Abandoned Scottish Village to be Demolished

The BBC reports that Polphail, a village built in Argyll in the 70s to meet the demands of the fledging oil industry, is to be demolished.

The strange thing about Polphail is that it was never occupied:

Keys still dangle on a board waiting for tenants who would never arrive. Coat hangers remain in cupboards and rusting washing machines stand idle, dreaming of their first spin cycle.

There’s a definite post-apocalyptic feel about the derelict houses lying empty and unused. There are some excellent images of the abandoned Polphail at local photographer Philippa Elliott’s website:

Philippa Elliot >> Polphail

And on Flickr:

Flickr >> Polphail Set

Twitter Science?

I came across the below while reading an @mashable tweet about how to retweet:

What we see here is that while the number of followers exposed to a Tweet does have a positive effect on the number of times that Tweet is ReTweeted, it is a weak correlation, meaning that other factors play a much larger role. By calculating a ReTweets-per-follower ratio for 20,000 users and graphing the distribution of that metric we see that while most users have a similar ratio, there does exist a class of users with a much higher ReTweets-to-follower number.

via The Science of ReTweets.

Check it out! Twitter science with proper stats and everything! I don’t know what this means for me, but I think maybe I should get onto graphing my metrics in the morning.

(I think what it actually means is that number of followers doesn’t have as big an impact as you might expect on how often something is retweeted.)

Empire: Total War Makes My Head Explode

I think I must be starting to lose my gaming touch. After over 20 years of playing games, from the ZX Spectrum to the modern PC – and having a soft spot for strategy games in particular – I’ve finally come across one that makes me throw my hands up and beg for mercy.

And it’s not like I’m a newbie here: I’ve played every title in the Total War series, from Shogun nearly 10 years ago, through Rome and the Medievals, to the most recent in the shape of Empire: Total War. Besides that I’ve been into Civilization from the start, and the offshoots (Colonization), strategy classics like UFO/XCOM, big 4X space strategy epics, like Master of Orion, GalCiv, etc. The list goes on. So I can honestly say that I’m no slouch when it comes to deep, complex thinking games. But Empire has nearly got me beat.

Maybe now that I’ve reached my thirties my brain has started its inexorable decline. Even so, I can’t be the only one who’s thinking there’s a hell of a lot packed into the latest offering from Creative Assembly, can I?

I dabbled a little in the story-driven tutorial, then moved onto the meat and potatoes of every strategy game, the single-player campaign mode. Woah! Talk about attention to detail. I’m playing as Great Britain (natch) and you start the game with your homeland, the British Isles, and a couple of isolated colonies in the Americas. There’s nothing in the Indian subcontinent, but it’s there for the taking. Oh, and the Thirteen Colonies in the not-so-United-States is your Protectorate – not sure about the mechanics of that yet (I know, I know: RTFM!), apart from the fact that they seem to offer you missions every now and then.

What’s so hard about that? Well, for starters the action is spread across three theatres: the Americas, Europe and India. There are also trade theatres which don’t house colonies, but you can interact with them via trade ships. In addition to the main settlement in every region, you’ve now got a number of towns, villages and ports (all of which can be individually cycled through). Each of these might specialise in a particular line of work, depending on its location. For example, you can build sugar or coffee plantations in Jamaica, but you won’t be able to set up a fur-trading outpost unless you’re in North America or Canada. And maybe Europe – I haven’t checked…

Each of your minor settlements can be upgraded through several steps. But it’s not just trade you need to think about. Cambridge houses a School building, which can be upgraded to a College – but only when you’ve researched Empiricism. Yep, you need to dabble in research, too. Actually, “dabble in” is a poor choice of phrase – “become immersed in” would be better. There’s a proper tech tree this time with three branches – military, industrial and philosophical. Gentlemen can help you here. They’re special agents that assist in research, but only when you place them in a research-based building. Oh, and Gentlemen can also duel with other Gentlemen – or Rakes, which are like Spies and Assassins in the previous Total Wars.

I haven’t even touched on the intricacies of trade yet. I keep getting an advisor popping up telling me to keep an eye on what my adversaries are producing in the New World because I need to undercut them on the markets or somesuch. Well, I’m not sure how I’d know that. There are trade routes marked on the map by dotted lines. Some of these routes are yours; some belong to your allies or enemies and many are shared by multiple nations. Apparently you can sit your navy on these and pillage, but I’m guessing that doesn’t make you too popular with the owners of the routes.

