“The aim of the project was to investigate mobile gaming over GSM- and Bluetooth- networks, by developing a concept prototype, connecting a Gameboy to a mobile phone over Bluetooth. The results show that it is possible to connect two Gameboy Color over a GSM network by connecting to the phone using the Bluetooth plugin we developed for the Gameboy.” Which brings us to steam engines, I suppose.
Archive > February 2003
http://www.leiasmetalbikini.com/fansincostume.html. Explains itself, eh?
Did you know that religious groups are exempt from laws that curtail telemarketers? I didn’t either. Thanks, atheist flash line.
Portland be bloggin with PortlandWeb.Net
Trevor Blake: The Coombs Buddhism Archive
Buddhism started in India, long ago. Then it moved into China and was influenced by Taoism; the Zen tradition comes from this interaction. When Zen Buddhism moved to Japan it gained the rituals and structure and the koen tradition which later still appeared in the West. But what happened when the Buddha nature moved to Australia in the 20th Century? Why, a late 1980s/early 1990s Buddhist BBS went up, of course.
Sacred Texts host a collection of texts which originally appeared at the Coombs Buddhism archive, one of the earlier Buddhist resources online. They’ve preserved the text is satisfying ASCII.TXT, with the original ftp and gopher addresses right in there. And if that isn’t satisfying enough, the texts make reference to being transcribed from cassette or multi-generation photocopied TYPED text (as in manual typewriter, where fingers moved levers of metal to press ribbons soaked in ink against paper), or converted (with errors) from old ‘CP/M ‘ computers. Ahhh… watch the waves of technology break on the shores of bliss consciousness.
I’m still going through this large collection of texts, but some favorites so far are Cheng-Tao-Ko, Mumonkan Case 5, The Fortunate and Ongoing Disaster of Lay Life and Soul in Zen. Some real duds in there too, but enjoy.
“When I became convinced that the Universe is natural — that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell, the dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts, and bars, and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf or a slave. There was for me no master in all the wide world — not even in infinite space. I was free — free to think, to express my thoughts — free to live to my own ideal — free to live for myself and those I loved — free to use all my faculties, all my senses — free to spread imagination’s wings — free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope — free to judge and determine for myself — free to reject all ignorant and cruel creeds, all the “inspired” books that savages have produced, and all the barbarous legends of the past — free from popes and priests — free from all the “called” and “set apart” — free from sanctified mistakes and holy lies — free from the fear of eternal pain — free from the winged monsters of the night — free from devils, ghosts and gods. For the first time I was free. There were no prohibited places in all the realms of thought — no air, no space, where fancy could not spread her painted wings — no chains for my limbs — no lashes for my back — no fires for my flesh — no master’s frown or threat — no following another’s steps — no need to bow, or cringe, or crawl, or utter lying words. I was free. I stood erect and fearlessly, joyously, faced all worlds.”
So said Robert Green Ingersoll, back in – 1896 – with plenty of — dashes.
Karl Heinrich Ulrichs was born on August 28, 1825, in uppermost northwest Germany. His father worked as a master builder, and his grandfather served as a senior Protestant minister. Ulrichs took his degrees with honors from the universities of Göttingen and Berlin. He filled an office as a lawyer for the Kingdom of Hanover and also had his hands in freelance writing.
In four letters, Ulrichs frankly disclosed his sexual orientation to his kinsfolk in 1862, the same year he coined the term ‘Urning’ to describe a male with a feminine soul (anima theory). This is recorded in Der Grosse Brockhaus, Germany’s equivalent of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Between 1864 and 1879, Ulrichs presented the anima theory in twelve studies in the fields of sociology, anthropology, and law. In the 1860′s he served two short terms in jail for his political views. On August 29, 1867, he became the first Gay advocate known to deliver a speech in defense of Uranism, his term for homosexuality. He spoke before the 500-member body of the Association of German Jurists at the Odeon Theater in Munich.
And he wrote novel about a gay vampire sailor!
Darwin Day is February 12th, the date of birth of Charles Darwin in the year 1809, at Shrewsbury, England. On this date, and throughout the month, people from all over the world are honoring the life, work and influence of Charles Darwin with events and activities which celebrate humanity and the science in our lives.
