Brindy's Blog http://blog.brindy.org.uk Software architect with messianic complex. posterous.com Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:29:22 -0800 One year on - 2011 in retrospect #fb http://blog.brindy.org.uk/one-year-on-2011-in-retrospect-fb http://blog.brindy.org.uk/one-year-on-2011-in-retrospect-fb It's been over a year since I posted here.  Silly really as this is supposed to be a really easy way to blog ... just blast out an email.

2011 has been a crazy year work wise starting as a freelancer, taking on a role with GFI Software and eventually joining JPMorgan as a full time contractor as well as releasing a raft of mobile applications of my own.  I've no doubt 2012 will be no less crazy!

In terms of holidays we spent some time in Achiltibuie way up north, in Brussels doing lots of drinking and over Christmas a week away from civilisation in Glenfinnan, near Fort William (famous for all that Harry Potter shit)... All of those with our best friends Paul and Lesley.

Not to mention Gary's stag do, for which I was best man at his wedding to Tracey - thankfully a quiet one for weddings this year!

Finally, we had a new member in the family, wee Horus the dog back in August.  He's a stubborn young man, but loveable all the same.

Can't think of anything else off the top of my head.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/620664/2010-06-25_14.48.58.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1lWm6zjnZsZ Christopher Brind brindy Christopher Brind Sat, 11 Dec 2010 14:51:26 -0800 Boys in town #fb http://blog.brindy.org.uk/boys-in-town-fb http://blog.brindy.org.uk/boys-in-town-fb
Photo

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/620664/2010-06-25_14.48.58.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1lWm6zjnZsZ Christopher Brind brindy Christopher Brind Mon, 04 Oct 2010 05:22:57 -0700 spider minion attack encounter #dnd http://blog.brindy.org.uk/spider-minion-attack-encounter-dnd http://blog.brindy.org.uk/spider-minion-attack-encounter-dnd In my first D&D adventure that I ran a week last Tuesday I decided to warm up myself and my adventurers by having them travel to the main destination of the game via some spider infested woods.  I used the King's Road map by Gale Force Nine to save some time with setup and started the party at one end of the road, explaining that they were surrounded by spiders loitering the carapace above and that the graveyard they were heading too was just beyond the end of the road.

I had them roll initiative and then allowed each character to move in turn.  After each move I made a saving roll, which if failed spawned a spider minion.  The saving roll was modified depending on how quiet each character was being.  For instance, Cal the rogue was moving stealthily and passed each save, but Malewrath the wizard decided to cast some light and immediately attracted the attention of a spider.

As this encounter proceeded a few minions were spawned, dropping down on the characters from above.  As the spider dropped from above it got a free attack.

Malewrath was able to take out most of the spiders with a single magic missile hit, no problem, with Cal stealing a kill from Bryagh the Dragonborn Barbarian, right near the end.  

After the first spider had been killed I had narrated that the nearby Minotaur Paladin, Musk, had been covered in "spider goo".  Since the party were getting through this encounter so quickly (not a bad thing), I decided to play out the spider goo thing.  The Minotaur got a couple of extra coverings of spider-goo during the encounter, so I decided that he was covered in so much goo it was slowing him down.  This seemed to go well and didn't last too long as they were near the end of the encounter anyway.  During their short rest before the next encounter Malewrath cast a spell to clean Musk up, and onward they went in to the graveyard ...

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/620664/2010-06-25_14.48.58.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1lWm6zjnZsZ Christopher Brind brindy Christopher Brind Wed, 22 Sep 2010 15:18:31 -0700 Wheel of Fate (iPad version) - post play review #dnd http://blog.brindy.org.uk/wheel-of-fate-ipad-version-post-play-review-d http://blog.brindy.org.uk/wheel-of-fate-ipad-version-post-play-review-d So I DM'd my first D&D game last night, more about that elsewhere, but I specifically wanted to talk about @corwin_raa's Wheel of Fate accessory for D&D 4th Edition.  I actually really liked the idea of this as soon as I saw it.  

The reason for this I always wondered why if you roll a 20 on a d20 you get a critical hit, but if you roll a 1 you don't get a critical miss.  Reward, but no penalty?  Doesn't seem right to me.  However a lot of people don't like that, so when I saw the wheel of fate I thought this was a really great way to introduce at least the chance you fluffed up!

