Saturday, July 31, 2010
Learning to Fly
Weather : sunshine, showers and sort of breezy.
Two games of note to mention today. First up, an xbox indie game called Avaglide. It's a remarkably polished gliding game with the hook that your xbox live avatar is the pilot. The graphics are bright and cartoony, being very reminiscent of a Nintendo game with large stars to collect on one of the game modes. My favourite mode is the free flight which is a relaxing way to spend five or ten minutes swooping around. It's the first time I have downloaded one of these, and I reckon it's good value for 80 MS points (or about 60p).
The other game is Alan Wake, which I've returned to after a longish hiatus to play Red Dead. It really is a very good game, albeit the polar opposite of the wide open sunny vistas of Neuvo Pariso. The story is intriguing, and is not ashamed to name check its influences of Stephen King, HP Lovecraft mixed with a healthy dose of Twin Peaks. I like the episodic structure with appropriate music to close out each part and a 'previously on' montage at the start of the next bit. I'm on the last chapter of the main storyline and then it's on to the free DLC episode.
Two games of note to mention today. First up, an xbox indie game called Avaglide. It's a remarkably polished gliding game with the hook that your xbox live avatar is the pilot. The graphics are bright and cartoony, being very reminiscent of a Nintendo game with large stars to collect on one of the game modes. My favourite mode is the free flight which is a relaxing way to spend five or ten minutes swooping around. It's the first time I have downloaded one of these, and I reckon it's good value for 80 MS points (or about 60p).
The other game is Alan Wake, which I've returned to after a longish hiatus to play Red Dead. It really is a very good game, albeit the polar opposite of the wide open sunny vistas of Neuvo Pariso. The story is intriguing, and is not ashamed to name check its influences of Stephen King, HP Lovecraft mixed with a healthy dose of Twin Peaks. I like the episodic structure with appropriate music to close out each part and a 'previously on' montage at the start of the next bit. I'm on the last chapter of the main storyline and then it's on to the free DLC episode.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Watching you
Everyone knows about 2014, yeah? That's when the terrorists tried to set off a bloody atom bomb in the middle of London, and it was a close run thing that the cops managed to stop them. That's why we need the cameras and the curfew, innit? We can't risk it happening again and it's a good job that that the Shepherd party are looking out for us. You can't expect things to be like they were at the start of the century - you just can't, OK? Things have changed - it's a different world now, and you've got to accept it, for a quiet life.
That's what they always say.
So, what do you do when you find yourself out after curfew and somebody you've never seen before gives you some data that could change things forever? Who do you trust? The boy? The immigrant girl? The dissident? The ex-cop? What questions do you need to ask?
The Curfew, the latest educational game from Channel Four puts you in the middle of such a dilemma with each of the characters receiving an episode in which to explore their lives and back story. The game uses a mix of video, adventure game style exploration for clues using augmented reality on your mobile and a variety of mini-games to advance the plot.
The first episode is on line now (in beta form but pretty complete as far as I could tell) and it certainly doesn't pull any punches in its examination of a totalitarian surveillance state reinforced by a brutal police force.
Highly recommended!
Thursday, July 29, 2010
What once was lost
Another late start to the day, and a worrisome one with no sign, nor hide, nor hair of Frank the cat who is usually first through the cat flap in the mornings demanding his noms. I fed the other two and went out to look for him, both in the field and up the street with no joy. I had a cup of tea and a shower, and went out shouting for him one last time before taking the dog out. I'd thought that I turned up another blank as I walked back through the gate, until I turned around and saw said moggie strolling along behind me. Evidently he had been asleep somewhere warm and only now decided he was hungry.
Phew and grrr in equal measure.
Phew and grrr in equal measure.
The Music of Red Dead Redemption
As well as being visually stunning, RDR has one of the most atmospheric soundtracks that I have ever heard
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
The Last DJ
As alluded to yesterday, I snaffled up a cheap copy of DJ Hero in Game the other day, and I have to say I'm very impressed with it. As with all rhythm games, a lot of the appeal rests on how the peripherals perform. For example, the Wii version of Samba de Amigo was not precise enough to make the harder difficulty settings achievable. So, how does this one measure up?
The turntable itself is satisfyingly heavy, with a positive response from the buttons. The actions that you perform are mainly centered around holding down one of the buttons and scratching the turntable at the right time - I initially had problems with the inner blue button, but the trick is to span the whole disc with your hand and use that to move the platter, rather than relying on just a finger. The other issue is with the mixer that requires quite precise movements to select a track and then return to the center without overshooting, but I think that may be down to practice. The game is not quite as tough as the various Guitar Hero variants and you don't ever fail a track, but getting the maximum five stars is a challenge.
The real highlight for me in this game though is the music - there are superb mixes by such luminaries as Grandmaster Flash, DJ Jazzy Jeff and Daft Punk amongst others, featuring a perfectly hee-yuge range of genres from hip-hop, electro, techno, soul and even a spot of heavy metal, from artists as diverse as Little Richard, Michael Jackson and Motorhead. Aces. You can even put the game on auto-play to just listen to the music and enjoy the visuals without having to do anything.
I was interested in the game when it came out, but £108 was a touch on the steep side. For thirty squids though, it is a conspicuous bargain, particularly with the new game due out in the fall.
In other related games news, I picked up a free copy of Tap Studio Pro in the app store the other day. If you've played any of the Tap genre style games then you'll know what to expect, but the twist with this one is that you can record a sequence for any track in your library or download one for something like 100,000 different songs. Some of them are of variable quality, but there is a rating mechanism so you can see the good ones. I've currently recorded tracks for Asleep at the Wheel and The Sex Pistols under the name of Satsuma if anybody fancies a go ...
The turntable itself is satisfyingly heavy, with a positive response from the buttons. The actions that you perform are mainly centered around holding down one of the buttons and scratching the turntable at the right time - I initially had problems with the inner blue button, but the trick is to span the whole disc with your hand and use that to move the platter, rather than relying on just a finger. The other issue is with the mixer that requires quite precise movements to select a track and then return to the center without overshooting, but I think that may be down to practice. The game is not quite as tough as the various Guitar Hero variants and you don't ever fail a track, but getting the maximum five stars is a challenge.
The real highlight for me in this game though is the music - there are superb mixes by such luminaries as Grandmaster Flash, DJ Jazzy Jeff and Daft Punk amongst others, featuring a perfectly hee-yuge range of genres from hip-hop, electro, techno, soul and even a spot of heavy metal, from artists as diverse as Little Richard, Michael Jackson and Motorhead. Aces. You can even put the game on auto-play to just listen to the music and enjoy the visuals without having to do anything.
I was interested in the game when it came out, but £108 was a touch on the steep side. For thirty squids though, it is a conspicuous bargain, particularly with the new game due out in the fall.
In other related games news, I picked up a free copy of Tap Studio Pro in the app store the other day. If you've played any of the Tap genre style games then you'll know what to expect, but the twist with this one is that you can record a sequence for any track in your library or download one for something like 100,000 different songs. Some of them are of variable quality, but there is a rating mechanism so you can see the good ones. I've currently recorded tracks for Asleep at the Wheel and The Sex Pistols under the name of Satsuma if anybody fancies a go ...
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Haikusday
A DJ Hero
Mixing with Grandmaster Flash
On the wheels of steel
New TV Sherlock
Mixes familiar tropes
With text message twists
Milky bar buttons
A birthday treat enjoyed by
An aging cowboy
Letters written by
The great Marcus Cicero
Now on my iPhone
At last, a dry day
To cut the grass, blow the leaves
And wash out the bins
Mixing with Grandmaster Flash
On the wheels of steel
New TV Sherlock
Mixes familiar tropes
With text message twists
Milky bar buttons
A birthday treat enjoyed by
An aging cowboy
Letters written by
The great Marcus Cicero
Now on my iPhone
At last, a dry day
To cut the grass, blow the leaves
And wash out the bins
Monday, July 26, 2010
Rockit
Weather : Persistantly raining, but muggy with it.
