Oslo, and trying to get around a stupid law that may force me to move
I have no intentions of moving, I like it here, stupid alcohol laws notwithstanding. I also like the word "notwithstanding"; I think it should be used more frequently.
You still in Aus? I seem to remember you got a position back in Blighty?
(Offline for half an hour or so, going into work. But back soon.)
Nah, not being deported, just that the unions, attempting to help people on temporary contracts, pushed through a law that says if you're four years in one job you have to be given a permanent position. Doubtless that even does help a lot of people given temporary contracts, but it seriously fucks things up in academia because there aren't many permanent positions to go around the universities have no desire whatsoever to make me permanent on the strength of four years' postdoctoral work - and neither should they. Of course, I only learned of this at the end of January, a week after I'd decided not to apply for permanent positions here because I'm happier as a postdoc.
Fucking trade unions, trying to improve people's working conditions.
Can't you have a new temporary contract or something?
Do you speak Norwegian now?
Things are okay. I want to move house but apparently London is hosting the greatest greco roman wrestling tournament in the world soon and so everything is expensive.
I can have a new temporary contract if I move to a different institution
in the past it was good enough just to change job title but that's the loophole they decided to close. No-one's quite sure what will happen because nothing's been tested in court yet. All a bit of a pain.
I speak less Norwegian now than when I moved here, and I feel a bit more ashamed every day. Someday soon I'll feel ashamed enough to start learning again...
You live in London already, right? Rent out your house and go on holiday! It'll be shit while the Greco-Roman wrestling contest is on anyway, horribly overcrowded, and with traffic that we can guarantee isn't going to move, hastily-built cable cars over the Thames notwithstanding. I'm expecting a massive exodus of Londoners all pocketing filthy amounts of lucre for the duration.
Ah but how if it were four Ghanian *supporters* of the archery team?
No lethal weapons on open display, money in the pocket, holiday in the South of France - job's a good'un.
And I like the cut of your gib. Or jib. However it's spelled. I don't need too much Norwegian, after all, and I can copy/paste from the Tory manifesto. Hmm...
although I'm going to ask whether this is possible. I wouldn't mind sitting out a week of the winter in southern Italy where at 10 degrees or so it'll feel like the middle of summer...
(reali'm not happy 'til you're not happy,
Sat 14 Apr 2012, 8:03,
archived)
I've been lurking here long enough to be dubious
But regardless I clicked anyway - damn my curiosity.. Damn you Deagostini...
(Apothecaries' weight- I'm a cyborg, but that's OK,
Sat 14 Apr 2012, 8:06,
archived)
never again will it be so obvious
you WILL be horsed many, many, times again in the future, but they will be far more devious
(reali'm not happy 'til you're not happy,
Sat 14 Apr 2012, 8:09,
archived)
furthermore,
you'll never be able to see a horse, be it a pic, or otherwise, without thinking 'i love horses'. DO NOT act on these thoughts
(reali'm not happy 'til you're not happy,
Sat 14 Apr 2012, 8:13,
archived)
Ha ha ha
* Bangs head on desk
Why, why, why did I click that!!!!
(Wobbly BlokeHello, did I miss anything on,
Sat 14 Apr 2012, 8:24,
archived)
^ Not really, I am normally up about 6:00
How are you hanging?
(Wobbly BlokeHello, did I miss anything on,
Sat 14 Apr 2012, 8:23,
archived)
Oi Wobbly!
I'm still in bed, and how do you expect me to know when to get up unless you post some VAGCREAMS? If you're not going to, then bring us a cup of tea at least ;)
(da5id<YOUR SIG HERE>,
Sat 14 Apr 2012, 8:20,
archived)
Hang on, I am just about to post them..
(Wobbly BlokeHello, did I miss anything on,
Sat 14 Apr 2012, 8:25,
archived)
I just wanted to let you know that we're all counting on you
good luck
(mediocreha ha ha, you're reading this,
Sat 14 Apr 2012, 8:49,
archived)
The dreaded Jonesy Quadrifuck!
Backstage I'm guessing?
(HairyTwattercertified eel and sodium salesman,
Sat 14 Apr 2012, 14:31,
archived)
(mofaha┐( ˘_˘)┌ ʅ(́◡◝)ʃ,
Sat 14 Apr 2012, 4:28,
archived)
This is awesome.