But, I'm not a hands on person.  Give me a hammer, I'm more likely to smash my face in than hit a nail on the head, so even the thought of cutting out a wheel and creating a real spinner turned me off.  So I immediately set about turning this in to an iPad app.  Didn't take long to be honest, so I banged it out and the app has already been submitted to the app store, but because I'm the developer I get to use it on my iPad already.

So during my game whenever a PC or I rolled a one the PC who made the roll or was being attacked got to spin the Wheel of Fate.  I estimate that "No Effect" came up about 50% of the time and the rest of the time the penalty was severe enough to be fun without ruining the game for that player or taking that monster out of the equation.

For instance, a skeleton archer was taking a shot at Musk, the Minotaur Paladin who was attacking the necromancer, as a square or so away.  I rolled a 1 for the attack roll, so allowed Musk's player to spin the wheel.  The result was to provoke an attack of opportunity but this was a bit of bummer since the Minotaur was not in melee range.  Thinking on my feet, I allowed the Minotaur to shift one square and still make the melee attack, taking advantage of the skeleton archer's bumbling around with his bow and arrow.  

The player seemed to really like this feature and it really didn't take any extra time or slow things down at all.

Other comments included:

“I loved the wheel of fate, it was awesome, all thats missing is the diming of the lights and canned cheering or booing and possibly a bit of exploding confeti.”
 
“I’m torn. On the one hand, it was a fun mechanic to throw in there, with a good range of outcomes, and not too deadly/stupid. On the other hand, I’m really not a fan of critical fumble rules in general – mostly because of my dire rolling.”
 
You can read more about the Wheel of Fate here:

And I've set up a support page in anticipation of my app being approved (fingers crossed):

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/620664/2010-06-25_14.48.58.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1lWm6zjnZsZ Christopher Brind brindy Christopher Brind Tue, 07 Sep 2010 05:25:58 -0700 My first #dnd campaign kicks off tonight... http://blog.brindy.org.uk/my-first-dnd-campaign-kicks-off-tonight http://blog.brindy.org.uk/my-first-dnd-campaign-kicks-off-tonight
... with a meet and greet session at the pub. 

The PC line up so far looks like this:

Human Cleric (leader)

Halfling Rogue (striker)

Dragonborn Barbarian (striker)
Minotaur Paladin (defender)
Tiefling Wizard (controller)

... plus maybe a couple of others undecided as yet, though I'll be limiting the game to 5 PCs with standbys for the others.

This is the campaign teaser I sent out and will become the campaign log:

Essentially the PCs have to decide their own route for getting to the final destination, so that will hopefully give the players plenty of freedom of choice (or at least the impression of choice).  We're playing every two weeks on a Tuesday evening, so that should be plenty of time for me to prepare regardless of their decisions, as well as maybe send out emails in between sessions to let them know of events they encountered as they travelled ... 

So tonight, I don't really have an agenda.  I just want people to make a final decision on their PC background, race, class, starting equipment and initial powers, then I'll take that information and plug it in to character builder.  Should be a good bit of banter over a beer or two anyway. ;)

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/620664/2010-06-25_14.48.58.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1lWm6zjnZsZ Christopher Brind brindy Christopher Brind Sun, 05 Sep 2010 08:34:55 -0700 what's this guy saying? #dnd http://blog.brindy.org.uk/whats-this-guy-saying-dnd http://blog.brindy.org.uk/whats-this-guy-saying-dnd
Rugnald

Created this NPC portrait on Sketchpad Pro (iPad) - I'm no artist, as is apparent, but given the lack of tools for creating character portraits, I had to resort to my own abilities (or lack of).

This guy is going to be my party's first contact in their adventure ... what's he saying to you?

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/620664/2010-06-25_14.48.58.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1lWm6zjnZsZ Christopher Brind brindy Christopher Brind Sun, 29 Aug 2010 09:52:00 -0700 My iTV (Apple TV) remote concept. http://blog.brindy.org.uk/my-itv-apple-tv-remote-concept http://blog.brindy.org.uk/my-itv-apple-tv-remote-concept

Have a seen a couple of posts speculating on the new remote format for iTV (Apple TV).  My concept is that basically there is no remote.  Or rather, no hardware remote.  The whole thing is done with gestures being interpreted by a camera on the device.  For example:

A person, or people, are watching their Apple TV.  One person assumes the namaste pose with their hands (see http://www.google.co.uk/images?q=namaste ) and holds for 3 seconds.  This "activates" the more general gesture recognition routine, showing a picture in picture of people in the room in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. 

