tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18144581084346633562024-03-13T22:46:58.372-07:00Naked Crab Man ReturnsA collection of articles by world renown author, film star, rock god, explorer, pilot and comedian and pathological exaggerator Nemesis Of Moles.NemsMolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14521581761046034553noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1814458108434663356.post-15034233881828006392011-08-04T05:08:00.000-07:002011-08-04T05:08:05.924-07:00Idea time! UhOh!So I have a plan.<br />
<br />
Its probably not a very good idea. But, basically, I've bought a monthly bus ticket and starting on the 11th, I'm going to get up, get out of bed and go to the gym<br />
<br />
Every Day.<br />
<br />
Except days when I'm doing something else (tuesday, basically)<br />
<br />
Oh dear!NemsMolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14521581761046034553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1814458108434663356.post-58100231894371369222011-07-12T06:18:00.000-07:002011-07-12T06:18:55.288-07:00Book 29 and 30 - The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick RossfussAn old innkeeper recants his youthful tales of daring do to a chronicler.<br />
<br />
I'm not a fantasy guy. Except for all those pictures of half naked elves I collect for completely innocent purposes, I do not really enjoy the fantasy genre, I don't really know why either! But my friend, lets call him Simon (because that's his name) does. Friggin loves fantasy he does. All them books about magic elves saving the city of Bla'dork from dastards. Can't get enough of them. So a month or two ago I think, hey, maybe I just havn't read anything good. I'll ask him. Simon suggests this beast of a series to me, and trusty kindle in hand, I began reading.<br />
<br />
I love and hate this series with every fiber of my being in equal amounts.On one hand, we have ultimate badass Kvothe doing all kinds of cool shit, the magic system is awesome, the world is super cool (kinda) and every now an then we have a cool wizards duel or some shit. Its killer stuff. However on the other hand I'd say at least 40% of the book is entirely dedicated to ATM recipts of Kvothe's increasingly bipolar purse. The second book has a million pages dedicated to Kvothe having a sexventure with a being of pure lust, during which the only impact so far has been "Kvothe met a scary tree" and "Kvothe got a new cloak". Maybe the third book will make that 100 pages of awkward sexual metaphors worth it. It fucking better Rossfuss, It fucking better.<br />
<br />
The main problem with the book, is that it feels like, for all it's fantastically exciting set pieces, when you look at it, nothing happens. I don't mean that literally obviously. But take an example from a scene near the end of the first book, Kvothe visits a nearby town, uncovers a massive drug production facility and finds a Dragon. With these two items he could make a lot of money. Also he's in the town looking for hints as to the evil men that killed his father. After a massive, very exciting and griping adventure, Kvothe comes away from the town with nothing. He doesn't find out anything (other than the badmen who killed his father and mother also kill other people!) and he doesn't get any of the drugs or dragon skeleton or anything. And we get to hear about his empty wallet again and again and again.<br />
<br />
<br />
I do love the series and I'll be buying the next book when its released sometime in Space Year 2121, and I'd hate for this to be entirely negative so I will say that this is the first book in a while that grabbed me so much I would read hundreds of pages in one sitting. I very thoroughly enjoyed it but I guess I just wish something MORE would happen. I've read 1500 pages of the story so far and Kvothe is still in magic school.<br />
<br />
This turned into more of a rant than a review and to Patrick Rossfuss, I'm sorry, the books are really good man, I enjoyed them, but when you really like something, it makes those little problems stand out a lot more.<br />
<br />
I still recommend it highly, pick up a copy of the first book and give it a whirl, it's really fun reading. On the back of it I'm actually picking up some other fantasy novels so, thanks for that Patrick.<br />
<br />
Read it<br />
<br />
P.S.<br />
I have a theory that the series takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where civilization has just recovered. C/D Patrick, C/D?<br />
<br />
PPS finish the last book soon please please pleaseNemsMolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14521581761046034553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1814458108434663356.post-26264909912103254382011-07-07T11:00:00.000-07:002011-07-07T11:01:19.536-07:00Book 28 - World War Z by Max BrooksA Post-Post-Apocalyptic tale of humanities struggle against the zombie hordes, and the many tales of the people who survived.<br />
<br />
Max Brooks wrote the Zombie Survival Guide, a book that 12 year olds and man-children alike worshiped, which helped push out a thousand other "nerd books" and other fake survival guides. However, its main problem that apart from it's gimmick, it wasn't very good at all. The best parts of the book were at the end, the series of stories that detailed zombie encounters. They were little microtales that showed Brooks had a talent for that sort of writing. And luckily for the world, he seems to have had the same idea here.<br />
<br />
I once heard the Zombie Survival Guide described as a survival manual from another dimension, one like ours bit where zombies came about. Brooks here tells the story of that dimension through the means of interviews with various people who survived the zombie apocalypse and are now working toward recovering the human race. And against all odds, its actually a pretty fun read. Not high drama or anything obviously, but some of the stories are downright fantastic, the worst of them are still, at the least, entertaining. Theres a world of twists and the non-linier way the story is told actually really adds to the experance. Brooks proves himself extremely talented in what many will see as a gimmicky form of writing, but I tip my hat to him. He made me, a anti-nerd culture guy who hates WACKY and LOLZOMBIES more than most, really enjoy a book about killing the dead.<br />
<br />
You'll probably like this book a lot, if you're reading my blog an all.<br />
<br />
Do give it a read.NemsMolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14521581761046034553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1814458108434663356.post-32863014619889348672011-07-07T10:51:00.000-07:002011-07-07T10:51:59.100-07:00Book 27 - Nothing to Evny by Barbara DemickA look at the people who live in North Korea, their stories and the stories of their families.<br />
<br />
Like so many people, North Korea interests me beyond comprehension. Its such a strange place, with so much we don't know and so many odd and weird quirks. Run by an insane dictator and his children, it garners interest from pretty much everyone these days.<br />
<br />
If you're looking for more information about North Korea's many many hilarious and bizzarre quirks, this isn't the book you want. Or it is, you just don't know it. What Barbara Demick does in this book is show NK from the point of view of the people who live in its borders. By actually interviewing and getting to know several NK defectors, she has allowed us to live through them. Her use of language and mastery over imagery holds the attention in a vice grip throughout and by the end, if you don't feel moved by the stories within, well, sorry about your soul I guess.<br />
<br />
Something I wasn't expecting was a message on how powerful the human spirit is and our specie's natural ability to come together and pull ourselves from the brink. About half way through the book something happens that reaffirmed my belief in humanity in a way I never would have imagined a book like this could do, so thanks Barbara, you're a cool cat.<br />
<br />
Read ItNemsMolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14521581761046034553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1814458108434663356.post-84360798179353942012011-05-11T09:19:00.001-07:002012-03-14T09:27:14.095-07:00The curious saga of NewzbinThere's a place called usenet. an old place, ancient even. Before there was an internet, there was usenet, before there was forums and twitter and facebook, there was Usenet. and today, with the rest of the next running on Web 4/0 tactical Feedback and Social Webworking technologies, Usenet still stands. Dusty but faithful, forgotten, but present.<br />
