/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AColderWar.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003622 07626656505 020304 0 ustar apache twic A short story by CharlieStross. What if the Cold War had been fought, not with the threat of nukes, but with the threat of GreatCthulhu?
- http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm (full text online!)
"There is probably no way of explaining Project Koschei, or X__K-P__L__U__T__O, or
M__K-N__I__G__H__T__M__A__R__E, or the gates, without watering them down into just another weapons
system -- which they are not. Weapons may have deadly or hideous effects, but they acquire moral character from the actions of those who use them. Whereas these projects are indelibly stained by a patina of ancient evil ..."
It fits very cleverly into the HPLovecraft universe; in particular, it follows the obvious extrapolation of AtTheMountainsOfMadness: what if the narrator's warning went unheeded, and further expeditions went to the Antarctic? What if, rather than all being destroyed, some finally brought back alien technology, including the shoggoths? What if, decoding the dioramas on the walls, men dived to the bottom of the Baltic, to RLyeh itself, and brought back something even worse, the ultimate weapon, the final horror. Now _that_'s Mutual Assured Destruction.
As well as meshing well with the CthulhuMythos, it has a beautiful meshing with consensus reality; Stross ties the creatures of the mythos to the fossils of the BurgessShale (as explained by Steben Jay Gould in a cameo appearance), and associates the lake beneath the Old Ones' city with LakeVostok. The horrific, supernatural weapon systems go by classic US black-project names like X__K-P__L__U__T__O, M__K-N__I__G__H__T__M__A__R__E and F__E__V__E__R D__R__E__A__M, and are under the command of one Colonel Oliver North. Even Saddam Hussein puts in an appearance!
Fucking brilliant. -- TA
Do the gates come from Lovecraft, or are they Stross' own creation? Are N__I__G__H__T__M__A__R__E and F__E__V__E__R D__R__E__A__M ever explained?
CategoryShortStory
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ACthulhuHymnal.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001044 07612043245 021165 0 ustar apache twic The songbook for the CthulhuMythos.
"Being a Compendium, Fortunately not Definitive, of _Odes, Songs, Hymns, Psalms, Ballads, Limericks, Haiku_ and _Rhymes_ in Honour of the *Great Old Ones* Collected on the _Net_ for the Education, Elevation, Titilation, Edification, Delectation and _Merciful Mental Obliteration_ of the Civil and Learned Webbed Publick"
- http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/cthulhu-hymnal.html
Featuring those old favourites 'O Come All Ye Deep Ones' and 'Hark! the Nameless Cultists Sing'.
_This is a mad world, my masters._
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AD.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000134 07567510750 016573 0 ustar apache twic Anno Domini: See EarthTimeScale
_"Anno Domini, Doctor."_ (ob. DW reference... sorry! --TL)
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AG.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000234 07555062236 016575 0 ustar apache twic AG is AngharadGreen
AG is pronounced 'ay-gee' not ag as in hag
Woe betide any who get it wrong
_'Aggie' is okay as an affectionate form, though, right?_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AI.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000033 07553044046 016571 0 ustar apache twic See ArtificialIntelligence
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AISoc.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001724 07560760472 017254 0 ustar apache twic The OxfordUniversity ArtificialIntelligence Society.
- http://www.robots.ox.ac.uk/~aisoc/
- http://www.robots.ox.ac.uk/~aisoc/events.html (termcard)
SF-related events on their termcard for Michaelmas 2002 include:
- 2nd week (21/10/2002): the film 'War Games'
- 4th week (4/11/2002): KevinWarwick comes to town to spread the gospel of cyborg domination
- 5th week (11/11/2002): David Cliff comes and, disappointingly, fails to talk about HPDJ, instead talking about biologically-inspired complex systems or some such
- 6th week (18/11/2002): RebellionGames come and talk about something (note that OUSFG may have them later in term as well)
_A prospect that seems increasingly unlikely, given that I've yet to have a response to my emails. As a backup plan, I vote that Lyndsey books them for_ next _term when they show up to AIsoc... -- NH._
- 8th week (2/12/2002): OUSFG's own diva of brainwaves LyndseyPickup talks about sticking wires in your cortex
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AIs.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000077 07553055747 016776 0 ustar apache twic Plural of AI, which in turn stands for ArtificialIntelligence.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AM.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000022 07631232456 016574 0 ustar apache twic See ArchieMaskill
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AMERICALAND.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000011 07631234562 017775 0 ustar apache twic DeleteMe
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ANewKindOfScience.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002007 07573632763 021535 0 ustar apache twic A mammoth book by StephenWolfram, claiming that CellularAutomata give us a new and revolutionary way to understand the world.
- isbn:1579550088
- http://www.wolframscience.com/
Reviews:
- http://www.math.usf.edu/~eclark/ANKOS_reviews.html
- GregEganHasReadANewKindOfScience.
- http://www.kurzweilai.net/articles/art0464.html?printable=1 (RayKurzweil)
- http://www.nybooks.com/articles/15762 (StevenWeinberg)
- http://www.stephen-wolfram-new-kind-of-science.com/
StephenWolfram is a former schoolfriend of TheaLogie's father (and recently donated a copy of 'ANewKindOfScience' to him). If she can winkle a relevant anecdote out of him she would be willing to add it
ANewKindOfScience was researched using Wolfram's own proprietary software, Mathematica, so anyone wanting to disprove him, or look into the consequences of his research into nanobots, will have to go out and buy the thing. Clever advertisement or what? :) --TL
The CellularAutomata stuff is actually pretty easy to replicate without Mathematica.
CategoryBook
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/APIUM.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000751 07567423513 017167 0 ustar apache twic The Association for the Protection and Integrity of an Unspoilt Mars. An organisation founded by BrianAldiss to promote the attitude that Mars should remain Mars, and not be colonised, terraformed, etc; this idea is expounded in his book WhiteMars (named by analogy to Antarctica, and of course as a riposte to KimStanleyRobinson's RedGreenBlueMars trilogy).
APIUM seems not to have a website, but it is documented in TheAnsible: .
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ARC.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000164 07570402334 016707 0 ustar apache twic A kind of curve. Also see AndrzejRomanCichocki.
_A new Wikizen! Albeit another mysterious and shadowy one. -- WJR_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ASAP.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000206 07567231407 017032 0 ustar apache twic As Soon As Possible - Acronym used to apply to things which are never going to get done chez OUSFG. _-- WJR_
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ASCII.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001502 07626411265 017134 0 ustar apache twic The American Standard Code for Information Interchange.
- dmoz:Computers/Data_Formats/Document/Text/ASCII
- http://www.asciitable.com/
You can tell it's American, because it omits all those funny-lookin' Yooropian characters, like anything with an accent and that daft German B-thing. Oh, and any currency symbols except dollar.
From a technical perspective it's a horrible mish-mash of a character set, a data format and a command language: as well as letters, numbers and other printable symbols, it has codes for things like 'start of heading' and 'start of text', 'enquiry', 'acknowledge', 'bell' (which, when printed, makes the terminal beep!), backspace and carriage return, 'data link escape', 'device control' (available in versions 1-4), 'synchronous idle' and other weird stuff that just doesn't belong.
CategoryGeekery
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ASH.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000370 07555462751 016730 0 ustar apache twic A substantial novel by MaryGentle.
See:
-
- (UK), (USA)
This book is sooo good - read it!
It is fantasy but apparently even the anti-fantasy NiallHarrison likes it! --AG
CategoryBook
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ASongOfStone.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000126 07555464641 020621 0 ustar apache twic A book by IainBanks.
-
- (UK)
CategoryBook
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ASongofStone.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000044 07555464672 020664 0 ustar apache twic See ASongOfStone and then DeleteMe.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AW.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000020 07627404206 016603 0 ustar apache twic See AlxWilliams
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AdviceOfWilliamRamsden.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000014074 07623533401 022617 0 ustar apache twic = Advice:
- Never put off till tomorrow what you can put off till the end of the world.
- Small animals really are out to get you. Especially white gerbils with glowing red eyes.
- Never consume any liquid which emits an energy field bigger than your head. (See OUSFGPunch)
- In electrics, to determine which is the live terminal, ask someone not wearing rubber soled shoes and not touching you to press it.
- _Tiptoe_ through the chessboard.
- Some races of aliens will try to trick you by pretending to be angels. Other races of aliens will try to trick you by pretending to be giant spiders. Trust neither, but accept lifts from the angels.
- War and violence are neither honourable nor glamourous. Violence is always a dirty game, so if you have to fight, you might as well fight dirty.
- Keep your friends close and your enemies six feet under.
- If you want to find out whether the monster which was attacking you is now
dead, do not prod it, or peer closely at it. Shoot it again. And again. And again. When pieces of it litter the floor, you will have your answer.
- Who you are matters more than what you are. It is, however, difficult to decide who you are if what you are is dead. Strike a balance.
- Decide on the end of a sentence before starting the beginning. (I never do this, even in German, and it only leads to confusion.)
- Most of us are not the hero of our own universe. Most of us are the sidekick. If the hero offers to lay down his or her life for you, accept. You may get a spin-off series.
- Make Faustian bargains, but make sure your Mephistopheles fails to read the small print.
- Ignorance is bliss. George W. Bush (GWB) must be really, really happy.
- Genuine emotions are a precious commodity. This does not mean they must always be shared. Happiness and smiling are rarely actually related. Occasionally deliberately reacting out-of-character prevents people getting complacent.
- We all present different faces to different people. This is natural and unavoidable. Do try, however, to ensure that the faces presented to two or more people who may actually meet do not contradict one another.
- You can never hold too many of the cards.
- Don't touch the green goo. That's what extras are for.
- Honesty is the best policy. Well-thought-through and internally consistent deception is a good second best.
- Weapons are dangerous in the wrong hands, and the governments of the world are definitely the wrong hands.
- Danger is the spice of life. Like spicy food, get the person who made it to taste it first.
- Most humans are actually quite bright, once you get to know them. Humanity, on the other hand, has problems tying its own shoelaces.
- Doing what is right is more important than being seen to do what is right.
- Humans were here before cars. _Or bicycles --TL_ We have right of way.
- We will know when we have developed a real AI. It will respond to a request couched in everyday idiomatic English with: _"Do it yourself!"_
- Dismissing a whole argument for the sake of one incorrect premise is the hallmark of the logician. Real life problems are solved by trial and error... mostly error.
- Never fiddle with the hands of strange clocks.
- On an alien planet, never prod anything you can't name.
- Never let anything you can't name prod you.
- If you're about to die, then at least you don't have to do the washing up.
- When a parent landscapes a fake burial mound in the garden to mourn a lost plant, it is time to consider getting a place of your own.
- Sugar cubes are not a square meal.
- City Administrations who build their city's main arterial road below the level of the river in the flood plain of a river notorious throughout Western
Europe for its flooding are just... idiots. _Er, yes... which city's that then? --TL_ That would be _Avignon._ --WJR
- HumanMemory is a very strange thing.
- Anyone who ponders what the world would be like if it were ruled by cats is making one basic error. What do they mean, _if?_
- There may come a day when the entire population of this planet is occupied in call centres giving unhelpful advice to itself. In anticipation of this day, thank your lucky stars for mortality.
- Sooner or later, _someone_ is going to tell a pulp SwordAndSorcery story from the point of view of one of the Orcs. We've had "WideSargassoSea" telling the story of "JaneEyre" from the point of view of the first Mrs Rochester, unfortunately, so when are we getting "The Hobbit" retold from the perspective of The Bodyguard of Bolg? Mock it now or it may happen... :~( _Gah. That's postmodernism for you. --TL_ Well, don't knock it too hard- according to DWM DoctorWho's partially responsible for it, after all... ;~) --WJR
- Ratings are over-rated. _(Especially American ones. TL)_
- When squeezing the release button of an apparently jammed canister of deodorant, aim nozzle away from open mouth. Trust me on this. _Eeeurgh. --TL_
- If you stare too long into Zool, Zool also stares into you.
- When replacing a brain, always make sure the arrow 'a' is pointing to the front.
- The kitsch of your childhood is always waiting on the next website.
- Never allow a time machine to eat you. It'll get indigestion.
- Be polite to anything that shoots energy beams from its eyes.
- Gloat _after_ you've dispatched your mortal enemy.
- Universes where humans eat digestive biscuits are _good_ universes. Universes where the reverse occurs are not. Unless you happen to be a digestive biscuit.
- AsciiArt works sometimes, and sometimes not. Pure evil is one explanation, a simple typo is another. Examine all possibilities of the second option before attempting to burn your computer at the stake.
- When having something shoot at your mortal enemy, ensure that said mortal enemy is not on a direct line between the weapon and yourself... or at least that, if so, he *is* immobile. Bearing this in mind, using this technique when in battle with someone whose name is a byword for agility and speed is about as sane as attacking a nuclear capable country with a chocolate hob-nob.
- Why, attack the lamp post, of course.
Compiled by WilliamRamsden, with help from Life, The Universe, and Everything.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AlabamaThree.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002060 07615073374 020615 0 ustar apache twic Alabama 3 are a British band, who make what they describe as 'country acid house' music. The members are Larry Love, Dr D. Wayne Love, the Mountain of Love, Sir Real 'Congaman' Love, Mississippi Guitar Man Love, the Spirit, Little Boy Dope, the Book of Love ("the fourth most-tattooed man in Europe") and I.V. Lenin. They are the musical arm of the First Presleyterian Church of Elvis the Divine.
- http://www.alabama3.co.uk/
- http://www.elemental.music.co.uk/alabama3/
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/artists/alabama3/
- http://www.gnod.net/music/related/Alabama+3.asp (cool!)
- http://www.dropd.com/issue/93/A3/
One of their albums is called 'Exile on Coldharbour Lane'. Coldharbour Lane is in Brixton, here: . Note that this is the website where Brian Paddick, former commander of the Brixton police, made his infamous remarks about anarchism. Anyway, that's the album with the samples from RevJimJones on it.
They did 'Woke Up This Morning', which later became the theme tune for TheSopranos.
_Is 'Power in the Blood' any good?_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AlexCameron.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000443 07631162516 020503 0 ustar apache twic See TheaLogie (my _nom de clavier_, so to speak)
I'm also called (in various contexts) Beia, Cybermancer, and other bynames... (evil laugh).
CategoryConfusingFakeIdentity _-so, Thea is your real name and 'AlexCameron' is the confusing fake identity? Ah, now all becomes clear..._ :) --WJR
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AlexWilliams.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001565 07627460610 020707 0 ustar apache twic Real (inasmuch as anything is real) name of AlxWilliams. However, this spelling seems to have fallen out of favour, as evidenced by the fact that the only person who's used it so far on the OUSFGWiki is himself. The alternative spelling is his own fault, though not his intention. Flushed with the joy of possessing his first proper email account, he chose 'Al X' as a sort of amusingly faux-cyber handle. However, he lacked the foresight to realise that this was the sole occasion in which most people would see it written down, and that thus he had inadvertantly implied that it was his preferred form of address. Having mutated it via Al__X to Alx, he is now content to let it remain thus, as a perpetual reminder of the dangers of sarcasm, especially on TheInternet. And because it's kinda cool. OhTheIrony.
Will you be contributing to Zool? Or is that not your kinda thing? --TL
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AllNighterCzar.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001455 07553520263 021162 0 ustar apache twic This is a proposed amendment to the OUSFGConstitution. It is not yet fully formed.
Basically, the proposal is that there should be a title 'All-Nighter Czar', whose holder is responsible for organising all-nighters, including the constitutionally mandated ones, external ones (such as Phoenix movie all-nighters) and random extra ones. We could have a mechanism similar to that applying to the GenitalPiercingOfficer, such that the AllNighterCzar title could be promoted to a post, thus placing the holder on the committee, in an emergency.
Feedback is welcome.
Can I respectfully request that _no_ allnighters take place on Library meetings? I may be one of those arts-students-slackery types, but even I have to get up in the morning. --TL
Oh if you _must_ insist, then okay :). -- TA
CategoryConstitution
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AlxOne.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002303 07631362443 017471 0 ustar apache twic See AlxWilliams. The 'one' suffix being useful in conversaion to distinguish him from TheaLogie, but redundant in text given the different spellings of their names (explained under AlexWilliams), and doubly redundant here given that t'other Alex is called TheaLogie instead.
The other nicknames used to distinguish between them in common parlance (at least within AlxOne's earshot) are Big Alx and Little Alex, Greater Alx and Lesser Alex, Alx1 and Alex2, and Evil Alx and Other Alex.
There have been attempts to create more 'zany' nomenclatures, but these fortunately appear to have been unfit memes, though small pockets of infection may still exist. Malex and Falex were considered, but summarily rejected. Alex Joseph and Alex Mary were strong contenders; these are, it is said, their actual forenames. Which is spooky. Can we expect a pseudo-offspring Alex Jesus, founding a whole new faith, Alex Christianity? Only time will tell. By analogy from the ElvenNiall/DwarvenNeal terminology, GoblinAlx (obviously) and, er, (random-demihuman-here)Alex suggest themselves.
_Not bad. Now we just need to solve the problem of the multiple Marks. :) --TL_
Well, that's simple. Mark Mk__I and Mark Mk__I__I. :¬) -- WJR
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AlxWilliams.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000504 07627405344 020535 0 ustar apache twic He has now found the OUSFGWiki. The time of innocence is over...
_He's found us! Duck and cover!... er, put that mallard down... and the blanket. Welcome to the Wiki, E__V__I__L Goblin! -- WJR_
There is nowhere to hide. To one of my power, following your links is simplicity itself...
CategoryWikizen CategoryOUSFGMember
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AlxsReversiblePlacard.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001342 07632152526 022526 0 ustar apache twic AlexWilliams found a reversible placard in a NewYork alleyway. One side reads:
_Blessed Is That Man That Maketh The Lord His Trust..._ Psalm 40:4
The other side reads:
_Whoso Despiseth The Word Shall Be Destroyed..._ Prov. 13:13
This placard once sat in the window of NumberFiveOldOldHall. During its tenure there, a christian approached Alx's window at one point to inform him that "Blessed Is That Man..." was one of his favourite, uplifting bible quotes, and that he respected Alex for his choice.
The placard was in the window at CranhamStreet for a while, but was taken down after it attracted the unwanted attentions of local undesirables.
_It would make a good, if horribly prone to misinterpretation, OUSFGTShirt design._
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AmericaLand.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000762 07631233053 020444 0 ustar apache twic ... actually spelt Americaland (no space).
Often prefixed with the word "magical". Americaland is a world of wonder, inhabited by a weapon-toting people who have learned to speak and act by doing impressions of characters in movies. They exist five to eight hours in the past (the exact number is unclear) and, consequently, make valuable allies because they can tell us in advance when the shit's going to hit the fan. They don't, but this only serves to make them more God-like.
See also USA
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AndIClaimMyFivePounds.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000606 07631647303 022402 0 ustar apache twic Eh?
I think it started out as a meme inspired by some kind of competition: if you spotted a particular character, you could claim five pounds from him. Now generally a synonym for 'har-har, I've blown your cover haven't I?'
See:
e.g. (from one of the search results on the second page): ...George W Bush is Lord Voldemort, and I claim my five pounds.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AndrzejRomanCichocki.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000006134 07625142126 022335 0 ustar apache twic Canonical form of Chick's name.
SF and/or SciFi likes include FrankHerbertsDune (currently only the excellent excellent FeatureFilm), RedDwarf, LEXX, Futurama, StarWars, StarTrek (all except TOS), TheGirlFromTomorrow, TheMysteriousCitiesOfGold, JayceAndTheWheeledWarriors, DefendersOfTheEarth, possibly more when he's thought of them. Probably also all from TV. But when he was little he read every IsaacAsimov book in the school library.
Fan of old-school special effects, like those in Dune.
Of those other things in the TV SF category, Chick likes StargateSG1, hasn't seen TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy (read the book first, highly unusual for him), is currently indifferent towards the others. Except BuffyTheVampireSlayer which he plain doesn't like.
= Some Stuff
- shug1249 http://users.ox.ac.uk/~shug1249/ which has it all
- Cruel Site of the Day http://www.cruel.com/
- explodingdog http://www.explodingdog.com/
- it started in the park http://www.thejim.iofm.net/bluejam.html
- jerkcity http://www.jerkcity.com/
- rathergood.com http://www.rathergood.com/
- The Editing Room http://ter.air0day.com/
- The League Against Tedium http://www.leagueagainsttedium.co.uk/
- Weebl and Bob http://www.weebl.jolt.co.uk/
= What Was That Film
I remember watching an animated film when I was young and I need to know what it was so I can get a copy and have a nostalgia trip. I don't think it was anime or manga. The opening scene had a vehicle scooting across a landscape from left to right, with the camera looking at it from its right and following. It had a cockpit big enough for two people and a wheel on the end of each of its four stupidly long legs. I think it hit a rock shortly before it crashed into some trees. The occupants might have been a kid and his dad. At least one of them survived.
Later there was a thick jungle inside which people had some sort of dwelling. A treehouse maybe.
Later still an enormous robot fell out of the sky and landed on its front in some field. There was lots of stuff about these enormous robots with quite small heads towards the end and I think there was a kid involved.
End of HumanMemory.
_Ah! One of those ChildhoodAnimeMemories!_
Maybe I did see LaputaCastleInTheSky! Giant mostly dead robot looks familiar. The main kid looks just like Esteban from TheMysteriousCitiesOfGold. But I remember that opening scene very clearly. Maybe my description is of more than one film. Or even a TV series. That would be complicated. -- ARC
_They *always* look like Esteban from TheMysteriousCitiesOfGold! It could well be several things mashed together. -- TA_ _This is because he was cloned by strange South American magicks and an army of Esteban clones is now poised to swarm across space and conquer this entire galaxy. -- WJR_
_(Any chance of contributions to ZoolV from your good self? --TL)_
Yes, when make time. I contributed to something like that in BBS days. -- ARC
Update: Not before I've read the lot and understood it. If I add a paragraph without having done that then untold things will happen. *Untold.* I know this from personal experience. -- ARC
_Understood? Zool? -- WJR_
CategoryWikizen
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AngelTheSeries.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001047 07541452217 021150 0 ustar apache twic _AngelTheSeries_ , abbreviated as AtS, is longhand for the television show _Angel_ . It is referred to as AtS to make it clear whether one is talking about the show or the character. And, moreover, to make it a WikiName.
AtS is a spinoff from BuffyTheVampireSlayer. It was created by JossWhedon and DavidGreenwalt and chronicles the adventures of Angel, the vampire with a soul. It is a stylish mix of post-modern horror and noir.
Recommended episodes for beginners:
- 'Somnabulist'
- 'Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been'
- 'Birthday'
CategoryTVSF
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AngharadGreen.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000234 07631721264 020772 0 ustar apache twic AngharadGreen is AG
AngharadGreen has lots of books in AngharadGreensLibrary
_Hello, Angharad, good you could join us wikizens --TL_
CategoryOUSFGMember
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AngharadGreensLibrary.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002004 07555464557 022515 0 ustar apache twic AngharadGreensLibrary contains a random assortment of SF from harder stuff to a big pile of fantasy. It is distributed between Oxford and Cardiff with, in general, the better stuff in Oxford cos I've read it more recently.
This list is not at all comprehensive and is just the stuff off the top of my head..
Stuff I've bought and read recently (please add reviews! _on a page for the book would probably be best_ ):
- ASH by MaryGentle
- PerdidoStreetStation by ChinaMieville
- TheLiveshipTrilogy by RobinHobb
- EON by GregBear
- FallenDragon by PeterFHamilton
Some other authors I have stuff by:
- IainBanks (TheBusiness, ASongOfStone) and IainMBanks (UseOfWeapons, TheStateOfTheArt, LookToWindward, ConsiderPhlebas, ThePlayerOfGames)
- KenMacLeod
- TerryPratchett
- MMS
- TerryGoodkind
- GeorgeRRMartin
- NealStephenson
_Angaharad - no need to write 'this book is in AngharadGreensLibrary' on the book pages; if you write the name here, people can discover the fact by looking at the BackLinks to the book page! -- TA_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AntiWhovian.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000004556 07631356255 020552 0 ustar apache twic Anti__Whovian: [n] AlxWilliams and TanaquiWeaver (sometimes).
_Which is odd in Alx's case, since I am reliably informed that he is a former member of OUWho... --TL_
This definition is flawed for a number of reasons. For a start: there is, I hope, no property that I exhibit all the time, Tanaqui exhibits some of the time, and _no other person_ exhibits. If there is, it's pretty fucking non-obvious (at least, from where I'm standing) and hence not desperately useful as the sole basis for a definition.
_In fact, 'being called (Alexander David Hogan Williams O__R TanaquiWeaver)' might just about do it. I don't, however, consider this to invalidate the above claim._
However, I'm assuming from the title that this supposed property is disliking DoctorWho, which introduces another flaw. Though I can't speak for Tanaqui, I don't actually dislike DoctorWho. As has been pointed out, I am in fact a life member of OUWho, and though I have not been for some years, was more-or-less a regular in my first year. I consider DoctorWho to be one of the better SciFi TV series, if only because it was imaginative and varied. I'm less enamoured with the spinoffery, but even so I own the first 40 or so of the New Adventures and can't, off-hand, imagine purchasing books based on _any_ other TV series.
If I have an Anti__Whovian streak, it is in my acknowledgement that DoctorWho was patchy, kitschy and occasionally bloody awful (though, I reiterate, this is vastly preferable to (for example) StarTrek TNG's bland sameness), my unwillingness to accept it is a UniversallyImprovingIngredient to any given conversation, and my lack of scruples in voicing these opinions. On occasion I may have come across as rather more vehement than this description would imply, but this was probably only in my desire to counterbalance the more rabidly Whovian elements of the society. If that makes me an Anti__Whovian, then so be it.
The only cause for trepidation that adopting this label engenders (if I set aside its aforementioned factual inaccuracy) is that it apparently lumps me in with Tanaqui. I find this disturbing because:
# I understand the sentiment to be rather more widely spread, so I would have expected it to have been more widely expressed.
# I am charmingly (if irreverantly) frank and witty in the expression of my views, while Tanaqui is just being a grumpy old bitch. --AW
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AntiWhovians.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000046 07631242346 020716 0 ustar apache twic DeleteMe
_Shurely 'DeleteUs'? - ed._
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AppleSeed.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000154 07606344464 020154 0 ustar apache twic A novel by JohnClute.
- isfdb:work/75115
- isbn:1-85723-758-7 (UK), isbn:0-765-30378-7 (USA)
CategoryBook
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ArchersGoon.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001314 07611742331 020512 0 ustar apache twic Somewhat like DarkSeason, only much, _much_ more metaphorical and rambling.
Seven alien siblings, who, naturally, don't like each other one little bit, take over a town in its past, present, and future, and are each assigned different duties according to their ages and abilities. The first the author Quentin knows about it is when, upon suffering an attack of writer's block, he is visited by the inhuman 'goon' of the mysterious 'Archer' with a demand for two thousand words. As a consequence of this, Howard and his little sister Awful get involved in all sorts of peculiar and, yes, philosophical adventures.
Based (fairly faithfully) upon a book by DianaWynneJones.
CategoryKidsTV
CategoryTVSF
CategoryBook
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ArchieMaskill.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003727 07631721766 021035 0 ustar apache twic Archie ( has been fraternizing with elements of OUSFG since late 1997 (namely AlexWilliams, his tutorial partner and the then OUSFGPresident). OUSFG let itself into his room while he was out making a cup of tea in early 1997, and that was that. Hey, at least it brought muffins.
Some things that Archie is :
- SpeakerToAnimals
- OUSFGLibrarian
- NewsletterEditor (at least, soon to be)
- SfinxEditor
- Overlord of http://www.ousfg.net
|Homepage hyar|http://www.eidolon.freeserve.co.uk|
|Weblog hyar|http://www.livejournal.com/~eidolonArchie|
He hates you.
Probably.
= Interests
- Linux & Free Software : Archie knows more about this than most other stuff. He's quite depressed about how much he _doesn't_ know or understand about it. If you want to be a Linux guru, drop some hobbies. And maybe a [girl | boy] friend. Adoption by a Linux guru is often a fast-track to guru-hood. Archie's guru is Jamie Lokier. He also doubles as Archie's therapist and hairdresser.
= Lifestyle
Lives in Oxford, working for a company called Stellar Pioneers, producing a weird hybrid of SettlersOfCatan, Command & Conquer, Civilisation and ebay. It's intended to run within a standard browser. The website is hyar : http://www.stellarpioneers.com with examples of his work given hyar : http://www.eidolon.freeserve.co.uk/sp/
= Appearance
- 5.5 on http://www.hotornot.com, about as average as you can get on their system. The modal vote was 1 (out of 10) which, to me, says _"No, you cannot be any uglier than you are now. You are at your ugliest. A sucking chest-wound and an industrial acid-drenched face would only improve matters"_
- Hair : Almost shoulder length, and he's perennially ashamed of it. This is why he wears a hat, and if he's not wearing a hat he's avoiding people he respects or fancies. Oh, and hairdressers. It is cut by artists, Linux kernel hackers, biologists (in training) or himself these days.
CategoryWikizen
CategoryOUSFGMember
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ArlingtonDrive.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002520 07567377360 021247 0 ustar apache twic A place beyond the Sundering Seas which sweep across the MarstonCyclepath.
A place of eldritch screams and terrible creatures of power and wisdom. Four human slaves work to serve the will of three terrible Great Old Ones, beings whose awesome power dwarfs the great Cthulu, beings who have shaped the ID of
OUSFG and given it form in the secret society known only to those who try to
telephone and are put through to 'Gerbilsoc', terrifying creatures known only as:
=Chicory, Scribble, and Orchid
A place where magic and science work side by side to hold back the darkness.
A place where darkness and science work side by side to hold back the magic.
A place where magic eventually realises it's being double crossed and attacks science with a pitchfork.
The year is 2002. The name of the place is Arlington Drive. --WJR
Ah, so there already is a Gerbilsoc page, more or less, huh? For anyone else who bothers reading this, the gerbils are small and harmless in all regions other than William's imagination. --LP
_Mostly Harmless. Anyway, Chicory's just waiting for the right moment._
"What are we going to do tonight, Chicory?"
"The same thing we do every night, Scribble. Try to _take over the world!_ "
_"Oi, Orchid, can you pass me that pizza box when you've finished with it?" {:) --TL}_
--WJR
CategoryGerbilsoc CategoryOxfordGeography
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ArnoldJudasRimmer.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000122 07572457572 021676 0 ustar apache twic Holographic pedantic coward of the mining ship, RedDwarf.
Played by ChrisBarrie.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ArthurCClarke.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002426 07626654507 021014 0 ustar apache twic A British SF author. Quite probably the greatest living SF writer; as well as writing many excellent books, of fiction and non-fiction, he has been the inspiration for many to become scientists and engineers (and science fiction writers!).
- isfdb:author/Arthur_C._Clarke
- dmoz:Arts/Literature/Genres/Science_Fiction/Authors/C/Clarke,_Arthur_C.
- http://www.lsi.usp.br/~rbianchi/clarke/
- http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/aclarke.htm
- http://www.salon.com/people/bc/2000/03/07/clarke/
He presently lives in SriLanka, which has featured in a number of his stories.
He pretty much invented the geosynchronous communications satellite .
He expounded three laws about the progress of science:
- When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
- The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
- Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
He is somehow connected with the ArthurCClarke Institute for Modern Technologies, in SriLanka and the ArthurCClarke Institute .
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ArthurDent.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000072 07572460106 020363 0 ustar apache twic See H2G2.
Played on radio and television by SimonJones.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ArtificialIntelligence.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001776 07553102412 022701 0 ustar apache twic Artificial Intelligence: [n] (arteefisheel intelidgeense) Whatever hasn't been done yet. The designation (abbrev AI) for a type of computer (or the concept thereof) which is capable of evaluating different output procedures based on input data to a degree of complexity which is no longer fully transparent to the observer. (For all you non-scientists out there, the creation of a living sentience using a computer. TL)
SF authors and computer scientists such as VernorVinge, CharlesStross and RudyRucker believe that the advent of AI will be an example of HistoricalSingularity. This is disupted by individuals such as NormanSpinrad.
What's a HistoricalSingularity when it's at home? This historian has never heard of it. --TL
Keine Ahnung, as my housemate would undoubtedly put it- that last paragraph is
courtesy of *something else,* as in
"There's something else out there, Na'Toth", no doubt. Probably TA. --WJR
- Lyndisty, can you provide us with a better definition than mine? WJR
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ArtsStudent.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002040 07631633357 020566 0 ustar apache twic Scientists believe that we do less work than them. Perhaps this is true, in terms of sheer hours spent, and certainly we Arts Students (former and present) do have a few less early mornings to enjoy, but the scientists possibly forget one great luxury they have which we forever lack: right answers. If a scientist 'gets it right', then they're more or less assured of a good mark. For Arts Students, however, not only is 'right' a very grey area, but we also have to take into account... the opinion of the tutor, other equally valid viewpoints, and so on. That _tact_ can occasionally gain or lose marks to a significant degree on an Arts Student's paper or essay should be enough in itself to show that although we might not work as hard _formally,_ we're having to play a whole different board game.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2823717.stm
"A degree in an arts subject reduces average earnings to below those of someone who leaves school with just A-levels, a study shows. "
Of course, we all knew that anyway.
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AsciiArt.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000004460 07615532100 017777 0 ustar apache twic AsciiArt is art drawn using a grid of ASCII letters. It's a grand tradition of the pre-web internet. And now, in the dawn of the 21st century, TwicI brings it to you, via the magic of WikiPictures.
Spock!
[ascii
: :
: :
: RRVIttIti+==iiii++iii++=;:, :
: IBMMMMWWWWMMMMMBXXVVYYIi=;:, :
: tBBMMMWWWMMMMMMBXXXVYIti;;;:,, :
t YXIXBMMWMMBMBBRXVIi+==;::;:::: ,
;t IVYt+=+iIIVMBYi=:,,,=i+=;:::::, ;;
YX=YVIt+=,,:=VWBt;::::=,,:::;;;:;: ;;;
VMiXRttItIVRBBWRi:.tXXVVYItiIi==;: ;;;;
=XIBWMMMBBBMRMBXi;,tXXRRXXXVYYt+;;: ;;;;;
=iBWWMMBBMBBWBY;;;,YXRRRRXXVIi;;;:;,;;;=
iXMMMMMWWBMWMY+;=+IXRRXXVYIi;:;;:,,;;=
iBRBBMMMMYYXV+:,:;+XRXXVIt+;;:;++::;;;
=MRRRBMMBBYtt;::::;+VXVIi=;;;:;=+;;;;=
XBRBBBBBMMBRRVItttYYYYt=;;;;;;==:;=
VRRRRRBRRRRXRVYYIttiti=::;:::=;=
YRRRRXXVIIYIiitt+++ii=:;:::;==
+XRRXIIIIYVVI;i+=;=tt=;::::;:;
tRRXXVYti++==;;;=iYt;:::::,;;
IXRRXVVVVYYItiitIIi=:::;,::;
tVXRRRBBRXVYYYIti;::::,::::
YVYVYYYYYItti+=:,,,,,:::::;
YRVI+==;;;;;:,,,,,,,:::::::
]
That's no moon!
[ascii
. .
. . . .
+. _____ . .
. . ,-~" "~-.
,^ ___ ^. +
/ .^ ^. \ .
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]
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AsimovsScienceFiction.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000363 07606344751 022542 0 ustar apache twic Known as 'Asimov's', a monthly (?) and quite substantial magazine of SF stories. It focuses on the HardSF end of the spectrum (?).
- http://www.asimovs.com/
- http://www.sfsite.com/columns/asimov.htm The History of Asimov's
CategoryMagazine
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AstroBiology.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000413 07577341603 020724 0 ustar apache twic AstroBiology is the study of life in space, or something.
- http://astrobiology.rl.ac.uk/
The problem with AstroBiology is that most of the people doing it are physicists, and thus know nothing about biology.
_How is this different to ExoBiology and XenoBiology?_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AtS.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000043 07541417402 016765 0 ustar apache twic Abbreviation of _AngelTheSeries_ .
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/AtTheMountainsOfMadness.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001127 07626654545 023024 0 ustar apache twic A novella by HPLovecraft concerning a scientific expedition to the unexplored antarctic which uncovers a sequence of primordial and mind-bending horrors.
- http://www.gizmology.net/lovecraft/works/mountains.htm (full text online!)
- http://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu/fiction/6031.shtml other Antarctic horrors (including a parody by ArthurCClarke)
AtTheMountainsOfMadness is a sequel of sorts to EdgarAllanPoe's 'TheNarrativeOfArthurGordonPym' (and so is a sibling to JulesVerne's 'TheSphinxOfTheIceFields'), and has its own pseudosequel in the shape of 'AColderWar' by CharlieStross.
CategoryBook
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BBC.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000043 07553505546 016676 0 ustar apache twic See BritishBroadcastingCorporation
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BBS.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000031 07570431673 016711 0 ustar apache twic See BulletinBoardSystem.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BLOG.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000040 07553574027 017030 0 ustar apache twic See WebLog (and then DeleteMe).
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BMovie.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001335 07613277405 017473 0 ustar apache twic Nineteen-fifties early science fiction films, so called because they were rated 'B' under the old American system of movie classification.
Arguments persist as to whether such classics as ThisIslandEarth, TheDayTheEarthStoodStill and ForbiddenPlanet, simply because of their vintage, should count under this category, as the stereotypical BMovie is usually low-budget, absurd and unintentionally humorous (and has been sent up in the likes of MarsAttacks). TheBlob is probably what people would call a 'proper' BMovie; InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers is probably not.
Answers to arrive by chrome-plated flying saucer, please.
These days, a 'B' movie could easily be a second movie fitted onto a cheap DVD to fill up the extra space...
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BMovies.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000014 07570223551 017642 0 ustar apache twic See BMovie.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BOFH.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000035 07610561213 017012 0 ustar apache twic See BastardOperatorFromHell.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BabylonFive.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000004500 07616217313 020502 0 ustar apache twic It's actually 'Babylon 5', but this is the only way to educate it in being
a wikiname.
*Babylon 5* was, in its day, a groundbreaking piece of TVSF, a 'novel for television' in the words of its creator, J.Michael Straczynski, a science fiction space opera drama with a five-year preplanned story arc. Interestingly perhaps, the inspiration for this apparently came from JMS's observations of BritishTVSF, notably shows such as BlakesSeven and, to a lesser extent, DoctorWho.
The series had both narrative and technical effects on the whole field of TV SF,
from encouraging a more long-term and intricate approach to story planning, the fruits of which can be seen in shows as diverse as FarScape and BuffyTheVampireSlayer, and in the introduction of the use of CGI effects sequences. Arguably even more importantly, by proving that it was possible to produce a slick-looking SF series on a modest budget, JMS reopened the door to
non-Star Trek television science fiction, a door which had largely been closed
since the late eighties.
While it's undeniable that some elements of the series are better in conception than realisation- some fairly large narrative jumps had to be taken to replace
a number of major and minor characters throughout the show's run, and a change in parent company four-fifths of the way through the series (and attendant threat of cancellation) had adverse effects on both narrative and production values, the five year story of Babylon 5 is still a rich and rewarding one.
Babylon 5 was followed by a spin-off sequel series, Crusade, set up in the fourth Babylon 5 telemovie, A Call to Arms. Crusade was highly slated by fans for poor music, uninteresting and irritating characters, and lacking the elements which had made Babylon 5 so much more than just another tedious _Trek._ Although not all these criticisms are fully justified, Crusade was cancelled after thirteen episodes. A subsequent spin-off attempt, Legend of the Rangers, had a pilot episode produced and transmitted. The option of a series was not taken up however.
Rumblings from AmericaLand indicate that after several misfires, JMS' new post-apocalyptic (B5-unrelated) series Jeremiah may actually be quite good.
- (if it's famous enough to be parodied thus, that must be a good sign...)
CategoryTVSF
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BackLinks.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000721 07572705635 020156 0 ustar apache twic At the bottom of each page, there is a link named 'Backlinks'. Following this link leads to a page which lists all the pages in the wiki which link the the page that was being viewed.
See if you can find inventive uses for this!
Oh, and don't do it _too_ often, as it is quite hard work for the server. Indeed, there are now enough pages that it takes quite a while to run; this will be remedied when the new BackLinksImplementation is implemented.
CategoryWiki
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BackLinksImplementation.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000016061 07627403114 023054 0 ustar apache twic At present, the BackLinks facility is implemented in the simplest (ie stupidest) possible way - it searches every file in the wiki for links to the target page. This is expensive.
In analysing performance, let's say there are N pages in the wiki, of average size M. Let's say that page views happen with frequency v, edits with frequency e, and backlink searches with frequency b. Let k be the average number of links into or out of a page.
The current approach imposes a cost on each backlink search of O(N__M), with a fairly large constant (open and read a page; actually, the constant for opening applies to the O(N) part, but never mind.).
A couple of alternatives using what we'll call a 'backlink buffer' (B__B): a set attached to each page which lists all the pages with links to that page. There are two strategies for managing and using the B__B: exact and conservative.
In the exact strategy, the B__B always refers to those pages which refer to the page; all the referred-to pages point to the target page, and no pages not referred to do so. Using the B__B is then simple - the backlink script simply dumps its contents to HTML, an operation whose time is dominated by the time to read the (small) B__B file, and is thus essentially O(1). Managing the B__B is more complicated; whenever a page is edited, it has to update many B__Bs. Any links added to the page are dealt with easily - the corresponding B__B can be opened, and a link to the edited page added if necessary. Links removed from the page are more difficult to deal with: in order for the edit script to know which B__Bs need to have entires removed from them, it needs to have a record of which B__Bs had references to the edited page before the edit. This could be determined from the old version of the page (which would need to be analysed before the new copy is saved, of course), or from a dedicated outbound link buffer (O__B). Either way, every B__B altered would need to be read, edited and saved. Edits would thus be O(k), with a large constant, corresponding to opening, reading and then writing a file. There is also an O(1) cost associated with reading the old copy of the edited page.
In the conservative strategy, the B__B is less accurate: it lists all the pages which may contain references to its page (ie no page not in the B__B may have a link to its page), and it may contain duplicate entries. The B__B is now easier to manage; edited pages simply need to append their names to the B__Bs of all the pages to which they refer, and do not need to remove any entries or enforce any one-entry constraints. This is still O(k), but with a smaller constat (and with a much smaller O(1) term) Using the B__B is, however, more complex; rather than just dumping the whole thing, the backlink script needs to uniquify the B__B and then check every listed page to see if it contains a reference to the target page. This is O(k'), where k' is the average number of entries in a B__B. Once the B__B has been normalised in this fashion, it can also be written back to disk, to reduce the amount of work next time.
The exact strategy has better O-numbers, but given the ratio e/b, it might be that the conservative strategy's lower per-edit constant will win out.
Another alternative is to augment the naive system with a cache of the last set of results; the only pages which would need to be examined would be pages which had changed since the last backlink search (which can be dated by the cache file). Not every page would necessarily have a cache file. This may be at once the simplest and most effective approach.
Some of these approaches may benefit from a daemon process which runs in the background and cleans things up. In the conservative B__B system, the daemon could normalise B__Bs. In the cached system, the daemon could expire old caches.
You could do a lazy demonisation process. Whereby you use the conservative mechanism, but when you resolve the links on access to teh backlinks page, then write out the resolved list, normalising it. This means that for O(1) time (writing out the newly generated list) you get most of the benefits of the accurate strategy, and no wasted effort normalising lists that are never viewed. - DS
One other vaguely-thought-out approach might be to capture the link topology of the entire wiki in one place (eg a DBM file). The algorithms would then be similar to the other implementations, but they might run faster because only one file is being accessed, and that has an optimised structure.
Hopefully, this will be discussed near here:
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiProgramming
It is already touched on here:
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?ReverseLinkDisabled
TrikiWiki handles backlinks using a conservative record to implement its 'These pages lead here' feature (). Rather than buffer files, it has a directory (called 'links') in which it stores zero-length files whose names encode the links; for every link from A to B, a file called A-B exists. This makes link searches as simple as gloB__Bing the directory, both to construct BackLinks lists and for positive and negative updates on edits. In fact, the BackLinks search is fast enough that TrikiWiki does it at the bottom of every page, which is pretty cool. This is probably the approach i'll take. The only non-trivial modification would be to use a DBM database rather than a directory, but that's probably overkill.
NB The old BackLinksImplementation (which reads all the files every search) is now known as 'thick links'; the new BackLinksImplementation (which reads one file every update) is known as 'thin links'. Not that this matters.
_Now also wondering about WikiVsRobots ..._
WilliamRamsden thought we should "avoid using the currently rather stressed backlinks system" and wondered "if 'Category...' is, as I presume, one of the most backlink-invoking aspects of the Wiki, would it be an idea to spread this practice, just to cut down on usage of the backlinks facility?". To which TomAnderson replied: "On the contrary. The backlink facility is a wonderful thing, and we should use it more, it's just that I really, really need to get round to improving the BackLinksImplementation. I'll do this right after I finish moving lab, get some really pressing labwork done and finish applying for PhDs and squash all the irritating little TwicIBugs that are about at present. Probably some time in the new year, then. Also, the way it is implemented at present, adding a category tag has no particular cost to the system, and doing a backlink search has a cost proportional to the total number of pages or the total amount of text on the wiki, so the number of category tags doesn't affect the speed at all. In fact, it does have a slight effect, but that's to make the search *faster* if a link to the target page is present.".
Quick note: the thick links system has been modified as part of the work towards thin links. It should now be even slower. However, it should be more correct - the old version would do suspicious things in some cases (like see WikiNames in the middle of WikiRawText blocks and even WikiPictures).
CategoryWiki
CategoryGeekery
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BaconNumber.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000717 07627642200 020502 0 ustar apache twic Bacon Numbers:
From "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" a 'celebrity' based game where the objective is to find how many linking people (by appearances in films) one must go through to link any given actor with Kevin Bacon. Thanks to the diligent web-scouring of our illustrious TheaLogie, a rather fun website has been located which uses I__M__D__B__Juice to give Bacon numbers for actors:
- http://www.cs.virginia.edu/oracle/
The idea is based on the ErdosNumber.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BadAndWrong.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001660 07632006535 020434 0 ustar apache twic A thing not merely Bad (morally incorrect) or Wrong (logically incorrect or extremely inappropriate) but _both_.
- jargon:Bad-and-Wrong
Some (approximate) examples:
|Action| Status|
|Shoplifting| Bad|
|Shoplifting from Oxfam.| Bad And Wrong|
|Editing someone's newgroup post in your reply without making it explicit.| Wrong|
|Doing so to deliberately misrepresent their views.| Bad And Wrong|
|Calling people names.| Bad|
|Being prejudiced about the sexuality of others.| Wrong|
|Using 'gay' in the PejorativeSense.| Bad And Wrong|
See also EvilAndBadAndWrong.
_Using 'gay' in the PejorativeSense._ Hmm. In some fields, such as computer games criticism, and SouthPark, this has virtually reached the status of a recognised technical designation.
True, though this doesn't necessarily make it less BadAndWrong. I'm guilty myself, I'm just dubious about the implications... Still, I guess LanguageIsATool.
Uhuhuhuhuhuhuh. You said 'tool'.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BadPicture.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000441 07625166025 020327 0 ustar apache twic WikiPictures are somewhat sensitive to incorrect formatting. If a dodgy WikiPicture is encountered, TwicI renders it as a little badge with a link to this page.
If you think this might be how you got here, it would be helpful if you backed up and fixed the picture. Thanks.
CategoryWiki
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BadURL.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000463 07546020124 017351 0 ustar apache twic If a page contains an improper URL, then TwicI generates a link to this page, rather than to that URL. This mostly applies to SpecialURLs, as they have more involved validity rules.
If you think this might be how you got here, it would be helpful if you backed up and fixed the link. Thanks.
CategoryWiki
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BagPuss.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000721 07611625125 017646 0 ustar apache twic The equivalent of Teletubbies (but much better done) for those of a certain age who just might _sort of admit_ to remembering it... characters included the titular giant pink-and-white-striped cat, plus some toy mice and an uppity wooden bird of some description. All very friendly and fun. But, like Brigadoon, for a limited period only...
When Bagpuss goes to sleep, all his friends go to sleep too.
= *Bow down and worship, foolish mortals!*
CategoryKidsTV
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BarnesAndNoble.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000736 07572667622 021143 0 ustar apache twic An online bookseller.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/
We use them as a database for ISBN SpecialURLs (we don't use Amazon because of our NoAmazon policy).
_Has anyone had any experience of buying books from them, or any other contact with them?_ They are (in the real world) to NewYork as Blackwell's is to Oxford: there are heaps of them over there. They're a bit like Waterstones' in terms of decor. Only ever been in one of them, and not actually bought a book there. --TL
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BaruchBlumberg.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000270 07577341216 021174 0 ustar apache twic Prof Blumberg is director of NASAAstrobiologyInstitute; he used to work at the OxfordGlycobiologyInstitute, and won the 1976 NobelPrize for his work on hepatitis B.
CategoryScientist
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BastardOperatorFromHell.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003752 07611001504 023023 0 ustar apache twic 'Operator' (or 'systems operator' or 'sysop') is a historical term for what we'd today call a SysAdmin; basically, a bitter, twisted individual who is responsible for the care and feeding of a computer, and in particular, for the ruthless suppression of its users. The BastardOperatorFromHell is a kind of SysAdmin folk legend: the meanest, most devious operator of them all, one whose cruelty to users is an inspiring legend.
- http://bofh.ntk.net/Bastard.html
- http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/30/
- dmoz:Recreation/Humor/Computer/Bastard_Operator_From_Hell
Read for a transcript of the BOFH training a junior operator. In particular, the following questions posed to the novice, with correct answers:
- Q: How do you feel about users?
- A: *I hate them, I hate them! Always ringing me up wanting to get more disk or
connect time, whining at me in their pathetic voices, complaining about response
time. I hate them!*
- Q: What do we do for users?
- A: Well, the answer is, we do nothing *for* users. We do things *to* users. It's a fine distinction, but an important one all the same.
- Q: And _why_ do we do it?
- A: We do what we do because we *enjoy* it. And because we can get away with it.
- Q: What exactly do we do to users?
- A: What we do is *break* them.
What's the point of deleting their files if they never use them? What's the point in reading someone's private correspondence if you're not going to let the user know you did it, then tell their friends or parents? Why scrap someone's backups unless they need them? You have to break the user's will so that they realise that they're the simple-minded sheep we know they are!
ObCharlieStross: The marked resemblance to the actions of MiniLove in 'NineteenEightyFour' is given a twist in CharlieStross' story 'BigBrotherIron' (working title: 'The BOFH in the land of 1984').
_Surely you mean MiniLuv? _
Could be. ISTR that 'MiniLove' is the plain english term, whereas 'MiniLuv' is NewSpeak.
CategoryGeekery
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BattleTech.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001242 07627425650 020330 0 ustar apache twic A family of games (board, roleplaying and computer) set in a somewhat decadent future universe where the galaxy is ruled by feudal factions who battle each other with giant robots. The MechWarrior games are set in the same universe; BattleTech is the strategic/tactical stuff, MechWarrior is individual robot combat.
- dmoz:Games/Board_Games/Genres/War_and_Politics/BattleTech
- google:battletech + google:mechwarrior
- http://www.wizkidsgames.com/mwdarkage/mw_article.asp?cid=36984&frame=news Mech treehouse!
BattleTech has a rich political and technical background, making the BattleTechAnalogy a useful method of explaining things. To people who know about BattleTech.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BattleTechAnalogy.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000111 07627425304 021631 0 ustar apache twic An analogy which explains something in terms of BattleTech. Never fails!
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BellaPastaQuestion.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001447 07532506655 022060 0 ustar apache twic When writing about EatingInOxford, there is a problem problem of how to classify Bella Pasta. Do we file it under Italian, or Pizzeria?
At first, the answer seems simple: Italian. After all, it's a pasta restaurant, not a pizzeria. Duh.
However, it's more complicated than this. Firstly, Bella Pasta does serve pizza, and the Pizzerias (Pizza Hut etc) serve pasta, so there's no actual difference at the menu level. Secondly, if we look at the other members of those two classes - such as Luna Caprese and La Capannina in Italian and Pizza Hut and Pizza Express in Pizzeria - we see that the quality and atmosphere in Bella Pasta is much more like a Pizzeria than an Italian.
We thus conclude that the term Pizzeria describes not a culinary focus but a state of mind, and that Bella Pasta is a Pizzeria.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BernardTheCryoBunny.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000165 07631550417 022176 0 ustar apache twic A stuffed toy that we froze into a block of ice. Twice.
I'll expound when I'm in more of a story-telling mood. -AM
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BigEngine.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001263 07553610434 020135 0 ustar apache twic Big Engine are publishers of original and vintage science fiction and fantasy.
A good link here would be:
-
And don't try www.bigengine.com unless you're
more into that sort of rock music with stagelights
than you are in SF.
BenJeapes, who runs BigEngine, is signed up to the OUSFGAnnounce list.
He couldn't make the Freshers' Drinks, nor _First Contact_ , but he knows
all the termcard details from the flyer. Maybe he'll take BrianAldiss (qv)
aside and ask for a book.
But for all you aspiring CharlesStrosses out there, BigEngine also
does a 'zine, called ThreeSF. The writers' guidelines are on the site, so
don't just look at the "oooh, buy me" page.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BioNanoTechnology.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001400 07623436716 021667 0 ustar apache twic The discipline of using biological nanomachines to accomplish the goals of NanoTech, rather than trying to engineer things from scratch.
This field is actually fairly credible, to the extent that OxfordUniversity's biochemistry department has recently started teaching it to undergraduates as a fourth-year option: .
Not such a bad idea: one put forward by GregBear in 'BloodMusic'...
An excellent, beautiful and easily accessible book about life at the molecular level, from a mechanical point of view, is TheMachineryOfLife.
Recently made the news thanks to the scientific conference in Denver:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/2003/denver_2003/2765077.stm
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BioTwicI.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000430 07607311616 017752 0 ustar apache twic BioTwicI is a project to outfit TwicI with some bits that would be useful to biologists. Insofar as these bits can be added without disrupting the normal operation of TwicI, they will be. Thus, if you're not a biologist, don't worry about BioTwicI in the slightest.
CategoryWiki
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BiologyInSpace.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001133 07577414175 021163 0 ustar apache twic Prof BaruchBlumberg will be giving a public lecture on the subject of 'biology in space', from 1600-1700 at the OxfordUniversityMuseumOfNaturalHistory. Admission is free; just turn up.
There is a poster stuck up in various places, but it isn't officially on the web. Luckily, it is now unofficially on the web: . I don't know how to do OCR on this machine, so if anyone feels like typing the text in here, or even just summarising, that would be great.
The lecture is a Department of Biochemistry Public Understanding of Science Lecture, apparently.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BladeRunner.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002010 07613544764 020507 0 ustar apache twic A classic SF movie. Kind of early CyberPunk. Based on a PKD novel. Cops and robots. Surely everybody knows this movie!
- imdb:title/0083658
It is the beginning of the "It is the future, hence it is dark and always rains" style of sci-fi. It works visually and at the time was unique. Since then it has become one of the cyberpunk cliches. Possibly inspired by some previous cinematic sci-fi cliches in Fritz Lang's Metropolis, which seems to have been the source of innumerable copycats, right down to 'MinorityReport'.
There is a lot of discussion about the alternate endings in the Theatrical release and in the directors cut. _Especially as the Rutger Hauer character in the sequence where he 'dies' looks like he has a *serious* messiah complex..._
- "It's a shame she won't last forever. But then again, who does?"
Also,
- "The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long; and you have burned so very, very brightly..." Just about the classic line from this movie.
_We should write more here._
CategorySFMovie
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BlairGovernment.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000544 07632113526 021403 0 ustar apache twic Elected on 5th May 1997 on a wave of enthusiasm caused by Britain winning the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in decades. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Boy, were we wrong...
Led by Anthony Blair, MP for Sedgefield, Durham (the county where BadAndWrong came from, according to its etymology. Coincidence...?)
CategoryUnknowableHorror
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BlankWhiteCardSuggestions.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000013756 07567513153 023402 0 ustar apache twic - *Seeing-Over-Walls Awesome Powa!* Grants 50 bonus points to the tallest player in the room. _-- WJR_
- *Geoff Ryman* Geoff Ryman spectrally appears and stands next to a player of your choice. That player is automatically disqualified from being the tallest player (bonus passes to next tallest, if applicable) but is also made immune to Death for the next two turns. _--WJR_
- *Transcendence* Unexpectedly, you become a higher being of pure energy. Miss a turn to gather your resources, and then take two moves per turn. _--WJR_
- *Simpsons von Cataan* Offer any other player a choice- either you take one of their cards at random, or they have to perform the rest of the game as a Simpsons character of your choice. _--WJR_
- *Musical Episode* The player of your choice must sing or warble for the next turn. Everything they say must be sung, and they must also sing in the background. _--WJR_
- *Also Known As...* Those who have multiple names that are not their own in electronic currency - be they WikiNames, LiveJournal or email handles - if they have less than four of them may move equivalent to the number of these names on their next turn. Persons of four or more names miss a turn on suspicion of being evil gestalts/spies/superbeings etc. --TL
- *Multiplicity* May be played on three players of your choice. Of these three, any player who holds a total of three or more Oxford Sci-fi Society Committee or Officer positions gains 50 points for dedication to duty, but misses a turn through sheer confusion. _--WJR_
-*Out of your Minds* The player with this card must do an impression of one of his or her adjacent players. If everyone else thinks it's convincing, that player earns 10 points for acting ability, which is more than can be said for anyone in 'Attack of the Cloned Actors' --TL
-*Fiendish Level Out of your Minds* This can only be played if one or more players have achieved Transcendence. The player playing this card must do an impression of _both_ his or her adjacent players *simultaneously*. If more than half the other players think it is convincing, then that player earns 60 points. _--WJR_
- *Colour Neighbourhood* Any player visibly wearing three or more distinct
colours (buttons and shoelaces not included) is required to pay a one card fine to the discard pile for causing the colour-co-ordination computer excess work. _--WJR_
- *Time Paradox* History changes. All players *except* those with grounds to be mentally prepared for time disturbance (Tim, Physics graduates, Docsoc members) miss a turn. Slight alteration to the pattern means that everyone passes one of their cards (chosen blindly by the recipient) to the person on their immediate left. _--WJR_
- *Penguin* Play this on a player of your choice. That player is now a penguin. There are no other effects. _--WJR_
- *Really Blank Blank White Card* No effect. _--WJR_
- *Infinite Improbability Drive* Everyone puts one of their cards into a hat (or other receptacle), the receptacle is shaken, and then everyone picks out a card at random. It may be their card, it may be someone else's... --TL
- *Vernor Vinge* Technological advance increases at such an amazing rate that everyone gets to take a free card from the unused pile, going clockwise starting with the player who played the card. If all cards are taken before this is complete, then it is first come, first served in that clockwise order. _-- WJR_
- *Hamsterdance* Played on any player. The recipient must dance like an animated hamster. Doing so to the approval of other players wins 10 points. _-- WJR_
- *Le Chat domestique et son Caractere* Played on any player who has not had another 'impression' card served on them in the last two turns. The recipient must play the next three turns whilst adopting the mannerisms of a cat (in so far as is physically feasible). _-- WJR_
- *Space Race* Miss the next two turns then vapourise up to five of any one opponent's cards from orbit. (Cards go to discard pile). _-- WJR_
- *Arthur Dent* The player pronounces 'Where's the tea?' for the next two turns, but is rendered immune to Space Race and Death for those turns --TL
- *Death* The player on whom this card is played 'dies' unless they are already
immortal, or play a 'Resurrection' or 'Transcendence' card on themselves that
turn. If they cannot or do not then they miss all turns until and unless another player plays 'Resurrection' or 'Zombie' on them. After two turns consecutively dead, a player's points are reduced to zero. _-- WJR_
- *Zombie* Whoever plays this card can animate one dead player, bringing that
player back into the game, but able to see that player's cards and direct them
on how to play. The exception to this is 'Resurrection', which the zombie player may choose to play for him or herself, and which the zombie's master may not order the zombie to play or discard. If the game ends whilst a player is still a zombie then his or her points are given to the zombie's master before final totals are counted. _-- WJR_
- *Resurrection* This card may be played on oneself, if one has been killed this turn, or is a zombie, or on another dead or zombie player at any time. This restores the player to ordinary human life (a dead Transcendent would return as human, losing all Transcendent powers and privileges), or frees them from being a zombie. _-- WJR_
- *Zool* An unexpected plot twist moves all players into a different universe. Discard all cards, shuffle the discard pile, let each player then in clockwise turn take the number of cards he or she used to have from the shuffled discard pile, and then continue play. _-- WJR_
- *Trilogy* Allows player to make two further free moves this turn. _-- WJR_
- *Fly, My Golden Condor* If the player warbles "Aa-aa-aa-aah, maybe someday we will find, the cities of go-old!" and can subsequently name the three principle children of this classic cartoon, they gain ten points. _-- WJR_
- *Portmeiron* Play this on any other player. That player is gassed and abducted to live in a surrealist Village. They miss a turn. _-- WJR_
-
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BloomsburyGoodReadingGuideToScienceFiction.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000731 07564155001 026630 0 ustar apache twic A very good idea: a sort of relational guide to science fiction of the sort the ISFDB has no doubt created the algorithmical equivalent.
There really should be a copy in the OUSFGLibrary, or even on the net, but the print run was so short, and so exclusive, and Bloomsbury so slow at giving OUSFG permission to make a digital version, that the above two haven't happened. Ask the OUSFG Elders, or take a look at this --TL
http://www-pnp.physics.ox.ac.uk/SF/MH-Zool.html
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BradleysBromide.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000447 07627160076 021364 0 ustar apache twic "If computers get too powerful, we can organize them into a committee - that will do them in."
Wise words.
Well, we can now look at the 'committee' of computers known as OxAcUk, and say with some measure of satisfaction that yes indeed, it does appear to do them in on a regular basis. -- WJR
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BrianAldiss.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002122 07567447101 020500 0 ustar apache twic Well known SF author, a founding father of OUSFG (see OriginOfOUSFG), and an excellent raconteur.
- isfdb:author/Brian_W._Aldiss
His novels are interesting, but they do tend to be rather slow and/or impenetrable. In the case of Helliconia, it takes a good 10 000 _years_ to get going.
A century from now, he will perhaps be known best for his meta activities, such as writing critical histories and organising organisations (such as the BSFA).
His last SF book was SuperState, published at the same time as his latest MimeticFiction book, TheCretanTeat. He has recently finished writing a new novel, which is now slouching towards the presses to be published, and is embarking on a project of writing one 1500-word ShortStory every day.
BrianAldiss is president of APIUM.
StanleyKubrick accused him of "writing tedious rubbish" and hired IanWatson instead, whose brand of demented gibberish he presumably preferred.
Once rescued some of JamesBlish's cats from a fifth floor NewYork fire escape. They were on the fire escape because he had left the window open.
CategoryAuthor CategoryOUSFGMember
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BritishBroadcastingCorporation.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002072 07613276365 024462 0 ustar apache twic A state-owned free to air non-commercial channel, funded by a £112 annual licence fee payable by everyone using a television set, whether they use it to
watch the BBC or not.
_And pestered for by a body called TV Licensing, whether or not one actually owns a telly --TL, who doesn't._
In the past, the BBC has produced some fine programmes, ranging from the excellent 'Play for Today' strand, its adaptations of classic plays and novels,
such as "The Forsyte Saga", "Wuthering Heights", and almost everything Shakespeare has ever written with the possible exception of his shopping list. The BBC has also showcased new drama, and of course produced us with many long
running series and serials, such as DoctorWho, Blake's 7, and many more.
Sadly, these days BritishTVSF is the exception, rather than the rule.
These days, they make EastEnders and GroundForce. (and other cheesy docusoaps/soap operas/incarnations of pure evil --TL)
And are trying to sell same to the former ONDigitallers by the (black?) magic of FreeView (at least, that's what I think it's called) --TL
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BritishTVSF.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000005530 07613535064 020420 0 ustar apache twic == A True Story: We made it up ourselves.
TVSF is perhaps the TV genre in which, to take a certain extra-terrestrial slightly out of context, _"most of our imports come from overseas."_ Ask a random member of the public, or even perhaps a random OUSFGus to name a certain number of TVSF examples, and its likely that the homegrown material will be outnumbered by our imports, mostly of the AmericaLand variety. Now, whilst a lot of these imports (I'm not going to start dissecting StarTrek) are fairly worthy shows in their own right, it is something of a shame that of the £112 licence fee, not to mention their government funding, the BBC is so reluctant to make TVSF these days. See InadequateInvestment.
Why? Because it's a risk, because unless it strikes a chord with the 'General Public' its 'guaranteed' audience (as they see us) isn't big enough (in their opinion), and because until the advent of CGI, it cost a lot to make and was notoriously prone for going over-budget. Strange then, that as TVSF has become an easier proposition over the last decade, BritishTVSF has become rarer, not more common. Some examples:
| Series | Timeframe | Theme
| DoctorWho | 1963-1989, and 1996 | Time/space travel/alien invasion/alien society
| Survivors | 1970s | Post-apocalypse: plague
| Blakes' 7 | 1978-1980 (approx) | Rebels on the Run
| RedDwarf | 1980s-1990s | Post-apocalypse/space/comedy
| BUGS | April 1995-August 1999 | Techno-thriller
| InvasionEarth | May-June 1998 | Alien Invasion
| UltraViolet | Sept-Oct 1998 | Vampires
| TheLastTrain | March 1999 | Post-apocalypse: big rock
| TheSecondComing | February 2003 | Religion-based drama
One interesting (and potentially disturbing) trend I have observed in 1990s British TV SF is a desire to disguise itself. To be sure, TVSF has been fighting a propaganda war against the flailings of desperate comedians to convince the wider audience that it's not just 'cheap sets and little green men' since the year dot, but in recent years this seems to have become far more pronounced. Sometimes this works- UltraViolet's refusal to even mention the word 'Vampire' actually adds to the sinister atmosphere, although it's a little strange that not one person even refers to it in six episodes, but on other occasions, such as TheLastTrain's effort to present itself as a 'plausible drama-documentary' whilst being a cheap clone of Terry Nation's Survivors with, frankly, less plausible characters than an episode of ButtonMoon, it simply lends an air of pretentiousness to the show, alienating even more of its viewers. InvasionEarth, although not trying to hide its telefantasy routes, suffers as much if not more from this 'look, we're not run of the mill TVSF because we're all dark and brooding and cool' attitude.
