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I have stared playing this.
Have acquired a pair of boots of lighting speed.

when I put them on... everything went dark...

So how can I use them?

I had an Amiga computer. (Anyone remember them?)

And I was given a game for this machine... developed  with Terry (Monty Python) Gilliam.

I can't remember its name but it did involve going round trying to assemble the missing pieces of Mr Gumbys brain

I... don't suppose anything like that s available now? 

I may be in the market for a new printer.

The Kodak one I had lasted only just over 18 months and only though 3 cartridges before it inexplicably stopped working...

a similar problem happened to a friend of mine who bought the same model. So I am not going to get another one of those.

Also as their replacement ink cartridges are considerably more expensive than other brands... I am ruling out any Hewlett Packards....

So any recommendations?

As it is cheap I am thinking of getting this game for myself...

HOWEVER when a friend of mine played the X box  version there was a game fault half way though that basically meant he could never complete it (Due to faulty game save and you couldn't get out of one of the hell mouth thingies)

Dose anyone know if it only affected the X box version? I don't want a game I can't complete...

Can somebody recommend me an auction site that isn't E bay or Amazon.


I am trying to find a quote to replace Adrian's genuine Victorian sword stick that was stolen by the landlord and they don't sell weapons.

He also took 2 medieval (working) crossbow replicas and a compound bow...

Any ideas folks?

You folks may recall how on the odd occasion I have moaned about the general crappy-ness of the PCs offered for use to the general public in Croydon Libraries.


Well at the start of this month these old machines were replaced.


You might think that this would solve the problem...
but no... already they have stared to deteriorate.... Pages are now taking minutes to load... or just not loading at all.


Didn't take them long to wreck them.. did it?

And who the hell buys computers from DELL with there record?

Are YOU hated by the Daily Mail?

Take the test now...

www.toys.usvsth3m.com

I have a friend who has quite an old but still working PC.

(And no, I don't know the specifications...)

I am looking for suggestions for older games (particularly shoot em ups which are his favorites) ... something I can buy new from an E bay dealer for a £5....

He has all the older wolfenstine titles....

Yes I know it is an old game but I haven't played it before.

I have got to the end of the tram ride after escaping the castle but I can't seem to find my contact Kessler... So I am trapped. Could the game have a fault in it because I have killed all the Nazis  ... Then replayed the section and tried talking to them to find Kessler but all that happened is me ending up dead... What am I doing wrong ?


Help am utterly frustrated.

I have a Nokia windos phone (The 620)

I think with these newe phones you are surposed to be able to "post" photos taken on the phone to a website/ twitter/ facebook ect WITHOUT the tedious processs of loading it onto a PC... then loading these images to a poto hosting site.

Am I right and how do I do it?

I'm helping a friend write a play for my group (Well it's either join in or leave)

I am looking for suggestions for songs (No songs, no play)

I want a song about rejected love and one about being persuded by someone you no longer want in your life.

Is there a device that can monitor the strength & consistency of WiFi signals? I ask because I might be given a laptop some time in the future but it will be only partly useful if I can't find a consistent signal....

Monday morning Adrian woke in his basement flat to find that the newly fitted sewage pump that serves the house converted into flats has failed and his bathroom was covered in a layer of... to politely put it... OH NASTY.... (Or SHIT )
To date his landlord has not fixed the situation...
He has reported this to the council... they have yet to do anything.
If he didn't have a friend to stay with well I think you can imagine the trouble he'd be in.

I have given him the Croydon Councils 24 hour emergency phone no. but he won't call it because he dosn't think they can help. I however maintain that as this is a health and environmental hazard it bloody well is.
Advice please? 

No I am not talking papal elections here....

Google Chrome seems to have become "infected" with a search engine calling itself  White smoke. It claims ot's an extension to Google chrome... but it is giving me a pop up nightmare.
HELP!

So I proposed that my Drama group try crowdfunding to support our activities financially.

As I wouldn't be able to attend the AGM myself (It was yesterday) and even if I could springing an idea like this would be wrong so I sent the following to all the members by E mail so everybody would have an idea as to what I was talking about.
I did so 7 days before the meeting, allowing plenty of time I believed for people to read, understand & ask any questions/ concerns.

The response was... amazing.

