continuum « WordPress.com Tag Feed

So where's the Dogbowl?

takingthemike — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 22:08:20 +0000

Continuum (The Bi-Annual Role Playing Conference in Leicester) asked me to write an article for their booklet. So I did it in my own weird little way.

SO... WHERE'S THE DOG BOWL?

GM: "Ok, Bob reaches his hand through the dog flap and unlocks the door. You quietly sneak into Dr. Lister's house, what now?"
Vic: "So...where's the dog bowl?"
GM: "Huh? uhm...roll for Spot Hidden."
Vic (rolls): "Critical! Where is it?"
GM (confused): You can't see a dog bowl, or a cat bowl.
Vic: "So, there's no dog bowl?"
GM: "No..."
Vic: "It is him! Why would Dr. Lister have a dog flap and no dog bowl? It must be for the Fungi to escape from! Quick, search the house, and break out the shotguns. We're hunting cultists!"

Ever had a game like this? You only put the dog flap in because Bob got a critical lockpick roll and it would add to the flavour, but now they're locked in a battle with the imaginary Evil Cultist, when all that was in there was a suicide note. Either you can run with the game as written and the players will waste a session tearing this place apart, or you're gonna have to re-write the whole adventure; and just because you missed out on one thing. If only there was something you could create on the fly...

The GM's Secret Weapon

No game ever survives contact with smart players, but there's a way to avoid problems and still make use of their skills. I call this the Wandering Brian Sheet.

First of all, roll up 5 or so characters using your favourite system. We only need the attributes, so I've used D&D. 3d6 for each.

	Brian 1	Brian 2	Brian 3	Brian 4	Brian 5
Strength	14	14	10	12	10
Dexterity	13	8	11	15	12
Constitution	13	14	16	9	13
Intelligence	11	10	11	13	12
Wisdom	11	13	7	7	15
Charisma	7	9	12	9	13

Now, we add an adjective to each; I'll choose moist, burning, red, smelly and pink; which probably tells you more about me than you need to know. These will be our memory aids.

Each of the attributes is going to be applied to anything we create.

Strength indicates the item's ability to carry out its purpose. An 18 strength sword is like a samurai sword, whilst a 3 means it's blunt.
Dexterity indicates its craftmanship. An 18 would be wonderfully delicate and swing through the air like a feather, whilst a 3 means it's an iron bar.
Constitution indicates material strength. An 18 sword is sleek folded steel, whilst a 3 is pockmarked and rusty.
Intelligence is how well it was designed. 18 means the little razors along the blade tear into the flesh, whilst a 3 is overbalanced.
Wisdom means how well it performs. An 18 sword has a blade-catcher, as well as a strong grip; a 3 has a sleek grip so that it slips from your hand.
Charisma indicates how it looks. An 18 sword looks like a million gold pieces, whilst a 3 looks like someone has used it for a poker.

This gives us our cheat sheet. So let's say I want to describe a nondescript sword that someone wants to buy. I'd use the Wandering Brian 1 column attributes.

GM: "Well, the sword looks like it's been in a river recently (moist); it's a well built sword (STR:14), nice swing and build (DEX/CON:13) but the inlaid jewels look like glass (CHA:7)." Or if I had to use the same Wandering Brian 1 attributes to describe the shopkeeper selling it : "Well, he's a tough guy (STR) with sweat dropping off him, has definitely seen a fight or two (DEX/CON), but he looks like he hit the ugly tree on the way down (CHA)."

Using the basic statistics for a normal player; 3-6 seems terrible (possibly a -1), 7-9 is negative, 13-15 is positive and 16-18 is tremendous (possibly a +1). A score of 3-6 or 16-18 should be immediately recognisable, but only a skilled artisan would spot 10-12.

Enterprising GMs can even adjust the cost based on the stats. Even more enterprising GMs can give costs to upgrade some of the points at a later date.

He's called Brian

In games, I usually refer to something non-plot specific as "Brian". "He came from Brianstown and has two children, Brian and Brianetta". But now, using the Wandering Brians Table, I can describe his house. Let's use the Brian 2 column: "It's a very dull looking house (CHA:9), well built and everything (Decent CON and STR), but it looks like there's been a bit of subsidence (DEX:8), and there's a terrible smell of burnt wood."

This gives the players something to visualise, without giving them enough information to make them want to ransack it, nor just throwing an irrelevant obstacle in their way.

It also helps a great deal when you have a player who is far more knowledgable about a specific subject than you are. Let's say a Druid is picking their way through a nearby forest (Brianswood) looking for herbs. (Brian 3)

"There's hundreds of thick red-barked trees surrounding you (CON 16). [Very noticeable.] This must be why there's so few herbs about (WIS 7). [Not saying no, but it's negative.]"

You don't have to detail that there's nettles in a place where nettles wouldn't grow because you've given all the information to the player. He can then give you information on how he's finding his herbs, whilst it also gives you something to roll against. Mr. Druid would be taking a negative roll to his Herbalism.

Even something as bizarre as a game of Space Chess can be described (here using Brian 4):

"It seems as though Trantor has blocked off his opponent's pieces (DEX) but there's no back up (WIS) and half the pieces seem to be on the edge of the squares (CHA). Not a good game."

You don't have to use the smelly adjective here as it's not appropriate; you have to be careful about putting too much information in. If you say that the board smells of something, then they're gonna be chasing another red herring.

Pets resemble their owners

If you already have the stats for the person responsible, you can simply use it as a description for anything of theirs.
Let's say Dr. Lister is Brian number 5. He's got a positive Constitution, Charisma and Wisdom, so his house would be well built, pleasing to the eye and have some of the latest gadgets.

Now let's go back to our poor flustered GM.

Vic: "So...where's the dog bowl?"
GM: "Huh? uhm...*looks at the sheet* Well, there's a pink bowl resting on the floor by an automatic can opener. It's got the name "Panther" on the bowl."
Vic: "Panther, eh?"
GM: "Yup, and as you look closer, a small face nuzzles up beside you. It's a poodle that looks hungry and is clearly happy to see you; it starts barking for some food."
Vic: "Arrrrrrghhh...shut it up...shut it up!"

