Thursday, December 17, 2009
Blogging
Writing these blogs over the past semester has been interesting. At the start I really didn't much see the point, but I have grown to enjoy them. As I have said, I enjoy learning, and I think, for the most part at least, this has done just that (especially these last 10 or so, with each averaging around 500+ words apiece). While I doubt I'll continue doing the blog, I do plan on continuing with the idea of it. I've found it interesting just googling random things and seeing what I get, and learning a bit more about the randomness out there that there is to learn.
The Art of War
Sun Tzu’s ‘The Art of War,’ was written around the 6th century, and is one of the most influential boos on was and military strategy ever written. Among the famous individuals claimed to have read the book include: Napoleon, George Patton, Douglas MacArthur, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, and General Paul Van Ripper said that it influenced his planning of Operation Desert Storm.
A famous narrative involving a young Sun Tzu and Ho Lu, King of the Wu state sealed Sun Tzu’s mastery of war in ancient times. In it, the king asks him to test his theory of war, using women from the palace, to which Sun Tzu agreed to. He separated 180 women into two groups, with one woman in charge of each. He ordered a left turn, to which the women only burst into laughter. He blamed himself for not being clear enough, so he gave the command again. Again, laughter. This time he blamed the head officers, and had them beheaded. After that the women answered his every order without hesitation or smile. He then told the king, “Your soldiers, Sire, are now properly drilled and disciplined, and ready for Your Majesty’s inspection. They can be put to any use that their sovereign may desire; bid them go through fire and water, and they will not disobey. The king answered by making him a general. Whether or not this actually happened, Sun Tzu really was a general who won battle after battle, leading King Ho Lu to gain much land and acclaim.
The book is divided into 13 chapters: laying plans, waging war, attack by stratagem, tactical dispositions, energy, weak points and strong, maneuvering, variation in tactics, the army on the march, terrain, the nine situations, attack by fire, the use of spies. He elaborates when an army should attack, when it should retreat, when it should hold ground. It discusses moral, and how to raise your armies and lower your opponents, and many other things that we now view as common warfare, but Sun Tzu put it into such simple terms, that works, that even today in modern warfare people still use The Art of War. Even businesses sometimes use the book to describe how to be successful in what your goals are.a
Sidereus Nuncias
References:
Sidereus Nuncias or The Sidereal Messenger by Galileo Galilei
Sidereus Nuncias is the text that famously got Galileo imprisoned by the Catholic Church. It is simply a lab wite-up, in which he describes what he saw through his telescope, the moons of Jupiter. The telescope that he used he actually made himself, because the common ones made were not perfect enough for him, magnifying only 3-4X, whereas his magnified 20X. He had to actually teach himself how to make and polish glass lenses for his telescope. The book might very well be the most important scientific book ever written, as it not only changed the Aristotelian view of science, in which only logic was needed to verify science, to a view of empirical evidence.
Galileo made everything perfect in his tests, not wanting anything to be wrong. He waited until it was well past midnight, at its darkest. He even didn’t look through the telescope longer than a brief moment at a time, so that the vapors from his eye wouldn’t fog up the lense.
The book also describes what he saw when he looked at the moon, the mountains and trenches, and his calculations on how tall or deep they were.
The book is full of his illustrations of what he saw, helping to prove the movement of stars and of the moons around Jupiter.
Sidereus Nuncias or The Sidereal Messenger by Galileo Galilei
Sidereus Nuncias is the text that famously got Galileo imprisoned by the Catholic Church. It is simply a lab wite-up, in which he describes what he saw through his telescope, the moons of Jupiter. The telescope that he used he actually made himself, because the common ones made were not perfect enough for him, magnifying only 3-4X, whereas his magnified 20X. He had to actually teach himself how to make and polish glass lenses for his telescope. The book might very well be the most important scientific book ever written, as it not only changed the Aristotelian view of science, in which only logic was needed to verify science, to a view of empirical evidence.
Galileo made everything perfect in his tests, not wanting anything to be wrong. He waited until it was well past midnight, at its darkest. He even didn’t look through the telescope longer than a brief moment at a time, so that the vapors from his eye wouldn’t fog up the lense.
The book also describes what he saw when he looked at the moon, the mountains and trenches, and his calculations on how tall or deep they were.
The book is full of his illustrations of what he saw, helping to prove the movement of stars and of the moons around Jupiter.
Satansim
Books used in reference:
The Satanic Bible by Anton Lavey
The Satanic Scriptures by Peter H. Gilmore
This blog I hesitated to do, based on the rather taboo subject, but I feel that taboo’s should be brought to light, so that people learn more about them, lessening the taboo. While I do not claim to hold the beliefs laid down by them, as I have previously stated, I hold an innate fascination in all religions, and Satanism definitely queued my interest when I first learned of its existence.
Modern Satanism, or that of the Church of Satan, was founded on April 30, 1966, by Anton Lavey. Contrary to what the name implies, those who classify themselves as Satanists are atheists, fully denying God and any afterlife. It is more a philosophy than a religion, one based on humanism. Satanism insists that since this is the only life that we have, that we should live it to the fullest extent possible, enjoying it however we feel.
To them, Satan represents an image, not an entity that actually exists. He is a symbol for the carnality that exists within the animal that is man.
Rituals are performed, but not the murdering, child-sacrificing sorts that have been used mostly as propaganda throughout history. Satanists believe that humans have an inborn need for dogma, which is one of the reasons so many flock to religion for answers and to be with others. There are many specific rituals cited, including The Satanic Funeral Rite, the Rite of Ragnorok, and the Ritual of Destruction. These are done simply to ‘let loose,’ and get rid of pent up aggression in a positive way that hurts no one.
Satanism also denounces the notion of ‘love thy neighbor,’ and ‘turn the other cheek,’ and instead argue that one should love those who deserve it and respect those who have earned it.
There are nine cardinal sins of Satanism, in order they are: stupidity, pretentiousness, solipsism, self-deceit, herd conformity, lack of perspective, forgetfulness of past orthodoxies counterproductive pride, and lack of aesthetics.
There are also nine satanic statements that are to be lived by, including:
Satan represents indulgence, instead of Abtinence!
Satan represents vengeance, instead of turning the other cheek!
Satan has been the best friend the church has ever had, as he has kept it in business all these years!
I found some very interesting philosophy in the 'Satanic' works, as well as some good humor. It didn't purport to take itself so seriously, which is something I feel people of a religious background are doing far to much of these days. I especially agree with the notion of 'live and let live, as long as they do the same.'
The Satanic Bible by Anton Lavey
The Satanic Scriptures by Peter H. Gilmore
This blog I hesitated to do, based on the rather taboo subject, but I feel that taboo’s should be brought to light, so that people learn more about them, lessening the taboo. While I do not claim to hold the beliefs laid down by them, as I have previously stated, I hold an innate fascination in all religions, and Satanism definitely queued my interest when I first learned of its existence.
Modern Satanism, or that of the Church of Satan, was founded on April 30, 1966, by Anton Lavey. Contrary to what the name implies, those who classify themselves as Satanists are atheists, fully denying God and any afterlife. It is more a philosophy than a religion, one based on humanism. Satanism insists that since this is the only life that we have, that we should live it to the fullest extent possible, enjoying it however we feel.
To them, Satan represents an image, not an entity that actually exists. He is a symbol for the carnality that exists within the animal that is man.
Rituals are performed, but not the murdering, child-sacrificing sorts that have been used mostly as propaganda throughout history. Satanists believe that humans have an inborn need for dogma, which is one of the reasons so many flock to religion for answers and to be with others. There are many specific rituals cited, including The Satanic Funeral Rite, the Rite of Ragnorok, and the Ritual of Destruction. These are done simply to ‘let loose,’ and get rid of pent up aggression in a positive way that hurts no one.
Satanism also denounces the notion of ‘love thy neighbor,’ and ‘turn the other cheek,’ and instead argue that one should love those who deserve it and respect those who have earned it.
There are nine cardinal sins of Satanism, in order they are: stupidity, pretentiousness, solipsism, self-deceit, herd conformity, lack of perspective, forgetfulness of past orthodoxies counterproductive pride, and lack of aesthetics.
There are also nine satanic statements that are to be lived by, including:
Satan represents indulgence, instead of Abtinence!
Satan represents vengeance, instead of turning the other cheek!
Satan has been the best friend the church has ever had, as he has kept it in business all these years!
I found some very interesting philosophy in the 'Satanic' works, as well as some good humor. It didn't purport to take itself so seriously, which is something I feel people of a religious background are doing far to much of these days. I especially agree with the notion of 'live and let live, as long as they do the same.'
Voltaire
The books referenced for this blog:
The Portable Voltaire
Philosophical Dictionary by Voltaire
The Italian Renaissance Reader
Voltaire is yet another of my favorite authors. Born in 1694, Francios-Marie Arouet was educated in a Jesuit school in Paris. He spent a great deal of time in prison during his life, because he was great at causing controversy, and is granted as one of the greatest satirists to ever live. The French Enlightenment is often referred to as ‘The Age of Voltaire.’ Many of his works were outlawed in countries, such as his ‘Philosophical Dictionary’ and ‘Letters on England.’
No topic was too taboo (or illegal) for him to discuss. A Deist, he openly scorned and mocked organized religion. He was especially disgusted by the priests and those in religious power. In the section entitled ‘Priest’ in his ‘Philosophical Dictionary,’ he claims that the priests are hypocrites who encite wars, and who hold themselves greater than they could ever hope to be. In his stories, the Catholic priests are presented as fat, lazy, and who steal from the poor, whereas the people who hold scorned religions, like the Jesuits, are truly good people, who wish for nothing other than to help the poor and impoverished.
His ‘Philosophical Dictionary’ is written in alphabetical order, in which he writes about his views on virtually everything, from Hell and Fraud, to Bees and Cannibals. It was full of irony, sarcasm, maxims, and quotes. He wrote it in this way on purpose: it made it extremely hard to counter his arguments. Whereas others wrote about one thing and left it at that, he wrote such great volumes that the people he angered had little chance to stop him. The book itself was outlawed, but this didn’t stop the public from getting the book, piece by piece. A brief aside: Thomas Jefferson owned a full set of the original publications.
He also has claim to what I view as one of the greatest, and funniest, last words spoken ever. On his deathbed, a priest came to him and asked him to repent and denounce Satan. His reply: ‘Now’s no time to be making enemies.’
The Portable Voltaire
Philosophical Dictionary by Voltaire
The Italian Renaissance Reader
Voltaire is yet another of my favorite authors. Born in 1694, Francios-Marie Arouet was educated in a Jesuit school in Paris. He spent a great deal of time in prison during his life, because he was great at causing controversy, and is granted as one of the greatest satirists to ever live. The French Enlightenment is often referred to as ‘The Age of Voltaire.’ Many of his works were outlawed in countries, such as his ‘Philosophical Dictionary’ and ‘Letters on England.’
