Archive for the 'media' Category

Kitzmiller versus Dover Area School District (Intelligent Design)

Published by
gradster1
at December 4, 2007 in snow day, advances, starting, beliefs, snow, legal/illegal stuff, homework, controversial, December, intelligent design, humor, arguments, winter, facts, learning, school, religion, random, media, politics, high school, night, philosophy, education and Uncategorized. 4 Comments

It sounds like Super Smash Brothers at first (if you’ve ever played), as any good court case does - but this is the infamous discussion on the teaching of intelligent design in public schools.

What I know about ID (intelligent design) so far (PLEASE correct me if I’m wrong and feel free to add):

Intelligent design is a theory that came into use after the Kitzmiller vs. Dover Area School District case on the teaching of “creation science” alongside evolution. It is based upon how complex life is. People who believe in ID believe that something as complex as, for example, a protein pump wouldn’t be possible without an intelligent being to guide the development of such things. ID is currently a very controversial topic - while some people believe that ID is valid and should be taught, others believe that ID is completely untrue. There are also many people in between who have many different views - one of these may be that ID is not necessarily true however to get a complete perspective students should be taught ID as one option, in case they choose to believe it.

Personally I believe intelligent design is a load of hooey (gotta love that word). To survive, creationism evolved into intelligent design. On a more practical note, we can actually see evolution in action in many types of bacteria.

I can see it from the other point of view though. How could little cellular machines like this do so much?

But then again there’s the obvious. Where else could fossils and geology and all the other evidence that’s rock hard (excuse the pun) come from? It’d be impossible for “non-believers” to fake something like fossils on such a large scale as this planet.

Jesus lovingly cradles a baby raptor.

Jesus lovingly cradles a baby raptor.

Do…. What?!

Published by
gradster1
at September 27, 2007 in starting, morning, advances, decisions, Twitter, Doxory, fall, September, facts, internet, media, bored, arguments and technology. 2 Comments

Ever had a situation where you’re dying for a poll on something and you need your results fast? After asking the parentals and maybe your siblings you have nowhere else to go!

Doxory

Fear no more! Doxory is here!

Doxory (despite the humble origins of the name, “Do… x? or y?,” Doxory is pronounced DOC-sor-ee) is a new web 2.0 app developed by the creators of Hiveminder, Best Practical. If you have used Hiveminder, you’ll know that Best Practical is an awesome company, catering to the needs of the online public.

Doxory is Twitter for choices. You basically tell people what you’re doing, then let them decide what you should do. If you don’t understand that, let me walk you through it. After signing up for an account, all you need to do is enter a question. My latest question was on “Using doxory”. Afterwards, you enter two choices, the x and the y of the question. My choices were “Use it and be done with it?” or “Get professional help as to why I’m asking the public about problems in my private life?” (the query has been up for a while, grabbing a few votes for both sides, but is still up in the air) As the site itself says, “The best kinds of questions to ask are existential dilemmas. What should I do with the next five years of my life? Go to grad school or Join the circus?” Doxory is also useful for trivial matter you have in your everyday life. Need help deciding what to have for dinner?
ask Doxory!

If you’d like to let your friends run your life, sign up!

Son of Patchpelt, Part Three

Published by
gradster1
at August 15, 2007 in weather, beauty, bored, rain, August, morning, reading, education, learning, random, media, writing, poetry and Uncategorized. 1 Comment

Reminiscent of Raven

A glittering black
reminiscent of raven
as if a flash of wings
fluttering by, blacker than night
blacker than blackest, it takes away your fear
your hunger
your desire
curiosity wells: in the tranquil gardens of your mind
a sprinkling of dew wets the green green grass
inexplicably falling to unmapped distances

Potion

Deathly cauldron
simmering whilst the witch chants
over her potion
it will not cure warts
nor a broken heart
and it doesn’t particularly seem to do anything
so the witch is disappointed
but she trudges on
through the fields of knowledge
picking a flower, once in a while
for the love of life she tries and tries again
until her ingredients, and soul, are spent.

Raindrop

The illusion of mist
a shimmering blue
walking along
staying true
to the laws of nature
that govern all
yet impossibly
the rain does not fall
touch a drop
it will implode
it’s life spent
death to you owed

Patchpelt cont.

Published by
gradster1
at August 14, 2007 in summer, swimming, lazy, Reuters, starting, betaphor, blind, August, bored, sleep, facts, blogging, random, learning, media, reading, poetry, writing and Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Still gathering words and phrases…

Please comment with some of your favorite ones.

A short snippet I noticed:

The Estonian man who was caught driving a car even though he is blind has been at it again, police said on Monday, and this time he faces jail.

Remember? Oddly Enough? :D

나는 한국어를 말하지 않는다

Published by
gradster1
at August 9, 2007 in bored, sleep, language, reading, french, arguments, August, morning, summer, education, computers, facts, random, internet, learning, Apple, writing, Spanish, media and Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Meaning, of course, “I don’t speak Korean.” How could you not know that? Because you don’t have Babelizer!

The reasons for this post:

  1. Arthus has recently gone through a phase of “Mind Map Madness” in which he tested some mind-mapping programs (think Inspiration).
  2. I have been learning (at HCS, wow!) Spanish for at least 3 years now, and have become very interested in other languages. Of course before you learn any language you want to know how to say one thing: “I do not speak [insert language]” in that language. Recently, I have been trying to learn it in french, and not succeeding.

Thus, I have also narrowed my search down to two candidates, iParrot, and Babelizer. First, some background info.

Babelizer

Babelizer is a small (944 KB), neat (less than 400×900 pixels), and smart (translation in under 2 seconds) application. The simplicity of the program itself is the key, there are only two menu items and only two drop-down menus in the actual application. You choose to and from languages from the menus, type your text in the top field, and watch it come out below. Simple, fast, and efficient. What more could the nerd want?

iParrot, however, is unfortunately, one, not free, not accessible. Even the demo version required the very latest version of iTunes, 8 GB of space on your hard drive, and while this may not be so bad for just an installer, it also requires 60 GB of space on your iPod, and, of course, an iPod.

There are always web apps to do this, but which one has features like Babelizer? Needless to say, especially since I only have about one GB on my iPod at the moment, and tops 4 GB, I chose Babelizer.

Tan si usted desea entender esto, obtiene Babelizer.