Geeks Games and Greatness - S02E01 - We back, Bitches!

Season 2.

Hey, did you hear, those two geeks who used to do that podcast the we liked listening to have finally got their asses into gear and done another one.

Well, there are actually a few casts that they never finished editing and uploading from the last season, but those will have to become sought after rare recordings.

But still, it's been three bloody years. Finally, my life can have meaning again. The Geeks Games and Greatness podcast, with Odd and Ian, is back, hopefully with a vengeance.

Check out @gggcast on the twitter, we're all about feedback, cos we've mixed things up a bit and need to know if we're still getting it right.

Hiatus over.

This podcast may contain traces or large quantities of adult language, viewpoints, greatness and the game.

Enjoy!

Intro music provided (found and used, it's not like we know the guy/gal) by :
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Fatal_Injection/Vol_III_Instrumentals/
(ps, it's track 5)

Geeks, Games and Greatness Podcast - Episode 6: Moar

The 6th episode of the Geeks, Games and Greatness podcast is available here to tickle your eardrums. In this weeks rambeling we talk about more Anime, The Pretender, Star Trek DS9, Settlers of Catan, The Knights of Badassdom, The Higgs Boson, Choose-your-own-adventure books and we argue about pet tigers.

Download

As always, if you enjoyed the Podcast please leave us a comment, get hold of us on twitter (@OddModlin and@i4n0fd00m) or drop us a mail (oddcastblog@gmail.com)

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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

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

In the News

Urinal video games - .... WTF? seriously? .... actually... that could be pretty cool

First photos taken of China's new stealth fighter - yet another of America's biggest military advantages is no more

Tampa airport shuts down due to change in magnetic poles - They had to shut down the airport in order to re-mark the runway... starting to worry yet?

Wireless car-jacking - hackers to start stealing cars?

New 'non-lethal' laser designed to deter pirates - I do so love stories about laser guns :D

In The News:

New solar fuel machine 'mimics plant life' - it's amazing how often our great scientific discoveries are blatant plagiarisms of nature.

Top 10 Video games of 2010 - not sure how much I agree with this list... but it's still cool

Real life 'Frogger' ends in tragedy - BAKA! Bill Hicks would be jumping for joy.

Space weather forecasters looking for big activity - Our Sun is about to go into a very energetic period, apparently... who's been giving him Red Bull?

AI to transform the web - this according to a Russian tycoon... at least they won't Troll.... right?

Violent Video Games and human nature

Steve Napierski over at Dueling Analogs posted a strip this week about a report by the world health organisation saying that video games are a contributing factor in child obesity. Steve sees it as another extension of the bad press around video games, specifically violent ones.

I've never really weighed in on the subject, so I thought I'd give you my two cents: Human beings are predators, we evolved with forward facing eyes and aggressive tendencies so that we could hunt our food. As Cormac McCarthy said, "War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner." We're a violent bunch, if we weren't playing video games then we'd be watching an action movie, boxing or going out the roman circus to see gladiatorial combat.

What I do find troubling is the small number of games that are creative rather than destructive. The few that are around, like Guitar Hero, Farmville or Tamagochi (remember those?) seem to do very well. Maybe we should be encouraging the positive games rather than declaring war on the negative ones... that would seem to be far more consistent to me.'

In the news:

Book Review: The Warcraft Civilisation: Social Science in a Virtual World - sounds like a really cool book ^^

iPhone finally gets multi-tasking - it took you long enough....

Aussie Army Trains With Fleet of Robots On Segways - so cool! I want to have a run.

South Korea Announces Daily MMO Blackouts For Youths - very interesting since South Korea is one of the worlds  most technologically adoptive countries, and that they've got a HUGE market in neatly free MMO's.

Power Beaming For UAVs and Space Elevators - it's getting closer and closer, the Stage1 prize was taken at last years Space Elevator Games, lets hope for some more breakthroughs at the competition this year.

NSA Develops USB Storage Device Detector - and big brother sees just a little bit more than he did before.

First Pulitzer Awarded To an Online News Site - welcome to the digital age....

