sinisterporpoise: (Default)
2019-04-05 12:49 pm

Petty Theft Moped : Terre Haute Stories is finished

You can download it from sinisterporpoise2.itch.io/pettytheftmoped. I'm considering partnering with the Trevor Project to put some of the funds towards suicide prevention, but I could understand why they wouldn't want to touch this game.  Even I find myself irritated with some things in it. However, I'm never letting Randy Duncan anywhere near a game I develop again.  Sure, the professional wrestling group solving mysteries bit was cute, but the social justic warrior dungeon is something I'd rather not have put in there.

Plus, he insisted on naming the people after people on his podcast. This is just not good for obvious reasons. Anyway, if you want to see just how bad it is, including errors I missed on several playthroughs (which I want to go back and correct as soon as I can find the original project file), you can download it from the link above.

I'm now learning Pygame, and I hope to have some more serious and more family-freindly titless out soon. 
sinisterporpoise: (Default)
2018-11-10 03:27 pm

A conversation earlier...

 I do not know that I have dyslexia. All this means is I have never been diagnosed with having the condition. Having spent a great deal of time writing, I also know how writing works. Free writing, which most of my Dreamwidth posts are, often has this types of errors. It’s simply getting thoughts onto paper. Sometimes the thoughts go directly to the keyboard.

I have no trouble reading. I do not have problems with forms, nor do I get frustrated with long forms. (Except for continuously reading ‘marauder’ as ‘murderer’ in Borderlands). I did not do poorly on most written tests in school unless you are talking about my math tests. Dyscalcula is a different related matter. I strongly suspect I suffer from dyscalcula, yet I am good at programming, which uses a very different form of abstract math.

Many people don’t realize how many writers actually do use screen readers to go over their rough drafts. It’s not a dyslexic trait. It’s simply because your brain knows what you meant to say, and your mind fills in the details. It’s a matter of the writer’s personal attachment to what they wrote. Many people do read their own works verbally or use text readers to read it back to them. Why do they do this? Because it engages different parts of the brain and exposes errors. Nor does this person have any idea how many drafts good writing is supposed to go through. This isn’t dyslexia; this is normal human behavior.

Why does my writing show such errors frequentl? After years of writing for content mills, I got used to a quantity over quality model. This also lead to a burnt out state where I simply do not care about my writing enough to edit it. I’ve been trying to break from the content mills and instead improve my writing. Improving it means going through many edits and improving copy editing skills.

Now, while none of this means I don’t have dyslexia, I simply just don’t show most of the symptoms. Just don’t give me algebra.

 

sinisterporpoise: (Default)
2018-11-10 02:55 pm

That was weird...

 I spent a long time editing a post on my other blog, and now it is back to the original edits.

sinisterporpoise: (Default)
2018-10-31 04:49 pm

The Great Transgender Migration

http://sinisterporpoise.com/wordpress/index.php/2018/10/31/the-great-transgender-migration/

I am just doing this for a backlink.  I will repost the entire article here with a few edits later.
 
sinisterporpoise: (Default)
2018-09-15 04:16 pm

(no subject)

 

This will be the last night I spend in this house. I thought I might be more nervous than I am, but other than sleepless nights, I’m actually excited about the move. Because Nashville is a large city, unlike Terre Haute, it offers opportunity that this small town does not. If I want to, I can even take up fencing.  However, I’m not sure my mobility and more importantly, my proprioception are good enough for this.  It may be a good way to work on both. I’ve come to accept that I am going to have pain no matter what I do. As much as this sucks, it’s not the nightmare I originally thought it would be. (There’s no need to focus on this, Lara.)

 

I am not excited about living alone as much.  It seems weird, but I’ve gotten used to someone else being here. I acknowledge the downside to this, but I also know that I need my own space. Besides, this is a room in someone else’s house. This is not an ideal situation, but given how quickly things moved, I am happy to have found lodgings at all. The job with Dell starts on Monday, and I am looking forward to it. This is the thing I have trained to do, and I am eager to gain experience.  This job should have plenty of technical challenges and it will help me work on my people skills as well. While I’m doing this, I can get more certifications, including Security+ and Security Pro. (The latter comes from TestOut, the same company my college used to get me ready for the A+ certification.  I think I’ll pick up Linux Pro as well.)

