Tower Defence Game

This ugly little game at http://www.jeannettevejarano.com/tower-defence.swf is deceptively difficult and highly addictive.

For the first few levels you think: "what's the point", then you start thinking: "hey I'm good at this" then you get to the mid-60's levels and think "AAaaaarrgghhhhh!!!!!"

My record is level 79, although that must have been a fluke cause I can't duplicate it. The best I've had since is level 78.

EDIT: I just watched someone get to Level 82. AAAAAAaaaaaaaarrrrgggggggghhhhhhhh!!!!

EDIT: The record I know of is now level 84, the author of the game only got to level 90, although I'll bet that was on an earlier version that had more bugsd and was easier than this one.

EDIT: Well what do you know, the site I found this on has exceeded its bandwidth limit. Good job I saved a copy here

If anyone can figure out how to get past level 84 please let me know how.

Kevin Cornell's Cubbyhole Mind

About a year ago I discovered an article by professional illustrator and designer Kevin Cornell about his Cubbyhole Mind on his website www.bearskinrug.co.uk.

I emailed him and asked if I could use his images on my home page www.cubbyhole.org. He was happy to let me copy the images and host them so long as he was credited and I linked back to his site. Ever since then the cubbyhole pictures have been on my front page.

Now, they have finally been relegated to here





©2005 KCornell used by permission

and replaced by the most addictive little flash game (see the post immediately below this one): Tower Defence by Roman Sanine based on Warcraft 3 Element Tower Defence.

Companies to update websites and email footers before 2007 | The Register

Companies to update websites and email footers before 2007 | The Register

The first I heard of this was December 21st, 4 working days before it has to be implemented. I wonder how many companies will fall foul of this law and what the process for enforcement and punishment is.

60 Power Tips for Windows

Normally lists of tips are a great rehash of stuff you already knew or didn't know and didn't care about but I think there is actually some useful stuff in this list of Official Windows XP Magazine - 60 Power Tips for Windows

Ultramon for Linux

It doesn't exist 'cause you don't need it. Add a panel to your other monitors and add a windowlist to that panel.

Lloyd Leung » Linux shows you how.

How to get the look of Vista without giving up XP

Although you don't get the "under the hood" changes to Windows (such as the new Explorer), it does make XP look and feel more like Vista - including adding the Sidebar.

pack changes most of the system icons, skins and toolbars and also adds new enhancements to your desktop such as a dock bar or a different system tray clock. In this release, you´ll get bunches of stuff you´ve never seen before in this pack such as Windows Media Player skins, WindowBlinds skin, new stuffs, etc.

Click on link to freewarefikles download page: Vista Transformation Pack 5.5 - Freeware Files.com - Desktop Category

Astronomy - Xena becomes Eris

On 7th September

Xena is Eris
Gabrielle is Dysnomia

Astronomy - Dwarf planets get names and numbers - Francis Reddy

I liked the unofficial names better

How to change the location of the print spool folder

XP uses the spool folder on your hard disk to store queued print jobs. Without it, you'd have to wait until printing was finished to use other programs on your system. The spool folder is located on the partition where your Windows system files are installed, but if this partition gets low on free space, you can move it to a different location. This can also speed up performance. Here's how:

1. First, be sure you're logged on with an administrative account.
   
2. Click Start | My Computer.
   
3. Select the drive where you want to store the spool folder.
   
4. Click Make a New Folder under File and Folder Tasks in the left pane.
   
5. Type a name for the folder.
   
6. Click Start | Printers and Faxes.
   
7. Click File | Server Properties, then click the Advanced tab.
   
8. In the Spool Folder field, enter the path to the new folder you created in step 4.
   
9. Click Apply.
   
10. After any documents currently printing have finished, click Yes.
    
11. Click OK.
    

Google Guide Quick Reference: Google Advanced Operators (Cheat Sheet)

I'll never remember where this is so I thought I'd BLOG it. Wonderful Google Guide Quick Reference: Google Advanced Operators (Cheat Sheet) I knew some of it I learned some new stuff.

