Deciding to get a new gaming rig, the websites and other resources used, and the final build manifest…
Archives for General
NXT Mindstorms
Doing a side project to help out in the job at the moment for a christmas thing, and getting to play with the new NXT mindstorms kit as a result (I only used the older mindstorms kit before now in TCD). They’re much beefier on the inside, the sensors are much more polished-looking, Robolab has come on a long way (but is still a wussy way to program these things, wish I had time to blast an open source firmware to the brick), and they’re even faster to get up and running with. In 20 minutes, I had this built:
The ultrasonic sensor is a nice addition to the kits – stick that on a servo mount and you’d have a 360° sensor for mapping your environment… albiet a really noisy crappy one 
Ten minutes later I had Robolab installed on a WinXP virtualbox on my Debian-running laptop (sweet how far we’ve come – in the old days, I’d just have to dual-boot to get usable performance like this), and ten minutes of fiddling later, I had taught my new robot to fear me…
(You have to teach them to fear you first, otherwise they’ll turn around and shoot you in the face…)
Snow in Dublin
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It’s getting a bit chilly out there. Last time it was this cold this early in the year was 25 years ago. What was that about climate change not existing again?
Choosing the next job rather than finding it…
On choosing the next job, rather than letting it choose you.
Married!
With thanks to 32.ie who recorded the whole proceedings… which was handy since our camcorder packed up on the morning!
Married in the castle like a princess
ON Thursday, Claire Nolan, daughter of Ann and Pat Nolan of College Road married Mark Dennehy from Kerry in the Parade Tower of Kilkenny Castle, in a civil ceremony, surrounded by family and friends.They say that every little girl dreams of getting married like a princess, but until recently if you did not want to marry in a church, you had no choice but to make your vows in a registry office. In Kilkenny that was inside the Health Service Executive building at Lacken, which, at least had some lawn and trees outside, unlike some other counties which had very unromantic settings indeed.Since 2004, the registrar may perform a marriage outside of a registry office. There are conditions, however, and Ann Boyle, the registrar in Kilkenny says that they all make perfect sense considering existing regulations and our climate. The place must be public, in good repair and a solid structure, so no marquees in the garden and no beaches or mountaintops are allowed. It must be a dignified venue with no connection to any religion. There must be room for the guests to sit comfortably and access for those with physical disability.Claire Nolan arrived with her father by car to the Parade Tower. Staff at the castle, Frank Kavanagh and Anne Teehan were on hand to usher her into the lift to the second floor where there ceremony took place in front of waiting guests.Afterwards the celebration was in the Ormonde Hotel and the destination for the honeymoon, well, that was a secret.All at 32.ie wish the happy couple well in their future together.
