Post-operative care

This is Bruce (our kitten):

p2140003-modified-in-gimp-image-editor

He was recently neutered inline with RSPCA recommendations.

Aside from a little drowsiness when we picked him up, he’s been just as energetic as always. We didn’t notice any side-effects until yesterday… when I came home to a putrid odour.

This gets a little gross, so I’m putting the rest of the story after the jump.

Continue reading “Post-operative care”

Cybernetic superorganisms

I woke up this morning to the thought that we’re already cyborgs.

At a biological level, we’re all superorganisms mostly comprising bacteria due to the human body’s dependance on human flora.

I think it’s fairly easy to draw parallels to cybernetics at a higher practical level. There is a lot of technology that is very much a part of who we are, and that makes us cyborgs: organisms that have enhanced abilities due to technology.

I don’t want to bother talking about obvious enhancement technology (eg. the bionic ear, hearing aids, glasses) because I think that there is a fair case for all people to be considered cyborgs based on more basic universal technology: clothing and language.

Clothing is fairly universal and serves a number of purposes such as improving: our temperature control, our durability, and our personal appearance. It’s also obviously man-made (technology) due to it’s physicality.

Language is less obvious; I’m not sure that most people would consider it “technology” at first. However, it is a construct that has been developed extensively over the course of human history.

Complex communication and collaboration aren’t possible without language, so it greatly enhances our social abilities. Perhaps more importantly, it greatly enhances our memory (particularly when combined with music and writing).

Fundamentally, language facilitates complex thought: What language do you think in? We need language and it’s as much a part of who we are as our human flora and human body.

We’re cybernetic superorganisms (and that sounds pretty cool to me!).

TAB trading on Good Friday

I just read this ABC News article on “outrage” over the TAB trading on Good Friday. I’m flabberghasted that anyone could even attempt to dignify this outrage.

In a modern multi-cultural society, no reasonable person can assert that the entire country must observe a certain religious practice. (In this case, no gambling or drinking on Good Friday.)

There is absolutely nothing stopping devout Christians from not going to the TAB on Friday. Why should everyone else be forbade from spending their time however they see fit? The entire notion is preposterous and discriminatory. Bah!

Update: A number of years ago I was at a Pot Black when the police arrived to shut the place down. It turns out that they had a liquor license and (although they were not serving liquor) they could not operate on Good Friday. The police waited until everyone left. That’s nuts.

Cheap games (Devil May Cry 4, Prince of Persia)

I picked up Devil May Cry 4 (Xbox360) and Prince of Persia (PS3) on sale at BigW. Pretty good prices (~$30, ~$60); there’s a list of current sales at PALGN).

I’m not sure when I’m going to play them though. It seems that I only really finish casual or download games recently. Prior to PSN and XBLA, I never realised that putting a disc into a console was a barrier to getting around to playing a game… but apparantly it is.

I still haven’t played Valkyria Chronicles or Uncharted. I might talk to Dan to see if he wants to feature any on Teh Learning Curve.

Anyone else having trouble getting into “full” games recently?

Laptop for kids

Heidi finally got a new laptop (Compaq CQ60 118TX) on Friday, so I went about repurposing her old computer (Asus S1300A; Pentium3 1GHz, 128Mb RAM) for use by her niece and nephew.

Given that she’s had the same install of Windows XP on it for… ever (2002), it’s been running insanely slowly. However, we figured it would be fine with a lightweight version of Linux. After all, the kids only really need a web-browser so that they can play flash games right?

Anyhow, the tail-end of the story is that the machine is now running a clean recovery version of Windows XP (and currently downloading SP3). I tried a bunch of Linux distributions and they were either too memory or processor intensive (most commonly) or just too esoteric to hand over to someone else. Maybe I should have tried older versions of Linux…

Here’s the list of Linux distributions I tried:

  • Ubuntu 8.10: required Alternative install CD; memory requirements were too high
  • Xubuntu 8.10: required Alternative install CD; processor too slow
  • Debian 5.0 + LXDE: processor stepped to 600MHz by default; Browser (Ice Weasel) performance too slow; too esoteric
  • gOS 3.1 Gadgets: CD wouldn’t boot (uses ISOLinux); could use a boot floppy, but the laptop doesn’t have a floppy drive

At that point time was running out and I used the recovery CDs that came with the laptop to return to Windows XP. Performance is much better under Windows XP for this particular hardware, although I’ve ordered an additional 256Mb of RAM which should help a lot for Linux.

I’m considering trying to install Ubuntu 7.10 and then installing the gOS packages, but it’s going to be tough justifying putting more time into this if Windows XP SP3 works fine.

Update: I should mention that I used the awesome Super Grub Disk to fix the MBR (to boot into Windows) after using the recovery disks. It was a great tool for MBR repair.

Update: Installing Puppy Linux as per Rich’s suggestion. The Live CD was crazy fast, wifi worked without hassle, and the browser (Sea Monkey) comes with a flash player! 🙂

Joint art exhibit plans

Just caught up with Simon for lunch and a bit of follow-up on our previous plans for a collaborative art exhibition. Since my trip to Japan, I’ve been pretty keen to have a small exhibition as a sort of concentrated and directed alternative to the traditional having-people-over-and-boring-them-with-holiday-photos.

