|
|
Saturday, November 14th, 2009
| |
10:18 am - Ignorant journalists
|
The torygraph has a very stupid article today - Household pets that are half-wolf.
What irritates me is the apparent lack of research in the article. It's full of scary quotes from vetinarians who (presumably) explained what was going on, then got their most sensationalist comments quoted.
The one that really got my goat was someone called Beverly Cuddy, editor of 'Dogs Today' (And what a high-class website that is) who said "To live in a domestic situation with a part-wolf is insane".
If they can interbreed, what on earth makes her think that dogs are not part wolf anyway?
Wolf - Canis lupus
Dog - Canis lupus familiaris (Sub-species)
|
|
(5 comments | comment on this)
|
| Friday, November 6th, 2009
| |
1:36 pm - I always assumed it was Rill-YEH...
|
|
| Friday, October 30th, 2009
| |
5:00 pm - I don't usually do this, but...
|
Quite a lot of you probably don't read the B3ta newsletter. Your loss ;-)
However, today they link to a pictorial of chinese workers recycling modern electronic consumer goods.
It's not like it's news that cool electronic stuff has rare valuable components, it's just a little bit unnerving to see it extracted.
Sadly, this week there was no "Thing that makes you go 'Aaaaaah'" section. Instead, may I recommend AntWeb? Yes, I know very few of you will go 'Aaaaaaah' in a good way, but bear with me. At the very least, a few minutes browsing will clearly explain why I'm building an ant-based animation system :-).
|
|
(1 comment | comment on this)
|
| Wednesday, October 7th, 2009
| |
3:47 pm - Is this the equivalent of a retrovirus?
|
Y'all have heard about Conservapedia, right? After all, the founder has been on the Today programme on Radio 4.
Anyway, they've got a great new wheeze going - they want a re-translation of the Bible that "enables a thought-for-thought translation without corruption by liberal bias".
The earliest, most authentic manuscripts lack this verse set forth at Luke 23:34 -
Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
Is this a liberal corruption of the original? This does not appear in any other Gospel, and the simple fact is that some of the persecutors of Jesus did know what they were doing. This quotation is a favorite of liberals but should not appear in a conservative Bible. Ladies and gentlemen - if you've not seen it before, gasp in wonder at the Conservative Bible Project!
|
|
(7 comments | comment on this)
|
| Monday, September 7th, 2009
| |
4:42 pm
|
The walk in question began with a gentle stroll on some heathland in Exmoor, then a quarter of an hour scrambling descent (apparently 250m change in altitude) down to the sea. It then took over two hours to climb back up the hill, with ever-more-frequent stops for panting.
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) chrestomancy took one for the team and went ahead, rescuing us at the summit in his car. I'm not sure I thanked him enough :-D
|
|
(3 comments | comment on this)
|
| Friday, August 28th, 2009
| |
7:45 am - My council? RyanAir? EasyJet? Don't make me laugh...
|
For some reason - most likely the usual blatantly untrue press release in silly season - my local council has got themselves into the papers this morning. This isn't particularly unusual - they feature in Private Eye's 'Rotten Boroughs' section with depressing regularity.
What is unusual is both the spectrum of the papers reporting it (both The Grauniad and The Torygraph) and the apparent similarity of their stories, (although as you might expect, the Torygraph is keen on the idea, whereas the Grauniad is deeply suspicious).
My local council is Barnet, which is apparently a Budget Airline Council, and also a Tory Test-Pilot of no-frills government.
Thing is, our local council has for several years been pissing me off by stupid and extravagant spending on seemingly wasteful schemes, then sending no end of letters to us about them. The concept that some of these moronic projects might actually be curtailed is - to my mind - wholly sensible.
A few years ago, we got a letter saying 'We want your opinion on council tax rise'. We were allowed to vote if we wanted the price to rise by 4%, 8% or 12%. It came with a glossy pamphlet explaining how nice they could be to people if we voted for a 12% pricerise, and how sad they would be if they could only increase it by 4%. Nowhere was the option "Try and spend less money" available, and our council tax is by no means cheap.
Barnet was the first council to introduce the idea (with great fanfare and a PR campaign) of legally punishing people for not using their recycling boxes. Fuck knows how they did that - presumably paid the salaries of 'recycling inspectors' or bunged cash at the binmen who noticed the clanking of glass bottles in the main wheelybins. Bet it wasn't free though.
