Find Chaffy!

A number of Chaffys have been sent forth and it's our job to find them, photograph them and send them on their way again. A project set up by Jamie Smart, a talented artist among other things. The Chaffy website can be seen here and contains all the Chaffy related information you may need.
Other projects of note include my favorite cat Whubble whom I hope we can convince to write more of. Also if you find a Chaffy, send it to Bendigo...

In other news, I'm impatiently waiting for Borderlands to be released on PC but it's taking it's dear sweet time. If you've not heard of it then go look it up and find the Claptrap episodes for a laugh.

Cause t'was cheap

Dropped into a garage sale today for a look. There was mostly crap that should be thrown out instead of sold but as I was the only one there I felt bad about walking out so I started looking through a box of books. They told me that the books were 20c each but I ended up with five of them for 50c. I'll probably never read them but they will fill up my already overflowing bookshelf some more. But I felt a bit sorry for the poor people running the show. It's a bit like walking past and activating an automatic door by accident. Sometime I almost go in so I don't hurt the doors feelings before remembering that that's how the robotic uprising might start and I'm not one to mess with the space time continuum. Or am i...

I think it's high time for a gaming tip. When in doubt, blow all your cool downs/empty your magazine. Especially paladins. When in doubt, bubble hearth. If emptying your magazines don't forget to also throw all your grenades and take cover before you kinda die. The idea behind firing off all your ammo is twofold. A: You might kill something and B: You might scare something off. Also you probably lose it all when you die. Blowing cool downs is much the same in that you might kill something or if you look scary enough you might make them hesitate. Although we both know that trying to scare some fat cheezle fueled basement nerd with shiny lights is pretty much as likely as Cataclysm being the last expansion.

That reminded me of this, which I saw awhile ago. Sometimes I wish it was true, but there are probably about 500 of those dudes and then just us and facebook. Also, most of WoW are gold farmers just creating a market for themselves. Which probably doesn't make any sense financially but I wasn't educated in that area so leave me to my own crazy world!

Well that's quite enough time wasting on this certain task so I bid you farewell. I realise I should have written this in pirate but I couldn't be bothered anymore.

Hoons beware!

The police are getting even tougher on hoons these days. Exclusive footage of the police crushing cars for a variety of offences.



Consider yourself forewarned!

Vampires

Vampires seem to be very 'in' these days. What with Twilight and all that stuff kicking around it's no wonder that more and more people think they need to drink from their peers.
However there is a group of people who do really need blood and a separate lot who will willingly drain your blood for the former. These blood drainers are not moody and pale but are in fact the Red Cross.

My nursing friend convinced me to give donating a go so I went along and did it. It was easy to do and surprisingly comfortable. So much that I may try to get myself one of those chairs they have. If you get queasy at the sight of blood and needles then it might not be for you though. There is lots of blood, albeit contained in pipes and a small bag, and there is obviously a big needle. Said needle looks like it could take your arm off but it wasn't bad at all. It hurt less than flicking yourself in the nose. Even if you don't like blood or needles you don't have to watch, so therefore just about anyone can do it. For example...



So there you have it, stop being selfish and hogging all that delicious blood. Go forth and make an appointment or just check out the whole scene here at www.donateblood.com.au or call them on 13 14 95. Honestly it's really easy and you can make a big difference to someone life. Also you get a cool sticker, heaps of apple/orange juice and snacks at the end of it. Even if, like me, you flake out half way and wake up upside down in the chair with nurses fussing over you, you still get snacks and they still get blood. It's a win win situation.
Another benefit is having a dot on my arm where the needle went in. So now I can wear short sleeves and freak people out when they think I'm a junkie...

Go on, give them your blood. You'll only waste it from needless bleeding anyway.

New layout.

Got a new layout from the link you can see at the top left of your screen. This is the layout that was found when I searched for "cake" and "robot". I think it's fitting. Although we shall see how long it lasts before I change it.

