alias_sqbr

Fan vidder survey!

Tue, 23 Aug 2016 06:30:16 GMT

Fan Creators’ Identification With Entertainment Media In Visual Storytelling for The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Seems relevant to some people's interests!

(Icon is my attempt at making a video myself ;))

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Swancon pt 2

Sat, 11 Apr 2015 16:08:22 GMT

First, my Dragon Age Inquisitor cosplay.

Second, some random recs:
the movie Joint Security Area
Safety Not Guaranteed
What if my Baby Is A Squib Subtle, dark, Harry Potter fanfic that pokes at the squib=disability thing
Across the Nightingale Floor by Lianne Hearn (next year's guest)
Husbands (by Jane Espenson, ditto, omg)

Third, panel notes:

Has Science Fiction Changed Society?
The general consensus was that it reflects existing changes and can inspire/help individuals, but is rarely on the forefront of any change. It's really bad at predicting the future so not much good at preparing for or inspiring it. I might write up the rest of my notes but while I enjoyed the panel none of it seems worth the effort.

John Scalzi Guest of Honour Speech
The meaning of life is unverifiable.

Poison Elves
I went to this by accident but have always been vaguely curious after seeing the comics in shops, and was amused to discover the hero's name is Lusipher. I wonder if there's a Saetan too.

Science in Speculative Fiction
( Read more... )

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Swancon 2014 notes 2: Making Indie Games, Invisibility

Mon, 21 Apr 2014 15:32:30 GMT

Forgot to mention: ISOBELLE CARMODY BORROWED MY HAT. She bumped into me in the lift as I was coming into the hotel and asked to borrow it for a friend getting over skin cancer (it's got a remarkably broad brim). She apparently later spent an hour looking for me, then left it at the front desk from where it wound it's way back to me. I of course totally forgot to say anything about liking her books, but she KNOWS WHO I AM. Which is kind of cool :)

( Making Indie Games )

( Invisibility )

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Flailing in the direction of things I've watched etc

Mon, 10 Feb 2014 08:32:16 GMT

I keep putting this off until I can remember them all but this has inevitably led to a negative spiral since then there's just more to remember. So! WHAT I CAN REMEMBER RIGHT NOW.

TV:
( Read more... )
Movies:
( Read more... )
Games:
( Read more... )
Books:
( Read more... )

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Life stuff

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 09:45:51 GMT

GIP: new icon of turtles all the way down, from this photo.

Lately I've been feeling...I guess mildly depressed is the word for it. Not sad exactly, just that whenever I ask myself if I have the motivation to do stuff my brain keeps saying "nope it will make you feel bad and you will screw it up" so I don't. Like an ache you only notice when you try to move. And of course then I feel sad about not getting anything done, luckily I've been able to find enough things I can do to keep the wheels of life turning and have a sense of accomplishment.

In that vein...

Have been playing through the Fade VERY SLOWLY in DAO. It is generally considered the most boring part of the game and most people skip it on replays, but it's the first time I've tried it without cheats so I am determined to see if I can do it (signs point to yes!) It is pretty dull though, no dialogue or other characters just...fighting and wandering around.

Started watching All About My Romance, alas my brain is a bit sick of having to read subtitles. I tried a bunch of other Hulu shows the only other one to grab me at all so far is "Little Mosque" but it's not the kind of show I can watch a bunch of in a row.

I found myself feeling SUDDENLY SAD about not going to Continuum, and I do think I let inertia make me dismiss the idea of going too quickly, but mainly I think I just feel lonely AND socially awkward which makes me crave large groups of friendly people I can lurk around awkwardly. Not sure how to acquire such a thing in Perth right now :/

flamebyrd did you notice this hexel picture I reblogged? She's been doing some nice art with Hexel, still haven't experimented with it myself.

Adorable physics romance between an electron and a positron

Gratuitous picture of myself and the socks I bought.

A little video about cosplay some people might enjoy

No hugs or equivalent please I'm not in that sort of mood.

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Overwhelmed by pretty rocks

Sun, 21 Oct 2012 09:05:13 GMT

I have been meaning to buy some of stephbg's lovely and geeky Pretty Rock Designs cards (and things which are not cards) for a while, but am overwhelmed by the amount of choice.

So! Steph! Other people! Which do you think are prettiest/best?