More examples, corrections/amendations to the dates and Wikipages for those series that lack them welcome!
CategoryTVSF
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BritishWeather.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002647 07617463421 021244 0 ustar apache twic _will tell you what the MarstonCyclepath is up to._
Rain, rain rain rain.
Gale, gale gale gale.
Sun. Rain, rain rain rain.
Fog, fog, rain, fog, rain.
Snow. Sun. Rain, rain rain rain.
_Which must really tax the creative minds of the Met Office to find new and exciting ways to describe the same old blatter --TL_
This is why they spend more time devising new and expensive ways to illustrate the same old blatter -c.f. giant floating maps in Liverpool Docks, CGI, velcro, etc etc. It's the same rain, but at least the weatherman/girl has a new way of telling us about it. --WJR
Ye-es... at least they don't try and whip up our enthusiasm *because we haven't got any* about it all, as in AmericaLand... --TL
You probably shouldn't see GroundhogDay then, with its weatherman hero- on the
other hand, it does take the mickey out of it. --WJR
==Weather?!
This isn't weather, it's an invasion by small white powdery aliens. -- WJR
I know this belongs in Insane S!!t, but it's needless in a country like ours... --TL
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2535343.stm
Ah, but when the technology gets to the stage where undergraduates can play with it in University labs, can't you just see the potential for Oxbridge rivalry? Forget one-legged herring duelling, the OUSFG and CUSFS of the future will duel with _thunderstorms_ ...* :-D -- WJR
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BrokenLink.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000711 07620224570 020336 0 ustar apache twic A BrokenLink is a link which doesn't lead where it should. A wiki can't really have internal BrokenLinks, but we have plenty of URLs pointing outwards.
If you do come across a BrokenLink, have a go at fixing it; if you can't, either delete it, or if you feel it's worth keeping and might be fixable by someone else, tag it by writing 'BrokenLink' next to it. That way, we can find all the BrokenLink__s by looking for BackLinks to this page.
CategoryWiki
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BruceSterling.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001014 07573225721 021053 0 ustar apache twic American SF writer, tending towards CyberPunk.
- isfdb:author/Bruce_Sterling
- dmoz:Arts/Literature/Genres/Science_Fiction/Authors/S/Sterling,_Bruce
- http://www.chriswaltrip.com/sterling/
- http://www.well.com/conf/mirrorshades/ (what the hell _is_ that?)
- http://www.well.com/conf/mirrorshades/sterfaq.html (a FAQ)
One of his greatest works is SchisMatrix ().
He's written a history of the internet: .
He rocks. -- TA
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BtVS.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000052 07541417506 017121 0 ustar apache twic Abbreviation of _BuffyTheVampireSlayer_ .
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BuffyTheVampireSlayer.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000004116 07631341656 022532 0 ustar apache twic Created by JossWhedon, _Buffy The Vampire Slayer_ (abbreviated as BtVS) is arguably the defining TV SF show of the current generation. Its original conceit was brilliantly simple: 'High school _is_ hell'. The show took all the staple traumas of adolesence and growing up and recast them in a post-modern metaphorical style.
This worked brilliantly for the first three years of the show; unfortunately, Buffy then had to graduate and leave high school and the show has arguably been in a slow decline (albeit still with occasional flashes of brilliance) ever since.
Using vampires as a metaphor for the issues that teens go through can work. The reason for the demise was losing that as Buffy grew up, and they tried to make it into a real character driven series.
Because it wasn't character-driven originally, after all...
Oh, and the fact that they went for really long, depressing plot arcs rather than the Monster of the Week strategy with a coupld of recuring plot elements that they had used previously.
Ah. So you thought the show went downhill after Angel went bad, then.
Essential episodes:
- 'Lie To Me'
- 'The Zeppo'
- 'Hush'
At the end of the third season, the character of Angel was spun off to be the focus of AngelTheSeries.
As a random note, another notable TVSF vampire venture was UltraViolet, which deserves a mention.
This study of vampire population ecology is amusing:
http://www.stanford.edu/~bthomas/vamp/vampecology.htm
Looking likely that BtVS will be cancelled RealSoonNow.
_Citations (ie URL__s) on this would be useful for those who are interested but ignorant._
How many would you like?
http://www.comingsoon.net/cgi-bin/archive/fullnews.cgi?newsid1046380176,81402,
http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30500-12257592,00.html
http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/0300entertainment/page.cfm?objectid=12686299&method=full&siteid=50081
It's not so much 'cancelled' as 'not renewed because SMG didn't want to do any more.' All the contracts were always planned to expire at the end of this year.
There's plenty of talk about spin-offs, though...
CategoryTVSF
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/BushVsRock.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001675 07622427302 020343 0 ustar apache twic There's a bit of a hoo-haa about the Yanks using RAF Fylingdales as part of their Son of Star Wars missile defence programme. However, questions have been asked in the House of Lords about the use of the system to defend not against rogue missiles but rocks from space. You heard it here first (although only because you weren't listening to RadioFour).
Reminds me of all the fuss in the 80s about the original Star Wars, in which ArthurCClarke had a go at the Gubmint (and HarlanEllison shouted at him, or something); ironic that it was Arfur who popularised the idea of a global asteroid early warning system, under the name of SpaceGuard.
Someone has now put Son of Star Wars and asteroids together for the first time:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2747015.stm
I do worry tho', given a particularly telling bit of dialogue from a DoctorWho webcast --TL
:GWB: Activate missile defence system!
:*Aide*: We did.
:GWB: And?
:*Aide*: It missed.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/C3PO.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000711 07565156757 017027 0 ustar apache twic Protocol Droid from StarWars.
Generally teamed with R2D2, C3PO is a golden humanoid robot with a tendency to not go five minutes without some body part falling off. _And a tendency to twitter in an English twit's (Anthony Daniels') voice at great speed and high pitch. Sigh. Why the Ewoks took him for a god in 'Return of the Jedi' I'll never know. Still, it's got to be better than Lucas' idea of him talking in the drawl of a Texan car salesman... --TL_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CBBC.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000611 07576407273 017005 0 ustar apache twic Children's BBC. Not a reference to the Board of Governors, but rather that portion of the BBC which used to concern itself with quality children's drama and news, but now largely seems to consist of a collection of teenage presenters desperately overacting in their attempts to appear 'cool' lounging against an offensively colourful set and laughing in an over-the-top fashion at bad jokes.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CBS.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000026 07576105264 016716 0 ustar apache twic See ComicBookSociety.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CD.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000010 07554247700 016564 0 ustar apache twic See CDs
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CDs.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000553 07553030200 016743 0 ustar apache twic Compact Discs. Once a lauded means of listening to music and other audio-based data, untarnished by the scratchability and stretchability of vinyl and magnetic tape, respectively, but now a means of downloading data/ripping off the recording industry (delete as applicable), thanks to the magic of CD-Rs.
Not to be confounded, by future generations, with DVDs .
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CGI.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002271 07631465224 016712 0 ustar apache twic See ComputerGeneratedImagery or CommonGatewayInterface.
CGI also refers to Computer Generated Imaging - the computer animation technique
generally used to produce space and other special effects in modern television
and cinema. Whilst CGI does offer a cheap way of producing effective images,
poor CGI can sometimes create a cartoon-like effect, and the knowledge that all effects are a matter of mouse-clicks can sometimes rob effects sequences of some of their impressiveness. - _WJR_
Pity, really, as they're getting considerably better at it... what they really need to work on is the interface between computer graphics and live-action filming, but that's going to take time. Worth it in TVSF for the SensaWunda factor, sometimes... --TL
_FarScape_ is a particularly good example- camera crew and CGI animators seem to work well together there in avoiding the 'jump' in light quality and tint
that often points up the matte line between the two. This being FarScape, the result is that both types of image are weird, but in a well-matched way. _Another good example of a blend of live-action footage and computer generated images and characters is the Arlington Drive Housewarming Party._ WJR
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CGIed.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000154 07565022140 017211 0 ustar apache twic Created from CGI, which seems to be happening a lot these days.
Is not, however, a shorthand for 'pants'.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CSLewis.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001157 07612220321 017605 0 ustar apache twic ScienceFiction and Fantasy author. An Oxford don, and one of the creators of OUSFG, also one of the InkLings alongside JRRTolkien.
- isfdb:author/C._S._Lewis
His books include the NarniaChronicles (TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe etc) and the CosmicTrilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength).
According to PhilipPullman, CSLewis's work is "blatantly racist" and "monumentally disparaging of women", being "propaganda in the cause of the religion he believed in." (according to ).
_More to come._
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CUSFS.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002502 07572175521 017172 0 ustar apache twic Cambridge University Science/Speculative Fiction Society. Probably more Speculative these days, since it has amalgamated with the former Cambridge 'fantasy soc' Jomsborg.
- http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/cusfs/
OUSFG's Cantab (and less pronounceable) relation. We still beat them at one-legged kipper fencing tho', according to those in the know...
OUSFG and CUSFS are very *co*-operative: We have been one-time *co*rrespondants, occasional *co*nspirators, and frequent *co*mbatants in the field of oxbridge.sf, a newsgroup set up by our own TomAnderson as a bridge between the two societies. This, when last examined, was moribund, but is still technically alive. -- WJR
CUSFS history is somewhat complicated. They were founded, carried on for a while, then had some sort of internal crisis, which i seem to recall involved a takeover by hacks intent on getting people elected to positions in CUSU, or obsession with StarTrek, or something, leading to the breakaway of everyone actually interested in SF as JomsborgTheNew; after the rump of CUSFS recovered, the two rejoined, retaining the name and traditions of Jomsborg, as they were more fun (mostly consisting of drinking, singing, etc). Or at least, that's what TomAnderson was told. _Ah, but were they founded in the beginning by any SF luminaries? --TL_
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CUSU.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000413 07572154001 017053 0 ustar apache twic CambridgeUniversity Student Union.
- http://www.cusu.cam.ac.uk/
Like OUSU, but perhaps more useful. They have that elusive CentralStudentVenue, and they run the pigeon-post system (well, for students; the university runs a system for staff; typical tab weirdness).
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CambridgeUniversity.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001472 07572257331 022273 0 ustar apache twic OxfordUniversity's younger but undeservedly more valued sibling in East Anglia.
http://www.cam.ac.uk
Responsible for a few moderately good things in the universe: DNA was an alumnus, CUSFS was born there, and more recently OxfordRomance (of which TL and ARC are members) was founded by Cambridge students. And, after all, every great good needs an evil nemesis.
_Also 300-year stamping ground of one Reg Chronotis, as will shortly have been recorded in no fewer than *three* separate works. Apparently the older Cambridge colleges are sufficiently discreet that one may live in the same set of rooms for several centuries without exciting gossip. Mind you, Cambridge public transport, roads, pavements, and town planning are so collectively poor that once in, it probably would take you 300-odd years to get out. -- WJR_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CaptainKirk.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000471 07554260141 020503 0 ustar apache twic William Shatner's timeless unconvincing haired sex-crazed astronaut.
Liable to get paunchier as time (and the movies) progressed: we'll put that down to a mis-spent second youth in connection with having lived off fruit salad whilst a struggling Shakespearean. Shatner should have stuck to what he knew... --TL
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CaptionConvention.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000171 07576105464 021752 0 ustar apache twic The UK SmallPress comics convention, organised by the ComicBookSociety (in practice, anyway).
- http://www.caption.org/
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryActor.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000536 07627713565 021071 0 ustar apache twic A category for actors and actresses.
Those writing pages in this category might like to take advantage of the imdb SpecialURL scheme.
Adding the BaconNumber of an actor to the page may not be strictly necessary, but it's fun and spreads consistency across the category. Fun and consistent... the two together? Endorse! Endorse!
CategoryCategory
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryAuthor.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000615 07571725013 021246 0 ustar apache twic A category for pages about authors. As you might expect, really.
The usual format for an author page is:
- A defining paragraph, perhaps opening with the phrase "A British _(etc)_ SF writer"
- A list of helpful URLs, including links to an ISFDB entry, the nearest thing to an official website and a DMOZ category if there is one
- References to major works or other key points
CategoryCategory
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryBook.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000050 07551643774 020702 0 ustar apache twic A category for books.
CategoryCategory
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryBritishTVSF.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000072 07613535206 022110 0 ustar apache twic A Category for BritishTVSF
CategoryTVSF CategoryCategory
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryCategory.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000664 07540376230 021564 0 ustar apache twic A category is a page, and the set of pages which link to that page. The value of this is that you can easily examine the BackLinks and thus determine the set of pages in the category.
So, all pages talking about, say, ninjas could be in CategoryNinja; looking at the BackLinks to CategoryNinja would then list them.
Categories can be a powerful tool to organise a wiki, but there's no need to categorise everything.
CategoryCategory
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryConfusingFakeIdentity.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000220 07631117212 024221 0 ustar apache twic A Category for exactly what it says on the tin... or for the several different things it says with respect to the same tin.
CategoryCategory
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryConstitution.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000152 07574636462 022516 0 ustar apache twic A category for constitution-related things, constitution fondling, and committee posts.
CategoryCategory
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryGeekery.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000131 07563466260 021377 0 ustar apache twic A category for all things geekish, but computery things in particular.
CategoryCategory
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryGerbilsoc.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001723 07620566655 021730 0 ustar apache twic A category for members of Gerbilsoc. Gerbilsoc is a manifestation of the ID of OUSFG.
To explain, when OUSFG held its library meetings at LP's then flat in Venables' Close, the Three Gerbils (see ArlingtonDrive) were on a number of occasions brought out and played with during the meeting. At one point, as a result of this 'Gerbilification' of OUSFG, a few individuals, including the Wiki's own TL, were heard to answer Lyndsey's telephone with: _"Hello, Gerbilsoc!"_ The library has now moved on, and is only a very very occasional holiday resident of ArlingtonDrive, meaning that the only regular OUSFGi who are also regular Gerbilwatchers are WJR and LP, and TL from time to time, and LP herself has indicated that a reduction in Gerbil humour at OUSFG meetings would be desirable, so that new and uninitiated Wikizens may be slightly bewildered by this category.
The gerbils in question are small, cute, and MostlyHarmless... LP tells us. -- WJR
CategoryCategory
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryHomePage.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000025 07541352107 021461 0 ustar apache twic See CategoryWikizen.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryIndex.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001604 07632014045 021044 0 ustar apache twic An index is a page consisting primarily of links to other pages. Indexes are a way of organising useful information on a wiki.
Indexes are complementary to categories; categories are easy to apply (just tag the page) and easy to search, but not very selective, and give no evaluation of pages. An index, on the other hand, takes more work to maintain (and so may not be up to date or complete), but will generally point to more useful pages, and may give one-line descriptions of them (where their titles are not self-explanatory).
Oh, and this page is a category for indices, not an index of categories. Boggle.
Of course, if you want a list of important indices, you should inspect the IndexIndex. Double boggle.
One wonders if there are any circumstances in which one could have Index__Category, just to triple boggle. No, actually, there probably aren't. Oh well. -- WJR
CategoryCategory
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryKidsTV.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000131 07575205231 021140 0 ustar apache twic A category for all those KidsTV programmes that we remember so fondly.
CategoryCategory
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryNewsgroup.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001052 07555034503 021770 0 ustar apache twic A Category for Newsgroups, a system of USENET online forums.
Notable newsgroups for OUSFGi include;
- OxClubsOUSFG
- OxbridgeSF
These used to have considerable traffic, however with a decline in the numbers
of OUSFGi with OxNet accounts, and those familiar with or interested in using newsgroups, OUSFG communication has for the most part moved to the mailling
list system (See MaillistsAndNewsgroupsAndWikisOhMy):
- OUSFGAnnounce
- OUSFGCommittee
- OUSFGChat
Also of use for communicative OUSFGi is, of course, the OUSFGWiki.
CategoryCategory
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryOUSFGDictionary.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003026 07562247126 022720 0 ustar apache twic A Category for Definitions
I'm really not convinced as to the utility of this category. I mean, the nature of the wiki, where pages have names, and names are usually (so far) noun phrases, means that pretty much every page is a definition. It's not as if we have to categorise everything! -- TA
Says the man who invented 'CategoryCategory'... see below. -- WJR in whimsical mood. |~)
(Well, I'm more alarmed by the presence of 'HistoricalSingularity' in the backlinks for the 'HistoricalSingularity' page - can we please avoid recursion before this wiki disappears up a RecursiveOcclusion ? --TL)
I didn't invent it (although i did come up with the IndexIndex), but not only is it useful, it's a logical necessity. Neither of which, IMNERHO, can be said of this category. -- TA
Well, I shan't be offended if you delete it - so long as you look at the
backlinks and edit out the links to it as well. WJR
I'm going to leave it as it is for now; even if it's not hugely useful, it's doing no harm. Well done for getting stuck in, though! -- TA
_I think it's useful for definining OUSFG-related terms such as...well, none spring to mind right now, but I'm sure that's because it's 2am. I'm not sure why we need it for pages like TerraForm, though. -- NH_
I wonder if it might not be better off as a single page, with all the entries in one place; probably not, now i come to think of it. -- TA
_It is, I think you'll agree, a good repository for some of the more obscure but non-wikirelated technical terms in OUSFG currency. --TL_
CategoryCategory
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryOUSFGLocation.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003377 07632270700 022364 0 ustar apache twic OUSFG meetings have been held all over Oxford. This is a desperate attempt to obsessively log them all, with appropriate anecdotes. This may even cover locations that OUSFG has invaded for the evening, pillaged, sown the carpet with their demon-seed and scarpered, never to return.
Some locations shouldn't be disclosed, because people don't want that sort of information publicly available.
Fair game includes :
- locations where official meetings have been held on a regular basis (library, video and discussion meetings).
- Bonus video meetings don't count, unless the occupant(s) at the time still live(s) there and has given their express permission(s).
- locations whose relevant occupants have moved on
= Non-College
- Number24MarstonStreet
- Number48CranhamStreet
- Number3VenablesClose
- erm, whose house in Jeune St, off Cowley Rd, held the bonus video meetings?
- ParsonsPleasure
- The TurfTavern
- The TurlBar
= LMH
- Number2OldOldHall
- Number5OldOldHall
- TalbotHall (used for the ChristmasParty)
= BalliolCollege
- Staircase21Room4
- _Ruth's room in Jowett Walk? Those who know, write..._
= ChristChurchCollege
- St Aldates 4-8?
- Peck 3-9?
- BlueBoarSeminarRoom
= JesusCollege
- Seminar Rooms A and B
= StJohnsCollege
- The LarkinAndPrestwichRooms (used for the ChristmasParty)
- The GravesRoom (where we met GeoffRyman)
- doesn't their oft-used TV room have a name?
= TeddyHallCollege
- _What was that room we used for the ChristmasParty that time?_
= St. Hilda's
- You know, _that_ room where ChinaMieville, BrianStableford, KenMcCleod, PeterFHamilton and JulietEMcKenna have all spoken.
= Oriel College
- There was a really good room used for speaker meetings. StephenBaxter, MichaelMarshallSmith and PhilipPullman each addressed the group here.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryOUSFGMember.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000643 07631721230 022012 0 ustar apache twic A category for OUSFG members.
To save running the backlinks feature (which is a little intensive on the server) here are the results, generated on Mar 6th, 2003.
-AlxWilliams
-AngharadGreen
-ArchieMaskill
-BrianAldiss
-DavidLangford
-DuncanMartin
-JoCharman
-LyndseyPickup
-MarcusWigan
-NiallHarrison
-OUSFG
-PeterSidwell
-PINATA
-TanaquiWeaver
-TheaLogie
-TomAnderson
-WilliamRamsden
-ZacAppleton
CategoryCategory
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryOnlineComic.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000036 07614562521 022201 0 ustar apache twic A category for online comics.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryOxfordGeography.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000167 07567377517 023136 0 ustar apache twic A Category for places in Oxford.
See also http://www.multimap.co.uk and http://www.streetmap.co.uk
CategoryCategory
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryQuote.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000055 07617030110 021063 0 ustar apache twic A Category for Quotations.
CategoryCategory
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryRadioProgram.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000011 07616534751 022367 0 ustar apache twic DeleteMe
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryRadioProgramme.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000374 07616732027 022721 0 ustar apache twic A category for Radio Programmes like H2G2 and so on. Pretty much the same as the old 'Category__Radio__Program' only with correct spelling. ;p _Pedant!_
*OUSFG*... therefore Pedant.
There's nothing wrong with being correct. -- TA
CategoryCategory
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategorySFMovie.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001065 07557562364 021330 0 ustar apache twic A category for movies involving SF, SpecFi or SciFi.
This looked encouraging for future additions to this category:
A quote from the article:
"When I was working in television as a broadcaster, I didn't think about commissioning SciFi because you thought of it as blancmange and papier mache." _aargh! --TL_
heh. Even in high-CGI films they can still smeg up:
Check under Movies/M/Matrix, The and prepare to be well and truly astounded. :) --TL
CategoryCategory
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryTVSF.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000315 07560235220 020555 0 ustar apache twic A category for SF (defined here as Speculative Fiction, and so including fantasy, horror etc) on TV.
Should this category should be called CategoryTVSciFi? That's the TVSFSciFiQuestion.
CategoryCategory
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryTag.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000520 07531053765 020516 0 ustar apache twic A tag is a short WikiName you can write that means something specific. Yes, this is a bit vague. The point is that a tag serves as a marker as well as a message in itself, so you can search for it etc. For instance, you can mark things ToDo, ToEdit, ToDelete, etc. MakeItUpAsYouGoAlong - that's what wiki's all about.
CategoryCategory
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryUnknowableHorror.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000336 07625402737 023312 0 ustar apache twic A category for Things We Were Not Meant to Know. Things which will shred our sanity and leave it hanging in ribbons. Things which... things like... *_that_*.....
....
... gibber.
CategoryCategory
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryWiki.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000062 07531053051 020673 0 ustar apache twic A category for all things wiki.
CategoryCategory
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryWikizen.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002032 07631703610 021413 0 ustar apache twic A category for WikiZen__s; wikizens are encouraged to add a page about themselves, on which they can present an autobiographical sketch, collect links, receive messages, and generally write what they like.
People should be careful about editing other people's name-pages. They should do it, but be particularly careful not to damage any personal expression by the named wikizen.
This category is equivalent to CategoryHomePage on other wikis; this is, however, a more correct name - the category is the category in which the thing described by the page belongs, not the page itself, otherwise every page would be in CategoryPage, and no page could be in, for example, CategoryTVSF.
Here is the result of the backlinks check (provided because it can be a little stressful on the server), generated on March 6th, 2003
-AlxWilliams
-AndrzejRomanCichocki
-ArchieMaskill
-CategoryHomePage
-DuncanMartin
-KaZ
-LyndseyPickup
-MessageOfTheDay
-NiallHarrison
-PINATA
-TLsVisitorsBook
-TheaLogie
-TomAnderson
-WilliamRamsden
-ZacAppleton
CategoryCategory
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CategoryZool.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000244 07625403057 020726 0 ustar apache twic A Category for things associated with Zool, Death Planet, Where the intractable criminals of ten thousand worlds... etc.
CategoryUnknowableHorror CategoryCategory
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CelebritySFDeathmatch.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000006660 07571463026 022455 0 ustar apache twic You take 16 or so well known SF characters, and speculate on the outcome of
successive deathmatch tournaments, until eventually you arrive at the most powerful and dangerous SF characters in the universe. A double-act variant is
also available.
Thanks to this foolproof and spectacular method of determining the cross-continuity relative powers of SF characters, we now know that Fry and Bender, of Futurama fame, are the most powerful double-act in SF, eclipsing the Doctor _(the one with the scarf)_ and K9, Neo and Trinity from the Matrix, Alx and Archie, Bill and Ted, Death and the Death of Rats, Arthur and Ford, and some people out of Lexx. In the singles tournament, Yoda is the supreme being, having proved himself superior to Kosh, Buffy, Angel, the Terminator, Scorpius, Gandalf, and Darth Vader, and finally defeating a last ditch challenge from Captain Scarlet by cutting his strings.
Special Rules: Since this contest took place during the firemen's strike, no fire weapons were allowed.
= Full Results Breakdown
= One on One
*First Round*
- Daniel Jackson _(StargateSG1)_ *vs* Yoda _(StarWars)_ *Yoda*
- Angel _(BuffyTheVampireSlayer, AngelTheSeries)_ *vs* The Terminator _(Terminator)_ *The Terminator*
- The Predator _(Predator)_ *vs* The Shrike _(?)_ *The Predator*
- Scorpius _(FarScape)_ *vs* Gandalf _(TheLordOfTheRings)_ *Gandalf*
- Kosh _(BabylonFive)_ *vs* Buffy _(BuffyTheVampireSlayer)_ *Kosh*
- MacCleod _(Highlander)_ *vs* Ripley _(Alien)_ *Ripley*
- Weaver _(China Mieville)_ *vs* Kai _(LEXX)_ *Kai*
- Xena _(Xena, Warrior Princess)_ *vs* Darth Vader _(StarWars)_ *Darth Vader*
*Second Round*
- Yoda *vs* The Terminator *Yoda*
- The Predator *vs* Gandalf *Gandalf*
- Kosh *vs* Ripley *Ripley*
- Kai *vs* Darth Vader *Kai*
*Third Round*
- Yoda *vs* Gandalf *Yoda*
- Ripley *vs* Kai *Ripley*
*Fourth Round*
- Yoda *vs* Ripley *Yoda*
*Yoda* subsequently fought off a challenge from Captain Scarlet, who had been lurking around somewhere behind Angharad, and thus proved that the Supreme Being of the Universe is indeed small, green, and CGIed.
= Double Acts
*First Round*
- Hermione & Ron _(HarryPotter)_ *vs* R2D2 & C3PO _(StarWars)_ *R2D2 & C3PO*
- Zev & 790 _(LEXX)_ *vs* Wilykit & Wilykat _(ThunderCats)_ *Zev & 790*
- 4th Doctor (Him with the Scarf) & K9 _(DoctorWho)_ *vs* Jake & Nog _(StarTrek)_ *4th Doctor & K9*
- Legolas & Gimli _(TheLordOfTheRings)_ *vs* Bill & Ted _(Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure)_ *Bill & Ted*
- Mulder & Scully _(The X-Files)_ *vs* Neo & Trinity _(TheMatrix)_ *Neo & Trinity*
- Arthur & Ford _(H2G2)_ *vs* Death & The Death of Rats _(Discworld)_ *Arthur & Ford*
- Fry & Bender _(Futurama)_ *vs* Batman & Robin _(Batman)_ *Fry & Bender*
- Alx & Archie _(The CranhamStreet of Cthulu)_ *vs* Lister & Rimmer _(RedDwarf)_ *Alx & Archie*
*Second Round*
- R2D2 & C3PO *vs* Zev & 790 *Zev & 790*
- 4th Doctor & K9 *vs* Bill & Ted *Bill & Ted*
- Neo & Trinity *vs* Arthur & Ford *Neo & Trinity*
- Fry & Bender *vs* Alx & Archie *Fry & Bender*
*Third Round*
- Zev & 790 *vs* Bill & Ted *Zev & 790*
- Neo & Trinity *vs* Fry & Bender *Fry & Bender*
*Fourth Round*
- Fry & Bender *vs* Zev & 790 *Fry & Bender*
It may thus be seen that Fry and Bender from Futurama represent the most powerful pairing in the universe. Other notable facts are that Arthur Dent is stronger than Death _(Evil Cackle)_ and that the moral of the story is that corrupt slackers win in the end.
==== *Flibblit.*
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CharlesStross.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000113 07554507550 021103 0 ustar apache twic An SF writer.
BigEngine publish his _Festival of Fools_ .
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CharlieStross.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001426 07626654641 021105 0 ustar apache twic A British SF writer; born in Leeds but now living in Edinburgh and part of the ScottishSF mob. His day job is writing columns about OpenSource/FreeSoftware for computer magazines.
- isfdb:author/Charles_Stross
- http://www.antipope.org/charlie/
Think GregEgan vs KenMacLeod. But with more shoggoths.
Read:
- http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm the brilliant 'AColderWar'
- The 'Lobsters' series (a bunch of sequels which ramp up to a singularity, but they're not all online)
-- http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0206/Lobsters.shtml (nominated for a Hugo)
-- _Skip a few ..._
-- http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0303/router.shtml
- http://scifi.com/scifiction/originals/originals_archive/stross-doctorow/stross-doctorow1.html (Charlie writing with CoryDoctorow)
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CheapPoliticalJibes.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003255 07631123003 022133 0 ustar apache twic I'm sure you know this of which I speak. It's a particular nemesis of the Blair and Bush 2 governments: use a short 'incisive' phrase to get the media going on a particular issue, especially (but not exclusively) education. It may be true in some cases, but it's dangerously simple.
Examples:
- *'axis of evil'* : Twit.
- *'dumbing down'/cut the c!!p'*: this will undoubtedly not help the prospects of public service broadcasting one little bit. Cut the slogans!
- *'bog-standard comprehensives'*
- *'Mickey-Mouse degrees'*: Walt Disney and co should sue; see
- *'clear and present danger/weapons of mass destruction'*: this especially over-glib with regard to the ricin affair of 1/2003. How can ricin, an admittedly very toxic substance which nevertheless only works by injection, be compared with weapons-grade plutonium??
- *'axis of weasel'* (the Americans on the French reaction to the war on Iraq): Possibly the media more than the administrations, but twits again.
- *'hippies and liberals'*: Pro-war extremists on the anti-war camp. Remind me when 'liberal' became an insult, and send Charles Kennedy round with a shot-gun. Probably the most ludicrous extreme does come from AmericaLand, some of whose citizens have been known (on the BBC Website) to denounce 'liberals' and praise the "Land of the Free" in the same breath. The Statue of... what was it again? Whatever the rights and wrongs, if people aren't willing to *think* of alternatives, of course there won't be any alternatives.
- *'running out of time'*: Hawks have been using this about Saddam since 1998 at least. Err, running out of imagination, guys?
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CherwellNewspaper.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000731 07571731172 021742 0 ustar apache twic One of the two student newspapers at OxfordUniversity (the other being the OxfordStudent).
- http://www.cherwell.org (is this wildly out of date or what?)
At war with the Ox-Spew...
The Cherwell is like our own little Telegraph - the paper of choice for toffs and tory boys.
_Not true: it sends up as many toffs as it appeals to, and has some viciously Sun-esque humour here and there (stand up and be counted, John Evelyn and James 'Required Reading' Kettle)... --TL_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ChicksLibrary.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000042 07570774777 021055 0 ustar apache twic Property of AndrzejRomanCichocki.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ChildhoodAnimeMemories.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000004152 07570647526 022671 0 ustar apache twic A brief survey indicates that a surprising number of people have vague but powerful memories of anime films from their childhood. If they haven't identified and seen the film, they strongly want to, and if they have, they're really glad.
We could speculate as to why and how this happens, and what it all means. It probably just means that anime makes a big impression on children.
So, who's affected?
= AndrzejRomanCichocki
I remember watching an animated film when I was young and I need to know what it was so I can get a copy and have a nostalgia trip. I don't think it was anime or manga. The opening scene had a vehicle scooting across a landscape from left to right, with the camera looking at it from its right and following. It had a cockpit big enough for two people and a wheel on the end of each of its four stupidly long legs. I think it hit a rock shortly before it crashed into some trees. The occupants might have been a kid and his dad.
Later there was a thick jungle inside which people had some sort of dwelling. A treehouse maybe.
Later still an enormous robot fell out of the sky and landed on its front in some field. There was lots of stuff about these enormous robots with quite small heads towards the end and I think there was a kid involved.
_Andrzej, i hope you don't mind me lifting this. -- TA_
Not at all. -- ARC
= TomAnderson
For me, it was LaputaCastleInTheSky. I saw it when it was first shown on ChannelFour, which might actually have been the first anime ever broadcast on UK TV. All i remembered was giant robots, a glowing blue pendant, kids, and *airships*! Eventually, through the power of the world wide internet (and ZacAppleton), i found its true name. I haven't actually seen it since, but i feel happy knowing what it is. A DVD release is on its way, apparently.
Sadly, although it does feature kids and giant robots with small heads falling out of the sky (but then, what anime doesn't?), i don't think this is the one Andrzej's after.
= People at the CaptionConvention
TA ran into a few people at the CaptionConvention in 2002 who had the same memories and feelings about LaputaCastleInTheSky.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ChinaMieville.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001222 07632213335 021007 0 ustar apache twic See:
-
Is a really interesting speaker
Was at PicoCon last year
Has _really big arms_ .
I oftén nééd é's with a sloping accént abové thém. This is a good pagé to visit if you don't know how to génératé thém, and you nééd oné in a hurry. Héré aré somé for your convéniencé : é é é é é é é é é é - AM
Lovely. How about the grave accents that make French the creme de la creme of linguistics? :)--TL
Only the acute accent is needed, thanks to the global hegemony of Pokémon --TCW
_Ambassador, with these ISOLatin1 characters you're really fucking up our conformance to web standards! Still, mostly fixable._
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ChloeAnnett.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000110 07627465266 020515 0 ustar apache twic - imdb:name/Annett,+Chlo%EB
She has a BaconNumber of 3.
CategoryActor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ChrisBarrie.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000123 07627464670 020510 0 ustar apache twic - http://us.imdb.com/Name?Barrie,+Chris
He has a BaconNumber of 3.
CategoryActor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ChristianClavier.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000524 07627465366 021555 0 ustar apache twic French actor. Currently appearing in the live-action Asterix films as the eponymous yellow-whiskered midget, opposite GerardDepardieu's Obelix, and as NapoleonBonaparte. Judging by the evidence of _"Les Visiteurs",_ an excellent comedy writer and performer. -- WJR
- imdb:name/Clavier,%20Christian
Has a BaconNumber of 2.
CategoryActor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ChristmasParty.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001377 07632160322 021263 0 ustar apache twic The famous christmas party. Held jointly with RPGSoc (through the legal apparatus of OxfordJointVentures) and organised jointly by the OUSFGTreasurer and the RPGSoc Treasurer. Much punch is drunk, much dancing happens, and then after RoadToNowhere we all go to the PostChristmasPartyParty. Except those involved in cleaning up, pacifying porters, evacuating audio gear, etc.
Usually it's optional fancy dress, and there are prizes for best male, best female, best couple/double-act etc. All good clean fun.
TanaquiWeaver makes a point of never going to this event, because she has been summoned away to deal with bad things on a suspicious number of occasions. Also, it's loud, sweaty and full of bad alcohol and music. So, I ask you... who is real mad person?
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ColinBaker.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000114 07627465571 020325 0 ustar apache twic Actor. Has a BaconNumber of 3.
- imdb:name/Baker,+Colin+(I)
CategoryActor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ComicBookSociety.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000460 07576105373 021517 0 ustar apache twic Once, the ComicBookSociety was an OxfordUniversity society for all things comic-associated. However, it long ago ran out of undergraduates and died, and now continues in a ghastly undead state, eating the rotting brains of OUSFG and occasionally (well, annualy) organising the awesome CaptionConvention.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CommonGatewayInterface.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000567 07631465206 022711 0 ustar apache twic The CommonGatewayInterface (CGI) is a web programming thing. If you don't already know, you probably don't want to.
- http://www.w3.org/CGI/
- http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/cgi/overview.html
- http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/cgi/interface.html
One of the oldest and least well-specified standards on the web. Nonetheless, it is surprisingly useful and portable.
CategoryGeekery
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ComputerGeneratedImagery.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002276 07631465724 023255 0 ustar apache twic ComputerGeneratedImagery (CGI) is the modern name for computer animation, generally connoting the intention of photorealism. It is frequently used to produce space and other special effects in modern television and cinema.
Whilst CGI does offer a cheap way of producing effective images, poor CGI can sometimes create a cartoon-like effect, and the knowledge that all effects are a matter of mouse-clicks can sometimes rob effects sequences of some of their impressiveness. This is a pity, really, as they're getting considerably better at it.
What they really need to work on is the interface between computer graphics and live-action filming, but that's going to take time. Worth it in TVSF for the SensaWunda factor, sometimes. FarScape is a particularly good example - camera crew and CGI animators seem to work well together there in avoiding the 'jump' in light quality and tint that often points up the matte line between the two. This being FarScape, the result is that both types of image are weird, but in a well-matched way.
_Another good example of a blend of live-action footage and computer generated images and characters is the Arlington Drive Housewarming Party. -- WJR_
CategoryTVSF (kinda)
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ConsiderPhlebas.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000102 07632273500 021337 0 ustar apache twic A book by IainMBanks.
- (USA)
CategoryBook
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CoralCastle.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001426 07555004406 020501 0 ustar apache twic A structure, having a central building plus surrounding walls and whatnot, plus various extras, and so resembling a castle, built from coral rock.
The blocks weigh up to several tonnes. The entire thing was built, over the space of 20 years, by one man, Edward Leedskalnin, apparently using only simple home-made hand tools. At one point, he _moved_ the whole thing ten miles.
See:
-
-
-
Either:
- Leedskalnin has superhuman powers
- Leedskalnin used magic
- Leedskalnin secretly had mechanical and/or human help
But nobody can prove it either way.
_Even if it was option (iii), it's still a remarkable feat of determination and grit. And a hell of a tourist attraction --TL_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CoryDoctorow.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000143 07626652035 020743 0 ustar apache twic An author. Wrote DownAndOutInTheMagicKingdom. Has collaborated with CharlieStross.
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CosgroveHall.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000200 07620006060 020651 0 ustar apache twic Makers of KidsTV, ranging from DangerMouse to The Wind In The Willows. David Jason was one of their stalwarts.
CategoryKidsTV
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CostOfMembership.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000015033 07567526100 021520 0 ustar apache twic _From OUSFGConstitution ..._
Can also clarify for the benefit of the freshers how much each kind of multifarious membership is going to cost? We have the different membership types in the Constitution, but not how much each is going to cost in proportion to the 'normal membership'.
_The problem with writing prices in the constitution is that it's supposed to be fixed, and prices need to change over time._
_Now, what you suggest is that the absolute prices are not specified, but that the relative prices are (with, say, life membership as a baseline). That's an interesting idea. The argument about permanence and change applies to some degree, but much less strongly._
_The prices of the various kinds of membership are clearly documented in the treasurer's notebook, so it is in fact very simple to find out what they are - ask the treasurer. The apparent confusion over prices stems from the facts that (a) people who are not (and never have been) the treasurer attempt to answer, and don't really succeed and (b) the current treasurer is new, and still getting up to speed._
It would actually be far simpler all round to put the actual prices in, and then just *change* the constitution when necessary. Is there any real reason why we cannot do this, or just because it's the custom that we don't change the
constitution. For ease of reference, practical rules should have precedence over procedural ones. - _WJR_
Hmm. Have we ever called a Constitutional Court in the lifetime of this particular constitution as it stands? - Might be worth doing on this issue. --TL
Yeah. Right. Change the bloody constitution every time something changes. This is not what a constitution is for. A constitution is to define how the society works, not the detail. The constitution should be a static document. It need not change over a period of ten years. Things like the date of the party, how often newsletters are sent, and membership prices SHOULD not be in the constitution. They do not constitute the definition of the society, just the instructions for running it. Right! - DS
Sounds like we need a separate set of operating instructions then. Preferably not written by Microsoft(TM). Who are you anyway, DS? --TL
Going by the name, and the style of rant, I'd say we're looking at a specimen of
Darth Snell here... the defender of the faith. Yes... I'll grant, maybe that is technically (or pedantically) a more *correct* definition of a 'constitution', but the question is, is it a more *useful* definition? Isn't it worth the main document of the society containing such important information
as how much membership costs, if the price is going into a file say once a year
to once every two years and changing a number up by a bit? Where's the downside? Yes, I know according to the constitution "I am a sentient constitution" etc etc, but the constitution doesn't feel pain through being altered. --WJR
_Don't we have the Big Book Of Knowledge for things like membership prices? I broadly agree that they shouldn't go in the constitution. -- NH_
- (a) Ephemera like prices and dates definitely do not belong in the constitution. As a matter of principle, as DS points out, they are an operational detail rather than a fundamental rule. On a more pragmatic note, it would mean that a full general meeting would be needed to alter prices and dates, which is wildly and unnecessarily cumbersome.
- (c) I believe that the role of the ConstitutionalCourt is to deal with ambiguities, contradictions and errors in the constitution, not to fill in omissions. There is a well-established principle in existing legal systems that courts do not make laws.
- (b) It doesn't matter who people are. All that matters is what they say. The obvious exception is if what they say refers to the speaker, in which case who they are is implicitly part of what they say. Ah, if only there were a philosopher around to explain this ...
May i turn the question round and ask exactly what benefit would be gained from writing the prices in the constitution rather than in the treasurer's book?
-- TA
Well, none, if there is a treasurer's book. However, if there is, why was there
so much bewilderment and confusion over what membership costs this year?
--WJR
Quite --TL
That is an implementation bug not a spec bug. It should be solved by a) the committee knowing the answers, this is a committee bug and b) only people who have a clue about the answers to questions, answering them. The constitution is the spec, the society is the implementation. Changing the spec to fit the implementation is rarely the correct solution. (TA? If not, who?)
_Not me. Also, if text isn't signed, it's probably not a good idea to add a signature yourself. If you get it wrong, it could cause serious confusion and upset. Also, does it really matter if it's not signed? -- TA_
Well... in a wider field of pedantry I'm not sure I'd agree with you- after all, if someone is presented with an impossible design brief- say a solar-powered deep sea submarine, then the correct solution is to telephone the person who gave you the design brief and say: "You want a _*what?*_ Are you insane?"
In this field, no, changing the specifications of the constitution may _not_ be the _correct_ solution but, since changing the spec involves modifying a piece of paper, whilst changing the implementation involves changing the way the committee thinks, the incorrect solution might be the simpler and longer-lasting one. Just a hypothesis. --WJR
As i said above, "The apparent confusion over prices stems from the facts that (a) people who are not (and never have been) the treasurer attempt to answer,
and don't really succeed and (b) the current treasurer is new, and still getting up to speed.". -- TA
_Rightio, so what we need is more transparency so that we can allow for changes of treasurer, which are likely to be more frequent than changes of fees. Can't we just persuade the Ghost in the Machine to bung membership prices on the website, as per Docsoc? --TL_
Or, even better just put the memberships and the prices in either the first newsletter of year or the freshers flyer (or both if you need space filling!). As both are on the web and in print, it should become obvious to anyone who wants to know. Plus, as contents are generally agreed with the comittee beforehand, the treasurer should be able to inform the editor of the prices before such a document is produced. -DM _Excellent! --TL_
The first newsletter of the year may well come in trinity, so that's not so much use, but the prices should definitely be on the flyer. In fact, i thought they usually were. -- TA
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CountDuckula.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001272 07620005645 020704 0 ustar apache twic Spin off from DangerMouse (in which, incidentally, Duckula was evil, whereas here he was just... well, disaster-prone), featuring the world's first Vegetarian Vampire Duck (there was an accident involving a mix-up of blood and tomato ketchup in the dark and terrible ceremony which resurrects the vampire) who, being little interested in the dark and mysteriously evil ways of his forebears (much to the distress of butler Igor, the Vulture) travelled the world in his teleporting castle along with Igor, his large and inept Nanny, and the two castle bats, Dmitri and __, occasionally harried by hapless German Wampire Hunter, Von Goosewing.
CategoryKidsTV
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CraigCharles.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000271 07627473136 020643 0 ustar apache twic - imdb:name/Charles,+Craig
He has a BaconNumber of 3. He has also been known to present the faintly KidsTV game show Robot Wars, having taken over from Jeremy Clarkson.
CategoryActor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CranhamStreet.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001425 07567377621 021063 0 ustar apache twic Location of the OUSFGLibrary Bookstacks... and of more frightening things besides.
Not to be confounded with ArlingtonDrive.
_Also a forthcoming series from the Children's Television Workshop. "Can you tell me how to get ... how to get to CranhamStreet ... how to get to CranhamStreet ..."_
Oh, I don't think children should be allowed there. -- WJR
_Nooo... too much in the way of dangerous subversive propaganda, not to mention intoxicating substances of more than one variety, within its walls (and speaking of same, how progresses that obscenely large bottle of Stroh?) for *anyone* to be entirely safe there --TL_
The Stroh has probably been drunk by the baby Cthulu that they've given a home in part of the Library Card index. It's very cute. -- WJR
CategoryOxfordGeography
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CthulhuMythos.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001202 07611642033 021112 0 ustar apache twic The cosmology and history presented in various works by HPLovecraft concerning GreatCthulhu and all his friends and relations, and frequently referring to the NecroNomicon.
- dmoz:Arts/Literature/Genres/Horror/Cthulhu_Mythos
- http://members.tripod.com/~danharms/mythos.htm The FAQ
- http://phatpages.coastalnet.com/berglund/ (an apparently rather comprehensive site, although it looks a bit iffy to TA)
- http://phatpages.coastalnet.com/berglund/siteintro.htm (introduction)
- http://phatpages.coastalnet.com/berglund/contents.htm (the contents)
The fact that there is ACthulhuHymnal is rather worrying.
_Note the second 'h' in Cthulhu._
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CyberSpace.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002436 07573232177 020337 0 ustar apache twic The opposite of 'MeatSpace', i.e. the real world as we know it (or perhaps not... see TheMatrix).
Conceptual or virtual plane created by the interconnectedness of real machines (computers), the passing of information between said computers, and the people operating them.
Sometimes used as a given for certain species of CyberPunk, of which the best-known is probably that of WilliamGibson, and the most unworthy that of TomClancy's 'Net Force' series.
Until recently MeatSpace held a certain primacy over CyberSpace, in that if a MeatSpace artefact pulled the plug out of a computer, there wasn't much CyberSpace could do in revenge. Now though, in the days of computerised information, MeatSpace seems to have deliberately surrendered its advantage. Carbon-based cretins.
TA, can you add more to this?
I could do. I'd go for a historical and textual perspective as a key to understanding the term and its contextual baggage. Shit, i didn't know i was that postmodern. -- TA
Surely the term is now in such common use that everyone knows what it means?
Well, there's JohnPerryBarlow's CyberSpaceDeclarationOfIndependence: .
Maps: , etc.
Anyway, all predicted in 1971: .
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/CyberSpaceDeclarationOfIndependence.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001426 07576442744 025300 0 ustar apache twic In 1996, JohnPerryBarlow wrote a CyberSpaceDeclarationOfIndependence.
- http://www.hax.com/CyberSpaceDeclaration.html
The introduction is irrelevant.
The beginning is awesome:
*Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather.*
'You weary giants of flesh and steel' - sweet!
Wow. Concise and uncompromising. David Blunkett should read this 'un. --TL
Rather reminds me of the opening intro from "ReBoot"... but perhaps that's the whole point. If not, then it's a rather stylish coincidence. --WJR _Very stylish. --TL_
Reminds me a bit of the HackerManifesto written in 1986.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DALEKs.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000004033 07611553711 017306 0 ustar apache twic [ascii
____
|>-|||-o------- DDD A L EE K K
-----O----- D D A A L E K K
------------- D D AAAAA L EEEE KKK
||||||||||||| D D A A L E K K
||||||||||||| DDD A A LLLL EE K K
_____________
/||||||||||||||
/|||||||||||||||\
) --|||||||||||||||
)===============(O ||||||||||||||\
) +========/----------------|
|_________________|
/ / | | | \
(/O / O |O | O O |O |)
/ / / | \ \
(/O / O | O | O O | O \)
| / / | \ |
(/O / O / O / O O | O \)
/ | | | | |
(| O / O / O / O O \ O \)
/ / | | | |
|-------------------------------|
L_______________________________|]
A Dalek, one of the Outer Space Robot People of TV's DoctorWho. Occasional inhabitant of the planet Skaro, although usually spends most of its time storming around the universe trying to conquer it all. That is, when it isn't fighting another faction of Daleks... Cloned or otherwise created from mutant Kaleds remaining from the Kaled-Thal war by the crippled semi-mutant Davros, who styled himself their supreme leader. Formerly incapable of climbing stairs, but later generations were able to rectify the fault by affixing rocket motors to their bases, or some other antigravity generator which created a heat-shimmer effect beneath their bases as they moved.
WilliamRamsden
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DM.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000630 07631246626 016610 0 ustar apache twic -DangerMouse.
_Also the acronym commonly employed for Doc Marten boots, such as are worn by the likes of 'Ace' from DoctorWho and TheaLogie._
- DuncanMartin (AndIClaimMyFivePounds)?
- Dungeon master
- Decamolar - a (preposterously large but still metric) unit of concentration; water at room temperature has a concentration of ~5.5 DM.
- The Deutsche Mark; now sadly defunct - _or is it?_
- DuncanMcCombie
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DMOZ.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001120 07573667435 017066 0 ustar apache twic DMOZ (or is it DMoz?) is the directory maintained by the OpenDirectoryProject; it tries to be the biggest and best directory on the web.
- http://www.dmoz.org
DMOZ is mostly famous by being the source for Google's directory information. This is somewhat ironic, as it is google's awesome power that has finally made human-edited directories virtually obsolete.
DMOZ gets its name from the fact that it was originally the directory associated with the NetscapeNavigator browser, which is traditionally codenamed Mozilla.
TwicI supports a SpecialURL scheme for pointing to DMOZ categories.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DNA.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000430 07557260754 016715 0 ustar apache twic - (1) Deoxyribonucleic acid, the fount of life and the source of much research and modern fiction, e.g. GregBear's BloodMusic.
- (2) The initials of DouglasAdams (Douglas Noel Adams)
Incidentally, (1) was discovered as (2) came into being (in 1952), as the man himself remarked.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DOI.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000035 07604371776 016727 0 ustar apache twic See DigitalObjectIdentifier.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DOIs.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000017 07604371762 017105 0 ustar apache twic Plural of DOI.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DS.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000252 07555461157 016621 0 ustar apache twic You are DaveSheldon AndIClaimMyFivePounds.
If this is wrong or presumptuous, don't hesitate to correct or delete the page.
_Could be one half of IanDuncanSmith?_ --WJR
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DS9.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000257 07630242124 016700 0 ustar apache twic StarTrek: DeepSpaceNine. See BabylonFive, rip-off thereof.
Alternatively, see 'the series that ended up beating BabylonFive at its own game.'
Out on DVD in the near future.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DVD.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000011 07630504537 016713 0 ustar apache twic See DVDs
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DVDs.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000611 07630513472 017102 0 ustar apache twic Digital Versatile Discs or Digital Videodiscs, depending upon whom you ask. But given that there are now audio-only D__V__Ds in Virgin Megastore, probably the former was the original idea.
Strange shiny discs which, legend has it, can produce moving pictures. This is
obviously bad magic.
_Especially now that you can get DVD-Rs --TL_
_Evil, evil since the dawn of time. But fun. --WJR_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DW.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000016 07567510765 016626 0 ustar apache twic See DoctorWho
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DWM.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000502 07556771213 016736 0 ustar apache twic Doctor Who Magazine - collective monthly bible of all things DoctorWho. Established in the 1970s-ish (1979, I am informed, originally as 'Doctor Who Weekly', then later 'Doctor Who Monthly', taking up the present name in 1987), now numbering more than 300 issues.
Impossible to get in New York, and I don't know why --TL
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DangerMouse.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001742 07631116207 020515 0 ustar apache twic *Very* nice CosgroveHall animation, featuring the exploits of the World's Most Famous Secret Agent _(Er...)_ Dangermouse, and his faithful if inept assistant Penfold the Hamster, as they save the world from the evil Baron Silas Greenback (a toad with yellow teeth), his henchman Stiletto the Mafia crow:
"Iza Dangermouse, Barone! Ees a lost his memorable!" and, of course, Nero, Greenback's evil pet caterpillar.
Dangermouse went through all kinds of weird and wonderful escapades, including being zapped into the future and arriving on
== The Planet of the Cats
and, of course, battling the Evil CountDuckula on a couple of occasions. A classic of its time, and something of which an OUSFG Bonus Video marathon would be fun- in a bonkers sort of way. -- WJR
Also the individual known as -- PINATA
Also an identity occasionally used by WilliamRamsden- who is probably not DM the WikiZen... unless there's something very weird and FightClub__esque going on here. -- WJR
CategoryKidsTV
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DanglingWikiNames.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000005551 07606611412 021641 0 ustar apache twic A DanglingWikiName is a WikiName which doesn't have a page yet. These are the names which are rendered as plain text with a hyperlinked question mark after them. There is a school of thought that DanglingWikiNames are a bad thing, as they represent a thing for which it is worth having a name for which we do not have a page; therefore, a disciple of this school strives to make pages for the names.
At the moment (7/1/2003), the top (defined as 'occuring in three or more pages') DanglingWikiNames are:
| Page | Number of Occurrences | Sites of Occurrence
| AltFic | 7 | DarkIsRisingSequence GeoffRyman IainBanks MargaretAtwoodVsSF MetaLibrary StraightFiction TheWaspFactory
| CyberPunk | 6 | BladeRunner BruceSterling CyberSpace MetaLibrary WikiTables WilliamGibson
| GregBear | 5 | AngharadGreensLibrary DNA EON NiallHarrisonsLibrary TheaLogiesLibrary
| MaryGentle | 5 | ASH AngharadGreensLibrary GoodFantasyWriters NiallHarrisonsLibrary WikiTables
| RudyRucker | 5 | ArtificialIntelligence MathematicalSF TVSFSciFiQuestion TomAnderson TomAndersonsLibrary
| JohnBarnes | 4 | NiallHarrisonsLibrary SherlockHolmesAgainstTheMartians TomAnderson TomAndersonsLibrary
| JorgeLuisBorges | 4 | SFAboutLibraries TVSFSciFiQuestion TomAnderson TomAndersonsLibrary
| LarryNiven | 4 | TVSFSciFiQuestion TomAnderson TomAndersonsLibrary WikiTables
| NealStephenson | 4 | AngharadGreensLibrary NiallHarrisonsLibrary TVSFSciFiQuestion TheMatrix
| NormanSpinrad | 4 | ArtificialIntelligence HistoricalSingularity NiallHarrisonsLibrary TheFutureOfSF
| SpecFi | 4 | CategorySFMovie MetaLibrary MichaelCrichton TVSFSciFiQuestion
| BrianStableford | 3 | NiallHarrisonsLibrary TVSFSciFiQuestion TomAnderson
| JeffNoon | 3 | NiallHarrisonsLibrary TomAnderson TomAndersonsLibrary
| JohnWyndham | 3 | NiallHarrisonsLibrary TVSFSciFiQuestion TheaLogiesLibrary
| KimStanleyRobinson | 3 | APIUM NiallHarrison NiallHarrisonsLibrary
| KurtVonnegut | 3 | NiallHarrisonsLibrary TVSFSciFiQuestion TomAndersonsLibrary
| OpenSource | 3 | CharlieStross FreeBSD FreeSoftware
| OUSFGAnnounce | 3 | BigEngine CategoryNewsgroup OUSFG
| PaulMcAuley | 3 | InterZone NiallHarrisonsLibrary TVSFSciFiQuestion
| PhilipKDick | 3 | NiallHarrisonsLibrary PKD TVSFSciFiQuestion
| SFnal | 3 | ObSF RussellTDavies TheEncyclopaediaOfSF
| SpaceOpera | 3 | MetaLibrary TheExcession WikiTables
| TerryPratchett | 3 | AngharadGreensLibrary SFAboutLibraries TomAndersonsLibrary
One day, TwicI will be able to produce an up-to-date list like this on demand. The code to do it already exists, but it's not in CGI form and it's rather slow. The fully-operational form will probably be done after the BackLinksImplementation is eventually fixed.
CategoryWiki
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DannyJohnJules.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000113 07627464747 021212 0 ustar apache twic - imdb:name/John-Jules,%20Danny
He has a BaconNumber of 2.
CategoryActor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DarkIsRisingSequence.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001116 07571731012 022321 0 ustar apache twic A spectacular series of children's fantasy books by SusanCooper.
- http://www.thelostland.com/darksequence.htm
The books are:
- OverSeaUnderStone
- TheDarkIsRising
- GreenWitch
- TheGreyKing
- SilverOnTheTree
This sequence, along with TheEarthseaTrilogy, is one of the things that makes me so furious at the current popularity of HarryPotter. JKRowling can't hold a candle to SusanCooper. -- TA _Point taken. DarkIsRising isn't trying so hard to be kids' fiction, and as such makes for excellently adult AltFic/SF by the end of the sequence. It wants reprinting! --TL_
CategoryBook(s)
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DarkSeason.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002146 07611625565 020347 0 ustar apache twic An outstanding drama written by RussellTDavies in the early nineties, it is also notable for (a) starring a young KateWinslet and (b) the fact that RussellTDavies went on to write QueerAsFolk.
The series was split into two halves. The first dealt with some crazy hypnotic computer stuff (not entirely unlike the second DemonHeadmaster book), the second with a buried monster which turned out to be a forgotten MoD war computer (dope!).
The villain was a really bad dude with Spike-like platinum hair, black shades and a limo with the registration plate N__E__M__E__515.
KateWinslet may have been the one with the kayak paddle in her rucksack. _"In case I get lost up the creek without a paddle" - I quote --TL_
Not the same as MilleniumFalls _(or whatever it was called - i seem to be the only person in the world who remembers this: a village with a secret, a gestalt entity, a golden mask, madness, all sorts of good stuff; fucking terrifying -- TA)_. Or ArchersGoon (not even remotely). _Some crazy hypnotic stuff and a few bits of hi-techery here and there, but yes, not at all the same._
CategoryKidsTV CategoryTVSF
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DaveLister.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000463 07572663622 020361 0 ustar apache twic The last human being alive (ArthurDent notwithstanding), an unwashed semi-literate slob who is (usually) the voice of human semi-decency aboard the RedDwarf. Has a possibly obscene predilection for eating normally inedible curries, like some acquaintances TL and WJR can mention...
Played by CraigCharles.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DavidEddings.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001713 07553603227 020635 0 ustar apache twic A writer of SwordAndSorcery series.
-
His notable series are:
- The Belgariad (Pawn of Prophecy, Queen of Sorcery, Magicians Gambit, Castle of Wizardry, Enchanters' Endgame)
- The Mallorean (Guardians of the West, King of the Murgos, Demon Lord of Karanda, Sorceress of Darshiva, Seeress of Kell)
- Belgarath (Belgarath the Sorceror, Polgara the Sorceress)
- The Elenium (The Diamond Throne, The Ruby Knight, The Sapphire Rose)
- The Tamuli (Domes of Fire, The Shining Ones, The Hidden City)
Opinions on Mr Eddings amongst OUSFGi are various and in some cases barely printable.
For the record, I consider him to be quite good fun as holiday reading, but not much more. WJR
_William, i've slightly edited your comment there - the concept of 'the author of a page' is probably not a useful one in a medium where pages can be edited by anyone! -- TA_
_Tom, I've edited your edit to include capitals- otherwise fine. WJR_
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DavidLangford.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000173 07632200145 021001 0 ustar apache twic Writer, fanwriter, critic and all round cog in the machine of British SF.
- http://www.ansible.co.uk
CategoryOUSFGMember
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DeadHandOfThePast.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000104 07632120311 021471 0 ustar apache twic The shadowy figure lurking in the background and pulling strings...
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DelegationOfResponsibility.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002526 07611002261 023575 0 ustar apache twic The OUSFGConstitution should be amended to allow members of the OUSFGCommittee to delegate some or all of their responsibility.
Specifically, the OUSFGCommittee may, if the delegator and delegate consent, transfer some defined part of a member of the committee's responsibility, along with appropriate authority, to another OUSFGMember. Delegates who are not committee members become honorary committee members; they may (and should) attend committee meetings, but not necessarily vote. The delegation may be revoked instantly by vote of the committee or withdrawal of the consent of either party. The society as a whole may, by a vote at a general meeting, make restrictions on the delegation of responsibility by or to a specific person, or for a specific responsibility.
_This needs writing up in a more structured and definite way._
_Comments are encouraged!_
It is possible that this might intimidate the first-years a little, if they're prevailed upon to deputise for the old lags. On the other hand, it might be used to put first-years into committee positions without overburdening them with responsibility, by delegating it to older hands, which would reduce the intimidation.
Make sure the word gets around about this wrinkle, I say. Otherwise (especially with the diminishing number of OUSFG old lags actually being in Oxford) a very good idea. --TL
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DeleteMe.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000250 07540376627 017776 0 ustar apache twic A tag for things which should be deleted.
If you want a page deleted, replace its content with 'DeleteMe' and it will, eventually and magically, happen.
CategoryWiki
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DeucharsIPA.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000756 07553041661 020404 0 ustar apache twic Deuchars' IPA, hailing from the Caledonian Brewery in Edinburgh, is one of the finest ales in the land.
It won the 2002 Champion Beer of Britain award.
It has been described as "Gyllen. Maltig & fruktig med inslag av choklad
och aromahumle. Torr & välhumlad. Lätt med lång eftersmak.".
Hmm. The reviews remark on its intense hoppiness, whereas when i drank it, i was struck by how lightly hopped and how strongly malty it was. Well, come the weekend, i'll see who's right. -- TA
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DigitalObjectIdentifier.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001243 07604372455 023020 0 ustar apache twic A DigitalObjectIdentifier is a code which uniquely identifies a digital document (such as an article in a magazine) without saying anything about where to find it. Thus, it is both better than a URL (in that it never breaks) but also worse (in that it doesn't itself get you any closer to the document).
- http://www.doi.org/
DOIs are made useful by the existence of a database which turns them into URLs. Since this database can be updated when a document is moved, broken links are avoided. This database can be accessed via a web front-end at or via the magic of TwicI, using a DOI URL (if you'll excuse the term) like .
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DisturbingDreams.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000010520 07632233646 021554 0 ustar apache twic Some people must have nice, ordinary dreams. By ordinary, I possibly mean dreams which feature neither SF or OUSFG. Feel free to add your own strange experiences of your subconscious' efforts to categorise, stamp, file, and number OUSFG...
The number of people who have chosen to name their dream reports with references to JeamLand is a little disturbing.
Remind me to write about my dream about telling Geneva about having had a dream about postapocalyptic urban spelunking. -- TA Note that i have now forgotten most of this. -- TA _Postapocalyptic urban spelunking? In the words of a certain Manuel, "Que?" --TL_
== Star Trek and The Shopping Centre Basement
I have almost zero interest in Star Trek, and I'm fairly sure I heard no mention and saw no image of it in the previous day, so why would I dream a Star Trek Movie? Worse still, why would I be Kirk?!? (Anyone making even mental observations on that will be sprinkled with curry powder and fed to the Docsoc Committee.)-- WJR _Was this a particular Star Trek movie, or one of your own invention? --TL_ One of my own invention, I believe- an incipient war between a race of cloned journalists and another race whose only source of food was cloned journalists. Kirk fell into space and had to be teleported aboard, and Spock was sacked after punching out an admiral. After this, as I said, the deserted shopping centre in the basement of ArlingtonDrive seemed almost normal. -- WJR
== Universe Selection
Possibly in a cross-breed with Zool this time, since it took the form of OUSFG,
trapped in the library, travelling through the Space/time vortex in a very "Shada"esque (ob DoctorWho) 'College Room Tardis', and on our way to some totally different universe frantically searching the library in search of a fictional universe we'd like to end up in. Tim was, I believe, cast out into the vortex for voting for "Witch Queen of Vixania". -- WJR
== Dalek Dodgems
I blame this one on the Picocon chat at last night's OUSFG. The Dalek Supreme and Davros race through the ruins of the old Kaled City (c.f. "Destiny of the Daleks") each gaining points for ramming the other's troops, whilst being themselves hunted by the other's Special Weapons or Black Daleks. Such gimmicks existed as being able to activate a magnetic field and raise certain bits of floor to block off pursuit. Sigh. -- WJR
== Lyndsey in Jeamland
- lj:elleblue/5039
Dreamed by LyndseyPickup.
== The OUSFG Dream
-lj:elleblue/2252
Dreamed by LyndseyPickup.
== Alx's Journey to Jeamland
http://munchkin.comlab.ox.ac.uk/ox.archive/ox.clubs.ousfg/0563.html
Dreamed by AlxWilliams.
Weirdly, when i logged in to find this on the newsgroup, my automatic sig selecta (tm) chose this: _""when i go to sleep, i dream "Wow. What a cool period of ulness."" -- TWIC, ox.clubs.ousfg" -- William, ox.clubs.ousfg_, which is _a quote from the thread started by Alx's dream_. Keep watching the skies, earthlings. -- TA
== Semi-animate Membership?
A still living OUSFG Member (name uncertain, but quite possibly NH or TA) donated their body to science as a joke. Their disembodied brain was then implanted into an armoured sofa, and became President of the society. -- WJR
== The name's Blair, Tony Blair.
A short sequence showing Mr Blair in his office in Downing Street attempting to fire a sniper rifle out through the skylight in the hope that the bullet would function as an ICBM and eventually hit Saddam Hussein in Baghdad. He managed to hit Jacques Chirac in Paris by mistake, but wasn't terribly upset. -- WJR
== Cinema or Plane?
Very odd little sequence which fairly gave me the heebies for a short while: I'm in a cinema where the screen's showing a point-of-view shot from the inside of a jumbo jet, with the ranks of seats being the same style as in the cinema. Then for no apparent reason, the seats in the _cinema_ seem to be moving in the same way as they do when a plane's taking off, and I get some view of a night sky through which the plane is flying. Then I notice the plane appears to be breaking up - suddenly there's a massive explosion, and everything's falling. I recall rather confusedly that this must have something to do with the gelignite-soap as produced by Project Mayhem in FightClub... unfortunately, that's when my alarm went off, so I have no idea how the dream might've continued. --TL
== From yonks ago
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~shug1249/dreams.shtml
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DoYouHaveAnyStraw.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002657 07632134760 021653 0 ustar apache twic This is an OUSFGMeme, created circa 1998.
