Last month we put up a competition where people were challenged to figure out the following brainteaser
You have two pieces of rope which each burn for exactly one hour. The ropes are not made of the same materials as each other, and each rope is not made of the same materials in its length either. Both ropes will catch fire easily, and burn for exactly one hour, but it is possible that (for example) one might take 52 minutes to burn 25% of its length and then 8 minutes to burn the remaining length, you don’t know. You have no other form of timing device, no phone, no watch, no clock, no sundial, no sun. You have a few matches in a match box. How do you measure out exactly 45 minutes?
Here are the three entries we received:
Entry by Doug
1)Cut each rope into their own even 60 pieces
2) Light all the ends at once
3) Once the 30 quickest have burnt out will the remaining 90 strands take 45 minutes?
Trev: Loving the creativity Doug – its not the answer we were looking for but I wonder if that might actually work!
Entry by Ross
Use your watch?
Trev: You were not allowed to use timepieces buddy – though I admire anyone who blatantly tries to circumnavigate rules 😉
Entry by Mark
Light both same time, but 1 both ends that will burn out in 30 mins then light the other end of the 2nd that will burn out 15 mins later.
Trev: Spot on buddy boy – well done!
Mark has declined either prize on offer so will just have to buy him a beer when I see him at a mutual friends 40th next month. Thanks for playing everyone!
Well done to the winners of the Transformers Top Trumps Competition! People had to either write a poem or create a picture that involved me and the Transformers somehow. We have our two winners below: Brody wrote a poem chronicling the dramas I had getting my PC fixed when I turned up and the old owner, who was also a Transformers nut, had sold the business. Scottie(our resident fan artist extraordinaire!) has created a simply awesome pic which hopefully bodes well for the future casting decisions of upcoming Transformer movies. Well done guys, your Top Trump cards will be sent out to you soon!
A poem by Brody
You took your pc to get fixed, The owner was new, And he you knew, He also liked Transformers It took you a while to remember the former Rhyming is hard, I’m not Wheelie, Really!! Thirty-Five words, I’m not the Riddler I am not a Fiddler Don’t linger, Just be careful of Dipstick’s finger!
Everyone gets headcolds – everyone! Well, not vampires, zombies and people who prefer Beast Wars to Generation One maybe, but that’s because you need a soul to get a headcold (I’m not sure of the correlation but somehow the soul lowers your immune system, odd but true). But for the rest of us a headcold is something we are guaranteed to get at least once a year if not more. So to beat it – and I don’t mean cope with it, I mean kick its phlegm-producing-arse – here is the DEFINITIVE GUIDE on how to show this virus the door!
No no, I’m fine – really! Cough Cough
You will need the following items and consumables:
ITEMS FOR YOUR RECOVERY ROOM
*1 Bed with Electric Blanket
*1 Television, DVD/Blu Ray player and associated media
*Wake up – feel crap. Blow nose. Ring in to work sick. Throw cat outside.
*Put on electric blanket. Make toast and a glass of juice.
*Make Soup – whilst it is heating, set up your Recovery Room.
*Make Lemsip – go back to bed, watch morning news.
*Get up, collect bowl of soup for lunch. Put leftovers in slow cooker set to ‘warm’. Go back to bed and consume soup.
*Put bowl back in kitchen. Use the toilet. Blow nose. Let cat in and collect DVD’s.
*Curl up in bed with cat, put on DVD, set vaporizer going.
(Note with Entertainment: Do NOT give yourself access to the internet! You will spend the time checking your social profile updates rather than resting. Also, do NOT watch Horror, Action or Porn DVDs – the idea is lower your heartrate! Ideally you want something you enjoy but have seen before. Think of your viewing choice like watching the Test Cricket on Boxing Day – it’s interesting enough you don’t get too bored but it’s slow and bland enough that you can easily fall asleep in front of it.)
(Extra Note: If you insist on reading instead of watching mindless films, make sure the book is likewise one you have read before and enjoy – you do not want a page turner keeping your brain active using up what vital energy you have.)
*Nap throughout afternoon in front of movies, the steamer helping you breathe and the electric blanket and cat helping you feel cozy and drowsy.
*Get up around dinner time and have second bowl of soup with toast. Feed cat and throw outside. Blow nose.
*Watch whatever is on TV (Do NOT watch Reality Television! This has nothing to do with being sick – reality TV just sucks is all and you are suffering enough already!)
