Star Trek in 1912
An amusing Trek parody: what Star Trek would have been like had it been made in 1912. Keep a look out for the 'captain's logs'.
June 07, 2007
January 04, 2007
Star Wars TV
George Lucas is planning a Star Wars TV show for 2009. If he was smart he would just hand the universe over to someone like Joss Whedon (creator of Firefly) or Ronald D Moore (creator of the new Battlestar Galactica). If he writes it or directs it, it will be awfull...
Lucas: Star Wars TV Show Will Be ‘More Adult’ at GeekMonthly.comAt yesterday’s Rose Parade, George Lucas talked a bit about plans for the upcoming live-action Star Wars TV show planned for 2009. SFGate is reporting that Lucas draws a distinction between the Star Wars TV show and other recent sci-fi shows like Battlestar Galactica and Firefly.
Oh, great! So he's purposely trying to not be anything like good sci-fi.
From the article:
“Ours will be very different,” he said. “It’s very Star Wars, but it doesn’t involve the Skywalkers.” The characters come from the same universe, Lucas added, but the stories are, “a little bit more adult.” Hopefully, he added, “it will be something most people have never seen on television before.”
Reports indicate that Lucas plans on committing to 100 episodes for the series, which will take place between Episodes III and IV of the Star Wars saga. There is still no word on if it will be broadcast or just distributed over the Internet. In addition to the live-action Star Wars, there is also a follow-up to the animated ‘Star Wars: Clone Wars’ planned for 2008.
November 23, 2006
Elephant foetus inside the womb
I've often wondered what an elephant foetus looks like inside the womb.
More info at the Daily Mail article
September 24, 2006
The best trek fan film ever
Oh my goodness! THis new trek fan film, directed by Tim Russ (Tuvok from Voyager), looks fantastic. Check out all the veteran trek actors.
September 21, 2006
anagrams
Endless automatic anagram fun at: http://wordsmith.org/anagram/index.html
A JACKET ARMPITS KIN = Captain James T Kirk
1000 points for anyone who can guess this one:
GORY LOGS CLERKED WORM TOY
September 08, 2006
Puddle Lane
There's nothing more fun to do on a friday afternoon than hop into the youtube time machines for some 80s nostalgia. I can't believe I found this Puddle Lane video. I used to love this show.
August 31, 2006
Remastered TOS
Great to see paramount is treating Trek with respect. This sounds like a great project:
STARTREK.COM�:�Article
08.31.2006
Remastering Star Trek: TOS FX, Music EnhancedStar Trek journeys to the 21st century as the Original Series returns to broadcast syndication for the first time in 16 years with brand-new digitally remastered episodes to celebrate its 40th anniversary.
CBS Paramount Domestic Television has officially announced that they are releasing digitally remastered episodes of Star Trek, with all new special effects and music, to celebrate the groundbreaking series' 40th anniversary, according to John Nogawski, president of CBS Paramount Domestic Television.
The Star Trek episodes will begin airing on the more than 200 stations that own the rights to the weekend broadcast syndication window starting September 16. (As always, please check your local listings for station and dates.) The plan is for all 79 episodes of the Original Series to be remastered, with the first batch of episodes chosen from a list of Star Trek fans' favorite shows. With the running order to be determined, it's unlikely to follow the classic air-date order or production order format familiar to fans.
August 29, 2006
Star Trek's a thesis
Star Trek's a thesis - TV & Radio - Entertainment - theage.com.auStar Trek's a thesis
By Adam Morton
August 28, 2006It's the PhD thesis that boldly goes where no thesis has gone before. Djoymi Baker watched 700 episodes - 624 hours without ads - of Star Trek and its spin-offs, dating from 1966 to 2005, in the name of research.
She analysed the series armed with an exhaustive knowledge of the characters and storylines of ancient mythology - from Homer's Odyssey down.
It may sound like torture for those with an aversion to William Shatner's campy theatrics but, six years and 90,000 words on, it has earned Dr Baker a coveted chancellor's prize for excellence at Melbourne University. And the respect of academics and Trekkies alike.
"I was interested in where myths turn up in less obvious forms, and there wasn't much work on the early years of television and its relation to myth," Dr Baker said.
Importantly, she was also a fan of the series.
"I don't think just because a study is serious and that I'm connecting Star Trek to a broader history of TV and ancient myths that it means there is not also a fun side - I can see the fun side as well."
Among the dark corners where Dr Baker's thesis - titled Broadcast Space: TV Culture, Myth and Star Trek - shines light is the changing link between the starship Enterprise's intergalactic adventures and the real world's space race.
Shatner's monologues were inspired by the visionary speeches of JFK, advocating greater exploration. Thirty years on, the roles were reversed, with astronauts from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration guest-starring on Star Trek spin-offs to promote their underfunded existence.
