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Spanners
Fri 4th Jul '08 2:50PM
4314 Posts
Bad Fiction Creative Writing
I've just discovered an annual award for the worst fiction ever - http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/

This one is from the 1987 winner:

The notes blatted skyward as they rose over the Canada geese, feathered
rumps mooning the day, webbed appendages frantically pedaling unseen
bicycles in their search for sustenance, driven by cruel Nature's maxim,
'Ya wanna eat, ya gotta work,' and at last I knew Pittsburgh.

There is some great Japanese fantasy in there too, stuff almost on a par with Lionel Fanthorpe
     

Agentgonzo
Fri 4th Jul '08 12:30PM
654 Posts
A Collaborative Alternate Reality Game Attempt? Games
On a tangent, I've recently upgraded my machine and downloaded Portal (a bit late, I know, but ace!). Found a secret room in it where a login was written on the wall. Went to the internet and if you go to www.aperturelaboratories.com and login with it, you can login to GLaDOS via a green terminal and play around! You can even apply for the project where it asks you 50 strange questions as part of the application procedure. Amusingly, it also asks you to remember your 64 digit Unique ID number for entering at the final stage... though it's blinking and every so often it changes as it blinks. Oh, and it's case sensitive and in lower case, but the terminal only allows you to type in capitals! Great fun



the cake is a lie
     

Agentgonzo
Fri 4th Jul '08 12:24PM
654 Posts
Pizzas General Merriment

Amanshu was bold enough to comment:
On a completely unrelated note I currently have all of the toppings to make a dessert pizza, which I really must do at some point...

The first thing that came into my head when reading that was using ice-cream as a topping. I'm guessing that it won't work.
     

Amanshu
Fri 4th Jul '08 12:10PM
2576 Posts
A Collaborative Alternate Reality Game Attempt? Games
I can add the amazing ability to give you the right answer five minutes after someone else has already said it.

It doesn't always work admittedly, sometimes there's half an hours worth of pontificating before my brain snaps into gear and realises it's being stupid, but at least some of the time it happens...
    

Amanshu
Fri 4th Jul '08 11:58AM
2576 Posts
Pizzas General Merriment
Personally I'd have to go with a much more 'embedded' approach where the cheese has nicely melted around the toppings giving a nicely decorative effect.

On a completely unrelated note I currently have all of the toppings to make a dessert pizza, which I really must do at some point...
    

Agentgonzo
Fri 4th Jul '08 10:37AM
654 Posts
What do you think - is our DVD player broken? Techy Corner
Excellent. Good work Malcolm! Didn't think that it was a bug and a firmware upgrade didn't even occur to me. Sometimes it's a little worrying how disposable we have made most of our consumer purchases - the vast majority of people in your situation would have just gone out and bought another DVD player.
     

Malcolm
Thu 3rd Jul '08 8:40PM
1565 Posts
What do you think - is our DVD player broken? Techy Corner
Thanks Gonzo. It's normally just left in standby as we can't reach the plug, so it sounds as though it's not supposed to need a battery, so there won't be one to replace.

...Which was what got me looking on Amazon for a new DVD player. I found that the model we have (very good until now) was still available, along with a fractionally different one. On doing a search on Videohelp.com to find out what the differences were, I noticed people talking about this surround sound problem... and from there, following a load of links back to the Philips website, it turns out that both of the bugs we are now experiencing have been present in the machine all along, but only manifest themselves when you connect an HD TV to it. Which we've only been doing for the last couple of months. Which is how long we've noticed the problems for.

And it gets better: the website contained a file you could download, burn onto a CD, stick in the DVD drive and it would update itself, not only fixing both the problems but generally improving lots more of it as well. It had never even occurred to me that a humble DVD player was upgradeable. But to summarise: I'm very pleased!

Buying new things is all very well and fun, but there are times when not having to do so is vastly preferable.

