If anyone's interested, I'll be taking something of a hiatus from Newgrounds activity for some time to come. To be honest, I'm finding it more than slightly arduous keeping up the same kind of paces constantly for so little in return that is worth speaking about at all. I'll still be getting my experience seeing as that's only a 5 minute job at the very most. However, I'm taking a break from the b/p scene and also from the Where is / How to? forum. In the, admittedly supremely unlikely, chance that anyone needs or wants to get in touch with me, send me a Private Message or leave a reply to this news post, and I'll get back to you.

As anyone who has seen the newest updates for the Wi/Ht? Members thread will know, I have been voted into the Members list along with two other new members. Needless to say, I'm rather surprised to see this given the fact that I'm not overly active, in my opinion at least, and also due to my comparatively archaic form of speech. I know I've already said this before, but thanks again to those who voted for me.

Ok, it's been another 3 months or so since the last post was made; I reckon that I could do with adding another one here just to keep things looking reasonably up to scratch. To be honest, though, I must confess that that there isn't all that much for me to say here. Since making the last post about Dyson Spheres, I've graduated from University.

I'm perfectly aware of the fact that my reputation on Newgrounds isn't terribly stellar to say the very least, simply because I limit my activity to the Flash portal and the occasional post in Where is / How to? Furthermore, I realise that the amount of time that I've "spent" in that particular forum has dropped somewhat as of late. The simple reason for that one is that I find quite often that by the time I get around to a new thread, it's already been answered in a satisfactory manner. Naturally, there's no point whatsoever in me attempting to post an answer seeing as that would be nothing short of superfluous.

I also realise that, for some time, my register of language that I was using was, to be blunt, abominably pretentious. I can well understand why some people would have had problems with my posts in the past, for which reason, therefore, I've decided to tone that particular aspect done somewhat. Again, I'm under no delusions about the fact that this won't make much difference as to how I'm perceived on Newgrounds. I've no intention of getting involved with the General Forum simply due to the sheer inanity thereof; something that most people could understand, I daresay.

Seeing as the last news post I made is now about two and a half months old, I thought I'd make a new one. Again, I don't particularly see much chance of this becoming a runaway success in terms of readership, but then again, who knows. One thing that I've found rather enjoyable as of late is a program by the name of Celestia.

For those who are unaware of its existence, the raison d'être of this program is to allow the user to explore known space in the Galaxy. With the right add-ons, you can access in the region of 2,000,000 stars and various other spatial phenomena. Thankfully, however, the program is incredibly easy to alter in terms of adding new features; any basic word program will suffice herefor.

One thing that I've been toying with as of late is the creation of Dyson Swarms . Anyone reading this may have heard of its slightly more famous cousin the Dyson Sphere. However, in all likelihood, as the Wikipedia article points out, such a structure would be beset with all kinds of problems, the least of which not being the possibility of the whole structure colliding with its parent star. However, the Dyson Swarm, basically a massive collection of much smaller orbiting bodies, is more feasible, although still well beyond current human technology.

After some experimentation, I've been able to create two sets of Dyson Swarms around two stars in our galaxy: HIP 71860 and Antares. I thought I'd just post a picture of one of them just to show what the structure looks like when it's completed.

For the sense of scale here, each one of the small dots (the solar collectors comprising the swarm) is about larger than Jupiter. In total, there are 2,424 collectors, thus ensuring the continuation of this sphere like structure. However, when viewing in Celestia itself, you need to deactivate both the planet names and orbits from being shown. The names alone will cover the entire structure, thus making it all but invisible simply by virtue of the sheer quantity thereof. Likewise, the orbits need to be turned off if you want smooth operation when viewing it at a higher speed. Having to show the orbits of over 2,000 bodies in the same relatively small area of space is challenging for any computer.

If you're interested in how it's done, leave a message and I'll fill in the rest of the details; it's surprisingly easy to do once you learn the basics of orbital mechanics, which again, can be found on Wikipedia.

It would appear that putting something here along the lines of a news post would be in order, especially seeing as it seems to be almost obligatory these days. Also, the continual presence of the crying emoticon is not exactly the thing that I most want to see upon my profile. The purpose of this news post, quite simply, is to give a brief explanation of who I am, and what you can expect from me on Newgrounds. Do not expect me to give out any kind of personal information, if you do not see it immediately beneath my profile picture, then it means that I don't care to have it broadcast in such a public forum.

Although I have been a Newgrounds member for a little over two years, I have not been active in the truest sense of the word since late September 2007. This is somewhat annoying seeing as it means that I've lost out on well over 7,000 experience points. However, I know perfectly well that there are more important things in life than worrying about Internet statistics of this particular nature. For those who may be wondering about my choice of name, when I joined originally, I was rather into Transformers, G1 mainly, and decided to pick the name of one of my favourite (and less well known) characters. I know that it may be somewhat odd to say the very least, but at least it's something that I can still use without feeling the need to ask for a name change or starting a new account.

I cannot say that I am going to be terribly active in the way of submissions; I have no artistic or musical abilities, for which reason, I simply do not have the technical ability to create movies, games, or music of any kind. However, that does not mean that I will not be taking part in finding praiseworthy pieces and letting their creators know of their strengths. I may not have any abilities where these matters are concerned, but I am still perfectly capable of recognising quality work when I see it.

From my, admittedly few, flash and audio reviews, you can see that I have started to take a more active role in the matter of judging submissions in a more formal fashion after they have been protected. I will do my best to be fair and impartial in these matters. Should I believe that someone's work is laudable, I shall let them know. I point out here, that I am more likely to review something that does not have hundreds or thousands of reviews; a review is no good if the creator of the piece cannot find it due to it being swamped by scores of others.

From my time in the whistle thread, I have learnt the basics of the importance of accurate reviewing. Consequently, therefore, one will not see examples of abusive or insulting messages throughout my reviews. Should I dislike someone's work, I shall let them know without being demeaning, and also pointing out that which was notable therein as well. It is my belief that even a low review can still be valuable without having to resort to offending the author. Likewise, I am not going to start launching criticisms of other peoples' work in any future news posts of mine. While there are a few authors whose work I do not enjoy for various reasons, I accept that they are still vastly more talented than I am.

I will, on occasion, also visit the forums in order to try and give a helping hand to those who may have need thereof. Granted, my own knowledge is hardly profound, but it may end up being the one thing that allows a much younger member to find their way in this place.

I am mostly active in the blam and protection aspect of the portal, especially seeing as it's the most efficient manner in which I can increase the degree to which I can help the submissions that I especially enjoy. Speaking of which, in the supremely unlikely event of someone reading this post, should someone wonder why I have X's submission in my favourites, but not theirs, it's nothing personal. I may very well not have seen it, in which case, making me aware thereof would be appreciated.

While I will not be able to contribute in terms of content, I hope that I shall be able to do so in other ways instead.

Perceptor