Grüppe D-Zyne Projekt

Following on from the write-up of our Easter Egg Taste Test, we were worried that a nation of cathode junkies, selling their imaginations for quick-fix media hits from the Blockbuster syringe would find actual words and sentences alien and bewildering. Thus, a photo diary was born. That, and we like pretty pictures.

The APA Journal of Food Tasting, a sister society to theGDP, had a little too much time on their hands, and a little too much paint left over from badly redecorated rented accommodation.

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175 Comments | Filed by Paul at 6:56 pm under Food | Trackback

Easter. That time of year when small children (and, apparently, computer science students) wander the aisles of the nearest superstore, gazing in awe at the carefully packaged chocolate eggs of joy.

Foremost in their mind, one would imagine, is Bede’s goddess Eostre, the etymology of Jakob Grimm’s Eostremonat, the symbolism of eggs as fertility symbols, of new life, and of Mary Magdalene’s exclamation “Christ is risen!”.

The second thought that comes to mind is which of these commercial over-priced packages of pagan symbolism is the tastiest. We are here to guide you through this controversial minefield, taking it upon ourselves to sample the various offerings and report back our findings, ending this minutes-old argument once and for all.

Let us establish some ground rules.

1. The chocolate must, as the title suggests, be in egg form. Little bunnies are cute and delicious, but hardly in keeping with the theme.
2. Only eggs from established chocolatiers are allowed, so Marks&Spencer, Tesco et al. are out. (read: we are poor.)
3. Acknowledging the FACT that Jesus only ate milk chocolate eggs, we ignore dark, white, mint or orange eggs. (read: really, we are poor.)
4. Contrary to appearances, we are not professional chocolate tasters. Thus, we will probably end up preferring the sickly sweet not-legally-allowed-to-call-it-chocolate-in-mexico “chocolate” over the 97% cocoa offering, hand crafted on the steps of the Temple of Kukulcan by Quetzalcoatl himself. You’ll just have to suck it up.

Figure 1 shows the contestants:

Below the cut we explain the criteria, a summary of each egg, and finally draw our conclusions. Yes, it’s that serious.
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101 Comments | Filed by Paul at 4:12 pm under Food | Trackback

Welcome to the Grüppe D-Zyne Projekt, or theGDP. A blog for random writings on the various experiments and thoughts of two procrastinating Computer Science students.

Paul: I felt an introductory post was necessary, until I actually sat down and started to write it. Check the About Site page for a little more background, and the About Authors page for inane profiles of the two authors.

Al: Rather than contribute to this, I’m going to learn from past mistakes and not bother. Every single blog I’ve ever tried to start has featured a hard-hitting introductory post, a thought-provoking follow-up, and then nothing. So rather than set up another colossal anticlimax, I’m going to step back in the hope that things can only get better.

Regular (in the loosest sense of the word) features will include:

• “Taste Tests”, conducted by our sister organisation the APA Journal Of Food Tasting, in the vein of popular British TV show Richard & Judy, presented by the endearing Richard Madeley and his incompetent sidekick (apparently his wife or something), Judy Finnegan.
• “Cheap Technology”, where we attempt to recreate some high-tech, prototype, or made-up piece of technology merely using household items.
• That’s essentially it for now. However, bearing in mind that the two existing features were conjured up within about a minute of the site’s conception, you can probably expect more exciting features to appear as we dream them up.

So stay tuned for all of this and more. The first major articles will include a rather topical Taste Test, as well as a rather “handy” (lol) piece of HCI genius, reconstructed from egg boxes and tin foil (well, almost). With such indispensible futuristic contraptions being realised so soon, often for less than a pound, how can you possibly resist?

14 Comments | Filed by Paul at 1:34 pm under Uncategorized | Trackback