Since finishing her thesis last year, the 34-year-old has had a daughter and is turning her thesis into an academic text.
She's also writing an introductory piece for a Star Trek exhibition at the Victorian College of the Arts in October.
August 21, 2006
David Brent joins Micrsoft 2
Australian Idol podcasts
I was looking for Australian Idol podcasts on itunes the other day, and I came across a show done by two guys that sound strangely similar to me and a friend of mine.
or click this button to subscribe with iTunes 
August 20, 2006
Ricky Gervais does a training video for Microsoft
August 15, 2006
Kermit the frog on daily show
YouTube - Kermit the frog on daily show
And there's going to be a new Muppet Show!
(I should get the old muppet show on dvd)
August 07, 2006
The Graphing Calculator story
A few years ago I discovered that there is a little program hiding in Mac OS called Graphing Calculator. It was very helpful for year 12 maths, and it's recently come in handy for statistics at uni.
I just read a fascinating article about how it came to be.
It was a canceled project, but the programmers who got fired kept showing up to work. They broke into Apple each day until the software was finished.
The Graphing Calculator StoryI used to be a contractor for Apple, working on a secret project. Unfortunately, the computer we were building never saw the light of day. The project was so plagued by politics and ego that when the engineers requested technical oversight, our manager hired a psychologist instead. In August 1993, the project was canceled. A year of my work evaporated, my contract ended, and I was unemployed.
I was frustrated by all the wasted effort, so I decided to uncancel my small part of the project. I had been paid to do a job, and I wanted to finish it. My electronic badge still opened Apple's doors, so I just kept showing up.
Would that kind of thing ever happen at Microsoft? I think not.
August 04, 2006
Dumbledore 'definitely' dead, says Rowling
Well, this ends the speculation:
News: Dumbledore 'definitely' dead, says RowlingAuthor JK Rowling explicitly clarified tonight on her final appearance at Radio City Music Hall in New York City that Dumbledore is "definitely" dead.
She, along with Stephen King and John Irving, hosted another 6,000 people as they read from their books to raise money for charity. Rowling surprised fans with several tantalizing tidbits about the finale of her popular Harry Potter series.
While the authors all read from the same passages of their books as last night, their introductions were handled by different surprise celebrities. Actor-director Tim Robbins (who starred in The Shawshank Redemption) introduced King and Stanley Tucci welcomed Irving.
Rowling was brought on stage (again to standing ovation) by Kathy Bates, who proclaimed that the author took kids to places "Google does not go," describing the effect Rowling's books have had in shaping an entire generation of digital-age kids. At first fearful of the prospect of seeing the Potter books be made into the very digital creations they were meant to draw children away from (at the same time ruining imagination with special effects), Bates said fans "faithfully returned to the books" after seeing their incarnations light up the silver screen, and that Rowling had created "readers for life."
One audience member greeted Jo by yelling "Don't kill Harry," to which Jo responded: "Oh, no pressure then."
Tonight's audience was treated with much more informative and revealing answers than yesterday. Here are a few highlights (again, paraphrased):
* If you could bring one of your characters to life -- other than Harry -- who would it be? Hagrid. We all want a Hagrid in our lives.
* (Question about Aunt Petunia's potential to love Harry): I will say this... There's a little more to Aunt Petunia than meets the eye.
* (Question about upcoming deaths): You shouldn't expect Dumbledore to pull a Gandalf. I need to be more explicit: Dumbledore is definitely dead. I know there's an entire site out there called DumbledoreIsNotDead.com, and I'm sorry they're not going to like this answer.
* If you could host five of your own characters for dinner, who would they be? Harry, Ron, and Hermione... [Rowling pauses; thinks about a different character who's dead but does not say his/her name. King interjects: "they could be dead"]. Dumbledore.... [another pause]. Hagrid.Rowling later revealed that while she thought she had settled on a title for book 7, a new one occurred to her in the shower this afternoon. She declined to elaborate.
She also suggested there were to be plot twists in book 7 that she didn't think anyone has already or could possibly guess about.
Stephen King, reponding to a question about what he is afraid of, said: "When I picked up the Harry Potter books, I was surprised at the depth of the deatheaters." To which Rowling replied tauntingly: "I scared Stephen King."
July 26, 2006
Stardust
One of my favourite Neil Gaiman books, Stardust, is being made into a movie. And the rumour is, that Neil's friend Tori Amos might be actually playing a tree. How exciting is that?
True Neil and Tori fans will no doubt be aware that Neil modeled the tree character after Tori.
July 09, 2006
The Picard Song - The Sims 2 style
July 07, 2006
Hans Rosling - linking data to design
I'm always on the look out for examples of what makes a good academic presentation. The below link is one such example.
