For real?
On the one hand this seems extreme to be true, but then again...
Monday, December 17, 2007
Technology/Science
It is never wise to let a piece of electronic equipment know that you are in a hurry.
The repairman will have never seen a model quite like yours before
To error is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer.
The more knowledge you gained, the less certain you are of it.
Under the most rigorously controlled conditions of temperature, humidity, pressure, etc., the organism will do as it damn well pleases.
Given any system n linear equations, there will be n+1 unknowns
The repairman will have never seen a model quite like yours before
To error is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer.
The more knowledge you gained, the less certain you are of it.
Under the most rigorously controlled conditions of temperature, humidity, pressure, etc., the organism will do as it damn well pleases.
Given any system n linear equations, there will be n+1 unknowns
Friday, December 14, 2007
Joke
A new teacher was trying to make use of her psychology courses. She started her class by saying, "Everyone who thinks you're stupid, stand up!"
After a few seconds, Little Johnny stood up. The teacher said, "Do you think you're stupid, Little Johnny?"
"No, ma'am, but I hate to see you standing there all by yourself!"
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Demon Gates
Yesterday my roleplay group continued with an ongoing campaign in which we, valiant adventurers, have to travel across the land to close demon gates. It's your standard dnd campaign but it's one of my favourite campaigns.
I think this campaign is one of the few times were I, as a player, was actually stunned by certain events. In the near future I may plan to post the background of my character.
The thing is that my character is trying to figure out what is going on, because we have very little information about these gates, or the history to our world.
In the interest of me trying to figure it out, and not forget any of the clues that I've managed to find, I'm going to put down some of them here:
Long ago there were multiple gods in the world, now there's only one left.
At some point in time, a request was made to the wizard Ishtara, to help with the conflict against the orcs. But Ishtara betrayed them and they tried to kill her.
Ishtara at some point opened some, if not all of the demon gates.
Ishtara is the last of her race, her people once fought with the people of this world and against the gods of this world. Her race looks very similar to elfs, but with different ears.
Ishtara is now known as Lydia. She hasn't aged a bit for a few thousand of years. She is helping the party to, at the moment, close the demon gates. The armor she has given the party looks like the same armor that her people used to wear. Despite the fact that she is evil, none of her actions have confirmed it (other than her sometimes violent temper and the fact she rides a nightmare). She's extremely powerful but will not directly help the party unless we do something for her.
Demons are now using the demon gates to come into the world. And that's why we're closing them.
This is everything that I've been able to scrape together over an amount of sessions. My character has now had to make several promises that he would not continue his investigation into Ishtara.
I think this campaign is one of the few times were I, as a player, was actually stunned by certain events. In the near future I may plan to post the background of my character.
The thing is that my character is trying to figure out what is going on, because we have very little information about these gates, or the history to our world.
In the interest of me trying to figure it out, and not forget any of the clues that I've managed to find, I'm going to put down some of them here:
Long ago there were multiple gods in the world, now there's only one left.
At some point in time, a request was made to the wizard Ishtara, to help with the conflict against the orcs. But Ishtara betrayed them and they tried to kill her.
Ishtara at some point opened some, if not all of the demon gates.
Ishtara is the last of her race, her people once fought with the people of this world and against the gods of this world. Her race looks very similar to elfs, but with different ears.
Ishtara is now known as Lydia. She hasn't aged a bit for a few thousand of years. She is helping the party to, at the moment, close the demon gates. The armor she has given the party looks like the same armor that her people used to wear. Despite the fact that she is evil, none of her actions have confirmed it (other than her sometimes violent temper and the fact she rides a nightmare). She's extremely powerful but will not directly help the party unless we do something for her.
Demons are now using the demon gates to come into the world. And that's why we're closing them.
This is everything that I've been able to scrape together over an amount of sessions. My character has now had to make several promises that he would not continue his investigation into Ishtara.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
The Last Question
I found this short story online by Isaac Asimov, I'd already read it a few years ago but felt like reading it again. After reading the ending, I remembered why I liked Isaac Asimov's stories. So definitely worth a read, even if you've already read it.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Saturday, December 1, 2007
The campaign continues
Yesterday was the second session of my new D&D campaign.
The heroes had just found a lost city of giants , living in solitude underground for several thousands of years. They are taken to the giant king, who explains that his people have hidden themselves, awaiting prophecy and the one they call the 'world shaper'. But they might soon become discovered. Some of their youths went on a coming of age quest to the nearby temple of Maitri and they still haven't returned.
Determined that these youths are the ogres attacking the village, the heroes set out to stop them. They journey to the temple and confront the ogres in combat. They kill them but are now themselves trapped in the ceremony, unable to leave it until it is complete. They journey through caves to find the guardian who must part words of wisdom to complete the ceremony. But they find the guardian missing and an evil looking frost salamander in his place. They manage to defeat it and find a gem hidden in the carcass. The gem has strange magical properties.
The heroes head back to the giants to tell them of the unfortunate fates of their youths. For some reason the dwarven cleric accompanying them has vanished while they slept in the giant stronghold. They move on to the village of Smallbank to sell their spoils of war. After selling the mysterious gem to the local magic shop, they receive a new companion, a favored soul to compensate for the loss of their cleric. A loud bang is heard and when the heroes rush to the scene, the magic shop is destroyed and the frost salamander has returned. They defeat it yet again and again find the gem hidden in its body. They decide to take the gem back to the temple and seal it in. After that they move on, making a promise to the mayor of Smallbank to investigate a missing caravan due from Stonedelve.