My post last week was a little weak ^^.... so I've added a couple pics to it so that you can all get a glimpse of Matt and Ian's awesomeness. Hope you enjoyed the post, as usual - tell your friends ^^

-Odd

Zeus most glorious and most great, Thundercloud, throned in the heavens! Let not the sun go down and the darkness come, until I cast down headlong the citadel of Priam in flames, and burn his gates with blazing fire, and tear to rags the shirt upon Hectors breast! May many of his men fall about him prone in the dust and bite the earth!
- Homer (The Illiad)

WebComics: MacHall and ThreePanelSoul

It's been a heavy news week, with offensive songs, the murder of a beloved Spielberg character and a tragic motor accident. All of which is depressing, so I'm not going to talk about it. Instead I'll introduce you to two of the internet's most talented residents: Ian McConville and Matt Boyd.

Ian and Matt are two of the biggest and most loved players on the WebComic scene, starting out with MacHall when they were both in college in 2000. MacHall chronicles the lives of a bunch of college students living in res at Bowling Green State University. The geek factor in the humor is high, and even though the comic stopped posting in September 2006, the archives are well worth the read. Seeing the evolution of Ian's artwork and Matt's scripting is truly something special. 

One of MacHall's later strips

Both Ian and Matt have long since graduated and moved on to be successful members in their respective fields, obviously this puts a large amount of strain on one's free time and they've switched their WebComic energies to ThreePanelSoul. TPS is a very different format, having only three panels in each strip, which provides a very different flavor to their earlier offerings. The strip's humor is matured, clever and completely unique (and yes, i know 'completely unique' is redundant... give me a break, will ya?). 

Awesome example of Matt's brilliant sense of humor

So have a click through to MacHall and ThreePanelSoul the next time you're looking for something to do online, it's more fun than harvesting crops, I promise you.

In the news:

Supersonic Freefall - this dude is going to attempt to break the sound barrier in free-fall i.e. without a plane.... I think this is possibly the craziest (read stupidest) thing I can think of.

Researchers develop a robot that folds towels - it might not sound like much, but this is a huge breakthrough in robotics, read the article to find out why.

After 27 years, a New High Score For Asteroids - I can't believe people are still playing this... competitively yet.

Solar cells: UQAM researcher solves two 20-year-old problems - heralding a new age for cheap, renewable energy.  I definitely think it's time for sunny South Africa to take advantage.

Synapse on a Chip - a new kind of computer memory that mimics brain neurons (yes i know there isn't another kind). Soon to bring big advancements to a peripheral near you.

Transhumanism and Superheroes - possibly the simplest, most concise explanation of post- and trans-humanism I've read. Great stuff, give it a read.

And there you have it... another post. It's April, but I'm still looking for my hill.

-Odd

"Everything is funnier at 2am."

The cataclysm is here

... and no, I haven't turned into one of those crazy guys on the side of the road with the big placard forecasting the end of days. What I'm talking about is World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

I spent Monday night in line outside BT Games at Greenstone, waiting for the midnight release of this, Blizzard's latest expansion to the world's most popular MMORPG. It was really great to see all the players that share my fascination with this fictional world. We chatted about what we were expecting from the new areas, how cool it is that the dragon Deathwing has wreacked the old world and swapped stories of our epic victories (and defeats).

Blizzard has really made this game a fantastic success: the game-play is fun, it's visually stunning, the story and lore are engaging and the people it attracts are (mostly) friendly, helpful and fun.

If you haven't given this a try yet (and don't have anything else to sink 20+ hours a week into), then ask a friend for a trial key... it's the only game you'll ever need.

In The News:

US showcase a new firearm - and this thing is some SERIOUS hardware.

Study suggests that being too clean can make people sick - ... makes alot of sense once you think about it.

Iranian nuclear scientists admit Stuxnet attacks - ... they did get nailed by the Stuxnet worm.... makes you wonder who first created this virus and why.

Scientists reverse ageing in mice - and so we're getting closer and closer to being immortal ourselves... somehow I don't think our society will handle it very well.

NASA launches Solar-sail propelled satellite - This is still very much a test of the technology, but it's so awesome to see the stuff that I've been reading about in SciFi for years actually start to come out IRL.

Just in time for the holidays - the UK are selling the HMS Invincible... ya... selling an aircraft carrier in an internet auction... it's a weird world we live in folks.

Word of the Week:

Impetrate (verb)

To entreat; ask for.

And so we're another week down. March's archives have been ported across too, so you can give those a re-read if you're strapped for something to do... or check out the links section. As always: Tell your friends, and post a comment if you've got something to say. Thanks.

