Predictable, but Solid

As I said last week, The folks at the production staff at Battlestar Galactica would have a difficult time topping EXODUS part two, and that proved to be the case. COLLABORATORS was a good, albeit not great, episode with lots of interesting bits in it.



ONLY MINOR SPOILERS FOLLOW
Predictably, those that suffered under the year of Cylon Occupation are now getting their own back against open collaborators with the Cylon Regime. One (minor) character gets "spaced", and the kangaroo court (filled with people you might recognize) sets their eyes on Mister Gaeta, who had worked as Baltar's executive assistant. Predictable stuff happens, and predictably, he gets saved in the last nanosecond.

(Side note: Ronald Moore had better start thinking about HOW MANY PEOPLE IT TAKES to renew an entire human race.. what are we down to now? How many births are have their been? Can they afford to execute people, even scumbag collaborators?) My friend Peter Card (English Peter in BPD) sent me a link on a paper about DNA Sampling and "population choke points" such as is suggested by the show's 41,000 people (they updated the population stats). It makes for interesting reading-- postulating that the human race might have hit a choke point several thousand years back, and we now have so-called "modern man" as a result of the contracting of the gene pool.

My friend, BSG Ubergeek Don Pierce, suggests that perhaps a population explaosion is going on that we aren't seeing. Lots of people, cooped up on small ships with not a lot to do for months on end.. the predictable might be happening but we're not seeing it. I haven't really tracked that little "population statistic" that flashes just before the credits lately.

In any event, my favorite bits were with Baltar on the Cylon Ship, were he is kept under close guard. No longer pathetic, he's back to being a sniveling coward. I hope we see more of Cylon lifestyles in this season. Do Cylons have art? Interior Decorating? It doesn't look like it.

Maybe Gaius can teach them Feng Shui...

Near term predictions: Apollo will miraculously drop 40 pounds (see David Eick's vidcast "Jaime and the Fat Man"), and possibly take the XO spot on Galactica (Tigh is just a headcase right now, and an embarassment to himself). Starbuck will take the pilot seat again, and have trouble reclaiming her top dog status. The Cylon Baby will fade into obscurity again. For a while.

(speaking of predictions, check out the vidcast of the Cast predicting which one of the "Top Seven" will be offed this season. You know, if you are an actor playing a Cylon, it strikes me that you have a hell of a lot of job security on this show. "Oh, let's kill Boomer!.. uh, big deal.."

Hobbits! Right over there!

We were out tromping up in Sky Meadows near Ashby's Gap over the weekend (and what a fine cold crisp day it was). It got a little windy out there so we broke out Drey's wool capes from the Ren Faire. I got to thinking how hobbit-like the kids looked with those hoods on. Cute!











Sure, it was silly, but we were WARM..

Garrett as Grim Reaper (and he brought up the idea):



One natural element IN ABUNDANCE was cow poop. I think somebody grazes the cows on the parkland to keep the grass cropped. So cowflop became like a natural minefield. The kids were energized about this example of fitting a square peg in a round hole:



The scenery was gorgeous, a little bit past peak.. but we loved it anyway.

Remember the post on the OOZINATOR? and Amazing Mister Fisty? I just stumbled on this comic that explains sooo much.

Too funny. That's a pumpkin, folks.

Wow. Simply... wow...

SPOILERS WARNING: IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THIS EPISODE, DON'T READ THIS

Once again, Galactica astounds us with easily the best episode yet (for this season, possibly for the entire run of the show!)

If the production team for BSG doesn't get an Emmy for this episode, then there ain't no justice.

Since COLLABORATORS is airing tonight, I think it's high time to post some ruminations on EXODUS 2. Plot points will be revealed here.

What an amazing finale to the Caprica 2 experience! It was a great, unique setting that allowed for some amazing plot development and great character building, but I'm glad to see it in the fleet's wake. This is a show about a journey ("Exodus" is a fitting title for this episode), not about colonizing planets. Press on to Earth, says I.

In short GALACTICA comes back to take on (they think) two Cylon Base Stars and recover a huge amount of people from the surface. To execute this maneuver, they needed launch keys to get the grounded ships off the planet. We are not privy to how the word spread around the entire human population of Caprica 2, but we have some hints of it when the guerilla forces stage a demonstration to keep the Cylons occupied while the Galactica jumps in.

The maneuver that the Raptors were practicing last week (that Adama Senior bitched out Adama Junior over) was deploying drones. Now we see why. It was to fake out the two Cylon guardships and have them broadcast the signal for two battlestars. While they are ringing their hands in consternation over this, Guerillas on the ground (led by Anders, Tigh, and the Female marine troop from last week) blow up several buildings and engage the toaster Cylons on the ground. This is all a setup for simply the best visual effect I'v ever seen on BSG or maybe any other SF themed show. At one point, Anders turns to Tigh and says "Where's GALACTICA?" And Tigh says something like "The Old Man will be here, don't worry". At that moment, you look waaaaay up in the sky and see a little smudge. It's the Galactica, a ship designed to never enter Atmo, Jumping in about 11000 feet above the compound. And it proceeds to drop like a rock, with air burning off all around it and heating up from friction. That's when the Vipers launch off of all bays (points to the writers for adding the little bit from the thoughtful pilot saying to himself: "Hmm. This should be interesting"..) As the Vipers rush to engage the Cylon fighters, Galactica jumps out to orbit from about 600 feet above ground! Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be designed to do this sort of thing and we got lots of fizzing, popping, and what not and the jump drive goes down. Uh OH!

