Mdrn Spk.

So with the advent of the cell-phone and the sms, a new form of english was born.

Ppl strtd drppng vwls, l8r +ed nmbrs to denote words, and made sms-speak a form of communication unintelligible to many.
Then came the blackberry craze, and with the inclusion of a full qwerty (love typing that) keyboard, it seemed that there might be a return to spelling words properly.
I welcomed it as an opportunity to have capital letters and proper punctuation at my fingertips, taking the slog out of typing proper messages.

But no, it was not to be.
The generation that spawned sms-speak merely moved their missing vowels and punctuationless messages to the new tech.
OMG, I cn type so mch fstr! LOL!!!!

So yesterday Apple launched the new half an iPhone, the 4S, which runs a bit faster and has VOICE RECOGNITION!!!!
Now this will soon become standard across the BB/Andriod/iMarket, and I shudder to think that sms-speak might leap another logical barrier like it did with the qwerty keyboard.
Imagine a room filled with people saying "Lol" into their phones. (Shudder)

Microsoft is upholding the proud American tradition of pillaging and raping the english language.

So I've been an active SharePoint admin for half a year now, and amongst the many things about the product that make me wonder is the capitalisation of SharePoint.
Yes. Capital S, hare Capital P, oint, one word.
MS spellcheck will even bitch at you about bad spelling if you dont capitalise the P.
I put this down as an anomaly until I started investigating PowerPivot today.
And there it is...Capital P, ower Capital P, ivot, one word.

I think that the de-generation of American kids that actually believe that kewl, ossum and skool are real english words have grown up enough to get jobs naming products for Mister Gates.
They dont even have the decency to put a hyphen in.

Mein Craft - U gotta love da Lava

Last night I died from playing with Lava. ☹ 

I spent an hour collecting diamonds and red sparkly things and gold,

I was trying to find my way back out of my mine, and I came across some underground water, so I tried to isolate the source block, when I placed a block, the water rushed over and flushed me deeper into this great cavern, my torches glistened miles above like so many little stars. I thought, let me just explore a little, and then I will try get home again.

 

And lo, I came upon another little underground river, which I successfully captured. When I reached for my bucket I realised I had left in my chest, back home. So off I went to get my bucket, and saw a brightly lit area, so I thought, ooh, I must have been here before. But it was a little 2 x 3 pool of lava. So I decided to trap the source block, just like I had just done with the little river, and I will come back with a bucket, and the start of my Lava farm ☺. 

First block in place, Yatta.

Second block, not so Yatta!

And as the Lava flowed over my body, I knew it was all over.

 

From a distance I looked down upon my smoking pixelated corpse, let out a big sigh and some expletives, and clicked respawn.

and thus sayeth simon!

how's your grammar?

I came across a totally interesting question this week, what's the difference between an idiom and a proverb? The really interesting part is, I had no idea how to answer that, no clue.
After a bit of googling I think I found out, still not 100% sure on this though,but that's not really the point of this post.

Idiom
a group of words in a fixed order that have a particular meaning that is different from the meanings of each word understood on its own:

Proverb
a short sentence, etc., usually known by many people, stating something commonly experienced or giving advice

It's still a bit vague... But accorcing to these definitions, a proverb must be a SENTENCE while an idiom is just a phrase (a group of words)???

A proverb is a saying such that almost everybody knows and you understand easily what it means. For example "Necessity is the mother of invention" is a proverb.

An idiom is a phrase such that almost nobody knows why it means so. "Kick the bucket" is an idiom to mean "die". Do you understand why it means so?

The point is that I learned this at some point in my english grammar classes, as well as tautology, spoonerisms, and a host of other super interesting grammatical devices. However, I have forgotten this, most of it anyway. And that makes me sad, and thus shall I blog about it.

I would like to issue a challenge, that we all keep our eyes and ears open for cool grammatical happenings. Let's try re-learn some of the ish we learned in high-school.

Borg

Electronic contact

So my gorgeous girlfriend has been in Germany for two weeks, and has another there before she comes back to SA.

She left me behind to run off to Europe to expand her education through a studio for her new Urban Design course. If that sounded bitter, I appolgise, it wasn't supposed to. I'm fully behind her studying and it's Uber-cool that she could do some of the work overseas. It's really awesome :D ... but it does make my life harder.

All I can say is "Thank Tim Berners Lee for the internet!!!"... not solely the internet actually. I find myself very appreciative of the whole plethora modern communications technology. Without SMSs, GChat, Skype and Facebook, I think I'd be a gibbering wreck by now. As it is: I'm not wrecked (any more than before anyway) and there has been scaresly a gibber at all.

Electronic communication is no substitute for physical presence, but it certainly takes the edge off. I feel privileged to be able to make such mundane use of abilities that would have been the greatest of magical powers a century ago.

So the next time you're chatting to someone on the other side of the world, take a moment to appreciate what a truely massive accomlishment that is for the human race.

I miss you, gorgeous... and can't wait for your return: but you must have oodles of fun in Germany and tell me all about it when you get back.

-Odd

"Language... has created the word 'loneliness' to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word 'solitude' to express the glory of being alone." - Paul Tillich

Word of the Week

Jeremiad - noun

1. a prolonged lamentation or complaint.

In The News

Swiss scientists design a turbine to fit in human arteries - this little gizmo could create enough power to run pace makers and other suck bio-implants... as long as they figure out a way to mitigate the turbulence it causes.

Laser used to transfer data at 26terabytes per second - now that is FAST! and unlike similar projects, this one does it with a single multi-colour laser. So it's cheep(ish).

Is Graphene a miracle material? - a great article on a new wonder material... watch out for this stuff, it's going to be making a big impact.

Grand Co-operative driving challenge - building smarter driverless cars that can communicate with each other to make better use of the road. Cool.

Teaching robots to read - It's not quite at a human level... but this sort of research is what is going to make personal robots possible. Keep up the great work!

The Grand Gallery Of Almightily Stupid Ideas, (Number Two)

 ORT, no longer just an airport, the Open Road Tolling system due in Gauteng has been the topic of much debate, to the point where it was put on hold leading up to the elections, to save a few majority party votes.
The Freedom Front (Plus) has been a driving force behind the protests against the proposed high per kilometre tariffs, with almost all other opposition parties joining in in some form or another. Although the gantries are built and installed, they aren’t being used until the tariff issue has been resolved.

I work far enough from home that I see quite a few of these during my commute, and have recently seen, with the coming of earlier sunsets, and laterhours on a buggy project , that they are lighting these non-functioning gantries at night…

The blue lights reflect purple against the support poles, and when passing under them, I cant help think of cheesy porn movie clichés, which in turn reminds me that the Gauteng roads agency will be screwing me a bit more once these start tolling.'

Yesterday, I passed under them around sunset, and found that the blue lights see their fair share of daylight too…



Now we have been told that the project has been put on hold to examine ways to decrease the tariff to a reasonable rate. I would like to ask the question :
What is the electricity bill for lighting up approximately 42 huge gantries from before sundown for the whole night, every night, on a system that is currently not generating any income. Every cent they spend lighting these eyesores up will be included in the rate you pay once they become operational.
Maybe someone should explain to SANRAL how efficiency works…

Imagine

Imagine a political party that offers rebates when the systems aren’t working, and services aren’t being delivered, we do pay for essential services after all. To mention the hyper-ten-shin. Nothing grates me more than seeing municipal budget being blown on repairing the damage caused by striking municipal workers instead of much needed developments and upgrades, all the while my rubbish piles up outside my front door. And its coming out of my pocket, surely, when my power is out, or my garbage is standing, the local government should be refunding me for the services I haven’t received. . Anyway, that’s my bitching done, but I can, cause I vote.

