big surprise
The Stafford-Covey Task Group, an advisory panel tasked with checking to see if NASA is complying with the recommendations of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, has found that NASA has failed to accomplish three of the fifteen recommended improvements ordered by the CAIB. Their conclusions are not binding on NASA, so the shuttle may launch anyhow, even though the three improvements (eliminating critical launch debris, hardening the carbon-carbon panels on the leading edges of the wings, and developing a way to repair the ship in orbit) are some of the most basic safety measures that can be imagined. From the Orlando Sentinel:
"NASA officials have consistently said in recent months that while they value the task group's role, space-agency managers ultimately will decide whether the shuttle is safe to resume launches."
My question is: why go through the charade of the CAIB and this subsequent review? Why bother if the results will simply be ignored?
The Shuttle is a bad design. Period, full stop.
"You can't legislate that people should be smart," NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel on Monday.
This is true; it also speaks volumes about NASA.
Technorati Tags:
NASA, Space Shuttle, Columbia
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Thursday, June 23, 2005
finally some good news
finally some good news
This is huge.
While the Supreme Court seems to have lost all contact with the Constitution, a jury in the US District Court in Sacramento has ruled that American citizens are not required to pay Federal Income Tax. More at the June 23rd entry at givemeliberty.org.
The case centered around Joseph Banister, a CPA and former IRS Criminal Investigative Division Special Agent. From the givemeliberty.org site:
"During the trial, Banister's former supervisor at IRS’s San Jose CID office, Robert Gorini (who testified via video recording) when pointedly asked, was unable to cite any U.S. law that required Banister to pay income taxes."
More about Joe Banister here.
Technorati Tags: Law, Taxes
This is huge.
While the Supreme Court seems to have lost all contact with the Constitution, a jury in the US District Court in Sacramento has ruled that American citizens are not required to pay Federal Income Tax. More at the June 23rd entry at givemeliberty.org.
The case centered around Joseph Banister, a CPA and former IRS Criminal Investigative Division Special Agent. From the givemeliberty.org site:
"During the trial, Banister's former supervisor at IRS’s San Jose CID office, Robert Gorini (who testified via video recording) when pointedly asked, was unable to cite any U.S. law that required Banister to pay income taxes."
More about Joe Banister here.
Technorati Tags: Law, Taxes
supreme court trashes constitution
supreme court trashes constitution
The US Supreme Court has decided that private property no longer exists; that eminent domain can be used for any reason at all.
Despicable.
I truly despise this decision. These were well-kept homes, not a slum, and they are being demolished to make way for Pfizer. From Justice O'Connor's dissenting opinion:
"Today the Court abandons this long-held, basic limitation on government power," she wrote. "Under the banner of economic development, all private property is now vulnerable to being taken and transferred to another private owner, so long as it might be upgraded -- i.e., given to an owner who will use it in a way that the legislature deems more beneficial to the public -- in the process."
The effect of the decision, O'Connor said, "is to wash out any distinction between private and public use of property -- and thereby effectively to delete the words "for public use" from the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment."
These houses were not to be destroyed to make way for an expressway or to build a school; they will be destroyed to make way for Pfizer's new research facility:
"The plan called for a waterfront hotel and conference center surrounded by restaurants and stores, marinas for recreational and commercial use, 80 new residences in an urban neighborhood, office space for research and development, parking lots and other retail services."
I have a visceral hatred for governments which steal private property from one group of private citizens to give it to another group of private citizens. This happened to my great-grandfather thirty years ago when the city of Edmonton expanded; he got a take-it-or-leave-it-we-don't-care-the-land-is-ours-now offer from the city of Edmonton, for a sum of approximately 1% of the land's value, cheating my family out of several million dollars. What was his farm (and my inheritance) is now the subdivision of Mill Woods.
The US Supreme Court members who voted in favour of this travesty (John Paul Stevens, Anthony Kennedy, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer) ought to be ashamed of themselves. One wonders if they would have taken the same position had it been their own homes set for demolition.
UPDATE: Arguing With Signposts has more reaction - heaps of it.