We’ve laid out a basic timeline and are planning on 4-5 pieces each (some composed of multiple works). It was great discussing concepts and planning how they could be represented. We’re going for a sort of high-art/low-art approach contrasting relatively traditional concept realisation with more… progressive approaches.

I won’t say too much more because I don’t want to pollute the experience with pre-conceptions. Hopefully we’ll pull things together by the end of next month, and be ready to exhibit in early May. Yay!

Goodbye Interzone

I thought that I would use the same title as Joseph’s goodbye post to let people know that I’ve formally resigned from my position as a VP at Interzone Entertainment.

As announced on the corporate website and as evident by the Australian Interzone Futebol website, the team is currently preparing for an Australian Closed Beta (the first English-language Closed Beta for the game).

If you are a PC-gamer or soccer fan in Australia (especially if you are in Perth) you should really check it out. I can’t reveal any game details here, but I will say that it is a fantastic game built by some amazing people!

I’m immensely proud to have led the development team in getting the game to this point, and I have every confidence in those that will be taking it to a commercial launch and beyond.

I’m going to live the quiet and relaxed life for a while; with marriage in a couple of months and a lot of blogging in my near future. Take care Interzone. 🙂

Continue reading “Goodbye Interzone”

May eventually get an iPhone or iPod Touch

I don’t really want anything else out of a phone other than good battery life and the ability to make and recieve phone calls and send and recieve sms messages. I also don’t really listen to music “on the go”; I much prefer just listening to the sounds of the environment I’m moving through.

However, I may eventually get an iPhone or iPod Touch. Why? The games. I tend to buy hardware for a game platform when there are enough games (released or imminent) to justify the purchase. This happened pretty quickly for the Wii and DS, but took a lot longer for the PS3, PSP, and finally the Xbox360.

In general, I haven’t been very impressed with iPhone games. However, it looks like there are a few worthwhile games amongst the plethora of ports, crappy games, and titles that I’m just not interested in. Maybe when I find four games that I really like, I’ll jump into a purchase.

Cam showed me Zen Bound the other day and it looks awesome.

I’m also interested in Eliss, which is highly recommended over at OddWorld.

Finally, I’m keen to check out RjDj (not a game) and Chris’s GhostWave.

Anyone have any iPhone or iPod Touch game recommendations?

I don’t really want anything else out of a phone other than good battery life and the ability to make and recieve phone calls and send and recieve sms messages. I also don’t really listen to music “on the go”; I much prefer just listening to the sounds of the environment I’m moving through.

However, I may eventually get an iPhone or iPod Touch. Why? The games. I tend to buy hardware for a game platform when there are enough games (released or imminent) to justify the purchase. This happened pretty quickly for the Wii and DS, but took a lot longer for the PS3, PSP, and finally the Xbox360.

In general, I haven’t been very impressed with iPhone games. However, it looks like there are a few worthwhile games amongst the plethora of ports, crappy games, and titles that I’m just not interested in. Maybe when I find four games that I really like, I’ll jump into a purchase.

Cam showed me Zen Bound the other day and it looks awesome.

I’m also interested in Eliss, which is highly recommended over at OddWorld.

Finally, I’m keen to check out RjDj (not a game) and Chris’s GhostWave.

Anyone have any iPhone or iPod Touch game recommendations?

Perth games industry survey

I’ve put a Perth games industry survey up at:

I announced the survey on the IGDA Perth and PIGMI mailing lists around 15 minutes ago and there have already been over 20 responses!

Here’s a blurb from the survey introduction:

The information gathered by this survey will be used to produce a Perth games industry profile document, which will summarise general characteristics and capabilities of the local industry. We want to facilitate organic and sustainable growth to help ensure a long-term future for game developers in Perth, and a clear objective assessment of the local industry is an important part of making this happen.

We want to hear from you if: you are in the industry, want to get into the industry, or even if you have left the industry. We will greatly appreciate if you could take the time to complete this survey.”

If you are part of the Perth games development community, please take a few minutes to complete the survey. I’ll present initial results at the IGDA Perth meeting tomorrow and put a more detailed report online in a few weeks.

I’ve put a Perth games industry survey up at:

I announced the survey on the IGDA Perth and PIGMI mailing lists around 15 minutes ago and there have already been over 20 responses!

Here’s a blurb from the survey introduction:

The information gathered by this survey will be used to produce a Perth games industry profile document, which will summarise general characteristics and capabilities of the local industry. We want to facilitate organic and sustainable growth to help ensure a long-term future for game developers in Perth, and a clear objective assessment of the local industry is an important part of making this happen.

We want to hear from you if: you are in the industry, want to get into the industry, or even if you have left the industry. We will greatly appreciate if you could take the time to complete this survey.”

If you are part of the Perth games development community, please take a few minutes to complete the survey. I’ll present initial results at the IGDA Perth meeting tomorrow and put a more detailed report online in a few weeks.

Update: Almost 50 responses so far! Thanks to everyone who participated. Please tell your friends!