The Piri Reis Map of 1513 is the first surviving map that shows the Americas. The Piri Reis map shows North America, South America, Greenland and Antarctica which had not yet been discovered. All sorts of claims are made about this strange old map.
Is Islam Compatible With Democracy and Human Rights? I don’t know, maybe you should ask an expert. Then go talk to Dr. Younis Shaikh. Dr. Shaikh was arrested on October 4, 2000, by Islamabad police for allegedly saying that the Prophet Mohammed did not become Muslim until the age of 40 (which was when he received his first revelation) and that his parents were non-Muslims (as they died before Islam was proposed by the Prophet). He has been sentenced to death. Ask Dr. Shaikh what he thinks. What do you think?
Professor of biology Michael L. Dini of Texas Tech University has a Web page for those who would seek a letter of recommendation from graduating students. It includes the following…
If you set up an appointment to discuss the writing of a letter of recommendation, I will ask you: “How do you think the human species originated?” If you cannot truthfully and forthrightly affirm a scientific answer to this question, then you should not seek my recommendation for admittance to further education in the biomedical sciences. Why do I ask this question? Let’s consider the situation of one wishing to enter medical school. Whereas medicine is historically rooted first in the practice of magic and later in religion, modern medicine is an endeavor that springs from the sciences, biology first among these. The central, unifying principle of biology is the theory of evolution, which includes both micro- and macro-evolution, and which extends to ALL species. How can someone who does not accept the most important theory in biology expect to properly practice in a field that is so heavily based on biology? It is hard to imagine how this can be so, but it is easy to imagine how physicians who ignore or neglect the Darwinian aspects of medicine or the evolutionary origin of humans can make bad clinical decisions. The current crisis in antibiotic resistance is the result of such decisions.
… and more. So here’s what’s happening: students ask the instructor for a personal recommendation, the instructor gives guidelines about who he will and won’t give personal recommendations to. The instructor’ bases his recommendation on whether or not a student can exhibit an understanding and agreement with what the instructor has taught. Specifically, to get the instructor’s recommendation that a person become a professional in science requires a belief in science. Recommendation is not manditory for students nor is the instructor mandated to give it. All pretty reasonable, eh?
Well, the Liberty Legal Institute does not agree. These Christian lawyers have acted on behalf of student Micah Spradling, who believes he was discriminated against because he was asked to state he believed in the theory of evolution. Read about it in the Houston Chronical or the New York Times.
Are we not men?
What do Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds have in common?
“[...]being pro-science is one of the oddest things you can do in show business. Which is very strange, because it was science that, oh, cured polio. I could list others–isn’t that enough? [Laughs.] Oh, Western medicine doesn’t work; I’m sorry, we cured polio. What more do you want? Your herbalism has done jack; we cured polio. And guess what? It cures polio even if you don’t believe in it. We don’t have it on Earth anymore. And then there’s also small pox, and then there’s mostly dysentery, and we haven’t even gotten into the stuff we’re good at, which is physics. We’re not good at medicine; we’re good at physics. We were good at physics in the 20th century; in the 21st century, one would hope, we’ll be good at medicine. But we are pro-science, and when you’re pro-science, that means you’re an atheist, by definition, because religion… No matter how much they put ’10 Top Scientists Talk About Why They Believe In God’ on the cover of TIME magazine, you kind of have to look and go, ‘How come these 10 top scientists are all teaching at community colleges?’” – Penn Jillette.
How come they are allowed to teach at all?
“To destroy religion by every means available, to obliterate every vestige of these monuments of darkness to which men have prostrated themselves, to erase the symbols that artistic pretext vainly seeks to save from the great popular furore, to disperse the priesthood and attack it in its final hiding places – this is what has been undertaken [...] Those who do not violently set themselves against religion, the bogus God, the parasitic priests – these professors of resignation are assimilable to the pact with the countless vermin of Christianity, vermin which must be exterminated.” – Fire!, Bureau of Surrealist Research, 1931.
“For anyone who has recorded video or taken photos that they believe may be of aid in the investigation of the Space Shuttle Columbia accident, NASA has established a special location on the Web where Internet users may upload their media files to be reviewed by NASA.“