 

And then I can go see the life-sized model of the Parthenon!  I can see it as the Ancient Greeks intended it to look, minus the marble facade. No Turks have ever stored gunpowder in the roof of this building. Maybe I can even find a Zen Buddhist temple and compare its teachings to Taoism. Many people first hearing about it think of it as nature worship, and this is not understanding the point. The Tao, like nature itself, is not human or humane. It acts without intent and is neither benevolent nor malevolent. Like nature, it simply is.In many ways, it is the same as the uncarved block that the author keeps mentioning, or as one t-shirt writer put it, “Shit happens.”

 

There are so many opportunities ahead of me, and this may be good for me overall. It could help me broaden my perspectives even more.  It’s exciting, it’s scary, and going into information technology is something I should have done twenty-two years ago.

 


sinisterporpoise: (Default)
2018-08-24 12:23 pm

Just one thought that's dominated this week

Things flourish, then perish
Not the way.
What's not the way
Soon Ends.
sinisterporpoise: (Default)
2018-08-22 10:47 pm

I'm baffled

Okay, I'm going to keep this brief. There is a story, but it does not need to be told. I believe I just got fired from a temp job today after the first day because of my disability. The reason? I hadn't told them about it.

1.) I told the temp agency I had a disability when I filled out their forms.
2.) I made it clear I couldn't stand for long periods of time without pain to the manager I worked under several days before I started.

I am baffled. I don't know how or why this happened. I will have to go to the temp agency tomorrow to figure out what if anything they will do. I have a feeling that even though this is a university it's one of the things they think they can get away with by saying "she couldn't do the essential functions of the job." There is *no* reason standing is an essential function of a cashier's job.


sinisterporpoise: (Default)
2018-06-02 02:03 am

I've tried to correct this spelling error numerous times

A screenshot. 
[90-style RPG graphic.) A text box reads: Its'w generating random spoofed e-mails to Randy from his pets. (Don't tell him.)

I'm not sure why but this program keeps that  spelling of It's with the w no matter how many times I try to correct it.

I've got some of the more irritating early bugs out of the game, bu it's got a long way to go before it's finished.

sinisterporpoise: (Default)
2018-05-27 02:20 pm
Entry tags:

More computing stuff

 This is a simple Pascal program that should generate secure or simple passwords for a variety of sites. At the moment, it just generates the passwords. It does not save them anywhere. I need to figure out how to save the file with something other than a clear text file. That's going to be a bit difficult as I don't know how to write these algorithms.  It might be an interesting thing to try though.

In any case, here's the code. 

program password_generator;
  uses crt;
var
  numchars: integer;
  password: string[25];
  z: integer;
  {-----------------------------------------------------------------------------}
  { The least officient way to assign a random value to a variable ever.        }
  {-----------------------------------------------------------------------------}
  function determine_Upper (var Upcasechar: integer): char;
 
  begin
    case UpcaseChar of
         0: determine_Upper:= 'A';
         1: determine_Upper:= 'B';
         2: determine_Upper:= 'C';
         3: determine_Upper:= 'D';
         4: determine_Upper:= 'E';
         5: determine_Upper:= 'F';
         6: determine_Upper:= 'G';
         7: determine_Upper:= 'H';
         8: determine_Upper:= 'I';
         9: determine_Upper:= 'J';
         10: determine_Upper:= 'K';
         11: determine_Upper:= 'L';
         12: determine_Upper:= 'M';
         13: determine_Upper:= 'N';
         14: determine_Upper:= 'O';
         15: determine_Upper:= 'P';
         16: determine_Upper:= 'Q';
         17: determine_Upper:= 'R';
         18: determine_Upper:= 'S';
         19: determine_Upper:= 'T';
         20: determine_Upper:= 'U';
         21: determine_Upper:= 'V';
         22: determine_Upper:= 'W';
         23: determine_Upper:= 'X';
         24: determine_Upper:= 'Y';
         25: determine_Upper:= 'Z';
    end;
  end;
  {-----------------------------------------------------------------------------}
  { See the previous function's comment section.                                }
  {-----------------------------------------------------------------------------}
  function determine_Lower (var Lowcasechar: integer): char;
 
