MuadDib
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They had some problems with the LHC earlier this month; the supports for the primary accelerator had a structural failure. Essentially when the magnets in the accelerator were powered up for a test, they created a massive amount of force which the supports couldn’t take. According to engineering documents published for the unit; the Fermi lab (their biggest rival in the search for the Higgs particle; from where CERN bought the equipment) engineers who designed the unit didn’t take into account, or foresee as a problem the asymmetric loading that occurred. They should have it fixed by June.
Various Clickies:
[url=http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?alias=bursting-magnets-may-dela]SciAm article on the Incident[/url]
[url=http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=B93B465E-E7F2-99DF-3C70A591C8AE7E1E&sc=I100322]SciAm article on the causes[/url]
[url=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/03/magnets_give_way/]And the El Reg article on it[/url]Because modern TV execs couldn’t find their arses with a one to one scale map, a torch, a compass and a mirror.
Always loved the ending of Serenity, it has that “it doesn’t matter we’re still flying” vibe that I loved from Firefly, and that my friends never understood.
Or the ending of Cube, for its weird “wow I didn’t expect that” kind of feeling.
Nahhh, they’re definitely the Borg:
“You will be assimilated”: Yep, Starbucks and Mac Donalds will arrive shortly,
“Your culture will adapt to service ours”: Yep, the whole oil thing,
“Freedom is irrelevant self determination is irrelevant”: Yep, *COUGH* Florida *COUGH* 2000 Elections,
and as for the neocons referring to themselves as Vulcans, “That captain is not logical”
Aside from being a bit wet and windswept, the worst that happened to me was that a 43 mile car journey that normally takes 45 minutes took three hours on Thursday.
It’s going to have to be Ultraviolet, I have never sat through a film that has made me say “You stole that idea/sequence/whatever from…” so many times.
I know this was an old post, and
[b] SPOILER ALERT [/b]
those who are watching season 3 have been aware of the Asurans for a while, but yay, I was nearly right! Okay, so the Asurans aren’t Milky Way replicators but they are little tiny self replicating machines who want to kill us all 😀 . This is fun, ok for my next prediction, it would be cool if they ran a Firefly verse crossover 😀 (Yes I know, that’s about as likely as [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Hero]Captain Hero’s[/url] twelve year old girl and a donkey prediction, but I can hope).
End Spoilers;
End Rant of a Browncoat still gunning for Fox executive blood.Most people liked them, a couple didn’t get the joke and had to have it clarified 😆 can’t please everyone I guess.
[quote=”bonnee”]Anybody watch this? Is it worth downloading? I can’t even find reviews for it…[/quote]
Yes, I did watch it, and yes it is worth downloading (IMHO), as to reviews, well here goes:
I won’t describe the story, as I’m going to assume that anyone interested in watching will probably have read the book anyway, so this is mainly a review of how the show stands up as an adaptation of the book. Pretty convincing would sum it up in two words, there are differences, and minor scenes from the book that are not present in the series (for example: Death’s discussion with a child about their gloves, the “Good King Wenceslas” scene, the Beggars guild rejects caroling, and Hex’s Fluffy Teddy Bear), but overall these scenes are minor enough that they can be ignored in favour of continuing the story.
The only other problems I had were in believing some of the cast; as a major example, the actor playing Corporal Nobby Nobbs seemed a bit to clean and not the sort of person who would be “fined a weeks pay for being a disgrace to humanity”. On a positive note for this, Bilious was exactly how I imagined him, even down to the rotting garland on his head.
Overall, this is a pretty good adaptation that is well worth watching, and a good way of introducing a non-Pratchett reader into the universe of Discworld. The few niggles you might get will probably come from being a die hard Pratchett fan, who got out of a weeks detention by having him sign a book for you (long story 😀 ), and having your own way of seeing the discworld.
[quote=”thefrey”]Congrats.
Now, how long have you been driving before getting the license? :D[/quote]
’bout a year, but bearing in mind I passed first time, with only two minor mistakes, I’m still feeling shiny 😀
A while back, I bought one of those “Create your own card” programs, so I’ve uploaded the images to that; and then can print them out as either quarter fold or on a single sheet of card folded in half (after the printing of course), and for printing material I’m happy to say that I live near a stationery store so they have greeting card stock on sale there 😀
Incidentally I’m trying to put together an animated gif version (to put on any web forums I visit).
By popular request, I present, version 2 of the card design:
Front:
[img]http://www.inaneasylum.org/users/Muaddib/Default/pc%20christmas%20front2.jpg[/img]
Back:
[img]http://www.inaneasylum.org/users/Muaddib/Default/pc%20christmas%20back%20back2.jpg[/img]
The insides remain the same.
Et voila!
The insides:
Inside left:
[img]http://www.inaneasylum.org/users/Muaddib/Default/pc%20christmas%20back%20left.jpg[/img]
Inside right:
[img]http://www.inaneasylum.org/users/Muaddib/Default/pc%20christmas%20inside%20right.jpg[/img]
and the back:
[img]http://www.inaneasylum.org/users/Muaddib/Default/pc%20christmas%20back%20back.jpg[/img]
I’m planning on doing a second version, same insides and back, with the “Ginger Person” image as a watermark on the front behind the text, I’ll post it when I finish it.