UPDATE 2: It occurs to me that the city of New London, Connecticut has shot itself in the foot. Would anyone consider buying a house there now? Why would they risk getting a mortgage with the knowledge that at any moment city council can just take their property according to whim? Why would developers risk millions on a new housing development? The city of New London just killed their housing market.
Technorati Tags: Law, Kelo, Eminent Domain
The US Supreme Court has decided that private property no longer exists; that eminent domain can be used for any reason at all.
Despicable.
I truly despise this decision. These were well-kept homes, not a slum, and they are being demolished to make way for Pfizer. From Justice O'Connor's dissenting opinion:
"Today the Court abandons this long-held, basic limitation on government power," she wrote. "Under the banner of economic development, all private property is now vulnerable to being taken and transferred to another private owner, so long as it might be upgraded -- i.e., given to an owner who will use it in a way that the legislature deems more beneficial to the public -- in the process."
The effect of the decision, O'Connor said, "is to wash out any distinction between private and public use of property -- and thereby effectively to delete the words "for public use" from the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment."
These houses were not to be destroyed to make way for an expressway or to build a school; they will be destroyed to make way for Pfizer's new research facility:
"The plan called for a waterfront hotel and conference center surrounded by restaurants and stores, marinas for recreational and commercial use, 80 new residences in an urban neighborhood, office space for research and development, parking lots and other retail services."
I have a visceral hatred for governments which steal private property from one group of private citizens to give it to another group of private citizens. This happened to my great-grandfather thirty years ago when the city of Edmonton expanded; he got a take-it-or-leave-it-we-don't-care-the-land-is-ours-now offer from the city of Edmonton, for a sum of approximately 1% of the land's value, cheating my family out of several million dollars. What was his farm (and my inheritance) is now the subdivision of Mill Woods.
The US Supreme Court members who voted in favour of this travesty (John Paul Stevens, Anthony Kennedy, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer) ought to be ashamed of themselves. One wonders if they would have taken the same position had it been their own homes set for demolition.
UPDATE: Arguing With Signposts has more reaction - heaps of it.
UPDATE 2: It occurs to me that the city of New London, Connecticut has shot itself in the foot. Would anyone consider buying a house there now? Why would they risk getting a mortgage with the knowledge that at any moment city council can just take their property according to whim? Why would developers risk millions on a new housing development? The city of New London just killed their housing market.
Technorati Tags: Law, Kelo, Eminent Domain
Monday, June 20, 2005
the weaponization of space
the weaponization of space
Tyler Dinerman argues that the weaponization of space may be necessary in order to protect existing crucial satellites such as the GPS constellation. He also thinks that, as the ultimate high ground, battles in space are inevitable. I agree. The concept of the high ground is older than Sun Tzu, and America ignores this concept at its peril.
Technorati Tags: space warfare
Tyler Dinerman argues that the weaponization of space may be necessary in order to protect existing crucial satellites such as the GPS constellation. He also thinks that, as the ultimate high ground, battles in space are inevitable. I agree. The concept of the high ground is older than Sun Tzu, and America ignores this concept at its peril.
Technorati Tags: space warfare
Saturday, June 18, 2005
well at least I think it's cool
well at least I think it's cool
I tend to set Grand Challenges for myself. A few years ago, the Grand Challenge was to design a robot that could be packed into a very small volume - a cylinder a foot in diameter and four inches tall - that would unfold into a much larger wheeled robot. OK, so I did that. Then I realized that I would either have to build it or demonstrate in some other way that it would work.
Since I had designed the robot in 3D Canvas, and since that program allows animation, I did just that. Of course, video without sound is kinda... bleah. Therefore, I added part of the song Foreplay by Boston, and synchronized the video to the audio.
The video turned out to be a much tougher project than I realized at first. I have posted a few teasers of the work-in-progress on this blog, but that was back within the first thousand hits that I received, and therefore most of you will not have seen those clips.
