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A planet outside our solar system

An Earth like planet was found outside our solar system orbiting a star about 30000 light years away from us ( light year: distance travelled by light in an year). It is about five times the size of earth and is rocky. Observers around the world confirmed the existence of the planet. It seems like there are many earth like worlds in our universe and we have started discovering other planes just like ours. However, they are not expect to support life. Planets such as these are discovered using a principle called microlensing based on a principle invented by Einstein. The light from distant star is bent by gravitational distortion from other stars or large planets when it reaches earth. Scientists have recorded such incidents using telescope networks. The growing perception among the scientific community is that planets such as these are more common in our universe. There are more planets to be discovered in the years to come

Best scifi movies

Recently, I saw two of my all-time-favorite science fiction movies again. Blade Runner and 13th Floor. Both these movies are highly rated and have set the trend for modern science fiction. The 13th floor is about a simulation where there is a earth like world with real chracters in it. It is a must see. The movie Matrix was very much like 13th floor and was based on a similar story. BladeRunner is about a cop whose job is to deactivate “replicants” ( Robots ) in the future los angeles. Deckard and Roy batty have given excellent performances. Harrison ford is remarkable. Here are some of my favorite quotes from Bladerunner.

Roy Batty: I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams … glitter in the dark near Tanhauser Gate. All those … moments will be lost … in time, like tears … in rain. Time … to die.

Tyrell : If we gived them a past, we’d create a cushion, a pillow for their emotions and consequently we can control them better.”
Deckard : “Memories. You’re talking about memories.”

Prescription For Painless Play?

I had to sympathize with Darren Gladstone’s column about the pain he’s feeling in his left hand from using the WASD keymap. I had to quit World of WarCraft because of it.

My own keymapping system has never produced those symptoms. With it, I can play for hours and not feel any pain:

A - crouch
S - backward
D - strafe left
F - strafe right
Right mouse - forward
Left mouse - primary attack
Middle mouse - secondary attack
G - reload
Z - use
Left shift - walk/run
V - lean ieft
B - iean right
C - flashiight
Spacebar - jump

Authenticating

I have two basic requirements for games. They must run right out of the box and be playable even if tbe support services are no longer available. I think these requirements are fair. When considering that most books, movie DVDs, and music CDs meet these requirements and cost $20 or less, I feel I am entitled to expect them from a $50 videogame. This is especially true when that videogame requires a computer that costs over $1,000. Imagine my displeasure when I found out about the activation requirements for BioShock.

From my point of view, all activation does is promote and justify piracy. It’s all but guaranteed that when these activation servers are shut down for good, someone will pop up on a forum asking how to get by the activation so they can play again…and the only people with that answer will be hackers and pirates, I don t like the idea of having to do something illegal to get a game I bought legally to run.

Film, Folklore, and Urban Legends. Review

Film, Folklore and Urban Legends consists of slightly reworked essays previously published by Mikel Koven between 1995 and 2007, collected with the hope, he says, of drawing “a line underneath these preliminary explorations,” and so that “future scholarship will develop” the ideas contained in the collection. The book is divided into five sections: part one is a partial survey of scholarship concerning film and folklore, part two consists of three methodological studies (of The Wicker Man and Frazer’s Golden Bough, and of the use or misuse of tale-type and motif indices in understanding some horror films and some film comedies), part three is concerned with exploring the feedback-loop of certain legendary beliefs created by their depiction on television and in the movies, part four discusses various aspects of urban legends and their depiction, and part five presents an essay on “ostension,” the enactment of legend in film and on “reality” television.

As a whole, this group of essays provides a useful entry point to many important theories, practices and arguments about folklore and visual narrative, not least because it is in the form of essays aimed at specific questions rather than aiming to serve directly as a primer. The citations and bibliography alone are a valuable resource for anyone wishing to take up the subject. The down side of any such published collection, though, is that while ideas and methods may recur, there is no consistent argument sustained throughout. Everything has the defects of its virtues. Some consistent themes, do, however, hold many of these essays together conceptually: first, the position that mere “motif-spotting” is a pretty sterile enterprise; second, the question of the extent to which popular films participate in the production and dissemination of folklore; and third, an examination of the usefulness, or lack thereof, of applying the methods of folklore to the study of film.

