I could have sworn it was longer than a month (no need to get nitpicky!) since my last post, but it appears that I am roughly within the threshold of a month. I have a fair bit to write, but I can’t fully go into anything now, as I’ve got a concert to go to. I sadly haven’t won a Wonderborg as of yet, but the search will go on. I have lots of plans for the new year as well, although again I can’t go into them. One thing I will mention though is that the DiggerCast is finally going out of its test phase and into a proper one, although this won’t happen till February. It also got mentioned on someone’s podcast, although at present, I’ve no idea what podcast! I will find out though. I’m also tightening up my website structures and bringing in AdSense across the board on my sites from next year, although I can’t do much at the moment apart from add another forum, as after that, everything else is in lockdown until I move stuff to the new server, though updates will still occur as it makes things less of a headache to sort out.

Either way, 2011 is looking like a good year… well, better than this one in any case

Which means eventually I’ll be making one of my customary huge posts again soon. I plan to do a report of sorts on the Dublin Paranormal Convention this Friday. Additionally, I should mention that I lost the bid on the Wonderborg, which is unfortunate, but it does happen. I am currently looking for other ones as I really want a second one to play with to further my robotics stuff, which may end up gettings its own blog at the rate I’m going, or rather an A.I. and Robotics blog, in addition to coverage on a future projects blog.

Anyway, the main reason why I’m making this short post is because I stumbled upon this interesting post on someone’s blog (which was linked from a chat site I frequent,  named UKCB): National Novel Writing Month 2010, but given I’m still trying to get things sorted out, it’s unlikely I’ll be able to participate in this year, though I will however be committing myself to it next year, especially as I hope before the end of the year to take up writing again in some form… most likely with a new Forum Sim (Roleplay) I’m working on with a friend. as part of Xeno Storm, so watch out for that, and the addition of a wiki.

And also, I managed to find a full copy of my detective/comedy novel from 2004, although admittedly I’d end up rewriting it from scratch (though would keep a few elements) if I were to look at redoing it these days.  I’ll upload it in its current state soon (and update this post when I do) as a scrap to my DeviantArt, as well as to the XS Wiki, when it’s up and running.  Given it took me years to find the document, I want to have it in a safe place that’s not on my desktop, which is deciding to act up.  Just keep in mind that if you do read it, I know it sucks… it was written by me when I was younger and had certain things on my mind at the time.  I think the premise could still have merit, although I’d rather get myself into the Forum RP before I take that on as a project for NaNoWriMo. Admnittedly, I may just decide to develop it away from it instead and run with another idea; I can’t predict that far ahead though. In the meantime however, I have a lot of stuff to work on with websites, most notably a client’s site, followed by the XS RP forums and the wiki, then I’m going to look at other sites that may need attention, though I think I might spend this month focusing on XS entirely, with the exception of the client website.

I nearly forgot… I’ve now officially cancelled my ST Online subscription for the time being, so I’ll now have more money to invest, though with Lord of The Rings Online now becoming free to play, I’ll be focusing on tht a bit more. I’ve also been busy with Bush Whacker and Backyard Monsters on Facebook and I’m hoping before the end of the year, I’ll have a proper gaming blog to work with! I’m also off to Ireland on Friday for 2 weeks, so I’ll be writing a bit about that, no doubt, in addition to the Dublin Paranormal Convention, and also a security conferance I’m going to be attending towards the end of my trip.

It’s going to be a busy couple of months either way by the looks of it!

It feel like it’s been ages since I last had a blog entry…. actually it has!  As you might have guessed, a fair few things have happened.  I’m gonna do them in random order, because right now I forgot a few things, due to being ill for the past week, though the past 3-4 weeks haven’t been great, but that’s not a topic for here.  Anyway, first of all, I have recently discovered The Oatmeal, with the help of a few friends and the wonders of Facebook and I had to admit, it’s quite good.  Hell, I even got a few questions answered, such as ones regarding i.e., e.g. and apostrophes.  I also learnt about how Anglerfish mate, which was fascinating in a crazy way!  I’ve also been reading about how unethical Internet Brands/vBulletin have become, helped in part by their announcement as to their taking legal proceedings against a start-up known as XenForo, formed by two ex-vBulletin developers (one being the former Lead) and also another former member of the vB staff, whose position there I forgot, though he acts as the XF business manager.  I’m not saying a lot about it, save for the fact that as soon as it’s feasible, I’m switching to XF and selling off my vB4 Suite licence, if anyone is interested in one, although admittedly, I can’t sell it off till my requirements in XF have been met.  I plan to buy a copy to play with the API, and am opening up the opportunity to play with it to members of my sites.  This is actually the first time I’ve felt really motivated to learn the API for something, especially as it’s in PHP, meaning I can learn some transferable skills!  And frankly, I need to learn something as I’ve had bad luck with finding jobs, and locally there’s no more jobs going at the moment!

