Radioactive musings

Mostly FAO Paul

2009-11-12T16:59:19Z

Tim Minchin was apparently on the last episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00nxd07/Never_Mind_the_Buzzcocks_Series_23_Episode_7/

Male film characters....

2009-10-29T12:05:31Z

Is it just me or do relatively few of them have long hair?

Never let it be said....

2009-10-24T10:28:21Z

that you need two guitars for a duet...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcsSPzr7ays

I would embed it, but I cannot work out how...

Question Time...

2009-10-23T09:06:47Z

Anyone watch it last night? I missed it, and am wondering if it's worth spending the time on.

Worth watching? Just annoying?

Bueller?

To Mars!

2009-10-07T23:14:02Z

Turns out someone's invented an engine that could get a man on Mars in less than 40 days.

http://www.universetoday.com/2009/10/06/trips-to-mars-in-39-days/

Oh my, oh my.....

*wants to go on holiday to Mars.....*

Reboot trailer.....because I was bored

2009-10-07T12:28:57Z

Ok, so Becky posted this earlier today, and it got me thinking. How much have they changed, and what can we tell from the trailer?

The first thing you see in the trailer, after the clouds clear, is the rooftops of a city. For the moment, and due to the ending of "My Two Bobs", I'm going to assume that it's Mainframe. It might not be, but it would make sense if it was. In the trailer, the rooftops have static PCB-style lines on the top, which aren't on the original buildings. That's a definate upgrade on the art, and looks very cool.

Here's a side by side...

The original image is from the finale of season two, but since the art doesn't change that drastically from season to season, or at least the buildings don't, it's still a good example. Interesting to note that not all buildings have them. I'm wondering if there's a reason why, or if it was just a time saving effort to get the trailer finished.

Then we get a good look at the sides of the buildings.

Have a side by side

Aside from the awesome that is a giant robot fighting a giant pile of nulls, it's pretty clear that there are a lot more windows on the buildings. It's not much of a change, but it's another example of putting a lot more detail in. Also, I'm curious about the white bands that appear on the newer buildings. Are they purely decorative? They don't seem like elevators, purely because of the horizontal ones on the buildings in the background.

Then the camera swoops upwards and we se a game cube. The only voice in the trailer is heard at this point, and it's the "Warning, Incoming Game" voice. In the previous series, the notification of an incoming game was a accompanied by a high pitched ringing tone. Then the female voice,voiced by Kathleen Barr(thank you blazingskies), which I think it double tracked, says the line. In the new trailer, voice is done by a different person. It's not double tracked, but it is altered. I think it sounds like a simple vocoder effect, but I couldn't swear to it. It's a little flatter than a voice would be.

It also looks very different.

The new cube is much more transparent, and has similar lines on it to the buildings we saw previously. Not sure what that means, as it seems to suggest some kind of connection, which if the game cube is meant to link up to the buildings could be a plot point.

Or it could be nothing.

The sky is also different.

Here's a side by side with some sky from My Two Bobs. It's more detailed, and appears to have more depth to it. Also of interest is that the sky isn't deforming around the origin point of the cube.

Then finally we get to the logo.

It's changed a bit. The colours have changed, and the top circular segment now looks like it has a lit ring around the rim rather than being a solid block of colour like it originally was.

It makes me think of the upcoming Tron film. The darkness with a neon glow illumination. Ok, they don't look that similar, as this side by side will show...

But for some reason I couldn't help but think of it.

It looks like it's going to be a very pretty film. The graphics have been updated significantly. Now we just have to hope that the story can match it.

*crosses fingers*

For Joco fans....

2009-09-14T13:56:32Z

Turns out that when Joco played at PAX, Wil Wheaton was there.

Why does this matter?

Just watch the video...

I don't know what to do with this picture....

2009-08-18T21:47:01Z

I was watching Fellowship of the Ring today, and say this....

Isn't he adorable.

Anyone got any ideas for avatars or suchlike that could use a little fella like this?

Also, got this shot....

Want to do something with that too, but can't think what...

SLOWMO dundundundundundun DEATHMATCH!

2009-08-18T12:13:22Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv_E46RcoF8

I laughed quite hard.

Also have a new earworm...

Musical fun....

2009-08-09T15:46:00Z

I have a weakness for video game themes....

So I present this....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJrGYpYx8CQ

If only I knew how to embed things properly.

Oh well....

Yay for puppies.

2009-06-19T22:46:28Z

Don't know how long this will work for, but....

PUPPY CAM!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/puppy-cam-ny

Two drums and a cymbal fall of a cliff....

2009-05-30T13:44:20Z

http://www.tomscott.com/cliff/

FAO Alexis mostly, or anyone who speaks japanese....

2009-05-23T00:22:56Z

This post...

http://novawulfen.livejournal.com/38117.html

Has two replies in it that I really can't read.

Anyone able to give me the gist?

Cheers

First post of two today...

2009-05-17T13:40:16Z

I saw this, and thought of all the people that weren't entirely satisfied with the new Star Trek file. Spoilers abound...

