I'm in heaven! The HAL Project is a website with many simulations of the HAL-9000 computer from 2001:A Space Odyssey. I've installed the screen saver on all my computers -- it turns your drab and pointless post-2001 desktop computer into one (or more) screens of HAL's console. You have to see it to believe it! There's also a simulation of a full HAL console, and links to other digital artifacts.

Joe Bob sez, "Check it out! It's a moral imperative!"]]> http://blog.deltos.com/texas/archives/2008/06/the_hal_project.html http://blog.deltos.com/texas/archives/2008/06/the_hal_project.html Geekdom Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:40:11 -0600 ]]> http://blog.deltos.com/texas/archives/2008/06/decided_to_run.html http://blog.deltos.com/texas/archives/2008/06/decided_to_run.html It's a Joke, Son! Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:22:05 -0600 New Scientist magazine is running an article about researchers who have discovered links between high fructose corn syrup and obesity and diabetes. I've long wondered if the introduction of HFCS in American foods and especially soft drinks has caused the increase in the rate of obesity in America, and now it looks like researchers are publishing papers that support this notion.

I'm just not ready to give up my Barqs!

Anne and I are just amazed at his growth this year, he's bursting out of his shell and taking on the World. He performs in front of auditoriums (Band, Jazz Band), has given at least two public speeches (he ran for Historian in the National Junior Honor Society as well as Student Council), and will be in the National Jr. Honor Society, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Band, and now the Student Council at Ruth Dowell MS.

We're so proud of him!

Leo was awarded "Best Musician in Symphonic Band" at Dowell MS Band by assistant band director Kathleen Moy during the Spring Concert held in the cafetorium. As with so many achievements this year, Anne and I were thrilled, proud, and not at all teary (well, I was :-} ). I’ll post a video of him accepting the award later this week.

I love this ad that VW did in 1996 for the Fourth Generation GTI. My first VW was the Fifth Generation Passat, and when I bought a Golf it was also a Fifth Generation, but this ad is almost perfect, especially the retro-ending with Speed.

The Speed Racer movie opens today, and much like the Thunderbirds movie, I really don't care about the plot -- I just want to see the machines (in this case, the car)!

I'll take Leo out to see it tonight come hell or high water.

PS. Isn't the opening of Speed Racer the first time most of us saw the effect that they would later use in The Matrix? (The scene freezes and the camera's viewpoint rotates.)

Leo was inducted into the National Jr. Honor Society tonight. Congratulations, Leo! We're very proud of you!

Leo's Middle School Jazz Band (Ruth Dowell MS, McKinney) won "Outstanding CCC Class Jazz Band" at the Sandy Lake Fun-Fest band competition today. They played two compositions and Leo had a solo in the first performance. This is the first year that Dowell MS Jazz Band has won this award at the Fun-Fest. They sounded like a high school band, they're so polished it's amazing to listen to them.

Congratulations, Leo!

Joe Bob sez, "Nerds! Check it out."

Spoiler Alert: look for the "cat yodeling".

Leo had four friends over night on Saturday for his 13th birthday. Everyone game him gift cards for video game stores, so he's got a bunch of new games coming. Anne got him a one-year subscription to a British gaming magazine that cost as much as buying games (the dollar-to-pound exchange isn't helping here). You may notice that he's now got braces (again), and if you look closely he's got a mustache now, too.

We have two teenagers now. One is even driving.

Everyone (except Leo) slept downstairs on the sofas and an inflatable mattress I picked up originally for hosting U of H clarinet students for the Boyd band (long story).

Joe Bob sez, "Check it out!"

It finally arrived today!

She ordered a free-standing, wide top stand that has the capability of being a small desk as well as holding full sheet music and items in the lower cubby.

Close up of the music stand.

Saturday Night Special: Dad's Self-Standing Tacos (l). Alanna "enjoying" my cooking (r).

As you can see, I was able to produce a remarkable facsimile of a taco dinner. The cost of the raw material approached what this meal costs at Taco Blecho, so I'm not sure this was such a great savings. Still, the exercise was challenging and I survived it.

How do I express the profound impact of Clarke on my own life? He co-wrote the screenplay to my favorite film (2001: A Space Odyssey), and wrote several science-fiction novels that deeply affected me (e.g. Childhood's End, Rendevous With Rama, and Fountains of Paradise). He had an extensive career in both space and undersea research and helped bring the Space Age to the common man. Few writers have had the personal impact that Clarke has (only Vonnegut, Jr., Heinlein and Larry Niven -- whom I've met on several occasions -- are in the same Pantheon).

Like Al Gore, he is credited with promoting some advanced concepts that eventually became reality, including geosynchronous satellites. He's been a staunch supporter of the Space Elevator, which if ever built, will almost certainly be named the Clarke Elevator as has the geosync orbit of Earth (the Clarke Orbit). He left three wishes at the event of his 90th birthday, and among them was the desire for humanity to discover life on other worlds. This is a common theme of his works.

I would be remiss if I didn't weigh in, so to speak, on Clarke's eccentricities. I was dismayed when the accusations of pedophilia arose around the time that Clarke was being knighted. I would not be surprised to find out if he was a homosexual, and that would hardly diminish my respect for him and his work. It certainly has been a particular spectre for British geniuses, with the suicide of Alan Turing being the most painful example. No wonder Clarke chose to live abroad most of his life. His insistence on staying in Sri Lanka always exposed him to danger from extremists, but he apparently felt safe there. I'm sure the island nation is a spectacular place to live.

In his later years, his productivity naturally diminished, but not before he could pen 3001, a fitting and moving end to the 2001 series. He ties up some loose ends, reveals the limits of the interstellar intelligences (they being vulnerable to software virii), and makes a strong threat about global warming and zero-point energy. He also gave an interesting "look back" on our times, and that is always the hallmark of excellent science-fiction.

Clarke's writing was usually crisp, technically brilliant, and in his later work, richer in character development. The profound ideas in his stories are what shaped my own views of the Universe and our place in it. I will miss him, and always cherish his work.