A great story of a Dad teaching his 6-year-old to program a game with Python. Lovely story.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

mrBen

I did it last night, but there is only 1 week left for you to ‘Renew for Freedom’ - renew your passport before 31st May as part of a national campaign set up by the No2ID people. Renewing now means that you won’t be on the national database, and won’t have to fork out for an expensive ID card.

I find myself in a funny position with ID Cards. On the one hand I can see why the principle is appealing. However, I have no faith in the government to implement it properly, nor to keep my information secure. Neither do I see any truth in any of the claimed advantages they have given. Thus I have renewed my passport 3 years early.

mrBen

Here’s an idea for a new piece of software that I might get around to developing, once Jokosher is finished

As we all know, Linux is great. However, getting it can be tricky at times - in an ideal world it would come preinstalled, but that can be a PITA. Next easiest is a CD, which you can either get off a magazine (if you’re lucky), or you have to burn an ISO, which can be complicated.

The idea is thus: build a small graphical program that incorporates a bittorrent client and cd-burning software, so that all you need to do is download and run the executable, and it handles all the rest of the ISO downloads, burning to CD, and verifying the CDs, only prompting the user for new CDs as required. Hopefully, this should be a ’simple’ matter of tying together existing open source tools for the individual jobs, and wrapping it in a nice shell.

I think it’s a good idea

mrBen

OK - here is the provisional plan:

X-Men3 at 1900 at the UGC
Following the film head to Republic Bier Halle for some nice beers.

The time of the film and the cinema are negotiable, but not for much longer…..

Please do contact me if you are intending to come…. (and I don’t already know)

mrBen

OK - there’s a tonne of commentary about this online already, so most of my regular readers can probably ignore this, but if you haven’t, here goes:

Elephants Dream is the culmination of a project (”Project Orange”) to create an animated short using entirely free software. Most of the work was done in Blender, a 3d graphics tool, with some of the textures done in The GIMP. Anyway, it’s a 12 minute short, with probably the most surreal storyline every created, but it is beautiful. You should go right now and download it. And, ideally, buy the DVD, but that’s not compulsory.

What’s even more impressive is that not only was the film created with free/open source tools, but the film itself is free and open - you can download and distribute it to all your friends, show it at work/school/home. If anyone out there still believes that open source tools are somehow inferior to proprietary tools, then one look at this film should set the record straight.

mrBen

I watched the opening thing for BB7 last night as I was waiting for Bring Back the A-Team on Channel 4 last night. I’ve never seen the “introducing the housemates” bit before and although I have slated the series previously I thought it might be a good idea to see how bad it looks from the beginning.

Happily it exceeds all my expectations.

The seriously under-talented and over-hyped Davina McCall, who doesn’t even seem to be trying anymore, was exceptionally poor. Her lazy insults as the new housemates had their individual red carpet moments were uninspired and obviously trying to appease the lowest common denominator.

And the housemates themselves?

We have a Tourette’s rock star, a young blonde lass who want to marry a Premiership footballer and spend her life spending money, a “sexual terrorist”,  the usual mix of gays and gayhaters, and a woman who doesn’t seems to be happy about anything.

There may be a few more generic fameseekers in there but my brain hurts the longer I think about it.

And what’s (marginally) worse is Channel 4 becoming the Big Brother Channel with shows in the evening, through the night and repeats in the morning just to make sure you didn’t miss anything. And E4 will have near 24 hour coverage if you really can’t do without your fix.

It’s pathetic really.

BigAl

I’m not the hugest fan of Flash (the web tool, rather than the cartoon character), and I’m mainly not a fan because it’s so often been used poorly, and, more importantly, obtrusively. But there is one thing worse than poor flash, and that’s broken flash.

I’ve been following some of the enormous amount of Da Vinci code online games, 3 in particular - the now-finished Google one, the Eurostar quest, and the Sony Ericsson Trail. 2 of these have broken flash.

The Eurostar quest every now and then just refuses to load mini games, and once it’s refused the mini game, it’s often also impossible to get the site to load again. You need to shut down your browser, clear cookies and cache, and all that. It’s a PITA, and it needn’t be like that.

The Sony Ericsson trail has fallen into another trap that I’ve seen a couple of times, and it really bugs me. You have to enter your mobile phone number in the registration form, and it wants it in international format, which is fine. I have a mobile, and I know the international format. It’s +447123-456789 (but without that dash in the middle, that’s just there to make it easier for you to read). Problem is that the input box in their flash is not big enough for 12 numbers, only 11. It’s such a simple mistake, but it’s bloody annoying.

mrBen’s Flash rules of thumb:

1. Never use flash for your entire site.
2. If you have to use flash, use it in a way that is unobtrusive.
3. Never (never ever) make non-flash users feel like they’re missing out on something. Give them something else in place of the flash, and don’t even let on that they’re missing it. (This goes the same for fancy CSS and Javascript stuff too)
4. Make sure it works.

mrBen

Yes - this year we are eschewing the traditional party in favour of an outing. Said outing will take place on Saturday 27th May. We will be going to an early evening showing of X-Men 3, partly due to the fact that the second ever post on Jedimoose was a review of X2. Following the cinematic enjoyment, we will head to a nearby public house to embibe a few light ales, and engage in witty banter.

All readers of Jedimoose and subdomains are more than welcome to attend. Exact details of times and places will be published at a later date.

mrBen

Yesterday was the 3rd Anniversary of Jedimoose.org. You can see the first ever post here.