-Odd

"I like to play blackjack. I'm not addicted to gambling, I'm addicted to sitting in a semi-circle." - Mitch Hedberg

The Large Hadron Collider does it's thing

Yesterday saw the greatest moment in science since Einstein came up with general relativity... did you notice? I guess not, so here's the lowdown:

The worlds largest particle collider the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) has it's first full power collision yesterday, and it was successful. They've been accelerating some light beams around the gigantic machine for the last few months, reaching 99.99% the speed of light... hard to grasp that sort of figure, isn't it? An article over at the Sydney Morning Herald equates the energy of this light beam with a train traveling at 144km/h .... Let me say that again... a beam of light that will hit you as hard as a train.

With the experiments run off this collision, Scientists are exploring what the universe was like at the moment of the big bang, hopefully providing us with a better understanding of how our reality works and finding the elusive God Particle that is supposed to give mass to everything.

So... no black holes, no giant crater in Europe.... it all turned out well, despite the court cases and miscellaneous doom mongering.

On another topic, I challenge all of you to click through to the link in the news section called Fixing Reality with Online Games. This is a truly exceptional program... and one I hope we can all get behind. Do it! It's good karma.

In the News:

First Anti-Cancer Nano-particle Trial on Humans a Success - tiny machines designed to hunt down and kill cancer cells... how cool is THAT?

Fixing Reality with Online Games - What can I say? This could very well save us all from ourselves... READ IT!!!!!!!!

Hubble Builds 3D Dark Matter Map - Our first detailed schematic of the universe?

A Samsung Robot In Every Home By 2020? - How South Korea is getting it right... a lesson for all of us in SA perhaps?

Zero carbon, zero waste city being built in Abu Dhabi - an ambitious project that I'm fully in support of. Great thinking.

Australia reveals prototype 'bionic' eye - History is going to look back at this century as the century of the cyborg... very cool.

Study shows chocolate reduces blood pressure and risk of heart disease - I can already hear you saying, "see, I TOLD you it was good for you".

...And there we have it, another week, another post. Hope you enjoyed it.

-Odd

"As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality" - Albert Einstein

 

Damn you fox!!!!!

I got some terrible news this past week. News that has me contemplating serious violence against a major American TV station. There's no easy way to say this, so I'm going to give it to you straight...

DollHouse has been canceled.

That's right. Fox has canceled Joss Whedon's latest masterpiece. I really don't get it, DollHouse is the best show to be aired since... well... since FireFly (which the bloodless corporate drones also cancelled), amazingly imaginative and thought provoking Sci-Fi, challenging scripts pulled off by incredible acting by a talented and diverse cast. I suppose we should be glad that Joss was allowed to do two seasons instead of the one that FireFly managed... but i'm not!

One thing I guess we have though... if DollHouse does follow FireFly's career path, we've got a kick ass movie to look forward to in a couple years.

In the meantime, if anyone wants to sponsor a flight to the US and a couple tons of Hi-Ex.... fox hunting season is open.

In the News:

Video Game Weapons - a cool article about the real world equivalents of our favorite devices of destruction

Cell Phone Data Predicts Movement Patterns - this is a little too big brother for my comfort

Triumph of the Cyborg Composer - a computer program that composes original (and actually GOOD) classical music... brings up a lot of questions about creativity, beauty and humanity.

Saturn Moon Could Be Hospitable To Life - we might have found our first extraterrestrial colony site. AWESOME!

Copernicium Confirmed As Element 112 - time to update your periodic table of elements... I know you all have one... nerds!

Project Offset Creates Graphical Magic - CGI quality graphics rendered in real time, on a home PC... sounds too good to be true... but there it is.

Google Buzz - a little article with various comments and tips

Intelligent people have 'unnatural' preferences and values that are novel in human evolution - just to remind you... my name is Odd... as in strange.... ^^

Water replant material - a new invention for a militantly water-proof surface

Cannibal star is devouring a planet - you don't get more epic than this.

An electrifying discovery - a new material that will harvest electricity from body movement.

BlackBerry Bold Tops Radiation Ranking - told you it was a crappy phone.

Email me now to join the Fox hunting party (not joking).... hope you enjoyed the post.

-Odd

"There are three flowers in a vase. The third flower is green."

 

Science Fiction and Science Fantasy, The difference.

Right, so this might be a boring topic for some, but I think it's an interesting distinction, so I'm going to talk about it anyway. People who don't read sci-fi lump whole sections of literature under that one title (often including heroic fantasy, if you can believe that), like some sort of horrible mutant chimera. In reality there are some very clear distinctions in the genre.