Hans Rosling does a fantastic job of showing how bad presentation of statistical information can create many misconceptions and hide the truth.
Take a look. The software that he uses looks fantastic, and the global health trends that he illustrates as examples are fascinating.
Hans Rosling on TED TalksHans Rosling is a public health expert, director of Sweden's world-renowned Karolinska Institute, and founder of Gapminder, a non-profit that brings vital global data to life. With the drama and urgency of a sportscaster, he debunks a few myths about the "developing" world. (Recorded February, 2006 in Monterey, CA.)
June 22, 2006
Real Trek actors in a fan film
My goodness gracious me. There is a fan film in production with some major real trek actors and writers. This could actually be really good.
Star Trek New VoyagesJames Cawley reports on the latest rumors and reports regarding a new STAR TREK online mini-series:
There have been inaccurate reports on the wire, so to set the record straight, here is the SCOOP!
A fan produced feature-length digital miniseries that starts shooting on July 12 called "Star Trek: Of Gods and Men" will be Produced in part by the team behind "New Voyages." This new webisode — which will be distributed on the Internet in three parts — stars Nichelle Nichols and Walter Koenig reprising their roles as "Uhura" and "Chekov," but in the post-Kirk time of Enterprise-B captain "John Harriman," reprised by Alan Ruck. Tim Russ will direct, and will also appear as a younger "Tuvok." The film will include other performances by Garrett Wang ("Harry Kim"), Chase Masterson ("Leeta"), Grace Lee Whitney ("Janice Rand"), Gary Graham ("Soval") and Crystal Allen (from "Bound"), along with some special "surprise" guests.
"Of Gods and Men" is executive produced by Sky Douglas Conway, head of PlanetXpo and producer of "Lady Magdalene's" and the "Roddenberry on Patrol" short films, and the script was written by Conway along with Jack Trevino and Ethan H. Calk, both of whom contributed to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes. Other behind-the-scenes professionals from the actual show will be involved, such as Doug Knapp as director of photography.
The miniseries will be shot in part on the "New Voyages" set in New York State, but is expected to include locations in Los Angeles. The movie's Web site is www.startrekofgodsandmen.com.
Cawley explains, "While we are thrilled to be helping with this endeavor, please remember that this is A SEPERATE project from "NEW VOYAGES." This project was/is started by Sky Conway. He contacted us, and asked us about the use of our sets, props and volunteers. We here at New Voyages are VOLUNTEERING behind the scenes to help Sky with his Trek dream. This is his project and we are along for what is sure to be a fun ride. NO money is being made. We are not being paid and we are not charging for the use of our sets. We are still abiding by the guidelines given to us by Paramount more than two years ago.
"The fan films are a vital part of Star Trek and it's history. No other franchise on the planet can boast of such a dedicated and vocal fanbase! It is our dream that CBS/Paramount will someday license and support these Fan films. They already license fan fiction thru their pocket books division, this would be the next logical step! At any rate We are grateful to CBS/PARAMOUNT for 40 years of this enduring legacy, called Star Trek. We here at New Voyages support and thank them."
June 14, 2006
Hawking writes kids book
I know it's a bit predictable of me, but i'm a big Stephen Hawking fan. And he's writing a childrens book about physics. The guy has such a great approach to being a celebrity scientist.
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Hawking to write children's bookHawking to write children's book
Professor Stephen Hawking and his daughter Lucy
The Hawkings are currently on a six-day visit to Hong Kong
Physicist Stephen Hawking and his daughter are to write a science book for children which will be "a bit like Harry Potter", but without the magic.They aim to explain theoretical physics in an accessible way to youngsters.
Professor Hawking became famous for his bestseller A Brief History of Time, which attempted to simplify cosmology, the Big Bang and black holes.
His daughter Lucy said their forthcoming project would be aimed at people like her own eight-year-old son.
"It is a story for children, which explains the wonders of the universe," she said.
She did not provide any further details, nor a likely publication date.
June 13, 2006
What kind of molecule are you?
Which Biological Molecule Are You?
You are DNA. You're a smart person, and you appear incredibly complex to people who don't know you. You're incomparably full of information, and most of it is useless.
Take this quiz!
| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code
June 11, 2006
Some more blogtastic blogorreha from your favourite doppelblogger
From the Blogging Dictionary, a few words for you to add to your vocabularly, and quite relevant to this blog:
Quick Online Tips � The Giant Blogging Terms Glossary# Metablogging - writing articles about blogging
# Blogstipation - writer’s block for bloggers.
# Blogathy - I do not want to post today and I do not care about it
# Blogopotamus - A long long blog post
# Blogorrhea - unusually high output of articles
# Bleg - To use one’s blog to beg for assistance etc.
# Blogorific = blogtastic - something which a blogger says is terrific
# Blurker - a blog reader not posting comments, just lurking around quietly.
# Blogiversary - your blog birthday
# Blogsnob - refusing to respond to blog comments from “not-friends”.
# Doppelblogger - plagiarize the content of another blogger. To Doppelblog.
Picard vs Vader
I thought that I had seen every episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but apparently not. I don't remember seeing Enterprise D go up against the Death Star.
