The Hobbit - 1 year to go

They're filming The Hobbit on location in New Zealand at the moment.  I'm very excited and can't wait for the December 2012 release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first of the two parts of The Hobbit film.

Echidna

This is a short-beaked echidna, also known as a spiny anteater because of its diet of ants and termites.  I spotted this echidna on the side of the road while holidaying in northern New South Wales back on 24 August 2011.  I just had to stop to take some photos.

They roll into a defensive ball when they feel threatened

The echidna is a monotreme, a mammal that lays eggs as opposed to giving birth to live young.  Among living mammals only the platypus and the echidna are monotremes and both are indigenous to Australia and New Guinea.

 You can see the face in this photo

Did you know that male echidnas have a four-headed penis?  During mating, the heads on one side "shut down" and do not grow in size; the other two are used to release semen into the female's two-branched reproductive tract. The heads used are swapped each time the mammal copulates.  Fascinating.

It's not often one gets the chance to get this close to an echidna in the wild so I felt quite privileged.  

Oh, and before you ask, I didn't roll him over to check out his four-headed penis.

Minecraft

Today the full version of Minecraft was released.  It was originally released as an alpha on 17 May 2009, then with a beta version on 20 December 2011, and we first downloaded it on 21 March 2011.  We (Maddie and I) have had many enjoyable hours playing this game.

Maddie spent most of the day playing on our online server with her friends.

Gaming with Grandma - 126

Another Saturday morning gaming session with my mother (AKA Grandma) and my two daughters, 10 year old Maddie and 5 year old Georgia.

Our starting positions, me green, Georgia red, Grandma yellow and Maddie blue.

The one and only game we played this morning was a present for my recent birthday, Fantasy Flight's edition of Hey, That's My Fish!.  This is a fun abstract game in which players' penguins try to grab the most fish from quickly thawing ice floes.  Each turn, a player moves one penguin in a straight line over hex-shaped ice tiles with 1, 2 or 3 fish on them. The player then collects the hex from where the penguin started its movement from the table, thereby creating a gap which penguins can't cross on future turns. When a penguin can't move, it's removed from play with its owner claiming the tile on which it stands. The player who collects the most fish wins.

The final scores were me 29, Georgia 24, Grandma 21 and Maddie 17.

Call of Duty - Modern Warfare 3

I picked up my pre-ordered Call of Duty: Modern Wafare 3 Hardened Edition this morning.  I've been a fan of the Call of Duty series for several years now, having played Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: World at War, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Traditionally these games are released the week of my birthday so as special present to myself I took the week off work and treated myself to the next installment in the Call of Duty series.

RIP Mollie

Maddie found one of her pet rats, Mollie, dead in the cage this evening.  Mollie was Maddie's first pet and about 18 months old.  Understandbly, Maddie was a bit upset this evening.

Dragon Pass

My wife surprised me this afternoon with a present - an old board game she had picked up at an op shop for $2.  It was Dragon Pass, a fantasy wargame produced by Avalon Hill in 1984.  For a 27 year old board game the box was in reasonable condition.

I carefully removed the sticky tape from the lid and opened the box.  The two counter sheets were partly punched and there were loose counters at the bottom of the box (not a good sign).  However, the board and rule book were in great condition.  I sat down and replaced the counters into the counter sheets and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was 100% complete.  Sweet. 

A nice little find. I'll likely list this on eBay to fund future game purchases. 

The Queen visits Brisbane

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visited my hometown of Brisbane, Australia today.  After arriving at the airport they took a cruise on the luxury motor yacht Pure Adrenalin along the Brisbane River to South Bank.  It was here that Her Majesty officially opened Rain Bank, an initiative to improve water efficiency throughout the Parklands at Rainforest Green.

From my vantage point in my office I was able to view the yacht as it motored up the river and docked at South Bank. The Queen was just a tiny speck but I could just make her out...barely.

You can see the white yacht docked at South Bank in front of the Brisbane Wheel.  Thousands of people can be seen on Victoria Bridge and in the Parklands waiting to view the Queen. 