It was a bit of a dead-end gedanken; Archie was sat in Number5OldOldHall, thinking, cradling a cup of GunpowderTea while everyone else was probably bickering loudly over a game of SettlersOfCatan. And it occurred to him : "what if I suddenly, for some reason, had to acquire a cat? And I was given only an hour to accomplish this, or something bad would happen? Would I be able to do it?".
The consensus was : yes, probably. At the time, there was a tutor who taught Russian, living in Norham Gardens whose cat wandered around freely seeking attention.
But straw was a different matter.
-What exactly _was_ straw?
-Was it available at that time of year?
-Was it some kind of grass that required treatment, most likely lasting more than the allotted one hour time period?
-Where were Oxford's nearest fields?
-Which ones contained straw?
-Did we have the required means of labour and transportation, to get there and back within the hour?
We were worried, because this wasn't just about straw. This was about suddenly desperately needing _something_ within a specified time period, or something _bad_ would happen.
HellSoc adopted "Do You Have Any Straw?" for an unsettling LMH poster campaign.
RunLolaRun is "Do You Have Any Straw?", with "straw" replaced by "100,000 marks".
In the case of the BlairGovernment, the answer is "Yes, unfortunately."
See also: TerroristScenarios / IfTerroristsBurstIn
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DocSoc.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001434 07625173221 017456 0 ustar apache twic The Oxford University Doctor Who and Cult Television Society _(aka OUWho, DocSoc or Whosoc --TL)_
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~whosoc
Virtues of the society- a President and Vice-President who are wonderful beings
of great power and wisdom. We show DoctorWho, Blake's 7 and others, including classic films with cult status such as "EnemyMine", "WithnailAndI" and "LesVisiteurs", and have nice flame wars to keep us warm in the winter.
Vices of the society- lusts for curry and _BuffyTheVampireSlayer_ which can presumably only be jointly satisfied by the serving of curried Sarah Michelle Gellar- or curried David Boreanaz, for those amongst us who eat only vegetables.
_Also, a tendency to get rather pedantic at the slightest provocation - a vice shared with certain cadres of OUSFG? --TL_
WJR
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DocsocNote.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000210 07563041726 020340 0 ustar apache twic (So called because only Docsoci will get this)
Mat et al: Mat and company. Not to be confused with 'Al and Mat'... Fear, fear. -- WJR
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DoctorWho.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000012373 07627443050 020222 0 ustar apache twic The SFX 2002 Poll proclaims the good Doctor as the best science fiction character of all time! But who's it all about? Find out here!
_Never underestimate the power of block voting -- NH, exiting left, rapidly_ That's what they said about the BBC award it got moons ago, and it wasn't true. Plus, the competition was hardly the best - Napoleon Solo and Colonel O'Neill from S__G-1 haven't entered the public consciousness to anything like the same degree... --TL
In the words of the magazine's editor:
_It just goes to prove that there is a certain magic to the character..._
A Police Box, a madman with a huge scarf - incorrectly tied, apparently(!), a load of dustbins with sink plungers saying in stilted voices 'E__X-T__E__R-M__I__N-A__T__E'? - the DALEKs, as I'm sure you all know.
Oh, it's so much more than that.
Go see:
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~whosoc | http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho | http://nitro9.earth.uni.edu/doctor/ | http://www.timelord.co.uk
At once!
Also try
http://www.gallifreyone.com or http://users.ox.ac.uk/~whosoc/whogoeswhere.html --WJR
http://www.nyder.com/ (New!) is a particular (if rather disturbing) favourite of mine --TL
[img http://www.nyder.com/graphics/home.gif See above. Cute, eh?]
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/1778/whovian.html is... odd. -- WJR
If you want a plot synopsis... well, where have you been for the last thirty-nine years? Anyway, a runaway dissident from the planet Gallifrey, known only as the 'Doctor', a member of a race of highly advanced telepathic long-lived
humanoids who have founded an order of Time Lords, having stolen (a rather out-of-date and unreliable example of) one of their space/time travel machines, a TARDIS, arrives on Earth and, through the more or less constant interruption of various humans and others, his own curiosity and sense of justice, travels
through the boundless seas of space and time.
26 years on television, one TV movie revival, numerous 'specials' (some admittedly not so 'special), and an ongoing series in books and CDs. And DVDs! And DWM comic strips! Come on, there's a whole universe to explore!
DoctorWho is one of the better examples of SciFi, and occasionally manages to
be rather good SF as well, mainly because, like FarScape, it couldn't really
care less about conforming to the 'rules' of its genre. It is actually, and heartily ironically for those little OUSFG kniggets who can't bear the mention
of it, one of the things beneath the OUSFG umbrella which actually supports
the term 'Speculative Fiction' better than it supports the term 'Science Fiction', because 'Science' really has very little to do with it.
This, in my view, is a *good thing.* What it means is that the emphasis is
heavily on the 'Fiction'. DoctorWho is about telling stories. Sometimes comedy, sometimes tragedy, sometimes space opera, sometimes allegory or even historical drama. Science plays a part, it is the 'new' magic after all, and getting around from the 21st Century to the 18th without advanced science and technology would be a trifle tricky. You couldn't do it on the Oxford buses. However, unlike a number of 'HardSF' books I've read, it rarely to never stops in mid-narrative flow, holds a hand out and says "Forget the story, I want to tell you how to achieve escape velocity in a bucket." Science is explained and gone into only when it is useful or necessary to the plot. The plot is not a device for wandering through the science. Give it a try! - WJR
Indeed: for the possibilities are endless, and that's the genius of a good genre or sub-genre. *Bring it back!* --TL
The Doctor has been played by many different actors on stage and screen over the years, ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous (Hello, Mr Broadbent!). However, the eight 'official' Doctors (tu whit those who appeared in licensed BBC productions intended as "Doctor Who") are:
WilliamHartnell | PatrickTroughton | JonPertwee | TomBaker | PeterDavison | ColinBaker | SylvesterMcCoy | PaulMcGann
"Any magic sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from technology." The Doctor, 'Battlefield'
"There are worlds out there where the sky is burning.
where the sea's asleep and the rivers dream,
people made of smoke and cities made of song.
somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice,
and somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on Ace, we've got work to do."
The Doctor, 'Survival'
- New! The TARDIS has been saved from the sticky fingers of the Metropolitan Police... Three cheers! TL
- Even newer! Can Tom Baker (he of the teeth and the scarf) cut it as HarryPotter film's Dumbledore? TL
- Hot off the press (sort of)! Unique in Who history, the remake of a 'lost' story - with a new Doctor! (Note the 'I am not worthy!' pose of the lead actor in the full-cast photograph)
- My Life as A Dalek- at least the BBC've not forgotten the 40th Anniversary entirely... pity they couldn't spell Mark Gatiss, though.
CategoryTVSF
CategoryBritishTVSF
CategoryBook
CategoryRadioProgramme (although the radio plays weren't much cop)
CategorySFMovie (two of them, with Peter Cushing)
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DontPanic.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000273 07571145461 020170 0 ustar apache twic Phrase of great importance, which appears in 'large, friendly letters' on the front cover of TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy.
The title of DouglasAdams' biography, written by NeilGaiman.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DotHtaccess.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000210 07632135710 020476 0 ustar apache twic Fear the awesome (but poorly documented) power of .htaccess files!
- http://httpd.apache.org/docs/howto/htaccess.html
CategoryGeekery
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DoubleSpacesAfterFullStops.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000004156 07565252234 023524 0 ustar apache twic In the olden days, people used typewriters: these were mechanical contrivances which coupled a keyboard to what was technically known as the 'worky bits', with the result that striking a key usually resulted in the impression of a letter on a piece of paper. These contraptions produced text in a primitive fixed-width font, with inconsistent spacing, which was rather hard on the eye. In particular, ends of sentences were not clear; to make them more obvious, the convention of typing two spaces after the full stop (instead of one) was adopted.
These days, people use offset litho, laser printers and internets. These systems have fully-operational typographical mechanisms, and so are able to make the ends of sentences perfectly clear.
So, if you are writing on a typewriter, use DoubleSpacesAfterFullStops. If you are writing on any other medium *don't*.
As an aside, the HTML specification calls for all linear whitespace (eg sequences of spaces) to be normalised to a single space for presentation, so even if you do use DoubleSpacesAfterFullStops, it won't make any difference to how the page looks.
I know that- in the case of HTML it's a little irritating actually; for aesthetic purposes some more user friendly method of applying multiple spaces would be helpful, but I digress. I only use double spacing because, to me, when I'm scanning a page to edit it, it makes it simpler to break down into sentences and find what I'm looking for. I can't see that it makes anything harder for other users. -- WJR
Yeah, fair enough. Have you tried non-breaking space escapes? Use an ampersand followed by the four-letter code 'nbsp' followed by a semicolon. It doesn't play well with wiki, though: you can type them, and they show up in the page view as the code written out in full, but when they come back to an edit box, they've been magically turned into actual spaces, and then when you submit the edit, they stay normal spaces, and you're back to square one. Of course, the real solution is to find a proper way to do whatever it is you're trying to do. You should probably learn CascadingStyleSheets or something. -- TA
CategoryTypography
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DougNaylor.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000233 07571135104 020361 0 ustar apache twic Co-writer of the first six series of RedDwarf and main writer with irregular assistance from other writers of the two more recent series.
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DouglasAdams.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000170 07555471133 020651 0 ustar apache twic The late DouglasAdams, writer of TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy.
Sometimes known by his initials, DNA.
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DownAndOutInTheMagicKingdom.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000714 07627761772 023550 0 ustar apache twic A novel by CoryDoctorow.
- http://www.craphound.com/down/ (full text online!)
_I'm surprised this didn't make it to NTK; Dave Green is certainly aware of it, and it caused a moderate amount of fuss in the media. In short, the guy released his novel online free, gratis, under a creative commons licence. -- NH_
It's made it to Slashdot: here's a brand new review article:
CategoryNovel
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/DuncanMartin.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002224 07632144325 020666 0 ustar apache twic DuncanMartin is an ex-OUSFGPresident, his term starting Trinity 97 and ending Hilary 98. Also Librarian from Michelmas 96 to Hilary 98.
-_When I started turning up to OUSFG, he always sat quietly with his combats, shades and strange hairstyle. He was also a bit quiet. I thought he was a terrorist. - AM_
-- You never told me that before. The shades were reactolite specs that had lost their ability to do what the name suggests. --DM
---_"Excuse me, but you look like a terrorist" doesn't go down too well, particularly with terrorists. I've only recently come to the conclusion you're mostly harmless. - AM_:
---- I bet you've never tried it. It might go down rather well. I think I'd have taken it as a compliment!
From http://www.googlism.com
- duncan martin is an active teacher as well as performer
- duncan martin is a senior lecturer in chemical engineering at ul
- duncan martin is lieutenant william hodgson mc
- duncan martin is a vice president at erisk consulting
- duncan martin is the convenor
_the conveyer? sounds like a bad superhero!_
- duncan martin is a teacher in the north kitsap school district
CategoryOUSFGMember CategoryWikizen
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/EON.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000614 07555465171 016736 0 ustar apache twic A book by GregBear.
-
-
Very bizarre, a giant hollowed asteroid appears above Earth and the insides appear to be bigger than the outside, cue some maths and a rather unsatisfactory ending. --AG
Yes, there's a certain TV programme where a police box happens to be bigger on the inside than the outside, and it's far more entertaining --TL
CategoryBook
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ESA.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001616 07576331777 016737 0 ustar apache twic Acronym for European Space Agency, the EU's equivalent of NASA.
See:
- http://www.esa.int/
Thus far, not doing too well (the Ariane rockets keep breaking down), but we can still hope for the future.
Arianespace, the commercial arm of ESA, has over 50% of the world market for launches to geosynchronous orbit (they'd have more if the US government didn't pressure US companies into using US launchers). Mind you, the Russians and Chinese can do it cheaper, and Arianespace is losing ground._
They have had two accidents: , . To be fair, this is a new version of Ariane 5, the 5-ESCA, with several new bits. The normal Ariane 5 is still perfectly reliable. Honest!
One of the other ways Britain can hold her own against the USA... By teaming up with the rest of europe. Maybe this is the way of the future.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ETC.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000510 07571003031 016700 0 ustar apache twic Etc
Et Caetera
http://www.googlefight.com/cgi-bin/compare.pl?q1=et+cetera&q2=et+caetera&B1=Make+a+fight%21&compare=1&langue=us
And so on. This immortal abbreviation now forms the final word of that paragon of literature, *ZOOL*, as most recently expressed on this nice shiny Wiki, in the form of ZoolV - The Final Front Ear
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/EXCESSION.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000057 07555227564 017660 0 ustar apache twic See TheExcession.
Also see WikiNameWrangling.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/EagleAndChild.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000210 07571207777 020715 0 ustar apache twic Pub on StGiles. Lurking place of the InkLings. Also possibly the lurking place of a one-time rival to DocSoc.
CategoryOxfordGeography
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/EarthIsTheCradleOfHumanityButOneCannotRemainInTheCradleForever.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000740 07617037252 032436 0 ustar apache twic KonstantinTsiolkovsky said this in 1895. Since he said it in Russian, there are various translations; others include "Earth is the cradle of _humanity_ ..." and "Earth is the cradle of _the mind_ ...".
A very great deal of SF revolves around this sentiment.
Alternative singalong version, from ReturnToTheForbiddenPlanet:
"We gotta get out into space / if it's the last thing we ever do / we gotta
get out into space / girl there's a better life for me and you"
CategoryQuote
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/EarthSea.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000671 07572122077 020006 0 ustar apache twic The world created by UrsulaLeGuin as a setting for TheEarthseaTrilogy.
[img http://urchin.earth.li/~twic/earthsea-map.jpeg A map of Earthsea]
EarthSea is a archipelago, with placenames that could have been imported in bulk from the Outer Hebrides.
Earthsea, its placenames and multitudes of islands and seas in particular, has incredible power for me. It's probably due to spending lots of time on the north Welsh coast as a child. -- TA
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/EarthTimeScale.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000156 07567156701 021147 0 ustar apache twic Persons who know, write.
WJR
If in doubt, blame it on the Babylonians. Or the Romans --TL
_Or Tim._ -- WJR
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/EastEnders.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000402 07555325214 020336 0 ustar apache twic Final convincing proof that the universe has gone mad.
Or at least, very very depressed --TL
Or possibly just stupid. -- TA
I'm afraid we're too late, far too late. The universe, I can now reveal, is running MicrosoftWindows98. Prepare to crash. --WJR
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/EatingInNewYork.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001076 07625375375 021341 0 ustar apache twic New York City has more places to eat, drink, snack and so on than you can shake a 16-mile-long stick at.
_Some recommendations will be coming soon, along with addresses... please wait... page under construction._
- *Restaurants*
-- _European_
-- _African_
-- _Asian (Middle East)_ _('Levantine')_
-- _Asian (Far East)_ _('Oriental')_
-- _American_
- *Chain Eateries*
- *Other Eateries*
-- _Bagel Shops_
-- _Other Snack Shops_
http://www.zagat.com
is the definitive Good Pub Guide equivalent for New York's restaurants and other miscellaneous eateries.
NewYorkIndex
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/EatingInOxford.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000021236 07627171044 021171 0 ustar apache twic Oxford's not a bad place to eat, considering it is a fairly small provincial town.
It's important to remember that qualifying clause "considering it's a fairly small provincial town"; it's also important to remember that Oxford's range of restaurants is influenced by its large student population, so that whilst there area large number of cheap and cheerful eateries (many of which are very good), there are very few, if any, good top-end restaurants.
As is traditional, let's divide things up by geographical origin of cuisine, starting at the Greenwich meridian and going east.
And some random links:
- http://freespace.virgin.net/internet.pages/oxfordeats/
- http://jsdhp1.kek.jp/~unno/unnoHome/SurvivalOxford.html
- http://urchin.earth.li/~sax/general/food/
- http://www.earth.li/~kake/vegan-oxford/
Note that the listing below includes assessments of quality; these are of course completely subjective and, moreover, made by more than one person, so they are not necessarily even internally consistent. Maybe we should start noting personal ratings, say ratings on a FivePointScale, in the form [4/5 TA ].
*British*
*Pubs with Food*
- The Radcliffe Arms (Cranham St, Jericho) is a well-known student haunt. Decent, cheap food, but a poor selection of beer. Becoming less cheap.
- The Goose (Gloucester Green, Centre) is a trendy Bass Ikea pub. Good, cheap food, but incredibly unreliable: you can turn up and they will say they are serving food until you try and order, when they will tell you the kitchen is closed or give you the wrong food.
- The Turf (Holywell St, Centre) is the best pub in Oxford bar none - first-rate beer and pretty good food too.
- The King's Arms (Corner of Holywell St and Parks Rd, Centre) verges on being 'trendy', but it does have a good range of food.
- Three Goats Heads (St Michael's St, Centre) has terrible, terrible food, okay beer and a delightfully broad selection of generic spirits (including generic Southern Comfort and Archers).
- The Gardeners Arms on Plantation Road appears to serve Vege and Vegan food. A far cry from there old steak and onion baguettes.
*French*
- Le Petit Blanc (Walton St, Jericho; ) is a swanky brasserie run (or at least owned) by RaymondBlanc. _It is overpriced and the food is not at all special; avoid. -- TA_ _I disagree - the food is, in my opinion, absolutely fantastic. Very expensive, but worth the money. -- JoCharman_
- La Gousse d'Ail (, location unknown but north) is a wildly overpriced Gallic nonsense. It is also either soon to close or recently closed, or something.
- Ma Belle (Blue Boar St, Centre) is a French place of average price and unexceptional quality. Some people quite like it, but others don't. _I think it's rubbish. -- TA_ _It's quite a comfy atmosphere, but too expensive for the average student, I think --TL_
- Pierre Victoire (Little Clarendon St, North-Centre) has excellent food and reasonable prices (about 8ukp for a main).
*Italian*
*Pizzerias*
Pizzerias are separated from 'proper' Italian restaurants, because Pizza Hut _et al_ cannot honestly be described as Italian.
- Pizza Hut (George St etc, Centre) is bloody naff rubbish, but they do have the ice-cream factory.
- The Gourmet Pizza Company (Gloucester Green, Centre) is very good, with an endearingly eclectic selection of toppings.
- Bella Pasta (George St, Centre) _(take note of the BellaPastaQuestion)_
- ASK (George St, Centre; yes, that _is_ what it's called) verges on the proper Italian, and they do takeaways. Recommended --TL It's nothing like proper Italian; the pizza is almost, but not quite, almost as good as what you can buy in Tesco -- TA
- Marco's (Cowley Rd, East Oxford) used to be called Marco and Marco's; draw your own conclusions. It's okay, not great, and doesn't take cards - cash or cheque only. Didn't OUSFG take StephenBaxter there once? Or was that MMS?
- Pizza Express (Golden Cross, off Cornmarket, Centre) I know it's another chain eatery, but it's rather nice as far as pizzerias go. Veggies beware: what they call 'veggie' on the menu can be somewhat random. Somewhat expensive, but good fun with a group. --TL
*Eastern European*
- Er, that Polish place (Cowley Rd, East Oxford).
*Mediterranean*
This term refers to the mish-mash of Greek, Turkish, Lebanese etc that turns up in various places. Most have hookah pipes; some have belly-dancers.
- Al Salaam (Hythe Bridge St?, West Oxford) is probably the best mediterranean in town. Very properly Lebanese.
- Euphrates (Cowley Rd, East Oxford) is pretty good. Has belly-dancers. Is run by Kurds, which informs the food.
- Al Shami (?, Jericho) is okay. Insane selection of feta-based desserts.
- Bar Meze (Headington High St?, Headington) is so-so. The food's not great, but the decor has to be seen to be believed (especially the bathrooms).
- Kazbar (Cowley Rd, East Oxford) is good fun, if you want to sit in a moroccan-style conservatory and eat pretty good meze (and, let's face it, who doesn't?). The weekday lunch deal is good value.
- Restaurant Du Liban (Broad St, Centre) is probably the best place to go with a group: the fare's pretty good, even for veggies, but the atmosphere is occasionally a bit manic. Has belly-dancing nights, allegedly. --TL
*Indian*
- The Moonlight Tandoori (Cowley Rd, East Oxford) is the best of the Cowley Rd Indians (probably).
- Aziz (Cowley Rd, East Oxford) is highly overrated.
- Saffron (Woodstock Rd?, Summertown) has pretty good food and disquietingly classy decor. Bizarrely, it also has a variety of French dishes on the menu.
- The Dhaka Brasserie (Cowley Rd, East Oxford) is a bit of a paradox; the food is very tasty, but possibly somewhat infectious. Oh, and they've got very sparkly walls.
- Chutney's (New Inn Hall Street?, Centre) is the default curry destination if you're anywhere near the centre of town. Decent vegetarian selection, it is said. _yes, but hot-hot-hot! --TL_
- Cafe Turmeric (Park End St, West Oxford), is a goodish curry-place with a reasonable selection of stuff, even if you're a veggie. The Daily Info has given it a good write-up, and having been there myself with the guy who is to curry as some idiots are to wrestling crocodiles, I can't fault it for having anything other than slightly bland decor. --TL _What a way to describe Mat et al! [DocsocNote] Anyway, I'm sure the crocodiles are a lot nicer to eat._ -- WJR []~)
- Bombay (82 Walton St, Jericho) has just been given five stars from the OxfordStudent for its chicken tikka masala. /The Bombay is lovely, and they let you bring your own booze. Nice people, lovely food, own booze. Shame that the OxStu will be encouraging people to go to it, so filling all the tables./ - DS
*Chinese*
- Paddyfields (Hythe Bridge St, West Oxford) is very nice, with a good all you can eat. One day, OUSFG *will* go there.
- ChopSticks (Cowley Rd, East Oxford; near where Sinoco used to be) has very good all you can eat. Interesting carved root vegetables. Just don't get distracted on the duck pancakes and forget there is another course to come!
- Liason (Castle St, West Oxford) is really nice, not as expensive as it looks (not much more than £20/head with 3 bottles of wine between 5)
- Pink Giraffe (St Clements, Centre) Not bad at all on the vegetarian front, if spicy, and fun: genuinely Chinese in style. Does takeaways, but don't let that put you off. --TL Really excellent service as well. -- WJR
*Thai*
- The Oxford Thai (Cowley Rd, East Oxford) is cheap, good, and very, very cheap. Also quite cheap.
- The Chiang Mai Kitchen (off High Street, Centre) is the best of the Thai restaurants in Oxford, but also the most expensive.
- The Thai Orchid (St Clements, Centre) may be more expensive than the Chiang Mai Kitchen.
- Bangkok House (Hythe Bridge St, West Oxford)
- Gulf of Siam (Hythe Bridge St, West Oxford)
*Japanese*
- Gashi Gashi (Cowley Rd, East Oxford) is excellent; all sorts of Japanese stuff, decent prices, and cheap and copious sushi during happy hour on saturdays. The guy who runs it's a bit crazy, but there you go.
- Edamame (Holywell St, Centre) is a bit more enigmatic; comments from people who've been there more than once are welcome. It seems to be more upper-crust than Gashi Gashi, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's better, just more expensive. _I've been to Edamame lots at lunchtime (although never in the evening when the menu changes) and it's always been very good even if the queue can get pretty long. Having tried a range of stuff in Edamame was useful when I went to Japan and had to order food based on pictures/plastic food! The food was actually really similar (in taste as well as appearance) although I've not been there since returning so a change to the wiki will soon be in order :-)_ --AG
CategoryOxfordGeography
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/EnemyMine.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000251 07625222050 020161 0 ustar apache twic
Rugged Earthly warrior meets reptilian adversary on a death planet (_not_ Zool), in a morality tale of tolerance and weird stuff.
CategorySFMovie
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ExplodingWikiDay.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002124 07625162612 021516 0 ustar apache twic The first ExplodingWikiDay was 23rd October 2002. Building work in an experimental version of TwicI went catastrophically wrong, leading to the web daemon spawning legions of ever-growing TwicI processes which gobbled up hundreds of megabytes of virtual memory (one even reached a gigabyte) and slowing urchin down to a crawl in the process. In fact, there were two separate but similar incidents that day, suggesting some kind of fundamental instability in the fabric of the code (or in the programmer). The effect on urchin made it difficult for the authorities to locate and terminate the renegade processes, leading to serious unrest.
In the aftermath, the authorities commanded that no further work could be done on TwicI until future such disasters could be prevented. A means to do so has now been found, so the great work can begin again.
_Uh oh..._ --WJR _Just don't make it too clever. It could take you over, it could take the universe over...! --TL_
Don't worry, i'm using BradleysBromide. Anyway, nothing written in perl will ever be clever enough to take very much over. -- TA
CategoryWiki
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/FAQ.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000325 07551637204 016715 0 ustar apache twic Originally, a list of Frequently Asked Questions, with answers. Nowadays, the questions are only notionally frequently asked; the FAQ is often written to preempt questions which are likely to be frequently asked.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/FM.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001104 07565221104 016575 0 ustar apache twic FM: Frequency Modulation. A radio system introduced as a more modern equivalent to Long Wave and Medium Wave (which are AM). FM provides the option of Stereo sound (where transmitted) and generally increased audio quality. On the other hand, there are still areas of the country where FM reception is not perfect, and for a long time it was non-existent in some areas. Probably the Digital of its day.
_Is it not possible to do stereo with AM? Perhaps it was never done, but i don't *think* it's a technical limitation._
_And what's this with the DoubleSpacesAfterFullStops?_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/FTL.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000025 07554515721 016732 0 ustar apache twic See FasterThanLight.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/FallenDragon.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000357 07607263241 020645 0 ustar apache twic A book by PeterFHamilton.
-
- (UK), (USA)
Great, and really not that doorstop-like -- AG
Except for in shape.
It is 630 pages long in the US hardback edition.
CategoryBook
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/FantasyNovelsSetInThePast.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001526 07611030477 023336 0 ustar apache twic There are millions of fantasy novels set in pseudo-medieval or -dark-ages environments, but those aren't actually our world. Are there any set in the historical past?
_Well, there's that dreadful novel TomAnderson was given as homework for that read-a-random-book thing we did; that was explicitly set at some point in the 13th century (ish)._ Was that fantasy, or just a historical romance? _Not sure; the lazy sod never finished reading it._
The title short by Connie Willis, 'Fire Watch', tho' it's set in the 1940s, is just about ideal. A historian of the future is sent back to the past for historical research, and ends up being part of a fire-watch team during the Blitz. --TL
_MaryGentle's_ Ash _comes to mind. Sort of -- NH_
(NB WikiText should mention the use of alternating italics as a method for illustrating real or socratic dialogue.)
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/FarScape.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000010426 07577200420 017767 0 ustar apache twic _My name is John Crichton. An astronaut. Three years ago, I got shot through a wormhole. I'm in a distant part of the universe, aboard this living ship of escaped prisoners...my friends. I've made enemies - powerful, dangerous. Now all I want is to find a way home, to warn Earth. Look upwards, and share the wonders I have seen._ - opening narration, season four.
On discovering that FarscapeIsCancelled, TomAnderson asked why we should care. There are several reasons.
1. _Farscape_ is funny, in a pop-culture-referencing self-aware way. John Crichton is a brash, swaggering, bucaneer. He drinks, takes drugs, and blows stuff up. He's the perfect tour guide to the show's world.
- Crichton: I want an apology.
- Tolvan: I want the truth.
- Crichton: You can't handle the... [beat] Look, let's cut the crap, let's cut to the chase. Stick this critter on my face.
2. _Farscape_ is cool. _Farscape_ is pure pulp space opera, it's just very good pure pulp space opera. It's got great stories. Living spaceships that get pregnant, wormholes used as weapons, god-like aliens, blaster fights...you name it, it's here.
3. A friend of mine once described the show as "...experimental. Emphasis on the 'mental'". This is a fair description; _Farscape_ has done some weird-ass shit, including muppets in bondage gear, a half-cartoon episode, and having the lead character go stark raving bonkers and kill other characters. Later, Crichton gets duplicated. The duplicate proceeds to hang around for most of the season, confusing matters immensely. The important thing is, the characters tend to be smart about the situations they find themselves in; so in the obligatory 'superintelligent beings convince Crichton he's back on earth' episode, Crichton is fooled for approximately two minutes, after which he's sussed out what's going on and is trying to figure out a way to stop it.
A good episode guide is here: http://www.snurcher.com/
_Particularly recommended by me --TL_
Personal recommended episodes:
- 'Scratch n Sniff' - _Farscape_ does _LockStock_
- '...Different Destinations' - a _good_ time travel story
- 'Crichton Kicks' - Crichton plays Robinson Crusoe
- 'UnrealizedReality'
Like most other TV shows, though, it's fair to say you're only going to get hooked if you sit down and watch it regularly for several weeks, and give yourself a chance to get to know the characters and the setting.
Is _Farscape_ great SF? Probably not (although it definitely has its moments, like the aforementioned '...Different Destinations', and it's a few steps above almost any other TV show you care to name thanks to (a) the absence of reset buttons and (b) the characters being, y'know, actual characters). But it's damn fine entertainment. Damn fine.
_Right. So, would you say it was good in the way that BabylonFive was good?_
No. The strength of B5 was its plotting; the whole 'five year arc', and so forth. _Farscape_ doesn't have that. There's an ongoing story, but there's no indication that it's planned out very far in advance, which means that some of the plot twists can seem downright bizarre. Every time, though, the show's writers have managed to surprise me and take the plot somewhere interesting.
And on the other hand, things like dialogue, humour and acting often sucked in B5, whereas on _Farscape_ they are almost always top-notch.
_More like Lexx?_
I suppose it's vaguely like Lexx. But more tasteful.
_What?_
There aren't really any reference points. _Blake's Seven_ gets mentioned because the crew of Moya, like the crew of the Liberator, argue amongst themselves as often as they work together, but that's really a superficial similarity.
_I get the impression that it's space opera with a low SF content, but also very unlike StarTrek in every way imaginable. None of which makes me think that it's actually any *good* ._
As ever, it depends how you're defining the 'S' in SF, and what you define as 'good'. You're right that _Farscape_ is in no way, shape or form anything resembling HardSF (but then, neither are StarTrek or B5). It took me a while to cotton on to this, but in a way the show works better if you take it as a fantasy, and just don't worry about the rules. _Farscape_ is not about intellectual exercises, it's about the characters, and it's about the ride.
(It does do a good line in SensaWunda, though).
CategoryTVSF
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/FarscapeIsCancelled.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001306 07631123517 022115 0 ustar apache twic FarScape has been cancelled.
-http://www.britangie.34sp.com/IMAGES/Animation1.gif
-http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/farscape/gallery/wanted/index.shtml has some very cool 'campaign' posters.
Can someone (eg NiallHarrison, currently the only other wikizen) explain why FarScape was great?
Personally, i'm not bothered; i didn't think much of the show, but then i never actually watched it or anything (i saw one episode from the middle of an early season - some people got turned into statues, which was actually pretty cool, but the rest of it was dross). Still, some people liked it, and it wasn't actually doing me any harm. -- TomAnderson
And now, FireflyIsCancelled. It's almost like they were out to get us!
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/FasterThanLight.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001454 07554744472 021352 0 ustar apache twic Faster Than Light Travel: Ever since that killjoy Einstein claimed that light speed was the fastest possible speed, science fiction has featured ways of getting around it, typically by shortening the journey through folding space
(Space Warping), or sidestepping into another dimension entirely (Hyperspace).
See for a comprehensive classification of FTL travel systems.
For our real-life space agencies to ever manage to get anywhere beyond the Moon, we may require scientists to get to work on a practical FTL drive.
_And here was I thinking that the 'T' in 'FTL' stands for 'Than', and not 'Travel'... - NH_
It does. -- TA
However, 'Travel' is a noun, and thus merits capitalisation in a header or
when being used as part of a proper name. 'Than' isn't. --WJR
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/FasterthanLightTravel.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000011 07554516021 022537 0 ustar apache twic DeleteMe
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/FeatureFilm.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000732 07571526220 020510 0 ustar apache twic A motion picture which isn't too short.
The term 'Feature Presentation' generally flashes up on the silver screen of the cinema after around ten minutes of adverts (occasionally less, occasionally more, invariably feels like more) to denote that the actual film you have come to see is imminent. Five more minutes of adverts and trailers then follow.
Traditionally, accompanied by a cheap, short film; the feature was known as the A movie, and the other one as a BMovie.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/FightClub.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001602 07612024073 020144 0 ustar apache twic A book (written by ChuckPalahniuk) and movie (screenplay by JimUhls and directed by DavidFincher) about, well, a FightClub. It has several big ideas, few of which can be revealed without spoilage. Suffice it to say, it's more philosophical than its reputation (if you are hoping for lots of fighting, you will be disappointed).
- isbn:0805062971
- imdb:title/0137523
- dmoz:Arts/Movies/Titles/F/Fight_Club
- http://www.fightclub.co.uk/
- http://www.fightclub.com/
- http://www.project-mayhem.ndo.co.uk/
- http://www.compsoc.man.ac.uk/~heather/mustard/text/fcshoot (the script)
There are some great FightClubQuotes.
The closing scene has one of the most romantic backdrops ever seen.
The soundtrack features 'Where is my mind' by ThePixies (over the closing titles) and the awesome 'ThisIsYourLife' by the DustBrothers (on the theatrical trailer).
CategoryBook
CategoryMovie (CategorySFMovie?)
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/FightClubQuotes.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002407 07573724231 021362 0 ustar apache twic FightClub has some great quotes. Some have been recycled as part of 'ThisIsYourLife'.
- The first rule of fight club is - you don't talk about fight club. The second rule of fight club is - *you don't talk about fight club*.
- If this is your first night, you have to fight. (ThisIsYourLife)
- This is your life, good to the last drop, doesn't get any better than this. (ThisIsYourLife; possibly not in the film ...)
- This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time. (ThisIsYourLife)
- Only after disaster can we be resurected; only after you've lost everything you are free to do anything. (ThisIsYourLife)
- You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake: you are the same decaying organic matter as everything else. (ThisIsYourLife)
- *You have to give up.* (ThisIsYourLife)
- You have to realize that someday you will die, and until you know that you are useless. (ThisIsYourLife)
- I say, _evolve_, and let the chips fall where they may. (ThisIsYourLife)
- If you wake up at a different time and in a different place, could you wake up as a different person?
- When deep space exploration ramps up, it will be corporations that name everything. The IBM Stellar Sphere. The Phiilip Morris Galaxy. Planet Starbucks. (this deserves to be one of the OUSFGishTShirtSlogans --TL)
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/FineNewsSources.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000550 07614773561 021377 0 ustar apache twic Everyone knows the essential nutrients for life: protein, fat, carbohydrate, vitamins, minerals and _news_. FineNewsSources are essential for your wellbeing.
You will like to read:
- http://www.theonion.com/
- http://www.framleyexaminer.com/
- http://www.trousers.co.uk/trousers/index.html
- http://www.thebrainstrust.co.uk
For honest news about our world.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/FireFly.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000007604 07573204460 017653 0 ustar apache twic *What It Is*
_Firefly_ is JossWhedon's attempt at a TV SF series. It follows the adventures of the smuggler ship Serenity and her crew.
*Notable Features*
Based on the pilot episode and comments made by JossWhedon in interviews, several things about the show are of note:
- Like his previous TV shows _BuffyTheVampireSlayer_ (BtVS) and _AngelTheSeries_ (AtS), _Firefly_ seems to be 'speculative fiction as metaphor and allegory'
FireFly focuses on the reconstruction of identity following a crisis: the main characters were on the losing side in a civil war, and are trying to work out where or if they fit in to the new regime. Read this _New York Times_ interview with JossWhedon: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/22/magazine/22WHEDON.html (I would, gladly, but the New York Times has this silly registration policy... --TL)
A cynic might interpret this as meaning that FireFly is not really SF, but merely uses SF tropes to tell a straightforward story. Those with a more generous interpretation of SF would reply that using SF tropes to explore and expand a given story is one of the most important aspects of the genre.
- The show appears to be very low-tech. There's no FTL, no aliens, and everyone is still using projectile weapons.
This may be a consequence of the emphasis on metaphor and allegory. If you have a point to make, lumpy foreheads and decyon beams tend to get in the way.
*Stylisation*
There is a case to be made that, like JossWhedon's other shows, _Firefly_ is highly stylised. For example, the clothing, plots and music all evoke Westerns.
Space battles, spacewalks and just external shots of Serenity are entirely silent; no explosions or roar of engines. It is not clear whether there will be any use of background music. On the one hand, this is strikingly different to most SF on TV, where space is noisy. On the other hand, in space, there really isn't any sound, so this is simply accurate. There is debate over whether this is a stylised aspect; perhaps this debate is really debate over the meaning of 'stylised'; the pro camp claims that it is sufficient to be stylistically different to be stylised, whereas the con camp would rather that stylisation is a significant and deliberature departure from mimesis.
*Quality*
Whether _Firefly_ will actually be any good or not is unclear.
The pilot ('Serenity') has a lot of nice things about it, but has some pacing problems.
A note on series production: JossWhedon was originally commissioned by Fox to produce a two-hour pilot, titled 'Serenity'. On watching the pilot, Fox decided that a series premiere needed more bangs and action, and less character introspection, and requested a second pilot, this time one hour long. JossWhedon and TimMinear wrote the second pilot, titled 'The Train Job' in a weekend; 'Serenity' will now air later in the season as an origin piece. It is poor-quality copies of 'Serenity' that are currently floating round the net.
People who think _FireFly_ will be good tend to be JossWhedon fans. People who think _Firefly_ will not be good tend to be those with no faith in TV to produce valid SF (or even SciFi). People who think that everyone should think that _FireFly_ will be good tend to be prone to wildly inaccurate generalisations.
Still, it'll be an interesting contrast to StarTrek _Enterprise_ and _FarScape_ .
*Seeing It*
It premieres in the States on Friday the 20th September, 2002; however, low-quality copies of the original pilot episode are floating around the internet.
_Is there any chance we could get hold of some FireFly to show at OUSFG in MichaelmasTerm?_
Should be possible. As I hinted, I've already got and watched 'Serenity'; I should be able to get the other episodes less than a week after they air, so assuming we'd easily have enough for a bonus video meeting by, say, third week. I'd have thought Ian will be downloading them, though, as well, so it might be easier to get them off him -- NH
CategoryTVSF
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/FireflyIsCancelled.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001570 07576465523 022012 0 ustar apache twic It seems that FireFly didn't get enough audience or something.
- http://fireflysupport.com/
- http://tv.zap2it.com/news/tvnewsdaily.html?29334
Hell, even NiallHarrison wasn't that impressed, and he's a self-confessed MutantEnemy fanboy.
_It would be so, so tempting to blame all that was wrong with FireFly on the fact that Fox messed around with the scheduling and forced JossWhedon to write episodes with more Action! and Adventure! Unfortunately, whilst it is true that this did happen, the intellectual vacuum at the centre of the show persisted too long for Fox to take all the blame. On the upside, the show improved throughout its run, and the characters were (almost) all interesting and entertaining. There was still the potential for greatness (and after all, nine episodes in who'd have pegged BabylonFive or FarScape as great?), so it's a shame it's been cancelled. -- NH_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/FivePointScale.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000565 07554044177 021173 0 ustar apache twic People do best at classifying things into sets if the number of sets is small. Therefore, a FivePointScale is generally the easiest to use, both for classification and understanding.
See:
http://www.well.com/user/smalin/miller.html "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two"
(I have been known to use this scale myself in valuing my DoctorWho books. So there. --TL)
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/FootnotesAreEvil.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001023 07556020730 021525 0 ustar apache twic See:
-
I don't buy it myself. Footnotes are optional; the text should make sense without them. If that's not the case, they're being used incorrectly (in which case, the authors, not the footnotes, are evil). -- TA
You're also overlooking the fact that evil is necessary, if you want to have good. --WJR
Anyway, if you want short factual additions without breaking the flow of text, it's a necessary evil to have footnotes. I would agree that _endnotes_ are the work of Satan --TL
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/FormattingImplementation.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000010234 07563471131 023324 0 ustar apache twic A cenral part of TwicI is its page-viewing code; this is the stuff that turns a file full of WikiText into an HTML page that browsers can display. TwicI does this on he fly: every time a page is requested, the WikiText is read in and the HTML generated afresh (whilst this takes quite a bit of CPU work, it is much simpler in many ways, and saves some IO, as WikiText is more compact than HTML).
The code which translates WikiText into HTML is composed of two layers: a block layer and a text layer.
The block layer breaks the page up into 'blocks', which are sequences of lines separated by blank lines, ie paragraphs. If the block is a bulleted list, it breaks it up again into blocks for each list item. The block layer then emits the HTML tags necessary for paragraphs and lists, and then passes the actual text to the text layer. The block layer has been essentially unchanged since the first version of TwicI, except for the addition and then the tidying-up of the list-handling code.
The text layer is concerned with the actual nitty-gritty of the translation of lumps of WikiText, complete with WikiNames, URLs, formatting, etc, into HTML. It has changed quite a bit over the lifetime of TwicI, although the basic ideas have been the same.
Version 1.0 of the text layer simply split the text up into words (a word being defined as a sequence of non-whitespace characters flanked by whitespace characters) and wrote them out one by one, examining each to see if it was a WikiName etc. This version couldn't handle things like trailing punctuation, or formatting codes attached to words. In short, it was rubbish.
Version 1.1 was an improved version of 1.0; it was wise to the presence of punctuation at the start and end of words, and to formatting codes at the ends, too. It still couldn't handle internal formatting or punctuation, though things like super_califragilistic_expialidocious and WikiName-osity didn't work. It looked like 1.1 could be patched up to solve th problems of internal punctuation.
Version 1.2 was 1.1 patched to use AngleBrackets to solve some of the problems associated with URLs and punctuation. It did nothing for the general problems internal punctuation and formatting.
Version 2.0 was a rewrite from the ground up which used a different approach. Rather than breaking up the text on whitespace, it aggressively split it up into individual characters, except in the case of a run of alphanumeric characters; the fragments, of either kind, are called 'atoms'. This meant that internal punctuation and formatting was handled correctly, and the above examples worked well. Unfortunately, it was so aggressive that URLs were blasted to bits, and so not recognised at all.
Version 2.1 was a modification of 2.0 in which so AngleBrackets were recruited to provide a mechanism to protect strings of characters from the atomiser, allowing them to reach the URL recogniser intact. The major downside of this is that it absolutely requires that all URLs be wrapped in AngleBrackets, which sucks. 2.1 was run as the development version of the wiki, but was never deployed for real, as it was too backwardly-incompatible.
Version 2.a was a planned version that restores recognition of naked URLs. It was to be based on 2.0, but with a lookahead step in the atom renderer, which would allow it to recognise that a sequence of atoms makes up a URL. Thus, it would not matter if a URL does get atomised, and so naked URLs work. The role of AngleBrackets as anti-atomisation armour would not then be needed, as long as the lookahead system knew what to do (ie if a URL is prefixed by an open angle bracket, stop assembling the URL if a close angle bracket is reached). Version 2.a was never developed; the solution, although elegant, would have been difficult to build, and would also have led to problems in other parts of the code (the BackLink engine in particular).
Version 2.2 is based on 2.0, but solves the URL problem by building knowledge of the structure of URLs directly into the atomiser. This is not an elegant solution, but it does work rather well. 2.2 is the first 2.X version to actually be an absolute improvement on 1.2. On 5/11/2002, 2.2 became the operational version.
CategoryWiki
CategoryGeekery
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/FrankHerbertsDune.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000035 07570501013 021645 0 ustar apache twic CategoryBook CategorySFMovie
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/FreeBSD.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000534 07563470127 017524 0 ustar apache twic FreeBSD is a free, OpenSource unix operating system.
- http://www.freebsd.org/
It's faster, more stable, more secure and more mature than LinUx. It isn't, however, as trendy. It also may not have as good a graphical desktop (anyone know if GNOME and KDE run on FreeBSD?). FreeBSD is also feted for its easy installation process.
CategoryGeekery
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/FreeSoftware.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000011717 07574145144 020713 0 ustar apache twic = Definition
Software whose source code is liberated from the shackles of restrictive copyright and licensing. The FreeSoftware isn't about price; you may still have to pay for it (although you usually don't).
- http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
- http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/open-source.html for an alternative (but probably indistinguishable) view
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2540179.stm should help clarify matters.
_If you've got the knowledge of all things computerised, it's a hell of a good idea. Copylefted software could be debugged by its own users. Brilliant! --TL_
The FreeSoftware is indeed very like a good idea. The fundamental idea, that software should be malleable by its users, is a good one in principle. However, there are a couple of practical hitches; the first is that the vast majority of users don't have the skills necessary to do it (although they may know someone who does, so it's not that bad) and the second is that the vast corporations which produce most software really, really don't want you to see their code (for various unconvincing reasons). There is a more moderate alternative to FreeSoftware, known as OpenSource, which phrases its licenses so that, although its followers release the source code to their software, they don't force others to do the same. This doesn't lead to the us-and-them division between the rebels and the corps that is generated by the FreeSoftware movement.
= Ethics
It is a mildly interesting ethical question as to which of the FreeSoftware and OpenSource camps are right. The FreeSoftware people argue that with OpenSource licenses, it is possible for a company to take your free code and use it as part of their own product, for which they can then charge money and not release source; thus, they're taking advantage of you. The OpenSource people counter that the realistic alternative, if the software was under a FreeSoftware license, the company wouldn't use it at all; thus, the choice is simply between the company making the software or not making the software, of which the former is preferable (it's probably more a case of the options being proprietary software enhanced by stolen OpenSource code or not, in which case the choice is even clearer - good software or bad).
What it comes down to is that FreeSoftware is idealistic; OpenSource is pragmatic.
= Political Analogy
The FreeSoftware movement is like the Soviet communists (in the 1950s at least), with commercial sofware playing the role of the evil capitalists. They have an radical alternative vision, based on common ownership, which is entirely incompatible with that of their opponents; the only possible end result is the extermination of proprietary software by the inevitable historical dialectic of FreeSoftware. The movement is helmed by the idealogues of the FSF (much like the communist party), and most of its work carried out under the auspices of the GNU project (analogous to the state).
The OpenSource movement is more like the European socialists, who tried to win power democratically, essentially playing by the rules set by the capitalists. OpenSource doesn't impose its views on others by coercion, but simply works to make good software. They envision a world where most software needs can be met by OpenSource software, but where proprietary software can still exist; the end result they will acheive will be a general improvement in the availability of good software. A shining (if obscure) example of this is the BSD TCP/IP stack: this is the software which handled networking in BSD (a venerable OpenSource unix, progenitor of FreeBSD), and it has been copied and modified by countless operating systems since, including linux and windows; without BSD, these OSs would not have networking anywhere as good as that which they have now. Unlike the FreeSoftware movement, OpenSource has no central command; the closest thing is the OpenSourceInstitute, a relatively new and entirely powerless body. Instead, there are many separate groups, each working on their own software, swapping code where they can, and each using a different license (although they all say more or less the same thing).
= People
If you wanted to dramatise the FreeSoftware/OpenSource story, you'd need characters. The big two would doubtless be RichardStallman, the messiah of FreeSoftware, and EricRaymond, the guru of OpenSource. Both are fat old American men with substantial facial hair.
[ http://masters.cs.uchicago.edu/news/files/stallman.jpg Richard M. Stallman]
[ http://nl.linux.org/whatis/esr.jpg Eric S. Raymond]
For a general guide to the celebrities of the FreeSoftware/OpenSource world, see . Oh yeah, it's in dutch.
Other great hairy software folk heroes include LarryWall (who wrote perl) and JamesGosling (who wrote emacs).
It is worth pointing out that EricRaymond is a crazed libertarian gun nut. Read his WebLog () if you don't believe me. He's occasionally chronicled in NTK, too.
CategoryGeekery
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/FrontPage.twici 0100666 0002013 0002013 00000002364 07620443465 017732 0 ustar twic twic Welcome to the the OUSFGWiki!
OUSFGWiki is a wiki for members and friends of OUSFG, the Oxford University Speculative Fiction Group. And enemies. And people we don't know. Some of the people writing here are catalogued in the WikiWhosWho.
Wiki is... Wiki. WikiIsAWebsite, but it's also part newsgroup, part WebLog (MaillistsAndNewsgroupsAndWikisOhMy!). If you are new to wiki, you may like to read the WikiHowto and/or the WikiFAQ. Please have a go at page editing in the SandBox; there are no sharp metal objects in it.
Most people keep track of the RecentChanges, and everyone ought to vaguely be aware of the MessageOfTheDay, where announcements about OUSFGWiki are made. Hopefully, useful things should hopefully be found rapidly using the categories (see CategoryCategory) and indices (CategoryIndex and IndexIndex). Among other useful OUSFG resources archived here are the MetaLibrary, and several short articles on the nature of SF and SciFi.
The OUSFGWiki runs on TwicI software: feel free to report TwicIBugs and add to the TwicIWishlist.
_Is this version okay? I've tried to merge the original and replacement versions. Feel free to throw in modifications! -- TA_
- http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/changes.pl?days=7 (the last week's changes)
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/GNU.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000673 07563471033 016744 0 ustar apache twic GNU = GNU's Not Unix. A RecursiveAcronym.
The GNU project seeks to create a FreeSoftware replacement for the standard commercial unix environments. It is doing very well, having built free versions of many of the important bits of software (kernel, shell, compiler, editors, all sorts of system software).
- http://www.gnu.org/
GNU is the coding arm of the FSF; they are the core institutions of the FreeSoftware movement.
CategoryGeekery
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/GWB.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000005425 07625376621 016740 0 ustar apache twic George W(alker) Bush, President of the United States of America, no. 43. Not to be confounded with his father George H. W. Bush, President no. 41.
_Although the differences are primarily superficial. Hmm... has anyone seen them together? "Ultraviolet" had the whole 'grandfather impersonates dead grandson to carry on evil work'- perhaps Mr Bush is similarly inclined, but accidentally lost some brain cells during the cerebral transplant?_ -- WJR
_They have actually been seen together as far as I can recall, but since it was in matching Barbour jackets (marked '41' and '43') there's no stopping them being two temporally displaced iterations of the same being except for the Blinovitch Limitation Effect... --TL_
Well, Bush the Elder would reject it, _"No way is some Ruskie physicist gonna tell the President of the US what to do!"_ whilst the younger self wouldn't be able to spell it. Does ignorance of the laws of physics allow you to break them? Only if your writer is DouglasAdams. The question is... since Mr Adams has now gone to that great pub in the sky, is he writing our scripts? Gulp. -- WJR.
||
|Latest G__W__B |misunderstanderising of the English language:
|| _"When Iraq is liberated, you will be treated, tried and persecuted as a war criminal."_
Well, plaudits for not saying "liberatified" or some such, but... when one is trying to present oneself as a noble force for justice and liberty, threatening to *prosecute* people is maybe a little more acceptable than threatening to *persecute* them. On the other hand, this is Dubya "Catch all the nasty war criminals, yeah... but we can't have an International Criminal Court because it might charge Americans." Maybe he didn't trip over his words this time. Maybe he just is being vindictive. Of course, I've not ruled out *both.* -- WJR
The _real_ question of identity is surely this: Bush or chimp? See for details. _Has been commented upon by Steve Bell's cartoons, but these are incredible... oh, and also, _ Be a virtual speechwriter for Mr G courtesy of ! _Laugh while you can, it's all very funny until Bushy gets confused trying to read the speech he's been e-mailed and reads the one you made up for him instead_ -- WJR :)
Some saner commentary on what motivates Mr G:
_That's actually disturbing... somehow, the idea that Bush has a brain and *knows and likes* what he's doing to the world is even more frightening than the image of him as a moron._ -- WJR
See also (which is the same as the copy at isn't it?). Yet more frightening, IMNERHO - he actually is genuinely deranged. Great.
CategoryUnknowableHorror
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/GateToAvalon.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001553 07576106547 020646 0 ustar apache twic A film, generally going under the title 'Avalon' (which isn't a WikiName) and, in HongKong, under the title 'GateToAvalon' (which is). Directed by MamoruOshii, of 'GhostInTheShell' fame.
- imdb:title/0267287
It has been compared to TheMatrix, but it's not really similar. Some superficial similarities include:
- The existence of an immersive virtual world
- Some confusion about what's real and what's not
- The occasional scene with camera motion during stopped time
- Ultraviolence, including the use of helicopter-mounted gatling guns
- A modest degree of mysticism
- Terrible computer user interfaces, including a wicked flashy character grid effect (which has inspired one of the historical OUSFGTShirt designs)
A weird hybrid of Japanese, Polish and English.
Throughout, names are taken from the myth of TheIsleOfAvalon.
Freakish but fun. -- TA
CategorySFMovie
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/GeneRoddenberry.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000621 07557477560 021400 0 ustar apache twic Creator of StarTrek. Sometimes referred to by StarTrek fans _(indeed, if one can rely on the behind-the scenes book of the time, also by members of the cast and crew of the show --TL )_ as 'the great bird of the galaxy.' In recent years, a number of TVSF shows have been produced based on ideas half-developed when GeneRoddenberry was alive. Notable examples include EarthFinalConflict and Andromeda.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/GeneralProtectionFault.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000452 07622172237 022726 0 ustar apache twic - http://www.gpf-comics.com/
Another one of them thar online comics. Currently seems to be in the midst of a crossover with SluggyFreelance.
- http://www.gpf-comics.com/d/20001026.html _may amuse or irritate TL and myself. -- WJR_ Sigh, but at least it's anti-StarTrek --TL
CategoryOnlineComic
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/GenerationX.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000663 07573142605 020536 0 ustar apache twic GenerationX: The young post-teenage generation who generally are most heavily infected with the current fashions, trends, tech, and language memes of the time.
Which makes one wonder what the next generation, brought up on even more advanced tech, and already taking on some of the attributes of this present generation despite being teenagers, will be called or call itself... Generation XI, perhaps? --TL
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/GeoffRyman.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000621 07555462017 020344 0 ustar apache twic Slightly wizened-faced former BT operative from Canada (I think), whose novels are some of the best AltFic (if not always SF) you're likely to get your little mitts on.
His TheChildGarden was voted one of OUSFG's favourite books last year, just in time for the author meeting in which he read from his work in progress. Lucky us.
Interesting online book: http://www.ryman-novel.com/
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/GerardDepardieu.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000355 07627465433 021347 0 ustar apache twic French actor. Has appeared in films as diverse in style as "My Father, The Hero", and "Jean de Florette", to say nothing of his current stint as Obelix the Gaul. Has a BaconNumber of 2.
- imdb:name/Depardieu,%20G%E9rard
CategoryActor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/GhostInTheMachine.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000366 07631755020 021610 0 ustar apache twic OUSFGCommittee Member, and Guardian of the Sacred Website. Has this ever not been Tim? _Can_ it ever not be Tim? http://www-pnp.physics.ox.ac.uk is hosted in his cerebellum (by wireless networking, or is that NeuralRelayComputing?) after all.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/GoddamnHippies.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001713 07632114403 021172 0 ustar apache twic They say they want to save the world, but all they ever do is smoke pot and and play Frisbee. Hippies suck.
-They were just over-idealistic in the Sixties. Most hippies nowadays are conservatives or communists or even (in the case of Bob Dylan, apparently) evangelicals who wear their greying hair long and complain that *"fings ain't wot they used'ta be."* Whereas the student liberals of today are something altogether different, trying to find a twenty-first-century synergy of political views in a Post-Hippie period where centrist politics is not only fashionable, it's been usurped by the mainstream. The BlairGovernment and Rupert Murdoch still think student protestors suck. Well, yah boo, suckers, these students are going to be the next Prime Ministers and Foreign Secretaries. Umm, hang on...
--Anyway, if students are only moderates in their youth, so I've heard, what happens when they go conservative with age? Will we be a nation of ageing fascists...???
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/GoodFantasyWriters.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000145 07541714702 022102 0 ustar apache twic GoodFantasyWriters include:
- MaryGentle
- ChinaMieville
- GeorgeRRMartin (I'm told)
- UrsulaLeGuin
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/GoogleJuice.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000004240 07627411223 020475 0 ustar apache twic GoogleJuice is the ethereal substance which flows between web pages via their hyperlinks (in both directions!). Pages with lots of links to them acquire much GoogleJuice; pages which link to highly juicy pages acquire some reflected
GoogleJuice. Or something. The level of GoogleJuice in a page thus reflects how well connected it is, and thus, in our world where the interconnectedness of all things is paramount, how good it is (well, sort of).
- http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/google-juice.html
- http://slashdot.org/articles/02/03/13/141202.shtml?tid=95
The amount of GoogleJuice in a page is called 'PageRank' by google.
Some thoughts on GoogleJuice:
- How much GoogleJuice does google have? Given that lots of people link to google, and google links primarily to juicy pages, it should have a _lot_.
- If a page has a lot of juice, it ranks highly, which means lots of people see it, which means they link to it, which makes it more juicy. Given the dominance of google, doesn't this make google's prophecies self-fulfilling? _If i want a handy set if links on a subject, i google and pick the top five (barring obviously duff ones). Thus, i'm helping to reinforce this trend. -- TA_
Of course, there are some people who try to look for the inverse of GoogleJuice: namely, a word or meme that has only a few (preferably only one) Google entry. This is known as GoogleWhack__ing. _From my point of view, google:saraquazel> isn't bad. --TL_ Nor yet is -- WJR :) _You can use things like this as a sort of permanent URL; if you ensure that your homepage always has some particular unusual combination of words, then it can easily be found by googling for those words, even if the URL changes. For example (although, inexplicably, this is a BrokenLink). --TA_
OUSFGWikiHasGoogleJuice. Awesoma powa!
News! Is Google E__V__I__L?
Is 'to Google' a trademark? (this linked from Slashdot...)
Is Google to be trusted? The power to censor is a dangerous one...
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/GoogleMemeObservatory.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003421 07630466331 022565 0 ustar apache twic The idea is to use the GoogleSearchEngine's awesome power to track the spread and evolution of memes across the net.
- google:a-spectre-is-haunting+the-spectre-of (originally, communism was haunting Europe, but these days, it seems to be global capital; perhaps the authors have misunderstood?) _Yes, but flippin' 'eck, everyone seems to be ripping it out of that phrase... --TL_
- google:all-your+are-belong-to-us (originally your base, now pretty much everything of yours)
- google:the-internet-is-like (as observed by N__T__K: they have the T-shirts to prove it. Interesting philosophical discussions on the nature of the Internet _do_ take place, once you've got past the usual 'net is like a {select male or female pudenda}' jokes...)
- google:of-mass-distraction and google:weapons-of-mass (mostly conventional W__M__Ds, but there's a growing mass of others. Keep your browsers peeled for a growth meme...) A wicked 404 message can be found in one of them, but here it is:
-- has the advantage of focusing on the derived uses
- ZOOL is Googleable! ;
-
- Not just Lord of the Rings... but... a 'War on Iraq' forum as well?
- Anyone for Recursion Tennis?
- Another slightly irritating meme.
- Knockoffs of the apparently very catchy JenniferLopez song 'Jenny from the Block'
-- Alternative version
-
- (see for the origin)
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/GoogleSets.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001166 07612631456 020366 0 ustar apache twic Google has some cool extra features available in its labs (). One of these is GoogleSets.
- http://labs.google.com/sets
The idea is that you put in one or more things, and it tells you what other things are in that set. For example:
- http://labs.google.com/sets?hl=en&q1=Arthur+C+Clarke&q2=Brian+Aldiss&q3=Philip+K+Dick&q4=&q5=&btn=Large+Set
- http://labs.google.com/sets?hl=en&q1=Niall+Harrison&q2=&q3=&q4=&q5=&btn=Large+Set _owned!_
_Google, as ever, speaks the truth. -- NH_
It would be straightforward to make a SpecialURL scheme for these, looking like .
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/GovernmentByPanic.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000007516 07617755002 021711 0 ustar apache twic I have a pet theory which leads me to, despite being a member of the public, be less than enthusiastic about 'greater public accountability'. This is because I strongly suspect that said public accountability is in fact one of the major _reasons_ for poor government in the present day.
To explain: In the past, I'm sure politicians made as many stupid mistakes and embarrassing gaffes as they do now. (Gladstone apparently had a habit of inviting prostitutes back to Downing Street, for instance...) However, in those days before the InformationSuperhighway, there was time available to correct these mistakes meaning that, yes, maybe a few heads didn't roll which should have done, about which no doubt the press will eternally grieve, but also that the great mistakes, eventually, got fixed. Now though, in an era of instant communication, they don't. Because the public will find out and be giving feedback on a government or business initiative in some cases seconds after it's been launched, everything has to be an immediate success, to show instant results, or else be scrapped and hastily apologised for because the next crisis is coming up and they don't believe they have time to fix the last one.
||
|For| example:
|| _Oh dear, we'll sort out the health service later... the transport system's in a mess now... no, hang on, put that off for another day because the student population's up in arms over top-up fees. We can't deal with that now because of all the wrangling over Iraq... we can't..._
And so on. It seems to be a state of near hysteria which not only leads to InadequateInvestment (re: transport, 'rebranding' and renaming produces instant results which are easy to publicise and say "Look, we're doing something", whilst actually solving the problem would take, from their perspective, far too long to show results, but also (bringing in the SF references here) is partly responsible for the decline in quantity and often quality in BritishTVSF. If everything has to be an overnight hit, then there's not much time allowed for a show to build up audience figures by word of mouth, public consciousness etc, and those two are the life-blood of shows like DoctorWho, amongst others. In order to make something an overnight hit, it has to be tailored to a 'winning formula'... and that, in these days of PANIC, seems to be a 'tried and tested' formula, and that, although it doesn't necessarily have to, leads to clone after clone after clone.
What are the odds that, sometime in the next century we'll see the then equivalents of E__R and Holby City _both_ running identical-with-the-names-changed storylines about someone having a cloned baby? How meta can you get-a indeed.
To round off, there are of course numerous examples of Government By Panic in SF itself, ranging from Steven Baxter's Voyage- we can't design a complicated new efficient system of spacecraft... we'll have to go with what we've got because we want to do it now! to the Time Lords of DoctorWho- quick, let's execute this person before we find out all the facts because otherwise it might give us bad P__R during the election, and Babylon 5- again, never mind that the galaxy's breaking down into chaos, we've got an election in less than forty-eight hours.
Sigh. *_Humans._*
Sigh.
As SirArnoldRobinson explained to SirHumphreyAppleby: "Open government is a contradiction in terms. You can be open, or you can have government". _Ulk. This is why I like Stand.org.uk --TL_ _And why i like YesMinister. -- TA_ SirHumphreyAppleby also observed that "Politicians like to panic, they need activity. It's their substitute for achievement."
"In these days of PANIC, seems to be a 'tried and tested' formula, and that, although it doesn't necessarily have to, leads to clone after clone after clone." - ironically, pretty much a description of PANIC in it's second sense. Except for the guy playing Wagner.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/GregEgan.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002036 07555075617 017776 0 ustar apache twic A leading Australian SF writer. The hardest of HardSF writers. Undisputed king of infinite vector space. _(eh?? --TL)_
"I am a science fiction author and computer programmer." -- GregEgan, on his home page
GregEgan knows his science and maths, and he shows it. Moreover, he shows you what he can do with it. He doesn't show off, he doesn't info-dump, he just takes a simple, technically accurate idea and makes it into a geometrically perfect story. He writes rather well, too, with textured characters (when he needs them) and well-realised glimpses of convincing futures.
See:
- http://www.netspace.net.au/~gregegan/
- isfdb:author/Greg_Egan
_I've recently come across a lot of comparisons between GregEgan and TedChiang. Anyone ever read anything by the latter?_ -- NH
Books as rated on a FivePointScale by Wikizens:
- Quarantine [4 -- NH]
- Diaspora [4 -- NH]
- Distress [4 -- NH]
- Permutation City [ 4 -- DS ]
- Teranesia [4 -- NH]
- Schild's Ladder
- Axiomatic (short stories) [5 -- NH]
- Luminous (short stories) [4 -- NH]
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/GregEganHasReadANewKindOfScience.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000503 07573632304 024353 0 ustar apache twic NiallHarrison noted on his LiveJournal that GregEgan has read (and reviewed) StephenWolfram's ANewKindOfScience. TomAnderson laid into his review.
- lj:malenfant/33361 (NiallHarrison's LiveJournal post)
- http://www.netspace.net.au/~gregegan/ESSAYS/ANKOS/Ankos.html (GregEgan's review)
This page is probably superfluous.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/GroundForce.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001476 07554201047 020526 0 ustar apache twic GroundForce: [n] (geround forss) Alien 'TerraForming' device unleashed on Earth in the 1990s. This device consists of a number of anthropoid worker units, under the control of an almost humanoid hive-mind, the Titchmarsh, which descends upon open ground, typically residential gardens, and transforms it into a formulaic, gimmick heavy and expensive section of the device's non-Earth
normal planet.
(Meanwhile, attention from this evil gestalt's real intentions is distracted -for the male members of _Homo sapiens_ at any rate - by the siren-like 'Dimmock' --TL)
(More _Psiren-like,_ really. Well, except for the desire to waste the world's
energy supply running eternal water features (when she dies, it *has* to be by
drowning) replacing the 'wanting to suck out our brains'. Obviously. _WJR_ )
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/GunpowderTea.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000141 07632120651 020677 0 ustar apache twic Tea. Rolled into little balls - hence the name. Strangely bitter. Doesh't do well with STROH.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/H2G2.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000230 07554252572 016747 0 ustar apache twic Shorthand for TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy. Useful since there are about a thousand different ways in which that name can be converted to a WikiName.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/HELLSOC.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002412 07632154347 017400 0 ustar apache twic The Hell Society is an anarcho-nihilistic rejection syndrome, a symptom of the current malfeasance in quottidial lifestyle, belief system soundness, and basic reality perception differentials in the modern mind. It's beliefs are anarchistic to the extent of being self-contradictory, and the highest accolade it can offer is eternal damnation.
We are reactionarey, progressive, neophillic conservatives, who aim to direct the querent's perceptions and mental processes to the question of their own validity as texts, following aspects, taken as we please, of gnosticism, Zoroastrianism, Nietzche, Platonism, the tradition of the Ancient Illuminated Seers of Bavaria, post-modernism and the modern novel, formal logic and symbolism, Jungian psychoanalysis, the less obscene practises of the Fortean assistants, and a dose of good old-fashioned non-fundamentalism. All extremists are tolerated by the organisation, though none are permitted to join, since enforcement of beliefs on others is the very negation of our or any forward facing philosophy. The basic tenent may be best summed up by the maxim, "Do it to yourself before the do it to you". Disinformation is also available from your local __H__E__L__L__S__O__C rep.
