Category Archives: Books

In Praise of Idleness, 2

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One of the commonest things to do with savings is to lend them to some Government. In view of the fact that the bulk of the public expenditure of most civilized Governments consists in payment for past wars or preparation for future wars, the man who lends his money to a Government is in the same position as the bad men in Shakespeare who hire murderers. The net result of the man’s economical habits is to increase the armed forces of the State to which he lends his savings. Obviously it would be better if he spent the money, …

— In Praise of Idleness

— Bertrand Russell

2012.06.15 Friday ACHK

The Time Ships

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The Time Ships is a 1995 science fiction novel by Stephen Baxter. A sequel to The Time Machine by H. G. Wells, it was officially authorized by the Wells estate to mark the centenary of the original’s publication. It won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award and the Philip K. Dick Award in 1996, as well as the British Science Fiction Association Award in 1995. It was also nominated for the Hugo, Clarke, and Locus Awards in 1996.

— Wikipedia on The Time Ships

2012.06.13 Wednesday ACHK

Information lost, 3.2

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Information conservation

There is another very subtle law of physics that may be even more fundamental than energy conservation.

It’s sometimes called reversibility, but let’s just call it information conservation.

Information conservation implies that if you know the present with perfect precision, you can predict the future for all time.

But that’s only half of it. It also says that if you know the present, you can be absolutely sure of the past. It goes in both directions.

— The Black Hole War, p.87

— Leonard Susskind

2012.06.12 Tuesday ACHK

魚目混珠 3

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Second best 5

The enemy of the “best” is the “good.”

Decisions are easier when it’s a question of “good” or “bad.” We can easily see how some ways we could spend our time are wasteful, mind-numbing, even destructive. But for most of us, the issue is not between “good” or “bad,” but between the “good” and the “best.” So often, the enemy of the best is the good.

— First Things First

— by Stephen R. Covey

The greatest enemy of “the best” is “the second best”.

— Me@2010.11.14

2012.06.05 Tuesday ACHK

Humble Indie Bundle

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The Humble Indie Bundles or Humble Bundles are a series of game bundles that are sold and distributed online at a price determined by the purchaser. The games are multi-platform, DRM-free, and independently developed, and buyers can set the revenue split between the developers, charities and humble bundle organizers.

    2.1 Main bundles
        2.1.1 Humble Indie Bundle 1
        2.1.2 Humble Indie Bundle 2
        2.1.3 Humble Indie Bundle 3
        2.1.4 Humble Indie Bundle 4
        2.1.5 Humble Indie Bundle V
       
    2.2 Game/Developer-specific bundles
        2.2.1 Humble Frozenbyte Bundle
        2.2.2 Humble Frozen Synapse Bundle
        2.2.3 Humble Voxatron Debut
        2.2.4 Humble Introversion Bundle
        2.2.5 Humble Bundle Mojam
        2.2.6 Humble Botanicula Debut
       
    2.3 Android-based bundles
        2.3.1 Humble Bundle for Android
        2.3.2 Humble Bundle for Android 2

— Wikipedia on Humble Indie Bundle

       
     
2012.06.02 Saturday ACHK

Machinarium

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Machinarium is a puzzle point-and-click adventure game developed by Amanita Design.

Development

Machinarium was developed over a period of three years, by seven Czech developers, who financed the project with their own savings. The marketing budget for the game was a scant $1,000.

The game was in development for the Xbox 360 platform for a period of six months; however, Microsoft, whom the developers had approached to publish the title on Xbox Live Arcade, ultimately decided not to do so. Microsoft does not allow games to be released on Xbox Live Arcade without a publisher attached to the title, and the developers were reluctant to approach a third party to publish the game, as this would mean that profits for the developers from sales over Xbox Live Arcade would be greatly reduced.

Subsequently, Amanita Design approached Sony, whose policies do allow for self-publishing on the PlayStation Network platform, and have submitted the game to them for approval, in order to release the game on the PlayStation Network.

— Wikipedia on Machinarium

2012.05.31 Thursday ACHK

What Dreams May Come, 2

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Albert, whom the novel identifies as Chris’s guardian angel, explains that Summerland includes many things which inhabitants do not need — such as automobiles — but which exist simply because some people believe they are needed. The particular Heaven of each religion exists somewhere, because that is what members of each religion expect.

— Wikipedia on What Dreams May Come

2012.05.28 Monday ACHK

The Matrix

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The conspiracy is so thorough that most kids who discover it do so only by discovering internal contradictions in what they’re told. It can be traumatic for the ones who wake up during the operation. Here’s what happened to Einstein:

Through the reading of popular scientific books I soon reached the conviction that much in the stories of the Bible could not be true. The consequence was a positively fanatic freethinking coupled with the impression that youth is intentionally being deceived by the state through lies: it was a crushing impression.

I remember that feeling.

