Scientology

The bible is one thing...but this stuff is on a whole other level.

Click Here to read a core doctrine of Scientology.

Man, I don't wanna be banned!

Here's a sample of some of the political mail being sent to those in the South. Blatantly taking advantage of the Christian base of the country and those who may not be very informed about issues. Clearly misinformation.

Let's not even think about the fact that the return address on the envelope is the Republican National Committee...

Katamari Damacy

Most innovative game since Pikmin.

It's only $19.99.

It will make you smile.

It has great music.

All reasons to go out and buy Katamari Damacy now.

untitled

... misplaced wallets, keys, hopes, and dreams.

Recap

Tonight the neighbors and I kicked a keg. Decent size party...maybe 20 people at the height. I had this many:

For those who can't see, that's 15. I was named MVP...bwahaha. Around beer 5 I vomited in the bathroom, but I was good to go from then on.

Also, for those who care, or want to accuse me, there were zero women kissed/fucked. :P

Star Wars: Battlefront

Got a chance to play through Star Wars: Battlefront for xbox this week. All in all, it was a good game. The fact that I actually played all the way through it and beat it is evidence of that.

One thing it is really good at is making you feel like there are hundreds of people taking part in the battle. In reality, there are only about 50 or so bots playing with you at any given time, but they move in groups and just seem to be everywhere.

Something I didn't get to try out was multiplayer. The game supports Xbox Live, so you can play co-op or against people online -- which sounds incredibly cool.

Overall, this would make an excellent rental...I wouldn't buy it though, as it is a bit short. Unless of course you have Xbox Live (or you buy the PC version), in which case the multiplayer could be great fun.

What the Tortoise Said to Achilles

A text by my favorite logician, Lewis Carroll -- enjoy.