I was planning on doing something with the WonderBorg and seeing if I can recode the programming application into something that supports both serial and USB infrared transmitters, but I amn’t sure if it’ll work now, but I might wait till I have a look at the application before I give up.  The WonderBorg is a nice piece of kit though if you’re into robotics, but they’re hard to locate now and are usually quite expensive; mine cost me £4.99 and they usually retail for £100+!  I want to get a second one at some point, but they may be hard to source.  I promise that I’ll talk about more later, but I’m really finding it hard to focus for now, but rest assured when I’m better, I’ll be able to focus more so I can type about more… still this is as much a little update as it is a reminder for me to type more and type up a little of what’s been going before I forget (yes I’ve been that bad)!  Still, it’s only a matter of time before I get better and will be going back to my few thousand word count essays XD

Until then, I’ll see you lot later.

Oddly enough, I’m not actually sure what exactly to talk about for this entry as I haven’t thought about any specifics.  I expect it may not be till near enough to the New Year, or after that I get to keep some consistancy.  Either way, it won’t hurt to mention any stuff I’ve seen, done or are going to do.  I’m also thinking that I may end up keeping my random style of writing to a degree, as it wouldn’t be random randomness if I didn’t!  Anyhow, I went into Central London yesterday to pick up a lab coat (I’ll explain later) from Foyles bookshop and ended bup buying a few books too!  This is by no means a bad thing to be honest, as the books will have some benefit.  Two of the books are talking about games design or project management regarding games projects.  I figured that these would be good for me to get so I can brush up on this subject in preparation for university/college.  Granted, design is my strongest skill, but it never hurts to get help with improving techniques.  I also finally managed to get a book on wolves; this too was one of my medium-term aims along with the lab coat.  I had to aquire an extra large one because of my broad shoulders, although that said, I could do with a little toning round the stomach, so it’s a good thing I’m going to the gym!  As for why I wanted a lab coat… well, I’ve always wanted one and I think it completes the scientist look although there’s the practical purpose that it keeps my clothes clean!

I also paid Maplins a visit as well and got some books on robotics, soldering and electronics, as well as a book on oscilloscopes, which sparked my interest since I studied at Greenwich.  I also got another set of LED Safety Glasses (which are gonna be modded, leaving the first ones I bought intact) and also an Audiophile 2496 audio card, which I was hoping to use for helping me with music composition at a later date, although it would be more nice just to have something professional to use with MIDI.  The problem is however that it needs audio cables, and while I do have them, I don’t have the space for them, so I’m either going to have to locate an external version of the card or make the space.  It’s occurred to me that I have also lost my reciept so I need to goo looking for it, damn.  That aside, I may have to just accept that this may be the best card for my price range (I don’t want to pay a lot more to be honest) and get a Game Port to USB adaptor, which to be honest may not be a bad idea, seeing as they’re cheap enough at 8 quid each!  I really only wanted that expensive card for the built-in MIDI port, and considering I can have a decent audio card with a cheaper separate bit, it may be best off just going down this route.  I have too many game controllers that require Game Ports to just drop the idea; I didn’t realise till much later that I had no MIDI port on my soundcard!  Another bonus as well is that it has some composing software with it, as well as some loops, so that’ll help me some more.

