It's a whole 1KB.

Yay! I finally got my boomer plushie in the mail. It's so awesome!http://hlifehotdog.blogspot.com/

My desk is covered with maths formulas and types of exercises and math exercises papers... I'm tired. I hope I get at least 8 out of 10.
The semester test is tomorrow.

Wish me luck!

The Perfect Clock: The code behind it

A few days ago, I posted the theoretical point of view of a perfect PIC clock. Today, I'll present you with a few code snippets. TWHL could really, really use [code] or [ pre ] tags, and I don't mean just for this.

*Remember to define variable names - i.e seconds equ 0x25

I'll start easy. This is the interrupt routine. There's nothing special in it.

;*******************
Interrupt:

	call	Clock_step
	bcf	INTCON, T0IF	;Clear interrupt flag to be able to return
	retfie

The above code is called on each timed interrupt - every 8.192ms. Now you need to make something useful of that. The following is only a 122-interrupt second, just to show context.

;*******************
Clock_step:
	incf	tick
	movfw	tick
	sublw	D'122'		;Count 122 cycles, add 1 second
	btfss	STATUS,Z
	goto	Clock_end

	clrf	tick		;I have 1 second, reset int counter.
	call	Seconds_inc	;Increment seconds counter
	movfw	seconds
	btfss	STATUS,Z	;On seconds=0, increment minutes
	goto	Clock_end

	call	Minutes_inc	;Increment minutes counter
	movfw	minutes
	btfss	STATUS,Z	;On minutes=0, increment hours
	goto	Clock_end

	call	Hours_inc	;Increment hours counter
	;--snip-- you get the idea.

Clock_end:
	return

;*******************
Seconds_inc:
	incf	seconds
	movfw	seconds
	sublw	D'60'
	btfsc	STATUS,Z
	clrf	seconds		;Reset on 60 seconds
	return

Minutes_inc:
	;--snip-- again, you get the idea.

Remember, this is only the imprecise clock, only to show the concept. Now you'll need to adjust for 122 and 123 cycles and all that shizzle I mentioned in the other journal.

To do this, I have allocated a tick_wait variable, to store whether my next cycle should be 122 or 123 interrupts long. I have also allocated adj_s to count 14-second cycles, and adj_c, to count 64 14-second cycles.

We must make a few changes to the code above.

;*******************
Clock_step:
	incf	tick
	movfw	tick
	[b]subwf	tick_wait,w[/b]	;Instead of 122, check against tick_wait
	btfss	STATUS,Z
	goto	Clock_end

	clrf	tick		;I have 1 second, reset int counter.
	[b]call	Tick_adj[/b]	;Check if next cycle counts 122 o 123

	call	Seconds_inc	;Increment seconds counter
	;--snip-- same as previous sample.

Clock_end:
	return
;*******************
Seconds_inc:
	;--snip-- same as previous sample.

;*******************
; NEW CODE BELOW
;*******************
Tick_adj:
	incf	adj_s
	movfw	adj_s
	sublw	D'14'
	btfss	STATUS,Z	;If 14, I'm done with 14s cycle
	goto	tick_adj2	;Otherwise, check if it's 13
	clrf	adj_s		;reset 14s cycle
	movlw	D'122'
	movwf	tick_wait
	goto	tick_adj_end

tick_adj2
	movfw	adj_s
	sublw	D'13'
	btfss	STATUS,Z	;If 13, it's adjust time
	goto	tick_adj_end	;if not 13 either, nothing to do

	incf	adj_c
	movfw	adj_c
	sublw	D'64'
	btfsc	STATUS,Z
	goto	tick_adj_end	;if this is the 64th adj cycle, ignore it

	incf	tick_wait	;14th second is next, lasts 123
	movfw	adj_c
	sublw	D'65'		;Check if 65
	btfsc	STATUS,Z
	clrf	adj_c		;If 65, reset count

tick_adj_end:
	return

As you can see, the code has grown quite a bit. But here we have our (theoretically) perfect clock.

I had to revise this code before posting, as the code I've written has functions to decrement seconds, minutes, and hours (so there's no need to wrap around incrementing if you missed 1 minute) as well as date keeping and alarm. What I posted here is only a fraction of it, but feel free to use this code in any clocks you intend to make.

