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aXon Ube|2gasm LANs are AWESOME!
Long story short: My week this week consisted of a trip up to Devonport to stay at Rob’s place.
On Saturday, we went to the aXon Ube|2gasm LAN – a LAN party of epic proportions.
Some highlights:
- Martin W’s computer wouldn’t start. That thing seriously has issues. I managed to get it started by holding down the power button after it crashed, and then starting it normally again. This wasn’t tried before – and none of the other solutions worked. Mind you, this was after we had been at the LAN for 4+ hours – and only about 3 hours before we left. Notable quote: “I’d pay just so I could leech.”
- Martin P also had computer troubles – his computer managed to BSOD on him not once, twice, but thrice. CS: Source also wouldn’t open in Steam for him – so he managed to get an aXon version which worked perfectly. Notable quote: “I’m giving up.” (After a particularly vicious L4D session).
- James G will never live down the fact that he had over 300GB of files queued for download in DC++, a file-sharing utility. 300GB! Notable quote: “But it was downloading stuff I didn’t want it to!” – Yeah, right. Anyways, he was the man who forgot any sleeping gear of any kind, as well as bring no monitor. But really – he did try to download 300GB with only 190GB total HDD space…
- Rob K was kind enough to lend us his computer while he was away, as well as his internet, hot water, toilet, house, cat, vast media collection, etc. He’s a top bloke. He enjoyed playing some particularly quirky games at the LAN – Savage, COD4, as well as CS:S. However, his computer did manage to chuck the BSOD – twice, but not while he was using it. Alas, it was the 300GB James G…
- Benny L didn’t use the computer he brought up. Instead, he used Klutz’s machine – which was more than capable for CS:S and L4D. Huge thumbs up to Klutz for trusting us with his computer. I also managed to bring down more gear than I brought up – care of a 20″ BenQ monitor I bought in Launceston from a fellow MacTalker. It’s quite awesome. Notable quote: “It’s harder than it looks!” (Epic Lego Star Wars on the 360), and “<3 flashbangs” (while NoSpoon was getting pwned in the CS:S tourney).
It was unfortunate that the NoSpoon clan got pwned in the CS:S tourney at aXon -we got really, really pwned. It was embarrassing.
Anyway, Rob will have photos up soonish – so I’ll just link him here: www.jawapro.com
Social Networking – Hugely Overrated.
Some of you might know that I’ve now got a Facebook. While I think it’s fairly cool for keeping in touch with people you know from years gone by, it’s also a little weird.
It’s great for keeping in touch because you can interact with people you know (and might not know) in different ways. It’s like the online forum for non-geeks in that you can see photos of them, see what they’re saying to/about others as well as see what’s being said to/about them.
However – it’s also really weird. It’s weird ‘cos you can see everything about a person – some personal info is supposed to be kept personal, you know? Maybe it’s just me, but whenever I view photos that someone else has put up, or look at their profile, I just feel like I’m stalking them – even though I have the very best of intentions (Hey, I’m just checking out a pic of myself!). It’s an eerie feeling.
I guess social networking (in and of itself) is alright, though. There’s nothing vehemently wrong about chatting to long-lost friends, or people you used to go to school with, but have since lost touch with. It’s okay to occasionally touch base with them, say hi, and ask how they’re doing. Just so long as you don’t poke them too often. (At this point, I’d link you to an Urban Dictionary definiton, but it’s far too vulgar to be linked here. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about, though. 😉 )
But where to draw the line? What constitutes a facebook friend? Someone you’ve talked to once? Twice? More than three times? Or how about: a “friend” who you’ve seen in the hallways at school, but never actually talked to? Someone who’s in your class, but you’ve never heard them speak in public? Someone who you’ve said “Hi!” to once, and then never spoken to that person again due to the negative response you got? Someone you know only by reputation?
What about accepting friends? Do you accept someone who knows you, but you don’t know them? Do you accept someone who you don’t particularly like?
I guess that when it comes to social networking, there are no hard and fast rules about what you can and can’t do. If you want to have as many friends as possible, go right ahead. You’ll then experience such phenomena akin to the Facebook Effect, but hey – not my problem.
Talking about awkward, friend acceptance/rejection, there’s the term Facebook Limbo:
The electronic space between accepting and rejecting a facebook friendship. In facebook limbo, the user fails to accept or reject friend requests from would-be facebook friends from a variety of sources (e.g., random annoying classmates, despised work associates, ex-girlfriends, etc), because the user is uncertain if he or she will have to interact with these individuals in the future.
I’m experiencing this now with a couple of people that I know. I’m getting hugely paranoid that a) they don’t want me as a friend, or b) they just haven’t logged on to facebook in a while. Surely you know if someone has rejected you as a friend, though. I’ve asked a couple of people, and none of them seem to have been rejected by people, so yeah. If you know the answer to the question “Do you know if someone has rejected you as a facebook friend?”, then please stick it in comments, and maybe I’ll be your facebook friend.
Finding a good profile pic is harder than I thought, as well! You want to look good, but not so good so that you look like a metrosexual. You want to be seen, but not attract attention to yourself. You want to show yourself off in the best possible light, doing something you love. For me, that’s wearing funky tee’s with awesome slogans, with blue zinc cream and a scrolling LED name badge. I am indeed awesome. 😀
I mean, really. I am awesome.