Read the rest of the entry »

As many people have rightly pointed out, I’ve not updated properly in ages.   This is mainly due to the fact that I haven’t come up with anything to write about solidly, especially with regards to my new style of writing that I’m starting to adopt.  Anyway,  I do one day hope to show off my Warhammer 40k models when I have them all properly assembled, but on that front, we’re looking at a few more weeks work.  I also have to upload some photos to Flickr relating to when I went to Holland, and also the first lot of pics in the photo competition I failed to enter months ago now, whoops!  I have earmarked some other locations in Southeast London to take pictures of as well, but I imagine it’ll be a while before I can actually upload those too!  It’s all a case of eventualities really.  I also finally got myself a Wii, so eventually, I’ll be playing about with the experiments that Johnny Chung Lee has put up.  All the more now that I got myself a second controller, and got myself a Bluetooth “nipple”, which is essentially a really tiny Bluetooth dongle that sticks out just a little, much like a nipple.  My laptop has the device installed and set up, so I can eventually play with it.  My laptop will more than likely end up being the main platform for using the motion detection as it’s handier to use with.  The only issue though is that I need to have Vista drivers.

I’ve also managed to get myself a T-Mobile USB Wireless Share Dock and a pretty nifty USB stick which also accepts a Transflash (Micro SD) Card, which impressed me.  Though at the moment, I haven’t tried it out yet properly.  However, I am hoping it’ll mean I can start doing more stuff outside as a result, such as live updates but I imagine realistically that’s a while off yet.  Anyway, I also have got myself a copy of the new version of  Space Hulk.  Those of you who both had the money and listened to those at the Games Workshop likely have 2 or 3 of them now; one to play, one to sell on (they could easily increase in value by 3 times in a couple years, meaning their value would be about 180, going by the standard pricing) and one for… erm, I’m not sure actually.  Anyway, the reason why they’re so valuable is because of the fact that the current run is the only run, and also it’s been 20 years since the anniversary of the last one.  There more than likely won’t be another one for a good 30 years or so now so this one will shoot up in value.  Getting 2-3 copies does hurt the wallet a bit though.  All the same, it is a worthwhile investment… it does way a bit though, but you do get a lot in it.  I’ll post up pics when I’ve finished assembling the figures… keep in minf they won’t be painted just yet though.

Moving into the educational sphere now, and I’ve been looking at returning to education at some point.  Despite the fact that there’s the strong chance of fees increasing next year, I  sill want to get myself a BSc.  Amusingly enough though, I was looking at a games design course somewhat local to me, just outside of London, but unfortunately for me, it doesn’t have anything to do with programming, which was the main area I failed in.  Not only that, it’s also a level 3 certification, whereas right now, I’m at level 4, so I’d be declined based upon the fact I know what is being taught… hell, I could most likely teach the students if I were actually able to focus enough!   Not to sound too cocky about it, but my design skills are pretty much beyond what my certication (Certificate of Higher Education) is, and my graphics skills are sufficient enough as well, as is my hardware knowledge.  My essay-writing skills are alright as well and would pick up when I actually commenced study again.  What prevents me from actually being able to use the CertHE to start at the second year of university is the fact my programming skills are teh suck atm, both in Java and Flash.  Granted, like the essay writing, I’d pick up a lot if I got a chance to refresh myself, but I’m so out of touch with both, I’d really need to go somewhere that allows me to refresh my Java knowledge, and teach me Flash (I never got a good grounding in it – perhaps one day I’ll tell you why I had such an aversion to it), while at the same time, helping me to progress past my CertHE.

Something tells me though that I may just have to teach myself Flash and Java to CertHE standard, if not beyond, which is by no means a bad thing.  It does mean that I’ve got a little extra help to rely on if I’m stuck when getting back into study.  And speaking of that, the one that takes my fancy is the one offered by Qantm; their Games Design & Development diploma course, as it enables me to do a diploma in 1 year,  as opposed to 2.  I could also do a BSc. the year after that meaning I could effectively get my degree in 2 years.  Best thing there is that I wouldn’t have wasted so much time trying to get back to my previous level.  I was going to start it next year, as I’d need tome to build myself up for full-time.  While I’m waiting, I can re-teach myself Java and Flash and anything else I need to do to make sure I’ve got at least my CertHE standard polished up.