*Pour generous glass of scotch on rocks with a twist of lemon – it warms your insides and numbs you nicely! Pour a second if not warm and numb enough.
*Refill steamer, use toilet, blow nose, bring cat back in, sleep.
Follow these instructions precisely and you should be feeling much better the next day. If not – go see a doctor – chances are you have polio.
I love making chicken soup for my family when they are ill. It warms the cockles and all other heart related areas, provides nourishment and comfort and, most importantly, tastes damn fine!
However when you are ill yourself, you probably don’t have the energy to go collect fresh silverbeet and parsley from the garden (heck, it’s possible you don’t even farm your own produce!), nor the patience to chop up raw chicken and slow cook it for 8 hours. So here is the easy-peasy version you can make yourself with minimal fuss to get you back on your feet.
Ingredients:
2 x 500gm cans of Creamy Chicken Soup
1 x 460gm can of Mixed Vegetables (potato, carrot, peas & corn)
1 cup of fusilli pasta
2 stalks of fresh celery
1 x sprinkle of freshly ground pepper
1 x sprinkle of fresh coriander
Method
*Pre-boil the pasta and set aside
*Chop up the celery into small chunks
*Put the two cans of soup into a pot, add the vegetables and pasta
*Put on the lowest possible heat on the stovetop and let sit, stirring every 5 minutes or so. If you have the heat low enough it should take about half an hour for it to heat up.
*As soon as it begins to bubble, remove from stovetop. Do NOT allow it to boil.
*Pop in some pepper and stir. Leave to sit for 5 minutes.
*Ladle yourself a big bowl, sprinkle some coriander on top and go back to bed
So there ya go, home made chicken soup made easy! For those times you don’t have the energy to make the complicated version and your immune system and spirit need a much needed boost.
The Deployer toys from the RID(15) series certainly cause conflicting reactions amongst TF fans. On the one hand they are very simplistic toys with very simple transformations and models. On the other hand they come with Mini-Con partners which turn into either discs, missiles or cyclone spheres which they can shoot in either their robot or alt-modes. Anyway, lets have a look at the three Decepticon ones that have been released to date – namely FRACTURE, OVERLOAD and CRAZYBOLT.
Please note: As Fracture was released so long ago I will mainly focus on the other two which can still be found on store shelves. I will still touch on the Bountyhunter Deployer from yesteryear though.
ROBOT MODES
Overload
Very stock standard but a vast improvement on the first round of Deployer toys (Fracture and Drift). Some poseability but not much. Decent proportions, looks like a real bruiser!
Crazybolt
Some sort of weird stylized chameleon lizard thing. Looks a bit of a hodgepog with bits of the alt-mode going every which way. When not sporting a Cyclone-Sphere Mini-Con the jaw comes up, leaving the launcher hanging below awkwardly. When having a Mini-Con in place the jaw extends down much like a snake eating an egg so it looks like he is coughing up a Cyclone Sphere to spit at someone which is kinda cool.
VEHICLE MODES Overload
Very stock standard again but ok. Just looks like they changed the Megatronus mould a bit. At least his vehicle mode still kinda works without the Mini-Con attached – again, a great improvement over the likes of Drift.
Crazybolt
Looks like a pretty cool, stylized Cybertronian Dragster, would not have been out of place from the Speed Planet line of toys in the Cybertron series. Very nicely proportioned and the touches of dull-orange help to add contrast to the light blue and white colouring overall, especially on the dual-triple flame exhausts that cleverly come from the lizard modes toes.. The Mini-Con launcher is set at the back of the car, which while not as aggressive looking as say the placement on Overload, makes sense if it’s a dragster character who is always going to be racing ahead of whoever he is battling.
MINI-CON PARTNERS
Backtrack looks like he would fit in well with one of the new Star Wars movies, whilst Hammer looks like a prehistoric chicken!
FRACTURE with AIRAZOR
When I first went to open this toy I was thinking “Wow – the robot looks a helluva lot better than the Drift Deployer – this might be good”
Then I opened him and realised the deployer mechanism does not detach – what balls! It looks so stupid and unsightly sitting up over his right shoulder!
I don’t mind the motorcycle mode too much – looks suitably Cybertronian and it looks like it could be a Cybertronian side-car. Not nearly as detailed as the robot mode but with the awful backpack that is how is gonna live.