  begin
    case Lowcasechar of
         0: determine_Lower:= 'a';
         1: determine_Lower:= 'b';
         2: determine_Lower:= 'c';
         3: determine_Lower:= 'd';
         4: determine_Lower:= 'e';
         5: determine_Lower:= 'f';
         6: determine_Lower:= 'g';
         7: determine_Lower:= 'h';
         8: determine_Lower:= 'i';
         9: determine_Lower:= 'j';
         10: determine_Lower:= 'k';
         11: determine_Lower:= 'l';
         12: determine_Lower:= 'm';
         13: determine_Lower:= 'n';
         14: determine_Lower:= 'o';
         15: determine_Lower:= 'p';
         16: determine_Lower:= 'q';
         17: determine_Lower:= 'r';
         18: determine_Lower:= 's';
         19: determine_Lower:= 't';
         20: determine_Lower:= 'u';
         21: determine_Lower:= 'v';
         22: determine_Lower:= 'w';
         23: determine_Lower:= 'x';
         24: determine_Lower:= 'y';
         25: determine_Lower:= 'z';
    end;
  end;
{-----------------------------------------------------------------------------}
{ This adds the special character into the password for more secure passwords.}
{-----------------------------------------------------------------------------}
function generate_special: char;
var
  assignchar: integer;
begin
  assignchar:= random(4)+1;
  case assignchar of
       1: generate_special:= '!';
       2: generate_special:= '#';
       3: generate_special:= '&';
       4: generate_special:= '%';
  end;
end;
 
{-----------------------------------------------------------------------------}
{ This will generate a complex password for the user. It will do this using   }
{ random character generation. It will use a combination of uppercase and     }
{ lower case letters. The program will then copy the characters into a string }
{ The position of the special character is generated randomly as well.        }
{-----------------------------------------------------------------------------}
procedure generate_complex;
   var
     specialcharnum: integer;
     isupcase: integer;
     loopcounter: integer;
     gcconvertchar: char;
     gc_simple_rand_char: integer;
begin
   specialcharnum:= 0;
   isupcase:= 0;
   clrscr;
   gotoxy(1,1);
   writeln('Generating complex password now.');
   specialcharnum:= random(numchars)+1;
   for loopcounter:= 1 to numchars do
       begin
          gc_simple_rand_char:= random(26);
          if (loopcounter <> specialcharnum) then
          begin
               isupcase:= random(2);
               case isupcase of
                    0: gcconvertchar:= determine_Upper(gc_simple_rand_char);
                    1: gcconvertchar:= determine_Lower(gc_simple_rand_char);
               end;
          end
       else
           begin
              gcconvertchar:= generate_special;
              password[loopcounter]:= gcconvertchar;
           end;
       password[loopcounter]:=  gcconvertchar;
   end;
    for loopcounter:= 0 to numchars do
           begin
             write (password[loopcounter]);
           end;
       writeln ('');
       write ('Press enter to continue.');
       readln;
end;
 
{-----------------------------------------------------------------------------}
{ This is a scaled-down version of the generate complex procedure. It only    }
{ needs to generate valid Ascii characters.                                   }
{-----------------------------------------------------------------------------}
procedure generate_simple;
   var
      simple_Rand_char: integer;
      convertchar: char;
      determineCase: integer;
      loopcounter: integer;
begin
   clrscr;
   writeln ('Generating Password now.');
   determineCase:= 0;
   convertchar:= ' ';
 
   for loopcounter:= 0 to numchars do
       begin
         determineCase:= random(2);
         simple_Rand_Char:= random (26);
         case determineCase of
              0: convertchar:= determine_Upper(simple_Rand_char);
              1: convertchar:= determine_Lower(simple_Rand_Char);
         end;
         password[loopcounter]:= convertchar;
       end;
       write ('Your password is: ');
       for loopcounter:= 0 to numchars do
           begin
             write (password[loopcounter]);
           end;
       writeln ('');
       readln;
end;
{------------------------------------------------------------------------------}
{ Ask the user how long they want their newly generated password to be.        }
{------------------------------------------------------------------------------}
procedure get_password_length;
 