At this point you can do some generic things like:

Tapping your right ear turns the volume up, tapping your left ear turns it down and covering your mouth mutes the volume all together.

Covering your right eye skips forward, covering your left eye skips back, where as tapping your head pauses whatever is being played.

At any point, making a hand grab gesture in the air shows a radial menu in the center of the screen.  Each option on the menu either does something, or shows an extended outer sub-menu and you select the item by grabbing the air where the item is.  In the case of sub-menus, flicking your hand (like trying to swat a fly) navigates to the previous menu.

Repeating the namaste gesture for a couple of seconds closes the menu (if open) and disables gesture recognition.  In addition, all the above only reacts to the person who did the namaste gesture in the first place.

I think this would be cool, but could be a problem for those with accessibility issues, e.g. those who have lost their arms and are unable to make gestures.

Thoughts?

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/620664/2010-06-25_14.48.58.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1lWm6zjnZsZ Christopher Brind brindy Christopher Brind Fri, 09 Jul 2010 07:42:53 -0700 how to run #dnd character builder on mac, linux and ipad http://blog.brindy.org.uk/how-to-run-dnd-character-builder-on-mac-linux http://blog.brindy.org.uk/how-to-run-dnd-character-builder-on-mac-linux
Img_20100709_153504

As a Mac user for nearly two years now I had been "clean" of using Windows for some time when I started getting back in to Dungeons and Dragons.  The latest version of D&D is good fun and Wizards have provided a character builder application to speed up the process of trawling through all their material to build your ultimate hero character.

http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Tool.aspx?x=dnd/4new/tool/characterbuilder

However, it only runs on Windows and explicitly does not support Linux or Mac, and I've tried most things including Wine and Mono.  So I installed an old copy of Windows XP in to a Virtual Box and that does the job... but wasn't really the answer to my problem.  I simply don't want Windows on my Mac.  Also, I would like to be able to use the character builder on my iPad.

The solution came to me in a dream ... well not really, but the answer to use some kind of hosted Windows service.

I decided to try with Amazon AWS ( http://aws.amazon.com/ ) which lets you create "virtual computers" on the internet (commonly known as a VM, Virtual Machine or VPS, Virtual Private Server).  

It's pretty straight forward to get going so long as you're not a complete computer novice.  I simply span up a Windows 2008 Basic Server, connected, downloaded and installed Character Builder, signed in to get the full version and now I can access it via my Mac, Linux and even my iPad!

Of course there is a cost, but the advantage of using Amazon AWS is that you only get charged for the disk space and processing power you use.  When I'm not using the Character Builder, I simply shutdown the instance.  I'm estimating this should cost me around £3/$5 per month to run character builder in this way, but will definitely keep the community posted about that.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/620664/2010-06-25_14.48.58.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1lWm6zjnZsZ Christopher Brind brindy Christopher Brind Sun, 27 Jun 2010 05:28:13 -0700 free to a good home - magic the gathering cards http://blog.brindy.org.uk/free-to-a-good-home-magic-the-gathering-cards http://blog.brindy.org.uk/free-to-a-good-home-magic-the-gathering-cards
2010-06-27_13

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/620664/2010-06-25_14.48.58.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1lWm6zjnZsZ Christopher Brind brindy Christopher Brind Thu, 24 Jun 2010 05:37:02 -0700 using ipad as a second screen for my mac book pro http://blog.brindy.org.uk/using-ipad-as-a-second-screen-for-my-mac-book http://blog.brindy.org.uk/using-ipad-as-a-second-screen-for-my-mac-book
2010-06-24_13

This is using an app called Air Display.  It requires the installation of a driver on your host machine and then works pretty well.

The mouse moves at pretty much normal speed, but moving windows around is a little jerky.  Email / browsing is not so good as I'm just used to the extra screen space on my mac.  However, it's great for getting those chat windows out of the way or perhaps throwing up some reference material.

The iPad itself is in the official iPad case - it's a bit crap to be honest.  To get it to stand up like that I had to prop it up with a mug and my unpacked iPhone 4 ... I knew it would be useful for something, lol.

