Sunday, October 26, 2014

Words that are not in English...


I especially like the word Hygglig which means relaxed in a social situation and the Spanish word Sobremesa which refers to the time that is spent talking after dinner where not everything is tidied.

Friday, August 22, 2014

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Made my first unity game today!

So finally I have got what can be called technically a "game". There are no instructions with it, it is effectively only one level. Hmm, what else, oh yeah, if you go to fast you will fly out of the level. Seriously there are more things wrong with it than there are correct. But it is still a bad game as opposed to a potentially good game that does not exist!

There is ALOT of polishing that needs to happen. I am talking seriously alot, assuming that I just want to keep my one "level" and not have more levels, but have that one level nice and playable then I would say that I am around 20% through what should be done on it.

However, it is now 5am... it was 5am when I went to sleep last night too, but I had fallen asleep by mistake whilst at the computer. Today I stayed awake so there was considerably more work done! :)

I have called the game "Ball Chomper" and did not realise how bad it sounded until I had finished building it. Ahh, who cares. Download the game here, tell me what you think!

https://www.dropbox.com/home/Public?select=Ball%2BChomper%2B1.exe

Escape - Exit the game
R - Correct yourself if and when you fall over
W - Forward
S - Backward
A - Left
D - Right

Write to me and tell me what you think of my game, it will be getting better and this is all an exercise in my learning of Unity so I know that if you think it is rubbish that you are okay to say so... oh boy, the 5am-ness is kicking in I think.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Unity Game Developer and Maya

I have begun working on my little game and I have realised the scope that I am looking for. That scope is the following : not much.

It is a mistake I used to make again and again when pretty much everything in my life before this point. I would begin something and then not finish it. I have realised now that there is so much more satisfaction in beginning, middling, and finishing something in one turn. That turn might of couse be a few moment or it might take a few weeks. But not to start any other project in between. Keep learning other stuff, but you know, when it comes to the one big thing that is one your mind... finish it.
Unity Game Engine and Maya Ship

So that is what I am doing. I have gotten my little Maya created ship in the game, I have it moving. I can do some things with it. I have to make some balls for it to hit and then make them disappear when I get them. Add a timer because the whole thing is meant to be a race kinda map... I am very confusing at the moment but it will all become clearer later on.

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Stairs I made in Counter Strike Global Offensive

A few months ago I finished off this map that I was working on. Find the map here.. take a moment and look at it :

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=265113640

But in the map I made a stairway, you can see it below:
My Counter Strike Global Offensive stairway

Now, this weekend I was up in Belfast and right there beside the Titanic museum I spied a building with this stairway as a fire escape going up the side of it. I was quite chuffed with myself. The stairway I designed above was from my imagination of what a good stairway should be.

My stairway is wider than this one because in game mechanics I want the player to have plenty of space to run up and down without getting stuck. Of course, when I look at it, a real play would get stuck on this stairway too, look at the barrier at the bottom of the stairway!

Saturday, August 2, 2014

One Direction is the best in the world.

(Now the band one direction that is - I mean my new one aim!)

Hi there, I am back after how long? Look, I meant to keep writing this blog all the time, every day but I find that pretty difficult. Anyway, in the mean time what have I been up to? Well I have lost my job, not my fault, the company I was in had to downsize and I ended up on the street as it were. What else, I don't know. I'm fine though.
game, computer game, development, computer, design, free, paid

I have been thinking. What is the new direction that I want my blog to go into? The I figured out what everyone else knows that is successful at writing anything, write what you know about. I guess that to a point I was already doing this in that I was writing my blog about my day and that is what I know best, me. Anyway, gotta stay on topic here. Basically, I am going to write about me make a game!

Yeah! Me making a game!I am going to make a computer game and attempt to get anyone that I do not know do download it. That is my aim. Get anyone to download it. Do I want to get money for it? Of course! Will I get money for it... hmm, I do not think so. I am not negabombing myself or anything it is just that I know what my first game is going to be and I know that there is no way that I could free right about charging people for it.

So that is my new aim.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Counter Strike Global Offensive Map Making

A few days ago at this point, or rather 3:30am Sunday morning I began compiling a map. There is a game called Counter Strike, there are a few versions of this game, the one I am playing is the latest version. I am playing Global Offensive. The whole thing is called CS:GO for short. So anyway, CS:GO you can make maps for the game using a software development kit. SDK in short. So with CS:GO SDK I have build my own map based on the idea of one force of counter terrorists against terrorists fighting in the grounds of a hospital. Now, with all these tools such as the SDK that I am using the computer needs to compile the program, rather build the environment that you have just created. So I might get a few squares and shape them in the shape of a wall, make 4 walls, have a door in one and windows in them all, I could then add a ceiling and have the whole thing sitting on a ground of grass. The I can give it a light source.

Now some program have real time editing. So the program can calculate the light of the sun shining through the window for example and if there is a table inside my little room it would create a shadow that might spill across the floor. Quite fantastic really I think. Some program do this same job but not in real time. You have to do a more overt compiling. The room you build is not ready to run around in in real time, you need to let the computer go away, do some work, and you will return some time later when the shadows and light and the texture of the object in the map have been compiled. This time, if you run a basic, quick build might be as little as 30 seconds to a minute even for a large complicated map.