At this moment, In jumps two more Cylon base stars. Adama's reaction is perfectly written. "Well, That's it. We can't take on Four. Gentlemen, It's been an honor." What a fantastic little bit that is. He doesn't freak out, he calmly accepts the facts, knowing he's done his duty. At that moment, PEGASUS arrives, guns blazing.. going right into the heart of four base stars. One star goes down... then PEGASUS gets bracketed by three base stars... giving GALACTICA the time it needed to fix its drive and jump away. (Odd note: this is almost exactly a reprise of the OLD series demise of their PEGASUS, if you think on it). The mighty PEGASUS goes down under a hail of gunfire, but not before ramming one star head on and losing an engine nacelle by plowing it into another star, destroying it. What a fantastic ending for the Peggy. I'll miss her, but if you have to go out, it's best to take 3 enemies with you.

Not all the action was 100% sepcial effects. The show began with one of the most heart-wrenching sequences I've ever seen on the series, where Tigh feeds his own wife (who betrayed the resistance, albeit for noble reasons) poison. and holds here while she dies. Quite a tear-jerker. And the little bits with Laura taking "Her ship" over again, and Gaius leaving with the Cylons (where else could he go, after all?) were well done.

It's going to be hard for the BSG creative staff to top the EXODUS PART II episode, but I can hope...

I read an interesting post WikiEN-L list yesterday. WikiEN-L is the discussion list for WIKIPEDIA, the great online encyclopedia of note. The post was from Parker Peters, one of the administrative editors working entirely as a volunteer. Administrative Editors, apparently, manage the much larger pool of subject expert volunteers and subject their work to peer review. The post can be read in entirety here:

"Quitting WikiPedia and Wanted you to know why"

On one level, this reads like a parting shot at some individuals (and God knows, I've had my share of those). However, the author makes some interesting accusations of systemic abuse by the managing editors of Wikipedia. I don't want to quote him ad infinitum but the most cogent piece from the article is here:

I'm out. As long as the cult of adminship reigns here, wikipedia's not
going to improve. New articles may come and edits might be made eventually,
but the state of wikipedia, our accuracy, our reliability, WILL fail as long
as admins are allowed to champion abusive users or be abusive themselves and
simply get away with it time and again, rubber stamped by secret evidence
and higher-ups who are more interested in their own power than making a
better encyclopedia.

The response (from an another editor):

Being banned for speaking out? I know of no cases. The claim was most
frequently heard from the hydra commonly tagged "Enviroknnot", but he
was banned for being a pathological fuckwit and for assuming no-one
could possibly work out it was him every time just by looking at the
way he always came back making the same edits to the same bunch of
articles.

Wow, that makes the HMGS Issues and Answers list look cordial. I followed the thread with interest, particularly this response farther down: http://mail.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2006-October/054996.html

The whole thing is an interesting window into the world of Wikipedia. I'd heard that some of the editors on Wiki had a real bad case of holier than-thou from elsewhere (and the response about Enviroknnot does come to mind), but didn't know it was this widespread (allegedly). In any event, it's worth a read.

The (delayed) Categories for Round 7 of BPD game 2 (Wuerthy) shines the light on Theodore "Doctor Seuss" Geisel, famed writer of children's books, savage political cartoonist, and all around nice guy.



The Secret Letter is S

Categories:

Category 1: Name the TITLE of any work of Doctor Seuss

Category 2: Name a fantastic creature invented by Seuss WITH A RHYMING NAME

Category 3: Name an invented character by Seuss that is supposed to represent a human being.

Category 4: Name an anthropomorphic (like a human or having human features) device or creature by Seuss

Category 5: Name a real life person of consequence to Doctor Seuss (other than himself or a member of his nuclear family).

Category 6: Name a periodical publication that Seuss drew cartoons for.


Again, when it comes to a title, it doesn't need to START with an S. And S can be a first or last name.

A Modest Proposal

I love storytelling, and I love games, so you would think that storytelling games are a natural. I find that they are a hard sell to any gaming group, because, frankly, many gamers are shy and don't like being "out there" in front of a group, telling stories. So the following proposal is my attempt at bringing one of my favorite storytelling games to the realm of email.

PLAYING NANOFICTIONARY BY EMAIL OR ONLINE: FOUR PLAYER INSTRUCTIONS
Original Rules by Andy Looney
PBeM Revision by Walt O'Hara

Using Cyberboard for email games and/or VASSAL for real time games (eventually).

NANOFICTIONARY is a game of telling tiny stories published by the good folks at LOONEY LABS. Cyberboard is a free Windows based utility that can facilitate playing games by email.