No topic was too taboo (or illegal) for him to discuss. A Deist, he openly scorned and mocked organized religion. He was especially disgusted by the priests and those in religious power. In the section entitled ‘Priest’ in his ‘Philosophical Dictionary,’ he claims that the priests are hypocrites who encite wars, and who hold themselves greater than they could ever hope to be. In his stories, the Catholic priests are presented as fat, lazy, and who steal from the poor, whereas the people who hold scorned religions, like the Jesuits, are truly good people, who wish for nothing other than to help the poor and impoverished.
His ‘Philosophical Dictionary’ is written in alphabetical order, in which he writes about his views on virtually everything, from Hell and Fraud, to Bees and Cannibals. It was full of irony, sarcasm, maxims, and quotes. He wrote it in this way on purpose: it made it extremely hard to counter his arguments. Whereas others wrote about one thing and left it at that, he wrote such great volumes that the people he angered had little chance to stop him. The book itself was outlawed, but this didn’t stop the public from getting the book, piece by piece. A brief aside: Thomas Jefferson owned a full set of the original publications.
He also has claim to what I view as one of the greatest, and funniest, last words spoken ever. On his deathbed, a priest came to him and asked him to repent and denounce Satan. His reply: ‘Now’s no time to be making enemies.’
Dante's Inferno
This blog is about one of my all-time favorite books and, in my opinion, hands down one of the greatest books ever written: Infierno (or The Inferno) by Dante Alighieri.
A book that has been held in critical acclaim from its first publication to present day, it is without argument the most influential book on the Western perception of Hell. While Dante took many of facets of his work from early Christian Apocalypses, he melded them together with other modern perceptions in such a way that only a true master of language could possibly attain. The first book in his trilogy “The Divine Comedy,” in which Dante travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, finally seeing God in person, it is by far the most well-known and well-read. What truly fascinates me is just how flawless he managed to make his work, because of the sheer layout of the ‘Divine Comedy.’ It is divided into three books, each book has 33 cantos (chapters), each canto is divided into 33 stanzas, and each stanza is three lines, following an ABACDC rhyme scheme, and each book ends with the word ‘stars.’ When I first learned that, I was dumbfounded, and truly awestruck that a man was capable of doing this six centuries after he had died.
The Inferno follows Dante through Hell itself, lead by the poet Roman Virgil, whom in real life Dante greatly admired. Hell exists as an inverted cylinder, sinking further and further into the Earth, until the very center is found, with Satan himself trapped. Each level holds punishments worse than the next, each for sinners of greater and greater sin. The circles of Hell hold sinners as follows: virtuous pagans and unbaptized children, the lustful, the gluttonous, hoarders and wasters, the wrathful, the heretics, the violent, simple fraud, and finally compound fraud. The greatest sin is reserved for those who are treacherous to their benefactors. The three greatest sinners of humanity: Cassius, Brutus, and Judas, are forever chewed by Satan, who is himself trapped for all eternity in a lake of frozen ice.
The punishments Dante doles out to sinners is an ironic twist on their sin. Those who were gluttons in life spend their death bloated and sickened, those who were wrathful drag giant boulders behind them while attacking tooth and claw others who share their fate.
A book that has been held in critical acclaim from its first publication to present day, it is without argument the most influential book on the Western perception of Hell. While Dante took many of facets of his work from early Christian Apocalypses, he melded them together with other modern perceptions in such a way that only a true master of language could possibly attain. The first book in his trilogy “The Divine Comedy,” in which Dante travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, finally seeing God in person, it is by far the most well-known and well-read. What truly fascinates me is just how flawless he managed to make his work, because of the sheer layout of the ‘Divine Comedy.’ It is divided into three books, each book has 33 cantos (chapters), each canto is divided into 33 stanzas, and each stanza is three lines, following an ABACDC rhyme scheme, and each book ends with the word ‘stars.’ When I first learned that, I was dumbfounded, and truly awestruck that a man was capable of doing this six centuries after he had died.
The Inferno follows Dante through Hell itself, lead by the poet Roman Virgil, whom in real life Dante greatly admired. Hell exists as an inverted cylinder, sinking further and further into the Earth, until the very center is found, with Satan himself trapped. Each level holds punishments worse than the next, each for sinners of greater and greater sin. The circles of Hell hold sinners as follows: virtuous pagans and unbaptized children, the lustful, the gluttonous, hoarders and wasters, the wrathful, the heretics, the violent, simple fraud, and finally compound fraud. The greatest sin is reserved for those who are treacherous to their benefactors. The three greatest sinners of humanity: Cassius, Brutus, and Judas, are forever chewed by Satan, who is himself trapped for all eternity in a lake of frozen ice.
The punishments Dante doles out to sinners is an ironic twist on their sin. Those who were gluttons in life spend their death bloated and sickened, those who were wrathful drag giant boulders behind them while attacking tooth and claw others who share their fate.
The Eleusinian Mysteries
The sources for this blog are:
Eleusis and the Eleusinian Mysteries by Mylonas
Classical Myth by Barry Powell
The Eleusinian Mysteries was a cult in ancient Greece, centered around the fertility goddess Demeter at the town of Eleusis. In mythology, only members of this cult could travel to the Underworld while still alive, and so every hero that did so (Herakles, Orpheus, Odysseus, etc.) was initiated into the Mysteries. Also, the only way to reach the Fields of Elysium (effectively the equivalent of our modern perception of Heaven) was to join the cult. In order to reach the fields, a shade (what was left over after a person died and travelled to Hades) had to say specific things to specific characters from mythology, the last of which was Achilles at ‘The Gray Oak Tree,’ after which the shade was allowed into Paradise. Almost everything that had to be said, and to whom, is known today, except for the last part. Scholars know that only once fully initiated was a person allowed to know the final secret. It was celebrated by a huge ceremony, that culminated in a High Priestess of Demeter opening a box that held the final secret. It has never been found what was in the box, if anything.
The strictest of secrecy was required of all initiates, and even the government of Athens made is a crime to let loose any of the secrets of the cult. In one instance, a member got drunk, and proceeded to act out certain parts of a secret ceremony. Because of this, he had all his property taken, and in another instance a person told all the secrets, to which the government ‘offered one talent for him dead, two to anyone who captured him alive.’
There were five stages or degrees of initiation. The first involved an initial purification, the second a mystic communion, third the initiate was granted the right to view holy object, fourth a crowning of garlands that proved full initiation into the cult, and finally a happiness resulting from a direct communion with the gods.
Eleusis and the Eleusinian Mysteries by Mylonas
Classical Myth by Barry Powell
The Eleusinian Mysteries was a cult in ancient Greece, centered around the fertility goddess Demeter at the town of Eleusis. In mythology, only members of this cult could travel to the Underworld while still alive, and so every hero that did so (Herakles, Orpheus, Odysseus, etc.) was initiated into the Mysteries. Also, the only way to reach the Fields of Elysium (effectively the equivalent of our modern perception of Heaven) was to join the cult. In order to reach the fields, a shade (what was left over after a person died and travelled to Hades) had to say specific things to specific characters from mythology, the last of which was Achilles at ‘The Gray Oak Tree,’ after which the shade was allowed into Paradise. Almost everything that had to be said, and to whom, is known today, except for the last part. Scholars know that only once fully initiated was a person allowed to know the final secret. It was celebrated by a huge ceremony, that culminated in a High Priestess of Demeter opening a box that held the final secret. It has never been found what was in the box, if anything.
The strictest of secrecy was required of all initiates, and even the government of Athens made is a crime to let loose any of the secrets of the cult. In one instance, a member got drunk, and proceeded to act out certain parts of a secret ceremony. Because of this, he had all his property taken, and in another instance a person told all the secrets, to which the government ‘offered one talent for him dead, two to anyone who captured him alive.’
There were five stages or degrees of initiation. The first involved an initial purification, the second a mystic communion, third the initiate was granted the right to view holy object, fourth a crowning of garlands that proved full initiation into the cult, and finally a happiness resulting from a direct communion with the gods.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Diabology
This blog is over the difference between the Judeo-Christian’s ‘Satan,’ ‘Lucifer,’ and ‘the Devil.’ Contrary to what people now believe in the United States, and in Western Civilization as a whole, these three names were not always interchangeable, and actually described 3 different entities. The information comes from these books:
A History of Hell by Alice Turner
The Prince of Darkness by Jeffrey Burton Russel
A Dictionary of Angels by Gustav Davidson
The Holy Bible (King James Version and Revised Standard Version)
Satan derives from the Hebrew word hassatan, which means ‘The adversary,’ and held no official title, it was merely a description of a person. It is generally accepted that ‘Satan’ merely happened over time after a scribe dropped the prefix ‘ha-.’ The first, and only, instance of the entity Satan that exists in the Old Testament is in the Book of Job. In ancient times, this Satan was not an evil entity, even though that’s how most people today perceive it. Instead, he is merely ‘the adversary of God’ when God says that Job is the holiest person on the planet. Satan simply says it is because of what God has done for him. Satan, here, is an angel of the class of ‘Watcher.’ These angels, go figure, watch over humanity, because God does not view the entire planet, does not know what is going on on the entire planet, and so has these angels go to Earth, and then report back to God, telling him what he wants to know about the happenings of humanity.
The word Lucifer appears only once in the entire Bible, and even then it’s a typo. This is because it exists only in the Latin Vulgate (an early translation of the Bible, in which the Greek Septuagint was translated to Latin). The King James Version (KJV) of the Bible, which is the most read version of all time, is an English translation of the Latin Vulgate. The KJV gives Isaiah 14:12 as saying “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!” It is the only translation that gives the word ‘Lucifer.’ Lucifer was actually the Roman God of the morning star, or Venus, which is so bright that it can sometimes be seen during the day. However, in the original Hebrew, the individual Isaiah 14:12 is talking about is King Nebuchadnezzar, not a fallen angel. But tradition dictates that Lucifer is Satan in Heaven, before the fall, but Lucifer became Satan when he reached Hell (even though, historically speaking, this is incorrect).
It is not until the New Testament that we get the Devil. Out of these three names/entities, the Devil is the only one who is inherently viewed as evil. About one to two centuries before the birth of Jesus, there came a notion of the Devil, an embodiment of evil, whose name was also given as Satan. This is the entity who tempts Christ (although this may or may not have been an evil act in and of itself), and the one spoken of in Revelations.
