42x0rn355

it is certainly possible to squeeze out every bit of performance from some given hardware, but, even though cute, it is most certainly wrong.
it takes too much time, it's prone to bugs, it darkens the mind, poisons the body and soul, and kills the spirit. so does not following the methodology agreed upon from the start.

this being said, following in no particular order are some of the nicest moments from this years' Suceavean Hard&Soft contest.

- having to lean over the window to catch 802.11 signal
- rum chocolate, chili, bitter and beer
- blackscreening the macbook
- le compteur des coups de foudre (or smth like that)
- ... which remained zero even after two heavy thunderstorms
- >:P lightning flash counter!!
- i'm donald duck in space. now i'll just swipe this rfid card over hereah, and now i'm a metallic alien and i will conquer ... i will... conquer ... this hallway! yeah. that's right.
- can you ctrl-alt-del a mac? no. why? simple. cause there's no delete key.
- gimme some potato soup please, and some potato mash with fried potatoes
- now i'll just put this teaspoon in my mouth in order to decrease my impedance
- the more times i do it, the more time it takes for the application to respond to my keystroke!
- a PA system! cool! let's throw RF at it!
- they got a great signal, but they cheated.
- i should've installed linux on it.

sincere thanks and congratulations to the organizers, sponsors and jury.
it was great. i'm so sorry it's over. hope they keep organizing it for many decades to come.

tzatziki falafel sarmale*

*food items.
So I have to design this circuit that allows you to select an ADC's input range. After iterating through 4 topologies and twiddling some resistor values, I managed to get the 1 volt scale right, but instead of 5 volts full scale on the other setting, I got, you guessed it, 6.66.
Update: after one more hour of calculations, it finally works on 3 out of 4 settings. But when I apply a 1V input, I get, you guessed it, 666mV instead of 2.5V output.
Update: no problem, I've since mathematically proven that none of my topologies would have worked, and found one that kind of did.

nightmadness

Last night I dreamt I was out on a boatride with the Pope. I was rowing the small boat on a quiet, shady forest lake, and we were talking. But then they started charging. We had to run. We got out of the boat and started running. The sun had set and we were still running. We were running downhill through the forest, then through some sand, and finally I reached a town. It was dark and cold in the railway station. I met with some friends, we were accomodated in a crowded, but welcoming room, where we made even more friends, and then we started discussing the tasks ahead. Then I phoned someone to tell another friend to move his ass over (by means of a train). Then I tried to accelerate the heating of some food by burning gas in a bowl.
I know. I'm deranged.

happy sad

singles awareness day, feb. 13th.
gives you somewhat more perceived freedom.
unlocks the animal in thee
i'm deranged.

pigasus

Q: what do you get when you cross-breed a flying horse with a pig?
A: swiss cheese spliced with chalk, and a beard.

death

"I'd rather DIE than go to heaven" -- William Murderface
"Today we are going to talk about HELL" -- Father Maxi
"Death is the end of life in a biological organism, marked by the full cessation of its vital functions." -- Wikipedia

Much can be said on the subject of death. Each second brings us closer to death (by controlled internal burning). Death is all around us and it's very much necessary for life to exist. We live off death. There. I've said it. When a living body ceases to die, it becomes, well, cancer. Cancer is immortal. Yeah, I prefer embracing death. Besides, it's cool, with the black hood and scythe and all that. Real cool. I want to wear a black hood too, and wield a deadly scythe and be omnipotent! Oh. Wait. I already am.

beer

The dentist fixed my teeth, I had a nice walk in the park, dark skies, cold winds, beer with mr Wacky. Which reminds me. Some time ago, while working in the lab, I decided to inquire mr Wacky as to the possibility of having a beer with me that evening. So I opened the messenger window and just stood there questioning the wisdom of such a decision. I was after all, quite tired. And then mr. Wacky read my mind and asked me out for a beer in the same window, 1 minute later. Now that's cool. I have to research that some time.