Thu. Went to Sheila and her Dog. Alex magnificently annoyed everybody by minuting the entire thing -- the war seems to be smouldering again. It was very funny. Got to the Carlton before closing.
Fri. Met Tim and R in the local for a few games of pool. I'd missed it, I was fun.
Sat. Failed to watch graduation, but went to poohsoc, took A and A to Dojo's, and met Jane in town. It was nice to see her, I almost wish we'd met now rather than N years ago, though I don't know if that would have actually turned out any better :)
Sun. Met S&M and friends in the Carlton for lunch. They seriously need to serve Mushroom ravioli (or at least risotto) on Sunday :)
Also, the bouncer at Wetherspoons stopped me to look in by bag. I think he was very confused to find it full of books. And it's turned into a mini-club, which I approve of in general, but not when I want somewhere cheap with no music for generic meetings.
Also, English doesn't map nicely onto propositional logic. "If you're a vampire, then you have pointed teeth" doesn't just mean "a false statement implies any statement." It can be amusing to pretend it does, but it's just stubbornness to pretend that's what English ought to mean, when it doesn't. "If/then" *can* be used like that, but also to trace a logical connection between statements that aren't necessarily true. (iirc predicate logic can represent that better.)
Fri. Met Tim and R in the local for a few games of pool. I'd missed it, I was fun.
Sat. Failed to watch graduation, but went to poohsoc, took A and A to Dojo's, and met Jane in town. It was nice to see her, I almost wish we'd met now rather than N years ago, though I don't know if that would have actually turned out any better :)
Sun. Met S&M and friends in the Carlton for lunch. They seriously need to serve Mushroom ravioli (or at least risotto) on Sunday :)
Also, the bouncer at Wetherspoons stopped me to look in by bag. I think he was very confused to find it full of books. And it's turned into a mini-club, which I approve of in general, but not when I want somewhere cheap with no music for generic meetings.
Also, English doesn't map nicely onto propositional logic. "If you're a vampire, then you have pointed teeth" doesn't just mean "a false statement implies any statement." It can be amusing to pretend it does, but it's just stubbornness to pretend that's what English ought to mean, when it doesn't. "If/then" *can* be used like that, but also to trace a logical connection between statements that aren't necessarily true. (iirc predicate logic can represent that better.)
So, on sunday, I recovered from saturday. I met a girl for coffee in CB2 (with air-quotes) (but I mean date coffee not sex coffee), which was pleasant, but I don't think anything will come of it.
Then I tagged along to the tiddlywinks pubcrawl, and reminded myself how relatively little beer I normally drink in an evening :)
And I came home and slept, and woke up bright-eared and bushy-tailed on monday :)
ETA: About here, the IM asking for gossip arrived ;) *hugs you* :)
Then I tagged along to the tiddlywinks pubcrawl, and reminded myself how relatively little beer I normally drink in an evening :)
And I came home and slept, and woke up bright-eared and bushy-tailed on monday :)
ETA: About here, the IM asking for gossip arrived ;) *hugs you* :)
...their twitchy little noses...
Sep. 13th, 2006 11:07 pmAnd in Tuesday's update, thanks to sonic for croquet and killer bunnies! It was a fun evening. Though I think I'm not cut out for world domination, I drew nearly all of the bunnies, and nearly all of the macguffins, and felt awfully guilty sitting there with six bunnies to everyone else's none, mowing them down as they appeared. Martin killed them all with a giantic black hole, but it was too late. It did come down to a 50/50 chance in the end, as the winning card was the last one drawn, and the penultimate drawer had a choice of two.
Tuesday -- Games evening at Alex's. Including (i) A BOARD GAME WITH A REAL LASER which was cool and (ii) a prolonged game of magic in which everyone managed to be too mana-short to do anything except when they managed to pull off a ten plus card combo and everyone sat back and said "woo, shiny" :)
Thursday -- A brief Carlton. Also including the "Bring actual food to work when you know you won't bother going home after" innovation.