References:
Nanofictionary- http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/2895
Cyberboard- http://cyberboard.brainiac.com

This Cyberboard gamebox and these instructions are provided as a free service to facilitate story telling games over the medium of email with a little help
from the web.

DISCLAIMER: NANOFICTIONARY remains the copyright and intellectual property of Looney Labs. It is assumed that the player(s) own an actual, physical copy of Nanofictionary before using and downloading this utility. This utility does not copy any of the artwork of the original game (beyond the logo) and you are depriving yourself of half the fun of the game without the real cards. See your local hobby shop, online retailer or go to http://www.looneylabs.com/OurStores/LooneyLabs.html to purchase a game. Nanofictionary is quite reasonably priced.

What is needed:

Four players (will expand to six if this approach playtests well)
Four Judges
A Cyberboard Savvy Referee
Someplace to post results and manage voting (like a blog or bulletin board)

Nanofictionary is primarily a story telling and judging game that uses a nice little card deck to facilitate common story telling elements (called Plot Devices) in the following five card categories:

ACTIONS: a meta-card that affects card play (purple)

and four types of color themed PLOT DEVICE CARDS:

CHARACTERS: A perons or persons that have a role in the story being told (green)
PROBLEMS: A complication to the current plot adding more depth to the plotline (orange)
SETTINGS: A place that has some impact on the story (blue)
RESOLUTION: A card that can end the story (yellow)

The rules to Nanofictionary are here: http://www.wunderland.com/LooneyLabs/Nanofictionary/Rules.html

Email Nanofictionary works pretty much like that for card handling and story writing, only the game will be refereed by a gamemaster (who might also play or judge) who will use Cyberboard to deal out cards and assign cards to players. MOST of the game will be handled with simple email notifications of what card players will be adding to their storytelling decks. The Judging phase might make use of some form of collaborative web technology to judge with. Scoring will be handled with a slight modification of the printed rules.

SEQUENCE:

1) CARD PHASE

The GM uses Cyberboard to "Deal" (pull five cards out of the .Draw Deck) for each of the players. The .Draw Deck is set to produce random pieces when tiles are dragged out of the "tray" in Cyberboard. The "random drag" feature of Cyberboard simulates a card deck reasonably well, as it was meant to do.

The players are sent an email of the cards they start with. Chances are they will *not* have enough cards to write a story immediately, as Nanofictionary states that You may have as many Characters in your story as you want; however, your story can only have one Problem, one Setting, and one Resolution. EXCEPTION: if the player states that a COMPLICATION Action Card (Purple) is being played. If that is played, then a second Problem, Setting, OR Resolution may be added from their hand.

Before the FIRST TURN ONLY, the players state what STORY ELEMENT CARD (green, blue, yellow, orange only, no purple) they wish to start their story with. As Cyberboard maintains a "map" graphic with tile overlays to represent pieces, the referee can send the players a picture of the "card table" graphic in Cyberboard, to illustrate what cards are in play at the start of the turn.


Figure 1: The Game Table as Depicted in Cyberboard


During the Card Phase, the players must email the GM that they are going to do one of the following:
1.) Add a Plot Device (Character, Setting, Problem, or Resolution) to your story, specifying WHICH of the cards in their hand they will add. Note that the plot devices you add to the story will be communicated to the other players UNLESS it is a RESOLUTION (yellow) card. That is always played "face down" in real NanoFic, and will not be revealed in email NanoFic.

Here is an example of a Character Card, a Problem Card and a Resolution Card:



2.) Use an Action card by discarding it and following its instructions
See Action Cards, below.

3.) Discard as many cards as you wish, and draw back to 5

ACTION CARDS in the PBeM game



Complication: Adds a second Setting, Problem, or Resolution to your Story from your current hand, then draw one card from the .Draw deck. Specify in email which card you wish to play.

Brainstorm: All active players draw a card from the .Draw, then give a card of their choice to you. You also draw an extra card for each inactive player. Then you play one card, and discard down to 5. The GM draws from the .Draw deck for each player and lets them know what it is via email. The player specifies which of their cards they will donate (by email) to the GM. The player using Brainstorm (there are only two in the game, btw) emails the GM which cards will go to the Discard deck.

Plagiarize: Steal a plot device from another player's story, by swapping it with a card from your hand that is of the same type. The Purple Action card is "played" by sending the GM an email saying "I am swapping my card X for player n card's Y". The card gets sent to the Discard bin, its job is done.

Uncrumple: Take any card out of the discard pile (except action cards), add it to your hand, then play one card. The Action card is discarded and the new (old) story element is back in your hand. The contents of the Discard pile are sent at the beginning of the turn. If you something you desire gets discarded in the current turn, you will simply have to pay attention.

Thus ends the CARD PHASE.

2. The WRITING PHASE

If the player has the minimal elements for a story in Nanofic terms (at least one character and only one setting, problem, and resolution per story), he/she might elect to "do a tell" (put together a story and allow the other players to hear/see it).