<br />
Usenet used to be the Forum's of yesteryear, the old image of the Internet Nerd being a guy who posts arguments regarding Star Trek uniforms on the net stems from actual shit that actually got posted on Usenet every day. This is back when maybe 2 people were online mind you. Sounds exciting I know.<br />
<br />
These days, like all protocols online, it's used for Porn and Filesharing. There's also legitimate conversation for people too set in their ways to give up, more power to them I suppose.<br />
<br />
This is where our story starts, on a website known as Newzbin, a prominent player in the Usenet filesharing world. One of the biggest indexing sites ever (Usenet works fundamentally differently than torrents, imagine Indexing sites as address books, pointing you toward the files you want) and inverters of the now universal NZB file time (a kind of set of directions through Usenet, if you will). Newzbin was chugging along quite happily until last year, when they caught the attention of the MPAA. The MPAA did as the MPAA is want to do and sued.<br />
<br />
What followed was a year long court case, the MPAA tried to get Newzbin's users details, Newzbin made some hilarious arguments toward the validity of their business and in the end, Newzbin lost and went under. No more Newzbin.<br />
<br />
In a way, it was like if Pirate's bay went down. But if Pirate's bay was populated by 50 year old internet veterans. It brought with it a wake up call to the Usenet world, obscurity is not enough to protect them. Although Usenet is a marginally unknown bit of tech, the big businesses certainly know about it by now.<br />
<br />
So users migrated to various different services, sad at the loss of Newzbin. Most complained that the replacement sites had half of Newzbin's functions and many cost more to use. sad times for everyone who used the service.<br />
<br />
Then, about a week after Newzbin's closure, Everyone previously signed up to Newzbin received a mysterious email from a Mr White. Mr White claimed to now be in control of Newzbin's databases and webcode, that him and an expert team had stolen it from the previous owners during a hack several months ago and were in the process of updating it, and bringing Newzbin back online. They'd even procured the domain name in some kind of backroom deal.<br />
<br />
At this point, everyone flipped their shit. Accusations of identity stealing, credit card gathering and all manner of unhappy nastiness were thrown about with abandon. And who can blame people? A strange and mysterious reservoir dog's fan has control of a site you pay for the use off. Email addresses, names, addresses, possibly credit cards at his disposal. Anything could happen. And this promise of reviving the site? So soon after the MPAA had sued the previous owners? Why, for a start? Did this insane man not understand the risk he was taking?<br />
<br />
One thing was for certain. The next few days and weeks would be, if nothing else, interesting.<br />
<br />
So for several days, various news blogs dedicated to Usenet spoke about the subject, posting theories. Usenet user's made do with whatever site's and services they'd gotten elseworlds. Then, as promised, Newzbin2 clawed from the ashes, like a a magicians trick, the site was back again. It lacked one or two features, buggy but essentially, this was Newzbin, with the ever mysterious MrWhite at the helm.<br />
<br />
Fear stayed high. This wasn't supposed to happen! The bad guy's had won. We know, from experiance, that the world does not work like the movies, promises like MrWhite's go unfulfilled and the big bad companies always win. Always. But not that day. That day, just for a moment, the world was like the movies and games and books that Newzbin's customer's had been downloading. The website had been taken over by a ragtag group of mysterious hackers, hellbent on their own morals and ideas of freedom. The team grew larger and larger, Database admin's, web programmers and moderators all joined the group as Newzbin2 recouped the lost faith and trust. MrWhite gave every user a large number of free Newzbin credit and, somehow, a glimer of the old Web shone on a moment longer.<br />
<br />
To this day, the website is still run by the mysterious group who call themselves TeamRDogs. The group posts information on the current crackdown on filesharing, methods of getting around internet blacklists and have discussed plans to release the Newzbin code and databases to the wild. They have multiple servers established around the world and a system to rout people if their main site falls under. They are prepared.<br />
<br />
As for the MPAA. TeamRDogs' have said they have been contacted, and suspect that the MPAA may strike again. However, they have also been compliment with any and all takedown notices, using the law to their advantage. They promise that the site will stay up this time, and they are prepared to fight the giants.<br />
<br />
And so the tale comes to an end, at least for now. Newzbin2 is still up and running, and TeamRDogs is still posting. The site is being improved on every day and MrWhite and his team continue to represent an age long gone for the Web. A time when the power for changed still laid in the hands of the individual, when big businesses still scoffed at the power of the net and before they began to buy it up for themselves. Maybe TeamRDogs represent a vision of our future, perhaps there will be a time when we stand up against what we feel is injustice and make a stand, against all accusations and on-comers. Or perhaps they're simply out for the money, and will soon steal the Newzbin collection of credit cards. Who knows. Only time will truly tell. All I know is I'm happy to live in such interesting times.<br />
<br />
-Nem<br />
P.S.<br />
Just as a heads up. The question of the legality of Newzbin is not in question. I do not condon the services they provide nor do I make use of them. If TeamRDogs had done the same to some out of work chinese paper airplane model site, I'd have made the same post.NemsMolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14521581761046034553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1814458108434663356.post-56478071205273325922011-04-13T07:05:00.000-07:002011-07-07T10:43:44.637-07:00Book 26 - Dexter is Delicious by Jeff LindsayDexter Morgan, blood splatter analyst and part time serial killer, uncovers a world of vampires and cannibals in Miami.<br />
<br />
I guess this was like the book equivalent of diet coke. Kinda bland and it isn't exactly going to change your life but it'll do if you can't have the real thing.<br />
<br />
This was just a bit of DumbBook I started reading between better books and I decided to finish it against my best wishes. It was alright and I guess entertaining enough but I wouldn't exactly recommend it. Only if you really like the series. It dumbs the weird Owl Cult thing they had last book and generally tries to return to a simpler time in the series so that was nice.<br />
<br />
I couldn't help but sit there and think about the morality of the situation, about how terrible Dexter is as a person and his forced "humanity" awakening that takes place in the book just feels forced, overwrought and poorly written. Psychopaths and sociopaths don't just "get better" and you'd think Jeff Lindsay would have known that. Maybe he did and just didn't care. I don't know.<br />
<br />
Can't recommendNemsMolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14521581761046034553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1814458108434663356.post-89711127632583945732011-03-15T05:28:00.000-07:002011-03-15T05:33:00.901-07:00Book 25 - Cosmos by Carl SaganCarl Sagan essentially makes you love everything about the human race and makes that tingle in your spine go off every couple of seconds.<br />
<br />
Now, I know Carl wrote Cosmos as a kind of, every man's version of science, and granted I didn't "Learn" much from the book. But I did grow as a direct result of this book. Maybe its a bit early to say that but right now, as I sit here, I have the most profound respect for my ancient ancestors, to the ones that came before and "prepared the way" as Sagan said. I actually did learn a lot from the book really, but it was all about past civilisations rather than Space.<br />
<br />
Which isn't to say that Cosmos is not a masterpiece of science, space and cosmology, it really is. The information within is solid science, nothing is overly simplified into nothing, and yet its written in an elegance and beautiful way that it almost brought me to tears several times. Sagan's descriptions of our place in the universe are so moving, so fundamentally <i>true. </i>Its breath taking at times.<br />