A History of Hell by Alice Turner
The Prince of Darkness by Jeffrey Burton Russel
A Dictionary of Angels by Gustav Davidson
The Holy Bible (King James Version and Revised Standard Version)
Satan derives from the Hebrew word hassatan, which means ‘The adversary,’ and held no official title, it was merely a description of a person. It is generally accepted that ‘Satan’ merely happened over time after a scribe dropped the prefix ‘ha-.’ The first, and only, instance of the entity Satan that exists in the Old Testament is in the Book of Job. In ancient times, this Satan was not an evil entity, even though that’s how most people today perceive it. Instead, he is merely ‘the adversary of God’ when God says that Job is the holiest person on the planet. Satan simply says it is because of what God has done for him. Satan, here, is an angel of the class of ‘Watcher.’ These angels, go figure, watch over humanity, because God does not view the entire planet, does not know what is going on on the entire planet, and so has these angels go to Earth, and then report back to God, telling him what he wants to know about the happenings of humanity.
The word Lucifer appears only once in the entire Bible, and even then it’s a typo. This is because it exists only in the Latin Vulgate (an early translation of the Bible, in which the Greek Septuagint was translated to Latin). The King James Version (KJV) of the Bible, which is the most read version of all time, is an English translation of the Latin Vulgate. The KJV gives Isaiah 14:12 as saying “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!” It is the only translation that gives the word ‘Lucifer.’ Lucifer was actually the Roman God of the morning star, or Venus, which is so bright that it can sometimes be seen during the day. However, in the original Hebrew, the individual Isaiah 14:12 is talking about is King Nebuchadnezzar, not a fallen angel. But tradition dictates that Lucifer is Satan in Heaven, before the fall, but Lucifer became Satan when he reached Hell (even though, historically speaking, this is incorrect).
It is not until the New Testament that we get the Devil. Out of these three names/entities, the Devil is the only one who is inherently viewed as evil. About one to two centuries before the birth of Jesus, there came a notion of the Devil, an embodiment of evil, whose name was also given as Satan. This is the entity who tempts Christ (although this may or may not have been an evil act in and of itself), and the one spoken of in Revelations.
Holocaust Deniers
Micheal Shermer’s book , “Why People Believe Weird Things,” is both entertaining and enlightening. One of the books that I am currently, actively, reading, Shermer is the founder and an editor for ‘Skeptic’ magazine, and his book shows it. In it, he explains, and then debunks, topics including pseudoscience, creationism, cults, and holocaust deniers. The one that I chose to write this blog about is the Holocaust denier’s, because 1)I just finished the chapter about 15 minutes ago, and 2) I was fascinated by some of the things that I learned about the Holocaust that I didn’t previously know. Shermer, among other things, is a very well-regarded Holocaust historian, and has been on many shows in which Holocaust deniers lay their claims, and he is there to debunk them.
I feel that this is something that should be critically looked at, and not simply given up as a 'conspiracy theory,' because as long as there are a fairly large number of people who believe in something, it will persist. So instead of simply saying that those people are nuts (Holocaust deniers, 9-11 conspiracy thinkers, etc.), I prefer to look at their arguments and weight them against the counterarguments. So far, the conspiracy theories are nothing more than that, but I like to hear what someone has to say before fully disregarding what they have to say.
Holocaust deniers do not actually deny that the Holocaust happened, this is a media-induced misconception. Also, many of the Holocaust denier’s are not neo-Nazi’s, and many have advanced degrees in history from accredited schools, and other than these views, are well-respected in what they have written. What they do is define the Holocaust differently than history textbooks, and there are three things that they specifically take problem with, of which I will elaborate on each and explain why their views are wrong: 1) There was no Nazi policy to exterminate European Jews, 2) Gas chambers were not used to kill Jews, and 3) between 300,000 and 2 million Jews were killed in ghettos and camps, not the 5-6 million quoted by historians.
1) There was no Nazi policy to exterminate European Jews. They claim that whenever a Nazi spoke of the “Final Solution to the Jews,” what they were actually meaning was that the Nazi’s were going to deport all of the Jews out of the Reich, which they did at the beginning of the war, when they were winning, but towards the end, when they were losing, they were forced to place Jews in camps and ghettos due to lack of funds and manpower.
They defend these points by quoting specific instances, but for the most part they take quotes out of context. They also completely ignore the Nuremburg Trial Confessions, because the defendants were scared for their lives, but whenever a quote comes up they can use, they do not hesitate to do just that. They question the definition of the German word ‘ausrotten,’ which means extermination, but they claim that during the time of WWII, it meant ‘movement,’ even though they are the only ones to accept this.
2) Gas chambers were not used to kill Jews. Instead, the gas chambers were only used for delousing clothes and blankets, and crematoriums were only used to despose of Jews that died of disease and starvation (something they claim is the fault of the allies, because we bombed supply lines) Deniers claim that there were shooting and hangings of Jews, but not from mass gassings.
Documents prove that large amounts of Zyklon-B (the gas used to kill Jews) were ordered to the camps, and there are countless eyewitnesses who verify that the Nazi’s did indeed kill Jews via gas chambers.
3) Only between 300,000 and 2 million Jews were killed in ghettos and camps, not the 5-6 million quoted by historians. Instead, the remaining Jews that are not accounted for at the end of the war, had simply emigrated to other countries.
This one is easy enough to debunk. Approximately 4 million people did not just emigrate with no paper trail, and without them coming out of the woodworks saying they are there. Again, deniers simply pick and choose the information they want to use.
While I do not accept anything that the Holocaust denier’s claim, I feel they do bring up some very valid points that very few of us accept, myself included. At one point, Shermer quotes a denier who uses Orwell’s ‘1984’ ‘Newspeak,’ using this to show how people in today's society can become truly ignorant without fully realizing it. As proof: the Nazi’s never made soap from the fat of Jews’. This is accepted by the Holocaust community, as no bar of soap has ever tested positive for human fat. It is all a myth. And yet I have grown up ‘knowing’ this as fact. Shermer admits this, but I still wanted verification. A brief google search helps to confirm this idea, from reputable sites. And yet I have been told this as truth since I was young. Stepping away from what I currently ‘know,’ (keeping in mind that I do not agree with anything they believe) what if the denier’s were actually right? How would I know? The simple fact is that I never would. I have grown up with an almost ingrained belief in what has happened, that I cannot possibly perceive of any way in which it is wrong. And yet what I was taught was wrong: soap made from the fat of murdered Jews never happened. I had the same overall feeling when I first read ‘1984,’ in which I started to look at things a little differently. I already had an innate skepticism of newspapers and television news programs, but when it comes down to it, does that really matter? So many people watch the news, and take it as the God’s Honest Truth. How many people pick and choose the information they ‘know’ on a day-to-day basis? At what point does history, knowledge, and information cease to be that, and instead turn into a Newspeak invention of doublethink?
I feel that this is something that should be critically looked at, and not simply given up as a 'conspiracy theory,' because as long as there are a fairly large number of people who believe in something, it will persist. So instead of simply saying that those people are nuts (Holocaust deniers, 9-11 conspiracy thinkers, etc.), I prefer to look at their arguments and weight them against the counterarguments. So far, the conspiracy theories are nothing more than that, but I like to hear what someone has to say before fully disregarding what they have to say.
Holocaust deniers do not actually deny that the Holocaust happened, this is a media-induced misconception. Also, many of the Holocaust denier’s are not neo-Nazi’s, and many have advanced degrees in history from accredited schools, and other than these views, are well-respected in what they have written. What they do is define the Holocaust differently than history textbooks, and there are three things that they specifically take problem with, of which I will elaborate on each and explain why their views are wrong: 1) There was no Nazi policy to exterminate European Jews, 2) Gas chambers were not used to kill Jews, and 3) between 300,000 and 2 million Jews were killed in ghettos and camps, not the 5-6 million quoted by historians.
1) There was no Nazi policy to exterminate European Jews. They claim that whenever a Nazi spoke of the “Final Solution to the Jews,” what they were actually meaning was that the Nazi’s were going to deport all of the Jews out of the Reich, which they did at the beginning of the war, when they were winning, but towards the end, when they were losing, they were forced to place Jews in camps and ghettos due to lack of funds and manpower.
They defend these points by quoting specific instances, but for the most part they take quotes out of context. They also completely ignore the Nuremburg Trial Confessions, because the defendants were scared for their lives, but whenever a quote comes up they can use, they do not hesitate to do just that. They question the definition of the German word ‘ausrotten,’ which means extermination, but they claim that during the time of WWII, it meant ‘movement,’ even though they are the only ones to accept this.
2) Gas chambers were not used to kill Jews. Instead, the gas chambers were only used for delousing clothes and blankets, and crematoriums were only used to despose of Jews that died of disease and starvation (something they claim is the fault of the allies, because we bombed supply lines) Deniers claim that there were shooting and hangings of Jews, but not from mass gassings.
Documents prove that large amounts of Zyklon-B (the gas used to kill Jews) were ordered to the camps, and there are countless eyewitnesses who verify that the Nazi’s did indeed kill Jews via gas chambers.
3) Only between 300,000 and 2 million Jews were killed in ghettos and camps, not the 5-6 million quoted by historians. Instead, the remaining Jews that are not accounted for at the end of the war, had simply emigrated to other countries.
This one is easy enough to debunk. Approximately 4 million people did not just emigrate with no paper trail, and without them coming out of the woodworks saying they are there. Again, deniers simply pick and choose the information they want to use.
While I do not accept anything that the Holocaust denier’s claim, I feel they do bring up some very valid points that very few of us accept, myself included. At one point, Shermer quotes a denier who uses Orwell’s ‘1984’ ‘Newspeak,’ using this to show how people in today's society can become truly ignorant without fully realizing it. As proof: the Nazi’s never made soap from the fat of Jews’. This is accepted by the Holocaust community, as no bar of soap has ever tested positive for human fat. It is all a myth. And yet I have grown up ‘knowing’ this as fact. Shermer admits this, but I still wanted verification. A brief google search helps to confirm this idea, from reputable sites. And yet I have been told this as truth since I was young. Stepping away from what I currently ‘know,’ (keeping in mind that I do not agree with anything they believe) what if the denier’s were actually right? How would I know? The simple fact is that I never would. I have grown up with an almost ingrained belief in what has happened, that I cannot possibly perceive of any way in which it is wrong. And yet what I was taught was wrong: soap made from the fat of murdered Jews never happened. I had the same overall feeling when I first read ‘1984,’ in which I started to look at things a little differently. I already had an innate skepticism of newspapers and television news programs, but when it comes down to it, does that really matter? So many people watch the news, and take it as the God’s Honest Truth. How many people pick and choose the information they ‘know’ on a day-to-day basis? At what point does history, knowledge, and information cease to be that, and instead turn into a Newspeak invention of doublethink?
Black Holes
I was recently going through my book collection, and have realized all the things that I haven’t read in years, and how my memory of things has grown fuzzy. So, in the spirit of learning (or re-learning, which can be just as gratifying), my next few blogs will be over things from my non-fiction books.
