ethanthescribe

benpayne @ 09:04 pm: Music
New female artist for the day is Peggy Sue, a folk group from the UK.

You can find a song of theirs here.

pixie_b @ 07:44 pm: For those who are interested, if you peek over at littlebutton07 there's a write up of the first entry in the diary I kept of Talia's NICU time.
I've been attempting to update photos, but lj or my net connection don't like me and seem to stall before even uploading the first photo. Not sure what to do about that.

halloranelder @ 03:46 pm: House Hunting (I wish)
I have a habit of looking through the real estate listings every now and then (and dream a lot about them).

I've just seen a place I really, really want, and for once it's not the multi-million dollar only-if-I-win-lotto place. This place looks very nice, and reasonably priced too.

11/1-7 Colebrook St, Brunswick.

Of course, with my finances, there ain't a hope in hell. Oh well.

Tags: links, real estate

martinlivings @ 08:43 am: First lines meme...
Via angriest, dalekboy and tikiwanderer, we're looking at first lines of work. For this, I've decided only to include works currently in my "Under Construction" folder on my thumb drive, a lot of which I haven't actually touched or looked at in, well, years, and will probably never actually be completed. Plus the ones I have in "Working On For Publication", so we can get some slightly better lines, though they're all very much in rough draft form, so don't expect "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"!

So...

( First lines below the cut... )

Tags: first lines, meme, writing

curufea @ 09:12 am: Dungeon Keeper 7
Almost playtested. Discovered I'd forgotten to upload one card type, so therefore when I dumped all the files together to print out, they weren't.

So no the total deck size (including the cards kept separate from the deck in play) has jumped from 140 to 155.

For all the cards that can be upgraded by playing multiples of the same kind - there are 3 multiples. This means that either one person monopolises on a particular thing (ie gets all the orcs, or all the poison dart traps) to get the high level versions; or people use the wild cards to upgrade. This mechanic is meant to keep the cards circulating (ie if you want an orc, you'll damage that person's dungeon to get them) and to reduce the amount of adventurer help (ie the best cards to help them are also the wild upgrade cards).

I'm also keen on putting all the rules necessary to play on a single page for people with short attention spans (i.e. Torben and anyone who knows of a social (sport/movie/whatever) event coming up soon and feels no guilt over interrupting someone explaining rules). It's happened to me before too, and I find it very rude.

I don't enjoy explaining rules by demonstrating, then finding out that only half the people were paying attention, and when the ignorant people query what has just (10 seconds ago) been explained - everyone who was paying attention re-explains.

However, I do enjoy that those paying attention retained the rules long enough to explain it :)

Tags: board game, dungeon builder game, game design

flinthart @ 08:56 pm: Small Steps
 Right. Well, I've had the meeting with the psychologist who carried out Elder Son's 'Formal Assessment' at the behest of the school and the Ed Dept. No great surprises: he's very high in verbal, in abstract reasoning, perceptual stuff, not quite so high in other aspects - and a little slow in what they call 'processing speed'. I'm assured that's not uncommon in kids at the sharp end: essentially, he's a deep thinker, not a fast thinker. That would reflect his mother more than me; I've met people who are faster thinkers than I am, definitely, but not every day.

 

So the prognosis is that yes, he's a clever cookie and yes, the Ed Dept and the school have to start thinking of ways to work with him on that basis. And that's a good thing, sure.

 

But -- it's not like the school is overloaded with resources and available people. So whatever we work out, it's unlikely to take a whole lot of workload off my shoulders.

 

I must say, the assessing officer was a piece of work. She's very smart, highly articulate, and extremely passionate about what she does. It was a genuine relief to talk with her. I never wanted to be the kind of 'in-your-face' parent who insists the kid is a little genius and demands special consideration... but it was heartbreaking watching the boy's face drop every morning at school time, and it was depressing to see the books he brought home as assigned reading.

 

There was one morning... we'd been reading Tennyson, I think. Just to enjoy it this time. But he turned to me with this puzzled look in his eyes and said "Why do you think they're still teaching about the 'magic E that makes the vowel say its name?"

 

I said: "Well, because it's useful to help people read."

 

And he said, without any kind of rancour or condescension: "Yes, but they've been teaching it to us for three years now. Don't they realise we know?"

 

And at that point, I had to scratch around for a diplomatic way of saying that no, not every kid in your class has worked it out yet, nor will.

 

I settled for a sports analogy: reminded him that he's not the fastest runner nor the best football kicker in his class. Told him how some kids are better at some things than others, and it didn't make them better or worse as people. And I was lucky: he didn't point out that the fast kids are allowed to run just as fast as they want, and he didn't point out that the sporting kids are allowed to join teams and play games with the bigger kids... he just accepted the idea and left it there.

 

But obviously, I didn't forget.

 

Primary schooling for me was a miserable exercise in painful fucking time-wasting. So, for that matter, was most of secondary school. Natalie had much the same experience. Worse: even though they noticed and knew that I was good -- really, really good -- with language, nobody really paid attention to that until I was in year twelve, and even then...