An earlier awakening than anticipated, with Jamie's alarm going off at half past six. Needless to say he slept through it ... unlike yours truly. I did doze off again until after eight, with strange dreams about a cross between Caprica and Doctor Who with the Cylons constructing special weapons Daleks for some fiendish reason that involved a Red Dead style steam locomotive.
In games news, today I have mostly been tracking down the Umar Witch in Baldur's Gate II. If you ever play these games, then I can highly recommend reading all of the journals, books and letters that you come across. Today I found a lost journal describing the misadventures of three young mages who got lost in the woods investigating the 'Umar Witch Project' and the sticky end they came to. Ho ho - very satirical.
In other games news, I appear to have accidentally bought a copy of DJ Hero ... :-)
An earlier awakening than anticipated, with Jamie's alarm going off at half past six. Needless to say he slept through it ... unlike yours truly. I did doze off again until after eight, with strange dreams about a cross between Caprica and Doctor Who with the Cylons constructing special weapons Daleks for some fiendish reason that involved a Red Dead style steam locomotive.
In games news, today I have mostly been tracking down the Umar Witch in Baldur's Gate II. If you ever play these games, then I can highly recommend reading all of the journals, books and letters that you come across. Today I found a lost journal describing the misadventures of three young mages who got lost in the woods investigating the 'Umar Witch Project' and the sticky end they came to. Ho ho - very satirical.
In other games news, I appear to have accidentally bought a copy of DJ Hero ... :-)
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Beer Drinkers (and Hell Raisers)
The salt and pepper squid last night was rather nommy, but it left me with the approximate hydration levels of a prune and I woke up at three in the morning gasping for a drink. I staggered downstairs and fortunately a can of cola out of the fridge did the trick.
Today has mostly been about recovering after the excesses of yesterday with a lie in and a much needed afternoon nap, as well as the usual two walks in the woods with the dog which served to clear the old noggin with a bit of fresh air.
I've played a bit of Baldur's Gate II this afternoon, investigating the shadow temple in the Umar Hills. I can't remember this bit from the last time that I played it, but my main character is a ranger and this seems to be a ranger themed quest, so I suspect that might be it. Good fun, but the shadows are a pain to kill needing mucho magic.
In apps news, I've downloaded the BBC news app which is rather nifty as well as an RSS app called Mobile RSS which I thought I'd try out. It seems to work quite happily with Google Reader which is my aggregator of choice and is easier to read than the web app version in Safari. I'm trying the free version at the moment, but I may well shell out on the paid version at some point. We shall see.
Today has mostly been about recovering after the excesses of yesterday with a lie in and a much needed afternoon nap, as well as the usual two walks in the woods with the dog which served to clear the old noggin with a bit of fresh air.
I've played a bit of Baldur's Gate II this afternoon, investigating the shadow temple in the Umar Hills. I can't remember this bit from the last time that I played it, but my main character is a ranger and this seems to be a ranger themed quest, so I suspect that might be it. Good fun, but the shadows are a pain to kill needing mucho magic.
In apps news, I've downloaded the BBC news app which is rather nifty as well as an RSS app called Mobile RSS which I thought I'd try out. It seems to work quite happily with Google Reader which is my aggregator of choice and is easier to read than the web app version in Safari. I'm trying the free version at the moment, but I may well shell out on the paid version at some point. We shall see.
Sunday Links
- Western Pond Turtles Released in the Wild - ZooBorns
- Pilot ejects an instant before fighterjet crashes Amazing photographs
- How To Survive a Plane Crash Useful advice for air travellers
- How to make Spider Silk Thread
- Brooklyn Navy Yard: The Paymaster Building Another fantastic set of pictures from Nathan Kensinger
- A history of mass extinctions on Earth
- Noctilucent clouds BBC News - Audio slideshow:
- Every bad guy from Doctor Who conveniently presented as an infographic
- Every Doctor Who Theme 1963 - 2010
- The periodic table of irrational nonsense
- A Brief History of Computer Icons Slightly scary how many of these I remember ...
- Tesseract 101 Everything that you ever wanted to know about four dimensional hypercubes but were afraid to ask
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Squirrel Happy
Another year over, and a new one just begun.
Well, a fine day all round. I awoke early and then went back to sleep to an extraordinarily vivid Red Dead Redemption dream, before waking up again at eight o'clock to a nice cup of tea. After a walk with the dog, I had a fine haul of presents to open, including a Laurie Anderson CD/DVD, a cowboy hat, Milkybar buttons and beef jerky, a copy of 'Bear Ridge to Nettle Lane' and an olive tree which will be my very own tree of idleness in years to come. Aces.
The afternoon treat was a trip into town to mooch around the Tramlines music festival and drink alcohol. The alcohol based part of the day started with a raspberry mojito, followed by a variety of beers in various pubs, with the music being mainly the three bands we saw on the New Music stage (which ironically seemed to be channeling Joy Division and the Stone Roses). More excellentness.
Home to a Chinese takeaway and MOAR BEER, and that's my birthday in a generous nutshell!
Well, a fine day all round. I awoke early and then went back to sleep to an extraordinarily vivid Red Dead Redemption dream, before waking up again at eight o'clock to a nice cup of tea. After a walk with the dog, I had a fine haul of presents to open, including a Laurie Anderson CD/DVD, a cowboy hat, Milkybar buttons and beef jerky, a copy of 'Bear Ridge to Nettle Lane' and an olive tree which will be my very own tree of idleness in years to come. Aces.
The afternoon treat was a trip into town to mooch around the Tramlines music festival and drink alcohol. The alcohol based part of the day started with a raspberry mojito, followed by a variety of beers in various pubs, with the music being mainly the three bands we saw on the New Music stage (which ironically seemed to be channeling Joy Division and the Stone Roses). More excellentness.
Home to a Chinese takeaway and MOAR BEER, and that's my birthday in a generous nutshell!
Friday, July 23, 2010
Don't Fear the Reaper
Early start, sunshine, drive to Newcastle, run a tricky installation on site, drive home again. Zero inspiration for anything to write about.
Time for a glass of wine, methinks ...
Time for a glass of wine, methinks ...
End of the Night
A brief blog, because it's late and I have to be up at stupid o'clock to drive to Newcastle (or thereabouts tomorrow).
We've just been out to see Rob Rouse and Sarah Millican doing previews of their respective Edinburgh shows at the Lescar tonight, and an excellent evening it was too. Rob Rouse's show deals with his new life in a small village in the peak district with tales of randy dogs and the culinary benefits of free road kill. Sarah Millican is a huge star in the making - charming, disarmingly honest and quick witted when it counts in bouncing off the audience - and she's bloody lovely too. It really is a treat to see comedy like this up close and personal in a small venue like this. Aces!
We've just been out to see Rob Rouse and Sarah Millican doing previews of their respective Edinburgh shows at the Lescar tonight, and an excellent evening it was too. Rob Rouse's show deals with his new life in a small village in the peak district with tales of randy dogs and the culinary benefits of free road kill. Sarah Millican is a huge star in the making - charming, disarmingly honest and quick witted when it counts in bouncing off the audience - and she's bloody lovely too. It really is a treat to see comedy like this up close and personal in a small venue like this. Aces!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Cry of a Duck in a Thunder Storm
On the weather front, after a monumental downpour last night (that coincided exactly with the time I was out in the woods with the dog) it was a lot brighter this morning. It's looking set fair for the weekend too, which will be good for the Tramlines festival in Sheffield.
Work - prep, meetings, blah.
