Nocturnal Nick

So I’m lying in my bed on the last night in the old house. God I can’t WAIT to get to the new one and to be able to crash for a week (not going to happen )

Anyway, thought I’d post that and a few images of the house here before we leave. If the battery life on my camera holds out (its only one bar at the moment and the charger is packed) there’ll be some more photos later on!

The lounge quickly filled up...

And I reckon thats enough for the night. I’m off to bed, got one HELL of a drive to do tomorrow!

I realise this is old news, not that it’s the point of this post to inform of their existence, but I never really saw 3D games taking off.
My first experience was playing Avatar on a 3D TV at a pre-release gathering. While it was fun, the glasses were an unwelcome addition and I didn’t find that it added much to the experience.

I have, however, since re-evaluated my position on such games, having read this top 10 list.

Mostly games that don’t really interest me, but one stand-out was Gran Tourismo 5 (Cue vapourware humour). How freaking amazing would driving a car in a 3D “cockpit” be? You could judge corners based on depth, you’ll know exactly when to brake naturally, rather than wrote learning the course, it’ll be easier to dodge other cars as you know exactly where your car ends and theirs starts.

Other possibilities listed are COD 6 and Bioshock 2, both of which would be great in real 3D, though stereoscopic would only be a step in that direction. I can imaging games like COD 6 would be even more immersive, imagine bullets whipping past you and thudding into trees in surround sound AND vision!

The one downside I suppose is that as the hardware needs to render an image for both eyes, thus effectively halving the graphical hardware available or, to put it another way, requiring twice as much hardware.

Maybe next generation console? Please? Pretty please with a cherry on top?

I was once asked if I believed in such a thing as a selfless act. I responded that I didn’t, though only on a sub-conscious level.

An example of what most would consider to be a completely selfless act is to give to charity. Putting aside any possible financial benefits (tax deductions etc), one wouldn’t give anything to charity if helping others didn’t make them feel good. If someone was indifferent about the recipient of the donation’s wellbeing, the donation wouldn’t be made in the first place. It follows then that as your donation increases the wellbeing of the recipient, you feel good. Following the logic train it can be said that donating to charity makes you feel good, and that is why you do it.

Then comes the topic of accidents. Of course, if you drop a $20 note as you’re walking along, you don’t feel good about it nor receive any kind of physical benefit. To this I respond that the term selflessness has everything to do with intent, and nothing to do with the actual result or consequence. In this case, you didn’t INTEND to drop a $20 note, or indeed do anything, and so it cannot really be called an act of selfishness or the opposite.

It can then be said that something you regret doing, a mistake, was still done with the intent of benefiting oneself. The fact that it didn’t succeed matters not, as you INTENDED it to. Nuances of this “rule” extend also to situations in which you try and succeed regardless of the expectation or odds.

For example, if there is a 1 in 6 chance of me correctly chosing the side of a dice that turns up, I’ll still attempt the guess, as the cost to me may be smaller enough than the potential winnings to take the risk. Whether consciously or not, you have weighed the pro’s and con’s and come to a decision.

So, thoughts? Examples of a completely selfless act?

As I type this I’m watching The Hurt Locker, a war film based around the second gulf war, following the lives of a group of US soldiers while on duty.

While the story doesn’t seem to follow a particular plot arc, the characters are well constructed and compensate well for that fact.

Predominantly dealing with traps and bombs, lots of tension is thrown around, and as the audience you feel it.

Basically, really good movie. Brilliant acting, all emotions are conveyed without fault, evoking a lot of empathy.

Oh and just now there seems to be a more in-depth story being constructed, with regards to one soldier and a young Iraqi boy that worked on the base. So I guess my only complaint is being addressed

I’m going to start a star rating system. Out of 10.

* * * * * * * * * – (9/10)

Thanks to Alex for recommending it!

Today was my last day in Canberra for a while. As anyone reading this knows, I’ve been commuting back and forth every week, but today that ended.

I’m going to miss Canberra, the Dickson crew, all my friends from the BnG days and especially Joe, Chris, Carlie, Karen, Marc and Leo, who’ve been so good to me

Thanks everyone, I guess I’ll see you all in April

Modified my first Nerf gun the other day. Let me preface this by saying that they are a lot of fun to play with (all ages damnit) but in particular if and when you get a chance to play Humans vs Zombies at college/school/wherever.

I’m starting to think any more would be repeating myself so I figure I’ll just post pics of the modifications I made to the Nite Finder.

Not much here, just the gun I bought laid on its side

Then I removed all the screws:

All the screws removed. Count them, I can't be bothered.

Open the Gun up:

The gun open, there are two more screws to get the barrel out...

And now drill a hole through the barrel from either side, avoid scratching the sides. Also, the Pointy thing originally in there is useless, remove it.

Done!

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So having tried to post this three times now and each time failing due to one reason or another, here I am typing a summary.

1. Had a great night with a Heineken mini-keg. Lots of fun, the same value for money as a case, and less rubbish to throw away later
As a result of that night of drunken fun, I I’ve realized a few things.
Teriyaki chicken medallions are probably the worlds best drunken food. They were incredibly tastey, and very easy to defrost/cook. (Igham brand, in case anyone was wondering)
And that Better off Ted is a great show. I’m sure there were more, but as I say i was drunk, and it’s been a few days

Second topic on discussion today would be the fact I’m writing this in a bank que (sitting down these days, awesome!) waiting to close out my final payment on my car loan Wooo! No more fortnightly repayments of $272!!! That’s an extra $136 a week I’ll have for something else! (saving I spose)
I seriously cannot wait

And the last topic I’ll mention is that I’m moving to Brisbane in a week!! I can’t wait until I get to stay in one city for longer than 5 days

So I’m sitting in the crystal car wash cafe, chilling with a friend as my car gets washed. There’s almost no feeling better than having 10 people all paying their utmost attention to making sure your car is clean

That said, it’ll likely be dirty again by the time I get it to Canberra and back, though I’ll be happy until then

So I’ve been playing a HELL of a lot of Borderlands. Although I’ve only just gotten back to the part I’d reached with Richard I’ve been held captivated the whole way.

Its not often that you find a game that you play until you’re too tired to go on. Hell, I could probably do that in 5 or less!

• Borderlands

• Portal (even though it’s so short)

• World of Warcraft (For a while I was hooked)

• KotOR (Knights of the Old Republic)

• Pokemon (When I was 9 and had to hide my gameboy from parents)

There are probably more but these are just the ones I’m thinking of off the top of my head.

Oh wait!

• Halo 3 (I had good reasons to start after 10pm and finish before 9am)
• Freelancer (Still my favourite space-based adventure game)
• Mass Effect (To a lesser extent than most, but it was pretty fun)
• Zelda – Twilight Princess (and Phantom Hourglass)
• CASTLE CRASHERS (Soooo addictive 4 player co-op)

More to follow.

Post your own!