Still focusing on games and in particular the industry, I’ve reserved my place for the AdventureX event in London, which looks to be pretty cool, as the main bloke from Revolution Software will be there, along with a few other guests, including the creator of Loom, Brian Moriarty although this depends on the interest in the event.  They also plan to show people how to use Adventure Game Studio (AGS), and DOG 3D, which I’ve never heard of.  There’s also a buffet there, although it costs extra.  The event itself is 20 quid for the 2 days, and honestly, it looks like a worthwhile investment, if even to make some games industry contacts.  On that note, I also plan to bring forward an idea I’ve had at the back of my head for a while now, ever since I was at university in East London.  In some ways, it’s a continuation of a site I used to own called Emulation Storm, and its (very) distant cousin, Game Phreeks.  While GP wasn’t mine, at the time it was owned by a former friend of mine, and ES was essentially the retro version of it.  Along with a couple of other sites – one of which still exists with its original name, the other has a slight change of name – formed Storm Netwerks.   At the height of Storm Netwerks, we managed to score a lot of press material for use in the site while we were at the Game Stars Live event in 2004, although admittedly, at the time I was more interested in the freebies and booth babes!  That event is actually why I’m in London in the first place, but more on that later.

Anyway, things happened, and GP lapsed into obscurity, while I did keep Storm Netwerks and ES running for a bit longer, before I dropped ES entirely and renamed Storm Netwerks to Stormhaven Networks.  Yeah, I know… similar names, but it’s different enough to consider it a new start.  That said though, there are still references to Storm Netwerks out there, especially as I used it in 2005 or 2006 for an event, so any references you do see to Storm Netwerks are more than likely me.  Xeno Storm started out as Storm Rain, before also getting a name change although StormRain Paranormal still used the old name, so I haven’t removed it entirely.  I’m very much connected to my past in some ways, to the extent that I’m still trying to gather up all the sites I was ever involved with, which I’ll eventually list on a site somewhere as I’m wanting to look back on how far I’ve come from the early days.   Anyway, moving on… Gamed Up, as I called it at UEL was initially started as a project for my Introduction to Graphics course when I was studying my BSc. in Computer Games Design(This is its current name, and pretty much exactly what I studied as well – I do hope that the module I failed has been improved!).  It was heavily influenced by vBulletin’s default template design, although instead of becoming a games blog and podcast like I intend it to be now, it was going to be a site aimed at education relatijng to the games industry, including How Tos, hints and tips with programs, interviews with figures in the games industry and a listing of courses, universities and games companies, as well as news relating to careers and education within the games industry.  As I put it at the time, Gamed Up was just a play on the term “clued up”, meaning that a person would be clued up relating to the games industry.

I may consider going down that route someday, but for now, I’m going through with the more recent idea I have; seeing as I have a few willing people to help me with it.  I’m also merging the forum of my games clan, the XSG into the forums as it makes perfect sense.  Seeing as general games were to be talked about on the XSG forums anyway, and Gamed Up is about gaming in all forms, the decision to combine them was done to reduce resources used.  I understand that some of my ideas may be a little abstract right now, but this is because I have a tendancy to write off the cuff at times, a practice that I will be cutting down on as part of my improved style.  I’m going to be using my academic writing skills to help with more coherance on stuff, and also some research.  That’s not to say that I won’t stop writing off the cuff entirely, but I do want to make my factual bits more seriously, so I can be taken a little more seriously when it comes to blogging.  Another reason why I’m being deliberately abstract is to protect my ideas in development, as I share specifics with only a handful of people.  Of course, that said, I usually have the domains for my ideas registered before alluding to them, so there’s already some protection in place for me!

Another couple of my ideas, which I’ll mention for the above reasons are the Techie Guild, which is a website for discussing current technology… or it could be a social networking site for the technical field, not sure yet!  One idea I do want to experiment with (and I am keeping this one secret till it’s up!), is that of a redux of the DiggerCast and although I’ll keep the name, I’m renaming it mainly to the Jammed In Podcast.  You’ll eventually find out why I named it that, but for now, everyone is going to be left in the dark, except for the people I want to talk to about it.  Lastly, I have an idea which is essentially a spinoff of the Techie Guild and also a development site for the Wii, inspired by what Johnny Lee has accomplished.  It would also handle development with the DS and GameCube (they do have a direct connection to the Wii) and also the GameBoy Advance.  The spinoff of the Techie Guild site is something called Passed the Present, where future technology will get talked about.  Why the odd name?  Well, for starters, Past the Present was taken and secondly, the idea still works because in talking about the future of things, we have “passed the present”.

Get it?  No?  Oh well, I tried.