What the Tortoise Said to Achilles

Achilles had overtaken the Tortoise, and had seated himself comfortably on its back.
　'So you've got to the end of our race-course?' said the Tortoise. 'Even though it does
consist of an infinite series of distances? I thought some wiseacre or other had proved
that the thing couldn't be done?'
　'It can be done,' said Achilles. 'It has been done! Solvitur ambulando. You see the distance
were constantly diminishing: and so --'
　'But if they had been constantly increasing ?' the Tortoise interrupted , 'How then?'
　'Then I shouldn't be here ! Achilles modestly replied; 'and you would have got several times
round the world, by this time!'
　'You flatter me -- flatten, I mean,' said the Tortoise; 'for you are a heavy weight,
and no mistake!　Well now, would you like to hear of a race-course, that most people fancy
they can get to the end of in two or three steps, while it really consists of an infinite number
of distances, each one longer than the previous one?'
　'Very much indeed!' said the Grecian warrior, as he drew from his helmet (few Grecian
warriors possessed pockets in those days) an enormous notebook and a pencil.' 'Proceed!
and speak slowly, please! Short-hand isn't invented yet!'
　'That beautiful First Proposition of Euclid!' the Tortoise murmured dreamily.
'You admire Euclid?'
　'Passionately! So far, at least, as one can admire a treatise that won't be published for some centuries to come!'
　'Well, now , let's take a little bit of the argument in that first Proposition -- just two steps,
and the conclusion drawn from them. Kindly enter them in your note-book. And in order to
refer to them conveniently, let's call them A, B, and Z:
　A.　Things that are equal to the same are equal to each other.
　B.　The two sides of this Triangle are things that are equal to the same.
　Z.　The two sides of this Triangle are equal to each other.
　'Readers of Euclid will grant, I suppose, that Z follows logically from A and B, so that
any one who accepts A and B as true, must accept Z as true?'
　'Undoubtedly! The youngest child in a High School -- as soon as High Schools are invented,
which will not be till some two thousand years later -- will grant that.'
　'And if some reader has not yet accepted A and B as true, he might still accept
the Sequence as a valid one, I suppose?'
　'No doubt such a reader might exist. He might say "I accept as true the Hypothetical
Proposition that, if A and B as true, Z must be true; but I don't accept a and B as true.'
Such a reader would do wisely in abandoning Euclid, and taking to football.'
　'And might there not also be some reader who would say "I accept A and B as true,
but I don't accept the Hypothetical"?'
　'Certainly there might. He, also, had better take to football.'
　'And neither of these readers,' the Tortoise continued, 'is as yet under any logical
necessity to accept Z as true?'
　'Quite so,' Achilles assented.
　'Well, now, I want you to consider me as a reader of the second kind, and to force me,
logically, to accept Z as true?'
　'A tortoise playing football would be --' Achilees was beginning.
　'-- an anomaly, of course,' the Tortoise hastily interrupted. 'Don't wander frrom the
point. Let's have Z first, and football afterwards!'
　'I'm to force you to accept Z, amI?' Achilees said amusingly. 'And your present position
is that you accept A and B, but you don't accept the Hypothetical --'
　'Let's call it C,' said the Tortoise.
　' --but you don't accept:
　　　C.　If A and B are true, Z must be true.'
　'That is my present position,' said the Tortoise.
　'Then I must ask you to acept C.'
　'I'll do so,' said the Tortoise, 'as soon as you've entered it inthat notebook of yours.
What else ave you got in it?'
　'Only a few memoranda,' said Achilles, nervously fluttering the leaves:
　'a few memoranda of -- of the battles in which I have distinguished myself!'
　'Plenty of blank leaves, I see!' the Tortoise cheerily remarked. 'We shall need them all!'
(Achilles shuddered.) 'Now write as I dictate:
　A.　Things that are equal to the same are equal to each other.
　B.　The two sides of this triangle are things that are equal to the same.
　C.　If A and B are true, Z must be true.
　Z.　The two sides of this Triangle are equal to each other.
'You should call it D, not Z,' said Achiles. 'It comes next to the other three.
If you accept A and B and C, you must accept Z.'
　'And why must I?'
　'Because it follows logically from them. If A and B and C are true, Z must be true.
You don't dispute that, I imagine?'
　'If a and B and C are true, Z must be true,' the Tortoise thoughtfully repeated
'That's another Hypothetical, isn't it?' And, if I failed to see its truth, I might accept
A and B and C, and still not accept Z, mightn't I?'
　'You might,' the candid hero admitted; 'though such obtuseness would certainly be
phenomenal. Still, the event is possible. So I must ask you to grant one more Hypothetical.'
　'Very good. I'm quite willing to grant it, as soon as you've written it down. We will call it
　D. If A and B and C are true, Z must be true.
'Have you entered that in your note-book?'
'I have!' Achilles joyfully exclaimed，as he ran the pencil into its sheath.
'And at last we've got to the end of this ideal race-course! Now that you accept A and
B and C and D, of course you accept Z.'
　'Do I?' said the Tortoise innocently. 'Let's make that quite clear. I accept A and B and
C and D. Suppose I still refuse to accept Z?'
　'Then Logic would take you by the throat, and force you to do it!'
Achiles triumphantly replied. 'Logic would tell you "You can't help yourself. Now that you've
accepted A and B and C and D, you must accept Z?" So you have no choice, you see.'
　'Whatever Logic is good enough to tell me is worth writing down,' said the Tortoise.
'So enter it in your book please. We will call it
　E. If A and B and C and D are true, Z must be true.
　'Until I 've granted that, of course, I needn't grant Z. So it's quite a necessary step,
you see?'
　'I see,' said Achilles; and there was a touch of sadness in his tone.
　Here the narrator, having pressing business at the Bank, was obliged to leave the
happy pair, and did not again pas the spot until some months afterwards. When he did so,
Achilles was still seated on the back of the much-enduring Tortoise, and was writing in his
note-book, which appeared to be nearly full. The Tortoise was saying 'Have you got that
last step written down? Unless I've lost count, that makes a thousand and one.
There are several millions more to come. And would you mind, as a personal favour --
considering what a lot of instruction this colloquy of ours will provide for the Logicians of the Nineteenth Century --
would you mind adopting a pun that my cousin the Mock Turtle will then make, and allowing yourself to be
re-named Taught-Us?'
　'As you please!' replied the weary warrior, in the hollow tones of despair, as he buried his face
in his hands. 'Provided that you, for your part, will adopt a pun the Mock Turtle never made,
and allow yourself to be renamed A Kill-Ease!'