By the way, since I still haven't built it, I'm not sure how to store years. Therefore I risk being subject to either the year 2256 bug (returns to 2000) or the year 2999 (returns to 2000 too). It could also be in 9999, but it'd be wishful thinking to expect it not to break before that

I hope you have found this an educational experience

Edit: Wow, [ pre ] works! Although only sometimes. WTF?
Edit2: I just found out why. Dude, at least let it respect tabs.
Edit3: No, I was wrong. It appears to be random. TWHL BACKEND NO WORKIE!

I'm downloading Portal right now (thanks Huntey for the shoutbox post) Now, I have incoherent information displayed to me. The main window says "Downloading: 76%, 208.2 KB/s", but the taskbar icon tooltip says "Steam - downloading at 121.2 KB/s / Portal (77%)"

This would be the first time I'm using Steam for anything. Which one am I supposed to believe?

Back for my annual journal post. Got into DigiPen... going to be a sophomore this coming fall!

Bachelor of Arts in Game Design is my degree

Working over the summer on a HL2E2 mod project with some friends while teaching some Game Design to High School students at DigiPen. Kind of excited to maybe see this mapping/mod idea possibly come into fruition that I've had for over four years!

I love the TWHL community, it has stayed strong over the years, I am proud to still be a part of it.

So I have been debating this for a long time now and decided to ask the world what they think.

What do you call a device that moves matter from one location to another by deconstructing it, moving it, and putting it back together at the end.

Would you call it a Transporter or a Teleporter?

Btw, I'm on twitter now.

http://twitter.com/hlife_hotdog

This week let's view one of the most idiosyncratic mod I have ever met. It's an australian project called escape from woomera. It's even got its own wikipedia article! Now that's something.

I cannot lie-- with this mod openGL is required to see the textboxes that the entire game hinges on. That's right, you talk to people with text boxes much like a roleplaying game (which it is). As a software gameplaying chum, I therefore cannot complete it. But even in openGL the game crashes somewhere down the line for me. But of course, what kind of game is this? Is it even a game so to speak.

In this "game", there are no weapons, no monsters, none of the usual. This mod is much like a political announcement, and political stuff I have observed to be a very hot topic in twhl, just look at that one thread about how americans were stupid on a late nite tv show watched by doctors.

Aside from it, this mod has a bit of stealth element that I never got to. Like I said it crashed for me. Maybe you will have the better luck.

So, since I started working as a web designer, I have discovered that as soon as you start doing something 5 days a week, to strict deadlines, it can quickly become very grating.

In light of this fact, I have been trying to focus a lot more on creative writing. It is something I have always enjoyed doing, got me high grades during my GCSEs, and some of you have read and enjoyed some of my fan fiction work which I have posted on the forums. I am currently making notes and brainstorming ideas for what will hopefully be my first novel.

I'll post more info about this as it develops.

Right,

Just completed Uncharted2 on my 60GB PS3 in about 7 hrs [in 2 days]. If you want a mix between a puzzle game and Assassins Creed then here you go.

The game is ridiculously difficult; I (re)check-pointed 121 times! I did about half the game on Medium difficulty and had to turn it down to Easy on about Chapter 25, I think. Half the deaths were do to him jumping to far out of cover and flying off the cliff.

The bonus features on the game seem to only be unlocked when you have completed it once, slightly annoying but I probably will do it again. I completed all the MGS games more then... 7 times so, not to much trouble.

I would recommend it to all the you sensible PS3 users out there.

/me has the flu.

Fuck CEDA.

Just a general question to other Electronics fans (I asked Tetsu0 but I thought there might be someone else interested too)

What is your preferred method to make PCBs? I mean, after the breadboard phase, when you want the definitive PCB. I learned several methods while in school but they were inconvenient in one way or another.

The easy one is to draw the circuit straight on the board with a permanent marker, but this isn't so neat for complicated designs.

Then there was another method which required some expensive blue paper, then convincing someone at a press to print the circuit on it, then stick it to the blank board (copper side) and iron it. I hated this one.

The last one was to trace the design on vinyl with a cutting plotter, then sticking it to the board. I preferred this one, but I don't have a cutting plotter.

So anyway, what's your preference?

I built this Lego gun this afternoon:And my son loved taking it apart:

Video.

Everything in my life up to this point has been simply a means to bring me to this day. Behold:ZOMG thanks to Saribous for the hookup!!!