Loving the iPad though - it really feels like the future is in your hands, but I think I'll have to get a much better stand for it if I plan on using it like this for long periods.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/620664/2010-06-25_14.48.58.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1lWm6zjnZsZ Christopher Brind brindy Christopher Brind Wed, 16 Jun 2010 03:53:00 -0700 seeking feedback on idea for running competitive #dnd 4e http://blog.brindy.org.uk/seeking-feedback-on-idea-for-running-competit http://blog.brindy.org.uk/seeking-feedback-on-idea-for-running-competit

Introduction:

This is inspired a little by D&D Miniatures, which is a skirmish game based on 3rd edition (revised) D&D and it's why I have so many minis ;-)  

I wanted build something similar but truer to the D&D 4e actual rules.  D&D Minis uses a bastardisation of the D&D 3rd edition rules (and character stats) and to me feels like it is missing something.  However, I haven't played since the first version of D&D Minis and believe those rules have been revised since then so couldn't comment on the latest version.

I also wondered how games that have a large number of players cope - I see it from time to time on the twitter #dnd tag and it got me thinking about if it would be possible to run concurrent games in which multiple parties of players might interact.  So this could be a one off event, or a way to tie in to separate games for a bit of overlap. 

Basic Premise:

Pitting your wits against monsters and NPCs is one thing - but how about pitting your wits against each other?

Two parties of adventurers compete to complete a randomly assigned objective before the other party.

Setup:

You'll need a DM and at least two players.  The players are split in to two teams.

Each team builds a party of adventurers.  Each character should be the same level - this will probably be determined before hand by the DM.

Each team then selects a random mission from the following:
- Wipe out the other party
- Slay a certain number of monsters
- Capture the artifact and exit the scenario
- Defend the artfact, do not allow it to exit the scenario
- Hold an area for a certain number for rounds
- etc ... I'm sure I can dream up more and am open to suggestions and variations / elaborations on the above ...

If either party is wiped out the other party could continue to play to see if they defeat the monsters in play and complete their objective.

Each mission is unique, so you can see how the objectives of the missions could be in opposition to each other.  Not to mention the underlying objective that your party has to complete their mission before the other party.

The DM's role is that of referee and to play any monsters that might get in the way of adventurers.

Gut feeling says the ideal number of players would be seven - a DM and two teams of three players each taking a character each.  A game would probably take 3 to 5 hours to play.  I believe this could also work really well with two players taking three characters each.

Mechanics:

The mechanics would basically be the same as that of a single encounter in D&D 4e.  

Each round everyone rolls for initiative and the DM indicates who can take their turn. 

Things like listening and searching can be minor or standard actions depending on how hard you want the character to try.  The DM should apply appropriate penalties.   While moving a character might still need to make acrobatics/athletics checks, and so on - this is up to the DM.

While the whole map would be visible from the outset, monsters would remain hidden from play until they are detected through line of sight (or some other mechanism at the player's disposal).  If monsters move out of line of sight, it is the DM's discretion as to whether the monsters are hidden again.

Conclusion:

So what do you think?  Would it work?  

Is there anything you'd add or remove?

Would it be possible to build a campaign around this?

Any other thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/620664/2010-06-25_14.48.58.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1lWm6zjnZsZ Christopher Brind brindy Christopher Brind Sat, 05 Jun 2010 08:18:34 -0700 Untitled http://blog.brindy.org.uk/19754513 http://blog.brindy.org.uk/19754513
2010-06-05_16

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/620664/2010-06-25_14.48.58.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1lWm6zjnZsZ Christopher Brind brindy Christopher Brind Sat, 05 Jun 2010 05:28:40 -0700 At linlithgow for a picnic http://blog.brindy.org.uk/at-linlithgow-for-a-picnic http://blog.brindy.org.uk/at-linlithgow-for-a-picnic
2010-06-05_12

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/620664/2010-06-25_14.48.58.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1lWm6zjnZsZ Christopher Brind brindy Christopher Brind Fri, 23 Apr 2010 01:40:28 -0700 exchange between myself and @ericjoyce re: #leadersdebate http://blog.brindy.org.uk/exchange-between-myself-and-ericjoyce-re-lead http://blog.brindy.org.uk/exchange-between-myself-and-ericjoyce-re-lead
Eric Joyce: Gordon Brown was good, and yet serious, tonight.Folk want their pm to be serious; ' 2 boys squabbling at bathtime' .Surely quote of evening.

brindy (me): @ericjoyce you call that serious? it was a cheap shot, especially for saying what you lot get up to in parliament. it's like a playground.