Actually, no, I'm not done. I want to talk about delegated authority. As a legal entity, when I vote I am delegating my authority (to make legal and financial decisions) to a person, who represents a party. I choose this party because I believe their values are in line with my own and therefore they will most suitably represent MY needs and desires. However, that party won't necessarily "win" the election process. Therefore the party whose "values" most suitably align with the majority stands to make my decisions for me. I don't like that, not one little bit. I did not delegate my authority to you money hungry, gravy train riding, under educated and over inflated, blood sucking morons. Yet you reserve the right to spend my tax money on ineffective and outright idiotic ideas, and then, you tax me even more. You tax me for driving to work so that I can earn a living, then you tax me on that too. Then you tax me on the groceries I buy to feed my family, and double tax me on the cigarettes I smoke to cope with all the fucking taxes. I most certainly did not delegate my authority to you, and most certainly not for the above mentioned reasons.

-Simon

The Grand Gallery Of Almightily Stupid Ideas, (Number One)

So if you've been out and about in... well, Gauteng lately, you will have seen urban beautification of sidewalks using what seems to be construction rubble.

I think there were several causes for this happening.

Firstly, most of the rcks look freshly... rubbleised (?) in my opinion, likely from Gautrain blasting.

So someone in the Gautrain project had tons (literally) of rubble and decided to sell it rather than dump it.

 

They went to the owners and managers of buildings, properties, shopping centres with sidewalk that would look better and prettier with this rubble strewn alongside it. They probably had a great sales pitch.. Low cost (how much do you sell rubbish for), no maintenance, unlike if they had done a planted beautification, requiring water, fertilizer, and a human or ten to tend it.

Rubble, pay once, gaze at forever.

 

The person who seems not to have been at the meeting would be a representative of the common sense brigade, local trends branch, how fucking stupid can you get division.

This person might have pointed out that South Africa is a country with a long tradition of toyi-toyi'ng, marches and protests.

They might mention that these gatherings of people can turn into mobs at the drop of a hat.

Theymight have pointed out that if such a gathering is meandearing by your permises, and turns even a few members to the dark side of eaceful protest, and those individuals/mob decide to make you a target of their frustrations, you may have inadvertantly provided them with heavy, throwable rock-based projectiles with which to pelt your windows and patrons.

 

Unfortunately, all members of the common sense brigade are allocated to the julius malema youth league election committee, the DA's we can take gauteng meeting (I love the enthusiasm, but really...) and at the people who believe/advertise that the world is ending this weekend. (with limited success, so far).

 

[caption id="attachment_413" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="One mans rubble is another mans decoration is another mans weapon"][/caption]

Thoughts on democracy

So we've got our local government elections coming up tomorrow. Which is great because there's a possibility that together we can make a change for the better... and the fact that we get a public holiday doesn't hurt either.

I was chilling out with some friends yesterday and I made a comment about voting and one of the guys said that he isn't going to vote because he's protesting 'the system'. I had to restrain myself from strangling him on the spot...

I almost wasn't successful...

Give me a second to calm down...

...

...

...

Ok, I'm fine... Homicidal impulse controlled... nothing to see here... move along.

Sure, democracy isn't the perfect form of government... but it's the best we've got, and it only works if everyone participates. I think it was Alexis de Toqueville who said that we get the government we deserve and that really strikes a cord with me.

In a democratic system (even one like ours that is heavily weighted towards one party) the public are responsible for the people governing them and only though continuous pressure and engagement can we ever hope to improve the woeful governance we experience.

Personally, I'm hoping that the DA can take Joburg... or at least some the municipalities in Gauteng, but if they don't I'll go back next time and cast my vote again... in hope... and in the knowledge that if I don't, nothing will ever change.

And if you don't vote, you can't complain - about anything - period. If I hear you complaining and you didn't vote... I probably won't try to control my reaction.

-Odd

"A politician thinks of the next election. A statesman, of the next generation" -James Freeman Clarke

Word of the Week:

Opprobrium - noun

1. disgrace rising from shameful conduct; infamy.


2. scorn; contempt.


3. the cause of such a disgrace.

In The News:

Force field creates invisible multi-touch interface - awesomeness.... This thing can turn any surface into a multi-touch interface.

Android tablet robot - want a robot? there's an app for that.

Rising orbital debris levels - this is a big problem that could potentially stop all our space flight, and as far as I know there's nothing being done about it.

US Navy creates MMO to combat Somali pirates - The US Navy is getting into the crowd sourcing game... hoping that you can come up with a solution to piracy.

Ground effect robotic train - a flying train! not content with high-speed mag-lev... now they'll just make it fly. Very cool.

Election Time

Election time is coming up, and everybody has an opinion, and luckily everybody has a voice. The problem is the ones with the loudest opinions are the ones that never use that voice.

If you want the right to moan and groan about the crap-ass local (or national) government, you have to exercise the responsibility to vote. Or else shut the hell up, I don't want to hear it.

I am probably preaching to the choir here but no matter, just some friendly advice. Use it or don't use it

-Simon

Book Review: The Malazan Book of the Fallen

The Malazan Book of the Fallen is a series of heroic fantasy novels written by Steven Erikson, it is a 10 book series starting with Gardens of the Moon and culminating with The Crippled God.

This is without a doubt the best series of heroic fantasy I have ever read. Period.

The chartacters are unique and engaging and the writing style is lyric and stylish. The world (or worlds, I guess) in which it is set has to be one of the most complete visualisations of a fantasy setting that has ever been attempted.

I'm also really, really, really (seriously - I can't overstate this), really, impressed with the magic system in this series. It's unique (which is very difficult to do with the sheer amount of novels in the genre) and plays a large role both in the overall plot and in keeping the reader guessing as to exactly how everything fits together.

So what's the catch? Well... besides being a beefy 10 books long (and the books themselves might be better described as tomes), this is not a series that is intended for novices of the genre. I would suggest that anyone interested in picking up these books be quite comfortable the standard elements of the genre (mages, multiple worlds, various races and such) because the story itself is so intricate and emotionally fraught that it could be easily overwhelming if you're trying to absorb the basics too.

This isn't a series that can be easily paired down into a brief plot review, so I'm not even going to try. I will tell you that the characters are alarming powerful (these guys will really mess you up) while at the same time maintaining and communicating heart-wrenching human emotion... it's just incredible.

Also, keep an eye out for my two favorite characters Quick Ben and Andromander Rake... I almost wish the series had continued longer so that I could keep reading about them, but on the other hand I'm glad it didn't drag out ala Wheel Of Time.

From start to finish this is a masterpiece of literature. Do yourself a favor. Read it.

-Odd

"Name none of the fallen, for they stand in our place, and stand there still in each moment of our lives. Let my death hold no glory, and let me die forgotten and unknown. Let it not be said that I was one among the dead to accuse the living." -Duiker

Word of the Week:

Splenetic - adjective

1. Irritable; peevish; spiteful.
   


2. Of the spleen.


3. Archaic: Affected with, characterized by, or tending to produce melancholy.

In The News:

Quantum teleportation breakthrough could herald instantaneousness computing - the idea of quantum teleportaion has been around for a while... but they're actually developing usable applications for the theory.

Robot throws first pitch at a baseball game - all to encourage science and maths education. Robots are cool.

iPhone tracks your location - This has been huge news over the last few weeks.... Apple has since released a new version of iOS that apparently fixes this. If you're using an iPhone/iPad... update your software!

Cracker sized satellites to launch with Space Shuttle Endeavor - A new era in satellite technology? Or just creating more traffic and space-junk in orbit?

