Truth Like The Dark

Fosters does Violence to the Femmes

robsmith — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 00:06:47 +0000

Lyrics from this ad version of the Violent Femmes‘ classic “Blister in the Sun”:

When I’m a walkin’
I strut my stuff
And I’m so hung out
I fly like a kite
I just might
stop to check you out

That’s a freaking crime. I won’t be drinking a milliliter of Foster’s anytime soon, that’s for sure.

Jesus: did I see his eyes glow?

robsmith — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:05:17 +0000

Just finished watching Stargate: The Ark of Truth (which was straight-to-DVD in the USA, but was premiered on SkyOne here in the UK before it’s availability on silver plastic Frisbees later this week).

I hear that it was shot in 16 days. I would have figured it more for a week’s worth. Honestly, it’s not even a good episode. Did wrap up the Ori story line.

But, for an Easter weekend premiere, I was really surprised they didn’t answer the key question for the Stargate Universe:
was Jesus an Ancient, or a Goa-uld?!?

And we don’t even get Ardria in a bikini.

AVK

robsmith — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 01:20:59 +0000

Just an insomniacal giggle of mine. I can see the whole script in my head, I swear.

Everything isn’t Miscellaneous on my iPod

robsmith — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 03:10:02 +0000

Golly whiz and geez bang! One of the greatest things evah about my new iPod 160 GB is that I don’t have to worry how much video I stick on it. It’ll take forever to fill this mutha!

And I’ve got a really good system setup to get everything on it I want. I use my PC/TV/DVR setup to record TV shows, I rip DVDs with DVD Decrypter, I use Videora to download torrents and video feeds, and I use Videora iPod Convertor to automagically transfer it all to the ‘pod.

Videora iPod Convertor also converts flash videos from sites like YouTube, and I download those to a directory where everything gets converted to the iPod, using the Video DownloadHelper Firefox Extension.

One of the videos I got to watch on my ‘pod’s amazingly sharp screen while flying across the Atlantic was this Google Talks lecture by David Weinberger on his book Everything is Miscellaneous. Really philosphical stuff, and worth watching. I wonder if the book holds up. And I also wonder whether it mentioned Charles Sanders Peirce, which it most certainly should.

“Externalizing Meaning” is my new catchphrase for what’s happening on the web these days.

Now if my iPod was only tag driven.

The Minority Faith is no faith at all…

robsmith — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 22:06:04 +0000

This is a very good blog post, about why atheists get angry at the world around them. I’m an agnostic, but any non-believer faces prejudice in this world.

Damned Imgred!

robsmith — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 22:00:54 +0000

Those of you noticing all the “service unavailable” messages on my blog can blame image redirection service imgred, who have apparently shut down. Now I’ve got to find time to edit all those posts!!

The Best Thing I’ve Ever Seen

robsmith — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 18:56:36 +0000

Seriously. I think this might be my desktop wallpaper for the rest of my life.

From BeaucoupKevin.

If Joni Mitchell Had An Ashram..

robsmith — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 22:59:37 +0000

I’d move there. Seriously, she is a artistic genius, so beautiful inside and out. And look, she was beautiful even before she was Joni Mitchell:

The Map is Not The Territory

robsmith — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 14:36:54 +0000

Over on StrangeMaps, there’s this image of The Inglehart-Welzel Cultural Map of the World, a map of secularity versus self expression values. Wonder how hard it is to learn Swedish?

This is your brain on music….

robsmith — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 16:37:43 +0000

Just finished Daniel J. Levitin’s This is Your Brain On Music. Strongly recommended for both music lovers and scientists (and particularly those interested in brains and AI). There are lots of things in the book I disagreed with, and I think it could have had a better ending, but the writing is great, and it’s pitched at a good level for a general audience. The frequent use of music references from many genres were particularly good. As the book articulated neurally: music is evocative, and tying these ideas to tunes you know really gives them impact.