Saturday -- ROBORALLY at Relativity, which was fun, and took four hours. I would say "but" but it *always* takes long, it's just sometimes you admit it beforehand and sometimes you don't.
Sunday -- I have now watched the complete Buffy, from beginning to end, in order, with the exception of the second episode in season about 3, where the DVD menu swapped the second and third episode menu items from top-right and bottom-left from respectively to not. The last season is somewhat heavier than it can just handle, being an almost entirely unreleaved apocalpse throughout, but I think has the greatest funniest one-liners.
Monday -- Pizza and post-pizza were greatly boisterous, it was fun. Simon overengineered a Tron clone. Shortcipher looks at houses. Numberland turned up (*hugs*). Clare was huggy (*hugs*). RJK will write a "crash" button for dukebox. Naath has a JOB (YAY!) Tom reminded me of the existance of a non-U C science fiction society. Owen wins teh workfaff. Ian played with his train.
This thursday -- yearly review
Thursday -- A brief Carlton. Also including the "Bring actual food to work when you know you won't bother going home after" innovation.
Saturday -- ROBORALLY at Relativity, which was fun, and took four hours. I would say "but" but it *always* takes long, it's just sometimes you admit it beforehand and sometimes you don't.
Sunday -- I have now watched the complete Buffy, from beginning to end, in order, with the exception of the second episode in season about 3, where the DVD menu swapped the second and third episode menu items from top-right and bottom-left from respectively to not. The last season is somewhat heavier than it can just handle, being an almost entirely unreleaved apocalpse throughout, but I think has the greatest funniest one-liners.
Monday -- Pizza and post-pizza were greatly boisterous, it was fun. Simon overengineered a Tron clone. Shortcipher looks at houses. Numberland turned up (*hugs*). Clare was huggy (*hugs*). RJK will write a "crash" button for dukebox. Naath has a JOB (YAY!) Tom reminded me of the existance of a non-U C science fiction society. Owen wins teh workfaff. Ian played with his train.
This thursday -- yearly review
Talking about maths
Aug. 25th, 2006 03:56 pmLast night at the Carlton contained more maths than I've heard for a while, talking with Simon and Tony and Deborah about generalisations of Simon's infinity machine, which can run an infinite number of instructions in second. I'd been thinking about this all week, but ended up mostly agreeing with Simon's original comments.
It's strange to be someone who knows something about it, when normally I'm talking about technology someone else knows more about, or maths with people who know more, or with people who aren't interested in either :)
Choice quotes:
The clever solution to the infinite-number-of-people-buried-in-the-sand-puzzle is all very well, but what if one of them is a bridget jones? "Today. Oh dear, got squiffy and killed an infinite number of people because I couldn't count to two. Oopsie. Alchohol units: 2. Deaths: Aleph-0. V. v. bad."
The machine is uncountable, not psychic.
OK, suppose it does one operation for each moment of (real valued) time.
Oh my god, that's awful. You know what we've invented? We've invented BASIC!
10 PRINT "HELLO WORLD"
20 GOTO PI
ETA: We may have made a mockery of "Beginners" Instruction Langauge but we've got "All Purpose" down pat!
Of course, you could use an infinite number of copies of yourself as a spam filter.
My head hurts. Lets not talk about maths any more.
It's strange to be someone who knows something about it, when normally I'm talking about technology someone else knows more about, or maths with people who know more, or with people who aren't interested in either :)
Choice quotes:
The clever solution to the infinite-number-of-people-buried-in-the-sand-puzzle is all very well, but what if one of them is a bridget jones? "Today. Oh dear, got squiffy and killed an infinite number of people because I couldn't count to two. Oopsie. Alchohol units: 2. Deaths: Aleph-0. V. v. bad."
The machine is uncountable, not psychic.
OK, suppose it does one operation for each moment of (real valued) time.
Oh my god, that's awful. You know what we've invented? We've invented BASIC!
10 PRINT "HELLO WORLD"
20 GOTO PI
ETA: We may have made a mockery of "Beginners" Instruction Langauge but we've got "All Purpose" down pat!
