Stormcaller.net

Saturday, July 31, 2004 - "Walk Idiot Walk"

> Science/Tech

Cassini takes more amazing shots; Alderaan doomed. That's no Moon! Er, wait... [Display]
NASA's getting a huge new supercomputer. [Details]
> Geek

New MyDoom worm threats - it even took out Google's search page for a little while! [Details]
Counter infections. Whether they work or not, they are possible - so expect them. There's nothing wrong with a well designed one - after all, it will only potentially hurt people who would already be hurt by the nasty original virus. On the other hand, if it clogs up network activity like a lot of big viruses then we have another problem. [Details]
The trailer for the new "Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy" films is out. [Download - 8.52MB]
Then again, so is the one for the new radio show. [Download - 2.48MB]
What can they do to make us buy games? Make them not suck, clearly. [Details]
"Doom III" apparently won't run on anything older than Windows 2000/XP. I was about to say there's really no excuse for not having WinXP by now, but then I realised that "money" counts as one, I suppose. Still, every new retail computer for a few years now has come with WinXP. [Details]
The next big thing or the next big nasty evil thing from the guys who created KaZaA? I'm not sure, but I think these were the guys who were running it before Sharman Networks got hold of it and eviled it up. [Details]
Finally! Someone's bot network attacked something worth attacking! [Details]
Protect your braaaaaaaainnnzzz.... Mmmm... [Details]
> Stuff

Some of this stuff (and one or two of the above) are from Vitenka, who won't be posting this Wednesday. Due to... er, catnip?
You might have heard about the JibJab cartoon "This Land", a parody/satire on the American elections starring Bush and Kerry. It's actually excellent, and has shot round the web so fast that the site actually went down... [Details]
...Most of the website is probably still down, but feel free to try your luck. I'm sharing it on WASTE if you're on the network. [Destroy]
This set of amazing optical-trickery "sidewalk art" photos was going around by email a few months ago, and someone's finally had the common sense to put them up on the web. [Display]
I've definitely read this story before, and probably posted it here before as well, but it's still great. [Details]
Do you check your personal information every week or two? You probably should. [Details]
Vitenka wrote this headline, but I agree: Let's be nasty about this. Fine - let her pay for the staff and the drugs to keep her already almost dead baby alive. People value less the lives of those who are almost certain to die - why is this a shock? [Details]
Enough with the badgers already! [Details]
What the hell is wrong with people in this country? No, wait - those people in that other country. Isn't New Zealand supposed to be civilised? [Details]
Fun-but-not-stupid-looking game. How rare. [Details]
Fun-but-pretty-stupid flash game. [Destroy]
DHTML Lemmings, if you really must. [Destroy]
Didn't think you were going to get away without any comics this week just because Vitenka isn't posting, did you? [Display - COTD]
Homestarrunner brings the burnination to life in a "new" "game"! [Destroy]
Oh, and the new album from The Hives is great. Best song so far? "Love In Plaster". As one reviewer whose comment caught my eye on Google so elegantly put it: "Tyrannosaurus Hives? More like Tyrannosaurus Awesome!"

Posted by Stormcaller at 5:30 PM GMT [Link]

Sunday, July 25, 2004 - "Give a cop a cookie"

> Real World

Stromcaller also posted today, thus giving the lie to my claim that this is wednesday. Don't forget to read his post too.
Giving in to hostage takers is usually seen as a bad precedent to set - but isn't it actually better than having the enemy just kill people? The loss of the Philippines forces is almost negligable, and now people are being captured instead of shot. Finally a Win-Win situation in Iraq? [Details]
By the way, did anyone think that the world was partically sorted out? [Details]
Don't worry - famous building owners are trying to copyright their looks anyway. [Details]
In case you didn't notice, it's not actually legal to de-regionise your hardware. It's also illegal to walk on the grass in the park or play ball behind the back of the flats. [Details]
Oh yes - it's alright to watch you because then we'll find you innocent more quickly, rather than having to drag you in to the station. What's wrong with this? Well, for starters, they shouldn't be dragging them in at all... [Details]
Here is where maths stops working. Proof meets "It damn well shouldn't work that way". Evil probability. Die. [Destroy]
Aeroflot! Just the name brings laughter back. The continuing saga of the little airline that probably shouldn't be allowed to. But wouldn't you want to be drunk before flying with them? [Details]
I do SO have balanced reporting of world news. Look, here's something about peace in the far east - and hardly even cynical at all! [Details]
How about the worlds largest gem, then? [Details]
Cool! Someone's aggregated all my fake logins. Well, it would be cool if I could be arsed fiddling with evilscript and cared about those newspapers. But as a rule of thumb - always always make up fake info for a form. And do remember to write it down somewhere in case you need to confirm it later. [Details]
> Stuff