This one will be elaborating on things from Stephen Hawkings’ ‘A Brief History of Time.” (Yes, I know, I am a nerd)
Black Holes
Chapter 6 goes through what is currently known, and what isn’t, about the concept and existence of black holes. The term ‘black hole’ was originally coined in 1969 by John Wheeler, but the concept of a star could have enough mass that its gravitational pull that even light could not escape was first offered by John Mitchell, all the way back in 1783. This is the actual definition of a black hole, it is neither black nor a whole, but simply a body of mass so great, that individual particles of light (theoretically the fastest that anything can physically move) would be sucked into the mass. This means that, if looked at, a black hole would simply look like a black spot in space, because it would emit literally no light, nor allow any light to pass by it for that matter (ignoring some really screwy equations in which the cone of light created by, uh, light, bends around the gravitational pull of the singularity if passing just beyond the event horizon).
For a black hole to form, a star with a mass 30x or greater than the Sun must be formed from a protostellar cloud of gas and dust (a in human biological terms, a protostellar cloud would be a fetus) . When the star starts to run out of full, it begins to cool off, and contract in on itself. From here, there are four forms that the dying star can go into: a brown-dwarf, a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole. (A supernova will generally leave behind a white dwarf or a neutron star, contrary to popular notion that a supernova fully obliterates the star)
The hardest thing that I find to grasp about black holes is how they affect time. According to Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, time is completely relative to everyone’s individual perception. So if a person were falling towards a black hole, he would go on seeing time as we see it normally. But to someone watching the man fall towards the black hole, the closer he got, the slower he would fall, until he reached a point were he would stop falling altogether, at a point known as the event horizon. The hard thing for me to grasp, is that the person falling would have fallen through the event horizon at a certain point, but after he’s past that point, anyone watching him would see him as he was before reaching the event horizon. He would be in two places at once, all depending on who you asked!
A non-rotating black hole is, again theoretically, the only true sphere in the universe. It would have absolutely no marks on it, and would be perfectly spherical. However, since the odds of a star collapsing without moving is vitually zero, black holes should tend to bulge out at the center, like the Earth or the Sun.
There are also primordial black holes, which have existed since right after the Big Bang. After the explosion that created the universe, there were parts of space that held more matter than others, and in places where the matter was highly concentrated, a black hole could form.
This one will be elaborating on things from Stephen Hawkings’ ‘A Brief History of Time.” (Yes, I know, I am a nerd)
Black Holes
Chapter 6 goes through what is currently known, and what isn’t, about the concept and existence of black holes. The term ‘black hole’ was originally coined in 1969 by John Wheeler, but the concept of a star could have enough mass that its gravitational pull that even light could not escape was first offered by John Mitchell, all the way back in 1783. This is the actual definition of a black hole, it is neither black nor a whole, but simply a body of mass so great, that individual particles of light (theoretically the fastest that anything can physically move) would be sucked into the mass. This means that, if looked at, a black hole would simply look like a black spot in space, because it would emit literally no light, nor allow any light to pass by it for that matter (ignoring some really screwy equations in which the cone of light created by, uh, light, bends around the gravitational pull of the singularity if passing just beyond the event horizon).
For a black hole to form, a star with a mass 30x or greater than the Sun must be formed from a protostellar cloud of gas and dust (a in human biological terms, a protostellar cloud would be a fetus) . When the star starts to run out of full, it begins to cool off, and contract in on itself. From here, there are four forms that the dying star can go into: a brown-dwarf, a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole. (A supernova will generally leave behind a white dwarf or a neutron star, contrary to popular notion that a supernova fully obliterates the star)
The hardest thing that I find to grasp about black holes is how they affect time. According to Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, time is completely relative to everyone’s individual perception. So if a person were falling towards a black hole, he would go on seeing time as we see it normally. But to someone watching the man fall towards the black hole, the closer he got, the slower he would fall, until he reached a point were he would stop falling altogether, at a point known as the event horizon. The hard thing for me to grasp, is that the person falling would have fallen through the event horizon at a certain point, but after he’s past that point, anyone watching him would see him as he was before reaching the event horizon. He would be in two places at once, all depending on who you asked!
A non-rotating black hole is, again theoretically, the only true sphere in the universe. It would have absolutely no marks on it, and would be perfectly spherical. However, since the odds of a star collapsing without moving is vitually zero, black holes should tend to bulge out at the center, like the Earth or the Sun.
There are also primordial black holes, which have existed since right after the Big Bang. After the explosion that created the universe, there were parts of space that held more matter than others, and in places where the matter was highly concentrated, a black hole could form.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Alestorm
This is a band I have just found, and I'm now horribly addicted to their album 'Black Sails at Midnight.' They are a power/folk metal band (power metal focuses on fast guitar playing, folk metal uses folk songs/celtic songs in their outlining of the songs) but the band describes itself as "True Scottish Pirate Metal," which is actually a joke in reference to 'True Norwegian Black Metal). They hail from Perth, Scotland, and have been recording since 2004. They have two albums, the one I mentioned, and "Captain Morgan's Revenge."
I just love the album, because it doesn't take itself too seriously, and still manages some really good music, if you're into this rather obscure form of metal. The instrumental song "No Quarter" uses the basic tune of Hans Zimmers' compositions from "Pirates of the Carribean," adding their own style to it.
Progressive Theology
In one of my previous posts I discussed apoctastasis, and claimed that it was my personal choice for an explanation of theodicy, but have since come across what has become known as 'progressive theology.' I learned about this in my activities with the on-campus group 'Atheist-Theist Connection,' in which a reverend who also attends the meeting brought it up. Progressive theologians/Christians have an open willingness to question contemporary tradition. The main tenet of progressive theology is that there is no way to successfully explain how God can be all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful simultaneously, and instead argue that God is not, in fact, all-knowing. They use the Bible to verify this, especially the Old Testament, in which God seems to either not know about something (The Book of Job in which he seems ignorant to the happenings of Earth outside the Jews), or changes his mind (Genesis where he decides to not kill Noah and his family.
Progressive theology also takes a more "liberal" standpoint on other issues, encouraging an acceptance of human diversity, an emphasis on social justice, care for the poor and oppressed, and being environmentally green. Progressive Christians focus more on Jesus' teaching of 'Love one another,' than on any other part of the Biblical teachings.
Source: Reverend Charles Allen; progressivetheology.wordpress.com
Progressive theology also takes a more "liberal" standpoint on other issues, encouraging an acceptance of human diversity, an emphasis on social justice, care for the poor and oppressed, and being environmentally green. Progressive Christians focus more on Jesus' teaching of 'Love one another,' than on any other part of the Biblical teachings.
Source: Reverend Charles Allen; progressivetheology.wordpress.com
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Google Search: Digital Philosophy
Digital philosophy is a form of philosophy and cosmology proposed by some mathematicians and physicists. It argues that most physical theories are consequences of cellular automaton.
Digital philosophy tries to explain certain problems philosophy has in regard to physics and the like, such as a newer interpretation of the Copenhagen theory in regards to new discoveries in quantum theory. The main argument of this is that all existence and thought consists of nothing but computations, reality and mental activity being digitized information.
There are five main conclusions that digital philosophy describes:the world can be resolved into digital bits, with each bit made of smaller bits, these bits form a fractal pattern in fact-space, the pattern behaves like a cellular automaton, the pattern is inconceivably large in size and dimensions, although the world started simply, its computation is irreducibly complex.
Digital philosophy tries to explain certain problems philosophy has in regard to physics and the like, such as a newer interpretation of the Copenhagen theory in regards to new discoveries in quantum theory. The main argument of this is that all existence and thought consists of nothing but computations, reality and mental activity being digitized information.
There are five main conclusions that digital philosophy describes:the world can be resolved into digital bits, with each bit made of smaller bits, these bits form a fractal pattern in fact-space, the pattern behaves like a cellular automaton, the pattern is inconceivably large in size and dimensions, although the world started simply, its computation is irreducibly complex.
Google: Digital Car
This linked me to an article by Josh Clark, entitled "What makes a digital car digital?" He talks about how television shows have had shows with intelligent automobiles. In 1965 there was "My Mother the Car," which is about a man who discovers his mother is reincarnated as his 1928 Porter automobile. (side note: TV Guide named this the 2nd worst show of all time.) He then describes a more successful show, "Knight Rider." Instead of being a reincarnation, this car had AI instead: K.I.T.T. (Knight Industries Two Thousand). KITT's partner is Micheal Knight, played by David Hasselhoff.
Today, new breakthroughs have allowed for cars to come closer to KITT, what with wireless communication and compressed data storage, which is now in certain vehicles.
Clark then argues that the difference between a car and a digital car is intelligence. Before, a car was simply a mode of transportation. Now cars have hard drives, and more electronics than some people can possible realize. Cars are now being equipped with technology to help avoid collisions all together, called precollision systems, and cameras to look for traffic ahead and what's behind the car.
Information:
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/under-the-hood/trends-innovations/digital-car.htm
Today, new breakthroughs have allowed for cars to come closer to KITT, what with wireless communication and compressed data storage, which is now in certain vehicles.
Clark then argues that the difference between a car and a digital car is intelligence. Before, a car was simply a mode of transportation. Now cars have hard drives, and more electronics than some people can possible realize. Cars are now being equipped with technology to help avoid collisions all together, called precollision systems, and cameras to look for traffic ahead and what's behind the car.
Information:
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/under-the-hood/trends-innovations/digital-car.htm
Databases
A database is a collection of related records/files, which are linked together for easier access. Databases are generally classified by their content, such as text, numeric, image... Databases have become the most common form of storage today for multiuser applications.
There are many types of databases, such as operational databases, which stores data for organizations, document-oriented databases, which are designed to work with document-oriented applications, and real-time databases which handles information that may or may not be constantly changing. The relational model is the most commonly used database type, it uses tables to show information, making it easier to use and read. Excel is a type of a relational database.
One benefit to using databases is that it has the capacity to be easily replicated. In other words, when something happens to the database, it can usually make an exact copy of what is happening, in real time, and save it somewhere else. This is useful in things such as e-commerce, because it creates a virtual receipt.
There are many types of databases, such as operational databases, which stores data for organizations, document-oriented databases, which are designed to work with document-oriented applications, and real-time databases which handles information that may or may not be constantly changing. The relational model is the most commonly used database type, it uses tables to show information, making it easier to use and read. Excel is a type of a relational database.
One benefit to using databases is that it has the capacity to be easily replicated. In other words, when something happens to the database, it can usually make an exact copy of what is happening, in real time, and save it somewhere else. This is useful in things such as e-commerce, because it creates a virtual receipt.
Zune vs. ipod
The ipod is the current dominator of mp3 players today. Released in 2001, it has now sold over 220,000,000 iPods worldwide, making it the best-selling digital audio player series in history. Itunes, the program that allows for people to buy music online, and also is how you transfer music files from the computer to the ipod, has also grown exponentially in its uses, especially with the release of the iphone.
