This episode features yet another… oh, I dunno… shall we kindly call it ‘an invitation for one of those Southern-style pig-f***s’ from Diebold, a strum on the strings of String Theory, and Sweden’s founding of a virtual embassy in a virtual world.
We follow up with another Howling episode of the Game Geek Challeng, and a quick promo, then discuss local game devs and the results they produced, as well as design on a dime… on MARS, that is.
Any comments or suggestions?
Email: colin@bostongeek.com, carl@bostongeek.com
Skype: bostongeek
Voice: 1.617.209.4200
All music composed and recorded by Karl Kornfeld.
What did you say I said?? “suck-aught”? I don’t recall having said that.
No no… Colin said to me, “Except for you saying ’suck’ a lot, you were completely wrong…”
I’m partway through Warped Passages by MIT physicist Lisa Randall. She’s now saying there’s probably five dimensions. Brian Greene talks about ten (or is it eleven?), Michio Kaku said it was originally twenty six, but collapsed down to eleven during the Planck time. Esteemed physicist/surgeon/rock star/race car driver Buckaroo Banzai battled black Lectroids who came to earth from Planet Ten by way of the eighth dimension….
Which one is real?
The LHC is apparently expected to go online this year ( http://press.web.cern.ch/press/PressReleases/Releases2003/PR13.03ELCG-1.html )
I would trust Buckaroo Bonzai well before I trust any of those people. Physicist are the biggest bullshit artists in the scientific community. Those people don’t have a damn clue what they are talking about 99% of the time.
And because that got started, I must do my daily affirmation:
Stephen Hawkings is a fucking hack.
I’ve learned something today. A couple of somethings, actually!
From the podcast I learned that Karl isn’t just another dopey metalhead and really digs science. Go Karl. *throws goat*
From the comments on the podcast I learned that Remy is a mean drunk.
Remy does get drunk. He is often mean. Hey, I guess you are right!
Now, I would be remiss if I didn’t clarify a couple of things for Maggie:
1- Both Karl AND Carl dig science, but Karl seems to know more about this particular subject, which surprised Carl. Even though Carl has read books by Michio Kaku and Stephen Hawking, most of the knowledge is contained somewhere in his brain inaccessible to the parts that drink or podcast.
2- Remy is mean. Period. Drunk has nothing to do with it. I’ve actually been afraid for the lives of others while hanging out with him.
Maggie, I’m sorry I should have been more clear. I think physicists who work in cosmology and such are completely full of shit. Other branches, like particle physics I have no problem with and I actually dabble in biophysics some here while doing my PhD in neuroscience. So I’m sorry if I offended.
Carl and Colin, screw you both. You know I’m not a mean drunk. You two just don’t like it because I tend to express my platonic love for you both when we’re drinking and you are both uncomfortable with your sexuality. Embrace the brotherly love.
Does this sum it up?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=GF6rSGfUdyg
No, Rem. I do not fear the brotherly love. I fear the stench of the Yeti. I also fear the loins, eyes, and pretty much every other part of the Yeti.
Also, I don’t like being touched, except by a chick. This isn’t a homophobic response, it’s a ‘hey, if you’re that close to me, something’s gonna happen.’*
*Exceptions are made for doctors and children. Unless said doctor is a hot chick. Then it could go either way.
I can not help it if I am a powerful presence when I am in a room.
Dude, a fucking rhino is a powerful presence in a room. Doesn’t mean dick except, ’stay out of the room!’
Please, you know you love hanging out with me when I’m up North. It adds excitement to your life.
Yes, I do like hangin out with you, Remy. You’re my friend. But you ever notice I always sit closest to the exit in case of fart/tantrum/burp?
Carl: Your nerditude is duly noted and saluted.
*throwing an equally worthy celebratory goat*
Remy: No offense taken. Some of my least favourite people are physicists. But you did call The Hawk a hack. That’s harsh, man. ;P
OK… I do concede that some of his books are hack-ish.
I gotta say, we’ve witnessed a lot of love here… mostly hairy man-love, but love nonetheless.
Maggie: that’s cause the Hawk is a complete hack.
Carl: were those ranked in order of danger level from lowest to highest. I have been known to shatter glass before.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=nrs41gQw4-o
Science is cool. High energy physics, including astrophysics, is among the coolest of sciences. Maggie, thank you. Goats are cool. Remy, I don’t know you, but from what I’ve read you seem to get off on acting like an asshole, then defending it by saying “What did you expect? You know I’m an asshole,” and that is not cool, it’s just dumb.