Just thought I'd report back as I think there's a lesson here - always look for an upgrade/patch before deciding something's broken.

And for the sake of posterity, it's a Philips DVP5960. And I'd highly recommend them. As long as you install the upgrade.
     

Spanners
Thu 3rd Jul '08 7:45PM
4314 Posts
Pizzas General Merriment
I'd say that for taste alone you can't beat the under-the-cheese technique. Nicely browned cheese and it stops your toppings from drying out - particularly helpful with mushrooms and peppers.
     

Malcolm
Thu 3rd Jul '08 3:46PM
1565 Posts
Pizzas General Merriment
In the majority of cases, under. The cheese melts over them, which not only helps hold the entire thing together, but also ensures it gets nicely browned.

Potential exceptions, though, are small items such as olives, pine nuts and possibly the occasional bisected cherry tomato, as these do not cover enough of the cheese to negate the effect mentioned in the previous paragraph, and they provide a nicely decorative appearance.
     

Agentgonzo
Thu 3rd Jul '08 2:51PM
654 Posts
Pizzas General Merriment
Discussion from lunch:
Should the ancillary toppings on a pizza be under, or on-top of the cheese?

Discuss.
     

Desert Creature
Thu 3rd Jul '08 1:42PM
72 Posts
A Collaborative Alternate Reality Game Attempt? Games
I can add Swedish and Hot Stones massage therapy skills to the mix...

...if that's any help.
     

Spanners
Thu 3rd Jul '08 1:29PM
4314 Posts
A Collaborative Alternate Reality Game Attempt? Games
Sounds good, I'm in!
My skills are remarkably similar to Agent Gonzo's with the addition of geography, bike maintenance and broadcast engineering.
     

Gertrude
Thu 3rd Jul '08 12:05PM
559 Posts
The Trundle Wheel Appreciation Thread General Merriment
I just sent my brother a message to ask if he ever uses a trundle wheel (he's a surveyor). His response? 'Er, not wheely (ha ha).' Sigh. Apparently they're 'not the most accurate tool.' I'm quite sad, I like to think of him wandering round a playground with a trundle wheel.
    

Agentgonzo
Thu 3rd Jul '08 10:22AM
654 Posts
A Collaborative Alternate Reality Game Attempt? Games

Demian was bold enough to comment:
So any ones you like the looks of or shall I come up with a shortlist? I also think we need to wait for at least half a dozen forummers to have a decent shot at it.

Edit: Skills we're likely to need are:

Audio Editing
Photo Editing
Cryptography & Frequency Analysis
Possibly some 1337 cracking skills
Knowledge of literary / geek references
Internet Detectivery
Maths
Programming
And more generally, lateral thinking and attention to minute detail will be helpful!

Skills that I have:
A bit of of Audio Editing
A bit of of Photo Editing
small amount of Cryptography & Frequency Analysis (it's been about 5-10 years since I've done anything serious in this)
I know a little about some 1337 cracking skills, but haven't done any in ernest.
Knowledge of literary / geek references
Maths
Programming
lateral thinking
     

Demian
Thu 3rd Jul '08 8:04AM
4230 Posts
A Collaborative Alternate Reality Game Attempt? Games
Okay! Two up for it so far from the looks of things. If you have any technical specialties it would useful to post them here. I specialise in dawdling, anachronisms of the 17th century and the magna-doodle, but I've also been knon to turn my hand to halibut farming. In terms of actual useful technical skills for an ARG I don't really have anything but I'll be happy to try to co-ordinate our efforts.

So any ones you like the looks of or shall I come up with a shortlist? I also think we need to wait for at least half a dozen forummers to have a decent shot at it.

Edit: Skills we're likely to need are:

Audio Editing
Photo Editing
Cryptography & Frequency Analysis
Possibly some 1337 cracking skills
Knowledge of literary / geek references
Internet Detectivery
Maths
Programming
And more generally, lateral thinking and attention to minute detail will be helpful!
    
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