So what I'm getting at here is that if you watch parliament on TV or listen to it on the radio they - as in MPs - act disgracefully.  They pepper their speech with false pleasantries and take every opportunity to slag each other off.  And how is "2 boys squabbling at bathtime" a serious comment?  It just isn't.  Obviously these people are going to have heated discussions during this thing.  Clegg and Cameron did, Clegg and Brown did, Brown and Cameron did.  But only Clegg refrained from throwing in what looked like pre-rehearsed insults made especially for situations that would inevitably rise.

EJ : @brindy Us lot?  Like you lot in debt collection agencies?  No scope for individuality  Your choice.

Thanks Eric!  This bit of information, which is wrong I might add, was actually passed to you in a private email / letter. 

And I'm not sure what the latter part means anyway.  As for individuality the house of commons is like Attack of Clones in suits.

me: @ericjoyce i don't work in a debt collection agency

me: @ericjoyce all i'm saying is, that it is rich to say 'people want serious' when you all act like children in the house.

If you don't believe me just watch parliament on TV or listen to them on the radio.  It's frankly embarrassing that our country is run by people who behave like this.

EJ: @brindy Ah.  You tweeted that you did.  Were you lying?

Nope, I'm no liar and I'm pretty sure I never tweeted that I work for a DCA - people who know me will know that I feel strongly about DCAs, so I felt I had to clarify the situation....

me: @ericjoyce i work for a credit management consultancy - some of our clients happen to be DCAs.

BAH! Would rather not have had laid that out so barely.  I guess I should have DM'd him at this point. 

EJ: @brindy Fair enough.  And i know and respect the difference. Try that in Sun.  Shit to generalise about folk, whatever their job.

I had gone to bed by this point.  But while I admit I was generalising, I feel it was fair based on what I have seen and heard of MPs behaviour in the house.   Note that up to now I had not DM'd him at all within this exchange.

EJ (via DM) : You make your own calls now. It's all real.  Unrestricted cynicism is a clear sign of immaturity.  No more DMs.

I'm not even sure what this means.

So before the leaders debate I had a pretty low opinion of all politicians and especially the so called leaders.  The only party I actively support is the Pirate Party since I believe a party based system is archaic and unfair and the Pirate Party's "single issue" is one I strongly believe in and one I don't believe the Tories or Labour genuinely support.  

However, I did have a reasonably high opinion of Eric Joyce.  Even though he rarely rebels against the Labour party he rallied well during the #debill debacle, is quite responsive to communication and appears to genuinely be concerned for the Falkirk area.  The same cannot be said for the other candidates except for Cllr John McNally who actually works for the council.

This morning, my opinion of Nick Clegg is through the roof.  He is clear, consistent, funny yet mature and demonstrates the ability to lead.  I am impressed.

My opinions of the other two have not changed - they did not surprise me at all.  It was hard to listen to either of them without wondering if basically everything they are saying is lies.  They both have little 'ticks' which make them appear untrustworthy, not to mention a great deal of previous record.

And I'm afraid to say my opinion of Eric Joyce has dwindled somewhat too after returning to my twitter client to review last night's exchange..  This is unfortunate as I had already decided to offer my assistance (what little that might be) to whoever is MP for Falkirk after the election.  So that's awkward as it is likely to be Mr Joyce who wins, but hopefully we can put this exchange behind us and move on for the benefit of the community.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/620664/2010-06-25_14.48.58.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1lWm6zjnZsZ Christopher Brind brindy Christopher Brind Fri, 16 Apr 2010 10:11:37 -0700 #debill #deact has forced me to watch tv again :( http://blog.brindy.org.uk/debill-deact-has-forced-me-to-watch-tv-again http://blog.brindy.org.uk/debill-deact-has-forced-me-to-watch-tv-again I haven't watched TV since February 2006.  At least, not live broadcast TV. For ages it was my dream that I could watch TV on demand and I thought we were getting pretty close to that until recently.  

Yes, the dreaded Digital Economy Bill / Act has pissed unceremoniously all over that dream.

