StigmergicWeb

I promise I’m not going to start doing movie reviews. There are tons of bloggers who do movie review far more eloquently than I could, so I’m not going to do it.

But, I just have to say that RotS was great! I could be critical about the flaws in the movie - they were definitely there. I don’t think, though, that anyone was there to listen to great dialog and believable characterization. I was there to remeber what it was like to be 10 years old again, just like I was when I watched the first one in 1977. At that level, it does not dissapoint. I think the 10 year olds among and within us recognize that the movie is not about actual characters - its about myth. Its about good, evil, and the fine line between them. Maybe its about realizing that we all walk that fine line, but in the end (in Return of the Jedi), we can all find the good in ourselves no matter how far down we have descended.

Cool stuff, but maybe the best part tonight was going back to being that 10 year old again, sitting in a dark room being swept up in the epic. Wow - I think I’ll go throw the original on the VCR before I go to bed tonight.

Thanks to Darren Cannell for this: Raising Boys. The tears in my eyes are from a combination of laughter and relief that the sperm with the X chromosome got there first!

Thanks to Dean (Ideas and thoughts from an EdTech: What Children’s Book Are You?), I now know:

I am… PIG WILLIAM by ARLENE DUBANEVICH. I love being myself, no matter what anyone else says. I do what’s fun and what matters to me. I love my individuality and myself. Find out what Children’s Book You Are!

Slashdot is reporting on Room-Temperature, Small-Scale Fusion at UCLA.

Update - Wired has picked up the story

Last week, I had the chance to have an actual vacation from work/courses/projects - the first time in a long time this happened. I was actually hoping to get a bit of work done on a couple of different things (liking getting ahead of the game for preparation for my classes), but the internet connection was not working for the entire time that we were staying in our hotel. I was more than slightly annoyed by this, but took advantage to get a few good nights of sleep and enjoy the time I had with my wife and daughter.

Of course, upon my return I saw that my bloglines account was full beyond my ability to comprehend so most items got a very quick read. I was interested to learn about the WordPress (non)-scandal. Sometimes its nice to find out about things after they have come and gone.

But I could not completely deprive myself of technology during the vacation. I had originally planned to pick up the iPod shuffle, but changed my mind and got an iRiver 795 instead. For about the same price as the 1 GB iPod shuffle, it has only 512 MB, but it can also record and has upgradeable firmware. I tried a few experiments in podcast recording while I was driving around, and so far I’m impressed. If you are looking for a flash based MP3 (and WMA and OGG) player, I would advise taking a look at it.

… not a d4 like that sneaky D’Arcy! ;^)

Ah - life was so simple as a young proto-geek.

Take the quiz at dicepool.com

UPDATE - I finally browbeat my wife into taking the test - I always knew my wife was a perfect 10, but now I have data to back it up! :^) Do you think a d12 and a d10 are compatible?

From CBC news: CBC News: Comic-book pioneer Will Eisner dies

Will Eisner, the artist who is credited by many with creating the graphic novel, has died. He was 87.

Will Eisner was probably the first comic book artist, in the art school sense of the word. He saw the potential for serious communication and great works of literature within the medium, which he referred to as sequential art.

I’m spending a couple of days off-line for the holidays. If you are celebrating any kind of holiday at this time of year, I hope its a good one. Even if you don’t celebrate, I hope you are having a good time!

And now, a picture of my daughter serenading the Xmas tree: