« May 2005 | Main | July 2005 »

June 30, 2005

What you looking at?


What you looking at?

Originally uploaded by Robmonster.

22 week scan of our little-un. We found out that bump is going to be a girl! Now Em and I get to fight over girls names.

You'll probably want to click on through to view the pic at Flickr, as there are some nice notes which make the image clearer.

There are also a number of other shots to check out.

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to Flickr | General

Instant Polaroids

Turn any web image into an instant polaroid with the Polaroid-o-nizer™

There is also a nice bookmartlet to make an easy job even easier!

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to General

June 29, 2005

Flickr Montager

This is a rather cool piece of coding. You give it a search term, it finds relvant Flickr pics and creates one of those Photo Mosaic style pictures.

The results are variable as the level of details in the final montage is fairly low but its a clever piece of coding none-the-less.

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to Flickr | General

June 28, 2005

Hats of meat

This years Must-Have accessory.

Link

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to General

June 24, 2005

Curse you Google Adsense!!

It would appear that since I mentioned that awful Crazy Frog ringtone a few postings down Google have decided that my site would be a great place to advertise it.

I guess their adsensing algorithm needs a little adjustment....

(I realise that by mentioning it again I'm making the site an even larger candidate for their ads. Double Curse!!)

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to General

Zoomy Moon

Once again the BBC have a great article all about the moon appearing larger when it is on the horizon. Apparently even the mega-brains at NASA cannot explain why this is.

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to General

June 23, 2005

An amazing story!

This news article from the BBC just beggars belief....

The conman had such control over the people he was working that he managed to persude one of them to sleep on a park bench and in airports, surviving on £1 a week. These were not vulnerable people, but people that were by all accounts 'normal', from supportive families and educated backgrounds.

The police described Robert Hendy-Freegard as the most accomplished liar they have ever encountered.

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to

June 20, 2005

It's all over

Season 2 finished with Desert Rats winning our division. We were nowhere near the top.... :(

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to Season 2

June 15, 2005

Game over

Well, since this is the game over message, you've probably guessed which way it went.

I was running my warper away to allow it to regen some energy, but a couple of shots in the back ended its warping career.

What kind of monster would shot a defenceless alien in the back? Twice....

The kind that wins Specialist League games I guess!

If watching this game teaches you nothing else, it should at least teach you to never give up, no matter how bad your situation. You always have the chance that your opponent will do something mind-bogglingly stupid.

Final Score 22 : 25

View the wholegame here

Permalink | Comments (2)
Posted to M4: 174083 Vs Fatboy

June 14, 2005

Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy

Ok, so I'm a little late on this one, but I finally got round to seeing the H2G2 film over the weekend.

I'm a big fan of the books and radio shows but I must admit to being left cold by the film.

The film loosely follows the plot of the first book but it seemed very rushed. Lots of the classic scenes were missing, or cut down to unrecognisable facsimiles. The jokes that remain seem to be included as a nod towards the viewers who are already familiar with the series.

For example before leaving Earth, Ford makes a show of trying to find a towel. He uses it on a number of occasions during the film, and even goes so far as to say that you should always know where your towel is. However, he never says why, and that’s where the joke is. It might be funny to a new viewer purely because its rather eccentric behaviour, but the original joke detailing the many uses for towels is not there.

With so much missing and trimmed it seems odd that they would include brand-new material that wasn’t in any of the books (to my recollection anyway....) For example, Trillian gets captured by the Vogons, and the group travel to the Vogon home planet to rescue her. Since the main audience for this film are the people who enjoyed the original works, it seems an odd decision to replace the material people want to see with brand new stuff.

I didn’t particularly like Arthur in this version, but that may just be because I am so used to Simon Jones portrayal of him. I thought that Zaphod was awful, entirely unlikable and incredibly annoying.

On the plus side, I thought the Vogon models were very well done, the opening song is rather good and the sequences featuring entries from The Book are good.

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to General

June 9, 2005

Dalek gets kidnapped

The BBC are running a story about the original Dalek that has been kidnapped in Somerset. A ransom note was found asking for instructions from The Doctor.

Link

UPDATE

The dalek has been found on top of Glastonbury Tor after the thieves said it had become "too hot to handle"

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to General

The waiting game

My retreating Warper took one shot as he legged it. I need to keep running away to build my energy back up.

