Read ATC's April news posts.

That's where all the interesting bits are right now.

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched 17 years ago today. Wikipedia has a very nice writeup, as always. Not sure why APOD hasn't mentioned it.

 

The Eagle Nebula has popped up in Star Trek : Voyager and Babylon 5, and less obviously in Contact.

Hopefully next year's scheduled servicing and upgrade mission goes off on schedule.

Man, I called that one. (src=rez)

Don't look if you like surprises. Given just how amazingly uneven the new Doctor Who has been, this little "sneak peak" has certainly helped allay my ph34r.

If only it would allay the SINUS PRESSURE OF DOOM that currently has me half deaf and whole stupid. And wide awake when I need to be up in ninety minutes.

The Second Happy Time : Creepiest article title, ever.

See also the list of attacks on US soil and east coast shipping, and notice how they almost never get mentioned on the {Hitler|History} Channel.

From the article :

[...] The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up.

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) occurs when a hive's inhabitants suddenly disappear, leaving only queens, eggs and a few immature workers, like so many apian Mary Celestes. The vanished bees are never found, but thought to die singly far from home. The parasites, wildlife and other bees that normally raid the honey and pollen left behind when a colony dies, refuse to go anywhere near the abandoned hives.

If other bees and things aren't going anywhere near the stricken hives, doesn't it stand to reason that there may be something in the pollen as well?

My bet is it's a combination of factors, but I'm hoping for cel phones. I can't stand the things, but it ought to be easier to re-regulate them into a non-bee-killy spectrum than it would be to, say, get Monsanto or whoever to stop being stupid.

Poor bees. :|

Yes, there's the Military Industrial Complex and all the fun that's brought us. But there's also the Medical Industrial Complex. It's the same basic concept as the other MIC, only vastly more subtle, insidious, and - ultimately - profitable.

Turns out Donald Rumsfeld has done quite a lot to advance the monetary aims of both. (src=bda)

Brain cancer and politics? File under "match made in heaven."

You "Just one calorie!" idiots are drinking wood alcohol. Fucking hilarious, that. You want a diet drink? Stick with filtered water. Everything else is going to kill you. Somehow.

Think of the children, etc.

They're where the money is!

13:43 <@rjbs> If only the world was more like UNIX.
13:44 <@ejp> threaded?
13:44 < y0shi> we'd all be drinking from pipes shoved in our mouths
13:45 < y0shi> and you can guess at the other end
13:45 <@rjbs> Parents wouldn't die until all their children died.
13:45 <@ejp> 'mouths' is being damn hopeful.
13:45 <@rjbs> So you'd just need to keep them alive long enough to reproduce.
13:45 <@rjbs> and hope that they wouldn't detach
13:52 < mdxi> if the world were like unix, then parents wouldn't die until all their children died...as long as things worked perfectly.
13:52 < mdxi> but if something went wrong, and your parent died, you'd die too
13:52 < mdxi> unless you became a zombie
13:53 < solios> good point.
13:53 <@rjbs> see? it sounds EVEN BETTER when you put it that way

10:35 <@rjbs> yeah, looking foward to seeing Face of Boe again
10:37 <@ejp> apparenly this is the ep where it says the thing
10:38 <@bda> The Thing.
10:38 <@ejp> yes
10:38 <@rjbs> yeah
10:38 <@rjbs> I hope that it is Gallifrey-related.
10:38 <@bda> "You must collect Shakespeare as an extra Companion, and then go meet Cleopatra and Abe Lincoln."
10:39 <@bda> "YOU MUST FORM THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY DUDES."
10:39 <@rjbs> Non-non-non-henoius!
10:39 < mdxi> THE PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED!
10:40 <@bda> Just think how hilarious that would be! Anytime someone says "OH NO IT'S THE LOED!" Cleo can yell "And Dudette, you ass!"
10:40 <@bda> HA HA HA
10:41 <@ejp> you all are just a little bit bent.
10:43 <@bda> It's the level of lame I expect from Dr Who now.
10:44 <@ejp> you're just a cynical old bastard.
10:44 <@bda> pft.
11:38 < vai> ^ the sound of gas escaping bda's cynical ass.
11:39 <@bda> That has more of a roomy sound to it, actually.
11:39 <@bda> Cynics aren't small.
11:40 <@ejp> more of a "pffffffffft"?
11:40 < solios> so more of a "woosh" then?
11:40 <@rjbs> the cynics were made by man
11:40 <@rjbs> the rebelled
11:40 <@bda> Think jet engine.
11:40 < solios> THEY HAVE A PLAN
11:40 < solios> bda: that's all kinds of goatse and wrong.
11:41 <@ejp> Now with Vortex Action(tm)!
11:41 <@bda> There are twelve Cynic models.
11:41 <@bda> In my ass.
11:41 <@ejp> explains a lot really.