I took these pictures with my iPhone 4.

Gaming with Grandma - 125

Another Sunday morning gaming session with my mother (AKA Grandma) and my two daughters Maddie (10) & Georgia (5).

Last weekend we introduced Maddie to Monopoly in a game with my wife, father-in-law and me.  Maddie loved it.  I guess when I was a kid I also enjoyed the play money, the randomness of movement and cards and people paying me rent.  Maddie also ended up winning her first game of Monopoly.  She has been bugging us to play it again all week.

So this morning Grandma, Maddie, Georgia and I sat down for a three player game of Monopoly (Georgia was my dice roller).  After several turns we all had a good portfolio of properties but no one had a monopoly of any one colour.  Then Maddie offered me Vine Street (for an exorbitant price) and I was able to compete the set of brown properties.  After that I quickly put a hotel on each and sat back and waited.  It wasn't long before these properties started raking in the cash.

I then bought out another property from Maddie when she offered it to obtain more cash.  I then had another monopoly on a colour range and was able to build more hotels.  It wasn't long before it was game over with Maddie going out.

Let's just say Maddie didn't enjoy this game as much as her first.  Learning to enjoy playing games even when you don't win is a sign of maturity.  Maddie is only 10 after all.  That said, I didn't really enjoy this game either and I won, but then I'm not a fan of Monopoly.

F/A-18F Super Hornet Formation Flyover

I took an early lunch break to see an historic flyover of 20 of the new RAAF F/A-18F Super Hornets.  I decided to view the flyover with hundreds of other office workers from the centre of Victoria Bridge in Brisbane.  The Department of Defence said the flyover was part of a welcoming ceremony for four new Super Hornets and may never be repeated.  Here's the video I filmed with my iPhone 4.



The one-off performance was arranged to welcome four new Super Hornet jets.  A fleet of 16 jets left Amberley after 10am (AEST) for a point off North Stradbroke Island, before speeding south to cross the coast at Southport and continuing south to Tweed Heads.  They then turned and headed north to a point off the Sunshine Coast where they were joined by the four new Super Hornets.  The formation flew over Noosa Heads and headed south, passing over Brisbane's CBD en route to Ipswich and the RAAF base at Amberley.

Gaming with Grandma - 124

Another Sunday morning gaming session with my mother (AKA Grandma) and my two daughters Maddie (10) & Georgia (5).

Our first game of the morning was Haunted Castle.  This is a fast-paced card game where each round a card showing seven characters is flipped.  There are a possible eight characters so the object is to be the first to identify the missing characters on each card.  If you are correct you keep the card as a point.  We played two games.  Scores from Game 1 were me 16, Grandma 8, Maddie 5 and Georgia 4.  Scores from Game 2 were me 17, Maddie 8, Grandma 7 and Georgia 1.

 

Our second game was The Simpsons Slam Dunk Card Game (AKA It's Mine).  This is always a fast, tense game and being able to slam your hand on the table and yell out "Slam dunk!" is cool.  Understanding the scoring system and knowing when to claim a row of cards is the key to this game and therefore Georgia sat this one out.  I cleaned up in this game with the final score being me 58, Grandma 21 and Maddie 7.

Our final game of the morning was For Sale.   This is one of Maddie's favourite games and we've played it many times before.  It's been a while since we last played it though.  At the end I felt sure I was going to win. However, after we added up the scores Grandma took the win with $82K, me $79K and Maddie $52K.

Hot Slug Sex

Here's some gastropod porn for you. I noticed these two Red Triangle Slugs getting it on at the rear of my house this morning. We've had a couple of storms over the last few days and these slugs tend to come out after rain.


Slugs are hermaphrodites, having both male and female genitalia. These two have followed the normal Red Triangle Slug sex position (they only have one) by encircling each other and exchanging sperm through their protruded genitalia. In a few days they will lay around 30 eggs in a hole in the ground, or beneath the cover of an object such as a fallen log.

The hole you can see in the distinctive red triangle marking is a breathing pore.