So why I am writing all this? Well today is Wednesday. It is nearly 11:30am now. How many hours is that since Sunday morning at half three? The map is compiling for a few days now at this stage, I did not tell it to do a basic quick compile. I told it to build with all the bells and whistles. Problem is we are moving in a few days, to a whole new house! I don't want to turn the computer off, that would be disastrous. A few days again the electricity in the house suddenly flicked off for some reason, this happened a few times in a row, I think it is because I had put too many clothes in the washing machine and it was causing the machine to thrash around so much it was causing the power to short out. I am beginning to obsess about the build now. I am always looking at the screen, it is nearly there. Nearly... My god what the hell is taking to long!

How many days do I have to wait! I am beginning to get a knot in my stomach thinking about it. Waiting for it to compile! My goodness when it is finished, I am telling you, it better be worth it. I will keep you posted.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Sleep Chart

When is the moment that sleeping in has become too much? Understand? We all need sleep but surely sleep is a means to an end, the end being to operate well in daily life. It is a pity that we have to sleep at all, I think. And by that rational, I think it is more of a pity when someone sleeps in more than they have to. For all the equations and logic and knowlegde we have today I have yet to see a chart which says you are this body type, you have this occupation, your health is this. The minimum amount of sleep you need is exactly this.

Wouldn't that be great.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Remembering someones birthday


There was a time when you were young and it always happened that your birthday was remembered. Main reason being that you were reminding said people for weeks or months beforehand. But as you got older, you began to approach that sometime sad, lonely era when people do not acknowledge your birthday at all. People do not acknowledge your birthday for a range of reasons: you have scummy friends that do not care about you, your friends are too busy and they simply forgot or maybe you genuinely do not want people to know or they know that you do not want to know about your birthday.

That has changed in recent times with social media. This morning I got a message from Facebook reminding me that one of my friends Katie was a year older today. It was her birthday. That is a great achievement to grow older! Think about the opposite! You should embrace each birthday. If you have a fear of dying then your birthday should mean all the more.

Something that bothers people is how much they have achieved in their lives. As Thomas Kinsella said we "are not made whole that reach the age of Christ". That is 33 by the way. But those issues are not with your birthday, they are to do with your inner peace with yourself. My point is, if you can read this you are alive. Who cares what you have achieved, what your status is in life. If it is your birthday I say,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY 

Monday, March 24, 2014

Pancakes : How to make the perfect pancakes.

First off, pancakes might be misleading. I am making really thick pancakes. Some people call these flap jacks. Whatever they are called, here is how to make thick, airy, pancakes.

Step 1:
2 Cups of self raising flour.
Add 2 Cup Measures of Self Raising Flour
Step 2:
Get 3 medium sized eggs. Yes, in case you did not know, eggs come in sizes! I do not like breaking the eggs into the flour directly because I always get egg shell in the flour. 

3 Eggs. 
Step 3: 
Break each egg, throw it in on top of the flour. 
Throw in the eggs....
Step 4: 
Get a measuring jug and measure out 300ml of milk. 
300ml of milk, low fat or regular. 
Step 5:
No hands please... back in the day I remember using a wooden spoon and mixing by hand, it took ages and was horrible. Now, mix the flour, milk, and eggs together for a while until there are no little lumps and make sure to beat it so lots of little air bubbles appear in the mix. The air is good. 
Use an electric mixer people. On high for ages until every single little lump is gone. 
Step 6: 
What is the name of this white thing? It usually comes with the bowl. Before you are finished with the mixer clean down the sides of the bowl because there could be excess flour built up on the sides.
Keep it clean...
Step 7: 
Get some rashers on... make them nice and crispy. Not burnt - crispy. Grill the pancakes, grilling is healthier.
Yum...
Step 8:
Measure out with a ladle is it? 
Have regular size portions or there will be fights for the biggest one.
Step 9:
Have the pan on a low heat at first. The first pancake usually turns out kinda bad, thats the Katie Holmes pancake.... get the movie reference? Hmm? Hmm? So have a bit of oil on the pan. Now, come on. Don't have the pancake literally floating around in oil, I mean don't be scabby. There is a point where you can have too much, experience will tell you that. However if you have too little your pancake will burn. Do not be in a rush with the pancake. Take your time, let them rise. When one side is nice and golden brown like in the image below, flip the pancake and brown the other. 
Nice clean non stick pan. Have a good bit of oil, olive oil if you can.
Step 10:
Finally... you are there. I can get all this done in around 10 - 12 minutes from start to finish. Finished being when I am eating the pancake. So plan. Turn on the grill first. Get things heating up. Really nice with butter and sugar. The one below has maple syrup and bacon obviously. 
I would love one right now. 2 of these by the way is a bit of a meal. 
Conclusion:
There you have it. I have the theory that the less ingredients that go into something the better. And, I am right. These pancakes have 3 ingredients, flour, eggs, milk. Boom. I see people add water, salt, sugar. Stop. Three things only. Without any of the 3 things you simply do not have pancakes, that is how I know I am making pancakes. The mixture above should make 12 portions... like 12 pancakes I think. And remember, presentation is everything when it comes to eating. And if you make the pancakes, clean up after yourself, there is nothing worse than going "mm that was lovely, now let me spend 15 minutes cleaning up your crap". 

And to end on a cheerful note, they are delicious. Sleep in some morning, get up, do these, then look at some good telly. Have tea or coffee too... 



Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Ever hear of mailinator? It's great - if you need it.

In work I have the situation where I need to create email addresses all the time but then not necessarily use them again afterwards. A colleague told me about Mailinator as a solution to my problem of having to mail my own email accounts for work business.

I tested mailinaor like this, I went into mailinator.com and created a username and then went to my gmail and mailed my new mailinator account. I checked mailinator.com second later and the mail was there.

For my second test I simply mailed myself to a just make up address like carraroeisgreat@mailinator.com using my gmail account and checked mailinator by putting in the name carraroeisgreat and the test mail was there.

Excellent.

Why am I telling you all this? Well you know sometimes you might need a link to be sent to you from a website you are signing up to and you do not want to use your "proper" email address or you know what, there are a million reasons. I suggest you have a look.

Friday, March 14, 2014

Perfect Frozen Lip Sync


Disneys Frozen is such a fantastic film. Clearly this happy couple love this film too. The kid in the back does not seem too bothered by the whole thing so I think that she has seen her good looking mommy and daddy sing along to this film many time.

Apologies by the way if these people are not the parents of this kid, but in my perfect Disney image they are a happy little family.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

bebo.com

It's back! Bebo is back!

Hold on there... hold your horses narrator! Bebo is not "back", bebo is in fact dead...

Hmm you make a good point spooky other voice inside my head. However - and this is the scariest thing considering I am speaking to myself - bebo is in a kind of quantum quark state of being both dead and alive at the same time. Yes this schroedingers cat of a company is actually making a come back! Great!

Here is the story pasted word for word from the bebo website: 
bebo created by Michael and Xochi Birch

"Here’s a short history on the company:

  • 2005 - Bebo, an early social network was founded by husband-and-wife team Michael and Xochi Birch in January 2005 at their home in San Francisco.
  • 2005 (9 days after launching) - Bebo hits 1 Million Users.
  • 2005 - After numerous questions about why the name is Bebo, Michael makes up an answer (Blog Early Blog Often). Real answer? Bebo was short, snappy, and utterly nonsensical.
  • 2006 & 2007 - We built Bebo mobile, groups and the infamous whiteboard amongst other features.
  • 2008 - Sold to AOL.
  • 2010 - Sold to Criterion Capital.
  • Today - Bought back by the original Founders.
  • Tomorrow - We start re-inventing Bebo."
So I say that I am happy about this, well I am happy about this, now - why? I remember when I first heard of bebo. It was a long time ago at this point. I have fond memories of the "early" internet. Of course I was using the internet for years at that point as was my whole family. I don't know, it is the combination of things. Bebo coming back will be good for the internet. Google and facebook need another player. I love the way that bebo is rising like a phoneix out of the flame in which it crumbled into.

Michael Birch began bebo and ended up selling it for $850 million in 2008 to AOL. Michael bought it back reciently for $1 million.


Tuesday, March 4, 2014

GLaDOS is working for NASA :)


Funny... have you played the game Portal? Is is a game that developers Valve made. In the game there is an artificial intelligence named GLaDOS. NASA in an attempt to make science more interesting to young folk have make the following video.

Well done NASA I say!

Friday, February 14, 2014

160 - Karate

Got home in time to be late only a few moments for karate. Not to bad considering I was working late.

159 - Brick

Ever hear of the film Brick.

Here is the link to IMDB.com :

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0393109/

Of course this is not a film review, and the International Laws of Spoiler Alerts prevents me from giving away the story. But I am left wondering after it. Not as to "wow what happened" but rather "wow I do not know what kind of mark I would give the film because of what happened".

Don't get me wrong, it is not that all this life altering stuff happened in the film and I do not know how to address it in my soul. No, it is more that the film was not what I expected I guess. What did I think of it? I really don't know.

Brick - 6.5/10

158 - Work!

Ahhh working so much today for so long in the office that I missed my karate class! Ahhh!

157 - Easy like a Sunday

Yep... did nothing today except chilling with the family. So in that way, I did loads didn't I. Show a video of my sister boxing yesterday to Dad and I think he was proud. Well he was of course, but you just never know how proud I think?

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

156 - White Collar Boxing


Mali and Dianne... about to challenge someone to fistycuffs

I was in the audience of a night of boxing this evening. It was cool. We were with the kids and some friends supporting my sister who was White Collar Boxing - which suggests ladies and gentlemen boxing. Not that non white collar boxing is any less lady-like or gentleman-like.

Ahh classic Red vs Blue.

Ann in the red and Mali in the blue..


Two lads fighting it out...

So anyway, the night was cool. It was good fun. The large hall that we were in was fairly packed and full of all ages of well behaved women and men. The whole night was good fun, I loved it, kids loved it, everyone loved.

And finally... the hot chick :)

I want to say one last thing about the photographer that STOOD ON THE STAGE for the last nine fights and who GOT IN THE WAY ALL THE TIME. If you know him... tell him to stop ruining events on people and making both kids and adults alike unhappy... I came to the fight to see boxing and the hot chick... not your ass... seriously.


Monday, February 10, 2014

155 - Food = No Sugar!

Tasty... too tasty...
In the last week I have made a conscious decision to cut back on sugary foods. When I started in last week I was 15 stone 13 pounds and a bit. A week later (today) I am 15 stone 7.8 pounds. So thats like around 5 pounds. What did I do... stop eating crap. I swear. Rubbish food is all around us. There is sugar in the most unexpected places in terms of food. I do karate twice a week but apart from that no other exercise. I make sure to not eat tons of food for dinners and I drink alot more water. This is again a kind of experiment but basically I like the way this experiment is going. I feel alot better after only a few day. It is almost like I am addicted to sugar and I am coming down having been high on it for so long.

I have looked at the foods I eat, there is a nutrision guide on everything we eat. It tells you in fairly plain english how much sugar is in the food. If there is not a guide it is probably okay to eat. That is my rule of thumb.

154 - Sleep

No my bed looks nothing like this.
So since Monday... no Sunday night, I have been going to sleep early. Now, I mean early. 11pm early. That is very very early for me. It has been an experiment to see if it would make any difference to my health and well being. In general yes, it does make a positive difference. I no longer want to fall asleep on the journey out from Galway to Carraroe. Strangely I feel as if I can breath deeper! I don't really understand that one. In one way I am more alert. But it has had a strange effect on my day. Get up in the morning, go to work. Leave work. Do a tiny but of something at home and boom... bedtime. Kinda sucks really. So while I am having a better time whilst I am unconsciously sleeping, awake my day always feels like the guillotine is falling on it.

Thank god then for Parks And Recreation that we watch one or two of every night before heading to bed.

153 - Teaching Pressure

It is funny... today I was a bit early for karate and having been instructed by our instructor to lead the class into a warm up I did so. On Monday another member of the club did so. This was we do not spend too much time warming up when the instructors come in. But I tell you, it is not as easy as it looks to think of different stretches and moves when you are on the spot. Now, with that said it was my first time doing it, but I liked it alot.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

152 - 2 cool things...

First cool thing... I just found out about this today.. maybe you already know about it...

Cave of the Crystals in Naica, Chihuahua, Mexico
Seriously... look at the size of these crystals! We're talking Supermans retreat here. Damn...

Another cool enough thing is this little video made in 1977 about the universe...


152 - Philip Seymour Hoffman dead

What a waste of a perfectly good white boy. Philip Seymour Hoffman dead at the age of 46. Police who searched his home found 50 bags of heroin and he was found dead with a needle still in his hand. Honestly a huge waste of talent.

No offence Hoffmans ghost, but I hope you do not cause a delay on The Hunger Games.
Apart from all that I had a good karate class again today. I am on a diet now too cutting out as much sugar as I can. That is going well too!

151 - Fantastic Lego!


Lucy got this for her birthday. It is a boat. Most of us have played with Lego at some point but I gotta tell you this Lego is amazing. It gives a nice solid final finished product and it took ages to build. This is from the Lego Friends Series so it looks more - girly? Now that is nothing agains't boys or girls but there are alot more colorful pieces in it. The people have changed too and now look more like little generic toys rather than strictly like Lego people.

I know one thing for sure... The Lego Movie! We are going to be all over that! 

150 -Lucys Birthday!

Well really her birthday party! Loads of her friends came over and family was here. It was a madness but great madness. I did take pictures but not on my phone camera so I cannot show you any pictures straight away.

Here is a little art work Lucy did a few weeks ago. 
Lucy will be 5 on the 5th of February :)

Friday, January 31, 2014

149 - Jedi Cats Fighting


The odds are, if you do find "this kind of thing" funny that you have already seen this video before. But, just in case you have not seen it, this is brilliantly hilarious. It looks so real it is as if the cats actually have lightsabers in their tiny paws.

Sometimes I wonder if I have seen so much crap on the internet that I find nothing funny anymore. Then something like this comes along and reminds me of how brilliant people, and cats I guess, can be.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

148 - Bruce Lee is amazing...

First off this is not my article... I am copying it word for word of this webpage so of course all credit goes to the following webpage:

http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-reasons-bruce-lee-may-have-been-superhuman.php?utm_source=knowd.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=10-reasons-bruce-lee-was-superhuman

But just in case anything ever happens to the link I am going to copy in the text here myself.

"Bruce Lee is a household name and, although he died relatively young, the legacy he left simply by being really good at punching people is astounding. Now there are many oft-repeated facts about the supposed almost superhuman abilities of Mr. Lee, and a simple Google search for his name leads to dozens of people questioning the veracity of them. So here are some tales of Bruce Lee’s superpowers, backed up with books. Knowledge is power.




10. The Dragon Flag

Bruce Lee was fanatical about fitness; according to his widow Linda Lee, there was never a moment Bruce wasn’t working out (the guy would watch TV doing full splits). Of all the muscles in the body, Lee was most concerned with building up his core, as he believed that the core (stomach area) is used in almost all movement, hence was greatly important to martial arts.

Is his quest to improve his core strength, Lee invented something now known as the Dragon Flag, in his honor. If you couldn’t guess already, it’s considered one of the most difficult core exercises out there. Because Lee didn’t mess around. Stallone may have brought the move to peoples attention in Rocky 4, but Lee took it to another level, reportedly being able to support his entire frame on the edge of a bench, with only his shoulders touching anything, all while the rest of his body remained perfectly rigid and horizontal to the ground.

Just imagine for a second that you’d been scheduled to fight Lee, and heard all of these rumors about him, only to see him floating in mid air. You’d run away from that set so fast that you’d explode through time to the premiere of the movie in which he kicks your ass.

9. Catching Rice With Chopsticks

Remember that scene in the Karate Kid were Pat Morita catches a fly with chopsticks? Yeah, Bruce Lee topped that. It was reported that Bruce was so keen to increase his reflexes, that he would throw rice into the air and try to catch it on the way down. Because being able to react to a small piece of rice travelling straight down is clearly the best way to prepare for large men trying to punch you. Martial arts!

Although seemingly impractical, the sheer amount of dexterity and skill required for such a feat meant that his hands had to be permanently balled into fists near women, so their hips wouldn’t detach themselves from their body, and instinctively run towards him. Probably.

