I just found out about this new theory called Doubly-Special relativity, which was popularized by Giovanni Amelino-Camelia.

It states that there are actually two observer-independent constants in the universe.

1) The speed of light (as per the standard theory of relativity)

2) A new observer-independent length (the Planck length).
Although I still have trouble grasping the Plank length (~1.6 × 10⁻³⁵). According to Wikipedia, it is the length scale at which the structure of spacetime becomes dominated by quantum effects, giving it a discrete or foamy structure.

Anything smaller than a plank length, and all bets are off. Essentially, this is a universal pixel. With doubly-special relativity, we know that this “pixel” is a constant size, that any independent observer can agree upon.

This is quite a strange claim, given the premises of special relativity.  There is an observed “length contraction” with relative speed.  So, if you are on a very fast train (.99 light speed), the landscape around you will look “smooshed” together.  If things look “smooshed” to you on the train (but to the farmer in the field they look the normal length) how could you agree on the size of an “inch”?  You could not.  But if you both zoom to , a hundred-million-trillion times smaller than a proton, then you will see a unit of size that is the same for both of you.

How though?  Well, maybe that’s how time and space “curl-up” and warp with your relative speed.  They take the beating so that these “pixels” remain constant (along with the speed of light).

So we maintain a constant “resolution” and a constant “frame-rate” even in the face of relativity.

It’s news to me!
This weekend I went to San Antonio with my Mom, Stepdad, Grandma and *gasp* girlfriend.

I’ve met a lady. Yes. I should have posted sooner, but now that she’s met the ‘fam’ I suppose all of the internet can know me and Tomie are dating.

Who’s Tomie? She’s a reporter for the Temple Telegram, so I have been, and will be driving up to Temple on some or most weekends. Scary!

Tomie has noticed and categorized many of my character flaws. One of which I shall report to you now.

Apparently, I say “sure” a lot. It can mean “yes”, “maybe,” sarcastically “no” or several other things.

San Antonio was great though. I saw the “river walk” for the first time. For anyone who hasn’t been. Go. It’s awesome. I’ll include a Wikipedia link for good measure.

That’s all for now. For the people who’ve been checking the site lately, to no avail, I apologize for my laziness.

More soon.

Well.  Tomorrow I will take the plunge and drive with Mr. Stocks to the great state of Mississippi.

The drive will be long and horrible, but I will endure.

Until next year, good night and good luck.

Below is an image that I’ve constructed in order to help categorize different types of atheists “labels”.

Once some good conversation gets started, we’ll talk about the significance of showing just how broad a label we are dealing with could possibly be.

My friends torture me. It’s well established. Case in point, I’ve been directed by one of my “friends” this Christian Answers website. I started with their movie review of Stardust. I learned that my favorite movie of the year (Stardust) is VERY morally offensive. News to me!

All of this served to direct me to their links on creationism. I felt a sort of morbid curiosity as I clicked: How did animals get from the Ark to isolated places, such as Australia?

The article starts… STARTS by reaffirming that the Bible quite definitively describes a watery global cataclysm. After reading the article, I can only guess this was to set a tone of “belief” in their readers.

I won’t focus too much on their description on how all those species got onto the ark to begin with. (If there was a flood, maybe things were a lot different beforehand).

They admit that “the patterns of post-flood animal migration present some problems and research challenges for the biblical creation model.” They do go onto speculate how the koalas, kangaroos, and platypus might have made their way from modern-day Iraq to Australia.

They reason that an ice-age might have happened after the flood making an Australasian land bridge for the animals to get back.

Then there’s the problem of the Australian koala’s specialized diet.  How did they eat on their way back.

“A need for unique or special conditions to survive may be a result of specialization, a downhill change in some populations. That is, it may result from a loss in genetic information, from thinning out of the gene pool or by degenerative mutation.”

Oh, really.  I think you guys are onto something.  It’s called evolution!  Scroll up.  Read that line again.  This is an incredible act of tap dancing that kept them from saying this outright: “they evolved to eat only eucalypt leaves after they got back to Australia.”

It’s a sad day in creation science friends.

I’ve posted the following link longhand, as clear proof that the world has gone completely nuts.

http://3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097.org/

God help us all.

Have a seat boys and girls, and get ready for the play-by-play. The unlikely final showdown between Optimus and Prime and Albus Dumbledore here on Yaxamie.com!

Let’s take a closer look at each of our contestants:

Optimus Prime is the heroic robot commander of the autobots, who have sworn to protect human life. At one moment he’s a semi truck that pulls an entire trailer full of explosive goodies. The next moment he’s a giant robot with laser rifle and an access to more weaponry than you’re typical military submarine. Within his chest he carries a talisman of leadership, the Creation Matrix.

Albus Dumbledore is a old-ass wizard who ranks a grumpy prostate an equal annoyance to dragons, ogres, and incorporeal nasties alike. Dumbledoor has his choice of the most powerful wands and spells of any of the Order of Merlin could possess. He has exceptional control of fire and can summon his deadly phoenix Fawkes to his aid.

Following is an interview with fan-boy Otto and fan-girl Helga.

Read the rest of this entry »

What do people expect from a game design blog?

There are a lot of ancient game designers with 10 times my experience as a game designer.  People visit their blogs for sagely advise (as they should).

So what do I have to offer?  This is a sort of a mission statement on my part.

I will not pretend to be an old designer with tons of experience.  I’ve got 2 years of experience in the industry, split between QA and design.  This blog will become (I hope) a great resource for those who wonder what being an entry level player in the game development circuit.

Also, since I am a philosophy nerd, there will be the occasional philosophical or literary posting.

Hopefully, I will find an audience who needs this type of information.  Maybe the contents of this site will be more useful to the people looking to “break in” and see what to expect in the early years as they progress as a junior level designer.

Thanks guys!

The pig go. Go is to the fountain. The pig put foot. Grunt. Foot in what? ketchup. The dove fly. Fly is in sky. The dove drop something. The something on the pig. The pig  disgusting. The pig rattle. Rattle with dove. The dove angry. The pig leave. The dove produce. Produce is chicken wing. With wing bark. No Quack.

You can find the full article here:

http://thedailywtf.com/forums/thread/104727.aspx

For those of you who do karaoke, I challenge you.

Take on Iron Maiden, and run to the hills!

White man came across the sea
He brought us pain and misery
He killed our tribes, he killed our creed
He took our game for his own need

We fought him hard we fought him well
Out on the plains we gave him hell
But many came too much for cree
Oh will we ever be set free?

Riding through dustclouds and barren wastes
Galloping hard on the plains
Chasing the redskins back to their holes
Fighting them at their own game
Murder for freedom a stab in the back
Women and children and cowards attack

Run to the hills run for your lives
Run to the hills run for your lives

Soldier blue on the barren wastes
Hunting and killing their game
Raping the women and wasting the men
The only good indians are tame
Selling them whisky and taking their gold
Enslaving the young and destroying the old

Run to the hills run for your lives
(repeat to end)