<br />
And the imagery. Planets close to the galaxy core being awash with star light, Supernova's in the night sky being so bright you can read by them and causing a global reaction from nomadic tribes in America and Africa to Muslim scholars in the middle east and Chinese astronomers in (funnily enough) china. Planets orbiting quasars. The list goes on.<br />
<br />
This book took my breath away in a way that only happens very rarely. I hope that one day I can have a single iota of the man's talent with words, his amazing way of conveying such high level information in a poetic and simple way without dumbing it down. I hope one day I have a single atom's worth of Sagan's influence on our world.<br />
<br />
In 1000 years, people will say Carl Sagan was one of our greatest people, and Cosmos will be seen as his greatest work. That isn't meant to marginalise the work he did for the world in his research and development, only to underpin exactly how important this work is. It brings science to everyone. Anyone could read this and understand the importance of the Cosmos entirely. If more people read Cosmos, no one would ever argue that science makes the world a more dull place.<br />
<br />
Read this. I will literally buy it for you if you ask me to. Its worth it.<br />
NemsNemsMolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14521581761046034553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1814458108434663356.post-53887256744886837612011-03-15T05:15:00.000-07:002011-03-15T05:33:21.473-07:00Book 24 - WASP by Eric Frank RussellA special ops agent is dropped onto an alien planet with the instructions to mess it up as much as possible. Officially the funniest terrorist's handbook ever.<br />
<br />
Now this is a fun read. James Mowry is thrown on a planet full of aliens that humanity is warring with. his exact orders are to make things hard for the people of the planet and disrupt the world as much as possible. The way he goes about this follows a simple continuation of steps that results in an entire world in anarchy and disorder.<br />
<br />
And it is really fun to read too. Following Mowry as he sows seeds of dissent, encourages rebellion but ultimately single handedly brings an entire planet to its knees with little more than stickers, some letters and about 5 murders, its great fun.<br />
<br />
Also the author may have actually known people who did this kind of thing so there's always the fact that its basically a fictional retelling of WW2 Spec Ops.<br />
<br />
NemsNemsMolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14521581761046034553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1814458108434663356.post-41457798530063859552011-03-08T02:54:00.000-08:002011-03-08T02:54:10.899-08:00On Nuclear powerI had a little thought yesterday and just got around to running the math. I wondered how much energy you could get if you converted all the nukes in the world into power station fuel.<br />
<br />
The results are kind of interesting, unfortunately I've had to make some assumptions cause I guess they don't give out too much info on nuclear bombs out. As such this just concerns Uranium as fuel, which sucks because Plutonium is way better but our needs must I suppose.<br />
<br />
The amount of Uranium in a nuclear bomb these days is unknown, but the best we can see is between 50kg and 10kg. For the sake of this we'll say they use 25kg (<a href="http://nuclearmangos.blogspot.com/2008/07/how-much-uranium.html">info from here</a>). The amount of uranium used in a nuclear power plant is around 25tonnes every 2 years.<br />
<br />
The number of nuclear weapons in the world is around 23,500 (<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2009/sep/06/nuclear-weapons-world-us-north-korea-russia-iran">from here</a>). Assuming each of these are uranium weapons (nope but oh well) that comes to around 589,350kg of uranium.<br />
<br />
Now, there's 1000kgs in 1 tonne, so that means there's around 23 refuels worth of fuel in nuclear weapons, which is 47 years worth of power from a nuclear reactor. Now this does'nt sound like too much but in 2009, a single nuclear power station produced around 12,300,000,000kWh worth of power (<a href="http://www.eia.doe.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=104&t=3">Info here</a>). So that 47 years worth of power would come to 578,100,000,000kWh. Which is a decent amount.<br />
<br />
Again this is making at terrible assumption that every nuclear reactor uses Uranium, every bomb is Uranium and I don't even take into account the amount of processing required to convert one kind of Uranium to another. I have'nt taken into account the potential for breeder reactors or reusing nuclear fuel either but I thought it was interesting nonetheless.<br />
<br />
-Nems<br />
P.S. Another book review on it's way.NemsMolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14521581761046034553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1814458108434663356.post-69454433193360357012011-01-29T05:43:00.000-08:002011-01-29T05:43:00.332-08:00Global WARNING MO LIKEMan, its getting hotter huh? World is heating up and the polar ice caps are melting, penguins and polar bears are dying and soon our world is going to resemble a Wendys' frosty. I'm pretty scared guys. This is some serious shit. We need to cut back on our energy use and stop shoving so much terrible shit into the atmosphere.<br />
<br />
Hahaha no sorry that's insane, the earth goes through these periods every now an then, warming followed by ice age followed by a nice middle ground, then warming again. We're simply in a new warming period and its not our fault at all. Nothing we can do could cause such an immense and fundamental change and such thought is egotistical.<br />
<br />
<br />
Ok how about you both shut up. Both sides of this argument miss one single massive issue. If global warming is our fault or not, its still happening right? Even slowly? ok well I do not want my earth to flood. Am I the only one who sees it this way? Why argue about causes and reasons and the root problems? It does no good for anyone at all.<br />
<br />
This is the issue I've been considering recently. I saw <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bj%C3%B8rn_Lomborg">This fellow</a> on a couple TV shows and he kinda sparked some thinking in my old noggin. I know he looks like a douche bag but he's actually kinda cool and has raised some points I'm going to steal for this article.<br />
<br />
Ok first up, It does not matter who's fault it is. Global Warming is happening. If its our fault, well shit sorry guys our bad, if its earth's fault well fuck you earth I was planning on living near the coast (I suppose that'll be loads easier now anyway). The fact of the matter is that pretty soon some awful shit is gonna happen to this ball of rock we call our home and we need to do something about it <i>REGARDLESS OF WHY ITS HAPPENING</i>.<br />
<br />
I can't imagine why anyone would disagree with me here (besides trying to make stupid point about how Global warming ain't no thang. tell that to our ancestors who lived through the last ice age. I imagine they probably didn't get much of a kick out of it. Its easy for us to go "welp let someone else deal with it" but if we keep saying that eventually we'll all fucking die.<br />
<br />
Second, We can not solve global warming by driving hybrids and stopping our progress. No one on earth is going to voluntarily lower their standard of living for some vague unexplained problem that will not effect them and might not even effect their children. Why bother even trying? Instead lets maybe work out some ways to solve the problem using the thing we humans do best; Inventing some awesome shit.<br />
<br />
The glorious fact of the matter is that humans could stop global warming, we could reverse it using shit like making <a href="http://www.heraldscotland.com/cloud-making-plan-to-reverse-global-warming-1.828543">more, whiter clouds</a> and placing mirrors over deserts to reflect heat out, some of the stuff in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RsrRpjAGi8&feature=channel">this video would help too (some of it is terrible but the science is mostly good)</a><br />
<br />
My point is we have the technology to solve this problem, so lets stop arguing who knocked over the vase and just fix the damn vase. We have the glue and the smarts and no one wants a smashed up vase just lying there, pick up all the little bits and lets deal with the problem rather than making it a massive political shit storm.<br />
<br />
-NemsNemsMolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14521581761046034553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1814458108434663356.post-39878278255105841592011-01-25T14:24:00.000-08:002011-01-25T14:24:00.062-08:00Book 23 - Getting stoned with Savages by J. Maarten TroostSequel to Pacific Parasite-A-thon, our intrepid explorer now decided to check out Fiji and the surrounding islands<br />
<br />
I actually finished this ages ago and just forgot to write my little bit. This book is really fun and entertaining. All my feelings about Troost hold over to this book and I just have to say its a delight to read about his adventures. I still don't want to go anywhere near the hellscapes he describes, but he seems to enjoy them enough. I absolutely love the fact that he spends a good long time talking about the histories and worlds within the islands he visits. It would be easy in his shoes to just write about silly things the islanders did but he takes it much further beyond that.<br />
<br />
All I can really say is I enjoyed it cause its a lot like his last book and I suggest you check it out.<br />
<br />
-NemsNemsMolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14521581761046034553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1814458108434663356.post-44914455152964890182011-01-24T06:33:00.000-08:002011-01-24T06:39:38.078-08:00GM Rules, Organic Drools<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Do you worry about GM foods? Do you ever sit around your grande latte and say stuff like "You know I just don't think we should mess with nature" or "Technology and Nature just shouldn't be mixed" or "We just don't know the long term effects, science doesn't know everything"?</span></span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Its you.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">You are the dumbest person.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Genetically modified food is one of the greatest innovations mankind has ever made. It has saved literally billions of lives. Its guessed that Norman Borlaugh, one of the leading proponents of GM food, <a href="http://www1.umn.edu/news/features/2009/UR_CONTENT_129578.html">personally saved one billion lives</a>. I know I'm constantly blowing figures out of proportion to make a point but I mean it. The man literally is responsible for 1/7th of the entire population having something to eat.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">He did that with some incredible science and a will to save people. For those keeping score by the way, that's 1Billion to Scientists, 0 to stinking hippies and Greenpeace.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">In today's world, its cool to reject science, because we're all backwards ass idiots with weird guilt problems about the earth, as though it belongs to anyone but us. But the fact is science is why you have enough food to be able to choose between your Organic yoghurt and the GM food, science is why you are able to live long enough to bother wondering about what we're doing to the planet, if you wanted us to stop fucking around with nature you should go back 1000 years and kill off anyone who comes up with the idea of crop rotation or irrigation or genetic modification.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Genetic modification? I'm just saying that to be funny right? No you moron. Breeding plants together to create stronger strains has been around since forever, and that's all GM is. No squid genes, no fluffy corn, just more corn per acre, more disease resistance and better tasting food. Its fucking awesome.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
Honestly though this is a bit of an old topic, I don't think many people seriously believe that GM foods are bad, especially no one who is likely to read this blog. But just in case, here. <a href="http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=z4c3seit6ifd53_&ctype=l&strail=false&nselm=h&met_y=count&hl=en&dl=en#ctype=l&strail=false&nselm=h&met_y=age_adjusted_rate&fdim_y=cancer_site:12&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&rdim=state&tdim=true&hl=en&dl=en">There's been an actual lowering in stomach cancers in the past 10 years</a>. <a href="http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=z4c3seit6ifd53_&ctype=l&strail=false&nselm=h&met_y=count&hl=en&dl=en#ctype=l&strail=false&nselm=h&met_y=age_adjusted_rate&fdim_y=cancer_site:15-26&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&rdim=state&tdim=true&hl=en&dl=en">There's been a lowering of colon and rectum cancer</a>. In fact to cut this short, there's been a lowering of every cancer since 2000. GM foods are not causing cancer in any way shape or form. Considering ever bit of food you eat is GM in some way shape or form, even if you grow it yourself in your own stupid hippy garden, its not surprising that the issue is still seen as "inconclusive" to some. If GM food killed people, we'd have a lot more dead people frankly, and the opposite is happening.<br />
<br />
Never mind the fact that every <a href="http://article.wn.com/view/2010/02/26/GM_foods_are_safe_says_expert/">single food agency</a> and <a href="http://www.agbioworld.org/biotech-info/articles/biotech-art/peer-reviewed-pubs.html">peer-reviewed science</a> <a href="http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=10977#toc">journal</a> has <a href="http://jrsm.rsmjournals.com/cgi/content/full/101/6/290">declared GM food safe</a> and the only people who disagree are "The Organic Farmers Association" and Greenpeace. In the interests of fairness, some reports have also been published by heavily pro GM lobbyist groups stating the safety of GM food. Let it be known that I think dishonesty is horrible no matter which side is being dishonest. <br />
<br />
Anyway, there's your rant and your evidence to back my shit up. Stop bitching about something that has genuinely saved the world. A lot of you guys don't realise this but 30 years ago people were very very worried about where we'd get food from, people were terrified that we'd not be able to grow enough shit to feed everyone on the earth. Well we solved that problem with GM foods and its benefits. GM foods literally saved the human race and all we can do is pretend we're too good for it.<br />
<br />
To say nothing of all the brown people who would die if you shitty organic cunts got your way<br />
-Nems</span></span></div>NemsMolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14521581761046034553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1814458108434663356.post-29694030520170695252011-01-18T03:39:00.000-08:002011-01-18T03:39:12.025-08:00Book 22 - Blindsight by Peter Watts65,000 alien probes appear in a flash above earth, a forgotten deep space probe picks up signals from the very edge of known space and a crew composed of broken zombies and a monster are sent to have first contact with an alien intelligence.<br />
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That is the biggest undersell I've ever done. Peter watts manages to scare the shit out of you while making you think your little brains out. I spent the book equal parts in fear and in awe at the ideas, speculative philosophical debates and all round future-y stuff. The book starts off slow and a little confusing but it quickly changes and becomes an amazing journey with discussions and uncomfortable arguments about the state of being, of consiousness, of our place in our own world as we rapidly invent things better than we could ever hope to be. Each character is broken in some fundemental way and uses technology to make up for that problem. I won't spoil it by analyising everything because I'd rather you did it for yourself, its damned fun and rewarding too.<br />
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I havn't even spoken about the plot yet, the plot is deceptively simple on the outside, while seemingly just another First Contact story, it is so much more. It has a concept of aliens that has never been done before (As far as I know), First contact ends just about as you'd expect but the journey to that ending is way different than you could imagine.<br />
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My only real complient is that half way through it feels like our perspective shifts and we're following another character for a little bit, but thats probably my fault. It gets hard to keep up when one of the characters is split into 4 different personalities and one lives through machines and sensors.<br />
