Clipmarks | Theory Clips

Best clip yet (Is auteurism in the industry killing games?)

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 22:35:37 GMT

clipped by: emeraldsong
clipper's remarks: This has to be right up my street - feminist criticism of film theory followed by humorous reference to DDR.

The article is actually about seeing a game project as the creative vision of a single person versus being more hippy, diverse and fair, to say that actually it's a glom of the efforts and directions of lots of people. It's focused on the indie scene and frankly I've forgotten the points it makes because I've been surfing the links contained within onto Artgames Blog and Cave Story Downloads.

I don't think it makes a terrifically powerful arguement against auterism overall tho', but rather brings out some of the familiar ammunition I already knew about from the film theory world. A world I know a little bit more about, now.

Clip Source: www.gamasutra.com

consider Pauline Kael’s famous invective: “auteur theory is an attempt by adult males to justify staying inside the small range of experience of their boyhood and adolescence.”

I don’t mean to suggest that close collaboration is easy. It’s difficult – like, Paranoia Survivor Max difficult.

McCain's VP pick...

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:03:45 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: I thought these two excerpts were especially relevant to how the pick of Palin will viewed. All i can say for now is that it sure does shake up the chemistry of the election.

Clip Source: www.time.com

She's pro-life in practice as well as in theory; she recently gave birth to a son that she knew would have Down Syndrome. She'll be the first woman on a Republican ticket, which could appeal to Hillary Clinton voters and help reduce Barack Obama's advantage among women. Her son is about to deploy to Iraq. She's an ice fisherman, a moose hunter and a lifetime NRA member. She killed her state's pork-laden Bridge to Nowhere that McCain has ridiculed on the trail.

Still, it's a long leap from the Wasilla city council to the White House, and the top consideration for any candidate for the number-two job is readiness for the number-one job, an issue that may weigh more on voters' minds when the potential number one is 72 years old.

Tags: politics, mccain, palin, vice president

McCain's VP Choice a Marginal Creationist

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:45:41 GMT

clipped by: AtlLiberal
clipper's remarks: To be fair, it doesn't appear that McCain's pick for VP is a dyed-in-the-wool creationist but she still believes in the absurd notion that biblical creationism has a ligitimate place in the science classroom. Her ridiculous "teach the controversy" stance is of course the back door ploy by religious fanatics to gain a toehold in public classrooms. I don't see them siding with Native American's to teach their particular creation myth.

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Intelligent Design and the Alaska Governor's Race

The volatile issue of teaching creation science in public schools popped up in the Alaska governor's race this week when Republican Sarah Palin said she thinks creationism should be taught alongside evolution in the state's public classrooms.
Palin was answering a question from the moderator near the conclusion of Wednesday night's televised debate on KAKM Channel 7 when she said, 'Teach both. You know, don't be afraid of information. Healthy debate is so important, and it's so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both.'

Asked for her personal views on evolution, Palin said, "I believe we have a creator."

She would not say whether her belief also allowed her to accept the theory of evolution as fact.

"I'm not going to pretend I know how all this came to be," she said.

Tags: creationism, science, biology, religion, evolution

Optony: Where Thin Film and Concentrating Solar Meet

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:07:37 GMT

clipped by: flinstoneking

Clip Source: earth2tech.com

The idea behind Optony, a year-old startup that is working on combining thin film solar cells with a solar concentrating system, is to merge two of the solar industry’s low-cost options to produce solar power prices that rival grid parity. At least that’s the theory — the company is still in the development phase. P. R. Yu, CEO and founder of the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based startup, tells us that the company has just started to raise a Series A round to help continue work on its rooftop and ground-mounted solar system.

Usually, solar concentrating systems use mirrors and lenses to focus sun rays onto tiny, highly-efficient, multi-junction solar cells that can withstand the high concentrations and heat. The problem is that while only a small amount of the solar cell is used in these systems, the material itself can be pretty expensive

Yu says the company’s thin-film material, which it plans to manufacture itself, is cheaper than these cells as well as traditional silicon-based photovoltaics

Tags: solar

When cats have wings! Wait, they do...?

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:10:54 GMT

clipped by: pcmkrfn

Clip Source: www.boingboing.net

Winged cats discovered in western China

Posted by Lisa Katayama, August 28, 2008 8:00 AM | permalink

Winged cats have been known to exist since the 19th century, but only a handful of people have actually seen—let alone owned—one. This woman in Sichuan province watched as her beloved kitty grew angel wings on his back last summer after a bunch of female cats tried to mate with him. "Many female cats in heat came to harass him, and then the wings started to grow," she said.

Geneticists have a less romantic theory. They believe it could be a genetic defect, a skin condition, or the result of poor grooming.

Identity and Individuality in Quantum Theory

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:54:56 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Interesting read in the foundation of quantum physics.

Clip Source: mahinth.blogspot.com

Clip Source: plato.stanford.edu

What are the metaphysical implications of quantum physics?

