Pacman in depth, and hilarious twitter bot

so, it occurs to me that occasionally some of the super-geeky links that my awesomse super-geeky colleagues turn up may be of interest to other chums. with that in mind, I present the most detailed analysis of pac-man in the world.


Did you know that pac-man corners slightly differently from the ghosts?  did you know the ghosts all have different personalities?  did you know that some of the intricacies of the timing algorithm of the jail mean that you can theoretically lock the ghosts away for the whole level if you do it right?  read on!

http://home.comcast.net/~jpittman2/pacman/pacmandossier.html

and also, some hilarious fellow has devised an AI twitter bot that looks for common global-warming-denial arguments and responds with automated tweet debunks.  The best thing about this is that, since the targets are essentially parroting common arguments, they're essentially no better than bots themselve, so they're essentially failing the turing test themselves. Credit to talking philosophy for that thought,  more info here.

pictures from germany!

from halt! suppenzeit and felix:

kanye vs fourye

 

myers vs kruger

quake vs gents

Spiderman?

from http://www.explosm.net/comics/592/.  thanks Mike.

also, your wikipedia article of the week is… chaos magic!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_Magic

that’ll teach me to waste a morning on reading about hp lovecraft…

How to make a number 1 single

the original guide by the KLF, in full:

http://tomrobinson.com/wordpress/?page_id=52

thanks Francis.

from this point it's only 60 ft to the top

Thanks Max!

Boiling hot?

neo lebowski

thanks max

aaaah, small towns

When You Think McDonough's Auto Repair, You Think Craftsmanship, Murder, And Pride

New Van Canto Video!

Sweet.  I think Van Canto are pretty much my favourite band.



the more you watch them, the more you think they are AWESOME first and HILARIOUS second.  join me....


I'm going to write Dragonforce a letter to see if they'll have the VC supporting them on their next tour. That would be the best concert ever.

geek update

for anyone who missed this from george: amazing:

http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-cetera/sorting-algorithms-quite-boring-until-you-add-sound-effects-20100819/

and while we're at it,

http://hackedirl.com/2010/08/16/culture-jamming-win-nerd-love/

girls like boys with skills!

first, some ergonomic advice:



(thanks boingboing)

next, check out the alien-fish that giger ripped off:



thanks felix

and finally:



boingboing

Pictures!

1/ safe bedisde table:

thanks Dave.

2/ rocket-propelled chainsaw launcher

thanks Felix

Repercussions of evil

Thanks Felix

art and storytelling

"Obama's Weekly Video Addresses Becoming Increasingly Avant-Garde":
http://www.theonion.com/articles/obamas-weekly-video-addresses-becoming-increasingl,17649/

and:

Ooh, I have a blog!

I'd forgotten that.

So, I started reading this short story, and a couple of hours later had read a lot more about rationalism than I expected to. So that was this morning.

Damn "mad scientists"

Anyway then the front fell off. Doh.

LOLcano!

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/05/03/fun-with-a-banks-sec.html

http://www.theonion.com/articles/supreme-court-upholds-freedom-of-speech-in-obsceni,17372/

weeee!

Airspace Rebooted from ItoWorld on Vimeo.

would you trust google to tell you which sites are safe?

result of :

http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=google.com/

What is the current listing status for google.com?

This site is not currently listed as suspicious.

Part of this site was listed for suspicious activity 2 time(s) over the past 90 days.

What happened when Google visited this site?

Of the 181401 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 17 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 2010-04-19, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 2010-04-18.

Malicious software includes 141 scripting exploit(s), 10 trojan(s), 7 exploit(s).

Malicious software is hosted on 28 domain(s), including monidopo.bee.pl/, shifmant.co.il/, recover888.com/.

20 domain(s) appear to be functioning as intermediaries for distributing malware to visitors of this site, including googleusercontent.com/, mots.go.th/, aliraqnews.net/.

This site was hosted on 5 network(s) including AS15169 (Google Internet Backbone), AS20940 (AKAMAI), AS13867 (CNET).

Has this site acted as an intermediary resulting in further distribution of malware?

Over the past 90 days, google.com appeared to function as an intermediary for the infection of 17 site(s) including zerogradinord.net/, aekcka.googlepages.com/, themeadowblog.com/.

Has this site hosted malware?

Yes, this site has hosted malicious software over the past 90 days. It infected 42 domain(s), including sangalonews.com/, ro777.com/, aviris.com.ua/.

hardehardehar.

AZO

this guy is now my absolute hero:



also in the news:

extremely long exposition of why star wars 2 sucks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfBhi6qqFLA&feature=channel

mobius bagel slicing:
http://www.georgehart.com/bagel/bagel.html

want!

