I found this little game yesterday: Light-bot. You control a bot with a few commands to light up evry blue tile in the level; kinda like LOGO or Lego Mindstorms. At 12 levels it's a nice little activity.
I think I mentioned this before, but we have this Book fair thing over here. These are generally wonderful in that the admission is free, things are usually pretty damn cheap compared to regular stores and even teh internets, and (very unlike most stores in this country *grumble*) there's a large variety of computer and science books as well. Even good ones.
Every month there's one in a different location; and this weekend it was Utrecht. I wasn't planning on going at first because I know I can't keep my hands of the things and I still have a considerable backlog from the last few times I went, but I had to go in that direction anyway, so I figured why not. And, as always, I went in with the idea that I didn't really need anything anymore, but came out with a bag full regardless. Book included:
- “It Must Be Beautiful: Great Equations of Modern Science”, exploring the story behind some of the most important equations in physics today.
- “Quantum Field Theory: A Modern Introduction” by Michio Kaku. Yes that Kaku. I didn't do much with QFT at univeristy because it's fucking scary, but perhaps this time I can have better luck. If I ever get round to reading it.
- “Cross-Platform Game programming“, dealing with memory and resource management for multiple systems, creating debugging facilities and more. I think this would have come in handy if I'd found it a few years ago. Oh well. Particularly nice feature: it was only €4; nearly a tenth of the regular price.
So yeah, another good batch. Now I just have to find the time to read them all.
So this Expelled movie has been out for a couple of weeks now. To my surprise, it's been doing rather well. It's running in about 400 theaters right now, which I guess is a lot (but then I'm from a puny little country so I could be wrong). It's also got an amazing rating of 9 on rotten tomatoes.
Oh, wait. That's not 9 out of 10; that's 9 out of 100. Wow. That's … that's just … wow.
So yeah, this thing is going down so hard it could go straight through the planet. A score of 9%. That should qualify as “Epic Fail” in anyone's book Anyone sane, anyway. As for the theater count, the guys at Panda's Thumb have been tracking the numbers; it started with just over 1000 on April 18th and is now down to 400. It'll probably disappear completely in a week or two.
Away from the silver screen, the producers and Ben Stein have been doing interviews left and right and apparently making complete asses of themselves. I've seen some videos of Stein that are just two-hands facepalmingly stupid. One of the things he's keen on mentioning is how Darwinism doesn't explain the origins of life or gravity or where the universe came from. The theory of evolution is not and will never be about those things, so why this counts as a mark against the theory I don't know. It's like to arguing that metallurgy doesn't explain last week's weather, therefore it's bogus. Simply using this line of reasoning hows that he really doesn't know what he's talking about. That, or he's deliberately misleading everyone, which is also a real possibility.
The real moment of inanity, however, comes from an interview at TBN where he made this immortal statement (emphasis mine):
Love of God and compassion and empathy leads you to a very glorious place, and science leads you to killing people.
O_O. Lolwut ?!?
Yes, he actually said that, and in all earnest too, apparently. You can see it (and a response to it) in Thunderfoot's latest Why do people laugh at creationists video. The original interview can be found here as well. This is what as also earned him the dubious virtue of second place for MSNBC's Worst Person in the World.
Right now, I am this close to believing this is actually all part of a massive hoax. With the ever-growing list of stupidities, I find it harder and harder to believe they're serious.
And now for something completely related: the infamous Beware the believers video. This *wonderful* clip was released anonymously in the end of March and has been a favorite in sciency circles since. There has been a lively debate about its origins. Because it clearly is caricaturing the atheists depicted in the clip (“if I was dyslexic, I’d even hate dog too”. Hehehehe), one group believed the Expelled group were behind it. On the other hand, it was well done and extremely funny. Since the creationists have a long track record of shoddy craftsmanship and witlessness (the Expelled movie itself is a good example of this), many others felt it could not come from them.
About a month later, the answer came: it was done by Michael Edmondson, as a contract job for the producers of Expelled. So yes, it did come from their camp after all. That said, Edmonson isn't affiliated with them that much. I've read that the producers' intent was for it to be viral advertising for the movie. I don't think that worked out too well, though, what with it being embraced by the atheist side as one of the pieces of Internet Win of this year.
Read the thread on pharyngula for extra details. Edmonson himself also makes an appearance in the comments, so you get it straight from the horse's mouth. Simon Owens also has an interview with him at bloggasm.com, so check that out as well for even more details.
Lastly, to Michael Edmonson and Matt Chandler (who did the lyrics): thank you for the hilarious video. We will watch your career with great interest.
For those familiar with Half-Life 2 Ep 2, you may have noticed the achievement list. Many of these are easy to do even on a first run, but there are three in particular that take some effort: “Neighborhood Watch”, “Little Rocket Man” and “Get Some Grub”. The requirement for the second really is somewhat mind-boggling: yes, it really means getting the garden gnome you find in the first building aaaaalll the way to the rocket in the White Forest base at the end. This seems insane – it is insane. But I finally managed it:
For others attempting this: the only really taxing part is across the train-tracks with that damn chopper on your tail. My strategy was to carry the gnome to safe-points first by hiding under the wagons, then going back for the car. In the second leg, the chopper will at the base once you get close enough; you can use this to secure safe passage. Also, once inside the garage do not leave the gnome on the table: the table will disappear when you get back from the auto-gun, apparently taking the gnome with it. Once you reach the rocket, close the hatch yourself! This is also part of the requirement. The rest is mostly getting out of the car because there's no gnome-sized seatbelts, although I hear there's a way to get it stuck in the rear window somehow.
With that done, I only need the Grub achievement for the whole set. I missed eight of them. Eight! Out of 333! :(