*__H__E__L__L__S__O__C is a non-prophet making organisation*
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/HGWells.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000756 07567734200 017624 0 ustar apache twic Herbert George Wells, leading light of SF literary history, practically the grandfather of written SF, writer of 'WarOfTheWorlds' and 'TheTimeMachine', among many, many others.
- isfdb:author/H._G._Wells
Not a lot of people know about his politics... least of all those who wrote him into the DoctorWho story 'Timelash'... (grr) --TL
_I have yet to be convinced that those responsible for that particular abhorrence knew anything about anything, H.G. Wells not least._ --WJR
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/HPDJ.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000445 07560756625 017047 0 ustar apache twic hpDJ is a robot DJ built by Hewlett-Packard labs.
See .
_Be a while before it catches up with Fatboy Slim, so no need to panic just yet... --TL_
It's already thought to be better than Judge Jules, though ...
AISoc have him in 8th week.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/HPLovecraft.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003743 07610767164 020477 0 ustar apache twic An American writer of tales of supernatural horror (1890-1937).
- isfdb:author/H._P._Lovecraft
- dmoz:Arts/Literature/Authors/Horror/L/Lovecraft,_Howard_P
- http://www.hplovecraft.com/
- http://www.gizmology.net/lovecraft/
- http://www.rt66.com/~kalmoth/hpl.html
He is one of the titans of his genre, and indeed of SpeculativeFiction as a whole, although he is often overlooked by those with a ScienceFiction background; such oversight is a grave and terrible mistake.
HPLovecraft is perhaps most famous for nightmaring up the CthulhuMythos.
_Has anyone else noticed the resemblance between 'AtTheMountainsOfMadness' and JohnCarpenter's movie 'TheThing'? Obviously, it's only superficialities, but nonetheless, it's cool. It seems JohnCarpenter made a film called 'In the mouth of madness' which has some vaguely Lovecraftian themes, and has been involved with other HPLovecraft-related projects, so it's probably not a coincidence._
Random links:
- http://www.hplovecraft.com/popcult/moviestv/non-hpl.htm
_ToDo: write lots more about HPL!_
Apparently he was inspired by the occultish books hanging around the house during his childhood because his father was a Freemason. More concretely, his CthulhuMythos works were an inspiration to the artist HRGiger.
Although HPLovecraft's writing is universally classed as supernatural horror, it in fact generally has a concretely material basis and a very HardSF outlook on the world - there's no god or devil, no ghosts, demons or angels; just monsters. Indeed, it is stated or implied that the various horrors are from outer space; the five-winged OldOnes flew across the cosmic void and settled AntArctica, the FungiFromYuggoth are from, well, Yuggoth (which is another name for Pluto) and the star-spawn of Cthulhu are from, er, somewhere else in space. True, he does demur over whether Cthulhu and his mates are ultimately from another dimension or not, but still, it's a pretty materialist worldview. It's all the more chilling for it, in fact.
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/HRGiger.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001147 07610626063 017575 0 ustar apache twic Artist born in Switzerland (in the small town of Chur), the son of a pharmacist. Known for creating disturbing organic or 'biomechanic' imagery, sometimes employing little more than an airbrush, a lot of skill, and a somewhat sick mind. This last may explain his interest in HPLovecraft... and that may explain why one of his collections is called 'Giger's Necronomicon'.
ObSF: Responsible for the look of the Alien in the Alien movies, as well as the creature in the movie 'Species' if anyone's heard of that. Has also done album covers for Emerson, Lake and Palmer ('Brain Salad Surgery') and the Dead Kennedys.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/HTML.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000336 07563471061 017054 0 ustar apache twic HTML is the HyperTextMarkupLanguage.
http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/
Wiki is presented to browsers using HTML, but is not present in its core. It plays no part in editing, for example.
Or does it?
CategoryGeekery
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/HackerManifesto.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000776 07576442700 021365 0 ustar apache twic Written in 1986.
- http://manifestopost.com/famous/mentor.html
"We seek after knowledge...and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias...and you call us criminals. You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us and try to make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the criminals. Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like."
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/HardSF.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000004777 07570222372 017431 0 ustar apache twic Sub-genre of ScienceFiction in which the 'science' is regarded as more important than the 'fiction'. Proponents include
- Steven Baxter
Opinions on whether or not this is a good thing vary hugely from OUSFGus to OUSFGus, with, perhaps unsurprisingly, the scientist OUSFGi being generally in favour of HardSF, whilst the humanities and arts students regard the 'science'
aspect of SF as peripheral at best.
One account of this division might be that, being rather more familiar with the scientific incantations being recounted than we arty types, scientists find the fourth wall (to borrow a television expression) broken when the novel or film or series gets them wrong. For me personally, implausibility threatens the fourth wall. Obviously anything which I _know_ to be inaccurate is implausible, but such waffle as 'string theories' and 'superstrings' means nothing to me right or wrong, and whilst I may groan despairingly at bad science which demonstrates ignorance of the laws of planetary motion or escape velocity, I'm unlikely to care if the maths is out, or simplified, or even if the maths is skipped altogether. In fact, in lieu of reading pages of tedious
calculations, I prefer it if it is. See comments on DoctorWho. However, someone who's spent all day in the lab poking DNA with a stick to make it jump is going to be understandably less tolerant of a writer making it do impossible things than I am.
The above may account for the interest in accurate science, but why it's often felt that such issues as interesting character or plot are dispensible so long as the science is right is beyond me.
WJR.
I think you misunderstand HardSF, William. The point of HardSF is to take an idea (any idea, not necessarily a scientific one) and explore its consequences, taking it to its logical conclusion. HardSF is about thinking about things, about not shying away from hard ideas or unpleasant conclusions. It just so happens that most HardSF deals with scientific ideas because they're the easiest to capture and extrapolate. Stories are not HardSF merely because of oodles of technical detail; HardSF does not need "pages of tedious calculations", it just needs clear thought. Books exploiting masses of technical trivia (along the lines of TomClancy, only with physics) are not true HardSF; perhaps we should call them HardSciFi, in recognition of their intellectual emptiness. -- TA
_This reminds me: Tom, I need to lend you TedChiang_ Stories Of Your Life And Others. _I'll bring it to the library meeting on sunday. -- NH_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/HardSciFi.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001473 07612750742 020110 0 ustar apache twic HardSciFi is SciFi which the science is given more prominence than the fiction: lots of lovingly intricate and scientifically sound descriptions of rockets, robots, alien planets, exotic physics and so on, but often rather two-dimensional characters and stilted plots.
Well-known proponents of HardSciFi include:
- LarryNiven
- JerryPournelle
- AlastairReynolds (?)
- GregoryBenford (?)
- GregBear (?)
- ArthurCClarke (sometimes)
- StevenBaxter (sometimes)
HardSciFi has a grinning idiot cousin in the shape of SpaceOpera; SpaceOpera dispenses entirely with the scientific accuracy, although it retains a good degree of technolust, in favour of more interesting, if scarcely more plausible or deep, plots and characters.
A lot of people don't understand the difference between HardSF and HardSciFi, including some authors.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/HarryPotter.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003111 07617540647 020574 0 ustar apache twic The world's best-known teenage wizard, possibly, invented by the author JKRowling and an overnight phenomenon.
Characterised as being small, meek, dark of hair and possessing a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead. Not conspicuously afraid of spiders.
For further details, well, _just read the books, fools_ . Beware of fakes, pastiches and dubious Chinese knock-offs.
Responsible for large numbers of film crews invading Oxford every summer or whenever the students aren't there.
_(Hm. With Richard Harris having succumbed to cancer, and Daniel Radcliffe - Shock! Horror! - growing up, and a change of director in the offing, the fourth book likely to have to be two films, and the fifth book even bigger than the fourth, how much longer will this last? --TL)_ Update: apparently Michael Kitchen has been sought out for the Dumbledore role. Are they off their heads?? --TL
Also responsible for large numbers of tourists invading Oxford at any time of year. To judge from the scenes on film of Harry and chums lazing around in Magdalen Cloisters, Hogwarts must be located somewhere in Magdalen Deer Park. There is probably room.
The fifth book will be out in a few months, we're told, and will be called the "Order of the Phoenix". AmericaLand__ians may have some difficulties though... :
As things stand, first editions of the second book (albeit signed) are still selling like hot uranium cakes in North Korea.
CategoryBook
CategorySFMovie (times three)
CategoryRadioProgramme
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/HattieHayridge.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000120 07627465223 021176 0 ustar apache twic - imdb:name/Hayridge,+Hattie
She has a BaconNumber of Infinity.
CategoryActor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000127 07615542711 024367 0 ustar apache twic See:
http://www.tvtome.com/HeManandtheMastersoftheUniverse/guide.html
CategoryKidsTV
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/HeadsDecksAndLeads.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002422 07632166151 021676 0 ustar apache twic HeadsDecksAndLeads are the fundamental building blocks of newspaper articles. Heads are titles, a few words long. Decks are subtitles, a single sentence which expands on the title. Leads are lead paragraphs, and are in turn an expansion of the subtitle.
If you look at real-world media, you may find that decks are often omitted. If the head is long enough and/or the lead short enough, this is okay; indeed, it's good, because it makes the information more compact.
Why are they called HeadsDecksAndLeads?
There is a school of thought that says that HeadsDecksAndLeads are appropriate in WebLog__s:
"John Udell points out that newspapers and magazines have a tried-and-tested mechanism for conserving readers’ attention—one that could be adopted for weblogs — called heads/decks/leads."
- http://radio.weblogs.com/0100887/2002/03/08.html
- http://weblog.delacour.net/archives/000366.html
- http://udell.roninhouse.com/GroupwareReport.html#52
How is this relevant to wiki? Well, at some point, wiki will start to think of the first paragraph (or paragraph-like block) of a page to be a 'lead'; that's what'll show up on RSS feeds, etc. Someone should be able to look at the first paragraph and know what the page is about. Indeed, that's probably true right now. And, yes, we'll be deckless.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/HellSoc.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000130 07632154302 017622 0 ustar apache twic See HELLSOC
_If you check the original documents it _should_ be upper case. ;-)_ -- DM
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/HelloThomas.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000371 07613520666 020530 0 ustar apache twic TwicI marketing plan: if it worked for HelloKitty, we can use it for our own ends! _Not bad, all we need now is our pet cartoonist from New who's kindly providing the video room to draw us a Li'l Thomas to stick on this page... :)_
CategoryBadIdea
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/HisDarkMaterials.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001547 07616534233 021504 0 ustar apache twic A fantasy trilogy (although the author would object to that genre classification_, indeed to the tyranny of genres as a whole, I think --TL_), ostensibly for children but read and enjoyed by many adults, written by PhilipPullman. The three volumes are:
- NorthernLights (also known in some countries as TheGoldenCompass)
- TheSubtleKnife
- TheAmberSpyglass
The stories are, in part, a retelling and inversion of Milton's ParadiseLost.
TheAmberSpyglass became the first children's novel to win the WhitbreadPrizeForFiction. It is not known whether or not it was also the first fantasy novel to do so.
It has now been adapted for Radio 4, and has been optioned by New Line for production as a film.
CategoryBook
CategorySFMovie () CategoryRadioProgramme()
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/HistoricalSingularity.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000004172 07570774227 022656 0 ustar apache twic HistoricalSingularity is a concept pioneered by VernorVinge in this essay, written in 1993:
http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~phoenix/vinge/vinge-sing.html
Briefly, the idea (by analogy with regular singularities) is that there come times in historical progression beyond which it is impossible to make meaningful predictions. Something happens which changes the world so radically as to make it literally incomprehensible to those living in pre-singularity times. Such developments are one-way transitions; once done, they cannot be undone.
An often-cited example is the development of agriculture. To a hunter-gatherer society, the implications of agriculture are (in theory) impossible to appreciate. And by virtue of being able to support a larger population and so forth, an agricultural society cannot go back to a hunter-gatherer society. Well, not without a lot of people dying.
It's all a bit like CivII. (I think I've spotted a citation of an equivalent theory in the novel JurassicPark by MichaelCrichton - _not_ the film --TL)
Anyway, the theory further states that the development of AI will be a HistoricalSingularity. Once AI exists, it is inevitable that better AIs will be generated, either by man or by AIs themselves. This is presumed to be a runaway process, and at some point AIs will become the predominant thinking species. The course of human history will be impossible to predict because it will be dependent on factors outside of humanity. (Is that necessarily a bad thing? TL)
See CharlesStross' _Accelerando_ stories for a recent example of this line of thought.
One other feature of HistoricalSingularity is that it occurs concurrently with an accelerating rate of change. The argument goes that the rate of change is now faster than ever before in human history, making developments such as AI near-inevitable. Writers such as NormanSpinrad point out that arguably a man living from 1850-1925 would have seen changes every bit as fundamental and frequent (telephone, railway, global war, antibiotics, quantum theory) as those seen by a man living from 1925-2000 (internet, genetic engineering, nuclear weapons, television, space travel).
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/HollyTheComputer.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001726 07572510356 021564 0 ustar apache twic The ship's computer with an I.Q. of six thousand. The same I.Q. as twelve thousand car park attendants. Played by NormanLovett, and, after a Head sex change operation, by HattieHayridge.
(In one episode, I recall that the HattieHayridge Holly gets a super-I.Q. courtesy of some sage advice from a Talkie Toaster, and is played there by someone different, whose name I can't recall... before turning into an ordinary, but thick, Holly again. Anyone remember the episode in question, and who Super-Holly was? --TL)
The episode was "White Hole", and it was actually Hattie Hayridge playing Super-Holly, only with 'film star' make up, a very different hairstyle, and a different, translucent, effect. NormanLovett, who was always slightly offended (not with that much justification) that 'female Holly' had just copied his 'thick Holly' only as a female, felt that that was how they should always have played the female version, so as to split the difference between them. -- WJR
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/HookingEvilDictatorsToTheMatrix.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003141 07620534524 024527 0 ustar apache twic The ultimate alternative to all future wars: if TheMatrix allows one to contain someone's body whilst letting their minds be duped into thinking they're free, why not hook up the unsociable members of society to it? Plus, The Agents will be there to make sure their minds don't wander _too_ far...
This was posted to the Balliol Left Caucus mailing list (of which TL is a member: the italics are her original posting):
==Re: [B__L__C] alternative to war. Was: Bomb Iraq.
Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2003 22:31:10 +0000
From: Gareth Smith
_ I don't know whether the Left Caucus has already flogged this one to death, but this article from BBC News Online does give some good requirements as to what consitutes a 'just war'._
__
I dunno - I just don't like the idea that we might be forced to respond
with violence.
So, I started thinking - if there was a peacefull alternative to war,
would it necessarily me moral?
So, if we could pull the Matrix over the eyes of Sadams regime in Iraq.
If one night, we could press a button and when they wake up they're in a
simulation identical to the reality they left behind. This would leave
the people of Iraq to do what they liked since the dictator would be
happily dreaming of his dictatorship.
If we could do that, would it be right to do so?
Or should Saddam be punished?
Or should we drop them all into the matrix and scarper with all their
oil?
I for one think it's quite a nice idea. There's no violence, and
everyone ends up happy.
Have fun!
--
G.A.R.E.T.H.: General Artificial Repair and Efficient Troubleshooting
Humanoid
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/HumanMemory.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000010263 07626674157 020564 0 ustar apache twic Human Memory is erratic. This is usually a good thing. If we remembered everything in precise and accurate detail, then variation, imagination, and creativity would almost certainly suffer for it. Also, in most cases, we have no direct control over what we store in our memory. To make sure of things, we use repetition.
Personally, I find I have a good memory. _Pause._ It is, however, utterly useless for the things I actually *want* to remember. The dialogue of hundreds of TV programmes - no, not just DoctorWho - the plot, author, and title of a multitude of books, conversations I've had with people years upon years ago, the *telephone numbers* of people I may have rung once in my life, who no longer even live at the address for which the number is viable, all these things are stored within in nice, neat, uncompressed files. They occasionally pop up like internet adverts when not wanted- other than certain useful applications of a broadsword, of what relevance is the theme tune to "The Masters of the Universe" to shopping in a crowded Sainsbury's? For that matter, what relevance to anything is the punchline to a rather bad joke about sequences of questions:
"In inverse order of asking; busy, nothing, hyperspace."?
Now then, consider data which is actually of frequent use. There follows a list of my particular memory foibles. Please add your own blind spots, Wikizens, signed or initialled of course.
-Door codes- I'm all right if I can make them resemble actual credible dates, but hopeless otherwise. -- WJR
-Where I've put things. I expect a fair number of people have had to use a landline to 'phone their mobile in order to find the thing by the sound of its ring once or twice in their lives- I usually have to do so at least once a
month. -- WJR _Not usually mobiles in my case, but I know the feeling; brief panic followed by extreme sheepishness --TL_
-Names and faces. I find people's faces gradually turn into Japanese anime exaggerated cartoons of themselves in my memory after time. Even people I know really well can give me considerable pause for thought by changing their hairstyle or style of dress. If I see my housemates in the street I usually have to think twice. -- WJR _Tell me about it: I have, most of the time, a memory for faces that would be the envy of a biometrics system, but unless I know them well enough even putting one name to them is an effort. Even then, if people I have met have similar faces I can quite easily mistake one for another, and have done --TL_
-What day it is. All right, don't laugh. Some might suggest this is due to an unstructured life. Some might be right. None the less, my pet brain seems to consider this information likely to be wanted far less often than, say, the colour of the covers of various books on my bookshelf. -- WJR
- _On a related subject, dates and times for an appointment. Thank Gods for Filofaxes. If one remembers to use them at the time... :-/ --TL_
-Emotions. Left to myself I may well suddenly find myself trying to remember whether I was happy, unhappy, or annoyed a minute ago. -- WJR
-Computer Keyboards. I have two computers on one desk. Their keyboards do not
even remotely resemble one another. One keyboard is in fact the front end of a large Canon Starwriter. Such differences would, one might think, prevent me from happily typing away on this Starwriter keyboard and becoming frustrated and bewildered when my words of wisdom do not appear on the screen of my PC. -- WJR
-Not to trust British Snailways. See InadequateInvestment. I keep catching trains and thinking they might get where they're supposed to go. -- WJR
-*"Forgive me, have we met before?"* _"The recognition of friends is not always easy."_ -- WJR, with apologies to Robert Sloman and Barry Letts.
If you think this is all very strange, look at MicroSoft's answer to it all --TL
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2495649.stm
_You know, call me a Luddite if you want, but even after all my complaints about this lump of cold grey porridge, I'd still rather live with it than trust my memories to the company that brought us Windows._
"Your brain has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down." -- WJR Indeed --TL
Compare to HumanSpeech.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/HumanSpeech.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001162 07626743647 020522 0 ustar apache twic Normal human speech components:
[img http://www.frforum.com/basicguide/images/Fig_22%5B1%5D._jpg
22% Essential Components, 22% Repetitive Patterns, 56% Pauses
]
Now we know why we hate to speak to computers. Computers can't understand the 'non-essential' components... Wonder how GWB's averages would compare for his speeches?
There's a rather nice bit in "Foundation" where the entire official discourse of a visiting politician is analysed and it's discovered that, in the course of a several day diplomatic visit, said politician "didn't say one damned thing, and he did it so cleverly that you didn't notice." -- WJR
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ICBM.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000127 07624642271 017021 0 ustar apache twic Inter-Continental Ballisic Missile
See InsaneShit, possibly.
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ID.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000301 07617762745 016610 0 ustar apache twic - ID (1): [n] (idd) The raw, primal part of a personality. The 'dark side'.
- ID (2): [n] (eyedee) Abbreviation of 'identification'. See 'membership cards, lack of'.
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/IDS.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000045 07555461252 016726 0 ustar apache twic IDS: Acronym of IanDuncanSmith
WJR
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/II.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000017 07554206405 016603 0 ustar apache twic II, i.e. not I
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/IMDB.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000033 07604363040 017006 0 ustar apache twic See InternetMovieDataBase.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/IMHO.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000144 07567231434 017043 0 ustar apache twic In My Humble Opinion. Acronym rarely used truthfully chez OUSFG. _-- WJR_
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/IMNERHO.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000227 07616003716 017405 0 ustar apache twic In My Not Even Remotely Humble Opinion.
Often said by TomAnderson. In fact, see (OUSFGWikiHasGoogleJuice!).
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/IP.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002371 07627641437 016630 0 ustar apache twic The InternetProtocol is the technical foundation of TheInternet; thus, its nature has shaped the nature of TheInternet. It has some clever features, and some stupid features; it is a beautiful example of evolution as seen by StephenJayGould: a random hack which worked better than the alternatives.
One of IP's key features is that it sits 'on top' of other protocols. For example, if a computer is on an ethernet network, it is using the ethernet protocol to communicate with other computers, if it is dialled up with a modem, it is using the 'point-to-point protocol' to talk to the modem server at the other end, and if it is a high-speed router working on the university backbone network, it probably uses some more obscure protocol like F__D__D__I or A__T__M. You can even send IP using carrier pigeons (, ). However, all of these protocols can be used to transport IP communications, and so the millions of little networks around the world can, by the magic of IP, be connected into one big 'internetwork', known as TheInternet. By analogy, as long as a letter identifies the name and address of its recipient at the top, it can be delivered by a variety of means - post, fax, telegram, courier or hand.
CategoryGeekery
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/IPA.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000347 07553041152 016714 0 ustar apache twic India Pale Ale. A variety of beer, so called because it was brewed to survive the journey by sea out to India during the time of the British Empire.
Also, in some circles, isopropyl alcohol, which is _not the same thing at all_ .
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/IPP.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000032 07577651532 016741 0 ustar apache twic See InternetPongProtocol.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ISBN.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003427 07550302021 017030 0 ustar apache twic An ISBN is an InternationalStandardBookNumber.
- http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/index.asp
- http://www.xfront.com/isbn.xsd
Paraphrased from isbn.xsd:
- An ISBN is always 10 characters long
- An ISBN is broken into 4 parts, and these four parts
always appear separated with hyphens or spaces.
- The four parts are: group/country identifier, publisher identifier, number assigned to a specific title in one format (formally called the title identifier) and a check digit
- Parts 1, 2 and 3 are variable-length and digits only
and comprise 9 characters
- The check digit is a digit or X (which represents 10)
- The check digit is calculated in this fashion:
multiply the first digit in the ISBN by 10, the second
by 9, the third by 8 and so on, to the 9th digit, which
you multiply by 2. Add these numbers together. This sum
plus the check digit must equal the next greatest multiple
of 11. If the sum is 10 less than that next greatest multiple,
use X (which thus stands for the "digit" 10).
- As noted, 3 hyphens (or spaces; hyphens are recommended)
should separate the four parts of the ISBN. Since the last
hyphen precedes the check digit, it always goes between
the 9th and 10th characters.
TwicI supports ISBN as a SpecialURL scheme.
Books are often published several times, and each publication receives a separate ISBN; thus a book does not have a single ISBN. Since this is sometimes awkward (eg when citing a book by ISBN), a rule is needed to pick one above the others (a 'canonicalisation' rule). On OUSFGWiki, the rule is that the earliest publication which has a useful ISBN should be used, with ties being broken in favour of UK publications. An ISBN is 'useful' if there is a corresponding entry in the major book databases (or BarnesAndNoble, at any rate).
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ISFDB.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000050 07604362715 017131 0 ustar apache twic See InternetSpeculativeFictionDataBase.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ISS.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000067 07620221756 016745 0 ustar apache twic See InternationalSpaceStation
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/IV.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000014 07563460111 016611 0 ustar apache twic Roman Four.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/IVF.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000060 07621272047 016724 0 ustar apache twic In-Vitro Fertilisation
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/IainBanks.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000416 07555234652 020152 0 ustar apache twic Is the same person as IainMBanks, but only writes MimeticFiction.
Books include:
- TheBusiness
- ASongOfStone
- Whit
- TheWaspFactory
- CanalDreams
- EspedairStreet
- TheBridge (no relation to the Oxford nightclub; very good definition of AltFic --TL)
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/IainMBanks.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001061 07632273321 020254 0 ustar apache twic Is the same person as IainBanks, but only writes SciFi (including lots of books about TheCulture).
The M stands for Menzies (prounced ming-_iss_)
Here's a FAQ : http://web.onetel.net.uk/~zakalwe/imb/imb.htm
Books include (in order of publication):
- ConsiderPhlebas
- PlayerOfGames
- UseOfWeapons
- TheStateOfTheArt
- AgainstADarkBackground
- FeersumEndjinn
- LookToWindward
- TheExcession
- INVERSIONS
- LookToWindward
See also :
- The Culture Data Repository
- http://www.iainbanks.net
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/IanDuncanSmith.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001207 07555566514 021164 0 ustar apache twic Not so much leader of the Conservative Party as more just the first in a line of non-entities. See WilliamHague. --WJR
_Second, surely? JohnMajor was the prototypical generic ToryParty leader in a grey suit. Of course, he gained notoriety by being the *first* such person, which points us in the direction of the well-known paradox type thingie where we are asked to consider the phrase 'the smallest number not describable in ten words or less'. -- TA_
Also, shurely, IainDuncanSmith?
_ah, but according to rumour the second 'i' is a late addition because the guy wanted to sound Scots and therefore butch. So much for the 'quiet man' --TL_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/IanWatson.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000366 07567422722 020222 0 ustar apache twic A British SF writer. Particular popular with OUSFG for his frenetic and barmy talks.
- isfdb:author/Ian_Watson
He shares with TomAnderson the misfortune of having not one but _two_ professors of ComputerScience named after him.
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/InadequateInvestment.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000004534 07625173621 022451 0 ustar apache twic I'll start with the standard example:
British Rail is privatised. *Which was possibly not a good idea in the first place*, but there you go. Its new owners look at the system, and think: "Oh dear, it's pretty crappy, but hey, it's not going to get much worse if we leave it a bit, as long as the company gets its cut". The Government, meanwhile, does s!d-all.
Meanwhile, trains run even less to time than they used to, the drivers aren't being paid enough, and people are looking to other forms of transport to get them from A to B _on time._ Which reduces the returns the companies get, which is a further disincentive to invest in the system, and so on downwards. Meanwhile in France, say, the TGV trains run so stringently to schedule that even if you're a minute or two late in catching a train, you've missed it (as I learnt to my cost when trying to catch a train from Paris back to Lyons in 1998), because the government cares enough about them to want to invest in this service. _Service,_ please note, not 'rebranding' (which seems, mercifully, to have died horribly), or style over substance, such as seems to be occurring with the Virgin Voyager trains at time of writing.
And just look and tremble at the mess that the Government has made of the National Health Service... !
Now the SF connection:
The British film and TV industry is in a bit of a bad way at the moment, it's doing its level best but really not at all well, thanks to nobody from the Government or anyone else for that matter giving them half a chance, still less half a mill. The Brits dearly want to make good SF movies, and no doubt there are lots of British screenwriters who could come up with the next best-selling answer to Quatermass, DoctorWho or even BuffyTheVampireSlayer. But they're not getting the money to make big-budget films. _The Americans are._ So, what do you know, the abominable 'Spiderman' (sorry, Spide, but that film is style over substance personified) makes a mint (by comparison)at the box offices, whereas nobody goes to the remarkably good but inconsidered homegrown films because they don't get reviewed, widely shown or sometimes even made. The American production companies duly get richer, and the British ones threaten to go bust.
There is something, as they would say in AmericaLand, seriously wrong with this picture. --TL
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/IndexIndex.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000177 07632014150 020337 0 ustar apache twic Some major indices on the OUSFGWiki include:
- SFIndex
- OUSFGIndex
- OxfordIndex
- NewYorkIndex
- RandomIndex
CategoryIndex
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/InformationSuperhighway.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000477 07617731065 023206 0 ustar apache twic See TheInternet. In fact, see the screen in front of you.
Term apparently popularised by Al Gore. Personally, I first heard it on a Clive James' End of the Year Show, but there you are. Probably best satirised by SlashDot when referring to its 'information-superhighway-patrol' department...
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/InkLings.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001326 07632030460 020015 0 ustar apache twic Oxford Writers' Circle of the nineteen-thirties, composed of CSLewis, JRRTolkien, Charles Williams, and WarrenLewis.
Since CSLewis was our senior member, and BrianAldiss' intention to become an SF writer was apparently spurred on by Lewis showing one of his early works (Hothouse) to Tolkien and receiving a favourable review, OUSFG could conceivably regard itself as the nephew of the InkLings or something. If it wanted to.
They met in the EagleAndChild.
The Imperial Google reveals that there is currently a writers' group in Merseyside also calling itself the Inklings, presumably in honour of the above. -- WJR
Also, sent up in a recent novel as the 'Smudgelings', quite a cute name in itself. --TL
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/InsaneShit.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000021350 07632120405 020342 0 ustar apache twic Some shit's a bit wack, and some shit's plain crazy, but some shit is just *insane*.
Still, at least it's not only certifiable, but classifiable.
We no longer classify any FineNewsSources here, but they should be borne in mind.
= Artefacts
Note that most or all of these insane artefacts have insane people attached, but we only classify them here.
- CoralCastle
- XanadU
- http://www.anomalies-unlimited.com/Masakichi.html (which is the sculpture and which is the sculptor?)
- Foodstuffs resembling objects of religious veneration
-- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2484195.stm (India marvels at 'miracle chapati')
-- http://gosh.ex.ac.uk/activities/societies/methsoc/FS.html (Is it a nun? Or is it a bun?)
-- http://www.sugarcubes.ca/sugarcubesmono.htm Well, it's an object of religious veneration to OUSFG...
- Foodstuffs resembling celebrated fictional characters
-- http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/world/newsid_2688000/2688107.stm (White Wizard with added cholesterol...) _Ick._
- Inedible artefacts treated as foodstuffs
-- http://homepage.mac.com/aaronsteele/Personal8.html (the Baked Apple - 20 minutes in a hot oven and unbelievably, it works!)
- Escapology by Gluttony?
-- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2780257.stm (Someone find me a new universe... this one's broken.)
- Foodstuffs with lethal combat skills
-- http://www.ninjaburger.com/fun/creativity/art/gingerbread/ gingerbread ninjas
- Darwin Fish - that is to say, Jesus 'fish signs' with legs on, and the word 'D__A__R__W__I__N' contained within the outline. There is a New York Times.com article on this, if anyone can be a!!!!d to register with the site, but I can vouch from experience that they do exist, either as an atheist's protest against the whole evangelical culture in the US (see Greater__Things, below) or as a symbol of the coexistence of religion and science, prescribed by Einstein himself --TL _I have one of these stuck to the side of my old computer; it was procured by Tanaqui in the USA, i think. I stuck it on shortly before going to stay for a few weeks, with my computer, at the house of a devoutly christian family; my sense of timing is once again world-class. -- TA_ Believe it or not, there is a Cthulhu version of it on sale from the same website that sells Plush Cthulhus...--TL
- We know the church has got into some moral hot water in the past for merchandising of pardons and holy relics, but imagine having your own Archbishop of Canterbury... -- WJR
-- Rowan Bear vs PlushCthulhu - *fight*!
- Wet Nikes!
- The Nation States Game- thank you Matt Piatkus.
- Oxfam have a warehouse, in Worcester, where they send all the second-hand books that they can't sell in their bookshops.
- *We know where you live.*
= People
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2668951.stm (naked justice!)
- http://www.rael.org
- (similar) http://www.greaterthings.com
- it is fair to include this here? http://www.christiananswers.net/ --DM
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2433563.stm (the legendary MeinhofBrainTerror; this is a part of a person, so it counts)
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2713577.stm Not the seller, but that someone would buy it for that price... the mind boggles and runs away.
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2714739.stm (back for one last role... unfortunately posthumously...) _That is just sick. The story, not the comment, I mean. :)-- WJR_
- http://www.jdawiseman.com/ (he's clearly fairly insane - he goes from "Various non-intuitive features of electoral systems" to "A map of JetSetWilly II, the classic ZXSpectrum platform game" without pausing for breath) _Oookay, but I suppose game theory applies in both cases - the site does seem to be the collation of an applied mathmo's career --TL_
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2718389.stm I love humans. Always seeing patterns in things that aren't there... and clambering about on the furniture. Loons! -- WJR _Not entirely unlike LeParkour._
- http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/02/04/offbeat.cialis.reut/index.html (Pity this poor chap, and think how many others there must be with branded surnames...)
- Anatomical fetishists (do N__O__T show this to Tim): http://www.cameltoe.org/
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2739211.stm All right, stand up the person who showed him _Passport to Pimlico_! -- WJR
- It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing... oh yeah... !
- The Force is with us (mind that there lightsabre...):
- Hardly a shining example of Eurocracy:
- Dial 666 for Satan...err, not quite.
-This is worse than insane, it's plain dumb. Especially the 'up to a year in prison' bit...
= Animal Madness
We should probably file this under InsaneAnimalShit.
- http://www.scarysquirrel.org/page1.html
- http://www.coinbird.com/
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2541761.stm (InsaneAnimalPoetryShit)
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/2509455.stm (plastic ducks, but _ducks nonetheless_)
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2696725.stm (another *very good* reason to avoid eating cheese, LP) _"Transgenic"?_ As the Third Doctor (obDoctorWho) might put it, "What a pretty euphemism." -- WJR
- http://www.monkeyzone.net/ ('Monkey Swallows The Universe' {ep 4, ser 1}??? Insanity...)
- Basketball with donkeys, in California: witnessed on 's 'in pictures' page - a charity sport for Farmers of America wherein each human basketballer had to keep hold of the animal's reins at all times, and get on the donkey's back in order to shoot... very odd. --TL
- Meow!
= Ideas, Theories, &c
- PapaSmurfIsACommunist
- The whole continuing approach of the virtual world to the real world (as evidenced by ) is disturbing, if not really insane
- That everyone's out to get Andrew Malcolm . At least, that's what he's been telling us... paranoia or truth?? _Apparently he is getting his revenge: he proposes to stand for the Chancellorship of the University. Now that's insane..._
- That the End of the World Is Nigh (according to particular evangelicals...) What's particularly insane is how many people are being sucked in by this nonsense
- The possibility of a new generation of mobile phones designed to send 'touch'.
_"Hello, I'm on the train!"_ *rattle bump thud explosion* _Personally, I think that will have to wait until such time as they get NeuralRelayComputing sorted out --TL_ Well, such racket normally transmits quite well by the customary audio medium of 'phones anyway. NeuralRelayComputing 'phones would be a trifle scary- much like a technological version of the 'newsgroups by telepathic gestalt' system. (Yay for psychic-flame wars!) -- WJR
- The London Riot Re-enactment Society: ((Sealed Knot with Molotov cocktails on the side, perhaps?)
- The American social security department is really the Antichrist in disguise: knowing the number of times my family has been asked for the bloody social security number since moving Stateside (apart from Dad, none of us can get one till we acquire 'Resident Alien' status, boom boom), not quite so insane --TL.
- HookingEvilDictatorsToTheMatrix --TL _Thereby risking the eventual return of Saddam Hussein... with Wire__Fu fighting skills. Ulp. -- WJR_
- That footie boots are made from kangaroo skin: You'll laugh. You'll boggle. You may even end up booing Beckham...
- http://www.aquamega.biz/products/ShockerBottle/special030203.htm (I thought they gave up on the idea of the existence of the ether moons ago...!! --TL)
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2784227.stm Synthetic trees for photosynthesis? All right, maybe this could have its uses in urban areas, but I can't help feeling that *_not cutting down the real ones in the first place_* would be a more sensible, long term solution. --WJR
- MetricTime
- According to , a human hand is *ten thousand times more powerful than the sun*, at least once you've adjusted for their relative mass.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/InterWiki.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000736 07563510052 020213 0 ustar apache twic The idea of InterWiki is that wikis should provide a way to easily link to pages on other wikis.
The consensus that has emerged is that such links should be written __:__ (eg WardsWiki:FrontPage), although these look too much like URLs, really (__.__ might be better). Such a scheme would need a method for getting from wiki names to URLs; an easy way to do this is to use the list at .
CategoryWiki
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/InterZone.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000506 07551112202 020206 0 ustar apache twic Respected British SF and fantasy short fiction magazine, published monthly. Training ground for many of the most prominent British SF authors of the last fifteen years or so, including StephenBaxter, PaulMcAuley and AlastairReynolds. Traditionally is targeted more at the 'literary' end of the SF market than other magazines.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/InternationalSpaceStation.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002275 07620252633 023435 0 ustar apache twic The only currently operational human space station. It is a joint venture between the USA (NASA), Europe (ESA), Russia (RosaviaKosmos), Canada (CSA) and Japan (NASDA).
- http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/
- http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/space/spacestation/
- dmoz:Science/Technology/Space/International_Space_Station
- http://www.estec.esa.nl/spaceflight/iss.htm
- http://www.esa.int/export/esaHS/
- http://www.spaceflight.esa.int/users
- http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Space_Station (so much for InterWiki)
The space agencies will try to tell you that the ISS has great scientific value; it doesn't. Its scientific value is marginal, and certainly nowhere near enough to justify the expense. The real reason we have the ISS is to keep all those ex-Soviet rocket scientists busy, so they don't while away their days building nuclear missiles for rogue states. However, the reason we _should_ support the ISS is that it's an expression of humanity's hope for the future: international cooperation, technical excellence, exploration of new frontiers, all that. And it's really cool. It's not useful, but it's wonderful, and that's enough; think of it as the English National Opera InSpaaace.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/InternetBookList.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000227 07632210570 021537 0 ustar apache twic Inspired by IMDB, and recently slashdotted.
http://www.iblist.com/
Needs contributors, badly... their Science Fiction section is desperately sparse.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/InternetMovieDataBase.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000156 07604363022 022456 0 ustar apache twic The InternetMovieDataBase (aka IMDB) is handy database about all things movie-related.
- http://www.imdb.org
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/InternetPongProtocol.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000016266 07577652212 022463 0 ustar apache twic TomAnderson suggested to a friend that they write (and play) a networked pong game (you know, the ancient ping-pong game). The obvious starting point is definition of a protocol for communication between the players; hence, the InternetPongProtocol.
= Game model
The game universe consists of a rectangular table, a ball and two paddles. The table has defined dimensions, the ball has defined position and velocity, and the paddles have defined positions. The table has four edges: two 'sides' and two 'ends'; the paddles are located at the ends.
When the ball strikes a side of the table, it bounces off. When the ball strikes a paddle, it bounces off. When the ball strikes an end, it falls off the table, and the player at the other end scores.
All coordinates are measured on an integer grid, whose origin is at the top left corner of the table; the X axis runs parallel to the sides, and the Y axis parallel to the ends. The player at the end with X = 0 is the left player, the player at the other end is the right player. Coordinate values never exceed 32767 (2^32 - 1).
= Protocol context
This is a client-server protocol. A server manages the game, carries out the physics, etc, and a client interacts with the user. This protocol connects client and server; two such connections will be required per two-player game, one from the server to each player.
= Connection state
When the connection is first opened, it is in the _opening_ state. The client then logs in, and the connection moves to the _open_ state. The client can then become involved in a game, in which case the connection moves to the _ready_ state. When the game starts, the connection moves to the _playing_ state. The connection can move from _ready_ or _playing_ back to _open_ if the client or server aborts a game.
= Elementary protocol format
IPP is a binary protocol. It consists of a stream of messages. Each message consists of a message-type byte, a length byte, and a series of data bytes, equal in number to the length byte.
All numbers transmitted are in unsigned or two's-complement signed format, in network byte order. All strings are in UTF8 (of which ASCII is a safe subset) and are not null-terminated (if necessary, a length byte is prepended).
= Messages
In this section, messages are defined in list items, with the format "name : description; data format". In general, client messages have the high bit clear, and server messages have the high bit set.
Most messages may only be sent in a particular connection state; it is a protocol error to send a message in the wrong state.
== General
- noop <00>: sent to keep the connection alive; data should be empty but could be anything.
- close : closes the connection, possibly in response to a protocol error; data is a string describing the reason for closure.
== Messages permitted in the _opening_ state
- login <01>: when sent in the _opening_ state, logs the user in, and is a protocol error at any other time; data is a string containing the user's nickname.
- login-response <81>: sent in response to a login message; if the login is successful, the data is empty, and if not, is a string indicating why not. Transmission of a successful login-response indicates that the connection is now in the _open_ state.
== Messages permitted in the _open_ state
- create-game <02>: creates a new game; the data should be: a two-byte unsigned integer specifying the table length (on the X axis), a two-byte unsigned integer specifying the table width (on the Y axis), a one-byte unsigned integer specifying the target score, and a string (occupying the rest of the data) describing the game, which may be empty.
- create-game-response <82>: acknowledges creation of a game; if the game is created, the data is empty, and the connection moves to the _reaady_ state, else the data contains a string indicating what went wrong, and the connection remains in the _open_ state.
- list-games <03>: requests a list of the available games; no data is sent.
- games <83>: indicates that a sequence of game-info messages about the games available is about to be sent; the data is a four-byte integer specifying the number of available games.
- game-info <84>: gives information about a game; data is a string, preceded by a length byte, giving the name of the offering player, followed by the data sent in the create-game message.
- join-game <05>: asks to join a game; the data is the name of the offering player.
- join-game-response <85>: acknowledges the request to join a game; if the data is empty, the game is joined and the connection moves to the _ready_ state, else the data is a message indicating why the game could not be joined.
_need to describe the game initiation process in the model section_
_need to say that the initiating player is the left player_
_need to tidy up states in request-response situations to rule out multiple sequential requests_
== Messages permitted in the _ready_ state
- request-bot <06>: asks for a bot to play against; data is a one-byte unsigned integer indicating the toughness of the bot, with 100 equivalent to a normal human player. If a bot is provided, the server proceeds as if a normal player had joined the game.
- leave-game <07>: leaves the game; no data is sent. The connection returns to the _open_ state.
- set <88>: sent by the server to a ready player to enquire if they are ready to play; data is the name of the opponent. Clients should respond with a 'go' message.
- go <08>: sent by a client to indicate that they are ready to go; no data is needed. This message may only be sent in response to a 'set' message, and when sent, moves the connection into the 'playing' state.
== Messages permitted in the _playing_ state
- move <09>: moves the paddle; data is a two-byte unsigned integer indicating the amount of movement on the Y-axis.
- world <89>: indicates the state of the world; data is a pair of two-byte unsigned integers, indicating the positions of the paddles of the left and right players, respectively, followed by another pair giving the X and Y coordinates of the ball
- score <8A>: indicates that the ball has crossed an end; data is three one-byte unsigned integers, where the first says who has scored (80 for left, 01 for right - geddit?), and the second and third are the scores of the left and right players, respectively. Note that the ball may well reset to the middle of the table after this, but it might not.
- retire <0B>: sent by a player to leave the game; no data is needed.
- game-over <8B>: indicates that the game is over; data is three unsigned one-byte integers, where the first says who won (80 for left, 01 for right) and the other two are the final scores of the left and right players, respectively. After this, the connection returns to the _open_ state.
= Binding to transport protocol
At present, IPP is only bound to TCP, although it would be trivial to adapt this to other reliable ordered stream protocols, or to reliable ordered datagram protocols.
== TCP
IPP may be used over TCP, in which case port 0x7067 (28775 in denary, "pg" as ASCII characters) should be used. Messages are simply packed into the data stream in order. Implementations should flush the stream after each message, or after the last message in a series.
CategoryGeekery
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/InternetSpeculativeFictionDataBase.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001265 07632210324 025176 0 ustar apache twic The InternetSpeculativeFictionDataBase is an extremely useful resource for bibliographic data about SF.
- http://www.isfdb.org
The concept and name are modelled after IMDB. ISFDB is pretty much a one-man band; it doesn't have the broad base of support that made IMDB great.
_Note that as of 17/01/2003, the ISFDB website no longer allows searches. As they explain at , their hosting doesn't allow the degree of load they were getting, and they can't afford a higher-end setup It's not clear what happens to ISFDB after this; it's a wonderful resource, and would be a real shame to lose it._
Could it be substituted for, eventually, by the InternetBookList?
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/InvolutionOcean.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000337 07573226377 021436 0 ustar apache twic A novel by BruceSterling. A sort of MobyDick InSpaaace.
- isfdb:work/5745ee
- http://www.revolutionsf.com/article/228.html
- http://www.strangewords.com/archive/ocean.html
It's bloody weird, but good. -- TA
CategoryBook
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/JCR.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000173 07560262220 016715 0 ustar apache twic Junior Common Room. The surrogate trade union for Oxford students in a particular college. Not to be confounded with OUSU.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/JD.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000310 07607414240 016570 0 ustar apache twic Jeremy Dennis. JGBallard fan, cartoonist, drunk. lj:cleanskies . More details on http://www.alleged.org.uk/jrd
Also Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey. And the lead character in the US SitCom _Scrubs_.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/JKRowling.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001627 07612507145 020160 0 ustar apache twic A current British fantasy author. By 'fantasy', we mean the HarryPotter books, these being her only output so far.
- dmoz:Kids_and_Teens/People_and_Society/Biography/Authors/Rowling,_J.K.
Real first name Joanne. Or so we're told. Married a Potter lookalike, according to the tabloids.
JKRowling must be a bit insane if she expects that even the most dedicated HarryPotter__ites will be prepared to read or buy a quarter of a million words (of her latest book) all at once - this really is the era of the epic: .
_...but probably not the epic of the era, sadly. Great Scott, Goblet of Fire
was already long, even forgetting that it was supposed to be a children's book. Perhaps she's been infected by the 'who can make their film longest' race going on between Warner and New Line in the HarryPotter films and TheLordOfTheRings...? -- WJR_
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/JMS.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000030 07554246611 016731 0 ustar apache twic See JMichaelStraczynski
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/JMichaelStraczynski.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000252 07613536032 022222 0 ustar apache twic J. Michael Straczynski is the creator, writer, and driving force behind Babylon5, and its less than successful sequels Crusade and Legend of the Rangers.
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/JRRTolkien.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000341 07556021125 020261 0 ustar apache twic Fantasy author and Oxford don, blamed by many for the rise of SwordAndSorcery.
See also this reinterpretation of TheLordOfTheRings:
http://www.skizzers.org/andy/lotm.html
Frequently misspelled or parodied, poor lamb. --TL
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/JaNet.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000743 07627640460 017315 0 ustar apache twic J__A__N__E__T is the The Joint Academic N__E__Twork. It is the national data network which connects universities and other academic centres around the UK to each other, to other global networks and, occasionally, to Oxford.
After A__R__P__A__N__E__T, the first main network to form what became TheInternet. _Really? JaNet didn't even start an IP service until 1991, by which time ArpaNet didn't even exist any more, and several other networks were connected._
- http://www.ja.net/
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/JamesBlish.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000673 07570151460 020331 0 ustar apache twic An American SF writer, responsible for some very good books, and quite a lot of StarTrek novelisations (which are, it has to be said, much better than most others).
- isfdb:author/James_Blish
His widow, JudyBlish, is also a writer.
_You know, it would be really nice if people would at least bung in an ISFDB link when making an author page. -- TA_
_yes, I know it is nice, but you know more about the whole ISFDB thing than I do... --TL_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/JamesBondTopTens.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000005137 07614601410 021461 0 ustar apache twic Top tens are a good thing! Let's have some JamesBondTopTens!
How about we write nominations as an unordered list, then sort them into an ordered list, eg by voting.
= Top Ten Actors Playing Bond
We may need to use a quite small value of 'ten'.
- Tim Dalton [1 TA]
- Sean Connery [2 TA] [3 TL]
- Roger Moore [3 TA] [1 TL]
- Pierce Brosnan [2 TL]
= Top Ten Bond Villains
- ErnstBlofeld has to be number one, simply because he's been in so many
- BaronSamedi is pretty entertainingly nuts
- ElliotCarver plans to start a war to get 100 years of exclusive broadcasting rights in China. So he's completely bonkers.
= Top Ten Bond Villains' Secret Lairs
- ErnstBlofeld's hollowed-out volcano (YouOnlyLiveTwice) ()
- HugoDrax' cloaked space station (it's over the top and not terribly in the Bond spirit, but it's still pretty cool) (MoonRaker)
- HugoDrax' Aztec temple launch complex (the GoldenEye level is, arguably, better than the set in the film, though) (MoonRaker)
- KarlStromberg's undersea 'Atlantis' (TheSpyWhoLovedMe)
= Top Ten Bond Vehicles
- Q's 'fishing boat' (TheWorldIsNotEnough)
- Little Nellie the gyrocopter (YouOnlyLiveTwice)
- The Lotus that turns into a submarine
- The BMW remote-controlled by mobile phone. "Hello, I'm in the..." (screeching tyres) "...whoops!" (TomorrowNeverDies)
= Top Ten Bond Villains' Implausible Plans
- GoldFinger's radioactive Fort Knox idea (GoldFinger)
= Top Ten Bond Girls
- Honey Ryder, played by Ursula Andress; after all, she plays the one Bond girl scene _everyone_ can remember, and the main one homaged in DieAnotherDay (DrNo)
- Xenia Onatopp, played by Famke Janssen; Bond girls traditionally have some sort of double-entendre related name, but as an added bonus, Miss Onatopp _kills people with her thighs_! (GoldenEye)
- Solitaire, not only a good looker but with extra clairvoyant powers! (Live and Let Die)
- Lin Wang, or whatever the Michelle Yeoh character was called: arguably the first Bond Girl to really kick ass on a level with 007... (TomorrowNeverDies)
= Top Ten Bond Villains' Space Weapons
- The diamond laser thing in DieAnotherDay
- The diamond laser thing in DiamondsAreForever
- The germ-bomb-firing space station, which is technically a weapon because it fires germ bombs (MoonRaker)
- The satellite-swallowing whatsit
- The GoldenEye satellite; actually a bit pants, as it knocks out computers rather than actually blowing things up (GoldenEye)
- The Sea-Vac; it's so silly, it's good. And hard enough to turn a destroyer into a Dinky toy... (Tomorrow Never Dies) _However, it isn't a *space* weapon, it's a *sea* weapon._
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/JaneEyre.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000644 07572276345 020024 0 ustar apache twic Written by Charlotte Bronte. Almost universal school textbook, featuring the most weak-willed goody-goody heroine imaginable in what is supposedly one of the great books of English Literature, but is in fact little more than Mills and Boon with added Gothic horror. It is, however, a shining example of fiction when compared with WideSargassoSea.
Charlotte Bronte's sister Emily wrote WutheringHeights.
CategoryBook
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/JayceAndTheWheeledWarriors.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000055 07625142327 023453 0 ustar apache twic See http://www.wheelies.net/
CategoryKidsTV
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/JeamLand.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000101 07624161662 017752 0 ustar apache twic A kinda dreamland thing in MichaelMarshallSmith's 'OnlyForward'.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/JeanReno.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000411 07627465403 020007 0 ustar apache twic French actor.
- imdb:name/Reno,%20Jean
Viewers of more 'Hollywoodish' films are most likely to recognise him from 'Leon' and (as a double-crossing villain) 'Mission Impossible'. 'Leon' is by far the better film of the two.
Has a BaconNumber of 2.
CategoryActor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/JerkCity.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000175 07614563135 020036 0 ustar apache twic Beware you might find it offensive:
http://www.jerkcity.com/
I L__O__V__E the backgrounds. They rule.
CategoryOnlineComic
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/JimHacker.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000117 07617753015 020144 0 ustar apache twic A character from the series YesMinister; indeed, he is the eponymous minister.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/JoCharman.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000042 07631720730 020140 0 ustar apache twic = Jo Charman
CategoryOUSFGMember
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/JohnClute.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000361 07616014751 020177 0 ustar apache twic Well-known SF critic and pundit. Famous, or possibly infamous, for his somewhat convoluted sentence constructions. Also famous for editing TheEncyclopaediaOfSF. He is a regular reviewer for InterZone.
See also: MikeFroggatt (MiserableOFB).
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/JonPertwee.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000255 07627465711 020400 0 ustar apache twic Actor.
- imdb:name/Pertwee,+Jon
Appeared in many films, and such series as DoctorWho, Worzel Gummidge, and The Navy Lark. Has therefore a BaconNumber of 2.
CategoryActor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/JoseSaramago.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000307 07612555437 020666 0 ustar apache twic A Portugese writer, probably a MagicRealist, who won the 1998 NobelPrize for literature. His most immediately SFnal book is 'TheBlindness'.
- http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/saramago.htm
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/JossWhedon.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002506 07541707707 020401 0 ustar apache twic TV writer-director. Creator of _BuffyTheVampireSlayer_ , _AngelTheSeries_ (with DavidGreenwalt) and _FireFly_ (with TimMinear).
JossWhedon is regarded by some as one of the most talented of the current generation, if not ever; these people think that _BuffyTheVampireSlayer_ and _AngelTheSeries_ are brilliant. Others, however, think that these series are really not much cop, and thus do not consider JossWhedon to be particularly talented.
It should be noted that the former group claims that amongst enlightened SF fans, the second camp is merely a vocal minority. This claim is somewhat strengthened by the fact that the _Buffy_ episode 'Once More, With Feeling' came second for this year's 'Best Dramatic Presentation' Hugo, losing out only to _The Fellowship Of The Ring_ .
It should also be noted that this page, and several others, are the medium of an argument between TomAnderson and NiallHarrison about the fundamental nature of SF, and as such may contain loaded and pointed words.
Other writing credits include a stint as Script Doctor on ToyStory, and the original draft for AlienResurrection. JossWhedon was later heard to complain bitterly that the finished film bore no resemblance to his script; it is speculated that _FireFly_ may, in part, attempt to redress the balance, featuring as it does a comparable crew of renegades.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/JurassicPark.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000365 07616714637 020723 0 ustar apache twic _Velociraptor mongoliensis_ and Sam Neill. Spot the dinosaur. (actually, perhaps the dinosaur was Dickie Attenborough.) Loadsa CGI, which is not bad for 1993.
TL
_Something in CategoryBook can have CGI now? :-)_
CategoryBook
CategorySFMovie
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/JustTesting.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000131 07555267746 020602 0 ustar apache twic cough, cough. Splutter....
_oh dear, maybe you should get something for that. :) --TL_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/KB.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000063 07571456266 016612 0 ustar apache twic Kilobyte: Amount of data.
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/KBWC.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000034 07565156765 017046 0 ustar apache twic See ThousandBlankWhiteCards
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/KaZ.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000773 07571774412 017007 0 ustar apache twic I am Kaz. Fear me. Or something.
_Err, hello, your wikiness --TL_
(f/x: Wikizens flee in terror from Kazilla)
_What's a KaZilla look like? Is it scarier than Godzilla? --TL_
Probably... but then under the right lighting, so is an origami dinosaur made out of a dishcloth. --WJR _Or a comparatively diminutive Japanese bloke wearing a silly suit --TL_ Possibly scarier, in fact, than a large CGI green scaly thingy. On the other hand, everything is scarier than Son of Godzilla. -- WJR
CategoryWikizen
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/KebabVans.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001330 07576610421 020136 0 ustar apache twic Oxford's own Recycling System, a gestalt entity which effectively parasitises the student population.
Ahmed, on the High St, is the 'bab king. This is beyond dispute. The other Oxford KebabVans are:
- Mehdi's
- Hussein's
- Hassan's ('Hassan the Assassin')
- The Roving Gourmet
- Sid's Kitchen
- Ali's (up by the RadcliffeInfirmary - draw your own conclusions)
- The Oxford Kebab Van (known by its initials, O__K__V, which remind one of a Soviet or Nazi secret police torture squad, and not without good reason)
In the far future, so ZOOL tells us, Kebab vans will be a space-combat weapon to be used to subdue the strange creatures into which students will by then have mutated.
CategoryInsaneShit
CategoryLovelyLovelyFood
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/KenMacLeod.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001155 07606341740 020250 0 ustar apache twic A modern British (well, Scottish) SF author, famed for his leftist politics (and so inevitably known as RedKen) but a damn good writer nonetheless.
- isfdb:author/Ken_MacLeod
- dmoz:Arts/Literature/Genres/Science_Fiction/Authors/M/Macleod,_Ken
He started out by writing a loosely-coupled series of novels which go by the name of the TheFallRevolutionQuartet, and has recently finished the EnginesOfLightTrilogy.
He has written 'ScienceFictionAfterTheFutureWentAway', an essay on TheFutureOfSF.
There is probably a hillarious comparison to be made to StevenBaxter based on the phrase "trots in space".
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/KidsTV.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003775 07630117300 017452 0 ustar apache twic There used to be a lot of _really good_ kid's TV about.
- http://www.lookandread.fsnet.co.uk - Oh, and an ex-president has met the magic floating pen
= Those Programmes In Full
- Drama
-- DarkSeason
-- AliensInTheFamily
-- Chocky
-- TheGirlFromTomorrow
-- ArchersGoon _(I've read the book of that, btw--TL)_
-- TheChanges (really ancient)
-- ChildrenOfTheStones (really ancient)
-- TheTomorrowPeople
- Game Shows
-- KnightMare
- Educational, or something
-- WhyDontYou ... anyone remember that 'TV by kids, of kids, for kids'? It was sooo baaaaad...
- SuperMarionation
-- ThunderBirds (going back a bit, I know, but how many reruns have they had of it???)
-- Stingray
- Stop-Motion Animation
-- BagPuss
-- TrumpTon
-- CamberwickGreen (I _think_ that's what it was called...)
- Cartoons
-- TheMysteriousCitiesOfGold
-- ReBoot
-- TheSmurfs
-- TheTransformers
-- ThunderCats
-- HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse
-- DangerMouse
-- CountDuckula
-- BraveStarr
_How about PinGu? I think he was Finnish, and he certainly didn't speak any language familiar to mankind. I know he's more recent, but he's really cuuute... --TL_
Aw, yeah, I love PinGu. Spider was also lovely. -- ARC
He's just a LinUx marketing ploy! And, if you believe RichardStallman, it should be PinGNU ...
The late Sydney Newman would have said that DoctorWho originally counted as
part of this category - the Target novelisations had the tagline "the children's programme that adults adore"... in 1970.
Do they still make programmes like these?
I expect so, but we don't notice them, being a little older. Still, not having looked at the children's TV schedules recently I am not sure. I think a lot of TV has gone computer animated rather than importing and dubing french/japanese animation, which is a shame.
Most of them, and this is apparently official, and cause for controversy, come from AmericaLand.
A worrying number of them are in pre-pre-production as movies, apparently:
CategoryKidsTV
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/KnightMare.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000004136 07576406773 020357 0 ustar apache twic A pioneering VirtualReality gameshow for kids.
- http://www.knightmare.clara.net/
A team, consisting of one kid with a big, helmet (_grow up_) wandering around a fantasy landscape (some ruined castle in reality, but with substantial CGI extras on the screen), directed by two (three?) teammates who could see the action on a screen. There was navigation, puzzles, items to pick up and use, spells ("spellcasting ... V - A - N - I - S - H ..."), a quest, all the classic RolePlaying tropes. Oh, and a big beardy bloke in charge, called Tregard. There were a bunch of other recurring characters in the fantasy world. It was quite SusanCooper in tone.
The video effects were terrible, even for that period in history. They were in fact mostly done with some sort of Quantel Paintbox apparatus rather than proper computers.
The Eye Shield! I'd forgotten about the Eye Shield! And the wall monsters! -- TA
As the series progressed, efforts to keep it fresh seemed to dilute its essential appeal- Tregard, originally quite a menacing figure, became kindly and friendly towards players, and was eventually provided with an annoying elvish sidekick, the 'Eye Shield' as mentioned above by TA moved from being a rare device which would provide P.O.V. vision for a while to a regular (and rather pointless) feature, and Lord Fear (a pale faced black clad evil person) became a regular villainous character.
I personally recall the video effects as being rather fun. The game was, in fact, quite difficult, and it was extremely rare for the players to succeed in their alloted task. -- WJR
Recently there is/will be a new program very much based on the same idea, however with much updated 3d graphics, so it will probably look really bad. Apparently it is called Timegate, though something on CBBC called Raven also looks similar.
Knightmare is a game ideally suited to be played in the back quads of a large college, or perhaps as a Punt Party Panto feature:
_"Sidestep to your left! No... no, your other left...!"
_*D__O__O__M G__O__N__G_*
_"Oh dear, but I'm afraid your player has sidestepped into the Cherwell."_ -- WJR
CategoryKidsTV
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/KristineKochanski.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000474 07572461341 021736 0 ustar apache twic Navigation Officer aboard the ship RedDwarf and worshipped from afar by Dave Lister, who didn't let her horrible death in a radiation storm unleashed by Rimmer cool his passion for her. Subsequently she was brought back from the dead via a parallel dimension.
Played by ClaireGrogan and latterly by ChloeAnnett.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/KryTen.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000436 07574140357 017530 0 ustar apache twic Android with a head shaped like, in the words of ArnoldJudasRimmer, a novelty condom. Kryten is a kind, moral, heroic, selfless, wise cleaning droid, who has a rather embarrassing location for his vacuum-cleaner socket and an inability to say 'smeg head'...
Played by RobertLlewellyn
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/LART.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000462 07611027657 017054 0 ustar apache twic Luser Attitude Readjustment Tool. An implement often employed by SysAdmin__s in their dealings with (l)users. LART__s range from halfbricks in socks to tactical nuclear weapons, depending on the SysAdmin, the luser and the capricious whim of fate.
- http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/LART.html
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/LBM.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000034 07553311744 016715 0 ustar apache twic See ' LawrenceBloodyMiles '
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/LEXX.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000142 07570500347 017061 0 ustar apache twic Destroyer of planets, the most powerful weapon of destruction in the two universes.
CategoryTVSF
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/LJ.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000024 07627372542 016614 0 ustar apache twic TLA for LiveJournal
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/LMH.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000035 07632135232 016716 0 ustar apache twic See LadyMargaretHallCollege.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/LP.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000154 07557755552 016636 0 ustar apache twic See LyndseyPickup...
_Also, short for Long Play vinyl records/Minidisc recordings... how quaint. :) --TL_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/LanguageIsATool.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003465 07632213770 021272 0 ustar apache twic This is true. Hence, if something's understandable, it's acceptable (from a strictly communications point of view). More controversial is the idea that if something is used wrongly by enough people, it becomes correct by default. This is also true (LanguageIsAMeme), but not necessarily a GoodThing.
Like the standards of English syntax and spelling in AmericaLand.
_One should be careful with such assertions, given that in most cases (as I understand it) their spelling (and perhaps even pronunciation) is closer to the original English than ours...
Except 'aluminum'. That's just stupid._ And the fact that you can have 'sulfur' but not 'Filadelfia'. D'oh.
= Concerning Chemistry
- Sulfur/Sulphur
-- Sulfur has been designated as the official spelling by various governing bodies (IUPAC in 1990; Qualifications And Curriculum Authority Of Britain, Dec 2000)
- Aluminium/Aluminum
-- Was originally called alumium, then aluminum, and finally aluminium. IUPAC, the international governing body, says its aluminium.
I've heard tell that in the early nineties, Britain agreed to start using _gram_ (as opposed to _gramme_) if AmericaLand began using _litre_ (as opposed to _liter_). I've also heard tell that the Brits managed their half of the bargain. - AM _The Americans get round it by selling *everything* in imperial units, the fluid ounce for preference... sigh... --TL_
Another example of LanguageAsAMeme: apparently a schoolgirl gave her English teacher quite a shock by writing an essay on her holidays... in txt (the SMS language). See . Is txt a 'real' language just because everyone uses it? Can American English and French be converging _de facto_, even if _de jure_ Franglais of any kind, eg 'sandwich', is forbidden?
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/home/twic/public_html/wiki/LaputaCastleInTheSky.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001167 07570650544 022317 0 ustar apache twic A brilliant anime by HayaoMiyazaki of StudioGhibli. It is perhaps the finest expression of his abiding obsession with children's adventures with airships.
[img http://www.tcp.com/~doi/alan/Images/tLAP.GIF Laputa: Castle in the Sky]
- dmoz:Arts/Animation/Anime/Titles/L/Laputa_-_Castle_in_the_Sky
- http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/laputa/
- http://looney.physics.sunysb.edu/~daffy/laputa.html
- http://utd500.utdallas.edu/~hairston/laputa.html
- http://come.to/tigermoth/
- http://www.wingsee.com/ghibli/laputa/
- imdb:title/0092067
Better than Akira. Right up there with WingsOfHonneamise. -- TA
CategorySFMovie
CategoryAnime
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/LastModified.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000267 07563464525 020666 0 ustar apache twic Can anyone edit pages in your Wiki?
_Yes._
I just hope you've got some way of recovering data if some nit decides to delete it... --TL
I do. Sort of. See the entry in the WikiFAQ.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/LawrenceBloodyMiles.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002010 07560507616 022205 0 ustar apache twic The daemon/gremlin of BBC Books' DoctorWho output.
-Fundamentally, the man thinks he can write DoctorWho.
-Everyone else knows he can't. At least, not without creating an overly convoluted story-arc that eventually ties itself in knots and implodes (see RecursiveOcclusion).
_Actually, the man is quite a good conceptualiser. Like TerryNation before him, LBM can, when he's not having an off-day, dream up some fantastic concepts:
The whole visual 'look' of Faction Paradox, which would really suit a graphic novel, the idea of a giant space weapon set in sub-light motion millions of
years ago and gradually drifting towards its target whilst a civilisation grows up on the side of it, not to mention sentient, humanoid Tardises. It's just a pity that, once he's come up with a good idea, he doesn't have a clue what to do with it story-wise. Whilst a non-linear timeline isn't always a bad thing,
Mr Miles seems to fly in ever decreasing circles until eventually he disappears up his own Paradox. --WJR_
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/LeGuin.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000021 07554206462 017463 0 ustar apache twic See UrsulaLeGuin
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/LeParkour.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002101 07617715313 020205 0 ustar apache twic A new sport; a sort of urban steeplechase without horses.
- http://www.le-parkour.com/ (flashy opening)
- http://perso.wanadoo.fr/parkour/parkourenglish/ (first actual content page)
"_Use obstacles to create movement_. The Parkour is the art of movement, a new French sport created by David Belle and Sebastien Foucan. The objective is clearing all the obstacles which you can have on your way, climbing a wall, a stair, a roof or a tree, all that things in the research of an estetic and original movement. It's in an other hand, the self-knowledge, the challenge against your own fears, because the obstacles are not all the times the things we imagine ... People who practise this sport are called Traceurs, Training is physical but also reflects a moral philosophy with its own values. More than a sport, it's an art, an everyday philosophy!"
