Random — hermiene.net

About

This page collects stuff I want to show others, but which I don't feel deserve a page of its own. As the name implies, here is where I offload random stuff. If something here grows to insane proportions, I will most likely give it its own page.

Fun

These are items that get their own page for various reasons. Why the heading name Fun? Firstly because it's true, and secondly because I can't come up with a better name; it does not imply that this is the only fun part of my site.

Insignia — Warning! Contains ridiculously huge images that will devour your CPU and defenestrate your RAM! Enter at own risk.
Trace Elements — An attempt to explain the references in a song about science.
Asimov meets Ellison — How one science fiction author met another.
Substitution Cipher — A very simple substitution cipher. Click the link for an explanation.

Invented words and phrases

Phrase or word	Inventor	Meaning
A highly trained professional	Håvard	One who isn't. An indirect reference to the fact that NPCs in computer games are indifferent to actions that the player can make that would turn heads and gather comments from the general public in real life (such as frantically jumping, trailing people so close that they can smell your aftershave, and running in circles around old ladies). A direct reference to Half-Life where the line "Gordon doesn't need to hear all this, he's a highly trained professional" is given, during which it is possible to perform goofy acts.
Antelligence	Even	The opposite of intelligence. A synonym for stupidity.
Emotiologic	shoofle	Emotion is the grease on the wheels of human logic!
Fits under the bed	Niels-Henrik	A reference to the show What is Scientology? where the host, Ed Clark, has a tendency to act like those goofballs you see on infomercials (leading the guests on, overly praising them, and using convoluted language), implying that the only thing missing from the show is that phrase.
Funny-baiting	Håvard	Trying to get people to say funny things unintentionally. The less the victim is aware that you're doing this, the funnier the result (usually).
Glory Device'd!	Håvard	Someone who commits a suicide bombing has been Glory Device'd (ranging in orders of magnitude from petty market place bombings, making stars go supernova, through destruction on a galactic scale). A reference to the Shofixti race in the computer game Star Control 2.
Memulation	Niels-Henrik	Emulation through memes. For instance, if you don't have an MP3 player on you, you could have someone hum a song and let the meme infect your brain, thus allowing you to emulate the song.
Puzzle mashing	Even	A play on the gaming term button mashing, puzzle mashing means playing puzzle games unthinkingly (by overly using a hints system, randomly trying to fit pieces together in match-three games, or otherwise).
Star Wars	Niels-Henrik	A verb meaning to shoot directly at an enemy while moving rapidly towards it, timing it so that when it explodes, you go straight through it. A reference to the Star Wars series, where X-wings sometimes perform the same maneuver on TIE fighters.
Stlash	Håvard	A portmanteau of the words stab and slash. What happens when you apply first an inward thrusting motion and then a sideways pulling motion with a bladed weapon.
Survival of what fits best	Niels-Henrik	Natural selection of clothes. When deciding which clothes to throw away and which to keep, only what fits best survives.
Technological sexularity	Seiun	The point where interfacing between human minds can produce sexual euphoria beyond an orgasm.

Project Euler

mathschallenge.net's Project Euler is a set of mathematical problems that are designed to be solved with computer programming. It's very fun and challenging, and I think it's a great way to hone your programming skills. Here's a list of the problems I've solved so far:

1: Add all the natural numbers below 1000 that are multiples of 3 or 5.
2: Find the sum of all the even terms in the Fibonacci sequence below one million.
4: Find the largest palindrome made from the product of two 3-digit numbers.
5: What is the smallest number divisible by each of the numbers 1 to 20?
6: What is the difference between the sum of the squares and the square of the sums?
7: Find the 10001^st prime.
8: Discover the largest product of five consecutive digits in the 1000-digit number.
10: Calculate the sum of all the primes below one million.
11: What is the greatest product of four numbers on the same straight line in the 20 by 20 grid?
12: What is the first triangle number to have over five-hundred divisors?
13: Find the first ten digits of the sum of one-hundred 50-digit numbers.
14: Find the longest sequence using a starting number under one million.
16: What is the sum of the digits of the number 2¹⁰⁰⁰?
17: How many letters would be needed to write all the numbers in words from 1 to 1000?
20: Find the sum of digits in 100!
21: Evaluate the sum of all amicable pairs under 10000.
22: What is the total of all the name scores in the file of first names?
25: What is the first term in the Fibonacci sequence to contain 1000-digits?
28: What is the sum of both diagonals in a 1001 by 1001 spiral?
30: Find the sum of all the numbers that can be written as the sum of fifth powers of their digits.
34: Find the sum of all numbers which are equal to the sum of the factorial of their digits.
35: How many circular primes are there below one million?
36: Find the sum of all numbers less than one million, which are palindromic in base 10 and base 2.
37: Find the sum of all eleven primes that are both truncatable from left to right and right to left.
42: How many triangle words can you make using the list of common English words?
48: Find the last ten digits of 1¹ + 2² + ... + 1000¹⁰⁰⁰.