Freeware shell enhancements - make windows work good [Download] [Download]
The Matrix RPG. Simple, effective and presented well. Pdf, sadly. [Download]
By the power of... Be afraid [Destroy]
Finally, a useful agency. [Details]
You know, I'm certain I've linked this before as well. The angelic language. [Details]
How 'bout some free (as in puppies) music? [Download]
Some music - but mainly talk. Ancient radio shows. Some really good stuff in here. [Download]
More free music? How much can you listen to, really? [Download]
Literature. How about some classic ghost stories? Mostly poor, but a few gems. [Details]
Here, have some kitties [Download]
And some larry niven (ringworld, known space) stuff? [Details]
Sites like this exist. The world is not a safe place. Mind you, I think the term "Pagan-Babies" and "Pagan-Child" should enter the lexicon as swear-words. They're fine. [Details]
Very nifty - a whole discipline devoted to spelling things back to front and upside down. [Display]
> Gaming

Gaming stuff, generic and torrented. Mostly video interviews. [Download]
Some classic computer games - mostly rogue clones. [Download]
Extra stuff for ground control. Which is, basically, great. Campaign 2, Mission 12 is a stone cold bitch, though. [Download]
Collectible card games do seem to have been borrowed somewhat wholesale by computer games recently. [Download]
Pygame. Allowing more people than ever to punch monkeys. [Download]
How about a lego promo. Pointless little platformer. Nowhere near as good as their wonderful mindstorms games. [Destroy]
> Comics

Catharsis - Kitty! [Display]
Electric Manga - I'm sure I've linked this before - but the 'plaid' comment is a classic. Also, arm socks. Everyone should try these. [Display]
Irregular. Because pointing out flaws in starwars is funny. Also - lego cthulhu. [Display]
Real-Life, doom3 reality. (Note, in case you didn't already know, for some insane reason they made doom3 work wonderfully with any old 3d card, but it needs a stupidly powerful PC around it. Doh!) [Display]
Some gentle mocking of anime cliche - A slightly three and a half walls approach for interest. [Display]
Catball makes good with the bumper sticker slogans [Display]
Jokes about hiding in boxes? Sign me up. Actually quite a good plot. [Display]
Political cartoons are mostly bad, but I think this strip shows a big problem that is never talked about. [Display]

Posted by Vitenka at 11:10 AM GMT [Link]

Sunday, July 25, 2004 - "Post-holiday mumblings."

Having not only gotten back from America last Friday and spent the weekend recovering, but also having started a new full-time job this week and gone out most nights, I've had surprisingly little "pissing about on the net" time. Here's my first post-holiday post, anyway. Photos will be up... eventually.
> Science/Tech

To celebrate the 35th aniversary of the first manned landing on the moon, NASA have taken the original Apollo 11 films out of cold storage and digitally scanned them. They're all available on the NASA website for free - and brilliant they are, too. My photos from the Kennedy Space Centre, which I visited while on holiday the other week, should be up at some point. [Display]
Hawking has changed his mind about black hole information loss (losing a bet in the process). [Details]
> Geek

Google have now acquired Picasa, a "digital photo management" company, as "its technologies complement Google's ongoing mission to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful". After the good work they seem to have done with Blogger, this could eventually become something decent. [Details]
New website for the "Farscape: Peacekeeper War" miniseries coming out later this year. Remember, that Farscape thing I used to mention from time to time? [Details]
Frank Klepacki, who did the music for the Command & Conquer games and lots of other stuff, has released a new solo album, "Rocktronic". [Details]
> Stuff

