Commenting

I've had a few people say that they've had trouble leaving comments on my blog.  Comments has been a bit of a tricky one for me, because I want it to be easy, but I don't want to have to deal with the many spambots on the Internet looking for websites that they can fill with junk text.

So, if you want to comment on this blog, scroll down to the bottom and you'll find a text box to type in.

Type your comment.

Click on the drop down list where it says "Comment As".  If you have one of the accounts mentioned, you can sign in with that.  Alternatively, hit the last option, Anonymous.

Hit Publish.

The website will pop up with a word verification thing that looks like this:

So in the example above, type in the new text box

465 coomsd

Hit Publish and your comment should appear.

Last time I spoke to my mother she complained about this blog post of mine.  Apparently she really likes coffee chocolates and the only thing that she can get them in nowadays is Revels.

She's clearly wrong, but do feel free to comment.


In other news, myself and Dusty had another session of CS: Source - we're playing on a server called "Counter-Strike Source by Dodi-Serv" which always seems to be empty so we get to play each other with a bot sidekick.

Check out our previous adventures here, but here's a few screenshots from last night:

Dusty's bot Zim was pretty tough. And when I did kill him, you can see what happened.

Two people - one bullet. I love the Bullpup.

Reed was a significant problem for some time.

April fools and CS Source fun

Firstly, my blog blasted through 5000 views.  Thanks to everyone who's taken their time to come and check it out.  Do by all means subscribe (if you want to and have an RSS feeder) and indeed if you just can't get enough (unlikely I know) there is my YouTube channel as well, which has reached the heights of four subscribers (hi Krause House of Cards and Games) - you could be number five!  Exciting eh.

Quick as an aside - here in the UK 80s/90s hit PJ & Duncan has rocketed back to the top of the charts with their song "Let's Get Ready to Rhumble" (I did have their album so no PJ & Duncan haters please) - but check out the picture below.

It's not that clear on the small image above (but click on it and you should get a full-size one) but I like how the number one picture is really pixelated, probably because they've had to find a picture of the single on the Internet.  It's all good.

I'm not doing an April Fools today (although I did try to convince my other half that World of Warcraft patch 5.3 included a PvP Boxing arena and that it would be called Fists of Pandaria), all I'll say is that I knew straight away that Google Nose was fake.  Obviously Google can't transmit some kind of smell to you without you having some kind of smell-generating hardware.

Mmm... the smell of an empty beer bottle

I totally didn't smell my screen just in case.

So anyway...

The other day, we went shopping.  And we bought a lot of things.

But it was Good Friday and the shops were packed with people, which has the effect of stressing me out, so I tend to rush around the shop, get everything I can as quickly as possible so I can then get out of there.

As a result, when I packed the shopping, I hadn't brought my A-Game with me.

The bread didn't do too well.

And then I got told off for buying the wrong sort of bread anyway.

Me and my best mate (Dustyweaver) played some CS: Source the other night.  Had a great time on an empty server where bots were activated so that there was a minimum of 2 people on each side, so we were basically versus each other with a bot sidekick.

The first map we played was a bomb map, and while Dusty had the trusty Jeff at his side, I had Tyler.

Tyler was the Chuck Norris of bots.  Generally ignoring me, he would basically venture out, tooled up, and waste both Dusty and Jeff without any help from me.  In ten rounds he died once.  That clues you into just how tough Tyler was.

Yeah. Tyler became Dusty's nemesis.  And stayed his nemesis.  I'm in the green outfit on the right, feeling a little uncomfortable at being the sidekick of a computer-controlled terrorist.

Dusty's ally Jeff, on the other hand, wasn't really the sharpest bot on the Internet.  He used the tactic of running around with a shotgun, firing at us at long range with that well-known sniper ability of a shotgun, and pretty much missed everything.  That is, except when he got close up.

Then he changed to a pistol.  Because a shotgun wouldn't work would it?

Even with a pistol, Jeff the Bot occasionally got lucky.  But not very often.

The best moment I remember was when both me and Dusty were dead, the bomb was planted at a bomb site and Tyler was defending.  Me and Dusty watched Jeff jog up, pistol in hand, stand next to Tyler, pistol basically in Tyler's ear, and then decide to go and defuse the bomb.  Tyler, unsurprisingly alerted to Jeff's presence by feeling a pistol rub against his head, turned round and blew Jeff away.

Here's a few screenshots from later maps.

Me having killed Dusty and his bot mate John.  His bot friend, when faced with me, turned around and ran at Dusty, blocking his view.  So I could slaughter them both in a row.  Thanks John the Bot!

When I had Jeff the Bot on a later level, he was ace.  He carried a rifle and everything.

Cory the Bot I suspect was the reincarnation of Tyler.