A tad clunky, but a cool idea. And aren't the credits geeky.
June 09, 2006
blast from the past - my old website from the 90s
OMG! Talk about a blast from the past.
I was listening to a podcast yesterday, and they were talking about The Internet Archive. The Internet Archive has been keep copies of virtually everything that has ever been on the internet, in order to save what might otherwise be lost.
So I did a search for my old website from my teen years. And I found it! As I recall, I made it in yr 8 or 9 (was the internet around then?). I learnt HTML and hand coded a page, which I put on the Apple User's Society of Melbourne server.
Here's the link:
The Mark Brown page with heaps of Star Trek stuff and movie reviews
It is a jumble of my geeky/teeny hobbies. There's some bad Star Trek fan fiction. A Courtney Cox tribute page. And some of my old MIDI files (remember MIDI, they were the days).
I've got to make sure I archive all of these little things better. I've been a digital person for quite some time, and so I don't really have many physical memory objects. There is, however, a hell of a lot of data...the question is how can I future proof it all.
I encourage you to look yourself up at The Internet Archive
June 08, 2006
blinking in photos
Omni Brain: Blinking in photosHow many photos would you have to take of a group of people to be assured that no one is blinking? This guy figured it out:
...the probability of one person spoiling a photo by blinking equals their expected number of blinks (x), multiplied by the time during which the photo could be spoilt (t) - if the expected time between blinks is longer than the time in which a photo can be spoilt, which it is.This makes the probability of one person not blinking 1 - xt. For two people it's (1 - xt)(1 - xt) and for a group of people it's (1 - xt)^n, n being the number of people.
This means (1 - xt)^n is also the probability of a good photo. Therefore, the number of photos should be 1/(1 - xt)^n.Let's test this: each shutter opening results in either a good photo or a spoilt one. If you make a graph of a lot of these successes and you'll find it follows what statisticians call the normal distribution. Even if you know nothing about stats, you've probably heard of the bell curve - well, that's what the normal distribution looks like.
At one end of the curve the trials are 100% successful: the photographer got all good shots. In the middle, the number of good and bad photos is split 50:50. And, at the other end, are all dud trials: the photographer got no good shots.
Piers then figured out how many shots I'd need to be 99% certain of getting a good one. He found that photographing thirty people in bad light would need about thirty shots. Once there's around fifty people, even in good light, you can kiss your hopes of an unspoilt photo goodbye.
June 02, 2006
breaking news: more battlestar spinoff goodness
[ MediaGab ] - Battlestar Galactica Webseries AnnouncedThe most exciting news on this front involved Battlestar Galactica, which airs on the NBC Universal owned Sci Fi Channel. Debuting later this year will be a Web series spin-off for the acclaimed series called Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance. Lasting ten episodes, The Resistance will fill in the gap between season two and the upcoming season three.
May 31, 2006
Structured Procrastination
Get things done with structured procrastination - LifehackerStanford philosophy professor John Perry describes how he manages to be a productive procrastinator by structuring his to-do list to compensate for procrastination.
Procrastinators seldom do absolutely nothing; they do marginally useful things… [b]ecause they are a way of not doing something more important. If all the procrastinator had left to do was to sharpen some pencils, no force on earth could get him do it. However, the procrastinator can be motivated to do difficult, timely and important tasks, as long as these tasks are a way of not doing something more important.Structured procrastination means shaping the structure of the tasks one has to do in a way that exploits this fact.
Structured procrastination, as the author suggests, means that you intentionally place items at the top of your list that aren’t actually all that important so that you end up getting all sorts of things done while avoiding the “important” tasks at the top of your list. This method sounds an awful lot like setting your alarm clock a half hour fast so that you can get places on time, which seems to really do wonders for some people.
The whole setting your watch forward thing seems to stupid to me. The only people I know who do that, end up assuming that they set it forward more than they actually did - they end up even later.
I'm a big fan of fooling myself. But I am skeptical about how well this structured procrastination would work. Still, I might just give it a try.