I quite like Airazor especially his leg structure, its nice to see something a bit different and it looks pretty cool. Only let-down for me is the face – looks like some bad lava-moster. And all the extra bits you can attach to him don’t look as good as other Mini-Cons out there.
Overall opinion of the Decepticon Deployers
Look, none of these three toys are great. But then none of the RID(15) toyline figures are so at least these come with little Mini-Con partners they can shoot. If you are a fan of the cartoon or a completionist then these three are worth picking up on the cheap if you can find them. If not, then do not bother my friends, very average figures indeed.
This question comes from Sarah in Swan Hill “Which Party should I vote for in the 2016 Federal Election?”
Well it’s hard to say. Lots of people treat Political Parties like Football teams, as in they pick one and then support them their whole lives, regardless of what players are on the team or how the team has been performing. I’ve never understood this mentality myself but then I don’t understand why people willingly eat tofu.
To be honest, none of the parties are much chop this time around. Let’s have a quick look at whose on offer:
The Liberals – used to be the ones to vote for if you wanted financial stability, now just a bunch of old argumentative fraggers whose whole campaign seems to revolve around ‘Well since we are in already, why not just go with it?’
The Nationals – while they may give a crap about the farmers they have been the Liberals whipping party for so long they just go along with whatever their masters decree. Ball gags and sodminzation are the order of the day when the two parties have a get-together.
Labor – the Political Party equivalent of a plain bread sandwich. Unappetizing, boring, and not much of interest to be found within. Their main selling point ‘We are not the Liberals’
The Greens – the ones to vote for if you have a social conscious, not the ones to vote for if you think that maybe another war would be good to cull all those bloody dole-bludgers.
The Sex Party – they promote having lots of sex – yay! The woman who runs it has been known to distribute the Warrick Cappa sex-tape and there is simply no excuse for that – ever!
Family First – Does everyone in your family think that Jesus is just the best and that homosexuals are evil? Then maybe this party really is thinking of your family first. Are you gay, an atheist, a foreigner or combination of the above? Then your family is coming dead last under them!
The Jackie Lambie Party – bwah hahahahahaha! Pauline 2.0! Nuff said.
So, who should Sarah (and all of you) vote for?
Well the answer is simple – VOTE FOR THE OTHER GUY! You want some action in your local community or your region? Then DO NOT VOTE FOR WHOEVER IS ALREADY IN POWER IN YOUR SEAT!
Here is why – think about it – which are the seats that the pollies are visiting the most and promising the most to? The seats that could swing either way, that’s which ones! It’s the equivalent of a relationship – if you’ve been in one for years and years you probably don’t try as hard as you used to. You know that your partner is not going anywhere so why go to the hassle of romancing them? But that new relationship? That’s full of flowers, chocolates, romantic dinners and saucy underwear that would get you locked up in some countries. You are out to impress them, you are out to woo them and you are going to do whatever it takes to win their hearts.
The electoral seat I live in has been overwhelmingly won by The Nationals since its inception. You know what we get promised and what we get delivered each election – bugger all! It’s also why they can afford to put one of the most blatently racist and homophobic Nationals Members in the seat – because even he couldn’t lose it! But those seats like the one near Ballarat which could go either way, they just got promised a multi-million dollar industrial development to increase jobs in the region and both the major party leaders have made visits in the last month. Closest we’ve come to a Prime Ministerial visit was when Bob Hawke stopped to have the septic tank on his campaign bus emptied during his drive from Melbourne to Adelaide.
So VOTE FOR THE OTHER GUY, vote for whoever is most likely to upset the balance of power in your political seat and knock out the incumbent! It might not do you much good this election, but sure as shinola come the next election you can sit on your porch and watch the Olympic-sized swimming pool getting built next to the new combination multiplex theatre, strip club and sushi bar while pollies from both sides of the fence rub your feet, tickle your belly and pledge to erect anatomically flattering statues in your honor.
Deadpool, the Merc with a Mouth! And the Merc with a hugely successful movie that out- grossed at the box office nearly every other Marvel movie to date! Being a very dedicated Deadpool fan for many years I couldn’t wait for this flick to come out, and then being suitably impressed with it I then had the wait to buy my own copy. Luckily for me Deadpool is now available on DVD and Blu Ray pretty much everywhere.
But is it worth getting? Well if you loved the movie of course! But often it’s the extras on a disk that can make one decide whether to buy it now or buy it for a third the price in a few years time. I personally got the Blu Ray so here is a rundown of the extras on it to help inform your decision. By the way, this review is working on the basis that you have already seen the movie itself. If you haven’t – well it’s awesome! Now that that is said, on with the extras!