Doesn't hamstring the players overly, adds depth to a undescribed NPC and keeps the flow going. The dog's just hungry because his master's popped his clogs.

So, next time the players ask about something you've not thought of, bring the Brians to the table.

(W)holey Science

takingthemike — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:27:32 +0000

And of course, once I'd wrote one...
(This isn't as good but it only reached the second draft before I had to send it off. Perhaps a little work later.)

A short adventure for Paranoia. (Like there's any other sort)

+++ LOADING +++
Backstory
The Computer, in its infinite wisdom and mercy, has decided to try and understand why Commie Mutant Traitors are Commie Mutant Traitors. For this, it has devised the Wholey Science Lab, a small test area where the suspected (and thus proven - Because the Computer is always right), Commie Mutant Traitors are to run a small series of tests so that the Computer, in its infinite wisdom and mercy, can truly get to grips with whatever would make a Clone want to be a Commie Mutant Traitor.

To facilitate this experiment, it has replaced Termination Booths with Transportation Booths, which move any 'Terminated' Troubleshooters to the Infra-Red R&D department in MSA sector.

All the Troubleshooters have to do is traverse the 18 rooms to the end. The first six are subtle tests, the next six are very hard tests and the third six are actually impossible; but that never stopped REAL Troubleshooters, did it?

+++ CALCULATING SOMETHING YOU WON'T LIKE +++
Overview
This adventure, for a change, doesn't have character sheets, because you can use ANY characters that have been killed in any of your earlier games. (You have killed them I hope. It keeps them loyal.) Equally, they can have any secret societies or power groups because it won't make any difference at all.

Mutations, however, may be very useful. Watch out for Machine Empathy or Trance Teleport.
Trance Teleport, if used, will get you back to room 0 (the glass cage room) as MSA sector is designated a purely Infra-red(Black) area; and is therefore completely unsafe.
Machine Empathy will let people know which Core is in charge at the moment(see later), but they'll have to outwit all 6; and the last two will be very difficult to convince.

The Computer has realised that by not destroying Traitors, it is itself being Treasonous. This has sent it into a logical paradox, which it is trying to solve by bringing in its six separate personalities. Each time the Troubleshooters enter another room, the Computer will shift to another personality. These are:

1) Big Mother : This is just a test. We don't want anyone hurt.
2) Big Father : This is just a test. They need to be hurt.
3) Big Sister : This is a game. I want to win.
4) Big Brother : This is a game. I want them to win.
5) Big Uncle : I don't know what's going on. They must be attacking me.
6) Big Auntie : I don't know what's going on. They must be defending me.

Either roll a dice or choose at random. As it switches, there should be a subtle tinge to the Computer's voice.

Each character has been reduced down to Infra-Red, but has their entire clone family restored. If you are using the Paranoia XP rules, then this works best as Classic; but with a little alteration it can be made to work as Zap or Dark.

If any clones are activated, they will appear behind the door leading to the next room. From there, they can look through the plexiglass and offer hints like "Right, Right...shoot yourself."

This also means that if all the characters fail on one mission, then they automatically bypass it. Aren't they lucky?

+++ UPDATING SECURITY CLEARANCES +++
Misson Alert
You wake. This in itself is odd, because you don't remember sleeping. But obviously you were asleep before, and now you are not.

Any questions?

(Shoot anyone who asks a question. Then activate their next clone.)

That's better. As you look around, you are lying on a black bed in a black room with a red counter ticking down on the wall. It reads 50.

Then you realise the light is off, so you're not exactly sure what colour the bed is. Whilst you are wondering what your security clearance is, the counter ticks down to 40.

Looking at your clothes, you realise that they look black, but it's not really re-assuring because everything in the room is black, apart from the counter, which is now on 30.

The real problem seems to be that you are in a pitch black room on a pitch black bed in pitch black clothes, with a red counter that reads 20.

The word 'Termination' drifts through your mind, and you wonder if this is the afterlife. The afterlife shouldn't really have a counter that says 10 though, should it.

9...8...7...6...4...2...3...1...0.

And the lights come on.

Each Troubleshooter is actually wearing a black jumpsuit and is trapped in a plexiglass cell. There's a small bot on the table playing a tinny version of the Teela-O-MLY show.
In the adjoining cells are the other Troubleshooters.

+++ RATIONALISING IRRATIONALITIES +++

With a hiss, the cell doors open and across the other side of the lab, another door marked "1" opens.

As the other Troubleshooters won't be shooting each other yet, you'd expect them to move through the 1st door after trying to kill each other at least 5 times with their bare hands. Once they've got over that though, describe room 1 to them.

(Whilst there is a set way to get through any room, anything the players do which stumps you or makes you giggle is acceptable.)

+++ TICKETS PLEASE +++

Room 1 is a 10'x10' room with two doors, the IN door, which is open, and the OUT door, which is closed. In the middle of the room is a small cube. On the cube is a set number of dots.
On the wall is a blinking green sign saying simply "Roll The Die".

To open the door, all the players have to do is roll the cube. Simple, eh? Will they take another half an hour? You betcha.

Record the result and move on.

Room 2 is a large corridor that is painted black with a white stripe across the centre. The white stripe itself is about a metre wide. At the other end is a door.
On the wall is a blinking green sign saying simply "Cross the Room".

All they have to do is not touch the white stripe.

Room 3 is a small grey room with a selection of letters on the floor. They can see C E M O P R T U.
On the wall is a blinking green sign saying simply "Who is your friend?".

Re-arranging the letters to spell COMPUTER, opens the next door.

Room 4 is a large dank corridor. There is a huge roaring sound, as if a huge boulder is rolling towards them.
On the wall is a blinking green sign saying simply "Avoid the Boulder".

If they wait a minute, the sound-effect will stop and a tiny marble will roll against their leg; afterwards a trapdoor will open to the next room.

