Scatmania

This screenshot taken from Microsoft Anti-Spyware:

[screenshot removed - later turned out to be a fake]

No, I’m not talking about that god-awful de-da-de-da-de-do-do-do de-da-de-do do thingy: I’m talking about this igneous MEng dissertation project, in which the student hooked up six hamsters to a MIDI device and, with some clever hardware and software, used their movements to compose music. If you look at the site, be sure to download the video clip or at least a sample of the music produced!

Do you remember in the middle of last week I finally discovered that I could make Firefox have all the features I loved in Opera, using plugins? Well; I’m honoured to report that my comments haven’t gone un-noticed: I’ve recieved a comment on that post from Jonny Axelsson, dude who does standards-related stuff for Opera. To save you going back there, he writes:

In the meantime we’re getting out Opera 8, so it would be even harder to compete…

Not much to say on the matter, but hey. I tried Opera 8 beta, and it’s fab, but it’ll need to improve on the web developer and adblocking things if I’m to re-adopt it as my browser of choice. That said, I’m still using Opera at home, because I haven’t been bothered yet to download all those Firefox extensions that make it “as good as ” Opera for the things I need in a browser.

Right - Shrink is here - time to break the internet again.

I wrote the other day about Photopia, one of the most brilliant and unusual pieces of interactive fiction I’ve ever experienced. Finally, JTA gave it a go, and loved it too - and he and I have been spending the last few days discussing some of the really, really clever bits and putting our own explanations to them. There are so many questions left unanswered, even after having completed the story, and I’m sure we’ll both be going back and playing it again.

Why hasn’t anybody else played yet? Well; it’s possible I just didn’t make it quite accessible enough. So I’ve packaged Photopia into a single-file executable. Just download and run it, and you’ll have it installed on your system. It takes up less than a megabyte of space and it’s brilliant not only as entertainment but also as a work of fiction.

You won’t find these from Crayola…

What the fuck.

People are stressed. People are angry. People are being complete bastards to one another.

Well, shit… worse things honestly do happen at sea.

I feel sorry for everybody who’s on the recieving end of any of this glasspaper-buggery-of-the-mind; and I’ve heard more than enough already to get a pretty clear picture. And the thing I can tell you all is that rash decisions won’t help anybody. Pull yourselves together. Chin up. I’m here if you need me.

That is all.

This is what makes Aber great: that somebody can suggest a fire and a couple of hours later there are over a dozen people huddled round a pile of wood, seperating burgers.

We had some difficulty getting the fire lit to begin with - perhaps something to do with the fact that it had been snowing for most of the afternoon - but eventually (with enough blowing on the part of Peter and I) we had a wonderful little blaze going. Three disposable barbecues gave us enough food to satisfy everybody, and we all sat out as the evening wore on, drinking beer and joking about whatever came to mind. A lot of the conversation seemed to be about the absence of Iggy, everybody’s favourite ‘bot. Jon and Hayley brought a bottle of champagne, and we celebrated the charges of fraud against Paul being dropped. And we huddled, as a group, closer to the embers as they burned out, stopping now and then to steal more wood from a nearby building site to fuel it a little longer.

Temperatures were low; spirits were high: it was a shame not to see folks like Andy, Sian and Liz there, but it was nice to see folks like Peter and Jimmy, who are usually a little more challenging to extract out on these crazy ventures. And those of us that survived the experience retired to The Flat to play Chez Geek and Fluxx past midnight.

That’s why Aber’s great. And that’s why I’m glad I’m here.

• Jon writes about the fire
• Jon’s pictures
• I accidentally invite Iggy to the fire (second quote on the list)

The photograph, above, appeared on an eBay auction: the item for sale was the table and chairs - a full dining set (not including the things on the table, of course). However, there’s something about the photo that suggests that the seller is a man. Can you tell what it is?

Don’t read the comments until you think you’ve got it, in case somebody’s already posted the answer.

Thanks to Matt for the idea for this one - on the RockMonkey wiki, it’s now possible to play Scissors, Stone, Paper! For some reason, I keep losing, but it’s supposed to play fair! See for yourself.

Geekiness ahead. Some folks have been posting stills from the upcoming Star Wars film, Episode 3, to the web. Most of the mirrors are getting shot down by too-much traffic, but I’ve managed to get the pictures and they’re hosted here (in a way that only my friends will be able to access). About 80 pictures from the film, in order, med/high-res.

To see the pictures, you’ll need to go to this password page and enter the surname of my girlfriend or the name of the changing-rules card game we play at Geek Night as the password. Warning: they’re spoiler-heavy; if you don’t know the plot outline already, you might be better off not seeing them. Enjoy.