Prototype TrebuchetjawaproTue 02/09/2008 09:46 PM
About a year ago, Turkey decided to build a trebuchet (type of catapult) so we can use it to destroy some Macintosh computers. He made a great start - and nothing has been heard since.
So I decided I'd have a crack at it.
To be able to hurl a computer, it needs to be pretty tough, with a fair bit of power. That requires brains and a fairly large amount of materials. Lacking both, I decided to build a much smaller prototype first out of broomsticks.
I bought all the broomsticks in Devonport, and then had to wait a few weeks for them to restock.
Finally armed with enough broomsticks and some bailing twine, I set to work.
And it actually works.
Just not very well.
Not exactly much distance there.
A large part of the problem was my release mechanism, as I had a much better one, and somehow managed to lose it, so I had to settle for a tent-peg puller I found in the shed. Far from ideal, with far too much curve.
But it's fun, and the theory appears to be solid - so now I need to decide if I build the full thing out of metal or wood - and work out where to get the supplies.
And then it will finally be time to destroy these macs!
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The Bad News.....jawaproFri 29/08/2008 09:49 PM
It's official.
Stargate Atlantis is being canceled.
They get to complete this series, but that's it. After that it's only dvd movies like SG1 has been reduced to.
This is dreadfull news for fans like me. Atlantis is still going strong. It's still bringing in the viewers too - or so all the websites say. Not sure why Sci-Fi decided to pull it.
They have promised at least one movie to wrap things up though - and a third Stargate series (Stargate Universe) has also been green-lit.
Following in the likes of Firefly, Farscape, SG1, and the original Star Trek - Atlantis is being killed before it's due.
Tis the end of another era.....
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The Good News....jawaproFri 29/08/2008 09:40 PM
The good news today is that that thanks to a 1000 domain name giveaway from some company called http://www.1000freedomains.com.au I now own yet another dotcom to add to my collection. (all the domains have gone now - only took a few hours)
My new domain is the very catchy and easily rememberable:
http://www.clintonianthebravelittlemousewhowenttorussia
Pretty sweet eh?
The reason behind it? Well - many many moons ago, there was a site called dot.tk that gave away .tk domain names. It was some tiny island that would never use them anyway - and made money from the ads. So I wanted to get www.jawapro.tk (which I did for a while). This was way before I was able to afford a proper dotcom.
When I checked from home, it was available, but I had to got to the Online Centre for a shift (I was a volunteer) so I decided to sign up for it there.
When I tried from the Online Centre, it said it was already taken. I was devistated, but tried another domain (something like jawa.tk probably) and it was taken too. I kept trying, but they all were taken.
I found that hard to belive, so I invented the clintonianthebravelittlemousewhowenttorussia.tk to see if that too was taken. It was! By this stage I was positive that it was a fault somewhere, as no one in their right mind would have got that domain (except me obviously).
Turns out it was something odd to do with the government proxy from the Online Centre - from elsewhere, it worked fine - and I got my jawapro.tk when I went home.
But I've always thought it would be cool to own www.clintonianthebravelittlemousewhowenttorussia.com but it wasn't worth paying for - but thanks to this gimic thing - it's mine for a year!
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Way to go Zac!jawaproMon 25/08/2008 09:51 PM
I was watching Good Game tonight. It's a show on ABC2 with computer game news and reviews and things. I haven't seen it very often before - but it's something I've always been meaning to watch.
And who should be on it tonight - my friend Zac Duff!
I might not know him terribly well - but I went to uni with him for a while, I went to Tafe with his brother, I had his father as a teacher for a while, and his parents and my parents have known each other for years - so I've sort of known him for most of my life, even if we weren't terribly close.
And now he's off working as a Games Designer on the Good Game game. (The show is making a game called Office Wars).
Far out Zac, some people get all the luck.
Enjoy!
You can watch the segment here:
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/goodgame/stories/s2345905.htm
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RA3 Trailer!jawaproWed 20/08/2008 09:27 PM
All hail!
A trailer for Red Alert 3 is finally out - and I dont mean gameplay (thats been out of a while) - this is the FMV trailer - the live acting part of the game.
Command and Conquer has always had live action FMV - which sets it apart from the more common CG clips, and the dreaded in-game movies (uses the same engine as the actual gameplay).
Once again - it's rather over-the-top, but we've come to expect that from Comand and Conquer.
It looks good - with overtones of the first RA game and the mission to remove Hitler from time - which cause the whole Red Alert universe to split from our normal timestream. Not sure what the Russians are planning to do with their time machine - but it's enough to get me rather excited.
The Empire of the rising Sun feature too - but I'm not sure if bringing in a third faction was the smartest move. Hopefully it dosn't mean we'll have another disjointed 2-part story like we did in Tib Wars. Instead of one long campaign, we basically ended up with 2 short and unsatisfying campains in TW. Lets hope EA have learnt from their mistakes - but then again, it is EA we're talking about.
There is hope though - EA have brought back Frank Kerplank to do the music for this one. At least the music should rock....
While EA get the real HD trailer sorted (it crashed the server I think), here's a youtube link for you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn6oXhpkP-0&feature=PlayList&p=FE83590D1E53DEC2&index=0
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