Messages

Happy Birthday Babar!

If it's not too late to join, I'd love to test this one out for you as well.

Hey guys. Just letting you know that the card has been finished and it went down a treat. (I wish I had thought to get a photo.)

I'd like to thank you all for helping me out with this, it was a lot of fun and I couldn't have done it alone.

Regards, Scarab.

[i'm catching frogs (animals) and so i'm the frog catcher]

Hey guys. Thanks for all of your responses!

I didn't realise I'd be finding it so fascinating seeing, like Cat pointed out, how two very similar phrases can differ from each other in really neat and interesting ways.

as a non-native english speaker i have to ask if this phrase is somehow a well-known phrase in english and if so, what does it mean?
Or does it just mean what i read, that i'm catching frogs (animals) and so i'm the frog catcher?

You're interpreting it correctly, it has no significant meaning in English. My friend and I used to say it all the time though.

I think it was part of a comedian's act a few years ago, where he went to a foreign country and this was the only phrase he knew, and would answer all questions he didn't understand with it, just to enjoy the puzzled looks on peoples' faces.

["I am the frog catcher. I catch the frogs."]

Hey there.

I was hoping that any multi-lingual AGSers could give me a hand with an inscription for a greeting card.

I am looking to have the phrase "I am the frog catcher. I catch the frogs." repeated in as many languages as possible down the card, the joke being that this is the most impractical travel guide ever.
Sadly, my knowledge of languages other than English is severely lacking.

If you are able to show me how to write the above phrase in your native language (or any other), I would be very appreciative of your help.

Regards, Scarab.

Whoops, forgot to change CJ's email address to mine when he gave me the domain login.  Not really worth the fuss and cost involved in getting bbc.com back though.  Plus, the whole point of having a permanent redirect to ags.co.uk was that people (and search engines) should update their bookmarks...

One of the benefits of the redirect was that all the links on the forum (particularly old posts) still went to the right place. Is it possible to run a script across the entire forum which replaces all BigBlueCup links with their respective AdventureGameStudio urls?

Interesting read. When drawing the three pixel grid, does it have to be perfectly aligned with the room edges?


That is to say, if the image on the right were offset by one pixel in the x or y direction, how would that affect the algorithm?

I often check the forums on my phone, especially if there's a particular thread I'm following.

Like others have said though, I will rarely (if ever) post from a phone. I never feel like I'm in a rush to post, so I wait until I have access to a computer.

3. Like dogs shouting at the moon,
Or armor worn by trees,
Like a sharply spoken command,
Or a tiny vessel upon the seas.

Spoiler

Bark

[close]

Happy birthday, Cat!

Next: "Why would you do that with a lampshade?"

[It's never, under any circumstances, the victim's fault]

But shouldn't we be targeting our rape prevention efforts on the perpetrators as well?

Yeah, I should have been clearer. What I had in mind when I said "you actually hear very little about rape prevention" was more about trying to prevent potential rapists from striking rather than telling potential victims to try and prevent themselves from being stricken upon.

I think that a campaign aimed at 'preventing potential rapists from striking' by talking directly to the rapist can be misguided. For instance:

[Click for full size.]

This is implying that rapists genuinely don't know what they're doing is wrong. Which I find very hard to believe, particularly for repeat offenders, who, from what I've read, make up 2/3 of rapists and commit 90% of rapes (Source: 2002 study).

I get that the whole point of this poster is to flip the arguments of preventative measures on their heads, but is this framing going to help prevent rapes? Anyone who would heed this advice already is, and rapists know it's wrong but don't care.
Preventative measures, on the other hand, the ones this poster is lampooning, will prevent rapes. Even though we all wish they weren't necessary.

If you're going to target an ad towards men, it should be focusing on sobriety's effect on consent, or not being a bystander.
Take these ads, for instance: 


These promote productive behaviour for the 94% of males who aren't rapists, rather than stating patronisingly obvious claims like "rape is wrong, don't do it."

I hear "teach men not to rape" a lot, but that's exactly what happens, at least where I'm from.
No one I've ever met thinks rape is not wrong; you learn that as a child and it's constantly reinforced. When I was about to graduate school (all boys), the police came to my school and held an anti-rape seminar before Leavers' week, which aimed to teach the legal ramifications, dispel the social pressure to 'get laid' and discuss precisely what constitutes consent, particularly in the context of drugs and alcohol.

Despite this, rape still happens, and we don't know who the rapists are until they attempt to rape someone. It's never, under any circumstances, the victim's fault, and I can't stress that enough. However, without a way to get through to the perpetrators, giving people advice on how to lower the risk of becoming a victim remains the best preventative tool we have.

Ah, awesome! Thanks for the speedy reply!

That problem had been bugging me batty.

[Maths Question: Pipes stacked in trucks.]

Maths Question: Pipes stacked in trucks.

I was thinking recently about the way truck deliver large pipes.

You can see in this image that the pipes are packed like this:

Per unit volume, however, this packing is more efficient: (and sometimes trucks do use this packing)

If you were to bind the second 'hexagonal packed' cylinders in a square container, there would be wasted space in every second row, meaning that for small numbers of pipes, the 'square packed' method can pack tighter. (Assuming the container has sides of a whole number multiple of diameter 2r.)

What I'm wondering, is at what length n will the hexagonal packed method break even and become the optimum stacking method? Where n is the whole number length of sides of the bounding square, in diameters.

I recognise that this is a surface area vs perimeter problem, but I can't work out the equation.



All the results I found googling this seemed to have the problem in reverse, i.e. for given number of circles, what is the arrangement which can be bound in the smallest square of arbitrary size, or talk about how close spheres can pack, without talking about the break even volume, so I can't extrapolate from there.

This has baffled me, so I'd very much appreciate a hand in working this out.

Regards, Scarab.

Happy Birthday Bulbapuck! Or is it Ivypuck? What level do you evolve?

We're back!

Sweet!

Can't wait to give it a listen during tomorrow's commute

Edit after listening: Another great installment, keep 'em coming
P.S. No complaints here with regards to podcasts with no specific theme.

3.

Spoiler

Rope

[close]

@mkennedy: Pirates over 65 be joining the AARP. Or perhaps the AARRRRRRP

@Renodox: 2.

Spoiler

Death

[close]

What be the name of the group for pirates over 65 who's seafaring days are behind them?

I think I know what you're getting at, but I have no idea how the answer would be phrased.

Spoiler

Are you just looking for the acronym?

[close]

[bull]

3

Spoiler

#3 Makes me think bull

[close]