Despite incurring a severe head injury and going to hospital Will Ferrell still turns up for work the next day.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 13:40, Reply)
that and when Steve Carrell does that dance in The Office.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 14:18, Reply)
I can only find this outtake that someone poorly filmed off their tele though. But you get the gist. Mind you, you don't even need to see it do you, you can just imagine it. Anyway.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAuN4_bdTEE
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 14:32, Reply)
That is the difference between American and UK comedy right there. Did make me laugh, though.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 14:55, Reply)
Weird init. The US Office is definitely worth a watch. It's pretty sharp. Once you get past the first episode where they follow the UK script exactly and it comes off like a bunch of college students doing a remake. Once they start taking it in their own direction though, boy does hilarity ensue.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 15:24, Reply)
what it say ^^^^
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 13:33, Reply)
If you want a house with a stream, go buy a house with a stream.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 13:44, Reply)
I can't imagine how much this thing costs to run each day. Guess money is no object to some.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 13:48, Reply)
and spend that money on drugs and guns.
(, Sat 9 Feb 2013, 5:06, Reply)
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 16:04, Reply)
The chap I worked for stopped me one day and told me he wanted a lake in his garden.
"Err....ok...i suppose....I could look into how to...."
"Fine, just go ahead and do it."
So I hired some diggers and got busy. I had a massive pond liner custom made at some factory in Germany and shipped over.
"Dave, I want a waterfall as well - nothing massive, just a gentle stream cascading over some rocks or something..... Oh, and a bridge....an arched wooden bridge over the narrow part strong enough to drive the tractor over if needed."
"right..."
So thats what I did. Granted its nothing like the vid in the original post, but I was quite proud of it.
I need to get some decent pics, this is the narrow end with the bridge and waterfall, but no water yet. A very rough calculation reckons it will take about 400 cubic mters of water to fill. We are now looking at what plants etc he wants around it which I will plant this spring.

It can be fun working for rich people.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 16:44, Reply)
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 19:36, Reply)
A couple of years ago I stuck a couple of links up plugging the movie Chalet Girl, a Brit rom-com whose screenplay was penned by the fair hand of my brother. Despite it not being typical b3ta fodder, you guys all seemed to like the idea of a jobbing British writer doing well, and I remember him saying at the time that his blog and some other sites got quite a lot of visits through b3ta so here we go.
His next undertaking is a tad more gritty than the Snow-mantic phenomenon that was Chalet Girl, involving as it does paratroopers and land mines...
It's still early days - they're searching for investment and drumming up talent interest in the major character roles. But if you have an interest in the film business, and want to keep an eye on progress, then worth checking out the site, and following on the facebooks and liking on the twitters or whatever the cool kids do these days.
ADDENDUM If any of you are seriously moneyed up and want to invest in the project, by all means feel free.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 12:48, Reply)
Seriously intense stuff...
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 12:56, Reply)
Interesting bloke, he's just completed a PhD on clouded leopards
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 13:01, Reply)
Is it static line only or do they have a rip cord with a lump of meat on the end?
I guess being cats they don't have to worry about landing on their feet.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 13:21, Reply)
I don't care how 'macho' or 'hard' you guy is - there's no way he wrote a phd thesis on the back of a leorpard.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 13:48, Reply)
He's that hard!
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Clouded-Leopard-A-Soldiers-Story-From-Combat-to-Conservation/217014074996454
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 14:00, Reply)
zing!
I'd have used paper, but that's me - always looking for the easy option.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 14:40, Reply)
I wondered how he was doing. Hope he gets it made, looks good!
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 13:00, Reply)
Opening Weekend:
$192 (USA) (14 October 2011)
Gross:
$1,201 (USA) (21 October 2011)
Looks like a serious loser. Until you hit read more:
$1,201 (USA) (23 October 2011)
$192 (USA) (16 October 2011)
£1,306,023 (UK) (27 March 2011)
£677,716 (UK) (20 March 2011)
Weekend Gross
$763 (USA) (23 October 2011) (1 Screen)
$192 (USA) (16 October 2011) (1 Screen)
£339,947 (UK) (27 March 2011) (380 Screens)
£677,716 (UK) (20 March 2011) (381 Screens)
A little healthier.