One Pill, Two Pill, Red Pill, Blue Pill

I'ts been a long time since I rock and rolled but some things are interesting (or in this case scary) enough to warrant a blog post. Although the cute names are stolen from the Matrix, this SVM based "ultra-thin hypervisor that takes complete control of the underlying operating system"

"The idea behind Blue Pill is simple: your operating system swallows the Blue Pill and it awakes inside the Matrix controlled by the ultra thin Blue Pill hypervisor. This all happens on-the-fly (i.e. without restarting the system) and there is no performance penalty and all the devices..."

'Blue Pill' Prototype Creates 100% Undetectable Malware

How to reinstall Windows XP without reactivating

How to reinstall Windows without reactivating

Need to format your hard drive and reinstall XP, and don't want to have to go through the product activation process again? You can save the activation status info and then restore it after you reinstall the operating system, as long as you haven't made any changes to the hardware. Here's how:
Before reformatting, in My Computer, double click the drive letter on which you installed XP, and navigate to WINDOWS\System32.
Click "Show the contents of this folder" if necessary.
Copy the following files to a floppy, USB drive, CD/DVD or network location: wpa.dbl and wpa.bak.
After reformatting and reinstalling XP, select NO when asked if you want to activate Windows now.
Restart in Safe Mode.
In My Computer, open the WINDOWS\System32 folder and rename the existing wpa.dbl and wpa.bak files (if you have them).
Now copy your old wpa.dbl and wpa.bak files to the System32 folder.
Restart and you should not be requested to activate again. This only works when you reinstall Windows on the same computer and the hardware remains the same.

Why HD DVD is gonna beat Blu-Ray

OK, so this article is from Microsoft's XBOX 360 site but the argument on the second page if the Xbox.com | E3 2006 - HD DVD Explained article is quite compelling: the quality is the same, the cost is lower and there is an nice and easy upgrade path that support legacy DVD and TV systems. Why would anyone want to go with Blu-Ray?

Nokia - Nokia Wireless Keyboard

Nokia - Nokia Wireless Keyboard Yet another thing to add to the long list of techy gadget stuff that I want and I don't even have a Nokia phone anymore. Imagine using this along with Mobile Messenger on a SmartPhone. Grom says he can't work out if it's cool or magnificently useless but he still wants one.

I would use hotmail and msn messenger more when mobile if it wasn't such a pain typing using txt input. It's useful for on trains but pretty useless while walking or driving. Would I really open that up in public and attempt to write messages? Probably. It's no worse than using a laptop and the batteries last a LOT longer.

Google Mars

How cool is this? The default view shows Olympus Mons just above and left of centre with an artificially coloured map showing elevation. You can use filters to see the map using visible light or infrared and scroll and zoom all over the place. The search functions are pretty cool too. Clicking on one of the 9 links or typing into the search box at the top of the page opens up a search results pane on the left wioth links to all kinds of extra information.

Replacement Ear Buds for the best Headphones in the World

I love my Sony Fontopia MDR-EX71SLB Headphones. I have three pairs: one white and two black. The only problem is now that I've had them a few years I've lost one of the earbuds for the white pair.

I've found out how to get a replacements: phone 0870 240 6354 - they cost £3.50 each (not £3.50 per pair) plus P&P of £1.05 plus VAT.

SEME Limited
Hudson Road
Melton Mowbray
Leicestershire
LE13 1BS
Telephone: 0870 240 6354
Fax: 01664 563 976
email: sony@seme.co.uk
Mon-Fri : 8.30am to 5.30pm Note: For VAIO Spares & Accesories, please call 0207 365 2947

Download the Remove Hidden Data Utility for Office 2003/XP (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)

Download the Remove Hidden Data Utility for Office 2003/XP (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)

Six of one and half-a-dozen of the other

Yesterday's GromBlog had a nasty story from the Smoking Gun about a "Wifely Obligations" contract an American Sicko tried to get his lady to sign.

In response to that, today, Ananova has a story about a wife who stabbed her husband for refusing to have sex with her even though she wore a G-string and everything...

A police spokesperson said: "She did not think she did anything wrong, she kept saying that he was her husband and that he had to fulfil his obligations and that because he didn't she had the right to punish him.

Virtual Air Guitar ROCKS!!

BBC NEWS Technology How to be a rock star, virtually

At last! A reason to actually own a webcam. I want one of these. The BBC article is cool but the Project Air Guitar website is even better.

