So I was quite surprised by something recently. It was when speaking to another about my work, explaing to them what it was and why it was relevant to the every day person, and then something about my interests. In return I was met with a very dismissive attitude. Now I know to many I am a nerd, but to be met with such a repeated treatment, with such words like 'aw bless' over again and again, well it stops being jovial and more like what I did was unimportant or simply a waste of time just because my areq of work is not arty. Why this struck me is because I typically find alternative types to be quite accepting of the sciences as well as the arts. It got further more annoying as they used local lingo and sayings in such a way to make no sense to me while using my lack of understanding as a reason to belittle me. The reason it nnoys me more is that with any ones work I try my best to understand their work and find a common ground. So yeah even people cam be snobbish to scientists.
Tuesday 25 May 2010
Sunday 23 May 2010
Remove HIV's invisibility cloak to defeat it [Hiv]
Remove HIV's invisibility cloak to defeat it [Hiv] -- http://io9.com/5545702/remove-hivs-invisibility-cloak-to-defeat-it
-- Sent Via AndRead
-- Sent Via AndRead
Thursday 20 May 2010
Working for the big Gee Dubya!
So in my last post I laid out my entire gaming history. But for this one I wanted to talk more about something that was a major part of my life for about 3 years or so. Games Workshop. More importantly working for them.
It was toward the end of my first year of uni that I applied to work for GW. I had my interview at the Stockport store and pretty much aced it considering I had worked in shops before plus I knew everything about all games currently available, and my painting was pretty decent to match. As a result I got a job working key-time (zero hour contract meaning you got what hours you were given) at the Altrincham store. Coming back to Manchester after a Summer away and I started working there with my first boss (of which there would be 4 in total).
To begin with working at the shop is a good deal. Discounts (minis by weight!), painting and playing games. You of course have to learn how to run a store when the shop is small and the team is tiny, and so I became better trained than some full time staff in some other stores as I had to deal with cashing up and generally being in charge when no one else is about. THe other fun side of things I got to do was of course help teach kids how to play the games, teaching painting, teaching tatics, and in the course of all this explain what bits of military history I knew, science, mythology etc. Basically I was asked if I wanted a job as a manager once I graduated. I declined of course. But there was a time I would have taken them up on the offer.
The downsides were numerous. One manager just didn't command the respect of the team, hell I even complained. Plus we had one staff member that was racist and that never got dealt with. Then there is GW common sense. Being paid by the hour is fine, but having to travel for training on Saturday mornings when you were not working that day was shit. Basically the hour travel cost the hour you made. Also when the Lord of the Rings bubble burst GW changed it's tune, demanding us to act more like salesmen while not being salesmen (GW prides itself on not power selling, but when the shit hits the fan they push it as much as possible), plus all the other barmy stuff and as I said, poorly trained managers.
Ultimately I learnt a lot from my time at GW. How to manage a team, my confidence increased, my teaching skills to those younger than myself, my own planning skills and designing things for summer and holidays such as campaigns and tournaments and even new rules for the games in store. But, and this is a big but, GW sucks you in with promises of toys and sweeties, but spits you out when times get hard. The battle lines of GW stores are covered in staff who have fallen or got burnt out in the name in Emperor.
Armies I have owned:
WH40k - Tyranids, Tau, Orks, Chaos Nergal Plague Marines
WH - Tomb Kings, Chaos Warriors
Warmaster - Tomb Kings, Empire
Necromunda - Spyrers, Van Saar
Gorkamorka - Gorkas
Blood Bowl - Humans
Warmachine - Khador, Cygnar
Confrontation - Dirz
Epic - Space Marines, Tyranids
Battlefleet Gothic - Chaos
A sample of my painting from a while ago. I am no longer this good.
Wednesday 19 May 2010
From Space Marine to Cthulhu Tech
So back around 1994 a friend at high school introduced me to a game of superhumans and space orks. That's right, Warhammer 40000 2nd Edition. The game blew my little mind. It was chock full of dice, templates, minatures (though these are nothing compared to the things Games Workshop makes these days) and books. The books were not just rules but some of the most amazing graphic artwork and background material that described a universe where Humanity was under seige from a variety of aliens, daemons and renegades. I was hooked. However my parents were not so keen. GW was expensive even 15 years ago. So I had to make do with just using what my mate had.
28 Days: Special Tampon Can Save Humanity – Mademoicell – Jezebel
via jezebel.com
This is quite mad but also really interesting. Once more a reminder that the human body does contain all the tools to heal it self from the afflictions that kill us everyday, the trick is making use of them in ways never thought of before.
Tuesday 18 May 2010
Stunning time-lapse of Eyjafjallajökull volcano, Iceland – RT @bengoldacre
via boingboing.net
Truely amazing and the time lapse makes it seem magical
Blogging and more
So, since last time I posted anything meaningful I feel like I need to do an actual, proper, blog update, plus more.
