Interesting Stuff Thread

Absolam · 14-10-2014 01:54AM

kylith wrote: »

I've never played a text adventure before so far I've only managed to stand up and I'm already in a murderous rage. I don't seem to be able to put anything in a way it understands.

I remember hours of patiently typing variations of syntax into text adventures in order to simply pick up and use items, or move about. There was a brillinat Hobbit one, which I now feel compelled to go and find again. MUDs via compuserve were on the horizon, and we were all agog at the limitless potential of what was going to be the internet. I sometimes wonder if those exercises in hyper specific parsing were what molded the skills of that generation of coders following hot on the heels of the pioneers entertaining them.

Shrap · 14-10-2014 07:11AM

kylith wrote: »

I've never played a text adventure before so far I've only managed to stand up and I'm already in a murderous rage. I don't seem to be able to put anything in a way it understands.

Ahh, the nostalgia. You need to use simple sentences, get dressed and assume you have a hangover (clues). It will take practice. HOURS and DAYS of practice ;-)

CramCycle · 14-10-2014 07:25AM

Had to play it with a friend so I didn't go insane. Took us a day to get out of the room, the stress of it all.

Hotblack Desiato · 14-10-2014 08:52AM

Shrap wrote: »

I'll do a re-reg confession here, as I can't put it in a sig for all to see till I hit 50 posts (again). Howdeedoodeedoo ye all. Artist formally known as Obliq here, hope yous are all well and good ;-)

As one returns, another leaves. Sarky has closed his account :eek:

Shrap · 14-10-2014 09:04AM

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

As one returns, another leaves. Sarky has closed his account :eek:

Oh.

If I could post pics, it would be this one: http://

i194.photobucket.com/albums/z198/jimmyeightysix/Simpsons/lgmp0296i-didnt-do-it-bart-simpson-.jpg

PopePalpatine · 14-10-2014 09:09AM

Oh my FSM, not Sarky!

kylith · 14-10-2014 10:11AM

Shrap wrote: »

Ahh, the nostalgia. You need to use simple sentences, get dressed and assume you have a hangover (clues). It will take practice. HOURS and DAYS of practice ;-)

I got as far as the hall, couldn't manage to get it to understand that I wanted to pick up the post, died, and rage quit in a spectacular manner.

Shrap · 14-10-2014 10:28AM

kylith wrote: »

I got as far as the hall, couldn't manage to get it to understand that I wanted to pick up the post, died, and rage quit in a spectacular manner.

Ha! Well done for thinking of that though. I have got as far as the Vogon spaceship and am trying unsuccessfully to catch the babel fish, having forgotten to pick up the mail. I remember now that this was important, and will have to start all over again, losing at least 10 saved places. Jaysus, I really should be able to use spoilers here.

I'm giving up. I have work to do :-( Hint: in case your curiosity gets the better of you - Pick up mail. Put mail in pocket. (I think)

keane2097 · 15-10-2014 01:12PM

"Take" is the command you are probably looking for to pick stuff up. Can be a good strategy to type "take all" as soon as you enter a new area in text adventures

Sacksian · 15-10-2014 02:25PM

Wasn't sure where to put this (feel free to move to somewhere more appropriate) but thought it was an entertaining article about Nicholas Cage's new film "Left Behind".

http://www.salon.com/2014/10/14/christian_rights_vile_pr_sham_why_their_bizarre_films_are_backfiring_on_them/

Nodin · 15-10-2014 06:01PM

Sacksian wrote: »

Wasn't sure where to put this (feel free to move to somewhere more appropriate) but thought it was an entertaining article about Nicholas Cage's new film "Left Behind".

http://www.salon.com/2014/10/14/christian_rights_vile_pr_sham_why_their_bizarre_films_are_backfiring_on_them/

That was a good one allright. One of the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes went "Score one for Satan". Rated 2%, as I type.

keane2097 · 15-10-2014 06:07PM

Sounds like another gem for our Sunday night Nic Cage movie night in my house.

KomradeBishop · 16-10-2014 01:21AM

Another very interesting science-related article, from the documentary maker Adam Curtis, on how science can and has been partly corrupted, in pursuit of political/economic goals, in ways that create and offload enormous risks onto the rest of society (e.g. nuclear power):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/posts/THE-VEGETABLES-OF-TRUTH

He also, as his style of writing usually does, takes this concept across several tangents, over the bias in 'scientific' health reports - and explains how they may really be ignoring wider political/economic problems, that may be the real cause behind such studies results - and how this can also used to stoke peoples anxieties.