 

Schools have inched forward since then. When I was eight, the Qld dept of education assessed my reading and verbal comprehension as being off their charts. (The charts went to 'reading age 18'. There was nothing higher.) Then they sent me back to my Year 3 classroom to read picture-books in a circle. Now, even though it's taken over a year to get there -- at least there is a formal assessment system in place, and a recognition of the obligation of the school system to kids at the high end of the curve as well as the middle and the low.

 

The talk with the psychologist was a huge relief, a weight off my shoulders. I've felt bad about pushing the school. I know how undersupplied and underfunded schools are, and I know how damned hard teachers work. The last thing they need is an irritating parent demanding some kind of special treatment. But at least with this piece of paper in hand, the school now has the ammunition to ask the ed dept for help -- and I have a tangible justification for my attitude.

 

It's already improving. I've had the Elder Son learning to type here at home, and when he passed 20 words a minute, I decided he might as well do al his English and his writing that way. The school has been really good: he's been allowed to type there, too. Better still, the assessing officer tells me it's an excellent approach, allowing him to utilise his thinking skills instead of frustrating him with the trials of penmanship. (We're still going to work him through cursive script, of course. But for actual work, he can type. And that makes him happy, and produces more work which is also more accurate, detailed and thoughtful.)

 

There will be more. I have to meet with the school people again, and we have to try to construct some kind of effective programme for him on school time and school resources. This isn't going to be easy, or simple. But my kids are not going to spend their childhoods hating every day they have to set foot in school, bored beyond belief.

 

That is not going to happen.

 

benpayne @ 08:18 pm: Anyone Can Play Guitar
So in honour of GJ's chix music month, I've decided to take part by expanding my musical knowledge by checking out one new female artist per day.

Today I wanted to start off with a band. A couple of years ago, going through my music collection, I noticed something. I noticed that all my favourite solo singer-songwriters were female. But conversely, all my favourite groups/bands were male (at least largely). How to explain this discrepancy? I never did come up with an answer.

So, anyway, today's discovery is Icelandic instrumental group Amiina.

You can find one of their songs here

Also, if you're an eighties music fan, check out their OMD cover-version here (with vocals).

I think they sound quite good.

kingtheseus @ 07:24 pm: Star Wars/John Williams capella
Oringally from ethanthescribe

This is brilliant - this guy has a huge range of tone, and that he can sing a capella with three other hims is quite amazing.  each version of himself is singing in a different range.  He weaves  Star Wars songs written to John Williams themes from several non Star Wars movies.  Amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk5_OSsawz4&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Flj%2Dtoys%2Ecom%2F%3Fjournalid%3D2772550%26moduleid%3D3%26preview%3D%26auth%5Ftoken%3Dsessionless%3A1247734800%3Aembedcontent%3A2772550%25263%2526%3A21f08b13&feature=player_embedded
Edit: OK, so he is actually lip-synching a song by moosebutter. I'm not the first person to have made that mistake.  It's still well done.  This Corey Vidal guy is a great marketer.

pixie_b @ 03:27 pm: Damnit.
I'm completely stuck for transport to and from work tomorrow. It'll probably be both Tali and I, which means someone with a car that can cope with a rear facing carseat. We live in Amaroo, I work at ANU. I start work at 8:45 but would appreciate getting there at 8:30. I finish work at 5:30pm.

Offers would be hugely appreciated :?

etfb @ 02:08 pm: Here We Go, Here We Go, Here We Go
And so it begins. Our interwebs have been switched off, in preparation for the great Telstra clusterfuck that underlies any transfer of ISP services. I trust Internode to do their best, and Telstra to screw it up, because nobody in a customer-facing role in Telstra is ever remotely competent. This is, of course, being posted by mobile broadband, so I'll keep it short.

Pa's ute, on loan to us for the duration, is ready with its first load of boxen, and the daughters are shouting at everything and being utterly useless. The Boy Wonder at least tried to be useful; I wish his sisters would emulate him. Perhaps lunch would be a good idea.

Right, off we go. More later, if I survive.

curufea @ 11:34 am: Temptation!
Never before have I been so tempted to buy a game console, let alone a handheld one....



What grabbed my attention-

Emulation Software Available for: MAME (retro arcade games), Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore VIC20/64/128, Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, NeoGeo and more

Runs Linux

High-resolution OLED touchscreen with removable stylus

Charges via USB

It can play video files including MPEG4, Xvid and DIVX. You get a built in e-book reader, calendar, voice recorder... etc... you know the drill. 1GB of storage is built-in and you can expand on this with the SD (SDHC) card slot.

The only downside for most people will be "runs linux" which should imply to folk that you need a fair amount of computer literacy to get the thing working. Likewise the "emulation software" which also hints that not all games will work or be compatible.

But still...

Tags: computer games, geeky

pixie_b @ 11:10 am: Bother.
My mum's husband has tested positive for swine flu and we spent time with him and much of the family over the weekend...
Thus far we're pretty much symptom free, we're hoping to stay that way.