If we were all playing face to face (my favorite way of playing Nanofic), this would be done in the grand old style of the oral tradition. Alas, the Internet can't provide that sensation (yet?) and we can only weakly imitate with the written word. Given the restrictions of the written word, this is the Player's chance to excel. Nanofic's definition of a nanofiction is any story that encompasses every story element that has come into play for the player. Telling a NanoFic story is something more than writing a long run on sentence that mentions every term written on the cards. HUMANS read and score your NanoFic for this very reason.

This instruction can't tell you how to be creative; that part is up to you. Try to make stories brief (this IS *NanoFictionary* after all), approximately a para or two long (and not a long paragraph). Submit stories to the GM in text format, with Line Feeds and very basic formatting. The stories will be posted to a central point of access (a website, blog, bulletin board, etc.) so, please use some common sense about the content, as your name attachs to it.

Guidelines for writing are loose and easy-- as long as the judges can recognize the story elements you were dealt, you can make some contextual changes. You may change sex from male to female if you like, or plurals to singular and/or back again. Follow the guidelines that Andy Looney wrote for creating nanofictions, they still apply to the email game. Think of writing NanoFic as creating a Mad Lib in reverse. In Mad Libs, you are given the structure and asked to fill in variable terms. In NanoFic, you are given some specific terms and are asked to create the surrounding structure!

Examples taken from Figure 1:

North-West Player: "A Team of Super Scientists were plagued by terrible weather fluctuations all over the West Coast. By their prediction, a terrible super-storm was imminent and they had to come up with a solution, pronto! Just as things looked hopeless, their corrupt lab assistant, Benito, tipped them off about a weather-changing mcguffin that was stored in the Bus Depot, near locker 17. When they manged to jimmy the locker open, all they found were several plastic baggies filled with a strange white powder. Despite their strenuous objections, they each spent two years in jail for possession with intent to distribute. The irony was lost on them."

North-East Player: "The Bleary Eyed Waitress, Flo, went to the World's Fair in a vain attempt to lift her spirits. Each bright and shiny innovation on display at the Fair was a poignant reminder of stuff she would never own or a home she would never live in. Suddenly Flo's depressed reverie was shattered by screams! Up in the Sky loomed a menacing Circular object.. an Alien transport ship! A Hush fell over the crowd as the unseen speakers on the outside of the alien craft emitted: "PEOPLE OF EARTH-- WE ARE YOUR NEW MASTERS. WE HAVE COME A LONG WAY TO RIGHT AN INPONDERABLE WRONG! WE HAVE ARRIVED TO DISCOVER ... WHO STOLE MY BROWNIESSSSSSS????". No answer was forthcoming from the crowd, so a villainous death ray lashed over the planet, and the Earth was destroyed".

3. The JUDGING PHASE

If the GM is web-savvy, he will have set up a polling application on a website somewhere, facilitating voting for the current NanoFics. At the bare minimum try to have as many judge volunteers as you have players. Each judge reads the NanoFics for every submission, and gives it a score of 1 through 10. This is communicated to the GM in secret by each judge.

SCORING

Read this part carefully, as the Nanofictionary scoring system is somewhat different to streamline the process for email play.

Stories are scored in the following fashion:

Games are played in ROUNDS. The Game ENDS when the .Draw deck is empty.

A ROUND is complete once all four players submit stories. A player gets a COMPLETION BONUS AWARD for the order in which they complete their stories.

This is a Completion Bonus Marker in the Cyberboard gamebox:


There is a Completion Bonus Marker in the gamebox (1-6 for a maximum of six players, you only use as many as you have players). They are awarded in descending order, thus, the first person to submit a story receives the #4 Completion Bonus (and Four Points). The second person to submit a story gets the #3 completion Bonus (and Three points, etc.).

The first points a player gets is a completion bonus, per round. 4, 3, 2 or 1 points. More with more players.

Next, average the scores given by the (at least 4) judges. Add that to the player's score.

Next, add points for Action Cards played, per this table:

0 points per extra CHARACTER CARDS
1 point per extra PROBLEM CARD
2 points per extra SETTING CARD
3 points per extra RESOLUTION CARD

Total these points. In the unlikely event of a tie, dice off or flip a coin. Award First, Second and Third Awards per ROUND.

A Round Award looks like this:



FINAL GAME SCORE: Total Round Awards, as per this schedule

For every first place ROUND AWARD: 10 points
For every second place ROUND AWARD: 7 points
For every third place ROUND AWARD: 5 points

HIGHEST SCORE AT GAME END WINS THE GAME

What a Steaming Turd

Okay, maybe it's bad journalism to give the tell away in the header like that but I'm fed up. I've had one of these things for almost a year and I can't figure out how to make it make even the slightest sound.



In the meantime, I discover that Apple has already phased out this model and the NEW Ipod Shuffle is about the size of a thick postage stamp. This is ridiculous. All I want to do is play some podcasts and audio books. I don't need to see video, I don't want to spend a fortune on downloadable music.