8. He Was Too Strong For Regular Heavy Bags

In his time, Lee used a multitude of custom-built exercise machines that were usually created just for him by a close friend, James Lee. Some of them were made due to requests from Lee himself; others were built out of sheer necessity. Lee’s heavy bag is an example of the latter.

Coming from an unknown source, Lee’s custom heavy bag literally taunted others with its immense size. Normal heavy bags clock in at around 70 pounds, with some clocking in at a much meatier 150. Lee’s weighed THREE-HUNDRED POUNDS. And it was filled with friggin’ metal. Not because he was showing off, but because he literally couldn’t use a lighter, non-metallic one without breaking it. There are conflicted, and often confused, stories that claim Lee was able to kick a heavy bag clear through the ceiling. Though he may not have ever done that, he did give a guy whiplash by kicking one too hard. Seriously.

7. One-Fingered Pushups. One-Armed Pullups

How many push-ups could you do right now? If the answer is anything other than “so many the Earth will think I’m trying to mate with it,” you’re just not up to the standards of Bruce Lee. In his younger days, Lee reportedly liked to show off while training. And one of his favorite tricks was one-fingered push ups. It’s exactly what it sounds like, and Bruce did them for no other reason than to show that he could. What’s your party trick? Bet it seems kind of sucky now, doesn’t it?

Bruce’s immense strength wasn’t just limited to his fingers either; he was also able to do one-armed pull-ups, with some sources claiming he was able to bust out 50 like it wasn’t even a big deal. Of course, this ability wasn’t unique to Bruce, but the fact he did it simply because he could kind of makes you proud to live in a world where his biceps existed.



6. The One-Inch Punch

This is one of Lee’s more famous feats, and it’s no surprise why. Lee was able to summon so much power in his arms, that he could knock a fully grown adult male over from less than an inch away. That’s a feat so impressive that scientists poked around in martial artists’ brains, just to see how such a thing was even possible. There’s even rare footage of Lee doing the one-inch punch on a wooden board, presumably just so trees watching at home would know their place. And there are stories about him using it on inner city school kids, because Bruce valued teaching the next generation. Lesson one: don’t mess with him.



5. You Literally Couldn’t Punch Him

Bruce Lee, being a huge star who was famous for being really, really good at fighting people, naturally spent a lot of his time being challenged to street fights, because people in the ’70s were shockingly stupid.

The fights almost always ended the same way: with Bruce shrugging them off, because fighting random passers-by served no purpose. Sometimes though, the challengers just plain insisted, and thus Bruce had to get nasty. In his life, there were three verified times Lee was challenged to a fight, and none of his opponents could even land a single hit on him’ he was simply too fast. When he was challenged on the set of Enter the Dragon, Bruce took apart his opponent by deftly avoiding every blow, and by locking him against a wall. He then stood him up, and give him a lesson.

Admittedly, I fail to see the logic in teaching a guy who starts random street fights how to better beat people up. I won’t question it though, purely because I’ll be dead one day and I’ll have to justify my decision to Lee and his ghost army.


4. He Could Grab A Coin Out Of Your Hand, And Replace It With Another Coin

Lee’s speed is so legendary that most cheetahs have a photo of him on their walls, and Usain Bolt has to watch his movies in slow motion.

One of Lee’s most impressive feats of speed, was his ability to snatch a coin from your hand. The usual protocol would be Lee placing a coin in your hand, after which he’d stand a few feet away. He’d then instruct you to close your palm as soon as you saw him move.

When you saw the blur of movement that was Bruce Lee, you’d snap your hand shut and feel a round object. Your smugness would only last so long though, since your next sight would be Lee smiling while holding your coin, leaving you to open your own hand and see a different coin that Lee had placed there in less than a second. This was usually the last thing most fans saw before their heads exploded out of frustration. It’s no surprise that Lee died young; he clearly experienced time at twice the rate normal people do.



3. He Was Too Fast For Cameras Of The Time To Film

It’s an oft-repeated fact that Lee’s movements were too fast for cameras to film, so they had to slow down the footage. Well, there’s some truth to that. For some reason though, people seem to miss out the coolest part.

When this problem first arose, Lee was on the set of the Green Hornet, where he noted that all of the fight scenes simply showed him standing still while people fell over in front of him. For some reason the show’s producer didn’t like the idea of a sidekick with magical mind powers, so he asked Lee to slow down, which he did, which produced a blur instead. Lee was so fast, that he had to slow down to first be seen as a blur. This is the first time that sentence has been used about something other than an overweight person eating.



2. He Once Dislocated A Guy’s Shoulder, With A Slap

If you’re going to claim someone has superhuman powers, it makes sense to show them completely outclassing a regular person. Because this is Bruce Lee though, how about we have him outclass a highly trained martial artist instead?

As noted, Bruce required special training equipment that could cope with his power. On occasion though, he would spar and train with people stupid enough to stand within kicking distance of Bruce Lee. That distance, by the way, was also known as any country Bruce Lee was currently in.

In one such case, it’s noted that Bruce dislocated a guy’s arm during training. When confronted, Bruce became genuinely confused since according to him, “it was more of a slap than a punch.” Just read that back; Bruce was so much stronger than regular people, he could dislocate their shoulders with something he considered a light slap. Holy crap, what happened when he actually hit someone with full force? Well …




1. His Kicks Literally Sent People Flying Through The Air

For all his strength and training, Bruce Lee rarely ever showed his true power. Mainly because, as shown, he was capable of injuring people just by standing too close to them.