"Real Lives 2004" is a charming but serious game where you literally lead a life. You can be anyone from Abdul in Afghanistan to John in England to Xing-Bo in China, and this game will pretty realistically model your life, year by year. You make certain decisions (financial, relationships, work, education, leisure activities etc.) and much other stuff is down to conditions in the country and other circumstances. It can be useful educationally - but screw that, it's actually very fun. Use this direct download link to skip the "enter your details to download". [Details] [Download - 8.68MB]
What is it with religion and stupidity (and Americans)? Hand in hand... [Details]
Looks like something the SA lot would do. Excellent Photoshoppery! [Display]
MC's photos from Alaska. [Details]
Play this game. [Destroy]
Beware of giant b3ta ducks. [Destroy]
No headline I could ever write could beat the actual headline of this article on the BBC News website. [Details]
"Ground Control 2" looks good. I've been told the "Spiderman 2" game is great, as well. [Details]
Odd. But fake. [Download - 5.12MB]

Posted by Stormcaller at 2:13 AM GMT [Link]

Wednesday, July 14, 2004 - "You know what your problem is? Me."

> Big table

Disclaimer
I didn't post last week because, um, I was lazy. So this is big. Much of it is good though, so don't scrimp. I tried to be a bit more descriptive of the good ones. Do try the downloads, they were baked fresh this morning.
Proper formatting will happen some-time. I wanted to get the links out there now.
Comics
Well whaddya know, there are ways webcomic authorsa can be happy without not-buying an iPod. And some modern therapy. Crap I drew on my lunchbreak. Well, not me - the artist. [Display] [Display]
Cats getting slightly less than the proper amount of adulation. I've linked this before, but there's more now. [Display]
News
How do people fall for 419 scams? Because they are idiots and, for some reason, they choose to read their spam Geez. Of course, it could be that they have incredibly efficient filters and somehow that's the first spam they've ever seen... Nah. [Details]
People with homesites are generally techie people. Techies are generally losers. Duh. [Details]
I thought we all knew this one was staged? Oh well. [Details]
Gaming
RPG madness - gurps 4 (light edition) for free. [Download]
And whilst I'm at it, drivethrurpg has a new pdf every week - but you need acrobat6 and an account to view 'em. [Download]
More pdfs. Aint I a stinker? This is about old games. [Download]
Right, on to the section of the 'games' section that you actually want: The games. Halflife2 claims to be being released maybe this year perhaps? Hah. [Details]
Daimonin - Isometric open source mmorpg. [Download]
Wild snakes - yet another breakout variant. [Download]
Evil dice. Like devil dice (whatever that is) - turn dice over to make matching runs. [Download]
Maelstrom: Asteroids meets SpaceWar. Turney shooty two player action. [Download]
Blades of Avernum - old school top-down gold-box rpg goodness [Details]
Pathalogical. Any of you remember 'down fall'? It's sorta that. With a level editor. [Download]
Paradroid clone! Multiple modes, level editor... joyousness personified! [Download]
Starfighter. Well, with a name like that, it's kinda gotta be a shump. Also proves that idiot kid in that idiot movie wrong - he wasn't the last. [Download]
Planeshift. Because I have fond memories of crystalspace. Half finished RPG. [Download]
Xevil. (Pronounced zeevil?) It's another shump, but this one seems inspired by Jeff Minter. Much insanity. [Download]
Password 'freeplay' - it could be called top down pikmin. [Destroy]
Gammmmes! The haunting one is especially good [Download] [Download]
Have some books
Fairly 'meh' [Details]
Less meh - it's my job to bring you fiction. So if you haven't, read "Fire upon the Deep". But this one looks ok-ish. If a bit wuffie. [Details]
He wants you to copy it. Don't dissapoint! [Details]
Um, I kinda haven't sorted these into categories yet
So what did you think would happen if you used those 'loyalty' cards? Something good? [Details]
I think it is unfair and racist to make the obvious comment, so... A notable fraction of japanese advertising executives are completely insane. [Details]
Game music. He also has a load of other stuff (like ground control) [Download]
Ah intentional humour, how do you fall flat. [Details]
Eclipse for C++ - with refactoring browser. Must try this. [Download]
Fearsome saudi arabia! [Details]
Devils dictionary. Blunt yet satirical. [Details]
Strategic forecasting - world events expounded. [Details]
Baen released a pile of new books whilst I wasn't looking. On reflection 'digital knight' is probably better than this one, but the short stories at the end of this are nice enough. [Details]
Torture considered a requirement [Details]
So what is propoganda, anyway? [Details]
How to not answer the question an thus irritate your viewers and cause them to disregard your entire profession. [Details]
... right now ... over me (and my dead body - or my shadow, if you need to keep singing) [Details]
World of warcraft. You know you want to. What strange results will their hardware detection app give you? Mine thinks I have four video cards, 511MB of RAM and a 908MHz processor... [Details]
Trainspotters should have it so easy. Actually no, that would be nice for them. Hmmm. Maybe a site like this that also electrocutes you? [Details]
Treating babies like delicate flowers makes them strong in rebellion? Sounds plausible, but it also creates dandy's. And do you really want ruffs to come back into fashion? [Details]
How to make XP be not quite so crap. (pdf) [Details]
Though it misses an important bit [Details]
The world would be better off if the USA admitted what it was doing and got good at it? [Details]
A whole load of interesting papers - the cisco configuration one is the big new one, but talking about click-through agreements is more interesting. [Details]
10 PRINT "bash$"; 20 INPUT A$ [Details]
Still looking for something vaguely modern that runs on a 12meg RAM pentium laptop [Details]
Playstation 3 to be shown at e3 [Details]
Practical advice for thew world of work [Details]
Where can you find MC? Only in alaska... [Details]