What I've done and How I've done it so far:

I downloaded Itunes and subscribed to some podcasts.

I installed (for the second time) the Apple Ipod Firmware.

It initialized and wiped the Ipod (again).

I dragged and dropped the podcasts and sudiobooks and etc. into the Ipod. I played it back (through Itunes) using the files on the (recognized by Itunes) Ipod, which would indicate to me that the thing had loaded the songs. It plays through my PC with the Ipod in a USB port.

However, when I plug a pair of earphones (and I tried several kinds) into the Shuffle, I hear nada. Zip.

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG with my procedure? The last time I tried it, Apple's wonderful "troubleshooting" site said Uninstall Itunes and the Ipod software and try again. I have done so, and have experienced the same results as last time, which is to say, nothing.

Anyone ever have success in loading an Ipod from an XP platform? Someone had to have made this thing work, or else they wouldn't have sold a gazillion of them.

A New Form of Entertainment

Watching traffic patterns in the United States, where I live, is a pretty dull undertaking. Watching traffic patterns in downtown Calcutta, India, becomes hugely entertaining.

How could I have forgotten this?

I bumped into the perfect female at the Ren Faire last week, and forgot to bring it up... you can only imagine my chagrin!

Now that's progressive theater!

EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL is now playing in NYC, at the slightly off broadway New World Stage, in New York City. This definitely looks to be a cult hit to me. I like the idea a lot, but found out way too late to make plans.

Evil Dead: The Musical, a ‘dis-arm-ingly’ riotous musical comedy based on Sam Raimi’s 80s cult-classic horror films, unearths the old familiar story: boy and his friends take a weekend getaway at abandoned cabin, boy expects to get lucky, boy unleashes ancient evil spirit, friends turn into Candarian Demons, boy fights until dawn to survive. As musical mayhem descends upon this sleepover in the woods, “camp” takes on a whole new meaning in uproarious numbers like “All the Men in my Life Keep Getting Killed by Candarian Demons,” “Look Who’s Evil Now” and “Do the Necronomicon.” Buzzing chainsaws and dancing demons add to the frenzy, slaying audiences with this tale of lust, love and dismemberment.

Important Notice
The first two rows of the orchestra are the “Splatter Zone." Patrons in the “Splatter Zone” should be prepared to have a bloody good time…and dress accordingly.

I like the sounds of that last sentence.. heh heh heh...


With a little luck, it might go on the road, who knows?


If you can make it, tickets are available by pressing the button.

It's Tralfalgar Day, chaps. Time to hoist a glass to the greatest Navy of the 19th Century and one of the greatest of the 20th.



Now I am not advocating the approach of my friend Ian, here:

As I'm sure many will be aware, Trafalgar Day is upon us. I will presently be breaking open a bottle of rum in order to drink a toast to each of His Brittanic Majesty's ships. By the time I've done that, I'll no doubt be sufficiently mellow to drink a toast to the Monster's ships and his allies. By all means join in if you feel the urge.

but being a huge admirer Lord Nelson, I say huzzah times three!

Who has the most gigantic pair of mitts?

Rightwing attack-hound Ann Coulter?

Former Barry Bonds galpal Kimberly Bell?
Editor's Note: For pictures of Kimbery Bell naked .. I refer you to the upcoming Playboy issue featuring her pictorial. This is the only picture I have of the man-handed Miss Bell (chosen for obvious reasons-- check out how her huge paw dwarfs that cell phone). Judging from the 6000 hits I received yesterday, people are eager to see Kimberly Bell nude. Sorry, I can't help you. This isn't that kind of blog.



Perhaps pretentious Food Maven Giada De Laurentis? She has a gigantic pair of maulers-- usually softened by a generous cleavage shot to distract the eye.

media whore ex-con Paris Hilton?

He male or she male? YOU decide...

Well, okay, that's not fair. In the case of Paris, we've certainly seen her girl parts on display more than once. She insists upon it.

Lastly, there's the relentlessly uber-hawtie Uma Therman. I don't care if she does have gorilla hands; she may lay a Kong smackdown on me any day of the week.

Great for peering into the girl's locker room..

Saw this on the news today and thought it was fascinating:

Working invisibility cloak created at last
16:17 19 October 2006
NewScientist.com Justin Mullins

Related Articles
Invisibility cloak leaves the realm of magic at last
03 June 2006

Physicists draw up plans for real 'cloaking device' 25 May 2006

Perfect focus
14 April 2001

Bending light backwards
15 March 2003

David Smith, Duke University
Cloaking devices, Wikipedia

An invisibility cloak that works in the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum has been unveiled by researchers in the US. The device is the first practical version of a theoretical set-up first suggested in a paper published earlier in 2006.

The cloak works by steering microwave light around an object, making it appear to an observer as if it were not there at all. Materials that bend light in this way do not exist naturally, so have to be engineered with the necessary optical properties.

Earlier in 2006, John Pendry, a theoretical physicist at Imperial College London, UK, and colleagues showed how such an invisibility cloak could, in theory, be made (see Physicists draw up plans for real 'cloaking device'). Now David Smith and colleagues at Duke University in North Carolina, US, have proved the idea works.

