Here’s some footage from the recent Just Cause 2 multiplayer beta via Gamestunts. The original game is single player only but there’s a multiplayer mod in development. Their last beta managed 400 players on one server. Looked like a lot of fun!
I have to ask unfortunately, where are the zombies?
My understanding is that the higgs field is like a net, the “heavier” something is the more it interacts with the net. And the higgs boson is an excitation of this net, like if someone flapped the net and caused one of the knots to jerk arround. Physicists have equations and they have predictions to what the propertires of this excitiation, or of this “knot” (higgs boson) should be, and the properties of this new particle are very similair to the predicted properties of the higgs boson. So the net itself has no weight but when it’s excited it does, the rest of the net pulls on it. (reddit comment)
So, CERN announced that they found evidence of the Higgs Boson yesterday. I imagine the theory of this particle and the Higgs Field will be taught in schools in years to come and it’ll be just-another-thing-to-learn for hard pressed students preparing for exams. Today, it’s exciting in that “Oh, this is great news! The LHC found something! I wish I understood what!” sort of way. It’s not going to mean much to most people but it’s still a remarkable discovery.
The technology that detected the short lived Higgs Boson is amazing too. We’ve all seen photos the LHC, the long tunnels and gigantic machinery but the BBC Discovery Podcast interviewed Tejinder Virdee a few weeks ago about the project. He’s responsible for the CMS detector in the LHC, and likens it to a 100MP 3D digital camera that can take 40 million photos a second. Well worth a listen.
In other news, Steven Hawking is out of pocket today after the discovery!
One of the missions in SSOC leads you into the X18 Lab where you have to contend with all manner of nasties including poltergeists that love nothing better than to fling barrels and other heavy goods at you. So when I managed to find the location where the second entry code was supposed to be I was quite relieved! With growing frustration I searched fruitlessly for several minutes. I knew it had to be on the body of a scientist. I even watched through a walkthrough and noticed that body suddenly appeared on the ground which gave me an idea.
Yes, even though the body is missing, it’s still there. Argh! The rest of the level was great. I loved sneaking past the guards outside. Very creepy, very tense.
Now, does anyone know who this group portrait is of? I found it close by in a small side room. This was using the Complete 2009 mod of the game btw.
An old Apres Match sketch but I never watch these things so I missed it. I should subscribe..
(via and Ger Gilroy)
I watched some of the Google I/O presentation yesterday. I love the look of the Nexus 7 and if the Nexus Q was cheaper I’d love to buy that too. Unfortunately I switched off just before the most impressive part. The skydive in a Google Plus Hangout. Well, here it is, and in the second video, they do it again but this time Sergey Brin explains how it was done.
It’s hard to take in the extent of the damage done by the flooding in Cork last night. Clonakilty, Douglas, Blackpool, Meadowbrook in Glanmire, Ballyvolane and elsewhere flooded. We were woken around 1am last night by the loudest thunder I ever remember hearing. The storm passed right over Blarney but I think the town escaped the worst of it.
Check #corkfloods on Twitter for further updates.
Shedding light on the pay of charity chiefs
Thanks to Damien Mulley and The Hot Gulp.
YOLO, an acronym that I’ve only ever heard on Reddit, stands for “You Only Live Once”. Does anyone actually use it in real life?
If you’re talking to some young hip Irish person try saying NASA to them. That’s YOLO in Irish!
Nil Ach Saol Amhain!
They’ll really know what you’re talking about. Honest. Everyone’s saying it over here.*
* No not really. Thanks BreakfastNT for the translation!
I’m really liking Flipboard on my Samsung galaxy s 2. I think it may become the way I digest Facebook content, and to a lesser extent Twitter too.
Accounts and adding feeds was confusing until I figured out the UI. Importing my Google account was fairly tricky because I have 2 step auth enabled. I try logging in, see the request for the auth code, switch quickly to the authenticator app, get the code and hope I can switch back in time! I always did, but it was a race! The ICS task switcher makes it easier!
I also have way too many feeds in google reader and the anxiety of missing a good post while I skim through them makes me slow to browse this way. So my unread count remains on the thousands…
Loving the flipboard app. How’s it working for you? Better or the same as the ios version?
A very impressive Minecraft video, but not like any you’ve seen before! (via)