This Blog has no strict theme. It's just what I've got to say on any given subject. Why should that interest you? Well, it may not. So if it doesn't, feel free to read something else on the internet. There's a lot out there. One subject likely to appear from time to time on the blog is Young Earth Creationism and Old Earth Evolutionism. This sort of content can inspire robust discussion. Feel free to make comments on my posts, but let's all leave the language PG please people. :)
I don't believe the world will come to an end as a result of the Swiss (let's face it, they're historically non-violent, non-destructive types) but perhaps the understanding physicists have that there's a minute chance that it could end life as we know it, is indicative of a generation's cavalier attitude towards all Creation. Does it stem from video games we're raised on where if you die or your city gets wiped out, you can re-build, press re-set (revert to saved game etc) and start the level again? Maybe. Of course, it doesnt appear that any of the described potential outcomes of these LHC experiments match anything we can read about in Revelation so those fears don't really concern me. However, the apparent disregard for what these physicists believe to be a small chance of annilahation does concern me. What's with the weird attitude that is involved in supplying media releases suggesting that their experiments could destroy the world? Does the audience of junk TV reporting need yet another thing to worry about? Is this a case of the nerds blackmailing politicians that they need more funding or life as we know it may cease to exist? Who knows, but this article is worth a read. Click on the image below if you're interested in a robust description of the issues and the science. Quote from this good article putting this LHC in to laymans terms (i think)
"Dudes, you don't go around taking any chance with six billion lives. Its like putting six billion people in the boot of your car and telling them you'll drive home safe from the party. Though if you are going to kill six billion people its good to kill them all at once, so you don't have to worry about revenge attacks. Talk about a murder suicide."
This amazing, fun filled professor lived life to the full. He pursued every childhood dream he ever had. He got to experience a real weightless environment, got to meet his boyhood hero, became an 'imagineer' at Disney and all the time he was heavily involved in pioneering Virtual Reality.
Unfortunately he died this last Friday at age 47.
I've only watched 46 minutes of this 1 hour, 16 minute lecture (his last), but I'll be watching the rest soon and what I've already seen is very inspirational. Save this for when you've got the time to do it justice & need some inspiration to get past a 'wall' in your life.
O.K... old news to many bloggers and forum chatty types... and old to me as I first got sent a link to this about 6 months ago.
However, this is one cool toy that deserves some attention. If you are fond of Artoo (and who isn't?), you like STAR WARS (is there anyone who doesn't?) and you watch movies... and prefer a big screen...
... this might be the next must have for you and your kids!
This R2 unit can project your DVD movies (built in player) on to the wall or ceiling. It can take images or movies from your usb card and play them. It has built in speakers (modest at 20 watts) and an iPOD dock (scroll down to the bottom of this post for the promotional video from Nikko).
Good luck trying to buy these in Australia though. If anyone has details on where to get them from, feel free to post the details below.
What might stop you from buying it? The only thing that gives me pause is the native resolution of the projector. It is not widescreen nor is it massively high definition - but it is decent. It is bright enough too. 1500 ANSI lumens brightness. Resolution: XGA (1024 pixels wide by 768 pixels high). The contrast is 1800:1. That is actually pretty good. Back when I used to sell Home Cinema gear, these specs in a DLP projector were considered quite impressive and would attract price tags of $6,000 - $15,000 (admittedly that was 7 years ago!). Now these specs can be bought for quite a bit less and imbedded in an iconic remote control robot that lets you project on the wall, ceiling or some angle inbetweeen! That's wicked!
Here is a list of its features:
Picture by DLP from Texas Instruments
Project to ceilings and walls up to a 260-inch picture
Resolution: 1024x768
Contrast Ratio: 1800:1
Lumens: 1500
Built-in CD/DVD player. Also plays MP3/MP4 video
iPod docking station, memory card and USB slots
Built-in 20 watt stereo speaker system
FM wireless audio out (channels 1 through 7)
Full-function: forward, reverse turn 360 degrees and recline
Millennium Falcon remote control with removable stand
Head turns using Millennium Falcon remote control
Plays the most popular R2-D2 sound effects
1 year hardware manufacturer warranty
180 day projection lamp manufacturer warranty
Height 25 " Width 15" Weight 14lbs
Expect to pay approximately $2999 Australian for this. I did find someone selling them on the trading post online for this price - link (pls advise if this link has gone inactive).
All in all, the specs + the motorised capabilities look impressive enough for the price tag. I'd buy one for novelty/show-off value + bedroom use (if I could spare the cash and at the moment it is a no-go). There is good value here, however it would never be my main cinema projector. To enter my cinema room it would have to be a native widescreen projector with a resolution of no less than 1920 x 1080 pixels and the ability to play back 1080P movies (e.g. Blu ray or the now defunct HD DVD or broadcast TV at Full HD) at full resolution. The other concern is the DLP chip. Not knowing much about the quality of the DLP, I advise the potential consumer to ensure they can watch one for 1/2 and hour or so prior to purchase. Some DLP projectors have a weird rainbow fleck sort of thing going on that can bother some viewers more than others. DLP projectors always gave me headaches - but it was 7 years ago that I studied them. This unit might be rather excellent for all I know. Worth checking.