Of course, you could use an infinite number of copies of yourself as a spam filter.
My head hurts. Lets not talk about maths any more.
Delta Yowai!
Aug. 21st, 2006 02:32 pmThis week I have been addicted to an action-solitaire game (Every Extend, but it might as well have been any other I think :) ).
Only maybe one or two games a day, and each takes only a few minutes, but it's worrying: I always see the images from a game whenever I play too much, but now even when I sneeze, when my eyes close, the image hits me in the face. When I went to bed, I suddenly had the impression a large green hemisemitransparent cube was waiting in the dark to eat me.
The other game I was considering writing, way down the pipeline, would be of this mode. Can anyone think of a better description of the genre than action-solitaire? I mean, things like Tetris (except that tetris is a whole genre by itself by now, with millions of clones, some of which vary the idea and some which, well, don't) where the gameplay is random but getting more complicated, you need a small amount of strategy played out over a large time.
What other games are in this category? Things like "drop pipes into a square grid to keep something flowing through them and score points the further it goes" whatever you want to call it, though I don't like that one. Or asteroids, though that doesn't really have any strategy, just blasting.
It's the frustrating sort, where you always want one more go, but you know you need to concentrate, so it's boring to just keep playing, unlike progressive games where if you keep playing you get somewhere, or you face one bit you can't do and have to try later. But it's pleasing to keep improving and working out ways to keep scoring higher.
The ranks granted were all badly translated Japanese things, I think my favorite was when I bust 1000000 and was "Delta Yowai!" (Update: the next two were "MADAMADA ikuyo-" and "A++-", followed by, according to the internet: "OMEGA tuyoi" "MECHA MECHA" "UCHU- yabai" "YOU ARE GOD" :) )
Only maybe one or two games a day, and each takes only a few minutes, but it's worrying: I always see the images from a game whenever I play too much, but now even when I sneeze, when my eyes close, the image hits me in the face. When I went to bed, I suddenly had the impression a large green hemisemitransparent cube was waiting in the dark to eat me.
The other game I was considering writing, way down the pipeline, would be of this mode. Can anyone think of a better description of the genre than action-solitaire? I mean, things like Tetris (except that tetris is a whole genre by itself by now, with millions of clones, some of which vary the idea and some which, well, don't) where the gameplay is random but getting more complicated, you need a small amount of strategy played out over a large time.
What other games are in this category? Things like "drop pipes into a square grid to keep something flowing through them and score points the further it goes" whatever you want to call it, though I don't like that one. Or asteroids, though that doesn't really have any strategy, just blasting.
It's the frustrating sort, where you always want one more go, but you know you need to concentrate, so it's boring to just keep playing, unlike progressive games where if you keep playing you get somewhere, or you face one bit you can't do and have to try later. But it's pleasing to keep improving and working out ways to keep scoring higher.
The ranks granted were all badly translated Japanese things, I think my favorite was when I bust 1000000 and was "Delta Yowai!" (Update: the next two were "MADAMADA ikuyo-" and "A++-", followed by, according to the internet: "OMEGA tuyoi" "MECHA MECHA" "UCHU- yabai" "YOU ARE GOD" :) )
Dave and Lucy Wedding
Aug. 21st, 2006 01:37 pmOn saturday I went to Dave and Lucy's wedding. I missed the ceremony but joined them for the reception. They looked good -- Lucy's dress is fabulous -- and very happy. Congratulations!
I met up with a crowd of Daves I used to know, which was nice, but strange to see where I used to be compared to where I am now. I described the infinite sand puzzle to Dave and he worked out the answer immediately, making me realise I don't do enough thinking at the moment.
Jane was there (my exn-girlfriend, who knew Lucy from school), which was weird. She looked wonderful, was back in essex being a lawyer. I missed her, we did mean a lot to each other, and went out a long time, and it was good, and I felt lucky to have had her. On the other hand, we still had nothing to *say* to each other, which makes me think it was probably right to let it go :( I think our lives matched well, but we didn't have much in common on a day to day level, if you see what I mean.