In recent years, materials scientists have made rapid progress in making so-called "metamaterials", which can have exotic electromagnetic properties unseen in nature. These are made up of repeating structures of simple electronic components such as capacitors and inductors.

In 2001, Smith built a metamaterial with a negative refractive index, which bends microwaves in a way impossible for ordinary lenses. Now he has gone one step further.

Easy does it

"It's a real breakthrough," says Ulf Leonhardt, a physicist at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. "Paradoxically, it turns out to be easier to construct an invisibility cloak than it was to make the negative lens."

To simplify the problem, Smith's cloak works in only two dimensions. It is about the size of a movie reel canister and consists of a series of concentric rings, each housing a set of simple electronic components that distort an electromagnetic field as it passes through.

"Rather than the cloak's material properties being the same everywhere, its material properties vary from point to point and vary in a very specific way," says Smith. The combined effect of the rings is to steer microwaves around the central region of the device in which Smith hid a copper ring.

To study the effect of his cloak, Smith took images of microwaves flowing through the rings, like water waves moving across a pond. Without the cloak in place, the microwaves were reflected and diffracted by the copper ring. But with the cloak in place, the distortion was dramatically reduced.

Slight distortion
"It's not perfect," says Leonhardt. "If you could see in the microwave region of the spectrum, the copper ring would not quite disappear. You'd see perhaps a shadow and some slight distortion where the copper ring ought to be."

The device has another important limitation – it works only at a single specific frequency of microwave. "How it might be possible to make a device that works over a range of frequencies is an open problem," says Leonhardt. But Smith now hopes to build a 3D structure that could hide an object completely from view.

So far, the technology works only in the microwave region of the spectrum. The problem with visible light is that it has a much smaller wavelength, meaning an optical metamaterial would have to be built on the nanoscale, which is beyond the limits of current nanotechnology. It, too, would only work at a specific frequency.

"It's not yet clear that you're going to get the invisibility that everyone thinks about with Harry Potter's cloak or the Star Trek cloaking device," says Smith.

Journal reference: Science: (DOI: 10.1126/science.1133628)

To War!

When it comes to reenacting sometimes the Brits just do it better. When I was a wee lad, I was a member of the MARKLAND MERCENARY MEDIEVAL MILITIA, which was a medieval history and reenacting group that didn't take itself very seriously, and the Markland folk were always able to put on some great events. Their BATTLE OF HASTINGS event was just fantastic.. hordes of people would show up and we would manage to get... oh, I dunno, maybe 100 people on the field. We felt like this was quite an accomplishment for American reenactors. I just noticed a post on TMP for the "Live Steel Reenactment" of Hastings in the U.K. that made me realize that we Marklanders weren't playing in the big boy leagues just yet.



Click on the photo above to see how it's really done. Hundreds(!) lf reenactors, many on horse.. in relatively authentic gear and using choreographed real steel weapons. Wish I could have seen this.. sigh.

If you're waiting for Klaus to make his turn..

note: you can play Citadelles solo, while you wait for your fellow players on the Spanish site to submit turns, at this address:

http://citadellesjavagame.free.fr/phpBB2/index.php

You will need the Java Runtime Environment installed to make it run.

Here's a screen shot. The AI isn't all that bad.

SPOILERS

Okay, it's been a week, so I don't feel guilty about revealing anything.

Episode 2 was far more sentimental that I expected it would be. The crews of the Pegasus and Galactica are each moving off on separate assignments-- Lee is taking the remnant of the humans left (about 12000 people) and leaving for a rendevous spot, presumably to pick up the trek for Earth at some point. Adama is staging a rescue mission for the rest of the human population left behind on New Caprica.

Think on that a minute.

The Galactica is going to rescue the entire human colony, from a planet with a very small amount of arable land mass (providing very little in the way of "safe places to run to") and take them off while they are guarded by 3 base stars.

It's going to be an interesting plan. The Cylons are not quite what they once were, militarily. Still, one base star can take on one Galactica, so how will they deal with three?

Simply put, a bigass massive diversion, and the previews certainly indicate that. My prediction for this evening: Lee will disobey orders and bring the Pegasus into battle, and it might, just might, be curtains for the Pegasus. I hope not!!

The humans, of courss, will be pulled off of New Caprica, or there's not much of a Season Three, is there? Points to ponder: What will the Cylon reaction be once the humans head off? Will they chase and go back to combat operations, or was the "Cylon Perestroika" just a phase they went through? And what will happen to Baltar? How can he be in the show any more? He certainly can't leave with the fleet if he expects to live.

Recapping last week, I am very glad they played with the P.O.V. so much and made a rescue look like an ambush. I also glad they kept Laura around-- she's the heart of the show. They handled the guerilla strike/military ambush element very well by a series of jump cuts and shared points of view. Very nifty-- it's a technique that really draws one into a show.

