Neat stuff. I was just reading about this project in Rodney Brook’s Flesh and Machines, but that was before they moved the project basically outside of the eye. Its amazing how fast technology progresses!
Month: August 2004
Teleportation goes long distance
Teleportation goes long distance
I’ve read about this entanglement stuff in Hawking’s Universe in a Nutshell but I still don’t really understand it.
But it sure sounds like an interesting experiment!
Parallel Park Game
Parallel Park Game – Time yourself parallel parking
This is just too silly and fun!
Mythago Wood
I finished Robert Holdstock’s Mythago Wood today. I’m still trying to decide if I liked it or not.
The premise is that the titular wood is the home to creatures of myth, but that these creatures are created out of a kind of race-memory of people. So for instance if enough people truly believe in Bigfoot, Bigfoot would be found in this wood.
It was an interesting premise but it made it all feel kind of artificial. Like it was one huge delusion. And the fact that the protagonist took everything pretty much in stride when he learned about what was happening in the wood made it all feel even more so. There was very little time spent on disbelief and coming to grips with what was going on. “Ah, so Robin Hood and King Arthur’s Knights and some kind of proto-druid tribe all live in the 6 mile stretch of woods? OK, I’ll buy that. Let’s go explore it!” Umm…?
If you can set those two facts aside, then it was a really enjoyable book. What added a nice layer to the whole story was that ‘present day’ for the protagonist was 1948 or thereabouts. Shortly after the war, in any case. So even the non-fantastical portions of the book had an air of ‘other-worldliness’ to those of us too young to have lived through that time.
I guess I can best sum it up this way. I liked it enough to add the next book in the series (Lavondyss) to my Amazon wishlist, but I’m not going to run around raving about the book. On a scale of 1-5 I’d give it a 3 or a 4. Holdstock’s voice is what makes it worth reading. I’m hoping the next book has just a tad more polish. If it does, it should be truly great.
Activision CEO predicts second PSP delay in U.S.
Activision CEO predicts second PSP delay in U.S.
June ’05? Fine. I’ll still buy one.
Save money! Eat crap!
I half-heard an interesting factoid on NPR this morning (I have a clock-radio alarm and this was on the radio when it went off, so perhaps my sleepy brain misheard). $1.00 will buy you, on average, 100 calories worth of good healthy food. The same $1.00 will buy you 1000 calories worth of fatty, salty or sugary junk food. The person making this statement said that this is why obesity is such a problem in poverty-stricken communities.
I add that it might be part of the reason those of us who really don’t give a rat’s ass about food constantly fight our weight. Fast food is easy food, and spending time preparing dinner is, to me, a huge waste of time.
Well, I gotta go. The pizza delivery guy just arrived….
PS It’s true! I just realized something. Today I’m eating a greek salad, a cup of soup and a bottle of water. This cost me about $7.50 at the company cafeteria. Yesterday I had a cheeseburger, french fries and a bottle of Mountain Dew and it cost me about $5.50! And really filled me up, whereas I know today’s lunch will putter out at about 4 o’clock and I’ll be hitting the vending machine for a snack.
Schwarzenegger to consider video game bill
Schwarzenegger to consider video game bill
Well this sounds reasonable. The law would just require places that sell video games to have signs up explaining the ESRB system. You’d think in all fairness that it should also require places that sell movies to post signs explaining the movie rating system though, wouldn’t you?
Cassini Finds Two Small, Surprising Moons at Saturn
Fable
Gamespy has a new preview of Fable up. I’ve already pre-ordered the game; I’m that stoked about it.
EBGames.com has it listed as a mid-September release. I’m hoping it doesn’t slip since we’re going to be getting Halo 2 a bit later in the fall.
More on The Teaching Company
This morning during my commute I started listening to the first course we bought from The Teaching Company. This particular course is King Arthur and Chivalry taught by Bonnie Wheeler. Ms. Wheeler has been on TV a few times, on The History Channel & A&E, so I was familiar with her (which is one of the reasons I picked this course). What I got was a couple of clear plastic cases with CD’s in paper sleeves and a pamphlet with course notes. Its not fancy but its functional and in fact this case will be easier to open one handed while driving when it comes time to change disks. 🙂
Anyway, my initial reaction is very favorable. Its clear that they just recorded her lectures, so it isn’t 100% polished…I get the feeling they didn’t do ‘takes’ or anything. They do record the lectures in a studio, though, so the sound quality is good. So far Ms. Wheeler has proven to be an engaging speaker, but I’d anticipated that after seeing her on TV, where it was clear she was passionate about the subject matter. The first lecture is more or less an overview of what’s to come, but already I’m anxious to hear more.
I’ll report back if things take a turn for the worse, but so far I’m very, very pleased. I may find myself getting a bunch more of these.