And a big fuck you to you as well Karl. Actually, getting off on acting like an asshole is Carl’s thing. My problems with astrophysics is that they make gross assumptions that can never be truly proven and act like its fact and law. Naturally the same could be said for my branch of science I suppose so we’re pretty much even there.
If you did know me, you’d know your statement is false. I’ll admit to being abrasive at times, but being an outright asshole is not my thing. Not to sound like the “asshole” you claim I am, but I wouldn’t make comments concerning who you are before I had actually met you. Think before you speak. I have no problem with you from what I know of you, sorry you seem to have one with me.
Remy is remy. He’s a good guy, a good friend, opinionated, and loud.
As for physicists, that one in the Bond movie , The World is not Enough, was hot.
Karl, sorry that was a bit reactionary. I don’t like it when people make judgment calls about me based on little to no information. I have my issues with the science behind astrophysics just like I’m sure someone may have issues with the science behind neurobiology. I’m leaving it there.
Until a couple of months ago, neurobiologists had no idea exactly why LSD does its voodoo that it do so well. And it has been around for over 40 years.
Rem, you can take exception to astrophysics and cosmology, but considering that at the least, it’s a science, legitimately concerned with providing testable theories on the origins, existence, and possible end to the universe (at least as we know it), I’d almost expect a little solidarity from you as a fellow scientist who understands that a) what scientists release to the masses is ‘Pop Science’, easily digestible and not remotely representative of the years, decades of hard work that went into it, and b) like any science, theories are presented, tested, revised, or deleted as necessary.
If it were not for cosmology, even in its infant form, we’d still think the Earth was flat. Eratosthenes changed that. We wouldn’t know why we have seasons, or that everything in the universe moves. We wouldn’t know about star formation, and comets. We would never be able to predict impacts from meteorites or comets, let alone be able to attempt to prevent them. We’d know nothing about solar flares, wouldn’t be able to put up satellites.
We wouldn’t know how to begin looking to spread ourselves to other planets, or how to look for life out there.
Do you really, honestly think astrohpysics and cosmology are wasted time or somehow not science?
Also, Rem, not to be a huge prick about it, but 90% of the time you do overreact and you ARE an asshole about stuff.
Your very first comment in this thread was:
Incendiary and provocative, to be mild. If you wanted a discussion, you wouldn’t have used that as your first comment. And it is certainly well-documented in the various forums and blogs that we’ve had that you do tend to lead with the spiked club over the friendly welcome. You can’t really blame people for the opinions that forms in their head.
Not saying people should assume things about you, but… if you’re gonna dress like a whore, be prepared to be treated like one, right?
Colin just made an interesting point about Rem not liking astrophysics or cosmology because so many predictions and ‘theories’ are untestable. To that I offer two examples:
Sir Edmund Halley predicted the return of a comet. His theory was untestable until it did indeed reappear on the exact date, 76 years later, that he had predicted. He was long dead.
Black holes have been folklore, a myth, for decades. And now it’s almost completely accepted fact because of observations made just recently.
Yes, it’s a sad state that sometimes it takes years, decades to prove or disprove a theory, but that’s the way it works. With all sciences.
Have all the thoeries on consciousness even been remotely proven yet? Theories on depression, the mechanisms of psychiatric disorders, neurological disorders? When was the last time a neurological disease was understood completely?
This coming from the King of Inflammatory Comments. I wasn’t trying to start a discussion. I tend to forget that not everyone here knows me like you guys do. If I’ve learned to use the spiked club over the hearty welcome, I learned at the feet of the King. There is not a number invented to count the number of times you’ve done the exact same thing on the forums we’ve had.
Of course astrophysics and cosmology are legitimate sciences that have made significant contributions. I’m not sure that those had any impact on finding out that the world wasn’t flat, but thats a different story. As for the bullshit comment, for the most part all scientists are bullshit artists. You’d be shocked at the amount of wrong information that is out there in the scientific world and the amount of hand waving and arrogant politicking of theories that goes on. Trust me, I know because I’ve been in the middle of it before. You can claim a lot when you massage the data.
I’m not going to say I haven’t been an asshole at times, and maybe this is one of them and I don’t realize it. I just find it funny to be called by you of all people on this one. I suppose if its was bad enough that even you noticed it, it must have been really bad.
In that light, I’ll throw out a sincere blanket apology to those who were offended by my comments and leave it there. Unless of course someone else feels they need to add to the discussion with something I need to respond to.
Oh and Carl….
I still love you.
As for your comment above, I didn’t realize that we knew everything there was to know about a blackholes.