The Diana/Cylon character is showing more depth and no longer looks simply malevolent. I loved the little conversation she has with Doc at one point, and the fact that they share ciggies and talk calmly about how Cylons dream. (Speaking of which, nice cameo by Amanda Plummer as another "Oracle" type. The implication is that she is *human* but Dianna certainly takes her predictions seriously. Interesting setup for a plot thread).

I'm not crazy about the baby coming back as a major plot thread-- it's a weak straw to hold onto. Oh well, at least it will give Grace Park something to do (and the audience a unique chance to see her give us one more facial emotion other than her standard two: Blank Rage or just Blank).

Did anyone catch Baltar in the "next week's episode" teaser... LAST week? Where he turns to Caprica 6 and says "What are you saying.. that *I* am a Cylon???" What happened to that one?

I won't be listening to the podcast for tonight's episode although it's already up there now. I want this to be a surprise for me, too.

Brother George!

At least it looks like him.

Way back in the day one of my favorite Public Access shows on earth issued forth from Lexington Kentucky. It was called Brains on Film, and it was great while it lasted. My own (failed) public access show, NICK RENO'S NEIGHBORHOOD, shamelessly tried to emulate their format. The Brains (Professor Tread, Brother George, and Jumpin' Joe) tried to get into the internet "thing" a while back and for a while, the BoF bulletin board was really jumping... sadly, Tread's schedule consigned it to oblivion from neglect.

So imagine my surprise and pleasure to see the Brains are back (sort of) and this time in front of a camera again. Brother George (I think... he's almost unrecognizable) is now doing reviews fro HyperReview.com, a "Brains on Film Production".



Reviews are short, irreverant, and very, very funny. I absolutely recommend this. Or should I say.. "if you like this sort of thing, you'll love this sort of thing.."

Meaning, reviews of horror and exploitation flicks.
We'll, you'll get it once you see it.

Just in from Howard

... Whitehouse, that is.

I've been dealing with the fine upstanding individuals that examine passports of people entering the US for more than 25 years. A significant number of them are idiots.

Yesterday Lori was at the wheel when we crossed from Ontario into the States at Lewiston. We'd been in Toronto for a week of me shamelessly huckstering my book and Lori starting on her rather more academically challenging book.

It's a young guard - sorry, official - in a snazzy woolly hat for the Buffalo area winter that apparently starts mid October.

Guard: "What are your nationalities?"

Lori: "I'm American, my husband is British."

Guard: "Does he speak English?"

Myself: "Quite a bit, actually." I am trying not to laugh. They don't like it when you laugh.

Lori: "Ah, Britain is where English comes from." Her generally very competent straight face is slipping.

I foresee the car being dismantled by minions of Homeland Security, possibly while a busload of terrorists marked 'Ottawa Al-Qaida' gets a cursory look over as elite specialists take apart my dirty washing, a big bag of old RAFM gaming figures and about $300 in used books (Canada's the place to buy second hand books)

Guard (possibly realizing his stupidity): "I have to hear him talk for himself!"

Myself: "Quite correct officer!" I almost salute.

We pass into New York, Lori grumbling, myself wishing I'd been smuggling in some Cuban cigars - the ones you can't bring in legally, and are thus sold from kiosks a half mile inside Canada, doubtless for the American who wants to smoke ten of them before he reaches the border. I don't smoke, but I shoulda done it anyway. H

Don't you feel secure now? Sleep well in your beds, tonight, America!



See you at Fall In, Howard.

The Manly, Chest-Thumping Edgar Rice Burroughs Round!

The secret letter is P

This round celebrates the fiction of EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS, the famous pulp writer from the 20s, 30s and 40s, inventor of Tarzan, Barsoom, and much more. ERB was hugely prolific during his lifetime. If you are unfamiliar with his work it is quite accessible on the web. Wikipedia has a very good jumping off article to start from.



1) Title of ANY Edgar Rice Burroughs Novel

2) Name of ANY Edgar Rice Burroughs Female Damsel in Distress

3) Name of ANY Edgar Rice Burroughs Sneering, Heartless Villain

4) Name of ANY Edgar Rice Burroughs Manly, Steel-Thewed Hero

5) Name of ANY place name from ERB's books, but NOT a planet

6) Name of ANY Imaginary Beast invented by ERB for his books


Have fun!

We went over and did the scouting recruitment thng for the Burke Volunteer Fire Department last Saturday. I thought this might be a bit of a chore but it actually was a great time. There was lots to do, with some neat little tchotchkes (& free popcorn and lemonade, too!).



(above) Jenkins! Put that down!



(above) That's a supervised activity!



(above) Take the walk of shame, kid. And don't come back until you can control your hose!



(above) Well, yes, son, I CAN hotwire public vehicles. Why do you ask?



(above) Gar mugs with giant pizza mutant. Imagine how much this job has to suck if the weather gets really hot. I bet this costume traps every fart the guy inside is ripping off. Ewwwwww.



(above) There was a lot of nifty fire and rescue stuff to clamber on. They didn't take our request to play with the Jaws of Life very seriously.



