Alien Ryder FlexRavings about philosophy, computing, and such.2008-05-11T14:30:00-05:00Darel Rex Finleyhttp://alienryderflex.com/DarelRex@gmail.comCopyright (c) 2008, Darel Rex FinleyFuture Perfecttag:alienryderflex.com,2008:051114302008-05-11T14:30:00-05:002008-05-11T14:30:00-05:00Back in the day, I used to be a regular viewer of “A Current Affair” (when there was such a thing — I hear it’s still going strong in Australia, but here in the USA it got beat out by Inside Edition and other tabloid news shows). After a while, I noticed a curious pattern. Every day, at the end of the show, it presented previews...Free Will and Population Statisticstag:alienryderflex.com,2008:050907352008-05-09T07:35:00-05:002008-05-09T07:35:00-05:00Updated.SWTSG 1.1.4tag:alienryderflex.com,2008:050415552008-05-04T15:55:00-05:002008-05-04T15:55:00-05:00* Fixed bug that cause searchlights to render incorrectly on PPC Macs. (The solution was to define “bool” as long instead of char when compiling for PPC. Perhaps char was causing problems due to the 4-byte alignment of the PPC architecture. bool is defined by Xcode when compiling the .m files, so it may be using a 4-byte value there, which could cause conflicts.) * Due to an update to my version of Xcode, SWTSG no longer runs on any version of Mac OS X prior to 10.4 “Tiger”. * Sourcecode re-released.Where Real and Yahoo Went Wrongtag:alienryderflex.com,2008:050308152008-05-03T08:15:00-05:002008-05-03T08:15:00-05:00Some time in the late 1990s I stopped trying to use anything made by Real. Several times, when I had wanted to play something that was in their format, I had installed their player. To my horror...The Purpose of Surfacetag:alienryderflex.com,2008:042615452008-04-26T15:45:00-05:002008-04-26T15:45:00-05:00What’s the point of Microsoft’s Surface, touch-interface, table-top computer? Do you really want such a product? Who does? Here’s my theory...Eradicating Religion Won’t Eradicate Wartag:alienryderflex.com,2008:042021052008-04-20T21:05:00-05:002008-04-20T21:05:00-05:00I’m not religious. So please don’t take this as a defense of religion. It really isn’t. There’s a school of thought among the anti-religious that says religion is the primary (if not sole) cause of war...Documentation Overkilltag:alienryderflex.com,2008:041600502008-04-16T00:50:00-05:002008-04-16T00:50:00-05:00In one of the jobs I’ve had in the past several years, my team finished work on a project, and was then told to document it. What did that entail?...Free Will and Population Statisticstag:alienryderflex.com,2008:041411402008-04-14T11:40:00-05:002008-04-14T11:40:00-05:00Updated.A Tale of Two Moviestag:alienryderflex.com,2008:040913552008-04-09T13:55:00-05:002008-04-09T13:55:00-05:00modified logo: dark and green / modified logo: bright and blue-greyThe Changing Face of Sam Adamstag:alienryderflex.com,2008:040521102008-04-05T21:10:00-05:002008-04-05T21:10:00-05:00My tribute to the mascot of my favorite hoppy concoction.Dinesh D’Souza On IDtag:alienryderflex.com,2008:040119552008-04-01T19:55:00-05:002008-04-01T19:55:00-05:00In yesterday’s The Failure of “Intelligent Design” (don’t dare forget those quotes!) Dinesh D’Souza declares biological ID a failure. He makes it clear that he agrees with anthropic-physics ID, but not design-of-adaptation ID...Translation of Paul Graham’s Footnote To Plain Englishtag:alienryderflex.com,2008:033021052008-03-30T21:05:00-05:002008-03-30T21:05:00-05:00Updated.Photos of Katy Mills Mall on its opening nighttag:alienryderflex.com,2008:032713152008-03-27T13:15:00-05:002008-03-27T13:15:00-05:00Twelve photos I shot at Katy Mills Mall on the night of its opening in late 1999.Why Quintic (and Higher) Polynomials Have No Algebraic Solutiontag:alienryderflex.com,2008:032621102008-03-26T21:10:00-05:002008-03-26T21:10:00-05:00Polynomial equations of orders two, three, and four have well-known algebraic solutions. But orders five and up have been proven to have no algebraic solution. Why is that? Everywhere I’ve seen this subject discussed...Translation of Paul Graham’s Footnote To Plain Englishtag:alienryderflex.com,2008:032210352008-03-22T10:35:00-05:002008-03-22T10:35:00-05:00From Paul Graham’s excellent article, “You Weren’t Meant to Have a Boss”: Another thing you notice when you see animals in the wild...SWTSG 1.1.3tag:alienryderflex.com,2008:032121552008-03-21T21:55:00-05:002008-03-21T21:55:00-05:00* Fixed mysterious bug that caused app to immediately crash after “I Agree” on a minority of