Physicists propose idea for "Time Teleportation"

For the past several weeks I've been telling my filmmaking partner "Weird" Ed about Primer: the indie sci-fi film from a few years ago and positivalutely the most genius movie about time travel that I've ever had the pleasure of watching.

Well, it turns out that filmmaker Shane Carruth might be on to something...

Two physicists at the University of Queensland in Australia have published their theory on the concept of "time teleportation". If you're too lazy to read the write-up on the Popular Science website, the gist of it is that Einstein's "spooky action" not only operates across distances of space but also across measures of time!

Whoa.

Okay well if nothing else, maybe this'll entice you as well to watch Primer, 'cuz that movie sure does a much better job at trying to make sense of this than I can at the moment.

'Course it also goes without saying that there are some scientists who prefer a more "brute-force" assault on the space-time continuum...

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Blizzard stops, then allows "World of StarCraft" mod

Now this could be a story about copyright issues that may wind up having a very happy ending...

It all starts with one Ryan Winzen, a 25-year old artist who claims to have no inclination toward video game programming but who has been creating custom maps for Blizzard's Warcraft and StarCraft games since he was 13.

A few days ago Ryan sent shockwaves across the Intertubes when he went public with a lil' project that he's been working on...

Yup, "World of StarCraft"! Ryan is using the in-game editor and assets to create a StarCraft II mod that is... well, World of StarCraft. And it's exactly what you're thinking it is: a massively multiplayer online game that does for StarCraft what Blizzard's mega-popular World of Warcraft has done for the company's other well-known franchise.

Remember: Ryan used the StarCraft II editor and the game's own assets to pull this off. Which is something that everyone thought was what Blizzard allowed... nay, encouraged from its player base.

There was a proof of concept video that Ryan posted on YouTube. I didn't get a chance to see it but the blogosphere is abuzz about how crazy awesome Ryan's skillz are!

Unfortunately, it wasn't online for long before Blizzard's parent company Activision had it taken down and hit Ryan with a cease and desist order! But by then the word was on the street about the World of StarCraft mod. And... well... it fast turned into a PR problem for Activision.

So here's the good news: Blizzard has announced that it has no intention of halting Ryan from working on World of StarCraft. The company clarified that it does encourage the StarCraft player community to use the games' editors to express themselves creatively. And not only that, but for his daring and initiative Ryan Winzen has been invited to visit the Blizzard campus and meet the development staff! Ryan has also apparently been approached by another video game company that has expressed interested in working with him (read that as: "potential career opportunity").

Very neat outcome for Ryan. Here's hoping that he goes far :-)

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Blackbeard's sword? Could be...

It's seen better days (in fact it had to be reconstructed from its separate pieces for this photo) but this gold-gilded sword hilt recently recovered from the site of the Queen Anne's Revenge off the coast of North Carolina is being thought of as possibly belonging to Captain Edward Morgan Teach... more infamously known as Blackbeard the Pirate.

If so, it's probably not the weapon that Blackbeard would have primarily used in combat (likely not even in his final duel with Captain Maynard). Pirates and the like preferred blades with more protection for the handle. However the conspicuous hole in the hilt suggests a chain guard. Whatever the case might be however, it is a rich and handsome weapon: just the sort that one could imagine being carried by Blackbeard.

National Geographic's website has more photos of this sword handle. I'm wondering if it'll go on display in Raleigh anytime soon. If so, I'll have to go check it out :-)

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It's 2011's first pic of Lauryn!

At the moment I'm... working... through getting Part 2 of the Being Bipolar series finished (read Part 1 here if you haven't already). Not only that but also practicing my lines for Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's production of Gypsy. Along with a few other "irons in the fire" so to speak.

So to make up for a dearth of new material these past few days, here is something that this blog literally gets scores of e-mails from around the world about: a new picture of my ravishingly beautiful cousin LAURYN! Okay she's not only beautiful, but she's also amazingly sweet, terrifically smart, and a Christian with a deep and wonderful faith (who also encourages me in my own relationship with God).

So since some of you have asked for another one, almost to the point of offering money for it, here is a new Lauryn photo...

I'll try to post at least one new image of her every month! Just remember guys: she is taken already. You get past her beau, and you'll have to get through me. And if you get through me (fat chance though) you've got to get through her father, Bob.