In games news, not much to report apart from the usual ongoing games of Words With Fiends (~waves~ at Nancy and Beck!) and Carcassonne (~waves~ at Lufferov and Gos!). I had a particularly epic city battle for a 17 tile leviathan with Lufferov yesterday with us both staking four meeples on it and much tactical blocking until it came down to just one empty space to complete with two possibilities - a joining piece which would share the points or a two end cap piece which would give control to me. Luck was with me (and I'd also checked that there were three of tiles I needed in the deck as opposed to one of the alternatives, so the odds were too) and I triumphed with a sixty odd point advantage. Aces. It put me back up the leaderboard as well. Which is nice.
My other ongoing game is Echo Bazaar, which seems to have reached a bit of impasse in the ongoing Knife and Candle war with lots of people hunting me, but nobody being prepared to drop their guard and make an attack, sacrificing the shadow bonus. Still, I am happy to continue raiding Foxfire candles from the crypts of St Fiacres under the nose of the Bishop, and making a tidy profit every time.
Work - prep, meetings, blah.
In games news, not much to report apart from the usual ongoing games of Words With Fiends (~waves~ at Nancy and Beck!) and Carcassonne (~waves~ at Lufferov and Gos!). I had a particularly epic city battle for a 17 tile leviathan with Lufferov yesterday with us both staking four meeples on it and much tactical blocking until it came down to just one empty space to complete with two possibilities - a joining piece which would share the points or a two end cap piece which would give control to me. Luck was with me (and I'd also checked that there were three of tiles I needed in the deck as opposed to one of the alternatives, so the odds were too) and I triumphed with a sixty odd point advantage. Aces. It put me back up the leaderboard as well. Which is nice.
My other ongoing game is Echo Bazaar, which seems to have reached a bit of impasse in the ongoing Knife and Candle war with lots of people hunting me, but nobody being prepared to drop their guard and make an attack, sacrificing the shadow bonus. Still, I am happy to continue raiding Foxfire candles from the crypts of St Fiacres under the nose of the Bishop, and making a tidy profit every time.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Boiling a Frog by Christopher Brookmyre
Boiling a Frog by Christopher BrookmyreMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Parlabane in jail
PR consultant and church
Unholy allies
View all my reviews >>
Haikusday
Rain falls steadily
Bringing me to wakefulness
Monochrome morning
Mel Gibson Hitch slapped
Apposite use of the term
'Cloacal Abuse'
Wars fought by proxy
Government by private firms
Shadow consultants
It has been some time
I'd forgotten the delights
Waukeen's Promenade
An epic battle
For control of a city
Balance of power
Nerd Army takes on
#stupidscientology
Thetans are stupid
Work mate back from hols
He's been to bonny Scotland
Hence, box of shortbread
By mid-afternoon
I am wheezing and croaking
Sick building syndrome
Bringing me to wakefulness
Monochrome morning
Mel Gibson Hitch slapped
Apposite use of the term
'Cloacal Abuse'
Wars fought by proxy
Government by private firms
Shadow consultants
It has been some time
I'd forgotten the delights
Waukeen's Promenade
An epic battle
For control of a city
Balance of power
Nerd Army takes on
#stupidscientology
Thetans are stupid
Work mate back from hols
He's been to bonny Scotland
Hence, box of shortbread
By mid-afternoon
I am wheezing and croaking
Sick building syndrome
Monday, July 19, 2010
Night Vision
Weather : warm and breezy, or breezy and warm, depending on your preference order for temperature or windspeed as a descriptor of the climate.
Work : Doncha just love five minute meetings that spin out into being hour long extravaganzas generating ten point to-do lists seemingly out of nowhere? Or not as the case may be.
Last night's Lovefilm was 'Thirty Days of Night'. I'd been expecting a typical genre vampire creature feature, but it proved to be a notch above that. The twist is that the action is set in a small town in the far north of Alaska where the sun sets in the winter and doesn't rise again for thirty days, making it the perfect hunting ground for a pack of bloodthirsty vampires. These are not the fey, sparkly Goths of Twilight or the louche, be-waistcoated Southern gentlemen of True Blood, or even the bumpy faced punks from Buffy that disappear in a convenient puff of dust when staked. No, these ones are nasty, cruel, sadistic and unstoppable, killing most of the town's population in short order, apart from the Sheriff and a handful of survivors hiding out in an attic.
It is relentlessly tense in places as well as pushing the boundaries for realistic gore, and the night time, snowbound setting is certainly an atmospheric one, bringing back memories of 'The Thing'. If there are faults, they lie in the large gaps in the thirty day timeline (and begs the question of why the Vamps wait until the sun is about to rise again before covering their tracks), and also the slightly weak ending that could have done with being more ambiguous. Well worth a watch if you enjoy vampire movies.
Work : Doncha just love five minute meetings that spin out into being hour long extravaganzas generating ten point to-do lists seemingly out of nowhere? Or not as the case may be.
Last night's Lovefilm was 'Thirty Days of Night'. I'd been expecting a typical genre vampire creature feature, but it proved to be a notch above that. The twist is that the action is set in a small town in the far north of Alaska where the sun sets in the winter and doesn't rise again for thirty days, making it the perfect hunting ground for a pack of bloodthirsty vampires. These are not the fey, sparkly Goths of Twilight or the louche, be-waistcoated Southern gentlemen of True Blood, or even the bumpy faced punks from Buffy that disappear in a convenient puff of dust when staked. No, these ones are nasty, cruel, sadistic and unstoppable, killing most of the town's population in short order, apart from the Sheriff and a handful of survivors hiding out in an attic.
It is relentlessly tense in places as well as pushing the boundaries for realistic gore, and the night time, snowbound setting is certainly an atmospheric one, bringing back memories of 'The Thing'. If there are faults, they lie in the large gaps in the thirty day timeline (and begs the question of why the Vamps wait until the sun is about to rise again before covering their tracks), and also the slightly weak ending that could have done with being more ambiguous. Well worth a watch if you enjoy vampire movies.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
My Window Faces The South
And so, another weekend draws to its inevitable conclusion in the grey dusk of a Sunday evening. Still, one more week of work and then I have a whole week off, so rah!
Not a brilliant start to the day. I woke up feeling somewhat achey and moseyed downstairs to let the cats in. Frank ran past me into the hallway and then into the studio where he promptly honked out a perfectly heeyuge furball on the floor. Lovely. Didn't stop him tucking into his breakfast shortly afterwards either.
We've had an extraordinary number of birds in the garden over the last couple of days, feeding off the Hebe and the bird feeder. We've seen a variety of tits, finches and sparrows as well as our two resident collared doves up on the roofline. Unfortunately two have succumbed to the teeth and claws of our resident serial killers, but hopefully natural selection will cause the birdies to evolve machine guns or something in response.
Last night's telly was mainly an excellent look at the people and culture of America's south, presented by Rich Hall. More pertinantly, it looked at how the south has been represented in popular culture from the Civil War onwards, from the plays of Tenessee Williams, to the songs of blues and rock'n'roll to Hollywood and television. Fascinating viewing, and Rich Hall is always amusing and trenchant to boot. It's still on iplayer here if you are quick.
In games news, I had an urge to install Baldur's Gate II which is no mean feat and involved finding the box up in the loft, remembering how to boot up Boot Camp (and then waiting for the obligatory windows and anti-virus updates) before installing five CDs and a patch before settling down to play. It was worth the time, nuff said.
In other games news, we'll not mention the game of Words with Friends where I currently have four As, two Os and an I. I wonder if there's some Hawaiian word I can make out of those?
Not a brilliant start to the day. I woke up feeling somewhat achey and moseyed downstairs to let the cats in. Frank ran past me into the hallway and then into the studio where he promptly honked out a perfectly heeyuge furball on the floor. Lovely. Didn't stop him tucking into his breakfast shortly afterwards either.