Arriving in Stonedelve, they learn that their mine has been taken over by formains and this has stopped production. Without further inquiry, they head to the mine to find the formians. While meeting with the guards, trying to speak to their leader, they are attacked by a hidden sniper. The formains attack and combat ensues. They kill the sniper and calm the formains down. They are then taken to the queen. The queen accuses them of being fools. No dwarf has entered this mine in over 500 years. They've been tricked and played. The queen also imparts a dire warning in the form of a prophecy.
Meanwhile the dilettante follows the snipers tracks and finds a bandit camp, who have captured the children of Stonedelve. The heroes return to the village, demanding an explanation. The major tells them that the bandits have taken their children and they were told to get rid of the heroes. The bandits have raided the village of everything and are forcing the dwarfs to make a large quantity of tools. The tools are then shipped north. The heroes leave to village and attack the bandit camp night. They manage to rescue the children, but find no trace of the village wealth. The only clue they do find is a letter...
Unanswered questions:
Why is part of the woods near Treeshine and Stonedelve evil?
What happened to the guardian of the temple of Maitri?
Why did the giant's youths turn into ogres?
What is the mysterious gem and how is it linked to the salamander and the rest of the plot?
Who was the false witness plotting the villages against each other? And for what reason?
Why is it so important that the giants remain hidden?
What was the great war that the giants talked about?
What happened to the dwarven cleric?
Why does everyone in the party dream of the sound of war drums every night?
Why were the bandits near Stonedelve shipping tools north?
Who were they working for?
What is in the letter that the heroes found?
What does the prophecy mean given to the heroes by the formian queen?
What is the obsession that the giants have with gelatinous cubes?
Why are my PC's so content with bypassing any and all plot points? (sigh)
The heroes had just found a lost city of giants , living in solitude underground for several thousands of years. They are taken to the giant king, who explains that his people have hidden themselves, awaiting prophecy and the one they call the 'world shaper'. But they might soon become discovered. Some of their youths went on a coming of age quest to the nearby temple of Maitri and they still haven't returned.
Determined that these youths are the ogres attacking the village, the heroes set out to stop them. They journey to the temple and confront the ogres in combat. They kill them but are now themselves trapped in the ceremony, unable to leave it until it is complete. They journey through caves to find the guardian who must part words of wisdom to complete the ceremony. But they find the guardian missing and an evil looking frost salamander in his place. They manage to defeat it and find a gem hidden in the carcass. The gem has strange magical properties.
The heroes head back to the giants to tell them of the unfortunate fates of their youths. For some reason the dwarven cleric accompanying them has vanished while they slept in the giant stronghold. They move on to the village of Smallbank to sell their spoils of war. After selling the mysterious gem to the local magic shop, they receive a new companion, a favored soul to compensate for the loss of their cleric. A loud bang is heard and when the heroes rush to the scene, the magic shop is destroyed and the frost salamander has returned. They defeat it yet again and again find the gem hidden in its body. They decide to take the gem back to the temple and seal it in. After that they move on, making a promise to the mayor of Smallbank to investigate a missing caravan due from Stonedelve.
Arriving in Stonedelve, they learn that their mine has been taken over by formains and this has stopped production. Without further inquiry, they head to the mine to find the formians. While meeting with the guards, trying to speak to their leader, they are attacked by a hidden sniper. The formains attack and combat ensues. They kill the sniper and calm the formains down. They are then taken to the queen. The queen accuses them of being fools. No dwarf has entered this mine in over 500 years. They've been tricked and played. The queen also imparts a dire warning in the form of a prophecy.
Meanwhile the dilettante follows the snipers tracks and finds a bandit camp, who have captured the children of Stonedelve. The heroes return to the village, demanding an explanation. The major tells them that the bandits have taken their children and they were told to get rid of the heroes. The bandits have raided the village of everything and are forcing the dwarfs to make a large quantity of tools. The tools are then shipped north. The heroes leave to village and attack the bandit camp night. They manage to rescue the children, but find no trace of the village wealth. The only clue they do find is a letter...
Unanswered questions:
Why is part of the woods near Treeshine and Stonedelve evil?
What happened to the guardian of the temple of Maitri?
Why did the giant's youths turn into ogres?
What is the mysterious gem and how is it linked to the salamander and the rest of the plot?
Who was the false witness plotting the villages against each other? And for what reason?
Why is it so important that the giants remain hidden?
What was the great war that the giants talked about?
What happened to the dwarven cleric?
Why does everyone in the party dream of the sound of war drums every night?
Why were the bandits near Stonedelve shipping tools north?
Who were they working for?
What is in the letter that the heroes found?
What does the prophecy mean given to the heroes by the formian queen?
What is the obsession that the giants have with gelatinous cubes?
Why are my PC's so content with bypassing any and all plot points? (sigh)
Thursday, November 29, 2007
AvP: Requiem
Just found out that there's a sequel to AvP.
Saw a few trailers:
Two here
One here
I enjoyed the last one, which is probably better than the movie itself (I like the counting).
It seems that this movie is going to be quite loyal to the video game. (despite the fact that it occurs in the present day). And will probably be very violent is you believe the trailer.
Saw a few trailers:
Two here
One here
I enjoyed the last one, which is probably better than the movie itself (I like the counting).
It seems that this movie is going to be quite loyal to the video game. (despite the fact that it occurs in the present day). And will probably be very violent is you believe the trailer.
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