|
|
|
November 21st, 2009
09:01 am - Recent Tweets
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter
|
08:20 am - Religion + Science +Somthing + I Dunno, I'm Sleepy
It's impossible for me to think about consciousness or self-awareness. We have a pretty good idea of how self-replicating organisms evolved, but how do you explain that thing called consciousness?
Seems like we don't even have the vocabulary or framework to discuss it yet. We're like people trying to understand lightning hundreds of years ago before they had an inkling about atoms or electricity.
My own dealings with the attention deficit thing have hammered home the point that the brain is just a collection of chemicals, a very physical thing, but I think there's a whole dimension to consciousness we haven't even begun to scratch.
I think we need to understand it a lot better and I hope science keeps moving forward on that. I also hope we never totally figure it out.
|
06:54 am - A Better Netbook Analogy
...than mine.
Maybe Instead of Two Cars, You Just Need a Car and a Bicycle/
"One thing that strikes me about Chrome OS and Litl is that neither bother trying to do everything Windows or Mac OS X can do. Not even close. I don’t think either even bothers trying to serve as one’s primary computer.
The idea that they’re designed to serve as secondary computers is a big part of the opportunity... If you start with the assumption that a computer will be a secondary machine — something purchased because it’s cheaper, smaller, and lighter — you can make all sorts of different assumptions about what it needs to be capable of."
|
November 20th, 2009
10:38 am - I Really Want That Google Chrome OS Thing To Succeed
The Chrome OS netbook thing garnered a lot of scorn from geeks.
It's hard for a geek to understand why anybody would want to use anything but a full-featured computer and operating system, with all of the power and all of the maintenance and security complexity that entails.
It's kind of like...
Picture a logger using a chainsaw all day long and wondering why anybody would want to use anything but a chainsaw for anything at all, even if they're buttering their bread or performing a liver transplant.
It's okay, nerds. Nobody's taking away your "real computers." Different tools for different jobs.
Personally, I think these things look pretty cool but would be more exciting if they came with free mobile broadband for life like the Amazon Kindle.
|
09:45 am - Aliens
I can never figure out why the Colonial Marines in Aliens are so lovable.
It's something about their blend of technical competence, testosterone-fueled swagger, humor, blundering failure, and ultimate redemption, I guess?
But you never feel anything like that for the squad of mercs in Predator which was released the following year and is in some ways a carbon copy.
Don't get me wrong: I like the mercs in Predator. Love the banter in the chopper before the mission. Sexual tyrannosaurus, indeed! But they're no Colonial Marines.
|
09:01 am - Recent Tweets
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter
|
November 19th, 2009
09:01 am - Recent Tweets
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter
|
November 18th, 2009
10:15 am - Funnest
I think that "funnest" and "funner" are great adjectives to use once in a while.
As a slightly anal-retentive kid these non-words really grated on my ears but as an adult I think they're awesome. It's like, you're talking about something so fun that you're just got to get the words out and proper English can go piss up a rope. This thing you're talking about is so fun that you'vegottotellsomebodyaboutit.
|
09:43 am - Does The Human Race Deserve A Future?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8366197.stm
"A 20-year-old woman divorcee accused of committing adultery in Somalia has been stoned to death by Islamists in front of a crowd of about 200 people.
A judge working for the militant group al-Shabab said she had had an affair with an unmarried 29-year-old man.
...The group controls large swathes of southern Somalia where they have imposed a strict interpretation of Islamic law which has been unpopular with many Somalis.
....According to reports from a small village near the town of Wajid, 250 miles (400km) north-west of the capital, Mogadishu, the woman was taken to the public grounds where she was buried up to her waist... She was then stoned to death in front of the crowds on Tuesday afternoon." If there's any silver lining to this, it's that this strict/fanatical version of Islamic law is apparently unpopular with many Somalis. Let's hope human decency and reason prevai- ahhhh, who am I kidding?
|
November 16th, 2009
05:16 pm - Netbook Buying Guide: The Simple Version
The models with 11.6" screens have keyboards and screens big enough to work on, don't weigh more than the smaller ones, and are less than an inch wider.
That's the sweet spot. Start looking there!
(And maybe you'll find a different size that suits you better, of course! Lots of people love their 9-10" netbooks! But I don't think you can go wrong with a 11.6" model -- never heard anybody complaining about a 11.6" netbook being too big, but a lot of people have found 9-10" models far too cramped)
|
09:06 am - God Bless America
"God Bless America"should be our national anthem. So much better than "The Star-Spangled Banner," which is an awkward tune at best.