"This type of vehicle called in Russian ekranoplan uses so called ground effect - extra lift of large wings when in proximity to the surface. For this reason they have been designed to travel at a maximum of three meters above the sea [...] It is also interesting to note that this aircraft is one of the largest ever built, with a length of 73,8 meters (comparing with 73 of Airbus A380)."

more info here. don't miss page 3 of pictures....

http://englishrussia.com/index.php/2010/03/12/ekranoplan/

thanks Felix!

2 comics

1: I am skeleton jelly (thanks George): http://i.imgur.com/3oboX.jpg
2: Latest XKCD references cereal + booze, so this one's for Dan:



PS: pirate party manifesto

the answer...

fucked up south african rap-rave?



check!

(full version ft. 'entertaining' lyrics and a bit more of a stomp-out ending: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0sVdEMg90A )



new predator film directed by robert rodriguez and starring laurence fishburne?



check!

all is well with the world...

videos

i was going to post something about the new lady gaga video, but i figured that'd find its way to yall on its own.

instead, watch this:

Denmark introduces harrowing new tourism ads directed by Lars Von Trier

feel free to dally on the site for the baby skulls bit...

also:

http://twitter.com/michaeljordan

thanks George.

google date

and, i really shouldn't have lauged quite so hard at this i think:




and finally, a little political poster:



Vote Pirate, people. It's the only party with any remotely interesting proposals.

(last couple of links from the excellent Halt! Suppenzeit)

Max update:

dancing predators: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljEC7HKbP0g

autotune the news: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bduQaCRkgg4

the plymouth orchestra: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKH3iemEd-A (warning: capable of reducing adults to tears)

words & beards

I gather “Epic Beard Man” is a meme.  Here’s the Mortal Kombat version (thanks Dave):

And here are some entertaining word definitions – probably been doing the rounds of email forwards since 1994, but they still made me laugh (thanks Deak).  Illegibly, they’re from some Washington Post competition.  Kinda Profanosaurus for your mum:

1. Coffee (n.), the person upon whom one coughs.
2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.
3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.
5. Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent.
6. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown.
7. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.
8. Gargoyle (n), olive-flavored mouthwash.
9. Flatulence (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.
10. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.
11. Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam.
12. Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
13. Pokemon (n), a Rastafarian proctologist.
14. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.
15. Frisbeetarianism (n.), (back by popular demand): The belief that,when you die, your soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.
16. Circumvent (n.), an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.

At first glance this looks like a normal party cup

However, if you look close enough you will see that its really a Glock.

http://www.dontevenreply.com/view.php?post=84

romantic cryptography

http://www.anagram.com/~jcrap/Volume_7/Romance.pdf

Abstract. We show how Alice and Bob can establish whether they love each other, but without the embarrassement of revealing that they do if the other party does not share their feelings.
This is a “secure multiparty computation” of the AND function, where the participants cooperate in producing the result of the AND, but without learning the input bit contributed by the other party unless the result implies it.

Nice illustration involving scales too.

Also:

Hexapods!

 

Recursive webcast!

and finally, those lyrics to “battery” in full:

including “coming through the fraction, show me to the fashion, coma kill the battery”

Nolite te bastardes carborundorum

Or something like that.

Also I can't help but think Star Wars would have been better without the dubbing. Possibly.

Working from home? Feel like you're missing out on that vital office culture? Maybe you should join the Pretend office. The inter-office mailing list is a valuable resource. (It's quite realistic...)

Bay 12 please…

Ripley goes mental, and who can blame her /

she shoots everything inside, destroying the egg chamber /

after wasting all the ammo, which would be handy later /

she escapes with newt, to the nearest elevator /

thanks F. also:

from failblog

my shopping freedoms curtailed: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/01/28/tesco-store-bans-gro.html

finally, bored builders develop spider-skills on the tape measure:

Up the RSC corner…

from http://www.warrenellis.com/… where there is also some talk of this eagerly awaited film.

charlie brooker on a t-mobile ad i haven’t seen.

zombie gingerbread house:

http://www.geekdo.com/thread/474706/last-night-on-earth-gingerbread-house

event horizon song:

http://filmdrunk.uproxx.com/2010/01/event-horizon-as-an-80s-theme-song

thanks felix for those two. finally, this made me cry with laughter:

http://failblog.org/2010/01/20/mobility-fail/

Overthinking and undercutting

Like giving yourself a haircut, only more so

Nakatomi space

That is all

why can these foolish entities not appreciate the joy of melding?

massive thanks to Felix for some awesome links over crimbo.

Let us begin.

 

“The Things” – an arctic story told from a different perspective. Absolutely freakin awesome. 1MP.

http://niccageaseveryone.blogspot.com/ Need i say more?

and finally:

• aliens timeline
• xenopedia