Super-Zero

• Nothing like a walk to pad out the work day!! #
• Well o stepped out for lunch ay the wrong time, just started pouring! #
• Scott Pilgrim tonight? OHYESSIRITHINKSO #
• RT @scribb Sometimes I just want to copy someone else's status, word for word, and see if they notice. #
• Hmmm screwed that up… #
• I, Stanley John Jewhurst hereby confess that I miss someone so much it hurts. I'm not ashamed. #
• Playing Scott pilgrim with my two best buds #
• Feel strange, like something bad is awaiting me. Something major. #
• Ah, apparently all the sugar was at the bottom of my coffee. That explains a lot… #
• Hmmm apparently all the sugar sank to the bottom of my coffee. That explains a lot… #
• It's so damn late, but in saying that I now have a 4.7k gearscore. I <3 my Druid. #

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• http://tweetphoto.com/39886995 I got bored and specced a top end Mac pro PC alternative. It's faster (2x 3.33 vs 2×2.93) and £2k cheaper! #
• I want a FFXIV beta key. Come on @Fileplanet, I think its time you started breaking fingers at square enix xD #
• oooooo FFXIV beta keys being released shortly!! Im poised and ready #
• YES I GOOOOT ONE!!! @Fileplanet #
• Downloaded the FFXIV BETA client as I type! So excited!! #
• http://twitpic.com/2glev5 Scott pilgrim vs the world. Such a cool game! #
• Ok, time to see if final fantasy is installed yet. Slowest download ever… #
• And the answer is YES!! Girl or boy?….hmmmm #
• Well I'm a girl apparently because the race I chose only has girls… #
• Hi folks, small favour to ask, can you all visit http://www.super-zero.co.uk for me? trying to get a reading from google analytics! #
• I just Nerdgasm'd all over my iPad. LCARS Reader for iPad. Best 2.99 I've EVER spend. Go. Now – http://bit.ly/c5NXp6 #
• WTF, my iPad has deleted all my contacts… #
• Patrick Stewart is voicing a program on Silverback Gorillas…Awesome!! Is there anything that man won't do?! #
• Watching Anchorman because @walrusmcclure made me #
• http://bit.ly/9YI9R9 this is so so awesome. Best iPad App ever… #

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• Started the day well but some assholes just exist to ruin everyones days. Surprisingly, its not even someone I know. #
• Mmmm jail broken iPad…. #
• I freaking love ssh…I wish they would release a terminal for iPad… #
• My names Harry Potter, I'm the king of the schooool… #
• To the ***** in the audi: this is northern Ireland, we drive on the LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD, not the right. Guess the new tyres were worth £62 #
• http://twitpic.com/2drbl5 ah evenings gathered round the old grammafone… #
• Can't wait for today to be over. Even have to work /after/ work. Can't wait just to play some games all tomorrow.. #
• Beer and Ice Cream Diet –> http://su.pr/2fQjVa #
• I'm doing maths in work. With many inaccurate graphs I should be able to determine an optimal time to leave the house to arrive on time!! #
• Meteor shower tonight was absolutely amazing. Really great show. Thanks Perseis!! #
• http://twitpic.com/2egdlw my chrerios are speaking to me…in Binary!! #

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• Worgen druids look cool! #
• Just finished the worgen starting quests (all that were programmed) and they are excellent. Goblins next (they are more polished I believe) #
• Hometiiiimmmeeeee!! #
• Belfast is busy this morning, not one space on elmwood at 8am! #
• Really want to try out the Horde starting quests…which my work computer had a decent graphics card… #
• It's 1am and me and my sister and I are reorganizing a FREEZER!I'm so tired I just want bed!! #
• http://su.pr/6V8QPQ very cool take on movie posters! #
• So so late for dinner, were gonna be murdered. #
• http://twitpic.com/2cltbu the essence of a good night! #
• On my way to vashj!! #

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I’m not sure how many of you know about Minecraft but for those of you that don’t I thoroughly recommend you check it out. Especially those of you who are into old skool graphics and gameplay.

For those of you who already know about it, did you know it only costs £8 to buy? that’s €9.95 ish! Well worth it seeing that if you wait until the BETA is out, you have to pay £20. So get in while you can. As an incentive to buy, the Minecraft alpha server was released today, so you can get your own servers up and running and help contribute to the community by submitting bug reports and feedback. It’s an alpha, so it is pretty buggy in places but it’s also still a hell of a lot of fun.

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Now that you have gone out and downloaded the server, you will probably be wondering how to run it. For those of you running Windows, you will just want to download the Minecraft Server program from here (must be registered and have purchased Minecraft) and then all you have to do is run it. Easy as…

For those of you on Mac OSX, it should also be pretty easy. Download the Minecraft_Server.jar file again from here, pop open a terminal window (Applications > Utilities > Terminal) and type:

java -Xmx1024M -Xms1024M -jar minecraft_server.jar nogui

Note that the 1024M in the above command is the amount of RAM you want to allocate to the server. The more RAM you have, the bigger the level will be but it will also be more demanding on your server. So you can replace it with 512M, 2048M etc – whatever you think your server can take.