It was nostalgic, though, for instance having someone to roll their eyes if I say a mathmo-like sentence :)
I met up with a crowd of Daves I used to know, which was nice, but strange to see where I used to be compared to where I am now. I described the infinite sand puzzle to Dave and he worked out the answer immediately, making me realise I don't do enough thinking at the moment.
Jane was there (my exn-girlfriend, who knew Lucy from school), which was weird. She looked wonderful, was back in essex being a lawyer. I missed her, we did mean a lot to each other, and went out a long time, and it was good, and I felt lucky to have had her. On the other hand, we still had nothing to *say* to each other, which makes me think it was probably right to let it go :( I think our lives matched well, but we didn't have much in common on a day to day level, if you see what I mean.
It was nostalgic, though, for instance having someone to roll their eyes if I say a mathmo-like sentence :)
A week in the life
Aug. 10th, 2006 01:05 pm15 July - 20 July: At grandfather's with mum, to see him, relax, and watch mum race for life.
20 July - 23 July: At home in Worcester, split games of Crib and Pool nearly evenly with Dad.
24 July - 28 July: Holiday in cam, cuddles with nl, getting some sun, mon pizza, tue games, thu carlton, fri pip's party
29 July: Theathon 2006, potc again, and zendo! I wanted to go to Alex's wedding ceilidh, they're a great idea, but I didn't make it.
30 July: Superman Returns
1 Aug: QL at sonic's, grumpy day
3 Aug: Carlton, very jolly (too drunken?) time hiding in the cool corner table with mobbsy and sonic, drawing other people to us.
5 Aug: Nick's and Chess's post-wedding drinks in the Carlton. I missed the ceremony, but they looked lovely, and I had a good time with CTS and LARP.
5 Aug: Impromptu Mao at relativity! Thanks, Naath, Ian. A wide range of people came along, and the rules synergised and complicated really well.
6 Aug: Lunch with Tim and Justin
7 Aug: Post-pizza at Caraway. The Penultima rules were great, simple, not too powerful, interacted well. Though I didn't realise until too late so spent too much time messing about, and Chris hadn't played before so may have been a bit puzzled, but did well and I hope likes the game.
8 Aug: QL at Owen's, nice lasagne.
9 Aug: Finished the Japanese Zeldalike I was playing. It's weird how little the plot matters: it didn't even display the text correctly, but it's still clear what you have to do :) Must play Zelda. Must play Broken Sword sequels.
I've been staying too long at work, but having fun when I do get things done. And fallen waay behind on email.
20 July - 23 July: At home in Worcester, split games of Crib and Pool nearly evenly with Dad.
24 July - 28 July: Holiday in cam, cuddles with nl, getting some sun, mon pizza, tue games, thu carlton, fri pip's party
29 July: Theathon 2006, potc again, and zendo! I wanted to go to Alex's wedding ceilidh, they're a great idea, but I didn't make it.
30 July: Superman Returns
1 Aug: QL at sonic's, grumpy day
3 Aug: Carlton, very jolly (too drunken?) time hiding in the cool corner table with mobbsy and sonic, drawing other people to us.
5 Aug: Nick's and Chess's post-wedding drinks in the Carlton. I missed the ceremony, but they looked lovely, and I had a good time with CTS and LARP.
5 Aug: Impromptu Mao at relativity! Thanks, Naath, Ian. A wide range of people came along, and the rules synergised and complicated really well.
6 Aug: Lunch with Tim and Justin
7 Aug: Post-pizza at Caraway. The Penultima rules were great, simple, not too powerful, interacted well. Though I didn't realise until too late so spent too much time messing about, and Chris hadn't played before so may have been a bit puzzled, but did well and I hope likes the game.
8 Aug: QL at Owen's, nice lasagne.
9 Aug: Finished the Japanese Zeldalike I was playing. It's weird how little the plot matters: it didn't even display the text correctly, but it's still clear what you have to do :) Must play Zelda. Must play Broken Sword sequels.
I've been staying too long at work, but having fun when I do get things done. And fallen waay behind on email.