Science as religion
· đ disappointed · ♫ Disturbed - Stricken (1.FM - Channel X (Formerly EnergyRadio.FM))
I thought of a fun, hopefully-offensive-to-the-religious-right bumper sticker today:
Worries
· đ° stressed · ♫ ATN - Miss A Day (Radioseven - www.radioseven.se )
This entry consists solely of me bitching about my life. However, enumerating my worries helps me to focus and defeat each one individually. If anyone is actually interested then thatâs a bonus.
Anthropomorphizing mathematical concepts
· đ amused · ♫ Louis XIV - God Killed The Queen
(12:53:36) Paul: This program is offensive to the nature of natural numbers.
What makes good fantasy?
· đ˝ď¸ hungry
When Googling for information on epic fantasy (specifically, for a definition), I found an interesting article entitled Quality in Epic Fantasy that provides a thoughtful discussion of the current landscape of fantasy novel production, where many series go wrong, and how to avoid such problems. The author condemns the works of Jordan, Brooks, Goodkind and Eddings, while praising those of Tolkein, Martin, Ursula Le Guin, Sean Stewart, C. S. Lewis and Lloyd Alexander.
I also learned that âepicâ fantasy means fantasy on a grand scale (Tolkein, Martin), while âhighâ fantasy means fantasy with high moral contrast (Tolkein and Lewis, but not Martin). (Everyone else probably knew that already, but it was enlightening for me.)
A litmus test
· đ okay · ♫ Alex Megane - Little Lies (Radioseven - www.radioseven.se )
I saw the following license plate on the way to work this morning:
LV2FSH
What was the first thing you thought it might mean?
- âLove to fishâ
- âLive to fishâ
- âLeave to fishâ
- âLeave two fishâ
- âLevel 2 fishâ
Guess which one popped into my head first? Admit itâyou thought the same thing, dork! (Apparently, Iâm more of a dork than everyone elseâŚ) RPGs are the devil.
(Edited 2005 Nov 11 11:16)
Reconciling contradictory perspectives
· đ¤ contemplative · ♫ Skillet - Open Wounds
I was discussing the topic of technological innovation with noonereally (regarding my previous post), and had a rather disturbing flash of insight.
Guns vs VCRs
· đĄ angry · ♫ Gusgus - Believe
Clay linked a great article illustrating the dichotomy between gun manufacturers, who are now completely protected from lawsuits by crime victims, versus media hardware and software creators, whose can be sued for âinducingâ copyright violations, despite substantial noninfringing uses.
Next door
· đ good · ♫ Unique II - Do What You Please (Radioseven - www.radioseven
My next door neighbors, the ones living in the other half the duplex from me, have been going through very rough times this past year. The mother broke her hip and had to stop doing her daycare business. Worse, the father, who has diabetes, found out he had a rare form of leukemia that his doctor had been ignoring signs of since he mysteriously came down with flu-like symptoms weeks before. When it was finally caught, he was told he had to start chemo immediately, or be dead within two months. He did, and fortunately he is recovering really well. But he still canât go back to work for a few more weeks. In the meantime, this family has five kids, at least three (I think four) of which are still living at home.
The Nintendo Revolution controller
· đś blank · ♫ DHT - Listen to your heart (Frequence3 -- www.Frequence3.org - Une Rafale De Tubes - The French Webr
Iâm sure everyoneâs already heard about the controller for the Nintendo Revolution. Personally, I think it will be awesome, as long as it can perform well. For those who havenât seen the teaser video, I suggest watching it to get an idea of what Nintendo has in mind with this controller.
Penny Arcade linked an interesting article from Lost Garden a while back about Nintendoâs genre innovation. While the article does oversimplify some things, it makes a lot of insightful points about Nintendoâs strategy in the video game market.
More recently, David Sirlin, a bastion of reason in an insane world, posted his thoughts on the Revolution controller as well, and as usual I strongly agree with his sentiments.