var
   lengthset: boolean;
   label tryagain;
begin
   tryagain:
   clrscr;
   lengthset:= false;
   writeln ('How long would you like your password to be?');
   try
     readln (numchars);
   finally
      writeln ('You''re going to have to try again.');
   end;
   if (numchars < 8) or (numchars > 25) then
       begin
         writeln ('That was not a valid number. Press enter to continue.');
         readln;
         goto tryagain;
       end;
end;
{-----------------------------------------------------------------------------}
{ This program lets the user choose whether they want to generate a simple    }
{ password or a complex password.                                             }
{-----------------------------------------------------------------------------}
procedure choose_simple_or_complex;
 
var
   choice: char;
   label redo;
begin
   choice:= 'x';
   redo:
   clrscr;
   gotoxy (1,1);
   write('--------------------------------------------------------------------');
   gotoxy (1,2);
   write  (' Would you like to genarate a (S)imple password or a (C)omplex   ');
   gotoxy (1,3);
   write  (' password?                                                       ');
   gotoxy( 1,4);
   write('-------------------------------------------------------------------');
   choice:= readkey;
   choice:= upcase (choice);
   get_password_length;
   if (choice = 'S') then
       begin
         generate_simple;
       end
   else if (choice = 'C') then
       begin
         generate_complex;
       end
   else
       begin
         gotoxy (1,5);
         write ('I did not understand that. Press any key to continue.');
         choice:= readkey;
         goto redo;
       end;
 
end;
 
{------------------------------------------------------------------------------}
{ All this does is draw a simple intro screen to tell the user what the program}
{ is for.                                                                      }
{------------------------------------------------------------------------------}
 procedure draw_intro_screen;
 var
    throwaway: char;
 begin;
     throwaway:= 'z';
     gotoxy (1,1);
     writeln ('Sinister Software Solutions');
     gotoxy (23,13);
     write ('Simple Password Generator');
     gotoxy (1,23);
     write ('Press any key to continue.');
     throwaway:= readkey;
     choose_simple_or_complex;
 end;
{=============================================================================}
begin
  for z:= 0 to 25 do
      begin
           password[z]:= ' ';
      end;
  randomize;
  clrscr;
  draw_intro_screen;
end.                    

You'll need Lazarus or an older copy of Turbo Pascal to copy and run it. (The Free Pascal IDE also works, since it uses the same compiler Lazarus does.)  There will be a newer version that will save the passwords. This is done in part because I think that Google Chrome's new secure password generation is a good thing, but I don't trust cloud computing services to store information. They are more likely to be targets of a hack than my home computer.
 
sinisterporpoise: (Default)
2018-05-25 12:53 pm

Poorly timed and ignorant comments

Me: I took an ethical hacking class last-semester.

Uninformed Trump Supporter
: Hacking is terrorism.

 
sinisterporpoise: (Default)
2018-05-18 02:00 pm

Points to ponder

 Why am I being called a liberal for supporting Net neutrality?  It's not a liberal versus conservative issue when all tech sites not connected to ISPs and telecom providers want it to be kept.

Odds are they know what they're talking about.


sinisterporpoise: (Default)
2018-04-12 12:07 pm

Thoughts this morning

Me: Downloading things from Torrent sites if you take the proper precautions. It's like practicing safe sex.  Blast, I should have said this to someone last night.

Still Me:  That probably wouldn't be a good example since the person you were talking to was also asexual.

Yes, please note, I'm well aware that asexuals can and do have sex. I don't need this correction.

Also, pet rats are cute and make great pets. Why don't more people have them? 

Note: This is public.  It's just a joke -- sort of. I guess. Maybe it's not funny.
sinisterporpoise: (Default)
2018-03-24 05:09 am

Last visit to oral surgeon in Indianapolis

 I went to Indianapolis IU Health Oral Surgery yesterday. I was not excited to do this, nor did I think the trip was necessary. The 140-mile round trip was exhausting, especially when the roommate felt the need to make 3 stops after we got home and all I wanted to do was go home and nap.  I suppose I could have napped in the car, but it's a bit hard to do this in a pickup cab when the other party in the car insists on blaring talk radio.

