Science News - Sleep Deprivation: The Great American Myth
An interesting article about sleep and sleeping pills.
And
The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race another interesting article by a rather famous author looking at what may have been the biggest mistake in human history from a certain point of view.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Life expectancy Calculator
Apparently this is based off the sort of thing some insurance companies use to calculate health insurance.
Life expectancy Calculator
I didn't know the answers for all the questions so leaving them to the default I was informed I could expect to live for something like 92years. And that my biggest risk factor was being a Male.
It also claimed I was about 9 Kg's underweight.
Life expectancy Calculator
I didn't know the answers for all the questions so leaving them to the default I was informed I could expect to live for something like 92years. And that my biggest risk factor was being a Male.
It also claimed I was about 9 Kg's underweight.
P2P Apps
For those of you doing a lot of P2P downloading theres something to keep in mind about the difference between P2P apps like bittorrent and hub/network based ones like DC++.
Bittorrent is a fast way to download single files or collections of files. A BT download is hundreds of slow connections downloading different bits of the file to maximise your download rate. So you'll get one file fast.
DC++ on the other hand is more a fast way to download a large number of files. You have a number of slowish connections each downloading a different file till you max out your bandwidth. The result is you get a lot of files downloaded togeather in a bunch.
The important thing to keep in mind with this is for DC++ you want to download large numbers of files and to use the priority settings to group important files. If your just downloading a couple of files at a time your most likely wasting a good part of your available bandwidth.
With BT you only want to download one or two files at a time as if your BT client is opening up 40 connections per torrent your downloading. Then the number of connections increases dramatically with the number of files your downloading. If you had 10 files downloading at an average of 40 parts each that's 400 connections to the net. Do you really think your cheap $100 ADSL Modems going to be able to cope with that many connections plus your, email, RSS, Web Browser, IM and Widget connections, and the connections of any one else who uses that internet connection.
I don't think so!
Bittorrent is a fast way to download single files or collections of files. A BT download is hundreds of slow connections downloading different bits of the file to maximise your download rate. So you'll get one file fast.
DC++ on the other hand is more a fast way to download a large number of files. You have a number of slowish connections each downloading a different file till you max out your bandwidth. The result is you get a lot of files downloaded togeather in a bunch.
The important thing to keep in mind with this is for DC++ you want to download large numbers of files and to use the priority settings to group important files. If your just downloading a couple of files at a time your most likely wasting a good part of your available bandwidth.
With BT you only want to download one or two files at a time as if your BT client is opening up 40 connections per torrent your downloading. Then the number of connections increases dramatically with the number of files your downloading. If you had 10 files downloading at an average of 40 parts each that's 400 connections to the net. Do you really think your cheap $100 ADSL Modems going to be able to cope with that many connections plus your, email, RSS, Web Browser, IM and Widget connections, and the connections of any one else who uses that internet connection.
I don't think so!
Monday, March 20, 2006
EDGE: SPECULATIONS ON THE FUTURE OF SCIENCE By Kevin Kelly
Must be my day for finding interesting stuff to read on the net. Any way this is well worth a read for any one who has had any thing to do with any scientific or technological field. EDGE: SPECULATIONS ON THE FUTURE OF SCIENCE By Kevin Kelly
Iron Chisels, Invisible iPods, Stick Castles - OSNews.com
Iron Chisels, Invisible iPods, Stick Castles - OSNews.com
Amusing, look at various icons of the computer geek culture.
Amusing, look at various icons of the computer geek culture.
Desktop backgrounds - Wikipedia
Some nice free photos for you desktop background.
Category:Featured desktop backgrounds - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Category:Featured desktop backgrounds - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
So Long, And Thanks for All the Fish
Maybe we aren't the most intelligent life form on earth :).
Signs of intelligent life found on Europa - ChargedNews.
Signs of intelligent life found on Europa - ChargedNews.
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Road Trip (4 day Version)
Who would be interested in a short road trip during the Public Holidays over Easter? Not enough people were interested in a big long two week road trip so we've decided to go on a much shorter one to the west coast. It would be on the public holidays from Thursday Evening before Easter to Easter Monday.
Thus allowing all those with work to get back in time for it.
If your not going to Easter camp and are interested please let my self or Alethea know ASAP.
Thus allowing all those with work to get back in time for it.
If your not going to Easter camp and are interested please let my self or Alethea know ASAP.
Monday, March 06, 2006
Sleep position gives personality clue
Sleep position gives personality clue The BBC reports some rather random science which claims your sleeping position gives clues to your personality. The articles got some diagrams illustrating each position and comments on the expected personality type associated with it. I'd say I was a mix of two (freefaller/yearner) of the "styles" and that the associated personalities are incorrect. Any way what type of sleeper are you?