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Really really read this. The genius has even left it up for free on his site. <a href="http://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm">Right within these bloody words</a><br />
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Maybe I might ended up overselling it a bit but only because it was such a bloody good book. read it nowww.NemsMolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14521581761046034553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1814458108434663356.post-9616072279997365282011-01-06T04:54:00.000-08:002011-01-06T04:54:09.850-08:00Book 21 - Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt VonnegutBilly Pilgrim has become unstuck in time. This is the story of a man who suffered through one of the worst bombings in history, and also happened to time travel to a different planet sometimes.<br />
<br />
I didn't really intend for my last book of the year to be anything specific. In all honesty it would have ended up being either Dracula or Blindsight or Getting Stoned with Savages, had it not been for my plane getting delayed.<br />
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As it turns out, Slaughterhouse is a fantastic read. A great anti-war book with some fasinating passages and parts that will blow your mind (imagine an alien who can see in 4 dimensions. Now imagine what he'd think when he saw a dead body).<br />
<br />
I really really enjoyed this book. It was very meaningful without being overly in your face about it, it had a nice tight storyline and it was very very well written. Sometimes the time traveling leaves you a bit disorientated, and the constant repetition of So it Goes gets comedical at some points, but overall, I highly recommend this book.NemsMolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14521581761046034553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1814458108434663356.post-75393071654953824432010-12-06T01:56:00.000-08:002010-12-06T01:56:50.309-08:00Book 20 - Short Story Collection by Ted ChaingA big collection of short stories by Ted Chaing who you may remember write Hell is the Absence of God.<br />
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Ted Chaing is a very talented person. Every story he writes is guaranteed to have a very very interesting concept and 9/10 will have a very good story and good writing to top it all off. The problem arises only when he tries to write endings. The poor man can not do endings at all.<br />
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Its hard to review short stories, so I'll just go ahead and say that Ted is fantastic at writing amazing worlds. Every story in this collection is magical and amazing and unbelieveable. Its just a shame that sometimes his writing ability stops him from pulling it together in one nice package.<br />
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Still suggest you give him a read, if only for the story about Golems, or the one on AI.NemsMolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14521581761046034553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1814458108434663356.post-48558795802134950272010-12-06T01:50:00.000-08:002010-12-06T01:50:31.347-08:00Book 19 - The High Frontier by Gerald O'neilNot a sci-fi book, not a hopeful utopic look at the world, not overly hopeful but solidly realistic in his estimations. A roadmap to human orbital development, C.1979<br />
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I've wanted to read this book for years now. I really wanted something that could show me the hows and whens of the whole issue. I think in my head I built it up as some bible of orbital development, something that explains everything and makes it easy for me. And somehow I was right. If you ever want to be completly sold on the idea of space development, read this. It clears up everything and makes every element of the process clear and obvious and shows how we could have fantastic structures in space for cheap. On 1970s tech. It also helps that he massively overestimates everything. Makes you think he understands better.<br />
<br />
My only criticisms are that O'Neil seemed fixated on 3 activities; Ballet dancing in space, 0G Love Hotels and man powered flight. Three things one can understand being excited about but maybe a better time would be while righting a tourist guide for the station, not while writing a speculative paper on how one might build a station. The only other thing is that the first 3 chapters are full on Doomsday mode. He makes some excellent points but comes out sounding a little depressing.<br />
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buy it buy it buy itNemsMolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14521581761046034553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1814458108434663356.post-29791269127821277342010-11-14T12:06:00.000-08:002010-11-14T12:09:27.601-08:00Book 18 - Fight Club by Chuck PalahniukAn insomniac and his best friend attempt to destroy civilisation and thousands of idiots around the world miss the point.<br />
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Fight Club is a popular movie. It's also a very good book, which is obvious seeing how I'm currently reviewing it now. The thing about Fight Club is that almost no one who watched or read it really understood it. They walk away from the text with the idea that Tyler is right, that Tyler is wise and intelligent and Fighting is a good idea. This is basically the worst interpretation possible. Fight Club is about being yourself. Despite the movie/books constant assurances that you are not special, the message of the book is that you can be. Its not about fighting the system through self destruction, its about being more than normal by taking charge of your life and moving forward with your own goals and mind at the forefront. It is a parody of the whole, raging against the machine thing we all go through, its a joke against the overtly masochistic way men aim to be. Every character in Fight Club, besides the narrator and only right at the end, are laughable, pitiable wrecks of human beings that you are supposed to feel sorry for. You are supposed to walk away from the piece with the knowledge that you do not have to be a butch manly man, you do not have to be anything other than yourself.<br />
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I can't say much else in these short reviews. Just read it because it is great and also its short and I know you like that. Keep what I said in mind and enjoy it. Its a misunderstood but good book.NemsMolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14521581761046034553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1814458108434663356.post-35889008211332864272010-11-09T04:02:00.000-08:002010-11-09T04:02:36.528-08:00Book 17 - The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas PynchonA woman finds herself the execurtioner of an old boyfriend's will. While processing and sorting his effects, she stumbles on evidence of a secert conspiracy regarding an underground postal service.<br />
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What can I say? Its a classic. Its a novel about a million and one different subjects and subtexts. Ranging from the British Invasion of the 1960s, to Humanities need for certainties in life. I really enjoyed this read. I've been meaning to read it for a very long time but just wasn't able to get around to it. The book is utterly differnt from what I expected but in a very very good way. The characters are fantastic, the story is great and the world is very well done. I'm being very general but if I say anything more then I'll just spoil it for you.<br />
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The one big issue is the writing. Even Pynchon has said he hates the way the book is written. I found it pretty hard to follow at times and required quite a bit of effort to get through. some passages are really hard to parse and the story jumps from location and event over and over. It fits the story undoubtably but it does make for a difficult read.NemsMolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14521581761046034553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1814458108434663356.post-72310713035981456292010-10-31T13:29:00.000-07:002010-11-03T15:18:55.433-07:00Let me tell you about ConsolevaniaVideo games have a harsh time when it comes to TV. Currently the most popular video games show is actually some horrible channel called G4, a show so bland, so offensively mediocre it has to rely on youtube content that it can steal to avoid its viewers killing themselves out of desperate need for some sort of stimuli. Shows paid for by advertising and made with the sole reason of getting you to buy the shitty games they cram down your throat over and over again. Places that genuinely act like the Kinect is a good idea.<br />