Comments below.
A quick aside: Urban Dictionary was down, just as I’m trying to link things. Epic lulz, cos 503 errors aren’t fun!
Some more interesting Urban Dictionary links about Facebook:
Facebook Boyfriend
Facebook Breakup
Facebook Disease
Quantum of Solace is AWESOME!
Right – time for yet another “iA!” post…
So I went to see Quantum of Solace yesterday (the new Bond, if you live under a rock), the latest in a long line of Bond films.
It was actually fairly good. It contained all the usual Bond things, like epic car chases, huge boat scenes, assorted weaponry, insane stunts, attractive women, good, ol’ fashioned spy work, and an bucketload of witty quip and repartee. (Although, it is hard to have anything BUT witty quip and repartee…)
Apart from that, it was the usual Bond fare. It was interesting that it directly continued on from Casino Royale. If you haven’t seen Casino Royale in a long time, then I highly recommend seeing it again before you see Quantum of Solace.
Also interestingly is the fact that there is no where in the film that Bond walks through the desert, holding an UMP45. He just doesn’t do it, although there are a whole lot of desert scenes.
Agent Fields also doesn’t play a huge part – much less in comparison to Camille.
Anyway, there was a huge line at Village when we went… comparable to the size of the line when Harry Potter was showing.
These annoying Year 8’s (from Hutchins and Collegiate) were sitting behind us… constantly asking probing questions.
Anyways, I liked it, it is good, there is nothing more to say.
Original image credit flickr.
Comments below.
Musings of the known universe…
From Venom71 on Mactalk, comes the question:
Within the entire Universe, large or small, where may I find a true circle?
Perplexing indeed.
A couple of posts later, thebookfreak58 says:
Erm. You can find a true circle by take a cross sectional slice of a cone (along the horizontal axis)
In face, many conic surfaces can be derived from a cone and its respective cross-sections
So, dear reader, within the entire universe, large or small, where may I find a true circle?
If we take this question to mean: where can I find something that has neither start nor end, then the answer is in your nearest copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It’s the answer that Professor McGonagall gives as an answer to the Ravenclaw portrait.
Ha, I’m such a nerd…
Anyway, here’s what banjo has to say:
#1. A circle is a special case of an ellipse where the eccentricity is zero — the foci exist in the same location and the equation can be collapsed in this case to explain a circle. An ellipse is not a special case of a circle because it cannot be arrived at using the simplified mathematical formula of a circle ( r^2 = x^2 + y^2 ) and there are infinite ways of expanding that equation, only one of which can explain ellipses.
#2. Statistically, you can’t. Take for example a perfect sphere. To form it would need to occur in an infinite-sized universe, with a finite amount of universal matter, an infinite distance from the rest of all other matter … and only if you overlook the fact that anything that is made of other things (e.g. a metal sphere made of atoms) will have an irregular surface (like a bunch of marbles approximating the look of a soccer-ball). To have a perfectly circular orbit, you would need one perfect (symmetrically balanced) sphere orbiting another perfect sphere at exactly the right angle, speed, rotation, and altitude with no other gravitational, magnetic, electric, or physical forces acting on it.
And, of course, a circle is only a 2-dimensional concept in a 10- or 11-dimension universe.
P.S. I could be wrong, but this is what I remember from high-school maths and physics (and a little Wikipedia research).
Followed by the answer, by Venom71:
1. A circle must be a special case of an ellipse for precisely the reasons you outlined, and not the other way around. Even if one were to use the conic method to derive a circle and an ellipse: then for each point on the vertical axis of the cone there must only be one circle but an approximate infinite number of ellipses – which empirically supports the notion that a circle is just a special case of an ellipse. (I say approximately infinite when one gets down to the Planck length as the distance between two points on the vertical axis)
2. Where would I find a circle? No circles exist, they are only mathematical constructs.
3. Where would I find an ellipse? No ellipses exist either, again they are only mathematical constructs. (The fall of shot from a gun, and a planet’s orbit do not exist of themselves)
4. Could a real and true circle and ellipse exist? No.
a) As you say, any representation of a circle or an ellipse constructed of particles must be irregular. It also cannot be perfect because of Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle as a perfect circle or ellipse requires that each particle’s exact position and velocity must both be known.
b) General Theory of Relativity may also preclude perfect circle’s and ellipses existing because they could only exist in a matterless and energyless environment. (ie: Gravity and frame dragging would impact the shape of any circle or ellipse but also any measurement device. A measurement device or even devices must be located discretely and thus would have their own “gravity well” and also be in a different “frame” to any position of the circle or ellipse they were intended to measure).
Wait – I’m not a nerd. I don’t know that stuff!!
Speaking about ridiculous maths problems:
http://random.irb.hr/signup.php
http://www.freshbytes.com.au/images/skitch/captchamaths-20081114-142332.jpg
Comments below.
Study Time > Blogging Time.
Long story short, the reason I’m posting this at 1:39am is because I’ve just finished studying.
I really cannot be screwed posting anything insightful, so yeah.
‘Night.