I wish I was cashed up enough invest. At most, I could afford about 5K (for catering).
Cheers
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 13:07, Reply)
EDIT Aaah I see... It was mainly a UK release. figures on that are slightly better.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 13:09, Reply)
as the lead actress I am willing to offer my considerable acting, err, talents, for the role of lead actor.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 13:36, Reply)
Not seen Chalet Girl, but great to hear success stories. Hope he gets further success with this.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 13:40, Reply)
"the first British comedy since [Working Title] that won't make you want to stick pins in your eyes"
No higher praise...
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 13:47, Reply)
The very best of luck with it.
(, Sat 9 Feb 2013, 5:10, Reply)
it's about right for my attention sp- ooh, crispy pancakes.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 12:37, Reply)
i've been singing this song to myself all the time the horse news has been on. i'm amazed no-one's used it on a bulletin yet.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 12:45, Reply)
Oh bugger, the still frame made me happy cry, I haven't even watched the clip yet.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 19:52, Reply)
This is my son's favourite song (especially the full version with 'why's it purple?')
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 22:54, Reply)
made from 100%recycled paper so you wont get your wrist slapped for wasteing paper in the office.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 11:50, Reply)
And by 'load', I mean one. And by 'old bowls', I mean a lovely piece of 16th century Spanish lustreware.
Zero lols, I'm afraid (unless it really is that bad) - it's a 3D model I've created (using photogrammetry) for part of my course, and as there are some talented 3D artists/modellers on this site, I'm shamelessly asking for feedback. Honest feedback, too - I'm well aware the model ain't even close to perfect...
[edit] Oh, and you'll need a webGL browser. Works best in Chrome, as usual [/edit]
Shit, my first link, shall I just bend over now?
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 11:37, Reply)
Enjoying your £9,000/year course fees?
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 11:47, Reply)
EngD, so my course fees, and indeed living expenses, are paid for by your taxes :)
Sorry.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 12:09, Reply)
what equipment did you use? I'm considering buying a 3d scanning thingmybob for scanning antiques for reproduction in the near future
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 11:49, Reply)
Two Nikon D700s bolted together and a lot of fancy software (and clever people - not me). I've done a bit of laser scanning, including with a 500k Arius colour jobby, but honestly, I think photogrammetry is the future - especially if you're after a nice attractive output rather than engineering-style accuracy.
You can try photogrammetry for free at sites like www.123dapp.com/catch
[edit]Btw, we also scanned the bowl with a Nikon portable laser scanner - to get geometry but no texture, but ended up not using any of the scan data (there was an issue with the scanner, but ultimately there was just no point, the photogrammetry got the geometry pretty well)[/edit]
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 12:11, Reply)
Never been a huge fan of voxels except in this case where you want to create an accurate record.
Solid works man myself and I would have made that out of a single revolve.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 11:55, Reply)
What's solid works? Does that mean you'd create a profile and make a solid object by spinning it round an axis? Unfortunately we were trying to create an accurate copy (we didn't manage it...), and the bowl isn't really very symmetrical...
And yes the upside down floral hat problem (see below) is do to with the viewer I'm using. When I've got time I want to transfer it to an open source version so I have more control over stuff like that...
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 12:14, Reply)
I only use Povray myself.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 12:22, Reply)
Not sure, and getting out of my comfort zone, but I don't think it's using voxels. It's a point cloud, so the points are distributed arbitrarily rather than in a 3d grid... does that make sense?
Fairly simple to mesh a point cloud, could you then use that?
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 12:28, Reply)
it's things like spheres, cylinders and cubes, combined with union, intersection and difference. For example you can define a cube and take a spherical chunk out of it. Which tickles my maths gland.
*Constructive Solid Geometry
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 12:33, Reply)
you can get a reasonable first approximation, but there are cases where most of the algorithms break and manual intervention is required. Worth the effort if you want to render without holes or analyse the data though.
Adding normals and reflectance info to turn the points into surfels is another alternative that sometimes works well for rendering, unfortunately you still get problems with holes where the samples are too far apart.
If you want to go all the way to crazy you could just take hundreds of pictures and go for light field rendering. No geometry at all, just clever warp & blend operations.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 12:51, Reply)
True, though those algorithms are improving all the time - but yes, the mesh will usually need a lot of cleaning and work to make it properly solid, so it can be printed out, for example.