Sony Online Gaming Platform Hacked - reports say somewhere around 25 million users had their information stolen... scary, scary, scary things.

eConfusion - A new disease (Originally posted Monday, January 10, 2011)

I saw a video clip last night, apparently of the Joburg mayor giving an address that would make Al Pacino in Rain Man seem lucid. He stumbles of difficult words like 'our', almost bursting into song, and eyeing the left of his position like his wife and mistress are glaring at him from that spot. Very funny, totally indicative of the doublespeak method of saying nothing beloved by our politicians, but not quite accurate. When I saw the video, of the 'mayor of joburg', the name Amos Masondo popped into my mind. This morning I googled his face, and surprise surprise, is not him in the video. Equally, a few months ago, I got a mail of a house with fishtanks in the wall that was apparently Julius Malema's one house. Now I live in the same road as that house, and its not Julius'. Not close. I discovered it belongs to the 'Da Silvas' So what am I trying to say here. We've all got mails saying 'Bill Gates will buy you a mansion if you forward this' or 'Mars will be as big in the sky as the moon' and there's much more reason for a thinking e-mail user to question the truth of these claims, and even websites like http://www.hoax-slayer.com/ that provide the truth about such things. And usually they're a marketing scam farming email addresses, or someone out to screw with the recipient. But in the case of the Amos and Julius mails, this angle is missing. So why did the idiot who put that information into the mail in the first place do it? Why say this is the mayor of Joburg speaking, when if the author has spent 20 seconds on google they would have found out otherwise. Is it laziness? Is it a case of someone thinking they know more than they do? Is it a wishful thinking, or based on what that oke at the bar said? Regardless of the source, its a lie. And now a growing number of people in email-land think that Julius Malema has fishtanks in his walls, and that Amos Masonde doesnt have glasses or a chubby face.

[gallery]

Will the real Mayor of Joburg please stand up...

So please, dont take everything for granted, in email or life. Being informed is one of the most powerful tools of this age, and one of the most abused. And google is just a click away... use it.

Say my Name

What’s in a name, a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet. However, were the rose named stink weed, or stinky gourd? Would you still bend to smell this ill reputed plant? Or would you give it a wide berth?

By the same token, a man is only as good as his name. You can work many years to build a good reputation, vitally important, in life socially as well as in the workplace. And the better person you are the better your name becomes. However, and this is a big one. All the work you have put in, and over many years, can be destroyed in an instant by you or someone else.

The bible says to stay away from even the appearance of evil, which is truly sage advice. If it is perceived that you are immoral, unscrupulous or an assortment of other less desired attributes, you will be labelled as that attribute. Regardless of how inaccurate that may be, you are no longer a rose, but a stinkweed.  It may also happen that somebody else may spread a vicious rumor about you, which will spread and ruin your name. Even if it’s not true, and people know better, it still goes to cast doubt on your good name.

That’s all.

-Simon

Procrastination

As most of you probably realised, I didn't post last week... oops.

I don't even have a valid excuse... besides the fact that I was on leave (my first leave in a loooong time) and that I'm lazy. ^^

It wasn't totally unproductive... I did manage to get most of the Necromunda terrain done, and you should be able to check it out in all it's glory in a full turorial that I'll post next week.

Took time out to see both SuckerPunch and Thor this past week... both of which I enjoyed immensely:

 I know SuckerPunch has been getting shocking reviews, but I think people are taking it the wrong way... it's not a standard action thriller and it's not an in depth, thought provoking sci-fi... what it looks like to me is an original idea that showcases some seriously spectacular visuals and fight scenes while challenging the status-quo for action movie scripts (this is not the romance/action/comedy that you're used to) and I always love a movie where I can't predict the ending and I leave the cinema with a couple questions as to what exactly was going on.



Thor was... THOR!!! I really like this Super hero movie... Thor wasn't a annoying little tit like spider-man... he was THOR! I think Chris Hemsworth did a great job... as it can't be easy to bring the right amount of naivete , arrogance and honor to the role.

.

.

Oh, and I kick serious ass in Marvel vs. Capcom 3.... seriously... I'll damage you.



I'd also like to say thanks to Ian for keeping the site ticking over last week, and introduce a new poster, Simon, who'll also be joining us... Ian, Simon and myself have been good friends for years now... ever since a crazy DnD game where the three of us where all playing and DMing ourselves... it was a weird setup, great fun and probably wouldn't work with any other people I know... Good to have you guys on the site!

Thanks for reading, and come back next week for the a return to normal.

-Odd

"Thor, the mighty! Thor, the brave! Crush the infidels in your way!" -Manowar

A traffic complaint

So most of us who drive have passed a driving test, and one of the things they take you through is the rules of the road.

So what is the first rule of the road (in South Africa at least)?

Its not sticking to the speed limit, its no about how Beemers get right of way.

Nope, it's :

KEEP LEFT, PASS RIGHT!

I have a roughly 50 km commute to work every day (luckily its opposite the bad jams), and every day is see this rule flaunted and ignored dozens of times.

At the moment, there are very few cars on the road due to the easter break, but still, its like most people have no regard for it.

My pet peeve is when travelling along at the speed limit (lets say 120 km/h) in the right lane, and you approach a driver, also in the right lane, doing 100.

They dont have a car in front of them for over half a km, and the person "in front" of them is probably pulling away, rather than being reeled in.

Theres no significant traffic to their left, often a huge gap.

This person is, in my opinion, partially responsible for rush hour traffic (well, that and trucks - http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/business/tel-aviv-to-ban-trucks-in-morning-rush-hour-1.317607 )

But people think that this doesnt apply to them, everyone drives well enough in their own mind, if they thought otherwise, they'd be like Sheldon from Big Bang and not drive at all.

So I have a handy hint on how to spot if you are the asshole.

If people are overtaking you on the left, you are the asshole.

Going back to the first rule of the road, keep left, pass right.

If you have people coming up behind you and you are in the right hand lane, you have broken the rule, you arent keeping left.

Thus, they have 2 options.. slow down to your middle lane speed, or overtake you on the left.

So now they are breaking the rule.

I try to teach people doing this on the road, but dont always have the time.

So please join me in this excercise...

When coming up behind an asshole dawdling along in the fast lane, with acres of space in front and beside them, do what you were going to do anyway, overtake on the right, then get back into the fast lane as quickly as possible, then slow down to 15 km/h or so slower that the asshole.

This usually results in them moving a lane to the left.

At that stage, move back to your normal speed and get on with your day.

If enough people do this, it might teach these assholes that as much as Beemers dont own the road, Mazda 323's with a top speed of 87 dont either.

ps. I wonder how Vodacom are going to tie their red re-branding with sponsoring the BLUE Bulls.

They're already talking on the radio how the bulls can "see red" and calling them the Vodacom Bulls, or just the bulls.

There might be a whole lot of discarded blue bumper testicles in Pretoria soon!!!

WebManga: Goblins

Goblins is a WebManga (meaning it has a storyline that continues across the whole of the comic) created by Tarol Hunt and Danielle Stephens. Based entirely in the world of Dungeons and Dragons, it has masses of insider jokes and very cleverly plays havoc with DnD's black and white view of morality.

Goblins follows the adventures of a group of goblins, who decide that they have had enough of watching parties of adventures attacking their villages and war camps. So to better protect their people, they throw tradition to the wind and take on adventurer levels.



This story is masterfully executed, with the standard DnD character races being almost exclusively evil from the viewpoint of the goblins and these strange moral choices mixed in with traditional DnD themes and humor makes for a really gripping read.

Goblins has an extensive archive, which really must be read through from the begining if you're going to have any idea of what's going on, but it's interesting to watch how Tarol's artistic style evolves over the course of the comic and there are enough gags and truly epic fight scenes to keep you entertained.

Tarol has a great grasp of his characters, the humor is smooth (if very niche to DnD) and I think he's got the best fight scenes that I've seen in any comic, not just in the online medium.

This is a brilliant comic, and I've added it to my regular reading list. I suggest you do the same.

-Odd

"The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict." Martin Luther King, Jr.