And you wouldn't like Bob when he's angry :-P

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Monsignor Charles Pope contemplates "the Strength and Resilience of the Human Person"

In the wake of last week's tragic incident in Tuscon there have been reams of pages written about human nature, with one spin or another on the subject.

I haven't read anything that is as poignant and beautiful as what Monsignor Charles Pope - pastor of Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian - has composed on his blog hosted by the Archdiocese of Washington.

Here's an excerpt "Life is Worth Living: On the Strength and Resilience of the Human Person"...

One of the rights our modern age demands is the right to declare that certain lives are not worth living. In utero testing sometimes reveals the possibility or even the certainty of birth defects. Abortion is often recommended to mothers who carry "defective" children and sometimes that recommendation becomes pressure. It is said that almost 90% of families who receive a poor pre-natal diagnosis choose to abort.

And yet there are so many stories of people who have overcome enormous obstacles and who live full and rich lives. Some are missing limbs, others are blind, still others struggle with disease. Some have overcome poverty and injustice, others paralyzing accidents or great tragedies. And they are living witnesses to us that we ought never be the judge of what lives are worthwhile and what lives are “not worth” living. It is true that none of us would wish to be born missing limbs, or blind or in poverty, or with chronic conditions. But we must reverence those who are, learn to appreciate their gifts, and summon them to courage and greatness.

We must declare with great certitude that there is no such thing as a life not worth living. We say this not as some politically correct slogan but rather with firm conviction that every human life is willed by God. We were willed before we were made for the Scriptures say, "Before I ever formed you in the womb I knew and I appointed you..." (Jer 1:4). None of us is an accident nor are our gifts and apparent deficits mistakes. We exist as we are, the way we are for a purpose, a purpose for us and for others. We all have an irreplaceable role in God's kingdom and show forth aspect of His glory uniquely. Every human life is intended and is worth living because God says so by the very fact that we exist.

It's well worth reading in its entirety. Not only because of the good padre's own articulation but also for the videos he has included demonstrating several individuals who have triumphed in spite of the physical obstacles they were born with.

(Big tip o' the hat to Mike Casteel for this terrific find!)

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It's a first for The Knight Shift! Guest blogger Simon Burdett reviews FALLOUT: NEW VEGAS!

I can just hear it now: "Chris you've gotten lazy with your blog! It took seven years but you're finally all tapped out!"

Well the fact of the matter is, Simon Burdett from Great Britain has been a good friend of this blog for some time now and it was all his idea that perhaps I could allow "special guest stars" to write for The Knight Shift every now and then. And the more I thought about his idea... the more I liked it! Who knows: this might be the first of many guest writers who'll be finding an audience here. And if it spins attention to their individual talents and perspectives well... that's the kind of thing that I enjoy being able to do for others :-)

So for his first submission, Simon has turned in his review of Fallout: New Vegas. The game came out a few months ago in October. Now, I loved loved LOVED its predecessor Fallout 3 (enough to have spent 140 hours or so on it but hey, I was determined to visit all of the Washington D.C. area :-P) but I've only played Fallout: New Vegas for an hour or so. Mostly it's 'cuz I've been busy with other stuff but also because Fallout: New Vegas in short order has become legendary for some of the most whacked programming bugs in video game history. Bugs like this one that's happened to many players at the very beginning of the game...

Linda Blair, eat your heart out.

Awright then, 'nuff from me. Here is Simon with his review of Fallout: New Vegas!

Sminkie's Scrapbook
January 2011

Bet on disappointment

Towards the end of last year I spent some considerable time playing Fallout: New Vegas - the highly anticipated follow up to Fallout 3.

What a frustrating experience it was.

Fallout: New Vegas is set in the Mojave Desert where you are a courier shot in the head whilst in transit. You (obviously but simultaneously absurdly) survive and awaken in the town of Goodsprings and your quest for revenge begins.

First off, this is spoiler free - I'm not going to delve into the main quest or the side quests as my gripes with this game don't actually revolve around the writing of the game.

I bought Fallout: New Vegas purely on the back of Fallout 3. I was a late comer to the Fallout series and Bethesda's Fallout 3 was my first taste of the American Wastelands and was my first role playing adventure I had played in years.

Fallout 3 was a regular fixture on my PS3 from 2008 up until October 2010 such was and still its appeal. Despite having completed the Fallout 3 on several occasions it didn't deter me from starting afresh. I found incredible longevity in Fallout 3.