Surprises

A few months ago I worked out this idea that if I strategically hide treats I will find them over a certain period of time. I blew a chunk of cash on chocolate and other delicious things with a generous use by date and then hid them around my room. I planned to hide them around the house but they might have been located and consumed by people that aren't me. Mostly my housemates and visitors. Therefore I had a house worth of goodies to hide in one room and ended up finding and consuming most of it within a fortnight. However I hid a few items much better than the rest and every now and them I find something and am delighted to have a snack.
This morning was one of those times. While looking for socks I found a packet of mint slices which consist of chocolaty biscuit, a layer of minty type stuff and all covered in milk chocolate. Breakfast was served! Well, not breakfast but lunch, so far.
So after what I though was a brilliant idea initially failed but then succeeded after I abandoned it. I just wish more of my schemes would have pulled through after being abandoned.

Now I'm off to make a plant press and pillage everything that happens to be native and in flower within about 1km (which I assume is the range of the average student on a sugar rush) Tallyho!
Oh, and the Germans in this book use the phrase 'Right-oh" quite a bit. Interesting as I say Righto just as much. Coincidence or common language? I blame Telstra.

That is all.

Germans are easier.

A refreshing discovery while reading The One That Got Away. In other escape or war books I have read it is from the American or British point of view. Which despite being written in English I still have to do a fair deal of translation. Translation of Imperial units to Metric units. All the measurements they use is in inches, feet or miles which means every second page has me doing some maths or estimations. This is easy enough once you remember that a mile is 1.6k, three feet are a meter and an two inches is 5cm. Measurements of volume still throw me out because I cannot for the life of me remember what an ounce or a gallon is (one gallon is four litres?).

However! This book is from the German point of view and uses metric, glorious metric! Which means everything they say makes sense and I only get confused when the British writers try and confuse me by throwing in miles every now and then. But when Von Werra says 10 meters, I damn well know it's 10 meters and now 30 feet.
The same goes for ordinance when you read about tanks and such. The British measure their weapons in pounds, a 6 pounder being a small anti tank gun. The Germans use metric for their guns like the famous Flak 88, named 88 after its gun size being 88mm.

I can cause a lot of confusion and if I remember rightly there was a problem with the international space station when parts made in a metric country were sent to fit NASA's imperial pieces. The measurement was lost in translation and the parts didn't fit. Probably expensive parts. So I wonder which is the best measurement for the world to use? Or the best currency system? or which is the best side of the road to drive on? Actually the side of the road driven on is a spin off of which hand you held a sword in back in the old days before uzi's and drive by's. The old fashioned ride by armed with sword or lance. I bet I would get arrested for hitting passing traffic with a sword... What a sad world we live in.

Watch this!

I had a productive day today! I woke up and wondered how a bus had gotten into my room, run me over and then gotten out again without me waking up. I then went down the street to sell some books I will never read again and are taking up book shelf space. Turns out my collection of near perfect condition of Lord of the Rings trilogy is worth $5. I suppose I should have sold them around the time of a movie or to a lesser extent, game release. So since I was five bucks up I chipped in another three and got The One That Got Away, about the only German PoW to escape back to Germany.

Then I decided to replace the battery in my watch that I haven't used for a good few years. Twelve bucks later and I have half a kilo of expensive and delicate machinery rolling around my wrist and getting caught in all my pockets. I usually use my phone for the time but I decided that I would change it to 24 hour time so I could learn to read it. Instead of knowing 24 time off by heart, I just spend the afternoon confused and trying to guess the time from the sun or the radio. Now at least I have a watch with no numbers to help me. I do like the look of it though and I will now know when I'm running late and by how much. Though I doubt very much that it will even once prevent me from being behind time.

Then I bought ice cream. Not just the normal ice encrusted from the deep freeze in the corner milk bar type though. This stuff was the real deal actually tastes like what it's named after, type. For a few bucks I got a scoop of mint, a scoop of apple pie and a scoop of Snickers. This stuff actually tastes like their namesake. Even the apple pie has an aftertaste of pastry. The mint was pretty standard though. Now this ice cream was served in a little cup and by the time I had gotten to the Snickers it was beginning to melt. After eating the icy parts I prepared to drink the rest. Illidan should have been there to tell me "You are not prepared!" or sum such drama. Eating a Snickers in normal or ice form is a pleasant experience (unless your allergic to nuts in which case you should be dialing 000) But drinking one is a whole new way of consuming novelty flavoured ice cream. It won't change your life but it will make you consider drinking all future candy for the next five minutes.