It seems like "God Bless America" is sung reverently, almost solemnly these days, ever since 9/11. Contrast that with the original arrangement by Irving Berlin, sung by Kate Smith -- it's really a joyous (cheesy, even) song.
Of course, I'm biased.
|
November 13th, 2009
12:29 pm - I Can't Imagine Why The U.S. Auto Industry Is Failing
I mean, who wouldn't want to buy this for forty-nine thousand dollars?
2010 Lincoln MKV.
|
November 11th, 2009
12:38 pm - No More OSX On Netbooks (For Now)
No More Hackintoshes, Sort Of. So the latest version of OSX, 10.6.2, won't run on netbooks any longer. Pity. I'm glad I ditched the idea of running OSX on my netbook. While it was a neat trick, it wasn't too useful.
I wish Apple would sell something in that segment. I can't tell you how much I'm in love with my Aspire 1410 netbook. 11.6" screen, 1.4ghz Core 2 Solo, and a usable keyboard. The only thing that could make it better would be OSX.
But I understand why they don't... yet. OSX is unique because Apple makes money on the hardware, which is tied to the OS, and there's not much of a profit margin on netbook hardware. There are obvious pros and cons to that approach but ultimately, I'm glad Apple does it that way. Linux and Windows already take the hardware-agnostic approach.
Apple Netbook, Maybe. What Apple could do is release a netbook with an ARM-based chipset. Essentially, a giant iPhone running "real" OSX, instead of the scaled-down version of OSX that runs on the ARM-based iPhone. ARM-based chipsets are cheaper and more power-efficient than x86 because they use less transistors, and, hey, Apple happens to own a company that designs exactly that sort of thing.
This sounds like a great idea, except Apple already tried it once before and got fucked hard. Remember when they ran everything on PowerPC and had their own custom-designed chipsets and they just couldn't keep up with Intel because Motorola and IBM had neither the interest nor resources to really kick ass on PowerPC and Apple were eventually like, "fuck it" and switched to Intel? Yeah, there was a reason for that.
The difference this time is that Apple owns the chip designers -- PA Semi -- and don't have to beg Motorola and IBM for chips, and that while ARM-based designs will never outperform x86 chips on the desktop(1), they will always outperform x86 mobile solutions because they offer better performance-per-watt.
Except It Won't Happen. The sticking point is probably Intel. Apple has kind of a special relationship with Intel and you can just imagine Intel telling Apple to go get fucked if they're gonna start shipping millions of ARM-based systems that compete directly with Intel-powered PCs.
The theoretical Apple tablet will definitely be ARM-powered, but will also probably be basically a "big iPod touch" that runs the iPhone/Touch OS yet has a crippled version of OSX that doesn't compete with "real" Macs. If they ever release it. Jobs has apparently canceled about a billion Apple tablet prototypes since 2003 because they're pointless and not good for anything other than surfing the web in the bathroom.
_______
(1) At least, a single ARM-based chip will never outperform a single x86 chip on the desktop. You could put a dozen ARM-based CPUs onto a single desktop board for the cost and power consumption of a single Intel Core i7. Then you just have the problem of writing software that actually benefits from all those parallel processors. Fortunately, there's an app for that.
|
11:42 am - Awesome Alternate Reality Dream
I had a dream last night that I was hanging out with Barack Obama. In this alternate reality, we were in our early 20's -- yet he was still President -- and he was a childhood friend of mine that returned to visit my family.
Weird. I mean, I like Obama, but I can't say I've ever wished I could hang out with him. WTF, man.
|
09:09 am - What I Could Really Use
What I could really use is a day to tie up all the loose little odds and ends that need to be tied up. Phone calls that need to be made, paperwork, organizing some things, fixing other things, and so forth.
Not happening in this lifetime, of course...
|
November 9th, 2009
11:08 am - Reductionism
Wired: What, Exactly, Is A Cop-Killer Gun?
It's hard to have a discussion. It's particularly hard to have a discussion in America -- not that we're the only country guilty of this -- where complex issues are reduced to simplistic sound bites.
Here Wired presents a concise, yet detailed description of the weapon used by the Fort Hood killer and what it means in practical terms. What kinds of body armor it can penetrate and which kinds it can't.
Of course, in popular culture (or popular...-er... culture; Wired isn't exactly underground) this is usually reduced to, WE HAVE TO GET THESE "COP-KILLER" GUNS OFF OF THE STREETS.
