Geek Culture Cafe

[Sirk]

Today's scheduled morning invasion has been delayed slightly due to unforeseen morning cat attacks and the subsequent sleep-in.

The new ETA of the rampaging Monkey forces is now 1ish.
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"im pretty sure you're licensed to just pull out random weaponry at random points in a conversation"

[BlackDingo]

1:30 is lunch, which I'm booked for.

2:30 onwards is much better.
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"That was an exceedingly long quote" ~BlackbirdKate 16 June 09

[Sirk]

Fair enough, I'll stop rushing to get ready to leave then.
_________________
"im pretty sure you're licensed to just pull out random weaponry at random points in a conversation"

[Sirk]

Right now I'm feeling tired, cold, and cranky.
Speedrun tonight because I need to be up bright and early for a day jam packed with excitement and pain.

Monkey News Network
- ABC News - Budget 2010 feature
- BBC - Hung parliament: Lib Dems and Tories resume talks
- BBC - Aquino closes in on Philippines election victory
- BBC - China's inflation accelerates as house prices soar

What I Played Today: TF2, FFXI.

What I Prepared To Play Today: Dingo's Sci-Fi Survival Game.

I'm going to say it as a formality but I don't really mean it tonight.
'Night everyone.
_________________
"im pretty sure you're licensed to just pull out random weaponry at random points in a conversation"

[Sirk]

Right now I'm feeling cold.
Cold like the wintry depth of the centre of Hell*.

LIBYA: An aircraft belonging to a Libyan airline has crashed on landing at Tripoli airport, killing all but one passenger. The cause of the crash is unknown, as the airline had a modern and well-maintained fleet of jets. (Link)
- THAILAND: PM Abhisit has cancelled the proposed election, a key part of the reconciliation plan, and threatened to cut off supplies meant for the Red-shirt camps in the capital. (Link)
- CHINA: This is getting batsh*t insane. There's been another kindergarten attack in China. Unfortunately seven children and an adult were killed, and many more injured. Chinese media is downplaying the incident, probably to prevent further copycats and to keep the bad news from the masses. (Link)
- UK POLITICS: The Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats have come to an agreement regarding a fully-fledged coalition to run the UK and avoid the problems of a minority government. Cameron will be PM with Clegg as his deputy, and several cabinet positions have been given to LibDem MPs. (Link)
- SPANISH AUSTERITY: Spain has unveiled a range of budget-trimming measures. Included are pay cuts for public servants and slashed funding to regional governments. (Link)
- LOLOLOLOL: North Korea, that most technologically advanced of Asian countries, nay, countries around the world, claims that it has perfected nuclear fusion and can use it to provide clean power. (Link)

What I Played Today
Nothing.

Cyberpunk Wrap-Up
DnD is Dead. Long Live DnD. We now enter into the glorious era of the Cyberpunk. Saffie has taken an old ruleset from the early 90's and tweaked it a bit so it can be played without much suspension of disbelief. After all, the rules contain stuff like box-sized mobile phones, storage devices with gigabytes of memory, and a gaming conglomerate named SegAtari. And this is meant to be in the year 2020. At least they kind of got the rise of the Euro correct. But I digress, these aren't very important things.
The players for our game are me and Hishalea representing the Veterans of DnD Association, Maesty (of TF2 fame), Skitz, and two people whose online handles are unknown to me. They shall be referred to as Alpha and Beta for now**. Maesty is our corporate overlord; he's rolled a character who's main jobs are bankrolling our fledgling private security firm and who's a bit charismatic too. Hishalea has rolled a Solo, a hunking leviathan of a man(?) who's had various bits and pieces replaced with better bits and pieces of technology and does his(?) thing best with obscenely large weapons. Skitz is the mad tinkerer who can, as mentioned during the session, turn a toaster into a makeshift grenade launcher. Alpha is a hacker who can do almost anything*** through a network. She too has various augments, as one would expect for someone who spends a lot of their time interfacing with electronics. Beta is the ex-cop who keeps the squad in line and can deal with processes such as deduction a lot better than the rest of us.
Then there's me. I'm the Fixer. If you want it I can either get it for you personally, organise it for you, or tell you who can. I'm a rat of the criminal underground. I'm adept at scoping out tight places and getting into them in a variety of ways. I'm also a complete weirdo in that I've resisted cyberisation. After all, if the proverbial hits the fan (as it would often do in my line of work) I don't want to have to worry about regular professional servicing or wear-and-tear on bits and pieces which are either connected to or themselves are integral mechanisms which keep me alive.
This is the motley crew who make up CASE Security and we're about to have a bunch of fun adventures. Expect to hear more about them in the future.