By 15 I was convinced the world was corrupt from end to end. That’s why movies like The Matrix have such resonance. Every kid grows up in a fake world. In a way it would be easier if the forces behind it were as clearly differentiated as a bunch of evil machines, and one could make a clean break just by taking a pill.

— Lies We Tell Kids

— Paul Graham

2012.05.25 Friday ACHK

Godel, Escher, Bach

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Douglas Hofstadter’s Godel, Escher, Bach uses self-referencing mathematical (formal language) and English (natural language) sentences, pictures (M.C. Escher’s dragon for example), and music (Bach’s fugues) to convey the concept and its recursive nature.

— Wikipedia on Self-reference

In response to confusion over the book’s theme, Hofstadter has emphasized that GEB is not about mathematics, art, and music but rather about how cognition and thinking emerge from well-hidden neurological mechanisms. In the book, he presents an analogy about how the individual neurons of the brain coordinate to create a unified sense of a coherent mind by comparing it to the social organization displayed in a colony of ants.

— Wikipedia on Godel, Escher, Bach

2012.05.23 Wednesday ACHK

What Dreams May Come

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Matheson stated in an interview, “I think What Dreams May Come is the most important (read effective) book I’ve written. It has caused a number of readers to lose their fear of death – the finest tribute any writer could receive.”

— Wikipedia on What Dreams May Come

2012.05.21 Monday ACHK

Transformers: War for Cybertron

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Transformers: War for Cybertron is a third-person shooter video game developed by High Moon Studios and published by Activision.

The game takes place on the planet Cybertron, prior to the Transformers arrival on Earth. The Autobots and Decepticons are engaged in a civil war. The game can be played starting from either faction’s perspective, but begins chronologically with the Decepticon campaign. The game revolves around the use of a substance known as Dark Energon, which the Decepticon leader Megatron believes will allow him to return the planet to what he refers to as a golden age.

— Wikipedia on Transformers: War for Cybertron

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The game’s frame rate is capped at 30 FPS. To work around this limitation, the key is to use Lossless Scaling.

— Me@2025-10-31 11:08:42 AM

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2012.05.18 Friday ACHK

Batman Begins

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After a series of unsuccessful projects to resurrect Batman on screen following the 1997 critical failure of Batman & Robin, Nolan and David S. Goyer began work on the film in early 2003 and aimed for a darker and more realistic tone, with humanity and realism being the basis of the film.

Nolan stated his intention to reinvent the film franchise of Batman by “doing the origins story of the character, which is a story that’s never been told before”. Nolan said that humanity and realism would be the basis of the origin film, and that “the world of Batman is that of grounded reality. [It] will be a recognizable, contemporary reality against which an extraordinary heroic figure arises.” Goyer said that the goal of the film was to get the audience to care for both Batman and Bruce Wayne.

— Wikipedia on Batman Begins

2012.05.16 Wednesday ACHK

Batman: Year One

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Aronofsky was hired to reboot the franchise, before Christopher Nolan was brought into the project instead. Aronofsky planned a radical franchise change, something unlike any previous Batman film and one that was based on the idea of “gritty realism” that was in fact too much realism for the studio, which decided it didn’t want to make a Batman film THAT gritty or THAT “realistic.”

— Darren Aronofsky (director): How would a Darren Aronofsky Batman film differ from the current Nolan series?

— Mark Hughes, Screenwriter, Forbes Blogger

Around the same time, Warner Bros. hired Darren Aronofsky to write and direct Year One, despite interest from Joel Schumacher. Aronofsky, who collaborated with Frank Miller on an unproduced script for Ronin, brought Miller to co-write Year One with him. They intended to reboot the Batman franchise, “it’s somewhat based on the comic book,” Aronofsky said. “Toss out everything you can imagine about Batman! Everything! We’re starting completely anew.” Regular Aronofsky collaborator, Matthew Libatique, was set as cinematographer, and Aronofsky had also approached Christian Bale for the role of Batman. Coincidentally, Bale would be cast in the role for Batman Begins.

— Wikipedia on Batman in film

2012.05.14 Monday ACHK

Batman: Arkham Asylum

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Batman: Arkham Asylum is an award-winning 2009 action-adventure stealth video game based on DC Comics’ superhero Batman.

Arkham Asylum, written by veteran Batman writer Paul Dini, is based on the long-running comic book mythos, as opposed to most other Batman games, which are adaptations of the character in other media besides the source material.

— Wikipedia on Batman: Arkham Asylum

2012.05.12 Saturday ACHK

Computer games, 4

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Like many software developers, my introduction to programming was my Dad telling me if I wanted to play video games at home, I had to write them first. Tough love hurts. Home game consoles were the gateway drug of choice for parents who imagined their children as young programmers, a sneaky way for parents to trick their lazy game-playing kids into learning BASIC.

— Rediscovering Arcade Nostalgia

— Jeff Atwood

2012.05.08 Tuesday ACHK