Get your towels ready. The first teaser for the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy is now online!
Waiting eagerly for 2005!
Dont Panic.
Went for a football (soccer) game between German club Bayern München and the English club Manchester United at the newly renovated Soldier Field. I had never been to a pro football game before, and was really looking forward to this. Unfortunately, being a friendly game, neither team had its best players, and no one was trying really hard. The game ended on a 0-0, and was decided by a rather unexciting penalty shootout. Unexciting because no one really cared - it was simply a way of getting the 58,000+ spectators to spend more money on food and beer while they waited for the game to end. It was fun, I just hope the game had been more competitive.
Soldier field on the other hand was far from being a disappointment. I havent seen too many stadiums, but this is probably one of the best I’ll ever get to see. The thing is huge (seating capacity of 60k+). Its location right between lake Michigan and Lake Shore Drive make is absolutely perfect. Even better is the architecture. While some may not like the new design, I thought it was brilliant. The stadium is basically a cross between early twentieth century architecture and modern UFO-style building style. Parts of the stadium were built as early as 1924, while a major chunk was added in the last couple of years. Amazing blend of old and new architecture.
While I was there, I also got a chance to play with the awesome $800 Nikkor AF 180mm f/2.8 ED-IF lens. While the focal length was still probably a bit too small, this lens made taking photos a real pleasure (as opposed to my humble Nikkor 50mm, which reduced the players to little ants). I’ll try to post some pictures soon…
The movie turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. But then maybe I was expecting a bit too much after reading the phenomenal reviews at imdb (it was rated at 8.1 till recently). If you liked the first installment, Bourne Identity, you'll probably like this one. I didnt like the first mainly because it was so different from the book. I havent read the second book, but I doubt it is anything like the movie. Carlos is not even mentioned in either movies, while he plays a central role in the first book atleast.
The ordinary story is not the only bad thing about this movie. I hated the camera work. Some people seem to think that unsteady camera motion makes a movie "cool". I dont know about that, but done wrongly it does induce head aches and extreme frustration! The car chases were downright awful. The movie even made a beautiful place like Goa look ugly and uninviting.
The movie does have some decent background music and acting. As usual I think I have made the movie look much wrose than it probably really is. I personally dont like such spy + action + conspiracy + james-bond-esque movies anymore, and I may not be the best judge on this. My recommendation would be to watch it if you liked the first, otherwise avoid.
The thing I hate more than anything else in an electronic product is a crippled product. I understand that this is necessary sometimes (for product differentiation), but most of the time it only shows how stupid and short sighted the company is!
Apple released the fourth generation ipods today. Among other significant changes (click wheel, USB charging, better battery life), are a whole bunch of firmware updates and enhancements. I am pretty sure all of these enhancements can be backported to the gen 3 ipod without difficulty. In fact, I would not be surprised if apple even has an internal firmware release that does exactly that. However, in all its wisdom, apple has decided not to make these enhancements available to the older ipods. The download page now lists four different firmwares for different ipod generation, each having a different feature set (inspite of all ipods using very similar hardware and microcontroller).
The only reason I can think behind this strategy is to make people upgrade every year or two. They want to make people think of the ipod as a traditional consumer electronic product, which cannot be upgraded or changed except by replacing it with a newer model. This can only spell disaster for Apple in the long run. You can make the best products in the market, have the best design team, have all the rave reviews and the cool factor, but if you dont care about your customers, sooner or later you wont have any!
I was seriously considering getting a powerbook sometime soon. But this really leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I dont know if I am all that enthusiastic about Apple any more. This is exactly the reason why I hate Microsoft, and Apple is turning out to be no different.
Here is what I think Apple (or any other company) should really do. Release all specs, and even the source code (or atleast parts of it) to the firmware/software for any hardware they sell under GPL or equivalent. There is no reason to hide code as Intellectual Property. Any decent programmer can dupplicate almost all the ipod firmware does in a under a month. The IP lies in the overall design and functionality of the product, not in the source code. This would encourage people to develop for the product and make it much better than the company can ever hope to make it. Why is the computer so popular - because the user can develop software for it and change it the way she wants. I see no reason why doing the same for consumer devices would not work. A drastic change in its business practice is what is needed for Apple to have any chance of competing against Windows/Intel/Linux.
I doubt it would help, but sign this online petition if you are affected by this issue. There is nothing more that can be done other than avoiding purchase of Apple products and waiting for someone to hack into the firmware.
I watched Galaxy Quest without knowing what to expect. All I knew was that it is somehow related to Star Trek. Having missed the whole Star Trek phase by half a generation, I was unsure if I would like it much or not. But this turned out to be one of the better movies I've seen for a while.
The movie is a downright hilarious parody on Star Trek. I thought it was quite similar to h2g2 in the sense that they are both space related parodies. The plot itself is quite interesting in itself, full of puns and jokes, and to top it all has some pretty decent acting.
Highly recommended to anyone even remotely interested in sci-fi.
There is no "quantum flux". There's no "auxiliary". THERE'S NO GODDAMNED SHIP. You got it?This is great. Usually it's just cardboard walls in a garage.
