The A.I. Fortune Cookie Quote of the Day

"Two roads diverged in the woods, and I --- I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference."
Robert Frost

A Moment of Sine-lence

Let's all bow our collective geeky heads and show respect on the date of the passing of one of the most influential men in the history of modern computing technology. A man without whose contributions, this site, its contents and even personal computers as we know them today might not have been possible.

That man was Jack Kilby and he passed away on June 20, 2005 in Dallas, Texas. Kilby is credited with the co-invention of the integrated circuit in 1958 as an engineer at Texas Instruments. Reading the news of his passing today wasn't so much something that elicted sadness as it did a sense of marvel at how one dedicated man can make a tremendous difference to the world around him!

Thanks, Jack. This bit's for you...

World of Warcraft: Population 2,000,001 (and rising)

World of Warcraft: Population 2,000,001 (and rising) - PC News at GameSpot

As a loyal subscriber to World of Warcraft, I just wanted to post this to make note of this remarkable milestone in the game's life. To think that right now, hundreds of thousands of people all over the world are online adventuring and playing this game together is really remarkable. The appeal of the game is the most fascinating thing. What posses someone to pay to play a computer game??

I suspect the allure of it is the fulfillment of our sense of adventure, all the while being able to anonymously express the deeper parts of our personality that don't usually surface in the workaday world.

If you ever sign up for WoW, look me up on the Whisperwind server. My character's name is Kegger. LOL :-)

The A.I. Fortune Cookie Quote of the Day

"There is nothing more uncommon than common sense"
Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Who? Getting up to speed on one of America's most prominent sons...

"No house should ever be on a hill or on anything. It should be of the hill. Belonging to it. Hill and house should live together each the happier for the other." Frank Lloyd Wright

Over this past weekend, my brother, TD3k, and his wife were in the lovely state of Pennsylvania for the wedding of their best friend's son. Quite fortunately for my brother, an architect by trade, the location of the wedding was going to be very close to one of the most famous residential structures in the country. A house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, who, by all reasonable measures is one of the most influential and prominent architects in modern history. The structure in question is a residence designed by Wright in 1935 called Fallingwater. A truly remarkable structure that is seemingly hewn from the stone on which it sits yet somehow remains apart from it as well. Could imagine growing up in this house?

I guess since I grew up surrounded by my brother's collegiate study of architecture (How many nights did I watch him stay up late to draft plans or build models?) that I'm more exposed than the average person. But during the course of casual conversation with friends and co-workers about what my brother was off doing, I was stunned at how many of them had never even heard of Frank Lloyd Wright, or knew that he had designed houses like Fallingwater or the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. That's a terrible shame in my opinion. Viewing his work can be truly captivating, especially considering the harmony that all of his designs sought to express. In the case of the Guggenheim in particular, the building is every bit as interesting to behold as the works of modern art housed inside it.

Well this has been an extremely cultured post, much more highbrow than my usual fare but with lofty goals! So I hope you take some time to read up on F.L. Wright and his contributions to the art and science of architecture.

Until next time!

PS - TD3k has posted some awesome pictures of his tour of Fallingwater. Be sure and check them out.

The A.I. Fortune Cookie Quote of the Day

"Sincerity is oftern lost on the cynical"
-Me

Why I Hate Politics: A Love Poem (written in extremely bad haiku)

The P word. The thought of it makes my eyes water like someone pulling out my nose hairs with an egg beater. Politics, and its older brother, Organized Religion, are the two most lethal subjects on the planet. Without question more people have been killed in this world for what they believe (politically or theologically) than any other reason fathomable. Its a wise man who once said that "there are two things you should never talk about. Politics and Religion." If other people don't know how severely misaligned with their own beliefs you are, the less likely they are to want to want to impale your head on a spike.

But its certainly not just an aversion to conflict that gives me such disdain for politics. I watch the news on TV, read a story in the newspaper or on the Web and I marvel and the disingenuous, almost cavalier, attitude that politicians have towards their constituency. Both sides of the aisle are so tainted. They sell their snake oil to a willing cadre of sheep who bleat in support without much thought to why or what the sheep on the other side of the fence might think about it. In short, politics, like religion, is a means of dividing people up into "Us" and "Them." A simple means of propagating ideologies of intolerance while maintaining the status quo for those with the power.

It certainly isn't surprising to me that every session our Congress ineffectually stumbles from one election year to the next without really accomplishing anything. For the past 25 years, the topics that require action have been the same. The economy. Social Security. Taxes. Jobs. The National defense. Why? Are these issues intangible? Unsolvable? Difficult issues to be sure, but I suspect the worst from those in power simply because they are human after all.

There's a simple truth which I try to abide by. People believe what they want to believe. On matters of politics, you're just as likely to turn a lead bar to gold as you are to try and dissuade someone from their viewpoint. We arrive at our points of view as a function of our environment. Its wise and generous to try and aide someone whom you feel is astray in their belief. Discuss it... you may end up changing your own views, but a continual debate on issues? Push and shove, give and take. Over and over again... it seems fruitless and a terrible waste. Human interaction can be so much more fulfilling than to argue about such things. If we all spent more time trying to accept each other for what we are as opposed to trying to make everyone more like us, we might actually get somewhere in this world...

There endeth the rant. Share your thoughts, if so inclined. But don't expect a reply if you disagree with me. :-)

I'm going now to try and think of something more light-hearted to post about.

What happens in Uranus, stays in Uranus...

Only time for a quick post tonight before I lumber off to bed, but I wanted to share this one with everyone. Apparently a "prophet" in Las Vegas has learned the power to conjure up UFOs on command. In the link below you can read the story about his special talent and see the video aired on the local ABC-TV affiliate in Las Vegas where Prophet Yahweh summons a pretty convincing UFO on camera at the date, time and location of the station's choosing. Pretty wild stuff!

What's worse is that the resident Holy Man in Sin City says that more are on the way this week. Its Wednesday now. Hope our interstellar spectres got the memo so that poor Prophet Yahweh doesn't end up holding the short end of the aluminum foil hat.

Beam yourself into this link and feel free to share your own close encounters... but keep it clean!!

'Prophet' summons UFO for camera - Las Vegas TV station captures, broadcasts image

Until next time, keep looking up.....