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Dark times indeed. Most people who play games these days are probably too young or too stupid to remember the golden age of games shows, Gamesmaster on a Friday night with the amazing Dominik Diamond radiating class and suave, showing off the newest games and systems before they had even been anounced. and Sir Patrick Bloody Moore telling us all cheats. They'd have contests where two hapless little kids like me would battle to the gruesome end trying to collect the most coins in Mario 3. Amazing times, Pure times. You had the feeling the show wanted to tell you about the games for their own sake, and in a time before the internet this was amazing.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pure Class Act</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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Gamesmaster and shows like it weren't bogged down with endless drivel, with female hosts who act as little more than nerd candy, with male presenters acting like some horrible pathetic dickhead version of geek culture, no pandering to the audience here, no acting like being a asshole VIDEO GAMER is somehow a good thing, no indirectly advertising the biggest and most well paying advertisers, just video games, contests about video games, news about video games, a childlike, raw love of this new medium that was only just emerging, tadpole like, from the primordial ooze. It was fantastic.<br />
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I know what you're all thinking. You're all going "oh but nems you're just remembering it different cause you're an old fogee with cataracts and a bad hip and you're mental" Well fuck you you little shit I bought all the dvds years ago from some knock off site and I watched them all a couple years ago so fuck off. I know what I'm on about here.<br />
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Your only real comment on this would be "Well times have changed. You'd be right, times have changed. Its acceptable to say things like "rofl" and "lol" in public now, TV like G4 is apparently 'good' now. Its a shame. If only there was something better, a shining star in an otherwise shit stained sky. You know where I'm going here don't you you little bastard.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioZOfaAwR8cdYMG_ZWRWdpx_GWIVclmzLaSe21E1yqOji_3ThNNzuMXHW3tuKEaQpHV54unR2i8u_Ek3PpPjTECnXge4nLCJy6RkE1cpJBGUbVM7cckhVI6BOgTTQWajPFTqQP7oxbz2k/s1600/consolevania_dead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioZOfaAwR8cdYMG_ZWRWdpx_GWIVclmzLaSe21E1yqOji_3ThNNzuMXHW3tuKEaQpHV54unR2i8u_Ek3PpPjTECnXge4nLCJy6RkE1cpJBGUbVM7cckhVI6BOgTTQWajPFTqQP7oxbz2k/s1600/consolevania_dead.jpg" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div> Meet Ryan and Robert. The two best video game reviewers that have ever lived. That might be a bit much but they were very very very good. I say Were because unfortunately they have both moved on from that world now. Robert is now doing boardgame reviews at RockPaperShotgun.com and writing shit for the BBC. Ryan is...Well I have no idea what Ryan is doing but it sure as hell isn't more episodes of Consolevania I am bloody sure of that.<br />
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Rab and Ryan used to do a show called Videogaiden, and a show called Consolevania. I won't mess around and try to work out which came first because honestly I have no clue. Both were very similer with the main difference being VideoGaiden seems to have been given a small budget due to it being on the BBC, and Consolevania is basically them two and their mate Kenny bombing around Glasgow doing silly game related stunts. This was pretty much the best review show ever made. possibly the best video game based show ever.<br />
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Its all down to those two guys up there. You see, they are friends. You can tell they are friends just by watching the show, go, click some of the links at the bottom and watch these two. They are best mates and you can FEEL it. They are also equal parts honest, funny, entertaining and insightful. If either of them ever read this and see I called them Insightful they'll probably kick my teeth in. But they are. and its wonderful. All they really seemed to care about was telling you about stuff they liked and stuff they thought was naff and why. It was never about telling you all about the latest flash bang whiz super call of duty 6 future space combat elves game, just about whatever amazing or utterly horrendous game they wanted to talk about. and it was always one of the two. Never have I seen these two review a mediocre thing, wheres the point in that?<br />
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They spoke to you as a person, not you as a wanky GAMER, not you as a pretentious GAMES AS ART dick but just you as a guy who wants to play some games. They was their charm, that was their uniqueness, that was probably their downfall. Neither of their shows were ever popular which is a massive shame. I would have loved to hear what they had to say about games these days. They always had this way of cutting through the bullshit and just telling you if you'd have fun with a game, you don't get that much at all these days. It's just unique. At times its downright lynchian, with Kenny going off and ruling alternative dimensions, implied evil overlords and unnerving sets. Rab expanded this in Downtime town, another amazing thing you can find below. <br />
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Please. If I have any readers at all (I do not) and you want to watch some really funny and interesting stuff about video games you might not have played, look these two up. You can watch all of Consolevania through the million and one links on their website, and you can watch series 1 and 3 of Videogaiden on youtube and the BBC respectively. If you find Series 2 please mail it to me you git. (Edit, An amazing mentalist left a comment with every episode of every show Rab and Ryan have ever done, What a world of dreams we live in)<br />
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<a href="http://www.consolevania.com/">Consolevania</a><br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/therealchooban#p/u">Some mental who has loads of Videogaiden</a><br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/eightySeventh">An even BIGGER mentalist with litterally everything your tiny heart could desire </a><br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiC-JcqMrPM">Rab sums up my entire feelings of GAMERS</a><br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBqB5LUKh8A&feature=related">The best intro to Consolevania</a><br />
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/videogaiden/">Videogaiden on the BBC</a><br />
<a href="http://www.downtimetown.com/">Rab's old new boardgame site (thanks for making me spend mad cash on a hobby I didn't even have Rab. You asshole)</a><br />
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Zaa Ooo Zaa<br />
NemsNemsMolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14521581761046034553noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1814458108434663356.post-68672116800184788832010-10-30T11:43:00.000-07:002010-10-30T11:43:15.587-07:00Book 16 - John Dies at the End by David WongTwo friends accidentally gain the ability to see into hell. They ustilize this ability the same as pretty much anyone would. With confusion, difficulty and a major lack of understanding.<br />
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There isn't a whole lot to say about this book. Its a very simple very entertaining read that isn't filled with any deep symbolism or any intense thought provoking passages. It doesn't pretend to be. It manages to do its job perfectly, simultaneously keeping you hooked and entertained throughout. If you make it though the book without wishing you were John, I don't really know what to tell you. You soulless machine.<br />