My TV viewing consists mainly of Science Fiction series, you know, Stargate, True Blood, V, Battlestar Galactica, etc.  My approach was to download from the internet and then buy the DVD boxset when it was a reasonable price.  I've done this with a few things including Stargate, BSG and Lost and intended to do it with True Blood, V, etc.  

Recently my approach has been to download shows in order to catch up, then watch them as they appear on iTunes - meaning that I wouldn't buy them on DVD, but I have a copy I can call my own on disk anyway.  I also downloaded the first series of the IT Crowd and then enjoyed it so much that I bought the entire series on iTunes.

However, I have to admit that a number of shows I just download and watch as they are released.  Mainly because they are not available on iTunes until much later, though as above I do intend to buy them on iTunes as they appear.

A pleasant side product of not watching live broadcast TV is that I don't have to pay for a TV license.  I have definitely spent more than the TV license on iTunes though, but it has suited me well and I own what I pay for.

But now, because of the #debill, we have calculated that we cannot afford to get caught downloading material from our usual sources so we would have to buy it on iTunes.  However, given the amount of shows we watch, it is actually cheaper to buy a TV license and Sky+.  Yes, we're considering re-joining the TV watching community, but who is going to lose out?  I'm afraid iTunes - we simply can't afford to maintain both.  

This is highly disappointing to me as it feels like a real step backwards.  It also means that if I want to own what I am watching I effectively have to pay for it twice (either on DVD or iTunes).  

Today the Liberal Democrats have announced they will push to repeal the #debill - a nice gesture, but unless they win out-right (yeah right), that is all it is as I very much doubt Labservative will move on the matter.  I intend speaking to my candidate about this and other issues.

Right, I better finishing making our kedgeree dinner. :)

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/620664/2010-06-25_14.48.58.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1lWm6zjnZsZ Christopher Brind brindy Christopher Brind Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:03:54 -0700 brindopia... maybe one day http://blog.brindy.org.uk/brindopia-maybe-one-day http://blog.brindy.org.uk/brindopia-maybe-one-day Well, I'm pretty fucked off with this country's so called government.  Right now we're in limbo as we allegedly decide on a new government.  At this point, I direct you to this:

Pretty sad and while #debill #deact (the Digital Economy Bill) was being forced through in the wash-up, the electoral reform bill got kicked out.  #undemocracy in action.

People of the UK, I implore you... WAKE UP!

We do not live in a democracy.  

It is at best an oligarchy wearing the dress of democracy.  

In less than a month we will elect a new government.  A government which will no doubt change it's leadership at least once, if not more times, during it's term of office.   You do not chose your leadership, you choose which group of fools gets to choose your leadership and then tools like Brown, Blair, Major and Thatcher (in my memory) get to dictate with zero accountability and make decisions which affect our lives on a daily basis without consultation or proper due process.  And the fools that choose those tools are the lawmakers who are above the law.  Watch how three MPs accused of fraudulently using expenses will be exonerated at the expense of the tax-payer.  And if they're not, they are simply scape goats to try and placate the masses.

DO NOT LET THEM TELL YOU THIS IS NOT HOW IT IS.

Because if it wasn't like this, Blair and Thatcher would be in jail for crimes against humanity.  They could share a cell as well to save some money.

£65,000, give or take a few pounds, is how much an MP earns and don't forget that they claim expenses for just about everything.  Long hours they work, well I should damn well think so for the money and half they time they don't even turn up to parliament to discuss the issues that people are interested in.  When you live in a constituency where nearly as many people who voted against the winning MP as did the MP will pick and choose the issues that matter based on who makes the most noise and who they deem to have influence with other voters.  "But it's hard to be in your constituency and parliament" - I agree and that's why after 300 years of rich pickings, it is time for the system to change.

I have a dream.  A dream where adults are actively involved in politics on a daily basis - just part of their every day lives, no political parties and a media which reports news rather than tries to manipulate the masses.  A dream where children are given an education that is worthwhile; maths, languages, science, philosophy, politics and they leave school wanting to be an active part of society and how society is run.  A dream where capitalism doesn't filter society in to classes like a centrifuge sorts the grit from the cream. 

In the 21st Century, and already a decade in, we have the technology to achieve this, to achieve direct government, but we don't have the will... yet.  The people of this country are a sleeping dragon and I believe the dragon is waking up, finally disturbed by the filth rotting in it's den.