In the end me and Dusty ended up on the same time, facing two bots.  We didn't do very well.

Me and Dusty are thinking about doing some shows on YouTube where we talk about games, we'll do it as a live stream.  Nothing planned at this point but I'll keep you informed.  Any suggestions feel free to get in touch.

TableTop Day success!

I'm aware that as I post this, in the USA TableTop Day is only about half way complete.  But here in the UK, it's evening and we've finished our session of gaming.

It went great!  Had a few guys round, played Cluedo, Chez Geek, Hare and Tortoise Race Game, and finished off with Cards Against Humanity.  Everyone had a great time and hopefully we can arrange something like this again in a couple of months.

Our characters tended to stick together in Cluedo - like in this picture, where we're (almost) all in the bedroom together.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out http://www.tabletopday.com/ and play more games!  Seriously, it's a massive event.  2000+ events in 50 countries (including places like the South Pole), all people getting together to play some games.  It's fun.

Mike post-event looking a little bit like a lumberjack.

More pictures:

Unpacking Cluedo

About to kick off Cluedo. It's hard to believe that only one of us is a murderer.

Getting to grips with Chez Geek.

 

Dave surveys his slack in Chez Geek, crippled by an unwanted person resistant to die rolls.

The surprisingly tactical Hare & Tortoise - everyone is convinced that they can play it. We're all wrong.

Cards Against Humanity.  Great care was taken to ensure all the readable cards in this picture are relatively inoffensive.

TableTopDay Eve!

It's TableTopDay Eve!

I've been cleaning the house (not as much as I should have though) in preparation for a session of fun and board games tomorrow, all in the name of International TableTop Day.

Not sure which one to draw more attention to - the Ivor the Engine board game for ages 4-6, or the Scalextric-inspired "Granny Racing"

Not doing anything for TableTop Day (Saturday 30th March)?  There's still time to check out the website (www.tabletopday.com) and find an event near you.  Alternatively, get involved on the Geek & Sundry YouTube channel, where you'll be able to watch a live stream of them playing games!

Remember if you are doing something, get it on Twitter with the hashtag #TableTopDay and let's make this thing big (and fun).

It's a great time to subscribe to the Geek & Sundry channel as they're about to kick off their second season of shows, obviously I'm particularly looking forward to the return of TableTop, but I'm keen to see what else is planned.

In other news, I washed a cushion.

That wasn't supposed to happen.

Update failed?!?

No one likes software updates (unless you're particularly geeky like me, and have a few hours spare to update all your software and drivers, which is rare nowadays) so when you give in and let Windows do a software update, which you never notice the benefit of, has a slight chance of breaking your computer, and during which you can't play any games because the installation process slows your PC down too much, you feel good.  You feel proud that you've done that chore, you've installed "Update for Windows 7" that resolves an issue where a hacker may maliciously take control of your computer.

Amazing timing - as I typed this a particular update installed (graphics card possibly), blanked my screen out and froze the YouTube video I was listening to (a Ross Noble clip should you be interested) showing the problem of updating your computer.

Similarly when you're shutting your work PC down at the end of a day, and it asks you at that point "Do you want to install updates and then shut down?"

No.

No I don't.

I have a laptop that needs locking away.  It's the end of the day.  I don't want to sit here for ten minutes waiting for you to install your updates, that you could have reminded me about at lunch (because you remind me all through the day when I'm busy), so no.  You can wait for your updates.

Then there's the time you give in, you install updates, what happens?

Yes, Windows wants to restart your computer to complete the installation of updates.  As a friend wisely pointed out, when he learns something he doesn't need to have a nap afterwards to remember it.

But that isn't the worst thing about updates.

The worst thing!  The worst thing! Is when you give in, you tell the computer to do its updates, it downloads its updates, it does its thing, and then says...

"UPDATE FAILED."

Update failed?  You mean you went off to Microsoft, found a fix for a random tiny issue that no one is affected by, told me that you wanted some "me time" to apply the update, and when I finally gave in and said yes, you downloaded the thing and then decided it was the wrong colour and you didn't really want it after all?!?

I hate computers.  And I hate updates.

Why do bags of revels include the nasty ones?

Why do bags of revels include the nasty ones?


Surely you want to make your product as attractive as possible to buy?  But revels flavours comprise of   raisin (nice), maltesers (good), chocolate (good), toffee (favourite), orange (can take it or leave it), and coffee (just wrong and already once voted out in 2008)

Very strange.

Have you prepared for International TableTop Day?  This Saturday, play some board and card games with your friends and family, whether it's at a big public event, or just around the table at home.  Looking forward to mine.