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My one gripe is the book takes a hard left turn about 3/4 of the way through and changes alot. in some ways that just doesn't tie in with the rest of the book. It seems like David Wong stopped writing at some point and when he came back took the story in another direction. This makes some of the passages near the end a bit difficult to parse. Still fun though.NemsMolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14521581761046034553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1814458108434663356.post-26088512073788997142010-10-26T15:03:00.000-07:002010-10-26T15:03:06.466-07:00Cheer up. Its not that bad!Recently we found the oldest galaxy yet. Some megaboffins in some big building got together, pointed some mirrors and some telescopes and did some spells with some candles and out popped a picture of this old foggie;<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://xenophilius.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/oldestgalaxy.jpg?w=400&h=372" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="297" src="http://xenophilius.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/oldestgalaxy.jpg?w=400&h=372" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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Look at that bad boy. 12.4 billion years old and still pulsing away, looking barely 10 billion.<br />
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But I'm not here to talk your ear off about some utterly unknowably immense ball of fire and gas from the ass-end of the universe. No, I'm here because while I was reading about this fantastic, amazing, jaw dropping discovery, I started reading forums and web pages about it. A poor move on my part, amateur even. I should have been prepared. I've been around the net enough to know what comments and forums are usually like. What I found was a bunch of idiots saying that this discovery only makes us even more insignificant, only punctuates the pointlessness of life and the ironic duality that science presents us with, simultaneously making the world an amazing place, while giving us concrete proof that there is no point in it all.<br />
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What a big load of assholes. For a moment they even had me, they pulled me in with there toxic cloud of utter negativity. I sat for a moment and went "yeah, its a shame isn't it." Then something snapped in my head and my apathy turned to anger. Not at the universe as you might expect, but at these dickholes, these self important little shits. How dare they.<br />
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They arn't alone. Infact its the In thing these days to ramble off about how humanity is but a single drop in a vast ocean and our lives are as a single blink of an eye in the life of the universe. I hope these people all blink into incoming traffic. All our achievements will all turn to dust and every memory and idea ever formed will someday be gone. Pessimism.<br />
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But here's the trick. You want to know a secret? Really? Ok come close, listen in. Keep it quiet now. They are wrong.<br />
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Yep, really. Utterly, Wrongingly wrong.<br />
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These people are also trash. These are worthless people, secretly masturbating to this fetish of a doomed universe where all of human achievement amounts to nothing, because that makes life easy for them. Pessimism is the easy road. If the universe is ending and there's nothing we can do, why worry? Fuck it. Sit back, let life pass us by. They cruse through their pathetic lives infecting others with their vile poisonous worldview, somehow justifying this utterly nihilistic look on life by twisting science and stories like this to fit their needs.<br />
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While reading this stuff I was hit by the realisation that these idiots probably support their local football team more than they support their god damn species. But I can see you guys, yes you, you dickwad. Tutting and smiling a smug smile. the same smile that you put on when another amazing discovery or theory is made, happy to know that your nothing life is just as meaningful as the lives of these super human scientists, because in the end, what difference does it make?<br />
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To be a bit more eloquent, and nice to the people on the fence on this whole thing, let me explain why and how these pessimists are so awfully wrong. and Smile. Please.<br />
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First of all, I want to clear this up. Science. Science isn't a tool by which we can stare our own pointlessness in the face. Its the tool with which we make ourselves so so much more than a blink of an eye. Its the jack we use to prop open the eye, to stare into it and to scream at the top of our lungs. Science not only makes us the single most important thing in our solar system, and possibly beyond, it gives us the power to <b>know</b> we are important, if only you look at it with a slightly less final look at everything. With time, with more super scientists, slowly, science will even save our species from any and every eventuality up to and including the heat death of the universe. Yes. Really.<br />
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People forget our achievements so easily, or minimize them to the point of nothingness. Even normal people who just plan dont have a stance on how to look at the universe sometimes forget, I understand that, some of this stuff seems to happen so far away and so unreal sometimes, it becomes easy to forget. But really when you think about it, in the short time we've had to work it all out, we've done some bloody cracking stuff.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://www.au.af.mil/au/afiadl/curriculum/icwguide/images/moon.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pictured: Something We Actually Actually did.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.au.af.mil/au/afiadl/curriculum/icwguide/images/moon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
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And the next comment is obviously "but look at all the horrible things Nems Look at the waaaaaaaaaaars and the faaaamine and the deeeeeath" and yes its horrible and terrible and sometimes when humans do bad things we do <b>bad</b> things. This hurts more if you're constantly trying to see people for what we are as a group, amazing, intelligent, nice people. Some people are horrible though, I know that. I just don't think that's a good reason to decide that humanity is worthless. Amazingly though, science helps even here. I know it may seem terrible but Science and technology has made war a much easier and bloodless thing. Time was to fight a war you needed numbers, raw, meat grinder battles and that's about it. Now you need robots, a small standing force and an airforce. Time was a single virus could wipe out humanity, now science is curing every aliment that attacks us. Time was if the weather wasn't perfect, no crops, and without the crops, you'd die. No more are we hunted beasts, flapping in the wind of nature and bending and breaking to the random whims of an angry planet. We are now this planets masters. Using our massive brains and our immense understanding we are able to plant our feet, turn and face Nature and smile in the face of what is now our equal.<br />
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Next, Our apparently unalterable course to our timely demise. This is the kicker I think, you can laugh at me over the whole science issue, because we're obviously going to wipe ourselves out. Mankind is a bunch of raving lunatics waving nuclear weapons around like an overplayed metaphor about a cat. I'll actually grant this to the naysayers. Yes, if we manage to blow ourselves to hell before we leave this planet, then we're boned. However, that's right I said however, don't let your fucking guard down with me you dreary bastard, We're getting off this rock. Soon. Sooner than you negative nancies think. within our lifetimes we're going to see the start of the movement and within a could generations, mankind will be living on two massive rocks in the void. I beseech anyone and everyone to come up with some method by which humanity can be wiped out when it lives on two different planets. Humanity becomes immortal.<br />
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That's about all I have the energy for really. The end message of all this is that its more likely than not that we're going to come out aces. We're the greatest thing this solar system has produced and we have potential to be an immortal race that will shape the very universe we now look at in awe. With science and ingenuity and drive, the only thing holding us back is attitudes. People who rally against science for interrupting there own personal power trips, religions, "spiritualists" and of course, the same pessimists who twist what is a pure and amazing tool to their own, evil needs.<br />