I'm Going Slightly Mad

I'm Going Slightly Mad from the album "Classic Queen" by Queen

I'm Going Slightly Mad

When the outside temperature rises
And the meaning is oh so clear
One thousand and one yellow daffodils
Begin to dance in front of you - oh dear
Are they trying to tell you something
You’re missing that one final screw
You’re simply not in the pink my dear
To be honest you haven’t got a clue

I’m going slightly mad
I’m going slightly mad
It finally happened - happened
It finally happened - ooh oh
It finally happened
I’m slightly mad
Oh dear

I’m one card short of a full deck
I’m not quite the shilling
One wave short of a shipwreck
I’m not my usual top billing
I’m coming down with a fever
I’m really out to sea
This kettle is boiling over
I think I’m a banana tree
Oh dear

I’m going slightly mad
I’m going slightly mad
It finally happened - happened
It finally happened - uh huh
It finally happened
I’m slightly mad
Oh dear

Ooh ooh ah ah
Ooh ooh ah ah
I’m knitting with only one needle
Unravelling fast it’s true
I’m driving only three wheels these days
But my dear how about you

I’m going slightly mad
I’m going slightly mad
It finally happened
It finally happened - oh yes
It finally happened
I’m slightly mad
Just very slightly mad

And there you have it

Nintendo DS Launch Info

United States launch is November 21st @ $149.99

Includes PictoChat (messaging app) in hardware and comes with a demo of Metroid Prime Hunters.

For those of you not "in the know" about Nintendo DS, here are some key features:

• Two screens -- One is touch-sensitive
• 3D and 2D capabilities
• Wireless connectivity (802.11 and a proprietary format for local ad-hoc gaming)
• Backwards Compatible with Game Boy Advance
• Stereo speakers.

Visual Studio 6.0 Pro

Selling a full retail copy of MS Visual Studio 6.0 Pro on eBay..

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7102852259

Fell free to buy it. :)

Waiting For You

Room Of Angel from the album "Silent Hill 4: The Room OST (Disc 1)" by Akira Yamaoka

Room of Angel

Your gentle voice I hear
Your words echo inside me
You said "You long for me, that you love me"
And I want to see you too, feels just like I'm falling
Is there nothing I can do, wonder if you hear my calling

I'm here and waiting for you
Where are you, I can't find you
I'm here and waiting for you
I'll wait forever for you

Why won't she come back down
Does she have someone she loves more than me
I thought I could love you better, we were always together
If we took some time apart you would finally know my heart

I'm here and waiting for you
Where are you, I can't find you
I'm here and waiting for you
I'll wait forever for you

I fell in Love with you and now you're gone
There's nothing left within my lonely room without you

(Note: Replacing lyrics from earlier...they were too spur of the moment and grew boring after a few minutes.)

Fall 2004 Update

A few things going on I haven't talked about at all..

Classes
Human Information Processing & Artificial Intelligence
Modern Philosophy
Pragmatism
Cold War in Documents & Film
Logic & Computation
Mac OS X Cocoa Programming

All of them are pretty cool so far. Logic & Computation is heading in the direction that Computability & Incompleteness did, though -- too low-level logic/math theory for me. I don't like that stuff at all. The class is named after my major though...so I should try to do good in it if purely for superficial reasons.

The G5
It finally did come last Thursday. It's very very fast. And very very sexy. That is all.