We've had an extraordinary number of birds in the garden over the last couple of days, feeding off the Hebe and the bird feeder. We've seen a variety of tits, finches and sparrows as well as our two resident collared doves up on the roofline. Unfortunately two have succumbed to the teeth and claws of our resident serial killers, but hopefully natural selection will cause the birdies to evolve machine guns or something in response.
Last night's telly was mainly an excellent look at the people and culture of America's south, presented by Rich Hall. More pertinantly, it looked at how the south has been represented in popular culture from the Civil War onwards, from the plays of Tenessee Williams, to the songs of blues and rock'n'roll to Hollywood and television. Fascinating viewing, and Rich Hall is always amusing and trenchant to boot. It's still on iplayer here if you are quick.
In games news, I had an urge to install Baldur's Gate II which is no mean feat and involved finding the box up in the loft, remembering how to boot up Boot Camp (and then waiting for the obligatory windows and anti-virus updates) before installing five CDs and a patch before settling down to play. It was worth the time, nuff said.
In other games news, we'll not mention the game of Words with Friends where I currently have four As, two Os and an I. I wonder if there's some Hawaiian word I can make out of those?
Sunday Links
- Gently Does it with a Brand New Gentoo Chick ZooBorns
- Hipster Priest A Quietus Interview With Alan Moore
- Art Deco Trains From a more civilized age
- To the Supercave! The search for the Mount Everest of caves
- Easter Island Eclipse
- Andes Sunset Eclipse
- Cracking the code of prison tattoos an archive of human flesh in Poland
- Conway's Game of Life in HTML 5
- Red Dead Redemption Time-Lapse Video The world of Red Dead Redemption is truly breathtaking. Watch this at the highest resolution that you can.
- pOnd Games as art, in this case a meditative breathing exercise. Relax and enjoy ...
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Bomb Da Bass
Weather : Sunshine and showers - it's a British classic, and it absolved me from cutting the grass this morning so hurrah for that. It will still need doing at some point, but let's just draw a discrete veil over that.
I think that I may be allergic to work. To be more precise, every day this week has started out with me feeling fine and by mid afternoon I have been sneezing and wheezing like an accordion. That is, every day except Friday when I was working at home, so J'accuse the air conditioning unit that is positioned just over my desk. I suspect it might be something in the environment that is getting picked up by the air flow and then blown down at me in concentrated form. Not good.
I was tired last night, and fell asleep half way through the IT crowd after only two glasses of wine. I've had a snooze this afternoon, in between games of Carcassonne and Words With Friends and caught up on sleep. I had a bit of a disturbed night last night too, with an odd dream of being on a giant bungee sort of affair, except I was on a sort of platform with six or seven other people. I remember a distinct vertiginous feeling as we were winched up into the air prior to being dropped and bounced around. Also not good.
In games news, I revisited The Raging Dead on iPhone and after grinding the first couple of levels and earning sufficient money to upgrade the rather weedy machine gun that you start with have found it to be much more enjoyable. It reminds me a little of the arcade classic Missile Command where you have to make a decision to abandon a group of civilians to their fate (or drop bombs on them) in order to kill a stray zombie. It also seems that games either end with the zombies quickly being eliminated with little collateral damage or more probably the infection spreads uncontrollably and you are left with a handful of survivors cowering in a corner of the map while the city burns and you frantically try to pick off zombies as they approach.
For thems as is interested I have posted over on South Yorkshire Skeptical Society on the subject of Big Brother Dave : Mad, Sad or Bad
I think that I may be allergic to work. To be more precise, every day this week has started out with me feeling fine and by mid afternoon I have been sneezing and wheezing like an accordion. That is, every day except Friday when I was working at home, so J'accuse the air conditioning unit that is positioned just over my desk. I suspect it might be something in the environment that is getting picked up by the air flow and then blown down at me in concentrated form. Not good.
I was tired last night, and fell asleep half way through the IT crowd after only two glasses of wine. I've had a snooze this afternoon, in between games of Carcassonne and Words With Friends and caught up on sleep. I had a bit of a disturbed night last night too, with an odd dream of being on a giant bungee sort of affair, except I was on a sort of platform with six or seven other people. I remember a distinct vertiginous feeling as we were winched up into the air prior to being dropped and bounced around. Also not good.
In games news, I revisited The Raging Dead on iPhone and after grinding the first couple of levels and earning sufficient money to upgrade the rather weedy machine gun that you start with have found it to be much more enjoyable. It reminds me a little of the arcade classic Missile Command where you have to make a decision to abandon a group of civilians to their fate (or drop bombs on them) in order to kill a stray zombie. It also seems that games either end with the zombies quickly being eliminated with little collateral damage or more probably the infection spreads uncontrollably and you are left with a handful of survivors cowering in a corner of the map while the city burns and you frantically try to pick off zombies as they approach.
For thems as is interested I have posted over on South Yorkshire Skeptical Society on the subject of Big Brother Dave : Mad, Sad or Bad
Friday, July 16, 2010
Ca Plane Pour Moi
Weather, a bit of a mixed bag today. A reasonable start, followed by a couple of hours of downpour in the middle of the day (necessitating a quick dash outside to bring the washing in) and then some unexpectedly bright and warm sunshine to finish with.
First job of the day was my annual trip to the dentist, and I can exclusively report that my gnashers are in fine fettle. My old dentist has left, so I've been switched to a different one within the same practice but for reasons of NHS bureaucracy I had to fill in a whole bunch of forms confirming such earth shattering information that I am unlikely to be pregnant.
Strangely satisfying bit of music trivia of the day was the discovery that Eminem's track 'My Name Is' is based on a riff sampled from an old Labi Siffre track on which the session musicians were none other than Chas and Dave. Gertcha!
I now declare this Friday night to be in session ...
First job of the day was my annual trip to the dentist, and I can exclusively report that my gnashers are in fine fettle. My old dentist has left, so I've been switched to a different one within the same practice but for reasons of NHS bureaucracy I had to fill in a whole bunch of forms confirming such earth shattering information that I am unlikely to be pregnant.
Strangely satisfying bit of music trivia of the day was the discovery that Eminem's track 'My Name Is' is based on a riff sampled from an old Labi Siffre track on which the session musicians were none other than Chas and Dave. Gertcha!
I now declare this Friday night to be in session ...
Thursday, July 15, 2010
St Swithin's Day
A pretty reliable indication of the prevailing weather conditions is whether Frank the cat goes out in the morning after eating his breakfast or if he comes upstairs to snooze on the bed instead. This week has mostly been a duvet week, nuff said. If St Swithin is to be believed it could be forty days and forty nights of duvet weather to look forward to as well.
A somewhat frustrating day at work, unpicking a tax calculation for an admittedly unusual case where the entire salary was being deducted pre-tax in month 2. The client was saying that this should have led to zero tax for that month, but because the payee was on a cumulative code this actually results in a small refund. I confirmed the calc manually and via the HMRC calculator with the same result, and trawled the code to check that was OK also. It would have saved over half a day of my time if the client had checked it themselves first, and also if the consultant hadn't done her testing with the tax code set to a Week One/Month One basis instead of cumulative and thinking she was getting a different result. Sigh.
I heard via Twitter today that PC Zone magazine is shutting down after seventeen years. I used to buy it regularly, right from the start - indeed I think I still have most of the first hundred or so issues up in the attic, including all of the giveaway cover mounted cds - but I haven't bought this or any other magazine (apart from an occasional copy of New Scientist) for years. PC Zone's unique selling point for me was the humour (featuring some of Charlie Brooker's earliest appearances in print) and the refreshingly honest games reviews, at least compared to most magazines that only ever rate games on an 80% - 100% scale.
The demos and patches on the cds were useful too, in the days before broadband. I remember the excitement of getting the original shareware Doom on a pair of floppy disks back when 9600 baud modems were blazingly fast, and downloading something would involve dialing up a bulletin board in Texas for several hours at a punitive cost to your phone bill.