NOTHING not even a " thanks"

Yesterday a friend who is also a member attended the AGM. I asked him how it went...
He said that the rest of the group couldn't understand what I had sent them... and that I would have to "brake it down" for the committee if I wanted them to go for my proposal...

So can someone look over what I did & tell me where I went wrong?  Because it sounded straightforward to me...

Although that doesn't explain why no one could tell me this themselves, dose it?

Crowd funding Proposal.
Dear fellow St Marks players.
As everybody is aware our drama group is slowly haemorrhaging money. In order to help this situation I am suggesting that the committee considered adopting the following method of raising money. It would have the advantage that we can use this to raise funds from people who for whatever reason cannot attend performances or do not have a business to advertise. It will of course require some work on the part of all members ... we will all have to harness "Pester Power" but with effort we can do this.



Crowd funding has its origins in the concept of crowdsourcing, which is the broader concept of an individual reaching a goal by receiving and leveraging small contributions from many parties. Crowd funding is the application of this concept to the collection of funds through small contributions from many parties in order to finance a particular project or venture.
Crowd funding models involve a variety of participants. They include the people or organizations that propose the ideas and/or projects to be funded, and the crowd of people who support the proposals. Crowd funding is then supported by an organization (the "platform") which brings together the project initiator and the crowd.
In point of fact, Croydon Radio has used this system to raise over £5,000 to replace broadcasting equipment. In return for the minimum £5. "investment" supporters received a notation on a plaque inside the radios offices.

Before St Marks think about launching a crowd funding campaign, we must make sure that we have a realistic budget in place. Crowd funding, is not just about lowering costs, but also about asking for enough money from funders. Projects need to take into account the total costs associated with a crowd funding project like paying a commission to the platform, ( the company to whom we would be asking to handle our account)  postage  costs for rewards, potential tax implications and the cost of making and distributing advertising.

Platforms (Our crowd funding provider)
There are now hundreds of different crowd funding platforms (providers) and there is quite a bit of variation in what they offer. The most obvious differences are on the type of financing offered and the sector they target. We will also have to do some research into what their terms and conditions of service are. 

Kickstarter, for example, focuses on the creative industries,
Spacehive on anything happening in the public space and
Fundageek purely on academic research projects.
Some are very specific such as Cancer UK's MyProjects platform for cancer research.
Whereas others are general like Indiegogo which funds anything from comic books to funerals.
Most do reward crowd funding but others offer equity like Crowdcube and lending like FundingCircle. ( These two would not be suitable for our pourposes as they deel with people trying to set up their own companies.)

Another important difference is the commission they take from the money you raise. This usually varies between 3 - 7 per cent.  Most platforms tend to operate an all-or-nothing model where you only get funded if you reach your target while others adopt a keep-what-you-raise approach.

Before you launch your campaign, think carefully about which platform will be best suited for what you are trying to achieve, and will help you best reach the investors for this.

Nesta is backing a number of UK based crowd funding platforms through the Cabinet office Innovation in Giving Fund: buzzbnk which specializes in social venturing, Solar Schools which helps schools fundraise for renewables, and Peoplefundit which supports a range of projects and start-up ideas including creative projects.

Be clear on what you are trying to achieve with how much money
Danae Ringelman, co-founder of Indiegogo, highlights how, when attracting funding from the crowd, one of the key drivers for ensuring engagement and funding is clarity and transparency about the project or idea. Make sure you communicate clearly to potential funders what your project is, what it is trying to achieve, how much money is needed to make it a reality and what you will deliver and when. If the targets are unrealistic, or the plans for delivering and implementing aren't feasible, the crowd often (like traditional investors) won't engage with your project.

Crowd funding campaigns succeed because they appeal to people's passions and interests, whether it's an idea to raise a statue of Robocop in Detroit city or provide sustainable homes for women in crisis. So, while it's important to communicate to people what they get out of it, make sure you tell the story of why you are passionate about making your project a reality.

