Home gym recommendations

The Falcon and I are getting settled into the new house and making it a home. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a gym nearby that is decent and not hideously overpriced. So I am looking at a home gym setup and for advice on that from people who’ve done it in the past.

Constraints on it are space and money. The house is only 70m/sq (lol Europe), and the ceilings are 230CM tall. So I can’t standing press in it. Barbell training is probably out for now.

It’s going to need to be fairly minimal. Key thing is somewhere to do pullups and dips.  Looking for a “power tower” for pullups and chins. A bench to do flat/incline rows would also help. Some of it may need to be outdoors. Though I wonder what getting outdoors equipment will be like. Ireland rarely freezes, but it’s very wet.

I am potentially cycling 15km each way to work, so that should cover some training. But there’s a real need to have back and glute work to balance out the sitting and cycling.

 

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Exsurge Dominus I: Inter Alia

Part One of our recent Inquisitor/Necromunda game. Good links to earlier campaigns also.

LiberArcadia

The weeks since the attack on Inquisitor Eck’s funeral have been mired in blood and intrigue. As though they answer some hidden sign or signal, it seems the great and powerful of Hive Tartarus have decided now is the time to carve their ambitions into the very steel of the city. Someone has defiled Eck’s coffin, this transgression cannot go unpunished. Find the guilty ones, my faithful Acolytes, you are authorized in my name to do all that is necessary.

Pax Imperium,

Winterhardt [=I=]

Episode I: Inter Alia is the first session of the Exsurge Dominus campaign, following Inquisitor Thomas Winterhardt’s Acolytes as they hunt down whoever desecrated Eck’s coffin. In this game, the Acolytes are attempting to capture a GAPco officer, following a lead that the power company have been intimately involved in much of the unrest in the Hive. This game takes place at roughly the same time as…

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Boomin’

So we bought the house, and we started moving into it last weekend. Big pain in the ass. Life sucks right now. Back on the whiskey and potato crisps diet. No gas connection for heating or cooking right now so we are living where ever we can until Sunday.

Got alarms and power in the house, but doing shit tonnes of driving across the city to bring stuff in the tiny car I borrowed from my mam. Trying to get a Hyundai i10 full of stuff and then drive it on a motorway is suffering.

Got a bed and frame on sale, got additional discount and assembly/delivery for free with a bit of haggling. Place needs a new front door as what’s there is old and drafty.  Still need stuff to make the place liveable, like sheets, plates, cups, cutlery etc.

My commute is doubling, from 35 mins by bus to 70 mins on a tram. Might see if I can cycle it, hate being stuck in someone’s armpit all the time.

New job is OK, still stuck finishing old projects while I work the new job and try learn. Also having to split early from work to drive across town to do things in the house. Hopefully it will settle down in a few weeks, I’m feeling really burned out again after months of this stress on buying the house. Doubting my commitment to stay in the job a bit, feel the commute will be too much.

Armies on Parade

I entered my 28mm Inquisitor/Mordheim/Necromunda gang, the Desert Fathers, into Armies on Parade this year. It was a good project that pushed me to complete 18 models to a high standard, and improve my sculpting.  The loose theme was ‘desert pilgrims seek forbidden technology’. We had a 2’x’2 area to work with, but I always wanted to made a display board from a motherboard, so decided to keep it small.  We are also moving house, so small is easier to work with.

The motherboard is off an 18-year old Gateway PC (made in Ireland, pre-dotcom crash) and I recently decommissioned it. It was a fitting tribute to a venerable machine. Here’s the start of the project, with the models having base colours but no highlights. The board has had everything stripped off it.

I textured the board with plaster, PVA and  fine sand. Small amounts of cork were mixed with the sand to represent rocks. I tried to work this into the mobo as if sand and rust was working its way through the desert. I sealed this with watered down PVA. I then primed the board with grey car primer.

I then hand brushed cheap brown paint over the board. About 5 parts brown to 1 part black. trying to match Vajello charred brown. This fucking sucked, took 3 coats and a solid hour. Paint kept flaking off the primer. I would love an airbrush for this kind of work.

Then I brushed a mix of brown, red, yellow and earth over the brown. Still lots of bare patches, these were touched up by squirting thinned black and brown paint with a syringe into the cracks and ports of the motherboard. This gave the board some depth also.

I then drybrushed bugman’s glow, a ruddy flesh colour over the board. Then I worked up to off-white. When that was complete, I added red pigments.

I was not completely satisfied, and asked the kind people on 4chan /tg/ what could I do to improve it. They told me to add some colour variance, pools of oil, and a central focus to the board. The edge of the base should also be painted black to give the eye a ‘border’ for the piece. I added pools of oil with black paint and gloss varnish, little patches of lichen stained with black and brown, and white pigments.

Almost complete here, but still missing a central focus.

I added a chained hatch I had from another kit, then painted it to match the board, but with a purple glow. Then I shaded the area with washes and black lines to give depth. This board was now completed. The Falcon posed some stuff on the board while I was in the shower, which was an improvement. Here is a closeup of the hatch, with the smallest character posed to go down it:

The completed board.

Sadly I did not win anything, as someone turned up with an entourage to vote for them, and took second despite having an unpainted board. But I got to see some amazing stuff on display and talk with great sculptors.

Retrospective:

Time management was good. Planned to finish this a week ahead of time, virtually complete on the Monday. Added the hatch on the morning of the event, but no rush to complete.  Good colours throughout. Strong highlights and some effective contrasts made this look less muddy. I learned to blend colours better, used a flow improve for hard highlights.

Less satisfied with the painting on some of the figures, my highlights are chunky and need refinement. Especially some figure painters are very ‘neat’ and ‘clean’ in competition. This helps the pieces pop more, and is something I would like to learn.