Macs. * Sourcecode re-released.A Memory of Gateway (Updated)tag:alienryderflex.com,2008:031807452008-03-18T07:45:00-05:002008-03-18T07:45:00-05:00New paragraph added (see bottom of article) about Apple’s resurgent market share.What Happened To Moore’s Law?tag:alienryderflex.com,2008:031716202008-03-17T16:20:00-05:002008-03-17T16:20:00-05:00Slashdot reports that a new design may produce computer chips that are ten times as power efficient as current designs. I should say hooray, but why, instead, do I feel a sense of increasing dismay?...Photostag:alienryderflex.com,2008:031416302008-03-14T16:30:00-05:002008-03-14T16:30:00-05:00New: photos pageGoldston On IDtag:alienryderflex.com,2008:031321502008-03-13T21:50:00-05:002008-03-13T21:50:00-05:00David Goldston on Nature.com (as quoted on UncommonDescent.com): “Intelligent-design advocates try to sell their wares as science rather than religion partly as a legal gambit, but also because science and scientists are held in high esteem.” The overall tone of Goldston’s article is that of a reasonable, unopinionated analysis of the relationship that exists between...The End of Martial Lawtag:alienryderflex.com,2008:030809352008-03-08T09:35:00-05:002008-03-08T09:35:00-05:00Dee Dee Myers, former White House Press Secretary, has written a new book, “Why Women Should Rule the World.” Is she right?...The Two Faces of Evolutiontag:alienryderflex.com,2008:030210552008-03-02T10:55:00-05:002008-03-02T10:55:00-05:00I ended my (mostly negative) review of Dembski’s and Wells’s “The Design of Life” with the claim that Darwinists advance the mutually exclusive assertions...A Fine Recommendationtag:alienryderflex.com,2008:022615152008-02-26T15:15:00-05:002008-02-26T15:15:00-05:00So Park Associates and Entertainment Technology Center At USC have recommended that “Hollywood” cut Apple out of the loop in movie-and-tv-show distribution? That sounds like a winning idea...SWTSG 1.1.2tag:alienryderflex.com,2008:022410352008-02-24T10:35:00-05:002008-02-24T10:35:00-05:00* Fixed bug that caused app to become confused if user clicks in any of the Content tab’s fields during a full-sequence render. * Fixed bug that caused a mismatch between the user-content fields and the image previews when user opened the app by dragging a user-file onto it. * Added “render completed” alert box on full-sequence render completion. * Sourcecode re-released.Free Will and Population Statisticstag:alienryderflex.com,2008:022217052008-02-22T17:05:00-05:002008-02-22T17:05:00-05:00In my previous article, “Dennett/D’Souza Debate — D’Souza,” I touched on the subject of population statistics and what they mean for the idea of individual free will. Here I intend to expand on that subject and analyze it more precisely...SWTSG 1.1.1tag:alienryderflex.com,2008:022112152008-02-21T12:15:00-05:002008-02-21T12:15:00-05:00* Fixed bug that caused app to sometimes think user-file needs to be saved immediately after file-open. * Fixed bug that occasionally caused inappropriate line-wrapping and/or centering at the end of a single line or a paragraph. * Sourcecode re-released.SWTSG 1.1.0tag:alienryderflex.com,2008:021917452008-02-19T17:45:00-05:002008-02-19T17:45:00-05:00* Stability bug traced down to one-byte deficit in xmlSafe’s string buffer. Fixed — stability issue appears to be cured. * Sourcecode re-released.Dennett/D’Souza Debate — D’Souzatag:alienryderflex.com,2008:021616352008-02-16T16:35:00-05:002008-02-16T16:35:00-05:00This is Part 2 of 2, of my comments on the Tufts University debate between Daniel Dennett and Dinesh D’Souza of last November. D’Souza’s arguments against Dennett are for the most part, I think, sound. It’s when he goes off on a tangent about free will and morality that things go awry...SWTSG 1.0.8tag:alienryderflex.com,2008:021213202008-02-12T13:20:00-05:002008-02-12T13:20:00-05:00* Fixed bad pointer in file-open code. * Stability bug persists; possibly related to code that opens user (.swtsg) files. * Sourcecode re-released.Dennett/D’Souza Debate — Dennetttag:alienryderflex.com,2008:021119202008-02-11T19:20:00-05:002008-02-11T19:20:00-05:00Just saw the video of the Daniel Dennett vs. Dinesh D’Souza debate of last November 30th. This is Part 1 of 2, and talks only about Dennett...SWTSG 1.0.7, Sourcecode Re-releasedtag:alienryderflex.com,2008:021114502008-02-11T14:50:00-05:002008-02-11T14:50:00-05:00* Cured major stability bug. * Sourcecode re-released.SWTSG 1.0.6, Sourcecode Releasetag:alienryderflex.com,2008:021013002008-02-10T13:00:00-05:002008-02-10T13:00:00-05:00* Film