I've been getting some good feedback about my slanket video - if you've not seen it yet, why not watch it below:

Finally, have you tried Wolfram Alpha? Wolfram Alpha isn't a search engine, it's a computational knowledge engine, and it's designed to answer questions in free-form e.g. answer questions asked the same way you would ask another human.  I tried it out...

It doesn't know how tall Justin Bieber is.
It does know who Wil Wheaton is, and how tall he is (and lots more about him)

So far I'm liking it.

Unfortunately if you ask "who is Justin Bieber" it is able to answer that.

I asked "how many pounds do you get for 100 dollars" and it said that it didn't understand my question, but then said that I'd get £65.86 for 100 dollars, so I assume it's basically (in a computer way) said "What did you say again?  Oh hang on I know what you mean..."

I then asked "what is the best cheese" (which I'd accept mature cheddar, wensleydale, or a stilton) but it answered that it didn't have any data available, and showed me an advert of a land rover.

The best question to ask is "Are you skynet?" - see the answer here.

Have fun!

Earth Hour, Eye of the Beholder and Slankets!

Earth Hour, Eye of the Beholder and Slankets - three subjects that naturally go together(!)

I hope you took part in Earth Hour tonight and turned your lighting off for an hour.  In my (somewhat preachy) video I talk about how, even though I think I'm fairly good at being a reasonably decent environmentalist, I still use more than twice the amount of resources the Earth can really provide for me to live.  This clearly isn't sustainable.

Next subject! Eye of the Beholder - my best mate has just created a YouTube account, and he's uploaded one of his pieces of group work from when he studied Media Studies at University. "Eye of the Beholder" is a french-style (film noir?) film that I've always enjoyed.  Check it out here.

Finally, the return of my evil twin Joel in my latest video, where I talk about the problems with slankets.  Joel's been very helpful and shown the problems.  Do enjoy!

And lo...

 I've just eaten more sausages!  We bought three different types from Fields of Anlaby at the weekend, and my other half didn't like the ones that she thought that she'd like - so I get all the others!  Very tasty!!  These ones were all peppery and made a great toasted sandwich.

Are you doing anything for International TableTop Day?  Don't forget it's just over a week away.

Okay, tonight I'm handing over to my dad for his guest post!

...

 And lo, the lady of the house did need to speak with her friend Carolynn to arrange an exchange of presents as they both had birthday celebrations in the near future.

Ring – ring, ring – ring (etc)

“Hello … tattle, prattle, mattle, rattle, gossip, mumble, bumble, rumble, whiter, bitter, mitter, ditter critter and whitter, mumble, she said what?

Mumble, mumble, prat, lat, bat, gnat, tat,

oh I know,

oh I know,

oh I know,

whitter etc”

(add liberal pauses, ‘yeses’, ‘reallies’, etc etc

30 mins later, an agitated male character takes the phone in a forthright manner and speaks –

“Hello Carolynn, are you well?”

“Er.. yes, quite well”

“Excellent, so am I!”

(puzzled laughter at other end of phone)

“It’s birthday time soon, are we going to meet up or shall we send stuff through the post?”

“Oh meet up, that sounds much nicer”

“Excellent!”

Male hands phone back to female partner and then wanders away muttering -

“There you are, 30 seconds chat, essential information exchanged .. all good!”

Needless to say it took the ladies another 15 minutes to decide what day the meeting would take place, but I was pleased to have advanced the process somewhat.

Sausages!

I'm pretty tired tonight - for those that haven't been reading every post with baited breath (shame on you!) I've been down with pneumonia and just returned to work this week, and I've been feeling tired afterwards (surprise surprise).  Tonight I've just got in from a Family First class run by the local Council / NHS Trust (I've never quite sure how it's organised) for parents of autistic children.  Tonight's session was all about sensory impact on behaviour, over stimulation, under stimulation and how to handle both.  It had some interesting ideas - one that might work for our son is some kind of pop up blackout tent that he could use to go and calm down in when he needs it - and the sessions are good, although when you're feeling tired the prospect of going out again isn't always appealing! (but it's well worth it)

I've just eaten some fantastic sausages from Fields of Anlaby.  Fields is an award winning butchers (see their news page for details) who I can confirm sells some excellent steak, sausages, pies, scones and pasties.  Definitely worth checking out if you're in the area (and they have their own mobile app!) - they don't seem to do a Lincolnshire sausage however, which is always one that I'm interested in trying.  For the record, the best ever Lincolnshire sausage (that I know of - if you're a butcher then you're welcome to challenge my statement by sending me free samples!) is from Jacksons in Louth - full of spices and really tasty.  My dad would also recommend their stuffed chine (which if you've never tried it is worth a shot).

The other thing I've been really enjoying is clips from Who's Line Is It Anyway on YouTube.  I particularly recommend this video of the two regulars, Colin Mochrie and Ryan Stiles, and their banter.