The Zune was Microsoft's answer to the Apple ipod, but has not nearly met the success as the ipod. Released in 2006, it utilized many of the same ideas and functions as the ipod, but simply could not get the client base it needed, and was virtually non-existent outside of the United States. Microsoft is hoping to change this with its new Zune, the 'Zune-HD,' which, even though it has yet to be released, is already listed as sold-out in all major internet outlets.
I have owned both a Zune and an Ipod, and I personally prefer my Zune to my old Ipod. I really found no difference to the actual device, so it really came down to the programs that had to be used with the computer. I had so many problems with Itunes, but the only problem I've really come across with the Zune program is that it likes to delete album photos for some reason, which really isn't that big of a deal for me. Also, Itunes gave me a lot of grief when it came to transferring music files either from my computer to my Ipod, or from my ipod to my computer, whereas there was no difficulties with the Zune program. Yes, I realize that it may be a violation of current copyright laws, but I believe that if I buy a CD I should be able to put the songs on my mp3 player, and if I buy individual songs online I should be able to burn them onto a CD.
The Zune was Microsoft's answer to the Apple ipod, but has not nearly met the success as the ipod. Released in 2006, it utilized many of the same ideas and functions as the ipod, but simply could not get the client base it needed, and was virtually non-existent outside of the United States. Microsoft is hoping to change this with its new Zune, the 'Zune-HD,' which, even though it has yet to be released, is already listed as sold-out in all major internet outlets.
I have owned both a Zune and an Ipod, and I personally prefer my Zune to my old Ipod. I really found no difference to the actual device, so it really came down to the programs that had to be used with the computer. I had so many problems with Itunes, but the only problem I've really come across with the Zune program is that it likes to delete album photos for some reason, which really isn't that big of a deal for me. Also, Itunes gave me a lot of grief when it came to transferring music files either from my computer to my Ipod, or from my ipod to my computer, whereas there was no difficulties with the Zune program. Yes, I realize that it may be a violation of current copyright laws, but I believe that if I buy a CD I should be able to put the songs on my mp3 player, and if I buy individual songs online I should be able to burn them onto a CD.
Apoctastasis
I just finished a chapter in a book I am reading that explained the notion of apoctastsis, and also read Augustine's counters to it in his 'City of God,' and am so interested in the idea that I felt it worthy of a blog.
Apoctastasis, when referring to the Christian aspect of the idea, is the notion that even after the 2nd coming of Christ, God will still allow for souls in Hell to repent.
The most famous individual to propound the notion of apoctastasis was Origen of Alexandria, in his book 'Against Celcus,' written around 254 CE. He argued that everything was made from the Father, who is all-good, and everything that has eminated from Him contained some of His good, even the Devil. And since God could not allow for a good being, even if that creature was mostly evil, to exist eternally in damnation. That is the main reason why Origen was never canonized: the other Church Fathers who followed after him (especially Augustine, who devoted entire chapters in his book 'City of God' to denouncing Origen's 'blasphemies'). Origen believed that, everything that ever existed in Hell would eventually see the err of their ways, and return to God, devoting themselves to the good, and purging themselves of the evil within them. Essentially apoctastasis argues that Hell is more of a Purgatorial state, rather than a place of eternal torment. (Note: within this idea, and timeframe in general, Hell does not exist as the fire and brimstone place of pain that we now view it as. It was more of a place where the individual is completely separated from God's love, a thing that we cannot experience on Earth, as Earth is a paradise that exists within the realm of God's love.)
I personally view this as the best answer to theodicy (the theological/philosophical question of how evil can exist within the realm of a kind and loving diety) that I have yet come across. Going under the assumption that God is truly all-loving, as proclaimed within Abrahamic religious beliefs, then I fail to conceive of a notion of a never-ending place of eternal torment. I simply cannot wrap my mind around it. And again, yes, I realize how odd it is that this is what I do in my spare time, but hey, I find it all fascinating.
Apoctastasis, when referring to the Christian aspect of the idea, is the notion that even after the 2nd coming of Christ, God will still allow for souls in Hell to repent.
The most famous individual to propound the notion of apoctastasis was Origen of Alexandria, in his book 'Against Celcus,' written around 254 CE. He argued that everything was made from the Father, who is all-good, and everything that has eminated from Him contained some of His good, even the Devil. And since God could not allow for a good being, even if that creature was mostly evil, to exist eternally in damnation. That is the main reason why Origen was never canonized: the other Church Fathers who followed after him (especially Augustine, who devoted entire chapters in his book 'City of God' to denouncing Origen's 'blasphemies'). Origen believed that, everything that ever existed in Hell would eventually see the err of their ways, and return to God, devoting themselves to the good, and purging themselves of the evil within them. Essentially apoctastasis argues that Hell is more of a Purgatorial state, rather than a place of eternal torment. (Note: within this idea, and timeframe in general, Hell does not exist as the fire and brimstone place of pain that we now view it as. It was more of a place where the individual is completely separated from God's love, a thing that we cannot experience on Earth, as Earth is a paradise that exists within the realm of God's love.)
I personally view this as the best answer to theodicy (the theological/philosophical question of how evil can exist within the realm of a kind and loving diety) that I have yet come across. Going under the assumption that God is truly all-loving, as proclaimed within Abrahamic religious beliefs, then I fail to conceive of a notion of a never-ending place of eternal torment. I simply cannot wrap my mind around it. And again, yes, I realize how odd it is that this is what I do in my spare time, but hey, I find it all fascinating.
Twilight
The newest phenomena to reach the US, Twilight, both the books and movies, have made a ridiculous amounts of money. The first movie made hundreds of millions, and the new movie 'New Moon' broke 5-day box office records. The books themselves have sold millions upon millions of copies.
I loathe this new fad. I had a friend who read the first book for the sole purpose of having specific reasons for why it is a terrible book, which is what everything else is based off of. I fully trust in what he has said, and have been told by other friends who are fans of the book that he is right. Virtually every facet of what the vampire mythos is, Twilight ignores. Garlic, transformation, stakes through the heart, all is non-existant. But the worst part of it all, is that when exposed to sunlight, they don't burst into flames or otherwise die or even get hurt, no, they SPARKLE!
I read a chapter or so, and the writing is terrible. It is reminiscent of the RL Stine books I loved as a kid: very simple language, easy to follow, and most importantly, written so that a child could read and follow the story-line. That is what irks me the most about this entire fad, is that the massive fan-base consists mostly of people my age. The book was obviously written for a younger audience, but somehow teenagers and their older siblings have found out about it, and blown it out of proportion. I honestly think that the only real reason that Twilight became as big as it did was because there was a vacuum that needed to be filled with the ending of the Harry Potter series.
I loathe this new fad. I had a friend who read the first book for the sole purpose of having specific reasons for why it is a terrible book, which is what everything else is based off of. I fully trust in what he has said, and have been told by other friends who are fans of the book that he is right. Virtually every facet of what the vampire mythos is, Twilight ignores. Garlic, transformation, stakes through the heart, all is non-existant. But the worst part of it all, is that when exposed to sunlight, they don't burst into flames or otherwise die or even get hurt, no, they SPARKLE!
I read a chapter or so, and the writing is terrible. It is reminiscent of the RL Stine books I loved as a kid: very simple language, easy to follow, and most importantly, written so that a child could read and follow the story-line. That is what irks me the most about this entire fad, is that the massive fan-base consists mostly of people my age. The book was obviously written for a younger audience, but somehow teenagers and their older siblings have found out about it, and blown it out of proportion. I honestly think that the only real reason that Twilight became as big as it did was because there was a vacuum that needed to be filled with the ending of the Harry Potter series.
Monday, November 23, 2009
New Media
I went through several different majors, trying to find something that was right for me, and 2 semesters ago I read up on the New Media program, and it looked promising. Allowing for programming and creativity, it sounded interesting and something that I could do. It has been (relatively) interesting, and I could go through with it, but I have once more changed my major.
The New Media program consists of telling students that if they work hard enough that they can get a job doing what they want, be it audio, video, making games, or building websites. I accept, to a certain degree, the building websites, but the rest are mostly just pipe dreams and the program encourages students to spend 4 years and a lot of money to get a job, if they want it enough. I had three friends from high school go to Full Sail for video, audio, and band management (something Full Sail is renowned for being a great school for) and they all now work at Best Buy. The market for what a New Media degree is supposedly going to get you just isn't there. I've heard time and again in this program 'if you work hard enough, you can get a job.' And side-by-side with this comes the name Frank Tai. The 'poster child' of New Media, I don't think I made it through a single New Media course without having his name offered as proof that anyone can get their dream job. But then, if you talk to any of the professors or grad students in a less formal setting, they admit that he spent his entire life working on his stuff. He was ALWAYS here. If you have that kind of dedication to pretty much anything, then yes, you will be successful 99% of the time. Just because he made it doesn't mean that everyone will, and most probably won't.
Next topic: building video games. If you really want to go make the next Grand Theft Auto, or Call of Duty, you pretty much need to get a computer science degree. That's not to say that New Media won't help in the graduate-level, I am not critiquing that, only the under-graduate program. Andy Harris, a professor and advisor in the Computer Science department, has a master's in New Media. He's written books on various programming languages, and made video games (as well as teaches the classes). But even with his New Media Master's, he tells New Media students to change to CS (something that I've found most CS professors do). But to go from a Bachelor's in New Media, to one of the big-name gaming companies, I just don't see happening. Yes, you could make the 2-D or 3-D character models, but to really build the game, that's computer science.
Making 2-D/3-D Art. As I said before, the job market just isn't there. I have yet to hear anything other than 'you have to work hard to get a job.' To me that is just a euphemism for there is no job market. If you are good enough, and have enough luck to get one of the few jobs that are there, good for you. I do not mean to downplay those individuals who have succeeded with this program, its just that I have a feeling that there are many students who haven't succeeded, and we just don't hear about them.
I believe that the New Media program should be scrapped, and rebuilt within other programs. If you want to build websites, there should be a track within the computer science program to suit that. If you want to do audio, then a specialization within the music technology degree. 2-D/3-D? Herron. Video is the only degree that I can not think of a specific major that it could be inherently absorbed into, and that could simply mean making it its own specific degree into the School of Informatics.
The New Media program consists of telling students that if they work hard enough that they can get a job doing what they want, be it audio, video, making games, or building websites. I accept, to a certain degree, the building websites, but the rest are mostly just pipe dreams and the program encourages students to spend 4 years and a lot of money to get a job, if they want it enough. I had three friends from high school go to Full Sail for video, audio, and band management (something Full Sail is renowned for being a great school for) and they all now work at Best Buy. The market for what a New Media degree is supposedly going to get you just isn't there. I've heard time and again in this program 'if you work hard enough, you can get a job.' And side-by-side with this comes the name Frank Tai. The 'poster child' of New Media, I don't think I made it through a single New Media course without having his name offered as proof that anyone can get their dream job. But then, if you talk to any of the professors or grad students in a less formal setting, they admit that he spent his entire life working on his stuff. He was ALWAYS here. If you have that kind of dedication to pretty much anything, then yes, you will be successful 99% of the time. Just because he made it doesn't mean that everyone will, and most probably won't.