Speaking of future adventures, Day 3 of my Oh God, Brisbane! week begins soon. At least I'll get some sleep in the morning****.
'Night everyone.

* - This metaphor may be related to (this post)
** - I'm certain Saffie will step in to give me names to put to faces.
*** - If the dice stop messing with her.
**** - Cat attacks not withstanding.
_________________
"im pretty sure you're licensed to just pull out random weaponry at random points in a conversation"

[Sirk]

Right now I'm feeling goddamn freezing.

Monkey News Network
- POLITICS: Abbott has given the Coalition's budget reply, proposing a freeze on hiring new public sector workers, scrapping programs, and selling off assets. (Link)
- THAILAND: A major Red-shirt ringleader has been shot in the head and is presumed to be in serious condition. The general had been stood down over his support for the protest movement, which he thinks is moving too softly and too slowly. He was shot in the head while giving an interview to a New York Times reporter. (Link, NYT Link)
- VENEZUELA: A natural gas rig being operated by Venezuelans has sunk off its northern coast. All workers are fine and there's supposedly no environmental hazard. (Link)
- AFGHANISTAN: There's been an outbreak of a fungus which hits the opium poppy, reducing supplies and sending prices up. Affected farmers believe it to be some sort of biological measure instituted by NATO forces. (Link)

What I Played Today
- TF2: Boom.
- Civilization IV: Colonization: On a whim I decided to give this a try. It took a few hours to figure out due to the lacklustre in-game tutorial and my lack of a manual, but once I had it figured out I could see just how different to normal Civ it is. There's no techs and cut down diplomacy, but resources are vital and population is ENORMOUSLY IMPORTANT! Do you want to have your new Free Colonists working a farm in a square for food, working tobacco in the same square for raw materials, working in a building to make cigars from tobacco, or deployed as a military unit to guard your holdings? Will you pay the natives off, seize their land unilaterally, or go in all guns blazing?

The meet up went fairly well today, but by far the highlight was the trip to Dingo's new coffee place. He wasn't lying when he said it was out of the way, and I'll be damned if they didn't have some of the best hot chocolate I've had in years. I wish I had it now.

I'd wax on lyrically more but my feet feel like they're freezing. A day of relative peace tomorrow (I don't have to leave Ipswich).
'Night everyone.
_________________
"im pretty sure you're licensed to just pull out random weaponry at random points in a conversation"

[Sirk]

http://bit.ly/cRLc6V - Seriously, what the hell? (via thebureauchiefs.com)

[Twitter simulcast]
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"im pretty sure you're licensed to just pull out random weaponry at random points in a conversation"

[Sirk]

Right now I'm feeling disappointed.
Bugger all in the news for tonight quantity-wise. The headline is rather big though.

Monkey News Network
- THAILAND: Matters are coming to a head. Journalists, both Thai and foreign, have been shot, and a bystander has been killed. Military forces are pressing on the Red-shirt encampments but are meeting resistance from protesters behind makeshift barricades. Foreign governments are saying that both sides are at the brink and are urging them to step back rather than leaping into the abyss. (Link and NYT link)
- SPAIN: A prominent leftist judge has been suspended over an inquiry he started into atrocities committed during the reign of General Franco. Franco, who ruled Spain until his death in 1975, ruled the nation under an iron fist. An amnesty on all crimes perpetrated at all levels by the regime was declared after democracy was restored, and it is this amnesty that the judge is being accused of breaching. (Link)
- QUIZ: Weekly world quiz for the week ended 14 May '10. Beat my five if you dare.