There will be an anniversary event, although this year it’s probably going to be an outing rather than a party. Details to follow soon.

mrBen

Steamboy is pish.

Nightwatch was excellent.

That quick enough for you?

BigAl

Well - my heart has finally slowed to its normal pace, after being stretched to the limit during the FA Cup Final on Saturday. It’s one of the best cup matches I’ve seen in a long time - very exciting, very unpredictable, and could have gone either way.

Looking back over our Cup run this year, I am really hoping they make a DVD of it - some quality goals, and amazing games - the 5-3 turnaround against Luton, the 7 goal crushing of Birmingham, and the wonderful 2-1 victory over Chelsea. Beating Portsmouth and Man Utd on the way wasn’t bad either.

Roll on the World Cup, and looking forward to next season already!

mrBen

…when the home interweb access was gone was two of my favourite songs.

Kablam and an excellent cover of Walking On The Moon.

And now, because I love you all very much, I share them with you.

You lucky people.

BigAl 

(entering rambling incoherent rant mode)

The problem is that society has become this simpering wreck which on one hand won’t get in the way of any individual living the way they want to and on the other fiercely wanting those damn asylum seekers to be shipped off anywhere as long as they’re not here.

Freedoms for some but not for all.

I feel that no-one fears society, no-one respects it and certainly no-one loves it.

We are all in it for what we can get and we horde what we have with an enthusiasm which borders on insanity and how dare anyone tell us otherwise.

Well maybe that’ll all have to change.

Perhaps, just perhaps, the freedoms that are being abused and misused need to be taken away for a while.

Maybe we need to install a bit of fear. Just enough to make people realise how fortunate they are and how blessed that they have so many opportunities. Just enough fear to stop them acting like spoilt children…

And then we might actually learn respect. For the struggles of the less fortunate. For those who fall through the “justice” gap. For those whose needs are never met.
Hopefully we’ll also learn responsibility. But I’m not expecting miracles here.

And then we have love. How many people can you honestly say you love? As a Christian I’m called to love all but my actions and thoughts fall very far from that mark. If you could measure the success of a Christian through genuine love shown to others in word, thought and deed then I’d make a very poor Christian.

Actually, I DO make for a very poor Christian but that’s beside the point.

Anyway, love is the answer to all our problems. You may have heard this before. It’s not a new concept.

Next time you intend to take the piss out of someone, don’t. Encourage them instead. Take an interest. Really, how much effort does it take to be nice to someone?

Say something constructive. You’ll see the benefits, although they won’t all be for you…

(leaving rambling incoherent rant mode)

Ah, I feel better for that.

BigAl 

A 12 year old girl is pregnant to a boy of 15.

Does anyone see the problem with this?

Apparently she’s happy and is looking forward to motherhood. AT 12!!!

I’m sure this world is going to hell. We may already be there and have failed to notice.

Seriously, what’s the problem? The girl’s mother is quoted as saying “I’m not ashamed of my daughter at all - in fact, I’m proud of her for keeping her baby.”

Fair enough, I suppose. I’m not the greatest fan of abortion so I can understand the sentiment. But I am concerned that, somehow, a message of acceptance is being sent out here.

How can mankind ever hope to evolve, to get to the “we’ve made the world a better place” stage, when we can’t even get sex education right.

Come on people, this is Space Year 2006. Let’s grow up.

BigAl

Yeah, recently we’ve had a new Alphonse a week for a couple of weeks but I’d forgot to mention it.

Oh well.

So there’s a new Alphonse. Several, in fact.

And hopefully the updates will stay nice and regular..

BigAl

We had the NTL guy around yesterday with the replacement cable modem as the last one broke because of the whole electrical storm thing that happened last Thursday evening. I blogged about it here.

The ethernet port is knackered so I’m connected through USB.

The Amazing mrBen has said he will provide a new ethernet card for me.

What a lovely man.

So that was a long weekend without internet access, which meant that there was no JediMoose, no Desert Of Zin, no GuildWars, no idle surfing until my nose bled, no hanging around on an few choice writing forums and no updating my writing wiki.

Still, I did get a shedload of reading done which is a good thing and I’ve rediscovered how much I suck at Homeworld 2.

BigAl 

I do my best to avoid advertising on the box. This is harder to do now that so many more programmes are sponsored. I will happily jump over to BBC1 or 2 for a few minutes of reality/home improvement/dodgy sitcom crap just to avoid a few more minutes of being sold to.

In the morning, during the mad dash to get ready for work, this isn’t the case. Ruthy usually has Channel 4 on with the expected repeats of Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond and so on. The advertising at this time is usually aimed at women (cosmetics and weight loss).

There’s one advert that really bugs me at the mo. I can’t remember who it’s for (so technically it’s failed already) but it harps on about “imperfections”, “smooth wrinkle-free skin” and “holding back the aging process”. You know the type.

What really bugs me is that they seem to be wanting people to forget that the “imperfections”, wrinkles, creases and whatever else actually adds character to a person. I everyone had blemish free skin and had a “freshly ironed look” then wouldn’t it be a really bland world?

BigAl 

Hmmm.

Today at work we had a meeting with our new (temporary) department manager, Grahame “no nickname yet” Weir, who had replaced Eric “Fatneck” Graham. I can’t get around this “telling the staff what’s going on” policy that Grahame has. Certainly it’s refreshing, but it feels odd.

Still, better this than the alternative which was the norm for all the time I’ve been working for the company.

BigAl 

Another reason to play the awesome Tremulous - their tribute to Irn-Bru, scattered around a few maps

mrBen