Crazy
Well talk about slightly crazy Here is a video clip of a guy in Stormtrooper Armour walking around in Japan. It's crazy where ever the chap walks all the Japanese pull out camera phones and start taking photos.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
End times Slashdot
Well someones gone and written a book suggesting that RFID tags are the mark of the beast mentioned in the Book of Revelations. Some how the topics got posted on Slashdot or all places! As a result there is a significant number of comments about it some intelligent, some funny and most stupid. Here are a couple of the more interesting ones from the debate which can be found here.
Uhhhh, not quite. Constantine did some important stuff. For example he defined the Trinity at Nicea in 325, unified the Roman churches and outlawed the Pantheon, Egiptian, Persian and other churches. The Christian Bible as we know it today however, was compiled under the auspices of King James of Britain, France and Ireland, roundabout 1611.
Hell, when England made the Domesday Book [wikipedia.org] in 1086 Christians probably went ape-shit over it for the same reason.
I've learned something about Christians, when something like this comes, many don't say "this is the mark of the beast" instead they say something along the line of "the end is near"... So, they're learning.
I think that the stance against RFIDs needs all the help it can get... So, let the Christians rant and rave next to the EFF... Just as long as the reasonable people raise that point that tracking technologies COULD be used for bad reasons, and encourage people to weigh the good against the bad... Or does that involve thinking?
If I were a Christian, I would be doing anything I can to hasten the return my my God.
And that explains so much of the Bush foreign policy. Starting civil wars, giving out nukes, it all makes sense in this context.
We have six billion people on the planet. Over the next five hundred years, hundreds of billions will live and die. Most of them will spend most of their lives suffering terribly. They will starve, kill each other, rape, drug themselves to death and more.
If the six billion alive today suffered through the apocalypse now, it would prevent the suffering of hundreds of billions. More, really, since you can extend this for as many thousands of years as you like. It's clear that the sooner the world ends, the fewer people will suffer, and the sooner those of us who are righteous will be in heaven.
Just one of the reasons God is clearly a son of a bitch.
The funny thing is that the whole book of Revelations is far more likely to be about events in the first century, with either Jerusalem or Rome being the Whore of Babylon and the Beast being the Emperor or the Roman Army. The Mark of the Beast probably refers to the tatoos that were given to slaves to mark them as such, usually in an easily visible place like the face or the hand. Early Christians also wore tattoos as a sign of their faith. Facial tattoos were sometimes worn by Roman Soldiers, although the Romans regarded tattoos as barbaric.
In fact, the Book of Revelations was a controversial addition to the early Bible, and several Bishops argued against including it in the canon due to the difficulty of interpreting it, and hence, its potential for abuse--particularly the type of abuse so typical of fundamentalists, who keep claiming that the end times are upon us. Other portions of the Bible specifically warn against doing this, because only God knows the time when the world will end. To this day the Eastern Orthodox Church does not consider it part of the Canon.
If you're a non-believer, like I am, all of this is moot--the whole thing is either about the world John lived in, or he got dosed with some grain ergot while in prison. If you are a Christian, however, steer clear of belief that these are the end times. It's a definite no-no in the religion. And if you believe in the Rapture, rest assured that the people who compiled the Bible would have denounced you as a heretic, and you probably would have ended up being used for sword practice by a Roman Legionnaire. This is a spin from the lunatic fringe on a single line of a book that almost ended up in the fireplace of history. It is also a morally corrosive doctrine because it undercuts personal responsibility, encouraging people to believe that God is going to solve all of their problems for them, kill all their enemies, and build them a whole new world.
In this case, the cult is Christianity. If they were any other group, we'd be laughing at them. Unfortunately, they are large enough that their crazy belief system may cause trouble for the rest of us (yet again).
Christianity does not believe end times are heralded by RFID tags, some Christians do. That is what separates Christianity from crazy cults, since it is large and diverse enough to have people make up their own minds on such things. Cults need centralized leadership to tell its adherents what to do and what to believe, Christianity hasn't got a central authority and so its adherents are free to interpret the canon however they see fit and form groups where they share crucial facts of their interpretation. Most Christians believe the book of Revelation to be a non-literal message about what kind of persecution the church has faced and will face in the time between Christ's first and second coming, others believe it is an allegorical prophecy of the history of the thousand years after it was written in about 50AD and some (like the RFID nutter) believe that it is an allegorical prophesy of the thousand years before Christs second coming (whenever that may be). What almost all scholars agree on is that whoever the beast may be is irrelevant when one simply holds to the principles that the bible teaching when dealing with the beast as with dealing with anyone, thus finding the beast is pointless. Unfortunately, not all Christians are scholars and some like to draw shaky parallels and make accusations without merit.