As for normals, hopefully you can see on this model that there are some! They were all calculated after capture though. There weren't many holes in the data, but huge amounts of noise thanks to the incredibly shiny material. Cleaning that up did introduce holes, which then required filling using the software's algorithms, which is why the model looks rough (in the actual sense of the word) in places.
We got this model using about 30 image stereo-pairs. My colleagues here have got this method (depending on the source object) to output geometry that's accurate to less than 20 microns, better than pretty much any laser scanner. We're looking at buying a light field camera to play with!
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 13:11, Reply)
Probably best off sticking with a high res camera + robot type rig.
I wasn't getting decent lighting unfortunately - it was all flat. I believe it is there tho. Software at my end is the likely culprit.
Got any papers btw? I'm fairly interested in this stuff but haven't followed it for a couple of years.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 13:24, Reply)
It takes a while for the lighting to 'switch on' - was the model fully loaded? Lots of pink specularity...?
Funny you should say that about high-res... our first model used the full res of the image, and we got a very dense point cloud but with a lot of noise and holes. Running the same images but downsampled 2x, we got a sparser point cloud but cleaner data and fewer holes - probably because the feature detection worked better on lo-res images rather than high-res with everything 'smeared out' over more pixels.
And not sure what you mean by 'robot' rig - we just used a tripod and shifted the camera round! We did use a kinect to make a very rough 3d model first, and then used an algorithm in development here to predict the best camera positions for the object (though I doubt it would matter much with a fairly 2d symmetrical object like this). A couple of colleagues are actually building a robot rig which would take pics from all the best spots...
As for papers, I try not to get involved in the maths/technical side, but google scholar should throw up a load - try searching for just photogrammetry or 'structure from motion'. I get the gist of most of them, but they tend to lose me as soon as they start with the maths...
(, Tue 12 Feb 2013, 13:28, Reply)
A complete crock, but popular coz it's free.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 12:43, Reply)
but I've seen some impressive images created in it.
Also I really like typing the co-ordinates in instead of having to faff around with the mouse and doing things by eye.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 12:47, Reply)
It's the back end and implementation I've got no time for. CSG trees get unwieldy quite fast, and the use of implicit geometry for everything has been hobbling the performance for years.
By all means use CSG, but FFS expand the geometry, stick it into some *decent* spatial data structures and take a tenth of the time to render a scene!
[edit] They can't actually do this, because the CSG engine allows infinitely large objects. This means that to have something with decent performance for, say, triangle meshes and tessellated objects they need to support 2 data structures simultaneously and decide what can be expanded on a per subtree basis. Don't envy them but they brought it on themselves.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 12:55, Reply)
the latest version with SMP has been in beta for frickin' years.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 13:01, Reply)
Ray tracing is pretty much the poster child for "SMP is easy". WTF have they been doing?
Actually I can guess. Globals all over the place instead of passing context around properly.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 13:07, Reply)
annoyingly they put a time limit on it though so you had to download a key to renew it every so often, for reasons I can't fathom. Fine if they actually expected it to come out of Beta within that time limit. Urgh.
I think it's because they added a lot of experimental features all in one go and haven't had the time to develop any of it.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 13:13, Reply)
I kind of got bored with it after I had been doing it for pay for a few years. I had a scheme to do a new hybrid MC/hardware renderer, but then got sidetracked and spent the last few years working on the tone mapping instead :)
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 13:20, Reply)
I read a paper by a group who did that a few years ago, really impressive performance. As much parallel processing as you can shake a stick at.
It's funny how doing something for a living destroys your enthusiasm for it, though. I know this effect too well.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 13:22, Reply)
1. fpgas are still pretty pricey
2. my current machine is a laptop, and /laptop/ fpgas are limited.
3. ray tracing needs random access to the whole scene. You either need to keep the whole scene in mem or have some paging system.
4. Data transfer is expensive. Whatever job you are offloading has to really be worth the effort.
3 and 4 are the biggies there. Interesting scenes are absurdly complex these days, and even gpu memory is limited. Not saying it can't be made useful, just that you need to think hard about what to offload.
