Continued evolution of homo sapiens sapiens (that’s us!)

I seem to only be able to manage a post a week, or at least to post in flurries on weekends, so I might as well make my posts count.  I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the state of evolution within the human species, where it almost seems as though we may have stalled in our own evolutionary tracks, because we’ve reached the pinnacle of intellect where we have gained a mastery over the dark art of “science”, and therefore can overcome most otherwise evolutionary influences like predators or environmental hazards usually within a lifetime or two, thus short-circuiting the whole natural selection process.  After thinking a good deal more about it, I’m convinced that evolution is still happening, but its effects, like a river that’s been dammed, will simply route around the dampening effort.

As an example, Clifton has informed me that his unborn son (who is, admittedly, possibly fictitious, as Clifton’s known for the “long con”) is suspected to have spina bifida, which is a very common congenital defect wherein the baby’s neural tube, what will become the spinal column, and what protects the spinal cord ultimately, fails to fully form.  This condition affects one out of a thousand babies in North America.  Most originally-explored environmental links to its cause have proven spurious at best, and there’s a mounting pile of evidence suggesting that the condition is genetic, with a specific gene suspected as being responsible should that particular gene mutate in a certain way.

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Continued evolution of homo sapiens sapiens (that’s us!)
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Open source really and truly rocks.

If you didn’t believe me before, check this out.  This was done with Blender, which was a commercial app until 2002 when the company who created it went under.  They then offered anyone to buy the source code, and the open source community ponied up — to the tune of $147,000 US.  Six years later, the code is improved to the point where it can create stuff like this.  And I dare you to tell me this is any less than Pixar quality.

Big Buck Bunny from Blender Foundation on Vimeo.

Open source really and truly rocks.

Uh, guys. It’s a cracker.

You may or may not have seen this already.  It’s been several days since this particular outrage hit the net, but I just hadn’t gotten around to writing about it until now.

Recently, a student by the name of Webster Cook at the University of Central Florida attended a Catholic mass on campus.  The man was evidently not a Catholic himself, and attended to see what his tuition money was paying for (as the university was allocating $40,000 a year to this on-campus church).

In either case, when given the Eucharist, which is a small yeast-free cracker that the priest is supposedly capable of “transsubstantiating” into the body and blood of Christ (yes, the blood too, even though the wine is also supposed to be the blood), simply by casting some sort of magic spell over it at the altar.  Webster did not swallow the cracker, but instead took it out of his mouth and kept it, as a keepsake I suppose.

This then caused an uproar in the Catholic community the likes of which no sane person is capable.

Continue reading “Uh, guys. It’s a cracker.”

Uh, guys. It’s a cracker.

Games that don’t suck

It’s been a while since I’ve played a game that’s really drawn me in.  For a while I played Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and, despite its endless content (with downloadable plugins and content created by the user community), sandbox world style gameplay, and certain absolutely brilliant modifications that alter even how the game engine itself works, I eventually lost interest.  It might have something to do with my being such a completist that I spent most of my time playing every single side quest and getting every single item and upgrade I could, ignoring the main plotline.  That’s probably my biggest problem with sandbox games — they don’t hold my attention for long enough for me to actually get around to completing the plot.  For instance, despite greatly enjoying the series, I’ve never completed a Grand Theft Auto game.

(way more below the fold…)

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Games that don’t suck

Of shells and memories triggered by strange mp3s

I did a lot of thinking, as is my particular modus operandi, while driving to and from one of my company’s sites yesterday, and committed to writing a nice big blog post about it once I got home.  I didn’t do so immediately, but at least I’m doing it now.  But first, some background is necessary as to what triggered all this.

Continue reading “Of shells and memories triggered by strange mp3s”

Of shells and memories triggered by strange mp3s