Two months ago, a bloke came to the door with a clipboard and badges. He wanted me to go through a long (and expensively printed) questionnaire about our green habits - like did we take public transport or use low-energy bulbs. He tried - very hard - to get me to 'sign up' to a pledge to reduce some part of our 'evironmental impact'. I politely told him to shove off and go and talk to Tescos and Waitrose about their packaging.
Two weeks ago, dozens of big plastic posters appeared on every lampost around our house. Individual colour prints smugly declaiming "17 households of XXX Terrace have pledged to walk to work" and "9 households of KY Avenue have promised to recycle their fudge"*. Again, I bet all of this prim sanctimonious crap wasn't cheap, and it's a sort of low-level irritant as you walk along the street.
Anyway, rant over. We certainly don't live in a 'Budget Airline' council at the moment - more like the typical bureaucratic do-gooding bunch of wastrels (for comparison, I've also lived for ages in Haringey and Oxford, which felt much the same). A bit of cost-cutting would do our local area no end of good, IMO.
*May not appear on actual posters
|
|
(8 comments | comment on this)
|
| Friday, August 7th, 2009
| |
5:50 pm - Damn these difference engines!
|
My 'puter is on the blink.
This is particularly irritating since I am currently attempting to make said 'puter my primay source of income. Having it BSOD on me about 10-30 minutes after the screensaver kicks off* is sub-optimal, to say the least.
Initially I thought it might be the GFX card, but I only bought that 17 months ago.. and it's not overheating. In fact, it looks fine.
It appears that it might be time for me to begin another complete reformat and reinstall - which nowadays will take around 1-2 days or so, and still cause annoyance when you realise that Utility X is no longer installed.
Oh well. Could be worse. Suppose I'd better get on with it.
I wish stability (or even error tracking) were a priority in modern OS's.
(*Only when a particular program fires, and not always, and it crashes occasionally during YouTube during use, so it's not that simple)
|
|
(4 comments | comment on this)
|
| Friday, July 31st, 2009
| |
9:28 am - Back from hols
|
This country's a lot cooler than the south of france, but the wine is more expensive. The food is cheaper - but generally lower quality, and the chocolate selection in the supermarkets is pitiful by comparison.
Also, I only managed to stall the hire car once, which is a new personal best - given that I normally drive an automatic these days.
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
| |
8:08 am - Gah! My Strike-Fu is poor
|
Left the house before 6am today, hand-held GPS and bus route plan in hand. Two buses - ought to do it.
First fail - My first bus started running from 7am, not 6am. D'oh!
However, taking three different buses (406, 102, 143) I got to Archway and onto my needed bus, the 43.
I got to work 10 minutes earlier than usual, only to discover that the bloody Northern Line is running fine today.
D'OH!
|
|
(4 comments | comment on this)
|
| Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
| |
5:57 pm - Spoof detection FAIL
|
I have to admit defeat. I can't tell if this article is taking the piss or not.
Summary - The Times reports on a proposed experiment by the Royal Horticultural Society to record people's voices, then play them back to plants under controlled conditions - to see if it makes any difference. Then they have various scientists talking about deep vibrations and Barry White. So far, so good. Then come these paragraphs -
"Although the experts believe that the voices are likely to be more important than what is read, this science is in its infancy. It was felt that every effort should be made not to upset the tomato plants by inflicting on them Jeffrey Archer or Dan Brown.
The Day of the Triffids may read to human beings like a frightening vision of man-eating monster plants, but to a tomato plant the description of the arrival of the triffids in neglected gardens around the world may be nothing short of inspirational. "
I suspect it's probably an article that's gone live a day early, intended for April 1st. I had forgotten that tomorrow is The Day The Internet Cannot Be Trusted.
|
|
(3 comments | comment on this)
|
| Friday, March 27th, 2009
| |
10:43 am - P.S.A.
|
This is a great deal (on an admittedly old Xbox 360 game from 2007). You can now buy Earth Defence Force 2017 for £9.99, delivery included.
I can't remember if I posted a proper review of this lovely cheap shooter, but for a tenner you really ought to consider it worth your time. For one thing, it's brilliant fun in split-screen co-op.
There's a 9/10 review from Eurogamer here.
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Thursday, March 26th, 2009
| |
12:56 pm - Teef!
|
After much (deserved) prodding from _alanna I finally went to the dentist this morning. For the first time in over a decade. May even be over 15 years...