But that's Fallout 3.

Fallout: New Vegas was lauded widely as being an incredible game but I beg to differ. I think reviewers praising it lost sight of the fact that they were essentially still playing Fallout 3.

I will concede however that the writing in this game on the whole is better than Fallout 3 and there are some excellent additions in this game (the companion wheel, some nice new weapons and the impact of wearing faction armour on other factions) that ought to be imported into Fallout 4.

I simply entitle my gripes with Fallout: New Vegas...

Obsidian. Why?!?

Havoc: Fallout: New Vegas uses the same engine as Fallout 3 which was buggy as hell. It was a considerable source of frustration for the gameplayer when the game would freeze during VATS combat or as you were running across the map. Its simply ridiculous that Fallout: New Vegas should be WORSE for bugs.

Obsidian's New guns and apparel: There are some nice weapons and apparel to choose from but there are some truly shocking examples of rushed production too. The highly desirable Ranger Veteran armour as shown on the box-art is a dreadful disappointment. Clipping issues when carrying rifles ruin its allure. The helmet optics seen in the demo/intro don't appear in the game. The armour offers no additional benefits either. The selling point during its teaser trailer days was this armour. Yet you may as well be dressed as Ronald McDonald for all the good its worth. Granted, this is a mere aesthetic grumble but it suggests the team designing the armour didn't capture its appeal from the intro. Some of the new guns have awful graphics, e.g. the 9mm sub machine gun and .357 Magnum in particular beggars belief. Its just not good enough for a next gen console.

The Environment: For the most part the Mojave wasteland is well laid out. The map is clearly smaller than Fallout 3 but on first glance it only seems slightly smaller. The four corners of the map though are swathed by poor layout and actual design, yet I consider the most unforgivable environmental flaw the inexplicably inaccessible terrain in some quadrants of the map. It feels very annoyingly contrived that some destinations are only accessible through a designated route.

Missing content: Specifically, The curious case of the BoS abandoned bunker. Perhaps this has been addressed or is being addressed but when I played it, I struggled to understand why this location was locked out of the game.

Changes to gameplay: XP. Regardless of difficulty the XP is always the same - playing on very hard difficulty no-longer feels rewarding. Indeed playing on very hard is tantamount to insanity if you're building a melee or unarmed character. Obsidian wanted to make Fallout: New Vegas more challenging, clearly seeing the gradual increase in potency of the bestiary a mistake in Fallout 3, so right from level 1 apex predators roam the wasteland. Its sheer folly attempting to fight Cazadors, Giant Radscorpions or even Deathclaws at early levels armed only with a 9mm pistol (and a wing and a prayer) and utterly ridiculous. The most obvious route to New Vegas places many apex predators in your way. Some may think this is clever. I consider this lazy programming coercing the gamer into playing the game the programmer's way.

The Casinos: Ok, a slight quibble but the main drag of New Vegas has 4 casinos and of which one isn't operational. For a game called "New Vegas", there is paucity to its focal point.

Fallout: New Vegas for all its good points is Fallout 3 but minus the charm. When I read Fallout: New Vegas was what Fallout 3 was meant to be I appreciated what Bethesda had done with Fallout 3 so much more.

My lasting impression of Fallout: New Vegas is of a rushed venture. It made some nice tweaks but ruined character development, idiotic decisions such as reducing perks and amount of skill points accrued per intelligence quota destroyed the fun in leveling up.

Summing up:
A decent storyline butchered by a poor development team. Bethesda can't develop Fallout 4 soon enough.

God (and Chris) willing see you again in February!

I'm still looking forward to getting more into Fallout: New Vegas, but what Simon is reporting has been echoed by a lot of people. Let's hope that Bethesda and Obsidian get on the ball and patch things up and soon.

And thanks for the guest post Simon! Looking forward to reading more from ya :-)

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Death Star Cookie Jar

Yet another entry to be filed under "Things We Don't Really Need But Are Badly Lusting For"...

Available exclusively through the Official Star Wars Website, for $49.99 you can be the proud owner of the Death Star Cookie Jar! According to the product description...

