You hear that, Mr Andersen?

Nemesis, Boiling eggs, Double-wire

I now have a nemesis. Not whoever it was that pulled the top off my letterbox; even if it wasn't the wind (and the wind has been pretty gusty), I'd have no idea who it was.

Not the drunk girl who punched me in the arm for no reason as we were walking past each other on Courtney place last Saturday, either; I laughed when it happened, and I stand by my initial instinct. Besides, you're judged by the quality of your nemesis, so I'm looking for something a bit more upmarket.

No, my nemesis, if I have identified the breed correctly correctly, is a Smooth Fox Terrier. It has rushed at me, barking and growling, several times while I ambled to and from work. I'm not sure what I've done to offend it, other than be walking past the retirement complex where it's owner seems to live at a time when it was out and about; but the enmity seems so sincere, it would be churlish not to reciprocate. I suppose I shouldn't be too worried, since the amount of damage it could do is probably minimal; on the other hand, I would probably try to defend myself it went in for a nip, even though I wouldn't want to actually hurt it.

Maybe I should carry a spray-bottle or something? No, wait, that's for cats. Maybe a rolled-up newspaper? Maybe I can ward them off with a Telstra bill, in the same way vampires are warded off by the cross... no, that would only work on Spot the Telecom Dog (who has apparently passed away, by the by). It's a predicament.

* * *

I've seen a few neat music-related things recently. For example, Australia's CSIRO have made an air-guitar shirt, so even when you don't have a guitar, you can play... well, a synth with a unusual input device, I guess. They claim it's very easy to learn, but I can imagine Dr Sax saying the same thing when he introduced his brass instument.

Now, the punk scene was famous for being full of bands who didn't know how to play their instruments, but I guess the "Amateur" music video takes it to a new, yet still musically satisfying, level.

And finally, for Not-Kate, among others, here's a useful guide to boiling eggs -- by specifying which songs you can listen to for different hardness yolks.

* * *

I'm still going to write some more about the Tuesday game, but I kinda want ot post this, so here's a nifty flash thing that lets you combine tops &
bottoms of faces, sometimes with startling results.

Oh, and there's a pretty neat site that animates Leonardo da Vinci's illustrations, although it reminds me of the Wonder animations in Civilization IV a bit too much to be truely impressive.

And I may as well let you lose as much time as I have: Double Wires could be a very credible Spiderman game if it wanted to; though then again, Marvel would probably sue the pants off them if they infringed on Marvel's intellectual properties, so it's all for the best.

But just so I don't neglect the roleplaying entirely -- a My Little Ponies RPG aimed at the 3-7 girls market? Why not, indeed?

Posted by svend at November 17, 2006 7:58 PM