There are multiple reasons for dissent in your colonies: religion is a big factor again, as is appetite for revolt, and I suppose the presence of garrison forces has an impact. However, it’s not as straightforward as that because a city has a “lay-garrison” in addition to the units you recruit which can be called upon when attacked. I haven’t fought any land or sea battles in the campaign game yet, though: the strategy portion is giving me enough of a headache!

Don’t get me wrong: I can tell the game is good. It’s just that there’s so much of it! I suppose back in the day I would’ve sunk hours into a game like this until I was familiar with all its intricate details and foibles. Now – well, I’ll persevere because it’s so highly rated on metacritic. It’s got to be worth it, right?

MixTape.me – Slick Browser-Based Music Player

I’ve just this minute discovered MixTape.me, a new music-based mashup (via ReadWriteWeb).

For those wondering, it’s a little bit like the now partially-defunct Muxtape, except far more flexible in its ability to create, manage and share playlists. It sits in your browser happily playing away, but the interface feels like a desktop application (like Spotify). In short, it’s very slick and seemingly has access to a large number of copyrighted tracks. As RWW puts it:

And the music.. where does the music come from? Good question.. the answer is, a lot of places; cloud storage, web sites, SeeqPod. In fact, the site is careful to keep that information behind the scenes. What you are left with is a clean, very desktop music player-like experience.

It’s in open beta and the main feature it’s missing for me is last.fm scrobbling integration. However, it wasn’t long before Spotify introduced this feature after they went into beta, so here’s hoping it might pop up at Mixtape.me soon!

How long until the RIAA pounce with their crack unit of highly trained copyright lawyers? Anyone’s guess. Until then, I suggest you enjoy it while it lasts.

Preservation Photo: Awesome Photos of Urban Decay

Found via Dark Roasted Blend, here’s another site showcasing some incredibly beautiful photography of abandoned buildings before the wreckers move in:

Preservation Photo dedicates itself to documenting architecture through photography in an effort to preserve a building’s history.

Some illustrative examples:

Bancroft Mills

The massive Bancroft Mill complex was the largest and longest running mill in Delewares Brandywine Valley before it went bankrupt in 2003.

Pennhurst State School

At it’s peak the several hundred acre campus housed over 3500 patients (known as “clients”) and began suffering from overcrowded conditions. Sexual abuse, neglect, and appalling living conditions led to a class action lawsuit against the school in 1977. The school was found guilty of violating patients rights and was officially shut down a decade later in 1987.

10000 Tracks Scrobbled On Last.fm

In the grand tradition of my two previous posts on this topic, I’ve just passed my latest milestone on Last.fm – 10,000 tracks scrobbled! And which song marked this grand occasion? Why, this one:

Robyn – Be Mine!

Since I last wrote about scrobbling milestones in September 2008, Last.fm have significantly expanded their selection of full tracks so you can listen to this one for free at least three times before they cut you off. Or else you can download Spotify (assuming you’re in the UK or Europe, that is) and listen to it all you want. Or you could just buy it I suppose… Hey, it’s a great album.

Watchmen: Review’d

So, what you want to know is: has Zack Snyder screwed up? Or is Watchmen as intense, exhilarating, mesmerising, and mindblowing an experience as the graphic novel?

The answer to the first question is a resounding “no”! The answer to the second is a qualified “yes”.

The film exceeded my expectations in so many ways: from the magnificently realised introduction to Watchmen’s alternate universe set to Bob Dylan’s “The Times They are a-Changin’” to the meticulous attention to detail in the backstories of all the characters. The flashbacks to Vietnam are there; the Minutemen; Dr. Manhattan’s genesis; the Comedian’s visit to Moloch; the first meeting of the Watchmen… The list goes on. For a fan, there are so many neat touches, including one or two things that I’d forgotten since my last read-through.

But it’s not all about a frame-for-frame remake of the comic – although there are a lot of scenes that are ported over to the movie pretty much verbatim. Incredibly, the pace doesn’t drag at all. Snyder ensures that the story and characters which are the heart of the novel drive the film too. You can tell there’s soul in this – it’s not just a clinical remake.

Billy Crudup’s performance as Dr. Manhattan is as detached yet troubled as you’d hope. Jeffrey Dean Morgan invests the Comedian with lashings of amoral glee, yet still manages to conjure empathy from the viewer. Some of the casting decisions are less stellar, however: Malin Akerman as Laurie Juspeczyk and, more crucially, Matthew Goode as Adrian Veidt come to mind. But Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach is inspired. He delivers a note-perfect performance, particularly during the jail sequence as Walter Kovacs, when he screams ominously, “You don’t understand: I’m not locked in here with you; you’re locked in here with me!”