Astrophysics is rules by mathmatics for the most part right? A fairly solid set of rules and such? Biology is not nearly as neat.
Theories of consciousness will take a very, very long time to prove, and part of me doubts that will ever be answered but I’m not going to say it won’t be.
As for mechanisms of psych disorders, they are actually making significant progress on schizophrenia in figuring out how it works. Give it another 20-30 years and there’s a good chance they will know.
But hey, neurological disorders and biology are more complex than physics anyways. (joking, don’t get panties in a bunch)
(sort of joking)
If you didn’t catch the sarcasm on the black hole comment, it was there. I highly doubt that they know everything there is about black holes so that wasn’t much of an arguement.
(A note to all the readers. Arguments like this have been going on between Carl and I since the Dawn of Time and form the cornerstone of our friendship.)
hehe, nothing but love for the Yeti. But I am glad you see my point.
If it takes 20-30 years to figure out Parkinson’s based on the theories they have now…
And of course a lot of science is bullshit, be it physics, chemistry, neurobiology, or any other legitimate branch. Firstly, you have the politicos (Global Warming deniers, or evolution deniers, for example) putting pressure on scientists. Secondly, you have crackpots who actually believe their crap (a lot of late Victorian-era amateurs who believed running large amounts of electrical current through the bath would help, or that bleeding relieved the body of ‘foul humours’). And lastly, you have theories based on sound logic and the best available data at the time, but they just turn out wrong, or vastly incomplete.
These last ones I can forgive, because they lay the groundwork for better theories and at least disprove one way something works. This is valuable in all sciences, but especially so in astrophysics, where the likelihood of getting your hands on the subject of your experiment can be a bit tricky.
Also, I gladly wear the crown of the King.
But to quote Sam L. ‘Motherfucking’ Jackson in Pulp Fiction, “I’m tryin’, Ringo. I’m tryin’ real hard to be the shepherd.”
That was a great use of a SLJ quote.
Sorry Remy, I kinda got cought up in the spirit of Bash-On-Remy day. You made a blanket statement insulting people I respect and I may have over reacted.
Aww crud. And now the fun basho has come to an end.
No problem, I’m actually kind of glad because the statement was retarded and I needed to be called out on it. I probably would have reacted the same way had someone said it about neuroscience.
My dislike stems from my first reading of “A brief history of time” by Hawkings. I get a little punchy when someone claims that they know when time began when I’m sorry, but no matter how much we understand about the universe I have trouble believing you know when time began since time is an arbitrary set units invented by someone. Maybe its because I read scifi too much, but I’ve never seen anything to say that our system of math and physics applies to the universe as a whole. Of course, maybe there has been and I’m just ignorant.
All that aside, I do thank you for hitting the retard button on me as I deserved it.
And Colin, if it was a real basho you know I would absolutely win. My vastness is unstoppable.
Your vast ass is unstoppable, yes.
Basho didn’t finish, Karl just tagged out, bitch.
Diebold. Leaked source code is a good thing, not a bad thing. Ideally, all the source code for these things would be available for security audit by interested citizens.
Remember, security by obscurity bad.
Here’s Schneier explaining the “make sure the people who can fix the problem are the ones responsible for the problem” approach to security.
(here’s his analysis of the problem of voting machines)
Also, was the podcast choppy this time around, or was it just the copy I got via iTunes? I mean, it feels like someone highlighted short, 1-2 second clips in the sound editor for this ep, and hit delete.
Dave, I did not delete any clips. Is it the entire sound, including the background music that’s dropping out or just the voices? I know there are maybe 2 or 3 places where there was a hiccup in the voices but only for a couple of miliseconds (cause I’m recording onto a 5.4krpm drive), but nothing like you describe. I’ve quickly checked the download copy here and didn’t see/hear anything obvious. It’s the same as my original encoding I gave to Colin.
for the record, the macbooks run on 5400rpm drives. But they are also SATA II…. mmmm…. 3Gbps…..
Sounded fine to me quality wise, although after about 15 minutes of constant looped backgound music I was ready to shove an icepick through my eardrums
Second Life. Warren Ellis has a good article about weapons in second life. There are tons of them.
Also, you can just make your land private.
Downloading this ep again, as I heard more half-to-one-second choppiness, and I’m assuming it must’ve been a bum download.
And yeah, the performance is fucking horrific, even on a reasonable hardware setup.
Hrm…new copy, same problem. Carl’s “Someone crosses a border and invades” drops the “inv” part of invades, for one. Dunno, maybe it’s just my work pc.