So an addendum to the party invite; if you're sick, stay away, we'll understand the absence and very much appreciate your respect for our ongoing health and decision to protect our baby girl rather than subscribe to social decrees of what one must do out of obligation. Given Tali's string of illnesses over the last couple of months I'd really appreciate avoiding collecting another one, and being pregnant my immune system isn't at its peak.

martinlivings @ 08:48 am: The blindness of the media...
The other day, I caught the end of the recently-axed afternoon show on channel 9, the one with a Daddo, a blonde woman and a traitor, apparently. Anyway, they were talking about a new dating web site in Melbourne called Drive By Dating, where you display a sticker on your car and if you see someone else with the sticker on their car that you like the look of, you can contact them through the website. Wonderful, also known as Drive By Stalking, but hey. That's tacky enough, but they showed the company's logo over and over again, and nobody said anything. Nobody said a damn thing. And I was sitting there, wondering, "are they blind????"

Here's their website:

http://drivebydating.com.au/

And here's their logo, as it appears on their website, their stickers, and all over the news report:



I mean, really???? Nobody noticed????

Tags: funny

makoknight @ 09:26 am: Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition is officially out.

Now, do I go PC or 360?

etfb @ 10:39 pm: Introducing Jodes the Debug Bunny
I've been doing a lot of heavy-duty debugging lately, and finding that my cow-orkers aren't much good for bouncing ideas off. Usually, I can find a solution to a bug just by talking about it, but the poor dears sitting near me are usually not up for a spot of random blather at all hours of the work day, so have to go it alone, which reduces my effectiveness. So yesterday I popped in to the local op-shop and bought the creature you see here: Jodes, the Debug Bunny.

The name is worthy of explanation. Years ago, a friend of mine named Jodes (who can out herself if she likes; I'm not sure if the link between her LJ nick and her first name is known publicly) posted on a mailing list a link to a website that sold super-comfortable women's underwear. The thing about this underwear (and I'd provide a link, but for some reason finding a particular site in response to the query "women's underwear" is oddly difficult) is that it was colourful: lots of panels in different bright colours.

Now it just so happens that when I do a web design, I usually lay it out in similar sorts of bright colours, for two reasons: first, because it makes it easy to tell where the various sections on the page start and end, and second, because any managerial type who glances at the site in progress can tell instantly that it's not completed, because of the garish colour scheme, so they don't get snarky if I take longer than they expect to release the final version. I call this process "Jodes Underpants Mode", of course.

So when I saw this rabbit, in bright purple, green and orange, I immediately knew its name. And once I'd named it, how could I leave it behind?

So far, Jodes the Debug Bunny has mainly just sat and looked at my screen, scratching her head at the XML gibberish I work with. But sooner or later I'll be stumped by a particular bug, and I'll explain it to her, and halfway through she'll look at me with those big eyes and I'll realise I've just described exactly what I've done wrong, and I'll fix it, and it will all be worthwhile.

curufea @ 10:46 pm: Dungeon Keeper 6
I've finished writing up the cards, and almost finished making prototypes in photoshop.

I'm happy with the rules as they are and I think it's suitable for playtesting.

When I've uploaded the cards to the site and made thumbnails, I'll post again.


[edit]

First lot of cards uploaded 52 of them. Looks like the deck will be about 3-4 times that amount with the multiples needed.

http://www.curufea.com/Wikka/wikka.php?wakka=DungeonBuilderCards

Tags: board game, dungeon builder game, game design

benpayne @ 09:02 pm: Quote
Confidentially, I never told you of her charms
Confidentially, we never had a home
But this railroad apartment was the perfect place
When she lay and held me in her arms

They Might Be Giants

ozisim @ 01:58 pm: Offline
I will be offline till Monday.

...don't ask.
*sighs*
Speculation is definatly going to be far more interesting.

benpayne @ 10:31 pm: Writering

Managed to crank out 1011 words tonight. That's something of an unusual occurence for me. I'm notoriously slow at writing!

I don't expect to see too many more sessions like that, but it's a positive way to start.

Not only that, I did twenty minutes on the treadmill. What is this, motivation day?

I'm sure my regular laziness and indolence will return tomorrow.

etfb @ 09:55 pm: On The Road Again
After discussion with my parents and my brother and sister-in-law, it seems our plans are being well advanced. I'm taking Thursday and Friday off work (thank the gods!) and we're moving house! Rather than continue to try to fix this place up for sale while we're in it, we're going to move ourselves and all our crap out of here, and fix it up when there's no additional input of mess.

Among other things, this means that anyone who wants to help us shift things is welcome, any day from Thursday but especially Saturday. We'll have my big hefty uncle and two cousins, plus my brother, plus a couple of utes and a trailer, and the total distance from old house to new is only a couple of kilometres, so it won't be too arduous. Anyone who comes along to help will be paid handsomely (for some round, tomato-flavoured value of "handsomely") so at the very least you won't starve. Let me know if you fancy coming along, but if you have a prior commitment (attacks of life, family commitments, the difficulty of getting here from the Netherlands or Wellington or whatever) don't fret.

It's good that we're doing it in a rush; it means we don't stop to regret it. We're just focused on selling this great stupid house and putting the profits in the bank. What happens after that is up in the air, but it won't involve quite such a level of insane debt, so that's an improvement.