Author Archives: tony

tooth update

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So I had a crap night’s sleep, couldn’t get my mind off the dental work.  But I was pretty much resigned to it all when I got out of bed.  Got there a bit early, went in at 10:50 and was out by 11:30.  Three quick injections (uncomfortable, but not painful) and a few moments later I had no sensation anywhere near the three teeth.  The dentist wiggled the broken tooth and then pulled it out.  That was pretty uncomfortable but not painful.  It popped my jaw a couple of times, and gave me a bigger headache than I already had, but didn’t actually hurt.  Then he spent about 5 minutes putting two fillings in.  I have to say, it was super-quick, nothing like the 40 minute epic tooth filling I remember as a kid.

I have two more cavities in the top teeth on that side which will need work and there’s the other side lower molar being impacted by my wisdom tooth which is showing signs of doing what the one I just had removed did.

Don’t feel so angry about the process this time, I told him i was nervous and he made efforts to make me feel more comfortable.

However, there’s still nothing nice about having two people shove hands, suction and drills in your mouth.

The oddest thing was feeling someone yanking a tooth out of your head but not having any directly associated pain.

I kept the tooth, I’ll post photo’s later (I’ll make sure you have to click to see them), you can show them to your kids and remind them to brush their teeth more often.

Overall I feel pretty sorry for myself, the gum is bleeding quite a lot, Grete had to go and get more gauze even though her cold is back full force, and I’m keeping the wound under a bit of compression.  I can’t swallow easily, my face is still numb (and the numbness is moving up my face), but I guess it’s my own fault for not taking care of my teeth.

wish me luck

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dentist tomorrow, one extraction (blurgh) and 2 fillings (blurgh).  really not looking forward to it.  my teeth don’t hurt which doesn’t help, no motivation.

had domino’s pizza tonight, screw diabetes, screw losing weight.

probably won’t blog anything more today, will see how bad i feel tomorrow.

Sun xVM VirtualBox + Ubuntu

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So even though I was initially seeing if I could run an XP sandbox inside Sun’s VirtualBox, I’ve ended up using the Ubuntu VM more than I thought I would.  I know I already said this but I really am impressed with the performance.  I’ve got it installed on my main machine and on a laptop.  They’re both decent machines (4-core or 2-core Pentiums), but I didn’t expect flicking between the VM and XP to be so smooth and for the operation of the VM to be so quick.

Yeh I’m gushing, but there you go.

I ended up re-working a bunch of Linux scripts I already had for backing up my websites locally, which I’d originally written when I was using a Debian machine, then changed to work under Cygwin, migrating that to an XP batch file using a different version of rsync.  So now I back the files up to a filesystem inside the VM, tar them up and move them to a directory outside of the VM (using the Shared Folders feature, which works really well).

I have some weird issues with permissions on the Shared Folder, the ‘root’ directory permissions of the mount point are r-xr-xr-x, subdirectories are fine (rwxrwxrwx).  Can’t work out if that’s me being dumb, Ubuntu being annoying or VirtualBox being crazy.

I wonder what performance would be like if I changed to Ubuntu as the host OS, with XP as the guest.  I wonder if Lord of the Rings Online (the only real game I play) would run smoothly.

I’ve messed with a straight Debian VM (using the latest test version of Debian) and that runs pretty well, but since Ubuntu is Debian under the covers, with a better look (the default Debian fonts are ugly compared to Ubuntu) I don’t think I’ll be keeping it.

So far the VM’s been pretty stable, I managed to crash it running dosemu inside it when I started Wing Commander II.  But I guess I can live without that 😉

RPG Systems I own

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Thought I’d write up a short list of RPG systems I still own, in the order I find them on the shelves I’m looking at.