Jason, we are actors, not astronauts.
Which way, Alexander?
This way... Wait, nah... That way.
You were holding it upside down!I'm not even supposed to be here. I'm just "Crewman Number Six." I'm expendable. I'm the guy in the episode who dies to prove how serious the situation is. I've gotta get outta here.
Enemy is matching velocity.
The enemy is matching velocity.
We heard it the first time.
Gosh, I'm doing it. I'm repeating the darn computer.You know, that is really getting annoying.
Look, I have one job on this lousy ship. Its stupid, but I'm going to do it! OKAY?
Sure, no problem.Did you guys ever WATCH the show?
Hey guys, there's a red-thingy moving toward the green-thingy.
What?
Red-thingy moving toward the green-thingy. I think we're the green-thingy.What is this thing? I mean, it serves no useful purpose for there to be a bunch of chompy, crushy things in the middle of a hallway. No, I mean we shouldn't have to do this, it makes no logical sense, why is it here? Well forget it, I'm not doing it, this episode was badly written.
Whoever wrote this episode should DIE.
Hey guys, I just wanted you to know that, the reactors won't take it; the ship is breaking apart and all that... Just FYI.
Never give up, never surrender.
Speaker for the Dead is the second book of the Ender's Game series (though it is also an excellent stand-alone book). Many people regard it as Orson Scott Card's best ever. What follows might have SPOILERS...
The book is very different from Ender's Game. It is slower, more thought provoking, even somewhat religious (in fact I found the book in the theology library). The book raises some interesting philosophical questions about human interaction with an intelligent alien lifeform more intelligent, but far less developed than us. How much information should we share with such an alien when its intentions are unknown. At first I thought the "dont teach them anything, but learn everything about them" policy of interaction shown in the book sounded absurd and would never work (well, it never does really work in the book anyways). But the more I think about it the more plausible this sounds, even if it might not be the best thing to do in the long run. You cant expect anyone to trust you if you dont trust him first!
I think there are a few flaws in the book. Humans dont seem to have advanced all that much in the 3000 years since the bugger wars. I would also have expected the Starways Congress to have better security valves against a rebellion in Lusitania. The great distances from any other planet (over twenty light years) would have to force much stricter control over the functioning of the xenologers.
Overall I really liked the book, and have already started with Xenocide.
This is how humans are: We question all our beliefs, except for the ones that we really believe, and those we never think to question.
I also read Ender's Shadow, which is a parallel shadow to Ender's Game. It is basically the same story, told from the eyes from a different child, Bean. There are some interesting incidents, but for most part, it is just more of Ender's Game. It would have been a great novel on its own, but now it is simply a shadow of the original.
With quals done, I finally have some time to catch up on my reading. Ender's Game is a sci-fi classic by Orson Scott Card. The book is about a genius kid who is being trained to become the commander of Earth's fleet against alien (Buggers) invasion.
The story is fast paced and interesting. I particularly liked the Battle School training. And then there is a very interesting and thought provoking twist in the end. I am now trying to lay my hands on the other books of The Ender Series.
The most noble title any child can have is Third.Individual human beings are all tools, that the others use to help us all survive.
Human beings didn't evolve brains in order to lie around on lakes. Killing is the first thing we learned. And a good thing we did, or we'd be dead, and the tigers would rule the earth.
There is no teacher but the enemy.
Starring none other than the president himself, Fahrenheit 9/11 is the most talked about and controversial movie of the year. The movie essentially tries to educate the general American public about things that the rest of the world always knew. Some scenes, particularly the ones involving the suffering of people in Iraq should have a lasting impact. George Bush is reduced to little more than a joker, surrounded by the most evil group of advisors. I was really amazed at the deafening applause the movie received as the credits rolled by (Only LOTR even came close in this respect).
Let me try to play devil's advocate for a minute. Moore has very intelligently shown select scenes and clippings to make his case. While the movie seems utterly convincing, one has to wonder about the stuff that got left out of it. After interviewing a hundred people, it is always possible to find a handful who say what you want, and the way you want it. Some clever editing and voice overs, and you can make a viewer believe anything you want. It should not be forgotten that this is only one side of the story, and no matter how convincing it seems, it should not be misunderstood for the truth. Partial knowledge is more dangerous than no knowledge. A skilled director should be able to make a movie of this kind for almost any and every political leader.
I am really glad the movie got made though. It does present some hard and unfortunate truths. If what is shown is even close to the truth, it goes a long way to reaffirm that corruption goes to the very top - even in the most developed nation in the world. The movie is very aptly ended with a quote from 1984. We are closer to the book's description of the extreme socialist/communist world today than ever before. And ironically, it is worst in the country that is considered as the most anti-socialist.
In accordance with the principles of double-think it does not matter if the war is not real. For when it is, victory is not possible. The war is not meant to be won, but it is meant to be continuous. A hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance, this new version is the past and no different past can ever have existed. In principle the war effort is always planned to keep society on the brink of starvation. the war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects and its object is not the victory over either Eurasia or east Asia but to keep the very structure of society intact. - George Orwell