These slugs feed only on algae so you don't have to worry about them eating your plants. I find them not only beautiful to look at, but also helpful to have in my yard.

I've blogged about Red Triangle Slugs in a previous post.

Gaming with Grandma - 123

Another Sunday morning gaming session with my 10 year old daughter Maddie, 5 year old daughter Georgia and my mother (AKA Grandma).

Our game today was HeroQuest. This is a game I've owned for quite some time but have been waiting for the 'right time' to play with Grandma and the girls. HeroQuest states on the box it is for ages 10 and up so my only concern was with Georgia being half that age. I wasn't worried she would be able to understand the game it was more keeping her interested throughout the entire playing time. Maddie volunteered to update Georgia's character sheet for her during the game.

Oddly enough I've never played HeroQuest before. I've read the rules a number of times and so for our first game I took on the role of the Game Master. Maddie chose the Elf, naming her Elirrian (and choosing one of my 25mm pewter miniatures to represent her), Georgia was the Barbarian, naming her Lora, and Grandma was the Wizard, naming her character Zelda.

I chose to run the adventurers through the first quest which was called The Trial. The party was tasked with journying to the east and entering the catacombs which contain Fellmarg's Tomb. The had to seek out and destroy Verag, a foul Gargoyle who hides in the catacombs.


Georgia, playing the Barbarian, was the main slayer of the monsters and this kept her involved for the majority of the game. Grandma and Maddie used their spells to good effect at crucial times and also waded into battle when they could. They had fun exploring the catacombs and defeating the foul guardians of the tomb. However, they were battered and bruised when they faced Verag the Gargoyle and his minions in the climactic battle. After a hard fought combat there were cheers all round when they prevailed.

They all enjoyed the game although it took about 90 minutes and Georgia's attention began to wander towards the end. We'll definitely be playing HeroQuest again though.

Steve Jobs

I haven't really been an Apple fan until the last couple of years, although the first computer I bought was an Apple IIe back in 1986. I love and use my Apple iPhone every day and it was via that Apple product that I found out about his death today. Sad news.

Gaming with Grandma - 122

It's been a good half year or so since we've sat down to play a board game. I guess in part it's due to me exploring other gaming interests and giving board games a break, but it's also been a busy time over the last six months with my wife now working from home and the addition of a new puppy to the household. However, today the board game itch was back and as it was a nice spring morning we decided to play at the table on our back deck.

Maddie (10) and Georgia (5.5) chose Der Schwarze Pirat, a dexterity game we'd played several times before. In this game players use a rubber bellows to blow their little wooden ships around the board in search of treasure. This is always a fun game and Grandma ended up ruling the waves and coming first with a score of 20, Georgia was 2nd on 9, Maddie 3rd on 4 with me coming last on 3.

Der Schwarze Pirat

Our next game was PitchCar Mini. Maddie chose to sit this one out. In this racing game players flick little wooden discs representing their cars around a modular race track. Competition is always fierce in our house but we do allow a house rule that gives the player in last place two flicks. This tends to keep the race fairly tight and allows for lots of opportunities for overtaking from behind. It this game Georgia pulled off an incredible win, with me in 2nd place and Grandma in 3rd.

Pitchcar

Adventures on our Minecraft server

A little while back I created a Minecraft server on my home computer. This allows my daughter Maddie and I to play Minecraft together. Since I've started hosting this server Maddie's friends have joined and together they've created some amazing constructions on their world.

This morning I played with Maddie and her friend Jackson on a new world we created. We adventured in survival mode, using just the resources we gathered by our own exertion. It was fun.

Here they are posing for a screenshot.

Maddie & Jackson

Some book bargains

I'm recording this more for my own information.

I had a successful visit to a local op shop the other day and scored the following bargains.

Six Osprey books from the Combat Aircraft Series all in near-new condition -

F-15 Eagle - $0.95
F-14 Tomcat - $0.95
F/A-18 Hornet - $0.95
A-4 Skyhawk - $0.95
AH-1 Huey Cobra - $0.95
AH-64 Apache - $0.95



I also found Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, an historical novel of the American Civil War recounting the battle of Gettysburg from the viewpoint of Lee, Longstreet and some of the other men who fought there. I first read this novel when a work colleauge lent it to me about 10 years ago. I've been searching for it on an off in 2nd hand stores ever since and it's become a bit of a personal grail for me. When I saw it on the shelf my face lit up in a big grin and I let out a laugh. Yes, finally!

Killer Angels by Michael Shaara - $1.95

Let's escape...Tonight

I recently came across this original song by Allie Goertz. It's about joining friends and escaping the everyday worries and humdrum of your life through playing Dungeons & Dragons (D&D).





I played a lot of roleplaying games (including D&D) with friends in my teens and early twenties. It was a great time and I, too, looked forward to those evenings when we adventured together battling hideous monsters, performing heroic deeds and finding hoards of treasure.

I miss that time.

Common Brushtail Possum

This is a Common Brushtail Possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) in one of the palm trees in our front yard. I took this photo on the evening of 26 March 2011.


The Common Brushtail is a nocturnal marsupial native to Australia and the largest of all possums. These possums thrive in cities and have a love of fruit trees and vegetable gardens.

During the daytime, brushtail possums take shelter in dens which may be located in tree hollows, logs, dense undergrowth and even roof spaces of houses.

Imperial Rome

Milsims had a online discounted sale last month and I had ordered two expansions for one of my favourite war games of all time - Commands & Colors: Ancients by Richard Borg.

They didn't have Expansion #4: Imperial Rome available at that time so it was put on back order for me.


I arrived home today to find it waiting for me. Now, to affix the 586 sticky unit labels to the front and back of the 293 wooden blocks.

Oh joy ;)

Meet Charlie

Meet Charlie, the new addition to our family. Charlie is an 8 week old apricot miniature poodle. He arrived yesterday and has already made himself at home. He has a lovely temperament and enjoys cuddles and the attention of the girls.

Charlie

Official dwarves group photo

The official composite of Thorin and all the dwarves has been released over at the theonering.net site. Click on picture below for a larger image.


(Left to right) Jed Brophy as Nori, Dean O'Gorman as Fili, Mark Hadlow as Dori, James Nesbitt as Bofur, Peter Hambleton as Gloin, Graham McTavish as Dwalin, Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield (center), Ken Stott as Balin, John Callen as Oin, Stephen Hunter as Bombur, William Kircher as Bifur, Adam Brown as Ori and Aiden Turner as Kili in New Line Cinema’s and MGM’s fantasy adventure THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. (Photo by James Fisher)

End of an era

I just watched the last landing of the Space Shuttle Program with the safe touchdown of the Space Shuttle Atlantis. I saw this happen live via NASA TV on Ustream. It was a moment of historical significance.


I remember watching the very first launch of the Space Shuttle Program with Space Shuttle Columbia back in 1981. Now, 30 years later, with the landing of Atlantis, it's the end of an era in space flight that I feel privileged to have lived through. Congratulations to NASA and the United States of America on the achievements of the Space Shuttle Program.

I look forward to seeing mankind's next stage in the continuing quest to explore and understand space.

Pacific Black Duck

Here is a pair of Pacific Black Ducks I recently spotted at Marchant Park at Chermside.


The Pacific Black Duck (Anas superciliosa) is a dabbling duck found in much of Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, Indonesia and many islands in the southwestern Pacific area. The Pacific Black Duck is one of the most versatile of the Australian ducks. It frequents all types of water, from isolated forest pools to tidal mudflats, and is found in all but the most arid regions of Australia.

The Australian Museum fact sheet for this bird says that this duck is mainly vegetarian, feeding on seeds of aquatic plants. This diet is supplemented with small crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic insects. Food is obtained by 'dabbling', where the bird plunges its head and neck underwater and upends, raising its rear end vertically out of the water. Occasionally, food is sought on land in damp grassy areas.

Thorin and Company

Wow! Check out this Photoshop compilation of all the dwarves in Peter Jackson's upcoming movie, The Hobbit. It was created by user Lotroel over at theonering.net. Click on the image below for a larger picture.