However, Bruce did have one trick he liked to use. One of Lee’s most treasured possessions was his training shield, which he reportedly took everywhere with him. One of his favorite “pranks” was to have people hold this shield and let him kick them. During the time he was alive, these were words that undertakers had pre-inscribed on tombstones, just in case. The amount of power he put into each kick varied, but it’s noted that he could easily lift people into the air with one of his blows.

When you’re able to make other people escape Earth’s gravity, simply by kicking them, it’s only a matter of time until God takes notice, and brings you to Heaven to serve as his personal bodyguard."

147 - I suck at computer games.

Wow, I am so bad at computer games. I love them... but some of them, damn I suck at them. Of course it does not help that the game I am trying to play is Supreme Commander mod Forged Alliance, and did I mention that I am in bed. So it is not the optimal playing area. Is it!

As long as I don't tell you that I was playing on easiest... yes.

146 - Google = Skynet

Google purchased a company in the last few days, well now that is nothing new, I read somewhere that Google has purchased a new company at least every week for the last few years. No, what is so significant about THIS company is that it is an AI company. An Artificial Intelligence company.

The company is called DeepMind. Now the press loves this - Google is creating Skynet from the Terminator!!! Ahhhh everybody run somewhere in panic. For a start even if they were there is no use in running.

So then other people are asking why Google has purchased an AI company? Damn it seems kinda obvious to me. DeepMind has alot of very skilled people working there, Google might keep the people with the company, it now has even more brains to add to its current brains. But it is an interesting thing to think about when you talk of AI. I spoke to a few people about AI and they were saying that the computer will not actually be intelligent, it will just be simulating intelligence. That for me simply does not convince me. I do really believe that computers will be intelligent. Some day computers will have rights. Some day men and women will fall in love with computers probably.

A thing that happens to people when I begin talking like this is that they look down the road a few year and think of AI and look at their toaster, then think of AI again and look at their laptop, AI, fridge, AI television. No no no... again all wrong! Think of 30 years in the future, 50 years! Think 100 years. Think 1000 years.

What an amazing place the world will be in a thousand years! My god. I would do anything to be able to live that long.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

145 - Karate again!

It is funny how different it feels going into karate when you have done your "home work". Practiced a but every day. Thought about your katas in your spare time. When you go into the class, and early... you feel so much more relaxed. It was a good class.

144 - Friends over.. again...

Today is was Lucys chance to have a friend over.

At least this evening we got to see the fantastic Elysium. Made by the same person that made District 9. Just as bleak. Just as good. Really happy we saw it.

143 - Friends over

Sophie had a friend over today so we spent the first part of the day cleaning the house then entertaining the friend then putting the kids to sleep. That was all of Saturday!

142 - Friday!

Didn't get up to a whole lot... was really really happy that the week was over!

141 - Parks and Recreation!

I am afraid that we have gone a bit Parks And Recreation mad. Whilst good old netflix feeds us as fast as we can eat we are devouring this fantastic if not all that talked about program.

Parks And Recreation on IMDB


140 - Karate today....

I was at karate today. It felt good to stretch the old bones.

139 - 2 hours a slave to "12 Hours A Slave"

Powerful stuff dudes. Damn there are some scenes in this film that are extremely well made. Brilliant film and we were more surprised to find out that the film is based on the book of a real person who was himself taken into slavery and this is his story.

More shocking is the fact that the book and the film are toned down so that the public could believe it more readily.

Friday, January 24, 2014

138 - Missed Karate

Ahhhh I missed karate today! Whilst there was a possible change that I might have been able to get the very tail end of it I was so wrecked and tired that there was no chance really.

137 - Sunday

Sunday, January 19, 2014

136 - 18/01/2034

18 January 2034 is 20 years from now... I was at a dinner with friends today and we got talking asking about what the world would be like in twenty years. Some of the questions were:

  • What will we be eating?
  • Do we still use fossil fuel?
  • Does the Irish language still exist?
  • Have we hit the singularity yet? I have already talked about the singularity before - click here to understand more about it. 
  • Have we cloned a dinosaur yet?
  • What will the population be?
  • How will the internet be?
Basically lots of questions that you will read and give your opinion on a certain number of them. You might give your opinion on all of the questions or you might just read them. Either way it is interesting. 

What will the world be like in 20 years?

135 - 3D print your house....

Go to the following website -

http://www.contourcrafting.org/

What you can see here is amazing I think. I am friends with people who have build as a hobby a 3D printer. So a thin little ribbon of plastic get fed out through a nozzle and creates and plastic representation, layer upon layer of whatever 3D image it was told to do from the computer that controls it. Of course this technology has been around for years now and everything from lampshades to artificial hips are make using this technique.

Upscale this - alot and it lies to reason that you can print anything I guess. Check out the website to see a house being build effectively by a 3D printer.

Wow. Coming from a family of builders I find the whole thing quite interesting.

134 - Russian Mother inspires me to rant

I have a few friends that take photos. I know a girl who lives in Italy, Rome to be more specific and I look at the photos that she takes. She is a beautiful girl so for a start when she takes a photo with her in it, as long as it is in focus she is in a winner. As a backdrop she can shoot the Colosseum. She can shoot village towns with brown tiles roofs and  baby blue plastered walls.

In Ireland I have friends that can take amazing photos of the bogs and beaches and of the old buildings in the area and come up with some magical pictures.

