harrower.org.uk

So this is what the terrible two are up to when we aren’t in!

I’ll be watching them more closely from now on! Maybe something along these lines might help.

I don’t know if me putting this up here is really very helpful but hopefully some will find it so.

The purpose of this guide is to help you participate constructively in the Iranian election protests through twitter.

1. Do NOT publicise proxy IP’s over twitter, and especially not using the #iranelection hashtag.  Security forces are monitoring this hashtag, and the moment they identify a proxy IP they will block it in Iran.  If you are creating new proxies for the Iranian bloggers, DM them to @stopAhmadi or @iran09 and they will distributed them discretely to bloggers in Iran.
2. Hashtags, the only two legitimate hashtags being used by bloggers in Iran are #iranelection and #gr88, other hashtag ideas run the risk of diluting the conversation.
3. Keep you bull$hit filter up!  Security forces are now setting up twitter accounts to spread disinformation by posing as Iranian protesters.  Please don’t retweet impetuosly, try to confirm information with reliable sources before retweeting.  The legitimate sources are not hard to find and follow.
4. Help cover the bloggers: change your twitter settings so that your location is TEHRAN and your time zone is GMT +3.30.  Security forces are hunting for bloggers using location and timezone searches.  If we all become ‘Iranians’ it becomes much harder to find them.
5. Don’t blow their cover! If you discover a genuine source, please don’t publicise their name or location on a website.  These bloggers are in REAL danger. Spread the word discretely through your own networks but don’t signpost them to the security forces. People are dying there, for real, please keep that in mind.
6. Denial of Service attacks. If you don’t know what you are doing, stay out of this game. Only target those sites the legitimate Iranian bloggers are designating.  Be aware that these attacks can have detrimental effects to the network the protesters are relying on.  Keep monitoring their traffic to note when you should turn the taps on or off.
7. Do spread the (legitimate) word, it works!  When the bloggers asked for twitter maintenance to be postponed using the #nomaintenance tag, it had the desired effect. As long as we spread good information, provide moral support to the protesters, and take our lead from the legitimate bloggers, we can make a constructive contribution.

Please remember that this is about the future of the Iranian people, while it  might be exciting to get caught up in the flow of participating in a new meme, do not lose sight of what this is really about.

Originally posted here.

Seriously I think the title says it all. This is pure awesome hats off to the artist!

Braaaaaiiiiins!

2 posts in 1 day! I wish it were for better reasons.

Yes, yes it looks like a lot of fun. It also looks EXACTLY LIKE THE ONE I ALREADY HAVE!!! And barely even a year after the original! Why none of the stuff depicted couldn’t be DLC I don’t know.

I expect this kind of shameless IP exploitation from EA but not Valve!  Join the boycott!

A while ago I took the liberty of jailbreaking my iPhone, mostly to see what all the fuss was about and partly just to see if it was as easy as all the blogs said it was. Turns out it really is very easy indeed (I actually did it only paying half the attention I should have been while on a conference call). Other than Winterboard and Cycorder (both of which should come out of the box) I didn’t really use the jailbroken features that much, until that is I found the SCUMMVM. Basically is a virtual machine that only rums games based on Lucasarts SCUMM engine. This is the self same engine that pretty much all the games I played in the 90’s were written on. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and the unforgettable Monkey Island series. Since I found this gem (probably years and years after everyone else did as usual) my train journeys,  flights and occasional bathroom trips have all flown past as I delve further into Lucasarts back catalog when they actually made good games rather than churning out star wars game after crappy star wars game. If you haven’t already I would highly recommend downloading the SCUMMVM and giving these old games a crack they are well worth the effort.

Whats more, imagine my delight then when, a couple of weeks ago it was announced that Monkey Island was being brought back from the dead not only in special edition form on XBox 360 and PC but also that Telltale games would be making further adventures into the world of Monkey Island and the Ghost Pirate LeChuck! I’m really looking forward to this as it was only earlier this year that I finished MI 1 only to be left thinking that it really needed a graphics update and some voice work and it would have been perfect, you know…… again.

Wow, over a month since I last updated this site…. actually it seems like longer! Much has happened in that time, even as I type I am sitting in a very swish office in Switzerland having landed the responsibility of handling onsite tech support for a very big customer for a couple of weeks.  I’m staying in the very nice town (city? I can’t tell I haven’t seen enough of it) of Lausanne on the east side of lake Geneva. It a lovely, friendly place which houses no less than the official headquarters of the International Olympic Committee and the single most terrifying social experiment of all time! Seriously follow that link, read the article then watch the video and then try to tell me that holding it in is bad for you I was pretty impressed when I saw the same technology used in the office here on the internal windows but I think that takes it too far! What is there is a power-cut? Too risky mes amis, too risky by far

I’d like to say that I’m enjoying my time here, but to be honest I’m not really. Besides obviously missing the future Mrs Harrower, I’m working at least 12 hours each day (although not too hard today as you can probably tell) so I’ve pretty much only seen the office and the hotel. Also not getting much sleep either. I’ve always had trouble sleeping in strange beds and it takes me a bout 4 nights to get used to one. Of course I’m staying here for 5 nights at a time and always at a different hotel, so the only decent nights sleep I ever get is the night before I leave! Just my luck I spose. All that aside though it’s a very pleasant place with friendly people, fantastic food and it’s giving me a chance to try to speak a bit of French, which I imagine is very amusing for anyone in earshot.

Anyway, I’ve blabbered enough now and all the progress bars I was watching while writing this are nearing the 100% mark. Until next time. Au revoir!

Oh and ignore this…..
Technorati Profile

lazzor music! from hypatia on Vimeo.

This must be the best (ab)use of a laser cutter ever conceived. Serious kudos to the guys that spent time working on this when they most likely really should have been doing something else.

I found this news article today on the web. I realise the source may be slightly dubious (ahem!) but it’s too good to not bring to attention.

Ok so its probably a load of propaganda bullshit but still… I love the idea )

Ammo here!, originally uploaded by Night Zero.

Just came across this awesome set on Flickr. It seems someone is making some kind of fan flick for Left 4 Dead and is promoting it with this series of totally awesome HDR pics. They’ve really got the look of the characters down to a tee, but seriously… what the fuck’s with the pirate?

Fountain Detail 5, originally uploaded by idoru78.

Had a lovely day out on Monday with the future Mrs to Linlithgow. It’s only a couple of miles along the road from where we live and its a really nice wee town. It has a great pub the, “The 4 Marys” that has some really good food and loads of interesting ales and some nice wee cafes that do a nice high tea. Then of course theres the Palace itself. Its set on a hill above the loch. For such an ancient building its in really good nick, although its had a LOT of restoration work done. I got some great shots of the fountain in the courtyard one of which you can see on the left here. Again a lot of this has been restored but it really looks good and gives you a great feel of what it must have been like almost 5 hundred years ago when it was first built. There are some other nice pics too but the stand out for me was the smiley face hidden in the brickwork. Anyway if your interested the rest of the set is here.