Word of the Week

Moral - Adjective

1. of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behavior


2. expressing or teaching a conception of right behavior


3. conforming to a standard of right behavior


4. sanctioned by or operative on one's conscience or ethical judgment


5. capable of right and wrong action

In The News:

Google teaches computers regret - google is again pushing the envelope, this time in the field of AI

Chinese Space Program confounded by X-Prize - the capitalist model of privatising the space program seems to be paying dividends.

Robotic jet fighter passes two test flights - the first truly robotic war machine, no pilot, no remote control... it does it's own thing... does this sound like skynet to anyone else?

Crowd-sourced choir sings over the internet - such a cool thing!! 2000 people from around the world all pulled together into a single choir.

NASA gives out funding to private space firms - more on the private space industry... I want to holiday in earth orbit... how cool would that be?

Its The End Of The Numberplate Game (As We Know It)

Do you play the numberplate game?
Do you know what it is?

I read about it in an obscure "Travel Game" book when I was younger.
Basically, you take the 3 letters on the numberplate in front of you, and try to make a word with those 3 letters.
So HDL 363 GP could be HuDdLe, HurDLe, HanDLe or others.
There are variations, where no 2 letters in the numberplate must touch in the word, ie: SLT coudl be SLoT, but the S and L are touching, so a better word would be SiLenT.
Also, some numberplates lend themselves to a 3 word soundbyte, ie: DRC could be DiReCt, or Democratic Republic of Congo.

If you didnt know about the game, and it piques your interest, I have bad news.
Gauteng has now run out of unassigned numberplates in the classic format, so they are now moving to a 2 letter, 2 number, 2 letter format... XX ## XX GP.
But 2 letters is a bit too easy, and all 4 letters seems quite hard. I suppose 4 letters will be easier than the recent V,W,X,Y and z combinations closing off the classic format, but I cant help feel that this simple game will never hold the same fascination it used to.

I guess time will tell.

Here I am, but in case you were wondering why.

Hi

I'm Ian.

A lot of crap runs though my head, some of it ramblings, some of it genius, most of it somewhere in between.

What I dont have is the (drive, motivation, manageable workload, time) to Blog every week. Which I'm told is suicide for a blog.

So simple solution, ask my buddy Odd for a spot on his highly efficient weekly updates geeks and greatness blog.

I reserve the right to blog weekly, if I find the time or inspiration, but expect an occasional contribution.

The benefit of this to you is that while some bloggers write drivel to make sure theres a post this week, the drivel I write will be driven by a need to express something. or tell a cool joke I heard, or to rant.'

So as and when, I'll be posting the posts for my old neglected blog, so as to keep you all in full and proper fear of the rollercoaster of my phyche.  But for now, here's my intro, and watch this space...

A new contributor...

Hey all,

We're soon to have a new contributor on The Odd Blog. Ian is going to be bringing us his mad ravings (don't tell him I called them that) and you'll be able to find them on the home page (as they're published) or under the new IanSights tab.

So watch this space and show him some love. Also... you could remind him to lose the game.

-Odd

"Though our communication wanes at times of absence, I'm aware of a strength that emanates in the background." -Claudette Renner

50 Years of human space flight

This week celebrates the 50th aniversary of human travel in space. 50 Years ago Yuri Gagarin became the first man to leave earth's atmosphere. That was a huge accivement then, and even in today's scope it is truly epic. We are no longer bound exclusively to the planet on which we grew. It's probably the biggest step in the evolution of humanity since we discovered how to use tools.

But in the years since then, we seem to have lost our will to explore space in person. Sure, we're sending out a lot of robots into the universe... but we're retiring the Space Shuttle and NASA is seeing massive budget cuts. It's expensive to send people into space, keep them alive and them bring them back safely... but does it really count as exploration if we're not the ones doing it?

I think we're missing an opportunity here: Space exploration has the potential to act as a unifying force for humanity, to bring us all together for a common goal. The International Space Station is a good example of this, but in an environment of shrinking budgets and little political will, I'm worried that programs like this will become a thing of the past.

Thankfully the Chinese (it's always the Chinese) are still spending a lot of money on space exploration, and they may be the new leaders in humanities efforts to touch the stars.

On another note: There's a poll over on the right hand side of the page... I think it would be interesting to get your feedback on some stuff, so please check it out ^^. Thanks for reading, and please share this with your friends/family/imaginary friends.

-Odd

"Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the drug store, but that's just peanuts to space." - Douglas Adams

Word of the Week:

Apastron - Noun

1. The point at which two stars orbiting each other in a binary star system are farthest apart.


2. The point at which an object, such as a planet or comet, is farthest from the star it is orbiting.

In The News:

Control a mouse cursor with brain implants - I want to be a cyborg!!

Researchers build wearable generators - It may not be a huge amount of energy generated, but if we all wear these and use them to power our personal gadgets, it could have a big impact on the global energy situation.

Boy scouts can now earn robotics merit badges - so cool! wish this was available when I was a cub...

U.S. Navy getting closer to arming ships with lasers - sweet... Laser guns are one of the foundations of Science Fiction, now I'm waiting for a portable version.

Scientists aim to improve photosynthesis - talk about tinkering with nature! still... it could have a great impact on food and energy problems.

Robot Wars

As some of you might have read in the news last week, China is scheduled to overtake the US in science in two years. This is a major shift and will certainly speed China's assumption of the top spot on the international stage.

Scientific advancement is possibly the single greatest factor for a countries prosperity, with relatively tiny countries like Japan, South Korea and Taiwan punching far above their weight because they have such a strong technical nature. So how could we emulate that drive in this country?

I think the biggest challenge is to get children interested in science, technology and engineering... and this shouldn't be too hard: science is cool!

My suggestion would be to have a South African series of Robot Wars. Probably drawing the competitors mostly from our universities. With RC being such a mainstream hobby, most of the materials and circutry required and readibly (and mostly cost effecitvely) available. Having something like this as a field trip would certainly encourage students to concentrate on their maths and science marks, which can only benefit our economy.

My favorite Robot Wars competior has to be Razor:



This guy is incredible... once, it even took out one of the house robots!!! Sugoi!

So, someone, please ... steal this idea... ^^

Another cool thing about the far east becoming the world's technology leader? Chances are that we'll end up with giant robots... I love giant robots!

-Odd

Living here in Jersey, fighting villains from afar/ You've gotta find first gear in your giant robot car / *You* dig giant robots / *I* dig giant robots / *We* dig giant robots / *Chicks* dig giant robots / Nice.

Word of the Week:

Celeberrimous - adjective

1. Very famous

In the News:

A new nano-material detects explosives - nanotech is finally finding it's way into usable applications.

UK cancer charity tidies up Wikipedia - A great example of how crowdsourcing can work.

Fusion propelled starship - I love it when the stuff of sci-fi becomes reality.

Robots at the Smithsonian - a new robotics exhibition... full of cool stuff.

Machines to pass turning test by 2029 - I want my robot butler!

Painting: Ork Warbike

As some of you may remember me mentioning, I'm trying to get back into my war games. I'm building a Necomunda terrain table to that end, but it's taking excruciatingly long... not because it's particularly difficult, but because I'm lazy.

So to get me into the mood, I painted an Ork Warbike that I borrowed from my friend Tim. This blog is all about what's going on in the dark recesses of what I pass off for a mind, so you guys get a little painting tutorial this week:

I got the bike pre-assembled, but in it's raw, blank plastic form

The Entire Miniature was then undercoated in black. I like using black as an undercoat because it does a lot of the shading work for you.

I'll also note that I use normal poster paints for undercoats, as opposed to the Citadel Paints that I use for everything else... it's cheaper and has the same effect.