It’s worth mentioning that it’s a brutal experience, both in terms of film length – at 2 hours 45 minutes it’s longer than your average blockbuster – and graphic violence. I remember the novel pulled no punches, and neither does this. Be prepared for severed arms, people on fire, meat cleavers buried in skulls, broken legs… The UK 18-rated certificate isn’t for nothing; Watchmen is not for the faint of heart.

So is it as good as the novel? Well, not quite. I had a couple of issues with the film version of Watchmen which, for me, prevented it from attaining perfection – but, let’s be clear, it came pretty damn close.

The stylised action sequences were a little to, er, comic book for my liking. I felt that the Watchmen came across as a little too strong, too fast, and, most of all, they could take too much punishment. You’ll regularly see heads being used to smash toilets, walls, doors. You name it, during the course of the film one or more of the Watchmen will get thrown through it or against it. And then they’ll get up again to take some more. It’s all a little bit Matrix for me, and it’s here that Watchmen loses some of the grittiness that makes it so compelling.

The other issue was the ending. Now, I’m of the opinion that screenwriters David Hayter and Alex Tse made a good call to ditch the giant alien squid ending of the novel. For one, it requires yet more build up and exposition which would have increased the running time even further. It’s also probably – gasp – a little bit surreal for the kind of film that Watchmen is. And maybe a bit unbelievable. The ending that they chose made more sense in the context of the story, but I felt it lacked a little bit of the horror of the original version.

In the graphic novel, Manhattan and Laurie return to earth to be greeted with page upon page of silent devastation – not buildings, but people. Millions of dead bodies with the buildings (mostly) completely intact. In the film, there’s nothing left except a crater and I don’t think it lingers long enough to let the true horror of what’s taken place sink in. It’s a lot less personal than the novel. It’s just: on to the next act – let’s take down Adrian!

Neither the ending nor the stylised fight scenes are enough to prevent me from wholeheartedly recommending this film though. It’s been 20 odd years in development hell, and there are a few missteps here, but it’s been worth it for the near-masterpiece that Snyder has produced. See it.

Watchmen Less Than A Week Away!

That’s right, and my anticipation has reached fever pitch!

It seems crazy to think that it was almost 11 months ago that I blogged about the upcoming Watchmen adaption, and here it is just around the corner.

Reviews are already coming in thick and fast – the film had its UK premiere at Leicester Square on 23rd February. To say that they’re “mixed” would be an understatement. Although the Rotten Tomatoes meter currently stands at 81%, I don’t think that tells the full story: many of the reviews point to Zack Snyder’s dogged insistence on sticking to the source material as one of the things holding Watchmen back from being a truly great film. But this is surely a case of “damned if you do…” for Snyder who, as a fan of the comic book, knows more than anyone what the reaction would’ve been if he’d made significant changes or cuts. And that doesn’t stop longtime Watchmen fanboy Michael Moran from gushing all over the movie in his Times blog review:

Watchmen is a watershed moment in comic book action. It’s the movie where, if you’ll forgive me, things went from juvenile to Juvenal. If you’ve read the book, see it. If you haven’t, see it twice.

All that said, I’m still psyched about seeing it on the 6th March when it’s out officially in the UK.

And if you need more hype, how about checking out some of the clips posted on imdb and youtube. I particularly like the Dr Manhattan ones:

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this: Empty Gmail

Here’s what it looks like after a frenzied 10 minutes of sorting my rapidly expanding inbox (over 1500 messages at the last count):

I don’t know what’s better, the feeling of a newly emptied inbox, or the fact that it only took a few minutes to sort and archive all my messages. Truth be told, very little sorting was required: I have a few tags which I use to filter some new mail, but other than that I mainly rely on Gmail’s excellent search facility.

I’m planning on basking in the glow of this minor achievement for at least the next 45 minutes. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you’re off work!

Should science only be funded if it makes money?

That’s the question posed by Lord Drayson (UK Government Minister for Science and Innovation) and picked up by the Guardian on Thursday, where it has already generated heated debate:

Should science only be funded if it makes money? | Science | guardian.co.uk

The responses so far can be largely summed up by “No! Are you joking?!” As someone who works in research funding, I can only shake my head and echo the words of “hungrydoug”: You can’t do applied science if you’ve got no science to apply.

The thing about research, in the true sense of the word, is that you don’t know if it’s going to give you the results you thought you were looking for. So how are you going to judge what will and will not yield a return?