Posted by Vitenka at 4:12 PM GMT [Link]

Saturday, July 10, 2004 - "And now for something a little bit different"

Week number two of Stormys vacation, and I fancied trying out something a little bit different to the norm. I hope you like it.

Sormcaller.net is a lovely website which is powered by [Grey Matter]
Which is a system mainly used to write journals and [blogs]
A blog is really just a web-term for a personnal [column]
Columns was a Tetris-like game, which has been available on many [Sega] consoles over the decades
Sega's age-old vival is Nintendo, who's first main-stream home console was the [NES]
People have been turning old NES cases into all manor of things, including Routers, PCs and [DVD Players]
DVD players first appeared in shops in November 1996, the same year [Mission Impossible] was released (in the UK)
Mission Impossible is a spy film, much like the James Bond films, such as Dr. No, Moonraker, and [Tommorrow Never Dies]
I don't know about tommorow never dieing, but it certainly [never comes]
If Tommorrow Never Comes was a single by Ronan Keating, who is from Dublin in [Ireland]
Ireland, like it's pronunciation, is an island who's west coast borders the [Atlantic Ocean]
On the other side of the Atlantic is America, specifically the [United States of America]
Many people go on holiday to the US, to visit places like New York, California and [Florida]
Somebody in Florida right now is the owner of this site, which links us right back to, [Stormcaller(.net)]

Posted by Vitani at 10:59 AM GMT [Link]

Sunday, July 4, 2004 - "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog..."

So Stormy's let me loose on his web site... good idea? Perhaps. I guess if you hear from me again, then we know I didn't mess up too bad! :o)
> Science/Tech

Your own blood could be the cure to everything wrong with you. Physically, that is. [Details]
You know you've always wondered... [Details]
Self-cleaning glass - For the serioulsy lazy, or a very clever innvention? Personally, I think they'd be really usful [Details]
Americans are "addicted" to gas. By that I mean petrol, of course [Details]
I never did like the Beastie Boys anyway [Details] [Follow up]
Microsoft own you [Details]
Yet another reason not to use Internet Explorer [Details][Alternative Browser]
If all else fails, here's a nice guide on basic computer security [Read]
One project I should have kept a closer eye on, as seen as I want to ditch Windows [Read]
> Random

I might as well use the opportunity to plug my own project, Carrotz, an IRC bot [Details]
I bought my first mp3 player the other day, looks like a tape, works like a tape, even records like a tape, but I sware, it plays mp3s! (wma's too) [Details]
This was just crying out "buy me!" [Buy]
Doesn't get any more random than this... [Details]
These sites are annoying ... [Destroy]
... but this is worse [Destroy]
> Memory Lane

Got lion & tigers? [Only in Kenya] [And Today]
I remember this one [View] [And Today] (Ok, so this is last years, but they havn't put this years up yet!)
Fry brain, FRY!!!!!!!! [Details] [And Today]
One of the comics Vitekna linked to has recently been accepted into KeenSpot, nice one! [View]
They've finalised the design for the building that will replace the fallen twin towers. Aptly named, The Freedom Tower [Now] [The Future]

Posted by Vitani at 12:30 PM GMT [Link]