Vapymid

xrIZGre2KmA From the time when people still needed to know how to play musical instruments in order to be musicians... Regards

I - Sweet Dreams Go to sleep, my babies, don't you wake up The stars will keep you company, so close your eyes Old uncle moon will smile his dearest sweetest dreams And hold you in his arms until the morning comes. II - Night Light Dark the night, not a sound Damp and cold, frosty ground Above your head the lion screams To tear you from your moonlit dreams. Damp with sweat, mouth is dry Twisted branches catch the eye Beside your bed the angel stands You cannot touch his withered hands. III - Guardian Angel As the lion's eyes dance before me, they are kindly yet bloody red I can see that he is smiling but I cannot live inside his head. Tell me, children, are you sleeping ? Are you innocent like me ? May you never cross the line ? I hope your dreams are not like mine. There the needle stands before me, I climb inside it towards the light Where the angel stands in glory, his sword of peace defends the night. Tell me children, are you sleeping ? Are you innocent like me ? May you never cross the line ? I hope your dreams are not like mine. So the world is spread before me as I fly high on angel wings But the angel is deceiving for he is weeping as he sings. Tell me children, are you sleeping ? Are you innocent like me ? May you never cross the line ? I hope your dreams are not like mine. IV - Night Light (continued) Early birds, morning breeze Spinning leaves, sleepy trees Gently tap the window pane It's good to see the sun again. Regards

Five miles out 9hRkyIszav8 A song to remember while the aeroplane with you inside is doing a missed approach in a storm cell, with zero visibility and icing conditions... Regards

If the contracts are as one-sided and unfair as it appears to be from various blogs and interviews, then they are most likely unenforceable. However, contesting the contracts in court is risky and costly, which is what Machinima relies on, probably. If just one author will sue them and win, their whole house of cards will fall apart but they are counting on people to be too scared to try. Maybe someone should talk this over with EFF and their legal team... Regards

LpTkImmOtiE Regards

Introducing another gun to complement the Zero-Point Energy Field Manipulator and the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device... Made by the same people who have done the Plot Device movie - a nice little short which I also recommend to watch. Regards

Here it comes: Valve shows off game console hardware at CES Regards

I stand corrected: more like 17 billion... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20942440 Regards

That in its own right does not invalidate the possibility of some higher meaning to life. Regardless of whether or not there is such a meaning, it is very difficult to deny that there clearly is a vector for matter self-organisation (aka evolution). Statistically, it does not matter whether it's you or another individual has been born at any particular moment, however, the history of the circumstances preceding the birth dictates that certain number of individuals of certain types will be born. And that process is not Markovian and is not random, but selective. On the contrary, even with the primitive tools we have now there already have been hundreds of planets discovered in other star systems, some of them in the habitable zone. Everything points to there being millions of Earth-like planets in just our one galaxy. Maybe there isn't an ultimate plan but the Universe is anything but random. Practically everything that may seem random at certain scale actually contains a signal, direction, bias. It certainly looks like the fundamental laws of this Universe combine in such a way as to drive its development along a certain path. In that sense the meaning of each individual life is to sense the direction of that path and continue along to the best of its abilities. One may argue that the fundamental laws are themselves formed randomly. That may well be the case (there may have been an infinite number of universes with all kinds of combinations of fundamental laws and constants and most could not produce life bur our Universe could and so that's why we are here), but there may be an equal argument that such combination of laws is the result of some trans-universal evolution (when some universes fare better than others and so their "off-spring" universes are gradually selected for something - life, efficiency?), or there may have been that one uber-being who has carefully set the laws before pressing the button and producing the Big Bang - who knows? We don't. Regards

Yet another grey Monday morning and I was listening to this on my way to the office. But, hey, it's Christmas eve. Time to get in the mood... Xb8Tzyh964g D3JMcW1D69g Vxak1EJ4CW0 Christmas spirit is not what you drink Regards P.S. Merry Christmas everyone!

W3ZE4NgagYU Regards P.S. Anyone knows what time the end of the world is supposed to begin? Need to finish something before the commotion starts...