Xbox Live Arcade scores

Xbox Live Arcade is a very neat feature of the Xbox 360; it's a convenient way for game creators to get small, arcade-like games out, and it's great to have every one of these games in one box. I use this feature excessively. In fact, I own many more XBL Arcade games than I do normal ones. Some of these I'm very good at, and this section is a way for me to brag about my high scores. Remember, every game has its own online leaderboard, so I can't effectively lie here.

Game	High score/rating
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved	24,937,870
Marble Blast Ultra (Single Player)	1,247,610
Marble Blast Ultra (Multiplayer)	196,677
Mutant Storm Reloaded (Singe Player Adventure Mode)	7,972,660
Mutant Storm Reloaded (Single Player Tally Mode)	20,342,880
Mutant Storm Reloaded (Two Player Adventure Mode, with Aemanther)	8,902,120
Mutant Storm Reloaded (Two Player Tally Mode, with Aemanther)	23,740,560

Elasto Mania

These are my records in the 2D computer game Elasto Mania. They're not so good, but I believe they're above average.

Elasto Mania records
Level	Time	Replay
Level 1, Warm Up	00:14:34	pho01.rec
Level 2, Flat Track	00:17:57	pho02.rec
Level 3, Twin Peaks	00:23:46	pho03.rec
Level 4, Over and Under	00:35:81	pho04.rec
Level 5, Uphill Battle	00:25:76	pho05.rec
Level 6, Long Haul	00:52:21	pho06.rec
Level 7, Hi Flyer	00:46:93	pho07.rec
Level 8, Tag	00:23:96	pho08.rec
Level 9, Tunnel	01:18:82	pho09.rec
Level 10, The Steppes	00:32:73	pho10.rec
Level 11, Gravity Ride	00:32:38	pho11.rec
Level 12, Islands in the Sky	00:25:40	pho12.rec
Level 13, Hill Legend	00:19:93	pho13.rec
Level 14, Loop-de-Loop	00:20:86	pho14.rec
Level 15, Serpents Tale	01:14:79	pho15.rec
Level 16, New Wave	01:48:30	pho16.rec
Level 17, Labyrinth	01:03:88	pho17.rec
Level 18, Spiral	00:51:82	pho18.rec
Level 19, Turnaround	00:53:35	pho19.rec
Level 20, Upside Down	01:18:06	pho20.rec
Level 21, Hangman	00:22:34	pho21.rec
Level 22, Slalom	00:47:77	pho22.rec
Level 23, Quick Round	01:02:96	pho23.rec
Level 24, Ramp Frenzy	01:32:40	pho24.rec
Level 25, Precarious	00:32:00	pho25.rec
Level 26, Circuitous	00:35:82	pho26.rec
Level 27, Shelf Life	00:53:13	pho27.rec
Level 28, Bounce Back	01:06:37	pho28.rec
Level 29, Headbanger	01:17:57	pho29.rec
Level 30, Pipe	00:38:40	pho30.rec
Level 31, Animal Farm	01:56:25	pho31.rec
Level 32, Steep Corner	00:47:78	pho32.rec
Level 33, Zig-Zag	02:22:06	pho33.rec
Level 34, Bumpy Journey	00:52:14	pho34.rec
Level 35, Labyrinth Pro	04:12:16	pho35.rec
Level 36, Fruit in the Den	01:23:93	pho36.rec
Level 37, Jaws	01:36:40	pho37.rec
Level 38, Curvaceous	00:36:59	pho38.rec
Level 39, Haircut	00:56:41	pho39.rec
Level 40, Double Trouble	02:16:85	pho40.rec
Level 41, Framework	00:45:10	pho41.rec
Level 42, Enduro	01:07:45	pho42.rec
Level 43, He He	01:19:12	pho43.rec
Level 44, Freefall	00:35:44	pho44.rec
Level 45, Sink	00:34:43	pho45.rec
Level 46, Bowling	01:45:82	pho46.rec
Level 47, Enigma	01:06:28	pho47.rec
Level 48, Downhill	01:33:67	pho48.rec
Level 49, What the Heck	01:18:10	pho49.rec
Level 50, Expert System	01:30:64	pho50.rec
Level 51, Tricks Abound	01:24:70	pho51.rec
Level 52, Hang Tight	00:36:75	pho52.rec
Level 53, Hooked	00:23:39	pho53.rec
Level 54, Apple Harvest	--:--:--	--
Total	01:04:30:58	All recs

Minesweeper

I'm fairly good at Minesweeper. Here are my records, accompanied by recordings:

Level	Time
Beginner	3 sec.
Intermediate	30 sec.
Expert	103 sec.

