How well do YOU know Africa?

Posted on July 3, 2008 by skullsinthestars

Via The Carpetbagger Report, we learn that McCain confused Somalia with Sudan in a discussion with reporters several days ago.  This was probably him misspeaking, but he’s been doing that a lot lately and it isn’t an encouraging sign.

This report got me thinking, though: how well do I know African countries?  A  quick Google search on ‘africa countries quiz‘ brought me immediately to this interactive applet which quizzes you on the names of various African countries.

I didn’t do very well.  The first time through, I got a 65 out of 165.  The second time, i got 84.  Only a few more times through and I’ll know them all, I’m sure!

I was able to distinguish between Somalia and Sudan, though.

Posted in Politics | 3 Comments

Very odd odds: Unusual dice

Posted on July 3, 2008 by skullsinthestars

I’m still in the midst of a massive move into a new house, but everything has at least been moved from point A to point B; now the unpacking, organizing and fixing of things begins. I’ll hopefully get back to some normal blogging next week.

In the meantime, I happened across (well, ‘Stumbled Upon’) a few sets of very interesting dice for sale: Sicherman Dice and non-transitive dice. Both of these have some rather surprising and interesting aspects, and are new to me, anyway, so I thought I’d do a post!

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Posted in Mathematics, role-playing games | 12 Comments

Still moving…

Posted on July 1, 2008 by skullsinthestars

Whew!  The fiancée and I are finally in the new house, after about four days of continuous work.  I’ll try and get back into the blogging swing o’ things in a couple of days, though of course we’ve still got to do a lot of unpacking in order to make the place vaguely habitable.

In the meantime, the fiancée has set a new record:  within 48 hours of moving into the new house, she’s already had to yell at kids to get off our lawn!

(In her defense, the kids were trying to slide down the sloping hill in our backyard on cardboard boxes, apparently not noticing, or caring, that netting had been stapled into the ground to prevent erosion of the hill.)

Posted in ... the Hell? | Leave a comment

“You realize, of course, that chaos theory predicts that your criminal plans will fail.”

Posted on June 27, 2008 by skullsinthestars

This one’s a shocker:  Chris Noth is leaving Law & Order: Criminal Intent, to be replaced by…

Jeff Goldblum.

On the other hand, Goldblum does have experience playing in a disturbing, psychological drama (and I don’t mean Independence Day).

Posted in ... the Hell?, Entertainment | Leave a comment

Edgar Rice Burroughs’ At the Earth’s Core and Pellucidar

Posted on June 26, 2008 by skullsinthestars

Regardless of what you think of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ writing, he himself was no slacker! Burroughs wrote well over fifty novels in his lifetime, including 26 featuring Tarzan, and used incredibly imaginative, now iconic, settings as backdrops. I’ve briefly discussed his classic ‘Barsoom’ (John Carter of Mars) series in a previous post. This week I finished the first two books of another series, ‘Pellucidar‘:

“At the Earth’s Core” (1914) and “Pellucidar” (1923) concern the adventures of David Innes and his friend, scientist Abner Perry, as they explore a prehistoric world that lies within a hollow Earth. I give a description of the story and some observations below the fold.

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Posted in Fantasy fiction | 5 Comments

Unconventional skydives: balloon jump!

Posted on June 23, 2008 by skullsinthestars

A couple of weeks ago I attended Skyfest 2008, a large skydiving convention (‘boogie’) which had attendees from all over the country. They also had a number of unconventional aircraft, namely helicopters and hot air balloons. I decided to make a hot air balloon jump, my second, but this time I got video of the jump, which appears after the fold!

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Posted in Physics, Sports | 4 Comments

A short housekeeping note (literally)

Posted on June 23, 2008 by skullsinthestars

I’ve got lots of nifty science stuff to blog about, but this week the fiancée and I will be closing on our new house and moving in, so I’ll probably be posting short and light. I’ll hopefully be back next week with a broader collection of blog posts (on the other hand, I have to start working on an NSF CAREER award, so maybe not).

Posted in Personal | 3 Comments

Happy Birthday to Bruce Campbell!!!

Posted on June 22, 2008 by skullsinthestars

It would be terribly uncool of me to not acknowledge the birthday today of one of the coolest actors who has ever lived: Bruce Campbell!

If you don’t know Bruce Campbell, you really should: he is probably most remembered for his role as the heroic but clueless Ash in Evil Dead, Evil Dead II, and Army of Darkness. The latter two of these films are two of the best horror/comedy films ever made, and Campbell’s skills are a large part of their success. (Note: the audio commentary for Evil Dead II, with Bruce Campbell, Sam Raimi and friends is hilarious.)

Bruce has also taken a leading role in the cool but short-lived series The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.. As a good friend of Sam Raimi’s, he’s made cameos in numerous Raimi flicks, including all three Spider-Man films. Currently, Bruce has a major role in the uber-cool spy show, Burn Notice.

Oh, goodness! I almost forgot about his really well-played role as an aging Elvis Presley in the utterly unique horror film, Bubba Ho-tep. The plot centers around Elvis in his senior years at an old-folks’ home, having switched places with an impersonator decades before. He gradually comes to realize that an Egyptian mummy is lurking in the home, sucking out the souls of the residents. With the help of a man who claims to be JFK, he plans to do battle with the undead fiend.

Bruce has also shown his talents in other endeavors, as well. His autobiography, If Chins Could Kill, is both hilarious and fascinating in its descriptions of the inner-workings of ‘B’ Hollywood. His autobiographical novel, Make Love (The Bruce Campbell Way), elaborates on these themes. He also produced and directed a short documentary, Fanalysis, which studies the world of fan conventions.

I can’t say enough about how much I love Campbell’s work, so I’ll just end with another, “Happy Birthday”!

“Workshed!”

Posted in Entertainment | 3 Comments

House of Representatives flushes the 4th Amendment down the toilet

Posted on June 21, 2008 by skullsinthestars

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

-4th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified 1791

In a move that I suspect will be looked back on by future generations as one of the great sellouts of American democracy, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives voted Friday on a ‘compromise’ FISA bill that essentially says that violating the Constitution is okay, as long as you’re rich enough or powerful enough.

I’m quite disgusted by this whole event, and I discuss the background, and list the entire roster of shame in favor of it, below the fold.

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Posted in Politics | 2 Comments

Where the Hell is Matt? 2008

Posted on June 20, 2008 by skullsinthestars

For those who’ve enjoyed Matt Harding’s delightful videos of himself dancing throughout the world, he has a new one, with “a cast of thousands.” This is the sort of video that, perhaps irrationally, gives me hope for humanity, and actually brought a tear to my eye:

Posted in Travel | Leave a comment