Going back even further into the mists of time (cue wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey cut scene effect) 'Computer & Video Games' in 1981 was the first dedicated games magazine that I can recall. Before that, you were lucky to get the odd mention of games in the heavyweight journals like Byte and Computing, and even then they tended towards serious matters rather than anything remotely entertaining. C&VG had a very broad brief in its early days, featuring arcade games, code listings to type in yourself and even pinball on occasions. It was a marvelously illustrated magazine too, as the computer graphics of the time couldn't manage much more than monochrome blobs and so a certain degree of imagination and suspension of disbelief was required to turn them into aliens and monsters.
This raises the question of whether print journalism has any future, certainly for magazines with long lead times and high costs. Who is going to wait a month or more to pay £5 to read a review when you can see it instantly on the internet? Even magazines like Wired where the design of the printed page is an integral part of the experience are heading towards distribution via iPad apps. End of an era, I think.
Sad also to hear of the cancellation of 1vs100 on xbox live. I used to really look forward to the live shows, even if I never actually got to be the One. One of my most enjoyable gaming achievements was getting the top score out of 15,000 people in one round and winning a game for my troubles. I would happily have paid a sub to play this, considering the amount of fun I had out of it. I hope the developers have a chance to produce another massively multiplayer quiz type game on similar lines.
A somewhat frustrating day at work, unpicking a tax calculation for an admittedly unusual case where the entire salary was being deducted pre-tax in month 2. The client was saying that this should have led to zero tax for that month, but because the payee was on a cumulative code this actually results in a small refund. I confirmed the calc manually and via the HMRC calculator with the same result, and trawled the code to check that was OK also. It would have saved over half a day of my time if the client had checked it themselves first, and also if the consultant hadn't done her testing with the tax code set to a Week One/Month One basis instead of cumulative and thinking she was getting a different result. Sigh.
I heard via Twitter today that PC Zone magazine is shutting down after seventeen years. I used to buy it regularly, right from the start - indeed I think I still have most of the first hundred or so issues up in the attic, including all of the giveaway cover mounted cds - but I haven't bought this or any other magazine (apart from an occasional copy of New Scientist) for years. PC Zone's unique selling point for me was the humour (featuring some of Charlie Brooker's earliest appearances in print) and the refreshingly honest games reviews, at least compared to most magazines that only ever rate games on an 80% - 100% scale.
The demos and patches on the cds were useful too, in the days before broadband. I remember the excitement of getting the original shareware Doom on a pair of floppy disks back when 9600 baud modems were blazingly fast, and downloading something would involve dialing up a bulletin board in Texas for several hours at a punitive cost to your phone bill.
Going back even further into the mists of time (cue wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey cut scene effect) 'Computer & Video Games' in 1981 was the first dedicated games magazine that I can recall. Before that, you were lucky to get the odd mention of games in the heavyweight journals like Byte and Computing, and even then they tended towards serious matters rather than anything remotely entertaining. C&VG had a very broad brief in its early days, featuring arcade games, code listings to type in yourself and even pinball on occasions. It was a marvelously illustrated magazine too, as the computer graphics of the time couldn't manage much more than monochrome blobs and so a certain degree of imagination and suspension of disbelief was required to turn them into aliens and monsters.
This raises the question of whether print journalism has any future, certainly for magazines with long lead times and high costs. Who is going to wait a month or more to pay £5 to read a review when you can see it instantly on the internet? Even magazines like Wired where the design of the printed page is an integral part of the experience are heading towards distribution via iPad apps. End of an era, I think.
Sad also to hear of the cancellation of 1vs100 on xbox live. I used to really look forward to the live shows, even if I never actually got to be the One. One of my most enjoyable gaming achievements was getting the top score out of 15,000 people in one round and winning a game for my troubles. I would happily have paid a sub to play this, considering the amount of fun I had out of it. I hope the developers have a chance to produce another massively multiplayer quiz type game on similar lines.
Podcast Thursday (Music Special Redux)
- Western Swing 78s Mix - A wonderful collection of classic 78s, unavailable anywhere else. Pure and simple enjoyment, played by true virtuoso performers of their genre
- Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds; a dubstep refit Pump up the bass for this dubstep reworking of the War of the Worlds, using the Richard Burton narration of Jeff Wayne's concept album over a infectiously heavy dub bass line.
- Coverville 688 From the sublime, to the sublimer, to the truly ridiculous. Listen out for a country version of 'Purple Rain' and a faux B52s take on 'Stairway to Heaven'
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
- 18:53 As night follows day / Haikusday rolls round again / For better or verse bit.ly/daMon5 #haiku #
- 18:55 Note for Haiku fans / Some bonus skeptic poems / Available here bit.ly/dmYBa9 #haiku #
Here comes the rain again
Well, the garden is looking a tad greener after a day or so of rain, and it also seems to have washed some of the dust out of the atmosphere too. It's still pleasantly warm though, with a bit of sunshine in between the showers. The showers all ganged up on the way home and turned into a proper downpour - the heaviest I can remember for a year or two.
I'm enjoying Big Brother at the moment, even if I've not quite got a handle on the house dynamics yet. The addition of the three new housemates has shaken things up, but it seems pretty much inevitable that while Andrew, the 19 year old maths geek, is quite popular, Keeley and Rachel are likely to be early casualties. Still, this leaves the mid to end game looking very interesting although the 'save and replace' twist is a big game changer, by removing a majority nominated evictee and swapping them for a personal choice. The live streaming is essential viewing too, and it's a bit of a shame that the first year it really works properly is the last year we will see it.
In apps news, I picked up 'The Raging Dead' as a freebie the other day and got around to giving it a whirl this lunchtime. It's a top down zombie-apocalypse-em-up of sorts where you have to protect the blue dots (aka people) by bombing or machine gunning the red dots (aka zombies) before the reds infect all of the blues. It's quite fun to watch the panicking crowds running hither and yon being chased by the zombies and gradually transformed, but in practice the game is too fiddly to be playable. It is difficult to see whether you have actually killed the zombie that you were after, and the bombs and machine gun bullets take a while to respawn after you have used them up. It feels a little bit like squashing those tiny red spider mites that you sometimes see running around, with about the same level of feedback. I think this would be a lot better played with a mouse on a big screen, rather than on the iPhone. Oh well, at least it was free.
I'm enjoying Big Brother at the moment, even if I've not quite got a handle on the house dynamics yet. The addition of the three new housemates has shaken things up, but it seems pretty much inevitable that while Andrew, the 19 year old maths geek, is quite popular, Keeley and Rachel are likely to be early casualties. Still, this leaves the mid to end game looking very interesting although the 'save and replace' twist is a big game changer, by removing a majority nominated evictee and swapping them for a personal choice. The live streaming is essential viewing too, and it's a bit of a shame that the first year it really works properly is the last year we will see it.
In apps news, I picked up 'The Raging Dead' as a freebie the other day and got around to giving it a whirl this lunchtime. It's a top down zombie-apocalypse-em-up of sorts where you have to protect the blue dots (aka people) by bombing or machine gunning the red dots (aka zombies) before the reds infect all of the blues. It's quite fun to watch the panicking crowds running hither and yon being chased by the zombies and gradually transformed, but in practice the game is too fiddly to be playable. It is difficult to see whether you have actually killed the zombie that you were after, and the bombs and machine gun bullets take a while to respawn after you have used them up. It feels a little bit like squashing those tiny red spider mites that you sometimes see running around, with about the same level of feedback. I think this would be a lot better played with a mouse on a big screen, rather than on the iPhone. Oh well, at least it was free.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Haikusday
Amidst the Tall Trees
I hunt a legendary
Scarred leviathan
After the heat wave
Frank the cat reclaims his spot
Indoors on the bed
Is the Express on
A grand crusade to offend
Common decency?