May 28, 2006
The Ballad of Dr Freud
A short excerpt of this song was played on All In The Mind yesterday:
Dr. Freud Dr. Freud (David Lazar)Oh, it happened in Vienna, not so very long ago,
When not too many folks were getting sick
That a starving young physician tried to better his position
By discovering what made his patients tickOh, Dr. Freud, oh, Dr. Freud
How I wish that you'd been otherwise employed
For the set of circumstances sure enhances the finances
Of the followers of Dr. Sigmund FreudHe forgot about sclerosis, but invented the psychosis
And a hundred ways that sex could be enjoyed
He adopted as his credo, "Down repression, up libido"
And that was the start of Dr. Sigmund FreudNow he analyzed the dreams of the teens and libertines
And he substituted monologues for pills
He drew crowds just like Wells Sadler, when along came Jung & Adler
Who said, "By God, there's gold in them thar ills"They encountered no resistance when they served as Freud's assistants
As with Ego and with Id, they deftly toyed
And instead of toting bedpans, they bore analytic deadpans
Those ambitious doctors, Adler, Jung, and FreudNow the big three have departed, not so the cult they started
It's been carried on by many a goodly band
And to trauma, shock, and more shock, someone went and added Rorshach
Now the thing has got completely out of handNow old men with double chinseys and a million would be Kinseys
Will discuss it at the drop of a repression
I wouldn't be complaining, but for all the dough I'm paying
To lie on someone's couch and say confession
I'd love to find the full audio of this.
May 20, 2006
Where are they now? - The Rusdenites
Everyday is like a school reunion recently. Well, not a school reunion, but a drama-school reunion. I keep seeing people that I went to Rusden with on TV and billboards.
Last night, there was WhatsHerName on Neighbours, playing a reporter from the Erinsburugh News.
Jo, from 2nd year Drama, is that scary girl in the connex adds. The one threatening humpty dumpty.
Large cardboard cut outs of Cameron Box's smiling face greet me at office works.
And last night I saw Ceilia Pacquola's face pop up on an add for Raw Comedy. She is doing stand up. I googled her, and found the Raw Comedy podcast. Her set is here, first up. It is pretty good too. More power to her.
May 17, 2006
BBC interview mixup
Ajax (aka Adam Jackson) alerted me to this hilarious story.
A man visiting the BBC was accidently ushered into a studio and interviewed live on air. The crew mistook him for an IT expert that they had invited to talk about the Apple vs The Beatles court case. The man was clearly baffled, but played along, and made up some vague answers.
Elsewhere, i've heard that he assumed it was a practical joke.
Watch the video below:
May 14, 2006
Prizewinning neuroart
Neurofuture: Prizewinning neuroart
Science illustrator Graham Johnson won first prize in the 2005 Visualization Challenge from Science magazine with his beautiful image The Synapse Revealed. Based on brain slice microscopy, he used a combination of pencil drawing and computer manipulation to produce the final result.
May 09, 2006
I'm a tikibar fan
May 06, 2006
Photoshop doodle
Watching Harvard PP videos and doodling with photoshop.
I love Saturdays. There is nothing on TV.
May 04, 2006
Hamish and Andy Phone Sex Prank
This came through the podcast feed last night. I thought it was hilarious. Hamish and Andy, on their radio phone, got two phone sex lines on conference call, and tricked them into talking to each other for quite a while. It's all very tame stuff, but very amusing:
May 03, 2006
The ultimate way to fold a t-shirt
April 28, 2006
Battlestar Prequel?
from scifi.com:
SCI FI Announces CapricaNEW YORK—SCI FI Channel announced the development of Caprica, a spinoff prequel of its hit Battlestar Galactica, in presentations to advertisers in New York on April 26. Caprica would come from Galactica executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, writer Remi Aubuchon (24) and NBC Universal Television Studio.
Caprica would take place more than half a century before the events that play out in Battlestar Galactica. The people of the Twelve Colonies are at peace and living in a society not unlike our own, but where high technology has changed the lives of virtually everyone for the better.
But a startling breakthrough in robotics is about to occur, one that will bring to life the age-old dream of marrying artificial intelligence with a mechanical body to create the first living robot: a Cylon. Following the lives of two families, the Graystones and the Adamas (the family of William Adama, who will one day become the commander of the Battlestar Galactica), Caprica will weave together corporate intrigue, techno-action and sexual politics into television's first science fiction family saga, the channel announced.
April 27, 2006
Ali G Interviews Noam Chomsky
April 26, 2006
Me and my ladies brain
An interesting brain gender test here (it takes a little while to complete):
BBC - Science & Nature - Sex ID
I turned out to have a female brain.