Not only that, I just discovered from your profile you did the 'makes me moist' thing and the bus slogan generator. Two of my favourite b3ta things ever! Well done you talented bastard ;-)
(da5id<YOUR SIG HERE>,
Sat 14 Apr 2012, 7:31,
archived)
(Puromycinis still licking windows,
Fri 13 Apr 2012, 23:51,
archived)
I had to set 30 insect traps today
all about the library, which I hate doing
(JahledThree shades of black,
Fri 13 Apr 2012, 23:43,
archived)
Look on the bright side...
...at least the insects make a tasty, albeit crunchy, treat
(Puromycinis still licking windows,
Fri 13 Apr 2012, 23:52,
archived)
It's pretty grim
The traps I set for them basically involve glue and a tablet of invertebrate friendly scent which lures the fuckers into the den of death. It can get quite heavy if the spiders that crawl into their doom are rather large.
Freaks the fuck out out me
(JahledThree shades of black,
Sat 14 Apr 2012, 0:15,
archived)
why?
is it the library from the opening scene of ghostbusters?
(polished turd404 pixels wide,
Sat 14 Apr 2012, 0:04,
archived)
We have some historical original art pieces that belong to humanity
a few ants and spiders can be die for, but it still troubles me
(JahledThree shades of black,
Sat 14 Apr 2012, 0:29,
archived)
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit GOOD ARTS
I saw the word, maccabees, and I almost made a connection to some Jewish cultural phenomenon, but cannot place it. But now I nearly understand the punnage, so beautifully done. Smarter folks were smitten.
Is this with Blender's new tracker? You have done an excellent camera solve top work.
(maidenis filmed before a live studio audience,
Fri 13 Apr 2012, 22:18,
archived)
Yes it's with Blender
This was the best solve I've had yet. I have lots that fail badly and some that solve well except for a little stutter here and there which messes it all up!
Luckily because the camera was pretty shaky it covered up the bad tracking :D
(maidenis filmed before a live studio audience,
Fri 13 Apr 2012, 22:24,
archived)
I remember your hedgehog.
Something that's moving will help too if there's some jittery bits. But anything static that suddenly jumps sideways or tilts on one frame looks really weird.
Absolutely and you will have to show me how you did your boids too
the trout models are great and they have that wonderful tail flick to really sell their realism - I actually thought it was video footage composited onto the scene.
(maidenis filmed before a live studio audience,
Fri 13 Apr 2012, 22:33,
archived)
Ah.. the boids were "fun".
Blender's lack of documentation, and out of date documentation is a major pain with the new version. I was tearing my hair out at times! But after lots of youtube tutorials, half-correct docs and some fiddling about I got there in the end.
(maidenis filmed before a live studio audience,
Fri 13 Apr 2012, 23:01,
archived)
Yes I read that one
But it's not true about having to have the animated bird on an active layer. It just has to have a layer in common with the boids particle emitter, but that layer can be off. If you look at the source file for this tutorial the multiple/grouped animated birds are visible in the camera view and look weird - a giant multi-winged thing. But he seems to have removed them from the video on the web.
Also for mine I had to point the models in the positive Y direction, not X to make them the right way around when they moved. This was in edit mode. It's no good just turning it.
But that's a pretty good tutorial, that's actually for 2.6 and has all about the boids, animating, and using groups. Which is pretty much all you need. Give it a go!
You can also bung in force fields, wind, goal objects and collision barriers. All good fun!
I started out with a basic animated model but it turned to a mess and I mustn't have followed a step right or something, probably from what you are saying it was because of the orientation and not visible but in the same active layer. I will endeavour to worth through problems and get something working, glad to see a few b3tans have gone the way of Blender for a free application and with so many free tutorials it should be a lot more popular than it is.
(maidenis filmed before a live studio audience,
Sat 14 Apr 2012, 8:39,
archived)
Yesterday I started working with Blender, it's blown my tiny mind with its incredibly complex interface
I can see how rewarding it is when you eventually get it right and render something worth rendering. I have yet to do this.
Last year's baby crows are just starting to build a nest. I was outside just now and they were happily floating around me. I try my best to keep a bunch of scraps out for them. So they like me. It's somehow related to airfish.
that looks like the annoying Deling City level of Final Fantasy 8
(h3donisttryin' to play me out as if my name is Sega..,
Fri 13 Apr 2012, 22:11,
archived)
XD Just came up from somewhere very similar
(Paul_Phttp://www.Paul-hub.com,
Sat 14 Apr 2012, 0:14,
archived)
teefs!
