The Curious Tales of Dr Ether: January 2011

Monday 31 January 2011

Meme #30daymeme #meme

Day 04 ⇝ Your views on religion

I guess there was a time that I would have described myself as an atheist. I, and my sister were never christened, much to the annoyance of my father's mother. My Mum said it would be our choice when that time came. Living out in the countryside of Herefordshire meant that primary school was religious assemblies every morning. My one escape, and passion that developed in primary school, was for mythology. To me it was the super hero stories of old. Norse, Greek, anything I would read, and my mum nurtured it. But then I was also obsessed with space and science as a child and the issue would be reconciling this all.

At high school the religious assemblies were diminished, however my second headmaster while there was an ex baptist minister and drove religion into the school. Of course this, and at primary school, was all CoE. The only time I felt OK with even entering a church was out of respect for the school on foundress day, or something like a persons funeral or wedding. While at high school my Religious Education teachers were happy with how much mythology I had read and how I connected the dots between them and more contemporary faiths.

As a growing scientist at high school, then sixth form and then uni, I could not see the point of organized religions and especially those Abrahamic faiths. I saw myths of old and the Bible as just good stories and tales through which morality and concepts could be taught.

Now it was through fellows up in Manchester, and meeting Sam, that I figured out my actual stance on religion. I tend towards agnostic, but really I am abiding to Hermetic philosophy. This along with more open forms of paganism allow for an expansive spiritualism, where Gods are just names and forms through which to contemplate the universe. Just as we have electrons, there are other names for the same force, such as Thor and Zeus. This and science are then not mutually exclusive. In fact they are inclusive and compatible. See science is made up of theories and rules, and scientists always find the fun things where those theories have to be revised, and rules altered. Thus, science can't rule out some form of universal force, some spirit of the universe. Equally science can not be dismissed as through knowledge and it's teaching we gain enlightenment. Hermetic philosophy also does not rely on middle men. It is about personal enlightenment and not rhetoric.

Sunday 30 January 2011

Meme #30daymeme #meme

Just because others are doing this one and also it gives me an excuse to write. I am going to write days 1-3 in order to catch up with my wife Sam.

Day 01 - Your current relationship.
Day 02 ⇝ Where you'd like to be in 10 years
Day 03 ⇝ Your views on drugs and alcohol
Day 04 ⇝ Your views on religion
Day 05 ⇝ A time you thought about ending your own life
Day 06 ⇝ Write 30 interesting facts about yourself
Day 07 ⇝ Your zodiac sign and if you think it fits your personality
Day 08 ⇝ A moment you felt the most satisfied with your life
Day 09 ⇝ How you hope your future will be like
Day 10 ⇝ Discuss your first love and first kiss
Day 11 ⇝ Put your iPod on shuffle and write 10 songs that pop up
Day 12 ⇝ Bullet your whole day
Day 13 ⇝ Somewhere you'd like to move or visit
Day 14 ⇝ Your earliest memory
Day 15 ⇝ Your favorite Tumblrs
Day 16 ⇝ Your views on mainstream music
Day 17 ⇝ Your highs and lows of this past year
Day 18 ⇝ Your beliefs
Day 19 ⇝ Disrespecting your parents
Day 20 ⇝ How important you think education is
Day 21 ⇝ One of your favorite shows
Day 22 ⇝ How have you changed in the past 2 years
Day 23 ⇝ Give pictures of 5 guys who are famous you find attractive
Day 24 ⇝ Your favorite movie and what it's about
Day 25 ⇝ Someone who fascinates you and why
Day 26 ⇝ What kind of person attracts you
Day 27 ⇝ A problem that you have had
Day 28 ⇝ Something that you miss
Day 29 ⇝ Goals for the next 30 days
Day 30 ⇝ Your highs and lows of this month

Day 01 - Your current relationship.

I have been with Sam for almost four years, and next month on the 25th I will have been married for 2 years. I was married in the Venice, and I was engaged the year before after going on holiday to see the Carnival (we got married the day after carnival). We in fact were engaged unofficially a few months before we went to Venice, after we realised this desire after some time away at the Infest festival where we enjoyed just being together as a couple. After that we practically lived together. Along the way there have been some tough times, and some hypocrisy from others. But to be honest I am a better person with Sam, as I realise my self fully, and have achieved some of my dreams.

Day 02 ⇝ Where you'd like to be in 10 years

Hopefully I will have a lectureship, and perhaps two children. I will have had the chance to do research in other countries for some time, such as Italy, France or the US. Otherwise I would like to have had the chance to write freelance for a roleplay game and well still have the same sort of fun I have now. I don't see why children and so forth can impede on the things I enjoy in life.

