Magnetic Waves, Piracy & Valve

We hope that everyone is well and enjoying the start of the holidays season. This week we have the answer to the mystery of why the Sun is so hot and the dispersal of magnetic waves during solar flares. That’s right, one of those little mysteries that has been confounding scientists for years appears to have been solved with evidence supporting the rejection of the null hypothesis. Ooops, sorry, in other words research that explains why it appears to happen has been developed. So if you would like to know more about why that is then please listen in and enjoy this discussion that does wander off topic occasionally but in a fun way.

Next we look at the effect piracy is having on Marvels profit margin (which as a Disney corporate entity we must acknowledge are very slim margins). We discuss this and consider the alternatives such as going digital like XCT and some of the other projects from our friend Shaun at Comics2movies have begun to do. Buck wanders down memory lane reminiscing about when he was a boy (OK Boomer does not apply here as Buck isn’t that old). Can you believe that comic books used to only cost 15 cents? These days it is $10 and has less of a story in some cases, although XCT is cool if you want a great read.

Last topic is Valve news and what is happening with them. For example did you know that they are in the process of ending their controllers? Also did you know that they have recently had a sale on these controllers? Professor did and has bought one, even though they weren’t on sale here? Also Half-Life Alyx the VR experience game is looking downright awesome, if the promo video is anything to go by this is a game to get into.

As usual we have the regular shout outs, remembrances, birthdays and events for the week. Until next time remember to look out for each other, take care of yourselves and stay hydrated.

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Episode 34: Telltale, AI, Prince Charles and E-Sports

The DJ has returned to the show. Yay?!

            Glad to see he is alive and talking still. Buck scares everyone by being polite and friendly, not sure what happened there. Maybe someone spiked his coffee.

            At the start we get an update from the Professor about Nintendo’s save policy (still no sign of Ginger or Mary-anne but DJ looks and acts like Gilligan). We did it, yep, we started the show with two good pieces of news, and Buck was friendly, what is happening?

            Then Buck brings up the saga of Telltale games closing down, with the absurd behaviour of management. Such a shame and our thoughts are with all the employees who have lost their jobs, hope everything works out well for you all.

            The Professor tells us about how an AI has created a couple of games, so if we can combine that with all the other AI’s out there can we expect Skynet? The DJ is worried about being replaced with all the automation, there is a valid point that we can combine all the AI’s and build a new member for the show.

            Prince Charles is opposing cyborgs, he mustn’t have watched Robocop or Star Trek, so he is off the guest list, not a Nerd. Although why he was in GQ talking about the subject is beyond us, like, literally, he is not cool, fashionable and he is older the Buck, and he went to school with Noah.

            The DJ gives us a story about a bunch of wack jobs at a football game throwing game controllers and tennis balls onto the pitch in a protest against E-Sports. So please, no one help them with any tech service et cetera if they want to attack Nerds lets show them we make the world better and not to mess with us.

            On the games front the Professor has been playing Legend of Zelda on the Switch, and Buck has been slaying dragons in Skyrim. The DJ has been slack yet again and not played any games, we are unsure about if he truly is a nerd.

            We have all the regular shout outs at the end of the show, and Buck deliveries some breaking news about a crazy drunk woman from Adelaide, South Australia, who attacked KFC. She needs to just let the nugget go. We also made an important announcement and that is the show will no longer be called Top Shelf Nerds, it will be called Nerds Amalgamated.

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Episode 32

This week the DJ reports on Sony’s Tokyo Game Show Conference teasers. But does he go to Tokyo or is he destined to remain within range of an Australian powerpoint because Professor left the battery out, just like Dr Henry Wu stopping dinosaurs producing Lysine so they couldn’t leave the island? While no animal activists complain about exploiting robots, Buck has one to talk about.

 Buck wants to talk about a Destiny 2 exploit that lets players access expansion content before the release date. Some players lost the chance to get equipment because of a bug. Did Robin Hood steal from the glitch to give to the poor?

 The Professor has some worrying news about his favourite flightless bird, the Penguin, or Pengwing as Benny Dictation Crumper Catch pronounces it. If the greatest flightless bird on Earth can’t survive climate change, what hope do puny humans have?

  Once again the DJ forgot to play a game. No marks have been awarded. The Professor played Bad North, the Viking themed RTS Rouge-Like. And Buck’s hoarding obsession has turned to bottlecaps because he’s been playing a bit too much Fallout 4.

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Episode 21 - KoKo, Wi-Fi and A.I.

Shoutout to Koko the gorilla

- https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/koko-the-gorilla-who-knew-sign-language-dies-at-46-20180621-p4zmzv.html

WPA3 Wi-Fi

- https://www.cnet.com/news/wpa3-wi-fi-is-here-and-its-harder-to-hack/?utm_source=reddit.com

A.I. bots defeat DOTA 2 players

- https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/25/17492918/openai-dota-2-bot-ai-five-5v5-matches

Japanese spacecraft chases asteroid

- http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2018-06-27/hayabusa-2-spacecraft-is-about-to-arrive-at-ryugu/9911680?pfmredir=ms

- https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/solar-system/a21967081/japanese-sample-return-spacecraft-reaches-target-asteroid/

- http://global.jaxa.jp/press/2018/06/20180627_hayabusa2.html

Shoutout to RocketLab’s failure to launch

- https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/360555/rocket-lab-cancels-commercial-launch-again

Blockchain CPU

- https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/ibm-blockchain-computer-salt/

Red Dead Redemption 2 PC reveal on LinkedIn

- https://www.pcgamer.com/red-dead-redemption-2-pc-temporarily-appears-on-rockstar-linkedin-profile/

A lifesaving game called Sound Scouts

- https://www.news.com.au/technology/home-entertainment/gaming/apps/the-aussie-game-saving-kids-around-the-world/news-story/3167ba80e52bdc5f8d19d95b0b34df29  

- https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/sound-scouts/id911637845?mt=8 - Sound Scouts on iTunes

- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cmee4.soundscouts&hl=en - Sound Scouts on Google Play


Other Topics Discussed

Wild gorilla using a walking stick - https://www.theguardian.com/science/2005/sep/30/environment.uknews

Isaac Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotics” - https://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/robotics.html

Rosetta spacecraft - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_(spacecraft)

Rosetta spacecraft on the comet - http://www.esa.int/var/esa/storage/images/esa_multimedia/images/2014/09/rosetta_and_its_target_comet/14772820-1-eng-GB/Rosetta_and_its_target_comet.jpg

PUBG drops lawsuit against Fortnite - https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/jun/28/pubg-drops-fortnite-lawsuit-epic-games


Shoutouts

1926 - Mel Brooks [ Melvin Kaminsky] , American actor, comedian and director (Get Smart, Blazing Saddles, Spaceballs), born in NYC, New York - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Brooks

1948 - Kathy Bates, American academy award winning actress (Misery), born in Memphis, Tennessee - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathy_Bates

1971 - Elon Musk, American entrepreneur and inventor (SpaceX, Tesla, Paypal), born in Pretoria, South Africa - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk


Event of interest

- 1980 - "Sweeney Todd" closes at Uris Theater NYC after 557 performances - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweeney_Todd:_The_Demon_Barber_of_Fleet_Street


Intro

Artist – DJ AJ

Song Title –  Star Wars - The Imperial March (DJ AG Remix)

Song Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU9jdjuDA8w


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Email - Nerds.Amalgamated@gmail.com

Twitter - https://twitter.com/NAmalgamated

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