Or just a few you think are pretty, if you are also overwhelmed by the amount of choice :) For example I liked Ocean Bouquet 2 and Asteroid Field

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Machine Learning

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 11:49:41 GMT

The Machine Learning course at coursera just started, the lecturer put two weeks of videos and some linear algebra revision up all at once which was a bit intimidating (THIRTY ONE VIDEOS) but having started watching it's all pretty easy, I'm fairly sure we went through linear regression faster in highschool. Which is good because I am still feeling pretty woozy. Not very exciting so far, it's funny being reminded how much more dry and formal Computer Science lectures are compared to the slapdash intuitive approach of physics. Also he kept talking about the practical uses and job opportunities, when I'm here to write better scifi :D

Coursera very much feels like a beta run before they ramp up to making money from us all somehow, but the two lecturers I've had so far seem to be very genuine about teaching their subject well and getting across their love of it.

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Quantum computing for fun and profit

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 01:22:49 GMT

The Quantum Computing Coursera course I signed up for just started, and it's fun so far. It feels more like that intersection between theoretical computer science and pure mathematics that I love instead of the more real world (ug) focus of the quantum mechanics I learned when I was doing physics.

The lecturer is pretty good, unfortunately the first assignment is not very well written and the multiple choice format is not well suited to someone like me who is good at theory but makes silly numerical mistakes. On the plus side you can take it multiple times with a 10% penalty, and I went from 26/60 the first time to 60/60 the second. Alas this was partly due to getting a feel for the kind of answer that would be right rather than entirely understanding why the answers were right, but hopefully this will improve as the course goes on, and it's not like I'll actually suffer any consequences if I don't pass. I found the optional, unmarked assignment much more fun: I got to do some proofs! Ah, proofs, how I have missed you.

I could feel my brain creaking at having to remember trig identities and how to project complex vectors. Partly because it's been so long, and partly because my cfs make it hard to concentrate. The course is supposed to take up 5-12 hours a week which is way more than my brain can handle, this first week took me more like 3, including checking out the forums, but I may well have to drop out as it goes on.

If any of you do decide to sign up, I recommend reading the forums before attempting the assignment, a lot of the ambiguities are teased out and there's some recs of further reading (which I don't have the brain for myself) There's people from all over the world, it's cool.

(...I need a "Science!" icon)

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Some stuff I like

Sun, 07 Aug 2011 10:16:05 GMT

I've been feeling fairly critical about things recently. So, a post of things that have been making me happy that may make you happy too.

Reading my dreamwidth network without the feeds. The ratio of stuff I want to read to stuff I don't is much more useful.

The Manga Guide to Databases by Mana Takahashi: For anyone who has wanted the fundamentals of Databases and SQL explained to them in the form of a cute manga about a princess and a fairy. No, really, it's adorable. It's not the best textbook ever, I did learn some stuff but a lot of the explanations were very shallow, I think it would work best as introduction in conjunction with a more dense text with lots of in-depth definitions. And the plot is pretty light, I can't see it appealing to anyone who isn't genuinely interested in databases (which I am, having used them at my old job with no theoretical training beyond my second year Computer Science data structures course) But I was the perfect audience, and I enjoyed it :)

The Morishima Akiko tag at daily_yuri (she can also be found at Lililicious), especially "Off Time" and "Happy Picture Diary", which both show the happy lives of adult lesbian Japanese women (as opposed to angsty schoolgirls as in a lot of yuri). Her comics are always so adorable and happy.

Some vids (mostly angsty, because angsty vids make me happy):

Rolling in the Deep: all the Xmen films. The Charles/Erik vid I've always wanted. (Well, it's more focussed on them rather than the broader themes than I'd like, but that's not really an objective flaw)
Seamstress Nikita: The Nikita&Alex vid I never knew I needed. I've watched very little Nikita but the complex codependent mentor thing hits all my buttons.
Don't Lose Yourself Doctor Who. Donna ;_;
Around Us Avatar the Last Airbender. I had to go back through a few pages of bookmarks to find something genuinely happy :)

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Swancon Panel notes 1

Sat, 23 Apr 2011 10:49:09 GMT

I pretty much only took notes on Friday, and it's going to take me a while to type them up.

Today has been pretty good, I mostly chatted to people and am taking a break before the masquerade.
( Disability and social media, AI and the human mind )

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Circles within circles

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 22:19:30 GMT

Via stumbleupon I came across this really cool orrery. The text is absurdly small and hard to read(*), but this does mean you can turn the brightness down and just watch the motions of the planets. What I really enjoyed doing was comparing the simplicity of the paths in the Copernican (sun centric aka correct) vs Tychonian (earth centric) views, putting on planet trace or turning down the brightness and imagining what it must have been like for the astronomers trying to figure out the equations of motion back when they thought everything revolved around the earth.

Man, I feel like solving some equations now.

(*)If you can make out the planets but not the text, the copernican/tychonian buttons are in the bottom right. Top right is set the date/show zodiac/choose planet/stop planet tracing, top left is speed/sound/help, and bottom left is moon phase.

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