More than a sport, it's _bloody hazardous_ - leaping off buildings and whatnot. Kind of like extreme skateboarding without the skateboard. First brought to general public notice by the BBC One film short 'Rush Hour', starring David Belle.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/LeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000554 07570263004 024406 0 ustar apache twic A comic from the pen of AlanMoore. A steampunk superhero adventure, collecting famous characters from Victorian and Edwardian SpeculativeFiction. A film is currently in production; it is unlikely to be as good as SherlockHolmesAgainstTheMartians.
_Not to be confounded with 'The League of Gentlemen', a cult non-steampunk comedy show on BBC2 --TL_
CategoryComic
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/LesVisiteurs.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002074 07572705222 020751 0 ustar apache twic _"Ils ne sont pas nes d'hier!"_
French time-travel comedy starring JeanReno and ChristianClavier - the latter currently slated to play NapoleonBonaparte, and also ValerieLemercier and MarieAnneChazel. Probably one of few films to show a French postal van being attacked by a knight in armour. Should be shown by OUSFG poste haste. I'll leave it to TL to add further comment.
Imagine, if you will, Blackadder and Baldrick, speaking the language of Chaucer, being thrown through time by a potion concocted by a senile wizard, landing in the twentieth century. Then, add in a twentieth-century comedy-of-manners as a bunch of suburbanites try to cope with these weirdos, not knowing that they come from "_tres tres loin_". Now imagine the funniness factor magnified by a factor of I know not what. Ignore the fact that it's in French (it's subtitled, and French humour is a vast improvement on its American counterpart): this is a hilarious film, featuring some fairly plausible temporal-spatial paradoxes with unexpected consequences... --TL
- imdb:title/0108500
CategorySFMovie
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/LexxTheSeries.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000054 07570542422 021037 0 ustar apache twic See LEXX.
All caps or not all caps? -- ARC
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/LinUx.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000004574 07573671631 017365 0 ustar apache twic = What It Is
A FreeSoftware UNIX-like OperatingSystem, originally for the PC but now running on scads of different sorts of hardware (not as many as NetBSD, though!). The principal alternative to MicrosoftWindows on the PC.
- dmoz:Computers/Software/Operating_Systems/Linux
- http://www.linuxdoc.org/ (get documentation)
- http://www.kernel.org/ (download the kernel)
Because LinUx is free, it is particularly attractive to cash-starved organisations such a charities. TheSamaritans, for example, are using it: .
= Distributions
LinUx is actually not an OperatingSystem, it's an OperatingSystemKernel. A kernel is a big chunk of code which provides the main features think of as being part of the OS: managing memory, processes and hardware, networking, protecting programs from each other, etc. To get a complete OperatingSystem, it is necessary to add a suite of essential tools, a window system, and various other bits and bobs.
The collection of tools and whatnot invariably used with LinUx is the GNU system. However, since these are two quite separate bits of software, there is more than one 'right' way to put them together. Thus, there are many different 'distributions' (aka 'distros') of LinUx, each of which is a complete, fully-prepared OperatingSystem - the thing you want on a CD if you're going to install LinUx.
There are hundreds of distros: see for full listings. However, a small number dominate the market (at least on PC hardware):
- http://www.redhat.com/
- http://www.debian.org/
- http://www.unitedlinux.com/
- http://www.suse.com/
- http://www.slackware.com/
- http://www.linux-mandrake.com/
- http://www.caldera.com/products/workstation/
- http://linux.corel.com/
= Linux On The Mac
LinUx is not a popular OperatingSystem on the AppleMac; this is due to the fact that it historically hasn't been as capable on Mac hardware as on PC. It is unlikely to make significant inroads now that MacOSX is here.
= The Penguin Connection
[ http://www.cc.jyu.fi/~juhtolv/linux-sticker/logo2.gif A picture of Tux] - _It's soo cute! --TL_
The insignia of LinUx is a penguin; there is, of course, a reason for this, explained at . The penguin's name is Tux. See also for some more pictures.
CategoryGeekery
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/LiveJournal.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000006576 07627373155 020564 0 ustar apache twic A popular WebLog site.
See:
- http://www.livejournal.com/
Some LiveJournal__s of particular relation to OUSFG include:
- lj:ousfg (the OUSFGLiveJournalCommunity)
- lj:applez
- lj:cleanskies
- lj:cloudhigh
- lj:coalescent
- lj:dotty
- lj:e_pepys
- lj:eidolonarchie
- lj:elleblue
- lj:greengolux
- lj:jinty
- lj:liriselei
- lj:oxfordslacker
- lj:sparkymark
- lj:squigglyruth
- lj:tinyjo
- lj:truecatachresis
Other Blogs of interest:
- The Hulk: http://incrediblehulk.blogspot.com/
There's a slight catch to LiveJournal in that you have to get a code to get an account. For a free account you have to get someone with a code to divulge it. People with free accounts (generally OUSFGi) only get one code. Wiki is so much more open to Oxford newbies.
_Wiki kick LiveJournal in the *nuts* !_
Getting a code isn't all that much of a problem in practice; as with most cults, people tend to come to LiveJournal because their friends or whatever are already part, and so they can get a code from a friend. Nonetheless, it does grate with the prevailing web culture of making things free and easy at the point of use (remember, these are people who probably won't even read the NewYorkTimes online because it requires (free and simple) registration). _The importance of being free and easy at the point of use is also central to wiki - just click to edit any page._
LiveJournal is inferior to Blogger, which has archiving, permanent linking, no catches and endearing idiosyncrasies:
_Livejournal, however, is open source (which does go with the web culture of making things free and easy). You don't tend to know much about blogging tools you don't use, so I can't comment on Blogger, but Livejournal cartainly has its own share of endearing idiosyncrasies, archiving, permenant linking, and certainly works very nicely for me. People who want an introduction code should go to paid members lj:tinyjo or lj:cleanskies -- lj:tinyjo is also one of Livejournal 's many developers. [JD ( lj:cleanskies )
_Also, unless I am mistaken, Blogger doesn't have anything like the 'Friends page' feature of LiveJournal. Your Friends page gathers together entries from journals listed as your friends and handily places them in chronological order. It's just...nifty. -- NH_
_Splendid. However, if it's endearing idiosyncracies you want, Wiki is your weapon of choice!_
Is there etiquette concerning the linking of real names to LiveJournal usernames? I mean, if i were to say "On Steve's journal () ...", would that be considered a breach of privacy? Does inclusion in the list above come close to revealing MeatSpace identity and thus constitute a similar, if weaker, breach?
_I would personally prefer to keep my IRL and URL I__Ds separate. However, I am unable to completely resolve the contradiction of wishing any and all people to have access to my LiveJournal stuff without allowing, say, potential employers to find out what I'm like. As such, I'm pleased that elmentary Googling for me does not reveal my LJ existence, and would prefer to keep things that way. Still, in the end, I put the damn thing up on TheInternet, for fuck's sake, and therefore should not be surprised if people read it...
With respect to weak breaches such as the above list, I figure that if anyone knows enough about me to figure out who I am from indirect clues such as this, it's probably too late to keep them ignorant of my TrueNature_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/LoGo.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002436 07626505343 017154 0 ustar apache twic Logo is a very simple programming language, devised by SeymourPapert as a teaching tool for young children. Logo is most familiar as the language used to control a turtle trundling round a classroom floor, but it is in fact a fully general-purpose language, with variables and subroutines. EricRaymond refers to LoGo as "stealth LISP".
See:
- http://el.www.media.mit.edu/groups/logo-foundation/ The Logo Foundation
- http://www.yukoncollege.yk.ca/~srudge/comp052/grcom.html a command summary
LoGo might be the language with which to create WikiDiagrams; it's simple to use, powerful enough for the jobs we want done, would be easy(ish) to write an interpreter for, and has _hardcore_ old-school associations.
_Indeedy. How many people here actually had a go with those *really* cute green plastic turtle-shaped robots which could be used to draw Logo designs on huge pieces of paper? --TL_
Oh yes... we had one permanently set out on a huge table. It probably taught more than half of us how to use a computer. I'd vote for it! _(As a Wiki tool, obviously... although it might make a decent MP as well.)_ -- WJR
I've seen those sort of dodecahedral transparent green plastic ones. They're pretty cool. My school only had the one that looked like an upturned salad bowl, though. -- TA
CategoryGeekery
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/LocalChanges.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002376 07630117234 020633 0 ustar apache twic You can see the subset of RecentChanges consisting of the pages which are linked to from a particular page. "When did the pages linked to from here change?". You get the idea. It should be useful for infrequent visitors, who can make a list of pages they're interested in on their name page, then see what's been updated when they visit.
For now, you'll just have to munge a URL:
- http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/localchanges.pl?page=FrontPage
This is a somewhat incomplete feature; there ought to be a link at the bottom of the page or something.
I mostly wrote it to prove a point (). -- TA
_Could be useful, however: would it work on Category pages? --TL_
It works everywhere. If you mean "is it useful on category pages", then i have no idea, but there's only one way to find out!. -- TA
- http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/localchanges.pl?page=CategoryWiki
- http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/localchanges.pl?page=IndexIndex
- http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/localchanges.pl?page=SFIndex
Yes, of course, useless on categories, useful on indices. Haven't fully woken up yet. A BackwardsLocalChanges is technically feasible, but suffers from the slow BackLinksImplementation. -- TA
CategoryWiki
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/LookToWindward.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000156 07555463344 021225 0 ustar apache twic A book by IainMBanks.
-
- (UK), (USA)
CategoryBook
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/LornaAmnestyIncident.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000267 07632117656 022411 0 ustar apache twic Where LornaRobinson was secretary of the university Amnesty group despite no longer being an Oxford student. Resulted in Amnesty losing their university society rights for a period.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/LyndseyPickup.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002023 07560551003 021076 0 ustar apache twic Hello Wikiworld
This is Lyndsey's page. See http://www.elleblue.com/ for any real details.
Maybe a LyndseyPickupsLibrary page might appear here some day, if I get round to it. Oh, and I'm the one with the gerbils.
_Wikiworld says 'Hello, Lyndsey!' --WJR_
Hello to you and to the gerbils. P.S. It'd be a good idea to put a link to your library on the common MetaLibrary page, just so other wikizens know... --TL
_So, when do the three little cardboard guzzlers get their own Wikipage? :)_ --WJR
To be characteristically pedantic, i ought to point out that the putative library page should of course be called LyndseyPickupsLibrary (note the 's'). Welcome aboard, matey. Arr. -- TA
Okay, so I've changed the name of the library page I haven't even written so it conforms to standards. I'll link it to the MetaLibrary page if and when my own library page actually exists.
For now, have a link to my very old and outdated virtual library shelf instead: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~kebl1112/virtulib.html
CategoryWikizen CategoryOUSFGMember
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MHZool.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000516 07563777525 017476 0 ustar apache twic Short for 'The Massed Hordes of Zool'. Ask one of the OUSFG Elders for more details... if you _really_ want them. TL
Also the authors (in Borg-like collective gestalt...) of that trusty neverending story known only as ZOOL ...
And the BloomsburyGoodReadingGuideToScienceFiction. Make of that what you will.
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MMS.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000031 07554206361 016733 0 ustar apache twic See MichaelMarshallSmith
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MMSCCG.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000352 07631676672 017272 0 ustar apache twic = The Michael Marshall Smith Collectable Card Game
I wasn't planning on putting anything here _just_ yet. I just wanted to put the abbreviation here as a reminder. There are some ideas I need to dig out from somewhere though. -AM
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MP.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000441 07563276555 016634 0 ustar apache twic = MP: Acronym. 'Member of Parliament'.
Term used to describe an entity who is paid a lot to go to London, eat in a canteen, and listen to Tony Blair talk all day. Actually, put like that, it _almost_ sounds as though they deserved their inflated salary. -- WJR
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MacCleod.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000231 07565220535 017751 0 ustar apache twic Connor MacCleod of the clan MacCleod: ancient Scottish immortal taught by Sean Connery.
This page should of course be called MacLeod, but there you go.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MaillistsAndNewsgroupsAndWikisOhMy.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000006612 07624302300 025206 0 ustar apache twic _Somehow, Toto, i don't think we're in Kansas any more ..._
Well, we've always had OxClubsOUSFG, there's an OUSFGYahooGroup (i think) we've now got OUSFGWiki, and there's now even OUSFGChat and an OUSFGLiveJournalCommunity. What's going on? What are their roles? How are they complementary, and how are they competitive? Opinions? Thoughts?
Newsgroups are technically better than mailing lists for a number of reasons. Firstly, they more explicitly support threaded discussion; the tools are better. Secondly, they are open to easy discovery by interested third parties, without any need to subscribe or anything. Thirdly, they don't clutter your inbox! Of course, wikis kick both of their asses, but hey. -- TomAnderson
But wikis are pull-technology. You need push to get a decent number of people involved. Such as sitting in your inbox. People who get a lot of this can figure out procmail. Maybe a daily "this is what is new/changed today" email from the wiki might encourage repeat useage. - DS
The LJ community has the pull only bug as well as the wiki, and requires you to get an EVIL lj account. News is good, and can be gated to/from mailing lists automagically.
Ah, but only people in OxAcUk and with either the right software or a unix account (and the right setup) can read OxClubsOUSFG, which makes it little use, now that so few of us are students. -- TomsSockPuppet
Besides which, how many people (AppleMac users possibly excepted) know the first thing about Unix? --TL
A few; computer geeks might, and anyone doing computer science or (possibly) engineering, physics or maths will soon learn. There's a strong unix subculture in academia, and Oxford is no exception. AppleMac users probably won't, as the traditional MacOS is not unix-based, and the new MacOSX does a good job of hiding the fact that it is from the user. On the gripping hand, many people who deserve access to OUSFG cyberspace are neither CompScis or any allied species of geek, so depending on unix would be a BadThing.
How about this new GNU/LinUx thing supposedly superceding some of the things you could do thru Ermine? Info via a hyperlink on the Herald page. You can even access this with your Herald username and password... if you have one... --TL
RavenAndCrow do indeed provide easy access to UNIX for the Oxford masses, but it's still UNIX (LinUx, to be precise). Perhaps someone could write a quick howto for reading news on linux? _Please --TL_
$
rtin
y/ousfgs.......
Translation:
# Log in to linux.ox.ac.uk (aka RavenAndCrow), using your herald username and password
# type 'rtin' and press return; watch the screen dance briefly
# type 'y/ousfg' and press return; type 's' and press return; press tab twice
# and that's magic!
_If someone actually tries this, could they let me know how it goes? I suspect that the fact that i have a .newsrc file would make it go differently for me. - TA_
It occurs to me that the various LiveJournal__s would be more accessible to the non-blogging rebel scum if there were some equivalent of LiveJournal's vaunted 'friends page'. Basically, this would be a webpage which would display (say) the last day's or week's posts on the set of LiveJournal__s considered relevant. Since LiveJournal exports its innards as an RSS feed, this would be laughably simple to do. In fact, there are probably already online services we could use to do it. If not, time to brush up on my XML. -- TA
CategoryWiki
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MarcusWigan.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001270 07631702157 020525 0 ustar apache twic Dr. Marcus Wigan (HertfordCollege) is one of TheFirstOnes - a revered founding member of OUSFG. It was his idea to use the term _speculative_, to avoid putting off either fantasy or science-fiction fans (BrianAldiss found the term a little "weedy", but he's just being bitchy because of the whole cat thing).
Currently lives in Australia, but spends enough time in Scotland that he's often passing through Oxford.
He estimated that the BSFA would last longer than OUSFG. Consequently, and quite sadly, he donated an unbroken 22 year run of Astounding from the early 1940's to the BSFA. Oh, ye of little faith. :(
He has a D__Phil from the Nuclear Physics Department.
CategoryOUSFGMember
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MargaretAtwoodVsSF.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000007776 07552530011 021776 0 ustar apache twic _Based on a journal entry made by NiallHarrison at _
It has for some time been 'common knowledge' amongst SF fans that MargaretAtwood, author of TheHandmaidsTale, is a prime example of the 'literary establishment' that derides SF and recoils in horror should you suggest that their work might fall within the remit of SF. This opinion seems to be based on various interviews Atwood has given, like this one from a few years back:
Q: "It's hard to pin down a genre for this novel. Is it ScienceFiction?"
A: "No, it certainly isn't ScienceFiction. ScienceFiction is filled with Martians and space travel to other planets, and things like that. That isn't this book at all. TheHandmaidsTale is SpeculativeFiction in the genre of BraveNewWorld and NineteenEightyFour. NineteenEightyFour was written not as ScienceFiction but as an extrapolation of life in 1948. So, too, TheHandmaidsTale is a slight twist on the society we have now."
Now, quotes like that fairly make my blood boil, because it looks exactly like the worst kind of literary snobbishness: SF is ray guns and spaceships, and serious fiction can't possibly work that way! Not to mention that extrapolation from and twists on existing society are exactly what SF does best... But then I came across this review of UrsulaLeGuin, written by Atwood, in which she says the following:
"'ScienceFiction' is the box in which [UrsulaLeGuin's] work is usually placed, but it's an awkward box: it bulges with discards from elsewhere. Into it have been crammed all those stories that don't fit comfortably into the family room of the socially realistic novel or the more formal parlor of historical fiction, or other compartmentalized genres: westerns, gothics, horrors, gothic romances, and the novels of war, crime, and spies. Its subdivisions include ScienceFiction proper (gizmo-riddled and theory-based space travel, time travel, or cybertravel to other worlds, with aliens frequent); ScienceFictionFantasy (dragons are common; the gizmos are less plausible, and may include wands); and SpeculativeFiction (human society and its possible future forms, which are either much better than what we have now, or much worse). However, the membranes separating these subdivisions are permeable, and osmotic flow from one to another is the norm."
Quibbles about her highest-level definition (I'd go for 'SpeculativeFiction' as the bridging term, with the various science fiction and fantasy subgenres nested below that) and the vaguely pejorative use of the word 'proper' aside, she actually seems to have gained a fairly mature understanding of the genre, its scope and what it is about. A charitable man would even suggest that what appears in the early interview to be disdain for science fiction comes not from disdain, but merely from the application of what was initially an overly narrow definition of the term.
Disclaimer: concerns about the validity of classification by genre are left for a subsequent post, or possibly as an exercise for the reader. :-)
_Note that the two things she's written aren't even internally consistent; first she says that "[TheHandmaidsTale] certainly isn't ScienceFiction ... TheHandmaidsTale is SpeculativeFiction", then she says that "[ScienceFiction's] subdivisions include ... SpeculativeFiction". So, if TheHandmaidsTale is SpeculativeFiction, and SpeculativeFiction is a subdivision of ScienceFiction, then TheHandmaidsTale is ScienceFiction, which she says it is not._
_Note also that one of the foundations for TheHandmaidsTale is purely scientific: the story absolutely requires a fall in fertility levels. If that isn't ScienceFiction, what is? NineteenEightyFour has no such scientific basis (does it?)._
Could I suggest that both SF and SpeculativeFiction go under the banner of AlternativeRealityFiction or AltFic ? (either what happens might have happened, or it may happen in the future...) It's the only way that I can file in the same collection of my books the many different genres they cover. Is _A Clockwork Orange_ to be counted as SpeculativeFiction ? --TL
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MarieAnneChazel.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000132 07627465323 021275 0 ustar apache twic French actress.
- imdb:name/Chazel,%20Marie-Anne
Has a BaconNumber of 3.
CategoryActor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MarstonCyclepath.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001274 07617463404 021574 0 ustar apache twic Wide, fast flowing river. (see BritishWeather)
Quick means of getting from Oxford to Old Marston, this connects the corner of South Parks Road (Which has nothing to do with crude animations) with Ferry and Edgeway Road. This is most convenient, although would be even more so if
- a decent majority of the street lamps worked.
- the Cyclepath in question were not so frequently underwater.
- there was some means of dividing the path so that pedestrians did not get in the way of cyclists, and vice versa, given that both use the route...
_will tell you what the Marston Cyclepath is up to._
CategoryOxfordGeography
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MartyrsMemorial.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001041 07570175351 021432 0 ustar apache twic A Spaceship, currently parked on StGiles.
Hidden from public view somewhat by the presence of several scads of plywood... very reminiscent of "The Day The Earth Stood Still". All it needs is a Gort --TL
No no no! It's not a spaceship, but the only visible part of the SunkenCathedral!
Fools, the SunkenCathedral is my getaway craft. I am gratified that you have been taken in by its cunning disguise for so long. When I destroy the planet and leave none of you will be able to locate my escape vehi... oops. -- WJR
CategoryOxfordGeography
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MathematicalSF.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002160 07600054613 021117 0 ustar apache twic MathematicalSF is SF in which mathematics is central. It's a subdivision of HardSF. Arguably, it is the pinnacle of HardSF, as mathematics is the hardest of the sciences (in the 'HardSF' sense of hard - it's about taking a small idea and pursuing it relentlessly to its inexorable and mind-expanding conclusions).
- http://math.cofc.edu/faculty/kasman/MATHFICT/mf-cat-SF.html
Sentences like "This story contains a brief explanation of the transfinite cardinals and their arithmetic as part of a scary bit of science fiction." make me happy. -- TA
RudyRucker's 'Message Found in a Copy of Flatland' may be described as follows: this is the story that answers the age old question: "What if Flatland was in the basement of a Pakistani restaurant in London?".
'UnstableOrbitsInTheSpaceOfLies' remains one of the finest story titles in the world, ever. It's ironic that _mathematical_ SF can produce such lovely _words_, but that's probably indicative of some deeper truth _(which reminds me about ZipfsLaw -- TA)_.
And there's MsFndInALbry.
Much of this page was lifted straight from the website linked to above by TA, the lazy sod.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MaxMore.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000270 07631535574 017663 0 ustar apache twic Max More is an inactive member of OUSFG. He did PPE and went by another name during this time.
To be tidied up!
= Related Links
- http://www.maxmore.com/
- http://www.extropy.org/
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/McDonalds.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000426 07570407057 020156 0 ustar apache twic Evil Space Empire from AmericaLand.
Possibly in league with MicroSoft, although claims that MicroSoft have occasionally sold hamburgers as Win98 CDs and McDonalds have done the reverse have never been substantiated. Presumably the customers have not noticed the difference.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MeatSpace.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000413 07572774520 020154 0 ustar apache twic MeatSpace is that part of the universe which is not CyberSpace. So called because our presence there is a lump of animated meat rather than a shiny computer graphic.
_Yes, to you we're all just virtual entities dancing a gavotte in binary time, aren't we? :-P --TL_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MessageOfTheDay.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000014355 07632134347 021266 0 ustar apache twic _This page is a channel used to make announcements about the wiki (both the TwicI and OUSFGWiki aspects) - please don't edit it unless what you have to say is pragmatic and directly relevant to the message. Thanks._
I've been mucking about with some para-wiki things lately, like the portal page etc. I may have caused some confusion, distress or apathy by doing so; sorry about that. I think i have now found the ideal solution, through the magic of DotHtaccess - the classic URL once again does something useful, and there's also an easy-to-get-to file index. -- TomAnderson 15:20 7/4/2003
Added WikiTitleSearch. -- TomAnderson 11:43 6/3/2003
Got this LocalChanges thing. Hmm. -- TomAnderson 23:34 28/2/2003
The time limit for requests has been extended to 20 sec. With any luck, most BackLinks searches will now run okay. -- TomAnderson 14:15 28/2/2003
We now have 'tagged' WikiLists. Oh, and BackLinks searches are a bit slower. -- TomAnderson 19:30 5/2/2003
As you will doubtless have noticed, there are appear to be spaces in WikiNames. The intention is to make the illusion that WikiIsAWebsite more complete. Personally, i think this looks really good; it does take a bit of getting used to, though. A minor downside is that WikiNames like URLs, DVDs, SFnal and even KenMacLeod don't work so well; most such cases are plurals, which we can easily work around by using singulars and double-underscore-escaping the plural words (and in some cases fiddling the name - TLsVisitorsBook could become TheaLogiesVisitorsBook). Take a couple of days to get used to the new look, and then jot down your thoughts here. -- TomAnderson 15:45 1/2/2003
The static portal page () now just redirects to the FrontPage. -- TomAnderson 11:40 23/1/2003
We had a bit of WikiVandalism recently; it was minor, and quickly and easily fixed. I take this as evidence that we can survive in the Wild WWW even though WikiIsOpen. Nonetheless, it has reminded me of the pressing need for WikiHistory. -- TomAnderson 11:38 23/1/2003
The LastModifiedHeader has been removed, as a temporary fix for the WikiCacheProblem. Something more sensible will be worked out later. -- TomAnderson 10:41 18/01/2003
The first cut of WikiLocking is now in. It's not as thoroughly tested as i'd like, which means that whilst it probably doesn't do anything wrong that the previous version did right, it may not necessarily do right certain things which the previous version did wrong, which this one is supposed to do right. I will be testing this more thoroughly at some point, but the next priority is to fix the WikiCacheProblem. -- TomAnderson 18:35 16/01/2003
As part of a package of general tweaks and bugfixes, TwicI now generates a LastModifiedHeader on view pages. This really ought to be a Good Thing, since it allows browsers to used cached copies of pages, but it seems to have the irritating side effect that edits to a page don't show up until you reload the page (the WikiCacheProblem). What do people think? Write a note below if you have strong feelings about this. Oh and happy new year. -- TomAnderson 18:47 02/01/2003
_It really *really* seems to muck up the whole updating process as far as I'm concerned. I'm working on some pretty crappy machines which only run Internet Explorer and have had the button-toolbars disabled, so reloading isn't an option. --TheaLogie (sorry: update - pressing f5 or going thru View/Refresh seems to do the trick --TL)_ No way to reload? Ouch. On the one hand, it is a problem that the design of TwicI makes it difficult to use from that position, but on the other hand, a web browser without a reload button is in fact fundamentally broken, so it's not clear that it should be catered to in particular. However, it does seem like the WikiCacheProblem is insoluble, so i will revert to the absence of LastModifiedHeader__s as soon as i can (this is difficult at present, as i am halfway through some complicated changes). -- TA
Incidentally, we now have over 500 pages. -- TomAnderson 20:23 31/12/2002
Now, you may be thinking "surely the highest priority at the moment is to work on the BackLinksImplementation and WikiHistory, not footle about with swish formatting that nobody needs?"; you would of course be right. However, over the last few days, i didn't have a copy of the TwicI source code or proper access to the internet, but i did have some free time and a machine with perl; hence, i was able to bash out the simple and well-isolated new WikiLists code, but not to do any of the serious and rather complicated BackLinksImplementation/WikiHistory stuff (both of which require that i sort out WikiLocking first, anyway). -- TomAnderson 20:08 31/12/2002
The WikiLists have been thoroughly modernised, and there's some maintenance been done to the SpecialURL system. -- TomAnderson 20:04 31/12/2002
We now have WikiRawText and an AsciiArt type for WikiPictures. -- TomAnderson 2002-12-07 22:56
We now have WikiTables. -- TomAnderson 2002-12-07 22:42
We now have WikiPictures. -- TomAnderson 2002-11-26 just before lunch
We now have WikiHeadings. -- TomAnderson 2002-11-06 12:49
A brand spanking new version of TwicI has been installed. It's been bugfixed, enhanced, rewritten, tidied up, tuned and generally polished, but probably the only thing you'll notice is that formatting now works like it should (super_cali_fragilistic*expiali*dociously well and RealUltimatePower-fully). Say goodbye to leaving random spaces all over the place! -- TomAnderson 2002-11-05 17:41
Some people may have noticed sluggish behaviour a little earlier today. This was due to an explosion in an experimental version of the wiki. No penguins were harmed, although a few gigabytes of virtual memory were consumed. -- TomAnderson 2002-10-23 16:56
RecentChanges has been improved to handle number limits. -- TomAnderson 2002-09-26 16:58
TwicI has been upgraded to the new, modular codebase. You shouldn't notice any difference. -- TomAnderson 2002-09-26 16:58
We're now using CategoryWikizen rather than CategoryHomePage. -- TomAnderson 2002-09-16 13:58
OUSFGWiki was announced on OxClubsOUSFG. - TomAnderson, 2002-09-15 ~00:31
OUSFGWiki will be announced RealSoonNow - probably tomorrow morning, if the news server is back up by then. -- TomAnderson, 2002-09-14 02:08
CategoryWiki
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MetaLibrary.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003550 07570775106 020531 0 ustar apache twic The MetaLibrary isn't actually a library, but a list of everyone's collections of SF or SpecFi or AltFic books, which may or may not be borrowable from them, if you ask nicely.
If you've ever read NeilGaiman 's 'NeverWhere ', this is the book equivalent of the 'associative hallway'. -- TL
_I've listed 'everything that might concievably be of interest to OUSFG members, which inevitably includes some non-SF. So there. -- NH_
If you have a personal library which you're willing to share, bung it in the list, with whatever description you fancy:
- TomAndersonsLibrary - mostly decent HardSF, with a few oddball extras and a special collection of FuturistWritings
- NiallHarrisonsLibrary - also mostly HardSF, with a smattering of SpaceOpera and even the occasional HeroicFantasy. Sadly located outside of Oxford, so procuring items may be trickier than for other branches of the MetaLibrary.
- WilliamRamsdensLibrary - eclectic and incomplete and in no particular order.
- TheaLogiesLibrary - very random, a lot of it spin-offery (some not, so don't despair) and most of it in the USA at the moment. Sorry...
- AngharadGreensLibrary - HardSF, SpaceOpera, fantasy, CyberPunk, random shit. Good stuff is in Oxford in general, rest wondering where it is going to go when it comes up from Cardiff... Very badly listed at present!
- ChicksLibrary - complete set of TheMysteriousCitiesOfGold episodes on VideoCD.
_Just a crazy thought whilst inter-linking various of my books that I can see from here - we should crazily link up our libraries in some mad-meta way (just discovered the wiki this eve!!)_ --AG
_ Exactly what kind of mad meta way did you have in mind?_
At a guess, the '...can be found in [this person's library]' she's been using on specific book and author pages. -- NH
_Aha. Evidently, she has/had not yet realised that wiki supplies carzy mad meta linking as standard._
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MetricTime.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002532 07626756714 020365 0 ustar apache twic Metric Time (M__T) is an attempt to create a decimalized time system for our modern base-10 using world:
- http://zapatopi.net/metrictime.html
_Theorised by Wells' Time Traveller in StevenBaxter's TheTimeShips. Problem would be converting everyone's perceptions from 'old style' Babylonian time which has served us so well... --TL_
It also plays badly with S__I units, where the second is king. Instead, decimal time, based on seconds, would be a much better idea; this is already in use by computers, and has been used in science and SF (by VernorVinge, i think).
: 100 000 000 seconds : three and a bit years
: 10 000 000 seconds : a season
: 1 000 000 seconds : eleven and a half days
: 100 000 seconds : a day and a bit
: 10 000 seconds : almost three hours
: 100 second : a long minute
: 1 second : a second
These quantities are not all hugely convenient, due to the orbital parameters of the earth. Therefore, these must be changed: days should be 100 000 seconds long, and years, say, 25 000 000 seconds (289ish imperial days). We could also adjust the moon, so that a month was 2 000 000 seconds (the menstrual cycle could just be abolished, saving all sorts of bother). _Ahem! --TL_ Changing the year would mean moving to a closer orbit, but that makes it all the more convenient to get to Venus, and increases the amount of solar energy we can collect.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MichaelCrichton.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000232 07554302166 021336 0 ustar apache twic Responsible for several SciFi or SpecFi novels, depending on one's outlook: also leading light behind ER, for those who haven't read him.
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MichaelMarshall.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000107 07570224351 021326 0 ustar apache twic Author of TheStrawMen.
See also MichaelMarshallSmith.
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MichaelMarshallSmith.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002150 07632175323 022336 0 ustar apache twic A British SF writer, who has produced a handful of excellent novels and a slightly larger handful of excellent short stories. He has visited OUSFG several times, and said lots of interesting things.
- http://www.michaelmarshallsmith.com
- http://www.ousfg.net/~mms
Has written Spares, One of Us and a few others. Regular (well, has come twice) visitor to OUSFG.
Project: Clone MMS appears not to have got anywhere since AlxWilliams scooped up MMS' cigarette butt from Oxford Railway Station platform in 1999 for gene sampling, scaring the very scary author in the process.
It should be noted that the pound coin the same Alx obtained from MMS could also be used for genetic purposes, however we might end up creating clones of Alx instead! Does anyone know what happened to the cup that he drank out of? --DM
*Note: * It is of course possible that the cloning project is proceeding entirely on schedule, but that TomAnderson, on behalf of SPAHWG, has ordered an information blackout. What's that group of identical authors doing outside my
window with a phased plasma rifle? --WJR
See also : MMSCCG
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MichaelmasTerm.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000275 07541613247 021205 0 ustar apache twic The first term of the academic year; it would be known as autumn term if Oxford wasn't Oxford.
According to http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/admin/dates.shtml , MT 2002 begins Sunday 13 October.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MicroSoft.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002337 07611554042 020213 0 ustar apache twic Evil Space Empire from AmericaLand. Creator of Windows in all its forms. Windows666 is expected soon. (So thank heavens for LinUx...)
_On the other hand, is one of the top ten givers of percentage total profits to charity - but, as that's nine percent of its millions, 'could try harder...' --TL_
Still, that is reasonably good. Mind you, isn't there a grand old tradition of evil supervillains having a public face of philanthropy? -- WJR
There's the other problem: vulnerability. Everyone and their metaphorical dog writes viruses specific to Windows, to Internet Explorer or (infamously perhaps) to Outlook Express. Latest wheeze: _--TL_
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2523387.stm
On the other hand, this might be rather more promising, let's hope it's not a flash in the pan:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2659857.stm
Except what they're saying is that they'll let _government security agencies_ see their source code, and then only if they sign a non-disclosure agreement. To be honest, the Russian Mafia is still your best bet for getting a look at MicroSoft source code, and failing that, quite a bit of it is in the appendices of the NecroNomicon. _Aha, is that what MiserableOFB is currently researching then?? :)_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MicrosoftWindows98.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001726 07573224530 022013 0 ustar apache twic See TheInferno
_And yet, I've had it running on this laptop for the past two years without ever having serious problems. Well, no serious problems of the 'freezing up and crashing randomly' type that others seem to endure, at any rate. -- NH_
Ah, but have you ever had problems with it not shutting down properly and then complaining that it hasn't shut down properly at every possible opportunity? --TL
Ohhh yes. "Because Windows was not shut down properly, you may have errors on
your drives. Press any key to waste your time running Scandisk to try to correct a problem that's your computer's fault for not shutting down properly in the first place." -- WJR (don't remind me...)
There's even an invention (dating from several decades in the past) known as a 'journalling file system' which means that - shock horror! - _your entire disk doesn't need to be checked after a crash!_. It seems that LinUx (the RedHat version, at least) now uses one as its default filesystem.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MidnightsChildren.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000355 07623555376 021721 0 ustar apache twic A novel by SalmanRushdie. Sort of an Indian XMen, only more literary, and with less spandex.
- isbn:0099578514 (UK), isbn:0140132708 (USA)
- http://www.midnightschildren.com/ the play; not as good as the book
CategoryBook
CategoryPlay
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MimeticFiction.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000405 07570223361 021204 0 ustar apache twic ChinaMieville's classification of StraightFiction as genre.
"I love the term 'mimetic literature', because it turns mainstream fiction
into a genre and allows you to say things like, 'I don't read mimetic
literature. It's vulgar and childish'" - ChinaMieville
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MiserableOFB.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000214 07612043207 020525 0 ustar apache twic Short for 'MiserableOldFuckBastard'. Handle of Myke, current OUSFGPresident.
CategoryConstitution
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
CategoryNickname
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MiserableOFBs.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000021 07610630132 020701 0 ustar apache twic See MiserableOFB
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MobyDick.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001431 07573224327 020010 0 ustar apache twic Book by Herman Melville chronicling the voyages of a ship captained by the mad revenge-driven Captain Ahab. Rather good, although the narrating character's attitude to the moral issues of whaling is very likely to grate with the ethics of 21st Century humans.
- isbn:1566193567
- imdb:title/0331570 (1999 version), imdb:title/0049513 (1956 version, probably best-known), imdb:title/0021149 (1930 version. Notta lotta people know that.)
It is a little known fact that this supposed whale was actually a nuclear submarine piloted by technologically advanced time-travelling OUSFGi from the future.
Not entirely unrelated to BruceSterling's novel InvolutionOcean.
CategoryBook CategorySFMovie (sort of - the 1956 version does have the SF luminary RayBradbury amongst the credited writers)
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MoonLandings.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003641 07615033744 020702 0 ustar apache twic Moon Landings: fake or real?
Blatantly *fake* ! So, is it even scientifically possible to get to the moon? Does anyone even know? I mean _surely_ there would have been more follow up visits to the moon over the last 30 odd years if the moon landings were real. It's the biggest rip-off in the world and all because a few Merkins were jealous of the Russkies. Look where it led - Merka got a superiority complex over 'winning' the Cold War and now they would like to start some more wars just so they can yet again 'prove' how 'great' they are. Well bugger it all.
Alternatively, maybe the Americans put some sort of device on the moon that shoots down all future manned landings. Or the UFOs watching this planet looked at what a mess we'd made of the moon and got a device which stopped humans leaving the planet. All the shot down landings have been covered up to prevent widespread panic amoungst the populus.
Sigh. Would you like to take the issue up with NASA? There are some perfectly good and scientific reasons why the (hours and hours!) of footage and photos taken on the moon cannot possibly be fake, and equally good reasons why the reasons given by those who think the thing was a hoax are a load of cobblers (sorry)--TL
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2410431.stm
Oh, bloody hell. Maybe they did have something to hide on the subject after all... --TL
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2424927.stm
I suppose you saw the movie about the faked Mars landings (I've forgotten what it's called), starring OJSimpson then? --TL
Capricorn One? --WJR _That's the one --TL_
Actually no i haven't. Who needs movies when you have books, tv documentaries and most importantly P__A__R__A__N__O__I__A -- Kaz. _Not to mention real life, unfortunately. Just because you're paranoid... --TL_
Ah. Here's some food for thought on the subject: --TL
http://argument.independent.co.uk/regular_columnists/terence_blacker/story.jsp?story=355538
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MostlyHarmless.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000232 07620677457 021304 0 ustar apache twic The Earth... In fact, a reasonable description of many things to be found upon the Earth, including H2G2, but not, perhaps, GWB.
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/MsFndInALbry.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000720 07600054602 020523 0 ustar apache twic Apparently, "Hal Draper took a break from his life's work of promoting Marxism, and wrote one science fiction story.", this being 'Ms Fnd in a Lbry' (), which deals with the problem of indexing all humanity's knowledge, ending up with indexes of the indexes, indexes of the indexes of the indexes, etc, which leads naturally to infinitude. And then society collapses, or something.
Hmm - SFAboutLibraries?
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/NASA.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002523 07620231427 017024 0 ustar apache twic NASA is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (_not_ the North American Space Administration). The ones from AmericaLand who allegedly carried out the MoonLandings.
- http://www.nasa.gov
- http://spaceflight.nasa.gov
So why did one of their Mars Probes malfunction? They couldn't tell the difference between centimetres and inches??? Hmm...
The joke seems to be falling rather flat these days. With one of their Space Shuttles (S__T__S-107/Columbia) having burnt up in the upper atmosphere close to the anniversary of another (S__T__S-51-L/Challenger) having exploded on takeoff, and of Apollo 1's fire in testing, it may well take a miracle for the poor souls to keep the space programme on its feet. The InternationalSpaceStation is likely to have to shut down, at least for the interim, while they decide how the hell they're going to rustle up the craft to maintain and supply the station. GWB has just announced a new subsidy of half a billion; but with the American economy and the war in Iraq, that may well not be enough. Is this the end of manned space travel in our time?
Just for the record, with the loss of Columbia, there are just three orbiters remaining: Discovery (1983), Atlantis (1985) and Endeavour (1991); dates are of rollout from the factory.
_What we need is a SpaceElevator._ What we *need* is less InadequateInvestment.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/NASAAstrobiologyInstitute.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000337 07577341405 023345 0 ustar apache twic A NASA institute which studies AstroBiology.
- http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/
It is not a genuine institute, with a building housing employees etc; rather, it's a collaboration between a bunch of research groups. Or something.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/NB.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000075 07611031006 016570 0 ustar apache twic _Nota Bene_
Latin for 'listen up'.
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/NEW.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000037 07562553370 016742 0 ustar apache twic (1) Not OLD
(2) Oxford College
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/NH.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000023 07540454546 016612 0 ustar apache twic See NiallHarrison.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/NanoTech.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000005300 07623172364 020004 0 ustar apache twic NanoTech is the (hypothetical) technology of nanometre-scale machines; these would have to be built from precisely arranged individual atoms, and so are rather challenging to build, but may offer immense power.
I think NanoTech is bunk. Basically, its proponents make the mistake of assuming that tiny machines will work like normal-size machines, only smaller; our extensive experience with natural molecular machines (ie proteins) teaches us that this is not the case: life at the nanoscale is governed by quite different laws to that at the macroscale, with thermal motion and quantum-mechanical effects being much more significant. -- TA
For some completely absurd ideas on how nanomachines might be used in medicine, see . I mean has a little spaceship thing _repairing DNA_; leaving aside for a minute that the interior of the cell (or the nucleus, in this case) is not even remotely like the cavernous empty space they depict (rather, it is packed solid with proteins and DNA), how exactly do they propose to deal with the fact that human DNA is packaged in a complex and dynamic architecture of proteins (called chromatin)? Are they just going to pull them off at random? What makes them think they can get them off, examine the DNA, repair the DNA, and then put them back on, all more efficiently and correctly than the cell's own enzymes? It's ludicrous! They say "Upper arms, meanwhile, detach regulatory proteins from the chain and place them in an intake port"; how exactly are these arms going to grab the proteins? What force sticks the grabbers to the protein? Presumably, something stronger than the force which sticks the protein to the DNA, which is an intimate electrostatic interaction which has been optimised over evolutionary time to bind the protein to the DNA as strongly and as specifically as possible. Apparently, after this feat, "The molecular structures of both DNA and proteins are compared to information stored in the database ..."; so, they've got a molecular structure analyzer, which can rapidly and accurately determine the three-dimensional structure of a protein, which _is scarcely bigger than the protein itself_. How the hell do they propose to build this? This is the core problem with the NanoTech movement: lots of cute ideas, lots of cool pictures, but bugger all actual workable ideas.
That said, there is a certain amount of 'real' NanoTech; however, it is all based on biological structures, and is known as BioNanoTechnology.
_The latest technothriller on the subject is MichaelCrichton's Prey... opinions of this differ, but Archie forbids its presence from the library --TL_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/NapoleonBonaparte.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002377 07572774712 021737 0 ustar apache twic Born Napoleone di Buonaparte in Corsica, became a moderately influential and militarily astute general in the French Army at the time of the _Directoire_, from which standpoint he was roped into a coup d'etat which made him First Consul in a Consulate of three. Not content with that, ol' Boney proceeded to turn his position into a quasi-military quasi-dynastic dictatorship (making several siblings rulers in their own little patches of his European monarchia, while he proceeded to try and expand his empire even further east into Russia). However, he was responsible for the bringing in of the _Code Civile_ and of the modern system of French schooling, both of which, fundamentally, have remained to this day. Forced to abdicate from his rule as Emperor Napoleon I in 1815, died in St Helena in 1820 (there are several conspiracy theories surrounding precisely how he died: the most prosaic hypothesis is simple illness), but still a powerful figure in France's imagination. --TL _(This is why historians are useful in an SF society!:))_
ObSF: appears in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, as himself.
ArnoldJudasRimmer's all-time favourite fascist dictator. This despite the fact that he existed long before the term 'fascism' was coined.
CategoryOUSFGElder, perhaps?
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/NarniaChronicles.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000566 07630423610 021527 0 ustar apache twic A series of books by CSLewis about the magical land of Narnia.
- TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe (1950)
- Prince Caspian (1951)
- The Voyage of the 'Dawn Treader' (1952)
- The Silver Chair (1953)
- The Horse and His Boy (1954)
- The Magician's Nephew (1955)
- The Last Battle (1956)
Adapted for TV in the 1980s and radio in the 1990s by the BBC.
Aka TheChroniclesOfNarnia.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/NecroNomicon.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000741 07611642356 020702 0 ustar apache twic A book of horrific madness written by the Mad Arab Abdul Alhazred, detailing all sorts of insane supernatural unpleasantness which decent people ought not be interested in. Naturally, it is in the OUSFGLibrary.
The NecroNomicon features prominently in the works of HPLovecraft, in which it plays a key part in the CthulhuMythos.
Veiled references have been whispered that the NecroNomicon is related to the VoynichManuscripts.
For a related document, see the OUSFGConstitution.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/NeighbouringWikis.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001002 07613517423 021725 0 ustar apache twic There are countless wikis out there, for all sorts of purposes. Just google:Wiki for example. Some of them are somewhat related to our own.
- WardsWiki (the original wiki, and the closest thing to a parent that TwicI and the OUSFGWiki have)
- Somewhere, there's another wiki actually running the TwicI code, but it's in use as a private journal sort of thing, and so not really linkable-to
- http://www.wikipedia.org has just been SlashDotted for reaching its 100,000th article. Well worth a look.
CategoryWiki
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/NeilGaiman.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002040 07571135540 020304 0 ustar apache twic See:
-
Which sez it all, really.
The genuine WebLog of NeilGaiman () will reveal all (incrementally, of course). is the minimalist equivalent from someone who appears to have nothing to say...
Those Li'l Endless in the picture are a cutesy interpretation.
They're pretty famous, TheEndless, being the mainstays of _TheSandman_ ,
Gaiman's famous comic sequence. The start of the sequence is in the
OUSFGLibrary, but may not be stashed in the room of AlexCameron (OUSFGLibrarian) at present. We start with Dream, and gradually find out about
the ones who aren't The Sandman.
Gaiman has written many other stories, as behooves a Writer, but
_Sandman_ is comics, and therefore good. OK, so _American Gods_
and _Coraline_ have their merits, as do many of the short stories.
But _Sandman_ is in stock. Ask Tanaqui or TomAnderson for access to _Coraline_ .
Gaiman is also the writer of DouglasAdams' biography, _DontPanic_. (Apostrophe eliminated for Wikinamisation)
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/NewYork.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002025 07610601520 017667 0 ustar apache twic _"So good, they named it twice..."_
Part of AmericaLand. Reputedly has some rather interesting second hand bookstalls, amongst the StarBucks'. -- WJR
Also the location for Men In Black 1 and 2: _"why else would they hold [the World's Fair] in Queens?"_ A lot of the jokes in that movie make a heck of a lot more sense if you've ever sampled the local culture(s). Also, still the best location for bagels in the universe (or, to be more exact, a mad place on the edge of Astor Place) In short, weird and wonderful. The inspiration for Fritz Lang's and TheaVonHarbou's 'Metropolis' --TL
Loved by the Gremlins, in the second Spielberg movie of that name. -- WJR
Otherwise known as 'The Big Apple', for reasons which escape me. -- WJR
_Ah, having moved there I can enlighten you. In days of yore there was a particular jazz dive/bar in Harlem whose insignia was an enormous apple. So musicians would talk about going to the 'Big Apple'... and eventually the name was applied to the city as a whole. --TL_
NewYorkIndex
CategoryOxfordGeography
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/NewYorkIndex.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000675 07610602416 020675 0 ustar apache twic An index for all things concerning the Big Apple; given that it is considerably larger than Oxford (even taking into account the undoubted interior dimensions of Christ Church College and Magdalen Deer Park), there should be some pages here to list what can be seen or done or avoided (!) in TL's newfound home.
== See:
- NewYork
- NewYorkSights
== Buy:
- EatingInNewYork
- NewYorkSF
== Flee From In Panic:
- NewYorkInferno
CategoryIndex
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/NewYorkInferno.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002547 07631224637 021236 0 ustar apache twic Things and places to avoid in New York are legion:
- *Times Square* (42nd Street, Broadway and 7th Av) is a place to pass through, rather than to stay. It furnishes masses of tourists with the typical 'bright lights of New York' image, but the bombardment of advertising, tourists and particularly persistent panhandlers can get more than a little wearing.
- *John F. Kennedy Airport* (Brooklyn) could be a real find for the conspiracy theorists. Why name an airport in New York after that particular president - is it because the airport, like its namesake, sounds impressive but looks awful? Plus, because it's the major transit hub, the TSA are very thick on the ground here.
- *Ground Zero* (downtown Manhattan): nothing to see here but merchandise-sellers and a very big hole. For mercy's sake, move along _please_.
- *Excessive Numbers of StarBucks* (all boroughs): yes, it can't be denied that having some kind of eatery or drinkery readily to hand is good, but how far has excess caffeine contributed to the growing stress problem here? We need a Non-Proliferation Treaty for this sort of thing.
- *NewYorkWeather*: you'll have no idea what I mean unless you've been there.
- *Marmite*: don't laugh. Those who find Marmite 'my mate' have to fork out 15 bucks and odd (about 10 gbp) for the privilege of a decent-sized pot; that is, if they can find the stuff.
NewYorkIndex
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/NewYorkSF.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000004255 07625231006 020133 0 ustar apache twic Mostly consists of StarWars, StarTrek, TheLordOfTheRings and other such merchandise (less HarryPotter than you might think, tho'), but there are some worthy SF outlets hither and yon...
- *Midtown Comics* (40th St and 7th Av, I think) has quite a fun collection of SF-related figurines - some of the 'Sandman' comics-related ones are quite something to behold - although their moderately interesting SF books collection has been reduced somewhat to make way for more, ahem, _adult_ fare. Still worth a look.
- *BarnesAndNoble* (all boroughs) The original from which the wiki's ISBN checks are derived, and generally not bad at all. Comparable with Waterstones' or Blackwells' in quality of stock, although there's a disappointing amount of, well, American self-improvement tat. On the other hand, those who live on Manhattan can order something from the website and get it delivered within 24 hours! Beat that, Amazon.
- *Jim Hanley's Universe* (33rd Street and 5th Av) The variety of stuff done here, although inclined mostly to comics, is incredible. And, unlike all other stores I've been in in Manhattan, this one does sell DWM!
- *St Mark's Comics* (St Mark's Place/8th St and 3rd Av) Plain weird, but good fun in inimitable East Village style.
- *Sidewalk Bookstalls* (Broadway, 111th St-116th St) ArthurCClarke and other quality SF novels second-hand at a couple of bucks a go? You heard it here first.
- (cyberspatial) *New York Review of Science Fiction* Could be worth a look.
- *Forbidden Planet* (nr E 14th St and Broadway) Mostly comic-strip-related stuff here, and an awful lot of _Merchandise_, but worth a look.
NewYorkIndex _Indices are not categories; if you want, by all means create a CategoryNewYork and use that, but this link as it stands seems somehow wrong._ I thought it to be a mirror of the rather sporadic OxfordIndex... however, if it's messing up your assiduous system of catalogues, feel free to correct it. --TL _The idea of having a NewYorkIndex is an excellent one, but the point of an index is that it's a list of links _to_ things, so you don't need to tag the target pages. It's the inverse of a category, if you see what i mean._
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/NewYorkSights.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003407 07631225171 021065 0 ustar apache twic Things to see with a possible SF connection:
- *Flushing Meadows* (Queens) Odd name, interesting place. Location of the World's Fair relics and the stadium as featured in Men In Black 1.
- *The Subway System* (all boroughs) Yes, this may seem an odd entry. But (except at rush hour) at a quid a ride, flat rate, it's an improvement on the London Underground, there are some weird and wonderful street performers at least some of whom must be extra-terrestrial, and it's another location (for Men In Black 2).
- *The Villages* (downtown Manhattan, between 14th St and Chambers St). You don't need to have watched either of the Men In Black films to wonder what's around the corner here...
- *The Cloisters Museum* (Fort Tryon Park, north end of Manhattan, nr 193rd St) This has to be the quietest part of the city. You could stand in the middle of one of these reconstructed medieval buildings and imagine for a moment that you were either on some arcadian world, or back in a time-warp. Until you hear car-horns from the adjacent motorway, or the distinct two-tone "paarp" of a train going by, or a jet plane or helicopter going overhead....!
- *Central Park* (between 59th and 110th Sts, 5th and 7th Avenues) Location of "Antz", I think, or possibly "A Bug's Life", and full of very strange terrains. New York is far from flat. WJR and other Docsoci might be amused to know that a 'Warriors' Gate' exists at its north end...
- *The Public Library* (40th St and 5th Avenue): gloriously grandiose, and a bloody good research library too. Eat your heart out, the Nipple of Knowledge...
- *The Empire State Building* (33rd St and 5th Avenue): if you can brave the queues and the adverts for the 'Skyride' experience (don't bother with it), enjoy a King Kong's-eye-view of the Big Apple.
NewYorkIndex
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/NewYorkWeather.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002325 07624444225 021226 0 ustar apache twic They call it part of 'New England' because it gets British-style climates, even though it's on a latitude with the Algarve. *Yeah, riiight.*
_Details to come._
*Spring: * what spring?
*Summer: * all right, perhaps I just arrived at a bad time, but there is a possible reason why New Yorkers want to get out of the city during this season, being the insufficiency of air conditioning to cope with the oppressive heat. 100 degrees Fahrenheit and near-100-percent humidity were not unknown while I was there in the long vac.
*Autumn: * rain. Lots of it. Rather British in style. Until it gets colder, and the gales come in, and you're threatening to blow away at every intersection. One weakness of the grid system in Manhattan...
*Winter: * every day seems to turn into a Shackletonian expedition if it's snowing - and although they do use snowploughs on both the roads and the pavements, you have to proceed through three-foot drifts if you want to cross the road. Even when not snowing, _it is C__O__L__D._ Especially in months that ought to be seeing the first fruits of spring... 17/02/2003 saw an unusually awful blizzard, wherein even those used to snow in February (in Minneapolis) got about a month's worth of snow overnight.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/NiallHarrison.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000005445 07630244774 021067 0 ustar apache twic NiallHarrison is an member of OUSFG. He is new to this Wiki business, and hasn't decided what to put here yet. For reference, though, his SF likes include: StephenBaxter, KimStanleyRobinson, GregEgan, AdamRoberts, PeterFHamilton, TedChiang and CharlieStross (in other words, HardSF), short stories in general, _FarScape_, _AngelTheSeries_, _Firefly_ and the films of MNightShyamalan. He also likes some comics, including TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen and GrantMorrison's XMen, but not as many as other members of OUSFG. Dislikes are limited (NiallHarrison being fairly easy to please, on the whole), but include most SwordAndSorcery and pretty much all StarTrek except DeepSpaceNine. See NiallHarrisonsLibrary for a list of the books he owns.
This reminds him somewhat of his first webpage.
And once again following the example of TomAnderson, we have a list of things:
- http://www.wizkidsgames.com/mwdarkage/mw_article.asp?cid=36984&frame=news - Best dad ever?
- http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/images/dilbert2040636020903.gif (_BrokenLink. Dilbert stuff tend to expire after about a month..._)
- http://www.punkmac.com/source/go.php?id=final
- The mainstream media catches up with the 'Osama Bin Laden inspired by _Foundation_ ' story: http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,12084,779530,00.html
- *sniff* FarscapeIsCancelled
- This is more fun than it should be: http://www.platinumgrit.com/poke.html
- Yes. This is good: http://cthuugle.com/
- Rubik's Cube solved by Lego! - expect a Lego-mediated singularity Real Soon Now.
- http://www.apa.org/journals/psp/psp7761121.html - you have to respect the honesty.
- http://hcs.harvard.edu/~golder/dialect/maps.php - the results of a survey documenting variations in language use across the usa.
- http://www.starterupsteve.com/swf/Group_X_video.html
_Niall, is it okay if i lift your writing about MargaretAtwoodVsSF? It'd definitely be valuable here. If not, please don't hesitate to delete the page; i've taken the sizeable liberty of thieving it straight away, as it's unlikely that anyone will see it before you get a chance to delete it. -- TA_
Sure, no problem. Feel free to take anything else you like the look of, too. It's quite flattering, actually. -- NH
_Oh, no worries, the rest of your livejournal's toss. -- TA_
_Obviously, i'd use a smiley there if my conscience allowed it. -- TA_
A simple would have sufficed, I feel... -- NH
Actually, it's relevant that GregEganHasReadANewKindOfScience.
Demonstrating the Wiki to ZacAppleton. See this link to the SandBox.
Hello again Niall, btw (feel free to delete this) --TL
Niall once more has a LiveJournal: . He has archived some of the posts from here: http://urchin.earth.li/~sax/sf/reviews/
CategoryWikizen
CategoryOUSFGMember
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/NiallHarrisonsLibrary.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000020626 07570224234 022565 0 ustar apache twic The collection of books belonging to NiallHarrison. Part of the MetaLibrary.
It's somewhat depressing how many books I own that I haven't read.
DouglasAdams
- TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy
- The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe
- Life, The Universe And Everything
- So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish
- Mostly Harmless
- The Salmon Of Doubt (essays, novel fragment)
IsaacAsimov
- Gold: The Final Science Fiction Collection (short stories)
- Magic: The Final Fantasy Collection (short stories)
- The End Of Eternity
- The Complete Robot (short stories)
- IRobot (short stories)
- The Caves Of Steel
- The Naked Sun
- The Robots Of Dawn
- Robots And Empire
- The Currents Of Space
- The Stars, Like Dust
- Pebble In The Sky
- NightFall One (short stories)
- Earth Is Room Enough (short stories)
- Through A Glass, Clearly (short stories)
- The Gods Themselves
- Prelude To Foundation
- Foundation (this could do with a WikiName, I think)
- Second Foundation
- Foundation's Edge
- Foundation And Earth
IainMBanks
- Consider Phlebas
- The Player Of Games
- The Use Of Weapons
- The State Of The Art (short stories)
- Feersum Endjinn
- Against A Dark Background
- Excession
- Inversions
- Look To Windward
JohnBarnes
- A Million Open Doors
Note to self: Find a copy of Apostrophes and Apocalypses.
StephenBaxter
- Omegatropic (essays)
- Mammoth
- Raft
- Timelike Infinity (US and UK editions)
- The Time Ships
- Flux
- Ring
- Anti-Ice
- Vacuum Diagrams (short stories)
- Voyage
- Titan
- Traces (short stories)
- Moonseed
- Time
- Space
- Origin
- Phase Space (short stories)
- Evolution (proof copy, OUSFGLibrary-bound)
- Reality Dust (novella, in Futures)
GregBear
- Foundation And Chaos
GregoryBenford
- Foundation's Fear
AlfredBester
- The Stars, My Destination
- The Demolished Man
- Virtual Unrealities (short stories)
AlfredBester and RogerZelazny
- Psycho Shop
JamesBlish
- A Case Of Conscience
- StarTrek: The Classic Episodes 1 (adapted)
- StarTrek: The Classic Episodes 2 (adapted)
- StarTrek: The Classic Episodes 3 (adapted)
RayBradbury
- The Martian Chronicles
- Something Wicked This Way Comes
DavidBrin
- Foundation's Triumph
JohnBrunner
- Stand On Zanzibar
AnthonyBurgess
- AClockworkOrange
CJCherryh
- Cyteen
TedChiang
- Stories Of Your Life And Others (short stories)
ArthurCClarke
- Rendezvous With Rama
- Rama II
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- 2061: Odyssey Three
- 3001: The Final Odyssey
- The Deep Range
- Reach For Tomorrow (short stories)
- Earthlight
- Expedition To Earth (short stories, including TheSentinel)
- Prelude To Space
- Greetings, Carbon-Based Life Forms (essays)
- The Fountains Of Paradise
ArthurCClarke and StephenBaxter
- The Light Of Other Days
ArthurCClarke and GregoryBenford
- Against The Fall Of Night/Beyond The Fall Of Night
ArthurCClarke and GentryLee
- Garden Of Rama
- Rama Revealed
- Cradle
ArthurCClarke and MikeMcQuay
- Richter 10
JohnClute and PeterNicholls
- TheEncyclopaediaOfSF
JohnClute and JohnGrant
- TheEncyclopaediaOfFantasy
MichaelCrichton
- Sphere
- Congo
- JurassicPark
- The Lost World
PeterCrowther (editor)
- Foursight (JamesLovegrove, MichaelMarshallSmith, KimNewman and GrahamJoyce)
- Futures (StephenBaxter, PeterFHamilton, PaulMcAuley and IanMcDonald)
- Infinities (EricBrown, KenMacleod, AdamRoberts and AlastairReynolds)
PhilipKDick
- MinorityReport (short stories, film tie-in edition)
- We Can Build You
- Time Out Of Joint
GardnerDozois (editor)
- The Year's Best SF 14
- The Year's Best SF 15
UmbertoEco
- The Name Of The Rose
- Kant And The Platypus (philosphical essays)
GregEgan
- Quarantine
- Diaspora
- Distress
- Teranesia
- Axiomatic (short stories)
- Luminous (short stories)
BenElton
- Stark
RichardPFeynman
- The Meaning Of It All (essays)
AlanGarner
- Red Shift
MaryGentle
- Golden Witchbreed
- Ash: A Secret History
ACGrayling
- Predictions 13: Moral Values
JohnGribbin
- Schrodinger's Kittens
JoeHaldeman
- The Forever War
- Forever Peace
PeterFHamilton
- Fallen Dragon
- The Reality Dysfunction
- The Neutronium Alchemist
- The Naked God
- A Second Chance At Eden ('short' stories)
- The Confederation Handbook
- Mindstar Rising
- A Quantum Murder
- The Nanoflower
- Watching Trees Grow (novella, in Futures)
- Misspent Youth
RichardHanley
- The Metaphysics of StarTrek
StephenHawking
- ABriefHistoryOfTime
- Black Holes and Baby Universes
RobertHeinlein
- StrangerInAStrangeLand
- The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress
JosephHeller
- Catch-22
AldousHuxley
- BraveNewWorld
LawrenceKrauss
- The Physics Of StarTrek
ThomasKuhn
- The Structure Of Scientific Revolutions
HanifKureishi
- The Body
UrsulaLeGuin
- The EarthSea Trilogy
- Tehanu
- Tales From EarthSea (short stories)
JimLovell and JeffreyKluger
- Apollo 13
JonathanLynn and AntonyJay
- YesMinister
- YesPrimeMinister
KenMacleod
- The Star Fraction
- The Stone Canal
- The Cassini Division
- The Sky Road
- Cosmonaut Keep
- Dark Light
- Engine City
- The Human Front (novella, in Infinities)
MichaelMarshall
- The Straw Men
(see also MichaelMarshallSmith)
IanMcDonald
- Ares Express
- Tendeleo's Story (novella, in Futures)
ChristopherMoore
- Practical Demonkeeping
WardMoore
- Bring The Jubilee
WilliamMorris
- NewsFromNowhere
KimNewman
- Seven Stars (short stories)
JeffNoon
- Nymphomation
TheOnion
- Our Dumb Century
- Finest News Reporting
ChuckPalahniuk
- Lullaby
JohnAllenPaulos
- Innumeracy
FrederickPohl
- The Coming Of The Quantum Cats
ChristopherPriest
- A Dream Of Wessex
- The Separation
PhilipPullman
- HisDarkMaterials trilogy (one volume)
ArthurRansome
- SwallowsAndAmazons
- Swallowdale
- Pigeon Post
- The Picts And The Martyrs
AdamRoberts
- Salt
- On
- Stone
- Park Polar (novella, in Infinities)
KimStanleyRobinson
- RedMars
- Green Mars
- Blue Mars
- The Martians (short stories; hardback and paperback versions. I'd give one to the OUSFGLibrary, but it already has a hardback edition)
- Antarctica
- A Short Sharp Shock
- The Memory Of Whiteness (short stories)
- Escape From Kathmandu
- The Wild Shore
- The Gold Coast
- Pacific Edge
- The Years Of Rice And Salt
- Vinland The Dream (short stories)
MaryDoriaRussell
- TheSparrow
- Children Of God
GeoffRyman
- 253 (see: )
RobertJSawyer
- Calculating God
- Factoring Humanity
- Frameshift
CharlesSchultz (or possibly Snoopy)
- ItWasADarkAndStormyNight
RobertShea and RobertAntonWilson
- Illuminatus! (one-volume edition)
RobertSilverberg
- Needle In A Timestack (short stories)
- Science Fiction 101 (editor)
EEDocSmith
- Triplanetary
MichaelMarshallSmith
- Only Forward
- Spares
- One Of Us
- What You Make It (short stories)
(see also: MichaelMarshall)
NormanSpinrad
- Bug Jack Barron
BrianStableford
- Year Zero
OlafStapledon
- Starmaker
- Last And First Men
NealStephenson
- In The Beginning There Was The Command Line (essay)
- Snow Crash
- Cryptonomicon
BruceSterling
- SchismatrixPlus (novel plus short stories)
CharlesStross
- Toast And Other Rusted Futures (short stories)
PatrickTilley
- Mission
- Fade-Out
- Cloud Warrior
- First Family
- Iron Master
- Blood River
- Death Bringer
- Earth Thunder
JRRTolkien
- The Lord Of The Rings
- The Silmarillion
HarryTurtledove
- Worldwar: In The Balance
- Worldwar: Tilting The Balance
- Worldwar: Upsetting The Balance
- Worldwar: Striking The Balance
VernorVinge
- A Fire Upon The Deep
- A Deepness In The Sky
- The Peace War
- TrueNames And Other Stories (short stories)
- The Collected Stories Of VernorVinge (short stories)
KurtVonnegut
- TheSirensOfTitan
- Timequake
IanWatson
- Inquisitor
- Harlequin
- Chaos Child
JamesWatson
- TheDoubleHelix
MargaretWeis and TracyHickman
- Dragon Wing
- Elven Star
- Fire Sea
- Serpent Mage
- The Hand Of Chaos
- Into The Labyrinth
- The Seventh Gate
- Forging The Darksword
- Doom Of The Darksword
- Triumph Of The Darksword
- Legacy Of The Darksword
- Dragonlance Chronicles
- Dragonlance Legends
TadWilliams
- Otherland: City Of Golden Shadow
- Otherland: River Of Blue Fire
- Otherland: Mountain Of Black Glass
- Otherland: Sea Of Silver Light
JackWilliamson
- Seetee Shock
JohnWyndham
- The Seeds Of Time (short stories)
- Jizzle (short stories)
- The Trouble With Lichen
- The Chrysalids
- The Kraken Wakes
- Chocky (I see they've released the TV series of this on DVD; anyone know if it's any good?)