• All the red areas were base coated with Red Gore


• Metal areas were painted with Boltgun Metal


• Flesh was painted with Goblin Green


• The ork's clothing was based with Bleached Bone


• The Bad Moon symbol on the front was done in Blazing Orange


• Finally, the headlights and glasses were picked out in Regal Blue

The cloth area was then given a very heavy wash of Red Gore.



After the wash had dried, the cloth was dry brushed with Bleached Bone.

The ork's teeth and skull detials were also picked out in Bleached Bone.



The entire model was then given a heavy black wash to pick out the detail. It was then highlighted with the same base colours.

Final highlights were a 1:1 mix of Red Gore and Blazing Orange followed by pure Blazing orange for the red areas; a 1:1 mix of Goblin Green and Skull White for the exposed flesh; a 1:1 mix of Blazing Orange and Skull White for the Bad Moon symbol; the blue areas were picked out with a 1:1 mix of Regal Blue and Skull White with a final highlight of pure Skull White and finally the teeth and skull details were picked out in Bleached Bone and then Skull White as a final highlight.

And there we have the finished mini. I hope you guys enjoyed the little tutorial of what goes into painting a mini... and fair warning: I will eventually finish off the Necomunda board, and you'll get a tutorial on that too.

-Odd

"Hobbies of any kind are boring except to people who have the same hobby. This is also true of religion, although you will not find me saying so in print. " -Dave Barry

Word of the Week

Turophile - noun

1. a connoisseur of cheese; a cheese fancier.

In The News:

New surveillance robot, and it knows how to hide - these little UAVs are getting smarter and smarter

Rome's Air Force super computer made out of PS3s - 1,716 PS3s linked into a massive super computer for image processing.

Artificial leaf may be a breakthrough in solar energy - another step closer to a viable energy alternative.

Nanotech implant checks for Cancer and heart attacks - where can I buy mine?

China to overtake the US in science in two years - a lot sooner than commentators thought... this should be a wake up call for the western world.

Moral Science

With the rapid pace of scientific advancement that we're seeing in the world today, I've been wondering if it's all a good idea.

The field of memetics says that these sorts of ideas will spread themselves regardless of whether they're good for humanity or not. I can think of quite a few examples of technological advances that don't seem to benefit us at all (chemical and biological weapons come to mind) and that got me wondering about the moral obligation of scientists.

Should scientists make moral choices about whether or not to continue the research they are doing? How would such a choice work? It's quite a complicated question. Take Einstein's nuclear research, for instance, if you were to ask the population of Hiroshima if that was morally acceptable research, they'd say no. On the other hand it has lead to clean(er) energy for the world and even the atomic bomb has had the consequence of making large scale wars impossible. The answer to the moral question of whether or not a given scientific breakthrough will be good or bad for humanity must lie in the sum total of it's consequences on our society... but how can anyone be expected to know all (or even most) of those? It's impossible.

Scientists are also largely removed from the practical execution of their research. That rests with the large corporations that fund them... and that makes sense to me. I don't want scientists to spend large amounts of their times dealing with business pressures, marketing and all the other capitalists bullshit... they're scientists, they must concentrate on the science. So it's the corporations that should be making moral choices about what scientific avenues to pursue? Now that is scary!

I suppose that any big new idea will be a catalyst for change in society and it is that change that has the most dangerous potential, change is always dangerous (just ask the dinosaurs).

I don't see us throttling our technological advancement any time soon and I'm not sure that we should... We'll just have to hope that our greatest evolutionary power - our adaptability - will see us through the dangers and changes that we bring upon ourselves.

-Odd

"As our own species is in the process of proving, one cannot have superior science and inferior morals. The combination is unstable and self-destroying." - Arthur C Clark

Word of the Week:

Fugacious - adjective

1. Lasting but a short time; fleeting

In The News:

Geminoid-DK: possibly the creepiest android yet built - another master piece by Japanese roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro. This thing is so far down the uncanny valley that it's scary.

Printing a human kidney - a TED talk demonstration of this amazing technology... we're fast approaching the immortal tipping point.

Masdar city runs into problems - the ambitious project to build 'the city of the future' in the middle of the desert has run into funding problems during the recession.

50 000 Japanese download the Android flashlight app after disaster - mobile computing is saving lives... go google!

Death and the Powers: A robot Opera - an opera combining human and robotic performers... and it's getting good reviews.

Internet killed the LAN (Star)

I should preface this by saying that I don't play a lot of computer (or console) games anymore. I'm not even on the WOW bandwagon, but I used to be a regular gamer and I still try to keep an eye on the industry.

I've noticed a trend in the gaming industry that has worried me for some time. It happened quite a while ago... there was no outcry, no one checked if I was ok with it... it just happened. They took all the LAN support out of games.

LAN stands for Large Area Network... and it used to be the social space for gaming geeks. We would all descend on someone's house, link up all our computers and spend the weekend in a sleep deprived Valhalla of death matches, co-op strategy and camaraderie. Some of my most precious memories stem from this period of my life. Battling through the Dust mission in the original Counter Strike, frantically building up an army in WarCraft 3 or sniping from Faces in Unreal Tournament is so much more meaningful when that headshot you just pulled off causes the guy on the other side of the room to scream in anguish.

This style of play is not possible now. Modern games have dispensed with the LAN in favor of internet based multi-player. The internet is quite a cool place, I suppose, it allows you to play people from all over the world, people who you wouldn't have the opportunity to meet otherwise, but it doesn't have the same feel as getting a bunch of your mates into the same room and slaughtering them in your favorite FPS.

I always used to laugh at people who said that computer games were anti-social. I used to regularly get together with 12 or 15 of my friends (in person) and connect through the medium of gaming. Now I think those same people have a point (even if it is accidentally). Even with voice chat, it's just not the same thing.

I miss LAN parties... I wonder if I can get a group of people together who want to play the ancient games that enabled this pinacle of geek culture.... Counter Strike anyone?

-Odd

"Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them." -Pacifist Badge, 1978

Word of the Week:

Abrogate - Verb

1. to abolish by authoritative action, annul.


2. to treat as nonexistent.

In the News:

Sweden to replace stamps with SMS - great new use of existing technology.

Researchers show method to disable cellphones by SMS - as cellphones become more advanced, they become exposed to the same dangers as computers... this is worrying.

Google gives Japan a hand with People Search - Great lateral thinking here. Putting existing technology to work, helping during a time of crisis. Google FTW.

Laser scribing to create better solar cells - anything that provides clean energy (without the risk of melt-down) has to be a good thing.

Cuba sentences a US citizen for setting up Internet connections - Disturbing, yes, but not inconceivable. We've recently seen the effect that the free transfer of information over the internet has had on dictatorships.

What do these words even mean?

I've been thinking about this one for a while now.

If you're reading this blog, then you probably use these words all the time without even thinking about them. Like me, though, I doubt you have any idea what they mean. What words am I talking about? I'll use one of them as an example for the purposes of this post. What I'm talking about is "LOL".

"LOL" supposedly stands for Laughed Out Loud, but that's not what it means anymore. There are times when I'm reading something that I will actually laugh out loud (and yes, my co-workers look at me funny when I do), but how would I communicate that fact to anyone? The word "LOL" has been used so often that it has lost all meaning. For instance:



What part of this makes you laugh at all? never mind out loud? Then why are they called Lolcats? shouldn't they be Awwwcats?

So here's a challenge for my readers: come up with a term I can use when I actually laugh out loud?

-Odd

"At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities."      -Jean Houston

Word of the Week:

Puckish - Adjective

1. whimsical; mischievous; impish

In The News:

Creationists in America at it again - this time they're co-opting the arguments of a pro-evolutionist to try get "intelligent design" back in schools... what's wrong with these people?

Taiwan researchers turn to silk for flexible devices - cool tech... and i'm looking forward to the day I can blog from my tie.

Cyber attack against South Korea - at what point does a digital attack warrant a physical response?