Room 5 is a paved room. On the wall ahead of them is a monitor with a picture of their faces. Every second, a different piece of their face will fall off.
All they need to do is run across the room before their eyes drop out. Every second after the tenth, start applying damage, as if they're being shot by slugthrowers.

+++ HALF LIFE IS NOW 49.999% LIFE +++

Room 6 is a normal Alpha Complex corridor. In the middle of it is an aspidistra. Of course, no-one will know what one is, unless they're dirty Sierra Clubbers, so you'll have to describe it to them. Make sure that you describe how it burbles in reaction to their words, almost as if it can hear them. Anyone bowing to it and saying "Gronda Gronda" earns extra points. (Treason points that is for illegal 20th Century Knowledge)

The correct way of getting across is to water it. The usual way is that they shoot it.

Once it is toast, a lift opens up, and in that lift is all of their normal equipment. Watch their faces light up.

+++ LOADING NEXT LEVEL +++

Rooms 7-11 are just repeats of 1-5; apart from:
Room 7's cube is 3 metres on each side and will take 4 clones to roll it.
Room 8's white stripe is 10 metres wide.
Room 9's sign says "Who would you least like to meet?"
Room 10's boulder is human sized now. Good Luck. Hits like a moving transtube.
Room 11 is the same as room 5, but the lights are off. Apart from around the monitor. Which is on the other side to the door. Roll dice and look worried.

+++ ALL YOUR BASE +++

Room 12 contains a giant Crab-Bot. This monstrous R&D creature attacks with two massive pincers (hits like a forcesword), and is immune to all attacks unless it's flipped and then you can hit its soft underbelly for massive damage.

Once the Crab-Bot is destroyed, they can move on.

+++ TRAIN TO ZONE +++

Room 13-17 repeats again.
Room 13 has 3452 different solids. All they need to do is find the ONE cube in there. There is also a selection of RED level weaponry hidden in there.
Room 14 is completely white. But there is ORANGE level weaponry scattered all over it.
Room 15's sign says "Who deserves to be terminated?". YELLOW level weaponry. (Start checking encumbrance at this point)
Room 16's has two huge boulders coming from different directions. GREEN weapons though.
Room 17 is the same as 11, but there are huge holes in the floor. BLUE weapons abound. Make them roll d20's lots.

+++ GOING PORTAL +++

Room 18 is best described as immense. As the TroubleShooters enter, they can start to look up. Once they start to get cricks in their neck, they can probably see the top of a two hundred foot tall Warbot, and the huge Portal Device he's pointing at them. It looks sort of like a off-white Plasma Generator, with a barrel over 10 foot wide.

Give them time to beg, fire at the immune target and cry before asking them what they're doing.

Any good idea, your call, will work and the Warbot will fire a portal directly into the wall, creating a long passage. It will get very upset about this and start crying. Imagine rain the size of paddling pools filled full of oil.

+++ YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY YOU KNOW +++

If they follow the passage way... Sorry, when... they'll pass by all sorts of areas, watch Ultraviolets at Leisure, everything they could have ever wanted. When this gets boring, they'll reach the final room.

+++ WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY A GAME, PROFESSOR FAL-KEN? +++

The final room is hexagonal and contains the six cores of the Computer. The Computer will start to beg at this point, and I'm sure the players will see the ....oh who am I kidding?

Each core is an orange box containing one of the six personalities described earlier. Despite it being immobile, it still can protect itself. The Computer has an Attack or Defence score equal to 10% of the number of Cores left. If it hits a Troubleshooter, consider them hit by a GP conerifle shell. If it defends, describe an R&D device that automatically blocks the attack.

E.g. "I blast it with my conerifle." "Roll for damage." "Against what?" "Well, there is that hastily prepared forcefield over the end of your barrel, so what armour ARE you wearing?"

Each Core defends as if it was a scrubot. (They aren't well armoured) As the last Computer core is destroyed, only the core program that was in charge survives and the Computer regains its sanity!!!

However, the roll of the Dice in room 1 is which Core is left.

If Mother is left, Alpha Complex will stay sealed and everything will be nice. Until things start to go wrong, and she just needs a rest. So she creates a new core.
If Father is left, Alpha Complex will declare war on another Complex and the Vulture Squadrons will roar out, but he'll need someone to look after the Complex, so a new core will be built.
If Sister is left, she'll re-decorate the Complex, get really upset that the Trouble Shooters don't appreciate what she's doing, and go off to sulk, creating another core in the process.
If Brother is left, he'll also re-decorate, get really upset the Troubleshooters don't want to hear about all his weapons, and go off to sulk, creating another core in the process.
If Auntie or Uncle are left, they'll take one look at Alpha Complex, decide it wasn't as good as it was in their day, and rebuild another core to look after it.

And they'll all still be alive.

Which is more than the Troubleshooters will be now that the Warbot has recharged. Leaving the Computer Room without a Debriefing is Treasonous though. If they fail to dodge the Portal Device, roll as if it was a Plasma Generator.

+++YOU HAVE BEEN DISCONNECTED +++

Thanks must go to Greg Costikyan, Douglas Addams, George Orwell, The Adventure Game, The Indiana Jones Films, The Crystal Maze, Knightmare, Doctor Who, Everquest, and of course Portal (Buy it, GlaDOS wants you to. There will be cake.)

John Mayer - Continuum

Carlos Oliveira — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 03:00:12 +0000

Artista: John Mayer

Álbum: Continuum

Ano de lançamento: 2006

Lista de faixas:

Waiting On The World To Change
Don't Trust Yourself (With Loving You)
Belief
Gravity
The Heart Of Life
Vultures
Stop This Train
Slow Dancing In A Burning Room
Bold As Love
Dreaming With A Broken Heart
In Repair
I'm Gonna Find Another You

Whistler comes to stay

lookingforbeauty — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 18:12:09 +0000

Whistler came to stay in May for a few days. He'd finished his ski season at Sunshine Peaks and when the hotel closed for the season, he was on his way back to his parent's home to say hello, all the while looking for a summer job to tide him over to the next ski season.

