February 24

new page

test
01:09 AM | 0 Comments
April 02

Seems like longer

A lot can happen in nine months, let alone five years...
02:49 PM | 0 Comments
September 19

I love Calvin and Hobbs

Not sure why this tickles me so much... I guess it just reminds me of what its like to be a kid.

Here's a choice collection of strips.

Speaking of being a kid, we have resolved to run a Brik Wars session next Saturday. With six adults and five kids:

Preparation

  • Pre-construct buildings and vehicles (get kids to do this)
  • Scope out game board - fit on our dining room table, but use Tim's tiles and raised structures
  • inventory (figures, weapons) - needs to tally with points
  • special rules
  • Beer and food - Murray's butchers burgers and sausages.

Scenarios

Hopefully we'll get a few games in. The main thing is that they have to be short.

  1. No vehicles, free for all hand-to-hand skirmish. Four teams.
  2. Two teams, one vehicle each, basic 'kill the other side' mission, but with a twist - twelve werewolves are released on the board at some predefined point or event. Any figure bitten transmutes after two turns.
  3. (Last game) One team is protecting a large bomb housed in an indestructable bunker, the other team has to break in and disarm it. The bomb goes off anyway at 9pm (bedtime).

Links

Brikwars Core Rules
Very Cool Lego Animations
10:09 AM | 0 Comments
August 24

TDD meets SOA

Started the 'Test Driven SOA 11g Development' series. Over the next few weeks (and months) I'll be getting to grips with SOA Suite 11g, and its BPM, Business Rules and Human Tasks functionality.

Since everything I do is test-driven, I'll be starting off the exercise with a test strategy.

10:36 PM | 0 Comments | Tags: , , , , , ,
August 21

Hello World

Finally got round to installing Chyrp. Relatively pain free with 34sp.com. Set up some basic pages, but I guess I need a thought for the day, and that would have to be a short comment on House of Suns, by Alistair Reynolds.

Reynolds has done something no other SF writer I've read has managed. He's created a device that gives his story a galactic scale without resorting to FTL travel. Instead, he uses cryogenics to impart a sort of pseudo-immortality on his characters; they live for millions of years (objectively) and travel several times round the galaxy.

This allows Reynolds to give his incredible story a much further reach in time than even Iain Banks' Culture novels. But its plausible. In fact, Reyolds has a very low 'loose end count' - machine intelligence, spaceship technology, terraforming, the rise and fall of civilisations - its all believable. I'm totally immersed.

08:54 PM | 0 Comments