Science Fiction as a genre includes such gems as the works of Issac Asimov, or the new Joss Whedon show Doll House. So what categorizes these as science fiction? It's actually fairly simple: The major element in any Science Fiction story is the science. What a science fiction writer does when developing a story is to choose a particular type of technology and then extrapolate it into the future to see how people will react to it. Because the science is the major protagonist in the story, it has to be very well thought out and communicated, there is always an in depth explanation on how and why this technology works.

Science Fantasy (also sometimes called a 'space opera') on the other hand doesn't rely on science for the story's direction. This sub-genre includes epic pieces of story telling like Star Wars (personally I'm referring to IV, V and VI when I say this) and Joss Whedon's amasing FireFly. While these stories might be set in the far future, and so require space-ships and lasers and the like, these things are more incidental to the story that the writer is trying to tell and so we don't get a lot (or any) explanation of how the science works.

To simplify the difference: Science Fiction is a story about people's reactions to piece or type of technology while Science Fantasy is a story that just happens to be set in a place or time with futuristic gadgets. Both genre's are very cool and lots of fun to read (or watch), but for completely different reasons.

In the News:

Robots To Clear the Baltic Seafloor of WW-II Mines - Our metal friends helping out again

Can He Make The Dancing Hexapod Robot Happy - Another cool article on the development of AI

Is Hyperlongevity Immoral? - an interesting exploration of the ethical ramifications of our drive to immortality

Blind people use both visual and auditory cortices to hear - interesting goings on in our brains.

Scientists solve ageing puzzle - "who wants, to live, forever?"

US military to make jet fuel from algae - the jarheads are going green, it seems.

New results confirm standard neutrino theory - some results to back up quantum theory.

Google demonstrates phone that translates text - a step closer to a universal translator

Switzerland peruses violent game ban - big brother steps in against electronic mayhem... it'll sure be boring if they pull it off

Lego Robot Solves Any Rubik's Cube in 12 Seconds - this thing is COOL! check out the vids

Robot Soccer Getting Better - news from the Robot World Cup

Minority Report Interface Is Real, Hitting Mainstream Soon - awesome gadget... I want one!!!

Nanodiamonds Produce 'Game Changing Event' for MRI Imaging Sensitivity - Nano technology doing cool stuff.

Oil droplets can navigate complex maze - scientists have taught oil droplets.... teaching inanimate objects? WTF?!

So there we are... another post down. If you enjoyed it, leave a comment, follow and tell your friends. Or tell me... I'd dig to know if anyone actually reads these things. ^^

-Odd

A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law - Asimov's 3 Laws of Robotics.

 

In the news this week:

There’s been a lot of interesting developments in the news this past week, so I’m just going to give you a rundown of those and do a proper post some time later in the week.

 

NASA Mars Rover Opportunity Grinds "Cool" Rock – Nasa’s mars rover ‘Spirit’ has been having some success, coming across a rock that must have been made by volcanic activity. This gives scientists more insight into the red planet.

Scientists To Breed the Auroch From Extinction – life imitating art, with shades of Jurassic Park, a group of scientists are going to resurrect the giant buffalo-like creature from extinction… cool!

2-D Avatar To Be Pulled From Theaters In China – China bans the movie ‘Avatar’ for promoting anti-authoritarian dogma.

NASA Designs All-Electric Personal Flight Vehicle – Maybe NASA is trying to produce something that's usable by more than just astronauts? I want one!

Correlation Found Between Brain Structure and Video Game Success – I think working for the scientists who did this study could very well be my perfect job. ^^

NASA Will Crowdsource Its Photos of Mars – NASA has put out the call for opinions on the internet, want to see a specific piece of the Martian landscape? Give them a call.

Pope Urges Priests To Go Forth and Blog – The pope is trying to bring the church into the modern world? Then what about his stance on gay marriage? A tad hypocritical if you ask me.

A Case For the Necessity of Science Fiction – I knew it all along.

Colliding Particles Can Make Black Holes After All – experiments similar to those being conducted by the LHC could actually cause a black hole and swallow the earth. But don’t worry… it’d have to be A LOT larger.

 

There you have it, all the cool tech news from the last week. Check back in a couple days for a post on how Augmented Reality will soon be changing the world as we know it.

-Odd

“just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they aren’t really after you”