I wanted to do something really cool for the upcoming Red Ensign Standard, so I figured I would finish the video, touching up a few errors I had made in my original clips. I had originally posted this on Google Video, but I have since posted it on YouTube, which made things a whole lot easier. Here it is:
The bulk of the video was shot using 3D Canvas, with the opening scenes done in Celestia. I used Virtual Dub for most of the video editing, and Audacity for the audio editing. Finally it was all compressed and a title added using Windows Movie Maker.
Sure, the lander looks a little hokey; it is just a stylized representation of a rocket ship. And the wheels look kinda flimsy - if I included the cables that attach to the ends of the spokes, crisscrossing each wheel, I would have nearly doubled the size of the work file and made the project much more complex to animate than it already was. And the WMV compression lowered the image quality more than I would like. Even so, I have to admit I am quite satisfied with the final results.
Will I do another animation? Yeah, sure, after I have my head examined. This sucker took WAY too much time to put together, much longer than it took me to design the robot. I think next time I'll just build something and then record the actual thing in action.
UPDATE: Here is a screenshot:
Technorati Tags: robots, space, animation
I tend to set Grand Challenges for myself. A few years ago, the Grand Challenge was to design a robot that could be packed into a very small volume - a cylinder a foot in diameter and four inches tall - that would unfold into a much larger wheeled robot. OK, so I did that. Then I realized that I would either have to build it or demonstrate in some other way that it would work.
Since I had designed the robot in 3D Canvas, and since that program allows animation, I did just that. Of course, video without sound is kinda... bleah. Therefore, I added part of the song Foreplay by Boston, and synchronized the video to the audio.
The video turned out to be a much tougher project than I realized at first. I have posted a few teasers of the work-in-progress on this blog, but that was back within the first thousand hits that I received, and therefore most of you will not have seen those clips.
I wanted to do something really cool for the upcoming Red Ensign Standard, so I figured I would finish the video, touching up a few errors I had made in my original clips. I had originally posted this on Google Video, but I have since posted it on YouTube, which made things a whole lot easier. Here it is:
The bulk of the video was shot using 3D Canvas, with the opening scenes done in Celestia. I used Virtual Dub for most of the video editing, and Audacity for the audio editing. Finally it was all compressed and a title added using Windows Movie Maker.
Sure, the lander looks a little hokey; it is just a stylized representation of a rocket ship. And the wheels look kinda flimsy - if I included the cables that attach to the ends of the spokes, crisscrossing each wheel, I would have nearly doubled the size of the work file and made the project much more complex to animate than it already was. And the WMV compression lowered the image quality more than I would like. Even so, I have to admit I am quite satisfied with the final results.
Will I do another animation? Yeah, sure, after I have my head examined. This sucker took WAY too much time to put together, much longer than it took me to design the robot. I think next time I'll just build something and then record the actual thing in action.
UPDATE: Here is a screenshot:
Technorati Tags: robots, space, animation
Thursday, June 16, 2005
discovery back on launch pad
discovery back on launch pad
Yesterday the Space Shuttle Discovery was moved back to launch pad 39B. Supposedly this shuttle will launch sometime between July 13 and 31. I very much doubt it. You may recall that this same shuttle was on the launch pad once before, and was taken back to the vehicle assembly building - it had its external fuel tank removed, and a new, modified one installed. The whole stack has to go through more testing before it can be launched. Based on last month's experience, I predict that even more problems will be found with the shuttle, and they will be forced to take it back off the pad again to make more modifications. More modifications leads to more testing, which will find more problems forcing further modifications.
No amount of duct tape will make the Shuttle Transportation System a good design. The shuttle will never fly again.
Technorati Tags: NASA Space Shuttle
Yesterday the Space Shuttle Discovery was moved back to launch pad 39B. Supposedly this shuttle will launch sometime between July 13 and 31. I very much doubt it. You may recall that this same shuttle was on the launch pad once before, and was taken back to the vehicle assembly building - it had its external fuel tank removed, and a new, modified one installed. The whole stack has to go through more testing before it can be launched. Based on last month's experience, I predict that even more problems will be found with the shuttle, and they will be forced to take it back off the pad again to make more modifications. More modifications leads to more testing, which will find more problems forcing further modifications.