I wonder about myself. Often I see a scene and I know, I know - that it is a great image. But I often find myself without a camera. So then I go out and I take my camera but then it almost does not feel right. Am I faking it?

Of course I am not faking it. Do not be a fool man. If I do see a good pictures now I have my camera I am prepared. There is nothing fake about that. In fact what I should do is go out more often with my camera with my camera and look for images. This girl that I know in Italy and the guy I know here - they go out on photo shoots all the time. So yes, that is the idea really, kind of totally obvious. You want to take a good picture, get out there. Of course what you see around the house might be your muse. Fine, shoot. Unless you are going to take pictures of scenery on the National Geographic Society your going to have to get off you ass. The beauty is there... but some times you have to look for it.

The above image is taken from the following website:
http://www.boredpanda.com/animal-children-photography-elena-shumilova/

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

133 - 30,000+ views...

My first blog was sent on April 8th 2008... it was entitled "Metro Sexual Confusion". Since then I have blogged 536 times. So right now as I speak I have 30,215 pageviews.

So I just want to thank all the people who have come back again and again and took the time to view my blog. I hope you like it. I love doing it, I know there are better blogs and there are worse ones but then there is MY one... and that is what I like. My own voice in the storm of voices that is the internet.



Tuesday, January 14, 2014

132 - Nice letter I saw on Huffington Post website.

Dear "Daddy,"
I don't know your name, but Kate called you "daddy" for the entire flight last week and you kindly never corrected her. In fact, you didn't even flinch as you could probably tell that she was not confusing you with her own "daddy," but instead making a judgment regarding your level of "safety" for her. If she calls you "daddy" then you better believe she thinks you are alright.
I sat Kate, my 3-year-old who has autism, in the middle seat knowing full well that there would be a stranger sitting next to her for the duration of this flight. I had to make a quick decision and based on her obsession with opening and closing the window shade, I figured she might be less of a distraction if she sat in the middle. I watched the entire Temple basketball team board the plane, and wondered if one of these giants might sit by Kate. They all moved toward the back. She would have liked that, she would have made some observations that I would have had to deal with, but she would have liked those players. I watched many Grandmotherly women board and hoped for one to take the seat but they walked on by. For a fleeting moment I thought we might have a free seat beside us, and then you walked up and sat down with your briefcase and your important documents and I had a vision of Kate pouring her water all over your multi-million dollar contracts, or house deeds, or whatever it was you held. The moment you sat down, Kate started to rub your arm. Your jacket was soft and she liked the feel of it. You smiled at her and she said: "Hi, Daddy, that's my mom." Then she had you.
You could have shifted uncomfortably in your seat. You could have ignored her. You could have given me that "smile" that I despise because it means; "manage your child please." You did none of that. You engaged Kate in conversation and you asked her questions about her turtles. She could never really answer your questions but she was so enamored with you that she kept eye contact and joint attention on the items you were asking her about. I watched and smiled. I made a few polite offers to distract her, but you would have none of it.
Kate: (Upon noticing you had an iPad) Is dis Daddy's puduter?
You: This is my iPad. Would you like to see it?
Kate: To me?????? (I know she thought you were offering it to her to keep)
Me: Look with your eyes, Kate. That is not yours.
Kate: Dat's nice!
You: (Upon noticing that Kate had an iPad) I like your computer, too. It has a nice purple case.
Kate: Daddy wanna be a bad guy? (She offered shredder to you and that, my friend, is high praise)
You: Cool.
The interaction went on and on and you never once seemed annoyed. She gave you some moments of peace while she played with her Anna and Elsa dolls. Kind of her to save you from playing Barbies, but I bet you wouldn't have minded a bit. I bet you have little girls, too.
Not long before we landed Kate had reached her limit. She screamed to have her seatbelt off, she screamed for me to open the plane door and she cried repeating, "Plane is cwosed (closed)" over and over. You tried to redirect her attention to her toys. She was already too far gone at this point, but the fact that you tried to help your new little friend made me emotional.
In case you are wondering, she was fine the moment we stepped off the plane. Thank you for letting us go ahead of you. She was feeling overwhelmed and escaping the plane and a big, long hug was all she needed.
So, thank you. Thank you for not making me repeat those awful apologetic sentences that I so often say in public. Thank you for entertaining Kate so much that she had her most successful plane ride, yet. And, thank you for putting your papers away and playing turtles with our girl.

131 - Karate is back!

Had Karate today. It was a great class. Tough and we learnt alot of our new kata Bassai Dai.

130 - Its Sunday! Lets go to the movies!

We went into town today, into Galway to treat the girls somewhat. Also Lindas brother John was going home back to Spain. So we met John and Linda parents in the morning and the kids had a chance to say goodbye to John properly.

Then we set off to the cinema. We saw Frozen. It was really good. The animation, the graphics, are amazing. The songs were great, it was a well written story, I cared for the characters who all had strong personalities. I really can say not a whole lot of bad things about the film to tell the truth. Most of all. The kids loved it :)
Another cracker from Disney - Frozen

Afterwards we had dinner with Linda parents in that place in Salthill, whats the name of it. Da Robertas.

Great day out!

129 - Saturday

Didn't do a whole lot. We watched films and waited for Linda to come home. When she did we put the kids to sleep and played a board game.

Friday, January 10, 2014

128 - The sound of silence.

No not the hippy duo of the 70's Simon & Garfunkel. I mean when the kids are in school. I am home sick. There are no radios, televisions or computers on. I walk over to the kitchen sink and get a glass of unhealthy drinking water and climatise to the room I am standing in.