Always worth a read

Been a while since he's done a new documentary - pretty much all of his past documentaries are excellent/fascinating.

robindch · 16-10-2014 11:37AM

Lockheed Martin's legendary Skunkworks announces what it calls a "Compact Fusion Reactor" - a 100MW power source which fits behind a truck.

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/products/compact-fusion.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/15/us-lockheed-fusion-idUSKCN0I41EM20141015

Aviation Week wrote:

Fusion fuel, made up of hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium, starts as a gas injected into an evacuated containment vessel. Energy is added, usually by radio-frequency heating, and the gas breaks into ions and electrons, forming plasma. The superhot plasma is controlled by strong magnetic fields that prevent it from touching the sides of the vessel and, if the confinement is sufficiently constrained, the ions overcome their mutual repulsion, collide and fuse. The process creates helium-4, freeing neutrons that carry the released energy kinetically through the confining magnetic fields. These neutrons heat the reactor wall which, through conventional heat exchangers, can then be used to drive turbine generators.

But many crucial details have yet to emerge and not everybody is convinced yet. Though referring to it as a "Perhapsatron" is a little too unkind.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10/16/experts_skeptical_over_lockheed_martins_claims_to_have_cracked_fusion/

Hotblack Desiato · 16-10-2014 07:52PM

Physically impossible to remove 100MW of heat from such a small volume I would think.

Hotblack Desiato · 17-10-2014 12:27AM

Ummm....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH3o2Q-YLPw

Video is only somewhat NSFW but the preview stills at the end definitely are. Not. SFW.

robindch · 17-10-2014 05:16PM

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Physically impossible to remove 100MW of heat from such a small volume I would think.

I'm not sure of the size of reactors on submarines, but I'd have thought they'd have fitted on largish trucks - I seem to remember they're in the range of 50MWe to 150MWe.

Hotblack Desiato · 17-10-2014 08:12PM

The pressure vessel might, but if you ignore the primary circuit heat exchangers etc. then you're cheating! never mind the secondary circuit and turbomachinery

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S6G_reactor

Doesn't give any dimensions, but 150-165MW output. Los Angeles-class attack boats. They're about 10m in diameter (not really circular though) and as they don't carry ICBMs it should be reasonable to assume the reactor is dictating the minimum cross-section of the hull?

Shrap · 19-10-2014 04:44PM

Looks like an interesting book, although isn't being published till next year: Edzard Ernst’s memoir, A Scientist in Wonderland, will be published by Imprint Academic in March 2015

(Balls. Still can't post links. Please insert following into http bar) theguardian.com/science/2014/oct/19/edzard-ernst-outspoken-professor-of-complementary-medicine

What an interesting bloke! Might appeal to a few up here - definitely going to get this for the Da.

Laughed at a few of his 10 question answers, but this one's a doozy ;-)

Do you believe in God?

Which one? In medicine, when we have dozens of cures for a condition it usually means nothing works.

Mr. CooL ICE · 22-10-2014 10:24AM

Sacksian wrote: »

Wasn't sure where to put this (feel free to move to somewhere more appropriate) but thought it was an entertaining article about Nicholas Cage's new film "Left Behind".

http://www.salon.com/2014/10/14/christian_rights_vile_pr_sham_why_their_bizarre_films_are_backfiring_on_them/

Too many people spell my name wrong

keane2097 wrote: »

Sounds like another gem for our Sunday night Nic Cage movie night in my house.

robindch · 23-10-2014 04:50PM

Not relevant to anything in particular, but trippy all the same.

We've had the selfie for two years. Soon, we'll have the shapie:

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2836838/worlds-first-3d-full-body-scanning-booth-to-create-custom-you-figurines.html

Hotblack Desiato · 24-10-2014 10:48PM

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/asia-pacific/japanese-minister-under-fire-over-sex-bar-expenses-1.1974448

Just days after the resignation of two scandal-tainted ministers, another Japanese cabinet member is under fire – for links to a sex bar.

Media reports say economy, trade and industry minister Yoichi Miyazawa reported a bill of about 18,000 yen (€132) for a session at the S&M bar as “entertainment expenses”.