(alpacamuffalo bozzerella,
Sat 14 Apr 2012, 1:06,
archived)
"I realise that command does have its fascination, even under circumstances such as these, but I neither enjoy the idea of command nor am I frightened of it. It simply exists, and I will do whatever logically needs to be done."
Good old Winston
(SipowiczOfficial member of Team Seam,
Fri 13 Apr 2012, 21:16,
archived)
especially being able to distract opponents with a rubber chicken.
(Corkydogis neither a dog nor made of cork.,
Fri 13 Apr 2012, 20:10,
archived)
haha but I can see through my nerd eyes that you have never actually played World of Warcraft?
(maidenis filmed before a live studio audience,
Fri 13 Apr 2012, 20:11,
archived)
No yet
although I suspect the time may come soon. Was it the old-school D&D style stats that gave it away?
(Matazonehas new icons, but is keeping this one,
Fri 13 Apr 2012, 20:13,
archived)
indeed :D
But I suggest WoW is waning so aim for Eve or Star Wars the Old Republic (SWTOR)
(maidenis filmed before a live studio audience,
Fri 13 Apr 2012, 20:14,
archived)
I friend is trying to get me into WOW and SWTOR too.
He's rather geeky, and as a guy who lectures in games design (although never the MMO genre) I feel I really should have played them, so my years of avoiding WOW will probably end soon.
It's like sex and LARPing - once you've done it once, I can never un-do it.
(Matazonehas new icons, but is keeping this one,
Fri 13 Apr 2012, 20:28,
archived)
I have been playing WoW since vanilla days but it got so routine and too many squabbles over loot if you go raiding
I quit from my guild and left WoW altogether. Not sure I have time to go back or to even try SWTOR under bootcamp on my Mac. But it's a massive timesink and I really don't have the time anymore.
(maidenis filmed before a live studio audience,
Fri 13 Apr 2012, 20:31,
archived)
That's another reason I've avoided them
I had a PhD to do, and business to run, girlfriend to... Things. I'm trying to to get my real life sorted before working much more on a fictional one. (He writes before going to drink beer and pretend to be a Renassiance assassin... See ya!)
(Matazonehas new icons, but is keeping this one,
Fri 13 Apr 2012, 20:39,
archived)
Wait! you have a girlfriend? Then I think you are barred from playing World of Warcraft
you need to live on your own and be able to raid every weekend on the dot even if you're not required for the raid you have to turn up just in case. You are not allowed a social life lol ;)
(maidenis filmed before a live studio audience,
Fri 13 Apr 2012, 20:43,
archived)
Darn!
*goes off to have concilatory sex*
(Matazonehas new icons, but is keeping this one,
Fri 13 Apr 2012, 20:55,
archived)
:D
(maidenis filmed before a live studio audience,
Fri 13 Apr 2012, 20:56,
archived)
Hahaha! Fantastic. War animals FTW.
(Fresh Water Moleloves his baby boy more and more every day,
Fri 13 Apr 2012, 21:16,
archived)
:D
(Matazonehas new icons, but is keeping this one,
Fri 13 Apr 2012, 22:35,
archived)
Quiet here tonight. All watching the piano finals of the BBC Young Musician, I'll be bound.
meanwhile, I am quite irate that my bus ad got banned.
(Corkydogis neither a dog nor made of cork.,
Fri 13 Apr 2012, 20:02,
archived)
(Corkydogis neither a dog nor made of cork.,
Fri 13 Apr 2012, 20:09,
archived)
I'm not an Anglican vicar
I'm an Anglican vicar's son, and I'm only Angling vicars until the Anglican vicar cums.
(Matazonehas new icons, but is keeping this one,
Fri 13 Apr 2012, 20:14,
archived)
Pranks and japes
Dunno if this should go in links or talk so I'll just dump it here.
Oh I do love a good prank.
My brother shares my flat with me and as brothers are wont to do we play the occasional prank on each other.
One of these is very juvenile but it involves bursting in on the other and whomever can flick the finger fast enough wins that round - I know, I know but it's quite amusing when you're stoned.
He's off to Nigeria for work tonight so had all his packing out and his passport......
So I've taken 3 pictures of me flipping him the bird - one is inside his laptop, so when he opens the lid - tahhhhdaaaa! - one is folded up in the pocket of a pair of his trousers.
The last one is lightly stuck to the page bang opposite his current Nigerian Visa - Hopefully he'll find this one when he gets to immigration in Abuja
"I have negotiated my way out, but I need to make an urgent funDS transfer so I can "pay" the guard, please send me the money of not less than $800 DOLLARS AMERICAN to the following western union details....."