Right, well first off the bat it has now been some weeks in 'smart phone land'. Need I say that I am now somewhat addicted to the device. It has meant that I now consume the web a bit differently. Such a device is very good for grabbing all your favourite RSS feeds and so information consumption is more fluid, bite sized and targeted. Also I have to once more stress how excellent the X10 is for displaying pdfs making my rereading of Werewolf: the Forsaken a lot easier on the bus. I do not have to lug about the 300 page tome. In addition to the basic feature there are a few apps that I have added that are useful. A lot of apps are amazingly pointless and redundant if you have any form of common sense.
Right, as for work, well that is getting better. I now have finished a new conformational search engine and will be testing it this week and the following weeks on simple organic systems (rings in particular), and then on more interesting metal containing complexes where chelation occurs. On the other burner is my never ending multi-objective parameter optimizer. We have now taken steps to not just move goal posts but change the pitch altogether, and so I am now looking at heme type systems where spin cross over occurs.
In regular life, Vampire has been on extended hiatus since one player has had major work upheaval but regular programming will commence soon and then Changeling will begin.
More regular life has included heading up to Manchester for a weekend and visiting old friends, and now just organising ourselves for Paris next week. I have been learning a little French, and with my wife's help it is far easier to get to grip with. I tend to find it easier to learn a language when you can understand the origin of their words.
So that's basically been it of late. But I plan to write more and blog more. In particular with the end of the Vampire chronicle coming up I was going to do a long dissection of how I run games, prepare and things I have learnt over the 15 years of gaming, along with posts on topics I find interesting. Not all of this will be cross posted everywhere however, as I don't think my livejournal serves the same purpose as my wordpress.
The next few gaming related posts will include;
- My gaming history and more - from Necromunda and DnD to working for the big GW, Vampire and trying to get something published
- Which Game? - What I've played, read, run and what I like
- Chronicle Concept - Just how do you go about putting one together?
- Plotting - Stories and episodes and what to plan and what not to plan
- Rules Rules Rules - what to use, when to not bother and when I roll dice and when I just don't.
There are more topics to add to that list plus some sciency type discussion when I spot stuff of interest that intersects pop science and my own research.
Right on that note some pictures perhaps and then I better do some work.
I wish I was in Corleone's right now sipping coffee and stuffing my face with a pastry.... oh but then they have that all in France.
Edited for rushed punctuation in the early morning
Friday 14 May 2010
Monday 10 May 2010
It's Parliament not Presidential for fucks sake!
So the news is focused on what will happen to the government. But there are a few things annoying me with the media. 1 - The media did polls that suggested the public wanted a hung parliament. However now they are acting like only one party should hold power. 2 - No one won! We got a hung parliament. The tories did not get a majority. Being the party with the most votes is not very the same as a majority of votes or even seats in the House of Commons. The government then is formed from parties that together have the majority of seats, regardless of the result of the popular vote. It may mean the Tories don't get in but then even they did not win the election. So the media should stop treating them as if they won. 3 - Unelected leader. Brown declared he will resign. Fine. I don't like him but remember like all prime ministers they are never directly elected by the public to power. In fact a PM does not have to be leader of a party. Just command the respect of the majority of the commons. Now if his party is the majority then the two can coincide. But they actually don't have to. So once more we never elect PMs we just elect ministers who form parties. It is possible Clegg becomes PM. 4 - Brown is not squatting. He his bound by the constitution to remain as PM. There must always be a government. Conclusion is it seems the media and our own population don't understand how parliament works and assume it is like a presidential senatorial method.
Friday 7 May 2010
Mob Rule? #ukelection #ge2010
So last night dear morpheus and the sand man welcomed me to a troubled sleep. My mind was stilled engaged in thought. Would the rise of dear hyperion, the great observer, the sun, welcome a new order or more of the same old tired politics? The night of the count was more exciting than expected. Postal votes were missing, voters were in immense queues even if they had turned up early, even voting papers were running out. Politics was at breaking point and I used that had the grand concensus of Britain decided to let this happen. That our nightmares and uncertainty had crippled us? No matter the winner voting in future would change. Right now i am tapping this out on my phone (doing it easier than imagined) as the bus sits in traffic. Where is everyone going today? So what can we look forward to? Chaos? Anarchy? Brown may be able to give us what we do deserve, a Lib Dem cabinet member or two and some electoral reform. At 22% of the popular vote, the Lib Dem party has gained votes but lost seats. This is now such a broken system. The Tories think having the most seats nd votes is enough for power. It should not be so. They will hold neither a majority in the seats or the vote. So here is Labour Democrats. You may well be what we all need. As for those of you who didn't vote, shame on you. If you agree with a party then back it up with a vote.
Thursday 6 May 2010
Wednesday 5 May 2010
Saturday 1 May 2010
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