Mr Miyazawa has only just replaced Yuko Obuchi, who stepped down on Monday after her use of political funds also came under scrutiny. Media reports say Ms Obuchi’s support group illegally spent millions of yen on theatre tickets, cosmetics and baby goods.

Justice minister Midori Matsushima announced she was falling on her sword the same day. Ms Matsushima’s supporters had given hundreds of paper fans to supporters at election rallies, violating campaign fund laws.

We need more women in politics, for a better class of scandal

I'm actually shocked you could get a go in a Japanese S&M bar for 'only' €132

recedite · 24-10-2014 11:38PM

She probably intends to fall on a paper sword. The Japanese are far too tame these days.

Hotblack Desiato · 25-10-2014 05:22PM

http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/starmus-a-festival-of-the-stars-1.1958115

Armenian-Spanish astrophysicist Garik Israelian has brought Kroto, God-denying biologist Richard Dawkins, Queen guitarist turned doctor of astrophysics Brian May, superstar physicist Stephen Hawking, cape-wearing prog-rocker Rick Wakeman, 10th man on the moon Charlie Duke, first person to walk in space Alexei Leonev and 700 or so amateur science buffs to Tenerife for the second Starmus Festival.

Duke’s lecture is essentially a slideshow of the best holiday snaps ever (“Here’s me on the moon”) followed by a 10-minute speech about God. Everyone turns to see how Richard Dawkins responds. “I was sitting beside Richard Dawkins,” says Mark Boslough. “I think he was expecting it. I asked him, ‘Did he do that for your benefit?’ He said that Charlie did the same thing at the last Starmus.”

Don't think any of the 60s NASA astronauts were atheists? Wouldn't have suited the PR image NASA wanted...

PopePalpatine · 26-10-2014 04:04PM

A ~12,000-year-old settlement has been found over 4,000m above sea level in the Peruvian Andes, pushing back the earliest estimates of human settlement and adaptation at such altitudes about 1,000 years.

Wasn't God supposed to be scratching his arse trying to come up with the Garden of Eden at that time? :pac:

Calibos · 26-10-2014 05:34PM

PopePalpatine wrote: »

A ~12,000-year-old settlement has been found over 4,000m above sea level in the Peruvian Andes, pushing back the earliest estimates of human settlement and adaptation at such altitudes about 1,000 years.

Wasn't God supposed to be scratching his arse trying to come up with the Garden of Eden at that time? :pac:

Evidence put there by god to test ones faith in creationism is as applicable to paleolithic settlements as it is to dinosaur fossils. Basically anything that looks like its older than 6000 years old...Test of Faith Innit!

robindch · 28-10-2014 02:41PM

A Pew religious survey reveals that people are really confused by the meaning of "god", "atheist" and "agnostic":

http://tobingrant.religionnews.com/2014/10/24/belief-god-atheists-graphs-churches-religions-faiths/

TheChizler · 28-10-2014 05:25PM

robindch wrote: »

A Pew religious survey reveals that people are really confused by the meaning of "god", "atheist" and "agnostic":

http://tobingrant.religionnews.com/2014/10/24/belief-god-atheists-graphs-churches-religions-faiths/

Cue people's heads exploding when you clarify that you're technically an agnostic atheist.

Brian Shanahan · 28-10-2014 09:38PM

robindch wrote: »

A Pew religious survey reveals that people are really confused by the meaning of "god", "atheist" and "agnostic":

http://tobingrant.religionnews.com/2014/10/24/belief-god-atheists-graphs-churches-religions-faiths/

The Unitarian figure is about right, seeing as their creed can best be summed up as: "We believe in at most one god."

And nice to see catholic belief shy of 75%. Shows the church is doing some powerful good work.

recedite · 28-10-2014 10:35PM

These American surveys often refer to "Black Protestants", an unfortunate term historically, here in Ireland. At the same time there are some new churches around nowadays, populated mainly by Nigerian immigrant families, which would presumably typify the kind of happy clappy "evangelical spirit" that the surveys must have in mind. I wonder will the term ever come back into use here, but with the newer meaning?
Although, given that it was always a derogatory term, I can't see it ever being rehabilitated and used in a situation where racial stereotypes could be invoked. The yanks have probably been using the term for so long that they probably don't even notice its potentially "a bit dodgy".

Interesting Stuff Thread

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