  • Dungeons and Dragons Basic (Red), Expert (Blue), Companion (Green), Master (Black) and Immortals (Gold) boxed sets
    Played and run, a lot.  The first few years of my roleplaying were dominated by D&D.
  • Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (1st Edition)
    Mostly messed about with this.  I don’t have the Players Handbook, not sure I ever did.  I seem to recall we hacked some adventures together by mixing this up with the D&D stuff we did.
  • Call of Cthulhu d20
    Don’t think I ever ran this in the end, I preferred the original rules.
  • Judge Dredd d20
    Never played it.
  • The Wheel of Time d20
    Played it very briefly, didn’t really get into it that much.
  • EverQuest Role Playing Game
    Never played it, was too busy being addicted to the MMORPG that spawned it.
  • Star Wars d20 Revised Core Rulebook
    Never played this incarnation.
  • Call of Cthulhu Edition 5.5 (Softback)
    Loved it, lived it.  Played it (with a few superb GM’s) and ran it a few times.
  • S.L.A. Industries
    Never played it.
  • Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay
    Played it loads, loved it a great deal, and ran it a few times.
  • Paranoia 2nd Edition
    Ran it a couple of times, once successfully, once terribly.
  • Legend of the Five Rings 2nd Edition
    Played it quite a bit, never ran it.
  • Dragon Lords of Melnibone d20
    Never played it.
  • Ars Magica 4th Edition
    Ran a game for a short while, pretty heavy going.
  • Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition
    Played it more than anything else I’ve ever played.  Ran it more than anything else I’ve ever run.
  • Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition
    Played and ran it quite a lot recently.
  • Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 3.5
    Never used this incarnation.
  • Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition
    Playing it as we speak.
  • Shadowrun 2nd Edition
    Played and ran this version, liked it a lot as long as we ignored net runners.
  • Shadowrun 3rd Edition
    Never played this incarnation.
  • Middle Earth Roleplaying 2nd Edition
    Played it quite a bit, never ran it.
  • RUNE
    Never used.
  • Star Wars d20
    Played it a little bit.
  • Star Wars 2nd Edition (d6)
    Played more than the d20 version, and think it’s better.
  • Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia
    I needed to own this incarnation of D&D.
  • Advanced RuneQuest
    Got this cheap in a sale, never had RuneQuest, never played 🙂
  • Vampire the Masquerade
    Never played.
  • d20 Modern
    Played a little bit.

So, my list of RPG’s

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After this blog post, which points to this list of RPG’s everyone should try, I thought I’d reprise the content of a post I made a long time ago (1998).  That post talks about games I’d played at the time, and a little bit about them.  Here’s my list of 5 games every roleplayer should play and why.

  1. Dungeons and Dragons (basic and expert boxed sets)

    You really should play the original D&D.  I’ve played all the versions, and while they all offer something different the raw simplicity of the basic and expert editions of the original boxed sets are just so refreshing.  Inconsistencies abound, but the scope is endless.

  2. Call of Cthulhu (original rules)

    If you get the right group of people and the right person running Call of Cthulhu, it has to be one of the best shared storytelling environments ever created.  The capacity to drag you in, gasping for breath amidst the knowledge of sure and impending doom, and still leave you wanting more is unparalleled, in my view.  The rules were mostly very simple and the environment was rich.  I’ve never enjoyed dying so much as I did when we played Call of Cthulhu.  I’ve never enjoyed torturing my players so much as when I ran Call of Cthulhu.

  3. Paranoia

    Done right, and it’s not easy, this game system and world setting provides the chance to really dig deep into some roleplaying muscles.  If your players are always trying to out sneak each other in regular game settings, let them play this for a few weeks to sort the sneaks out from the snitches.

  4. Shadowrun or Cyberpunk

    I never played Cyberpunk and I think the Shadowrun rules had some seriously major issues, but as a setting I loved it and I think every gamer should have a shot at Fantasy-meets-SciFi crossover ‘net running big blazing gun action every now and then.

  5. Gangbusters

    Because it was so simple and evocitive and engaging.  You should try it.

  6. Bonus Game – Xena & Hercules.Swords and Thongs, made to go together.

Where oh where has my Gallium gone?

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I read about this last year, and have seen the odd article every now and then, but thought I’d make a post.  It’s not just living animals and plants on this little rock that are endangered.  There are not infinite supplies of the raw materials we use to build our technology.  For example, the gallium we use in our high-tec electronics probably won’t last more than 20 years.