As Lee Moyer emphasizes in his Kickstarter white paper on lessons for entrepreneurs using crowd funding 'the movie is key' to doing this. For Example using a short video to communicate your idea is the best way to get your pitch across to the crowd as it enables entrepreneurs to put a face on who is behind the project and give a taster of what the project will look like in a format that is easy to share. Lessons from Kickstarter show that projects with a video component succeed at a higher rate than those without (50 per cent vs. 30 per cent). There are lots of guides on what makes a good crowd funding campaign video however the main insight from Moyer is to 'keep it short', as potential funders often wont engage with videos longer than three minutes. Approaching the charities we support for their own contribution to their causes would help to. They must have a pre prepared publicity statement. Should we contemplate returning the Stanley Halls, the Stanley Halls indicative should also be contacted. They may be contemplating a similar scheme we might engage in a project together which will automatically give us a wider group of people to raise fund from. Cooperation which I am sure most of us agree would be mutually beneficial.
I would like to make a suggestion that, as our summer shows seem to always either run at a loss or barely brake even... that should we follow this suggestion that our first project should be the raising of sufficient funds to cover our major costs... to wit the hire of the performance premises. This means that we would not have to work so hard trying to sell advertising space/ A difficult task as I know from trying to sell space myself. Most peoples reaction being that although the cost of advertising space is low... the very small audience... many of whom were the same people who came to previous productions means that if they received no response the first time there is little reason to attempt again.
    Perhaps if we are successful enough, we may be able to afford another day added to our performance schedule.


Campaign and create a community around your campaign long before you launch
Doing work on engaging potential funders to get them interested in your campaign before launching can significantly improve your chances of success. Indeed, campaigns that 'cold start' and don't do any engagement or marketing before the first day of launching often struggle to reach their funding goal. The value of having an existing community of potential funders to tap into on day one of your campaign is best illustrated by when people with an existing fan base venture into crowd funding. For example, when famous American entrepreneur and author Seth Godin launched his campaign to crowdfund his book project 'the Icarus Deception' he reached his target of $100K within three hours, because of the huge interest from his global fan base.

However, less famous entrepreneurs also have the opportunity to create high levels of interest around their project before launching, by using mail outs, blogging and other social media platforms to promote ideas sometimes as early as six months before launching. Tapping in to your existing network of friends can help create the first buzz around your project. Equally, if you can't get your friends excited about your project pre-launch, then that will be a good indicator that you will struggle to engage a wider community of funders.

A good way of getting people engaged before launching campaign is including them in ideation and design of what is being proposed, such as the name of a character in the game, or colour of the swings on a playground you want to raise funding for.

..and get your core community of backers to donate early on

One of the many stats on Kickstarter and likelihood of success show that the odds for campaigns successfully reaching their goals are ten times higher once they have reached about half of their funding goal. To understand this and maximize the number of people that will contribute to your project two factors are important to consider.

One is that many people may only look at your pitch once so you want to ensure you maximize the likelihood of them funding when they come to your pitch. Two, the more you have already raised the more likely someone is to contribute. Keeping these points in mind it is important to segment your potential funders into groups of how likely they are to invest and try to bring those less likely to invest to the pitch when you already have significant amounts of capital raised. 

A useful approach is to encourage friends and family and other core backers that have been reached through the pre-launch to donate in the first days of your campaign, create momentum and get it towards 50 per cent which will help convince potential new backers of the increased likelihood of success.
...and make the most of social media
While the project campaign is launched on the crowd funding platform, most of the actual marketing and building a movement around the project happens outside the platform. Social media and online networks are crucial in this part of campaigning, as Othmar Manfred Lehner concludes 'Crowd -funded ventures rely heavily upon networks, mainly provided by the Internet. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin can help give exposure to your campaign.

Having friends, families and fans promote your campaign can help give an initial boost, but the highest impact comes from targeting social media influencers that have clout in your target crowd. A tweet, or even better, a blogpost from them, can communicate your campaign to thousands of followers and readers. Social media is not just a way to promote the campaign, but also helps facilitate the two-way conversation with updates on progress comments and feedback on the idea, between funder and entrepreneur, which is a key element to any campaign.

Many campaigns also successfully set up dedicated blogs for their project. As with more traditional marketing, getting your campaign mentioned by online or print media can provide a massive boost towards reaching the funding goal. For example, it was an interview with online magazine Mashable that quickly took the Alpha mobile heart rate monitor project from $85,000 to well beyond their target of $100,000.