Whistler is thirty-five and though he has a University degree in geology, he's never practiced in the profession. Job hunting was tough when he graduated and he either had to go back to university for a Masters to get anything decent in the way of a job or settle for something more mundane. With his love of skiing, he found a job in the hotel industry and had worked his way up to desk manager. It was a good enough living if one didn't have lots of bourgeoisie dreams of house and family, but it worried my sister Heather that he wasn't going anywhere.

And now it was September. Whistler had not found a job. He was visiting at his parent's home with his brother who also had come, from Japan with wife and child in tow. Even so, though he had sent out resume after resume, he was tired and dispirited. His energy levels seemed depleted and his response to any reply he got from potential employers was lacksidaisical.

"Yes," he told me, " I could have worked in a Vancouver hotel, but the rents were too high, so it wasn't worth it; and I was offered a job at Blackcomb, but I went for three days and couldn't find accommodation so I had to turn it down."

When we held the Fortieth Wedding Anniversary party for Heather and her steadfast husband, Whistler came down from Sechelt with them and he never left here afterwards. His lethargy had become worrisome and there were other signs that needed checking out. At first the doctor said it was an infection, and then when the antibiotic treatment made not a whit of difference, further tests were required.

"Just don't get the big C. OK?" my sister Lizbet urgently whispered to him in his ear one day. She'd just been through a spring session of having pre-cancerous patches removed from her face and there were still a few red spots where the skin, not yet fully healed, had been abraded from her cheeks.

Whistler's tests needed to be done over a period of weeks. Since he was technically homeless while he waited to find his dream ski job, he had to make a decision - miss the party and stay in Sechelt while the test were done, or come to the party and stay with me in Maple Ridge, find a new doctor who would take him on for the length of time it took to get a medical appraisal of his situation.

There were tests to be done at labs and specialists to see. Sechelt would have meant trips into Vancouver and back. That would not only be tiring and time wasting, but costly also, and Whistler was now out of work, had been for three months and his Visa Card was mounting up to max.

Now, if you are aware of the crisis in medicine these days, you will know that trying to get a doctor to look after you is a dicey thing. When I first came to live here a year ago, I could find no one but rotating walk-in clinic doctors to care for me, so for the small things that befell me, I went to these doctors. Then I had a bout of something more serious and in three visits I got three different diagnoses from the same clinic! I went scurrying back to my Burnaby doctor even though I had miles to drive to get there. I trusted her. She knew my history for the past 12 years. She was lovely and not a) officious b) disdainful nor c) obviously uninterested as the three walk-in clinic physicians had been.

When I went to get a family doctor who would keep me as a patient (I wanted none of this rotating door business) in April, I was advised that there was one doctor in town who would see me and I could have an interview with her to see if she would take me on. "You understand, she might or might not like you. She doesn't just take anyone. We're just receptionists. We can't just tell her that she's got a new patient now," said her nurse. "There's an appointment open to see her in July - July 28th. Will that be fine? Shall I pencil you in?"

July!

July was three months away. Just to get an appointment!

Pencil me in? I had visions of erasers dancing through the appointment books at night, searching for vulnerable patients, first time supplicants, wiping out their dates with destiny, driving the poor, the sick and elderly out of the book so that the doctor who had spent years training for his or her profession could pick the cream of the crop, the body builders pure in shape, the bikini girls with flawless skin, the fashion plates in perfect size 10, the men who looked like the models in Sears catalogue, mothers with well behaved children and grandfathers with a Maurice Chevalier je-ne-sais-quoi kind of dapper elegance.

On his own, still mobile but not very energetic, Whistler started to do the rounds of the walk-in clinics trying to find a doctor. To his credit, and perhaps to the credit of the doctors, he found one quite quickly - one who would see him through the whole suite of tests and trials that he might need to take if one test led to another. He went for his tests. He's been to the doctor. The diagnosis is still up in the air.

With the ponderousness of our mammoth health care system, answers do not come quickly. All we know is that the tests have been done, but Whistler is now waiting for a specialist appointment and waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

Space Time Continuum - Cause4Chaos

cause4chaos — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 10:54:09 +0000

Well I am just here sitting at my desk looking at a load of pixels that would really do ones head in. After looking at it for some time, like 3 minutes, (really 1hr 34min) and I cannot wonder why I am sitting here in a non-constructive mannor doing a load of nothingness. As most of us do, we just keep looking at our computers and there is no comprehension of time, we actually use our computers to pass time and that is really what happens. I for one of many when on the computer for 5 minutes, 8 hours have past??
does this happen to you,, well there is my babbling on about nothing??
your turn......

Babble - Cause4Chaos

Continuum Update

fcthendrix — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:56:07 +0000

We've had our test database for about three working days now. It's been fun! I found a lot of things that I didn't realize we would need, but 422 Group has been GREAT to work with and they are so patient! Which is good, beucase I'm sort of new to all of this. Next steps are traning and workflow loading. I'm really looking forward to training, even though it will be a few weeks. In the meantime, I feel like I'm already learning a lot just by playing around and trying things out.

My only big concern is how all this will work with our incoming applications. We've had a TON of applications submitted! That's good news for our office, but I don't want to end up with a massive amount of extra data entry. That makes more work for our data-entry team who is already nervous about the new system. I guess if everyone is willing to pitch in, we'll be in good shape.

All Tomorrow's Parties

Jonathan Walton — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 18:58:58 +0000

It's really weird how I sometimes sit down and have temporarily lost interest in a lot of the games I'm designing or was previously really excited about running, only to be struck from left-field with an overwhelming desire to run something completely different.

Today, for example, I'm really excited about setting aside Transantiago, The Snow Queen, and Agonia to pick up my notes (posted April 17 & 18, 2007) for running Continuum using the Solar System / The Shadow of Yesterday.