Deleted/Extended Scenes
Nothing of major note, although one particular one shows Deadpool using his wall calendar a lot to show the progression of years of searching for Francis. I didn’t pick up in the movie that it took him years, and after seeing this deleted scene I had to really watch the movie carefully again to pick up that’s what happened. There is a pretty full on scene with him down in Mexico too so overall they aren’t a bad watch.
Gag Reel
It’s just a bunch of the actors laughing when they stuff up their lines – nothing special.
Galleries
Interesting to see the development of Deadpool’s suit and all the tiny changes they made. But besides that, unless you are a CGI artist interested in how they designed the backgrounds and Colossus there is not a lot to hold your attention.
From Comics to Screen to Screen
Goes for about 80 minutes. This is where you will see all the behind the scenes stuff. It’s quite interesting to listen to how Deadpool actually getting made came down to the constant campaigning of 5 individuals (including Ryan Renyolds himself) and all the hassle that came with getting this movie, not only to be released, but with the higher audience rating. What was interesting was that every time the tiniest bit of a clip was shown from the movie it usually involved swearing, which is not a surprise, but nearly every interview with an actor or guest star took place at the strip club which was hardly in the movie at all! This means that you see a lot of topless women in the background as the actors (and even Stan Lee!) talk to camera – between that and the language if you held out illusions that even if you could not watch the movie while the kids were about you could at least watch the extras, those illusions are now shattered. Boobs and bad words abound! But then what did you expect – it’s friggin Deadpool!
Deadpool’s Fun Sack
This is mainly made up of all the PG trailers that appeared in cinemas and on youtube and then their more mature versions (swearing, graphic violence etc) that appeared on the official website. However there are a lot of little extras like Deadpool celebrating Australia Day, Chinese New Years and the like. In particular I found to be both funny and disturbing the video shot in a park at night with Deadpool hanging out with a bunch of little kids dressed as various X-Men – made me laugh as a fan and cringe as a parent all at the same time. I shan’t go into detail – you need to watch it for youself.
Audio Commentaries
I haven’t had a chance to listen to them yet and not sure I will get to. If anyone has and wants to clue the rest of us in, feel free to tell us about it in the comments section at the bottom of this page.
Overall
Having the Blu Ray, I was impressed by the picture and audio quality though it’s certainly nothing majorly special compared to others. And I quite enjoyed the majority of the extras on it. So really in the end your purchase choice will come down to the following factors:
*If you likedthe movie, buy the DVD (currently $19)
*If you loved the movie, buy the Blu Ray (currently $29)
*If you didn’t like the movie, are you really still reading this review? I mean, really?
This question got sent in by Jacinta of Coburg. But rather than just an an answer from me, I thought I’d open it up to the public so you crazy kids can strut your smarts and win a prize – lets see how you do!
You have two pieces of rope which each burn for exactly one hour. The ropes are not made of the same materials as each other, and each rope is not made of the same materials in its length either. Both ropes will catch fire easily, and burn for exactly one hour, but it is possible that (for example) one might take 52 minutes to burn 25% of its length and then 8 minutes to burn the remaining length, you don’t know. You have no other form of timing device, no phone, no watch, no clock, no sundial, no sun. You have a few matches in a match box. How do you measure out exactly 45 minutes?
Now my sexy superior intellect (or my relatively attractive and average brainpower at any rate) was able to figure out an answer in short order (hint: it involved quantum mechanics and a tapeworm). But can you? And WITHOUT Google’ing it? Put your answers in the comments section below. At the end of June we will pick the answer which is either the most accurate (and obviously not online researched) or the most entertaining and give it it’s own post!
The winner will also receive either
A: A hand-written delicious brownie recipe from Jacinta or
This question comes from Matt in Bathurst: “How would you protect your family against the inevitable zombie apocalypse?”
Well first up, I am going to set myself some criteria for answering this question otherwise my copious imagination will run amok. I am going to take Matt’s question very literally. I am going to come at it from the perspective that I am indeed just protecting my family and I’ll even narrow that down further to my immediate family, thereby not taking advantage of my brothers riverfront property with boats, industrial grade tractors and hunting rifles. I will also approach this in that I can only use what I already have or can scavenge from my immediate neighborhood. So no tanks, rocket launchers, sniper rifles, impregnable towers or armed soldiers. This will be me and my family on our hobby farm vs the Zombie Apocalypse.