I know I have just bitten a troll, but someone had to clarify it.
Uhhhh, not quite. Constantine did some important stuff. For example he defined the Trinity at Nicea in 325, unified the Roman churches and outlawed the Pantheon, Egiptian, Persian and other churches. The Christian Bible as we know it today however, was compiled under the auspices of King James of Britain, France and Ireland, roundabout 1611.
Hell, when England made the Domesday Book [wikipedia.org] in 1086 Christians probably went ape-shit over it for the same reason.
I've learned something about Christians, when something like this comes, many don't say "this is the mark of the beast" instead they say something along the line of "the end is near"... So, they're learning.
I think that the stance against RFIDs needs all the help it can get... So, let the Christians rant and rave next to the EFF... Just as long as the reasonable people raise that point that tracking technologies COULD be used for bad reasons, and encourage people to weigh the good against the bad... Or does that involve thinking?
If I were a Christian, I would be doing anything I can to hasten the return my my God.
And that explains so much of the Bush foreign policy. Starting civil wars, giving out nukes, it all makes sense in this context.
We have six billion people on the planet. Over the next five hundred years, hundreds of billions will live and die. Most of them will spend most of their lives suffering terribly. They will starve, kill each other, rape, drug themselves to death and more.
If the six billion alive today suffered through the apocalypse now, it would prevent the suffering of hundreds of billions. More, really, since you can extend this for as many thousands of years as you like. It's clear that the sooner the world ends, the fewer people will suffer, and the sooner those of us who are righteous will be in heaven.
Just one of the reasons God is clearly a son of a bitch.
The funny thing is that the whole book of Revelations is far more likely to be about events in the first century, with either Jerusalem or Rome being the Whore of Babylon and the Beast being the Emperor or the Roman Army. The Mark of the Beast probably refers to the tatoos that were given to slaves to mark them as such, usually in an easily visible place like the face or the hand. Early Christians also wore tattoos as a sign of their faith. Facial tattoos were sometimes worn by Roman Soldiers, although the Romans regarded tattoos as barbaric.
In fact, the Book of Revelations was a controversial addition to the early Bible, and several Bishops argued against including it in the canon due to the difficulty of interpreting it, and hence, its potential for abuse--particularly the type of abuse so typical of fundamentalists, who keep claiming that the end times are upon us. Other portions of the Bible specifically warn against doing this, because only God knows the time when the world will end. To this day the Eastern Orthodox Church does not consider it part of the Canon.
If you're a non-believer, like I am, all of this is moot--the whole thing is either about the world John lived in, or he got dosed with some grain ergot while in prison. If you are a Christian, however, steer clear of belief that these are the end times. It's a definite no-no in the religion. And if you believe in the Rapture, rest assured that the people who compiled the Bible would have denounced you as a heretic, and you probably would have ended up being used for sword practice by a Roman Legionnaire. This is a spin from the lunatic fringe on a single line of a book that almost ended up in the fireplace of history. It is also a morally corrosive doctrine because it undercuts personal responsibility, encouraging people to believe that God is going to solve all of their problems for them, kill all their enemies, and build them a whole new world.
In this case, the cult is Christianity. If they were any other group, we'd be laughing at them. Unfortunately, they are large enough that their crazy belief system may cause trouble for the rest of us (yet again).
Christianity does not believe end times are heralded by RFID tags, some Christians do. That is what separates Christianity from crazy cults, since it is large and diverse enough to have people make up their own minds on such things. Cults need centralized leadership to tell its adherents what to do and what to believe, Christianity hasn't got a central authority and so its adherents are free to interpret the canon however they see fit and form groups where they share crucial facts of their interpretation. Most Christians believe the book of Revelation to be a non-literal message about what kind of persecution the church has faced and will face in the time between Christ's first and second coming, others believe it is an allegorical prophecy of the history of the thousand years after it was written in about 50AD and some (like the RFID nutter) believe that it is an allegorical prophesy of the thousand years before Christs second coming (whenever that may be). What almost all scholars agree on is that whoever the beast may be is irrelevant when one simply holds to the principles that the bible teaching when dealing with the beast as with dealing with anyone, thus finding the beast is pointless. Unfortunately, not all Christians are scholars and some like to draw shaky parallels and make accusations without merit.
I know I have just bitten a troll, but someone had to clarify it.
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Lunch
1/4 Cub Rolled Oats
1/2 Cub White Flour
1 Table spoon Sugar
2 Pinches of Salt
50g Butter melted
100mls Milk
1 Egg
Mix together fry in a non stick frying pan till golden brown.