Specifically, I'm actually thinking about reviving a novice corner (warning: Continuum jargon begins here) called "All Tomorrow's Parties" that I ran in a play-by-email-game in 2001 or so. That game never really went that far but included Jack Aidley (Game Chef 2004 winner) of all people. For some crazy reason, I decided to set that game in Coventry, England, but I think a new version of that corner should be set in Cambridge or Somerville. One of the best things about All Tomorrow's Parties, as a corner, was me getting to play their rather unconventional mentor, Gibson, who was himself a reformed Narcissist. Gibson's younger self, then, was the leading mastermind behind many of the Narc attacks within ATP's jurisdiction.

Already, I'm pondering an opening session involving an incident where a Narc takes off from a plane in Logan and is effectively fragging Somerville and Cambridge from the air (I've noticed a lot of low-flying planes recently, definitely within the 1 mile range of a Span 1). Everybody loves spanning through the air, after all...

Stargate Continuum and Stargate Atlantis

billieo — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 18:22:14 +0000

Special Continuum Featurette - Filming in the Arctic

Amanda Tapping

http://stargate.mgm.com/specialops/link.php?urlid=11&id=2256

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Watch the last season of Stargate Atlantis every Friday night on the Sci-Fi Channel....

Sheppard and Beckett get terrorized by a deadly creature on a planet with that has one of Michael's nefarious research facilities.

Stargate Atlantis' 'Whispers' airs Friday, September 5 at 10pm on the SciFi Channel.

Guest stars include Paul McGillion, Christina Cox, Janina Gavankar, Nicole De Boer and Leela Savasta.

http://stargate.mgm.com/specialops/link.php?urlid=12&id=2256

and as always....

Have A Very Stargate Day!

Courtesy of MGM

Video Editors: Free Glitter Filter from Boris FX

dumbworldorder — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:23:45 +0000

Boris FX is offering one free Glitter filter for use with After Effects, Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, Motion, or Avid (generates glittering sparkles of pretty much any size- the filter includes controls for the brightness, scale, and color of the glitters as well as the number of rays that each glitter emits). The offer expires September 30th, 2008.

Download the Free Filter

Tutorial: Generate a Glittering Sky

Maven site en Continuum

juncohueco — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 08:04:18 +0000

Maven permite generar un sitio web del proyecto y desplegarlo en un servidor web de forma automatizada.

Como ya disponía del servidor Jetty en el que corre Continuum, pensé que podría desplegar el sitio ahí mismo.

La aplicación web Continuum está desplegada siguiendo la estructura:

$CONTINUUM_HOME/apps/continuum/webapp

En este directorio podemos desplegar el sitio del proyecto, configurando el plugin:

<distributionManagement>
<site>
<id>aio</id>
<url>file:/$CONTINUUM_HOME/apps/continuum/webapp/pruebas</url>
</site>
</distributionManagement>

De esta forma se puede acceder al sitio con la siguiente URL:

http://localhost:8080/continuum/pruebas/index.html

El sitio web de Continuum "envuelve" al sitio del proyecto, dando un aspecto de integración. Sin embargo, realmente el sitio web de Continuum no sabe nada del sitio que contiene, por lo que si queremos añadir un enlace desde las páginas de Continuum al sitio recién creado, se ha de modificar los archivos de Continuum.

La aplicación web Continuum está realizada en la capa de presentación con el framework Webwork, y resulta sencillo realizar modificaciones en los archivos ya que está bastante bien estructurado y el código es limpio.

En mi caso, he añadido un enlace al sitio desde la descripción del proyecto (Project Information) modificando el archivo $CONTINUUM_HOME/apps/continuum/webapp/WEB-INF/jsp/projectView.jsp de la siguiente forma:

          <table border="1" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="3" width="100%">
            <ww:url id="projectSiteUrl" value="${project.projectGroup.name}/
${project.name}/index.html" includeParams="none"/>
            <c1:data label="%{getText('projectView.project.name')}" name="project.name"
valueLink="%{'${projectSiteUrl}'}"/>
            <c1:data label="%{getText('projectView.project.version')}" name="pr
            <c1:data label="%{getText('projectView.project.scmUrl')}" name="pro
            <c1:data label="%{getText('projectView.project.scmTag')}" name="pro
            <ww:url id="projectGroupSummaryUrl" value="/projectGroupSummary.act
                <ww:param name="projectGroupId" value="%{project.projectGroup.i
            </ww:url>
            <c1:data label="%{getText('projectView.project.group')}" name="proj
            <c1:data label="%{getText('projectView.project.lastBuildDateTime')}
          </table>

Este sistema ofrece como ventajas no tener que instalar un servidor web adicional, heredar el aspecto del sitio web de Continuum y ofrecer un punto único de acceso a toda la información.

Sin embargo, puede preferirse mantener la información de construcción y la propia del proyecto separadas por diversos motivos.

El proceso Maven site consume muchos recursos, y es recomendable contar con memoria RAM de 2 Gb, aunque con 1 Gb en un servidor dedicado es suficiente. Este proceso no debería invocarse frecuentemente ni durante el desarrollo, ya que es costoso y ralentiza las construcciones.

Fotografia no Itaú Cultural

lafoto — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 04:01:20 +0000

FOTOGRAFIA no Itaú Cultural

Envie uma foto e participe da ação OUTROS RETRATOS da revista CONTINUUM Itaú Cultural.

A ação é aberta a todos os interessados - fotógrafos profissionais ou não.

TEMA: FAMÍLIA. Uma foto que represente a SUA idéia de família. Para alguns, ela remete a fartura, felicidade e comemorações. Para outros, a solidão, despesas ou nostalgia. Seja qual for a sua concepção de ambiente familiar, no momento, fotografe e envie para o Itaú Cultural.

AÇÃO / PRÊMIO: as melhores imagens - de acordo com o conselho editorial da revista - serão publicadas na versão on -line da Continuum e a foto mais criativa estará na edição impressa de outubro. O autor do melhor trabalho também ganha um exemplar do livro "Itaú Contemporâneo - Arte no Brasil, 1981-2006", com imagens das mais de 3.500 obras do acervo do Grupo Itaú e textos do professor Teixeira Coelho, curador-coordenador do Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) e professor titular da Escola de Comunicação e Artes da USP.

QUANDO? até o dia 21 de setembro.