Penguins can stay gay

I don't think the people have a choice. It's the penguins' decision

Gay Penguins don't like Swedes

Article appeared on Wanadoo's Quirky News from Ananova

"Shy Swedes fail to seduce gay penguins (c) Rex 2005 Swedish female penguins have failed in their mission to seduce gay male Humboldt penguins in a German zoo. Bremerhaven Zoo introduced the female penguins to try and establish more breeding pairs in its penguin pens. The zoo has far too many male penguins, while Kolmarden Zoo in Sweden has an oversupply of females. At Bremerhaven, the birds, which find new mates every year, form all-male pairs and adopt pebbles as if they were eggs. Last year, officials said the females had arrived too late for pairing. And this year, the birds arrived in time, but were too shy. 'The Swedes are rather stand-offish,' said zoo chief executive Heike Kueck. Four local females were quickly snapped up but the rest of the 22 penguins ignored the newcomers and formed broody male couples. Last year, homosexual militants bombarded the zoo with e-mails and protest letters, claiming it was interfering in the penguins' freedom of sexual orientation. "

Headline of the Year?

EDIT: Unfortunately now gone SETANTA Sports News had an article with the headline "BRUM Promise internal Butt probe"

Now that's what I call a PAINT job

Amazing 3D optical illusions created by some careful painting.

GAYmers ROCK!

Gay rights win in Warcraft world. Link to BBC Tech News article

How to prevent a program from being displayed in the Most Frequently Used Programs list

Windows XP displays a list of most frequently used programs in the Start menu. If you don't want a program to be displayed there, you can prevent it (on a program-by-program basis) by editing the registry. Here's how:

• Click Start Run.
• Type the following in the Run box: regedit
• In the left pane of the registry editor, navigate to the following key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\
• Click Edit New and select String Value.
• Name the new string value NoStartPage
• Leave the data value empty.
• Close the registry editor.

Motivator: Inspire! Motivate! Mock!

Motivator: Inspire! Motivate! Mock! You know those motivational posters that were all the rage in certain types of company a few years ago (heck, they're probably still there)? Then later there were the fantastic demotivational ones from despair.com. Well now there's a wonderful little tool that lets you make your own.

Cant see for looking

Just got this from a friend of a friend of mine:

"I was talking to my father-in-law over Christmas. He recounted this
tale. For background, it's worth knowing that he's recently gone blind.
He doing his white-stick training around town with the trainer. His wife was with him, as was the trainer (obviously). This lesson covered how to cross the road: you use the stick to help you find the dropped section for disabled people to cross and stand there. You then listen for traffic. When it goes quiet, you start out and cross over.

After he had done this ten or fifteen times, they let him have a go on
his own. He found the dropped section and waited. Zooom! A car goes by.
Zooom! Another one. Zoom! Zoom! Then he heard one stop. This confused
him and he was left trying to work out what the car was doing. Was he
parking? Had he just stopped to let a passenger out?

As he stood there pondering, he heard a shout from his wife: "Stay where
you are dear, the silly bugger's flashing his lights at you"

Does my bum look big in this?

How do they come up with these ideas? What's more, how do they persuade people to PAY them to spend time doing it? A scientific (yeah right) study on the effect of clothing on the perceived appearance of the female rear. Nice pic of Kylie in the article.

StickMen Arena

Don't often do games or links to them but saw this on the GromBlog and had to link to it too. It a cool, little, online, multiplayer stickman deathmatch so click the link, hit quick start and proceed to kick butt. You can even create private servers to play against your friends (enemies?)

Lady Gay

I don't drink tea so I never really understood the fascination with Earl Grey which is apparently a blend of Indian and Ceylon teas and one of my colleauges calls Gay Tea. The tea gets its unusual flavor from oil of BERGAMOT. Bergamot is a small acidic orange. The latest research indicates that the Bergamot orange is a cross between the sweet or pear lemon (Citrus Limetta) and the Seville or sour orange (Citrus Aurantium). The sour orange is native to southern Vietnam, hence the Chinese connection.

Earl Grey tea was the favourite tea of Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Fictional characters who preferred the tea include Jean-Luc Picard of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Sir Leigh Teabing from the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.

So why the blog? 'cause I just found out that Lady Grey didn't like her husbands tea and got her own version called Lady Grey. That's all.