Fictional heroes

Here's a list of my favorite fictional heroes. The ranking is tentative; evaluating the coolness of each against each other is hard.

Rank	Hero	What	From	Played/voice-acted by	Why
1	Ryu Hayabusa	Ninja	Ninja Gaiden series	Hideyuki Hori (original Japanese), Justin Gross (English dub)	Ninjas are always cool, but this one beats all.
2	J. C. Denton	Nanotechnologically augmented badass	Deus Ex series	Jay Anthony Franke	He knows how to solve practical problems.
3	Gordon Freeman	Theoretical physicist	Half-Life series	No one (he never speaks)	He saves the world.
4	Neo	The One	Matrix series	Keanu Reeves	He saves humanity.
5	Sam Fisher	A terrorist's nightmare	Splinter Cell series	Michael Ironside	He makes terrorists pay.
6	Karan S'jet	Neuroscientist, Fleet Command	Homeworld series	Heidi Ernest	She volunteers to hardwire herself to a huge ship to act as its living CPU, taking her race across the galaxy to their homeworld. And she has the cutest voice.
7	John-117	Cyborg	Halo series	Steve Downes	Defends humanity against the Covenant.
8	Max Payne	Framed cop	Max Payne series	James McCaffrey	He describes his world in the most clever metaphores.
9	The Prince	Noble and acrobatic prince	Prince of Persia series	Yuri Lowenthal (The Sands of Time, The Two Thrones), Robin Atkin Downes (Warrior Within)	He's a Persian ninja, the second-best kind of ninja.
10	Frank West	Photojournalist	Dead Rising	Terence James Rotolo	He saves people. Ordinary people.
11	Cortana	Powerful AI	Halo series	Jen Taylor	Witty and helpful personality.

Noun of Plural Noun

I found the title of Iain M. Banks' book The Player of Games hilarious, so I invented some others:

The Bringer of Swift Wrath
The Buyer of Merchandise
The Drinker of Liquids
The Kicker of Ass
The Percolator of Myths
The Procrastinator of Work
The Pwner of N00bz
The Reader of Books
The Scratcher of Itches
The Singer of Songs
The Spewer of Filth
The Thrower of Rocks
The Weaver of Ideas
The Wielder of Weapons

Suggestions by Alex Spurling:

The Hacker of Code
The Proliferator of Ignorance
The Purveyor of Prudence
The Turner of Cogs

Origami

A cube, an octahedron and an icosahedron.

I made these shapes following the instructions on Stephan T. Lavavej's Origami Polyhedra page. From left to right: a cube, an octahedron and an icosahedron. I'm still in the process of making the stellated truncated icosahedron (a.k.a. Epcot ball), but it requires 270 pieces, so it'll take some time.

Ninja Gaiden miscellanea

Here's a table comparing various features of Ninja Gaiden, Ninja Gaiden Black, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, and Ninja Gaiden II.

	Ninja Gaiden	Ninja Gaiden Black	Ninja Gaiden Sigma	Ninja Gaiden II	Ninja Gaiden Sigma II
In HD?	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Playable Rachel?	No	No	Yes	No	Yes
Camera rotation?	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Charging without Essence?	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Interruptable 1st level charge?	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
More save points than in previous game?	N/A	Yes	Yes	N/A	No
Uniform Reverse Wind animation?	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Depends on character
Can fire bow in mid-air?	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Can pick up Essence singly?	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Has the Lunar?	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Has the Dragon's Claw & Tiger's Fang?	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Has Mission Mode?	No	Yes	Yes	Yes, downloadable	Yes
Has Survival Mode?	No	No	Yes	Unknown	No
Ice shattering guard break?	No	No	Yes	No	No
Shortcut to items?	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Continuous running on water?	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Must tap jump to run on water?	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Has chargable projectile weapons?	No	No	No	Yes	No
Has Ninja Cinema?	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Has Obliteration Technique?	No	No	No	Yes	Yes

Bored?

