bugs suck

I've been playing and enjoying geometry wars recently, but there's one thing that's happened twice now that is really getting on my nerves.

There's a leaderboard in the game which is really cool since you can track how well you're doing compared to your friends. There's also an achievements system whereby you earn points if you accomplish certain feats during the game.



As you can see from this screenshot I'm proudly leading my friends with a score of more than 1.7 million. However as you see in the the following shot, my actual highscore is higher than that...



The problem comes in the way the game uploads your highscore to the leaderboard. If you unlock an achievement it tells you at the end of the game. This feature is built into the console, so the game just makes some API call to tell the system which feats have been accomplished. The console then tells you that can click a magic console button to see what achievement it was. At this point if you don't click the console button and your score is your personal best, it uploads it. However if you are curious to see what you've accomplished and click the magic button then your score never gets published. Grr..

fowl behaviour

I went to a university that was built around a lake - or rather they built a lake and decided at the same time to build a university. Anyway, the point is that at this university you got to learn about the behaviour of ducks and geese. Not as part of the course of course (aside from perhaps the environmental or biological ones), but you picked up their behavioural habits from being surrounded by them for a few years.

Today while walking to the bus stop the streets were quite quiet and I was approaching a woman from behind. She was walking quickly, but not quite as fast as I was. What I noticed then I found interesting. He reaction to being approached from behind was identical to that of a goose.

She proudly didn't alter her pace, or look behind - essentially trying to appear unperturbed; so far so good. She also however tensed, straightened her back and started making subtle side glances to catch sight of me in her peripheral vision. Not unusual behaviour at all, but very much like that of a goose.

Anyway, I was only walking up behind her because I couldn't cross the road at that point and I immediately crossed after realising I had made her uncomfortable. Poor swiss goose woman.

you don't hear this everyday

I accidentally posted our marriage certificate to Zambia.

Slightly less traditional a wake up call than an alarm clock huh?

lost in translation

I bought a film recently using the reward scheme I use at the supermarket. All in all the DVD cost me somewhere in the region of 3000CHF, £1200 or $2500 or whatever your local currency is. Seem expensive? Well that's just how great swiss rewards schemes are.

Upon loading the DVD I was presented with no less than 4 pages of languages to choose from, so at least I got my money's worth... of something...

Amusingly however, when you look at the language options in the DVD menu, the list is somewhat different.

courtesy

This morning while stepping off the tram and thanking the driver a realisation struck me. In Switzerland people don't thank the driver. In England whenever anyone gets off the bus, they thank the driver. Even if the bus is crowded and 30 people get off at the main stop they will each thank the driver. Even if they are in the middle of a deep conversation with a friend they will both spare half a second for a "cheers mate" or somesuch.

It's not unusual for English culture to exhibit this sort of behaviour though. By thanking the driver you're making the point that the driver is doing you a favour by giving you a lift and not that he's your paid servant. In a similar fashion you would never tip the barman (which implies that he's below you) but you would offer to buy him a drink - "and one for yourself". The implies that he's on your level and joining in your social activity, even though he's clearly not.

The bus thing is interesting though - on reflection the English have a lot less to be thankful for.

sdrawkcab

While eating at a restaurant this evening a friend and I were having a silly conversation during which we discovered that the common expletive "fuck off" read backwards is "ffo kcuf" which, loosely speaking, sounds like the same phrase.

This was greatly amusing and we have taken it upon ourselves to spread the word, since if this fact isn't already well known, it should be.