Company gaussian aura blur now uses the correct aspect for the current image size. * Sourcecode released.SWTSG 1.0.5tag:alienryderflex.com,2008:020915302008-02-09T15:30:00-05:002008-02-09T15:30:00-05:00* Effectiveness of multi-processing dramatically improved (previously was zero or worse — yikes). * Full support of Undo/Redo, with undo-past-save warning. * Unused menu option “New” now removed. * Tabbing and shift-tabbing from field to field now works even in multi-line fields (Intro and Crawl). * Responsiveness of UI during render slightly improved through better handling of image window update frequency. * Parsing of Distributor rows slightly improved. * Crawl now handles any combination of CR and LF characters correctly. * Crawl now centers any single line of text, but makes such a line double-height only if it’s all uppercase. (Note: To allow user to control exact positioning of text, lines that start with spaces are not auto-centered.) * Crawl no longer flickers badly in the far distance in a letterboxed image. * Now uses zero CPU when idle. * Rich text now disallowed in all text fields (as it needed to be). * Distributor logo now recognizes letter combination “Mc” and uses a small “c”. * Distributor searchlights slowed down to move more like the authentic theater logo. * Problem where stars occasionally clustered in a thin band in the middle of the image is probably solved.The Non-Euclidean Geometry That Wasn’t Theretag:alienryderflex.com,2008:020706102008-02-07T06:10:00-05:002008-02-07T06:10:00-05:00What is geometry? Where does it come from? For centuries, mathematicians struggled over this subject, and always had to conclude that geometry is based on a set of arbitrary assumptions...Defective Attitude Towards Suburbiatag:alienryderflex.com,2008:020208102008-02-02T08:10:00-05:002008-02-02T08:10:00-05:00I’ve seen Columbus Mayor Mike Coleman speak, in person, in a relatively small venue. He strikes me as a decent, competent...The Twin Deficit Phantomstag:alienryderflex.com,2008:012807552008-01-28T07:55:00-05:002008-01-28T07:55:00-05:00Throughout the 1980s, and still to some degree today, there was a lot of clamor about two deficits that allegedly were going to do us in: the trade deficit, and deficit spending. I never bought either one. Here’s why: ...Sleep Sync and Vertical Holdtag:alienryderflex.com,2008:012220102008-01-22T20:10:00-05:002008-01-22T20:10:00-05:00According to research conducted about 40 years ago at the Max Planck Institute in Munich, the human body is set for a 25-hour sleep cycle. That is, when humans...More FUD In Your Eyetag:alienryderflex.com,2008:011721552008-01-17T21:55:00-05:002008-01-17T21:55:00-05:00In FUZ and then later FUV, I declared that since Apple is now determined to be as compatible with the Windows PC world as possible (without just...The Myth of Rubberneckingtag:alienryderflex.com,2008:011210152008-01-12T10:15:00-05:002008-01-12T10:15:00-05:00All my life I’ve heard traffic reports that say “rubbernecking” (accident gawking) is slowing...Keeping Intelligent Design Honesttag:alienryderflex.com,2007:123114302007-12-31T14:30:00-05:002007-12-31T14:30:00-05:00The Design of Life (William A. Dembski, Jonathan Wells) is the new, comprehensive, textbook presentation of the arguments...Refraction and Light’s-Shortest-Path Demystified — How It Workstag:alienryderflex.com,2007:120721202007-12-21T12:40:00-05:002007-12-21T12:40:00-05:00Updated with five new diagrams, including refraction through a lens.Failure of the Amiga — Not Just Mismanagementtag:alienryderflex.com,2007:121719252007-12-17T19:25:00-05:002007-12-17T19:30:00-05:00Jeremy Reimer’s “A History of the Amiga” is fascinating beyond description. The latest installment, Part 5, is a delightful tale of mismanagement disaster, on par with Gary Ross’s...SWTSG 1.0.4tag:alienryderflex.com,2007:120812002007-12-08T12:00:00-05:002007-12-08T12:00:00-05:00* Title logo now moves off to distance in a manner more like it did in the original movie. * Distributor backdrop now scales well up to full-HD (1920) resolution.Maxwell’s Honey Do?tag:alienryderflex.com,2007:120810242007-12-08T10:24:00-05:002007-12-08T10:24:00-05:00I’m not finding anything about this on the internet, but isn’t the Beatles’ “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” just the old Denny Wright banjo song “Be My Honey Do” with new lyrics?Actual Photo of GOP County Headquarters In