Day 03 ⇝ Your views on drugs and alcohol

So tough one here. Alcohol first. Fine in moderation. I have my limits, and know when they are close when drinking. However I just hate get hung over, thus why I tend to not drink Stout any more. I have got very drunk on a few occasions and utterly regret it, as I have ended up either in a very bad state (such as when my girlfriend dumped me a long while back) or have just said some awful things to Sam (though that I think was just real life and bad dreams merging). I enjoy drinking socially, but there is a limit, and it is a shame that others go well beyond and just come across as complete idiots. I can admit a drink helps with being social, but too much just ruins things. Alcohol is a dangerous drug socially and biologically so I just don't get binge drinkers.

Now smoking. I used to smoke and now don't. Again moderation, but again it is a terrible drug in the addiction it causes and horrible damage to the body.

Other drugs. Well there are drugs that are fine either socially or medically in moderation. Plus some, though illegal are in fact more safe than alcohol. Shame that no matter how safe you think you are with them there is no way to be sure the pill you have had is the real deal. Weed is pretty hard to screw with like this. So even though people think they know what the hell they are doing, that is just a theory. In the real world that drug may only be 10% of the real thing. If we could all have untainted E then great. But that just isn't the case right now.

Weed I have smoked. But again smoking it all the time is just not great. I enjoyed it socially, and yeah did some stupid things on it (more because we were geeks with too much time on our hands). The real problem is that is Skunk too potent and presents more of a risk.

Also drugs should be kept out the hands of those still developing socially, emotionally and biologically. I have a complete dislike for those that think it solves all problems. It is utterly irresponsible of people to give it to those more at risk.

Also drug taking elitism/anti drug elitism is just plain stupid. Just because you have taken a drug and survived doesn't make it any safer. There are too many variables. Equally being anti drugs is wrong when those same people happily get wasted on booze.

Sunday 23 January 2011

Kittens on Cushions

Watching Alladin. Yes they watch tv

Kittens on cushions

Watching Alladin. Yes they watch tv

Kittens on cushions

Watching Alladin on telly. Yeah they watch tv

Kittybox

Download now or watch on posterous

MOV_0616.mp4 (19969 KB)

Thursday 20 January 2011

This Man Is Final Fantasy Come To Life #gackt

via kotaku.com

Caffeinate Crazy - 1 #computergame #music #jetsetradiofuture #fluke

SO this is a post that basically is a early morning post regarding anything and everything on my brain.

For instance, did you know Vampire: the Masquerade turned 20 years old?

Well my morning, on the bus of doom into work (it's a pink bus to uni, and fortunately it was just after 9 so empty of 'tards) was bright and cold. Perfect weather for shades to be donned once more. However, I was also listening to a track from the soundtrack to Jet Set Radio Future.

Now I had got the soundtrack from a friend, and yes it is very nostalgic for me. JSRF was the game I got in my xbox set. It was a bizarre game. The aim was half exploration, half in-line blading ala Tony Hawks, and also loads of spray painting. From the art above it is clear that the game had a definite look, all cell shaded, which meant prolonged use made your eyes bleed.

But equally important to the game, which was more style over substance, was the music.

First and example of JSRF gameplay.

Now the music itself was quite different, and there is some seriously weird random stuff on there, but here is a favourite from my morning commute.

I think the great thing about this game was how relaxed it was, compared to things like Tony Hawks etc. The game wanted you to just enjoy the music and enjoy the style. The game wasn't hard, but full mastery was difficult. I guess I like the game for the same reasons I like AC2. I like to just enjoy the environment of the game and the atmosphere they build up.

Now on a related note about soundtracks there is a band called Scooter, renowned these days for being the music behind jumpstyle.

Is it me but I miss their Mortal Kombat days?

Now back to gaming soundtracks though. Fluke. They made the atmosphere of Wipeout with their music. The influence is clear when films like Sin City included Absurd by Fluke. But really that was old news since Edgar Wright beat them to it in Spaced, in series 1 episode 5 about 17 minutes in.

It's great what music can do for a game.

Ok made ramblings over

Wednesday 19 January 2011

Where in the world is Etheric Labs being read??? #googleanalytics

_20101219-20110118_(GeoMapReport) http://d1.scribdassets.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=47185617&access_key=key-nzd38ze3mj4i0hikhhw&page=1&viewMode=list

Birthday fun and more

So yesterday was my birthday. I turned 28 years old. It first made me think, "Fuck, I am getting old", but really I have come to the conclusion of so what. I think most of this realization of age comes from some people I know still being immature, and that others of my age are having children. But, there are a group of us, all about the same age who are quite happily do the growing up thing while maintaining some sense of fun. But if there is one thing that has changed it is that I am sick of collecting junk. I want things to be replaced with items that will last, not lots of cheap crap that will fall apart. That sounds rather middle aged perhaps, but I think it is just a symptom of me being more aware of what I earn and what I would like to spend it on, while I watch others piss it away.

Anyway, lets forget the gloom of growing old, and realize it is only others that make us feel gloomy about it. The same people who would say I got married too young etc.