Serve with a sliver of butter between each and Maple syrup.
3 Tea spoons Cadbury Drinking chocolate.
150ml Milk
100ml Boiling water
Shake the Milk and Drinking chocolate up in a container until it's completely dissolved and has plenty of froth. Pour into cup microwave 30s, Add 50mls boiling water Microwave 30s, Add 50mls boiling water Microwave 30s, Drink.
Thank God that your metabolism allows you to do this with out side effects!
20th Century Fox : Date Movie
20th Century Fox : Date Movie Just looking at the trailer it looks BAD, but kind of amusing!
Friday, March 03, 2006
Thursday, March 02, 2006
All is well
Right well my laptop arrived back to day so expect a few additions to the photo blog in the next 48hours.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Road Trip
As most of you are no doubt aware a number of us are considering going on a road trip around the west coast and north of the south Island during the Easter holidays. Hopefully you've received an email about this in the last day or two. If you haven't and might be interested in a road trip at that time please contact Me, Alethea or Andrew W for more details (comments here will do fine).
Things that come to mind
It's the second of these that keeps coming to mind when playing RoboRally especially the first stanza (hope that is the correct term, relying on faint memories of 6th English here), none the less I couldn't really post the second with out the first.
"Ladies and gentlemen, hoboes and tramps"
Ladies and gentlemen, hoboes and tramps,
Cross-eyed mosquitoes and bow-legged ants,
I come before you to stand behind you,
To tell you something I know nothing about.
Next Thursday, which is Good Friday,
There will be a Mother's Day meeting for fathers only;
Admission is free, so pay at the door,
Pull up a seat and sit on the floor.
The topic to discuss...
The crime that has never been committed.
...
"One fine day in the middle of the night"
One fine day in the middle of the night,
Two dead men got up to fight,
Back to back they faced each other,
Drew their swords and shot each other,
One was blind and the other couldn't, see
So they chose a dummy for a referee.
A blind man went to see fair play,
A dumb man went to shout "hooray!"
A paralysed donkey passing by,
Kicked the blind man in the eye,
Knocked him through a nine inch wall,
Into a dry ditch and drowned them all,
A deaf policeman heard the noise,
And came to arrest the two dead boys,
If you don't believe this story’s true,
Ask the blind man he saw it too!
"Ladies and gentlemen, hoboes and tramps"
Ladies and gentlemen, hoboes and tramps,
Cross-eyed mosquitoes and bow-legged ants,
I come before you to stand behind you,
To tell you something I know nothing about.
Next Thursday, which is Good Friday,
There will be a Mother's Day meeting for fathers only;
Admission is free, so pay at the door,
Pull up a seat and sit on the floor.
The topic to discuss...
The crime that has never been committed.
...
"One fine day in the middle of the night"
One fine day in the middle of the night,
Two dead men got up to fight,
Back to back they faced each other,
Drew their swords and shot each other,
One was blind and the other couldn't, see
So they chose a dummy for a referee.
A blind man went to see fair play,
A dumb man went to shout "hooray!"
A paralysed donkey passing by,
Kicked the blind man in the eye,
Knocked him through a nine inch wall,
Into a dry ditch and drowned them all,
A deaf policeman heard the noise,
And came to arrest the two dead boys,
If you don't believe this story’s true,
Ask the blind man he saw it too!
Blinding Silence
Well I've been a little silent on the blog front recently. The primary reason being my laptops currently in for repair which has severely reduced the time I'm spending online. As my old desktop is rather slow, and after 13 months of using an LCD screen a 15"CRT is insanely painful to use.
Also the desktop is far to slow to edit the photo's I'm wanting to post. Combine that with University enrolment and related issues, the new Riccarton public library opening up right across the road and I've been somewhat preoccupied (35 books takes some time even for me to read).
None the less the laptop hopefully comes back in the next day or two at which point I'll get the photo editing out of the way and the photo's posted.
So expect to see soon a number of photo's from the play in the park, from Jess's 21st, and likely some from Sparks in the park once that occurs this weekend.
In the mean time I leave you with a couple of poems that have been unfortunately coming to mind during the last few games of RoboRally I've played.
Also the desktop is far to slow to edit the photo's I'm wanting to post. Combine that with University enrolment and related issues, the new Riccarton public library opening up right across the road and I've been somewhat preoccupied (35 books takes some time even for me to read).
None the less the laptop hopefully comes back in the next day or two at which point I'll get the photo editing out of the way and the photo's posted.
So expect to see soon a number of photo's from the play in the park, from Jess's 21st, and likely some from Sparks in the park once that occurs this weekend.
In the mean time I leave you with a couple of poems that have been unfortunately coming to mind during the last few games of RoboRally I've played.
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