Electronic gadgets maybe be effecting your sleep detrimentally - no way! you mean the long hours I spend watching videos instead of going to sleep is preventing me sleeping? wow...

Warner Brothers to release movies via Facebook - This makes a lot of sense to me. If I had a cheap, easy, available platform to watch movies online, I might not pirate as much as I do... maybe... possibly.

Some reasons modern society is so F&^#ed Up

When I first had the idea to write this post, I was so angry that I could have attacked someone with a cactus. This was going to be a rant, with the bile of my rage flowing over the screen like it had been jammed in a Mel Brooks movie.

But it's been about an hour since then, and I've calmed down some. Enough to look objectively at my subject matter and decide that, yes, these are the reasons that our society is in such a bad state.

The situation that started me thinking about this was sitting in traffic on the William Nicole offramp on the N1 South.

We've recently had a run of roadworks that were intended to improve the highways and off ramps. Sounds great, right?

The problem is that turning left onto William Nicole is still a disaster! Traffic routinely backs up for kilometers, but the Joburg Road Agency saw fit to leave the turn as one lane. How incredibly short sighted is that planning? It's unbelievable! That was the major problem with the offramp, and they didn't change it when they rebuilt the entire bridge and intersection? WHAT?!?!

The second phenomenon that occurs in the morning traffic is that certain people (usually driving a minibus taxi, SUV, Mercedes or BMW) obviously view themselves as a race apart from the rest of us. We sit in the que for the left turn for 15-20min, waiting patiently for our turn. They, on the other hand, feel it is their privilege to run up the right hand lane and cut in directly at the top. I don't get it. What makes you so much more important than the rest of us? Yes, you are a special and unique little snowflake... just like the rest of us.

The people who let them cut in irritate me even more... these are probably decent, hard working folk, but they keep rewarding this anti-social behavior and propagate it by doing so. I'd like to see a collective effort to block these chancers out... Give them a couple days of waiting while the whole line flows past them and they'll get in line with the rest of us.

So those are the three problems that I see embodied in the morning traffic:

1. Lack of intelligent forethought


2. Psychopathic douchebags taking chances


3. Good people letting said douchebags prosper

<rant/>

On a lighter note: This video is absolutely incredible! This man is so talented, he makes me sick.

Thanks for reading, and as always: Please comment and tell your friends.

-Odd

Word of the Week:

Cosset - Transitive Verb

1. To treat as a pet; to treat with excessive indulgence; to pamper.

In The News:

World largest radio telescope built - at least until the Square Kilometer Array gets approved

US Military to cloud source new military vehicle design - .... my version would transform into a giant robot.

Biodegradable sneakers - I'm all for green technology and recycling is essential to our continued existence... but biodegradable shoes? really?

Researchers create computer that fits on a pen tip - tiny computers... very cool. I want one attached to my car keys that will beep at me when I scream "GOD DAMN IT, WHERE THE F#*& ARE MY KEYS!?!?!"

Two planets found sharing one orbit - which entirely sinks our current theory on how planets form... and our definition of such... sorry Pluto, we might have been a bit hasty.

Robotics and AI, an update.

Those of you who read through the News every week probably already know this, but I'm going to recap it here because there have recently been some significant advances in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence.

First off, last week we had the IBM Watson super computer competing against people in the American game show Jeopardy. After the first round it was tied for first, but by the end of the competition it was well out in front. This is a big deal because Watson had to take purely audio cues from the host and had the same amount of time to answer as the human contestants. This is a significant step forward in terms of a linguistic interface for computers and despite it's limitations, testing is underway to bring Watson into the medical field.

The Watson interface could also apply quite smoothly to another of my favorite projects: the South Korean Classroom Robots. These things are great... They're basically automated conversational partners to help Korean kids learn English. Teachers can also remote control them to give lessons. The South Korean government is putting a ton of funding into the project ($36 Million USD in 2012) and are planning to have the little robots in 8000 preschools by 2013.

Those are just two of the advances in AI and Robotics, we're also using the latest AI to test theories of human thought, we've got another that can tell how we're feeling from conversational cues, we've got robots exploring the bottom of the oceans, and another that has sensitive eyes and fingers.

Robotics and Artifical Intelligence are becoming more and more capable (I'm hesitant to use the term "more human") and very soon they are going to be interacting with us on a daily basis.

Think about how computers have become an indespensible part of human existance in the last 15-20 years. In the next 20, I think it's obvious that we'll be looking at the same integration of Robots and AI into our world, society and daily lives.

 

Thanks for reading, I hope you're enjoying the posts. As always, if you think it's cool (or you think it's horrible), please comment. And tell your friends.

-Odd

"Intelligence is the art of good guesswork." - H.B. Barlow, The Oxford Companion to the Mind

Word of the Week:

Inkhorn - adjective

1. Affectedly or ostentatiously learned; pedantic

In The News:

Scientists build first Anti-Laser - Damn! We haven't even got laser guns yet, and they're already coming up with defenses. I want a laser gun....

Ants build cheapest computer networks - Yep, scientists are studying the way that ants dig their tunnels to get an insight into how to build more effective computer networks.

Iceland to tap liquid magma as a new energy source - awesome idea... and I think it's impressive that we have the technology to be able to tap this primal force.

Microsoft releases a development kit for the Kinect system - so we'll soon be seeing some really useful (and cool, no doubt) applications for this motion capture system... time to use that hack to hook it up to my PC then.

Scientists build bigger anti-matter 'bottles' - not so sure I like the idea of them storing more and more of what is effectively the most volatile substance we've ever discovered.

A little bit of fun

Wow...  two posts in one week? That's amazing! Woot!

... Don't get too excited, this is not going to be a regular schedule... Think of this more as a bonus post.

I realised that my last few posts have been quite political... and as this is supposed to more of a geeky/techie blog, I wanted to do something a little more lighthearted.

With that in mind, I'm going to give you links to a couple websites run by two unconventional but truly epic artists:

1. Pavement Art - this is the guy who does those amazing 3D chalk drawings on the sidewalks... every time I see one of these online, I'm bowled over anew... awesome work.


2. Banksy - A graffiti artist out of the UK, this man is a serious talent, and his work is great fun.

I would also like to thank everyone who stopped past the site on Wednesday, and all those who linked to it. The Odd Blog had over 100 hits that day. It might not sound like much to you... but to me it's increadible that 100 people thought it was worthwhile to take out some time and read what I spew out on here.

Thank you. ^^

Come back next week for another post, tell your friends, and please use the comment buttons on the posts.

-Odd

"I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later." - Mitch Hedberg

Word of the Week:

Hebetudinous - Adjective

1. One who lacks mental stimulation, dull-minded, very lethargic

In The News:

Video Games: An hour a day is key to success in life - see... I told you I was working!!

Israeli General claims credit for StuxNet worm - A retiring general from Israel has been credited with instigating the StuxNet worm which attacked Iranian nuclear facilities... wow.... I never thought I'd see someone own up to it.

Too many Facebook friends causes stress - hmmm.... maybe I'm damaged... but if I only see you online... I don't really care... but it's still and interesting article.

Anything you search for can and will be used against you in a court of law - wow.. .this is seriously scary... so much for the anonymous and neutral nature of the 'net.

The Khan Academy is the future of education - This is an absolutely incredible idea!!! With the lack of effective teaching in this country... We should really jump into this program.

Peaceful Protests

The last few weeks have seen the Egyptian population hold a (mostly) peaceful protest to oust the dictatorship ruling their country and to call for a more democratic government.

Sure, there were a few sporadic instances of violence, but considering the sheer number of people involved, those are negligible.... and it worked. Due to their peaceful protest, Mubarak has stepped down and they will (hopefully) be having democratic elections in the next few months.

Theirs is an example that I wish we could emulate in this country.