My birthday celebrations took place over this last weekend, and involved the meeting of new members of my roleplay group. Kat and David met up with the established group of myself, Sam, Heather, Steve, Emily and Chris, at our haunt of choice in Leamington, Wilde's. We also had the pleasure of my good friend, and ex-player in our group, James, staying over and so he was also present for drinks.

Wildes, being a classy wine bar, suffers from it's own success, drawing in the cackling fiends from the streets. The towny trendy types that drone on very loudly. We eventually got seating, all of us about a tiny table much to the annoyance of the orc like patrons of the bar.

The day after we bid goodbye to James, but hello to Anna and Mark. Mark is celebrating his birthday today, and yes we are born a day apart. It was quite the revelation when we met plus explained a few things. We again enjoyed drinks at Wilde's, with Mark's own addition of Essex style quotes in an effort to annoy the others there who again seem to speak in a loud riotous fashion. All we could hear was Mark's quote of the day, in Essex style accent, "You're holding the biscuits wrong!". Instead of remaining at the bar we chose to leave, watch some movies, rant and drink and eat nice food. Plus there was the compulsory playing with the kittens, who now seem to be at a bit of a loss after the two nights of guests at the flat.

Present wise I have received so far some money, a collection of DVDs from James, and Anna and Mark, a copy of Chez Goth (which is great) and some dice (James hoping that at least one of the presents I needed).

Monday was equally good fun, as I and David attended the local Cafe Scientifique in Leamington, where the topic was AI. We had fun asking quite a few questions, since we both have knowledge on a broad range of things. It seems I and he are now headed hunted for duties there in the future, and he will be presenting his research there in a few weeks time.

Work wise the paper is almost there, and I am now researching a new possible route for the development of molecular switches, which is seems could well mean we are the first to propose the use of these materials for this task. Very exciting and should form the basis of my next research funding application.

Of course, finally this Friday will see the return of Changeling for gaming, since we have been on pause for a number of weeks. It'll be good to get back into the swing of things and also get ready for running Vampire.

Finally a picture of Yamato that I posted to icanhazcheezburger

Tuesday 18 January 2011

Print on Demand Review - worth watching

Yamato makes a great lolcat

I rekomendz teh Doktor mr ziggy starduzt Tezla. He makez manny hatz juz lic diz one.

Friday 14 January 2011

Accent meme #meme #accent

Just because I am about to leave work for the day with a load of papers on spin cross over complexes and some on nickle..... fun

Download now or listen on posterous

meme.3gp (247 KB)

Instructions:

Your name and/or username
Where you're from
The following words: Aunt, Roof, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting Image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught, Orange, Coffee, direction, naturally, aluminium and herbs
What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
What do you call gym shoes?
What do you say to address a group of people?
What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
What do you call your grandparents?
What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

Read this passage from The Speech Accent Archive:

"Please call Stella. Ask her to bring these things with her from the store: Six spoons of fresh snow peas, five thick slabs of blue cheese, and maybe a snack for her brother Bob. We also need a small plastic snake and a big toy frog for the kids. She can scoop these things into three red bags, and we will go meet her Wednesday at the train station."

How nasal am I???

Thursday 13 January 2011

A New Year.... what may be going on

So Xmas has been and gone, and it was spent happily at home with my wife Sam and our kittens, who were only 3 months old. For this reason we opted not to travel the length of England to visit parents. Instead my parents should be staying over some time soon now that we have a decent new sofa/futon bed.

As for the kittens, boy are thy growing. Last check the boy, Yamato, was a full 400g heavier. We were told he eats like a pig when we got him. Both kittens are now fully vaccinated and have had more deworming (something I will have to do again in a month, but it's easy and should be the last time). In unrelated circumstances our last hamster, Marishka, finally died of old age, being well over 2 years old.

Present wise has so far seen

- Sam got me a book on the journey of Marco Polo

- Her mum got me a book on the history of the Royal Society for science

- Xmas money got me a shirt and jacket as seen in previous posts, and Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare, which is good comic relief from AC2-Brotherhood

- Still expecting some presents off my parents to arrive when my sister stays over

Roleplay wise things have been on pause due to the festivities, and now should be on again as of next week as we push into the last half/third of changeling the lost, with a reprisal of Vampire along the way, and then on to running some Exalted.

Work wise sees the mopping up of my latest paper, finally, and working towards the next, as well as another round of funding application. I hope to have that done end of Feb and the current work over and done with come end of March.

This weekend sees a pre-emptive birthday drinks meetup with the roleplay group and friends, as I turn 28 on Tuesday next week. 28 seems definitely older. And we also have the pleasure of Anna and Mark visiting on Saturday/Sunday, which is great as he also turns 28 the day after me. That I feel is a sign of the Old Ones!

Finally did you know that a) I now have coffee/purple/red hair and b) a goatee. Yeah, sure we'll see photos of those soon. But for now...