Alpha Core

Spider-Pig. Spider-Pig. Does whatever a Spider-Pig does. Can he swing. From a web. No he can’t. He’s a pig. Look out! He is a Spider-Pig!

Here’s a clip from the movie.

Read more

Our visit to Dialog im Dunkeln in Hamburg was quite an experience! I didn’t think an exhibition could leave such deep impression on me! However, this 90 minute tour in the dark gave me a completely new and profound experience. I couldn’t possibly start to describe the general idea any better than already mentioned on their website:

The concept is simple: visitors are lead by blind guides in small groups through specially constructed darkened rooms, in which scents, sounds, wind, temperatures and textures conveys the characteristics of daily environments, for example a park, a city or a bar. In the dark, the daily routine becomes a new experience. A reversion of roles is created: sighted people are torn out of their familiar environments; blind people provide them with security and a sense of orientation transmitting a world without pictures.

It’s quite terrifying to suddenly find yourself stuck in the dark, right in front of a small bush, somewhere completely off track – you think – while you’re trying to discover where you are, feeling the ground around you with a cane. The group might already have gone further, but then you hear some shuffling feet and suddenly the guide asking if everybody’s alright. You can’t see anything and have to rely on your other senses to get to the next room, where you suddenly face the difficulty of walking around in a city and crossing a street. After a few of these walks in a variety of different settings, you get to the end and order something in the bar. You go and sit down to discuss the whole experience with the guide and yes, all of this also happens in complete darkness. And no, they’re not cheating when giving back change.

As you might already have figured out, I can recommend this exhibition immensely! Definitely worth a visit!

Claiming that you know a lot about geography? Then prove it! Here’s the game Know Your World, as found on Flabber a while ago. You get the name of a city or famous place and the country and then you have to pinpoint it to the map as quickly as possible. The closer you click to where it actually is, the more points you get. Easy enough, huh? Great game and even I (ahum) learned something from it.

Definitely worth a look if you haven’t seen it before, is The Elegant Universe, a NOVA production (airs on PBS). Based on the book by Brian Greene, it tries to explain why string theory might hold the key to unifying the four forces of nature.

There’s an introduction (actually an excerpt from the book) available you can read before deciding to watch it or not.

“The discovery of the Theory of Everything—the ultimate explanation of the universe at its most microscopic level, a theory that does not rely on any deeper explanation—would provide the firmest foundation on which to build our understanding of the world. Its discovery would mark a beginning, not an end. The ultimate theory would provide an unshakable pillar of coherence forever assuring us that the universe is a comprehensible place.”

You can watch the complete program online (also available in fullscreen format) as a three-hour miniseries and become a wiser person. This is highly recommendable material if you desire more insight into the laws of the universe or at least any attempts to discover and explain them. And don’t worry, the series doesn’t take a mathematical approach.

David Scott created a sequel to Vector TD and calls it Vector TDx (here’s an alternative link without commercial). Because I’m so crazy about tower defense games, this game had to be posted on this blog as well. Enjoy! And if you get beyond level 27/50, let me know how you did it, please. These orange ones are so nasty in that level!

I’ve been experiencing the silliest things lately with the money transfer & online payment called NETELLER. After opening an account there, it is required to arrange a telephone call to verify that you are indeed a real person and not some smart poodle surfing the internet.

So I gave them my number in Belgium that automatically gets forwarded over the internet to Germany, because I was in Germany at that time. I made the foolish mistake of letting them in on this and all of a sudden, this number was no good anymore; I needed to be in my country of registration. After some discussion, people calling their bosses and listening to some relaxing music, they finally agreed on calling me on this Belgian number as well as on a fixed line of choice in Germany. Well, alright then! Within the hour some guy from a call center called me on both numbers. The absurdity level of this stranger twice asking me for my user ID and (something similar to) what my mother’s maiden name is, is hilariously high! Read more

As some of you might already know, I’m constantly on the move between Germany and Belgium. In order to make communications as easy and cheap as possible, I wanted people in Belgium to be able to reach me in Germany at national rates by calling a fixed-line number in Belgium. The call should get transparently redirected over the internet to Germany as follows:

I also wanted to call people in Belgium from Germany at very low costs. For them, my call seems to originate from within Belgium. Since some people already showed interest in how I set this up, I decided to write an article about this. Read more

We proudly present our christmas tree of this year!

For all the botanists around: the botanical name for the kind is Picea glauca Conica and in German it is called ‘Zuckerhutfichte’, referring to it’s conic shape. It’s especially recommendable, because it’s known as a slow grower, so that we can keep it for several years – if it survives…