It has two new lifelines, as promised, which can only be used from questions 11-15.

– “Three Wise Men” – You get 30 seconds to consult with three ‘experts’ located in a different part of the studio. Idea rejected from original Millionaire.

– “Double Dip” – You get two guesses at the right answer. Replaced in the original Millionaire by 50:50.

I have to say I’m surprised that they haven’t introduced The People Versus’s “Flip” which they keep toying around with on our version.

Prize amounts:

1 – $1000
2 – $2000
3 – $3000
4 – $4000
5 – $5000
6 – $10000
7 – $20000
8 – £30000
9 – $50000
10 – $100000
11 – $500000
12 – $1000000
13 – $2500000
14 – $5000000
15 – $10000000

So obviously not brave enough to do the originally mooted idea of simply multiplying each prize level by 10.

And I love this from the small print:

Winners of cash prizes of Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000), who meet all requirements of Game Sponsor, will be awarded One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000) approximately thirty (30) days following the broadcast of the episode in which the Contestant completed Main Game play and the remaining amount will be paid in equal annual instalments over the following ten (10) years. Winners of cash prizes of One Million Dollars ($1,000,000) or more, who meet all requirements of Game Sponsor, will be awarded One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000) approximately thirty (30) days following the broadcast of the episode in which the Contestant completed Main Game play and the remaining amount will be paid in equal annual installments over the following twenty (20) years.

So you can’t even win the $1000000 lump sum that you used to be able to. So what’s so “Super” about “Super Millionaire”? Other than Regis, of course…

Originally posted on The LBSC

Barbie, the bitch!

Here’s what I’ve had to eat and drink so far today…

12.53pm
250 ml tap water

14.13pm
1 After Eight mint

14.40pm
30g Honey Loops with 200ml semi-skimmed milk
200ml of tea with semi-skimmed milk and 1 sugar

16.21pm
55g of Skittles

I’m now off to find some tea.

Originally posted on The LBSC

Firstly, without wanting to precipitate on Marc’s carnival, why does Robert Winston have any more right to write about the human mind that I do? He’s a geneticist, not some kind of super-duper brain expert (like Susan Greenfield, or whatever her face is, who clearly wanted to be the next Robert Winston, but was too crap). I could’ve written that book, and it would’ve been a lot better if I had. Of that fact I am sure, even though I’ve never actually read it.

Also, whilst we’re Marc bashing, I keep thinking of the name Marcus Bentley constantly today. He’s the guy who did the Big Brother voiceover. I’ve no idea why, but I can’t get his name out of my head. I blame Marc, because of his name.

I suppose, in some small way, this Marc-bashing is replacing my JRC-bashing, which is temporarily on hold now he works six days a week . I don’t. And knowing that he works at Homebase, I feel great sympathy. Warm, cuddly sympathy. Thought JRC-bashing was always a generally more safe practice, given that he’s geographically speaking the furthest person away from me for most of the time.

On an unrelated note (and to actually get to the title of the post), my flat seems to be currently in the grips of Marmitegate. There seems to be stealing of Marmite occurring. This has escalated from “Where’s my marmite?”, to a large black-and-yellow home made sign being erected in the kitchen, warning that a Marmite thief is about and that all Marmite should be securely locked up. As someone who doesn’t like the stuff anyway, it doesn’t really affect me.

Today I have learned how to make someone pee themselves to death. Literally. With all the knowledge on (what I think are) amusing ways to die, I can’t help but wonder why so many depressed doctors do boring things like cut their wrists. Would it not be much more entertaining to be discovered dead in a 25 litre-or-so pool of your own piss? You could flood a room with less than that. I’ve also learned the definite hang-over cure. I would share it with you, but it’s a lot more boring that you might think it is, so I’d prefer to retain an air of mystery around it. Oh, and I’ve also learned that you can kill yourself by overdosing on water. Just plain, boring water. Who’d have thunk it?

In other news, the house I was planning on renting for next year has been offered to someone else. Which means I’ll have to continue house hunting. I blame Marc…after all, his name is only one letter away from March, and everybody knows that in the past, MURDERS have been committed in March!

My Website is now close to making a profit . I’ve added Lazlo Bane lyrics too, so things can only get better.

I’m off to tidy up now, since the Pile O’Work that has been growing for just over a week has finally fallen over. It was over a foot tall. I could rebuild, but that’s probably not the most sensible thing to do.

I have a one hour lecture tomorrow called “How to Kill an Anorectic Cat”. Not entirely sure what that may be about, so I’ll have to report back at a later date.

That’s all for now.

Originally posted on The LBSC

Uncle Rumple is, apparently, the most famous clown in the North West (stay with me, this is going somewhere). Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a grasp of the internet. On all his business cards, adverts, stationery and such he had printed rumpletheclown.com All very well, except he didn’t own the domain. So my brother, who designs the website of someone who also supplies clowns and things for kids’ parties, registered the domain.

Now all this happened months ago. But today, my brother had a threatening phone call from Uncle Rumple. And now he is scared.

To add to the surrealism of my brother being threatened by a clown, my dearest sibling is also scared of people who are dressed up. So not only has he been threatened by a clown, he is also very afraid.

Originally posted on The LBSC

I find many aspects of Windows XP’s design very annoying, and I’ve long wanted to try something like Linux as an alternative – but then there are compatibility issues. And overall, I’ve never found stability problems with Windows XP, and I like the way it does lots of things – besides which, I couldn’t change OS and still be connected to the university network without great difficulty.

So instead of ditching Windows, I’ve just ditched the explorer.exe shell and replaced it with a new, self-penned shell (with more than a little help from Talisman 2). And now I’m happy – I’ve got programs and internet links in happy groups on a kind of task-bar extension to the left of the screen, the normal taskbar with a few changes (most notably it’s reduced size, and the addition of built in Winamp and Volume controls), and a nice circular Analog clock connecting the two at the bottom left. I also have a calendar and retractable desktop panel on the desktop, as well as a Desktop Toolbar complete with PC Power buttons running across the top. It’s very nice.

Changing topic completely… Car magazines. I was in WHSmith the other day, and there were fairly young teenagers deciding which one to buy. This seemed rather disturbing, given that none of them were old enough to drive, but when they selected one on the basis that it came with a free “Car Washing Kit”, things became grossly surreal. What were they planning on doing with it? Probably best not to ask.

Lots of fun in the Dissecting Room today, beginning with the introduction to the session. This is normally done by video, made by the anatomy tutor. Unfortunately, she realised that she’d got left and right the wrong way round throughout, and so instead decided to read the script out loud. A script which began “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to this afternoon’s anatomy session”. I think I nearly wet myself. Which would have been appropriate, given that we were doing the urinary system. I was surprised at how small the kidneys are – I’d always imagined them to be quite big, but they’re only about 10cm or so. Quote of the day: Someone commented on how a particular dissected bladder resembled a deer-stalker hat, and somebody managed to come out with: “Don’t take the piss out of the poor thing”. If you are interested in the kidneys and urinary system – and I must warn you that my brother thought he was, until he saw this site and screamed (I can’t really understand why, but I suppose it’s pretty graphic) – visit the Newcastle university Anatom-e (Geddit?) page here .

And my hands smell of the nice Anatomy department soap now, so I’m happy.

Anyway, as usual I have lots of work to do (sympathy please) so I suppose I better do some. Looks like I better do some Ethics. Have a pleasant evening.

Originally posted on The LBSC