No amount of duct tape will make the Shuttle Transportation System a good design. The shuttle will never fly again.
Technorati Tags: NASA Space Shuttle
Sunday, June 12, 2005
i sense a trend
i sense a trend
You know that a totalitarian regime is about to fall when the protests start drawing attractive women. First the Ukraine, then Lebanon, and now Iran. Bring on the Protest Babes!
You know that a totalitarian regime is about to fall when the protests start drawing attractive women. First the Ukraine, then Lebanon, and now Iran. Bring on the Protest Babes!
sidewinder
sidewinder
Some interesting reading pointed out by Peter Worthington of the Toronto Sun: the Sidewinder report. From the introduction by J. R. Nyquist:
"The document shows that China has made significant inroads in North America. These inroads are potentially fatal if we continue to ignore the strategic implications of lax security combined with the bribery of bureaucrats, Communist-inspired organized crime, drug trafficking, terror and economic sabotage."
Technorati Tags: Sidewinder China
Some interesting reading pointed out by Peter Worthington of the Toronto Sun: the Sidewinder report. From the introduction by J. R. Nyquist:
"The document shows that China has made significant inroads in North America. These inroads are potentially fatal if we continue to ignore the strategic implications of lax security combined with the bribery of bureaucrats, Communist-inspired organized crime, drug trafficking, terror and economic sabotage."
Technorati Tags: Sidewinder China
newly discovered volcano
newly discovered volcano
As volcanos go, this one is an odd one indeed. Instead of spewing lava and ash and hot gases, a 30 km wide volcano on Saturn's moon Titan erupts methane. It (and other volcanos like it) may be responsible for the replenishment of methane in Titan's atmosphere. Instead of being powered by molten rock escaping through cracks in the crust (as is the case on Earth), this one may be powered by tidal forces as Titan swings around Saturn in its elliptical orbit. Nifty.
Technorati Tags: space Saturn Titan volcano
As volcanos go, this one is an odd one indeed. Instead of spewing lava and ash and hot gases, a 30 km wide volcano on Saturn's moon Titan erupts methane. It (and other volcanos like it) may be responsible for the replenishment of methane in Titan's atmosphere. Instead of being powered by molten rock escaping through cracks in the crust (as is the case on Earth), this one may be powered by tidal forces as Titan swings around Saturn in its elliptical orbit. Nifty.
Technorati Tags: space Saturn Titan volcano
Thursday, June 09, 2005
policy in three syllables
policy in three syllables
Sean is guestblogging over at small dead animals. He has pointed out how, in the age of the two-second soundbite, it is essential for the Conservative Party of Canada to be able to state their overall philosophy in three syllables. The one he chose is "sex and beer" - while entirely defensible, not something that would cause anyone to take them seriously. I much prefer what TimR (one of the commenters) suggested:
For the Tories, I think it should be "You decide..."
As in:
You decide... how your paycheque should be spent.
You decide... if you want to spend your money to access private health care.
You decide... who should look after your children.
You decide... who should be Senators.
etc., etc.
Yep. Makes sense to me.
Technorati Tags: politics conservative
Sean is guestblogging over at small dead animals. He has pointed out how, in the age of the two-second soundbite, it is essential for the Conservative Party of Canada to be able to state their overall philosophy in three syllables. The one he chose is "sex and beer" - while entirely defensible, not something that would cause anyone to take them seriously. I much prefer what TimR (one of the commenters) suggested:
For the Tories, I think it should be "You decide..."
As in:
You decide... how your paycheque should be spent.
You decide... if you want to spend your money to access private health care.
You decide... who should look after your children.
You decide... who should be Senators.
etc., etc.
Yep. Makes sense to me.
Technorati Tags: politics conservative
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
I know, I know
I know, I know
Yeah, posting has been a little light the last few days. I'm working on something special for the upcoming Red Ensign linkfest. Trust me on this, it will be wicked cool.
Yeah, posting has been a little light the last few days. I'm working on something special for the upcoming Red Ensign linkfest. Trust me on this, it will be wicked cool.