Next topic: building video games. If you really want to go make the next Grand Theft Auto, or Call of Duty, you pretty much need to get a computer science degree. That's not to say that New Media won't help in the graduate-level, I am not critiquing that, only the under-graduate program. Andy Harris, a professor and advisor in the Computer Science department, has a master's in New Media. He's written books on various programming languages, and made video games (as well as teaches the classes). But even with his New Media Master's, he tells New Media students to change to CS (something that I've found most CS professors do). But to go from a Bachelor's in New Media, to one of the big-name gaming companies, I just don't see happening. Yes, you could make the 2-D or 3-D character models, but to really build the game, that's computer science.
Making 2-D/3-D Art. As I said before, the job market just isn't there. I have yet to hear anything other than 'you have to work hard to get a job.' To me that is just a euphemism for there is no job market. If you are good enough, and have enough luck to get one of the few jobs that are there, good for you. I do not mean to downplay those individuals who have succeeded with this program, its just that I have a feeling that there are many students who haven't succeeded, and we just don't hear about them.
I believe that the New Media program should be scrapped, and rebuilt within other programs. If you want to build websites, there should be a track within the computer science program to suit that. If you want to do audio, then a specialization within the music technology degree. 2-D/3-D? Herron. Video is the only degree that I can not think of a specific major that it could be inherently absorbed into, and that could simply mean making it its own specific degree into the School of Informatics.
iphone Ocarina
In a recent post I noted how Ocarina of Time is my favorite Zelda game, and possibly my favorite game all-around. At geek.com, they've brought Link's notable instrument to the 21st Century. It is made with three iPhones, which have been inserted into a laser-cut body. The player blows into the device and then uses 12 touch-senstitive areas on the screens, which changes the pitch, as would the finger holes in a normal ocarina. They are also toying with how to change the vibrato of the instrument by tipping the 'ocarina.'
Dick Tracy's Watch
Dick Tracy was a comic started back in teh '30's about a detective in a bright yellow trench coat. One of the things that he was most known for was his watch, which acted as a cellphone does today. Well, now they've really made one.
First shown in the 2009 CES, LG showed off their working demo of the watch. It has a touchscreen phone 3G and Bluetooth capabilities, and a camera that can take photos and small videos. It acts as a normal watch until you either get a call or decide to make one, via the speakerphone embedded in it.
They currently go for about $500, so only really committed spies can afford them as of now.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Video Game Graphics
Ever since the new-gen systems have come out, everyone is raving about the newest and best graphics. This has irritated me to no end. It encourages the video game industry to worry more about the way a game looks then they do about content, because they can always just hype the game content with their millions of dollars in advertising, and the screen-shots they show look good, so everyone ends up thinking the game will be awesome. Case in point: the Halo franchise. Yes, I am saying it, Halo is quite possible the most over-rated game/franchise ever. The game is nothing special, but with each subsequent game more and more hype has been generated about them. It is nothing special, even for console FPS's. One of the best games ever made? Tetris. It is fun to play, highly addictive, has been around for decades, and yet consists of strangely shaped blocks.
My favorite system that I have ever played/owned? The Nintendo 64. I still have mine hooked up and play it from time to time, and it is still fun. It had so many good games for it, that were fun to play. They looked good at the time, but by today's standards the graphics are atrocious. And yet I couldn't care less. Ocarina of Time is still my favorite Zelda game, Perfect Dark one of my favorite FPS's, and Mario Kart 64 my favorite mario cart. Today's gaming youth have been ingrained with this notion that the better it looks, the better it is. I'm not saying that we should lose the good graphics, just that good graphics can do nothing but make a good game better.
My favorite system that I have ever played/owned? The Nintendo 64. I still have mine hooked up and play it from time to time, and it is still fun. It had so many good games for it, that were fun to play. They looked good at the time, but by today's standards the graphics are atrocious. And yet I couldn't care less. Ocarina of Time is still my favorite Zelda game, Perfect Dark one of my favorite FPS's, and Mario Kart 64 my favorite mario cart. Today's gaming youth have been ingrained with this notion that the better it looks, the better it is. I'm not saying that we should lose the good graphics, just that good graphics can do nothing but make a good game better.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Horus-Christ Mythos
I first became aware of a possible link between a correlation between the biblical stories of Jesus, and the myths of Horus from the Egyptian Book of the Dead in Tomas Harpur's book The Pagan Christ. It was well-written, appeared to be very well-researched, and amazed me to the point where I had to learn more. The basic details of what Harpur claimed was that virtually every detail of the Biblical Christ had a direct parallel to Horus in Egyptian Mythology. Some of the resemblances include: John the Baptist is Anup the Baptizer, King Herod was Set, both Jesus' and Horus' mothers were virgins, both births were announced by angels and witnessed by shepherds, and the list goes on and on.
As it turns out, Harpur based his entire book on the work of two people: Alfred Kuhn and Gerald Massey. Turns out, Kuhn based his entire work on Gerald Massey's translation of the Book of the Dead, which he did wrong (which may or may not have been on purpose). The only obvious parallels are that they were both descended from royalty, both had someone in power try and kill them as infants, and both performed various miracles.
I keep this book in my collection for one main reason: it proves that even though it is in a book, it doesn't mean that it is correct. The Wikipedia entry on the Christ-Horus mythos is FAR more accurate than the book, even though the book is written in a very intelligent and scholarly manner. I think that everyone can learn from this instance, because there is this notion in this country that information on the internet is less reliable than books, and all through my high school career we were allowed only very rarely to use a website in a paper, and instead had to use only books. While I love to read and learn from books, I think we need a new society view on how we should learn, that multiple means of media (TV, books, internet, etc.) should be resorted to in the critical search for knowledge.
As it turns out, Harpur based his entire book on the work of two people: Alfred Kuhn and Gerald Massey. Turns out, Kuhn based his entire work on Gerald Massey's translation of the Book of the Dead, which he did wrong (which may or may not have been on purpose). The only obvious parallels are that they were both descended from royalty, both had someone in power try and kill them as infants, and both performed various miracles.
I keep this book in my collection for one main reason: it proves that even though it is in a book, it doesn't mean that it is correct. The Wikipedia entry on the Christ-Horus mythos is FAR more accurate than the book, even though the book is written in a very intelligent and scholarly manner. I think that everyone can learn from this instance, because there is this notion in this country that information on the internet is less reliable than books, and all through my high school career we were allowed only very rarely to use a website in a paper, and instead had to use only books. While I love to read and learn from books, I think we need a new society view on how we should learn, that multiple means of media (TV, books, internet, etc.) should be resorted to in the critical search for knowledge.
The Louvre Pyramid
The entrance to the Louvre is a giant glass pyramid designed by I.M. Pei, being about 70 feet tall and 115 feet at the base. It is made of 603 rhombus segements and 70 triangular segments, and was finished in 1989. It was commissioned to be made, alongside an underground lobby, because the original main entrance couldn't handle the large number of visitors that the Louvre was seeing. Patrons enter the pyramid, descend into the lobby, and then ascend to the main buildings.
When construction began, many people complained that the futuristic pyramid conflicted to greatly with the classical architecture of the rest of the Louvre. Further complaints have been made, with the perpetration of an urban myth that the pyramid was constructed with exactly 666 glass panes. This is untrue, with the actual number of panes being 673.
In Dan Brown's book the da Vinci code, he also perpetrates the notion that there are 666 panes. The pyramid itself also is the final solution to the questions given to the main character, with the pyramid housing the remains of Mary Madeline.
Monday, November 16, 2009
StupidFilter
This is something I stumbled across. It is a program that, when finished, will help to stop rampant stupidity on the internet, specifically individuals who rant and scream, and say nothing for nothing's sake. They want to do this by using some analysis of how people talk online, and finding the trends to help stop people from flooding the web with non-sense. The main use of StupidFilter is to stop trolls on blogs and other posts.
It is going to be, and currently is, an open-source filter software. According to their site (http://stupidfilter.org/main/index.php?n=Main.About) "once the research is completed, we plan to release core engine source code for incorporation into content management systems, blogs, wikis and the like. Additionally, we plan to develop a fully implemented Firefox plugin and a Wordpress plugin."
I think this is a great idea. I have been on a blog or other such media, reading about something that I have an interest in seeing what other people's views on it are, only to see the thread unraveled by a troll, that one person who just rants and yells, never says anything, and insists that they know more than anyone on the planet, all of whom are stupid for not listening to him. I fully support online freedom of speech, but I think when someone starts a post or blog, they should be able to start off by saying 'no trolls allowed.'
It is going to be, and currently is, an open-source filter software. According to their site (http://stupidfilter.org/main/index.php?n=Main.About) "once the research is completed, we plan to release core engine source code for incorporation into content management systems, blogs, wikis and the like. Additionally, we plan to develop a fully implemented Firefox plugin and a Wordpress plugin."
I think this is a great idea. I have been on a blog or other such media, reading about something that I have an interest in seeing what other people's views on it are, only to see the thread unraveled by a troll, that one person who just rants and yells, never says anything, and insists that they know more than anyone on the planet, all of whom are stupid for not listening to him. I fully support online freedom of speech, but I think when someone starts a post or blog, they should be able to start off by saying 'no trolls allowed.'
Google Search: Digital Knowledge
digitalKnowledge is an Indianapolis-based services company, that designs, develops, and implements technological solutions to data, processes, and allows for business and customer relationships. They offer four specific branches of customer assistance: Business Intelligence, Customer Relationship Management, Web Solutions, and Operational Planning and Efficiency.
Their Business Intelligence (BI) branch focuses on allowing data-usability for their clients, to create and analyze information, using that to create knowledge, and using that knowledge to end with business results. The BI branch specifically does data warehousing, data marts, and operational data stores.
The Customer Relationship Management allows customers to deal with associates to help them plan how to market, sell, and serve them and their needs. They work on a four-part plan: Impact Evaluation, Sure Start, Launch, and Optimize.
Their Web Solutions team does pretty much what you would expect from the title. They build websites met to customer specs. I think other companies would be far better than this one, seeing as how both the content and look of their own website (http://www.digitalknowledge.biz/) is rather dull and lacks even a hint of ingenuity.
And finally we reach the end of the four, Operational Planning and Efficiency. You give them a plan, and they tell you whether or not they think it will work. That's about it.