...and the rewards and perks you offer funders
Making it clear what people get back from their investment is an integral part of the plan for any organization seeking investment, whether it is through more traditional types of investment or crowd funding. However, for reward-based crowd funding campaigns in particular, structuring the different tiers and offering better rewards as you move from low to high level tiers is a key feature of maximizing the overall contributions you can get from funders. For example in the lowest tier of the campaign for computer game Starforge $15 gets you one copy of the computer game, whereas the medium $100 tier gets you three copies of the game plus a range of game merchandise.

Also, it's important to ensure that the tiers and rewards are set at the right level and correspond with what funders want and are willing to pay for. From Kickstarter we know that the average pledge is $70, but the common pledge is $25.
Break your funding goal into multiple targets
One of the driving forces behind crowd funding is setting and achieving targets. To make the most of this, ambitious entrepreneurs can break their campaign into different funding goals, with the first goal being the minimum that needs to be raised, and then adding stretched goals, each representing an added value to the final product, such as additional material in a documentary or added features and levels to a video game.

For example, Revolution Software raised $771,560 for the video gameBroken Sword: The Serpent's Curse - almost twice as much as their minimum goal of $400,000 using stretch limits. To get from $400,000 to $600,000 added locations in South America and Middle East and from there added new characters to get to $700,000.
This paper sums up the history of crowd funding and includes examples of its different types.

Download the paper


...with your (potential funders) both on the good and the bad news


In their guide to new campaigns, Crowd funding platform Rockthepost emphasize how 'You can't expect to tell a story, leave and then get all the funding you need. Not only doesn't it work like that, but it can ruin your whole campaign. Never let your followers and fans hanging (especially when they ask questions)'. Those who already have, or are considering contributing funds will be interested in how your campaign is going, so keep communicating with them about progress. This could be on anything from update on an added feature of your project, to how you have taken on board feedback, responding to questions or just thanking backers for their comments. This is also the case when things go wrong. For example, when the Flying Disco Ball project struggled with their Burning Man installation due to bad weather, they kept updating their backers on what was happening and thereby managed to avoid complaints and disappointed funders.
Finally, remember, there is an abundance of campaigns out there that have already been successful. Before, after and during your launch there will be lots of easy wins for your campaign by copying what has already worked for others.
Crowd funding is great for smaller charities: Some smaller community charities have high social capital and often have a large volunteer base which can be mobilized. Smaller targets can have a huge impact on their delivery.
Make sure your campaign looks immediately popular: Campaigns should launch with at least 20% pledged immediately before wider publicity. If people visit your landing page and no-one has donated then they will be wary.


As you can see from the above, crowd funding is a well-established means of raising money. Like any method it has its drawbacks as well as its advantages and it would mean some effort on every member to help with the raising of money by this method.
I would happily oversee a St Marks Players Twitter account. (Setting it up would be free) and needless to say our web site should have a link to this account our facebook page and to the crowd funding site.

I thank everyone at St Marks players in advance for taking the time to read though this proposal

Yours Roberta C Roe.

I need to teach someone a lesson.

In order to do so, I have to find out how to stick a frigde magnet PERMINANTLY onto a fridge so it can't be removed.

Any ideas?

II hate to have to say it but there is a serious (to my mind) problem with my Drama group. in a word many lack... commitment.

Like... the commitment to learning their lines/ stage positions.

         the commitment to understand that it "doesn't matter" because a vast majority of the audience is made up of friends & relatives and "Mistakes are just part of the fun!"

The commitment to realize that NO our props and costumes are simply NOT GOOD ENOUGH in a majority of situations and of course your family/ friends aren't nasty enough to tell you the truth.

The commitment to realize that NO "home written" plays are NOT good enough...yes we save on performance fees. We also lack quality... I am sure that are plenty of decent... even well know plays that are now out of copyright due to the death of the author.

I could go on. They are letting themselves and each other down and don't understand this.

I say these things because I care. Not just for the group... but for the art of acting.

So to my question... do these much vaunted techniques of person management & motivation actually WORK? or is it all a bunch of shoe menders?

[Most Urgent Help / Advice Needed.]

Most Urgent Help / Advice Needed.

To help mother I used the Royal Mail fee to opay website last month when we received a card saying that a letter couldn't be delivered due to insufficient postage.