The exclusive Death Star cookie jar is built to hold an Imperial army of your favorite cookies, and can even double as a festive ice cooler or candy bowl at your next Star Wars soiree. Made of sculpted ceramic with great detail and features a flat base to keep your Death Star from rolling off the counter. Oh, and no exposed thermal exhaust ports for hungry young rebels.

I might have to get this for Dad, to go along with the Darth Vader spatula that I got him for Christmas :-)

(Hat tip to Phillip Arthur for the great find!)

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Is America headed to bankruptcy?

Well, it's more than a fair question. Yesterday I was reading how the Federal Reserve might soon be in need of a "bailout". More than anything else I've heard in recent months, that raised a honkin' big red flag. But then, I've been thinking for awhile now that conditions are ripe in this country for hyperinflation.

A good friend of mine, James S. Hodges - writer, Baptist minister, and all-around astute thinkin' dude - published an essay today about the possibility of the United States going totally broke this year. And as with all such things, I'm compelled to lean y'all's attention toward it...

Recently there have been disturbing reports on various news outlets about the rise of food and oil prices. Now the housing market also appears to be collapsing once again. The floods in Australia is said to affect the meat market due to cattle being lost that some American companies purchase from. Also the price of corn and rice is said to be on the rise as a result of not so good harvests. And on a side note, should we be surprised since corn is used to make ethanol as we see the increase of ethanol placed in our fuel supply?

To go even further on this matter, our dollar is continuously being devalued by the U.S. government printing more paper. They got by with it for a long time since the foreign governments always recognized the dollar as the standard exchange of currency since World War II. Oil, for example, was always purchased with dollars by other countries instead of their own currency. But it is even more disturbing that in restaurants and stores in foreign countries are now placing signs on their front doors no longer accepting the American dollar.

Hit here for more of James' observations. One of the more disturbing things that he makes note of is that American currency is being brazenly ignored in international markets as a form of payment.

But, can ya blame other countries for that?

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Stumbling toward GYPSY

Tonight we had the first "stumble-through" of Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's production of Gypsy. A stumble-through, I learned tonight, is an extreme "rough cut" of the show. Which I assume is like what the preview performances of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark have been about so far... but without all the injuries.

So since getting involved with community theatre three years ago I have been, in chronological order: a biblical patriarch, an undertaker, a pirate, a firefighter, a Siamese court eunuch, a plainclothes detective, a firefighter again (both times for The Best Christmas Pageant Ever)...

...but only tonight did I discover that of the two roles that I'm playing in Gypsy, that the part of Cigar is, for all intents and purposes, the manager of a strip club.

(Somebody tell me HOW is it that we can do a show like this but we CAN'T mount a production of Sweeney Todd...?!?)

And if you come you're gonna get to see Yours Truly not only with quite a lot of lines but also being a total sleazebag. And I get to yell most of my lines too! Yes: REAL SCRIPTED LINES!! Which'll be a change from the ad-libbed stuff I've done as Fireman #1 these past two seasons for The Best Christmas Pageant Ever :-)

Well anyhoo, Gypsy is actually quite a decent - and fun - show! Considered one of the greatest musicals ever, Gypsy is based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee and her life during the Great Depression, with particular emphasis on her outrageously overbearing mother: the ultimate showbiz parent!

We'll be doing three performances of Gypsy from February 4th through the 13th. Click here to visit the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's website for more information. And we're looking forward to entertaining you!

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T-shirts at the Tuscon memorial service?

Does anyone else think that this was crass at best and beyond pale at worst?

To the left you will see a few of the 20,000-some "Together We Thrive" t-shirts that were given away free as "souvenirs" - and that's being more charitable than it deserves to be called - at last night's memorial service for victims of this past week's massacre in Tuscon.

I didn't watch it on television but a number of people whose reports I have long come to trust have shared a common sentiment: that last night's event was a meandering mess of narcissistic narcolepsy... with President Barack Obama as the focal point.

(What's the story about this Native American medicine man that I'm hearing so much bad about?)

Free t-shirts for attending a memorial service supposedly held in honor of those who died in an act of violence. I defy anyone to articulate how this was at all appropriate.

And I'm also a mite curious as to who paid for those t-shirts...

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TRON Blu-ray: Worst. Disney. Cover. Art. Ever.

This is just plum lousy...

Hey, I'll buy it. I just pray that I won't need a Mattel Intellivision to watch it on.