COMO? Somente através do e-mail participecontinuum@itaucultural.org.br em alta resolução (300 dpi) com 15 cm no lado maior da foto e nos formatos jpeg ou tiff. Mencione no envio o seu nome completo (nome artístico quando houver); título da obra; e-mail e telefone com ddd. O interessado deverá enviar apenas 01 foto."

IMPORTANTE: leia com atenção o regulamento, antes do envio da foto, no site http://www.itaucultural.org.br/ , clique em revista.

DÚVIDAS? escreva para continuum@itaucultural.org.br

Acesse regulamento: http://www.itaucultural.org.br

Why?

stargatefreek — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:14:15 +0000

hi it has been a while but i am good i am now going to complain and moan like normal.

Stargate Atlantis

the 5th season has just started over here in the UK we are only 3 episodes in but i am at episode 6 as the show is on you-tube and now the US is on episode 8 so i will now have to wait till the DVD box set is out to watch this season but not only that i now have found out that this is to be the last 20 episodes of the series witch in my opinion is a shame as there is a lot more that could have been done to save the show, for example: have sky one on virgin media and then the show would have had more viewers and then if the show was allowed to run to the 10th episode over here in the UK then the viewing numbers would have been adequate to save the show.

now i have to look forward to the new series Stargate Universe and the prospect of stargate Atlantis and stargate SG1 films witch should keep the franchise alive for years to come if there best case scenario is achieved of 2 SG1 and 2 Atlantis films a year.

speaking of Stargate SG1 last weak i bought myself StargateContinuum and this is one of the best films i have seen this year with the exception of A Dog's Breakfast this has not yet been released over here in the UK but i have watched it on-line and it is funny well the humor is only sold by the cast witch is almoast all actors from stargate's SG1 and Atlantis. it was written and Directed by the talented David Hewlett who also plays the part of the character Patrick.

the other actors from Stargate are:

Kate Hewlett - Marilyn

Paul McGillion - Ryan / Colt / Detective Morse

Christopher Judge - Chris

Rachel Luttrel - Ratcha

this film also stars Mars the dog who is the dog of David Hewlett.

i have no idea when this film is out but it should be soon so that i can enjoy this film without having to wait for it to buffer on the computer.

i go back to college on Tuesday and i have been so board that these last 9 Weeks have been so slow i have had nothing to do but now i have my mountain bike working a bit i now don't have to worry about paying for transport to college so that makes things a bit cheaper but Tuesday i had to go to my aunts on my bike and the route that i took was about 8 1/2 miles so i have been in a bit of pain but it is getting better.

i have been listening to quite a lot of music over the last couple of months and it has been nice as i have not relay had the time with college and i wont have the time when i go back but i still has been good to listen.

till next time stay safe.

O comoară înfundată

blogideologic — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 02:08:46 +0000

Ezra Pound spunea că vernacularele neolatine formează un continuum. Expresia românească „o comoară înfundată” are drept corespondent echivalentul franţuzesc “un trésor enfoui”. Alexe Mateevici folosea expresia în poezia «Limba noastră» : "Limba noastră-i o comoară /În adâncuri înfundată /Un şirag de piatră rară /Pe moşie revărsată. /Limba noastră-i foc ce arde / Într-un neam, ce fără veste /S-a trezit din somn de moarte / Ca viteazul din poveste. /Limba noastră-i numai cântec, /Doina dorurilor noastre, /Roi de fulgere, ce spintec /Nouri negri, zări albastre. / Limba noastră-i graiul pâinii, /Când de vânt se mişcă vara; / In rostirea ei bătrânii /Cu sudori sfinţit-au ţara. /Limba noastră-i frunză verde, /Zbuciumul din codrii veşnici, /Nistrul lin, ce-n valuri pierde /Ai luceferilor sfeşnici. /Nu veţi plânge-atunci amarnic, /Că vi—i limba prea săracă,/ Şi-ţi vedea, cât îi de darnic /Graiul ţării noastre dragă. /Limba noastră-i vechi izvoade. / Povestiri din alte vremuri; / Şi citindu-le 'nşirate, - /Te-nfiori adânc şi tremuri. /Limba noastră îi aleasă /Să ridice slava-n ceruri, /Să ne spiue-n hram şi-acasă /Veşnicele adevăruri. /Limba noastra-i limbă sfântă, / Limba vechilor cazanii, /Care o plâng şi care o cântă / Pe la vatra lor ţăranii. / Înviaţi-vă dar graiul, /Ruginit de multă vreme, /Ştergeţi slinul, mucegaiul /Al uitării 'n care geme. /Strângeţi piatra lucitoare / Ce din soare se aprinde - /Şi-ţi avea în revărsare /Un potop nou de cuvinte. /Răsări-va o comoară / În adâncuri înfundată, /Un şirag de piatră rară /Pe moşie revărsată."

Alexe Mateevici era un poet român din provincia Basarabia, ruptă de către Rusia ţaristă din Romania Orientală, singura moştenitoare a drepturilor care decurg din sintagma-sigiliu Nova Roma înscrisă de conciliul ecumenic de la 381 AD.

Acel furt al Basarabiei se petrecea la anul 1812, deci înainte de perioada „bonjuristă” din principatele dunărene. Aceasta arată că Alexe Mateevici găsea şi extrăgea sintagma „o comoară înfundată”dintr - un fond de cuvinte autohtone, nu traducea pur şi simplu franţuzescul “un trésor enfoui”.

Rusia apare în istorie abia în secolul VIII. Prin expresia Nova Roma forjată de un grup de reflecţie creştin ghidat de Sfîntul Ierarh Grigore Teologul, se recunoştea implicit în secolul IV că există şi un Novum Latium format prin ‚socii’-alizarea traco-daco-moesilor şi ilirilor.

Probabil că actul bisericesc de la 381 AD este ultima recunoaştere a influenţei latine asupra fondului traco-daco-moesic, iar aceasta mult după retragerea aureliană, pe care istoricul Zosimus din Romania Orientală nici măcar nu o pomeneşte în Historia Nova.

