IGC Update

A case of moving on?

I was wondering where the Spy High series stood at present, with all its websites bar thedeverauxcollege.co.uk offline and most of its translations ceased two, three, four or indeed five books into the first series. It seems that movie we were always wittering on about will never come after all. The series is (unofficially) officially dead. Still, has five years really elapsed since we first picked up the Frankenstein Factory?!

From what I gather A.J. Butcher has rather withered, his place taken by a certain Andrew Butcher, whose latest series Reapers is currently up to its third novel (yes, news to me too). The question of where is he now can also be answered: Talbot Heath School.

Reapers:


Posted on 27th May, 2008 and commented on 4 times.

Downtime

So for anyone who missed the following, I have an explanation and apology.

The entire site disappears for a few days. Then it comes back, with the main site missing its, well, itself, and the forums displaying a database connection error. Then the error is fixed and the database will connect. Then it is evident that a day or two of posts is missing. We can't have that. The posts are restored, but then the database errors again. finally, the database is fixed again, we all cross our fingers - my host included, and this topic is posted.

Now you'll all hopefully know that's been going on, I'd like to apologise. The original downtime was the result of SpyIt moving servers as my host ceded its customers to another host, with many of the sites being moved from US datacentres to a nice, Docklands, UK one. I had planned to tell you all about this, except I only found out it was happening when I checked SpyIt to find an error page. I won't bore you all with the database errors, but suffice to say I hope they're rectified now.

Apologise to all for the chaos, and to Sky whose original topic on the issue was lost (along with PMs and such from the return of the forums) when the lost days' posts were reintroduced into the forums. I think this covers everything :)

EDIT: Just as I was posting this, the posts table of the database - strangley the one with all the posts in it - managed to corrupt itself beyond repair. Thankfully I managed to get my host to copy it back over from the old server for me.

EDIT: The database keeps corrupting each time it is restored. My host has tried everything, but to no avail. He goes on holiday tomorrow and won't return until Tuesday. As there's nothing I can do about it, the forums shall see the return of their venerable shoutbox. I'm sorry it's come to this.

EDIT: After much time, the forums have finally returned. I'm informed the solution was to copy the posts table of the database - the bit that contains the posts themselves - across from the old server once more. I guess I'm glad they hadn't yet removed it! My final apologies on the matter, and I hope this in the final 'edit' to this announcement which I keyed long ago.
Posted on 30th August, 2007 and commented on 4 times.

Server move

Lately the forums had been giving errors and simply not working, the issue has finally been solved... by requesting to move servers. Let's hope we never see a 500 error page for as long as we live.

Thanks for persevering guys, I know how frustrating and disrupting they were.
Posted on 12th February, 2007 and commented on 3 times.

M.I. High

From the makers of MI5/Spooks comes a new spy series for CBBC.

Threats to British national security are at an all-time high. The old school spies have had their day and high-anking MI9 agent, Lenny Bicknall (Danny John Jules, Red Dwarf) must find secure and untraceable identities for his officers.

His solution: to establish a ring of undercover agents in a place the enemy will never suspect an inner-city high school.

Newcomers Bel Powley, Moustafa Chousein-Oglou and Rachel Petladwala star as Daisy, Blane and Rose, highly-trained spies who juggle school work with saving the world from the villainous Grand Master and his mob of outlandish rogues.

Socialite Daisy is chosen for her chameleon-like skills, while scientific expert Rose has an IQ off the scale. Enigmatic Blane is unsurpassed in his athletic prowess and rapid response abilities.

But with the pressures of such a responsible job and the danger of discovery at school, will the spy team be able to protect Britain and hand their homework in on time?


A series of 10 30-minute episodes, M.I. High is due to air in the UK in early 2007, on CBBC.
Posted on 28th December, 2006 and commented on 4 times.

ShockSuit and Clingskin a reality?

ShockSuit: Eddie alerted me to the following site, which has a minor (and crude but none-the-less real) version of Spy High's ShockSuits: no-contact.com. Click on Videos to see the jacket in action.

When activated by the wearer, 80,000 volts of low amperage electric current pulses just below the surface shell of the entire jacket. If an assailant were to grab hold of the wearer the high voltage exterior would interrupt their neurological impulses which control voluntary muscle movement. The neuromuscular system would be overwhelmed causing disorientation and loss of balance to occur and of course pain.


Clingskin: I stumbled upon the following article on the BBC News website: Geckos inspire 'super-adhesive'.

Future applications could include an adhesive to repair aircraft, skin grafts or even a Spiderman-style suit.

"It would mean that your local window cleaner could dispense with his ladders and climb up the side of your house," says Dr Sajad Haq, a principal research scientist at the company's Advanced Technology Centre in Filton, Bristol.


Details and more at the article above.
Posted on 29th July, 2006 and commented on 2 times.