That is all.

I died this morning.

Far Cry two continues to surprise me. I had a quick game this morning to replace breakfast and was killed in a way I didn't expect. After a badly set up ambush I was out of ammo with only one guy to kill. This one guy however, was armed with an MG or sorts. He wasn't very bright though (or so I thought) because I was behind some good cover and he was emptying his clip at me. I figured I wold wait till he reloaded then I'd sprint out and get him with my knife. After a brief wait he stopped shooting and began to reload which I took as a sign to take him down. As I run towards him he is still fumbling with his weapon and I think to myself "Aha! he won't be able to reload in time!" but alas, he didn't need to reload. As I was about 6 feet from him he drops his gun and whips out a pistol as large as his head...
I have just enough time to realise I'm in trouble before I went down like a sack of heavily armed but out of ammo potatoes. It was either a clever bit of AI that made him gun me down with his desert eagle or perhaps it was a more scripted event that makes a sniper or gunner (he had an MG so he was a gunner) use their sidearm when their target gets too close. Regardless, I was very surprised. On the plus side my buddy came along and got me back on my feat and paid out some vengeance for me our pistol friend. Isn't it great when a game continues to sup rise you? Except of course the first time you come across an assault car with a grenade launcher on it. That is both a quick and explosive death sup rise...

Gaming tips!

Another addition of gaming tips! You are not Superman/Rambo. (unless of course you are playing a game which involves Superman or Rambo as a playable character) But that said, you can and will die if you think you cannot be killed. For example, it may seem like a cool or heroic deed to charge a machine gun with a nife and a grenade to knock it out and save your team who may be pinned down. But you are far more likley to go down in a screaming mess of bullets and claret three feet from your trench.
Or charging ahead in a tank to crush your opponents under your iron treads might be your thing? In that case you will likley get close to them and take a few out but you will soon be knocked out by a hail of grenades, rockets, recoiless rifles and any number of tank killing munitions. Even if you manage to get out before your vehicle goes up you will be mown down by the machine gun you overlooked... and now your team doesnt have a tank anymore.

That said however, one man can save the day with a little strategy and alot of luck. Said person will be hailed more as a hero than the guy who served so admirably as cannon fodder. I guess the ammo in their corpse can't do any more harm so it's not all wasted. And although I cringe when a team mate charges into the fray, only to get mowed down by an endless variety of small arms; when an opponent does the same to you it is oh so satisfying. Not quite as fun as killing Americans with a spade in DoD Source, but still fun. Actually I think a well placed grenade onto a camper/sniper is the most pleasing kill. Or perhaps the well placed sniper bullet. Oh no, wait! It's the opponents unsuspecting zerg into my MG emplacement. Well the list goes on and on, but are'nt we so damn lucky to have this vast variety of violence and such an interesting arsanel right at our fingertips at any time of day?

Dear Santa...

This would be the best toy ever. When I win the lotery I am going to buy one of these to drive around town.


"Hey Hanz, zey are scratching your paint job!"

mmm juice...

I just polished off two litres of Mildura tropical fruit drink. I feel a bit ill now but my body will thank me later for giving it some fruit like substance. My diet of late has been made up mostly of bread because I have been too lazy to go and do any shopping. So I went shopping today and got juice, apples, and a handfull of salami from the nice lady at the deli. So despite going shopping I still havnt managed to get much in the way of food. I did however get some nasty chemicles and fixed our blocked drain so now the shower doesnt overflow if you are in there for more than 90 second. So I'm proud despite not getting much done in the way of homework. But it is oh so good to have a computer again. Not because I can't live without the interwebs, but more because TV is really lame most of the time.

Well, I'm off to make some noodles and probably burn myself. I'm almost tempted to make some mashed spuds but I don't think I have a spud masher... or spuds...

Fixed

Fixed my computer finally. Will start blogging again soon.

mmm chips...

I'm sitting here considering going and getting $2.50 worth of chips for a rather late lunch. Because chips are awesome and I'm not getting much done anyway. mmm chips...