Now if you offload the post render tone mapping you could probably do very well. I have been coding up a QMC based approx bilateral filter lately that gives excellent results and would work nicely in hardware.
When finished it's going to take pride of place in the middle of my detail enhancer. Same results as the old one, much faster :)
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 13:36, Reply)
3 & 4 true, but, hmm... I wonder if a scene can be split up in some way and then composited afterwards.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 14:12, Reply)
The problem is that after the first bounce a ray can end up anywhere in your scene, especially if you are doing lighting simulation or lots of reflections.
One approach is to split up the scene into regions and have a processor/machine/fpga dealing with each one, but then you have to deal with the problem of handing over rays between regions and routing results back to whatever asked for them.
The details get a bit horrible.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 14:16, Reply)
I am working on a new tool that uses light-touch RST to compress voxels into a manageable solid works T4T format.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 12:54, Reply)
Only the other day, Fadge (no relation, honest), myself and Flirting With Badgers were all in the same thread. Badgergeddon.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 12:16, Reply)
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 12:03, Reply)
i.e limit it to a single hashtag
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 11:03, Reply)
and I guess it's banned in China?
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 11:54, Reply)
www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/nov/22/indonesians-worlds-biggest-users-of-twitter
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 11:58, Reply)
it looks pretty, but to be honest it could just be a map of the world with some fairy lights and the odd bit of text arriving and departing at a speed which renders text useless.
It would've looked great in a pre-launch pitch presentation to investors but I'm not sure it offers much other than being pretty.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 12:46, Reply)
It may not be new music but it's propa eclectic like ya'knaa
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 10:43, Reply)
the lauren laverne bit is the worst part in my opinion.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 10:53, Reply)
and play some uncool music once in a while. just to mix it up a bit like.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 11:00, Reply)
some of the interviews lauren does with "rock stars" who don't want to be interviewed make me smile. Lauren asks long Q.
"What inspired this track, was it the 911 attacks or the state of the world right now, it seems to have a lot of depth"
20 second pause from twatish band member, then whispered response
"no its really about nothing, really"
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 11:04, Reply)
Her part of the show just has the music I don't like, I having nothing against her. But they all run jokes into the ground like Mark Radcliffe and his 'what you want to do with that right...' at the start of his show. Makes me switch off.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 11:10, Reply)
I like Radcliffe and Maconie but yeah it can get tiresome. I haven't tuned in for ages. It's 6 musics lack of heavily distorted guitars that annoys me.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 11:35, Reply)
she played Oasis
revolutionary
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 12:36, Reply)
6music is a fine station, but not perfect. I find the daytime selections too conservative, too XFM (awful, awful station. The worst thing is the presenters though. All of them, with the exception of Buxton (and Cornish, when he's not being all successful in the states) really grate on me.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 12:51, Reply)
they're pretty 'out there' when it comes to contemporary music. But they constantly beg for donations which can get on your tits. Especially if you're like me and hate giving money to people.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 11:00, Reply)
good start, shame it's not 3am on Sunday
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 12:06, Reply)
But still the only station I'll allow at work.
Love customers asking "What IS that you're listening to?!"
The only reply can be "Well, I call it a radio." 'cos I'm sad like that.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 12:56, Reply)
It's like a mixture of vomit and bling. GC, but only twice before, and not since December.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 10:35, Reply)
Can't believe this got voted the best song in jjj(oz radio station)hottest 100.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 10:42, Reply)
I ordered a CD from him 3-4 years ago, there was no option for international shipping so I emailed him, he emailed me back to say "don't stress, just pay the $1.99 US shipping and I'll make it happen"
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 11:04, Reply)
Love or hate the movie, this raises a chuckle or two.
(It took me a couple of times of watching Skyfall to be firmly in the former camp)
GC says 'no'
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 10:27, Reply)
The head of MI6 trying to secretly escape into the darkness... with a FLASHLIGHT.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 10:34, Reply)
Because I'm half American, half Scottish and wholly confused.