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Boom, stitch that.<br />
NemsNemsMolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14521581761046034553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1814458108434663356.post-75902684900540705632010-10-16T08:05:00.000-07:002010-10-16T08:05:29.212-07:00Book 15: Roadside Picnic By Arkady and Boris StrugatskyA haunting, humbling, minimalist science fiction story about the aftermath of an alien visitation and its (often unforeseeable) consequences.<br />
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I had originally planned to read Romance of Three Kingdoms starting last week. That plan fell through. I'll be outright honest when I say I couldn't get past the first few pages. I think I'll be ready for it now. This poorly translated book follows two characters in this uniquely Russian world. Aliens have been and gone, leaving Zones, filled with amazing trinkets. The lives of the Stalkers (men who make their living breaking into the Zones and bringing back objects.) take center stage. The book mostly follows Red, quite possibly the best Stalker in the business. The trinkets and traps are the true stars of the show though, infinite batteries, indescribable magnetic plates, The Meatgrinder, all really lite your imagination. In between touching segments dealing with Red and his family, and tense, nail-biting excursions into The Zone, the book takes us along with a scientist discussing theories for the Zone and its many bizarre and strange property's.<br />
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The issue with the book, at least the version I read, is that it is awfully translated. This was distracting in many places but I'm certain you could find a better one than the free version that's online. Other than that, the style of writing isn't for everyone and it leaves a lot for you to make up your own mind about.<br />
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Maybe now, after suffering through Roadside picnic and coming out richer for it, I can venture into the Zone once more and maybe even pull out a trinket.NemsMolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14521581761046034553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1814458108434663356.post-27144776052565296132010-10-10T11:10:00.000-07:002010-10-10T11:15:14.538-07:00The Door is closingHey everyone, hows it going? Good? Good. Just gonna walk up here and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11510466">take a massive dump on you.</a><br />
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I think I've said before I had problems with the university's funding system before. I believe I took offense that my money should go toward cheap pretend science that is a waste of life, time and money for everyone involves (except the ones getting my money I suppose). The solution however was not to double the university fees. That wasn't it at all.<br />
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Let me tell you all a bit of a story. Back when I was much smaller, my school was getting renovations and new awesome stuff for the playground. We're talking climbing frames man. All kinds of shit. I was psyched. Unfortunatly building took a bit longer than planned and I wasn't around to see the totally rad climbing frame. I was so peeved that I got a few friends together and under the cover of darkness we wrote "G-TOWN PRIMARY SUCKS" in some drying cement. Sorry about that guys.<br />
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Fast forward 5 years and I'm in the last year of England's High school equivilent. Half the school is closed down and to get anywhere you had to follow a route that would leave Theseus scratching his head. Every day lessons and breaks were interrupted and in some cases utterly destroyed by bulldozers, cranes and workmen. This was all in aid of a new building they were putting up to replace the football courts and the inappropriately named Math Houses. Once again I didn't get to see it for myself but passing by one day I found they had not only finished this massive, multistory super modern building, but also erected an amazing military style obstacle course. Who knows how many hours of my childhood could have been made radical by the addition of a military obstacle course? Truely one of the biggest injustices of our time.<br />
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Yet again it seems I'm about to miss out on some amazing academic innovation. The ability to charge whatever you want, however you want, when ever you want. Fantastic. I'm really glad the new government isn't trying to ease into its place as Evil Doers and have decide to go the White Cat and Long-Scar-Over-The-Eye route of government. If anyone needs me, I'll be lowering myself into the pit of ravenous piranha.<br />
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As a quick aside. It also marks another stone in Nick Cleggs road of completely and utterly shitting on any promises he made during his campaign. As if forming wasnt the only sign you needed, he did promise to <i>lower</i> student fees. A stance he's very quickly forgotten about. Thanks Nick. Glad to have you around.NemsMolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14521581761046034553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1814458108434663356.post-83040084777084128292010-10-06T04:22:00.000-07:002010-10-06T04:22:15.154-07:00Book 14: The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten TroostThe author follows his wife to a tiny, hellish atoll in the middle of the south pacific and tells us all about his fantastic adventures.<br />
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Reading this book gave me a fantastic sense of adventure. It seems like not a day went by in Troosts stay on Kiribati with him being attacked by sharks or riding in a plane that has more in common with a bus. Every turn of the page brought new, exciting, funny adventures that filled me with a real sense that even here, in space year 2010, its possible to be a real adventurer. Funny, heartwarming and all round fun to read.<br />
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The book has another side though, below its surface. It critiques western culture, attacks the things we rely on and shows us what happens when we tamper in other peoples lives. The I-Kiribati are a poor, desalute people whom every meeting with the western world only damages their already corrupt and broken government more. At the same time it makes you feel like, well, maybe its not so bad. Though that may be the author's way of dealing with it.<br />
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I would highly suggest this book. Its fascinating and Troost is the perfect man to tell this tale. You won't be disappointed.NemsMolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14521581761046034553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1814458108434663356.post-70523065419342098642010-09-20T12:02:00.000-07:002010-09-20T12:46:12.946-07:00Book 12 - Columbine by Dave CullenA look back at Columbine and a journalistic story of the events that transpired before, during and after.<br />
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Columbine is a subject that illicits a huge response. Its a confused mess of a subject to be honest. Few members of the public know the true story, fewer still know the whole story and only 4 or 5 will ever know everything. And 2 of those are dead. I've had a huge interest in Columbine for a very long time. I realize that makes me sound like a nut but its just, to me, a very interesting topic that has captured me.<br />
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I've watched the documentaries and played the RPG thing and all of that. They never answered vital questions on the subject. Micheal Moore's money grabbing attention spree of a documentary just made it harder for me to understand. I even looked over the notebooks and journals released by the authorities but to no avail.<br />
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This book explained everything. It opened my eyes to alot of the issues that have since spawned from that day and answered alot of my questions. It has got some confusing, conflicting reviews but from what I know of the tragedy, this is the best book to learn everything there is to know about it. From the killers, to the town, to the people, it explains it all.NemsMolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14521581761046034553noreply@blogger.com2