Chapter one is a quick review of many different ways of applying folklore to films and a justification of studying film from a folkloric perspective on the grounds that film is the dominant modern mode of dissemination and propagation of narrative. Chapter two takes on the much-discussed (and much reviled) film, The Wicker Man (1973, directed by Robin Hardy) pointing out the irony that, while entirely reworking its sources, the film itself became a source for modern neo-pagan ritual. Koven here also raises the issue of ostension, which becomes the major subject of his penultimate essay in this volume.

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Good and bad procrastination

Recently I was reading slashdot and came acrross an article called Good and bad procrastination, written by Paul Graham. It is an interesting article about procrastination and which types of procrastination is better for us. I decided that I would stop procrastinationg and if I do it would be good procrastination. Paul graham has written many good articles like How to generate wealth, How to start a startup which are worth reading.

Slashdot is a nice site which has lot of interesting articles written by geeks and computing nerds.
If you have any interest in science or techology, you will love it.

Greek and Roman Folklore. Book review

This series of folklore handbooks is outstanding for the expertise displayed, which is not surprising, when one considers that each writer is a recognised authority in his or her field, and skilled in conveying a wealth of information in a clear, lively, and modern manner. They follow the same pattern, the major sections being: definitions and classifications of various genres; examples and texts; the history of folklore collecting, scholarship and interpretation in the area concerned; and contexts, including the use of folklore material in literature, song, film, etc. This enables the authors to alternate their approach between the general and the particular, in some chapters offering guidance on various broad issues which could apply to many cultures besides the one under discussion, and in others illustrating the necessarily brief treatment of individual topics by a selection of well-chosen illustrative texts. Needless to say, the chapter notes and bibliographies give ample guidance to further reading.

Space does not permit a detailed review of the contents of each book, but I can warmly commend them not only as guides to the traditions of these particular regions, but as excellent models of modern folklore scholarship.

Futurama

Today, I watched a few episodes of Futurama, an animated scifi series, about a delivery company in the 30th century. The company is in New new york after all it is new york in the 30th century. If you are familiar with simpsons, it has simpsons like characters in appearance. Most episodes are really cool and contain parodies of major TV series such as startrek, Friends, Seinfeld etc. The coolest character in Futurama is a bending robot called “Bender” who used to work in a factory and is laid off. He works for the delivery company and his role in the series is awesome. Futrama is an amazing tv series worth your time.. I was thrilled to hear that the series is being renewed. It is original and entertaining which has fantastic humor.

The captain kirk principle

A few months ago, I was reading scientific american and came across an article called ” The captain kirk principle” . It was about an episode of Star trek Tos called “The enemy within”.
In this episode captain kirk ( William shatner ) is separated into two separate persons with different personalities because of a transporter malfunction .. when scotty “beams ” him up
Captain James T. Kirk has just beamed up from planet Alpha 177, where magnetic anomalies have caused the transporter to malfunction, splitting Kirk into two beings. One is cool and rational. The other is impulsive and irrational. Rational Kirk must make a command decision to save the crew, but he is paralyzed with indecision, bemoaning to Dr. McCoy: “I can’t survive without him. I don’t want to take him back. He’s like an animal-a thoughtless, brutal animal. And yet it’s me!”
This psychological battle between intellect and intuition was played out in almost every episode of Star Trek in the characters of the ultrarational Mr. Spock and the hyperemotional Dr. McCoy, with Captain Kirk as the near perfect synthesis of both. Intellect driven by intution is what.t he author says.. “The captain kirk princple” . Kirk is the perfect sythesis of what an ideal man should be . We see his character in many episodes of startrek like The enemy within, The arena, The omega glory , The squire of gothos , Plato’s stepchildren where you can see his judgement is unbiased and sound and he is the most ideal captain starfleet command ever had. William shatner is the best captain on startrek has ever produced. If you are a startrek fan and havent seen the original series yet.. check it out on the scifi channel .. There are great stories to watch …… which are awesome !

Blogging and techonology

I dont think people who blog are really computing literates cause knowing some html or php doesnt make one a computing nerd. HTML is one of the first language one can learn besides visual basic (a language for beginners). There are many other things besides html :/ which are far difficult to understand. Moreover.. people have got accustomed to techonology thesedays and knowing how to blog or how to code in a programming language isn’t the greatest thing.. of our time.. even though it might have been a great achievement if you were in the 60’s or 70’s.. In 20 years or so.. People who are our age. in the future might do things.. which are unthinkable nowadays.. People become sophisticated in the years to come and its a natural thing.. There is nothing special about it. If you consider the first humans… on our planet. we have evolved into a more sophisticated species..and this trend will continue until our extinction…