Anyway, I do have other sites that I need to give attention, so don’t expect the above ideas to come to fruition just yet, especially as I need to reshuffle the existing sites a bit.  Such as proceding with the development of the new Therians dot Net site, the redevelopment of Stormhaven Radio’s site and the deployment of my portfolio site.  I’m debating deploying my blog site Altered Awareness now, sans sub-domains as it’s an idea that can be readily deployed, save for that issue and really the lack of providing subdomains is the only reason the site hasn’t been put up sooner!  I’ll eventually find a way to put in subdomains, but I think it’s just as important to get a userbase for the site up!  Perhaps unsurprisingly, Stormhaven Radio, when it comes back up, will be at the centre-side of all the sites that I’m developing, as I’m going to be offering a player for the station with as many sites as I can although that may take a bit for some sites.

Either way, I think for the forseeable future, I’ll be pretty busy with my ideas, although I’ll have the assistance of others too; consolidation of my ideas was also another way to make things simpler.  I do have the plan to make a multi-wiki website, but that’s again a while off, although keeping all my wikis in the one place with a single login will bring in many benefits.  However, I only have plans to do that with 4 wikis atm, as the other wikis that I’d have planned need either site integration, or do not fit into the theme of the “WikiNet”.  I could go on and on about my future plans, but really, I should just do them and then write about them when I have them up, so people can go look.  I do plan on making a mini-site for all my projects, or rather pages of all the  websites I’ve ever done, provided they’re still online as otherwise I’ll just leave a name up.  I also plan on linking together all my image galleries as well.  It’s no small task, sure but it’s worth doing, so I don’t have to keep on Googling all my sites!

Anyway, that’s it for now.  I’ll be back next month with a thought-provoking entry, albeit with some proper research, as opposed to research as I do it!

Warning, this post is huge! If you don’t like reading large blog posts, you’re advised to avoid this!

The past half hour or so, I’ve been looking at many things… things mostly to do with how the human mind works and percieves things. I have to say, there’s quite an interesting amount of stuff there, and I haven’t even scratched the surface. First of all, we come across this article, which talks about the fact that schitzophrenics are not fooled by the “hollow face illusion”, with an included video. Essentially, the “hollow face illusion” involves — as you may have guessed — a hollow face. The article describes it as:

In the hollow mask illusion, viewers perceive a concave face (like the back side of a hollow mask) as a normal convex face. The illusion exploits our brain’s strategy for making sense of the visual world: uniting what it actually sees — known as bottom-up processing — with what it expects to see based on prior experience — known as top-down processing.

Anyway, it has been shown that those with schitzophrenia are not fooled by this illusion and see the concave face as what it actually is. The rest of us (including myself, which is interesting) see the conclave as a convex face, to the extent the nose sticks out! And even if you know this already, it doesn’t matter; your brain will still percieve the back side as a normal face. I found it interesting that I saw it like most “normal” people do, because I have a type of Autism known as Asperger Syndrome (AS). Now granted, I have been taught to act somewhat normal, but I do wonder if anyone else on the Autistic Spectrum will see things like normal people, or schitzophrenics.

Why I say this is because AS was once considered to be a form of schitzophrenia… see where I’m going with this yet? Good.  Anyway, if those on the Autistic Spectrum see things like a normal person, it would mean that Autism Spectrum Disorders affect different parts of the brain to schitzophrenics. That said of course, those who are drunk and under the influence of drugs see through it too, which makes you wonder what parts of the brain intoxicating substances hit, doesn’t it?

Post continues after the break… get a cuppa, you’ll need it!

Okay, I’ve decided to start to make a proper entry to dive right into stuff I plan to work on.  Anyway, yesterday I managed to find some rather interesting stuff in my local pharmacy while picking up my pills… firstly a 3-in-1 camera which can be used as a camcorder, camera or webcam, and also a robotic bubble nblower and robotic shark.  I’ve always had an interest in AI & Robotics, so I figured as they were going cheap, I’d pick them up.  I have another robot thingy I picked up in the charity shop, along with a 10-in-1 Electronics thingy.  And yes, I know they’re for kids, but when you think about it, they’re all a great way to get started with electronics as they have all the bits you need, and also instructions as well!  Anyway, my plans are to essentially build all these robots, then show pictures of them when complete, although I may actually use the video camera to record them.  Granted it’s a somewhat cheapish camera, but it’s a good thing to get started with till I can afford a larger camera.  What does worry me though is that the “High Res” (480×368)  and Low Res” (320×240) have little between them, yet the picture taking maximum is 640×480!

Anyway, expect videos from my assembling the stuff when I get an SD Card.