Her bank statement arrived yesterday... instead of taking the £1.50 owed... they took ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY POUNDS out of her bank account

as a pensioner she simply can't afford that sum of money.

I persuaded her to see the bank & they agreed to refund £100 pounds of the money.
However, the post office is liable for the remaining £ 48.50.

The problem is that the only complaint phone number we know has a 0845 prefix, which is blocked for pay as you go mobiles. (mother doesn't have a land line).

Dose anybody know of a phone number I can give her that she CAN use to get thought to Royal Mail? As I heard there is a website that tells you how to subvert these expensive numbers but have no idea how to search for them & I am suspicious that some may be illegitimate.

I cannot emphasise enough how urgent this is... PLEASE HELP.

I am something I a Big Bang Theory fan...  Lots of people are ....

I wanted to get a Prince Joey Chess piece for a friend. E bay and a web search has failed me, but I don't want to give up on the idea.

so my next thought is to find an suitable, obscure figure (preferably pre painted) and present that as the piece.

Any idea where / what I should get?

Three-Person Chess   Edit    Comments3 543PAGES ON
THIS WIKI

Sheldon playing "Three-Person Chess"
Added by Sheldon Cooper PhD

The three-sided board with transitional quadrilateral-to-triangular tessellation
Added by Florianf
"Three-Person Chess" is a chess variant designed by Sheldon and featured in "The Wildebeest Implementation". The game utilizes a non-standard, three-sided board with transitional quadrilateral-to-triangular tessellation to solve the balanced center combat-area problem, additional (or fairy) pieces, and different rules for capture, move order, and game objective, etc.

Known pieces invented by Sheldon are:

Serpent and Old Woman: The first pieces invented. When the serpent slithers to an opposing player's piece, that piece is considered poisoned and will die after two more moves. Unless, it gets to the old woman in time, in which case she sucks out the poison, turning her into the "Grand Empress", a piece combining the power of the knight, queen, and serpent.
Prince Joey: The King's feeble-minded but well-meaning cousin. Every time he moves, there's a one-in-five chance he'll kill himself.
Catapult: Can fling pieces. Unknown whether it can fling all pieces (but it can definitely fling a bishop) or anything else about it.
Gorilla: Nothing is known about this piece, but the space "Queen's Gorilla Two" is mentioned.
Transporter Pad: Moves pieces from one space to another. The new location of the piece is decided by spinning a wheel with place locations on it. It is unknown whether it can transport all pieces (but it can definitely move a rook) or anything else about it.
Golf Cart: This can (assumedly) be equipped to any piece (in the show Leonard asks when the pawn can use it). It can be used when it is finished charging or when the player lands on the time machine.
Time Machine: When a piece lands on the time machine, the golf cart can be used without waiting for it to charge. It is unknown if the time machine can move or whether it can be used for anything else.
The Beekeeper: Nothing about this piece is known, apart from the fact that it can release a swarm (which can cause checkmate), move, and capture a pope.
The Pope: Nothing about this piece is known, apart from the fact that it can be captured by the Beekeeper.
Jet Pack: This piece can be equipped to the Pope, and presumably any other piece. It is unknown what it does, but judging by the name it might allow pieces to hover above the board or fly to different spaces. In the case of the Pope, it appears to be a surefire way to avoid capture by the Beekeeper.
Sheldon originally plays an unfinished version with imaginary replicas of himself. The final revised game is played by Sheldon, Leonard, and Howard, while Raj waits to play the two victors. In this match, Sheldon employs a catapult to fling his bishop to Howard's Queen's Gorilla two. Howard then moves his rook to a transporter pad and comes out at Leonard's Queen's Bishop five-and-a-third, placing Leonard in check. After Leonard inquires when a pawn is allowed to use the golf cart (to which Sheldon informs him when it's done charging or you land on the time machine), Leonard moves his Beekeeper to King 12, capturing Sheldon's Pope and releasing a swarm for a checkmate on Sheldon. Disappointed, Sheldon wishes he had given his Pope a jet pack.

i have a number of items that I have mistakenly "pinned " to the start page of my phone.
I do not know how to remove them. My attemptes to do so have only resulted in them being replicated on the page.
Dose anybody know how to delte these without doing the dreadded "factory reset" ?

Thanks.