What I Played Today
- Civ IV: Colonization: I've found that the endgame of this sucks. I managed to declare independence with about 6 turns left to go. The initial British retaliation was quite interesting; it looked a little dicey for a while but then I got my hoarded guns up to the front and my militia fought them off at their beachheads. The game won't end until I'd defeated all the British forces, and I have no idea where the other half / two-thirds are. They either landed on the unoccupied northern continent* and are lost somewhere between the Dutch and the natives, or I have to wait ages for them to turn up. Until then I'm left reorganising my economy. That's proving to be a bitch since the UI leaves a bit to be desired and I get bizarre 'processing' pauses whenever I reassign any colonist in any settlement.
- TF2: Mmmm... Natascha.
- Civ IV: Beyond the Sword: Eager to get more of a handle on the changes made between vanilla Civ and BtS and not eager to return to sorting out the economics of Americaland, I decided to start a game of this. I ended my play after being attacked by Russians, who are far on the other side of the starting continent. They got to me via open borders pacts with several other nations. They left in coffins via the army I was surreptitiously building to attack the Mayans with.

Dayum, I really should've stopped playing before I hit the Middle Ages. I'm staring down the barrel of a 6.5 hour sleep tonight**. Guess I should go now.
'Night everyone.

* - Civ-style randomly generated world.
** - So I can make it on-time to Dingo's Sci-Fi RPG and Ancilliary Activities Saturday Extravaganza.
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"im pretty sure you're licensed to just pull out random weaponry at random points in a conversation"

[Sirk]

Right now I'm feeling tired AND cold.
I'm going to postpone the Sci-Fi Wrap-Up until tomorrow so I can get to bed sooner rather than later. Sorry to all who had been anticipating it.

Monkey News Network
- THAILAND: 'Live firing zones' have been designated around Bangkok, government troops are trying to move in, and the death toll has hit 22 from the last three days since it flared up. Army snipers appear to be picking away at significant target protesters (despite government assurance) and the Red-shirts are increasingly falling under the sway of more militant leaders. (Link)
- DARFUR: The Sudanese military claims it has occupied a key rebel stronghold, but rebel forces say they pulled out a month ago. (Link)
- UK POLITICS: The leadership battle for the Labour Party looks like it's getting interesting as both Miliband brothers have put their hats in the ring. Several other likely contenders are yet to announce their intentions regarding the contest. (Link)
- TECHNOLOGY: Google has metaphorical egg on its face after it was discovered that Street View cars were sampling data from unencrypted wi-fi signals wherever they went. Google believes the error came after experimental code was included in the software used by the cars as they went on their rounds. (Link)

What I Played Today
- Team Fortress 2: New personal best: 30 kills in one Heavy life. I was lurking in the enemy basement on Doublecross with my trusty Sandvich and no one had the sense to root me out properly. Occasionally I'd go up the stairs and grab a few more kills before retreating to nom. Eventually I was brought down by a Spy just as I got kill #30. And this was my first life after joining the server. I left soon afterwards while I had the screenshot of my glory still in memory.
- Civ IV: Colonization: You know what I said last night about boring endgames? Hahahaha. It was reading my posts. -.- One turn after I reload and BAM! the Aztecs decide it's time to drive me out. Thus all my troops massed at Jamestown* had to be quickly hurried to my interior and the meagre militia forces in West America** deployed to keep the Aztecs away from the rich and easy takings. Then just as I started to get a handle on the Aztec situation the British returned and almost smashed the eastern seaboard. Turns out the Expeditionary Force arrive in waves every 10 turns or so after declaring independence. A combination of massive population growth and keen arms acquisition*** kept me well equipped and eventually the Aztecs were wiped out and the British fended off. Next time I play I'll have a much better handle on matters such as colony specialisation, early-game European recruitment, and the trade network in general****.

Expect epic tales of space alien shootery and explosions and cut down AH-64s tomorrow.
'Night everyone.

* - In your face history, I kept the place going. Now let's all take a moment to mourn Boston.
** - My game world was kind of split in two, an island (Australia-ish size) in the SE of the map where I and the Spanish started and a large continent which curved from NE through NW then down to SW.
*** - 1: The Jamestown Armoury, 2: Imports from friendly European Nations#, 3: Privateers raiding Spanish and Dutch shipping.
**** - There are never enough Wagon Trains.
# - My independent nation elected Washington as King.
_________________
"im pretty sure you're licensed to just pull out random weaponry at random points in a conversation"

[BlackDingo]