From New Scientist (last year),

It’s not just the world’s platinum that is being used up at an alarming rate. The same goes for many other rare metals such as indium, which is being consumed in unprecedented quantities for making LCDs for flat-screen TVs, and the tantalum needed to make compact electronic devices like cellphones. How long will global reserves of uranium last in a new nuclear age? Even reserves of such commonplace elements as zinc, copper, nickel and the phosphorus used in fertiliser will run out in the not-too-distant future. So just what proportion of these materials have we used up so far, and how much is there left to go round?

Have a read of the full article.

The John Sergeant effect

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I don’t watch any reality TV shows, and I certainly don’t watch any celebrity ones (doesn’t that defeat the purpose?), but since we had visitors over the weekend both X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing were on TV.  It became apparent that John Sergeant is considered not a very good dancer by the judges, but the public seem to love him.  Likewise, the judges on X Factor were disappointed when the public voted to keep Daniel Evans a couple of times, despite their view that he didn’t deserve to stay.

I’m going to call this the John Sergeant effect.  In my view, an increasing number of the public are tired of reality TV competitions, and either vote to annoy the judges or vote based on criteria other than those which would normally win.  They aren’t voting for the best singer or dancer, they’re voting for the person they find most interesting or amusing, or they’re voting for someone they know the judges don’t like.

The shows have stopped being entertaining, and so the public is voting in a way which increases their entertainment value.

I’m not sure if affects the overall result yet, certainly Daniel Evans was dumped in the end (as soon as he ended up in the bottom two, the judges got rid of him).  I can see the same happening to John, that as soon as he fails to get enough votes to end up in the bottom two, he’ll be gone.  But I think producers of reality TV shows should be taking note, that if people aren’t voting for the best performer they’re doing it for a reason, and they need to understand that reason.

Of course, outrage, shock and surprise just increase viewer numbers so they probably don’t really care too much.

Fringe and Burn Notice

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I promised you I’d write something about Fringe and Burn Notice.  With Criminal Minds and CSI (Vegas) being on a break, we’ve been scouting for stuff to watch.

Fringe

This series is either going to be awesome, or going to become totally annoying.  The pilot was intriguing and promised an X Files like experience without the stupid alien story arc.  Do not watch this show if you intend to analyse the fringe science, it’ll only annoy you and it’ll only annoy us when you explain how annoyed you are.  The show follows a female FBI agent investigating weird shennanigans with an elderly formally insane scientist who appears to have been involved in a lot of this stuff, and his son.  Clearly these events are tied together with some intricate back story and there are a range of supporting cast members all generating more questions and giving no answers.

The episodes so far (5 I think) are formulaic, typical of early episodes in a series of this kind.  Something weird happens, some people are injured or killed.  The team investigates.  The insane scientist admits he was involved in this kind of thing in the 60’s, comes to a conclusion, and they either save another potential victim or they catch or don’t catch the people involved.

The characters are interesting, which is critical since the formulaic story at the moment isn’t quite enough to keep me tied in.  Sure I want to know more about The Pattern (the link between all the weird stuff), and they’re clearly laying the groundwork for some subplots (the son, there’s something up with him).

The reason geeks are flocking to the show, is that it contains a huge amount of self referrential material, injokes, scientific references and subtle facts.  For example, in one episode a character looks at his watch and it’s 3:14 and 15 seconds (Pi).

We’ll keep at it throughout the first season and see how it goes.  We miss a lot of the references, so we’re just watching it for the characters and the obvious plot.

Burn Notice

This turned out to be exactly not what I thought it was.  We saw some teaser-trailers for it and set it to record on Sky+.  It looked like a spy drama, but has turned into a one-man A-team story.  Not that it’s bad, just that it’s not what we expected.

The simple premise is that an American spy has been burned by his agency and hence has no money, contacts or anything to do.  To add to his misery he’s essentially confined in Miami (he’s told early on if he tries to leave, he’ll be activley hunted by the police rather than being just watched).

Each episode involves our main character (can’t remember his name) trying to work out why he’s been burned and who did it, while also trying to fix a problem either a friend, a friend’s friend, his mother’s friend, or some random person is having.  For example, one week he helps an airport security guard who’s basically being blackmailed to ignore illegal weapon imports.  Helping him out in his endevours are his mother, his brother, an ex-spy buddy and an ex-girlfriend spy.  As I said it’s a one-man A-team.  It’s funny, engaging and entertaining, we’ll see where it goes.