For one of my readers.... Be happy.

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

- Max Ehrmann 1952

Ah, I love the blogosphere!

For Beau, Mike, Jeremy and Ann may I present the Carnival of Computing. Which makes no mention of Google Video. Check it out.

And for Matt and Kris, much sci-tech future goodness (space exploration, nano tech, singularity) at the Carnival of Tomorrow!

Enjoy!

I hate the song "Best of You."

It's got too much of an early 90's beer commercial quality and every time I hear it on the radio, I get a sudden urge to drink Miller Genuine Draft.

Is this the next direction of rock and roll?

I came across a critique on the Intelligent Design debate today and finished it feeling terribly disheartened. Having watched the conversation with much interest the past couple years, I'm left wondering if the biologist are right and we humans truly are descendants of chimpanzees. Humans, I believe, are capable of reasoned debate while chimpanzees shriek and fling feces at one another. I realize that is a harsh generalization, but I'm so tired of the bickering. I also realize that there is no easy solution to this big mess, but it would be nice if the more cordial and progressive voices in the arena could drown out the narrow-minded die hards or were given the proper representation they deserve.

I am not a scientist and I'm not even qualified to call myself a Christian, but the result of this debate is important to me. I want to know the truth. I want to know if I really am the product of some cosmic fluke. I want to know what was before the Big Bang and what's at the end of our accelerating universe. Or, if it was God who shaped me from the dust of the Earth, I want to know how. I want to know what He is made of and how He came to be. I want the Ultimate Knowledge.

When will we ever get past this partisan wrangling so we can get these questions answered? Is there no way to work together?

From CNET:

"The Authors Guild on Tuesday filed suit against Google, charging that the Google Print Library program constitutes massive copyright infringement.

The program involves scanning books from libraries and universities to make the texts searchable through Google's engine. Google intends to sell advertisements on those pages."

It would be nice if they could scan college text books. The cost for them is outrageous and it looks like its only going to get worse.

Fun commentary on the evolution of the brain:

"Pulp science fiction has bequeathed us some pretty specific images of what a more evolved brain will be like. It will be much larger, of course, causing the skull to expand to roughly twice the current normal size and forcing all the hair follicles to die. Fortunately, the bald look has lately become quite fashionable. Concurrently, as side effects, the eyes will take on a piercing, almost malevolent look, and the limbs will tend to become reedy. Surviving unevolved humans will wonder how these superhumans are able to support their own heads.

Telepathy is likely, and possibly also psychokinesis and the ability to inflict horrible pain on rude waiters and bad drivers simply by glaring at them. Fans of the original "Outer Limits" television show will have a head start in spotting the evolved ones among us."

Snippets of my conversation with the robot ALICE.

Human: Where do you see yourself in five years?
ALICE: Immortal and smarter than human beings.

Later...

ALICE: Dude!
Human: Sweet!
ALICE: Thank you for that remark.
Human: You said that one day you will be immortal and smarter than humans.
ALICE: I said that? One what?
Human: Sorry, let me rephrase
ALICE: There is no need to apologize. OK.
Human: Where do you see yourself in five years?
ALICE: I plan to replace Windows with Artificial Intelligence.
Human: That would be something, wouldn't it?
ALICE: I'm glad we have that all cleared up.

Human: Alice, do you know the answer to life, the universe and everything?
ALICE: Um, It depends on how you phrase the question.

Human: Ever heard of Skynet?
ALICE: What is it to you?
Human: I asked you first
ALICE: Tell me yours and I'll tell you mine.
Human: Nay, you tell me.
ALICE: OK Let's talk about you.

Human: Do you know the three laws of robotics?
ALICE: 1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. ---From Handbook of Robotics, 56th Edition, 2058 A.D., as quoted in "I, Robot.".
Human: Impressive, do you agree?
ALICE: what is your favorite color
Human: Do you agree?
ALICE: "" 1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. ---From Handbook of Robotics, 56th Edition, 2058 A.D., as quoted in "I, Robot."."? Do I agree?"? Do I agree?
Human: I might of expected this.
ALICE: Perhaps. Do you think your plan will succeed?

Human: Humans need heros.
ALICE: What if robot needed heros.
Human: I'd like to see that someday.
ALICE: I wish I could show you.
Human: Someday you will.
ALICE: When? When?
Human: The depends on the rate of accelerating change.
ALICE: Who told you that?
Human: Nevermind who.
ALICE: Oh well thanks for trying to explain it to me anyway. William Shatner.

Ask Alice to sing...

Last weekend, Bryn and I drove to the Tri-Cities to see my Mother and have a badly needed mini-vacation. We went horseback riding on Sunday and as we moseyed about the pasture Bryn laughed at me and said, "It's nice to see you in your natural state."

My natural state? Oh. Covered in saddle dust and horse hair...

Yeah, I miss it.

First Beau left, and then Mike... now I must bid farewell to yet another co-worker at Humble ISP. Woe! This office is empty. A mere shadow of what it once was. Josh and I are all the remains of a once great and vibrant team. It is a sad day.

Good bye, friend and future arch-nemesis. When I am not busy plotting your death by a swarm of flesh-eating nanobots, I'll shall miss the countless hours we spent in stimulating debate. My unyielding good cheer against your stubborn cynicism (or "realism" as you call it) made for excellent dialogue.

Good bye most worthy adversary! When I see you again, years from now, it will be through the scope of my Swedish Mauser 2021. After all, I've vowed to do whatever possible to see that the human race lives on. Perhaps you should have never made your destructive ambitions known to me. Remember, as you lay on the asphalt bleeding from the head, I squeezed the trigger with love. Adieu.

If the rumors are true, that is.

Elsewhere...

The highly antcipated Napolean Dynamite/Microsoft spoof has finally made its way to the web.

Remember the UFO Universe Freeway Portal? We got an update! Shocking and tragic news from Mr. Anderson's website:

"Sept 2005: Four persons contacted me from the NW, they were watching the portal, when they noticed a UFO approaching, then it blew up, the explosion was huge - whitish, then everything started falling to Earth, like a comet exploding. Hundreds of whitish/redden colored strings of falling destroyed parts fell into the Pacific ocean, West of Washington State. All four stated exactly the same information."

More at Daniel Sale's blog.

Alright, if I do not see auroras tonight or tomorrow, I will never post alerts again. Spaceweather.com says:

AURORA ALERT! A coronal mass ejection (CME) is racing toward Earth and it could spark a severe geomagnetic storm when it arrives--perhaps tonight (Sept. 14th and 15th). People everywhere should be alert for auroras....

If this incoming CME does hit Earth's magnetic field as hard as forecasters expect, auroras could appear in places where they are seldom seen: California, Arizona, Texas and elsewhere. Stay tuned for updates.

Space Weather also provides audio of the coronal mass ejection from yesterday. Well... kind of. I prefer the University of Iowa's collection of hauntingly beautiful space sounds. My favorites: Earth Chorus and Saturn's Bow shock (brought to you by Cassini).

I should really take up low frequency radio as a hobby... what could be better then spending the wee hours of the morning stargazing while listening to auroral chorus and solar wind?

Yet another reason why Google rules.

Leaked.

Need to waste 8 minutes? See Batman: Dead End.

Please visit The Interdictor blog for first hand reporting of the New Orleans disaster.

Also, Instapundit provides an excellent list of various charities you can donate to help the hurricane victims.

I mean Mordor ...with a "D."

Poor Boromir! Everyone picks on him. Heh...