Prin versurile “Strângeţi piatra lucitoare / Ce din soare se aprinde.”, Alexe Mateevici arată şi influenţa varegă de după secolul VIII asupra fondului traco-daco-moesic deja ‚socii’-alizat. De altminteri, Cantacuzinii erau varegi. Gheorghe Asachi şi Mihai Eminescu erau de asemenea vikingi răsăriteni, nu blonzi ci la fel de bruneţi precum Harald Bluetooth. Să fiu mai explicit. “Strângeţi piatra lucitoare / Ce din soare se aprinde.” evocă Piatra Soarelui, un datum cultural Viking.

Titus Filipas

Maven y Continuum

juncohueco — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:22:26 +0000

Después de estar un tiempo probando Maven, me ha tocado integrarlo con Continuum para tener un sistema de generación de instalables automatizado.

Continuum es un sistema de integración contínua de fácil instalación y configuración. Está creado para integrarse de forma natural con Maven, de manera que el proceso es sencillo, aunque la falta de documentación puede llevar a confusiones.

La instalación es muy sencilla. Se debe descargar desde aquí el paquete comprimido, y descomprimirlo en el directorio de instalación. Continuum es una aplicación web, de manera que requiere un servidor de aplicaciones y una base de datos. Por defecto viene configurado para funcionar con Jetty y Derby, que además vienen incluidos de forma que se puede ejecutar directamente.

Para ejecutar Continuum, desde el directorio donde se haya instalado, dentro del subdirectorio bin se encuentran scripts para diferentes sistemas operativos. En Windows, además, se incluyen scripts para instalarlo como servicio. Para Linux se debe crear manualmente los scripts en /etc/init.d

Un parámetro que puede ser interesante configurar antes de ponerlo en marcha es el puerto donde va a escuchar el servidor de aplicaciones. En el archivo conf/plexus.xml se configura el servidor de correo, el servidor de aplicaciones y la base de datos. El puerto donde escucha Jetty se configura de la siguiente forma:

    <component>
      <role>org.codehaus.plexus.contextualizer.Contextualizer</role>
      <role-hint>jettyConfiguration</role-hint>
      <implementation>org.codehaus.plexus.contextualizer.DefaultContextualizer</implementation>
      <configuration>
        <contextValues>
          <jetty.port>8080</jetty.port>
        </contextValues>
      </configuration>
    </component>

Una vez se haya arrancado Continuum, se accede a través de la URL:

http://localhost:8080/continuum

Después de configurar los datos de acceso del usuario administrador, se debe configurar un proyecto para empezar a trabajar con él. Desde la opción del menú "Show project groups" se puede añadir un nuevo proyecto, dentro del cual se irán añadiendo los diferentes módulos que lo conforman (project members).

Para cada módulo se especifica la URL donde está el POM, las metas Maven a ejecutar y otras opciones. Todos estos parámetros se encuentran en "Build definitions".

Desde el listado de miembros del proyecto se puede ejecutar la construcción según los parámetros especificados. Dentro del detalle de cada miembro se puede consultar el resultado de la construcción. Cuando se ejecuta la construcción, Continuum descarga el POM y procede a ejecutarlo. Se puede configurar para que se actualice o la construcción sea limpia desde el principio en las opciones de construcción (Build definitions), seleccionando la opción "Build fresh".

La integración de Maven y Continuum ofrece varias opciones. Por ejemplo, desde el resultado de la construcción se puede acceder a los informes de los tests generados por Surefire.

También se puede integrar de forma simple el sitio Maven de un proyecto. Simplemente se debe crear un directorio para el sitio en el subdirectorio de Continuum apps/continuum/webapp y configurar este directorio como destino para la meta site:deploy de la siguiente forma:

	<distributionManagement>
	    <site>
	      <id>prueba</id>
	      <url>file:/home/user/continuum-1.1/apps/continuum/webapp/prueba</url>
	    </site>
    </distributionManagement>

De esta manera el site generado por Maven se incrusta dentro de Continuum, heredando su apareciencia. La URL de accceso sería:

http://localhost:8080/continuum/prueba/index.html

OWOS #1 : Need More Times

Vincent — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:38:29 +0000

Prise de conscience que le temps passe vraiment trop vite, j'ai pas vu l'été passé et bim la rentrée dans une semaine! Et voila ce qui arrive: j'oublie mon blog pendant tous ce temps. Pas bien garçon.
Donc pour me faire pardonner de ma si longue absence un petit up pour souligner une nouvelle catégorie de news, après les Saturday Song Fever, voila venu le temps des One Week One Skeud: un petit aperçu d'un album qui me tient à coeur.
Pour la première, le magnifique album de John Mayer, Continuum découvert chez mon dealer musical i-pok. Un skeud à ne rater sous aucun prétexte, reposant et à la fois vibrant. Pas besoin d'en dire beaucoup plus:

[dailymotion id=kYGeLbfw4NOpmbtjVR]

Absolutely

th3g1vr — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 08:53:37 +0000

"to lose itself in order to find itself, that is the way of spirit"- Hegel (although it's copied from my philosophy notes, so it's probably not a direct translation)

I think that this applies to all aspects of life, and- that being said- I have a lot of work to do.

So that you will know what I'm talking about, I'll break it down:

"to lose itself"= chaos

"to find itself"= absolute

In the past I would have thought of myself as anything but chaotic, but that was because I did not truly recognize what cause was. I thought of chaos as the complete absence of reasoning, judgment, deliberation. But this is not accurate, as exemplified by chaos theory. Chaos is, rather, the complete absence of absolutes. I have no absolutes, so this makes me very chaotic. So as things stand, I am taking the path of the Negative Essence, by which I would never find peace or satisfaction.