- The Midwich Cuckoos
- The JohnWyndham Omnibus (Chrysalids, Kraken Wakes, Day Of The Triffids)
MHZool
- The Bloomsbury Good Reading Guide To Science Fiction And Fantasy
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/NightsDawnTrilogy.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001277 07607264276 021744 0 ustar apache twic A trilogy of hefty epic SpaceOpera books by PeterFHamilton, comprising TheRealityDysfunction, TheNeutroniumAlchemist and TheNakedGod.
- http://members.tripod.com/~NightsDawn/
- http://www.theconfederation.co.uk/ (DeadLink)
Not entirely unlike a TheLordOfTheRings for the space-age: three non-independent books, very long, pretty turgid, great story, way too many characters, quite a bit of fighting, but some love and family interest too. The three books were even split into six half-books for publication (in the US, at any rate). Fewer songs, more sentient black holes, which can only be a good thing. Let's just hope they make a really good movie trilogy out of it at some point in the future ...
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/NineteenSeventySeven.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000760 07554247333 022440 0 ustar apache twic First album by Irish noise-pop monkeys Ash (suggestions for plausible ways to convert that into a WikiName greatfully recieved). More commonly written as '1977', the album was so named because (a) that was when they were all born, and (b) that was the year StarWars was released.
There are two hidden tracks on some CD versions of '1977' - 'Uncle Pat' and 'Jack Names The Planets'. These can be accessed by inserting the CD, then manually rewinding for six minutes. JNTP, in particular, is ace.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/NoAmazon.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001004 07550516753 020027 0 ustar apache twic Amazon, the online bookseller, are trying to enforce a ludicrous software patent that they hold on their "one-click ordering" system. As a sort of feeble protest against this sort of thing, we aim to use alternatives to Amazon wherever possible.
See:
http://www.noamazon.com
Of course, the alternatives are probably also committing acts of unspeakable evil, like packing books in Vietnamese sweatshops, or printing them on the flayed hides of abducted children, or employing NiallHarrison, or something. Oh well.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/NonPejorativeSense.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000112 07627653115 022064 0 ustar apache twic Opposite of PejorativeSense. Approximately equal to the word 'literally'.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/NormanLovett.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000110 07627465154 020735 0 ustar apache twic - imdb:name/Lovett,%20Norman
He has a BaconNumber of 3.
CategoryActor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/Number24MarstonStreet.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000616 07631412151 022431 0 ustar apache twic 24 Marston Street was the meeting place of the ScienceFictionBums (though they wouldn't have been known as this at the time) who later went on to become the founding members of OUSFG.
At the time, the house was inhabited by S__F Grand Master BrianAldiss.
One of the TenTasksOfOUSFG is to acquire this property as an OUSFG household.
Maybe it could be the final resting place of the library. -DM
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/Number3VenablesClose.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000415 07632271232 022262 0 ustar apache twic A flat which hosted library meetings for a while (dates?).
Occupied by LyndseyPickup, GenevaMelzack and JenSomethingBeginningWithP.
It was quite nice, and recommendable as I recall. Jericho's a nice place to live. It was rented out by NorthOxfordPropertyServices.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/Number48CranhamStreet.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001255 07632137527 022401 0 ustar apache twic
Inhabited by ArchieMaskill, AlexWilliams and LornaRobinson from May, 1999 to...
Small, two-up-two-down terraced house. Falling apart. Held the _entire_ library for an uncomfortable amount of time. The occupants didn't realise what squalor they lived in until the library was reduced by about a third. Two thirds stayed here as The Stacks. The other third went to Staircase21Room4, because it was felt a non-college location would be off-putting for freshers.
Hosted a post-banquet party once. Took ages to get the battery acid out of the carpet (everyone look at TomAnderson).
_Look! There's that battery-acid guy over there! Ah, you missed him. -- TA_
CategoryOUSFGLocation
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/Number5OldOldHall.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000566 07632152276 021532 0 ustar apache twic A room in LMH, where library meetings used to be held.
_Mention the ground-level window, and the porter asking if it was a door, and the dictionary definition. Alx, you'd tell that one well._
Many in the college assumed the roomo was inhabited by a fundamentalist christian, on the account of AlxsReversiblePlacard, which was placed in the window.
CategoryOUSFGLocation
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/NumberSix.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000213 07623215150 020206 0 ustar apache twic _What? I don't understand? How can I be... I'll get you for this!!! I shall return! I shall be... avenged....!_
Etc, etc.
CategoryZool
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OJ.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000012 07615001666 016605 0 ustar apache twic
DeleteMe
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OK.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000475 07572453444 016632 0 ustar apache twic OK: Indication that things are as they should be, or at least at a usable approximation thereof. Used far, far, far too much by Windows dialogue boxes and buttons. One of the first modern Americanisms learned by medieval French
time travelling squire Jacquouille in _LesVisiteurs._ -- WJR
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OLD.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000072 07562554164 016730 0 ustar apache twic Not NEW
(Is that recursive enough for you, TL?)
_Sigh._
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUCS.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000274 07553052554 017063 0 ustar apache twic - OUCS (1) [n] (oocuss) Acronym of OxfordUniversityComputingServices
- OUCS (2) [interjection] (oucuss) Expletive
- OUCS (3) [n] Oxford University Careers Service
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUSFG.twici 0100666 0002013 0002013 00000004175 07632135131 016721 0 ustar twic twic [img http://www-pnp.physics.ox.ac.uk/SF/misc/steampunk-dragon-icon.gif The OUSFG Streampunk Dragon]
_Per Dementia ad Astra_
OUSFG is the OxfordUniversity SpeculativeFiction Group.
- http://www-pnp.physics.ox.ac.uk/SF/OUSFG.html
- http://www.ousfg.net/
OUSFG is perhaps best summed up by a definition given in an ancient termcard (): "Fan: a deranged alcoholic who uses SF as an excuse to meet other members of fandom in bars all over the country and have really bizarre conversations.". Reduce the garishly twentieth-century emphasis on booze, and that's us.
= Pronounciation
OUSFG is an acronym, because it is pronouncable. It is it is it is!
OUSFG is pronounced "O__O__S-fug", unless you're DavidLangford, in which case you spell it out letter by letter, and are deaf, and blow up ducks. China Mieville found it most amusing that we kept saying it "as though it was some kind of word."
For those who readily understand the international phonetic alphabet:
[img http://www.ousfg.net/ousfg_phonetic.png Phonetic Spelling Of OUSFG]
= Organisation
OUSFG's organisation is governed by the interplay of random action and the OUSFGConstitution. The society is ruled with an iron fist by the OUSFGCommittee.
= Online Presence
OUSFG has:
- One and a half websites: the seasoned, official site ( and the newer, swankier OusfgDotNet ()
- This, the OUSFGWiki (members of OUSFG may be filed under CategoryOUSFGMember or Category__Criminally__Insane)
- OxClubsOUSFG
- The OUSFGLiveJournalCommunity
- OUSFGAnnounce and OUSFGChat
- HashOUSFG _Nothing to do with magic brownies, one hopes..._
= Activity
In term, OUSFG does stuff. Feel free to make TermCardSuggestions.
Out of term, OUSFG metamorphoses into a group of ScienceFictionBums.
= The Library
One of OUSFG's greatest (and largest) assets is the OUSFGLibrary. It is supplemented by the MetaLibrary.
= Links
http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/People/mbishop/silly.html (silly games list)
There is an idea that some of these documents should move here, or to one of our proper websites.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUSFGChat.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000176 07553521433 017773 0 ustar apache twic The official OUSFG chat (ie general-purpose) mailing list.
See:
-
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUSFGCommittee.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003601 07632135102 021026 0 ustar apache twic A body of (often reluctant) individuals, to whom the task of ruling OUSFG with an iron fist is bestowed.
- http://www-pnp.physics.ox.ac.uk/SF/people/committee-02-03.html _(irritatingly, no permanently up-to-date URL!)_
There are a few posts that _must_ be filled each year for OUSFG to be able to continue as a university society. The people who fill these posts must satisfy the status of _in statu pupilarae_ (see the LornaAmnestyIncident). These are OUSFGPresident, OUSFGTreasurer and OUSFGSecretary, and their roles are to preside, treasure and secrete, respectively.
Other committee posts, though not vital for societal status, can be just as important when it comes to the smooth running of OUSFG. These include :
- OUSFGLibrarian
- SpeakerToAnimals
- OUSFGVideoRep
- GhostInTheMachine
- GenitalPiercingOfficer (only a committe post in times of need, and only once the CouncilOfTheWizened has commanded it - see OUSFGConstitution)
- Two unnamed posts, if the committee feels the need (see OUSFGConstitution).
- Invisible
- DeadHandOfThePast?
= Present Committee
: OUSFGPresident : AngharadGreen
: OUSFGTreasurer : LyndseyPickup (with MikeFroggatt, her spindly minion).
: OUSFGSecretary : MarkHunter
: OUSFGLibrarian : ArchieMaskill, AlexWilliams, IanSnell
: SpeakerToAnimals : ArchieMaskill
: OUSFGVideoRep : LauraDawes
: GhostInTheMachine : TimAdye
: DeadHandOfThePast : DuncanMartin
= Past Committee (need names and approximate times)
_Should we be organising this by post? By year?
- OUSFGPresident
--PeterSidwell ?-T96
--RhianonBarber T96-T97
--DuncanMartin T97-T98
--AlexWilliams T98-T99
--JoCharman
--RuthO'Reilly?
-OUSFGTreasurer
--IanSnell T96-T99 ?
-OUSFGSecretary
--AlexWilliams
--AngharadGreen
-OUSFGLibrarian
--PeterSidwell ?-M1996
--DuncanMartin M1996-H1998
--AlexWilliams H1998-?, ?-PresentDay
--NiallHarrison
--ArchieMaskill
--AlexCameron (2002-3, open-shelf library)
blah blah blah
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUSFGConstitution.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001051 07631531057 021607 0 ustar apache twic The OUSFGConstitution is the eldritch document which in the darkness binds us.
See an old version here:
http://www-pnp.physics.ox.ac.uk/SF/misc/constitution/
_Does anyone have an electronic copy of the constitution that we could put online (on urchin, OusfgDotNet or the OUSFGWebsite)? I'll email IanSnell ..._
*ProposedAmendments*
There should be an AllNighterCzar.
The CostOfMembership should be clarified.
Someone should have ResponsibilityForElders.
DelegationOfResponsibility should be available to committee members.
CategoryConstitution
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUSFGIndex.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000131 07632014572 020151 0 ustar apache twic Pages concerned with OUSFG.
-CategoryOUSFGMember
-CategoryOUSFGLocation
CategoryIndex
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUSFGLibrarian.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000434 07563755206 021024 0 ustar apache twic Keeper of the OUSFGLibrary, OUSFG's repository of all knowledge. _Apart from that concerning OUSFG, obviously._
Usually a very hassled soul who will (perhaps) foist cups of tea on you at every opportunity. :) _Assuming that I have enough mugs to go round..._
TL (current librarian)
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUSFGLibrary.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001664 07632271530 020521 0 ustar apache twic Those who have read the entirety of the Library are either godlike, or mad, or OUSFGLibrarian.
It should be noted that being
OUSFG librarian will probably induce madness, even if the subject is sane beforehand. -- WJR _QED, the first librarian, our esteemed Mr BrianAldiss. --TL_ Ah, but in his case making 'librarian' an official post was his means of liberating himself from it. Perhaps also the Library is akin to the One Ring, and only BrianAldiss may wield its true destructive potential. I do not, however, advocate seeing what fire may reveal. -- WJR
The Library can be considered to be our Bodleian... sort of.
Resembles the Bod, in that:
- there is currently a separate book stacks and open shelves section;
- it contains an awful lot of very multifarious material, some of it essential, some... not so essential;
- its indexing system is highly arcane, full of lacunae and fully understood, if at all, solely by the OUSFGElders.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUSFGLiveJournalCommunity.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001524 07631633275 023256 0 ustar apache twic OUSFG has a LiveJournal community.
- lj:ousfg
If you don't know about LiveJournal, just ignore this. Trust me, it's best not to get sucked in.
Speaking as a LiveJournal__ler, I think the OUSFGLiveJournalCommunity sucks as a tool for intrasociety communications. It's practically impossible to keep track of updates to conversational threads that aren't current. In this respect, OUSFGChat successfully kicks OUSFGLiveJournalCommunity square in the nuts. --AM
Agreed. Even if everyone had a livejournal account and had the 'email alert' option set to 'yes', they'd still have to post to a discussion to be able to track it.
On the other hand, I think it could be a useful place for announcements, particularly since it's probably easier to glance at for non-members than a mailing list. A link from ousfg.net probably wouldn't be a bad idea. -- NH
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUSFGMembers.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000011 07541352033 020465 0 ustar apache twic DeleteMe
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUSFGPresident.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001152 07576341512 021047 0 ustar apache twic The President of OUSFG is nominally responsible for the society, and chairs committee meetings. Theoretically they probably chair ordinary meetings as well. The President possesses a certain amount of Executive power, and is probably the nicest committee post, involving as it does the maximum amount of prestige relative to the minimum amount of work.
It is also the president's job to organise the banquet I believe.
OUSFG's current President, Myke, is away behind the Iron Curtain selling OUSFG secrets to a reanimated half-machine Stalin, so he's unlikely to add anything to this page.
CategoryConstitution
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUSFGPunch.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001625 07551574014 020172 0 ustar apache twic The first rule of OUSFGPunch is that you do not reveal the secrets of OUSFGPunch.
The second rule of OUSFGPunch is that *you do not reveal the secrets of OUSFGPunch* .
The formula for OUSFGPunch is a secret carefully guarded and refined by generations of OUSFGTreasurers, passed on from one to the next (and occasionally the one after). The formula is kept safe from mere members not just to safeguard the purity of the punch and the power of the treasurers, but for the mental and physical well-being of the members themselves: OUSFGPunch is an awesome power to wield, and it can only be wielded safely by those trained in its use.
The formula for OUSFGPunch is written down in only two places: in the OUSFGTreasurer's book of secret knowledge and, in an early form, in the VoynichManuscript (written by early Oxford SF buff and alchemist RogerBacon, who did a great deal of the early development of OUSFGPunch).
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUSFGTShirt.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001613 07631641234 020325 0 ustar apache twic Exemplars of which can occasionally be seen adorning the slightly elder (with a small 'e') statespersons of OUSFG. Last time around, the OUSFG logo consisted of a flying monkey circumscribed by the 'O' of 'OUSFG', with the remaining four letters tucked inside the 'o' like the inscription on the One Ring.
Next time? Up to you, guys. But it's about time we had some more OUSFG merchandise. Just for the fun of it. --TL
Are there copyright problems involved in T-shirtising the SteamPunkDragon? - or would it not be printable in T-shirt format anyway? I'd love to have a SteamPunkDragon T-shirt. Some OUSFGishTShirtSlogans might also be fun. --WJR
There is an old OUSFG SteamPunkDragon TShirt; there should be no reason why we couldn't reprint it.
There is a design based on TheMatrix somewhere in the pipeline.
Some new ideas for an OUSFGTshirtDesign were recently developed.
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUSFGTShirtDesign.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000011 07631667647 021466 0 ustar apache twic DeleteMe
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUSFGTreasurer.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000004323 07574636376 021106 0 ustar apache twic Guardian of the monies of OUSFG. This position is currently held by LyndseyPickup.
One of the duties of the treasurer is guarding the recipe for OUSFGPunch. When the current treasurer is too busy to organise punch for events such as FreshersDrinks, it falls to previous treasurers such as TomAnderson, since they're the only ones who know how to make the stuff.
Hint, hint.
Well trust ousfg to elect a tee-totaller with absolutely no interest in punch as treasurer. Actually, trust ousfg to marry two such strange roles as money guardianship and drink-mixing into one job. -LP
It's ChristmasParty-related happenstance. A similar effect to the one which made the head of the English judiciary also the chairman of the House of Lords.
_You're suggesting that because it appears in Earth law, it's sane? --WJR_
Was the word 'sane', or any cognate term, used in the text? No.
_Then if this is not your contention, citing a parallel with Earth law in no way validates the OUSFG position. If you didn't mean it to, but just as another instance, then fine._ --WJR
The observation was merely an aid to understanding the historical causes of the situation (ie there aren't any). No attempt to validate the OUSFG position was, will, should be or indeed can be made.
Just because treasurers past have been the guardians of the punch, doesn't mean that Lyndsey has to do it, and whether she does or not doesn't mean that future treasurers will or will not. The important thing is to make sure that every responsibility has a bearer, and that no person is overburdened. If LyndseyPickup is unhappy at being saddled with the (informal) responsibility for punch, perhaps she should consider appointing a vassal to look after it. If she would like to do this, then she should raise the idea with the committee or the society at large, and it seems likely that some sort of ad-hoc solution acceptable to all could be found. In fact, it might be something we could weave an arcane and pointless constitutional proposal out of ...
_Perhaps we should have a Minister for Punch, then? It wouldn't be without precedent --TL_
Just so long as we also have someone on hand to minister to those unfortunate
enough to be attacked by the stuff. --WJR
CategoryConstitution
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUSFGTreasurers.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000154 07551574145 021255 0 ustar apache twic See OUSFGTreasurer.
The term 'OUSFGTreasurers' is an odd one, as at any given time, there can be only one.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUSFGTshirtDesign.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000010202 07632213227 021507 0 ustar apache twic This page has been set up to summarise the thoughts & ideas collected during a discussion meeting about the history of OUSFG and a new OUSFGTShirt design.
This page is not intended for actual _discussion_, per se (we think OUSFGChat may be best suited for that), but if you do have an idea, do jot it down in the relevant place.
The main idea is to have a set of icons as visual representations of popular (past & present) memes within OUSFG.
One popular idea was to produce a T-Shirt of the cover of a book of short stories that OUSFG might write, and have some author quotes regarding their visits as readings of this hypothetical book. The cover of _What You Make It_, by OUSFG favourite MichaelMarshallSmith would serve this purpose well; it has a set of distinctive icons representing each short story within. We thought it would be a nifty idea to list the titles of these memetic stories on the back of the T-shirt. Perhaps if we made it out to be a collection by various authors, we could place an active member's name next to each title. Not sure whether this would affect sales in any way.
If the general consensus is that this isn't a very good idea, could it be sidelined to a different page rather than be overwritten? For example, WYMITshirtDesign. I put _effort_ into that! and I don't think it's half bad.
For those who haven't seen the cover of _What You Make It_ :
http://www.ousfg.net/~mms/wymi.png
Possible substitutions :
- _"Michael Marshall Smith"_ replaced by ___O__U__S__F__G_
- _"What You Make It"_ replaced by _"A Fistful Of Memes"_. Or _"What You Meme It"_, which doesn't actually make sense (see AllYourBase), but could become a meme in itself. Or something.
- _"Astonishingly Distinctive Short Stories - Independent"_ replaced by _"Literature At Its Best - Times Literary Supplement"_
-- At least I _think_ it was the TLS that claimed that science fiction wasn't literature. Is this correct?
Perhaps more blurb from past authors on the back.
= Suggestions For Memes & Icons
- A Giant Egg (as laid by BrianAldiss, from which ScienceFictionBums might hatch).
- Exploding Ducks
- Flying Monkey
- Penguin
- BernardTheCryoBunny
- SkyHook
- Teabags
- Sugar Cubes
- A Frozen Head (thanks to MaxMore)
- An eye in a pyramid (Discordian symbol, also on dollar bills)
- A Yin/Yang
- OUSFG, spelt in the international phonetic alphabet (see the OUSFG page)
- A Double Helix (representing SpecialProjects
- A Straw Stack (see DoYouHaveAnyStraw?)
- How about: -
|*A__L__L *|
|*Y__O__U__R*|
|*B__A__S__E*|,
(sic) in a kind of techy font such as is used for the 'ousfg.net' logo on the OusfgDotNet homepage, to represent our temporary assimilation of the ZeroWing meme in '01? :)
- Combine the above with stroh for an *All Your Stroh* icon.
- A pitchfork to represent HELLSOC
Some of the more basic stuff to represent what we actually _do_...
- Spaceship
- Crossed sword & wand
- A sword crossed over a ray gun? (over, not _with_...)
- An open book, or a pile of books
- A television
- A videotape, a DVD or a film reel (or all three)
- Something to represent authors
-- Big arms? (China Mieville)
-- Cigarette stubb (butt?) (MichaelMarshallSmith, which we thought was a great idea, given that a) he'll receive a T-shirt if it's based on one of his book covers and b) he remembers the scuffle for his discarded cigarette butt.
= Links to submitted Icons
- The egg : http://www.ousfg.net/tshirt/egg.png
- Skyhook : http://www.ousfg.net/tshirt/skyhooktsquare.png - _this may also be double as the makings of a single T-shirt design._
- Sugarcube : http://www.ousfg.net/tshirt/cubetsquare.png
= Blurb On The Back (Past Authors, etc.)
- OUSFG URL : http://www.ousfg.net
- "'__O__U__S__F__G'... I love the way you keep saying that, like it's some sort of word. -- ChinaMieville.
- "Well Tanaqui can shut the fuck up." -- MichaelMarshallSmith
- "Hmmm... 'speculative' suggests something out of the Financial Times"
-- BrianAldiss
- "It cured me of my gregarious nature." -- BrianAldiss
- "I made this." - BrianAldiss (& 1013 Productions)
- "I laid this." - BrianAldiss (if we're to believe his giant egg claim)
- "Urrg. Arrg." - Cthulhu (and Mutant Enemy Productions)
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUSFGVideoRep.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000640 07631721544 020627 0 ustar apache twic OUSFGCommittee Member, responsible for talking to those members of the society who are electromagnetic bit patterns stored on tape, and representing their views to OUSFG as a whole. No? Bah.
OUSFGCommittee Member, responsible for gathering or arranging the gathering of video tapes and/or DVD__s intended to be shown at Video meetings, and for booking the room for said meetings if they are in his or her college.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUSFGWebsite.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000227 07572667621 020526 0 ustar apache twic OUSFG has an official website. See:
- http://www-pnp.physics.ox.ac.uk/SF/OUSFG.html
It remains the most useful electronic resource concerning OUSFG.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUSFGWiki.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001361 07616735162 020022 0 ustar apache twic This is the OUSFGWiki. OUSFGWiki is the wiki for OUSFG. Well, really, OUSFGWiki is a wiki run by OUSFG for themselves and friends of OUSFG. No, actually, OUSFGWiki is a wiki run by TomAnderson for anyone who wants to visit, really, but particularly aimed at members and friends of OUSFG.
The OUSFGWiki is powered by TwicI software.
Although TwicI does not (yet) keep a history of page edits, the OUSFGWiki is archived nightly, so massive destruction can be reversed if you contact TomAnderson soon enough.
How does OUSFGWiki fit in with OxClubsOUSFG and the OUSFGChat mailing list? MaillistsAndNewsgroupsAndWikisOhMy!
Note that OUSFGWikiHasGoogleJuice.
Looking outward, there are links across cyberspace to various NeighbouringWikis.
CategoryWiki
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUSFGWikiHasGoogleJuice.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001572 07616004106 022562 0 ustar apache twic While googling for a definition of SenseOfWonder, NiallHarrison discovered that leads straight to OUSFGWiki (well, to SensaWunda). _Note that this is no longer the case; maybe google likes new pages, or maybe they've tuned their algorithms._ Actually, we're back at number one (29/1/2003).
_How did that happen?_
There's a link to OUSFGWiki from WardsWiki. WardsWiki is reachable by google, and pretty much any page of this (or any other) wiki is reachable from any other, so the whole thing should now be indexed.
_I wasn't so much surprised by the fact that TwicI was showing up on Google as I was by the fact that it was showing up_ top _for something. It's not like we're the world's leading authority on SensaWunda, after all._
According to google, we bloody well are! Actually, it's probably GoogleJuice flowing from WardsWiki; i should imagine it has plenty.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUSFGWikiHomePage.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000011 07541352021 021401 0 ustar apache twic DeleteMe
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUSFGi.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000105 07553025700 017330 0 ustar apache twic OUSFGi: [n][plural] (oosfugee) See OUSFGus
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUSFGish.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000067 07571127664 017706 0 ustar apache twic _Faux_ adjective. Of OUSFG.
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUSFGishTShirtSlogans.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000007371 07631707656 022402 0 ustar apache twic List here what you feel would make good OUSFGish T-shirt slogans.
- We brake for TEA! -- WJR
- I'm an OUSFG Member! So's this person wearing me. -- WJR
- *Pronounced 'oos-fug'!* -- WJR
- Welcome to OUSFG. You'll never leave. -- WJR
- Vorsprung durch Magie -- WJR
- _Anything_ von Cataan -- WJR
- It's Never Too Late for Settlers -- WJR
- My Other Body's In RPGSoc -- WJR
- Nobody expects... The Library! -- WJR
- Beware of the Gerbil -- WJR _(Now expecting to have brain lasered...)_
- Beware the Massed Hordes of Zool --TL
- ZOOL L__I__V__E__S! --TL
- Yoda love I --TL
- OUSFG Librarian: Take Me To Your Reader --TL
- Science Fiction Is Not A Dirty Word! (Ask Our Founder) --TL
- Reality Is For the Unimaginative --TL
- Don't Attack Time- It's Bigger Than You -- WJR
- I Survived the OUSFG Punt Party! --TL
- In Cranham Street Nobody Can Hear You Scream! -- WJR
- OUSFG is wasted on the Living -- WJR
- OUSFG Punch: Kills all Known Germs -- WJR
- The Oddest Chocolate Brownies/Sugar Cubes In The Universe... Probably --TL
- No one expects... the Xmas Party Costumes! -- WJR
- I brake for temporal anomalies --TL _(with Tim in mind)_
- What? I don't understand? Where's the tea? -- WJR
- Time is flexible. *Not that flexible, Tim!* -- WJR
- "Magic Brownies! Have You Hugged Your Sofa Yet?" --TL _(Apologies to LP)_
- My other T-shirt has a picture of Cthulu on it. *Be reassured.* --TL
- Sugar Cubes, Gotta Catch 'em All -- WJR
- Have you heard the word of the Penguin? -- WJR
- This T-Shirt Does Not Contain Hyperlinks. Unfortunately --TL
- Is *Your* Name a WikiName? -- WJR
- Tumbleweed flys by. -- WJR
- Warning. Giant Hubristic Vegetable Crossing. --TL
- Saner than RPGSoc. -- WJR
- Saner than CUSFS --TL
- Respect Da Penguin. Awwk! --TL
- Varsity Champions of One-Legged Kipper Duelling --TL
- Only Transcended Giant Spiders need Apply --WJR _(Kaled, Carathain or Metebelian??--TL)_
- Let the Streets Echo to the Sound of Your Pedantry -- WJR (specially for Ian)
- Don't be Lonely: Summon a Demon! -- WJR
- Resistance is Useless! Our Flying Monkey Legions will Triumph. -- WJR
- Are Other Members your Schizoid Alter-egos? It never hurts to ask... -- WJR _Aaah, FightClub!_
- First rule of OUSFGWiki: You talk about OUSFGWiki at every possible opportunity. --TL
- If This is Your First Visit: You have to Wikify. -- WJR
- This is *not* Planet Starbucks. Join the Resistance. -- WJR (Ask, and you shall receive)
- You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. -- WJR
- You will attack the lamp-post. -- WJR
- You will become the first of a new race of OUSFG. You will return to Earth and control it for us. -- WJR
- Unleash the Memes of Terror! -- WJR
- Oxford University Speculative Fiction Group, established c.1960. _(smaller type)_ ... And none of our members have died yet! --TL
- Existence non-mandatory. -- WJR
- Normal Service Will Be Resumed As Soon As You Stop Assuming This Is Normality --TL _I rather like the sentiment of this -- TA_
- All your Fresher are belong to us. -- WJR
- Caution! Pedant Working -- WJR
- Absinthe Makes the Brain Grow Softer -- WJR _Too true, too true. -- TA_
- Do you communicate by emitting Licking Bears? If so, say N__O__T__H__I__N__G! -- WJR
- Unattended Memes Replicate. Guard them at all times. -- WJR
- OUSFG Librarian _(revisited)_: I sold my room to OUSFG and all I got was this Lousy T-shirt. -- WJR
- Today Oxford, tomorrow the world! --TL
- Everything is True in some sense, False in some sense and Meaniningless in some sense.
- I didn't do it.
- We did this.
- What does not destroy me makes me stronger
- When is a cube not a cube? _When it's made of sugar? :)_
- OUSFG Library - gotta read them all!
- What does not destroy me will regret its failure. -- WJR
- Take Disinformation _and_ Offence into the World? Not us! We just Chick Tract and Go! -- WJR
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUSFGus.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000154 07553025724 017541 0 ustar apache twic OUSFGus: [n] (oosfugus) One who is a member of OUSFG.
Plural OUSFGi
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUSU.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001242 07572377035 017106 0 ustar apache twic (1) OUSU: [oww-zoo] Oxford University Student Union. Despite not electing St John's College Cat as President this year, they will probably still have an annoyingly large stall blocking up the staircase at Freshers' Fair next year. Probable reason for people's mispronunciation of 'OUSFG'?
(2) OUSU: [ooze-euu] How to pronounce 'OUSU' when you are annoyed with them. Which, given the shenanigans which seem frequently to accompany the elections of our 'democratic' representatives, is all too often. Well, at least we know no Western democracy would ever conduct Presidential elections in so suspect and ramshackle a manner... oh, wait, the USA.
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OUWho.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000013 07554504323 017277 0 ustar apache twic See DocSoc
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ObSF.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000246 07554752462 017110 0 ustar apache twic Obligatory reference to SF. Marks an (often unsuccessful) attempt to make something non-SFnal more SF-relevant.
This probably originally came from RecArtsSfWritten.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OhTheIrony.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000042 07627406651 020336 0 ustar apache twic Isn't it ironic?
Don't you think?
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OriginOfOUSFG.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000004553 07631410413 020623 0 ustar apache twic OUSFG is old. It's been going for about forty years; that's old by the standards of people, never mind the standards of university societies. It's old enough that there is at least second generation member - a member whose parents were members during their time at Oxford.
This page is not the place to discuss the reasons for OUSFG's longevity. It is, instead, a record of the origins of OUSFG.
New members are proudly informed that the society was founded by an acknowledged GrandMaster of BritishSF, BrianAldiss. If they hang around, they may eventually hear the full story, which goes something like this:
Back in the 1960s, BrianAldiss used to hang out with CSLewis. One evening, they decided the university could really do with a science fiction group, so they procured the necessary forms and sent the application before the Proctors. The Proctors, in their infinite snobbery, responded that 'science fiction' was a little too lowbrow for an institution such as Oxford and could the proponents possibly come up with an alternative?
And so, the Oxford University Speculative Fiction Group was born.
(This is not the place to discuss whether the name might not actually have been a blessing in disguise, either.)
For a time, the group met at BrianAldiss' house. Sooner or later, however, the GrandMaster grew tired of the noise/arguments/mistreatment of cat/drinking of tea or more intoxicating substances (take your pick), and demanded that meetings take place elsewhere. And so, the current nomadic existence of the OUSFGLibrary was begun.
That's the story, anyway.
In Michelmas term 2002, BrianAldiss came to talk to the society. All and sundry were stunned when he revealed that the OriginOfOUSFG was, in fact, pretty much as given above. There were some additional details provided, such as the fact that the house in question was Number24MarstonStreet, and the incident that provoked the expulsion was having to look after a sick member for a week. But in essence, the story is correct. He also confirmed that the tradition of people not returning borrowed books is as old as OUSFG itself.
(It should be noted that Brian was heard to say over dinner that either the above story is true, or he laid a great cosmic egg from which the society sprang, fully formed. It is left to the reader to decide which of these stories is more likely and, indeed, more desirable.)
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OrsonWelles.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000612 07627713375 020571 0 ustar apache twic American character actor, probably most well-known for playing the titular 'CitizenKane', or for his part in the 1930s WarOfTheWorlds incident. Another notable appearance is as a ranting minister in MobyDick. However, he hit his peak with what was to be his last role: The voice of Unicron in TheTransformersTheMovie.
- imdb:name/Welles,+Orson
He has a BaconNumber of 2.
CategoryActor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OusfgDotNet.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000326 07572667724 020525 0 ustar apache twic At long last, OUSFG has its own domain. At present, it doesn't do much. See:
- http://www.ousfg.net
Thanks be to ArchieMaskill for that one.
Note that there is no connection to Microsoft .net as far as we know.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OxAcUk.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001555 07627642345 017454 0 ustar apache twic ox.ac.uk is the OxfordUniversity network domain.
That's it, really.
It is a wee bit prone to going wrong, and may perhaps be more appropriately known (from the sounds made by those trying to get at things within it) as och.ack.yuck. Really, it's JaNet which goes wrong, or at least the interface between OxAcUk and JaNet. The word on the street is that the 26/2/2003 outage was due to Southern Electric putting a JCB scoop through an optical fibre. Apparently, JaNet have not heard of redundancy, leaving them unable to RouteAroundDamage. Idiots.
_I'm informed that the technical term for a JCB going through a cable is Major Network Incident/Event, or MNI or MNE for short. -- ARC_
Still, if it should happen again, look up this address: . Or this one: .
CategoryOUSFGDictionary CategoryUnknowableHorror
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OxClubsOUSFG.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000330 07550625162 020464 0 ustar apache twic OUSFG's newsgroup. See (if you are inside OxAcUk, anyway):
- news:ox.clubs.ousfg
- http://munchkin.comlab.ox.ac.uk/ox.archive/ox.clubs.ousfg/ (an archive, not updated for quite a while)
It may or may not be dying.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OxNet.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000270 07572725654 017354 0 ustar apache twic The collection of newsgroups specific to the .ox.ac.uk domain.
Also various other electronic and MeatSpace structures that have emerged around them.
_pardon? What's MeatSpace? --TL_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OxStew.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000205 07572115402 017526 0 ustar apache twic Mass of semi-liquified cow parts, cooked in their own juice. And therefore nothing at all like the OxfordStudent. -- WJR
See OxStu
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OxStu.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000035 07572115274 017367 0 ustar apache twic See OxfordStudent
or OxStew
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OxfordBeerFestival.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000474 07631672044 022050 0 ustar apache twic This is on at the Town Hall on 17-19/10/2002.
Key attractions:
- Beer
- Beer
- Beer
See (including a list of beers):
- http://oxfordcamra.org.uk/festival2002.php
Rejoice! They have DeucharsIPA! -- TA
When is 2003s? I might even be around. --DM
It's not yet known, but i imagine it'll be about the same time.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OxfordBottledBeerDatabase.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000263 07553040647 023312 0 ustar apache twic A database of bottled beers.
Almost certainly something do with the Oxford branch of CAMRA: beards + computers = OxfordBottledBeerDatabase. QED.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OxfordGlycobiologyInstitute.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000672 07577341131 024047 0 ustar apache twic An institute for the study of glycobiology, formally part of the Department of Biochemistry, and located in the Rodney Porter building, a stone's throw from the Orthanc-like biochemistry tower.
- http://www.bioch.ox.ac.uk/glycob/
Alumni include:
- BaruchBlumberg (expert on BiologyInSpace)
- TomAnderson (who spent 5 months there as an undergraduate)
- AngharadGreen (who spent 3 months there as an undergraduate)
CategoryOxfordGeography
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OxfordIndex.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001026 07577336467 020555 0 ustar apache twic Pages concerned with Oxford, fair city of dreaming spires, rain, and OUSFG.
*Events*
- The PhoenixSFAllNighter (26/10/2002)
- The OxfordBeerFestival (17-19/10/2002)
- OxfordTwentySixHundred meetings (13/12/2002 et seq)
- BiologyInSpace (19/12/2002)
*OxfordUniversity Societies*
- OUSFG (natch)
- AISoc
*Food*
- EatingInOxford is about places to eat out in Oxford
- KebabVans merit an entry ...
*Cinemas*
- The PhoenixPictureHouse
- The UltimatePicturePalace
- The OdeonMagadalenStreet and the OdeonGeorgeStreet
CategoryIndex
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OxfordStudent.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000362 07571730634 021122 0 ustar apache twic One of the two student newspapers at OxfordUniversity (the other being the CherwellNewspaper).
- http://www.oxfordstudent.com/
The OxStu is like our own little Guardian - the paper of choice for loony lefties.
At war with the Cher-Hell...
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OxfordTwentySixHundred.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000425 07576130252 022757 0 ustar apache twic The TwentySixHundred community (or whatever it is) now has a fledgeling branch in Oxford.
- http://thephinn.freeshell.org/news.htm
- _There's a page specifically for it on that website, but Google can't find it._
AlexAndArchie are planning to infiltrate it.
CategoryGeekery
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OxfordUniversity.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001256 07571733477 021670 0 ustar apache twic - OxfordUniversity (1): [n] (oxford university) Place of academic research and education of highly respected international acclaim. A very diffuse organism (as witnessed by people's asking directions to the 'university'), with, until OUSU can buy up the place in Bonn Square, not even a central student union... sort of.
No longer threatened by the potential evil gestalt of two London colleges merging, as this no longer seems to be going ahead... --TL
- OxfordUniversity (2): [n] (oxford university) Place to go until the pubs open.
Still very much the place to be as far as that goes. For that matter, it's the place to be even after the pubs shut. -- TL
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OxfordUniversityComputingServices.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000310 07553026007 025230 0 ustar apache twic Oxford University Computing Services: [n] Group of people who cast spells on computers. See OUCS.
http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk
They're lovely really, they just hate everyone.
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/OxfordUniversityMuseumOfNaturalHistory.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002354 07631717066 026253 0 ustar apache twic The OxfordUniversity Museum of NaturalHistory, aka the University Museum, is, er, a NaturalHistory museum on Parks Rd. As well as exhibits, it has lecture theatres used on undergraduates and some research attachments. It also contains the PittRiversMuseum (), an anthropology museum.
- http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/
It's got some quite interesting exhibits, including (ObSF) some archaeological remains from the future. And some meatspace models of the computer-generated dinos from Walking With Dinosaurs.
Also a large collection of cockroaches on the gallery, who may or may not be discussing world domination plans. Of a certain interest to those like me with an amateur's interest in astrophysics is the scale representation of the Sun, Earth, and Moon (_N.B. I have no idea whether they are actually to scale, but the museum says so and that's good enough for me -WJR_), which positions a 'globe sized' brass coloured sphere as the sun on one gallery and on the other side of the museum in line of sight an incredibly tiny Earth and moon in a glass case.
The museum was the first scientific building on Parks Rd; it was the nucleus of the science area which now sprawls for leagues in each direction.
CategoryOxfordGeography
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PANIC.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000006122 07627425231 017140 0 ustar apache twic What you should not do under any circumstances so long as you still possess your towel.
Those who have lost their towels should certainly panic, and may like to consult .
An alternative to going to PANIC is to live in the flat above the PolarBear on a Saturday morning - it's 'Kung Fu' at the moment, and it's been non-stop PANIC favourites for the last hour. Oh, now it's 'Angel Interceptor'; hmm, they might actually just be playing 'NineteenSeventySeven'; still, sounds _just like_ PANIC.
Fittingly, Panic can be understood in a number of quite geeky ways.
= Panic is like BattleTech
You can draw a BattleTechAnalogy to Panic in that managing heat production and dissipation is crucial for success. The key method of control is of course being selective about when you generate heat; save your intense moshing for the best songs. Furthermore, you can use geography to your advantage: standing up against the intakes of the air conditioning unit gives you a cooling breeze; standing in the path of the output will give you even more, but takes you perilously far from the dancefloor.
= Panic is like a fusion reactor
The aim of a Panic set is simple: to get people moshing on the dancefloor. To acheive this, it must both get people on the floor, get them moving and then keep them there until things ignite. This is in principle similar to nuclear fusion, which requires sufficient ion density, temperature and confinement time to ignite. For fusion, these requirements can be quantified as the Lawson criterion: ; presumably, a similar measure is possible for Panic.
Furthermore, we can postulate that vodka plays a similar role to muons in a muon-catalysed fusion reactor.
= Panic is like a boiling fluid
Pursuing the fusion analogy, there are obvious parallels between the behaviour of people on the dancefloor and a layer of boiling liquid. Specifically, at below-boiling temperatures, people tend to dance in small rings, similar in structure and dynamics to convection cells. However, as the temperature reaches boiling point, this structure breaks down, and people take on a more disordered and unstable configuration.
If we are to believe StephenBaxter and various others, it is not impossible that, given a large enough dancefloor and sufficient time, these cells could actually organise themselves into a _living thing_, like Baxter's Qax.
According to SlashDot, it isn't just Baxter: Howard Rheingold has worked out a theory of 'Smart Mobs'. (see ). _Not quite the same, since not literally based on a mesh of convection cells, but similar principles. Similar principles also, of course, to the organisation of Terran life into cells separated by membranes._
Has FreezingByBoiling ever been observed in this context?
Not by me. Possibly because i don't know what FreezingByBoiling is. -- TA
The kind of activity sometimes noted on motorways, where people are moving around so much that you get tailbacks appearing out of nowhere. I think there was a NewScientist report about it --TL
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PC.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002335 07567145763 016626 0 ustar apache twic Personal Computer
A great invention of the last quarter century. The main purpose of this device
is to subtlely manipulate human emotions by dropping dead at the most spectacularly annoying moments possible.
_As opposed to its gallant rival the Apple Mac, which is better generally in the reliability stakes (and getting even better, they say) but still has to work on the cross-compatibility problem with the aforementioned machines. Unless they've decided at Apple that they're not going to stoop to their level... --TL_
Also, PoliticalCorrectness. _And hey, look, it is possible, and perfectly acceptable, to not sign or initial your contributions!_
Only if you're the Tyrannical Despot, IMHO --TL
That's not really quite fair... speaking as a tyrannical despot myself (all right, so at present my only disenfranchised and terrified subjects are my books, but I've got to start somewhere) I always try to initial wikiadditions. All right, so I didn't for the original entry, but as a clarification page for a wikiname thrown up by my own ramblings, the original text is probably obviously me. Notes, counterexamples, and OUSFG pedantry are all best signed,
whether the contributor is good, evil, or enigmatically amoral. -- WJR :~p
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PHLEKTORYND.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002204 07632214104 020075 0 ustar apache twic Phlektorynd (F__L__E__K-toe-rynd), noun
1. A phrase or scenario intended to be taken as a metaphor. Connotes a certain looseness, implying that the metaphor may not necessarily hold completely (or indeed at all) and that the active participation of the listener/reader may be required to tease out the point that may or may not be at the heart of it.
2. A warning that a phlektorynd has just been or is about to be employed. Implied request for indulgence, understanding and confirmatory feedback.
3. Archie adopted this term as his InvisibleName at the AGM of Hilary Term, 2003.
Origins
This word was invented by ArchieMaskill specifically to be ugly. If it looks Germanic, well, that's German for you. The definition and word were married a few months afterwards, as an effort-saving device, and at a time when Archie found describing concepts clearly and concisely a frustrating, difficult and embarrassing experience. _Personally, it looks Greek to me. --TL_
Ironically, Archie can't clearly explain what phlektorynd means, and has yet to express it as a phlektorynd. Consequentially, the above definition was kindly provided by AlexWilliams.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PINATA.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001042 07632152100 017242 0 ustar apache twic Pinata - an invisble name for me!
And now I have my own webspace. hahahahahaha. http://www.ousfg.net/~pinata is the address. _though there's nothing there at the moment anyway so I don't know why you're telling people_ Shut up. _Surely telling the other you to shut up is a real loss of control? Pull yourself together._
That's better.
_Arguing with yourself is actually a grand wiki tradition - it helps if you tell youself it's a Socratic Dialogue, because then you sound like an intellectual._
CategoryWikizen CategoryOUSFGMember
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PKD.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000021 07574473715 016727 0 ustar apache twic See PhilipKDick.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PP.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000022 07623713733 016621 0 ustar apache twic See PhilipPullman
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PSPublishing.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002346 07627666345 020676 0 ustar apache twic http://www.pspublishing.co.uk/
A small-press SF and fantasy publisher. They mainly publish novella-length stories by established authors, usually as a limited run of £25 hardbacks and £8 paperbacks. Featured authors have included StephenBaxter, PeterFHamilton, KenMacleod (whose offering 'The Human Front' won the sidewise award for alternate history), GeoffRyman, AdamRoberts and MichaelMarshallSmith.
Some of the novellas have been republished in the four-in-one hardback collections:
_Foursight_
- 'How The Other Half Live', by JamesLovegrove
- 'The Vaccinator', by MichaelMarshallSmith
- 'Andy Warhol's Dracula', by KimNewman
- 'Leningrad Nights', by GrahamJoyce
_Futures_
- 'Reality Dust', by StephenBaxter
- 'Making History', by PaulJMcAuley
- 'Watching Trees Grow', by PeterFHamilton
- 'Tendeleo's Story', by IanMcDonald
_Infinities_
- 'A Writer's Life', by EricBrown
- 'The Human Front', by KenMacleod
- 'Park Polar', by AdamRoberts
- 'Diamond Dogs', by AlastairReynolds
_Cities_ (forthcoming march 2003)
- 'The Tain', by China Mieville
- 'VAO', by Geoff Ryman
- 'A Year In The Linear City', by Paul Di Fillipo
- ?
Some of the novellas have also been republished in AceDouble-like format. Yes, with upside-down writing and everything.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PTO.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000163 07567246620 016755 0 ustar apache twic Please Turn Over.
An acronym found in those now endangered species, the dead-tree memos.
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PageNotFound.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002343 07627637337 020654 0 ustar apache twic Not all pages that _could_ exist _do_ exist. If you follow a hyperlink to a nonexistent but plausible page, TwicI will show you this page.
If you think this might be how you got here, it would be helpful if you backed up and fixed the link, or notified someone else who might be able to do so. Thanks. Of course, if you came here from Google or something, there's nothing you can do. If you came here by mangling a view URL and missing, then you = lam3r.
Anyway, now that you're here, you probably want to find something you want. Well, given that we don't really have any kind of WikiSearch facility, your best bet is to start at the FrontPage, or try going via CategoryCategory or the IndexIndex, or something. Or just wait for Google to reindex us.
This does have the slightly crappy side-effect that Google will think that we have lots of pages with the same content as this page, under any random wrong names it comes across. TwicI sends a URI HTTPHeader pointing to the PageNotFound page along with any PageNotFound messages, but that's probably not enough. The best solution would be to send back a 404 error code, but i don't think that's possible with CGI. The best thing might be to send a noindex directive and a redirect.
CategoryWiki
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PapaSmurfIsACommunist.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000315 07576101110 022464 0 ustar apache twic Was PapaSmurf, benevolent patriarch of TheSmurfs, a communist?
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/1709/
_Just when you think the Internet_ can't _get any more insane... it suddenly does. -- WJR_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ParsonsPleasure.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002216 07632137406 021434 0 ustar apache twic The place where the OUSFGPuntParty (with Panto) is traditionally held.
_Someone fell out of a tree once, got concussion, and OUSFG called an ambulance. I wasn't there for that so can't provide details. Mention Niall having to wake them up every two hours. Was this individual taken to the PostPuntPartyParty?
Oh, something about nudists...? MarkBoyes knows. And don't forget exploding ducks. -- AM_
The chap who fell out of his tree was not of OUSFG. He did not go to the PostPuntPartyParty, he went to hospital. Afterwards, NiallHarrison, who was a housemate of his, had to wake him up every two hours to make sure he wasn't dead. A few months later, he had a manic episode and was sectioned.
The nudists in question, according to "Oxford Oddfellows and Funny Tales", were venerable OxfordUniversity dons: one anecdote goes that a number of them were skinny-sunbathing on the Pleasure when a group of students floated by in a punt. All but one of the startled dons covered their modesty - one placed a flannel over his head instead. When asked why he had done that, he replied haughtily, "Oh, _my_ students know me by my _face._" --TL
CategoryOUSFGLocation
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PatrickTroughton.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000251 07627465735 021627 0 ustar apache twic - imdb:name/Troughton,+Patrick
Predominantly known for his role in DoctorWho; also was in the TV adaptation of TheBoxOfDelights. Has a BaconNumber of 3.
CategoryActor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PaulMcGann.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000245 07627465500 020276 0 ustar apache twic Actor. The fall guy in WithnailAndI. Has a BaconNumber of 2, thanks to his latest bit-part role in The Queen of the Damned.
- imdb:name/McGann,+Paul
CategoryActor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PejorativeSense.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002311 07627653030 021410 0 ustar apache twic A convenient rider to clarify the sense of words subject to (usually prejudicial) misuse. For example, to describe someone as 'a motherfucker in the Pejorative Sense' confirms that the intention is abuse, not any claim as to their actual sexual preferences; while 'motherfucker in the NonPejorativeSense' simply contends that they have a realised Oedipal complex, with no attendant judgement as to their worth as a person.
Of course, accusations of motherfuckery can be thought of as having an implicit 'in the Pejorative Sense' appended, but this is not necessarily the case with certain other words, eg. 'gay' or 'SciFi'. Often, of course, the intention can be inferred from context, but not inevitably. It is certainly true that using such words as terms of abuse is BadAndWrong, but at least the explicit use of 'in the Pejorative Sense' or 'in the NonPejorativeSense' acknowleges the distinction completely explicitly. It could be convincingly argued that this doesn't excuse the misuse of such terms, but for those who occasionally feel the need for that naughty thrill of using words that you _really shouldn't use_, it works better than relying on a mutual comprehension of the ironic intent of the usage. Hopefully.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PennyArcade.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000572 07576121231 020476 0 ustar apache twic PennyArcade is a combination of an online comic strip and a computer game news and reviews site.
- http://www.penny-arcade.com/
- http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3 (the latest strip)
I really like it. The cartoons are often pretty funny and perceptive (if about a somewhat obscure topic), and i really like the style of writing, when it's good. -- TA
CategoryOnlineComic
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PerDementiaAdAstra.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000400 07574501252 021733 0 ustar apache twic The latin motto of OUSFG. Literally, 'through madness to the stars'.
_How official/apocryphal/old/likely is this?_
It is a take-off of the RAF motto, 'per ardua ad astra' ('through struggle to the stars'); i know which I prefer.
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PercyByssheShelley.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001473 07616013510 022067 0 ustar apache twic A famous 19th century poet.
- dmoz:Arts/Literature/Authors/S/Shelley,_Percy_Bysshe
- http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRshelley.htm (biography)
Like TomAnderson, he went to UniversityCollege, the difference being that Shelley was kicked out for writing 'TheNecessityOfAtheism'.
_He might have been interested in this site, had he lived today: (not quite as inflammatory as its URL suggests!) --TL_
ObSF: his sister, MaryShelley, wrote 'FrankensteinOrTheModernPrometheus', which has been claimed as the first work of SF. In fact, DavidBrin says that PercyByssheShelley, being a _romantic_, is actually an _enemy_ of SF (or something): .
_Why the long name?_ Dunno; PercyShelley would have done it. _Yup._ Ah well.
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PerdidoStreetStation.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000332 07627405113 022417 0 ustar apache twic A novel by ChinaMieville.
- isbn:0-333-78172-4 (UK), isbn:0-345-44302-0 (USA)
- isfdb:work/7759ca
- http://www.januarymagazine.com/SFF/perdido.html
_Informed comments are encouraged._
- It kicks arse.
CategoryBook
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PerjorativeSense.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000011 07627652712 021573 0 ustar apache twic DeleteMe
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PeteTheCarnivorousPlant.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001053 07614312472 023072 0 ustar apache twic Pete is the hero of a comic strip emanating from the general direction of CUSFS (and the particular direction of Sebastian Bleasdale). The strip has 365 episodes, so you can read it slowly over the course of a year.
- http://pcpcomic.ucam.org/
_"I've got legs. Now for some compost. Actually, I'll take over the world first. That way, getting compost will be easy."_
_"Now fly up and press the blue button.""
"But I can't fly."
"Hello? Wings!"
"Wings? I thought they were umbrellas."_
O...K. That's bonkers. -- WJR But cute --TL
CategoryOnlineComic
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PeterDavison.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000345 07627465551 020723 0 ustar apache twic Actor. Cannot do convincing cockney accent.
If imdb is to be believed, also composer of the theme to ButtonMoon. Great jumping gobstoppers, is nothing sacred? Has a BaconNumber of 2.
- imdb:/name/Davison,+Peter
CategoryActor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PeterFHamilton.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003246 07627666055 021206 0 ustar apache twic A British SF writer, mainly writing large-scale SpaceOpera.
- isfdb:author/Peter_F._Hamilton
- http://freespace.virgin.net/martin.burcombe/index.html
- dmoz:Arts/Literature/Genres/Science_Fiction/Authors/H/Hamilton,_Peter_F.
- Interviews
-- http://www.lysator.liu.se/lsff/mb-nr33/Peter_F_Hamilton.html
-- http://www.scifi.com/transcripts/2000/peterhamilton.html
Several of PeterFHamilton's books (notably the NightsDawnTrilogy) are quite large; the term 'doorstops' has been used. According to the man himself, if the unedited editions of said books had been published, TheNakedGod would have been cube-shaped. However, his first three novels (the GregMandelStories) were all of a reasonable size, and he's written a number of novellas as well. On the other hand, his ability to write short stories has been questioned, by himself amongst others, although he has published a collection of them, called 'ASecondChanceAtEden'. All the stories in the collection are set in the same universe as the NightsDawnTrilogy.
His last two books have both been standalone novels: FallenDragon, which was good, and MisspentYouth, which wasn't. In between, he wrote the novella WatchingTreesGrow - published by PSPublishing - which was excellent. His next project is the two-books series (Duology?) PandorasStar.
He fears (and has written the novel MisspentYouth based around the idea that) in the future the InterNet will bring about a collapse of the whole notions of copyright and intellectual property, and so (without radical readjustments to society) make the position of full-time creators and artists an untenable one.
His favourite Doctor is JonPertwee.
_More information! More!_
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PeterSidwell.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001042 07632147303 020702 0 ustar apache twic The guy who recruited DuncanMartin IanSnell and AlxWilliams (then known as "Comics Alex"). Several others who are insignificant in this story too. Responsible for a large amount of content free newsletters (including one which contained a single fact, and that was wrong!) and the odd OUSFG meme (including the fearsome HellSoc).
He also managed to give TinyJo carpet burns when attempting to force OUSFG to leave DuncanMartin's room and go to the pub. Oooops.
Currently lives in Manchester. Doing what, we cannot say.
CategoryOUSFGMember
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PhilipPullman.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003340 07612026375 021063 0 ustar apache twic Aka ThePullmeister. Author of the 'HisDarkMaterials' trilogy of books, written with a little help from Myke and Tanaqui (who managed to supply him with just the right kind of paper). See also PullmeisterRAQ for an insight into what makes the Pullmeister
tick...
- http://books.guardian.co.uk/authors/author/0,5917,798016,00.html (a biography)
PhilipPullman's take on god and religion is interesting. It is not clear if he believes that god is actually real; presumably, like all rational people, he's agnostic (to borrow a phrase from PercyByssheShelley, he sees TheNecessityOfAtheism). However, assuming that the Christian God _does_ exist, Pullman is dead set against him (he could be described as an 'antitheist'), seeing him not as a kindly guardian but a heartless despot. His analysis of humanity's relation to God centres on the analogy of God as a father; yes, as children, we need a strong, wise parent to look after us, teach us, and make decisions for us, but ultimately, as we grow up, we lose this need, and indeed, such a father becomes a restriction on us, something to be struggled against (Christians may argue that we are still like children, against which the antitheist might echo AmartyaSen and observe that freedom is not the reward for growing up, it is a _prerequisite_ for growing up). Like KonstantinTsiolkovsky said: 'EarthIsTheCradleOfHumanityButOneCannotRemainInTheCradleForever'. Anyway, deep stuff.
PhilipPullman and CSLewis are sort of a pair of evil and good twins (you figure out which is which); one was violently Christian, the other a raving secularist, and their sagas of childrens' fantasy reflect these views. It would be really interesting to hear what BrianAldiss had to say about the two of them.
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PhoenixPictureHouse.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000145 07553014152 022251 0 ustar apache twic A good local arts cinema.
See:
http://www.picturehouse-cinemas.co.uk/site/cinemas/Oxford/local.htm
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PhoenixSFAllNighter.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002232 07556770326 022132 0 ustar apache twic An all-night SF movie extravaganza at the PhoenixPictureHouse, running from 2000 (films start at 2200) to 0830ish on 26/10/2002.
*The Films*
- 28 Days Later _Dammit! This is the new Danny Boyle film. And I'm going to miss it. -- NH_
- Evangelion / Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 version)
- Mad Max 2 / Westworld
- Time Bandits / Blade Runner
- Predator / The Thing
See:
http://www.phoenix-sf.net/
Well, i thought it was quite good fun. Some particular points of note:
- TwentyEightDaysLater was really good _(the screenplay is available in Borders --TL)_
- InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers was okay, and had notably realistic lab scenes, but *what the fuck was the dog with a man's face all about?*
- WestWorld was okay. It felt like it would have made an excellent 45 min TV show
- BladeRunner was BladeRunner
- TheThing is satisfyingly blobby, in the hideously deformed sense of the word
--TA
Those who completed the whole thing can add their names to the All-Nighter Roll of Honour:
- TomAnderson
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PlayerOfGames.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000026 07555464105 021004 0 ustar apache twic See ThePlayerOfGames.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PlushCthulhu.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002740 07632237652 020744 0 ustar apache twic The ideal kids' toy! Comes in a range of sizes, with normal, gothic, summer and santa editions, plus a special 'Dracthulu' thing.
- http://www.toyvault.com/cthulhu/plush_cthulhu.html (blonde lady not included)
- http://www.warehouse23.com/item.cgi?HP010 summer edition, not shown above
- http://www.toyvault.com/cthulhu/nyarlethotep.html Nyarlethotep too!
- http://www.logicalcreativity.com/jon/plush/01.html His own story!
-- http://www.logicalcreativity.com/jon/plush/plush_cthulhu_faq.html FAQ
Currently a sore subject for ArchieMaskill. He was sent a number of packages from a friend in AmericaLand, the second of which contained a plush Cthulu. Unfortunately, they were sent to Number46CranhamStreet, rather than Number48CranhamStreet. The occupants of 46 are having a good, long look for it. Now, if OUSFG actually had the OUSFGParamilitaryWing it was planning in the late nineties...
In that case, somewhere in North Oxford there lurks an unchained Plush Cthulhu.
It has slipped quietly, stealthily out of human ken, and now waits as its plans to conquer the universe reach fruition... Wait a minute... is there anything in the University Statutes to explicitly prevent a plush toy becoming a Proctor? So _that_'s why we've been demoted to S__F__G!
It most likely lurks in the undescribable, cold, murky & unforgiving depths of the canal, snatching at the bodies of discarded whores as they drift with the current, face-down.
Also see : http://www.cthulhu.org
CategoryUnknowableHorror
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PolarBear.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000455 07554241327 020161 0 ustar apache twic A record shop on CowleyRoad. Our last, best hope for indie.
See (if it works):
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Bringing this back on topic, if you do , you get not only info about this record shop, but, of course, PhilipPullman (and loads of irrelevant junk, of course).
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PresentDay.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000022 07632122472 020352 0 ustar apache twic The here and now.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ProjectMayhem.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000203 07630473201 021041 0 ustar apache twic A sensible social engineering project, as seen in FightClub.
Based on . _You may already be a member!_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PubMed.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000447 07604371655 017473 0 ustar apache twic PubMed is a huge bibliographic database of scientific papers in the fields of biology and medicine. It is of immense value to the working life scientist.
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi
PubMed is run by the US government, through a tortuous chain of agencies and institutions.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/PullmeisterRAQ.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000031320 07564236111 021152 0 ustar apache twic = Philip Pullman: Some Rarely Asked Questions
Here follows an abridged transcript of a Q&A session given by PhilipPullman to the Balliol College English society on 6th November 2002; your trusty correspondent TheaLogie managed to gatecrash it... Though trying to be as accurate as possible, I have taken the liberty of summarising some of his points. I have also had to cut a great many of his references to his books to avoid spoilers. _[Additions thus are editorial. Thanks be to COPAC for helping me with the book titles cited.]_
== Opposition
*PP: (to assembled, sitting in what he almost immediately refers to as the 'hot seat')* Oh dear, looks like I'm on trial, doesn't it? Actually, the one time I _did_ feel I was on trial was during a so-called "atheist-Christian dialogue" - which was effectively a lot of Christian expert witnesses laying into me... Amongst other things, they accused me of promoting underage sexuality. I said to them, "And what page is that on?" They themselves couldn't give any direct references, for the good reason that there is no underage sexuality in "HisDarkMaterials".
*Q: Have you had any problems with marketing your books in the US, in the wake of the extreme reaction of the evangelical Christians to 'HarryPotter'? *
*PP: * As a matter of fact, no. "HisDarkMaterials" seems to have slipped under their radar whilst Harry Potter, poor thing, took all the flak! Besides which, the American audience is generally older: there's a separate, recognised 'Young Adult' section of the market, which means, in many cases, that I can get away with being much more explicit in the American editions of my books than in the British ones (which are aimed at 'children')! That hasn't stopped some people, though. A lad from Atlanta wrote to me threatening to sue me - although I have yet to hear from his lawyers; some people have openly accused me of 'promoting Satanism' - to which I would argue that they haven't followed the drift of the trilogy at all (I wonder if they've got stuck on some of the long words?); finally, the most vicious of my critics in print have been those of the 'Catholic Herald', who seem to me to be nostalgically sharpening their thumbscrews and wishing the Pope would bring back the Inquisition.
== Movies versus Books
*Q: I hear you've sold the film rights to "HisDarkMaterials"? *
*PP: * I have indeed. In fact, I sold them even before I was sure that 'Northern Lights' was going to be a success, so that if we only sold six copies of the book I'd still have _something_ to show for it!
*Q: Do you think the forthcoming film will work? *
*PP: * Well, some films work and some don't. It's more true of modern books than of classic ones, because unlike the classics modern books like mine tend to lean more on the human sensibilities than on the storyline, as a rule. I'm quietly hopeful about the film - it's to be made by New Line Pictures, the ones who made the "TheLordOfTheRings" movies, so they should be quite sensitive to the spirit of the books. Plus, Tom Stoppard is currently writing the scripts - what more could you ask for?
*Q: So will you, like JKRowling, have much creative control over the project? *
*PP: * Only a minimal one, and I think that's the way it should be:
- Authors generally know nothing about the practical process of film-making, and the way that films are made _[unless they practically make the film themselves]_ really prevents them from having any influence on anything other than the broad form that the film will take. The details are out of their hands - and left to the experts.
- I haven't the time to be creative controller of a film. "HisDarkMaterials" was written over the course of seven years, and I've got other stories, including a spin-off featuring characters from the original trilogy, that I'd like to write.
- Inevitably, film-makers for reasons of practicality are going to want to abridge the plots of the books in order to create their screenplays: and that can be hard on an author. But, whatever happens to the film, I can rest assured that the book will still be there in its entirety for people to read.
*Q: How would you compare books and movies as methods of storytelling? *
*PP: * Well, of course, the art of storytelling dates right back to ancient times, but it still continues today. Then we had written stories, and printed ones, and they still continue even with the advent of plays such as Shakespeare's, and later cinema and television. No one medium can supplant all the others: once a book has become a movie, the book doesn't become redundant; but each medium has its own strengths and weaknesses. Take the stage plays of my books, which are going to be performed at the National Theatre. Now, there's a particular sequence in the third book where one of the characters, puzzled by something, "taps his thumbs together". That's the sort of close-up which works both in a book and on film, but has to be represented some other way on stage, otherwise it's not noticeable. The location of a camera's viewpoint - literally in the case of a film, metaphorically in the case of a book - can make all the difference in how a story is told: Jane Austen and Howard Hawks, each in their own ways, use this to great effect, cutting between 'long shot' and 'close-up'. Or, there are situations where the camera is deliberately absent from the action as something shocking happens - one can draw parallels between an unseen domestic row in Trollope's "Barchester Towers" and an ear-amputation in Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" that's more heard than seen. In their different ways, both are equally effective.
== Bigger Issues: Philosophy
*Q: Some people have complained of your books that the stories are spoiled by there being too many big philosophical issues read into them...*
*PP: * I'd refute that:
- Firstly, I think interpretation of a text is a sort of democratic process. I write the text with particular ideas in mind; you read it and bring your own particular opinions to it; and someone else interprets it in a different way to either of us. Interpretation is all a matter of what you bring to it.
- Secondly, I didn't write the books with the intention of making them philosophical treatises. What's there is what's meant. What I wanted to do was to put the protagonist and the reader on the same level, starting out into the unknown on that journey of discovery called life. On the way, it's true, some grown-up issues are faced up to, including the sorts of things that grown-ups prefer to keep hidden; but there are also some adult assumptions being questioned here, such as whether dust is inherently 'bad'.
== Bigger Issues: Feminism?
*Q: Lyra _[the main protagonist]_, rather like Alice of 'Alice in Wonderland', is the classical example of a strong young girl through whom we see a strange new world. Will _[her co-protagonist]_ isn't seemingly as strong. Is there anything going on here? *
*PP: * I know there are some writers about who try to seize on the latest fashionable trends in literary criticism. I can safely say I'm not one. This is just the way that the story grew in my mind: Lyra didn't appear to me out of my own choice. Nor was there meant to be any political bias: quite the opposite. Will, if you look closely, is intended to be Lyra's equal in character as well as age.
I prefer to tell my stories in the third and not the first person. The first person can be rather restrictive, telling the whole story from the point of view of a single person's mind and opinions: the third person brings into play that free-ranging metaphysical being called 'Narrator'. Personally, I wouldn't quite dare to write 'as' Lyra: I'd rather have the liberty of being able to view her reactions, as it were, from the outside.