Sunday, June 05, 2005
free at last
free at last
The Mars Exploration Rover has been stuck in for days and days, but now it is finally free. The rover will spend the next little while inspecting the area where it got stuck, and then will continue southward.
These rovers are turning into quite the success story for JPL, having both already lasted for several times their expected lifespans.
Technorati Tags: NASA Mars-rover JPL
The Mars Exploration Rover has been stuck in for days and days, but now it is finally free. The rover will spend the next little while inspecting the area where it got stuck, and then will continue southward.
These rovers are turning into quite the success story for JPL, having both already lasted for several times their expected lifespans.
Technorati Tags: NASA Mars-rover JPL
geometric explosion
geometric explosion
That Book Tag thing got me thinking. It is of course a chain letter. In the blogosphere, it is a particularly virulent form of chain letter, as it preys upon the vanity of bloggers (My God! Somebody actually cares what I read!). Plus, when thevictims recipients of the chain letter post their replys, they generally link back to the culprit sender, thus boosting the referring links and hence the rankings in the Truth Laid Bear ecosystem.
There are on the order of ten million blogs in the blogosphere (a nice round number, maybe higher, maybe lower; by saying "on the order of" that generally means "within a factor of ten" ... call it between 3 million and 30 million). I have traced this back as far as Nancy Rommelman, but since she didn't link to the specific post that Jackie D tagged her with, I will have to do some digging to follow it back further. Nancy got tagged on March 23rd 2005.
OK, let's make some assumptions. Let's assume that Jackie D started this whole thing (I may be wrong, in fact most probably am, but let's assume anyhow) back on March 22nd. Now, back then the book tag had a few more questions ("You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?" and "Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?") and was limited to being sent to only 3 more people rather than 5. So, let's assume that there were on average 2 responses to each book tag.
log (10000000) / log (2) = 23.25...
log (30000000) / log (2) = 24.838...
It has been roughly 75 days since Nancy got tagged. If it takes an average of 3 days to respond to the book tag thing, then everyone in the blogosphere has probably already been tagged - assuming there was a way of telling that someone had already been tagged (without having faithfully read each post of every blogger) and that there were no multiple-tags. If there was some easy way of finding out who has not yet been tagged, then the entire blogosphere would be tagged by no later than the end of this week.
I think this sucker has run its course.
Of course, I don't expect that everyone will read this post (barring an Instalanche and a dailyKoslanche - excuse me while I stop laughing - ok, I'm all better now), and that this particularly virulent meme will continue until well after we are all sick and tired of it. In the hopes of innoculating myself against myriad future tags, I have added a link near the top of my sidebar: "I have already been BookTagged".
I think this is something we will see more often in the next few months. Pass it on. Er... wait... don't. Just do it yourself. And link to me. Yeah, that's it, link to me me me me ME ME ME.
[ irony ] Not that I'm doing this for blatant self-promotion or anything. [ /irony ]
UPDATE: I think I have found the origins of this chain.Blame Credit goes to The Pink Bee back on March 7th. That makes roughly 90 days for this sucker to visit every blogger worldwide. Thanks a heap.
UPPERDATE: Declan at Crawl Across the Ocean did a much more in-depth analysis, finding that this chain has mutated several times and even changed languages.
Will we ever find out who started it all? Maybe not. I think that it won't be going on much longer though; there just aren't enough blogs to sustain it in its present form. We're damn near all immune now, so neener neener.
That Book Tag thing got me thinking. It is of course a chain letter. In the blogosphere, it is a particularly virulent form of chain letter, as it preys upon the vanity of bloggers (My God! Somebody actually cares what I read!). Plus, when the
There are on the order of ten million blogs in the blogosphere (a nice round number, maybe higher, maybe lower; by saying "on the order of" that generally means "within a factor of ten" ... call it between 3 million and 30 million). I have traced this back as far as Nancy Rommelman, but since she didn't link to the specific post that Jackie D tagged her with, I will have to do some digging to follow it back further. Nancy got tagged on March 23rd 2005.