Graduate School
As of late, my heart has been pulling me towards applying for the HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) Masters program here at Carnegie Mellon. It's a little bit of programming, a little bit of design, and a little bit of psychology. Three things I enjoy, and have had experience with through classes I've taken here so far. With my already-interdisciplinary education, I think I'd be a good candidate. It helps that I could probably get a recommendation from a professor in the HCI institute. If not HCI, the only other choice is CS...but that's not where I want to be I don't think. To some it's like painting...to me it just feels cold -- powerful, but cold. I have a GRE to take next week, so this may be all moot if that goes poorly.

Games
I haven't talked about games in a while aside from the random World of Warcraft shot the other day. I've really just been too busy, which is unfortunate because a lot of good games are coming out. Just today Fable and Gradius V came out. Last week the big one was Burnout 3. And I do know at least one person who wouldn't mind playing The Sims 2 (also out).

Work
Not much new here. Currently writing some perl code that uses a linux application to call a person on the telephone and ask them questions. It then registers responses via key presses (DTMF tones, for those who care) much like a voice-menu when you call a big company. This will be used to collect data about a person when they are away from an environment fitted with sensors or other means of communication (computer prompt, mainly). Soon I'll be switching focus to more A.I.'ish things...that should be fun I think.

Misc.
I've been going through some tough things with both school and my personal life. Thus, I ask you bear with the randomly depressing entries (usually song lyrics..). For example, at the end of this post, I will bring you all down by posting some sad lyrics. Sad, but true.

If you like wine, and even if you don't, I suggest you try a Pinot Noir. I bought an Italian import called Cavit Pinot Noir. It was the best wine I think I've ever had; three-quarters-of-a-bottle-in-a-night good.

That's all...lyrics to follow.

Excerpt from Amazing by Aerosmith

Amazing

I was so sick and tired
Of a livin' a lie
I was wishin' that I
Would die
It's amazing
With the blink of an eye, you finally see the light

Lyrics (Cont.)

Don't Take Your Love Away from the album "Nude" by VAST

Don't Take Your Love Away

I am looking for inspiration
And i think i found it in your heart
It's a kind of thing you get when you're not looking
It's a kind of thing you had from the start

Put me on a ship that is sinking
On a voyage to an untamed land
Take away the freedoms I wanted
I understand

Please, Don't take your love away from me
Don't take your love away from me
Please don't take your love away from me

Put me inside flesh that is dying
A ghost that wanders without rest
Burried by desires and weakness
I understand

Please, Don't take your love away from me
Don't take your love away from me
Please don't take your love from me
Please don't take your love from me

Today

Class 10:30 - 11:20
Work 11:30 - 1:20
Class 1:30 - 2:20
Homework 2:30 - 3:20
Class 3:30 - 4:20
Dinner 4:30 - 5:20
Homework 5:30 - 6:20
Class 6:30 - 7:20
Homework 7:30 - 8:45

All on campus.

So glad to be home.

We Will Meet Again

We Will Meet Again from the album "Music For People" by VAST

We Will Meet Again

Where have you gone
My love my friend
Somewhere without the pain
I feel afraid now, I feel alone
Will we meet again
Can you recall what we once knew
Somewhere without the pain
I feel afraid now, but not alone
We will meet again

I can't hear your voice
But you know I feel your soul

I can't hear your voice
But you know I feel your soul

Where have you gone
My love my friend
Somewhere without any pain
I'm not afraid now I'm not alone
We will meet again

Gmail Invites

I've got 6..

Leave your current email address in the comments if you want one.

World of Warcraft

Today marks the last day of the World of Warcraft Stress Test beta. It was a fun 10 days. A lot of people I know will be buying it, so I may too; depends on how much school work, work, and misc. other crap I have to do. MMORPGs suck your soul away. Anyways, here's a shot of me, bluedeath, gism, and swift.

Go #gamemusic!