[quote] Let’s say that in an effort to discover my bank account balance, I poll a set of financial officers that work in a top real estate firm. Fourteen give their opinion that my account is “plentiful,” and only one suggests that I contact my bank. I therefore conclude that my account must be plentiful and I dismiss the fellow who suggested that I check with the bank, convinced that he must be religiously motivated. After all, the majority ruled against him. [end quote]
Such is the logic of Dallas Morning News, columnist Steve Blow when providing his opinion that only evolution belongs in the classroom (stating that all else is religion) bouyed up by a survey he conducted. The survey polled 18 University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center faculty members who are members of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences. The article I have linked to below takes a closer look at what these scientists specialise in. Funnily enough, it's not Origins research!
[quote] The UTSMC investigators are certainly top biomedical researchers. However, because a person is an expert on, say, cholesterol and bile acid metabolism, does this make him an expert on the origins of life? How would someone’s knowledge of advanced metabolism qualify him to speak authoritatively on the broad claims of molecules-to-man evolution? These are not overlapping disciplines. In addition, knowledge of evolutionary theory is not required for someone to investigate metabolic processes. Evolution is essentially a story that attempts to explain the unobservable past, while metabolism is a study of presently observable phenomena. In sum, Blow’s approach commits the “appeal to authority” fallacy. [end quote]
I don't know about you, but I think I'd take the opinion of a real estate agent with a grain of salt if he's trying to sell me a house and he's telling me I have lots of money. Perhaps opinions re: the origins of our planet and the flora and fauna in it are better if free of evolutionary dogma and instead based on an open-minded discussion of all points of view? But why is this issue even vaguely relevant to you? Have a read of the article below if you are interested. The site that the article is from contains a lot of information that challenges evolutionary assumptions. If this topic interests you and you haven't read 'the other side', read on.
Read the story, play the video. If it gets built as planned, it will be an amazing piece of architecture that includes sustainability - in between each floor there will be wind turbines. Truly astonishing concept. Almost like something out of the Jetsons!
I just wanted to let you all know that if you haven't tried Firefox yet, a good excuse is the new Firefox 3 which has only been out a few days. What is Firefox? It is an internet browser. A lot of people use Internet Explorer. Firefox is a strong alternative. One great thing about Firefox (which admittedly was good even prior to version 3), is an add-on called 'fast dial'. It creates a series of default icons on your new tab (which is normally just blank) which are url links to your favourite sites. The image displayed on each icon is normally a screen-capture of your favourite site's introductory page. You can also choose to use locally stored gif, jpeg, png files etc as your icon's emblem. That's the way I decided to go. In any case, my start-up and 'new tab' screen now look like this and I reckon it's really good and just thought I'd let you all know. Here is a screen shot:
For all you 'Opera' people out there - I know, ok?! :) To all you non-'Opera' people, 'Opera' is a very fast internet browser that does not slow your system down much at all like Internet Explorer and Firefox 2 tend to do. Opera came up with this icon grid url launching idea integrated in to their browser. It is called Speed Dial in Opera. One limitation of 'Speed Dial' is it mandates only 9 icons rather than a customised grid of how ever many you desire like the 'Fast Dial' that Firefox allows for. Opera is worth checking out if you have a slower system or if you just like a simpler approach to browsing. Firefox suits people who like to customise their browser. Internet Explorer is kind of playing catch up with both these lean machines.
One criticism of Fast Dial is that it does not appear to be compatible with IE tab in Firefox. Sometimes you want to use Internet Explorer but you may not wish to open another window. IE tab (another add-on for Firefox) allows you to open an Internet Explorer page as a tab in Firefox. Fast Dial does not allow you to right click an icon and select 'Open in IE tab' which you can otherwise do on any other link you come across in Firefox. Mildly annoying, but hey, it's free software and is otherwise awesome. Who am I to complain??
Hello all. This is my first post on this new blog. I believe this might be the way to go. My internet host provider lost my website so I thought I'd join the blogger community and cast off my self-reliance!
First post has to do with Dragons and Dinosaurs. Are they one and the same?
I was prompted to put something out on the internet in response to an open-minded post on another blogger's blog. Here is the post I responded to:
I responded to the author with this invitation to check out another article I'd stumbled across. My invite read like this:
Hi Steve,
I found an article you might find interesting as it asserts from a Creationist model and follows a fairly rational argument AND has some excellent photos of cave paintings, pottery pieces, carvings etc. that seem to depict dinosaurs. Please keep an open mind and read right through and have a close look at each photo: http://www.genesispark.org/genpark/ancient/ancient.htm
(please bare in mind that I have not read all articles on this site, but merely stumbled across this site and found THIS article compelling).... please excuse CAPS... not yelling, just unsure how to do italics! ------------------------ (end of my invite).
I hope 'Steve' checks out the article as I believe he'll enjoy the photos.
I'm up very late. I'm off to bed now.
Cheers all,
Trommo
P.S: Below is one of the pictures from the site I pointed 'Steve' to. It's a close up of some detail on an 800 year old Buddhist temple in Cambodia known as, Ta Prohm. It appears to depict a stegosaurus. Western science only began assembling dinosaurs skeletons in the past two centuries. Perhaps the existance of these carvings indicate that the creators of these ornate carvings witnessed the stegosaurus in the wild around them? This is just one of many examples mentioned on the site. There are photos of artifacts and paintings from Peru, Mexico, The USA, Canada, Egypt, the United Kingdom, France, Rome, Switzerland, Greece, Turkey, South Africa, Cambodia, Sumatra, Indonesia and Australia. See the full article. It is a fascinating read. Keep an open mind!
