Category Archives: random

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We still don’t really know how bicycles work.

Seems like someone would have figured out a reason by now! My theory: Every force that pushes the bicycle to the left or right causes the front wheel to shift orientation, even if ever so slightly. Because of the momentum of the bike and the frictional force pushing back the front wheel corrects its orientation. Or, more likely, over-corrects in a cyclical manner causing the center of gravity to sway back and forth like a pendulum. The bicycle quickly settles back into a stable state of uprightness.

Solved! No? Ok, your turn.

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How a Glob of Fat the Size of a School Bus Got Stuck in the London Sewers – Henry Grabar – The Atlantic Cities.

Uh … gross? That’s a serious amount of fat. I generally avoid putting foodstuff down the drain. And I’ve never been a fan of wet wiped for just this reason. A reintroduction of the bidet is in order.

Surely our waste system can handle it better as trash or, even better, compost. Trash is still problematic, though, since it is mostly stored compressed in heaps, leading to a slow, anaerobic decomposition environment. Waste handlers would do well to build in some kind of processing stage that mixes and mushed and adds some kind of agent to speed decomposition.

First Look: Everquest Next | Rock, Paper, Shotgun

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First Look: Everquest Next | Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

For close to twenty years I’ve had a vision of the game I would make if I were to get into game development. It would be a high fantasy epic set in a persistent world that would continue to grow and develop even in the absence of any individual player. Quests would be completed and new quests would appear. There would likely be some standard fare to fill the idle time. But the overarching story would evolve base on in-game events and continue to develop in the absence of any individual players.

And players would be able to play the game the way they liked. FPS fans would have plenty of epic battles to join. RTS fans would be able to plot out the strategy of a battle (the same battle vein fought by the FPS player. Loners would find plenty of non-arena battles and quests to occupy them. Stealth fans would have plenty of houses to ransack and assassinations to perform.

I never had the time, money, drive, or skill (though I am loathe to admit it) to build that game. The current generation of MMOs look to be attempting to build just such worlds. I couldn’t be more excited. I hope they work and I hope I am able to make time o play them.

And even though talented developers are finally tackling the idea I still hope I can build my own game some day.