If you want to rile
An ex pat Ozzie housemate
Just call him 'Crab Eyes'
Pair of nesting doves
Provide more simple joy than
Satellite TV
Note for Haiku fans
Some bonus skeptic poems
Available here
I hunt a legendary
Scarred leviathan
After the heat wave
Frank the cat reclaims his spot
Indoors on the bed
Is the Express on
A grand crusade to offend
Common decency?
If you want to rile
An ex pat Ozzie housemate
Just call him 'Crab Eyes'
Pair of nesting doves
Provide more simple joy than
Satellite TV
Note for Haiku fans
Some bonus skeptic poems
Available here
Monday, July 12, 2010
- 21:22 "Knee trembling prospect" Gary? It's not *that* exciting, surely? ;-) #worldcup #
Dance on a Volcano
Weather : never thought I'd say this, but hurrah for a bit of good old British drizzle!
Listen up, subconscious. I know it was warm last night, but did you really have to give me an astonishingly vivid nightmare about trying to escape from a Mount St Helens style volcanic blast complete with lahars, pyroclastic flows and exploding rocks? I woke up at around half past four with my heart pounding and completely unable to get back to sleep, and so consequently I am knackered today.
I note that Peter Mandelson is living up to his reputation as the prince of darkness by sticking the knife into the quivering corpse of New Labour when it is too late to achieve anything useful other than selling a few copies of his memoirs. If Gordon Brown was as flawed a politician as it now appears, then don't you think you would have done the country and the Labour Party a better service by saying so at the time? Gee, thanks Mandy. To really rub it in, he is taking Murdoch's money so the story is tucked away behind the Times paywall.
One odd thing from the motorway this morning to report. Coming up to the junction with the M62 in heavy-ish traffic, I saw a set of traffic lights up ahead, going through the usual cycle of red to amber to green. It was only as I got closer that I realised that they were on the back of a motorway maintenance van, but switched on and working. Most odd, and probably a bit dangerous if somebody hasn't quite woken up on a Monday morning.
Anyhoo, brief blog because it's Skeptics in the Pub tonight - rah!
Listen up, subconscious. I know it was warm last night, but did you really have to give me an astonishingly vivid nightmare about trying to escape from a Mount St Helens style volcanic blast complete with lahars, pyroclastic flows and exploding rocks? I woke up at around half past four with my heart pounding and completely unable to get back to sleep, and so consequently I am knackered today.
I note that Peter Mandelson is living up to his reputation as the prince of darkness by sticking the knife into the quivering corpse of New Labour when it is too late to achieve anything useful other than selling a few copies of his memoirs. If Gordon Brown was as flawed a politician as it now appears, then don't you think you would have done the country and the Labour Party a better service by saying so at the time? Gee, thanks Mandy. To really rub it in, he is taking Murdoch's money so the story is tucked away behind the Times paywall.
One odd thing from the motorway this morning to report. Coming up to the junction with the M62 in heavy-ish traffic, I saw a set of traffic lights up ahead, going through the usual cycle of red to amber to green. It was only as I got closer that I realised that they were on the back of a motorway maintenance van, but switched on and working. Most odd, and probably a bit dangerous if somebody hasn't quite woken up on a Monday morning.
Anyhoo, brief blog because it's Skeptics in the Pub tonight - rah!
Sunday, July 11, 2010
When the Machines Rock
After a sultry night (temperature wise), it felt a bit fresher this morning, which was a relief. Last night saw the usual BBQ based nommage and I found that the sausages and burgers cooked better with a bit less charcoal than I normally put on. I lit the chiminea as well, but it wasn't really needed and I ended up having to move my chair away as I was too warm.
I finished off the last chapter of 'Blood of the Cybermen' today, and jolly good it was too apart from one slightly irritating stealth section where it seemed to be trial and error as to whether the Doctor and Amy would duck down and hide from a patrolling Cyberslave. The puzzle solving mini-games were better in this episode I think, compared to the previous one, being more logical and not as tricky to control. The story was good and made me jump a couple of times, with the whole cyber-conversion process veering into body horror that I think might be a touch on the disturbing side for some youngsters playing.
I've also played a bit of Red Dead too, finishing the Multiplayer hunting challenges by tracking down Khan the jaguar and Brumas the legendary bear. The last one was particularly tricky as he was accompanied by three other grizzlies who were chasing me at the same time. I had to spur my horse to the top of a ridge and then down him with a couple of head shots. I've also levelled up enough to earn a Cleveland Bay horse as a mount. Which is nice.
Right, time to walk El Doggo ...
I finished off the last chapter of 'Blood of the Cybermen' today, and jolly good it was too apart from one slightly irritating stealth section where it seemed to be trial and error as to whether the Doctor and Amy would duck down and hide from a patrolling Cyberslave. The puzzle solving mini-games were better in this episode I think, compared to the previous one, being more logical and not as tricky to control. The story was good and made me jump a couple of times, with the whole cyber-conversion process veering into body horror that I think might be a touch on the disturbing side for some youngsters playing.
I've also played a bit of Red Dead too, finishing the Multiplayer hunting challenges by tracking down Khan the jaguar and Brumas the legendary bear. The last one was particularly tricky as he was accompanied by three other grizzlies who were chasing me at the same time. I had to spur my horse to the top of a ridge and then down him with a couple of head shots. I've also levelled up enough to earn a Cleveland Bay horse as a mount. Which is nice.
Right, time to walk El Doggo ...
Sunday Links
- It's a Mouse... It's a Deer... It's a Mouse Deer! - ZooBorns
- 12 of the most interesting, unusual and useful Linux distros Not entirely sure about the Christian one, but the ones themed for gaming and music look very useful
- Red Dead Enumerated Want to know the scale of the carnage in the world of Red Dead Redemption? Also Red Dead Redemption - The pulp western novel
- The Chaocipher revealed! A fascinating example of cryptography in action
- A Very Scary Fireworks Show Exploding frickin H-Bombs in frickin space, you maniacs.
- "1945-1998" by Isao Hashimoto Every nuclear explosion from 1945-1998, displayed on a map of the world at the rate of one month per second. Hypnotic and disturbing.
- Pulsate Mesmerising musical toy
- And the winner of Shed of the Year 2010 ... Superb!
- Make your own mug shot
- Kabul: City Number One Uncut news footage from Afghanistan
- 8-Bit Cities Pixel map of London
- This Gaming Life: Travels in Three Cities Jim Rossignol's book available on line
- Coma Intriguing flash game
Saturday, July 10, 2010
- 10:50 Dere's nothin I like better than relaxin in mah high backed armchair #caturday tweetphoto.com/31834718 #
Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie
Weather : Too darn hot.
Actually, the lone prairie sounds nice and cool today. Even the dog took himself off behind the shed this afternoon in an attempt to find somewhere shady to have a snooze. We also have a new houseguest, with a collared dove who has built a nest behind the satellite dish and made itself at home. It looks a bit precarious, but apparently that is what it is supposed to look like.
I was a bit uneasy about all of the coverage of the Raoul Moat standoff last night. I didn't even know it was happening until a friend told me what was going on via our game of Words With Friends. We really don't need to see rolling news coverage of something like this, and it just comes down to ghoulish rubbernecking on a grand scale. It turned into surreal farce at one point with Gazza turning up with a can of beer for 'Moaty'. Did the media (and by extension the people watching) forget that this was a case of a violent psychopath who had shot three people, killed one and eventually shot himself? A tragic turn of events for all concerned.
Time for an iced water with a slice of lemon, I think.
Actually, the lone prairie sounds nice and cool today. Even the dog took himself off behind the shed this afternoon in an attempt to find somewhere shady to have a snooze. We also have a new houseguest, with a collared dove who has built a nest behind the satellite dish and made itself at home. It looks a bit precarious, but apparently that is what it is supposed to look like.