[quote=”thefrey”]You might think about shrinking them down and using them on the back of the card…[/quote]
Good idea, I’ll give that a go.
Well, after several hours of 2am googling for a funny image to add on the front, toying with either something politically correct, eg:
[img]http://www.metrolifestyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/03/ginger_person.jpg[/img]
Or some really politically incorrect image (IE anything), I decided I liked the Frey’s Simple Flowing Text idea (mainly because it means I don’t have to show off my poor Photoshop skills 😀 ).
Here’s the front of the card as it appears in my first draft:
[img]http://www.inaneasylum.org/users/Muaddib/Default/pc%20christmas%20front.jpg[/img]
No insides yet, as I’ve remembered it’s a friends birthday and I need to get him a card, so I’m now focusing on creating a Firefly card based on the River Tam quote from Out of Gas:
[quote=”River Tam”]”Day” is a vestigial mode of time measurement based on solar cycles. It’s not applicable… I didn’t get you anything.[/quote]I’ll post the insides as soon as I’ve finished them (which should be soon).
[quote=”thefrey”] Makes me sorry I am not making my own cards this year. 😀 [/quote]
I’m going to make my own now because of this 😀
[quote=”Hollydays”]For Amanda Tapping pics that are….more revealing check out[/quote]
Or watch Atlantis Season 2, #14 (Grace under Pressure)
Whoa I’m back, exams went okay by the way. Bring on the gap year.
[quote=”Hollydays”]I think these all sound like good possibilities. What about another “Sam” clone replicator?
Too bad the pretty bad guy died…(and I mean pretty, not pretty bad)[/quote]
Hmmm…another human-form replicator could be cool, say either a replicator O’Neill or a Replicator Daniel would be funky.
ummm….
[url]http://www.sadgeezer.com/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=325&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0[/url][quote=”Hollydays”]Teaching your child to kill honerably is looked down upon by child welfare.[/quote]
And God help you if they’re caught saying “there’s no artistry in killing with the tip, that it should be done with the edge.”
🙂Yes, tuned in to it thinking it was going to be one of those awful “science” programs the BBC puts on at those times of night, when they drag some crackpot out from wherever the University or Government agency he works for has hidden him, so he can expound his views on why we’re all decended from aliens. (If you’re wondering why I would watch something like that think MST 3000).
Anyway, I thought it was quite good, kind of hard to put it into a category though, is it Sci-Fi, comedy or a police drama?
The question no one’s really asked is “is it eternal life and eternal youth, or just eternal life?” because the later could be very scary.
Secondly it also depends on what type of immortality, standard “keep your body”? yep that’s okay, copying over to clone bodies? yep okay with that despite the fact that there would eventually be errors, converted to energy the whole “higher plain thing”? yeah thats okay, downloaded into a machine? I could go for that. Head in a jar? Uhh no thanks, I remember Leonard Nimoy’s “Simple life of dignity” on Futurama.
I think it was better with CGI when it was new, novel and far more expensive to include. Take Wrath of Khan as a picture book example, the ships are all models, the Mutara nebula is a cloud tank (yet they still use those scenes they took then) and they only used CGI for the “Genesis effect” were the original effect would have been poor (they were going to show a brick going into a microwave and coming out as a flower), the point is the technology was to expensive and time consuming to use for anything other than that.
And with regard to sounds, 2001 anybody? beautifully filmed, no CGI, no sounds in space (unless you count the Blue Danube).
I can’t believe I was so un-hoopy as to forget “Star Wreck: In The Pirkinning”
For those who haven’t seen it you can download it from: [url]http://www.starwreck.com[/url] (It’s in Finnish with subtitles)
Talking of this, its time to mention a fun little game I play:
1.) Think of a concept (philosophical or ideological works best) from a Sci-Fi show eg: The Prime Directive from Star Trek.
2.) Next time you’re talking to Ha Ha friends and the conversation moves to something that your concept is linked eg: (for our example) international relations would work.
3.) Outline the concept from the show, but on no account mention were it comes from (this is the most important part).
4.) Observe the reaction of your friends, if they say that it’s a good idea mention that the concept comes from the Sci-Fi show you originally chose.
5.) Observe their new reaction to the concept after they’ve realised that they agreed with something they usually mock.
[quote=”thefrey”]But what do you think?[/quote]
[url=http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=19990516]This[/url]
For those with no clicky: http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=19990516
Sorry about the clicky, odd that anyway here are the addresses:
http://winterson.com.nyud.net:8090/2005/06/episode-iii-backstroke-of-west.html
Thanks for all the messages everybody, yeah I had a great time I had a group of friends over for a lan party and kicked butt 😀
I always preferred They Might Be Giants “Older”
[quote]
You’re older than you’ve ever been
And now you’re even older
And now you’re even older
And now you’re even older
You’re older than you’ve ever been
And now you’re even older
And now you’re older stillTime
Is marching on
And time
Is still marching onThis day will soon be at an end
And now it’s even sooner
And now it’s even sooner
And now it’s even sooner
This day will soon be at an end
And now it’s even sooner
And now it’s sooner stillYou’re older than you’ve ever been
And now you’re even older
And now you’re even older
And now you’re even older
You’re older than you’ve ever been
And now you’re even older
And now you’re older still
[/quote]