âNobody ever said peopleâs opinions have to have a footing in logic. Thatâd destroy the Internet as we know it.â
âRhaka
The politics test
· đ blah · ♫ La Grande Sophie - On savait (devenir grand) (Frequence3 --
People like noonereally and withouttalent hit higher on the economic permissiveness than I did. It makes me wonder how much I really understand the consequences of corporate regulation. *shrug*
The Google alphabet
· đ amused · ♫ Silverstein - Smile In Your Sleep [dl@wazee]
What do you get when you search Google for a single letter? Somewhere between 433 million and 8.12 billion results. Put âem all together, and youâve got the Google alphabet! Sing along, everyone!
Required listening
· đ good · ♫ Strung Out - Exhumation Of Virginia Madison
Everyone should listen to this sound clip. Itâs been around for quite some time, so my apologies if everyoneâs heard it before.
After hearing it on Internet radio, it took me awhile to find the link (thanks to cirhosis for that).
I can't stop crying buckets of tears
· đ cheerful · ♫ Robbie Rivera & Keylime - Girlfriend (Radio Edit) (EnergyRadio.FM - Energy Dance)
The DDR machine at my house works again! It took the repair guy less than ten minutes to discover that it was a bad lamp ballast causing the fuse to blow (so fortunately the monitor was fine and didnât need to be replaced). Bullseye Games has earned my respect and admiration. If youâre interested in playing DDR with me, give me a call.
Iâm not tense, just terribly, terribly alert.
Way too amused by the English language
· đ amused · ♫ Saliva - Razors Edge (FM GODZILLA Japan's #1 Music Station)
(12:17:07) labrat0013: would I be impossing too much to ask for a ride today?
(12:17:21) Restless Warrior: Nope, I can be there at 6:00.
(12:35:08) labrat0013: Ok, thats te awsome!
(12:36:00) Restless Warrior: I canât believe you just mispelled the word âteh,â which is itself a stupid misspelling. Thatâs a translation from speech to text back to speech and back again to text, erroneously at two different junctures.
(12:36:24) Restless Warrior: Not to mention grammatically incorrect⌠*sigh*
(12:36:28) labrat0013: I have trouble getting my head around the fact you typed all that out
âIt is a damn poor mind indeed which can think of only one way to spell a word.â
âAndrew Jackson
đ¤ˇââď¸
· 𪡠calm · ♫ Zippora - Luminous And Beautiful (Radioseven - www.radioseven.se )
The Deviant Geek
You answered 85% of the questions as a geek truly would.
â
Youâre a geek and you know it. Youâve got all sorts of fringe hobbies and socially unacceptable tendencies. Chances are, whenever possible, you hate to be grouped with other people and sometimes go out of your way just to be different. Youâre smart too. Youâre more willing to depend on your own brainpower to solve problems, instead of relying on others to pull you through life. You probably read a lot, and generally enjoy learning new things. So whatâs it all mean? You may be considered by some to be uncool, but you probably donât care either. In social situations you may be either slightly passive or slightly loud (geeks always fall into the extremes). In a nutshell, you answered enough questions correctly supporting a geek philosophy to be considered a more potent geek than 60% of the population.
Unintelligent design
· đ amused · ♫ Kazzer - Pedal to the metal (Frequence3 -- www.Frequence3.or
noonereally has enlightened me to a proposition superior to both the Theory of Evolution and the Pharisaism of Intelligent Design. Everything makes sense when you consider the simple idea that God is an idiot!
âHe says naĂŻvely, outspokenly and without suggestion of embarrassment âI, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God.â It is only another way of saying âI, the Lord thy God, am a small God; fretful about small things.ââ
âMark Twain, in Letters from the Earth
Gremlins
· đ amused · ♫ -= Funky Mix =- (Frequence3 -- www.Frequence3.org - Une Rafa
(16:04:11) LLichte: This is really weird. I found a setting that makes my capture card look REALLY good.
(16:04:17) Restless Warrior: Yeah?
(16:04:20) LLichte: But it also lags for no reason, without indicating that itâs dropping frams.
(16:04:22) LLichte: Frames.
(16:04:32) Restless Warrior: I wonder if itâs doing integration.
(16:04:58) Restless Warrior: If thatâs the case it might be dropping frames from CPU usage.