Had another person come to inspect the room today and I think this ones a winner. She was an army mechanic I think and seemed quite nice. Well, at least this one seems less likely to rob me of everything I own (of value, because I own a veritable shit storm of misc crap or kill me in my sleep... if they can navigate through my crap.

Chips are looking even better now...

I'm trying to decide if I should go see Transformers two or Ice Age three. I may or may not be too old to go and watch kids movies. But I hear Transformers is really bad. I tried watching the first one and gave up about half way to go and play Supreme Commander instead because they have bigger and cooler robots... bigger and more smashy robots. Reckon I could still get my hands on a copy of One Must Fall?

Revelations!

I have decided to quit my course and follow my dream!

My dream involves buying a store in a quiet alley and setting up the top story as a living space and having the bottom as a book store. Once that is completed I will become an alcoholic and hire two similarly alcoholic staff too work there. I assume that mischief and hilarity will follow in due course.

Or I will take up playing WoW again...

That is all

Kalt!

I accidentally left the milk on the bench at breakfast yesterday. Because everyone in this house is a robot or a vampire (robots are about the only thing other than garlic farmers that can live with vampires)we don't use lights a lot which is why I only just saw the milk had been left out. Yet I didn't throw it away because I knew that it would still be fine. How can you leave milk on a bench for a day and a half without it going off you ask? It's actually very simple. You see, this house is so damn cold that we hardly need a fridge. As such I have started leaving more things out. Cheese, processed meats, carbonated cola drinks, and opened cans of fruit.

I think it's interesting that by spending money to heat a house people then have to spend more money to cool their food. But here we are saving money on heating the house and cooling the food. Money and energy, I should say, because we are saving the planet...
I have come to the conclusion that when I win the lottery (when , as opposed to if) I will probably still live like a student/hobo/PoW. That way I can afford another spare jet!

That is all.

Bushmaster!

These things are made in Bendigo and you can occasionally see them around town. They are exported all over the place, especially to countries with forces deployed in the middle east, but lack suitable vehicles because of their native terrain. A pretty nifty vehicle that can be used almost anywhere.

Wheres Inspector Rex when I need him!

The case of the mysterious assignment. I have an assignment that includes writing a review on eight management plans. I went to the library and rounded up eight management plans, each thick enough to be easily used defend against home intruders. I carted them back, dumped them in my room and watched a German movie on SBS while pretending not to read the subtitles while still understanding the predictable plot line. After being distracted by a box of BBQ Shapes and a shin eating coffee table I sat down and got ready to work. All was going well and I was about to ace this assignment... At least I would have if I could find the flaming thing...

Not doing an assignment because you had forgotten or were just incompetent is one thing. But you can't get annoyed because it's your own damn fault. But not being able to do an assignment because you cannot even find it, is just so frustrating! I can see it on my 'to do' list, right at the top, mocking me. It has a hash infront of it for no particular reason. A hash born of pure taunting intention. It has a recomended due date of March that I was told to ignore. Perhaps at the end of March, it removed itself from my workbook and moved to Switzerland to work in a diamond mine. Regardless, I now find myself distracted again and wanting to finish the box of shapes I started.

When the time comes to hand in the assignment, my cries of "I tried, oh how I tried!" will fall on the deaf ears of the institution for but a moment. My cries will be ignored as they haul me away to the paper mines deep below the earth where I will work off my assessment debt by sweating blood. There I will toil endlessly, miles below the earth to supply paper for the students, lecturers, board members, office workers and parking ticket writers! Do they consider where the paper they use comes from!? No, I say! They don't consider how many orphans need be consumed in order to make a ton of A4 paper.

Well thats about it.

Hottest 100

I finally got around to voting for the hottest 100 songs of all time with JJJ. It was a hard list to compile as there are a fairly large number of songs that I love to bits I know won't get a representation. As such I left songs like that out and made my vote count. I feel bad for doing it but had to face the fact. Anyway here is the ten I chose at the time and the list would probably be a little different now. This list isn't in any particular order.

Radiohead - Pyramid Song
Rage Against the Machine - Renegades Of Funk
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
Regina Spektor - Apres Moi
Rolling Stones, The - Sympathy For The Devil
Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah
White Stripes, The - Seven Nation Army
Beck - Gamma Ray
Chemical Brothers, The - Elektrobank
Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.