OK, let's make some assumptions. Let's assume that Jackie D started this whole thing (I may be wrong, in fact most probably am, but let's assume anyhow) back on March 22nd. Now, back then the book tag had a few more questions ("You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?" and "Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?") and was limited to being sent to only 3 more people rather than 5. So, let's assume that there were on average 2 responses to each book tag.
log (10000000) / log (2) = 23.25...
log (30000000) / log (2) = 24.838...
It has been roughly 75 days since Nancy got tagged. If it takes an average of 3 days to respond to the book tag thing, then everyone in the blogosphere has probably already been tagged - assuming there was a way of telling that someone had already been tagged (without having faithfully read each post of every blogger) and that there were no multiple-tags. If there was some easy way of finding out who has not yet been tagged, then the entire blogosphere would be tagged by no later than the end of this week.
I think this sucker has run its course.
Of course, I don't expect that everyone will read this post (barring an Instalanche and a dailyKoslanche - excuse me while I stop laughing - ok, I'm all better now), and that this particularly virulent meme will continue until well after we are all sick and tired of it. In the hopes of innoculating myself against myriad future tags, I have added a link near the top of my sidebar: "I have already been BookTagged".
I think this is something we will see more often in the next few months. Pass it on. Er... wait... don't. Just do it yourself. And link to me. Yeah, that's it, link to me me me me ME ME ME.
[ irony ] Not that I'm doing this for blatant self-promotion or anything. [ /irony ]
UPDATE: I think I have found the origins of this chain.
UPPERDATE: Declan at Crawl Across the Ocean did a much more in-depth analysis, finding that this chain has mutated several times and even changed languages.
Will we ever find out who started it all? Maybe not. I think that it won't be going on much longer though; there just aren't enough blogs to sustain it in its present form. We're damn near all immune now, so neener neener.
about damn time
about damn time
Candace, a regular commenter over at Andrew Coyne's blog (prior to him shutting down comments that is) and at Small Dead Animals, amongst other places, has finally finally FINALLY gotten herself a blog to call her own. Be sure to check out Waking Up on Planet X. I'm adding her to my blogroll right this instant.
Candace, a regular commenter over at Andrew Coyne's blog (prior to him shutting down comments that is) and at Small Dead Animals, amongst other places, has finally finally FINALLY gotten herself a blog to call her own. Be sure to check out Waking Up on Planet X. I'm adding her to my blogroll right this instant.
Friday, June 03, 2005
book tag
book tag
Great. Just great. I've been tagged twice today: by Keith and by Cyrano.
You may have seen that book tag thing making its rounds through the blogosphere over the last several months. It is basically a chain letter spreading through the blogosphere, sucking five bloggers into its maw at a time. Oh well, as chain letters go, it is kind of fun. Here goes:
Number of books I own: I have no idea. Most of my books are packed away in boxes at my dad's place, and have been so since last September. At a rough guess I would say around 100. My library has been somewhat diminished over the years; it never really recovered from a fire back in 97 that left me with nothing but the clothes I happened to be wearing at the time. Back then, I had several hundred books and probably about a couple thousand (mostly technical or science) magazines.
Last book I bought: Now that is a tough one. I haven't bought any books for quite a while... probably the last one was Atlas Shrugged, back in December of 2003, a Christmas gift for my dad.
Last book I read: I am mostly finished reading Mind, Machines, and Evolution by James P. Hogan, and have just started reading Baudolino by Umberto Eco.
Five books that mean a lot to me:
1) Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Yes, it is long-winded, even pedantic. Yes, the ending is weak. However, Atlas Shrugged lays down the best defence of capitalism and indictment of socialism I have ever seen.
2) The Society of Mind by Marvin Minsky. An excellent treatment of the mechanics involved in artificial intelligence, stripped of any dependency on specific implementation. Shows the mind as an emergent behaviour of a system of mindless computational units networked together in sufficient complexity. A must-read for anyone who has been deluded by Roger Penrose's atrocious The Emperor's New Mind, if only to serve as counterpoint.
3) The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks. In the vein of The Lord of the Rings, it is a rollicking adventure story of magic, myth, heroism, and the triumph of the underdog. The scope of this series makes LOTR look like a pamphlet.