At least I don't have to go back to that building, and I don't have to go back to Indy until May. At least in May the trip is to see my and Cathy's endocrinologist and not to be reminded that at least -- according to the oral surgeons -- my case was a curiosity.

As for the other more exciting things in my life. I've applied to graduate. I've had to sign up for another class to meet my graduation requirements.  I don't think my attitude of "it's just a money-making job search class for the college" helped me very much here, whether it is true or not.  I should have said "it will help me be better prepared for going out into the workforce." 

As far as the Ebay-sales, it looks like I had a slight problem with not getting some envelopes out in time because I was in Indianapolis yesterday. Unfortunately, this prevents me from shipping anything out until Monday because Ebay has restricted the funds for 21 days. I transferred the left over funds to my bank account simply to give them a safe place to stay where I was unlikely to spend them. I'll be able to take care of some of this on Monday. I'll make the image cards today and prepare the envelopes.  I wish Ebay wouldn't do this, but someone clearly thought their policies for new sellers were good when in fact, they tend to hurt new sellers. Well, I knew I was taking a risk. No need to complain about the situation further. I probably wouldn't be in this situation if it weren't for some other circumstances.

Today it's probably a good day to do some homework and kick back a little.  Maybe I'll even go to the new hobby shop run by a trans woman.

sinisterporpoise: (Default)
2018-02-08 02:18 pm

Really? Wrist braces again?

 I'll have to admit I was slightly skeptical of being told my finger and hand problems were from arthritis. I also developed some pain in the same wrist where I had a TFCC tear in 2016.  I was thinking an RSI was more likely before damage to the hands, especially in someone who has EDS or as far as the rheumatologist is concerned, ligament laxity. (I don't care if she believes the diagnosis or not as long as her treatment is working. I also need her to keep me grounded.)

However, she said there was some tendonitis in the wrist again most likely and I should wear the wrist braces for a little while. After last year, I have to admit, I have an impressive collection of braces for my left wrist, and one or two for my right wrist, which suffered a hook of hamate fracture. (Unsurprisingly, even my doctors have seem to have gotten confused about what happened to each wrist last year.)

I think I should just start collecting braces for as many joints as possible. It'll be easier. Speaking of which, my tennis elbow brace seems to be misssing.

Okay, I'm done complaining. In lighter news, I got something I wanted for a long time, and I can't wait to do some target shooting with it. A recurve crossbow. (It was a small amount from student refunds. I plan on selling retro gaming kits built from Raspberry Pi Zeros to start making money. I was considering cryptocurrency mining for a while, but I think the analysts thinking that the bubble might have burst on that are correct. The market will take some time to recover.  Plus, well, I like the idea of working with computers more anyway. I wish I were craftier.

sinisterporpoise: (Default)
2018-01-25 06:21 pm

(no subject)

My energy levels have been somewhat lower, but it seems today's problem was easily solved by eating breakfast. I had to force myself to do this, which is not my usual behavior. However, once I ignored the lack of appetite and fueled the body things started to go better for the day.  I would worry this if I didn't already know that low thyroid hormone levels before I took my pills were most likely responsible.

I have also been putting off doing coursework all day. It's not that I have any real reason to do this. It's just an emotional break. I need to give myself some time off, and it seems that procrastination is giving me a day off. I'll have to overcome this tomorrow.  I am a little worried about tomorrow's appointment with the rheumatologist, but I'm not sure why.  At most, it's just a confirmation that I have arthritis in my hand and finding out which type.  If she disagrees with Christopher Schmidt, she will decide on a different treatment.  I will have to ask her about  his suggestion that I add meloxicam (Mobic) every day to keep inflammation down. At least my anxiety levels seems to be okay.  The anxiety levels are a little higher today, but I keep reminding myself that the odds are against what I fear. The only thing that might point to what I'm fearing is an elevated CRP level.