Columbus, Ohiotag:alienryderflex.com,2007:120519022007-12-05T19:02:00-05:002007-12-05T19:02:00-05:00Photo I took while strolling through downtown Columbus.End Unsecured Debttag:alienryderflex.com,2007:120300002007-12-03T00:00:00-05:002007-12-03T00:00:00-05:00Every year in America, thousands of couples hit something called the “debt cliff.” After artificially enhancing their quality of life for months or even years...The Digits of Pi Cannot Be Sequentially Generated By A Computer Programtag:alienryderflex.com,2007:112600002007-11-26T00:00:00-05:002007-11-26T00:00:00-05:00Question: Can you write a program on your current computer, to generate digits of pi indefinitely? Don’t worry about how it will output them...Faster Is Bettertag:alienryderflex.com,2007:112100002007-11-21T00:00:00-05:002007-11-21T00:00:00-05:00C is fast. Faster than most (all?) other popular programming languages. Fast enough that, earlier this year Daniel Jalkut called it “the new assembly language”...Goals Can’t Be Avoidedtag:alienryderflex.com,2007:111600002007-11-16T00:00:00-05:002007-11-16T00:00:00-05:00Michael Behe offers the following excellent response to one of his critic’s recent allegations that he is misanalyzing evolution by requiring it to achieve specific goals...Propped-Up Productstag:alienryderflex.com,2007:111100002007-11-11T00:00:00-05:002007-11-11T00:00:00-05:00Not long ago, John Gruber quoted Jason Fried in “Why Enterprise Software Sucks”: The people who buy enterprise software aren’t the people who use enterprise software...Ignoring ID Won’t Worktag:alienryderflex.com,2007:110600002007-11-06T00:00:00-05:002007-11-06T00:00:00-05:00There’s a growing school of thought among convinced Darwinists that says ID proponents should be ignored, because engaging them just gives them publicity...The Crabs and the Buckettag:alienryderflex.com,2007:103000002007-10-30T00:00:00-05:002007-10-30T00:00:00-05:00What happens if you’re out crab fishing, and you put several of the crabs you catch in an open bucket? Any one crab can theoretically climb out of the bucket...Communism As A Side Effect of the Transition To Capitalismtag:alienryderflex.com,2007:102500002007-10-25T00:00:00-05:002007-10-25T00:00:00-05:00Communism, and its cousin heavy socialism, are dead. And they’re not coming back. We’re witnessing the end of that phase of human history. When the last...Google and Wikipedia, Revisitedtag:alienryderflex.com,2007:102000002007-10-20T00:00:00-05:002007-10-20T00:00:00-05:00There was a lot of buzz about a year or two ago that Wikipedia was going to do Google in. Juicy headlines like these led the way: “Wikipedia Eats Google,” “The Wikipedia Threat To Google’s Empire,” and “Wikipedia 3.0: The End of Google?” But read these articles carefully...National Geographic’s Obesity BStag:alienryderflex.com,2007:101500002007-10-15T00:00:00-05:002007-10-15T00:00:00-05:00Here’s a seductive quote from National Geographic’s “Science of Obesity” program: Contrary to popular belief, eating enormous amounts of food isn’t the only way to become obese...Cavementag:alienryderflex.com,2007:101100002007-10-11T00:00:00-05:002007-10-11T00:00:00-05:00I was afraid to watch the premiere of “Cavemen” because I couldn’t imagine how it could live up to the Geico commercials, so it sat in my DVR for almost a week. My fear was that there were only two things it could be...Theodicy Is For Loserstag:alienryderflex.com,2007:100400002007-10-04T00:00:00-05:002007-10-04T00:00:00-05:00In Ayala’s Potemkin Village, William Dembski does a fine job of exposing how Francisco Ayala’s Darwin’s Gift paints the rosiest possible picture of Darwinism: mainly by skirting modern ID arguments in favor of another Paley exhumation, but also notably by...Seattle Reduxtag:alienryderflex.com,2007:092600002007-09-26T00:00:00-05:002007-09-26T00:00:00-05:00A trip to Seattle wouldn’t have been complete without a dash downtown to visit the Pike Place Market and the first Starbucks store. On a sunny Sunday like today, downtown Seattle...Quittingtag:alienryderflex.com,2007:091800002007-09-18T00:00:00-05:002007-09-18T00:00:00-05:00How many times have you heard this one: “Quitters hever win, and winners never quit.” It’s a cleverly worded aphorism that walks...Living Welltag:alienryderflex.com,2007:091100002007-09-11T00:00:00-05:002007-09-11T00:00:00-05:00One sip and I knew — this is how a wine is supposed to taste. Simple, strong, the flavor of grapes only much more potent. Not fruity, but somehow maintaining the essence of the fruit from which it was made...