If that winds up being the final cover for the Blu-ray release of Tron, I swear that I'll compose one of my own design in Photoshop and use that when I put this movie into my personal library.

Could anyone blame me? Just compare that Blu-ray cover "art" to the original theatrical poster for Tron from 1982...

I suspect that Disney's failure to stand strongly behind the original Tron during the marketing of sequel Tron Legacy will become known as one of the worst commercial tactics in entertainment history. Disney was sitting on a wazoo-load of potential earnings if it had given the original movie some decent respect and linked it to the follow-up. Instead the suits at Disney are acting as if they should be ashamed and embarrassed by Tron.

Hey, Disney execs: you won't look as well in another thirty years or so either, most likely!

But there is some good news: Disney is coming close to announcing a sequel to Tron Legacy, 'cuz the new movie has done well enough at the box office. I might see it again this weekend (taking a friend along who hasn't caught it yet). In the meantime, I'm listening to Daft Punk's score for Tron Legacy: easily one of the best purchases that I've made from iTunes!

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Personality cults do not exist in this dojo

A contented life of liberty is one lived with no concern or regard whatsoever about what either Barack Obama or Sarah Palin did today.

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The most disturbing Super Mario Bros. video you will EVER see

A guy named "petermolyneux2" on YouTube has... well he might have some issues, if his short film "Nintendo: A Sad Story" is any indication. I've watched this three times now, trying to make sense of what exactly I'm looking at. And now I CAN'T GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD!! No sound sleep for me tonight.

No sound sleep for you either, maybe, if you choose to let enter your gray matter this clip that surely must resemble what the 1993 Super Mario Brothers movie would have been had Neil Gaiman written the script...

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God taught me something this weekend

And that being: God often does not show us what challenges He has set before us...

...but He always does prepare us to meet those challenges when we get there. Often in ways that we can't possibly appreciate until we have overcome them.

Am I speaking of my having bipolar disorder and how I am now writing about it on this blog? Somewhat, yes. But in looking back over my life, I now see that there have been many such challenges.

Would I have allowed myself to be confronted with them, had I known of them in advance?

In all honestly... maybe not. I'm not sure that I would have. I know that I wouldn't have endured the bipolar had I know what it would cost me.

I might write about this also: how in retrospect I see that God was moving me, was guiding my path until I was in a place He desired for me to be, irrespective of my own desires.

I may not have liked it. But, He did equip me for when I was brought to that place. To all of those places.

And knowing that and being thankful for that now, is something that I do plan to draw strength from during whatever other challenges He might set before me.

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All that I intend to say about the shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords

I cannot be convinced otherwise: that America will NEVER grow into her fullest potential until her people GIVE UP and GET OVER this fraudulent divide between "conservatism" and "liberalism".

Seriously. "Democrats" vs. "Republicans"? Don't MOST adults grow up past such childish behavior?

In an honorable nation there would have been NO mention at all of politics or labels in the aftermath of what happened in Tuscon, Arizona this weekend. Instead I have watched TOO MANY of us still fixated on "US vs THEM".

What a crock of crap that is!! Some of us seemed even oblivious to the fact that innocent people DIED in this senseless act. And we're supposed to be the most "enlightened" nation on Earth?!

Like %&@# we are!!

I don't care what the victims believed in. I don't care what the assailant believed in. This was a CRIMINAL ACT. It does not require explanation. It does not require understanding.

And it absolutely does not merit exploitation!

And for those who yet insist upon a reason for the tragedy in Tuscon...

It is the same reason as has existed since the dawn of time: imperfect human nature left to its own devices, given to hate and acts of hate... and all too often, hate without any reason at all.

Thoughts and prayers going out to all of those involved. And by "all", I mean that.

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I can't believe that I did this...

Premium cable/satellite channel Showtime had a free trial weekend over the past few days.

So I wound up watching, of all things, the movie Twilight and its immediate sequel New Moon.

Ehhhhh... they were okay, I guess. I still don't think that Edward and his kin are real vampires. I mean: they aren't afraid of daytime, they don't sleep in coffins, they aren't repelled by crucifixes or garlic, they don't have actual fangs...

Those aren't vampires. They are, at best, people with severe eating disorders.

(I still think that Anne Rice will always be the master of vampire fiction. Akasha would have incinerated the entire Cullen clan without batting an eyelash... and we all know it! :-)

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