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Topics - Glaurung

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46
Announcements! The Town Crier! / Exilian Convention 2015
« on: April 16, 2015, 10:10:41 PM »

St. Andrew's Baptist Church, St. Andrew's Street, Cambridge - 11 July, 2015

The staff and citizenry of EXILIAN present, once again, the convention of creative geekery that is ExiliCon, back in Cambridge for 2015...

ExiliCon is a one day, open door event, that will showcase creative projects, small and independent traders, and other interesting and exciting ideas. There will be gaming tables where people can test out new and experimental games, showcase stands of the projects Exilian is involved in, talks, panels, performances, and merchants of good repute, there to sell their geeky wares!

We, as ever, specialise most of all in the small, the curious, and the undiscovered - at ExiliCon you'll have the chance to uncover ideas, games, and people you never knew existed. We hope you'll join us for what promises to be a great day of nerd-dom and creative fun.

We're still very much looking for talks, traders, and exhibitors, so if you want to show off your hobby project or sell things to geeks, please get in touch at the email below for further details.

Website: http://www.exilian.co.uk/con
Facebook event
Contact: megadux@exilian.co.uk

47
ExiliCon 2015 / Welcome to ExiliCon
« on: April 16, 2015, 09:34:20 PM »
Greetings, and welcome to the ExiliCon forum! We're in the early stages of organising the convention, so there isn't much to see here yet, but we will bring you news and progress updates as things develop.

Welcome also to Exilian, the community that is organising ExiliCon. Please feel free to follow this link to explore the rest of our forum and find out what we do.

You're welcome to post here to ask questions, add information or discuss the convention. You will need to join Exilian - this should only take a minute.

48
History, Science, and Interesting Information - The Great Library / "Dark matter" becomes clearer
« on: April 15, 2015, 01:51:08 PM »
I've spotted a couple of BBC News articles about dark matter over the last several days. It seems we're learning more about it, even if we still have no idea what it is.

First article: Dark matter map unveils first results
An international group has been mapping the dark matter density in a section of the sky, in detail. This involves careful analysis of photographs to identify gravitational lensing effects, and then work out where the mass has to be to cause the observed effects. They have now released their first results, covering 0.4% of the sky; eventually they will work up to one-eighth (12.5%). This map should also give us more information about dark energy.

Second article: Dark matter becomes less 'ghostly'
Another group have done a similar density mapping exercise on a a small galactic cluster where the galaxies are colliding. They found that with one of the galaxies, they found that the dark matter was lagging behind the visible matter. This implies that the dark matter is undergoing some sort of interaction with itself that is not gravitational - the first hint that there is an interaction of this sort.

From my perspective, this feels like a very exciting time to be active in fundamental physics and cosmology. It feels very reminiscent of the state of physics around the year 1900: we have a lot of evidence for interesting things (dark matter and dark energy now; relativistic and quantum effects then) but no theory to explain them. When will we get another Newton or Einstein with the insight to explain it all?

49
General Chatter - The Boozer / OnLive gaming service to shut down
« on: April 03, 2015, 09:42:50 PM »
I don't know if this affects anybody here. Also, this post is probably in the wrong place - please feel free to move it.

Anyway, it's another BBC News article: Sony have bought a bunch of patents from OnLive, probably by buying parts of the company, and consequently the gaming service is being shut down. There's an announcement and brief FAQ on the OnLive website.

50
History, Science, and Interesting Information - The Great Library / "Intact Ottoman 'war camel' found in Austrian cellar"
« on: April 02, 2015, 01:47:53 PM »
That headline caught my eye - it's yet another BBC News article. It turns out that (slightly disappointingly) it is in fact an intact camel skeleton. The camel was a Bactrian/dromedary cross, and it's surmised it was left behind by the Ottoman army after the siege of Vienna in 1683. For those wanting more detail, the original report is an academic paper in the online journal PLOS One.

51
Game & program tutorials / Exilian Tutorial List
« on: March 31, 2015, 01:03:19 PM »
For reference, here is a list of existing tutorials in the Exilian forums. If you know of any others not included here, or you add any, please post details so that they can be included in this list. Note that tutorials and walkthroughs for games are not included.
Software
Subforum: Computer Game Development -> Games & program tutorials

Jubal's Web Tutorials

Marcus' CSS3 Tutorials

Minor Java Tutorials (lordryan756)

Javascript (lordryan756)

SotK's Python Tutorials

Hazza's Excel VBA tutorials (hazzacanary)
Game Creation
Subforum: Computer Game Development -> Games & program tutorials


52
History, Science, and Interesting Information - The Great Library / Anglo-Saxon treatment effective against MRSA
« on: March 30, 2015, 08:00:24 PM »
Another BBC news article.