He only has 2 grunts and a medic left, but I have no idea how much ammo they have.

I am also VERY low on time, with only 22hours remaining on the clock.

I think I can win this if I can keep away from his troops, but will I have enough time to do that?

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M4: 174083 Vs Fatboy

Very close now!

My psycher and Guardian were both taken out, but I did get the HQ.

That means the score is currently 22 - 21. I have no energy, little health and am surrounded by attackers.

All I can do is run away and hoipe the points lead is enough......

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M4: 174083 Vs Fatboy

June 8, 2005

Points ahoy!

I've played Milarky a few times before and its always been a fun game. He is a profilic mapmaker, and lives by the rule of always losing on his own maps.

I'm not sure if Barracks is one of this, though I hope it is.

This game starts off with me standing to win 7 points, lose 13 or lose 3 for a draw. I'd better concentrate on this map.

Its a 20 FP game, with me deploying on the green side. That gives me a nice bunker to hole up in in the top right.

I think I'll take Greys on this map, as a regen in both locations gives a lot of mobility, and Warpers will cause a lot of problems.

I've gone with 3 sentries, 2 warpers, 2 psychers 1 guardian and 2 regens. The regen area in the left is a bit tight, so I want to use the Guardian to open the walls up a bit first.

I'd like to strike towards his bunker, see whats in there and then teleport out to strike at the other deployment zone also.

Most plans dont stand up to meeting your enemy, so lets see what happens with this one...

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to 177344 Vs MilARKy

So close!!

My Psycher wondered point blank into another grunt, with obvious results.

I did manage to take out one medic, but he still has one left. I have no idea how much ammo he has left.

The other grunt is now right on top of my psycher and warper. Hopefully the psycher will be able to zap him this turn, and I have ordered the guradian to attack also. The warper is finishing off the HQ, and then legging it!

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M4: 174083 Vs Fatboy

Cat and mouse

...and this time I'm the mouse.

I managed to avoid any more losses, although a medic is closing in from the side. I mean seriously.... I'm now afraid of a medic!

My units have so little energy and health that a few shots and they are dead. My guardian absorbed a shot from the grunt, and has managed to attract a few missed shots to drain his ammo.

I need to destroy that HQ and then run his ammo down, so thats where my warper is going to attack this turn. I'm aslo trying to psyche the grunt and medic combo...

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M4: 174083 Vs Fatboy

June 7, 2005

Radiohead :- Creep

Check out this fantastic animation put to the acoustic version of Radiohead's Creep. Its a beautiful song and a fascinating animation.

Link

Permalink | Comments (1)
Posted to General

Closing down....

The regen has blown, after taking an attack from 3 sides.

The guardian lives, just.

My other sentry got shot, and then taken out by another Warp blast. Fatboy ran his grunt directly into the path of my warp ball. It killed the grunt but also damaged me.

The warp at the top winged his medic and grunt, but they are not dead yet. I'm going to leg the Warper over to that side of the map. I may as well move while I am auto-regening the 2 energy I'll need for an attack. I'm trying to get my Psychers over in that direction too so that they are within striking distance of his HQ, where I think he will head to rearm.

Current score 20 - 14

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M4: 174083 Vs Fatboy

Ooops

Thats an understatement.... A cock-up of the most gigantic proportions just occured.

Firstly, one of my Psychers got taken out. I had planned on taking a shot and then popping back inside the shield. However, Fatboy attacked from the top with the troops he had looped back last turn. taking him out.

Secondly (and this is the biggie) my warper managed to hit my other psycher from point-blank range. I had intended on moving the psycher over to the left flank to psych next turn, and to send a warp up into the top right, where I had expected his troops to be. Soemthing went wrong with the timing, meaning that the psycher and warp ball collided. BOOOOOM!!!

The resulting explosion took out the warper, nearly killed the psycher, heavily damaged the Regen and also damaged the Guardian.

I didnt even kill anything else!!

Current score 12 - 19

I'm moving the guardian between the top Grunt and the regen, and getting it to rearm. I dont want the regen to go up, and hopefully the Guardian will take a fgew shots away from it. My wounded Psycher is doing a runner in case the regen does go up as I dont want it caught up in the explosion.