Interesting but depressing: an interview with Ronald D Moore
Last night I read this fascinating interview with Ronald D Moore. He is the creator and producer of Battlestar Galactica, and i've come to respect him enormously from listening to his weekly podcast wherein he talks about how each episode was written. But before battlestar he wrote for Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and spent a very short time at Voyager. But he left Voyager feeling terribly bitter, and he had a lot to say about Voyager in this long 5 part interview:
Cinescape - Home - EditorialExamine the fundamental premise of VOYAGER. A starship chases a bunch of renegades. Both ships are flung to the opposite side of the galaxy. The renegades are forced to come aboard Voyager. They all have to live together on their way home, which is going to take a century or whatever they set up in the beginning. I thought, This is a good premise. That’s interesting. Get them away from all the familiar STAR TREK aliens, throw them out into a whole new section of space where anything can happen. Lots of situations for conflict among the crew. The premise has a lot of possibilities. Before it aired, I was at a convention in Pasadena, and [scenic illustrator, technical consultant Rick] Sternbach and [scenic art supervisor, technical consultant Michael] Okuda were on stage, and they were answering questions from the audience about the new ship. It was all very technical, and they were talking about the fact that in the premise this ship was going to have problems. It wasn’t going to have unlimited sources of energy. It wasn’t going to have all the doodads of the Enterprise. It was going to be rougher, fending for themselves more, having to trade to get supplies that they want. That didn’t happen. It doesn’t happen at all, and it’s a lie to the audience. I think the audience intuitively knows when something is true and something is not true. VOYAGER is not true.
He goes on to talk about the problem with Voyager's excessive amount of technobabble, the use of deus ex machina every other episode, and about Seven of Nine's rediculous costume. He really understands what Trek should be about, and it was a fascinating read, but it has me depressed.
When I watched my nightly Voyager DVD last night I saw it differently. The episode, One, resolved the plot by saying 'and it was all a dream'. It's true that, as cool and 24th century as it is, Voyager is no TNG.
Ronald D Moore likes to have things a lot more gritty and darker. You can see that from DS9 and Battlestar. Part of what I love about Trek is the optimism, the idealism, the utopia. But if any future Trek projects are going to be any good they're going to need Moore or someone like him to purge Trek of the lazy writing that plagued Voyager and Enterprise.
Since Gene Rodenberry and Michael Piller have died, and Rick Berman and Brannon Braga have shown how incompetent they are, Moore is the obvious candidate to head the franchise. With the success of Battlestar surely Paramount would be happy to trust him. But would he want to?
I hope so. I love Trek too much.
JJ Abrams talks about Trek XI
JJ Abrams comments on the rumours about Star Trek XI:
Empire: Movie NewsFans around the world whooped for joy last week at news that the Star Trek franchise was being resuscitated with M:I:3 director JJ Abrams at the helm. News that it would adopt the long-mooted concept of Kirk and Spock's youthful adventures at Starfleet Academy provoked a more mixed reaction. Those who thought such a move sacrilege can rest easy though because, as Empire discovered in an interview today with Abrams himself, the story is nothing of the sort.
"The whole thing was reported entirely without our cooperation," says the director with a hint of regret. "People learned that I was producing a Star Trek film, that I had an option to direct it, they hear rumours of what the thing was going to be and ran with a story that is not entirely accurate."
But the million dollar question is, what will it be about? Unsurprisingly, Abrams isn't saying ("We've made a pact not to discuss any specifics") but the Lost creator is a confirmed Original Series fan so don't be surprised if his take on the series does indeed take place around the era of Kirk and co, or if some of the established characters do make a reappearance. "Those characters are so spectacular. I just think that… you know, they could live again."
I'm a bit worried. It could be great. It could be terrible. But it's not like Trek hasn't had some terrible episodes and movies before. It always survives.
April 22, 2006
New Star Trek film announced
OMG!
STARTREK.COM�:�ArticleBREAKING NEWS: J.J. Abrams to Produce/Direct "Trek XI"
J.J. Abrams, producer of hit shows Lost and Alias, as well as director of the upcoming Paramount film "Mission: Impossible III," is slated to produce and direct the next Star Trek feature, according to today's Daily Variety and sources at Paramount Pictures. There is no title as yet for the new movie, but it will be the eleventh in the franchise. (Until a title is confirmed, we will most likely refer to the project as simply "Star Trek XI.")
Although there isn't an official Paramount press release announcing the movie, it is a confirmed project under development with a 2008 release date targeted. Word about the Abrams project surfaced this morning in the daily trade paper. He will be writing the script with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci who penned "M:i:III." STARTREK.COM will keep you up to date on all official statements as they are released.
The proposed story will focus on the early days of James T. Kirk and Spock, including their first meeting at Starfleet Academy and their first mission in space.
Abrams' producing partners from Lost, Damon Lindelof and Bryan Burk, are cited as being producers on "Trek XI." This project is separate from the previously rumored script developed by Eric Jendersen and overseen by Rick Berman. The former Star Trek producer is not involved in this project.
This is exciting news, and we look forward to following developments on this project every step of the way!
J.J. Abrams was also the creator of Felicity. People are worrying that it's going to be Felicity in space.