Looking back I am happy with that. Perhaps I would change the White Stripes song...
Sticking with music news I got my hands on Jungle Blues album of C.W. Stoneking. Great album.
My housemate has taken up listening to Regina Spektor which is a welcome change to the experimental screamo deathmetal pop rock spoken word stuff he usually listens to. Consequently I have learnt what a godawefull singer he is and that he likes to share his singing. Oh well, he'll get sick of it one day... or I will get a restraining order on his singing.

In other news I have cold hands so I put some gloves on. One glove had a nest of spiders in it...
Needless to say there was much "Ew ew ew" and shaking of the hand. The surviving spiders then ran up my sleeves... Oh what fun spiders are!

That is all

Sunday cometh!

This Sunday is the big date of my planting day. All the neighbors of the property are coming along for a look and hopefully to take part. Some of my class are going to come and help for a bit and some of my teachers and my course coordinator are coming along as well. Other than that we will hopefully get some people from the community to come along and help. Should be a fair turn out, which I will be great full for as we have 1400 trees to put in. In perspective, that really isn't a lot of trees but its an eye opener for myself who has to organise everyone to plant them.

There are about a dozen different species of plants from ruby salt bush up to white box with everything from drooping sheoaks to hedge wattle. The EVC is something like plains, white box woodland which is apparently fairly rare and degraded these days. But then again, most places are in rough shape. I'm delivering the plants tomorrow afternoon and then I'll have to set about making guards for them all... that's small mountain of guards! Ah well we'll be alright. The ground has been ripped so there will be less muscle work involved in digging.

I shall be taking some pictures throughout and may throw some up. Hopefully we can get them all in the ground on the day but I'm quietly confident we will pull it off.

That is all.

Learning every day.

I bought Far Cry 2 awhile back and played it through a few times. I thought it was pretty impressive in regards to the open map, fire effects and such. The fire added an interesting element to the gameO opening up tactics like using the wind and a Molotov to burn through a camp. Or when firing an RPG and having a fire start in the long grass at your feet forceing you to run like hell.

I played it again the other day just for something to do and discovered some whole new things within the game to distract me from homework. I was ambushing some guys with a light machine gun in the middle of a scrap yard setup. A guy ran out into the open and I opened fire. But alas I ran out of ammo mid burst! after reloading I go to finish him off but lo and behold one of his mates is carrying him off!
After some experimenting with shooting to wound I found that some guys will kneel down and take pot shots at you with their pistol. Others will crawl away and find some cover and pop you with their pistol if you get too close. If these guys can hide long enough for a friend to come, they will get 'healed' and rejoin the fight.

This is an element of realism that can really add a lot of immersion during an epic firefight. It adds some nasty tactics too, like wounding a guy out in the open to draw his mates out. Although it's callous and evil to shoot to wound, the ability to do so really does help the games atmosphere. It can lead to grisly outcomes though. After one particular firefight I was flat out of ammo and had about 3 wounded guys lying around. Do I knife them and put them out of their pain? But have to hear their screams and see their faces as I do it. Or do I leave them to their fates in the African jungle. Giving them a chance to live or curse them with a slow agonising death if their mates don't find them? I had a hard decision my hands till I found some ammo and decided to put them down. Many games have only alive and dead versions af bad guys and many games with wounding ability's lack the realism and imersion granted by this game.

CoD: WaW had some brutal fire related deaths and bayoneting moments. But the wounding wasnt so prevailent and that game lacked the imersion factor for me. I think it was the bloody Russian sniper guy screaming at me all the damn time. I wanted so much to tell him to "Shut the hell up you tool, for the love of god!"
All the Americans did was complain or be supermen. Don't get me wrong, it was a fun game and decent multyplayer. Although my most played level was the on rails flying boat section which oddly enough had the highest imersion of a game for me. WoW was good for that too but everytime someone forgot they had a whole keyboard to comunicate with, it kinda ruined it for me. That and the people dressed in pink... so much pink armour in the first expansion. Well I shall finish complaining and just say that I look forward to the realism in many games these days. But it leaves me wondering if there is a limit we will get to with how real we can make a game?

Another Gaming Tip.