4) The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein. With Atlas Shrugged, this book is one of the cornerstones of the libertarian anarchocapitalist movement. One of the few science fiction books that I would like to see turned into a movie (Jeri Ryan as Wyoming Knott would suit me just fine).
5) Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey. One of the first sci-fi/fantasy books I ever read, and probably the only one I have read more than a dozen times. It made me wish I had a dragon of my own.
And now, I get to choose fivevictims other bloggers to tag:
Rand Simberg
Jay Manifold
Jason Verheyden
Darryl Payment
Angry
They will be receiving an email in a few minutes. Heck, some of them might even continue this chain.
UPDATE: I see Jay Manifold went and linked his book list to the Amazon website. Seemed like a good idea, so I did it too.
Great. Just great. I've been tagged twice today: by Keith and by Cyrano.
You may have seen that book tag thing making its rounds through the blogosphere over the last several months. It is basically a chain letter spreading through the blogosphere, sucking five bloggers into its maw at a time. Oh well, as chain letters go, it is kind of fun. Here goes:
Number of books I own: I have no idea. Most of my books are packed away in boxes at my dad's place, and have been so since last September. At a rough guess I would say around 100. My library has been somewhat diminished over the years; it never really recovered from a fire back in 97 that left me with nothing but the clothes I happened to be wearing at the time. Back then, I had several hundred books and probably about a couple thousand (mostly technical or science) magazines.
Last book I bought: Now that is a tough one. I haven't bought any books for quite a while... probably the last one was Atlas Shrugged, back in December of 2003, a Christmas gift for my dad.
Last book I read: I am mostly finished reading Mind, Machines, and Evolution by James P. Hogan, and have just started reading Baudolino by Umberto Eco.
Five books that mean a lot to me:
1) Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Yes, it is long-winded, even pedantic. Yes, the ending is weak. However, Atlas Shrugged lays down the best defence of capitalism and indictment of socialism I have ever seen.
2) The Society of Mind by Marvin Minsky. An excellent treatment of the mechanics involved in artificial intelligence, stripped of any dependency on specific implementation. Shows the mind as an emergent behaviour of a system of mindless computational units networked together in sufficient complexity. A must-read for anyone who has been deluded by Roger Penrose's atrocious The Emperor's New Mind, if only to serve as counterpoint.
3) The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks. In the vein of The Lord of the Rings, it is a rollicking adventure story of magic, myth, heroism, and the triumph of the underdog. The scope of this series makes LOTR look like a pamphlet.
4) The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein. With Atlas Shrugged, this book is one of the cornerstones of the libertarian anarchocapitalist movement. One of the few science fiction books that I would like to see turned into a movie (Jeri Ryan as Wyoming Knott would suit me just fine).
5) Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey. One of the first sci-fi/fantasy books I ever read, and probably the only one I have read more than a dozen times. It made me wish I had a dragon of my own.
And now, I get to choose five
Rand Simberg
Jay Manifold
Jason Verheyden
Darryl Payment
Angry
They will be receiving an email in a few minutes. Heck, some of them might even continue this chain.
UPDATE: I see Jay Manifold went and linked his book list to the Amazon website. Seemed like a good idea, so I did it too.
Thursday, June 02, 2005
oh sit right down and hear the tale
oh sit right down and hear the tale
After watching this coconut cream pie fight between Ginger and MaryAnn, I gotta tell ya, I'm really looking forward to the Real Gilligan's Island. In a word: ohmygod.
UPDATE: damn. Doesn't look like either of those girls is actually in the show. The show is a kind of a cross between Gilligan's Island and Survivor; could be kind of interesting. Rachel Hunter and Nicole Eggert make some pretty good Gingers.
After watching this coconut cream pie fight between Ginger and MaryAnn, I gotta tell ya, I'm really looking forward to the Real Gilligan's Island. In a word: ohmygod.
UPDATE: damn. Doesn't look like either of those girls is actually in the show. The show is a kind of a cross between Gilligan's Island and Survivor; could be kind of interesting. Rachel Hunter and Nicole Eggert make some pretty good Gingers.
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