Response to TOG's Third Eviction

This is a condensed version of a twitter thread in response to @silverSpoon asking about how Farset Labs would comment on recent news of Dublins hackerspace (TOG) being uncerimoniously turfed out of their third home thanks to developers just wanting to flip sites Agreed, and it shouldn't be down to companies to fill up the gap. https://t.co/Np46Znn3xH — Andrea (@silverSpoon) June 8, 2021 I wonder if @FarsetLabs has comments on how that works on NI? — Andrea (@silverSpoon) June 8, 2021 It’s similar up here, but that’s more challenging (and lines up with @jeffrey_roe’s comments in the piece) that hackerspaces fall between a crack in local development support between ’entrepeneurship/startups support’ (aka subsidised professional services and office space), the classical arts sector individual and studio support (which has its own significant issues, often a lot more bureaucracy than it’s worth, and stifling community revenue generation by arcane entertainments licensing that I’m sure if you start @adamtucks he’ll chip in) and last, the classical community centre/sports groups (such as the GAA clubs discussed in the original article). ...

June 10, 2021 · Andrew Bolster

Abracadabra - NI Assembly's Plans to have 60% more PhD Researchers

I was skimming through the Oral Statement from yesterday’s Assembly, with a specific interest in Dr Stephen Farry’s discussions on the NI Economic Activity Baseline Report (everyone loves Baseline reports these days, but very few ever seem to get followed up…) can came across a Question and Response between Sammy Douglas (E. Belfast) and Dr Farry. Mr Douglas: […]Will he outline what his Department is doing to ensure that we are educating our young people in the skills that the workforce needs? ...

April 10, 2013 · Andrew Bolster

Deus Ex, or How I learned to stop Torrenting and Love Digital Distribution

I am a pirate. I voyage across the root-zones in search for content. Movies available months before local DVD release in a format that my media centre laps up (mostly), I watch once, and don’t take up shelf space for years; TV shows via RSS that I watch at my leisure; and, on the rare occasion that I want to ‘Game’ and not feel like an idiot, I torrent. ...

July 29, 2012 · Andrew Bolster

Through The Drinking Glass

Inspired by the drinking game ‘Kings’ Co-Authors:W.P.L. Cully, and L. Martin Requirements: 1 standard deck of cards 1 jug/tankard/chalice/large vessel 1 top hat (or suitably ‘posh’ headgear) at least 4 people Card Assignments: A: Drink Me (Drink your own drink) 2: Tweedledee Tweedledum (Two person waterfall, card drawers choice of partner, second person can only stop drinking after the card drawer) 3: Time for Tea (Group Waterfall, to stop drinking, person to your right must stop first) 4: Door Mouse (Last person to put their forehead on the table takes a drink) 5: Skive (Get out of jail free card to be used at any time until the next 5 is pulled from the deck) 6: Mad March Hare (card drawer can make up an arbitrary rule that lasts until another 6 is drawn) 7: Caterpillar (aka Questionmaster, if anyone answers a question posed by the cardholder, that person has to drink, this continues until another 7 is drawn) 8: Cheshire Cat (the drawer must grin until another 8 is drawn) 9: Rhymes (card drawer picks a word, and each subsequent person around the table must say a non-repeated word that rhymes with the previous word. When someone fails, they drink) 10: Do it again (if the previous card was NOT a face card, repeat the action) J: All Change (this drawer receives the hat, granting the power to randomly shout [loudly] ‘ALL CHANGE’, at which point everyone passes their drink (and the hat, passing on the power) to the person on their left. There is no limit to how long this goes on for, but when another J is drawn, the hat is given to that person) Q: Queen’s Cup* (Pour your entire drink into the central cup/jug/whatever. If Q♥ appeared before the last Q, down the remains of the cup. See also K) Q♥: Off with his head! (Down the cup, if this card appears before any other Q’s, down your own drink) K: Kings and Queens (Each respective suit-couples (K♥/Q♥) are paired such that for the rest of the game, when the Queen drinks, the relevant King must also drink. In the case of the cup being drank, it can be shared, but this involves two people drinking out of the same vessel so can get messy, otherwise take turns and the Q goes first. If the K is pulled with no corresponding Q, there is no initial penalty) ...

September 29, 2011 · Andrew Bolster

Stuff I've found interesting in the past month - 23/10/2010

The Trashmen : Surfin’ Bird ( 1963 ) Skyline - Trailer 2 (2010) Gameblurb firstTEN-Fallout: New Vegas Introduction And So You Code Cat vs Printer - The Translation Really: New Windows Phone Ad Dub War 5th Birthday w/ Mala & Skream

October 23, 2010 · Andrew Bolster

Hackathon

On Saturday the 23rd October, the Hackers invade The Space! In association with QUESTS, Dragonslayers, and IETNI, HackerspaceBelfast will be running a series of events over 24 hours of software, network, and hardware hackery goodness, as well as screening hacker movies, DIY repair, and maybe, just maybe, how to build a laser. Running parallel to Dragonslayers’ 24 hour gaming event, which will incorporate console, PC, and tabletop games, attendees will be able to both play and make games to their hearts content. ...

October 14, 2010 · Andrew Bolster

4 Dimensional Game promises to be a mind-frak

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhBoY6s-Fhw I came across this earlier this morning on XKCD and while there is very little information on the developers site at the minute, I’ll be coughing up for it regardless.

March 31, 2010 · Andrew Bolster

Kids Sing Portal "Still Alive"

The Gifford Children’s Choir performs “Still Alive” by Jonathan Coulton. I freaking love this song, and there’s something reassuring that in years to come kids will be singing songs from video games about science instead of nursery rhymes about war and disease, and violent chants. ...

March 31, 2010 · Andrew Bolster

Shared Items - 20/01/2010

Freelance Freedom #139 This seems to be a central tenant of all creative processes, from programming, to graphic design, to web design, to finger painting. Theres a hell of alot of apparent ’nothing’ to do before you do anything, and if you play your cards right, its chargeable nothing time :D Programming With Proportional Fonts? An interesting new look at a programming environment mainstay that I admit I just assumed was a best practice! ...

January 20, 2010 · Andrew Bolster

Big Move

Well, I’ve finally joined the washed masses in actually having my own domain. Lovely new years deal from DreamHost. 10 bucks for 2 years, brilliant. Thanks Lifehacker Anyway, hope it all goes well. Also, merry christmas and a happy new year to all. I got an XBox 360, and will eventually do a little write up on making it talk to my My Book World Edition

January 3, 2009 · Andrew Bolster