 

perfidious Samhain costume ideas

For perfidy, it’s hard to beat Daddy Dandalo:

Would go as this with my pal but he lacks the cobra-like traps of Enoch Powell:

 

Where ever you end up, please have a safe, Celtic Halloween, free from perfidy in all its forms.

12 rules of networking – RFC 1925

aka things that are not on the CCNA but only come after enough suffering. They apply to any profession that is not bullshit.

Network Working Group                                  R. Callon, Editor
Request for Comments: 1925                                          IOOF
Category: Informational                                     1 April 1996


                      The Twelve Networking Truths

Status of this Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  This memo
   does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of
   this memo is unlimited.

Abstract

   This memo documents the fundamental truths of networking for the
   Internet community. This memo does not specify a standard, except in
   the sense that all standards must implicitly follow the fundamental
   truths.

Acknowledgements

   The truths described in this memo result from extensive study over an
   extended period of time by many people, some of whom did not intend
   to contribute to this work. The editor merely has collected these
   truths, and would like to thank the networking community for
   originally illuminating these truths.

1. Introduction

   This Request for Comments (RFC) provides information about the
   fundamental truths underlying all networking. These truths apply to
   networking in general, and are not limited to TCP/IP, the Internet,
   or any other subset of the networking community.

2. The Fundamental Truths

   (1)  It Has To Work.

   (2)  No matter how hard you push and no matter what the priority,
        you can't increase the speed of light.

        (2a) (corollary). No matter how hard you try, you can't make a
             baby in much less than 9 months. Trying to speed this up
             *might* make it slower, but it won't make it happen any
             quicker.





Callon                       Informational                      [Page 1]

RFC 1925            Fundamental Truths of Networking        1 April 1996


   (3)  With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine. However, this is
        not necessarily a good idea. It is hard to be sure where they
        are going to land, and it could be dangerous sitting under them
        as they fly overhead.

   (4)  Some things in life can never be fully appreciated nor
        understood unless experienced firsthand. Some things in
        networking can never be fully understood by someone who neither
        builds commercial networking equipment nor runs an operational
        network.

   (5)  It is always possible to aglutenate multiple separate problems
        into a single complex interdependent solution. In most cases
        this is a bad idea.

   (6)  It is easier to move a problem around (for example, by moving
        the problem to a different part of the overall network
        architecture) than it is to solve it.

        (6a) (corollary). It is always possible to add another level of
             indirection.

   (7)  It is always something

        (7a) (corollary). Good, Fast, Cheap: Pick any two (you can't
            have all three).

   (8)  It is more complicated than you think.

   (9)  For all resources, whatever it is, you need more.

       (9a) (corollary) Every networking problem always takes longer to
            solve than it seems like it should.

   (10) One size never fits all.

   (11) Every old idea will be proposed again with a different name and
        a different presentation, regardless of whether it works.

        (11a) (corollary). See rule 6a.

   (12) In protocol design, perfection has been reached not when there
        is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take
        away.







Callon                       Informational                      [Page 2]

RFC 1925            Fundamental Truths of Networking        1 April 1996


Security Considerations

   This RFC raises no security issues. However, security protocols are
   subject to the fundamental networking truths.

References

   The references have been deleted in order to protect the guilty and
   avoid enriching the lawyers.

Author's Address

   Ross Callon
   Internet Order of Old Farts
   c/o Bay Networks
   3 Federal Street
   Billerica, MA  01821

   Phone: 508-436-3936
   EMail: rcallon@baynetworks.com































Callon                       Informational                      [Page 3]

The spiral of gainz

We have a choice in life, but we always adapt to the choices. Some descend, some ascend. I am trying to get into the light to graze the algae of the rocks of 21st century, as there are a lot of good things happening right now.

Coughing up the deposit on a house this weekend. 4 years of hard saving between the Falcon and I. It will be everything she owns and most of what I own.  Could be another few months before we actually move in, too. Still, it will be nice to have our own place and have the space for the Falcon’s sideline in baking. Plus room for kids down the line.

Recently read John Bunyan’s the Pilgrim’s Progress from 1670,  While it is definitely a Protestant text, I enjoyed the journey the character takes towards salvation and the different characters and challenges he faces. This made me think about my faith in dynamic terms, and as something one must have courage in and constantly fight entropy. Also recognizing that one is improved by change and hardship if you are configured for it. You can recognize many of the spiritual and moral perils today. We also based a miniatures RPG off the text, which was my reason for picking it up. As often in times of change in my life, I am reading the psalms and proverbs in the Bible.  They are going to be the basis of a new short story I am working on.

At the same time, I am reading the Devops Handbook, which attempts to apply some of the lessons of Japanese Lean manufacturing to software and IT operations. Lots of wisdom in this. We are deep in the downward spiral they identity. I can definitely recognize the characters and challenges outline in the book. A bit like Pilgrim’s Progress in that staying still to keep stability means you end up further behind as entropy fucks everything up.  Also espouses some antifragile concepts like keeping 20% in the tank, and changing things up to reveal weaknesses.

We also had the tail end of a tropical storm here that took power out to our block for 2 days. No one predicted it would be that bad, lots of trees down. Had food and candles here, and had relations nearby that we gave our frozen food to until power came back. Nice to get away from the screen and instead walk around talking with neighbors.

I started on antibiotics and a cream for demodex mites to take down the rosacea I’ve had for 2 years. Effects in a week were dramatic, it’s almost completely cleared. Only downside has I started getting a bit dizzy. First 3 days I felt a bit sick. Also cherbing with curcumin to control inflammation elsewhere. Made some difference, also less DOMS.

So things are starting to get better.