To those of you who read this entire thing, I sincerely apologize. If you think it was boring to read about, it was far more boring to write about (just look at the last two sections, they were murder to write). But I figured this out about half-way through writing, and so decided to continue with it. Business has never really held any interest for me (and I'm sure for most of you as well) and that really says something. I have an inherent interest in learning something about most things. My rather expansive personal library has books from Stephen Hawking to Voltaire, to exegeses on the books of the New Testament to a graphic novel about Vampires and Tin Soldiers, to a book about how Hell has been depicted in art since the death of Christ. So to say that I have no interest in something is a rarity for me. But again, I apologize for the content of this blog, and hopefully you find my others to be of higher quality and greater interest.
Their Business Intelligence (BI) branch focuses on allowing data-usability for their clients, to create and analyze information, using that to create knowledge, and using that knowledge to end with business results. The BI branch specifically does data warehousing, data marts, and operational data stores.
The Customer Relationship Management allows customers to deal with associates to help them plan how to market, sell, and serve them and their needs. They work on a four-part plan: Impact Evaluation, Sure Start, Launch, and Optimize.
Their Web Solutions team does pretty much what you would expect from the title. They build websites met to customer specs. I think other companies would be far better than this one, seeing as how both the content and look of their own website (http://www.digitalknowledge.biz/) is rather dull and lacks even a hint of ingenuity.
And finally we reach the end of the four, Operational Planning and Efficiency. You give them a plan, and they tell you whether or not they think it will work. That's about it.
To those of you who read this entire thing, I sincerely apologize. If you think it was boring to read about, it was far more boring to write about (just look at the last two sections, they were murder to write). But I figured this out about half-way through writing, and so decided to continue with it. Business has never really held any interest for me (and I'm sure for most of you as well) and that really says something. I have an inherent interest in learning something about most things. My rather expansive personal library has books from Stephen Hawking to Voltaire, to exegeses on the books of the New Testament to a graphic novel about Vampires and Tin Soldiers, to a book about how Hell has been depicted in art since the death of Christ. So to say that I have no interest in something is a rarity for me. But again, I apologize for the content of this blog, and hopefully you find my others to be of higher quality and greater interest.
Gothic Metal
Gothic metal is a genre of music, which often combines the 'heavier' sound of heavy metal with a darker, brooding atmosphere of atmospheric metal. Starting in the 1990's in Europe with a fusion of death and doom metal, with bands like Peaceville of Three, Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride leading the way. The band Theatre of Tragedy started dual vocals, with a growling male voice, and clean, often operatic female vocals contrasting, which has come to be known as 'Beauty and the Beast.'
More recently, Gothic Metal bands have taken on a symphonic atmosphere. Many bands, such as Nightwish and Xandria, often have a full orchestral back-up to their music.
Epica not only uses orchestras in their albums, but released one album that had only one song with vocals, the rest being either fully orchestral, or orchestral with overlaying guitars. Outside of Europe, the band Evanescence from Kansas has found success bringing a gothic metal-style and mixing it with nu metal.
More recently, Gothic Metal bands have taken on a symphonic atmosphere. Many bands, such as Nightwish and Xandria, often have a full orchestral back-up to their music.
Epica not only uses orchestras in their albums, but released one album that had only one song with vocals, the rest being either fully orchestral, or orchestral with overlaying guitars. Outside of Europe, the band Evanescence from Kansas has found success bringing a gothic metal-style and mixing it with nu metal.
RNA - The Mother of All Molecules
I recently went to a lecture hosted by the CFI of Indianapolis by May Khanna, entitled "RNA: Darwin's favorite molecule (had he known about it!)" She talked about how RNA could have formed from a primordial soup of simple organic molecules. Up until recently, how RNA could form from simple organic molecules and go through synthesis, to become what we now know as RNA. This last year, two biochemists (who won the Nobel Prize for their work) figured it out. The main problem was chemists couldn't figure out how to get a sugar to correctly attach itself to an organic base. Rather than going through the 'logical' steps, as chemists had up until this point, they went in a slightly more round-about way, and their method has proven repeatable on several instances.
She also went on to discuss the possibility that RNA was the evolutionary precursor to BOTH DNA and proteins. Up until the early '90's it was thought that proteins were the genetic precursor to RNA and DNA, and it is still being debated amongst scientists as to what really came first, but more and more evidence is showing the likelihood of RNA being the 'Mother of all Molecules.'
I loved her lecture, because she took something that was very technical, and simplified it to a point where the lay-person (like myself) could understand it, but there were also other bio-chemists in the audience who asked the more technical questions.
She also went on to discuss the possibility that RNA was the evolutionary precursor to BOTH DNA and proteins. Up until the early '90's it was thought that proteins were the genetic precursor to RNA and DNA, and it is still being debated amongst scientists as to what really came first, but more and more evidence is showing the likelihood of RNA being the 'Mother of all Molecules.'
I loved her lecture, because she took something that was very technical, and simplified it to a point where the lay-person (like myself) could understand it, but there were also other bio-chemists in the audience who asked the more technical questions.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Google Books
books.google.com is a collection of millions of books, all scanned and put online for anyone to look up and read, all for free. The majority of the collection consists of books that are in the public domain, so those that either have no copyrights or whose copyrights have ended, but Google has also made some agreements with publishers to provide others types of books for free. Google books works directly with many colleges/universities, such as Harvard and Stanford, using their collections to add to Google Books. They received lawsuits from individuals claiming copyright infringement, the biggest coming in 2008. It ended with Google agreeing to pay a total of $125 million to rights holders of books and to create a Books Rights Registry.
To cover the cost of some non-public domain books, Google Books might charge a fee for some books, but most numbers show that the odds of Google Books making money is slim. Sergai Brin, co-founder of Google, said that they never expected to make any money from Google Books.
I think this is a wonderful thing, with a really great potential. I personally love to read, and most of the things I read are religious, mythology, philosophy, and history, and much of those texts have fallen into the public domain. Also, although I learned it a little late, my Differential Equations textbook, which cost me almost $200, is on Google Books for free. I think that if Google continues to get agreements with publishers of textbooks, it could really help to offset the cost of college by making the textbooks free for anyone to view.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
google: digital mythology
I search "digital mythology," and came across the site http://www.paulsquire.com/mythology/mythology1.html. Paul Squire, the artist of the site, uses Photoshop, a wacom tablet and a mac as the main tools of creation to "twist and stretch new worlds into being, re-imagining classical myths and esoteric themes, which some have labelled 'The New Grotesque'" The specific images that I found are labeled after Greek and Roman gods, as well as a few other myths, such as Arachne and the battle of the Titans. While I love these pictures, the only qualm I have is the one on Apollo. Apollo was the twin brother to Artemis, son of Leto. As 'the most Greek of the Gods,' his symbols were the lute and the bow. It was even through the intervention of Apollo that Paris was was able to kill Achilles in The Iliad. The problem I have with the picture is that Apollo is standing over the sun. A popular misconception is that Apollo was the/a sun god. From a strictly mythological background, from the original texts, Apollo had nothing to do with the sun. The sun god was Helios in Greece, and Sol in Rome.
Random Wikipedia: American Conservatory of Music
For this post, I did a 'random article' in Wikipedia, and was shown the page for the American Conservatory of Music. It is located in Hammond, Indiana, but was originally in Chicago. It is one of the oldest music schools in the country, having been founded in 1886. By the 1970's, it was considered a daughter institution to Julliard.
The institution had problems in the '80's, when issues of financial mismanagement and misappropriation of endowments were called into question. In 1992, the institute asked for funding through the Illinois Board of Higher Education, to which authorities responded by trying to assert licensing control, which would cause the Conservatory to lose control over its curricula, tuition policy, and governing structure. After bankruptcy proceedings the institute in Chicago closed.
In 1998, the Conservatory moved to the new campus in Hammond, and was chartered in 1999. It officially moved there in 2000. The institute is affiliated with two campuses, one in Hammond and the other in Santa Elena, Belize. The Conservatory is now operating in awarding bachelor's, master's and doctoral courses without any federal or state accredation.
The institution had problems in the '80's, when issues of financial mismanagement and misappropriation of endowments were called into question. In 1992, the institute asked for funding through the Illinois Board of Higher Education, to which authorities responded by trying to assert licensing control, which would cause the Conservatory to lose control over its curricula, tuition policy, and governing structure. After bankruptcy proceedings the institute in Chicago closed.
In 1998, the Conservatory moved to the new campus in Hammond, and was chartered in 1999. It officially moved there in 2000. The institute is affiliated with two campuses, one in Hammond and the other in Santa Elena, Belize. The Conservatory is now operating in awarding bachelor's, master's and doctoral courses without any federal or state accredation.
Shadow of the Colossus
Shadow of the Colossus is an adventure game developed by Sony Computer Entertainment released in 2005. In it, a man named Wander must fight and kill 16 colossi to resurrect his dead lover.
The awards it has won are numerous, from Best Game Design and Best Visual Arts, to Outstanding Acheivement in Art Direction from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. It also ranks in the Top 10 PS2 games in many magazine and internet lists.
But while being a fun game in and of itself, what amazed me was how I became so enveloped in the world. There are long stretches of just riding from one place to the next, not doing anything but riding, but the way its done fully immerses you in the world. It is the first game I have ever played where I have just stopped and looked around to see it as art. The lighting, the graphics, every shot from the game looks like a painting. And apart from this, the soundtrack is flawless. I even have it on my mp3 player.
This is where I think video games should strive for more often. Lately, many games have been pushed out because they have better graphics, or better enemies. This game had 16 enemies in the entire game, and the graphics weren't overly great, but the enemies were done with perfection, and the look of the game fit with what they could use. Rather than striving for more and more, Shadow of the Colossus went far less than what was normally standard, and I believe that others should follow.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Google Search: Digital Candy
Digital Candy 2.2
Digital Candy is a program that searches for files using bittorrent networks. BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing program that allow for a transference to large files. Blizzard Entertainment, the game development company, uses BitTorrent to distribute most of its World of Warcraft content, up to and including the game itself. Many big-name open source and freeware projects use, and often encourage, BitTorrent to reduce the load on their servers.
BitTorrent has had problems with legality, with most of the problems dealing with accusations of copyright infringement.
As far as Digital Candy 2.2 is concerned, it doesn’t look like the kind of thing that I would use, mostly because the last time it was updated was in April 2006. Beyond that, it only works on the Windows OS, which limits who can use it.
Info from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent_%28protocol%29
http://digital-candy.findmysoft.com/
Digital Candy is a program that searches for files using bittorrent networks. BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing program that allow for a transference to large files. Blizzard Entertainment, the game development company, uses BitTorrent to distribute most of its World of Warcraft content, up to and including the game itself. Many big-name open source and freeware projects use, and often encourage, BitTorrent to reduce the load on their servers.
BitTorrent has had problems with legality, with most of the problems dealing with accusations of copyright infringement.
As far as Digital Candy 2.2 is concerned, it doesn’t look like the kind of thing that I would use, mostly because the last time it was updated was in April 2006. Beyond that, it only works on the Windows OS, which limits who can use it.