*Q: Aha. Is this perhaps because you and Lyra are so, ahem, different? *
*PP: * I won't deny that we are, but that's not at issue. I think no-one writing children's fiction these days can fail to recognise some sort of a debt to 'Alice in Wonderland' in whatever form. NeilGaiman's 'Coraline', though its reputation may not end up being so enduring as Carroll's work, follows a similar pattern.
== Gnosis, 'Filters' and 'Systems'
*PP: * A lot of psychoanalysts have been going to work on re-interpreting particular issues in old folk-tales. One interesting book I read, written by a man called Bruno Bettelheim, called "The Uses of Enchantment", basically looked at fairy-tales through what were, fundamentally, Freudian specs. I'd say that Freudian and post-Freudian interpretative theories use 'filters' in their analysis (much as photographers use coloured filters if they want to bring up particular contrasts), to pull into sharp contrasts details and relationships in a text that might have gone unseen by ordinary readers, and perhaps even by the author him- or herself. However, we should not be misled by these theories. They _are_ no more than filters, and though they may enhance one's appreciation of a text, they are no help whatsoever in creating one. Besides, authors and readers impose enough of their own filters on texts, created by their cultural heritage, expectations of a text and indeed what books they'd read previously, without having any more filters imposed on them by others.
*Q: The third book has a very different feel, and indeed, a different theme to the two that come before it... Was this intentional as part of some system or arc? *
*PP: * Um, no-one's asked me _that_ one before! *(thinks)* No, not really. The advantage of setting out to write a _trilogy_ of books is that it gave me room for pure improvisation - anything I happened to think of that sounded good at the time didn't have to be immediately explained, but could be held over to the next book, or left as a loose end if it wasn't important. Personally, I didn't feel that having an over-arching 'system' as such was terribly important. In fact, in one case a minor detail I dreamt up on the fly for the purposes of the first book actually reappeared as a useful addition to the third, helping to develop the powers that the two main protagonists acquire.
As part of my background reading, I had a look at another book called "The Alternative Trinity: the Gnostic Heresy in Milton, Marlowe and Blake" by A.D. Nuttall - and I was rather disconcerted by it: someone had managed to pull these very different writers together in one book by the tropes they empolyed, and it had me wondering where and how my own work could fit into the grand scheme of things. Then it occurred to me that these were just the interpretations of a critic. Any system I created, borrowing the words of Blake himself, had to be my own, not anybody else's. Moral of the story: take a firm line when dealing with literary critics!
== Work
*Q: The theme of work in life seems to crop up as one of the themes in the book...*
*PP: * Yes, I was particularly inspired by a quotation from John Ruskin:
- "Work without joy is base; work without sorrow is base; joy without work is base; sorrow without work is base."
There is a sense in the story that Lyra is forced to work her way out of a kind of innocence. An essay by the philosopher Heinrich von Kleist, written in 1810, called 'Marionette Theatre', describes this kind of progress in some detail: the perfectly innocent marionettes are capable of far more graceful dancing than the awkward, self-conscious human dancer. His message was that, although the Eden of perfect innocence is currently lost to the human race, it is not lost forever - it can be regained, if the human race is willing to spend its life trying. But the innocence it will find is a more mature one, in a way: in perfect innocence, one merely accepts that a fact is so, whereas, in the innocence of perfect wisdom, one accepts that a fact is so because one already knows _why_ it is so. Working toward that end should be a joyful action.
== Adolescence
*Q: You've already denied that there is any real underage sexuality in 'HisDarkMaterials': and yet there is at least some evidence of relationships developing between the characters...*
*PP: * Again, I was trying for a kind of psychological realism, even if the world in which it takes place is a fantasy one. I think adolescence is, and should be, all about discovering the meaning and value of your own body as well as that of other people's, as changes occur to it. It ought to be a point in life that is celebrated, but the Church traditionally seems to treat it as a time of 'horror' to be passed over on the way to adulthood as quickly as is decent. It's also a time of struggles: I can foresee Lyra in future books a few years older than in the original trilogy having to come to terms more fully with the powers she now possesses, whilst trying to keep them hidden from the ordinary world.
- One more thing: look out for the radio dramatisation of my stories, coming soon. It'll have Terence _['Priscilla, Queen of the Desert']_Stamp in it...!
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/QED.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001033 07571143446 016716 0 ustar apache twic _Quod erat demonstrandum._ --TL
Literally, "that which was to be demonstrated"; used to mark a proposition which has been proven, and whose proof was the object of the exercise.
That's Latin. Latin and logic.
_"Logic, my dear Zoe, merely enables one to be wrong, with authority."_ --WJR
Also a TV documentary series, if anyone remembers that... it included, for some reason, the image of a falling apple in its titles. --TL
At least one lecturer I can't think of calls it Quite Easily Done. -- ARC
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/R2D2.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000642 07565157125 016765 0 ustar apache twic Astromech Droid from StarWars
Small, cute, but with an electric shock gun. Oh, and he can fly. Apparently. Since this in "Hype of the Clones" he probably hums the X-wing attack theme to himself as he does so. Generally teamed with C3PO. _Speaks in bleeps like a mis-programmed ringtone that only Threepio can translate... Oh, and in case you're wondering, one of the heroes of ZoolV *is* named after it...! --TL_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/RAF.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000653 07576340620 016722 0 ustar apache twic *R*oyal *A*ir *F*orce. They fly planes. In SciFi they, and their American counterparts, are most commonly spotted either tracking UFOs or zipping around trying to shoot big things that are immune to being shot.
In Independence Day, the jolly very English guy from the RAF says something like "Tally ho! Chaps, the yanks have got through their defences." In real life tehy are not at all like that.
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/RLyeh.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000465 07626655301 017337 0 ustar apache twic The dead city on the ocean floor where GreatCthulhu lies, not dead but dreaming.
HPLovecraft indicates that it is in the nether Pacific, but CharlieStross found it in the Baltic. For further information, see or consult your pineal gland.
CategoryOxfordGeography
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/RPGSoc.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000456 07632152667 017415 0 ustar apache twic Nice normal group of nice, normal people. For some strange new value of the word 'normal' of which few people were previously aware.
_[Normal] until they get invitations to any sort of knees-up, it seems. Still, the ones I met at Freshers' Fair were rather nice people. --TL_
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/RSS.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000007006 07632177114 016757 0 ustar apache twic RSS stands either for 'Really Simple Syndication' (for versions < 1.0, ie 0.9x) or 'RDF Site Summary' (for versions >= 1.0). Either way, RSS is a web technology for, er, something.
- http://www.mnot.net/rss/tutorial/ (a general tutorial)
- http://web.resource.org/rss/1.0/ (RSS 1.0)
- http://web.resource.org/rss/1.0/spec (the RSS 1.0 specification)
- http://web.resource.org/rss/1.0/modules/ (RSS 1.0 modules)
- http://web.resource.org/rss/1.0/modules/dc/ (Dublin core module for RSS 1.0)
- http://web.resource.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/ (syndication module for RSS 1.0)
- http://web.resource.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/ (content module for RSS 1.0)
- http://backend.userland.com/rss (RSS 2.0)
- http://backend.userland.com/rss092 (RSS 0.92)
- http://backend.userland.com/stories/rss091 (RSS 0.91)
The different versions (0.9x and 1.x) are not simply sequential versions; 0.9x is still being developed, as an alternative to 1.x. 0.9x is simpler, but 1.x is more integrated with other loony web technologies, like XML-in-the-large, RDF, etc. 2.0 is the latest version of 0.9x.
There are some perl modules for working with RSS:
- http://search.cpan.org/author/EISEN/XML-RSS-0.96/RSS.pm (XML::RSS)
- http://search.cpan.org/author/ATRICKETT/XML-RSS-Tools-0.06/Tools.pm (XML::RSS::Tools)
An RSS validator sounds like a good idea:
- http://feeds.archive.org/validator/
RSS 0.92 seems like the best place to begin. The spec says 0.92 is basically 0.91 with some useless extra options and all the limits removed (Doom/Boom style). 0.91 says it's an XML document, with a root _rss_ element, with a _version_ attribute set to 0.92 or whatever. Inside that is a single _channel_ element, which has metadata and items. The metadata is some combination of: _title_ (channel/website title), _link_ (URL to the website), _description_ (DoesExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin), _language_ (using standard codes, like en-uk; actually, the standard says en-gb, which is BadAndRight, but i suggest en-ox), _image_ (an icon for the channel; too complicated to go into here), _managingEditor_ and _webMaster_ (in the form "foo@bar.com (Ferndando Oo)"), _pubDate_ and _lastBuildDate_ (in RFC822 format), _docs_ (pointing to ), _textInput_ (specifying a simple query form for the feed) and some others. The content is a sequence of _item_ elements, each of which can contain _title_, _link_ and _description_ elements, each of which is self-explanatory.
Here's a simple-ish RSS file:
$text/xml+rss
OUSFGWiki
http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/view.pl?page=FrontPage
A wiki for friends and members of OUSFG, mainly intended for discussion of SF and associated things.en-oxtwic@urchin.earth.li (Tom Anderson)twic@urchin.earth.li (Tom Anderson)11 Nov 2002 1642 GMT11 Nov 2002 1642 GMThttp://backend.userland.com/rss092FrontPage
http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/view.pl?page=FrontPage
We can't really describe wiki pages. We could pull the first paragraph out, but that would be expensive, and not terribly functional.
Working with RSS will probably involve some appreciation of HeadsDecksAndLeads.
We now have RSSRecentChanges.
CategoryGeekery
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/RSSRecentChanges.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001334 07632177416 021414 0 ustar apache twic It's like RecentChanges ... but in RSS!
- http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/changes-rss.pl?days=1
This will only be meaningful and useful to you if you are in the habit of consuming RSS feeds.
Note that this is still a bit rough around the edges - the page descriptions are raw WikiText, rather than HTML. This will be fixed at some point.
Check it out hyah:
- http://www.infinitepenguins.net/rss/index.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Furchin.earth.li%2Fcgi-bin%2Ftwic%2Fwiki%2Fchanges-rss.pl%3Fdays%3D1&maxitems=0&showdescs=1&desctrim=0&descmax=0&tabwidth=300px&bordercol=%23000000&headbgcol=%23999999&headtxtcol=%23ffffff&titlebgcol=%23dddddd&titletxtcol=%23000000&itembgcol=%23ffffff&itemtxtcol=%23000000&mode=html
CategoryWiki
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/RandomIndex.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001342 07632115754 020517 0 ustar apache twic The point of this page is that it's somewhere to make links to things you want to write which don't have natural homes elsewhere.
- JamesBondTopTens
- PeteTheCarnivorousPlant
- RevJimJones
- BushVsRock
- GeneralProtectionFault
- NanoTech
- MidnightsChildren
- UnansweredQuestions
- SexSellsGreengrocery
- WhereIsAmbridge
- Antique SF from Blackmask Online ()
-- http://www.blackmask.com/books94c/wsynddex.htm 'The Great War Syndicate'
-- http://www.blackmask.com/books13c/flatlanddex.htm 'FlatLand: A Romance of Many Dimensions'
- What do we want? A SpaceElevator! When do we want it? Now!
If anything here belongs elsewhere, eg the SFIndex, then it should be moved.
CategoryIndex
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/RavenAndCrow.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003051 07615251467 020642 0 ustar apache twic RavenAndCrow are the two machines run by OUCS to provide general-purpose LinUx service to users in OxfordUniversity. They do so under the trading name linux.ox.ac.uk.
- http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/services/linux/
The nice thing about RavenAndCrow is that they use Herald, the OxfordUniversity email server, for authentication, so anyone with a Herald account (which is most people) can just log in and go, using their Herald username and password.
A minor obstable is the software you need to log in; telnet, which is installed on most computers, is not permitted, for security reasons. Instead, you need to use an SSH client. If you don't happen to have one of these installed, you would be stuffed, if it were not for your benevolent dictator, who, long ago, rigged up some Java applets to let people do SSH (grant the request for network access, refuse the request for disk access):
- http://users.ox.ac.uk/~univ0938/ssh/ (SSH to anywhere)
- http://users.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/safeperl/univ0938/mindterm.pl?host=linux.ox.ac.uk (SSH to RavenAndCrow)
Of course, you'll need to have a java-capable browser to use these. Note that said tyrant didn't _write_ these applets, he just set them up locally.
You might not be able to give the applet those permissions. In this case you would have to have hte applet hosted ont eh relevent machine, however it doesn't run a webserver. Also, have a look at putty. Far better , doesn't need to be installed.
The only obstacle remaining after that is the actual use of UNIX!
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/RaymondBlanc.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000274 07555457361 020672 0 ustar apache twic RaymondBlanc is a French chef who works in the UK and is considered by many to be a master of his art.
See:
-
CategoryChef (joke)
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ReBoot.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002566 07575230311 017503 0 ustar apache twic Excellent Canadian produced CGI animated series, relating what *really* goes on inside your computer- far more believable than all that 'C drive, motherboard, synchronous pipe' business. The very idea is a gorgeous juxtaposition- using CGI to show computer sprite characters. Produced by Mainframe Entertainment- Mainframe being also the name of the computer system which is home to our heroes and villains, Reboot has run for four series. Of these, S1 and S2 aired entirely on CITV in the mid-nineties. S3 showed a gradual upturn in animation as techniques improved and a maturation of storyline. This, and the... impressively realistic physiques of the female characters were what lead to its cancellation in the UK mid-way through the third season (just before the return to Mainframe, if memory serves).
Hexadecimal was a very disturbing villainess. But quite nicely done when she turned (however briefly) over to the side of the angels...
Notable quotes:
- "You did _that_? To your own _sister_?" -- Enzo "Yes, yes... Rather good, isn't it?" -- Megabyte
- "Tzrow ze svitch!" - Herr Doktor
It has a fabulous GilbertAndSullivan ending (and how many SF serials can you say _that_ about?).
It makes all sorts of references to stuff - LinUx penguins are occasionally seen wandering about, and an entire episode is a pastiche of ThePrisoner.
CategoryTVSF
CategoryKidsTV
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/RealUltimatePower.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000004745 07632120343 021714 0 ustar apache twic _And that's what I call *Real* Ultimate Power!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_
- http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22real+ultimate+power%22
- http://www.realultimatepower.net/ The Official Ninja Webpage
- http://www.rubra.com/iphenom/viewphenom.php?phenid=5
Other people with RealUltimatePower:
- http://www.geocities.com/morg6016/engineer/ The Official Engineer Homepage
- http://www.rpi.edu/~harmsj/RUPEE/ The Official Electrical Engineer Webpage
- http://www.duke-kim.com/korean/ The Official Korean Guy Homepage
- http://membres.lycos.fr/iostream18/index.php The Official Computer Science Guy Webpage
- http://web.mit.edu/luminea/www/realultimategeek.html The Official Geek Webpage
- http://www.fasthci.com/~doctors/ The Official Doctor Webpage _(BrokenLink --TL)_
- http://www.nopants.org/ravers/ The Official Raver Webpage
- http://www-personal.umich.edu/~dconstan/clerk.html The Official Liqor Store Clerk Homepage
- http://www-personal.umich.edu/~conleyp/ The Official Bums Webpage
- http://chuma.cas.usf.edu/~dking3/real_ultimate_power.htm The Official Wizard Webpage
- http://www.boogie-knights.com/paladins/ The Official Paladin Webpage
- http://schiros.net/niggers/nigger2.htm The Official Nigger Homepage
- http://theempire.netmag.easyspace.com/thesaxons.html The Official Saxons Homepage
- http://users.ox.ac.uk/~shug1249/paedophile/ The Official Paedophile Homepage
- http://www.andymcloughlin.co.uk/tmo/power.htm The Official Accountant Homepage
- http://www.andymcloughlin.co.uk/tmo/power.htm The Official Art Fag Webpage
- http://truffula.net/~ultimate/ The Official Commie Webpage
- http://www.stwing.upenn.edu/~aws/asian.html The Official Short Asian Girl Webpage
- http://www.wam.umd.edu/~skyj/ The Official Korean Girl Homepage (BrokenLink)
- http://pirate.shu.edu/~baneymic/sorority.htm The Official Sorority Girl Webpage
Particular people with RealUltimatePower:
- http://jake.stenger.com/ellenfeiss/ The Official Ellen Feiss Webpage
- http://addison.digitalrice.com/kylie/ The Official Kylie Minogue Homepage
- http://www.its.caltech.edu/~ap/koko.html The Official Koko Archibong Homepage
- http://foos.caltech.edu/sixkiller.html The Official Bobby Sixkiller Webpage
- http://home.attbi.com/~toeman/conan_files/conan2.htm The Official Conan O'Brien Webpage
Some things with RealUltimatePower:
- http://www.its.caltech.edu/~lundblad/ack2.html The Official Zeppelin Webpage
- http://www.xprt.net/~rolfsky/internetSite/internet.html The Official Internet Webpage
_Any reason why they all look the same??? --TL_
Yes.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/RecArtsSfWritten.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000733 07555034650 021522 0 ustar apache twic A newsgroup about written SF (that's books, fools).
-
-
If any regular followers of RecArtsSfWritten would like to say more, they should do so!
_rasw is very high traffic; you're looking at four to five hundred messages on a quiet day. As a result, I mostly just skim the group every few days to see if there's anything that looks particularly interesting. -- NH_
CategoryNewsgroup
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/RecentChanges.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002042 07627770344 021024 0 ustar apache twic TwicI can tell you what the RecentChanges to its pages were:
- http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/changes.pl
Some canned links:
- http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/changes.pl?days=-0.01388888889 (_TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture!_)
- http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/changes.pl?days=0.04166666667 (the last hour's changes)
- http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/changes.pl?days=1 (the last day's changes)
- http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/changes.pl?days=7 (the last week's changes)
- http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/changes.pl?num=10 (the last 10 changes)
- http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/changes.pl?num=25 (the last 25 changes)
- http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/changes.pl?num=100 (the last 100 changes)
- http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/changes.pl?days=7&num=20 (the last 20 changes, ignoring those older than a week)
- http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/changes.pl?days=30&num=100 (the last 100 changes, ignoring those older than a month)
See also LocalChanges.
CategoryWiki
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/RecentViews.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003240 07614504475 020546 0 ustar apache twic *Warning: this is borken*
Yin to RecentChanges' yang. TwicI will show you what the RecentViews of its pages were:
- http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/views.pl
Some canned links:
- http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/views.pl?days=0.04166666667 (the last hour's views)
- http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/views.pl?days=1 (the last day's views)
- http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/views.pl?days=7 (the last week's views)
- http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/views.pl?num=10 (the last 10 views)
- http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/views.pl?num=25 (the last 25 views)
- http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/views.pl?num=100 (the last 100 views)
- http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/views.pl?days=7&num=20 (the last 20 views, ignoring those older than a week)
- http://urchin.earth.li/cgi-bin/twic/wiki/views.pl?days=30&num=100 (the last 100 views, ignoring those older than a month)
This facility is actually not quite right. The view time used is the last access time of the file in which the page contents are stored; this is updated not only by views, but by such things as users logged into urchin examining them. Oh, and by backlinks searches. And the nightly backup. Damn. This will get fixed once the new BackLinksImplementation is in place, though. Since this will not be for a while, RecentViews will remain a good idea wrongly implemented for quite a while.
Personally, i think this is a winning hack, even if it doesn't actually work. -- TA
_Once it's mended, will you add it to RecentChanges in the toolbar at the bottom, or put it somewhere moderately prominent or accessible? I agree, it *is* a good feature --TL_
CategoryWiki
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/RecursiveAcronym.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000215 07562247013 021601 0 ustar apache twic An acronym contained within the acronym from which it was derived. Um.
See RecursiveOcclusion for a related topic.
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/RecursiveOcclusion.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000646 07631135246 022140 0 ustar apache twic As depicted in the DoctorWho story, 'Castrovalva'.
Basically, a space-time trap wherein everything goes rather Escheresque, breaks into little pieces, and implodes.
_(Whovians seeking an example in the real world probably need look no further
than a certain 'LBM')_
For those AntiWhovian__s amongst us, there's evidence for something of the same ilk happening in certain scenes of TheMatrix .
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/RedDwarf.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000004707 07613535240 020010 0 ustar apache twic Comedy ScienceFiction series broadcast by the BBC. Written by RobGrant and DougNaylor. Eight series so far, and rumours of a movie seemingly in perpetual post-production. Although the last two series were somewhat lacking, and the dilution of the premise, not least in the addition of a rather poorly scripted female character partially replacing ChrisBarrie's _Rimmer_ role, the series is none the less fondly remembered. --WJR
Characters include ArnoldJudasRimmer, DaveLister, TheCat, KryTen, HollyTheComputer, and latterly and arguably unfortunately, KristineKochanski.
_"Let's just get out there and *twat it!*" (Lister)_
_"Give Quiche A Chance" (Rimmer's T-shirt, same episode)_
_"Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast" (Ace Rimmer)_
_"Stoke me a clipper, I'll be back for Christmas" (Rimmer, trying to be Ace Rimmer)_
_There must be many other quotable quotes: 'Dwarf' is virtually 'Withnail and I' in space... --TL_
-_"What's it like?"
-"Death? It's like going on holiday with a group of Germans." (Lister and Rimmer)_
-_"But... if people see my face, what're they going to think?"
-"Say you had an accident. Say you took your car to the crusher and forgot to get out." (Kryten and Rimmer)
_"Look, I'm a tenth generation AI hologrammic computer; I'm not your mum."_ (Holly) -- WJR
_"Let's hope we don't meet any cops. They don't like you driving when you're rat-arsed."_ (Holly, whilst a shrunken Starbug has propelled itself into the, um, posterior of a rodent)
_Hmm, I'd forgotten that one. *Not* an episode to show at ArlingtonDrive then... they'd have nightmares. -- WJR_
_"What do you mean,_ 'I killed him, cha-cha-cha'_?!"_ (Lister)
_"Lister, tune in to sanity FM."_ (Rimmer)
_"It's embarrassing as much as anything else. Here you are totally humiliating me in front of this xenophobic homicidal maniac... No offence!"_ (Rimmer) -- WJR
_"The question is this: Given that God is infinite, and that the universe is also infinite, would you like a toasted tea-cake?"_ (Toaster)
Wahey! They finally got off their multifariously suited butts and are making a movie!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/news/02112602.shtml
Excellent! Good to see they signed on the actual cast members as well, and
aren't doing a remake. I've yet to be convinced that it'll actually transfer well to the silver screen, but it's going to be fun finding out. -- _WJR_
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0276447 (here's hoping...)
CategoryTVSF CategoryBritishTVSF CategorySFMovie
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/RedGreenBlueMars.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000250 07567476236 021446 0 ustar apache twic Planet presumably suffering from acute nausea. -- WJR
Or, a TriLogy of books (that dreaded word!) about the terraforming of the Red Planet in its various phases. --TL
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ResponsibilityForElders.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000010565 07631660401 023134 0 ustar apache twic Does the constitution currently make clear who is responsible for communication with OUSFGElders? In particular, the case where long-departed elders write and say "hello, i was in OUSFG ...". At present, it doesn't seem that anyone writes in reply.
Obvious (and not so obvious) candidates for the responsibility-holder include:
- The OUSFGPresident, as supreme commander of the society
- The OUSFGSecretary, as person in charge of membership and organisation
- The HaggardOne, as leader of the OUSFGElders
- The SpeakerToAnimals, as person responsible for much of the other outside communications (bad idea, this one)
- The OUSFGAmbassador the elder's country of residence (defaulting to the OUSFGPresident in the case of the UK or an embassy-less country)
- Alternatively, perhaps we should have a separate Speaker to the Ancient Ones... This would predicate on our having some benighted OUSFGus willing to fill this role. --TL
_I think we've got quite enough committee posts as it is. I'd go with it being the HaggardOne or the OUSFGPresident, personally. -- NH_
This doesn't really work at the moment though, with the OUSFGPresident behind the Iron Curtain. We probably should have appointed a Special Vice-president or something last Trinity, who could do the President's job without having to fulfil Proctoral Regulations, and so prevent the Secretary and Treasurer being so overwhelmed. -- WJR
We could make it constitutionally some particular person's responsibility, but leave them with the power to delegate (in fact, we should probably assume that everyone has the power to delegate at all times, as was mooted concerning OUSFGPunch).
How about making it the responsibilty of the "committee" with it defaulting to whichever of the President or Secretary that either has time, or is interested in writing to the person. We __D__O __N__O__T __N__E__E__D __A __C__O__M__M__I__T__T__E__E __P__O__S__T __F__O__R __T__H__I__S.
_The entire problem of making it 'the committee''s collective responsibility is that everyone assumes someone else is doing it. The power to delegate is implicit, and it doesn't necessarily have to be a *new* Committee post, but the basic reason for this debate was that events have shown that responsibility should be nominally attached to a specific person. Oh, and using upper-case for emphasis in a Wiki world looks *really* ugly._ -- WJR _Unless done properly. Now fixed._ -AM
If the problem is that the committee are disorgnaised then it is the job of the President as leader of the society/committee. It is their ultimate responsibility for checking everything works anyway.
_The trouble is that we have an absentee President... if we just stick our heads in the sand and say 'The President should be doing it' we'll come unstuck. We really, _really_ should have elected a Vice-President- we would have had enough members, since the advantage of a Veep is that they can function as a President for a Student Society without having to be a Student themselves._ -- WJR
This is a current case. This is not a general society thing. I suggest the committee elect a vice-president from amung themselves. Are you saying that there shouldn't be anything that is the president's responsibilty because we have an absentee this year? I doubt it. So why does this year's president being away mean that it can't be the president's job to organise the committee into replying to letters from old members?
_No, but I am saying there shouldn't be anything which is exclusively the President's responsibility *this year*. Describing something as a 'current case' rather than a general society thing does not lessen its importance- in fact, it increases it, since it is the current case in which we are living. I'm not sure what you mean by 'the committee elect a vice-president from am*o*ngst themselves'- I agree, there's no reason to enshrine it in the constitution (although, generally speaking, a Veep is rather useful), but, at this time, the
requirement for things to get done is of higher priority than the requirement to keep the constitution uncluttered._ -- WJR
So get on with it rather than mentioning it here. Surely the committee have email, why not use that to elect a VP?
Surely "this year" ends in a week or 2? And then we have a new, presentee president who can do it or delegate it to their hearts content? Though I think it should be the Haggard one's responsibility anyway... --DM
CategoryConstitution
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/RevJimJones.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003340 07615071201 020467 0 ustar apache twic The Reverend Jim Jones was the leader of a religious cult ('The People's Temple') who led his followers first to the Guyanan jungle, and then, in 1978, to mass suicide, effected by poisoned Kool-Aid.
- http://www.religioustolerance.org/dc_jones.htm
- http://www.conspire.com/jones.html
- http://www.rickross.com/groups/jonestown.html
- http://www.gbs.sha.bw.schule.de/jim_jones_history.htm
- http://conncoll.edu/academics/departments/relstudies/290/newage/jimjones.html
- http://www.mayhem.net/Crime/cults1.html
Consipiracy theorists implicate the CIA in some way.
At some point, Jim gave a little speech which has been extensively sampled and used in tracks by a variety of modern musicians, including:
- 'Mao Tse Tung Said' by AlabamaThree
- 'More gills less fishcakes' and 'We're pastie to be grill you' by TheOrb
- 'Jonestown' by Concrete Blonde
The odd thing is, nobody seems to agree on exactly what words Jim is saying. The best consensus that can be made from the various transcripts google can find is this (variable bits in square brackets):
_If, if by any chance you [would/will] make a mistake to try to come in and take any one of us, we will not let you, you will die - you will have to take anybody over all [of] our dead bodies! [Love is[n't] the only weapon.] Martin Luther King died [for/with] [his] love! Kennedy died talking about something he couldn't [even] understand, some kind of generalised love! [And he never even backed it up [and he was shot down]!] [Love isn't the only weapon with which I got to fight] [Shit - bullshit!] I've got a hell of a lot of weapons to fight! I got my [claws/clothes], I got [purposes/cutlasses?], I got guns, I got dynamite, I got a hell of a lot of fight! I'll fight! I'll fight! I will fight!_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/RoadToNowhere.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002147 07632162304 021024 0 ustar apache twic A classic song by TalkingHeads, traditionally played (and danced to _en masse_) at the ChristmasParty.
Notably not played (but still danced to) at the 2002 party.
$
WELL WE KNOW WHERE WE'RE GOIN'
BUT WE DON'T KNOW WHERE WE'VE BEEN
AND WE KNOW WHAT WE'RE KNOWIN'
BUT WE CAN'T SAY WHAT WE'VE SEEN
AND WE'RE NOT LITTLE CHILDREN
AND WE KNOW WHAT WE WANT
AND THE FUTURE IS CERTAIN
GIVE US TIME TO WORK IT OUT
We're on a road to nowhere
Come on inside
Takin' that ride to nowhere
We'll take that ride
I'm feelin' okay this mornin'
And you know,
We're on the road to paradise
Here we go, here we go
CHORUS
Maybe you wonder where you are
I don't care
Here is where time is on our side
Take you there...take you there
We're on a road to nowhere
We're on a road to nowhere
We're on a road to nowhere
There's a city in my mind
Come along and take that ride
and it's all right, baby, it's all right
And it's very far away
But it's growing day by day
And it's all right, baby, it's all right
They can tell you what to do
But they'll make a fool of you
And it's all right, baby, it's all right
We're on a road to nowhere
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/RobGrant.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000211 07571135006 020011 0 ustar apache twic Co-writer of the first six series of RedDwarf and, to judge from the change in style after his departure, the jokes man.
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/RobertLlewellyn.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000113 07627465024 021431 0 ustar apache twic - imdb:name/Llewellyn,%20Robert
He has a BaconNumber of 3.
CategoryActor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/RumourMills.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001464 07570474505 020611 0 ustar apache twic The bane of the likes of DoctorWho, TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy, RedDwarf and many others. Tabloid newspapers thrive on them.
Like pepper-mills, their contents should be sparingly used and, naturally, taken with a good pinch of salt...
Really- what's the latest one? _(Well, I was thinking of the debunking of the 'Timothy Spall is the Doctor' myth in the latest DWM, but of course there are many others --TL)_ Newspaperwise, I'm still recovering from the
John Simpson/Tweenie crossbreed I saw in the Guardian today... -- WJR
_There's an equally bad one of a crossbreed between two (one male, one female) presenters of unknown provenance - or there was - on the BBC homepage --TL_
Oh dear... -- WJR
Alan Hansen the footie commentator and a tiger? Now that would have William Blake spinning in his grave... --TL
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/RussellTDavies.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000415 07627665501 021224 0 ustar apache twic A British screenwriter. Quite good. Past credits include DarkSeason, and the non-SFnal (but SF-invoking) QueerAsFolk and BobAndRose. His most recent credit is TheSecondComing, which aired on ITV in february 2003.
CategoryAuthor (he has been known to write books, too)
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SF.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000004301 07627652755 016630 0 ustar apache twic The meaning of 'SF' has been the subject of exhaustive (and exhausting) debate in a great many forums. It is unlikely to be conclusively resolved any time soon. However: It can, in general, either stand for ScienceFiction or for SpeculativeFiction. Neither should be confused with SciFi.
One interesting system of nomenclature was proposed by SamuelRDelaney, who mapped genre to grammatical mode. He suggested that:
- StraightFiction is in the indicative. It says 'This is,' which we support by our suspension of disbelief.
- ScienceFiction is in the conditional. It says, 'This can be, [if certain conditions are met.]'
- Fantasy is in the subjunctive. It says, 'If that were, [then this is how it would be.]'
Note that under this system, TedChiang stories such as TowerOfBabylon are fairly unambiguously Fantasy.
_We could do with a standardised WikiName for Fantasy... -- NH_
Another system considers the intellectual rigour of the world and story under consideration. The approach that follows 'if that were' to its logical conclusion is ScienceFiction, and probably HardSF to boot. The approach that uses 'if that were' for the generation of wonder or the creation of scenery is Fantasy.
ThisIslandEarth is a classic SF BMovie.
_Aren't SF BMovies SciFi, pretty much by definition?_
Possibly. However, ThisIslandEarth is most definitely *not* a BMovie; it's a well-made fully-operational FeatureFilm in its own right.
All right, so where does DoctorWho fit in?? TL
If only there were WikiZens who knew enough about DoctorWho to explain...
It seems to be pretty unambiguously SciFi to me, although (as I'm sure you know better than I) the books have taken in pretty much every genre, including HardSF. I am not, by the way, using SciFi in the PejorativeSense here, but I'm sure you will agree that the science is typically somewhat... malleable, and quite a lot of the plotting owes as much to fantasy as to SF.
CharlieStross is a little like TedChiang in that he sometimes takes a fantastic idea (HPLovecraft was telling the truth) and pursues it to a logical, rational conclusion ('Nukes? Who needs nukes when you've got GreatCthulhu?'). It's not classic HardSF, but it's really not fantasy. Still, it's TheFutureOfSF ...
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SFAboutLibraries.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000260 07600055022 021427 0 ustar apache twic - MsFndInALbry
- JorgeLuisBorges' TheLibraryOfBabel
- The UnseenUniversity library is described (and the nature of LSpace explored) in some of TerryPratchett's DiscWorld books
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SFBums.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000030 07576105244 017437 0 ustar apache twic See ScienceFictionBums.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SFCrowsNest.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000150 07604363347 020465 0 ustar apache twic A listing of online SF magazines and things.
- http://www.computercrowsnest.com/directory/fdmags.shtml
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SFINX.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000365 07631646750 017206 0 ustar apache twic SFINX
A magazine of short stories. Once part of the OUSFG empire, since spun off and as a result the responsibility of no-one. I believe that AM is the person to talk to if you want to submit anything, and hopefully we can re-start it. --DM
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SFIndex.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001454 07631403156 017606 0 ustar apache twic Pages concerned with SpeculativeFiction. This is not an exhaustive list, by any means; since the OUSFGWiki is primarily focused on SpeculativeFiction, such a list would be folly.
*Categories*
- CategoryAuthor
- CategoryBook
- CategoryTVSF
- CategorySFMovie
- CategoryRadioProgramme
*Stuff*
- ScienceFiction vs SpeculativeFiction
- SF vs SciFi
- SenseOfWonder vs SensaWunda
- GoodFantasyWriters
- HistoricalSingularity
- RecursiveOcclusion
- CategoryOUSFGDictionary
- ZacsReviews
- The SFCrowsNest
- WorldCon2005
*Random Stuff*
- The OriginOfOUSFG
- FarscapeIsCancelled
- MargaretAtwoodVsSF
- TVSFSciFiQuestion _and it is *very* random --TL_
- ZoolV - Zool is back! --TL _(And it's about time.)_ -- WJR
- MathematicalSF
SF-related things specific to Oxford may be listed in the OxfordIndex.
CategoryIndex
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SFX.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000472 07605543566 016760 0 ustar apache twic Respectable Television and Film Science Fiction Magazine, dedicated to partially obscuring the second letter of their cover title in order to make observers believe they are looking at a magazine entitled 'S__E__X'. Personally, I doubt this helps their sales figures in the slightest, but it's their magazine...
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SFnal.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000121 07611001405 017264 0 ustar apache twic Short for science-fictional, or somehow relating to SF.
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SPAHWG.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000120 07555471365 017300 0 ustar apache twic OUSFG's SpecialProjects Ad-Hoc Working Group.
Nothing to see here, move along.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SSH.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001161 07613514503 016735 0 ustar apache twic SSH is short for Secure S__Hell. It's a protocol for connecting to a remote computer and using it as if you were sitting at a directly-connected text-based terminal.
TomAnderson long ago rigged up some Java applets to let people do SSH (grant the request for network access, refuse the request for disk access):
- http://users.ox.ac.uk/~univ0938/ssh/ (SSH to anywhere)
- http://users.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/safeperl/univ0938/mindterm.pl?host=linux.ox.ac.uk (SSH to RavenAndCrow)
Of course, you'll need to have a java-capable browser to use these. Note that said tyrant didn't _write_ these applets, he just set them up locally.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/STROH.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002004 07632171141 017172 0 ustar apache twic The best way to describe it is perhaps to say that it "tastes like butterscotch on fire".
- http://www.stroh.at/
If you visit the website in English, look at the picture of the woman on the right of the startup page. She's that colour for a reason! ;-) --DM
- _No - she's definitely pleased with something. I think she was approached by a complete sleaze, she offered him a swig of stroh, and now he's squirming on the floor trying not to cough up a lung. And she's like "I can't believe you fell for that, ass-master!" and he's like "dude! weak!". I can easily see stroh being used as a form of self-defence._ - AM
- _I also think it's irresponsible of them not to put *Emergency Contact Details* on the website's sidepanel._ - AM
NB it does not go well with GunpowderTea
There is apparently now a STROH alcopop - Stroh Cola. Boggle/shudder. Not only that, but it comes in a can _with a straw_! Ouch. Cool recipies though...
Double boggle/shudder/scream. The world is not yet prepared.
CategoryUnknowableHorror
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SandBox.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002551 07630465251 017646 0 ustar apache twic Crumbs! I accidentally wiped the sandbox. Oops. Never mind. Lucky it wasn't a real page, really. Well, one of the reminders that WikiIsOpen.
For the technically interested, i forgot that opening a file in '>' mode clobbers it. Doh.
_The sandbox is destroyed, long live the sandbox!_
==*"We are all Kosh."*
==*_"I'm not!"_*
*Yes you are!*
hello,
- testing
-- testing
--# testing... ah good, it works.
$ How does this work?
NB the above line was crashing the page rendering, at this line in the TwicI code:
$
$raw =~ /^\$([^\n]*)\n(.*)$/s || die( "bad raw block: $raw" ) ;
So now you know.
$this_bit_gets_ignored_(sorta;_look_at_the_HTML)
Like
This
D'you see?
Eh?
|Doctor|Foster|Went|To Gloucester|
|This is|A|Table|...|
The WikiLocking stuff is kinda working; the lock-enabled TwicI can do all the normal stuff okay, so it's not a _regression_ or anything, but it's damned hard to verify that the locking works as designed, and so is actually a _progression_. Soz.
The PageNotFound mechanism works, btw: I happened on it looking for a page on Von Neumann Machines. --TL
==*"HelloThomas"*
:TL: I can imagine this being very useful for organisation of the usual graffiti wall comments... :-/
:...: don't you think?
:WJR: This is fun.
:WJR__2: Yes it is.
:WJR: Shush, you don't exist.
test
:Weak: Crepuscular Asparagus
: : More dawn vegetables here
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SciFi.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000651 07546255733 017314 0 ustar apache twic Shorthand for ScienceFiction. Often used in a vaguely derogatory sense, as in ' _StarTrek_ is pure Sci-Fi', and implying that whatever it is is not proper SF.
One school of thought is that the SF/SciFi divide is really the HardSF/SoftSF divide. Perhaps this would be easier to decide if we had good definitions of HardSF and SoftSF.
Examples of good SciFi (which aren't necessarily good SF) include:
- StarWars
- FarScape
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ScienceFiction.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000070 07555465233 021175 0 ustar apache twic See SF or SciFi or, for that matter, most of this Wiki.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ScienceFictionAfterTheFutureWentAway.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000142 07606341771 025470 0 ustar apache twic An essay about TheFutureOfSF by KenMacLeod.
- http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfiction/kensf.htm
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ScienceFictionBums.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002362 07631410601 022012 0 ustar apache twic The ScienceFictionBums (SFBums for short) are the out-of-term rump of OUSFG (if you'll excuse the pun). Basically, OUSFG with even fewer undergraduates. Basically, CBS.
The ScienceFictionBums have been known in recent years as Proto-OUSFG. BrianAldiss came to speak to the group in Michaelmas Term, 2002 with this to say:
_"I had a small terraced house in Marston Street which is a road that goes from the Cowley to the Iffley road - I had number 24 - it was sort of two up and two down and it was regularly filled with drunken science fiction bums."_
ArchieMaskill pressed for its usage, was surprised when someone else adopted it, and it blew his fucking mind away when the Wiki definition appeared (understandable, given his contempt for most of his own ideas) As there were only about three people who used term "Proto-OUSFG", and there are no other contenders for the title, SFBums is currently regarded as the primary term.
Things the SFBums have done or are thinking about doing:
- Sat about at CranhamStreet eating gingerbread Sontarans/Golems and talking the usual gibberish
- Gone to see GateToAvalon at the PhoenixPictureHouse
- Going to the OxfordTwentySixHundred meeting.
- Rewriting the Internet so that the .mil domain points to www.ousfg.net
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ScienceFictionIsTheOnlyGenuineConsciousnessExpandingDrug.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000130 07616736173 031545 0 ustar apache twic CSLewis said this. Many people mistakenly attribute it to ArthurCClarke.
CategoryQuote
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SensaWunda.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000075 07543435341 020357 0 ustar apache twic The SciFi equivalent of the SenseOfWonder evoked by good SF.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SenseOfWonder.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003454 07551653676 021050 0 ustar apache twic One of the hallmarks of SF is the ability to induce a SenseOfWonder in the reader; indeed, HugoGernsback coined the phrase to define SF.
"The SenseOfWonder comes not from brilliant writing, nor even from brilliant conceptualising; it comes from a sudden opening of a closed door in the reader's mind. [...] Arguably, almost any SenseOfWonder-producing case embedded in an SF text, no matter how weak that text may be elsewhere, could be analysed to show a comparable forcing of ConceptualBreakthrough. That term was coined in the first edition of this encyclopaedia in recognition of the fact that Nicholls' earlier SenseOfWonder definition in terms of the sublime was open to abuse in the form of vaguely mystical, pantheist - or, indeed, transcendent! - readings of SF texts. ConceptualBreakthrough, whereby the SenseOfWonder is inspired through paradigm shifts - a variant of the shift in perspective noted above - is a more focused term than 'sublime', and perhaps a more helpful one." -- JohnClute, in TheEncyclopaediaOfSF
A SenseOfWonder can be evoked by all sorts of things, including:
- Futuristic technology
- Deep space
- Alien life
- Changes of scale or perspective
It has been described (at ) as "the feeling of flying, of comprehending whole solar systems and unraveling supernova, of creeping under the epidermis of beautiful strangers and finding yourself inside a disturbingly familiar dream.".
StephenBaxter has a substantial supply, and he can explain how he makes it ().
Apparently, 'FatherToTheMan', by RobertReed, is classic SenseOfWonder stuff. Read it in Asimov's online, at .
Can SenseOfWonder come from non-SF things, too? How about real science?
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SexSellsGreengrocery.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000707 07630763167 022436 0 ustar apache twic Sex sells. Everyone knows this. But did you know it can be used to sell fruit and vegetables? A brief visit to Tesco revealed the following incredibly (if not immediately obviously) filthy labels:
- Glovebox date
- Eat Me Keep Me bananas
- Loose oranges
- Loose Sharon fruit
- Passion fruit
- Ripe and Ready plums
- Cox apples polybag
- Tentation apples
- Sweetheart cabbage
- Fun Size apples
- Cucumber portion
As well as others too depraved to print.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SherlockHolmes.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002241 07616534604 021231 0 ustar apache twic The enduring icon of crime fiction, probably for centuries to come, written for by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Characterised as being:
- a 'consulting detective' resident with (and occasionally without) his friend John H. Watson M.D. in 221B Baker Street, London;
- an Oxbridge graduate (one of the great debates is which university and which college...) in chemistry, with a particular hobby of forensics;
- tall, thin, eccentric and active, with a tendency to be very fastidious in his dress;
- clothed (by stereotype) in a tweed suit and ulster overcoat with an Inverness cape, deerstalker cap and pipe. (The look was originally invented by the American actor W.S. Gilette for a series of Sherlock Holmes plays brought to the stage as Conan Doyle was writing some of his later stories: the only place where it's nearly described in the actual canon is in 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'.)
ObSF: featured in SherlockHolmesAgainstTheMartians.
Also featured in more spin-off or spoof movies than you can shake an elegant walking-stick at...
CategoryBook (four long stories and scads of short stories: many, many editions...) CategoryRadioProgramme (Clive Merrison as the detective)
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SherlockHolmesAgainstTheMartians.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001725 07570377507 024714 0 ustar apache twic A frankly brilliant play about, well, SherlockHolmes talking on the Martian conquerors of Earth. LeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen-style, it involved more characters from Victorian fiction than you could shake a Malacca cane at.
- http://www.oxfordstudent.com/1999-05-13/ox2/8
Written by John Barnes (no, not either of _the_ JohnBarnes'), it was performed in an the Moser theatre in WadhamCollege in 1999. The followup, 'The Exquisite New Adventures of Mata Hari', was similarly kaleidoscopic but ultimately less successful.
This unique piece of work made use of "The Eve of the War" (from the WarOfTheWorlds soundtrack) as part of its incidental music, along with a number of suspiciously recognisable tracks from the "Worlds of DoctorWho" CD.
It is not the first piece of work to pit Mr Holmes against those fiends from the RedPlanet: .
*Stay loyal. Remain pure. Become martian.*
*_Stay loyal. Remain pure. Join OUSFG._*
CategoryPlay
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SimonJones.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000310 07627713452 020370 0 ustar apache twic Weirdly enough, though people may know him best as Arthur Dent, he also had a very minor bit-part in Terry Gilliam's 'Brazil'.
- imdb:name/Jones,+Simon+(I)
He has a BaconNumber of 2.
CategoryActor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SirArnoldRobinson.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000137 07617755125 021724 0 ustar apache twic A character from the series Yes Minister; EmperorPalpatine to SirHumphreyAppleby's DarthVader.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SirHumphreyAppleby.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000201 07617755056 022104 0 ustar apache twic A character from the series YesMinister; indeed, the one who says "Yes, Minister", soothingly bamboozling his 'boss', JimHacker.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SluggyFreelance.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002434 07620544070 021363 0 ustar apache twic -
- _if you really want to read right from the beginning..._
That 'Sluggy' bit of the name is intentionally nothing to do with the story, I believe.
:Torg: "The internet. More than just fun and games, it has become the global source of practical uses. For example, let's see how Riff makes use of the internet."
:Riff:"I'm trying to summon the Devil on-line."
:Torg:"Proves my point. In the new millennium you'll be able to sell your soul in a nanosecond... _um_... but wouldn't it be easier to just e-mail him?"_
:Riff:"Yes! Spam Satan!"
_Editing note: i (a) collapsed the sequence of single-element tagged lists into one, (b) got rid of the second colon in the above list and (c) got rid of the bold. Much neater now._
There's a awful lot of this, but it is archived in a very tidy and accessible way. _And it's another cute and cuddly CthulhuMythos! (see Nyder.com) --TL_
Well, the Dimension of Pain is a little... for a moment I thought you were calling K'Z'K the Soul Collector 'cute and cuddly'... which would make me run in terror. -- WJR
PlushCthulhu! _Indeed... and worryingly reminiscent of this strip's Evil Alien Santa the Santa Cthulhu is too... :
CategoryOnlineComic
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SmokeTest.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000543 07627011246 020222 0 ustar apache twic A SmokeTest is the simplest test that you can run for something: switch it on and see if it smokes; if not, it's passed.
Originally an electronic engineering term, it has now come into use in software. Software doesn't smoke, obviously, but if you try to read wiki and just get told that there was an *Internal Server Error* , it's the moral equivalent.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SometimesNot.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000011 07622261403 020715 0 ustar apache twic DeleteMe
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SpaceElevator.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002555 07632206355 021051 0 ustar apache twic A cable connecting a point on the surface of a planet to a point directly overhead in synchronous orbit. Simple, really.
The point is that you can haul lots of stuff up them quickly and cheaply.
- http://www.islandone.org/LEOBiblio/CLARK1.HTM (an essay by ArthurCClarke)
- http://www.islandone.org/LEOBiblio/SPBI120.HTM (an entry in the NowickiEarthToOrbitTransportationBibliograhy)
- http://www.howstuffworks.com/space-elevator.htm
- http://www.firstscience.com/site/articles/elevator.asp
- http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/03/05/1914246
- http://www.spacedaily.com/news/future-01f.html
- http://www.eurekasci.com/SPACE_ELEVATOR/Space_Elevator_Homepage.html
- http://www.spacedaily.com/news/future-01f.html
- http://www.highliftsystems.com/ (a company which builds SpaceElevator__s or something)
-- http://www.highliftsystems.com/summary.html (latest status of the project)
- http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?SpaceElevator
- http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator
- http://urchin.earth.li/~twic/osew/ (_RealUltimatePower!_)
"The space elevator will be built about fifty years after everyone stops laughing" -- ArthurCClarke.
It would be ace if someone could dig out a link the ancient newsgroup thread we had about SpaceElevator__s. Also, once the current (7/3/2003) OUSFGChat thread has finished, we should link to archives of that. Or summarise both the above. Or something.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SpeakerToAnimals.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001230 07631722320 021475 0 ustar apache twic OUSFGCommittee Member, responsible for speaking to Authors (or Author, for the monotheists amongst us), and asking, cajoling, begging, bribing, blackmailing or kidnapping them to come and speak to us about their lives and work.
Contacts are important. (_In the 'knowing authors and being able to persuade them to attend' sense, rather than in the 'contact lenses so that you invite an author rather than a random person in the street who you thought was CSLewis because he looked dead' sense._)
Should the Speaker To Animals also report to the Author regarding the well-being of any clone we make from the author's DNA? Probably not if we want the Author back.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SpecFi.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000030 07607027711 017446 0 ustar apache twic See SpeculativeFiction.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SpecialProjects.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001244 07631116220 021366 0 ustar apache twic The guerilla science wing of OUSFG. Currently belived to be involved in creating clones of MMS and flying monkey legions (given the accepted OUSFG definition of 'special' (_adj. Containing gin_) we assume that these will be pissed MMS clones, and drunk-and-disorderly flying monkeys).
Arguably these projects are sub-instances of creating an OUSFG reality, which is surely Special Projects' ultimate aim. The OUSFGWiki may be the first step along this path. See also SPAHWG.
Now also charged with investigating (over the next 1000 years) if we are inhabiting a machine generated fake universe, and if not then making it so. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! -- DM
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SpecialURL.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000006622 07627674564 020275 0 ustar apache twic TwicI supports two kinds of URL__s: normal URL__s, which use a standard scheme, like http, ftp, mailto, etc, and SpecialURL__s, which use a scheme meaningful to TwicI. SpecialURL__s are recognised and rewritten by TwicI's page rendering logic, so that they are presented to browsers are normal URL__s.
SpecialURL schemes supported by TwicI (whether now or in the future) include:
- isbn; this is a reference to a book, identified by ISBN number. Simply use the ISBN, with or without hyphens, as the path, for example . The links point to BarnesAndNoble; Amazon is the obvious choice, but we have a NoAmazon policy.
- isfdb; this is a reference to the InternetSpeculativeFictionDataBase. It has two parts, a class identifier and an entity identifier, separated by a slash. The class identifier can be 'author' (in which case the entity identifier must be the exact author name as stored in ISFDB, eg ) or 'work' (in which case the entity identifier must be work identifier, eg ). Note that the work identifiers are not necessarily stable, which means that all such links may suddenly break simultaneously (where 'break' means 'start pointing to nothing or the wrong thing'); this is a property of ISFDB, which we can't really do much about.
- imdb; this is a reference to the InternetMovieDataBase. It has two parts, a class identifier and an entity identifier, separated by a slash. The class identifier can be 'title' (in which case the entity identifier must be the exact title number as stored in IMDB, eg ) or 'name' (in which case the entity should be a person's name, exactly as it appears in the IMDB URL, eg ).
- lj; this is a reference to a particular LiveJournal user. It has the simple form , or, if you want to refer to a particular item, .
- groggs; this is a reference to a particular thing on GROGGS. It has the simple
form . It seems that the web and gopher interfaces to GROGGS have now been closed (or at least bound fast), so any URL of this form is now a BrokenLink.
- google; this is a reference to a google search. Examples include google:OUSFG and . Note that if you want multi-word searches, you have to replace spaces with hyphens and leave out the speechmarks; sorry about that.
- dmoz; this is a reference to a DMOZ directory category, like .
- doi; this is a DigitalObjectIdentifier, and is used like or . DOIs refer to documents like scientific papers; they can often be found on the printed text of documents available electronically.
- pmid; this is a PubMed ID, used like . PubMed ID__s can be found on PubMed's search result pages, indicated by the tag 'PMID'.
- jargon; a reference to the JargonFile. Names should be in the canonical form, used at (and happily also at , the provider we actually currently use), eg .
- rfc; a reference to an RFC document. Just the numbers are needed, eg .
Note that these schemes may be altered, and more added, in future to support even more wonderful functionality.
_Maybe we should have one for GoogleSets._
Writing an invalid URL in a page should generate a link to the BadURL page.
CategoryWiki
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SpecialURLs.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000026 07546020141 020420 0 ustar apache twic Plural of SpecialURL.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SpeculativeFiction.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000012751 07560726225 022116 0 ustar apache twic Term devised to cover 'Science Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fantasy' and other sub-genres. Apparently initially applied to OUSFG because the University
Authorities (whose Enforcement arm were known as Bulldogs) thought that the term 'Science Fiction' might be detrimental to the University's highbrow, orthodox image.
Despite its inauspicious origins, in many ways 'Speculative Fiction' is a better way to describe SF than 'Science Fiction' since, with the arguable exception of hard SF, the 'science' isn't generally the most important aspect of
the fiction. If one aim of Literature is to explore the human condition, then 'Speculative Fiction' might be said to explore the human condition by looking at how humans, or human analogues, react to non-normal circumstances and events. Science is often what the fiction is speculating _about_ - generally how life would be in a more scientifically advanced society, or some variation thereof, but it's quite rare for it to actually _be_ the story.
Asimov, for instance, fits the bill as a writer of _speculative_ fiction. Even the relatively down-to-Earth Robot Novels there is _(Thank God, IMHO)_ no real discussion of how robots are built, or the technology behind them- a few buzzwords like 'positronic' are thrown around, but even if they're accurately researched and appropriate buzzwords, they're really only there for the same reason as _Star Trek's_ technobabble- as an up-to-date equivalent of magic spells. Where robotic tech does come up, it is mentioned by way of its social and psychological impact on this human/robot society -C/Fe, to borrow from "The Caves of Steel" - for instance in showing the instinctive revulsion towards something that looks human and isn't when the human looking Daneel opens up his chest cavity and removes a food sac. The Three Laws of Robotics invite us at every turn to try to imagine the psyche of a sentient or pseudo-sentient being with those three commands as its baseline- and are frequently linked by characters to the question of what might be the Three Laws of Humanics.
Asimov is, of course, not a HardSF writer. It's a universally acknowledged truth that his books are far more about _social_ science fiction but:
_"I should have called it psychosociology, but that seemed to me too ugly a word."_
I put forward that Speculative Fiction is a nicer term, even if nobody in the wider world does know what it means.
Let's try this definition again from the point of view of a more HardSF oeuvre.
_(At this point I'd like to invite anyone with a greater knowledge or interest in HardSF than I have to cite other examples. If you want to offer counter-examples, please do so, but put them at the bottom of the page, after the argument 'for' has finished...)_
Consider Steven Baxter- I'll look at "Voyage", since I've only recently read that. Now, in "Voyage"- and in "Titan" too, for that matter, there is a *lot* of attention paid to the mathematics and engineering of space travel. Here we have 'science' foregrounded quite a lot... except that I'd describe it as more 'technology fiction' than 'science fiction'. When it comes down to it, all the advanced tech in these books, with the exception of the weird 'umpteen million years later' sequence in one of them _(the 'one of them' vagueness is the closest you're going to ever see me to avoiding spoilers, all right?)_ is essentially engineering. Yes, it's a SenseofWonder thing, but it's about the application of science- tu whit, technology. The actual science itself isn't that much more advanced than an internal combustion engine, with a couple of interesting exceptions. Once again, the social and psychological- what does it feel like to be on an alien world, what are the effects on people of being involved with such an organisation, and in competition with each other to slip the bonds of gravity? - effects are foregrounded. Whilst the tech is far more important to the story than in Asimov, I still feel that the "Speculative Fiction" uber-label is warranted.
That's not to claim, by a long chalk, that 'Science Fiction' is an inappropriate label in all cases. As discussed by our very own Lord of Time, Time Travel short stories do provide an example where the science- even if it is frequently 'magic door into the past/future with added technobabble' is foregrounded. There are other examples, but once again, it is the 'human condition' effect which generally takes centre-stage. Consider "The Time Machine". Yes, there's a time machine in it- _(Oh look, a spoiler! I'm so contrite!)_ - but what it's actually _about_ is human society, from Communist parable to post apocalyptic giant crab populated wasteland. _Wouldn't Jean-Paul Sartre have just *loved* that...?_ The time machine just provides a convenient way of getting there to see what Wells wants us to see.
Now, there are obviously going to be plenty of counter-examples to this. Of course SF is Science Fiction... well, most of it. One of the most important things to learn about literature is that genres don't have anything like sharp edges. Genre is a series of hundreds of fuzzy Venn diagrams, making a total mess of the coffee table of human thought. _However_ whilst Science Fiction makes a perfectly valid genre most, and arguably all of it, fits inside the larger Venn diagram of Speculative Fiction, which also encompasses a number of SF oeuvres which don't really seem to fit in the Science Fiction bracket.
Can someone pick up the other end of the argument here? -- WJR
_urg, I think I lost the thread of it along the way --TL_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/StGiles.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000301 07567667327 017672 0 ustar apache twic Street in Oxford, home to the MartyrsMemorial, the War Memorial, many colleges,
many traffic jams, and overlooked by the technological terror that is the OUSFGLibrary.
CategoryOxfordGeography
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/Staircase21Room4.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001032 07632103761 021300 0 ustar apache twic Balliol College room inhabited by AlexCameron for the academic years 2002-3 and 2003-4; held the OUSFGLibrary (open shelves) in the former year.
Like Archie, long, tall and thin; unlike Archie, Victorian and a good place to hold tea-parties.
Usually occupied (as happened the year prefatory to Alex 2's occupation) by people who like loud music and boozy parties, mostly because sound doesn't leak out of the double doors of the room. The Staircase 21 scout, the inestimable Barbara, prefers the absence of them.
CategoryOUSFGLocation
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/StanleyKubrick.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000522 07567475601 021247 0 ustar apache twic Famed film director, responsible for such wonders as
2001:ASpaceOdyssey, TheShining, AClockworkOrange, and many, many more. *Not* known as 'One Take Kubrick'.
Would have been the director of the film 'AI', but died before completion, and so BrianAldiss' "Supertoys Last All Summer Long" was brought to the screens by Steven Spielberg.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/StarBucks.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002270 07632257703 020212 0 ustar apache twic Hum the Imperial March from "The Empire Strikes Back" and you'll get the idea.
"We are Starbucks. You will be assimilated." -- WJR
Or even, "We will survive. We will proliferate....!!" The coffee can be nice, but rather pricey for what you're getting. On the other hand, it's virtually the only brand of coffee you're likely to find in midtown NewYork. --TL
See for details.
Starbucks can now be found inside a variety of supermarkets in the US. _And Borders Books over here._
"You belong to us. You will be like us." Or, hang on, wasn't that on the OUSFG Freshers' Flyer? --WJR
_There's a bookshop down StAldates, called ReservoirBooks, serving as a bookshop, cafe, video rental, with plans to show classic films soon. Apparently it's the first stage of a multimedia arts centre. Word is, there's a community WiFi access point project starting here. StarBucks is already piloting this in London (after its success in AmericaLand), and it would be cool if RiversideBooks could get this going before Oxford's StarBucks. I haven't checked it out yet, but once I have done I'll move all this text to a more appropriate place._ - AM
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/StarTrek.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001607 07554253021 020043 0 ustar apache twic A global brand of TV SciFi, originally created by GeneRoddenberry. To date, there have been five incarnations: _TheOriginalSeries_ (TOS), _TheNextGeneration_ (TNG), _DeepSpaceNine_ (DS9), _Voyager_ and _Enterprise_ .
_Trek_ is at its best when confronting moral and ethical dilemmas (see: the _Enterprise_ episode 'Dear Doctor', airing sunday 15/09/02 on C4). It is at its worst when dealing with plots that are developed, progressed and resolved entirely by TechnoBabble with no thought given to the long-term implications of such events or their effects on the characters involved (see: almost any episode of _Voyager_ ).
GeneRoddenberry's original concept for the show was 'wagon train to the stars'. The current incarnations of _Trek_ seem to bear little or no resemblence to this concept. On the other hand, FireFly looks as though it may be taking the idea a little too literally.
CategoryTVSF
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/StarWars.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000370 07565157251 020060 0 ustar apache twic Series of films by a director called George Lucas. Not known for their subtlety.
If you like great special effects and aren't too bothered about the dialogue, you _may_ like the prequels. In all other cases, *stick to the original trilogy*. --TL
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/StargateSG1.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000542 07565154075 020401 0 ustar apache twic Arguably superior spin-off from the 1995 film StarGate, this series features a military and (occasionally) scientific explorer team going through a wormhole generator to visit distant parts of the universe and pick fights with entities vastly more powerful than they are.
AG is probably more qualified to write a longer entry than I am.
CategoryTVSF
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SteamPunkDragon.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000366 07567735406 021367 0 ustar apache twic Frankly bloody impressive piece of OUSFG artwork which adorns the front page of the OUSFG website:
[ http://www-pnp.physics.ox.ac.uk/SF/misc/steampunk-dragon-icon.gif The Steampunk Dragon]
Created by one Colin Johnson.
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/StephenBaxter.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000004717 07546020753 021072 0 ustar apache twic A modern British SF writer. He is a VeryTechnicalBoy, with as hard a HardSF background as you could ask for, and writing to match.
"I was born in Liverpool, England, in 1957. I have degrees in mathematics, from Cambridge University, and engineering, from Southampton University. I worked as a teacher of maths and physics, and for several years in information technology. I applied to become a cosmonaut in 1991 – aiming for the guest slot on Mir eventually taken by Helen Sharman – but fell at an early hurdle. I have been a full-time author since 1995." -- StephenBaxter (shamelessly lifted from the Baxterium, below)
Widely considered the heir to ArthurCClarke, and generally acclaimed as the best HardSF writer of his generation.
StephenBaxter writes in two main veins: futuristic, wide-ranging, mind-bending large-scale stuff set in a FutureHistory in which humanity is firmly at the bottom of the cosmic pecking-order (the XeeleeSequence - Raft, Timelike Infinity, Flux, Ring, Vacuum Diagrams) and gritty, overtly technical, near-future or near-alternate-past stuff in which humans face limitless space armed only with courage and technical gumption (the so-called ShitsInSpace works - Voyage, Titan, Moonseed and, to a certain extent, the Manifold trilogy). He has also written some ripping alternate histories (Anti-Ice, The Time Ships) and a few other books.
A major (and acknowledged) influence on Baxter, primarily in his short fiction but also in novels such as _Flux_ , is the JamesBlish short story 'Surface Tension'.
See:
- http://www.cix.co.uk/~sjbradshaw/baxterium/baxterium.html
- isfdb:author/Stephen_Baxter
Books as rated on a FivePointScale by Wikizens:
- Raft [5 -- NH]
- Timelike Infinity [4 -- NH]
- Flux [3 -- NH]
- Ring [3 -- NH]
- Vacuum Diagrams (short stories) [4 -- NH]
- Anti-Ice [4 -- NH]
- The Time Ships [5 -- NH]
- Voyage [5 -- NH]
- Titan [3 -- NH]
- Moonseed [4 -- NH]
- Traces (short stories) [4 -- NH]
- Mammoth: Silverhair
- Mammoth: Longtusk
- Mammoth: Icebones
- The Light Of Other Days (with ArthurCClarke) [3 -- NH]
- Deep Future (non-fiction)
- Omegatropic (non-fiction) [5 -- NH]
- Time: Manifold I [5 -- NH]
- Space: Manifold II [5 -- NH]
- Origin: Manifold III [3 -- NH]
- Phase Space (short stories) [5 -- NH]
- Evolution (November 2002)
- Coalescent (2003, projected)
- Exultant (2004, projected)
- Transcendent (2005, projected)
- The Thid Expansion (short stories? 2006, projected)
Source for future works: a recent interview in SFX.
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/StraightFiction.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001403 07571660711 021406 0 ustar apache twic Not ScienceFiction, SpeculativeFiction, Horror, Slipstream or any variety of Fantasy. See also MimeticFiction.
Descended from nineteenth and twentieth-century realist fictional tropes. Also, generally less subversive than what is referred to as science fiction (though there are some exceptions: these I personally refer to as AltFic, defined as modern fiction that mucks about with reality and doesn't give a monkey's about the literary establishment --TL)
_Would you (although they're nominally children's fiction) classify things like Joan Aiken's "Black Hearts in Battersea" and the like in that category?_ -- WJR
Quite possibly: sometimes children's fiction, freed largely from the constraints of the literary establishment, is the only decent AltFic around. --TL
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/StructuredText.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002050 07625040303 021302 0 ustar apache twic StructuredText is a standard wiki page language; on wikis which use it, pages are edited in this language. It looks natural in its raw form and can easily be rendered into HTML.
- http://www.zope.org/Members/jim/StructuredTextWiki/StructuredTextRules
There's a variant of StructuredText called ReStructuredText:
- http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html
TwicI doesn't use StructuredText; it has its own format, WikiText (well, TwicIText).
At one point, it was thought that TwicI might move to StructuredText (or a close relative) in the future; it is now all but certain that it will not. StructuredText has too many features which suck badly, many of them stemming from its Pythonesque enthusiasm for significant leading whitespace (just have a look at the mess they're in over lists, for example).
Spookily, StructuredText and TwicIText have a number constructs in common, despite there being no obvious common precedent and no interchange of ideas. In particular, the use of colons for tagged WikiLists is almost identical.
CategoryWiki
CategoryGeekery
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SubGenius.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000022 07617777767 020232 0 ustar apache twic scias
_eh? --TL_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SunkenCathedral.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001266 07570365317 021372 0 ustar apache twic Oxford's famous SunkenCathedral is located in the middle of Magdalen St, between the east and west halves.
The cathedral dates from the antiquity of the city, but in the late 16th century, when the accumulated weight of ornaments, treasures and various architectural follies finally became too much for the soft, waterlogged soil of Oxford, and it began to sink. Christ Church was quickly designated as temporary cathedral, but since all efforts to prevent or reverse the sinking have so far failed, this has become essentially permanent.
The spire is still visible, sitting at the bottom end of St Giles, and steps descend to parts of the building from either side.