My lower Psycher is within range of the lower grunt, so a Psych that direction might help. My remaining Warper is sending 2 shots towards the top troops.

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M4: 174083 Vs Fatboy

June 6, 2005

The end game

I lost the sentry but managed to finish off the other Grenader, taking the score to 19-6.

I know he has 3 sentries, 1 medic and the HQ which leaves one mystery troop somewhere.

I think I'd like to regroup my forces, and to finish off that HQ in order to ride out the rest of the game. I'm sending a few shots over towards the top left, as I saw his grunt and medic double-back that way last turn. My warps in that area have been pretty inaccurate from my point of view, I always lag behind where he is going.

I'm also sending in a few exploratory psyches to see what else is around.

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M4: 174083 Vs Fatboy

Almost Done

I've taken the grenader in the lower left with a combination Warp and Sentry shot. That sentry must have taken sniper training as it was a very long shot. I think I'm about to lose this sentry though as a grunt got right up close and has drained its energy. I should be able to psyche the grunt, but not before it gets a shot off.

He has cyclked some troops round to the HQ in the top right, so I'm sending some Warps that way to try to catch him rearming.

Current score:- 17 - 5

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M4: 174083 Vs Fatboy

June 2, 2005

Fatboy came through!

I've just had an email in from Fatboy saying that he is happy to delay more turns until after the weekend.

What a star he is!

See, you get a better quality of player in Laser Squad Nemesis!

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M4: 174083 Vs Fatboy

June 1, 2005

Almost!!

That almost worked...

I ended up running my sniper face to face with his grenader. I got a shot off which reduced his health to about a third, but he is guarded by two grunts that I think are going to do some damage. I also saw him fire a shot into the hallway behind me. I didnt see if it left the window or not, but I think he will have been going for an internal bounce to get that sniper.

My lower sniper fared better than expected. He was shot in the back1 and is now on 1 health. I'm getting him to Force Fire towards the window where the Grunts/Grenader are currently near. Maybe I'll get lucky....

1 Have you no honour Dickson!!!!

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M3: 176652 Vs P. Dickson

Corner Dancing

Private Dickson has a grunt cutting some rug in and out of the doorway at the bottom. I managed to hit him, even with the slow Sniper, but only managed to wound, not kill. That means that my Sniper is totally shot up. I'm trying to pull him away from the grunt to make it less likely he'll get hit, but I dont expect him to last this turn.

I'm going to advance my other sniper down set to Red-Red in the hope of catching him from the rear (as it were....)

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M3: 176652 Vs P. Dickson

Going well

Due to the way that LSN works Fatboy will not have got my message asking him to hold off on a turn until after the weekend. Hopefully he will. I really dont want to lose this game due to a timeout. However, since he knows he'll win if he sends another turn in over the weekend then maybe he'll do that to sneak a win. Lets hope not!

Anyway, my Sentry managed to finish off the medic AND the Commander (Thats 1 point well spent!) It did have the back up of the Psycher to blind a few troops nearby. The sentry is now heavily damaged though, so its running away sharpish.

It also managed to see another grenader and a couple of medics leaving the room in the bottom left. That area is about to get a warping.

At the top of the map is another Grunt, a medic and an injured Grenader. A few warps are heading in that direction also.

My outwars forces are getting worn out, so I'm going to try to pullback , either to the main regen, or so that their autoregen can top them up a little.

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M4: 174083 Vs Fatboy

Running out of time!

I have just over 2 days on my clock, and I'm away this weekend..... I really dont want to timeout on this game. I'll ask Fatboy if he wouldnt mind delaying his incoming turn for a few days.

Back to the game....

My sentry at the bottom stumbled across a Commander and Medic. I've almost killed the medic, and hope to do so this turn. I'm also trying to Psyche the Commander so that he cannot see my sentry and return fire.

I psyched a grenader on the left, and managed to injure it with a warp. I'm trying to get it again as I really need to keep tabs on where its going.

I've also psyched a grunt at the top that I need to keep tabs on. A warp might take care of it this turn.

I'm trying to keep my troops energy levels up, so I'm regening them as often as possible. I'm regenning the Guardian this turn, as by the end it will be full with the shields back up.

Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to M4: 174083 Vs Fatboy