One way of approaching this question is to consider the impact of the theory on our understanding of objects as individuals with well defined identity conditions.

One view is that quantum theory implies that the fundamental particles of physics cannot be regarded as individual objects in this sense.

Such a view has motivated the development of non-standard formal systems which are appropriate for representing such non-individual objects.

However, it has also been argued that quantum physics is in fact compatible with a metaphysics of individual objects.

1. Introduction

2. Quantum Non-Individuality

3. Quantum Individuality

4. Quantum Physics and the Identity of Indiscernibles

5. Non-individuality and self-identity

6. Metaphysical Underdetermination

Bibliography

Other Internet Resources

Tags: quantum physics, metaphysics

Is Extinction Or Diversity On The Rise? Study Of Islands Reveals Surprising Results

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:10:27 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

It's no secret that humans are having a huge impact on the life cycles of plants and animals.

UC Santa Barbara's Steven D. Gaines and fellow researcher Dov Sax decided to test that theory by studying the world's far-flung islands.

Their research, published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, sheds surprising light on the subject of extinction rates of species on islands.

Gaines and Sax started the project with a question: What effect are humans really having on biological diversity?

The presumption at the time was that we are driving biodiversity to lower levels

However, when studied on the smaller scale of islands, the findings showed something completely different. Diversity is on the rise – markedly so in some instances

Diversity has gone up so dramatically that it might cause some to wonder if the health of the ecosystems might not be better because the number of species is twice as high as it used to be

Tags: environment, bio diversity

Overview of the CERN Large Hadron Collider

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:05:39 GMT

clipped by: mentalpez
clipper's remarks: A good introduction to the workings and history of the world's largest particle accelerator. Also includes mention of theoretical disaster scenarios that could be caused by the LHC.

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest particle accelerator complex, intended to collide opposing beams of 7 TeV protons. Its main purpose is to explore the validity and limitations of the Standard Model, the current theoretical picture for particle physics.

When activated, it is theorized that the collider will produce the elusive Higgs boson, the observation of which could confirm the predictions and "missing links" in the Standard Model of physics and could explain how other elementary particles acquire properties such as mass.

The verification of the existence of the Higgs boson would be a significant step in the search for a Grand Unified Theory, which seeks to unify three of the four known fundamental forces: electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force, leaving out only gravity.

Tags: physics

"Alpine Melt Reveals Ancient Life"

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:06:34 GMT

clipped by: cakebelly
clipper's remarks: http://www.grahamhancock.com/news/index.php

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Alpine melt reveals ancient life

By Imogen Foulkes
BBC News, Berne

Melting alpine glaciers are revealing fascinating clues to Neolithic life in the high mountains.

And, as a conference of archaeologists and climatologists meeting in the Swiss capital Berne has been discussing, the finds are also providing key indicators to climate change.

He lived in about 3,300 BC, leading to speculation that the Alps may have had more human habitation than previously suspected.

Everyone knows the story of Oetzi the Ice Man, found in an Austrian glacier in 1991. Oetzi was discovered at an altitude of over 3,000m.

Now, more dramatic findings from the 2,756m Schnidejoch glacier in Switzerland have confirmed the theory.

It all started at the end of the long hot summer of 2003, when a Swiss couple, hiking across a melting Schnidejoch, came across a piece of wood that aroused their curiosity.

'Perfect Pitch' In Humans More Common Than Expected

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:31:23 GMT

clipped by: fewstingscorpio
clipper's remarks: Didn't happen to me!
For full article:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080826080600.htm

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Their research shows that perfect pitch—the ability to recognize and remember a tone without a reference—is apparently much more common in non-musicians than scientists had expected. Previous tests have overlooked these people because without extensive musical training it's very difficult for someone to identify a pitch by name, the method traditionally used for identifying those with perfect pitch. The new test can be used on non-musicians, and is based on a technique to discern how infants recognize words in a language they're learning.

"Tests for perfect pitch have always demanded that subjects already have some musical training or at least familiarity with a particular piece of music, which really limits the pool of candidates you can test," says Elizabeth Marvin, professor of music theory at the world-renowned Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester. "That means nobody really knew how prevalent perfect pitch is in humans in general."

Tags: research, science, pitch, music, hearing, neuroscience

OLDS: Preparing for a neuroscience revolution

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:35:34 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Our challenge is that we don't pay enough attention to such game-changing discoveries as they are happening. And when we don't pay attention, then the societal conversations that need to happen to reach consensus on policy also don't happen - at least in a proactive fashion. We end up reacting instead.

In the case of the uncovering the secrets of the human mind, such proactive consideration would be better off earlier than later.

The writer is James Olds is the director of the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at George Mason University.

This is an important read.

Clip Source: www.washingtontimes.com

Neuroscience is on the verge of transforming society. The field has matured over the past 15 years from creating vast "stamp collections" of data without a unifying theory to the potential in the next several years to provide us with an understanding of how the human mind emerges from the collective activity of 100 billion nerve cells.