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1910892

Iso related stuff

2009-05-10T21:00:05Z

Can people reccomend a virtual machine that I could load an operating system iso into, such that I can have, say, a linux box that I don't need an extra machine for? I've had a look at a couple, but I can't seem to find any that will allow me to mount an iso and run it.

I thought Dosbox would do it, but apparently not.

Don't click this link....

2009-04-15T09:18:53Z

Unless you know you don't have anything to do for a little while....

http://lab.andre-michelle.com/swf/fl10/ToneMatrix.swf

Re:Red Dwarf this evening

2009-04-10T13:42:11Z

In case people were heading to the House of Hallam for the Dwarf thing this evening, please be aware that the event is off. If you have any queries, get in touch with Paul, or myself.

Ok fine....I'll bite...

2009-04-07T21:24:30Z

Ask any character I've roleplayed as for advice, and they will provide it, advice columnist style. Your problems or fictional characters' problems both welcome. Management is not responsible for the results of following said advice.

Columnists include:

Eruarr, young elven cleric in a D&D world where D&D stood for Demons and Devils
Mirumoto Aoshi, Bodyguard to the powerful
Deckard Cain, last of the Harodrim
Lt Cmdr Data, Positronic android
Dai'Moonshine'Jones, Weed dealing werewolf escapee from a welsh doomsday cult
Steve\Steve\Sam\Sean, Multiple personality Nosferatu
Kills-for-Pleasure, Female Black Fury Ahroun
Winston Smythe, werewolf buisinessman, and totally not planning evil
Stephen of the Iron Hands, Kung Fu Shaman
Esteban de los Manos Ferros, sneaky assassin, no relation the the previous guy
TehLeetOne, zombie apocalypse surviving haxxor
Julian Glover Theban Sorcery for the win, gangrel...doh
Jee, soft spoken darkling, servant of Great Erin

It's only now that I realise how many of my characters never had names, or I couldn't remember their names...

I'm bored

2009-04-04T16:05:45Z

Is there anything on this evening, or should I just rack up some kills in L4D?

Two links that I have found today....

2009-03-24T23:43:25Z

Thanks to Mogz for this one

http://media.worldofwarcraft.com/movies/video_loader/wow_video.htm?vid=iammurloc-en&dir=movies/iammurloc&img=iammurloc&rating=wow

And Emiloy for this one

http://www.asylum.com.au/2009/03/22/shepherds-recreate-mona-lisa-pong-with-sheep-and-leds/

Sneezing

2009-03-18T12:16:00Z

Today I managed the annoying and slightly impressive feat of sneezing so hard that my neck hurts.

Not agonisingly, but still annoying.

I didn't know you could do that...

Housematechu...I choose you!*

2009-03-08T00:58:27Z

Turns out I need to sort out my living arrangements for the coming year...

I'm currently moving out of my house in June, and will need to find somewhere to move to. This is mostly because, as I understand it, Ant and Flick are looking for a house that they can call their own.

This means that I need to find somewhere to move. I cannot live by myself, as it's just not good for me, so I'm looking for somewhere to move to. I don't know exactly what the plan is going to be yet, but I want to give myself as many options as I can.

So, is anyone looking to fill a room, let me know, and we can see what we can do. Either that or if anyone's looking to assemble a group to get a house, let me know.

Cheers

Nova

*This title was brought to you by the letters S, P, I, K and E and by the number 5

For all half life fans....

2009-02-13T17:24:57Z

Escape from City 17...

http://www.purchasebrothers.com/Purchase-Brothers-v2-hl.html

Scarf....

2009-02-11T18:41:58Z

I have a scarf in my posession. I'm moderately certain it's not mine, so I'm wondering if anyone recognises it.

Mary tells me that the only way to get a decent photo of it was to wear it. I remain unconvinced, but here's the link anyway.

Link

if you recognise this scarf, let me know. Otherwise I'll assume it's mine...I guess....

Why do I do this to myself...

2009-01-29T11:51:52Z

Wandered into the maths department to fix a PC and ended up witnessing a class struggling with the following problem...

----

Cadets must pass an exam. Probability of passing is 0.65. If they fail, the probablity of passing a resit is 0.7. If they pass either the exam or the resit, they get a certificate.

Five cadets are put in for the exam. What is the probability that all five will get certificates?
----
The way the kids in maths were working this out was writing down all possible combinations of pass/fail-pass/fail, and counting them up. This is a heavy workload.

I think there's an easier way, and would like to know if anyone else concurs...

The probability of a single cadet passing is 0.65+(0.35*0.7)=0.895. That's the probability of a single cadet passing on either attempt. Given that these each candidates probability is not based on his co-cadets, they are independent events. So could one not just say that if the probability of one cadet getting a certificate is 0.895, then the probability of two doing so is 0.895^2?

If that's true, then is the probability of all 5 getting certificates 0.895^5=0.574?

Or does maths not work that way?