Info from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent_%28protocol%29
http://digital-candy.findmysoft.com/
Google search: Digital Penguin
Linux’s logo is Tux the Penguin. In 1996 there was discussion on a logo for Linux, and most suggestions involved parodies of other logos, or a shark or eagle. Eventually Linus Torvalds, the father of Linux, mentioned how he liked penguins. When asked to explain, Torvalds said: So when you think "penguin", you should be imagining a slightly overweight penguin, sitting down after having gorged itself, and having just burped. It's sitting there with a beatific smile - the world is a good place to be when you have just eaten a few gallons of raw fish and you can feel another "burp" coming.
He then went on to talk about how they could then add on to the penguin, like have it leaning against the world, or playing ice-hockey against the FreeBSD demon.
Also, there is a real, live Tux the Penguin. He lives at the Bristol Zoo in England, and is a Black-Footed Penguin, which is also referred to as the Jackass Penguin, due to the donkey-like braying sound they make.
He then went on to talk about how they could then add on to the penguin, like have it leaning against the world, or playing ice-hockey against the FreeBSD demon.
Also, there is a real, live Tux the Penguin. He lives at the Bristol Zoo in England, and is a Black-Footed Penguin, which is also referred to as the Jackass Penguin, due to the donkey-like braying sound they make.
Slaughterhouse Five
I just finished re-reading Kurt Vonnegut's book Slaughterhouse Five, and again am amazed by it. Overarching-ly, it is about the Burning of Dresden in WWII, but it entails so much more than that, and yet it is hard to describe it all. There are aliens, a proof that free will is incorrect, and many other humorous things, and yet most of them you can't laugh at. This book is the definition of black humor. He somehow managed to link aliens that look like plungers with a glove on them with one of the worst days in WWII, when over 100,000 innocent civilians were fire-bombed to death. It sounds impossible, and yet he managed to do it in a way that doesn't downplay what happened on that day, it doesn't glorify war in any possible way, and yet it is still one of the best war-novels I have ever read.
Ferrofluids
I randomly find myself interested in science, especially physics. In one such instance, I came across ferrofluids.Wikipedia's explanation of ferrofluids is:
'Ferrofluids are composed of nanoscale particles (diameter usually 10 nanometers or less) of magnetite, hematite or some other compound containing iron. This is small enough for thermal agitation to disperse them evenly within a carrier fluid, and for them to contribute to the overall magnetic response of the fluid. This is analogous to the way that the ions in an aqueous paramagnetic salt solution (such as an aqueous solution of copper(II)sulfate or manganese(II) chloride make the solution paramagnetic.'
All that is a fancy way of saying that a ferrofluid is a liquid that looks really cool when a magnetic field is applied to it. From an engineering standpoint, ferrofluids are used in high-powered computers and NASA is looking into uses for spaceflight, but what I find more interesting is how it's being used in art. Sachiko Kodama uses ferrofluids to climb and grow off various things, giving some really cool-looking things.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me5Zzm2TXh4&feature=player_embedded
wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free online encyclopeida, of which the information comes from the users. It is a multilingual encyclopedia project supported by a non-profit organization, the Wikimedia Foundation. It currently has over 13 million articles to date. It was launched in 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger and is currently the largest and most popular general reference work on the Internet.
This is one of my all-time favorite websites. It contains something on everything, and is perfect for when you want to get an overview on pretty much anything. Anyone in the world can add information, and contrary to what many individuals say, is very good about getting the right information. Wikipedia now employs more fact-checkers and editors than Encyclopedia Britannica. Wikipedia encourages everyone to learn as much about anything they want.I use wikipedia on a fairly regular basis, just to simply gain more knowledge on whatever I'm currently interested in. I'll start on one simple page for a video game or something, and two hours later somehow be reading up on black holes.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
crew9.net
A professor showed this site in one of my classes, and I really like it. The way it works is that whenever you hover over any person's picture, the rest of the pictures "turn" to look at the picture you're hovering over. The site itself consists of people looking for internships, and when you click on any of the people, it goes to what they've done and what they're looking for. To be honest, I think it's rather unnecessary as far as what's it is trying to accomplish, but I still think it's a cool idea.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
The Dark Knight
Unlike most other recent comic-based movies (the Spiderman movies, Fantastic 4, etc) which are brightly colored, virtually no one dies, and contain very little in the means of somber drama, the Dark Knight actually went to these extremes. It didn't rely on the name 'Batman' to sell tickets, instead it was dark, gritty, and didn't try and be something is wasn't. The Joker was an anarchist through and through, didn't worry about anything but himself, and even that is debatable. He walked around in clown makeup, and fought a guy who dressed like a bat, and yet it wasn't campy or fake. It felt real, like these characters actually have some basis in real life, the epitome of good and evil. The Batman fights crime simply because he feels its what he should do, he breaks the law, but he doesn't kill. At the end of the movie, though, he takes the fall for the death of Harvey Dent, for the good of the city. Harvey Dent showed how the human mind, even one with the best of intentions, can be broken given the right circumstances. The Dark Knight went much further than most comic movies dared to tread, and it ended with a much darker, more real, kind of movie, and has received like acclaim.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Pastafarianism
Pastafarianism, or The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, is a parody of the "theory" of Intelligent Design. (Yes, I do have a personal bias to it, and actually wrote a 10 page research paper on Intelligent Design last semester, but I won't get into that right now.) Pastafarianism is the belief that the universe was created by an entity known as the Flying Spaghetti Monster, who may or may not have been drunk at the time (just look at the platypus). The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has the 8 'I Really Wish you Didn'ts,' which were given to the Captain Pirate Mosey some time in the past. There were originally 10, but Mosey was drunk at the time and so lost two when climbing down the mountain. But to be more serious, Pastafarianism uses falacious arguments to show the flaws granted by Intelligent Design, such as claiming that since the earth is warmer now than it was in the past, and since there are fewer pirates now than there were in the past, there is a direct corellation between global warming and a lack of modern pirates (the fun-loving, swashbuckling type, not the murderous scallywags hollywood wants you to think used to exist).
Vetruvian Man, rocker style
I randomly found this t-shirt online, and think it's hilarious. For those of you who don't know, this is a parody of da Vinci's 'Vetruvian Man,' which shows the ratio of a man's arms and legs within a square relative to a circle. This shows what is known as the 'Golden Ratio' which is a ratio found throughout nature. But ignoring the math behind it all, I find this really funny. And yes, I do realize how nerdy that makes me.
Planet Terror
One of my favorite movies is Planet Terror. Robert Rodriguez did the movie as a kind of spoof on older movies, and it was released in theaters as "Grindhouse," with the movie 'Deathproof' playing with it, done in the style of early drive in movies. The whole movie has a layer over it like it is being shown on an old projector, with scratches, and at one point in the movie there is actually 'missing slides to the reel,' which was, of course, done on purpose. The overall plot is done as a bad zombie movie, full of plot holes and terrible dialogue. Even the main character is meant to be a play on how 'bad' movies used to be, the character being a go-go dancer who wants to be a comedian, who ends up with a gun/rocket launcher for a leg, after it is ripped off by zombies. But even after all of this, I feel it was done extremely well, and fully accomplished what Rodriguez initially set out to do.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
The Parthenon
The Parthenon has a design that has been mimicked countless times, a symbol of perfect unity, totally symmetrical, democracy itself, but what fascinates me about it is that the entire building has very few right angles, and in reality is just one big optical illusion. When simply looking at it head on, or really from any angle, it looks perfect. The columns are all bulging in the center, lean slightly inward, and the floor is actually so curved that if you lay a book on one end, and look from the floor on the other, you couldn't see the book. The west end of the building is higher than the east, but it was all done so subtly that simply looking at it, it is near impossible for the unaided eye to see that each column, each angle, is individual, that rather than being perfectly symmetrical, the architects made it is so perfectly asymmetrical that is only seems be perfect.
Printing Press
The printing press, I would argue, is the single most important creation made by modern man. The basic design allowed for texts to be quickly and cheaply made, allowing for literacy to skyrocket. It spurned the Reformation, the Pamphlet Wars began a precedent that we still follow today. Before this point there was a restriction on knowledge, only those who could afford it or go into the clergy were granted what we view today as basic skills that is almost a right, rather then a privilege. After this, Martin Luther was able to question the status quo, Voltaire was able to start an age. Every revolution after the creation of the first printing press is different from those before it. Before, it was kill as many people as possible. After the press, while this was still often a key facet of war or revolution, propaganda is now possible. From books to now the internet, where anyone with a computer is able to put their views for the whole world to see, this is what is owed to the printing press.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
MC Escher's The Scapegoat
I have always been a fan of Escher's works, but my favorite is a lesser-known one: The Scapegoat. It is a reference to the ancient Jewish tradition of sacrificing two goats, one to god by slaughtering it, and sending the other to 'Azazel' in the desert, which carried the sins of the people, bringing the term "scapegoat" to modern etymology. The painting is simple, only in black and white, but the symbolism is powerful, both God and the Devil face a goat opposite them, reflecting the good or the bad. The two colors reflect the simple duality at the heart of the Christian notion, the Good vs. Evil idea. The goats themselves are the same image, only a different color: white being "good" and black "evil." Thus, since both God and the Devil are linked with their respective goat, yet each goat is the almost the same as the other, it again reflects the dualistic nature of good and eveil, one can't exist without the other.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Cubism
I have always despised cubism for as long as I can remember, and especially when people argue that Picasso's works are some of the greatest pieces of art created (I'm only talking about his cubism stuff, I actually like his blue and rose period works). Take Guernica, for example. The only way I could tell that it was something 'bad' is the man in the right apparently screaming, other than that I could tell you nothing of what it is about, represents, or anything else about it. The entire piece is supposed to be symbolic, but I can't view the symbolism by looking at it! Someone had to tell me that it was a reference to a town that was bombed, and even then I couldn't see it. I have always preferred realism to most other forms of art; give me a Michelangelo painting over Picasso any day.
Supernatural
One of the few shows that I watch religiously is Supernatural (pun intended for any of you who got it). The initial commercials portrayed the show as a dark horror, and while it is, it also manages some really good comedy. When it needs to be 'horror,' the lighting goes down, the music mimics the mood, and even then there are random comments that make you laugh, and right after that some demon eviscerates an innocent person. One episode was even done documentary-style, kind of a Ghosthunters thing, and it was pulled off very well.
Another thing I like about the show is that they do their homework. I have the rather obscure hobby of liking to learn about diabology and demonolgy, and so know when there making stuff up and when they actually have some literary basis for doing what their doing, which I really like.
Another thing I like about the show is that they do their homework. I have the rather obscure hobby of liking to learn about diabology and demonolgy, and so know when there making stuff up and when they actually have some literary basis for doing what their doing, which I really like.
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