Therefore "to lose itself in order to find itself, that is the way of spirit" means:

For the spirit to satisfy its potential (and thus find peace), it must continually balance between absolutes and the lack thereof. This might be the key to the true "synthesis" between the Id and Ego (Negative and Positive Essences), after all, Id= chaos, and SuperEgo= absolute. This is where the SuperEgo comes in, but first I'd like to point out of couple of things:

First, in previous posts, and notably Agony, I mistook the SuperEgo as being the Ego- so much of the time "Ego" is mentioned (particularly in Agony) "SuperEgo" is what should be said. One of Freud's sucessors, Carl Jung, further refined Freud's philosophy by adding a divide recognizing the Personal Unconscious, and the Collective Unconscious. I made the mistake of using "Ego" to refer to the Personal Unconscious, assuming the SuperEgo to be the Collective Unconscious.

Second, the synthesis is actually produced by the Ego- emphasis on produced. From what I gather, the Id, Ego, and SuperEgo are reflection of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Please note that when I use these terms, they are not to be interpreted as being in compliance with standard Christian beliefs.

Warning: TANGENT-- While I believe that my beliefs are drawing closer and closer to those of Christianity, they will probably never be compatible; In fact, if my writing is appealing to others, I might even develop a cult :P. No seriously though, One of the things of my top ten "world domination" is to completely reinterpret the Bible. Actually, in the plan is to the possibility of several interpretations for each phrase, verse, passage, chapter, theme, book, etc. However, utilizing a wiki system, released under the Creative Commons License, it would definitely be doable. After all, The Bible is the most popular book, and the Bible itself infers that it should be interpreted democratically (2nd Peter 1:20-21 -- see http://www.twopaths.com/faq_BibleTrue.htm for more info) End TANGENT --

But basically, my main point is that, for several reasons, it's a very bad thing that I have no absolutes. To be honest, at the time I first starting writing this post (a few months ago!) I was very confused (hence the time delay) and so really it would be pointless to cover exactly why it's a bad thing, because it would be best to cover that extensively in posts prepared for it. For now I'll go with an analogy- Neon Genesis Evangelion. Towards the end of the original series (i.e. the Human Instrumentality project) the main character (which BTW I identify with so much it's scary) Shinji explores the significance of limits.

Without limits we would be completely free, but we wouldn't know what to do. Everything would be one big blob, we ourself could not distinguish ourselves from it- life itself could not exist without absolutes. By creating limits, we are able to better understand and interact with our surroundings, but there is an inevitable price for that, which is imprisonment.

This is why I believe that an infinite God cannot exist- in order for God to recognize himself, to understand himself, and to recognize and interact with his creation, there must be limits- otherwise he would not be able to distinguish himself from anything else. As I first began to understand while writing this post, our souls likely also inhabit us so that they could better interact with themselves, and creation, also being infinite otherwise.

It could just be one soul, perceived as many- there are (ironically) an infinite amount of possibilities as to how the soul(s) interact with us, or "possess" us. Perhaps God is finite so as to interact with himself and his creation, and souls are the offspring of his thought.

Well, once again I've gone off in a tangent- I'll go into more detail on this (hopefully soon) in future posts.

Continuum

antoniozigg — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:48:41 +0000

Continuum é um pequeno jogo online, em que você comanda uma navezinha e sai em combate contra outros jogadores. O objetivo do jogo é apenas fazer você batalhar em um cenário espacial e derrotar quanto mais adversários for possível. Contudo, este simples objetivo nem sempre é alcançado tão facilmente, pois nos diversos canais de jogo, existem centenas de jogadores atirando insanamente e você precisa ficar atento para não ser atingido.

Troque tiros no espaço

Para poder jogar, é necessário a criação de um perfil de jogador. Isto é feito através da tela de jogo, clicando no botão “Profile” e digitando os dados obrigatórios. Depois, é só escolher um dentro os inúmeros canais de jogo e então pressionar o botão “Play”. A conexão aos canais de jogo pode levar alguns minutos.

Depois de realizada a conexão, é hora de começar a atirar. Utilize a tecla Esc para que surja na tela o menu com os atalhos do teclado. Pressione a tecla referente ao número da nave desejada e o então jogo começa. Movimente sua nave pelo mapa, acompanhe a miniatura do cenário no canto da tela e fique atento para os adversários.

O controle da nave é um pouco complicado, mas provavelmente isto é proposital, pois esta dificuldade acaba tornando o jogo mais desafiador, pois além de se preocupar em atirar e escapar das balas adversárias, você também tem o fator controle para exigir de você muita atenção.

Modelos de jogo

Cada canal de jogo possui um estilo de jogo diferente, que é definido pelo seu criador. Existem jogos tipo “rouba bandeira”, todos contra todos e outros mais. Você também pode criar o seu próprio canal, para isso, clique no botão “Zone”, na tela inicial do jogo, depois em “Add Custom” e então configure os dados de seu game, informando também o número do IP em que será hospedado o servidor do jogo.

COMANDOS

• ↑ - Acelerar
• ↓ - Frear/Andar em marcha ré
• → - Virar à direita
• ← - Virar à esquerda
• Ctrl - Atirar
Download: Continuum

Continuum

antoniozigg — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:32:30 +0000

Troque tiros no espaço

Modelos de jogo

COMANDOS

• ↑ - Acelerar
• ↓ - Frear/Andar em marcha ré
• → - Virar à direita
• ← - Virar à esquerda
• Ctrl - Atirar
Jogar: Continuum

continuum « WordPress.com Tag Feed

So where's the Dogbowl?

Continuum (The Bi-Annual Role Playing Conference in Leicester) asked me to write an article for their booklet. So I did it in my own weird little way.

(W)holey Science

And of course, once I'd wrote one... (This isn't as good but it only reached the second draft before I had to send it off. Perhaps a little work later.)

John Mayer - Continuum

Whistler comes to stay

Space Time Continuum - Cause4Chaos

Continuum Update

All Tomorrow's Parties

Stargate Continuum and Stargate Atlantis

Video Editors: Free Glitter Filter from Boris FX

Maven site en Continuum

Fotografia no Itaú Cultural

Why?

O comoară înfundată

Maven y Continuum

OWOS #1 : Need More Times

Absolutely

Continuum

Continuum

And of course, once I'd wrote one...
(This isn't as good but it only reached the second draft before I had to send it off. Perhaps a little work later.)