Ambient noise world tours - soundtransit.nl
There is this funny little website that lets you create an ambient audio tour of the world. You choose a starting and ending destination, specify the number of stop overs, and then it creates you an mp3 file. A nice idea.
You'll find it at soundtransit.nl
April 20, 2006
What Famous Leader am I? Einstein, apparently
April 11, 2006
Nintendo DS' Brain Age to make brain "brainier"
QJ.NET - Nintendo DS - 24/7 Coverage of the Latest Nintendo DS News - Nintendo DS' Brain Age to make brain "brainier"
Nintendo is about to evolutionize gaming. Brain Age, a DS game borne on the research of Ryuta Kawashima, is set to develop the IQBrain Age (what does IQ stand for again?) of the player (now parents wil surely love this! You wish). Japanese-neuroscientist Kawashima has theorized that rapid activity by the brain thru simple yet continuous problems is better than concentrating on a single, complex feat. Even better than, let's say, reading a book (Parents: What a letdown...).
Applying that principle, Brain Age was created. The game includes nine different tests, ranging from absurdly basic questions to insanely tricky ones. Simple math problems are a norm but from time to time, a real fiend-of-a-task pops up, like when it flashes a grid of numbers for one second, then hides the digits, you are then to place them back in their former position in the grid, in ascending order. After the game is played, the game will then determine your "brain age"; 20 is the best you can have, because that is supposedly the age the brain is at its best, (I doubt that, cause I'm 20, uhm, nevermind). Ironically, as you play the game longer -- which means as you grow older -- your brain age gets younger, now I have a gift for my botox-loving aunt.
When this, and Brain Train for DS, comes out in Australia in June it would be fun to run a little experiment with an appropriate sample size and an appropriate measure of improvement.
PS. According to Dr K, brains are at their fastest at aproximately 25, not 20.
April 09, 2006
red eye
The fastest and easiest and best red eye removal technique i've yet to find.
Photoshop Tutorial - Red Eye Reduction - Remove Red Eye | PhotoshopSupport.com
April 04, 2006
I love mathtype
Have I ever told you how much I love the internet? With in minutes of having a problem, the internet had solved it.
I was realising the difficulty of doing my stats assignment, and a quick google turned up this absolute gem of an application. It's for writing up mathmatical notation and it intergrates with Word and everything:
There's a windows version too.
It's really fun to use, It creates really beautiful notation, and it's geeky. What more could you want?
The free 30 day trial should be just enough to get me through this assignment, but i'm thinking it will probably be worth buying. However, if anyone out there knows of any other good similar software, can you point me to it?
April 03, 2006
nerds fc
Nerds FCEvery Friday from April 14th at 7:30pm on SBS TV
What happens when you give 14 self-confessed nerds three months of intensive and professional football training and then have them play a leading national league team?
Elite coach Andy Harper takes 14 self-confessed nerds into the grueling world of professional football and heads up the transformation of the boys whose usual obsessions are more circuit boards, naval history and robotics than football. The question that is asked at the start of this hilarious and warm-hearted series is: can three months of intense training prepare these 14 young men, all complete novices, to compete against all-star team?
March 26, 2006
Free Harvard lectures
I just discovered that Harvard has the video of some of their lectures available online. In particular i discovered the video for an entire course on Positive Psychology, something i've been interested in for a few months now.
I've got plenty of my own lectures to go to, but i'm going to have to watch these. The lecturer, from what i've watched so far seems like a very good speaker.
I find it amazing, that anyone around the world can now virtualy attend Harvard for free. The internet rocks.
Streaming lecture videos from Harvard's positive psychology course
I want to go to Harvard.
subvocal speech recognition
This caught my attention because we were talking about subvocalisation in cog psych the other day. One of my big problems with speech recognition has been that everyone can hear what you're typing. Subvocal recognition would be very handy.
The Silent Speaker - Forbes.comNASA researchers can hear what you're saying, even when you don't make a sound.
In space, no one can hear you scream. Use a cell phone on a crowded commuter train and everyone can.Charles Jorgensen is working to solve both problems, using an uncanny technology called subvocal speech recognition. Jorgensen demonstrates it at his offices at NASA's Ames Research Laboratory in Mountain View, Calif. He attaches a set of electrodes to the skin of his throat and, without his opening his mouth or uttering a sound, his words are recognized and begin appearing on a computer screen. The Ames lab has already used subvocal commands to drive a car around a virtual city in a computer simulation and to Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) the Web using nothing but unuttered search terms and commands. Jorgensen sees abundant applications for his technology where audible speech is impossible: for astronauts, underwater Navy Seals, fighter pilots and emergency workers charging into loud, harsh environments.