Finally, for those of us that use Linux on our servers we can use the same command as above. However you will want to make sure that Java is available from the command line and that your version is up to date. First of all type:

java -version

It should echo back something along the lines of:

pyro@UB-Serv:~$ java -version
java version “1.6.0_18″
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (IcedTea6 1.8) (6b18-1.8-4ubuntu3)
OpenJDK Client VM (build 16.0-b13, mixed mode, sharing)

What you want to make sure is that your Java version is 1.6… which is the most up to date version. Once you have confirmed that, run the command exactly as shown for Mac OSX. If, however, you get an error or you don’t have Java installed, don’t panic. Run:

apt-get install openjdk-6-jre-headless

Which will download and install the Java framework. Then you can run the server.

A useful feature I use on Linux is the nohup command. If you do:

nohup java -Xmx1024M -Xms1024M -jar minecraft_server.jar nogui

It will run the server in the background but log all output to nohup.out, so you can check over the server logs.

Well I hope that has helped out some of you, and really do check out the game. It’s awesome, even just the Single Player!

I was in England a few weeks ago visiting my girlfriend and my visit happened to coincide with this quaint villages well dressing. Aston-on-Trent lies just North of the Trent river and South of the A50, yet maintains a beautiful, quiet countryside village theme, despite being so close to the ever sprawling urban mass that is Derby.

While there I took the opportunity to capture a few images of the local area during the well dressing fair on Sunday. While I only had my camera phone on hand I hope you enjoy what’s here. I really wish I had taken more. Above is picutred Posey Lane, a privately owned driveway which leads to a few cottages. The hedgerows were absolutely buzzing with activity, and the varying colours throughout were simply fantastic.

Pictured above is the inside of Aston’s Church of England, which had beautifully decorated for the occasion. A wedding theme had been chosen and along with flowers, several wedding dresses were to be found on the walls, demonstrating the changing trends in weddings from the early 1900′s through to modern day. They also included a feature on Indian weddings, along with some fantastic traditional dress.

Below, the outside of the Church, showing off some of its ornate architecture. The earliest written record of the church dates back to 1086, making this church over 900 years old. Although maintained and restored in places, some of the buildings original features can still be found in the brickwork. Inside, the main church has been restored but several areas remain in their original condition however, admission to the general public is not allowed due to safety.

Finally, below, the local villagers enjoy tea, coffee, biscuits and cake in the memorial area in front of the church. I’m pretty sure its not a graveyard, as the cemetery lies to the rear of this wonderful building.

And that’s it I’m afraid – perhaps I shall more in the months to come, when I can bring a proper camera.

• Didn't bring my bad with me this morning – thought I wouldn't need it. Forgot that I have my office key, iPad and phone cables in it… #
• I really hope starcraft 2 arrives today! I would be so happy! #
• No Starcraft #
• Just got a dispatch confirmation from Play.com…Starcraft BETTER arrive tomorrow or ill be very unhappy… #
• You know you should all check my blog out at http://super-zero.co.uk #
• NO STARCRAFT!!! GAAAAHHHH SCREW YOU PLAY.COM #
• On my way to game. Play.com can handle my return for this treachery. #
• http://twitpic.com/2965qq one of the many things I've found cleaning out the study. Packard bell master floppy disks feature too… #
• It's been a long day and I'm ready to flop into bed and huddle around starcraf'ts warm glow… #
• http://twitpic.com/298jbo raynors tag lights up!! #
• Listening to the starcraft 2 soundtrack. It's really rather epic! #
• I am so bored – i appear to have no work to do today…. #
• I'm all of a sudden very curious about this Space Marine game… #
• Really want to be playing starcraft right now. Or even WoW cos I want to see what my in-game Thor pet is like. #
• OMG, just realised I actually have my raynor dogtag with me – might not be starcraft 2 but it's still awesome!! #
• Arrived at the hospital and doesn't seem to be too many people about so so hopefully ill be taken quickly #
• http://twitpic.com/29s1bp my belated birthday present from @doctorface!! How totally cool!! #
• Recycled Building Material Stronger than Concrete | greenopolis recycling rewards http://su.pr/1pPP6Y #
• On the set of sesame tree!! It's awesome looking! #
• I just got molested by a hare… #
• I've sold my soul my soul to Evernote… #
• Stiff kitten is awesome #
• Mmmmccccddddooooonnnnaaaaallllldsssssss #
• I GOT CHOOSEN FOR CATACLYSM BETA!! #
• On cameras in church. Doing quite well for ibce! #
• To the cinema! For the Ah-Team! #

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Over my past few years as a student I have had the tolerance to put up with the network and computer services provided by my University. I’ll draw your attention to the word tolerance. The computers are severely out of date – I understand budgets don’t stretch to state of the art machines nor would I expect that, but Pentium 4′s with 512MB RAM? That coupled with the networking software which they run, plus windows XP and a suite of desktop adverts (Why this resource hog is necessary I have no idea) it doesn’t make for the most fun or even usable student computing experience.

Play.com sucked up my pre order. Didn’t arrive early or even on time. Please don’t preorder from them…go Woth Game. They fulfill their preorders really well.

Play can handle my return. I’m on my way to game where the special edition is £10 cheaper too.

After months of internal debate (mainly in my own head) I decided to buy an Apple iPad over a netbook. There were a few well formed reasons for making this decision as well as a few one would come to expect from a crazy techno-obsessed student.

Battery-life: For me this was the big hitter. I currently own a MacBook Pro as my main laptop (2008 Unibody edition to be precise) and while I love it to pieces for great high powered mobile computing, it’s battery life really sucks – were talking 2-3 hours here with wifi on. With wifi off the max I have been able to squeeze out of it (screen at lowest brightness tick etc) has been about 3 1/2 hours, so its not really amazing.

(continue reading…)