(above) Seems innocent, eh? Well, I had just told Gar the Legend of Man-Dog, Eater of Young Children, with his giant red helmet and slavering jaws! You'd be nervous too!

We had a great time, did some recruiting for scouts and actually managed to make something positive happen. It made for a fun Saturday.

Neat little forced perspective short film.. it won a few awards here and there. Check it out.

Here I was again, driving up the accursed highway that had so badly foiled our attempts at Elizabethan Enjoyment last week.



Nooooo! What had I done wrong?

Two things were different: 1) I was driving at a steady (legal) pace with nary a car in sight. 2) This was a command performance, bringing me to an Elizabethan wedding at an unusually early hour, wee bairns in tow. Drey had two friends from the VARF that were tying the knot at the Maryland Faire in high Eliza-tudorian style, with a clergyman of some fashion (dressed in Cardinal's robes to boot) officiating the ceremony, live and onstage. Seemed like a gas.

"Dress" for the event was "dress like a character out of THE PRINCESS BRIDE by William Goldman. I decided to buy the minimal implements for a costume of a ROUS (Rodent of Unusual Size). By minimal, I mean exactly that. We stopped in PARTY CITY and I picked up mouse ears (too cutsie) and a big rat nose with buck teeth. I thought i'd get some grey facepaint to "rattify" my appearance.. A gray sweatshirt rounded off my "rat pelt".

When I got there it became evident that I would have looked like a jerk if I wore my 'costume' so I stowed it in Drey's Lady Basket and drank some beer instead

My offers of a strong back and a weak mind were all gratefully accepted by the lady folks, so we rapidly transformed the Dragon' s Kneecap into an impromptou wedding reception site. Tudor, Stuart, Georgian or Elizathen, there's one constant in life; there's a kind of person that enjoys putting these things together with Prussian-like efficiency, and there's a kind of person that just grins and hauls things around at the direction of the first sort of person. I know which group I belong to. Oddly enough the first group is almost always female.



The spread was quite charming and the fare delicious, along the nature of finger foods. I would have been honored to set such a trencher at my owne reception, were it to happen to me.

Here's the happy groom:



And thus, off we went to the ceremony, which was short and very cheerful.



The wedding party, which included such worthies as "Hack n' Slash",(apparently they are big with the locals) assembled on stage for a few last minute comparison of notes. It was obvious that split second timing would be the watchword for the day's festivities.



Most of the wedding party assembles. You can see that I would have looked silly with my mouse ears.



The bride approaches, and she looks splenderiffic.



With our happy company assembled, the wedding ceremony commenced with a loud and stentatorian "TWU WUV...." A parody of The Impressive Clergyman played by Peter Cook in the movie THE PRINCESS BRIDE. And the rest of the ceremony, to our great amusement, was delivered sounding like Elmer Fudd. Funny stuff!!



The Happy Bride and Groom greet the assembled crowd, to much adulation.

The King showed up when he heard the signal that the buffet line was open.



The kids had a wonderful time at the ceremony and at the reception. Garrett acted up so I had to take somewhat draconion measures to keep his yap shut..



The rest of the day was quite pleasant. A local school (local to Annapolis, that is, as in the Key School) has a wonderful Morris Dancing team. I love Morris Dancing, and the crowd of kids they had show up to dance were at least enthusiastic, which is 90# of anything.



There was the occassional nasty crack from the locals about people getting all dressed up like a bunch of sissies, but a gentleman ignores these things.



Annie took off with her pal, Autumn (yes, her real name) leaving Garrett and I to fend for ourselves. Garrett wanted to run all over the place willy nilly but I told hime to have a Hart and slow down for his pour weary pater.



We had a great time walking around, Drenching wenches...



Tossing axes while wearing silly hats...



And then, HUZZZZZZZZAH!!! Sam Adams showed up to host a beer tasting. Free Beer from 2 to 4! Thassh what I lak!



The stilt ladies had some... wheew! Watch out, she's weaving! Pretty funny, watching mimes chug-a-lugging, isn't it?



After this many beers, I figured out the methodology of maximum free beer intake. Order two freebies, walk to the end of the line, and drink them while your'e busy making up your mind what to order next time. Have some nice conversation with your fellow sots.



Looking a little wobbly there, sweetheart!

And I don't hesitate to mention...

Even with this many beers:



That person in black and gold STILL looks like a dude.



In fact, he/she was a dude.

Part of the Ren Faire's funnest game..

HE MALE OR SHE MALE: YOU BE THE JUDGE!

SHE MALE:



(Divine in Medieval drag)

HE MALE




Just another goofy smiling guy with a long wig on.



Drey, Gar and I caught the Scottish Rogues, a very good bagpipe and percussion group, towards the end of the day. If it had been a Saturday, we would have stayed for Pub Sing... however it was a school night and we had to git going.. Farewell, Ren Faire, AGAIN!

And Farewell to all the people... lots and lots and lots of people...



That's when we hit the @#$!@% Redskins traffic on the way home. Swell. TWO HOURS TO GET HOME!!!!

You just can't win.