I was a bit uneasy about all of the coverage of the Raoul Moat standoff last night. I didn't even know it was happening until a friend told me what was going on via our game of Words With Friends. We really don't need to see rolling news coverage of something like this, and it just comes down to ghoulish rubbernecking on a grand scale. It turned into surreal farce at one point with Gazza turning up with a can of beer for 'Moaty'. Did the media (and by extension the people watching) forget that this was a case of a violent psychopath who had shot three people, killed one and eventually shot himself? A tragic turn of events for all concerned.
Time for an iced water with a slice of lemon, I think.
Thursday, July 08, 2010
Reap the wild wind
Well, the hot weather is back with a vengeance, although exactly what it is avenging and why is not exactly clear. It is also accompanied by a hot, dry mistral like wind that has deposited a fair few leaves on the lawn and throughout the rest of the garden, so I have just had my usual job of clearing them up. To slake my dust dry throat tonight, I am currently enjoying an iced coffee - a shot of espresso over ice, topped up with milk and a dash of vanilla syrup. Very refreshing.
Work at home today, which has been reasonably quiet and therefore productive, I think. I checked in my latest set of changes and bounced them to the consultant to test, and she's not been back to me so far, so no news is good news I guess.
In games news, I've started playing Words With Friends again, after a Carcassonne induced hiatus, although on that subject I'm still playing the odd game with Lufferov. I made the mistake in our last match of leaving it too late to claim fields after most of men were blocked in, or assigned to cities that I couldn't complete. Maybe the strategy is to get one meeple down early as a marker and then reinforce it at the beginning of the end-game. Hmmm.
Anyhoos, it's Friday night, I have a date to play Red Dead co-op with some of the folks from UGVM and there is cold beer to be drunk.
Let's roll!
Work at home today, which has been reasonably quiet and therefore productive, I think. I checked in my latest set of changes and bounced them to the consultant to test, and she's not been back to me so far, so no news is good news I guess.
In games news, I've started playing Words With Friends again, after a Carcassonne induced hiatus, although on that subject I'm still playing the odd game with Lufferov. I made the mistake in our last match of leaving it too late to claim fields after most of men were blocked in, or assigned to cities that I couldn't complete. Maybe the strategy is to get one meeple down early as a marker and then reinforce it at the beginning of the end-game. Hmmm.
Anyhoos, it's Friday night, I have a date to play Red Dead co-op with some of the folks from UGVM and there is cold beer to be drunk.
Let's roll!
Podcast Thursday (Music Special)
- Beat Mining With The Vinyl Hoover Yet another gem from Speechification with a look at the world of vinyl record collecting
- Les (Carrot Top) Anderson and his Melody Wranglers It's no secret that Western Swing is mah favourite musical genre, and I particularly enjoy these rare recordings of radio shows from the 1950s that turn up on The Western Swing 78 blog from time to time.
- Covered In Time – July 6, 1980 Coverville goes back to the 80s with covers of the entire top ten from thirty years ago. The standout track is a truly funky version of Funkytown.
Bright Red
High white cloud today, but still pleasantly warm with the sun peeking out from time to time.
I spent most of the morning tracking down an obscure bug that had crept into the payrun process and only manifested in the comparatively rare circumstance of somebody having a K tax code with a tax calculation greater than their gross pay. In theory, this should just reduce the tax to 50% of gross, but it was being overwritten by another warning about post tax deductions exceeding net pay. Convoluted code and awkward to trace through, but I think I managed to find a work around. We might need a better way of dealing with it though, but I'll leave that to the consultants to ponder.
In games news, just three words - Red Dead Zombies! Squeee! It's not out until the fall, but there are three other DLC packs before then including extra areas, more freeroam modes and multiplayer poker. Oh yes. Colour me excited.
I spent most of the morning tracking down an obscure bug that had crept into the payrun process and only manifested in the comparatively rare circumstance of somebody having a K tax code with a tax calculation greater than their gross pay. In theory, this should just reduce the tax to 50% of gross, but it was being overwritten by another warning about post tax deductions exceeding net pay. Convoluted code and awkward to trace through, but I think I managed to find a work around. We might need a better way of dealing with it though, but I'll leave that to the consultants to ponder.
In games news, just three words - Red Dead Zombies! Squeee! It's not out until the fall, but there are three other DLC packs before then including extra areas, more freeroam modes and multiplayer poker. Oh yes. Colour me excited.
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
- 13:10 #ebz the Starveling Cat! the Starveling Cat! look what it did! to your nice new hat! fallenlondon.com/c/143687 #
- 18:19 5 of 5 stars to 59 Seconds by Richard Wiseman bit.ly/9pKkJh #
- 18:22 5 of 5 stars to For the Win by Cory Doctorow bit.ly/ciKZW7 #
Destroy Everything You Touch
It felt almost Autumnal this morning, with overcast skies, the taste of rain in the air and a generous helping of fallen leaves on the grass. Still fairly warm though, at least when you manage to escape from the breeze.
It scarcely seems possible that it is five years since the 7/7 bombings. Lest we forget, this is why religion must be regarded as a poisonous and malign influence on the world that should be consigned to the dark ages where it belongs. All of the fine art, oratorios and gilded cathedrals can not hold a (votive) candle to the life of one person getting on a bus to go to work, or a single abused child kept quiet with the threat of hellfire.
In games news, I have been trying some different Carcassonne tactics out, looking to maximise my score in the early part of the game and not committing meeple to fields until the mid game. There is a certain amount of luck in the order the tiles are distributed, but not as much as you might think - the sign of good game design, I think.
It scarcely seems possible that it is five years since the 7/7 bombings. Lest we forget, this is why religion must be regarded as a poisonous and malign influence on the world that should be consigned to the dark ages where it belongs. All of the fine art, oratorios and gilded cathedrals can not hold a (votive) candle to the life of one person getting on a bus to go to work, or a single abused child kept quiet with the threat of hellfire.
In games news, I have been trying some different Carcassonne tactics out, looking to maximise my score in the early part of the game and not committing meeple to fields until the mid game. There is a certain amount of luck in the order the tiles are distributed, but not as much as you might think - the sign of good game design, I think.
For the Win by Cory Doctorow
For the Win by Cory DoctorowMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
In the dungeons and fairy kingdoms of the online gaming world, a new breed of worker is emerging. The gold farmers are teenagers from the slums of Mumbai to the backwaters of China, toiling in internet cafes and back rooms to earn gold to sell to westerners eager to get their avatar to the next level. These workers don't see the fruits of their labours though - the ones making a profit are the bosses and the owners of the cafes who pay a pittance and expect long hours in return, but when it's a choice between playing the game and working in a factory, then it's no choice at all.
Little by little, the workers come to realise that they have the power to withhold their labour. A network is formed between Yasmin, the girl from the slums, Ashok, an economics guru, Leonard from Los Angeles, a handful of young Chinese men and others and they begin to form a union called the International Workers of the World Wide Web, mentored by the mysterious Big Sister Nor. When a strike is called, the bosses and governments will respond with fists and knives and guns. Can the Webblies (as they call themselves) fight back with just the weapons of the virtual world?
This is possibly Cory Doctorow's most radical and subversive book yet, introducing its audience of young adults to the concepts of globalisation, market economics, the inner workings of virtual worlds and the power of trade unions. He does so with a plot that builds to a genuinely thrilling conclusion with characters who have to make life and death decisions about where their loyalties lie.
Excellent, and available as a free download from the author's site.
View all my reviews >>
59 seconds by Richard Wiseman
59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot by Richard WisemanMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Most self help books are effectively worthless. A few platitudes, a bit of psychobabble and rarely the odd bit of common sense wrapped up in a lot of waffle. Rarely will they have anything like the life changing effects promised on the cover.