Yes it's time for another gaming tip! Today we learn that Incoming fire has right of way. It's a pretty simple concept really. Again, snipers are the exception of the rule if they are using a one shot rifle. You won't likley see the shot till it hits you so it's too late. However for automatic weapons being employed in the spray and pray technique you can predict where you should give way. Rockets and grenades are a good example as there is a delay in which you have time to get the hell out of the way.

Which reminds me of a sticker I saw on a car today. It was a sticker identifying the the car dealer who went by the name Hunt & Lobb. It sounds like a fun game to play on a map with plenty of camping spots. Or hunting thugs in Far Cry 2 at night and molitoving a camp, person by person till they run away... mmm cocktails are fun.

So now for some environmental news. On the 28th of this month I will be in charge of planting 1400 trees on a small property near Bendigo. I'm quietly terrified of the aproaching day, but I'm hoping my unique brand of blind luck will get me through the day. I'm also hoping we get tons of rain for the next few weeks so the trees don't all DIE and make me look bad! But they probably will all die and Landcare will hunt me down for wasting their money. But really, if I didnt waste it then someone else would have!

That is all.

Torpedo

Because icebergs are a bit too conspicuous...

Because I'm so damn polite.

I made the trip into town today to get a new scientist and some paint for my models.
Instead I got a lottery ticket and a pepper pie that was more pepper than pastry. Considering I didn't buy any magical items like beans, shoes or small European cars, I think I did pretty well.

There was also a small army of dedicated people out on a mission to make me repent my sins and become born again. People like this and door to door salesman are my kryptonite. I'm too polite to tell them to move along and leave me be. As soon as I show any interest to them I am bound to listen till they get bored of talking. Because of this, I have invented a number of games to play while they share their story. The first game involves subtly moving your position and seeing how many times you can make them spin around in a complete circle.

The second involves kiting them to see just how far you can get them to follow you. Extra points if you get them across a road and/or lost.

The third game involves staring at something behind them at head level while pretend you are still looking at them. This is really off putting for them and they either try to move into your line of sight or they quickly figure out you are messing with them.

That is all.

Tanks!

Because I love tanks. Tanks are just Awesome. This is a leopard 1 tank of the Australian army. These have been replaced with the American abrams tank. Note how the tank almost gets airborne!

Gaming tips!

A quick tip for the gamers among you. If the enemy is in range, so are you! Snipers excluded because they are everywhere and you always seem to be in range. Luckily the vast majority of them are not much of a shot and think grenade warnings don't apply to them. Personally, I like to sneak up on them, stick my knife in their back and see how pissed off they get!

I think the best thing about online gaming is that every time you get a kill, someone, somewhere in the world goes "DAMMIT!" And because you never see the person that kills you, you can visualise them as a hugely obese guy in a basement and say to yourself "I don't need to worry about him beating the living snot out of me because I'm cooler than him in real life!" Theoretically anyway...

Birth of a monster!

It begins! Actually it has been happening for awhile already but I'm yet to figure out exactly what it is. I should be working. Chances are you should be too but thats beside the point. I should be writing a flyer to get people to come to the planting day I've organised. I need to get 1400 plants into the ground and enough people to accomplish that to turn up on the day. Thankfully I don't have tom pay for any of it and anything that doesnt get planted will simply be returned and used somewhare else. No pressure FTW!

At this point I will give a shout out to the blog that got me interested at having a crack at it myself. I first heard of these guys on the radio and went to their blog The Somewhat Ambitious and never looked black. From their I joined Twitter and now it all goes downhill in a screaming spiral of social networking with strangers I've never met before. Nice strangers though. But since I'm an super advanced cake consumption and creation machine I can handle it... at least I could if social networking was cake. Although it is somewhat comparable! Cake is addictive and often shared with friends and must be eaten over a plate to avoid mess. Social networking is also addictive, shared and depending on how you roll, can make a god awful mess.

I visited my favorite book store today and picked up some things. A German dictionary ( I don't know why either, but now I have one!), and some books about escaping from POW camps which will come in handy for keeping scores of human prisoners in their camps after the the robot revolution. FOR FREEDOM and so forth...

Till then goodbye, thank you and come again.