Funny how some of those people would warn you of some government poison while stuffing themselves with homeopathic holistic straight-from-Gaia miracle goodness. I have no experience with psycho-active drugs (other than good old C2H5OH) so can't comment really on your case. All I know is that these types of disorders are not yet well understood by medical science and so the medication is symptomatic and normally is the case of choosing the lesser of two evils (i.e. side effects v relief of symptoms). Until new breakthroughs happen that is the state of affairs and it's better something than nothing. Having said that, I would always recommend to do your own research in order to be informed and understand all the pros and cons in something as life-changing as this. Long time ago I had a situation where I had to argue with my doctor who was pushing me to do an unnecessary operation. I've had my way in the end when she run out of reasonable arguments and just gave me an antibiotics prescription, which worked just fine and she was proven wrong. If I just blindly accepted her initial recommendation I'd have had a part of my body removed for nothing (and I now realise, she would have been paid a referral fee by the surgery ). So there... Regards

To be honest, I was following your discussion with Wheatley and I can say that your attempts at explaining your point seemed at best half-hearted, not to say deliberately confusing. That, of course, is your choice. However, for you to now accuse Wheatley of trolling, after your own little game of hiding behind cryptically sounding but totally meaningless one-liners, is crossing the line IMHO. Playing games is one thing, resorting to ad hominem insults, without slightest provocation, is totally different. Regards

A bunch of physics PhD students shot a zombie flick inside the actual LHC. Premiered last week in Manchester (England, England ) Official site: Decay I have not watched it myself yet - just DL'd it and it is 1h 16min long, so it will have to wait a bit... Here is the trailer: luNueXoAw3I Regards

Thanks, but I just would like to make it clear that I did not take those pictures - that was Alex Savin, a Russian ex-pat living in Finland. I just saw the pics on Phereo, where he and I post frequently, thought they were great and decided to post here to share... Regards

A derelict industrial zone in St Petersburg, Russia (if you click on an image it will open a viewer where you can change the settings - 2D, 3D etc): The whole gallery is here. Regards

1) That feeling is normal and shows you to be a decent human being but you need to realise that what you've already done was good thing to do and even went "above and beyond". You did not have to call anyone, you did not have to wait for the help to arrive. 2) Happy birthday! Regards

Nordic lament... a rare version too. Cgh6V-kXnv4 Regards

HA3M6lNX21U Regards

Oh, no - but you answered it yourself. It's trust. Trust in design, technology, manufacturer's QA processes, fuel quality control procedures, airline safety management systems, pilots' training, air-traffic controllers' competence, hi-jackers' and terrorists' stupidity... Trust supported by knowledge of what is involved and the statistics of past events. No faith involved whatsoever. Regards P.S. I'm an aircraft materials engineer by education - so, maybe this was not a fair example

The lyrics are a bit dumb (blinded by science? should have paid more attention at school, mate!) but I really like this song... sqP8CQe6gTA Regards

Hmmm, and just what that might be? But most importantly, how is the idea of "intelligent design" relevant to the question of whether God exists or not? Of secondary importance is how a bit of common sense advice like "do what you think is right today and tomorrow will take care of itself, don't be afraid - look, the lily is not afraid and it's doing OK, even though it occasionally finds itself in a fire..." can be seen as proof that faith follows facts? Faith originates from lack of facts. Once you establish the premises of your faith you can use facts to strengthen it by interpreting them to fit your faith. The observation by JC which you quoted might just as easily have been used by Prof. Dawkins to suggest something like "just look at the lily - the natural laws let it grow, reproduce and die without any worry about how it should move from one state to the other. So, live as you think you should today and think about tomorrow tomorrow, the laws of nature will take care of you". Regards

Blue, you seem to be saying that pain and serving a purpose is somehow equivalent. Pain is simply a warning signal. If you are serving a purpose and it is painful - there is something wrong. You need to seriously consider if you are the right entity to serve that purpose and if there maybe a better way of serving that purpose - the one that does not involve pain. If the pain is caused by actions of others towards you - it is not good either (unless you like S&M or something and it is consensual or if you are getting your root canals drilled) and in most cases deliberate causing of pain to other humans or animals is immoral and often illegal. There is no reasons for it to be different with robots if their design is such that they can feel pain. Regards

What's that red glow? Oh, is that your neck, av3nger? Maybe a long cool shower would help. That was a joke, by the way. But, seriously, you are working yourself into froth for nothing. You just need to repeat a few times - gay. people. are. born. that. way. and. homosexuality. is. not. contagious. so. I. don't. need. to. be. afraid. "Homosexuality is celebrated whilst heterosexuality has no such following. Ask yourself: What the fuck is going on?" There can be no following of something which is not a matter of choice. Is there a following to be black? An aspiration to become white? "Where's the straight, married guy with two kids day?" Why would anyone want a "day" like that? There is nothing I can think of that would sound more boring. And what about straight unmarried people? What about those with 3 kids, etc.? We are the majority, and one in such position would only have the need for reminders of that if he weren't so sure that he was - that suggests an inferiority complex, really. Regards

Oh, the singer's dead and needs no promotion now... That may well be so, but I still believe you can't do that... Regards