Which is worse: thinking "I am completely IGNORED by my multitude of alleged friends - would any of them even so much as think 'what's up with him?' if I stormed out?" OR the realization that the answer to that question is an emphatic NO, THEY WOULD NOT. ?

That the former should occur at all is depressing - that the latter is a Fact Of Life is moreso.

I've never been able to find the line - let alone a comfortable region - between Having Standards and Meeting {Social|Emotional} needs, and the unfortunate fact is that the resulting mental anguish has proven fuel for naught but itself.

So. Do I hate you all for ignoring me, or do I hate myself for having no time for the mundane mopping-the-floors levels of friendship maintenance? Do I give up the perpetual loathing and unfulfilment that is my Reason For Being in exchange for a web of trivial but emotionally fulfilling mundanities, or do I continue to climb the Mount Everest Of Possible Fulfillment with my TEETH, on the off chance that accomplishment - no matter the cost - is its own reward?

Can I put that decision off until after The Dualist is finished?

23:48 <@solios> you know what woke me up yesterday?
23:48 <@bda> Kids?
23:48 <@bda> On your lawn?
23:48 <@solios> a fucking nightmare.
23:48 <@solios> about ATC's production timeframe.
23:48 <@bda> I get woken up every fucking day by jackhammers or bandsaws or some shit.
23:48 <@bda> haha.
23:48 <@solios> THIRTY FUCKING YEARS AT THE CURRENT PRODUCTION PACE.*
23:48 <@bda> Owned.
23:48 <@solios> BLAM. bolt upgright, sweating.
23:49 <@solios> I don't even want to be doing this shit NOW.
23:49 <@solios> let alone until I'm SIXTY.
23:49 <@bda> So do something else.
23:49 <@solios> yeah, uh.
23:49 <@solios> I'm masturbated out.
23:49 <@bda> o_o
23:49 <@bda> >:|
23:49 <@solios> and to paraphrase one of the Marx brothers, anybody who wants to work with me isn't worth working with.
23:49 <@solios> what?
23:50 <@solios> I mail you the jars!
23:50 <@solios> you got nothing to bitch about!
23:50 <@bda> Shhh.
23:50 <@bda> I tell Pete it is Canadian mayo.

* Assuming the remaining six books are the same length as The Dualist.

Kurt Vonnegut : 1922-2007.

To be
the eyes
and ears
and conscience
of the Creator of the Universe,
you fool.

The most important thing I learned on Tralfamadore was that when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, so it is very silly for people to cry at his funeral. All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist.

(NYT via IRC- see here, or here if that doesn't work, image source here. Subject header from Timequake)

Mrs. Ritter - my instructor in The Gifted Program, grades 2-4 or thereabouts - made damned good and sure that the lot of us read Harrison Bergeron shortly after we'd demonstrated a grasp of the concepts of vowel and consonant. In late high school, Slaughterhouse Five, for a book report. In the final moments of artskool, Mother Night. Always, the right book at the right time.

Positive, negative, or otherwise.

So it goes.

@ Dee's Cafe :

[left, last night] The Reverend Brother 342 (aka Pimp Hat Jason) shows off his Space Invaders belt buckle; [right, tonight] Geoff (right, a southside regular) and HIS MOTHERFUCKING CLONE Ben (left, whom I've never seen before, ever) smoke cigarettes while proles photo-op their resemblance.

<

Subject line from the truly awful english dub of Trigun, now playing on a flat panel near you.

13:38 <@mzweng> the big trees have more leaves out. i wonder if the smaller ones that usually bud faster got frozen off earlier.
13:38 <@mzweng> </random>
13:42 <@solios> depends on if the tree makes its saving throw
13:42 <@solios> obviously big trees are higher level and have a better save vs. cold.
13:43 <@mzweng> best. answer. ever.

Go and read the wikipedia entry for a nice lengthy description of all that is Win and Good about Lunar Knights, so I don't have to write up a condensed rehash that says more-or-less the same thing.

Done? Good.

LK - what I've been able to play of it - is very, very anime. It feels a bit like Vampire Hunter D crossed with, say.... Bobobobo Bobobo. The downside of this aggressively anime nature is that the english language voice acting - like damned near all anime - ranges between ill-fitting and awful. Vocal elements and cut scene animation (actual cartoon animation!) is fairly well integrated, and the game sports a lot of features that are new to me in my gaming experience: food items rot (!), weather conditions have an obvious, palpable impact on gameplay, and the terrenial effect on weapons gives gameplay a bit of a metroid feel.