But my dream is a bizarre utopia that cannot be achieved overnight.  So how do we get there?

Move to AV?  Move to PR? No.  "Electoral reform" is just a tool that they will use to tell you that things are changing.  A step in the right direction, you might say.

WRONG

You are still voting for the oligarchy (i.e. you have no choice at all!) and at the end of day the MPs still earn stupid salaries, claim expenses and are all but untouchable both in their job and legally.

The system has to change from the ground up.

I propose a party-less republic is the next appropriate government for the UK.  

Candidates stand like MPs now, but are not allowed to be affiliated to a party, in fact parties are simply abolished.  Thus candidates stand 100% on their own merit.  A candidate may wish to focus on local issues, or may expressly be interested in the role of president.  It is up to the candidate how they "sell" themselves to the voting public.  A candidate has to be over 25, but no particular qualifications are required.  The age limit is arbitrary but by 25 it can be assumed the candidate has had enough experience in life to make reasonable decisions.

Any candidate can stand anywhere, but I believe in this system local candidates will be chosen over strangers who simply want a seat, as is happens now.  Constituency first.  Once all the candidates are chosen and form the senate, the senate chooses a shortlist of candidates from those that qualify (35 years of age and citizens of the UK for at least 14 years) to be become president.  Remember, parties are expressly forbidden, so again candidates are standing on their own merit.  The country choses the president using an AV system.  The runner up becomes the vice-president.  

Once elected to office the president forms a government from the senate.  At this stage the president has all the usual presidential powers but can be overruled by a majority vote in the senate.

Technology should be used to avoid unnecessary travel, using video-conferencing, etc.

And a term of office is precisely 4 years, with no president serving more than two terms (ever).

Or something like that.  I don't have a political qualification (as you can probably tell) but it's clear to me that the current system is severely flawed and that slowly our rights are being eroded.  

The sleeping dragon needs to wake up - it's time for the UK to change.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/620664/2010-06-25_14.48.58.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1lWm6zjnZsZ Christopher Brind brindy Christopher Brind Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:00:42 -0800 “the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs.” http://blog.brindy.org.uk/the-ship-that-made-the-kessel-run-in-less-tha http://blog.brindy.org.uk/the-ship-that-made-the-kessel-run-in-less-tha In the movie "Star Wars Episode IV : A New Hope" while negotiating
passage to Alderaan, Han Solo is astounded that Luke and Obiwan
haven't heard of the of the Millenium Falcon, "the ship that made the
Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs".

Lots of people note that this is an expression of distance, not time
... so what's the big deal?

Well I think the clue is in something Han says later on...

“Travelling through hyperspace ain’t like dusting crops, boy…without
precise calculations you could fly right through a star or bounce too
close to a supernova, and that would end your trip real quick,
wouldn’t it?”

So I got thinking that 12 parsecs is significant because the Falcon is
able to navigate around space obstacles (e.g. stars, black holes and
other things with large gravitational fields) in such a way that the
route that most normal ships would have to take is significantly
reduced.

Later I discovered that this is explained on the Star Wars Wiki and
wish I'd just read that first. =)

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Parsec

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/620664/2010-06-25_14.48.58.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1lWm6zjnZsZ Christopher Brind brindy Christopher Brind Sun, 27 Dec 2009 13:43:59 -0800 Dragon Age: Origins for Mac, but not for me http://blog.brindy.org.uk/dragon-age-origins-for-mac-but-not-for-me http://blog.brindy.org.uk/dragon-age-origins-for-mac-but-not-for-me I love my Mac, but it gets me down that the majority of games developers don't provide Mac versions of their games.  As a result I dual boot in to Windows using Boot Camp and only tend to buy games off Valve's Steam, mainly just to reduce the amount of hard media that I have knocking around.

There are equivalents for Mac, for instance http://www.macgamesarcade.com/ , which has a few 'big name' titles on it, but not an extensive range.  Mostly games by indie developers which tend to be lacking the depth and quality of the big names. 

Of course, there's Blizzard who always release a Mac version at the same time as the Windows version, yet this doesn't appear to have an effect of the quality of the games they produce, so I have to wonder why other developers don't take a leaf out of their book.  I think it has something to do with Microsoft giving developers funding for using their gaming APIs and hardware.