(16:05:27) LLichte: Oh, it was recording!
(16:05:34) LLichte: Why does it look so much better when it records?
(16:05:51) Restless Warrior: Gremlins.
(16:06:26) Restless Warrior: They donât want to be recorded. So when you record, they donât interfere and make the picture look worse. âCause if they did, youâd have proof they exist.
(16:07:50) LLichte: You get +1 to spurious logic!
(16:11:33) Restless Warrior: Everything is evidence toward the existence of gremlins.
(16:12:06) LLichte: Iâm not. >:o
(16:12:09) Restless Warrior: I heard a noise outside that I couldnât identify. Well, ask yourself: could it have been gremlins? If the answer is yes, then that means the likelihood of gremlins is greater with you having heard that noise!
(16:12:59) Restless Warrior: You are a good friend. Now, if there were gremlins, would they want to create a âgood friendâ out of the flesh of several dead men, to use to get close to me and ultimately play terrible, terrible tricks on me? Of course they would!
(16:13:22) Restless Warrior: So yes, you are evidence toward gremlins!
(16:13:34) Restless Warrior: (Sorry dude.)
(16:14:22) LLichte: No Iâm not! >:o
(16:14:40) LLichte: You are racist.
(16:14:42) Restless Warrior: Thatâs what the gremlins would make you say if you WERE made by them!
(16:15:32) Restless Warrior: And Iâm not racist, I am culturalist.
(16:15:35) Restless Warrior: I hate the gremlin culture.
(16:15:42) LLichte: The gremlins are a race!
(16:16:16) Restless Warrior: If I met a gremlin who liked to play video games and RP and was generally a cool guy, I would have nothing against him! And if I met a non-gremlin who made fake friends out of the flesh of corpses just to torment me, I would hate him!
(16:16:19) Restless Warrior: So itâs the culture man.
(16:16:58) LLichte: Thatâs what HITLER said.
(16:17:17) Restless Warrior: Ouch, you just lost an argument about being crafted by gremlins. That takes skill.
(16:17:21) LLichte: http://www.sorethumbsonline.com/d/20050624.html
See?
Neverending memes
· đ° anxious · ♫ Plug n Play - Parade 2000 (jenny.fm - Lovely beats to fuck up your mind)
You are the Chariot card. The Chariot has the
energy to succeed. Their ambition and drive
leads them into competition, and they often
come out the victor. The fast-paced energy of
the chariot is met with the ability to control
and lead. The Charioteerâs leadership is not
authoritarian but rather an attempt to bring
their team to victory. The Charioteer can be
obedient to those who have proven themselves in
a position of leadership. Physical prowess and
activity are important to the meaning of this
card. Travel is found here as a journey of
personal growth. Moving from one point to
another in attempt to find a better place may
be taken both literally and as a metaphor for
the inner self. Image from: Dorothy Simpson
Krause.
http://www.dotkrause.com/art/tarot/tarot.htm
Which Tarot Card Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
Humor
· đ amused · ♫ Mark Morrison - Return of the mack (Frequence3 -- www.Freque
Seems like everyone is taking this humor test. And since I would have been a German civilian and gone with the flow while the Nazis crushed all who opposed them, I have followed suit here as well!
Harry Potter and politics
· 𤯠shocked
Slashdot mentioned today that Harry Potter book 6 was leaked. Apparently about 15 copies were sold early at a bookstore in Vancouver. This, in and of itself, does not surprise me. But it seems the distributor got an injunction prohibiting people from even talking about the books prior to the official release date.
I know itâs Canada, but the precedent set by something like this is still rather frightening. If it had happened in the U.S., it surely would be unconstitutional, given our first amendment rights. Otherwise, whatâs to stop courts from issuing arbitrary injunctions preventing people from talking about the presidentâs speech today, or other topics not protected by nondisclosure agreements (key word here: agreements)?
Of course, some people on Slashdot commented that itâs probably just a publicity stunt. In that case, umm, donât buy books from this company. =P
âThere is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power governments, and tyrants, and armies cannot stand.â
âGâKar, Babylon 5