OK, OK, so I am a bit phobic (I had extensive orthodontic work when I was younger, including the removal of four entirely healthy teeth in a lengthy procedure I still don't like to think about - over 20 injections!).
My rationale for this inattentiveness was the superficially logical "well, my teeth don't hurt so why go to the dentist?" (and yes, I'm well aware of the importance and efficacy of prophylaxis ;-).
As it turns out, I am very lucky. Apparently, I do not need fillings, although I should go back and let him scrape and polish.
I hadn't exactly been dreading the appointment, but it wasn't something I was looking forward to, either. So, yay - teef!
|
|
(1 comment | comment on this)
|
| Wednesday, March 18th, 2009
| |
5:16 pm - Zoo!
|
Today we went to London Zoo, which was grand. Highlights included multiple tiny primary-coloured (bright blue, yellow, orange and red) poison arrow frogs, meerkats, some enthusiastically swinging non-surly gibbons, a very sleepy tiger and a great leafcutter ant exhibit with ants parading along ropes strung between boxes containing their nest and the leaves they were harvesting.
However, I've got to say the otters were probably the highlight. I even took some footage (don't bother with sound)
They're asian short-clawed otters, so they live in a close family group - unlike the european otter, which is solitary.
|
|
(4 comments | comment on this)
|
| Wednesday, March 11th, 2009
| |
11:46 pm - Obligatory update
|
My deepest thanks to metame but I have to hyperlink this on my own journal.
Go here if you want to listen to Yahtzee's ZeroPunctuation review of my game.
(He kinda likes it - and the bits he doesn't like, I'm not unhappy about)
|
|
(1 comment | comment on this)
|
| Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009
| |
7:34 pm - Hello Grauniad readers!
|
I'm a muppet. I've only just realised that my latest game was reviewed in the Guardian today (Tuesday 3rd Feb).
Does anyone have a copy they could save that review from for my scrapbook? It's a short couple of paragraphs.
|
|
(4 comments | comment on this)
|
| Monday, February 2nd, 2009
| |
3:01 pm - You know when you've been using potatoshop too long when...
|
Yes, snow. It's great. We went for a walk in the park where there were lots of people making snowmen, and one furtive group of youths making an enormous snow cock-and-balls. We then got a great seat in the bay window of a local pub, and watched it snow some more.
I took several photos. This one ( (behind the cut, 150Kb) ) is amusing largely because I guarantee it's not potatoshopped in the slightest. That doesn't stop the bench looking like a really shoddy cut-n-paste job, though.
|
|
(15 comments | comment on this)
|
| Tuesday, December 30th, 2008
| |
5:58 pm - Penguins!
|
The first of many... A panning shot over an Adélie penguin colony.
"My lord, I suspect an incredible secret has been kept on this planet... that the penguins exist in vast numbers... vast numbers... and it is they that control it."
|
|
(1 comment | comment on this)
|
| Friday, November 28th, 2008
| |
12:25 am - Oh dear...
|
The BBC is remaking The Day of the Triffids
The problem is the fundamentals here - it's not the inevitable yoof characters they'll impose that'll kill it. What will kill it is the inability of the BBC to deliver intelligent drama any more. They won't be able to deliver the science, they won't be able to deliver the bleakness, they won't be able to deliver the misguided bigotry and most importantly they won't be able to deliver the ending.
Triffids is not about 6 foot plants with stinging whips, it's about the decline of authority, the natural unpleasantness of the human race in extremis, and the need for everyone to think for themselves.
I'm betting the BBC right now are going "Ooh, low budget popular SF which we could resurrect for a cheap prime-time 'Dr Who Lite' series". This will fail dismally, with people laughing about "that shit TV show with the oh so scary plastic plants"
|
|
(8 comments | comment on this)
|
| Friday, November 21st, 2008
| |
4:13 pm - Robot Cat
|
|
| Saturday, November 1st, 2008
| |
12:57 am - Our first preview!
|
Ooh, I think he kinda likes it!
But here's the important thing: The game makes a decent first hands-on impression -- certainly better than previous high-profile Wii franchise revivals like Samba de Amigo and Nights. Since the version I played contained one straightforward level without features like the ability to upgrade weapons, it felt a lot like most other light-gun games. Still, the style works well, and it's a fun five-minute demo.
/boasts
|
|
(4 comments | comment on this)
|
|
|
|
|