Date:	2008-05-01 07:24
Subject:	We might be a while...
Security:	Public
Mood:	Best of luck with that

Boing boing reports that the Pentagon are attempting to solve the Halting Problem.

Date:	2008-04-20 17:20
Subject:
Security:	Public
Mood:	Soapy food ahoy!

I have spent the last three hours wrestling with the cooker.

The initial reason for this was to see if I could get the grill ignition spark working again. I had to remove the grill door and a couple of other bits'n'pieces to get at it, and since they were (a) off  and hence easily accessible, and (b) showing just how long it's been since they were properly cleaned[1], I cleaned them. And since I'd done that - and managed to get the spark working - I carried on, dismantling chunks of oven, giving them a good scrubbing, and putting them back. And stopping the door rattling and the door handle falling off, too.

Amazingly, it appears to still work.

I shall now go and cook something in my shiny[2] oven.

I shall shortly be bricking upgrading our router. We may be quiet for some time...

Over at New Scientist (via boing boing), there's a prediction:

"The study finds a 99.7% chance that an earthquake of magnitude 6.7 or greater will hit California by 2037"

Now, I don't know whether that 2037 date is handy - saves a lot of UNIX programmers some Y2K-esque effort before 18th January 2038 - or whether the whole study's just toast because they ran out of bits.

Thoughts on the first two episodes of season four.

While hoovering this morning (or should that be Dysoning?) I appear to have broken the plug on the phone extension, so the study phone was dead. Not a problem - I just unplugged the extension, and put the hallway phone directly into the socket.

Except that also on the study extension is the router. Argh! No internet!

A quick rearrangement, and the router is now in the hallway. Thus, wireless is back, meaning that the MacBook is usable again. On the other hand, the router is now out of RJ45 range, unless we want to rig our hallway with death-traps, so the desktop is still an oversized, dusty paperweight.

Tomorrow's mission: get another extension cable.

Well, duh.

This is one of the reasons why I don't use gmail for my mail (the other being that it's my mail).

And it's one reason why I'm staying the hell away from .Mac.

(via boing boing)

To cheer you up, an enjoyable short-short story. (Via boing boing.)

...which saddens me. And also embarrasses me, since to the best of my knowledge, I've never read any.

Date:	2008-03-16 00:45
Subject:	Game of the Year
Security:	Public
Mood:	hopeful

We have a board game called Game of the Year. Got it years ago. It's reminiscent of The Game of Life. In GotY, players move around a calendar-based board. Landing on certain date-related squares mean you take cards, and the cards have conditions that relate to true facts about the players: "Miss a turn if you don't have a driving licence," for example, or "Exchange places with the oldest player."

Alas, I happen to have misplaced the rules, which deal with things like money, red-letter days, and so on. Don't suppose anyone else has a copy?

...to mikeymookeymoo. I hope the evening's a ball...

SWASH was fun, but exhausting, and a little disappointing.

Spent most of the train journey to Leeds writing a story (hurrah!) and not quite finishing it (boo!). Chucking it down at Leeds, so got completely soaked waiting for taxi. Checked into hotel, met lots of friends, and waited around a lot before heading into town for food, since A. was turning up on a different train. Went to a Chinese buffet in the town centre, and it was very windy, and very rainy: ideal weather for the kilt...

As for classes, I just helped M. with quarterstaff on Saturday, and listened to William Hobbs' talk on fight direction for movies. Sunday's classes were the 1595's sword and gauntlet, a Spanish intro, and German rapier. Most of my activities at actual fencing were freeplay, all at rapier, all through each of the four freeplay sessions. God knows how many bouts: my shiny new gloves are now rather discoloured with the blood from a blister.

There were also two handling sessions. This was held in Leeds Armoury, after all. The treatise session meant I saw the I.33 manuscript (but declined to touch it), and leafted through Thibault. No McBane, though, and the Silver was Matthey's reprint. Bah. The weapons handling had two broadswords, two rapiers, a single-hander and a couple of daggers. That's it. Nowhere near as good as those sessions M has arranged for us here, so very disappointed by that (and the Spanish rapier was badly balanced, to boot).

As for the Armoury: since it's currently undergoing a major re-fit, lots of it was closed off, which is hugely frustrating. Some whacky stuff there, but not as much as I'd hoped.

Average meal on Saturday evening, but a very enjoyable one, and impressive to see all the SSS folks in their dress uniforms.

Organisation was excellent, despite the venue buggering the SSS about. I had lots of fun, and still haven't recovered.

I've been meaning to do some book updates for ages, but haven't had a chance. With Orbital screaming towards us and Redemption way too close behind, there still isn't. So, very quickly:

• Alice in Sunderland: Bryan Talbot's sumptuous love-letter to the not-Newcastle of the north. Up for "Best Novel", too. Gorgeous to look at and hold, and nicely done, though a little wearing to read: by definition, it's almost entirely exposition.
• Toast: Charlie Stross's short-story collection, most of which demonstrate how rapidly near-future sf dates (nothing in the book's more than a decade old). Some great lines, but I felt that some of the stories (notable A Colder War) went on too long. Contains the short story that appeared at the end of The Jennifer Morgue, too.
  
• Halting State: Charlie Stross's recent novel, and one that uts666 must read, damnit. It's written in the second person, which fits for a book that's closely related to gaming. Lots of fun, and some cracking lines in there, too.
• Vicious Circle: Mike Carey's second Felix Castor novel, with a really nasty tale of abuse, and Caster in full-on Constantine mode working out to crack the problem with which he's been faced. An unusual idea, too: he has to track down a stolen ghost.

Date:	2008-02-27 22:20
Subject:	...Where was I?
Security:	Public
Mood:	annoyed

Battery out. Plate off. Press memory with no apparent effect. Put plate back. Put battery back. Wave dead chicken. Hit button....


...success!

Man, is the memory in this thing flaky.

Date:	2008-02-26 23:20
Subject:	Dead Mac
Security:	Public
Mood:	annoyed

Yet again, the damn laptop's failing to boot (or restore from sleep). I suspect the memory's jolted loose again, but it's late, and I'll fiddle with it tomorrow.

I need one of these.

Also, somewhere to put a staircase.
(via boing boing)

*Sigh*.
 
Breaking their own rules. Lazy, and very disappointing.

Turns out that warrenellis is going to be sharing my pain.

Date:	2008-02-12 18:04
Subject:	I have (the) power
Security:	Public
Mood:	relieved

The PSU arrived today. And works. Phew.

uts666's suggestion of checking the warranty was a good idea, but I wasn't hanging around; I've got a replacement adaptor winging its way towards me as I write. Meanwhile, I checked John  Lewis, and their aftersales bod said, "we don't stock them, so the best thing to do is order one directly, bring in the receipt, and I'll refund it for you under warranty." Marvellous.

'Course, only later did someone point out that there's actually an Apple store in town.