Anyway Bioware aren't bad at following up with Mac versions later, but it is hit and miss if a game will have a Mac version, so when Dragon Age: Origins came out I was so eager to play it and I decided it would be so long before a Mac version, that on November 15th I just bought the Windows version and had done with it.  

A few weeks later Bioware announce the release of a Mac version of the game.

I was pretty gutted.  

I much prefer playing games in OSX, they seem to be much more responsive and I just like spending time in OSX rather than Windows, so it annoys me when I have to reboot in to Windows just to play a game.

So here's the scenario:
  • I not only bought Dragon Age:Origins, I also purchased the Deluxe edition with all the extra content
  • I bought it when there wasn't even a hint of a Mac version on the horizon
  • I want to play it on the exact same hardware just using OSX instead of Windows
Now given all that I won't be buying the Mac version Bioware are not going to lose out by giving it me for free - is it such an unreasonable request?

For sure, I won't be buying anymore Bioware games for Windows... just in case they release a Mac version later.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/620664/2010-06-25_14.48.58.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1lWm6zjnZsZ Christopher Brind brindy Christopher Brind Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:00:00 -0800 social experiment inspired by gary mckinnon http://blog.brindy.org.uk/social-experiment-inspired-by-gary-mckinnon http://blog.brindy.org.uk/social-experiment-inspired-by-gary-mckinnon
I'm sure most readers will be aware of the plight of hacker Gary McKinnon, the guy who hacked some US government computers, left messages and allegedly corrupted some data all in the name of seeking the truth about UFOs.  Sounds like a crazy thing to do and it is, a bit - the guy has Asperger Syndrome, which is a form of autism a kin to obsessive compulsive disorder.  He's due to be shipped off to America for torture and eventual imprisonment and probably gang rape because the UK government has no back-bone.

Apparently the computers he 'hacked' were only secured with Microsoft's most basic levels of protection and a set of default passwords, making me wonder why the person in charge of IT isn't being held responsible rather than Mr McKinnon.

Anyway, all that got me thinking - if people had access to a secure website, that they surely knew they shouldn't be accessing, would they go in anyway?

So I setup a site:

As you can see, it clearly states 'do not press this button' - I posted the link in to the public domain telling people not to access the site or press the button.

The results were interesting - I got about 40 hits over a 3 week period.  Of those 40 hits only 6 people clicked the button.  Every time the button is clicked I get an email with the IP address of the person who clicked the button allowing me to see where in the world they are from.  Of the 40 hits, only 6 people clicked the button.  One was from the UK, another one from Italy and four from America - the break down of the total was hits was 50% UK, 30% America and the rest random places in the world.

I immediately emailed the ISPs of all 6 'hacking attempts' on my website, but received no response from any of them.

Conclusion : I still haven't come to any, but feel free to let me know yours.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/620664/2010-06-25_14.48.58.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1lWm6zjnZsZ Christopher Brind brindy Christopher Brind Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:04:00 -0800 My response to http://jackofkent.blogspot.com/2009/11/paul-clarkes-shotgun.html #paulclarke http://blog.brindy.org.uk/my-response-to-httpjackofkentblogspotcom20091 http://blog.brindy.org.uk/my-response-to-httpjackofkentblogspotcom20091
So if he had a licence then it would have been OK to carry the gun through the streets?

Does the licence prevent him from being mugged or having an accident?

Would him having a licence reduce the risk of that gun being used to kill or badly maim other people?

All having a licence implies is that some official has somehow deemed (probably financially rather than scientifically) that the person who has applied for the license does not represent a risk to the public, it doesn't stop the other things you mention from actually happening. Thus, the lack of licence is not an issue and (subject to all the facts coming to light) this is a farce.

[Edit 21:36]

Earlier, @DaveGorman (yes, *the* Dave Gorman) put me right :

DaveGorman@brindy Surely having a licence doesn't allow you to just carry a gun through town in a bag. Protected? Lock & key? It's a sawn off shotgun?

brindy@DaveGorman *shrug* no idea, my point was that article implied that having a licence protects you from mugging/accident, which it doesn't

DaveGorman@brindy It does if a condition of the licence means the gun is carried in a way that makes it inaccessible in event of mugging/accident.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/620664/2010-06-25_14.48.58.jpg http://posterous.com/users/1lWm6zjnZsZ Christopher Brind brindy Christopher Brind