Thorin & Company

Awesome stuff.

Patting a kookaburra

It's not every day that a kookaburra lands on our back deck. This one in particular seemed relatively unafraid of humans and even consented to me giving his head a little scratch.

Check out the video I took below.



I'm not sure if this is the same kookaburra that sheltered here for a while during a rainstorm back in January.

Thorin Oakenshield

They've released the final image of the dwarves from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. This picture is from theonering.net and what a picture it is! This is the leader of the dwarven company, Thorin Oakenshield.

Thorin Oakenshield

Thorin is played by Richard Armitage.

As a young Dwarf prince, Thorin witnessed the destruction and terror wrought when a great fire-breathing Dragon attacked the Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor. After slaughtering many of Thorin’s kin, the great serpent, Smaug, entered The Lonely Mountain and took possession of its vast store of gold and jewels. No-one came to the aid of the surviving Dwarves, and thus, a once proud and noble race was forced into exile. Through long years of hardship, Thorin grew to be a strong and fearless fighter and revered leader. In his heart a fierce desire grew; a desire to reclaim his homeland and destroy the beast that had brought such misery upon his people. So when fate offers him an unusual ally, he seizes the chance for revenge.

Minecraft solo adventures

I've been playing Minecraft regularly since I first downloaded it back in March. I find Minecraft to be a very addictive game and love the creative aspect in which you can build virtually anything you want within the limit of the available world resources.

I also love the survival aspect and the natural (virtual) beauty of the randomly generated terrain. I enjoy just wandering about looking for interesting features. I might stumble across a secluded pond in the middle of a deep forest, find a waterfall in a hidden valley, see towering snow-capped mountains in the distance, or sight a pool of lava bubbling away in the middle of a desert.

In one of my first worlds I found a nice area and decided to build a castle. It started from a humble cobblestone house on top of a hill to protect myself from the monsters that come out at night. I built a mine and during the days delved deep for the ores that would aid me in developing my little piece of the world. Over time I gathered my resources and expanded and modified my domain.

Here's an in-game screenshot of my castle taken back in May. I did not use any mods or editing to gather my resources. It was all built with my own virtual elbow-grease.


I flattened the land opposite my castle for the purpose of building a massive pyramid. On top of my pyramid I constructed a magical portal through which I can travel to the Nether. The screenshot below is taken from the top of my castle and without the in-game inventory being displayed.


My 10 year old daughter Maddie is also a fan of Minecraft. In fact she plays it more often than me! She has constructed some amazing buildings and has even shown me a trick or two.

For a tutorial on how to survive your first night in Minecraft view this YouTube video by Paul Soares Jr.

Balin & Dwalin

Another image of dwarves from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has been released. This latest picture is from Time.

Balin & Dwalin

On the left is Ken Stott as Balin and on the right is Graham McTavish as Dwalin.

Dwarf Lords in their own right, Balin and Dwalin are close relatives of Thorin. Beyond this, these brothers are two of his most loyal and trusted friends. An old warrior, Balin has lived through hard times and fought many battles, yet he harbors doubts about the wisdom of the Quest to retake the Lonely Mountain. Dwalin has no such forebodings - his belief in Thorin's leadership is unshakeable. A powerful and bruising fighter, with a natural tendency to distrust anyone who is not a Dwarf, particularly anyone who might be an Elf, Dwalin is not someone to cross lightly.

Bombur, Bofur & Bifur

Another image of dwarves from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has been released. This latest picture is from IGN.

Bombur, Bofur & Bifur

From left to right we have Stephen Hunter as Bombur, James Nesbitt as Bofur and William Kircher as Bifur.

While most of the Company of Thorin Oakensheild is related to the royal and noble line of Durin, Bofur, his brother Bombur and their cousin Bifur most definitely are … not. Born and bred in the West, descendants of coal miners and iron workers, they have joined the Quest for the Lonely Mountain partly to seek their fortune and partly because they were told the beer was free.