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Spider-Man 2 succeeds in many ways that I did not expect, justifying my decision to watch the midnight showing and stay up past 4:00am to write a small review for my web site!

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Spider-Man 2. A sequel is supposed to dwell in the shadow of its predecessor, but this one does not. Spidey is beaten and humbled -- by enemies, friends, the public, and himself -- and yet he still comes across as one of the most realistic heroes imaginable ... not for shooting spider webs out of wrists, but for the human element. Above all else and beneath the mask, Spider-Man is Peter Parker, an emotional, rational being like the rest of us. He has decisions to make, and whether they make sense or even matter to anyone else, they matter to Peter Parker.

The key to this film's success, aside from Tobey Maguire's excellent portrayal of a hero torn among many difficult choices, is Sam Raimi's ability to open and close numerous plot elements while maintaining a coherent and cohesive plot. The movie takes its sweet time to inform you of what has changed, who is important, and why it is all so ... before we are rushed through an action-packed, emotional frenzy that climaxes with one of the most satisfying endings I have ever enjoyed for what I would normally describe as an entertainment film (as opposed to being a serious film).

Every few years, it seems, a new climate-change scare is publicized in order to keep the parade of emissions regulations rolling along. The scare is eventually debunked, but the debunking is never as widely disseminated as the original tale of woe. The end result is an erroneous public perception that, much like Saddam's supposed connection to 9/11, drives public policy toward a particular outcome, no matter what the real science suggests. (Draw your own conclusion.)

When I inadvertently kicked the habit in mid-August, I wondered why, so I looked up a few things. I found an article that explained that the number one reason why people suffer caffeine withdrawal symptoms is their awareness of the withdrawal. I found this particularly interesting because I did not intentionally stop consuming caffeine; rather, there was none around, and I was so busy doing other things that I had no time to think about chasing down some caffeine.

Honestly, I expected a massive headache (because I always got them within 24 hours of my last dose of caffeine), but this time none came. After a week had passed I decided that I would just avoid the stuff, and I have ever since.

I have read elsewhere that all painful symptoms of caffeine withdrawal pass within 48 hours, and all that's left after that is fatigue as the body adjusts to working for itself without the aid of the stimulant. So, best of luck to you!

p.s.-- In retrospect, quitting was a good idea. I have since been diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse, and caffeine is a significant no-no for that condition. I should have had many episodes before now with as much as I consumed, and I'm lucky that I haven't suffered any major pains before now. Oh well.

I had posted a story on Kurzweil that apparently wasn't as interesting as this one, but I think it still is worth mentioning. It's about an article he wrote in which he predicts that our biological lives will be lived mostly within a Matrix-like virtuality by 2050. An intriguing article, but I ultimately disagreed, citing that the global economy is too labor-intensive to allow the transition.

From definitions section the Official Rules of Major League Baseball:

The Strike Zone is that area over home plate, the upper limit of which is a horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants, and the lower level is a line at the hallow beneath the knee cap. The Strike Zone shall be determined from the batter's stance as the batter is prepared to swing at a pitched ball.

The rule is constructed to allow hitters to adjust their stance according to their distance from the plate. A hitter who likes pitches closer to him can stand closer to the plate; a hitter who likes to extend to hit the ball can stand further from the plate. The point, though, is that the strike zone is over the plate, not a particular distance from the hitter.

The problem with umpires is that they often will call an outside pitch a strike if a player is standing close to the plate, or an inside pitch a strike if a player is standing in the back of the batter's box. This is essentially trashing the intent of the rule.

Umpires need to call strikes when the ball is over the plate. Better yet, umpires should be kept off the field and used only to remove unruly players and to make judgment calls (using instant replay and such) on very close plays. Otherwise, take advantage of technology and get umpires out of the way.

Of course, I like umpires there. So maybe there is a happy medium here. If umpires start calling strikes as they should be called, they can stay. :-)

Of course, I'm not linked to very much because, despite my site's static position on the web, I haven't tried to advertise or commercialize in the least.

Okay, so mine's a bad example -- it's a personal blog. But hybrids are out there...

1. The Political Ideal: Equality vs. Inequality, which advocates celebration of inequality (diversity)
2. Conflicts of Interests, which contrasts individualism and collectivism

From an article on my web site that I wrote sometime last year:

I do not believe in equality; I believe in equity. That is to say, I do not believe in reducing everyone to likeness by methods of preferentialism or favoritism. There are two primary reasons for this: (1) such treatment would violate the rules of natural law, which serve as a cornerstone of my personal philosophy of life; (2) equality would make life absolutely boring and pointless. If we could all be reduced to a single common denominator, we would no longer be human, but back to the status of primates, all thinking alike and reacting the same in every situation. The notion of equality should therefore be thrown out in favor of equity, which is the practice of fair and impartial judgement and will. Insofar as merit is not concerned, no individual shall receive any treatment different from any other.

1. The Political Ideal: Equality vs. Inequality, which advocates celebration of inequality (diversity)
2. Conflicts of Interests, which contrasts individualism and collectivism

From an article on my web site that I wrote sometime last year:

I do not believe in equality; I believe in equity. That is to say, I do not believe in reducing everyone to likeness by methods of preferentialism or favoritism. There are two primary reasons for this: (1) such treatment would violate the rules of natural law, which serve as a cornerstone of my personal philosophy of life; (2) equality would make life absolutely boring and pointless. If we could all be reduced to a single common denominator, we would no longer be human, but back to the status of primates, all thinking alike and reacting the same in every situation. The notion of equality should therefore be thrown out in favor of equity, which is the practice of fair and impartial judgement and will. Insofar as merit is not concerned, no individual shall receive any treatment different from any other.