Scientists at the University of Nottingham re-created an "eye salve" from an Anglo-Saxon medical manuscript - the ingredients are garlic, onion, wine and "bovine salts" (apparently from a cow's stomach). They then tested it on MRSA, and found it killed up to 90% of the bacteria.

53
History, Science, and Interesting Information - The Great Library / Dawn space probe at Ceres
« on: March 07, 2015, 01:23:12 PM »
NASA's probe Dawn has entered orbit around Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt and oldest known "dwarf planet". The probe has been sending photos for some time, including several showing a couple of very bright spots at the bottom of a large crater.

More details, as ever, in a BBC News article.

54
History, Science, and Interesting Information - The Great Library / Solar eclipse, Friday 20 March
« on: March 07, 2015, 12:03:29 PM »
On Friday 20 March, there will be a solar eclipse. The path of totality runs the north Atlantic, between Iceland and Great Britain, so only the Faroes and Svalbard (Spitsbergen) get to see a total eclipse. It will be partial across the whole of Europe: 50-60% across the Mediterranean, and 85-95% in the UK. The Moon's shadow moves eastwards, so the maximum eclipse is around 09:00 GMT in Portugal and western Spain, about 09:30 GMT in the UK and Italy, and around 10:00 GMT in Sweden, Poland and Romania.

As ever with a solar eclipse, DO NOT LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY, OR THROUGH A TELESCOPE (unless you want to lose your sight). If you want to observe the eclipse, you can use welders' goggles or equivalent, or project the image of the sun through a pinhole.

There's a lot more information on the NASA Eclipse website. For this particular eclipse, start at the 2011-2020 solar eclipse list, scroll down to the list, and follow the links against "2015 March 20". The most useful link is probably one including a Google map - you can click anywhere on the map, and get the times and other details for that location.

55
General Chatter - The Boozer / Exilimeet in Cambridge?
« on: February 24, 2015, 01:00:01 PM »
Jubal and I talked about this a few days ago. We think there are enough Exilian members in and around Cambridge (the English one) that it would be worth trying to organise a meet-up. This would probably be a traditional gathering in a pub, either in the evening or at a weekend. We're thinking of having it in mid to late March, in the hope that Cambridge people will still be around, and at least some of the Norfolk people will have returned from whatever distant parts of the world they go to during term time. Anyone else who can make it will of course be welcome.

Please note: we're aware that only a small minority of Exilian members are likely to be able to attend this; we'd like it to be more, but geography is against us. Also, this is not a replacement for any other larger event we might hold later in the year (e.g. Exilicon 2).

If you'd like to come along, please say so, along with some indication of when might or might not be good for you.

56
Active Legislation / MOTION: Tied Vote Bill PASSED 4-0-0
« on: February 06, 2015, 10:57:03 PM »
Following on from the discussion, here's the bill, as promised. This bill only covers votes on ordinary motions requiring a simple majority to pass; changes to the constitution and ToS require 75% of the votes cast, and election voting is already covered elsewhere. I have also tried to deal with some potential difficulties, e.g. the Sebastokrator having the casting vote on their own motion.

As usual, one week, simple majority. Please don't tie the vote on this one!
This Plaza moves that, if the vote is tied (i.e. equal numbers of votes for Yes and No options) on a motion requiring a simple majority, and the proposer of the motion wishes to continue with it, the following procedure shall be adopted:
1. The motion shall be submitted for voting a second time, on the same terms as the first time (voting period, majority required to pass, etc.).
2. If the second vote is also tied, then the Sebastokator shall have the casting vote, unless the motion was proposed by the Sebastokrator, in which case the Basileus shall have the casting vote.

57
History, Science, and Interesting Information - The Great Library / Rainbows and other shiny things
« on: February 03, 2015, 12:17:20 AM »
I was reminded today of a website you might enjoy. Atmospheric Optics is about rainbows, ice halos, and many other optical effects that occur when sunlight meets rain drops or ice crystals. There's a wide range of amazing photographs, along with clear and accurate descriptions of the physics involved. But you don't need to understand the physics in order to enjoy the pictures.

58
The Beer Garden of Babel / русский (Russian)
« on: January 29, 2015, 05:53:39 PM »
Добро пожаловать в Exilian и Российской теме

59
The Beer Garden of Babel / ελληνικός (Greek)
« on: January 29, 2015, 05:44:21 PM »
Καλώς ήρθατε στο Exilian, και στην ελληνική νήμα!

60
The Beer Garden of Babel / српски (Serbian)
« on: January 29, 2015, 05:38:38 PM »
Добродошли на Екилиан, и на српској теми!

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