I only found out the other day that saying 'I'm going to the store' is just not the done thing in the uk, and I've lived here all my life.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 10:42, Reply)
...TO kick the NaAAazis out of Africa. See Indiana Jones for reference.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 19:34, Reply)
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 13:43, Reply)
The architecture on the 'old' house was English, not Scottish. Not to mention the name 'Skyfall'.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 10:45, Reply)
The lingering landscape shots were the best thing about this film.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 10:38, Reply)
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 13:47, Reply)
I wish that these copies were better because the amount of time I waste downloading crap quality ones is terrible. Not to mention the hammering that my neighbour's WiFi gets.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 10:41, Reply)
Since my neighbour got arrested, I've not been able to access his wifi.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 10:46, Reply)
And my ha'p'th...
www.b3ta.com/board/10922348
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 11:56, Reply)
It was rather odd the way the BBC built it up as and reviewed it as the greatest film ever made and after a few months when the box office receipts were all safely banked started to take the piss and call it the silliest. Presumably it was perfectly acceptable entertainment.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 19:46, Reply)
The film was much more entertaining that that pretensious crap.
Why do cunts feel the need to point out that action/adventure films don't always reflect reality?
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 23:32, Reply)
For the most part, worthy and thought provoking, but I did NOT know that first guy's contribution was a feminist issue. And he obviously did not know that the internet hasn't got a delete button.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 9:38, Reply)
well the strap-on guy's point IS a feminist issue, as they all are. Nothing especially new there though.
Anyway, they're all Oxford students so I'd be inclined to round people up to carry whiteboards about why we still need socialism and parade them outside their halls.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 10:31, Reply)
they MUST be over privileged and politically right leaning...
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 10:51, Reply)
Please don't tell me that's contentious.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 14:50, Reply)
you'd be better off protesting elsewhere. Many of them would agree with you. You can't blame people for going to a decent university - blame years of government policy for putting it out of reach of many people.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 10:52, Reply)
'awwwww, cute'
I'm a gender traitor and a rubbish feminist.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 11:13, Reply)
Like Paul Calf said '‘I’m a radical feminist. I am. I am, really. I think you’ve got to be these days if you want to get your end away.'
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 11:12, Reply)
If that page is NSFW, then THIS page is NSFW. Maybe you should go and do some work.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 14:04, Reply)
that to me would kinda be classed as NSFW but i could be wrong.. i still am in need of more coffee.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 14:41, Reply)
I TOTALLY missed that. I thought he was complaining about swearing.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 14:58, Reply)
Not my thing but some of those folds could be NSFW certainly.
Speaking of chubby birds, wheres Tab Hunter?
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 15:16, Reply)
Yes, football, move along if not interested in football.
8 bit renderings of classic/ modern teams and footballing events done in 8bit styrle.
Like this Luiz Suarez dive capture:

(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 9:35, Reply)
You can keep yer Fifa's and yer Prevo
Bear in mind, I grew up with the turgid and unplaybale matchday, so Sensible Soccer was like discovering a gold bar in your computer
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 10:14, Reply)
my absolute fav is Premier League
because you could rename all the teams and players - so I had a league full of 'Fishbadger Utd', 'Crocus FC' etc.
then at the end of the season 'Tottenham Hotspur' would get promoted from the invisible lower league
it made me laugh...the incongruity...you see...
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 12:41, Reply)
Posted on Yahoo cos today marks the 50th anniversary of banning cigarette advertising on TV (makes you wonder if Yahoo got a backhander for this). I had no idea how much tobacco was wasted, I better start looking out on the floor for dog-ends. And remember: When father says puff, we all puff.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 9:31, Reply)
so it could technically count as a snuff video. Please accept my apologies for any distress caused.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 9:43, Reply)
Courtesy of Ron S. Eel
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 9:24, Reply)
I didn't get far with that before I got bored - dunno if that's me or him
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 9:42, Reply)
loved the first two, and kept waiting for it to take off
and it never did
I'll gonna have to listen to Dig lazarus Dig now to get me back in a friday mood
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 10:15, Reply)
Loved that opening track since i heard it a while back, looking forward to hearing this.
Will click now but will have to listen later.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 10:03, Reply)
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 9:31, Reply)
stated. But the mortar just lays there empty and lifeless.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 9:35, Reply)
It's not a long list.
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 9:38, Reply)
the angle of the mortar is all wrong, and secondly the round looks like it has no chargers attached
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 9:32, Reply)
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 10:14, Reply)
(, Fri 8 Feb 2013, 10:47, Reply)
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