You hear that, Mr Andersen?

SciFi News, Machinima, Coffee

While I'm on a linking jag -- popping a waterballon in zero-g? Yeah, that sounds kinda cool. :) And a website that takes a sci-fi eye to the news? If it tells me that the US Military are planning on building Thunderbird 2, it gets thumbs up in my book. :)

Oh, and there's an article about that nifty automatic door that I've mentioned to people -- with some background about where automatic doors first appeared in science-fiction. (Jules Verne's 1889 novella In the Year 2889, as it happens.)

And in crazy comic links -- Dr McNinja! He's a doctor! And a ninja! And he doesn't hire night janitors!

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Our participation in the Halo movie looks to be much more official now, which has kicked speculation about who's going to be kept on into high gear. They've actually pulled finger and told two or three I.T. people that they won't be being asked back, and one of the Systems team was leaving to spend more time with his kids and being a musician. I'm fairly sure that I'll be asked back, but it's never certain; I'll see what they offer me, and make sure my C.V. is up to scratch, and wait until the end of November.

Getting back to Halo -- there's an interesting article on machinema (which has to be one of the ugliest neologisms that I've seen for a while), which talks about how much easier it is to evoke humour than drama using game engines. Basically, they contend that the key limitation is how much emotion can be shown -- the polarized helments or fixed expressions makes it difficult to show how the characters feel. On the other hand, I remember Pixar doing some remarkable things animating swivel-arm lamps.

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And finally, I'm not a coffee drinker, but I can appreciate how
good-looking a cup of the stuff can be made. On the other hand -- unless you leave the tea-bag in for a half-hour, you're not likely to mess up a nice cup of gumboot tea.

One huge exception to the "tea is easier" rule is international flights -- I've yet to have a cup that wasn't stewed beyond belief. Apparently, this is to do with the reduced atmospheric pressure, which lets water boil at too low a temperature to properly steep the leaves. This reminds me of an anecdote that I was told, many moons ago -- apparently British Airways have developed a device to make tea under pressure, so you can get a decent cup mid-flight, and a extra-super-special-safe toaster (since aircraft authorities tend to frown on exposed heating elements). A cup of tea and toast might not sound like much, but after 20 hours in the air...

Good luck to friends and family flying internationally in the next 2-3 months! :)

Posted by svend at October 19, 2005 3:25 PM