The neuroscientists who uncover this mystery will transform our society much in the way Albert Einstein did when he discovered the general theory of relativity.

This breakthrough would, in combination with the revolution in neurotechnologies ongoing now, present us with a host of remarkable opportunities but at the same time create a slew of ethical and legal sticky wickets.

What ethical questions will we need to confront as we move closer to uncovering the mysteries of our minds?

Current work on the so-called "brain-machine interface" are allowing advances that may unlock the keys to the human brain's own neural code.

Tags: brain, neuroscience, society, politics

Spaceship Could Fly Faster Than Light

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:41:44 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Interesting theory. Anyone want the job of supreme crash test dummy?

Clip Source: www.space.com

Travel by bubble might seem more appropriate for witches in Oz, but two physicists suggest that a future spaceship could fold a space-time bubble around itself to travel faster than the speed of light.

We're talking about the very distant future, of course.

The idea involves manipulating dark energy — the mysterious force behind the universe's ongoing expansion — to propel a spaceship forward without breaking the laws of physics.

"Think of it like a surfer riding a wave," said Gerald Cleaver, a physicist at Baylor University. "The ship would be pushed by the spatial bubble and the bubble would be traveling faster than the speed of light."

In theory, the universe grew faster than the speed of light for a very short time after the Big Bang, driven by the dark energy that represents about 74 percent of the total mass-energy budget in the universe. Dark matter constitutes 22 percent of the budget, and normal matter (stars, planets and everything you see) makes up the remaining 4 percent or so.

Tags: does, time, reverse, at, speed, of, light

Photo Shows Stars Born in Huge Cosmic Wombs By Jeanna Bryner

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:38:52 GMT

clipped by: tabsey

Clip Source: www.space.com

A glitzy new family portrait of a star-forming region supports a theory that the universe's most massive stars carve out these wispy wombs and thereby enable stellar embryos to take shape.

The infrared photograph, which will be detailed in the Dec. 1 issue of The Astrophysical Journal, bolsters a long-held theory of star formation.

Clip Source: www.space.com

In the W5 star-forming region, the oldest stars (blue dots) reside at the centers of two hollow cavities (other blue dots are background and foreground stars). Younger stars (pink dots) line the rims of the cavities, and some can be seen dots at the tips of the elephant-trunk-like pillars. The very youngest stars are forming in the white knotty areas, with heated dust (red) pervading the region's cavities. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Harvard-Smithsonian CfA

Tags: astronomy, beauty

Nassim Nicholas Taleb: the prophet of boom and doom

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 09:41:52 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: In December he lectured bankers at Société Générale, France’s second biggest bank. He told them they were sitting on a mountain of risks – a menagerie of black swans. They didn’t believe him. Six weeks later the rogue trader and black swan Jérôme Kerviel landed them with $7.2 billion of losses.

As a result, Taleb is now the hottest thinker in the world. He has a $4m advance on his next book. He gives about 30 presentations a year to bankers, economists, traders, even to Nasa, the US Fire Administration and the Department of Homeland Security. But he doesn’t tell them what to do – he doesn’t know. He just tells them how the world is. “I’m not a guru. I’m just describing a problem and saying, ‘You deal with it.’”

take a moment and read the article

Clip Source: business.timesonline.co.uk

When this man said the world’s economy was heading for disaster, he was scorned. Now traders, economists, even Nasa, are clamouring to hear him speak

He is telling me how to live. “The only way you can say ‘F*** you’ to fate is by saying it’s not going to affect how I live. So if somebody puts you to death, make sure you shave.”

To explain: black swans were discovered in Australia. Before that, any reasonable person could assume the all-swans-are-white theory was unassailable. But the sight of just one black swan detonated that theory. Every theory we have about the human world and about the future is vulnerable to the black swan, the unexpected event. We sail in fragile vessels across a raging sea of uncertainty. “The world we live in is vastly different from the world we think we live in.”

Last May, Taleb published The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. It said, among many other things, that most economists, and almost all bankers, are subhuman and very, very dangerous.

Tags: nassim nicholas taleb, economy, black swans

aw, they meant well!

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:38:44 GMT

clipped by: nomereveneerofvanity

Clip Source: www.king5.com

Rain washes out 'car free' day in Seattle

SEATTLE - Only in Seattle could an event touted as a way to help the environment get washed out during what is supposed to be the driest time of the year.

Car-free days is part of Mayor Greg Nickels' campaign to encourage people to walk, bike or take mass transit.

One neighborhood is closed off to car traffic during selected weekends this summer.

On Sunday it was the area around 14th and Republican on Capitol Hill, a residential area that's normally quiet anyway.

"I think it promotes awareness of whatever we're promoting awareness of," said resident Thomas Hubbard.

With more police officers diverting traffic than actual people, the city decided to end the event two hours earlier.

O'Connor said the idea was good in theory, "but in practice, it needs a little bit of work."

Adding insult to injury, the cars owned by some residents in the neighborhood were towed because the city wanted to clear the streets.