CategoryOxfordGeography
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SuperPowerWishList.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003560 07611626226 022113 0 ustar apache twic Everyone wants super powers of some description. Maybe in our more rational moments we realise that they might well not be a terribly _good idea..._ I mean, let's face it, if people could shoot heat rays out of the their eyes when then the January Sales would become a bloodbath, but I suspect we've all now and then had a yearning to rip up the laws of physics and do our own thing. So,
discounting omnipotence, omniscience, and omnieverything else before we start as cheating to get several powers in one, what abilities would Wikizens yearn for, and why?
I'll start the ball rolling myself:
- Teleportation. Both of self and objects in contact. Imagine never having to worry about luggage again. _-- WJR_
- Improved memory skills. See HumanMemory --TL
- I'd like to be able to stop or slow down time in some not-very-HardSF way, ie so that i can get to work at my usual time, spend my usual amount of time mucking about, programming, surfing the web, drinking coffee and reading strange and irrelevant research papers, and then be able to do an honest day's work and still leave more or less on time. An extra 8 hours per day should do it. This would also come in very handy when the boss/postdoc/collaborator says "are you ready to show me that result?", so i'd have time to remember what they were talking about, curse loudly for having forgotten it a week ago and then do the experiment in time for the meeting we'd agreed on. The problem with this power is that what would really happen is i'd get to work, pause time, start surfing the web _and then never stop_ ... -- TA
- WilliamGibson's NeuroMancer-style jacking into the net. It'd save time checking emails :) --TL _But then what would students everywhere do to avoid getting on with their essays?_ -- WJR
- Shape-changing. Bit of a cheat, since adopting any sort of bird shape implicitly implies flight, but fun, none the less. -- WJR
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SusanCooper.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001402 07571772625 020555 0 ustar apache twic A British writer of fantasy and other things.
- isfdb:author/Susan_Cooper
- dmoz:Arts/Literature/Authors/C/Cooper,_Susan
- http://www.thelostland.com/
- http://usitweb.shef.ac.uk/~emp94ms/welcome.html (biography)
- http://www.greenmanreview.com/dark_is_rising.html
- http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/intrvws/cooper.htm (interview)
- http://hosted.ukoln.ac.uk/stories/stories/cooper/interview.htm (tiny interview)
- http://www.kidsreads.com/authors/au-cooper-susan.asp (tiny autobiography)
She went to Oxford (english at Somerville), and was the first female editor of the CherwellNewspaper.
Most noted for The DarkIsRisingSequence.
_One can see how a train of thought could run from the Cherwell (in the river sense) to the Dark Rising. -- WJR_
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SwordAndSorcery.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000004211 07554203235 021370 0 ustar apache twic Fantasy genre generally involving a more or less generic and/or ill-thought-through pseudo-medievalist society and world, with the presence of paranormal magical phenomena and/or gods.
Frequently used as a term of abuse towards fantasy by HardSF fans, SwordAndSorcery does suffer from a tendency towards generic plots, perhaps simply because the genre is so rigidly defined by overuse.
Notable examples of SwordAndSorcery are:
- JRRTolkien
- DavidEddings
- DragonLance
- MikeJeffries
Notable cliches of SwordAndSorcery are:
- Apparent peasant-stock adolescent males who are revealed to be the long-lost heir to the throne of Such and Such.
- Initially stuck-up high-born heroines who suddenly become inexplicably attached to the peasant teenager en route. They usually require rescuing at some point, but are normally better fed to the dragon, despite occasionally having a good line in insults.
- Magic swords, shields, arrows, bows, maces, cocktail sticks, books, car alarms, cloaks, hamsters, and keys.
- Smart-alec talking animals _(Or wizards disguised as animals)._
- Bad-tempered and armageddon-crazed gods, traditionally to be slaughtered by the hero shortly before or after his surprising rise to power.
_I think Tolkien's only on the edge of 'sword and sorcery', in that he does have some out of left field ideas by comparison with the average species, tho' he probably gets more and more S&Sish as time goes on... --TL_
Tolkien is surely the _definitive_ sword and sorcery author, in that if there were no Tolkien, there would be far less S&S. -- NH
_Well, shall we say that Tolkien is the antecedent of sword and sorcery then-
he wrote a book/three books/an oeuvre which features and introduces to modern
writing quite a lot of sword and sorcery, but having recreated said genre for the modern world, he can't really have been said to have been writing *in* it, since it didn't exist in the modern sense at the time...?_ (Expecting correction by Tanaqui) _So, he's Sword and Sorcery in the sense that that's what he's writing, but he's not in the 'Just copying Tolkien with the names changed' sense of S&S beloved by certain writers (See TerryBrooks). --WJR_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SylvesterMcCoy.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000745 07627465522 021255 0 ustar apache twic Actor. Entertainer. Insane lunatic with a penchant for hammering ferrets up his nose and putting nails inside his trousers... or something like that. Managed to get into a bit of hot water whilst jobbing for the deaf kids' programme 'Vision On' (better known as the programme that brought Tony Hart - and Morph - to prominence) because he could be lip-read swearing in a pre-filmed sequence halfway up a mountain! Has a BaconNumber of 2.
- imdb:name/McCoy,+Sylvester
CategoryActor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/SysAdmin.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000515 07613011772 020031 0 ustar apache twic The Gods of the computer world. These people translate vague instructions from management into the language of the beasts of technology.
Like a goal-keeper, the work of a sysadmin is only noticed when it is bad. 89 minutes with no goals let in, and people remember the 20 minutes last week when their email was "going a bit slow".
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TA.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000021 07540465153 016603 0 ustar apache twic See TomAnderson.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TARDIS.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001062 07553030404 017262 0 ustar apache twic Short for Time and Relative Dimension(s) in Space. An ingenious cross between a time machine and a spaceship, whose chief characteristics apart from their travelling abilities aforementioned are that they (usually) have the ability to change form to blend in with their surroundings (the Doctor's doesn't, but that's another story), and that their interiors are perceptually usually bigger than their exteriors, because the interiors are on a subtly different dimensional plane to the 'real' world around them.
At least, I think that's the case. TL
DoctorWho
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TCP.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000641 07577651722 016746 0 ustar apache twic TCP is the Transmission Control Protocol, one of the fundamental transport protcols underlying the internet. Practically all the application protocols - HTTP, FTP, and the mail protocols (SMTP, POP and IMAP) are built on top of TCP. The DNS protocol is the only commonly-used application protocol that is not; instead, it uses UDP.
TCP (and UDP) is itself built on top of IP, the Internet Protocol.
CategoryGeekery
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TCW.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000022 07631756064 016742 0 ustar apache twic See TanaquiWeaver
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TEA.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001513 07631515342 016714 0 ustar apache twic = Tea Is The Salt Of Library Meetings
Soothing infusion of the dried shredded leaves of _Camellia sinensis_, resulting in a dark brown liquid. Orgin: Asia. Repeatedly requested by certain OUSFGi during Library meetings, sometimes with sugar, though not as popular in meetings as it once was (mostly put down to the fact that meetings don't extend into the late hours any more).
The secret of the OUSFGLibrarian's success: NB This is a very image-heavy site. Download times may be slow. But if you can get past that, they do indeed sell tea over the Net!
Iced, a marvellous antidote to the excessive heat of a summer in AmericaLand.
Teas that have been popular in OUSFG's past are :
- Earl Grey : the perennial favourite.
- English Breakfast :
- Assam : Ask DM
- Gunpowder : Ask DM
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TL.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000016 07552275734 016631 0 ustar apache twic See TheaLogie
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TLA.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000246 07627407211 016725 0 ustar apache twic Stands for ThreeLetterAcronym. (or, less commonly, TwoLetterAcronym, TenLetterAcronym, and, by extension, about 20% of all possible acronym lengths.)
See also: GNU.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TLsVisitorsBook.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003052 07625453270 021367 0 ustar apache twic _For greater reinforcement of the fact that WikiIsAWebsite, add your comments here unless they're immediately relevant to the homepage. Cheers --TL_
Welcome to the wiki! Oh, and there aren't that many people called AlexCameron, though, are there? -- TomAnderson
No, but you'll agree there are too many Alexes... It makes for more interest. TL
They're all part of one entity! It's a conspiracy! WJR
I prefer to call it a gestalt, myself. TL
Depends... are you planning to conquer the world? Do you willingly continue to associate with any persons[1] you believe are planning to take over the world? If so, then it's probably a conspiracy. -- WJR
Well, I hope not... and I'm not a resident of the USA by my own choice, exactly... had I the power to vote Over There (which I don't at the mo), I would _not_ have voted for GWB --TL
(on Steve Bell's creations) All right, that's frightening... -- WJR
_On cuddly Cthulus: _ Nooooooooooo! -- WJR
http://www.logicalcreativity.com/jon/plush/20.html
_I see the picture's working again now. Hurrah for Wiki__Pictures!_ -- WJR
Miss Logie, for services rendered to the insane ID of the world in your sterling service hunting down the maddest portions of the Internet and stapling them firmly to the InsaneShit page of this Wiki, the Eternals would like to present you with a gold star and nominate you as an apprentice Elder God. :) -- WJR
(1) For the purposes of this enquiry, the OUSFG library is not considered a person.
CategoryWikizen
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TM.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000045 07570407251 016623 0 ustar apache twic Trade Mark.
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TNG.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000247 07554260213 016734 0 ustar apache twic The Next Generation- sequel to Star Trek with a better (if rather bored looking)
actor playing the Captain.
(also a Shakespeare actor punching below his weight --TL)
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TOS.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000020 07554251123 016736 0 ustar apache twic See CaptainKirk
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TSA.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001205 07610533251 016724 0 ustar apache twic Transportation Security Administration.
(I never saw so many syllables used for one three-letter acronym!)
The American airport-bag-searching gestapo, getting particularly jumpy about what you can and can't bring along with you. Their new logo invokes 9/11 (it has 9 stars and 11 stripes), which gives you an idea. But they aren't half paranoid.
Example:
I have, or had, on my keyring an Allen key (the kind of hexagonal screwdriver they give you with all your Ikea flat-pack kits...) for the purpose of adjusting the pedals on my bike.
This bunch took one look at it, said "No tools allowed on the flight," and made off with it. Grr. --TL
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TV.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000444 07553054150 016634 0 ustar apache twic Television. A technical system for viewing broadcast moving images. *Obey* .
Also, favoured method of self-anaesthesia in the USA -- TL
Also, but less commonly, transvestitism, which is usually far more entertaining. On this note, see EddieIzzard. _I was going to write that myself! -- TA_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TVSF.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000101 07613277406 017063 0 ustar apache twic See CategoryTVSF for examples, or SF and SciFi for a discussion.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TVSFSciFiQuestion.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000006144 07560235030 021532 0 ustar apache twic The TVSFSciFiQuestion is whether the shows filed in CategoryTVSF are SF or SciFi.
_This is a transcript of a debate which took place on the CategoryTVSF page. It really needs to be edited into a more documentary form, to reinforce the illusion that WikiIsAWebsite._
Perhaps this category should be called CategoryTVSciFi - most so-called SF on telly is really SciFi.
_I don't think so - Sci-Fi excludes things like _Buffy_ and _Angel_ , which would be covered by Speculative Fiction -- NH_
To me, SF (either meaning), implies something particular. SF is ArthurCClarke, StephenBaxter, PhilipKDick, GregEgan, OlafStapledon, ChinaMieville, BrianStableford, PaulMcAuley, WilliamGibson, VernorVinge, _GATTACA_ , _TheOuterLimits_ , JorgeLuisBorges, RudyRucker, NealStephenson, LarryNiven, KurtVonnegut, BrianAldiss, JohnWyndham and the like. It's not a hard/soft split (KurtVonnegut and PhilipKDick are in no way hard), nor an SF/fantasy split (although my knowledge of GoodFantasyWriters is sorely lacking). I can't put my finger on what the split is. I guess it's that SF really makes you think: 'intellectual content' sounds a bit pretentious, but i think that's what it comes down to. CSLewis said that ScienceFictionIsTheOnlyGenuineConsciousnessExpandingDrug, and that's central to my understanding of it.
Thus, i'd say that _Buffy_ is not SF. _Buffy_ _et al_ use SF tropes to tell human-interest stories; they're a bit like EastEnders (well, HeartbreakHigh) with supernatural monsters, or robots or spaceships.
_Well, no, not really_ . Buffy _and_ Angel _are SF because they use the tropes of the genre to tell stories_ in a way that a mainstream program can't. _To take just the most obvious example: The Buffy/Angel romance. When Buffy and Angel have sex, Angel experiences a moment of 'perfect happiness', loses his soul and goes evil. As a metaphor, this works - and is played - on several levels. It's about how older guys are evil for young girls. It's about being stalked by your ex. It's about alcoholism and addiction_ .
Buffy _and_ Angel _are also sophisticated morality plays. They speak to the nature of good and evil - see 'Lie To Me', or 'Reprise' and 'Epiphany'. They take ethical issues and, again, use the tropes of the genre to make them larger-than-life - in essence, to get away with asking questions they couldn't otherwise get away with. Perhaps, by the standards of written SF, those questions (and the answers given) are neither new nor groundbreaking; but for the medium in which they are presented, they are a definite step forward. And that deserves acknowledgement.
To me, if the tropes of the genre are just_ there, _for colour or effect, then it's sci-fi. That's_ Farscape, _pretty much. If, on the other hand, those tropes are being actively_ used, _then by any reasonable definition I think it's SF. What, after all, is_ The Left Hand Of Darkness? _Or_ The Sparrow? -- NH_
But you're right, SciFi does technically exclude _Buffy_ and _Angel_ , whereas we need a category that includes them. SpecFi is the obvious one, by analogy to the ScienceFiction/SpeculativeFiction relationship. It's a horrible, clumsy term, though.
-- TA
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TalbotHall.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000766 07632161723 020343 0 ustar apache twic TalbotHall _(in LMH)_ was used for the joint OUSFG/RPGSoc ChristmasParty a few times. One year (_which one?_) we were banned (_does this still hold?_) because RPGSoc _utterly_ failed to hold their drink, and redistributed it outside, down the steps of Talbot Hall.
Every year, we try to book it again, but are told that it can't be used for events involving alcohol and/or loud music, and, moreover, that this has always been the case. False memory, past oversight or fraud, or Orwellian doublethink?
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TanaquiWeaver.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000115 07632137660 021060 0 ustar apache twic - google:tanaqui-weaver _*Google knows all, sees all!*_
CategoryOUSFGMember
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TarGz.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001533 07607550302 017332 0 ustar apache twic The standard archive format on unix, equivalent to zip on the PC. TarGz is a composition of two things: tar is a file format which jams multiple files together in one (originally devised for use in making *t*ape *ar*chives) and gzip is a compression system (gzip is short for GNU zip; gzip's compression algorithm is essentially the same as in PC zip). A TarGz is what you get when you tar some files and then gzip the tar.
Most windows-based compression software (such as WinZip) can handle TarGz archives.
TarGz is technically inferior to but more widely comprehensible than the TarBz2 archive format.
_Kind of related is a page about the author of LHA, which is badly translated from Japanese and states among other things that the handling of a soft hat or a document is made easy: _
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/rtimai/lhaworld.htm
CategoryGeekery
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TechAngst.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001021 07611001214 020137 0 ustar apache twic Human condition triggered when a piece of electronic equipment, typically a computer, suddenly decides- or is persuaded to decide by some unwanted outside agency (see BOFH for example)- that it is no longer going to work and will either give no information or hopelessly incomprehensible information as to why not. TechAngst can occasionally, in WJR's case, be alleviated by reading the instructions properly, but none the less, it can't be denied, computers are arrogant little MiserableOFBs. -- WJR
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TechnoBabble.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000015 07554251064 020611 0 ustar apache twic See StarTrek
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TedChiang.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001725 07600053462 020132 0 ustar apache twic TedChiang is one of those authors who doesn't publish much - so far, just a bunch of short stories, recently collected in _Stories of Your Life and Others_ - but what he does write tends to be very good indeed. Pretty much every story he's published has been nominated for some award or other; his first, 'Tower of Babylon', won the Nebula, and his most recent, 'Hell Is The Absence Of God', won a Hugo. His work is an interesting mix of genres; conceptually, several of them are straight-up fantasy, but they are written with a rigorousness or logical progression more reminiscent of HardSF (which is probably where the comparisons with GregEgan come from).
- isfdb:Author/Ted_Chiang
- google:Ted-Chiang _(oh ye of little faith!)_
There's a very rich seam of SF meta-thought to be mined in asking HowHardIsTedChiang? It might even involve coining the term HardF ...
You can read his story 'Understand' online: .
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TenTasksOfOUSFG.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000004155 07631673615 021145 0 ustar apache twic = The TenTasksOfOUSFG !
Submissions accepted; if there are already ten uncompleted tasks of OUSFG, they join the Eleven Or More Tasks Of OUSFG (currently held at the bottom of this page). Nothing weird, ridiculous, disturbing, insane or a waste of spacetime. Distant, yet plausible pipedreams welcomed, as are tasks that can genuinely be achieved within a small time-frame to the benefit of the society (we don't want this page to become _too_ static).
- Acquire LMH members and coerce them into securing Number5OldOldHall in the room ballot, so that it might serve as an OUSFG stronghold. This is a basement room located within a prominent section of LMH. AlexWilliams had this room for two years, and it held the library quite comfortably. The other advantage is that the window is at ground level, so people can get in and out at stupidly early hours of the morning.
- Acquire Number24MarstonStreet as an OUSFG stronghold. This will most likely involve an older member of OUSFG investing in the property and renting it out as an evil property landlord. We need volunteers to check on its availability now and then; we should also boost the group's popularity so there's a greater likelihood of having members who might actually want to live with each other.
Of course the ultimate aim ought to be to own a room there in which to hold the library. Hahahahahaha!
- Pay a visit to the University Proctors to find out the exact registration details of OUSFG (date formed, founding junior and senior members).
- OUSFGTshirtDesign.
- Sell off excess copies of SFINX and preserve the less numerous ones.
- OnlineLibraryProject
- Email inactive OUSFG member MaxMore about the frozen head incident.
- Email inactive and founding member MarcusWigan about meeting up later this month.
- Locate and scan photos of BernardTheCryoBunny
- Remind all first years who signed up at Freshers' Fair that we still exist. Email them and/or pidge-post them a termcard.
-- _We still exist?_
-- Yes. I'll add 'people who weren't paying attention to that.'
= The Eleven Or More Tasks Of OUSFG !
(see above for the first ten)
-Get people to contribute to SFINX?
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TermCardSuggestions.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003101 07600053721 022224 0 ustar apache twic *Discussions*
- Spin-offs as SF literature? --TL _merely a suggestion. I am *not* a good speaker..._
*Authors*
- MMS, ASAP. --TL
*Movies*
- Ring vs The Ring , although this is probably too obsessive for a regular meeting. _Isn't Lord of the Rings part one out on video soon, if not already? That could fit into the theme :) --TL_
- TwentyEightDaysLater vs DeadCreatures . Modern British zombie flicks. The former is by AlexGarland and DannyBoyle, and the latter is by nobody famous but has been described as what a zombie film made by MikeLeigh would look like. _Groovy. --TL_
- Clash of the Titans (stop-motion special effects) V.
ToyStory 2 (all-singing-all-dancing-all-CGI) or alternatively Men In Black 2 just for the fun of it. --TL
How about Titan A__E ? _good idea, perhaps --TL_ _Titan A__E would be an excellent choice... it is quite impressive._ -- WJR
- Dr Strangelove ? -- WJR
- 'Moebius' , , .
Of course, what we _got_ was "CelebritySFDeathmatch". (Comment made for the pure purpose of generating a Wikiname. -- WJR)
Are we at some point going to get round to playing the game of a ThousandBlankWhiteCards again?
Certainly some sort of argument, with or without memes, about what should be the constituent parts of a future OUSFGTShirt, would be worth a go --TL
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TerraForm.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000373 07554027113 020205 0 ustar apache twic Terraform: [vb] (terraform) Literally, to transform the environment and atmosphere of a non-Earth normal planet closer to Earth normal. Can also be used by the non-pedantic to refer to any large-scale planetary alteration.
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TerraForming.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000016 07554026745 020707 0 ustar apache twic See TerraForm
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TerryBrooks.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001020 07557221421 020560 0 ustar apache twic Writer of, amongst other things, the Shannara Series, and the novelisation of
"Star Wars: The Phantom Menace". Despite these efforts, he has not yet been
assassinated. _Only a matter of time... >;-) --TL_
_I'm doing my best! Finding and assassinating SwordAndSorcery authors is getting difficult these days. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible._ --WJR
TerryBrooks' work apparently sells very well in the States, because he writes to a WinningFormula, so he is probably obscenely wealthy.
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TerryNation.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000261 07560507751 020566 0 ustar apache twic Creator of the Daleks, "Blake's 7", "Survivors", and briefly script writer for Tony Hancock, who claimed once that Nation stole the idea of the Daleks from him.
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TestOne.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000001 07533143051 017646 0 ustar apache twic
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TestThree.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000001 07533143036 020177 0 ustar apache twic
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TestTwo.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000001 07533143017 017700 0 ustar apache twic
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheAnsible.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001203 07567424335 020326 0 ustar apache twic _The_ monthly SF newsletter, written by DaveLangford and distributed in print and (for free) by email. It has been running discontinuously since 1979.
- http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/SF-Archives/Ansible/ The archive
- http://www.ansible.co.uk/ Useless page
- http://www.ansible.demon.co.uk/ DaveLangford's home page
I'd highly recommend subscribing: it's an unbeatable source of SF information. -- TA
TheAnsible is named after the device described in UrsulaLeGuin's books (mentioned first in 'Rocannon's World' (1966)), which has subsequently found its way into the SF lexicon, turning up in the EndersGame books by OrsonScottCard, for example.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheBestPageInTheUniverse.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001426 07627724425 023123 0 ustar apache twic Maddox's page. Warning: not to be taken seriously.
_This page is about me and why everything I like is great. If you disagree with anything you find on this page, you are wrong._
- http://maddox.xmission.com/
-- http://maddox.xmission.com/irule.html + http://maddox.xmission.com/irule2.html art criticism
-- http://maddox.xmission.com/david_lynch.html on DavidLynch
-- http://maddox.xmission.com/personality.html personality test (cue excitement amongst LiveJournal__lers)
-- http://maddox.xmission.com/lotr1.html on the TheLordOfTheRings movie
-- http://maddox.xmission.com/dare_devil.html on the DareDevil movie
-- http://maddox.xmission.com/beef.html Beef jerky. Mmmm.
Does this guy have an attitude problem or what? Mind you, so do some of his correspondents. Viva AmericaLand. --TL
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheBlindness.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001632 07612555657 020703 0 ustar apache twic A novel by JoseSaramago.
_Not all these links have been carefully examined; please weed out any you feel are not up to scratch._
- isbn:0-15-136700-9
- http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2001/5/12/15649/2420
- http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/personal/reading/saramago-blindness.html
- http://endeavor.med.nyu.edu/lit-med/lit-med-db/webdocs/webdescrips/saramago1537-des-.html
- http://www.bookloons.com/Database/SF_Review_of_Blindness_by_Saramago.html
- http://archive.salon.com/books/sneaks/1998/10/16sneaks.html
- http://www.glyphs.com/forums/load/paradise/msg091815161904.html
- http://ww2.dixie-net.com/~holleman/blindness.html
The book's English title is actually 'Blindness', which is not a WikiName, so we engage in a little WikiNameWrangling and turn to the book's original Portugese title, 'Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira', which means 'Essay on the Blindness', to supply us with a helpful definite article.
CategoryBook
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheBusiness.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000243 07555464434 020550 0 ustar apache twic A book by IainBanks.
- (USA)
Illuminati-style conspiracy, made me look all over Japan for a Netsuke monkey (didn't get one :-( )
CategoryBook
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheCat.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000266 07572460460 017463 0 ustar apache twic Humanoid (ish) life form evolved from Lister's cat. Arguably intelligent, vain, self-obsessed, snappily-if-ridiculously dressed nitwitted feline gherkin.
Played by DannyJohnJules.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheChroniclesOfNarnia.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000026 07605145022 022444 0 ustar apache twic See NarniaChronicles.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheDarkIsRising.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000102 07621744011 021262 0 ustar apache twic A book by SusanCooper, part of the DarkIsRisingSequence.
_More?_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheEarthseaTrilogy.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003065 07571732437 022067 0 ustar apache twic A trilogy of fantasy books by UrsulaLeGuin set in the fictional world of EarthSea. The books are:
- AWizardOfEarthsea
- TheTombsOfAtuan
- TheFarthestShore
There are two further books of EarthSea, written much later and in a very different style:
- TeHanu
- TheOtherWind
There is also a book of short stories, TalesOfEarthsea, published between the last two.
See:
- http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/spring96/griffin.html
- http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Mahy-Earthsea.html
- http://scv.bu.edu/~aarondf/earthsea/earthsea.html
- http://www.greenmanreview.com/earthsea_trilogy.html
Structurally, AWizardOfEarthsea is a coming-of-age sort of thing, telling the story of Ged aka Sparrowhawk, going from a young boy to a world-weary (but not all that old) wizard. The second, TheTombsOfAtuan, features the same chap, but he spends most of the book wandering about in a subterranean labyrinth. In the third, TheFarthestShore, he's off on his travels again, but this time it's at sea, and turns somewhat loopy and possibly metaphorical at the end.
TeHanu and TheOtherWind are very different in tone to the first three: the first three are fun but beautiful stories of wizardly journeys in space and power; the second two are not.
It is generally agreed that whilst quite young children will enjoy the first three (TheEarthseaTrilogy proper), they will probably have to wait quite a while to appreciate the later ones.
A WizardOfEarthsea is my favourite, for sure; wizardly travelling beats subterranean wandering and metaphorical voyaging any day. -- TomAnderson
CategoryBook(s)
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheEncyclopaediaOfSF.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000234 07553017645 022227 0 ustar apache twic A mighty (and weighty) tome on all things SFnal, edited by JohnClute and JamesNicholls.
_Not to be confused with the masterwork of MHZool , I presume. TL_
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheExcession.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000204 07555470641 020707 0 ustar apache twic A good SpaceOpera (ish) by IainMBanks.
-
- (UK), (USA)
CategoryBook
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheFlyingGoldfishOfDoom.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000216 07631116666 022765 0 ustar apache twic Alias used by WilliamRamsden on the OUSFG newsgroup in the distant past. Why, nobody knows, least of all him.
CategoryConfusingFakeIdentity
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheFutureOfSF.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001510 07612563376 020742 0 ustar apache twic There seems to be a lot of uncertainty about TheFutureOfSF. This is only natural; in the olden days, most SF used to be about the future, but now, in the space-year 2003, we're actually living in the future. What can SF do now?
- KenMacLeod has written about ScienceFictionAfterTheFutureWentAway
- NiallHarrison links to some articles at and . Specifically, NormanSpinrad's hypothesis, described in the October/November AsimovsScienceFiction, is that the future is Fantasy, specifically Fantasy pursued using an SF technique (what we might call HardFantasy). He lists PerdidoStreetStation, TheLastHotTime and AppleSeed as evidence. Niall adds TedChiang, MichaelMarshallSmith, ASH and HisDarkMaterials. However, it is not clear that this is a trend, since this sort of thing has always been around.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheGirlFromTomorrow.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001253 07611625344 022241 0 ustar apache twic An australian KidsTV show about a girl who was from the far future - after the global meltdown, and well into the utopian recovery phase. The first season featured her returned to the present day for reasons I can't remember. The second, superior season saw her stranded a couple of hundred years hence, in the middle of the aforementioned meltdown. The notable piece of tech in the show was the 'transducer'; a band, worn across the forehead, that allowed the wearer to manipulate objects with *the power of their mind*. The baddie was the tyrannical overlord of the melted-down dystopia, the Blackadderish 'Silverthorn', whose Baldrick went by the name of 'Eddie'.
CategoryKidsTV
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheHandmaidsTale.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000004257 07560453344 021456 0 ustar apache twic A novel by MargaretAtwood . The blurb says:
_In the world of the near future, who will control women's bodies?_
_Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are only valued if their ovaries are viable._
_Offred can remember the days before, when she lived and made love with her husband Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now...._
_Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid's Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force._
It is one of the classic examples of SF works which the mainstream likes, but which, along with the author, it denies is SF.
See:
- dmoz:/Arts/Literature/World_Literature/Canadian/Authors/Novelists/Atwood,_Margaret/Works/Handmaid%27s_Tale,_The/
- http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/science_fiction/handmaid.html
- http://endeavor.med.nyu.edu/lit-med/lit-med-db/webdocs/webdescrips/atwood157-des-.html
- http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/handmaid/
- http://www.randomhouse.com/resources/bookgroup/handmaidstale_bgc.html
- http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides/handmaids_tale.asp
- http://www.students.haverford.edu/wmbweb/writings/bchandmaid.html
- http://cityhonors.buffalo.k12.ny.us/city/rsrcs/eng/auth/atwhan.html
- http://www.epinions.com/book_mu-2278756/display_~reviews
_Some of these links may not be as good as the others; please feel free to weed out any which aren't up to scratch._
"It is one of the classic examples of SF works which the mainstream likes, but which, along with the author, it denies is SF." - We need a name for this kind of thing!
_SpeculativeFiction. Pure and simple. --TL_
I was after a name for the phenomenon where the mundanes deny that a work of SF is SF because they like it.
_Genre Denial Syndrome?_ --WJR
CategoryBook
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002600 07621147205 024275 0 ustar apache twic So the planet Earth's just been destroyed by the Vogons, intergalactic tyrants and writers of some of the worst poetry in the Universe, and what's worse, you've just found yourself aboard their ship?
D__O__N__'T PANIC!
The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy always (sometimes) has the answer (all right, usually the wrong one, but who gives a zark?)
If you're lucky, you might even dine in luxury at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, and discover the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything, as long as you remember where your towel is...
but remember, your planet is considered galactically as 'Mostly Harmless'.
_Now where did that movie go? --TL_
_Last I heard, it had been cancelled, but a book of conceptual art 'inspired'
by the idea of the movie had been brought out as a sort of consolation price for DNA. However, that was years ago, so I'm probably thinking about a totally
different movie. --WJR_ Yes, the new one's probably tangled up in wranglings about poor Doug's estate, besides accusations of 'selling out to Hollywood' and so on, so it's probably kiboshed for the foreseeable future. Pity, I was looking forward to a specially effected Jim Carrey as Zaphod Beeblebrox --TL
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-
-
CategoryBook
CategoryTVSF
(and most importantly) CategoryRadioProgramme
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheHobbit.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000005733 07616534647 020177 0 ustar apache twic JRRTolkien's most well-known book after TheLordOfTheRings, which actually came after it.
The epic adventure of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, a dozen dwarves and a wizard called Gandalf.
As a book, The Hobbit is usually frequently underrated. Not in the sense that people consider it a bad book, but simply that usually the first and occasionally only thing anyone can find to say about it is "Prequel to TheLordOfTheRings". Stylistically, they are very different beasts, akin to the differences between Over Sea, Under Stone and the rest of the DarkIsRisingSequence, only about a hundred times more so. The Hobbit is a children's story. It's a fairy tale, with strong moral lessons and a very active narrative voice (which, incidentally, manages to break two of the 'rules' of narration, by using the first and second person pronouns in a third person narrative, without any real damaging effect.) TheLordOfTheRings is a medievalist legend, TheHobbit is more 'fairies at the bottom of the garden'.
In case any of the above sounds derogatory, let me state here and now that I really do like the book. Not only has it probably done hundreds of children great service in encouraging them into reading- and how many of us have read that massive tome, TheLordOfTheRings, when we were at an age when normally anything even a tenth of its length was enough to put us off, just because it was the sequel to the Hobbit, and we wanted to know what happened next.
The Hobbit is, like its successor, founded on that most archetypal of fantasy plotlines, the Quest- in this case the quest for dragon gold. Not the most original of ideas, even in its day, and actually copied by more fantasy clones than TheLordOfTheRings, but magnificently executed here with a lightness of
touch, and sense of humour which is absent from all but the odd chapter of TheLordOfTheRings.
It is unclear (to me, at least) whether Tolkien had already factored The Hobbit into his _magnum opus_ dream of the Elder Days at time of writing- whilst at times the storyline has to be massaged into the universe of The Silmarillion for TheLordOfTheRings, there is nothing which really jars, beyond, perhaps, the light and gentle tone of the former in the dark and terrible world of the latter, and even this can be quite successfully accounted for in the world-within-a-world that is the Shire.
I have very dear personal memories of The Hobbit- it was read to me as an infant, was probably one of the first 'age-transcendent' books I read as a child, introduced me to non-mimetic fiction, and I can still recall my mother drifting to sleep herself whilst relating it to my infant self as a bedtime story, and consequently furnishing the darkness of Mirkwood with a "Toddler's Shop". No, I don't know either! -- WJR
We were read it at primary school, by the same teacher who later read us TheNeverendingStory and gave me a copy of BrianAldiss' 'Yet More Penguin Science Fiction'. There should be more teachers like that! -- TA
CategoryBook CategoryRadioProgramme
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheInferno.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000021604 07632202333 020341 0 ustar apache twic Hell is not a Wikiname.
Therefore TheInferno is my shiny new room 101 for things one doesn't like- ideally wikirelated. --WJR
(N__E__W!) NewYorkInferno.
Feel free to add your own twopennorth of hatred:
- Sport disrupting TV schedules
- Cruelty to animals _(q.v. '28 Days Later'. Vivisection turns people into zombie psychopaths --TL)_ This story made my blood boil: -- WJR
- Neutron Stars
- Idiot machines/politicians/tabloid fodder (eg Ulrikakakaka etc.)
- Silly discussions about who exactly is the 'greatest' Briton which amount to precisely nothing
- People disrupting your TV watching by wishing to watch sport, or your placid attempts at emailing by playing sport where sport should not be played, eg the JCR...
- Wikizens who rant on about particular issues without revealing their identity: WikiIsOpen, but it sure ain't a chatroom
- LBM and (though he has appeared in another Room 101) Michael bloody Grade --TL
_(Judging by his opinions in latest DWM, Colin Baker could probably be persuaded to appear on Room 101 and deposit Michael Grade therein- Seigneur Grade could then spend the rest of eternity with DoctorWho where he consigned it... heh heh heh)_ --WJR
- NASA and the ESA being too incompetent/underfunded to get us into the future predicted by all the space operas without the rather dubious help of the Russians --TL
- BritishWeather --TL
- MicroSoft(TM) Windows (TM) 95 onwards, or indeed any operating system that looks more smart-alec than it actually ends up being. _That Paperclip_ comes in for particular vilification --TL
- Herald whenever it 'dies', thanks to the incompetence of OUCS or its contractors, or any Web-based mail account, or any website whatsoever, that thrives on those bloody pop-up adverts. Grr. Worse: websites that thrive (e.g C__N__N.com) on pop-_unders_. --TL
- The sheer obstructiveness of the laws of physics. 4 years to even get to Proxima Centauri? Come off it, that's worse than British Rail! --WJR
- Persistent people in the street, by which I mean not just the usual 'change please' but all the market researchers/advertisers etc. --TL
- InadequateInvestment --TL
- Dead links where there should be links to something you're actually quite interested in... --TL
- RumourMills --TL
- Cherwell, the Flooding Thereof -- WJR
- A computer which will apparently boot perfectly well first thing in the morning, but not at any other time of day. I know some people are 'morning people' (and are strange and wrong), but that's just ridiculous! -- WJR
- Fog. "What's fascinating about fog?" -- WJR _It may look eerie by moonlight, but it's flipping cold --TL_
- Drunken Singing. -- WJR _Bad enough when they're singing something you ordinarily like; worse when they're singing the likes of 'He-e-ey Baby' etc. --TL_
- Websites that are designed with *flash*y advanced technology and whose designers omit to provide the slightest link to a simpler HTML version for those of us who are browserally impaired. When this prevents you actually spending money on them, they're the ones losing out. -- WJR _Yes, there are, regrettably, some websites which are the epitome of style over substance. Guardian Unlimited, mercifully, is not one, but too many of the websites upon which people may well depend are just too clever-clever to use... --TL_
-Computer Telephone Services. It's not the 'Press one for life. Press two for a high voltage shock down the 'phone line' aspect I hate so much, as the 'cut'n'paste' spoken word kidnapper's note dialogue. Would it be too much to ask for the same voice to record all the words in a sentence? Or indeed for them to be recorded in a sane, even tone? Oh, and: "Please hold. We are transferring your call. Your call will be answered in approximately six minutes. ...." -- WJR _A weakness of voice synthesisers, I think: probably (possibly) this will improve over time. As for the muzak, thank goodness you've never had to call Northwest Airlines' Customer Service department, where they not only play Muzak but blast you with adverts for loyalty schemes/scams while they do it... --TL_ Well, as far as pre-recorded voices go, you can't get much more disturbing than West Anglia Great Northern Railways, whose on-board announcements appear to be courtesy of _Servalan._ Not to mention the fact that poor tape editing makes her seem to announce imminent arrival in _"Blundon King's Coss"._ -- WJR
-Those occasions when a piece of technology you need is working perfectly reasonably, but a techie feels it could be working more efficiently and, in taking it apart or reprogramming it to 'improve' it, breaks it. -- WJR _Is that by any chance directed at me? I remind you of the BOFH's dictum - 'If it ain't broke, open it up and find out what makes it so bloody special.' -- TA_ Actually was directed at Nick -- WJR _Okay, never mind. I'll get you next time, Ramsden! -- TA_
-Politicians who try to use moral blackmail- e.g. anyone who says "Anyone who disagrees with me on this point is supporting the terrorists!" etc. We're old enough to make up our own minds, and polarising difficult issues helps no one. -- WJR _And, sad to say, it's this sort of attitude which leads to a self-defeating McCarthyism --TL_ Oh, it gets scarier. In the 1960s, at Manchester University (then rather liberal and left-wing) an American politics lecturer justified the Arms Race by, in all seriousness, telling his students "Better Dead than Red." -- WJR
-- _On a related note, policies that are more likely to persecute those who have nothing to hide, and might well lead to serious miscarriages of justice in general: the P__A__T__R__I__O__T 2 Act of the U__S in particular --TL_
-- rather made my blood boil, especially _after_ the whole 'comparing Saddam to Hitler' thing has been so comprehensively debunked. There's no descriptive meaning here, it's all expressive. The full article is here , and makes him sound like a megalomaniac. "History will be My Judge" indeed... that's really the sort of rhetoric we need when we're trying to convince the Arab nations that this isn't an anti-Islamic Crusade, isn't it, Tony? -- WJR
- When Yahoo/Lycos/other quickly and competently loads all its adverts into your browser, and then sits around for upwards of two minutes downloading the bits of the page that you actually _need-_ i.e. the e-mail login. -- WJR _Yes, the world is being needlessly deluged in advertising. The only good thing that can be said about those bloody pop-ups is that they save on the trees shredded to make the paper that would be required to make more of those fall-outs you find in anything from the Times to the Radio Times... --TL_
- The TSA. Fear ye, fear ye. --TL
- TechAngst. -- WJR
- Lost Property -- WJR
- CheapPoliticalJibes --TL
- DisturbingDreams -- WJR
- Inconsiderate parkers of bicycles, who artistically arrange their resting iron steeds so that their handlebars catch the stomachs, coats, sleeves, or scarves of passing pedestrians. -- WJR _What is it about cyclists that seems to make them most a menace to non-cyclists? Broad St has become more of a gauntlet to run than ever --TL_
- Queues of unnecessary length: I can just about bear them with philosophy, but a student of queues has found that most Britons do not. Adieu, the 'orderly queue of one'... --TL
- Inexplicable stupidity on the part of those in power. For example, the government's flailing about in pursuit of its 50% higher education target, in the context of the fact that 25% of secondary school students leave without five good GCSEs
(). _Is this another example of GovernmentByPanic? -- WJR_
- GovernmentByPanic in general. -- WJR
- ExcessiveSabbatarianism. Why is it that you can get a copy of the Sunday Sport or whatever on a Sunday, but you can't send something by post which might be quite important, or so much as buy a Bible? I mean, they're not so solicitous about respecting the Jewish or Muslim holy days, are they?--TL
- Paranoid Smoke Alarms. -- WJR
- The Nokia Ring Tone Of Evil -- WJR _Also known (to Nokia users) as 'Grande Valse'. Immediately recognisable as the stereotypical mobile phone ringtone, sadly still used by some unenlightened philistines --TL_
- Extreme religious fundamentalism into which even well-meaning evangelism can subside: is the best I've seen on the subject --TL
- If the speculation here is true, then it rather makes Tony Blair's promises of 'plenty of opportunities for debate' on the Iraq issue a little empty. Mind you, it's not yet clear how much this 'War by the Back Door' may be the Rumsfeld__Bush__Device pushing things on at their own pace. -- WJR
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheInternet.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001702 07627642053 020541 0 ustar apache twic A couple of really big computers connected to yours. And a million other peoples'. Actually, there are more than a couple of the big computers. However, all the cables run through a small room in San Francisco called M__A__E W__E__S__T ().
- http://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/
Something the British Government seems to be having inordinate difficulties with:
_H__A! What with this and the anti-obscenity firewall, they're really doing well lately, aren't they? -- WJR_
Get this: --TL
_Gloat, gloat. As many a wise man has said, "All you need for television is an original idea- it doesn't necessarily have to be *your* original idea." Nice to see the government embracing these ideals... I've often suspected GWB of copying StarWars films in his speeches, now we know he's not alone. -- WJR_
See WorldWideWeb.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheLastHotTime.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000116 07606343563 021145 0 ustar apache twic A novel by JohnMFord.
- isfdb:work/5ccd21
- isbn:0-312-85545-1
CategoryBook
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheLastTrain.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000360 07613535331 020644 0 ustar apache twic = Bleugh!
What is more, post-apocalyptic bleugh. That's about all you need to know or care about it. Oh, and it was one of the BBC's fine messes. _ITV, according to the Internet... but I remembered BBC._
CategoryTVSF
CategoryBritishTVSF
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheLordOfTheRings.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000400 07616534151 021571 0 ustar apache twic Sequel to TheHobbit, and featuring no less than four of the hairy-footed beings in leading roles.
Book sequence, and now Hollywood films, times three.
CategoryBook
CategorySFMovie
CategoryRadioProgramme (and a very good radio dramatisation it was, too)
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheMachineryOfLife.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002124 07622673740 021756 0 ustar apache twic A bok by David Goodsell, consisting of pictures of parts of cells doing stuff. What sets it apart from the illustrations in most textbooks and pop-science books is that they are accurate: the drawings are based on our current understanding of the nature of the cellular inner space, revealing not the minute ocean populated by floating proteins that most scientists and illustators imagine, but a jam-packed crowd of proteins and DNA. It's a real eye-opener, especially if you've had a conventional education in cell biology or biochemistry, where this is not yet generally understood.
[img
http://www.scripps.edu/pub/goodsell/books/figure4.4.gif
A cross-section through a bacterial cell wall, showing a flagellum (a kind of cross between a propeller and a whip which bacteria use to swim)
]
- http://www.scripps.edu/pub/goodsell/books/
- isbn:3-540-97846-1
- isbn:0-387-97846-1
_Indicidentally, this is in TomAndersonsLibrary._
The author has also written 'Bionanotechnology: Lessons from Nature', which is to be published, er, soonish (maybe). Presumably, it concerns BioNanoTechnology.
CategoryBook
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheMatrix.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003161 07631114631 020205 0 ustar apache twic A blockbuster SF movie. Quite popular with ScienceFiction people, despite being decidedly lacking in any genuine ScienceFiction; probably because it is well-made and stylish. -I disagree entirely. Living in the future in a world created by robots is not SF???? -- DM
- imdb:title/0133093
- Sequels: imdb:title/0234215 (TheMatrixReloaded), imdb:title/0242653 (TheMatrixRevolutions)
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Trinity is the One/
It's the power of luuurrrve, can't you guys see that?
I mean, it's not as if dodging bullets is all it's cracked up to be.
Neo *died*
Unless you're Keanu Reeves, in which case you're an actor and using
wire-fu in an evil media plot to encapsulate us all in some sort of
revenue-generating cycle to give him ultimate power.
Er. Is this where I came in? All my male friends keep playing the
bits where guns and esoteric arts of War are "cool" so I may have
missed the bit where TomAnderson is revealed as the Saviour because
he's got resurrection down pat. And does that happen as he's removed
from the evil AI net or when he needs a bit of female intervention.
No, This is the bit where I take the red pill. Oh, yes.
--Tanaqui
_but hadn't you noticed that 'Neo' is an anagram of 'One'? --TL_
It's also an anagram of 'noe'. _um? --TL_
"To paint TheMatrix as some kind of solitary, unaided fundamental of modern SciFi action without recognizing the liberal plunder of WilliamGibson, NealStephenson, and JohnWoo is laughable." -- Tycho, writing on PennyArcade
But it's a lot like real life, according to one reviewer, too:
http://www.observer.co.uk/screen/story/0,6903,905475,00.html
CategorySFMovie
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheMekon.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000142 07555460033 020013 0 ustar apache twic Arch enemy of Dan Dare. Also alleged leader of the Conservative Party from 1997 to 2001 AD.
WJR
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheMysteriousCitiesOfGold.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001671 07625237132 023371 0 ustar apache twic _It is the XVIth century...
From all over Europe,
great ships sail West to conquer the New World - the Americas.
The men eager to seek their fortune,
to find new adventures in new lands.
They long to cross uncharted seas
and discover unknown countries,
to find secret Gold on a mountain trail high in the Andes.
They dream of following the path of the setting Sun,
that leads to Eldorado, and TheMysteriousCitiesOfGold ..._
The classic cult genius epic kids cartoon series about three children searching for TheMysteriousCitiesOfGold and, along the way, their past/future/etc. Man, if you haven't seen it, you damn well shouldn't be sitting there staring at a computer screen - go watch!
I'm going to attempt to show some episodes in St Hugh's JCR on Thursdays at 8pm, starting on February 20th. Provided the DVD player can play VCD. Feel free to come along. -- ARC Update: Cheap DVD player. Damn.
CategoryTVSF(ish)
CategoryAnime(ish)
CategoryKidsTV
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheNeverendingStory.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000202 07572110551 022240 0 ustar apache twic It ends. The publishers have not yet been sued.
CategoryBook
CategorySFMovie (more interminable, including several sequels...)
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheOnlyGenuineConsciousnessExpandingDrug.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000105 07616735776 026455 0 ustar apache twic ScienceFictionIsTheOnlyGenuineConsciousnessExpandingDrug -- CSLewis.
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheOtherKitten.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000241 07631116756 021207 0 ustar apache twic Alias used by WilliamRamsden on the SluggyFreelance message board... mainly because there was one outstanding Kitten at the time.
CategoryConfusingFakeIdentity
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ThePlayerOfGames.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000247 07561040266 021445 0 ustar apache twic A book by IainMBanks. _Probably the best Culture book for beginners --TL_
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- (UK), (USA)
CategoryBook
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ThePullmeister.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000045 07612026426 021247 0 ustar apache twic See PhilipPullman.
CategoryNickname
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheSecondComing.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000005137 07622215622 021320 0 ustar apache twic A forthcoming drama from RussellTDavies.
'"Steve Baxter _is_ the son of God," says Davies. "The important thing isn't, 'is he or isn't he?', he really is."
"One night Steve realises who he is. He has sort of a revelation. He disappears for 40 days and 40 nights on Saddleworth Moor, comes back and everybody thinks he's mad. No-one believes him, except for one priest who's tracked him down who foresaw the prophecy, you know, all that _Omen_-type nonsense. So he thinks he's got to prove himself to the world and so goes on the internet, gets together about 100 nutters and gets them to go to Maine Road in Manchester at night and he turns it into day and the whole place goes beserk. There's this big column of daylight in the middle of Manchester _all night!_ Manchester then becomes a Mecca with all these television cameras and live coverage on television. He then makes this big speech to the world which is that there was a First Testament, that wasn't much good, there was a Second Testament, you ignored that, so now there's a Third Testament and you've got to write it and you've got five days because then it's Judgement Day! It's so exciting!"'
Sounds ace, if you ask me. _Particularly as the 'Messiah' is apparently heard to complain of the rather nerdy individual whose body he occupies as being rather like 50 megabits downloaded into a pocket-calculator... although the reviewers have been positive, on the whole, about the programme --TL_
Also a famous poem by WBYeats:
| Turning and turning in the widening gyre
| The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
| Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
| Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
| The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
| The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
| The best lack all conviction, while the worst
| Are full of passionate intensity.
| Surely some revelation is at hand;
| Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
| The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
| When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
| Troubles my sight; somewhere in the sands of desert
| A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
| A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
| In moving its slow thighs, while all about it
| Reel shadows of the indigent desert birds.
| The darkness drops again; but now I know
| That twenty centuries of stony sleep
| Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
| And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
| Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
Many, many lines of this poem have been quoted many, many times.
_Steve Baxter? Do I sense a really appalling bit of author-community in-jokery here? -- WJR_
CategoryTVSF CategoryBritishTVSF
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheSmurfs.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000345 07616447106 020232 0 ustar apache twic TheSmurfs were great.
If you can't quite remember all of them, gives a useful potted biog.
But PapaSmurfIsACommunist. Or so some people would have you believe.
CategoryKidsTV
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheStateOfTheArt.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000145 07555462734 021434 0 ustar apache twic A book of ShortStories by By IainMBanks.
-
-
CategoryBook
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheTimeMachine.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001772 07567735124 021150 0 ustar apache twic A classic book by HGWells. Man invents machine, travels to 802,701 AD, falls in love (sort of), bashes up a few monsters and then travels even further into the future.
- isfdb:work/9ab3ac
- imdb:title/0054387 (1960 version)
- imdb:title/0268695 (2002 version)
- imdb:title/0114675 (Indian version?)
Well, that's the very loose synopsis of the plot (leaving out a few spoilers, :)), but considering that this was one of the first of the species, and that there's a rather good subtextual social commentary going on, it still deserves a re-read or two.
Ironically, according to the rubrics for a 'time travel' story laid down, not without some controversy, by TimAdye, it is not a story about time travel. Either there is something wrong with reality or there is something wrong with Herr Tim's rubrics.
The modern film with Samantha Mumba in it (and if you don't know who the heck she is by the time you come to read this posting, you probably haven't missed much) is veritably awful.
CategoryBook CategorySFMovie
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheTransformers.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000006475 07625024664 021452 0 ustar apache twic - Transformers: Robots in Disguise
-- and not 'Transformers: Robots in The Skies', by the way
*Four million years ago* _(give or take a few days, presumably)_ on the planet Cybertron _(in the Alpha Centauri system, according to the [much better written] comic books)_ life existed, but not life as we know it today. Intelligent robots that could think and feel inhabited the cities. They were called Autobots... and Decepticons. But the brutal Decepticons were driven by a single goal... total domination of the peace loving Autobots, and a war between the forces of good and evil raged across Cybertron, devastating all in its path, destroying the planet's once rich sources of energy. On the edge of extinction, the Autobots battled valiantly to survive...
The cartoon series *coincidentally* featured the 'characters' from a popular toy-line of the eighties. *Coincidentally* characters disappeared - or tragically died - when their corresponding toy ceased to be on sale in the shops, and other characters stepped up to replace them as their toys appeared. This was apparently legal.
_This series is, as I have remarked to TL, *far* too deeply burnt into my poor little brain. The fact that I am _reasonably_ sure that the above paragraph is a more or less accurate rendition of the series' opening narration after all these years is enough to make me curse and bewail HumanMemory. [-- WJR]_
Anyway, with their planet running out of power _(just what are the natural resources of a giant lump of steel, anyway?)_ the Commander-in-Chief of the Autobot army, one Optimus Prime _(how is it that, as a peace-faring race of reluctant warriors, the Autobots' entire civilisation seems to be based around a military command structure? For the Decepticons I can understand it, but for the Autobots it just seems... wrong.)_ decides that the only hope of solving their energy crisis lies in mounting a search mission into space.
The Leader of the Decepticons, Megatron _(voiced by Frank "I'll get you next time, Gadget" Welker)_ learns of this scheme, and takes a group of his warriors on a space mission of their own- to attack and destroy the Autobot mission. Since energy-weapon battles on the command decks of interstellar spacecraft are generally a bad idea, it's none too surprising that the Autobot ship (with both crews aboard) plummets into the gravity well of a planet and fly straight into a volcano.
Four million years later, the volcano in question erupts, and the resultant energy surge activates the Autobot ship (The Ark), which dispatches a small satellite to survey the planet. Unsurprisingly enough, the planet turns out to be Earth- now in the twentieth century. The Ark revives its crew, for the sake of disguise adapting them to be able to transform into the likenesses of vehicles and machines of this world. Conveniently, it gives car modes to those Autobots who had car wheels and doors and things inexplicably attached to their robotic bodies, and those Decepticons who have wings turn into jet aircraft. The Autobots and Decepticons resume their war on Earth.
The Transformers is rather fun, I'll admit that, with its sing-along theme music, extremely variable animation, and utterly incompetent villains:
"I am Starscream the Mighty!"
TheTransformersTheMovie is also in existence.
== *"O__U__S__F__Gi, TransformAndRollOut!"*
CategoryKidsTV
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheTransformersTheMovie.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001716 07573256623 023110 0 ustar apache twic Cheap, badly animated cartoon film of the 1980s occasionally referenced by WJR out of a sense of nostalgia, although he rather fails to understand why GenerationX now seem to regard it as a cult classic. A film in which the best (or least worst) line is:
"I've got better things to do tonight than die!" *really* should be left to languish in the vaults of HumanMemory. WJR would like to point out that he did not adjust the OrsonWelles page to foreground this movie, he just turned it into a WikiName to add this comment.
Still, it must surely be the only film in which one can hear EricIdle, LeonardNimoy _and_ OrsonWelles perform, all at once... --TL
- imdb:title/0092106
_Perhaps this page should be called TheTransformersMovie or TransformersTheMovie? As it is, it's really a bit nonsensical._
It is, however, the actual title of the film. -- WJR
- http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/1778/tfcomedy.html
This is a trifle frightening. -- WJR
CategorySFMovie
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheWaspFactory.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000313 07555470764 021220 0 ustar apache twic A book by IainBanks.
-
- (UK), (USA)
_Very good postmodern AltFic - and has a particularly disturbing twist at the end --TL_
CategoryBook
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheaLogie.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000011644 07631712627 020157 0 ustar apache twic [img http://users.ox.ac.uk/~whosoc/thea.jpg Me (thanx WJR)]
_Excerpt from an original by WJR at http://www.geocities.com/wjramsden/punt/notevilalex.html _
Newish wikizen, fan of DoctorWho (it's the best thing in the universe, and don't let AlxWilliams tell you any different _(If you need to be told, I doubt I'd bother telling you -- AW)_). Friend of WJR. Have been told/accused that I look like HarryPotter - I couldn't possibly comment. At least Harry didn't go to Balliol, as far as I know... _Currently he's too young..._
As of Sunday 13th October 02, OUSFGLibrarian. As of Trinity 02, President of DocSoc. Agree with BrianAldiss that ScienceFiction needs to be reclaimed from the realms of literary taboo/balderdash...
*Why the name?*
- I rather like TheaVonHarbou 's _Metropolis_, both the film and the book .
- *thealogy*: n. feminist theology, from the Greek word for 'goddess', _thea._ (recently overheard at Union Theological Seminary, New York) See if you don't believe me!
- There are too many people with the same name as me...
- it's a kind of liberation: see and you'll sort of see what I mean.
- It's got a sort of a cosmic connection: turns out Theia is the name paleoastronomers have given to an ancient twin planet of Earth whose remains became the Moon:
Be seeing you, TL
Oh, and while you're here, how about adding to TLsVisitorsBook?
===RecentViews - just in case it's useful...
Attended on 6/11/2002 a question-and-answer session given by PhilipPullman himself. And even got his autograph! PullmeisterRAQ (a transcript of that session) is now completed. (A slightly variant version of it has now appeared in the CherwellNewspaper, but since Cherwell Online hasn't been updated in ages, I can't give you wikizens a link. Shame)
=== Scrapbook
Quality news sources/campaign sites:
- http://www.cdt.org/ (These people seem to have their heads screwed on straight. Slash__Dot agrees.)
- http://www.stand.org.uk
- http://slashdot.org
- http://www.theregister.co.uk
- http://www.alternet.org (Insane at times, but good. First _good_ anti-war article I've seen is on here - 'Chess Anyone?')
- http://www.disinfo.com/ (just about equivalent to Alternet, above...)
- http://www.barbelith.com (Mildly insane and deeply philosophical... worth a dip)
- http://www.ntk.net (Insane, good meme source, updated Fridays)
http://www.nlg.org/resources/kyr/kyr_english.htm (quality info for life in AmericaLand...)
http://research.yale.edu/lawmeme/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=938 Absolutely fascinating discussion on what happens when email memes are set loose into the wide blue yonder. Worth a read.
More memetics. Yippee.
BaconNumber__Generator! This is *good*. There are even Arnie and Elvis versions.
http://www.greatdreams.com/three/three.htm (the best things come in threes... 03/03/03!)
(slashdotted 21/2/03. Looks like a kindred spirit to Zool... :))
** (What do people think?)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2723851.stm (you _couldn't_ make this up...)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1-575483,00.html (sick, but useful: hm, if someone finds out the format, scares could become too frequent.)
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/ioc/comment/0,12826,883544,00.html (evil character, pertinent comment)
(WebLog__s and other animals.)
(beware obsolescence!)
(good site spoiled by too much Flash. Please note)
(funny caption; interesting article...)
(Can't get enough of good old Steve Bell...)
PlushCthulhu!
(more beginning-of-the-year prognostication...groan.)
(I don't like to spoil this wiki with politics, but...) (and what does the British government know that its _subjects_ don't?) (and surely, putting this about on the Internet _isn't_ a good idea...) Science fiction finally weighs in (in the shape of Vonnegut)! Bad historical comparisons are refuted here, and thank goodness: Wicked! Wiki'd!
http://www.heromachine.com (No idea...)
CategoryWikizen |
CategoryOUSFGMember |
CategoryGerbilsoc (only over the phone, but the damage has been done...)
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheaLogiesLibrary.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003622 07631451567 021667 0 ustar apache twic Some of the volumes collected by TheaLogie:
*DouglasAdams*
- The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
- Life, the Universe and Everything
- So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
- The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
*IsaacAsimov*
- The Robots of Dawn
*JGBallard*
- Crash
- Super-Cannes
- The Best Short Stories Of...
*IainBanks*
- TheBridge
*GregBear*
- Blood Music
*GeneBrewer*
- K-Pax
- K-Pax 2
- K-Pax 3
*Anthony Burgess*
- A Clockwork Orange (also at )
*ArthurCClarke*
- Rendezvous with Rama
- Rama 2
*MichaelCrichton*
- JurassicPark
*Paul Davies*
- How To Build a Time Machine
*NeilGaiman*
- NeverWhere
- Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett)
*Alan Garner*
- The Weirdstone of Brisingamen
*Robert Harris*
- Enigma
- Fatherland
*AldousHuxley*
- Brave New World
*CSLewis*
- Complete 'Narnia' heptalogy
*JKRowling*
- HarryPotter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001 imprint)
- HarryPotter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
*JoannaRuss*
- The Female Man
*GeoffRyman*
- 253
*TheaVonHarbou*
- Metropolis (also have the DVD)
*HGWells*
- The Invisible Man
- War of the Worlds (French)
- TheTimeMachine/WarOfTheWorlds
*ConnieWillis*
- Bellwether
- Fire Watch
- The Book of Impossible Things
*JohnWyndham*
- Chocky
- The Midwich Cuckoos
- The Chrysalids
Various compendia of short stories, various authors
*Non-fiction*
- The Art of Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones (crap film, good art)
- The Invasion: Earth Companion
- The Prisoner Companion
- The Ultimate Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction
- one of the (many) unauthorised guides to the first few series of 'The X Files'
*Novelisations*
The Uninvited (remember that?), Tron, Terminator 2, StarTrek: Generations, The Prisoner, Men In Black, Blake's Seven, Bugs, Close Encounters of the Third Kind
*DoctorWho*
Tally currently stands at 75 items, mostly BBC novellas. Enquire with owner.
back to the MetaLibrary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/TheaVonHarbou.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000375 07631366550 021022 0 ustar apache twic Writer of _Metropolis_ and _The Woman In The Moon_ . Probably one of the best female SF or SciFi writers (whichever opinion one has of her) of her time.
Read 'Metropolis' online at .
CategoryAuthor
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ThisIsYourLife.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001077 07573676502 021205 0 ustar apache twic A track by the DustBrothers based on samples from the film FightClub.
- google:this-is-your-life+you-have-to-give-up
Since the lyrics are samples of TylerDurden talking, they include many of the great FightClubQuotes.
Excellent material for the long-theorised PANIC dance set. -- TA
Also, in the mundane universe, A TV programme celebrating the lives of celebrities. Rather like an obituary without the person having died. Except so many of them seem to die before they get on this thing. So the subjects of this horrific and gratuitous treatment are getting younger...
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ThisIslandEarth.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001527 07557011404 021333 0 ustar apache twic One of the undisputed classics amongst 1950s SF movies. A human physicist is sent instructions and parts to build an incredibly advanced communications device (foreshadowing 'Contact'), which, when activated, puts him in touch with some aliens who need his help to save their dying planet. The aliens have enormous (like, really actually gigantic) foreheads, but nobody seems to notice. Anyway, after hanging about on Earth for a bit, they jaunt off in a flying saucer and have a crack at saving the aliens. I can't remember if they succeed or not.
The film features a terrifying, crab-clawed, cabbage-headed alien mutant, who turns out to be a good guy. There's a moral in that, kids!
_You will never convince me that_ *OUSFGPunch* _is good._ --WJR
See:
- imdb:title/0047577
- http://www.roogulator.esmartweb.com/sf/thisislearth.htm
CategorySFMovie
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ThousandBlankWhiteCards.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000003646 07566157437 023045 0 ustar apache twic The cards are blank. The game lasts until it ends. Those are facts. Everything else is pure theory.
Standard abbreviation: kBWC .... oh, that's not a Wikiname. Pity. Is KBWC? _Yes, and like World Wrestling Entertainment a good way of concealing the evil behind an acronym... --TL_
See:
- http://www.trouserarousal.nu/cards/
Some of TomAnderson's personal favourite cards (by one particular author):
- http://www.virelai.net/cards/md/mk_0054.jpg Today you wake up with *anime hair*!
- http://www.virelai.net/cards/md/mk_0052.jpg Tales of Bizarro World #236
- http://www.virelai.net/cards/md/mk_0050.jpg David Lynch's 'A Bug's Life'
- http://www.virelai.net/cards/md/mk_0036.jpg When sysadmins fight
- http://www.virelai.net/cards/md/mk_0096.jpg Sodom vs Gamera!
- http://www.virelai.net/cards/md/mk_0070.jpg The building you work in is actually a giant transforming battle robot
Where is the OUSFG deck now?
_I've got it. I'll try to remember to bring it next time I come up. -- NH_
We really should scan it. I've got a scanner at work. No free time, but a scanner. -- TA
I have free time, but no scanner. The logical way to proceed is for you to steal your place of work's scanner and give it to me. -- WJR
_Utter, utter madness, but it sounds like a very good Silly Game to play... --TL_
_Which, giving William pieces of electronic equipment? Oh, I entirely agree._ :~) _Sorry, I know what you meant. Still, we'd presumably have to add you to the list of Zac and Doug (Canadian member, now apparently vanished into the ether) for the *"American Continent sinks into the sea. Zac and Doug miss a turn."* card. There was also a card for (something like) "Tom unleashes biogenetic plague", not to mention the strange building of cybernetic babies or something... we should definitely bring it back to life.
== *BlankWhiteCardSuggestions*
*I play '5:30 am'- anyone awake misses a turn.* _-- WJR_ ;~\
CategoryOUSFGDictionary
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ThreeSF.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000000461 07553610553 017607 0 ustar apache twic 3SF (ThreeSF as a WikiName) is a new 'zine from BigEngine.
"There are readers who know that short stories are the ideas powerhouse of science fiction, and there are those that think the genre stops and starts at the tv or cinema screen. 3SF closes the gap."
See:
-
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ThunderBirds.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000002742 07625024254 020705 0 ustar apache twic _"Five...four...three...two...one..."_ _"Thunderbirds Are Go!"_
Everyone must remember the reruns, if not the originals, of this supermarionated technicolored classic, for the dum-deedle-D__U__M__M theme tune if nothing else.
The premise: five brothers, Scott, John, Virgil, Gordon and Alan Tracy (originally named after the first five Americans in space, allegedly) and their father Jeff set up a mysterious organisation known only as 'International Rescue', along with stuttering boffin Brains, Asiatic beauty Tin Tin (no relation of Belgium's famous boy reporter) and their undercover agents in Britain, Lady Penelope and her butler "yus, m'lady" Parker. Whatever the crises (frequently engineered by supervillain The Hood), International Rescue could be relied upon to rocket in with their high-tech vehicles to sort things out.
Brought to the attention of a generation by BluePeter's Anthea Turner when she taught a nation how to make a scale model of Tracy Island (the Thunderbird hideout) from margarine tubs, glue... and sticky-backed plastic.
Now rumours have just started up that a live-action movie is on the way, with Ben Kingsley as The Hood and Bill Paxton (of 'Apollo 13' fame) as Mr Tracy senior. It won't be a patch on Gerry Anderson's superlative puppetry ('SuperMarionation'), that's for sure...
http://www.thunderbirdsonline.com/site/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/anderson/thunderbirds/index.shtml
_"F__A__B..."_
CategoryKidsTV
CategorySFMovie (allegedly)
/home/twic/public_html/wiki/ThunderCats.twici 0100644 0000060 0002013 00000001256 07616317656 020546 0 ustar apache twic Cartoon series, Marvel Comic, and Action Figure line in the mid-eighties.
http://www.80schildren.com/television/thundercats.htm is a very good site.
Everybody of a certain age remembers the music. Everybody of that age remembers wanting Wilykit and Wilykat to die horribly. Other than that the villain was an Egyptian Mummy on prehistoric Earth- was this ever explained?-
I can't recall very much about it.
_I remember really hankering after those plastic replicas of Lion-O's sword, don't you?