Watch:

Movies

12 Monkeys (1995)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
2010: The Year We Made Contact (1984)
Amelie (2001)
Animatrix, The (2003)
Before Sunrise (1995)
Behind Enemy Lines (2001)
Black Hawk Down (2001)
Bowling for Columbine (2002)
Core, The (2003)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Cube (1997)
Cube 2: Hypercube (2002)
Cube Zero (2004)
Cypher (2002)
Dogma (1999)
Equilibrium (2002)
Groundhog Day (1993)
I, Robot (2004)
Jackie Chan: Accidental Spy (2001)
Jackie Chan: Dragons Forever (1987)
Jackie Chan: Drunken Master (1978)
Jackie Chan: Gorgeous (1999)
Jackie Chan: Legend of Drunken Master (1994)
Jackie Chan: New Police Story (2004)
Jackie Chan: Operation Condor (1990)
Jackie Chan: Rush Hour (1998)
Jackie Chan: Rush Hour 2 (2001)
Jackie Chan: Shanghai Noon (2000)
Jackie Chan: Shanghai Knights (2003)
Jackie Chan: Snake in Eagle's Shadow (1978)
Jackie Chan: The Medallion (2003)
Jackie Chan: The Prisoner (1990)
Jackie Chan: Twin Dragons (1991)
Jackie Chan: Young Master (1980)
Jet Li: Fist of Legend (1994)
Jet Li: Hero (2002)
Jet Li: Hitman (1998)
K-Pax
Magnolia (1999)
Matrix, The (1999)
Matrix Reloaded, The (2003)
Matrix Revolutions, The (2003)
Shaolin Soccer (2001)
Starship Troopers (1997)
Team America: World Police (2004)
Windtalkers (2002)

Series

Coupling
Family Guy
Futurama
Red Dwarf
Simpsons, The
Space: Above and Beyond

Play:

Abe's Oddysee (1997)
Abe's Exoddus (1998)
Alien vs. Predator (1999)
Alien vs. Predator 2 (2001)
American McGee's Alice (2000)
Battlefield: 1942 (2002)
Black & White (2001)
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Knights Templar (1996)
Broken Sword 2: The Smoking Mirror (1997)
Broken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon (2003)
Doom 3 (2004)
Elasto Mania (2000)
Deus Ex (2000)
Deus Ex: Invisible War (2003)
Far Cry (2004)
F.E.A.R
Full Spectrum Warrior (2004)
Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K. 2 (2000)
Half-Life (1998)
Half-Life: Blue Shift (2001)
Half-Life: Opposing Force (1999)
Half-Life² (2004)
Halo (2001)
Halo 2 (2004)
Hitman: Codename 47 (2000)
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin (2002)
Kingpin: Life of Crime (1999)
Mafia (2002)
Max Payne (2001)
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne (2003)
MDK (1997)
MDK 2 (2000)
No One Lives Forever: The Operative (2000)
No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way (2002)
Painkiller (2004)
Prince of Persia (1989)
Prince of Persia 3D (1999)
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2003)
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones (2005)
Quake (1996)
Quake 2 (1997)
Quake 3: Arena (1999)
Red Faction (2001)
Splinter Cell (2002)
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow (2004)
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (2005)
System Shock (1994)
System Shock 2 (1999)
StarCraft (1998)
StarCraft: BroodWar (1998)
UFO: Aftermath (2003)
Unreal (1998)
Unreal: Return to Na Pali (1999)
Unreal 2: The Awakening (2003)
Unreal Tournament (1999)
Unreal Tournament 2003 (2003)

Do you have any items you think I would like to play/watch? Tell me.

Cool words

Here's a list of words I think are cool, in the order that I think of them (or discover them), with a definition from dictionary.com following each one.

idiosyncratic — A structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group.
bastardization — To lower in quality or character; debase.
esoteric — Of or relating to that which is known by a restricted number of people.
quixotic — Caught up in the romance of noble deeds and the pursuit of unreachable goals; idealistic without regard to practicality.
defenestrate — To throw out of a window.
campus — The grounds of a school, college, university, or hospital.
chassis — The framework to which the components of a radio, television, or other electronic equipment are attached.
amalgamation — A consolidation or merger, as of several corporations.
quincunx — An arrangement of five objects with one at each corner of a rectangle or square and one at the center.
electroencephalograph — An instrument that measures electrical potentials on the scalp and generates a record of the electrical activity of the brain.