I've not been writing much. Mostly this is because I haven't felt like it.   I've spent too much time doing SEO content and I am sick of it. I've been burnt out for a while, and I needed to take a break. In fact, I've decided I'm not going to do it again. I'd rather have more creative control over my writing, and not play the search engine optimization games designed to bring someone else's content to the top of the first page on Google. I'm going to take this back to being my hobby rather than something I do to bring in cash.   Right now, I'm trying cryptocurrency mining but with my two low end graphics cards, it's not going to work. I also want to sell the coins and use them for other investments. I believe the market is going to crash.   However, after the crash, things may go back up slightly and the market will stabilize.  Hopefully they'll start making cryptocurrency graphics cards soon.; I plan, however, to use the ASIC hardware designed for Bitcoin and LyteCoin.

I hope things are going well for everyone else. There are some amazing people following my account.

Also, follow the Spacerobots account on twitch.tv
sinisterporpoise: (Default)
2018-01-14 10:14 pm

Remember this Lara....

Other people do not always have the context you assume they do when communicating with them. Remember to provide it. 

Also, even though this cold has been extremely mild, I still am cranky for some reason. I really want my roommate to take it back. I'm pretty sure I only got it because of the methylprednisolone course in the first place.


sinisterporpoise: (Default)
2018-01-07 02:51 am

A public service announcement

If I am running through a prescription of corticosteroids, please do not try to start political arguments with me, especially if you think Trump is the best President since Reagan.  At least most Republicans will concede Reagan might have been suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease during his second term. I don't know what Trump's problem is and I don't want to speculate. It could be that he's just evil.

In any case, please do not try to bring out the angry berserker Lara during this time. You won't like it. I won't like it, and everything will be messy.
This post may or may not have been inspired by events on Facebook.
 
sinisterporpoise: (Default)
2018-01-05 12:22 pm

You can have my keyboard when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers....

I will explain the headline. First, I'm going to try to explain something I said to someone earlier, although that person has probably wisely forgotten this.

Let's start with some good news, however...

My health insurance has put me back to the status I was before. I can't rejoin HIP Plus until February, but I think I have dental insurance now.  This will be good when I go take care of that final (thank goodness!) supernumerary tooth.  I don't know if this will make my regular dentist happy or not. She didn't even know it was there.

Also, my food stamps have been restored. This is a relief. I also seem to have the schedule mostly finalized for the upcoming semester, but i do have on question about it. I will e-mail the professor.

The Christmas Eve Story


I tried to  start a business venture a while back. I have not given up on the idea, but I've decided to wait until I have some stable income coming in to support it.  I'm not working on it now. Someone involved in this, a person who inserted himself in the first plae, decided to work on a business on his own that sold competing products.  I said I should have known better and welcomed the chance to get him out of the business. I also swore that I would not help him again with anything related to this.

This remained the case for months, however, I broke this vow on Christmas Eve. I got a text from his girlfriend asking if I had the images for it.  I thought in the spirit of Christmas, I'd just go over and help. This went *against* my better judgment.  If he does not know enough about computers and the operating systems involved, I have no responsibility to help him in his business, especially since he kept insinuating I wasn't good at hardware repairs. (Excuse me, mister, but *whose* name is on those PcPro and A+ certifications you saw?)

To make this story as short as possible, he sold it. I became annoyed. I know my feelings are irrational, especially since I knew this was going to happen. The funny things about feelings, however, is that they aren't rational. They are what they are.  It seems that I should learn to go with my gut instincts more often and not try to be a nice person, especially on Christmas Eve.   In this circumstance, the person made his choices, and I should have let him sink or swim.  

I'm not sure this needed to be recapped, and as I said on the day I tried to convey this story, "I were not Englishing good."   

Medical Sttuff. Skip if You Want To

My left hand has been sore for weeks. I thought it was a repetitive stress injury from typing and would get better after a while. Because it was continuous, I went to the doctor today.  He took a look at my hands and saw the left one was swollen. He poked around and said he thinks it is arthritis. This is not surprising with EDS, and I know I already have arthritis and bursitis in other joints.  However, it does put Rheumatoid Arthritis back on the table for a little while. I wish I could say this prospect scares me as much as it used to, but having this condition would not significantly change my life.