Fifty Nine seconds by Richard Wiseman is different. It contains solid advice on a variety of subjects, backed up by properly cited research, with each chapter summarised into handy bite size chunks that can be digested in less than a minute. It covers subjects including personal happiness, memory, relationships, parenting and self motivation.
Excellent for dipping into and concise enough to be practical.
View all my reviews >>
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
- 18:26 It is Haikusday / Blogging in its most concise / And elegant form dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2010/07/haikusday.html #haiku #
Haikusday
Break for the border
To escape the hangman's noose
Outlaws to the end
Practical ideas
For self improvement in just
Fifty Nine Seconds
Exploited gamers
Fight back against the system
For the Win inspires
Can Phil and Phill make
A swearing free Perfect Ten?
No fucking chance, mate.
Kohl eyed, behatted,
One snide comment too many,
Not chic, just Shabby
BBC report
The nerd army triumphant
Six Music is saved!
To escape the hangman's noose
Outlaws to the end
Practical ideas
For self improvement in just
Fifty Nine Seconds
Exploited gamers
Fight back against the system
For the Win inspires
Can Phil and Phill make
A swearing free Perfect Ten?
No fucking chance, mate.
Kohl eyed, behatted,
One snide comment too many,
Not chic, just Shabby
BBC report
The nerd army triumphant
Six Music is saved!
Monday, July 05, 2010
Straight to Hell
The worst of the heat from last week seems to have abated, leaving a handful of clouds in the sky and a fresh breeze. I was going to say that I had a better night's sleep as a result, but the aforementioned breeze blew something off of the windowsill behind the curtain at around two in the morning which woke us up.
I forgot to mention yesterday that I also had some disturbing dreams after watching the 'Bionic Vet' the other night, in which Frank the cat ran into traffic and had one of his front paws run over. He was out snoozing in the sun yesterday, so I didn't actually see him until the evening when he came in to lounge on the sofa for a bit, thankfully with all paws present and accounted for. Funny how dreams like that can make you worry.
More interviews and cvs to review at work today, including one particularly egregious five page example that could have used some serious editing down and proof reading. I don't know how much relevance somebody having used Borland Paradox is these days, or OS/2 Warp for that matter, and we shall gloss over their experience with 'Rad Hat Linux' and 'Apple Mackintosh'. Surely every guide to writing a cv tells you to limit it to two pages maximum of relevant information and to check it for spelling mistakes before submitting it? Sigh.
Last night's movie was the rather amusing 'Men Who Stare At Goats' with Ewan McGregor as a journalist delving into the secret history of the US Military's crack-a-lack-ding-dong training programmes for psychic soldiers, whilst on a Hunter S Thompson style picaresque road trip into occupied Iraq in 2003. Worth a watch, particularly for Jeff Bridges turn as the ponytailed CO of the unit who has a psychic awakening after falling out of a helicopter in Vietnam.
Good news from the BBC Trust review that Six Music has been reprieved, although slightly bitter sweet with the Asian Network facing the chop as well as 25% cuts in online services. Just goes to show the power of the nerd army when it comes to organising online protests, and I suspect that when the revolution comes Six Music will be providing the soundtrack (and probably playing The Clash).
PS Just posted over at the South Yorkshire Skeptical Society blog
I forgot to mention yesterday that I also had some disturbing dreams after watching the 'Bionic Vet' the other night, in which Frank the cat ran into traffic and had one of his front paws run over. He was out snoozing in the sun yesterday, so I didn't actually see him until the evening when he came in to lounge on the sofa for a bit, thankfully with all paws present and accounted for. Funny how dreams like that can make you worry.
More interviews and cvs to review at work today, including one particularly egregious five page example that could have used some serious editing down and proof reading. I don't know how much relevance somebody having used Borland Paradox is these days, or OS/2 Warp for that matter, and we shall gloss over their experience with 'Rad Hat Linux' and 'Apple Mackintosh'. Surely every guide to writing a cv tells you to limit it to two pages maximum of relevant information and to check it for spelling mistakes before submitting it? Sigh.
Last night's movie was the rather amusing 'Men Who Stare At Goats' with Ewan McGregor as a journalist delving into the secret history of the US Military's crack-a-lack-ding-dong training programmes for psychic soldiers, whilst on a Hunter S Thompson style picaresque road trip into occupied Iraq in 2003. Worth a watch, particularly for Jeff Bridges turn as the ponytailed CO of the unit who has a psychic awakening after falling out of a helicopter in Vietnam.
Good news from the BBC Trust review that Six Music has been reprieved, although slightly bitter sweet with the Asian Network facing the chop as well as 25% cuts in online services. Just goes to show the power of the nerd army when it comes to organising online protests, and I suspect that when the revolution comes Six Music will be providing the soundtrack (and probably playing The Clash).
PS Just posted over at the South Yorkshire Skeptical Society blog
- 13:11 #ebz More Mictlan than Milan. Travellers do go to see the sights, but the sights are mostly dark half-... fallenlondon.com/c/141055 #
Sunday, July 04, 2010
State of Independence
Firstly, happy 4th of July to all of our colonial cousins over there! Have a swell day, y'all! (Or words to that effect).
To celebrate in appropriate style I have of course played a bit more Red Dead with two co-op missions that were new to me. In the first one we rescued a farmer's daughter from a fort full of desperadoes and then drove back to the farmstead in a stagecoach in the middle of a running gun battle. In the second we took on a gang of cattle rustlers to take back a herd of prime livestock, driving them across the prairie to the corral back in town. This game really does have everything that you could want to do in the wild west, in one form or another.
I haven't just played Red Dead though, oh no. I also installed the Doctor Who game and after tinkering with the graphics settings, played through the first chapter and a bit. It's set in an arctic base full of cybermen and is actually a bit grim, once you stop to think about the body count in it. Worth a download if you are in the UK (or can find a suitable proxy).
Right, time for a film, I think.
To celebrate in appropriate style I have of course played a bit more Red Dead with two co-op missions that were new to me. In the first one we rescued a farmer's daughter from a fort full of desperadoes and then drove back to the farmstead in a stagecoach in the middle of a running gun battle. In the second we took on a gang of cattle rustlers to take back a herd of prime livestock, driving them across the prairie to the corral back in town. This game really does have everything that you could want to do in the wild west, in one form or another.
I haven't just played Red Dead though, oh no. I also installed the Doctor Who game and after tinkering with the graphics settings, played through the first chapter and a bit. It's set in an arctic base full of cybermen and is actually a bit grim, once you stop to think about the body count in it. Worth a download if you are in the UK (or can find a suitable proxy).
Right, time for a film, I think.
- 21:35 #ebz There is no proof for the claim that this villain transmigrates between bodies. The numerous crim... fallenlondon.com/c/139358 #
- 11:36 The view from my sofa tweetphoto.com/30734470 #
Sunday Links
- Meet Kaladi the Orphan Sea Otter ZooBorns
- Pup’s eye view Cute Overload
- 私信 Maru in the rain (complete with rain coat!)
- The Art Of Cause and Effect In A Solitary Comic Panel Does exactly what it says on the tin
- Budget Visualised
- Homeopathy Illustrated (H/T Skyekat)
- A Sea of Dunes Where the desert meets the sea after the rain falls - National Geographic Magazine
- The best planet pictures in the solar system
- I have two children, one of whom is a son born on a Tuesday. What is the probability that I have two boys? When Intuition And Math Probably Look Wrong - Science News
- inudge Music creation tool with built in social networking links
- Akira Motorcycle Do want!
- A Trip through Japan with the YWCA (ca. 1919) Rare archive film of Japan in 1919
- The IT Crowd Game Have you got what it takes to work in IT at Reynolm Industries?
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