Because something called a "cop killer" must be bad, right? Never mind that you can kill somebody with a .22 if you shoot them in the face... or a cinder block if you drop one on a cop car off of an overpass. "Cop killer" construction materials?
I find that the right is usually guilty of awful jingoism more often than the left: BABY KILLER! TAX AND SPEND! FLIP-FLOP! DEATH PANEL! "Cop killer" is an example of the liberals doing the same thing.
|
November 6th, 2009
12:18 pm - Uagggh.
I no feel so good. What bugs are growing and breeding in me? I need a miniature Sigourney Weaver to drop in and shoot them up.
Last night was awesome. I actually didn't drink but Steph walked down to the bars to drink with our friend and came back really toasty. She was too funny. She could hardly walk but together her and I got her up a long and winding hilly road to our house, after lots of detours to explore parts of the wall that suddenly became fascinating to her. There may have been singing as well.
Once I got her to the top of the hill she demanded to be allowed to run up and down the stairs (this hill can be climbed by a long, winding road or a couple hundred steep stairs) and I didn't think that was a good idea. So I put her over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes and got her the rest of the way home. Then there was another struggle to her to the bathroom and into bed. In the end I sort of collapsed and fell asleep too, despite not having drank at all.
There are sloppy drunks and mean drunks but she was a happy drunk and well, if you dated me you'd need a night of drinking now and then too! It was cute.
|
November 5th, 2009
08:45 am - AND HAY WHILE WE'RE ON THE SUBJECT
I don't even think the character of Aragorn makes sense in the damn movie. In the books, before we met him, he was a proud awesome dude who was a badass ranger that travelled alone and fucked up all kinds of evil in the woods, and the only time he wasn't alone was when he was leading armies to kick ass, after which he would return to kicking ass alone, and his bloodline is all awesome and strong and that's why he's supposed to be king, because he's this totally sweet breed of man, and he's not even scared when he tells those undead fuckers that they fucking owe him and they will kick ass in his name.
Also he was 87 in the books when they met him, but only looked 30ish, because he had some elvish blood. He'd been eating orcs for breakfast and shitting them out by lunch for what you and I call a lifetime but for him was like total badass batting practice before game one of the World Total Badass Series.
In the movies he was a pathetic guy! Why would you even want that dude to be your king? His hair was so greasy.
The books really did border on some master race type shit sometimes, sadly, which is uncool when you're throwing entire types of people into ovens in real life but pretty fun when you're talking about epic heroes in a fictional setting.
|
November 4th, 2009
08:48 am - Yes
Yes I do make a post complaining about the Lord Of The Rings movies every six months or so. I sure do. I think it gets funnier as we get farther and father away from the actual years in which the movies were released. Basically I only have four or maybe five things I ever talk about on here... or anywhere.
|
08:42 am - It Bugs Me Even Now
...how awful the Lord Of The Rings movies were.
After finally seeing Peter Jackson's Dead Alive this weekend, which is as brilliant and witty as the Lord Of The Rings movies are deeply stupid, I finally get it. Peter Jackson just couldn't make himself take Lord Of The Rings seriously enough. And that's why the movies fail despite the excellent casting and visual design and mostly-faithful plot.
Admittedly, wizards and orcs and hobbits are deeply and profoundly silly stuff. And that's a big part of why the novels work: Tolkien never treats it as silliness, telling an intricate and wildly imaginative adventure story in a tone that often borders on historical nonfiction. It's like you opened up a history book from a world several thousand times more exciting than the one you live in.
Jackson can't bring himself to match that tone. The Lord Of The Rings movies are like a dude "ironically" throwing up the metal horns at a show instead of throwing care to the wind and actually enjoying the show like the grizzled old metalheads on the other side of the venue who've never even heard of Guitar Hero. They're not too wrapped up in layers of sarcasm to have an authentic experience; they just know they love to stand close to the speakers and headbang their way to their happy place.
Peter Jackson constantly throws those fake metal horns and makes sure we know that he knows this stuff is silly lest we... what, exactly? Beat him up during gym class for being gay and taking dragons and elves too seriously? Important scenes in Lord Of The Rings are derailed by syrupy they-cannot-be-serious strings and orcs mugging for the camera as they're being slain and oh, look, it's Legolas surfing on a shield (extreme, bro!) and hey there's Chunk from Goonies leading the enemy brigade.
The whole god damn series of movies is one step away from Jackson saying "See what I did there?" every ten seconds in VH1-style popup bubbles.
Everything's gotta be meta these days.
|
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
ghostfaceposta's journal