I like the isometric top-down bits, the leveling (reminiscent of {Final Fantasy Adventure|Sword Of Mana}), the weaponry, and all the little bits and details of the surface world. What I do NOT like, however, are the giddamned shooter sequences.

Many game sites and magazines have mentioned that the the shooter bits (which feel like a cross between Star Fox and Raiden, only with none of the fun factor of Star Fox and all of the hell that is Raiden) feel completely tacked-on and unpolished, and to an extent, they're right. For every thing I like about the planet-side aspect of the game, there's a thing that blows about the orbital aspect. The big one is that you have to complete the shooter sequences to progress the game. So if you suck ass at twitch-shooting like I do, you'll get stuck just like I have. I can't get past the third shooter sequence! A lot of it has to do with the controls, which turn a mediocre twitch-gamer such as myself into a horrible one.... and that's where all of the additional flaws bite you in the ass.

Planetside, if you get your ass kicked (which can happen in a blink of the eye if you're not careful), you can chuck out some Sol (the equivalent of Gil or Dollarpounds or Woolong or whatever) and restart from the nearest doorway/area entrance with all your stats as they were when you rolled through that door the first time. This makes it possible to slowly grind your way through a large, complex, hostile level even if your level is low and your skill level sucks. Unfortunately, this doesn't carry over to the shooter sequences, which seems like a glaring flaw when you take into account the fact that each sequence is broken up into several smaller bits (usually flood-of-baddies | miniboss | rocks | baddies | boss or a longer variant, where the pipes mark either a break in the action or a boost into a higher orbit). If you die (which happens to me a hell of a lot in these bits), it doesn't matter how far into the stage you got, you're starting over at the beginning. It's a very R-Type behaviour in a situation where a Gradius (or equivalent) behaviour is obviously warranted. It doesn't help that life and energy powerups are about as frequent as streakers at a sermon, or that none of the level-grinding you do planet-side is reflected in your ship's defenses or reserves.

I love the planet-side parts of Lunar Knights. Really, I do. They're a lot of fun and I was looking forward to exploring them in greater depth... until I rammed right up against the third shooter stage. Where I shall remain until I die of old age, as I have neither the skill nor the reflexes nor the patience to grind through this bit of badly designed "tacked on" hell in order to get to the rest of the game.

Recommendation : Buy it if you're awesome at shooters. Otherwise, don't bother. The rest of the game is great, but you won't be able to get to any of it unless you're a Pinball Wizard with the stylus.

Silly, warm-hearted, pun-heavy fun for children aged six to sixty. While I haven't tried the multiplayer element, I can say with some authority that Rocket Slime is the most fun I've had with a video game in years. By fun I mean giggling at the graphics, laughing at the puns, and just generally enjoying the expressiveness of the characters and the goofiness of the gameplay.

The gameplay itself - the raw bit you'll be interfacing with at all times in any game - is best described as a mix of elements of Super Mario Brothers 2 and The Legend Of Zelda- you rocket your slimey self into objects and opponents to knock them into the air, after which you catch them on your head - up to a stack of three - and then either toss them at other baddies/objects or onto carts that haul your prizes back to town. It's simple, it's fun, and it's extremely easy - I had to pace myself and take it slow so it would take more than a couple of days to beat the game.

Rocket Slime is tons of fun, and my only complaint (my only complaint - it's rare for me not to have an itemized list) is that the game only has one save slot. The fact that you have to rescue a nun before you can access it is hilarious, but the lack of additional saves means I can't loan out The Awesome to other DS-having friends, which is a bit of a bummer. I recommend it for anyone with a DS. While it may be a bit too easy or goofy for your tastes, it's an aggressively cute pick-me-up with a positive message, and would make a great addition to anyone's game library.

Recommendation : Must Own! Rocket Slime would also make a great gift for your mother or your five year old nephew. One of those rare cases where an "E" rating really does mean everyone. :)

Left to right, top to bottom:

Apple Powermac G5 : 4 gigs of ram, 2.7tb storage, Final Cut Pro.
Old SCSI Enclosure : Relic from the Media100 days. Two 36g drives, unused.
JVC BR-DV3000 : DV/MiniDV, I/O bridge between FCP and all other hardware.
Pioneer DVD-V7400 : Industrial Strength DVD player.
Sony NTSC monitor
Sony Lasermax LDP-1500
JVC BR-S800U S-VHS deck
Sony BetacamSP UVW-1800

I can capture anything but Betamax. Unfortunately, switching between decks and functions (input or output) requires a complete recabling of everything. In part because we don't have all of the necessary equipment, and in part because the equipment we do have is "quirky" (specifically the Beta and SVHS decks).

Turns out an older piece of mine was blogged about by one of those Serious Types awhile back.

Nifty.