LHC repairs going well

Hopefully the LHC can start cranking by November.

Pitch and Putt

I just played a game of pitch and putt with Kris up at the Terry Hills Par3 course. Despite the 12C temp and 15 seconds of drizzle, I really enjoyed the round hitting a respectable 71. I've hit much better than that, but this was my first game in a long, long time, probably a year or so. I even had a birdie on the 17th! I've been up the driving range a couple of times in the last few weeks, and I think that also helped, as my pitches were respectable. My putting and chipping were awful to start, but improved over the 18.
Oh, yeh, the course has this awesome new doppler radar tower overlooking it now which actually looks like a giant golf ball sitting on a tee.

The Introduction.

And, lo, today marketh the day that Cian Roberts was introduced to the world of Dungeons and Dragons. Having seen me go off once a week to play this mysterious game, and even host many sessions downstairs in the Den, Cian accepted his first rulebook to read and character sheet to fill out with due reverence and excitement.
I have started him off with the Basic D&D set, the one published in 1983, in fact an original copy that I myself used more that twenty years ago, now complete with badly coloured pictures of female clerics and large snakes sitting atop piles of gold. Yes, of course I kept it, what? You don't just throw out stuff like that.
The Basic rules from this era were written with kids in mind, and as Cian will be 8 in a couple of weeks, I'm sure he'll be on top of the game mechanics in no time. Also, with his already formidable imagination, I'm sure this game will grab him and not let go. The only problem will be in encouraging his friends to play. I'll have to start off as DM of course, but it is my sworn duty as Nerd Father.

Saturn's Children

Just read this, some space opera from Charles Stross.
Quite a different read from the other Stross novels I've read. It's essentially about the society of sentient robots left behind by the human race after they've engineered their own extinction. The story focusses on the life of a particular sexbot, who is having a little trouble finding direction in life without any actual humans to do her job with. Never fear though, there is plenty of robot on robot action in this novel, and it's a lot wetter than you'd expect!
The plot gets really quite complicated and difficult to follow, what with robots being able to wear the soul-chips of other robots, which means they can access (although indirectly) the memories of others. There were a few times I wasn't sure if I was reading a flashback, a dream, or real current event or something else. It might have helped I think if I had read the book more quickly in larger sessions, rather than a few pages at a time.
The characters were a lot of fun, and the whole concept isn't one I'd read before, so I recommend reading it.

GenCon Day 3

Two more back to back sessions, a nice Viet dinner, a rush to the airport, aaaaaand, Home.

GenCon Day 2

Wow. Full on day. Session 9-1, then 2-4, then into a special Pathfnder futures session with Jason, then back to the game, which had to run late, a rushed dinner, then played from 7-11.
Lots of good laughs in the games. It's a different experience playing these official society games, but well worth the effort.
OK. Tired now.

GenCon Day 1

Great day. We played two four-hour sessions of Pathfinder D&D and it was fairly intense. Intense in a good way though - really enjoyed it. We're now in a bar chatting with the lead designer of the game, Jason Bulmahn which is really cool. Its interesting to hear the history behind some of the rules and issues of game balance etc.
Eating and drinking lots. Bit hungover this morning...

GenCon Day 0

Arrived in Brisbane late after work and hit the Pathfinder Intro session hosted by the lead designer Jason Bulmahn. Good laugh actually - the guy has a good sense of humour. GenCon is gonna be great - looking forward to the sessions tomorrow. Now in a tapas bar getting wasted.

Space:1999. Crock of Shit.

I like science fiction (can you tell?). There are certain things you have to deal with when consuming SF, like the suspension of your disbelief. SF usually includes the use of technology that just isn't possible or physical phenomena never seen before. SF authors typically try to present these things in a plausible way, for example, building new tech off existing tech, or cutting edge scientific theorys. Further, there is a rule in SF that states that completely unbelievable tech or phenomena should be restricted to one or two occurences, and only where important to the plot or story.
Space:1999 is chock full of completely unbelievable bullshit.
In the first episode, there is an explosion on the moon which produces 10g of thrust for about 10 seconds, and pushes the moon out of it's orbit and into outer space. It's complete bullshit. Not only would such an explosion simply destroy the moon, it probably wouldn't move it from it's orbit, let alone flying off into outer space. But, since the plot of Space:1999 is completely dependent on this event, it can be overlooked.
But then in subsequent episodes, the moon travels to different solar systems, and as far as I can tell, at least a new solar system every two or three episodes, where a new planet (with aliens) provides a new episode plot. That moon sure is travelling fast to get to these new solar systems. Bullshit! and when it is there, it seems to moving at normal local planetary speed. Bullshit!
Then there's the episode where an alien race gives the moon an atmosphere by releasing gas from cannisters. Yeh, that'll work. NOT. And then it rains on the moon, in this atmosphere because the aliens generate a lightning strike. Um, where the hell did all the water come from?
And then there's the black hole (black sun) episode where some anti-gravity shield protects them as they fall into the black hole, and then some mystic star intelligence transports them to the other side of the universe. Just stop.
I've only watched maybe ten episodes, and I'm not watching any more. Blake's 7 is of a similar era, and is much more engaging.
To end on a good note, the sets of Space:1999 are incredible for 1974, and the theme track is a brilliant funky 70s tune.

VHS to DivX

It's a tedious process. I just finished converting some old VHS tapes to DivX. Physical media must die, but digital media will move from one disk to the next. Hopefully.
For each tape, I had to :

1. Hook up the old MiniDV video camera to the VHS player, and record from VHS to MiniDV.
2. Hook up the video camera to the PC via firewire, and rip using the very good and free WinDV.
3. Use the also very good and free VirtualDub to encode to DivX and MP3, doing gross editing as well.
4. Lob the final file where the media player can see it!

Tapes converted include the wedding video, engagement video and some important yoga video.

Blake's 7 : Series 1

I just finished watching Blake's 7 : Series 1. It's 70s TV SF at its very best. Well, OK, maybe not its very best. It's quite good though.
The special effects have dated spectactularly, so much so, that it's quite amusing to watch some of the spaceship scenes. Brilliant styrofoam models. *chortle*. Actually, there are quite a lot of scenes where you can hear the actors sqeaking past the various styrofoam sets, especially in enclosed spaces. Now that's funny.
Having said that, the episodes are mostly engaging, not brilliant, but still quite watchable, and some of the chracters are a lot of fun. Avon, in particular is excellent. He's so droll, and always ready with excellent put downs. Have a look at some quotes. Avon features heavily.

Petition for Apology to Alan Turing

Alan Turing was a legend. An awesome mind. Imagine his contribution if he had lived another 30 years! There is now a petition to the UK government to apologise for his prosecution (and chemical castration), which probably led to his suicide. Sign today!

[update - 11/9/09]
Success!