Pounding Headache

I was supposed to go to a beer festival today with my roommate...had to back out because I have a hangover from that wine I bought last night. I didn't really have that much, either.

I feel really bad. (Physically, emotionally, and selfishly).

Nintendo Rocks

As of late I've been having issues with my original NES not liking the carts I put into it. Regardless of the game, it would just sit there and blink grey. So I call up Nintendo at the number on the bottom of the NES to ask for recommendations on what I could do.

At first the representative said I could have it sent in and repaired for $39. That's really not worth it, and he sensed my disinterest and offered to sell me a refurbished gamecube. I told him I already had one, along with all the other Nintendo consoles. So then I asked him if there was anyway I could buy parts and do the repair myself. To my surprise, he said the problem was probably related to the 72-pin connector in the back, and that he could send me out a replacement connector for free. This absolutely shocked me. First, there's the fact that they stock parts ~15 years old. Second, there's the fact that they were sending it for free.

It should be here in 2-5 business days (UPS ground).

Nintendo rocks.

Almost

The highlight of my day has been spilling a diet coke on my ipod. I wiped it clean before any damage...but still...that's so not something I'd ever let happen. What is happening to me?

At any rate...going to go buy a bottle of Pinot Noir and nurse on that all night. Later.

Edit: I'm back..

Sorrow

Sorrow from the album "A Momentary Lapse of Reason" by Pink Floyd

Sorrow

The sweet smell of a great sorrow lies over the land
Plumes of smoke rise and merge into the leaden sky:
A man lies and dreams of green fields and rivers,
But awakes to a morning with no reason for waking

He's haunted by the memory of a lost paradise
In his youth or a dream, he can't be precise
He's chained forever to a world that's departed
It's not enough, it's not enough

His blood has frozen & curdled with fright
His knees have trembled & given way in the night
His hand has weakened at the moment of truth
His step has faltered

One world, one soul
Time pass, the river rolls

It's not enough it's not enough
His hand has faltered
.... .... ......

And he talks to the river of lost love and dedication
And silent replies that swirl invitation
Flow dark and troubled to an oily sea
A grim intimation of what is to be

There's an unceasing wind that blows through this night
And there's dust in my eyes, that blinds my sight
And silence that speaks so much louder that words,
Of promises broken

The Fixation of Belief

I'm taking a class on pragmatism this semester, and one of the first readings we've had to do is "The Fixation of Belief" by Charles Sanders Peirce. I've only read a few philosophical works that I've walked away from impressed (Descartes, mostly) -- this is one of them.

I suggest you give it a read, but if not, at least read over these quotes.

"Thus, both doubt and belief have positive effects upon us, though very different ones. Belief does not make us act at once, but puts us into such a condition that we shall behave in some certain way, when the occasion arises. Doubt has not the least such an active effect, but stimulates us to inquiry until it is destroyed."

"When an ostrich buries its head in the sand as danger approaches, it very likely takes the happiest course. It hides the danger, and then calmly says there is no danger; and, if it feels perfectly sure there is none, why should it raise its head to see?"

"It is impossible not to envy the man who can dismiss reason, although we know how it must turn out at last."

And here is the link to the essay: The Fixation of Belief

The Apple Store Shadyside Grand Opening

In an exercise of true 'geekness,' I just got done standing in line for 8 hours (2AM - 10AM) to be one of the first to enter the new Apple Store opening here in pittsburgh -- I was 5th in line. In front of me was someone I came with and a mother-daughter duo who had actually shown up at MIDNIGHT -- yikes.

In total, by the time the store opened, there were about 300-350 people in line. By the time I had left, the line had grown even longer. I'm very tired now, so here are a few pics...2 of which are of the exclusive 'Studio Bar' -- available only at Apple Store Shadyside. More pics will go up when I get them off someone else who was there with a very nice Nikon camera.

The Store:

Joe the manager with the opening sign:

The line sometime around 7AM:

The new 'Studio Bar':