I had a few things to say about this on my website about six hours ago. I more or less highlighted the issue, linked to it, and stressed that all (well, most) tax proposals should be submitted to popular vote before taking effect.

However, I posted my comments on the issue hours ago, and I would like to place them here for the sake of, um, conversation in a more communal setting than a personal weblog:

The beginning of the end of life as we know it is approaching. "Israeli scientists have built a DNA computer so tiny that a trillion of them could fit in a test tube and perform a billion operations per second with 99.8% accuracy." 99.8% accuracy equates to 499 accurate out of 500 total, or 1 error per 500 chances. With one billion operations per second, that's two million errors per second. So not only are we thrilled for this great new science, but we are thrilled at something that can potentially - at best - make only two million (2,000,000!) errors per second! In a test tube!

Their presupposition is that DNA computers have the potential to be much faster and to store much more data: "DNA can hold more information in a cubic centimeter than a trillion CDs...giving it massive memory capability that scientists are only just beginning to tap into." Professor Ehud Shapiro adds,

The living cell contains incredible molecular machines that manipulate information-encoding molecules such as DNA and RNA in ways that are fundamentally very similar to computation...Since we don't know how to effectively modify these machines or create new ones just yet, the trick is to find naturally existing machines that, when combined, can be steered to actually compute.

What do I think? I think that such technology in the wrong hands will lead to the manipulation of human DNA and potentially all new forms of crime, terrorism, etc. Of course, in the right hands, this developing technology has enormous potential. My comment about "two million errors per second" was more in jest than anything; no technology is perfect upon its initial realization.

Remember the movie Johnny Mnemonic in which Keanu Reeves is a data courier using his brain as a storage device? The Terminator also comes to mind, having a computer chip for a heart and futuristic storage devices for a brain. I like the idea of upgradable memory that never fails me, but what computer device is absolutely perfect? My verdict: I don't like it. Despite the obvious advantages, there are too many wildcards and unknowns at this point.

There are two "levels" for the concerns of this argument. The first is human thought. The second is that which exceeds human thought, that which drives the universe - this empirical nature of it all, as you explained.

On our level, we make the choices, because we know not of our causality. On a higher level, it is all decided for us by the natural, biological, and highly complex conditions which have created all that we are and will be and will do.

I wrote something very similar to what you wrote on my weblog a couple days ago.

I've written too much on this already this morning, but a lot of the details in this post do not match with the several reports I've read, and I've posted the facts from those results to my web site, crash.neotope.com, along with several links to news sites that are actually letting me in...

I'm so thrilled!

This makes the fourth Quake that I won't play!

Not that Quake isn't worth it, but I have to be really selective of my games to fit them into a schedule involving work, school, family obligations, a girlfriend, and other friends... Not to mention my precious baby and my recently acquired Gran Turismo 3.

Quake just isn't in my past our future. Never touched any of them.

Privacy vs. Piracy, Napster and More

If you are to actually read what I have to say, start with the bottom (the older comments; each is labeled by a header/separator/title thingy. I don't think that what I said would be of any particular use, but if it is, I'd love it if someone told me. :-)

Also, the rest of my writings on a variety of other matters can be found here, so feel free to peruse. Don't feel obligated.

Privacy vs. Piracy, Napster and More

If you are to actually read what I have to say, start with the bottom (the older comments; each is labeled by a header/separator/title thingy. I don't think that what I said would be of any particular use, but if it is, I'd love it if someone told me. :-)

Also, the rest of my writings on a variety of other matters can be found here, so feel free to peruse. Don't feel obligated.

Well, you [insert expletives here], if I wasn't have a problem with your [expletive] service, or had wanted to send you a [expletive] email, do you think I would have tried to call the tech support line?

So, @home users, this is your warning. If you ever have a problem with the service, there is no one on the other end to talk to. Or, if there is, I'd certainly like to know why you're getting service and I'm not. (Perhaps it's just that the local service sucks.) Either way, all I wanted was a gateway address, a subnet address, and a few other small bits of similar information to install a router, and I couldn't even get in touch with a human voice.

So, slashdot, I'll ask my question here. My father bought a Linksys router thinking that he could use it to network his three computers so that each could be online at any time without having to pay @home for extra cable lines for each machine for an additional montly fee. I'm not familiar with routers, but I have gotten so far as to get everything hooked up right. So anyone want to help? Feel free to send me an email me if you have any good suggestions or witty comments to make. :)

I also submitted this article, so I can't really think of much to say that wouldn't be duplicating the thoughts of he who's submission was not rejected. I guess I can just direct you to my site, or more specifically to the page on my site dedicated to the seemingly endless Napster Debate.

I also submitted this article, so I can't really think of much to say that wouldn't be duplicating the thoughts of he who's submission was not rejected. I guess I can just direct you to my site, or more specifically to the page on my site dedicated to the seemingly endless Napster Debate.

(Think virtual reality... better yet, don't.)

crash.neotope.com

Judging that these people have never seen a computer before. Or atleast the fact that maybe they have seen a computer and have never used them. What good is this computer boat going to do? The boat will come in and teach a limited number of people for a limited amount of time. Then it will go off to another port. It seems that this money could be used in other ways to help out the IT movement in this country. I could see possibly if the boat had more computers then 20. That seems like such a small number. There has to be more then 20 students in each port of call. So basically a limited number of students would be getting selected to learn more about computers and the internet. Also how would these students be selected? A lot of times richer students seem to have more advantages in poorer countries so maybe the rich students would have access to learning more about the computers. This seems like a supposed good idea but in the long run it seems like it will waste a lot of money and only see meak results. I guess it would be hard to keep up with Slashdot if you had to wait for the internet boat to roll on into port. Imagine the amounts of spam at your hotmail account using this system :) ->neotope
www.neotope.com
>neotope