We've also been having demonstrations in South Africa this week... union action... a strike. This protest is not about freedom, democracy or liberty... it's about money. So you would think that we would be at least as well behaved as our Egyptian friends who were quite literaly fighting for their future. Right?

Wrong.

There has been massive violence, with people being dragged out of their cars and beaten. It's sickening and frankly makes me ashamed. Is a few extra rand a month really worth turning into a howling barbarian for?

It seems that every time a large trade union strikes in South Africa, we have looting, violence and mob rule. It's crazy... if the unions can't control their members, then they should not be allowed to strike... the right to strike does not (or rather, should not) cancel out the rule of law.

Maybe the new Lead SA initiative of a bill of responsibility will work. I hope it does. We in South Africa need to stop shouting about our rights and start realising that those rights also come with responsibilities... and not rioting, not looting and not beating the crap out of your countrymen are definately on that list!

Anyway... enough ranting... I love this country... and I know others do too. It's only a few idiots who always seem to ruin things. So I'm going to put out a call to the striking union members (not that I think they read my blog): If you see someone at your rally that is about to do something illegal or immoral: jump on him! kick him in the head! you will get far more support from the public if you show that you can actually hold a peaceful protest.

-Odd

"I contend that non-violent acts exerts pressure far more effective than violent acts, for the pressure comes from goodwill and gentleness." -Mahatma Gandhi

Word of the Week:

Asseverate - verb

1. state categorically

In The News:

New Zealand emergency services computers go offline - they were able to make do while their IT guys brought them back online, but this highlights just how dependent we've become on computers.

IBM Watson (Super computers) vs. Humans in Jeopardy game - two of the champions of this american game-show are taking on IBM's new Watson Jeopardy super computer... after the first round, Watson is tied for first.

Removing a 'dumb' gene from mice makes them smarter - interesting article, but like it points out: we have no idea what other effects removing this gene will have... the whole field of study seems terribly hit-and-miss to me.

Steps towards a robotic eye - I've posted a lot of the build up to this specific piece of tech in earlier News, but this article sums up where we are quite nicely.

Obama seeks big boost in cyber-security spending - looks like we might be amping up to a new arms race... the cyber-arms race.... why do I have a picture of a bear with robot arms in my head?

South African politics and the official opposition

With our municipal elections coming up soon, I'd like to talk a little bit about our political landscape, and my views on it.

I personally think that democracy is the least flawed form of government, and that our specific flavour of it in South Africa is more flawed than it has to be.

We don't live in a multi-party democracy... sure it says that on paper, but practically there is only one party: the ANC. This is due to the fact that they are still seen as the revolutionary party and so a majority of the constituency will continue to vote for them out of a sense of responsibility. "They gave us freedom, so we must continue to vote for them." This view continues despite the massive heap of broken promises piled around the ANC... In fairness, a lot of those promises were absolutely impossible to keep... but that simply means they shouldn't have been made in the first place.

Now I'm not resting all of our governmental ills entirely on the ANC: our illustrious 'official opposition', the DA, haven't exactly lived up to my expectations either. They may well be better at the administration that is required of government (Cape Town seems to be thriving), but as a political party they've left me disappointed. Their entire platform seems to be ANC bashing and that irritates me. I have very little idea of their platform, what they stand for (besides the mandatory generalistaions like more jobs, less crime and the like), or what their plan would be if they, by some miracle, got elected to national government. Sure... I could probably track down all that detail, but I don't think it's my responsibility. If they want my vote, then they should be the ones chasing after me. If they're not willing to put in the effort to get my vote, how much work will they do for me after they've got it?

Not that I see much alternative... and that's where the major problem lies. The social ills of crime, corruption, greed and graft all seem to point to a lack of leadership in this country. We have no one to point to and say, "Look! he/she/it is doing the right thing, so I will follow their example."

Despite all this moaning and complaining, I urge all of you to make sure that you're registered to vote (you can sms your ID number to 32810 to check), and turn out to vote on the day.

If you don't vote, you can't complain. Period.

-Odd

"A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of the user." -Theodore Roosevelt

Word of the Week:

Eclat - noun

1. Brilliance of success, reputation, etc.


2. Showy or elaborate display.


3. Acclimation; acclaim.

In The News:

"Soft" robot has deft touch - massive metal hands have trouble holding squishy objects? You don't say! .... while this is possibly a big advance in robotic science, I unfortunately foresee the sex industry making the most use of it.

Could the US shut down the internet? - coming off of Egypt's not so succesful shutdown, this article explores how that happened and if it could be duplicated in the US... the short answer is "not really".

Proposal for cyber war rules of engagement - with the possible exception of earth orbit, this is going to be the biggest theater of war in modern conflict, so it's probably a good idea to set some boundaries.

All the internet has (kind of) run out of space - all the IP addresses for the world wide web have now been shipped out for sale... so all 4.3 billion addresses have been marked for sale. That's quite a number... but don't worry, the introduction of IPv6 that will happen shortly should mean that you won't even notice the difference.

RoboEarth teaches robots to learn from peers - I'm just glad they didn't name it SkyNet... this project aims to connect all robots through an internet-like network so that they can share what they learn... either making them better servants of more invincible overlords... not sure which yet.

Appalling Ignorance

Last Friday night found me at a (truly epic, supremely awesome) party, but I'm not going to blog about how many drinks I had/ numbers I got/ fights I fought. What I'm going to blog about is ignorance.

I'm not sure how the topic came up, but I made some offhand comment about what's happening in Egypt... and I truly hope that by now all of the people reading this blog know what I'm talking about, because no-one I was chatting with at the time did. Inconceivable!

So, throughout the course of the evening, I accosted various groups of people at the party and asked them what they thought of the situation in Egypt (yes, I'm that weird guy at the party that you try to avoid eye contact with). The final result? I found two people who knew what was happening (both already friends of mine. Naturally.)

It blew my mind... here was a group of my supposed peers who had absolutely no idea. Sure: we were at Bohemians and a large proportion of the crowd were students starting a heavy weekend and so may not technically be peers of mine anymore, but they're STUDENTS, their entire purpose is supposed to be the accumulation of information (if not knowledge).

I don't understand how, in the modern era of the syndication, communication and community of information, people around me could be so unaware of the world around them.

Colour me shocked... It was still an awesome party though ^^;

-Odd

"He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice." - Albert Einstein

Word of the Week:

Nescience - Noun

1. lack of knowledge or awareness

In The News:

Manchester airport introduces hologram staff - that's right, if you travel through Manchester airport, you can be directed, assisted and reminded of security procedures by a helpful hologram... so cool!

520 day mock Mars mission nears landing - they're doing a dry run... that must mean we're pretty close to actually going... anyone besides me want to go to Mars?

Google beats Bing at Jeopardy questions - who would win if search engines played this popular US game show? Google of course!

Egyptians find new ways to get online - with all the unrest in Egypt, the government shut down the internet... which is troubling in and of itself... but as this article shows: The flow of information is far more robust than most people think.

Fernando Torres signs for Chelsea for 50 million pounds - 50 MILLION POUNDS?! For a guy that can kick a ball around a little? As signs of the apocalypse go... in my book this one is right up there with rains of blood and the appearance of the angel of death.

It Made My Day

This year has been a tough one so far... It's been busy, stressfull and full of drama from all angles... but I'm not going to use this space to bitch and moan to all of you, instead I'm going to tell you a couple things I use to destress myself:

1. Spend time with my gorgeous lady - My girlfriend is seriously the greatest person on earth... She's amasing... and she's far too good to me ^^



2. Read IMMD - It Made My Day is a site on the CHEEZburger network (you know I love my Motis), on which people post their own little moments of win... it's amazing how reading through a few of these can brighten me up. I suggest you all give it a try if you're feeling a little down.

