| 6011:791.483.800 |
Dawn of a new scientific era
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Some time already passed since I started aimlessly roaming Feltyrion and this period helped me understand (or 'try to guess', to be less boastful) what I'm searching in this void and what my role could be inside the community.
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I found myself in a slightly uncomfortable situation when I started to realize that my active exploration wasn't really filling any of the questions that kept stacking one over the other, in my mind.
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I didn't feel to tell this sensation to anyone and rightfully addressed my unease simply to inexperience and desire to have faster and surprising intuitions.
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The confidence in what I could do though, was totally out of question and someone in the high ranks of the Felisian Navy, decided to see if the dormant 'real me' was worth a wake.
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Rear Admiral Skinnymon himself approached me with the intention to let me confront myself with the community of Stardrifters and what happened next probably went over what he originally hoped for.
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With his help I finally realized what I am here for or, since I probably always knew that I just pursue pure knowledge, how I can do it in a way that can satisfy me; even if that have transferred my exploration activity in a very smaller but someway more mysterious environment than the Galaxy itself: the StarMap.
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Two important achievements have resulted from my dedication in scientific research.
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The first has already been announced and it is the comeback of StarMap updates.
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The studies for the second one started even before than those about the StarMap updates (in fact it was the discoveries arisen from this study that led me to the decision to ask Fenia for letting me keep the StarMap mastercopies) and they effected in what I decided to call:
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G.O.E.S. Extended Network
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The real purpose of the GOESXNET is to function as a suite of tools to help the Stardrifters out with their activities.
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The main part is composed by the Bodies Database: discoveries related to 'duplicate names' have resulted in the ability to finally being able to read again some of the notes and Parsis coordinates of objects which data were impossible to be fetched by the SD onboard computer (read my article entitled 'A study on duplicate names found in StarMap' for more details).
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The other tools available there are in reality the true reason of the system existence: provide instruments to ease our job, let us get to new conclusions or simply planning one's next mission.
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Every application is pretty basic and simple but it's the Stardrifter experience and reasoning that can combine their use and finally deliver some useful help.
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The system is completely modular and the architecture has been designed to easily add new sections, single tools or even Stardriifters' reports.
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In this regard the 'Article' section is open to anyone and aims to become the central repository for scientific documents and/or informative material.
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This obviously means that I'm hoping for other Stardrifters to participate in spreading the knowledge; directly confronting one with the other is good for short term considerations, but I would like to build a 'common knowledge base' (which it seems we may already have lost because we've been left alone for so much time) so that every new discovery can be put on top of the other ones, and no one inclined to actively evolve our knowledge and expectations, risks to have to go alone through already established facts.
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If you have any submission or suggestion you should know how to contact me, otherwise you must have a read at the official Stardifters' bullettin board.
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| 6011:791.219.000 |
Department of Astrocartography
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I haven't been using this space as I originally planned and now it seems I have to catch up what I left behind.
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The most important piece of news, you may have guessed it, is the revival of the StarMap updates: I've been officially charged with managing the Outboxes flow and updating the StarMap and GUIDE with labels and notes sent in by explorers.
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This means I am Chief Officer of the Department of Astrocartography of the Felisian Navy, which would informally designate me as 'Commander', a title I don't think I'll be using very often, though.
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A new Starmap update is already available here.
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It includes outboxes from the long period (about 125 triads sinister) during which the StarMap was left unchanged.
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I'm comprehensively proud of the job I've done and the positive feedbacks I received from the StarDrifters, show the measure of how much the mapping process of Feltyrion is taken in consideration. I'm sure I've done not only a popular thing, but a rightful one.
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We've been left behind and the mysteries of our isolation are hidden somewhere in Feltyrion: knowing where we belong may let us finally find ourselves again.
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| 6011:786.744.000 |
A study on duplicate names found in StarMap
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Recently the occurrence of several bodies in Feltyrion bearing the same name has been submitted to my attention.
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I accepted to examine the causes of this unexpected phenomenon because it would have been a wonderful chance to add details to my current knowledge about G.O.E.S. modules and the GUIDE.
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My recent accomplishments in the study of the G.O.E.S. environment, have allowed to identify the possible occasion in which two objects got officially assigned the same name; indeed, the oboard computer is designed to reject any name already present in the StarMap and the EXTANT message is diplayed on the HUD, if this is tried.
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This behaviour suggests that each name has been legitimately assigned via the Galactic Cartography naming functions.
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This means that in Fenia no control over names takes place on the various data submitted by explorers and that potentially non-valid entries are left to be managed by the INBOX module.
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My studies revealed that the INBOX module doesn't verify for the uniqueness of a name, though.
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With these results under my eyes, I feel quite confident asserting that each couple (or even triplet) of names was included in the same StarMap update release.
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Another fact that has been cleared by these studies is about the behaviour of the G.O.E.S. modules when inquired about one of these duplicates.
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The supposed uniqueness of names in Feltyrion means that G.O.E.S. modules don't expect them to be repeated and when returning the result of a query by name, stop their search at the first occurrence they find.
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A curious effect of this is related to CAT and CAST modules when inquired about objects which are (or that would have lately resulted to be) listed as second on StarMap.
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If the notes have been compiled when the "other" object still wasn't around, they will never be readable after the diffusion of the updated StarMap.
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Otherwise if they get compiled when both objects are already on StarMap, CAST will assign them to the first occurrence in any case, rendering that description inaccurate.
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I also managed to scan the StarMap in search for these objects.
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A listing of these names and some related info, can be found here.
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Note the "resurrection" of notes and Parsis coordinates of objects listed as second or third in their "groups": infos which cannot be displayed by the G.O.E.S. modules.
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| 6011:786.367.800 |
Fixing the StarMap?
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If I receive the authorization from Fenia to take charge of the maintenance of the StarMap mastercopies, I will also examine the possibility to fix the StarMap anomalies once and for all.
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There seems to be an option within the INBOX program that could affect records already present in the StarMap.
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This fix would imply to actually change one of the names that have duplicates and (but this would require much extended effort) eventually re-assign GUIDE entries to their correct bodies.
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This may be a risky move by the way and since it is predictable that such choice will meet oppositions by other explorers, I'm not proceeding if any doubts arise from the headquarters in Fenia or from the community of Stardrifters.
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The duplicate names all seem to derive from a flaw in the INBOX program, which doesn't check for extant names while importing the updates.
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This may not happen again as my work over the INBOX compilation has taken advantage of the several triads sinister of experience that the Stardrifters around Feltyrion have gathered.
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If the heads in Fenia will allow me to update the StarMap mastercopies there should never be again the occasion of two bodies with the same name.
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