Am I infected with the zombie plague? Na, must just be that rash I picked up in Thailand
Location
First off we are pretty lucky to be located where we are. We live a good 8 minute drive away from the nearest town which only has a population of 10,000. Our neighborhood consists of big wide fenced paddocks with the odd farmhouse so you could count the amount of people that live within a two mile radius easily if you took off your shoes. Say when the apocalypse hits, when the initial carnage settles approximately half the town is zombies. That is 5000 zombies to deal with. By the time they spread out away from the township in all directions and some reach to our little remote area we are talking probably only dozens to deal with and spread out at that. With our farm at the top of a hill that means we should see any zombie making its way in our direction well before they see us.
Now, to answer Matt’s question: “How would I protect my family?” Let’s see:
Protection from dehydration
We have a 5000 litre rainwater tank as well as a 1 megalitre farm dam. Plenty of water to keep us going for months at a time if rationed properly. Raids on any dead neighbours houses can supply us with more if required.
Protection from starvation
We have three chickens and three ducks which both can provide us with eggs. We also have a drake and a rooster so more chickens and ducks down the line for meat. We have two nanny goats who are ripe for breeding if we were to hijack a billy from the bloke down the road when things started turning south. So 2 types of egg, 3 types of meat and one type of milk right there! Add to this 30+ fruit and nut trees and two gigantic vege patches and we are able to live off the land for quite a while if necessary. Add to that all the canned food in our pantry and raids on the kitchens of dead neighbours and we are sitting pretty!
1st line of defense: Protection of our borders
We have fencing right the way round our 15 acres. It is certainly tall enough and strong enough to stop lone zombies, however a small group could knock over a section in short order by force of weight alone. Strengthening the fences with a good quality barbed wire (I have a big roll under my pool table) as well as digging a pit at least 5 feet deep lined with spiked logs around the outside and it would take a very large number of zombies to breach the gates.
2nd line of defense: Protection of our property
Zombies hunt primarily by sight and sound. Some claim by smell too though it’s the weakest of their three senses (a lot of noses tend to get bitten off during human-to-zombie conversion). Easy enough to hide the family indoors while I go about the farm covertly with my rather extensive range of long handled, bladed farming implements to quietly dispatch them. Also the zombies will be attracted to the ducks, chickens and goats because of their noise. With whatever zombies breaching our perimeter being attracted to those three main points, it makes it a simple task to locate them and then dispatch them from behind with a spike to the brain while their attention is focused on the animals.
3rd line of defense: House and shed
Our house, being one story and with its many windows, is not really zombie-proof. However the windows and doors could be boarded up and there is a large cavity within the roof with it’s own lighting. Certainly one could hold out in there for a fair while until the zombies eventually forgot us and left. By kicking the chair away there is no way the zombies could climb up or locate us within the roof.
Our shed has strong metal walls, strong metal door and strong metal roller doors. No windows. It is also chockers with the aforementioned farm equipment that could be turned into weapons. Shovels, picks, edgers, chainsaws, pitchforks, trimmers, ride on mowers and of course my trusty hunting knife. Should the house become compromised the shed could be a bastion to hold up in.
Last line of defense: BIG ANGRY TREV!
How do you think I got this moniker? From being a calm and collected person, timid in the face of adversity? Hell no – when needed I can call upon a rage that fills me with the warm, glowing crimson light of anger that brings death and destruction to those that would threaten me and mine! I will FREAKIN DESTROY any zombie that gets close to my wife and kids! And should their numbers prove too great for me to physically hold off, then that’s when my big fat mouth comes into play. I can and will make that much noise that every zombie for miles will be chasing me down the road, my family forgotten in their decaying minds.
So Matt, should the zombie apocalypse be as inevitable as you believe, well you just pop the wife and kids in the car and head on down to Trev’s place, we’ll be right as rain! Thanks for your question.
Scottie has been enjoying himself and has been hitting the campaign trail, trying tto get yours truly elected as Prime Minister, or failing that at least as Ozformer Member of the year. Here are a few more of his artworks – you will note he has used my half-bearded and fully-bearded phases as inspiration.
Scottie has also done some fantastic artwork for our Top Trumps Competition but that will be unveiled at the end of the month along with all the other entries. A link to the competition can be found here: https://www.bigangrytrev.com/?p=208
