2. Blog

Colourettu 0.1.1 for Python released

Colourettu

Version 0.1.1 of Colourettu has been released.

Colourettu is a Python library I’ve written for dealing with colours, and specifically to determine the contrast between two colours.

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Failure or Blame

If you work in an organization, the underlying rule is simple: People are not afraid of failure, they’re afraid of blame.

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NSA Old-School Spying

While the recent revelations from Snowden have put a spotlight on the efforts of the NSA to spy on seemingly everything, one of the surprising results is that those that were labelled ‘paranoid’ and dismissed in years past no longer seem paranoid enough.

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MetaLibrary 8 for OpenTTD released

Quick on the heals of the release of version 7, version 8 of MetaLibrary has been released.

To recap, MetaLibrary is a collection of code I’ve written to simplify writing an AI for OpenTTD, a remake of my childhood favorite, Transport Tycoon.

Version 8 brings a 9-30x improvement in the speed of Lakes, and by extension, a speed-up in the Ship Pathfinder. And that’s all for now; I figured that would be enough. The documentation for MetaLibrary has also been updated.

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Birkenhead’s of Backford

I have been continuing my research of the Bunbury line. For the 18th century and earlier, Burke’s Peerage has proved incredibly useful. As Burke’s is serves mainly for showing how someone inherited their title or lands, it tends to be patrilineal (meaning descent is calculated through men). However, the wives are often well noted, including the wife’s father. Such is the link between the Bunbury’s and the Birkenhead’s.

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The Transformation of Facebook

While much has been written about Facebook, this isn’t about how Facebook as a website or a company has changed, but rather how my relationship with it has changed. I am particularly inspired to write this this morning after reading this article by Cassey Johnston in Ars Technica.

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MetaLibrary Documentation Live

Over the last four years, I’ve been working on an AI called WmDOT for OpenTTD, a remake of the classic Transport Tycoon, a beloved game from my childhood. To support WmDOT, I’ve built a library of support functions. Over the last three days, I have written up documentation for the included functions and the result can be seen live at my site at http://minchin.ca/openttd-metalibrary/ I’m excited to have it up. I hope it will help others make use of my library.

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Alberta Bankruptcy Exceptions

Out of curiosity, I looked up the Alberta Bankruptcy Exceptions. In a nutshell, this is what you can keep even if you declare bankruptcy:

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Scientific Poetry

I came across this little ditty and got a kick out of it. Hope it makes you smile.

A friend who’s in liquor production,
Has a still of astounding construction,
The alcohol boils,
Through old magnet coils,
He says that it’s proof by induction

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