3. Paint little plastic men - I'm still trying to finish off my Necromunda gaming board... so to motivate myself, I started painting up some Space Marines I had lying around as a Inquisitorial kill squad (pity the guys I'll be DMing when these dudes hit the table).

I rediscovered how much I enjoy painting minis (even if I couldn't get the scale texture to work on the Salamander's shoulder guard). In fact, I'm enjoying it so much that I've made the decision to stop playing WOW in favour of Warhammer (as soon as my current batch of airtime runs out). So keep an eye out in the next few months as you should be getting some painting tutorials, battle reports and such ^^.

 

Well, the month is almost over, and i'm still up and kicking (and posting)... so check back next week for another installment and as always - use the comment link below to tell me how much this blog inspires/irritates you.

-Odd

"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forget their use." -Galileo Galilei

Word of the Week

Paphian - adjective

1. of or pertaining to love, especially illicit physical love.


2. of or pertaining to Paphos, an ancient city of Cyprus sacred to Aphrodite.


3. noting or pertaining to Aphrodite or to her worship or service.

In The News:

Meditation alters brain structure - New research provides scientific evidence of what many cultures have taken for granted for centuries: Meditation improves your brain.

Artificial retinas see well enough to balance a pencil on it's tip - a bit step to functional robots.

Apple App Store reaches 10 billion downloads - TEN BILLION! thats a lot of apps....

Android Smart-phone to be sent into space - ... this a test to check it's viability to run satellites... can you iPhone do that? didn't think so.

Computer program recognizes human emotion from conversational analysis - this should make it possible to actually have a conversation with a robot without wanting to rip it's head off.

Global something!

Maybe not global warming, but definitely global something.

There are alot (or at least an increadibly vocal minority) of people who take every opportunity to shoot down Al Gore, and all the commentators, experts and scientists who want to talk about Global warming, climate change, or whatever you want to call it. They'll point to 6 foot snow drifts and say, "see? it can't be warming up" ... but these people are missing the point.

Don't get bogged down by definitions. Take a good hard look at what's happening all around the world right this minute, and then tell me that there's nothing wrong with the global climate.

Still persisting? Fine, I then label you "coward".

Harsh? ...maybe... but true.

Just because you refuse to acknowledge what is happening, doesn't change the fact that it is happening. It's only going to get worse, so maybe we should be looking at some ways to mitigate the impending disaster...

 

So there's another post down... as usual the News and Word of the Week sections are just down below. If you've enjoyed this site (or just want to call me an idiot), please take the opportunity to comment via the link below.

-Odd

"Any formal attack on ignorance is bound to fail because the masses are always ready to defend their most precious possession - their ignorance." -Hendrick Van Loon

Word of the Week

Autoschediastical - adjective

1. Something improvised or extemporized.

In the News:

MySpace is up for sale - ...but as the article says.... who the hell would want to but it?

New wave of Office robots - ... coming to take your job soon?

Flying robots - more robots coming... and these ones can build more robots... they look kinda cute... not scary at all

worm remote controlled by laser - yep... and organic organism being remote controlled by laser... who thinks this stuff up?

Israel/US confirm testing StuxNet - and here I thought that China was winning the digital arms race.

Archives are all in

... and so on this day, 12 January 2011... all the posts from our old site are officially here. You can check them out by selecting the Archive Category on the right.

A lot of them may have funny formatting and most don't have any tags... but I'm too lazy to do all that, so you'll just have to put up with it ^^.

-Odd

Instrumental

Living in a digital world

Thursday, November 18, 2010

I watched an episode of 'The Big Bang Theory' a little while ago, in which Sheldon refused to leave his room and instead interacted with the world through a 'digital presence machine'.. basically just a monitor, webcam and speakers hooked up to a wi-fi connection and a tread system for movement. It got me thinking about how easy it would be to make a similar transition. 

I live most of my life in a digital world anyway... very little of what I deal with on a day to day basis has any sort of physical reality attached to it (and if you're reading this blog, then that's probably true for you too): At work I deal with information and how to store and access it... all of it digital; I get payed in money, which hasn't been based on anything physical since the world stopped using a gold standard; I spend a lot of my leasure time in Azeroth... running around in a virtual world; and for a long time most of the interaction with my friends happened in a digital medium.

Now with Japanese coming up with holographic pop-stars (Thanks for the link Jonathan), and robotic actors (see the news section). I'm wondering if maybe we're all loosing track of the physical world...

Probably not.... but still it's something to keep an eye on.

In The News:

Gold nano-particles could transform trees into street lights - this is possibly the best looking piece of tech I've seen all year.

Robot actor makes debut in Japan - ... or should it be actress? what's the correct mode of address for a robot?

Stuxnet bot may have been targeted at nuclear programs - Fascinating! I knew digital warfare was happening, but I didn't know it could have this sort of physical effect... wow... I wonder which country started this off?

Video games can enhance visual attention - told you they were good for you ^^

LHC scientists create and capture anti-matter - they've proved it possible with anti-hydrogen... this could be the first step in a massive jump in energy science.

Word of the Week:

Intangible (adjective)
1. not tangible; incapable of being perceived by the sense of touch; as incorporeal or immaterial things; impalpable
2. not definite or clear to the mind: intangible arguments.
3. (of an asset) existing only in connection with something else, as the goodwill of a business.

Thanks to all who read this blog. If you liked it, then please tell your friends to stop by. Post a comment if you have any opinion, comment or argument ^^
-Odd

"There are intangible realities which float near us, formless and without words; realities which no one has thought out, and which are excluded for lack of interpreters."
-Natalie Clifford Barney

The Lamentable Limits of Language

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

I may have mentioned this before but I think it's an important point, so you'll have to bear with me. 

Regular readers (all five of you), may have noticed a new section to my blog. Namely the 'Word of the Week', I'm doing this largely to highlight cool words that I find and to expand my own vocabulary. Why should I want to do such a thing? Well.... The English language, or any language for that matter, is a seriously flawed tool. We have words that sound the same but mean different things, or different words that mean the same thing... Frankly it's amasing that we can have any sort of meaningful communication.

However, until someone comes up with a technological means to share our thoughts directly; we're stuck using language with all it's little foibles and pit-falls. If you've ever tried to have a philosophical, religious or political argument with someone, then you've probably ended up arguing about the meaning of certain terms (like 'reality', 'god' or 'communism') instead of dealing with the issues themselves. A lot of this cannot be avoided: basic words  get co-opted as jargon by various disciplines, often meaning vastly different things depending on the context or who you're talking to.

Some of these troubles can be avoided if all participants in a discussion have a good grasp of the language they're using. If we have a large vocabulary to chose from, we can select the words that best encapsulate the subtle meanings and emphasis of the idea we're trying to convey.

So if you've found, heard or used a cool word recently, drop me a mail or post a comment and I'll share it here.

In The News:

A Robot In Every Korean Kindergarden By 2013 - I think that with the state of education in South Africa and the quality of teaching in rural schools, a slightly more advanced version of these things would be a massive boon to this country.

Real Time Holograms Beam Closer - So cool.... "Help me Obi-Wan Kinobi, you're my only hope".

50th Anniversary of SETI Commemorated With New Observing Project - the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence has been running for 50 years... wow.

Implanted Retinal Chip Allows Blind People To See - a new wave of cyborgs are about to hit the street... cool.

Precognition study at Cornell University - and it's coming up positive...

Word of the Week:

Specificity (noun):
The quality of being specific rather than general
E.g.:  add a desirable note of specificity to the discussion
E.g.:  the specificity of the symptoms of the disease

I hope you enjoyed this weeks post, as always if you liked it: post a comment and tell your friends. See you next week.
-Odd

"It's a strange world of language in which skating on thin ice can get you into hot water"
-Franklin P. Jones