It is then that I hear a recurring beep across the room. Everything is quiet and still and now this beep becomes an all encompassing siren by the television.

I look over to where the sound is coming from and see that in my haste attempting in vain to call my sister this morning I did not put the landline phone back on the hook properly. I do so now. And then....

...silence, my old friend.

127 - Irish Man Going To Mars


For once I can link something useful from that national propaganda rag known as The Irish Times.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/life-on-mars-irish-man-signs-up-for-colony-mission-1.1648449

This link is worth watching even if you know about Joseph Roche - one of the people short(ish) listed to go to Mars, the red planet.

Mars One is a not-for-profit foundation that aims to get human civilization set up on the planet Mars. All this will be expensive and since most government on Earth have war, hunger and ignorance (politics) to deal with this Dutch foundation has basically set about doing it itself - the setting up of humanity on another planet that is.

So there is a guy, Joseph Roche, who simply applied to be one of the future Martians and the big news that came out today is that he made it past the first round. Pretty cool. Now with that said, I did hear on the news that he was one of 3 Irish people selected but there is no talk of these other people. Hmm, I guess that they are not actually resident in Ireland or that the news looked at the other 2 and realized that Mr Roche is the more likely candidate.
I would definately go. Mars One

Roche is an astrophysicist who works at the Science Gallery in Dublin and realistically knows what he is getting into better than most other people. 

So you gotta ask yourself the question. Would you go up to Mars. Most people I have asked so far have said no. Thing is, I would say no too, but that is because I have responsibilities here that I cannot avoid. But lets say, for an arm chair philosophy kinda question - had you NO responsibilities would you go? Roche admits that he believes it is a one way ticket. As in, they will go to Mars and not alone will they not return but because of the radiation levels on the planet they have a shorter life expectancy. 

The people I have spoken to said "imagine never seeing grass again, imagine never seeing the sky again". On Mars you will see a different landscape, a different sky. There is no meaning at all in anything except that which you give it yourself. 

I can tell you now - if I did not have any responsibilities here on Earth I would certainly, definitely, absolutely go. That is... if they would take me!

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

126 - Metal Ant Colony

Here is something strangely interesting I came across today. Extra interesting because I find ants cool but I hate the sight of them. I like the way to you can see ants looking at this happening... thinking "ehhh, whats going on?"

Ha ha ha ha ha....

Not so tough in your little nest now are you little ant. See how man can wreck your home the same way you wreck mans.

125 - Windows 8.1

I was working on a computer today and it had Windows 8.1 on it. Boy oh boy. 8.1. One might think that 8.1 is an improvement on 8.0. I have not used Windows 8, and I hate to think how bad it was. At least 8.1 had the Windows key added? I was pressing the Windows key on the keyboard but it was not bringing up anything. The person who owned the 8.1 machine said that it was really easy to use once you got used to it, but you should not need to get used to it. It is simply not intuitive. I tried to uninstall Norton off the machine but I could not for the life of me find an add/remove option for it. I did find an add remove option for an app that was in the new interface at the front end but not to get rid of the full application that was installed.

Windows 8.1 Terrible user experience. 

My question is, who exactly did Microsoft talk to when they were wondering if this was an intuitive system? No messing around. I found it really really horribly bad to use! With Apple OS sales holding, mobile phone use on the rise to the point where people are not getting even laptops anymore because their phone can do what they need and the likes of Steam OS on the way you gotta ask yourself, what are Microsoft thinking. 

Rather, are they thinking?

124 - Ugh! Back to work.

Man, back to work today. Whilst I do not really mind going back to work, I kinda mind that I do not feel like I did get a whole lot of the personal projects that I wanted to get done. Everyone was sick at one point or another. It was hard to settle down and concentrate.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

123 - Christening

We were at a christening today in Newport. It was nice. There are fantastic windows made by Harry Clarke.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

120 - Lovely Morning

You know it is a good day when it is 10:21am and you have already watched two episodes of Stargate SG1. Anyway, what to do with the rest of the day... I mean that in a what to do in the order of things that I have to do... I am not implying that I have nothing to do. That would be a dream. Having nothing to do! Being bored!

Anyway, enough gibber jabber.

119 - My Rasberry Pi

I got a Raspberry Pi for Christmas, however it is only today that I have gotten to fire it up. It is cool. There is a Linux operating system on it, so it can go online, run programs etc etc. Pretty much everything that Windows can do. Well, alot of what a major operating system could do I believe. However one thing that is on it is Scratch. It is cool.... you know Scratch? It is a way to teach programming to kids. You can make small games and have loops, if/else statements, moving sprites, and sounds in your game. So I sat down today and decided to make a game at last. I have used Scratch before but it is only now that I said to myself "I am going to make something proper". So I made a little game where you have to cross the screen and catch a little thingy without this horse touching you. Anyway, enough about that. 

So, how was new year celebrations? Linda told me this cool thing she saw Facebook. Pick a new skill to learn! Excellent idea, I am definately going to do it. But first I have to figure out what that means. Like really, when you think about it. What does a new skill mean? Do I have to learn how to weld? Learn CPR? So I am going to think about it for a few days, try to come up with something. If you have an idea feel free to put it my way. I would love to learn something that is kind of showing off. When I do it, people would be like "Damn, that is impressive". 

The Reality Of The News

There have been a few times where I have clicked on a news article only to realise that I have been hit with a paywall. I don't mean thi...