March 22, 2006
Keating the opera on CD
Earlier, I mentioned that I went and saw a show called Keating! - a musical satire of the Keating era. It was an affectionate but hillarious portrait of Keating.
Well, the CD just became available, so if anyone saw the show, you might want to order it.
I'm listening to it now. It's fantastic. It was recorded at the Sydney Opera House during their Sydney season.
Dad is obsessed with it too. He's adopted the song "Ruler of the land" as his personal anthem.
A great example of what live performance could be if it stripped back and just engaged people simply.
I want the sleeptracker watch
This looks really useful. I really want one. Has anyone seen one in shops around Melbourne?
SLEEPTRACKERThe revolutionary new SLEEPTRACKER� monitors your body and continuously looks for your best possible waking times. SLEEPTRACKER� wakes you up at just the right moment - during a window of time that YOU set. Imagine not feeling tired in the morning and getting a few extra minutes out of your day. Now it's possible with SLEEPTRACKER�.
Worn like an everyday watch, SLEEPTRACKER� is ideal for anyone who wants to wake up alert and ready to start the day, such as frequent travelers across time zones, business people looking for an extra edge, students with fluctuating schedules, or busy moms who need to wake up easily.
March 11, 2006
How to Make a Decision Using a Quantitative Scoring System
WikiHow has an article suggesting a method for making decisions quantitatively. It reminds me a bit of my excel decision making algorithm.
How to Make a Decision Using a Quantitative Scoring System - WikiHow1. Write the question you’re trying to decide, e.g. "Which car should I buy?"
2. Write up to five must-have qualities (e.g. Mileage, style, size, etc.) using too few qualities will not provide an accurate depiction of the item. If you have more than five qualities, the value of the score can get diluted, so think hard about what really matters to you. Leave the nice-to-have qualities aside, or you might get distracted and make a decision based on unimportant factors. Make sure the qualities are non-overlapping (e.g., mileage, purchase price, expected resale value, and reliability are all "cost of ownership" issues) otherwise you essentially double-count the same underlying attribute.
3. Rate the importance of each of these qualities on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of how important each is to you (e.g. if reliability is far more important than anything, it gets a 10, if mileage is the second most important but really not nearly as important as reliability you might give it a 5 or 6, and so on).
4. List your options (e.g. Nissan Sentra, VW Jetta, etc.).
5. Provide a score on a scale of 1 to 10 for each quality you put down for that option. Do this for all options you put down (e.g. if the Sentra gets 25 MPG, and you think that is pretty good, give it a 7, and if a hybrid gets 35 MPG, give it a 9). This is a subjective scale, so it’s up to you to score it as honestly as possible to make the best decision by the end of this.
6. Compute scores for each option by multiplying the quality score you gave your option with your target quality score, the one you created in Step 3 (e.g. Nissan Sentra’s MPG rating is 56: 8 [the importance of good MPG, to you] x 7 [how well you think this car rates in that area]). Do this for all qualities listed in all your separate options.
7. Sum up the scores for each quality for a total score for that option. Do this separately for all options you listed.
8. Compute the "perfect score" by creating an option that gets all tens.
9. Divide each option’s total score by the "perfect score" and multiply by 100 to give you a simple 1-100% total. The option with the highest percentile score (compared to perfection) is your best choice.
However, by the time you go through all these steps, you may have been killed by a bear.
Let it go, George, let it go
George Lucas is planning a couple of Star Wars TV series. It can only mean disaster.
Lucas TV - Slice of SciFiThe Lucas foray into television is officially slated for a 2007 debut.
First up will be the fully computer animated Star Wars series set during the Clone Wars. The animation tests have begun, scripts are being approved with pre-production at high speed.
George's second entry is an untitled live-action weekly series of 1-hour episodes. The timeline for this seris is between the movie episodes III (Revenge of the Sith) and IV (A New Hope). 100 shows have already been ordered up but production and official airdates for the live action program were still in limbo at press time.
March 02, 2006
CFS linked to Glandular fever
Just saw this on the ABC website. Must remember to ask Dr Greg what he thinks about it, as I know he researches CFS
Brain injury linked to chronic fatigue. 02/03/2006. ABC News OnlineNew research into chronic fatigue syndrome suggests that it may be caused by temporary brain injuries resulting from a bout of glandular fever.
Australian scientists have monitored the health of people infected with the Epstein-Barr virus, which causes glandular fever.
February 27, 2006
It was a fake ipod
Earlier this week I posted an image of what was thought to be a new ipod or tablet mac. Watch this amazing video, demonstrating how the fake image was created
fake.mov (video/quicktime Object)
It's hillarious, and makes me feel like a real sucker.
February 23, 2006
Google invents googlepages
Just saw this story and went a tried it out. It's a fantastic service. It walks all over Apple's iWeb application.
http://pages.google.com/