I was Googling around the other day and came across this site:
http://www.brickset.com/browse/themes/?theme=Space
Suddenly I was transported back into my childhood. My parents bought me all sorts of Lego Space sets including the Command Center, one and two-seat Space Scooter, and the holy trinity of awesome space ships: The One-Man Space Ship (shown above), the Transporter, and the awesome Galaxy Explorer.
Looking at these classic Lego Space Ships filled me with overwhelming nostalgia. It made me remember how amazing my parents were to me, which made me happy (for the memories) and sad (for their passing) at the same time. For a few moments it was hard for me to breathe. My heart was beating uncontrollably.
I still have all the pieces for all these sets, stored away safely in clear plastic bins.
Maybe I’ll build one again.
UPDATE! Sunday September 15, 2013
I dug out my old Galaxy Explorer instruction sheet, and found the Rubbermaid bin with all my old Lego, and here is the result!
Views: 13746
Did you ever have a dream?
Was it silly and outrageous? Was it physically impossible? Did it involve time travel or conversing with dragons?
Let’s leave the dreams that are actually impossible aside for a moment. If I had a dream, say, to play for the NHL, it’s already too late. It would require time travel to get the number of years of training required and still be eligible for the draft. That’s okay. There are other dreams to chase.
If your dream is actually physically possible, why aren’t you doing it? Probably the single most common answer is fear. We feel that trying to reach for our dreams and failing would be much worse than simply not trying, so we avoid it. We do the absolute minimum required to keep ourselves going. We stay at the same job because it’s safer and easier to do so. That way, we get to keep the dream, but we keep our reality as well. As long as the two never meet, everything will be okay.
Except it’s not. Not really.
What if we took that fear and used it to keep from failing while we actively pursued our dreams?
Wouldn’t that be amazing?
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We spend most of our waking lives at work. Most of us have gotten very good at identifying what is wrong with our workplace, and what we don’t like about our jobs. Ask anyone and they’ll talk to you for hours about it.
Now ask them about what their ideal work day would be like, or what their perfect job would look like. Suddenly, these same people are completely lost. They have no idea. Then they just laugh and say something like "I want a million dollars a year" or "I’d like to win the lottery."
Sorry, but winning the lottery isn’t a career plan. And nobody is going to give you a million dollar a year job. It’s just not going to happen.
Besides, say you did get a job that paid a million dollars a year. What would you do?
Answering this question is not easy. But doing so could change your life.
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Recently I argued with someone over a crucial decision at work. I presented over four decades of scientific studies proving my point, which were ignored and dismissed in favor of "belief" that the opposite was true.
It was depressing to me that people actually think this way. I wondered how humanity actually managed to achieve everything it did when we clearly are not a logical species.
Then I thought to myself: are there any classes of people who DO accept facts a majority of the time? And there are. They are scientists, engineers, and computer programmers. If they can't accept facts, they can't do their job.
These people BUILT our civilization. Everyone else is just living in it.
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It's a standard excuse for any boneheaded decision these days. "Oh, the industry is going this way, we should follow", or "Oh, this is just the way the world works".
These are the words of people who are too scared to think and act for themselves.
"The world is going" towards the elimination of weekends and time off. "The world is going" towards the destruction of worker's rights. "The world is going" towards the end of minimum wage. "The world is going" towards 50% unemployment.
Is this really the world you want to help make?
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Just sitting at the bus terminal now. The earlier bus was sold out so I'll miss the keynote, but oh well.
Looking forward to more gaming goodness! I had a blast last year. There is so much to see! I feel like Zaboo from this season of The Guild. I will have it all!!!!
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Tomorrow I am leaving very early on a jet plane to go to Anaheim. No, I’m not going to Disneyland-- I’m going to attend the Major League Gaming event, where Starcraft II will be on the Main Stage!
I’m going not just as a fan, but also to write an awesome article for Ars Technica. While there, I hope to see (and possibly meet) Lim Yo Hwan, aka SlayerS Boxer, the most famous Starcraft player of all time. He is one of a few select Korean pros who have been invited to battle with the best players from North America and Europe.
I’m so excited!! Wish me luck!
Views: 6577
I’ve finally put my first novel (Edge of Infinity) on the Amazon Kindle store!
Please, if you own a Kindle, or an iPhone, or an iPad, or a Windows PC, or a Macintosh, and like awesome books that are awesome, consider purchasing a copy today!
Here is the link:
http://www.amazon.com/Edge-Infinity-Masters-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00589OMCK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=books&qid=1309389209&sr=8-1
Here is a shorter link in case that one doesn't work:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00589OMCK
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I’ve been a huge Jaedong fan basically since I first saw him play. I watched him win the Golden Mouse (three OSL championships) live and watched his rivalry with Flash in finals matches many, many times.
I drew this poster as part of the "A Zergling for Jaedong" thread on Team Liquid:
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=215652
Hopefully it will become part of a package that will be delivered to him personally!
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In this exciting episode, we brave the cold outdoors again to bring you the exciting battle of Big Truck vs. Even Bigger Truck, and the heart-stopping drama of tiny little loud birds!
Oh, and we also touch on how our entire society is changing right before our eyes, from the collapse of the venerable British University System to the fall of traditional publishers. It’s all part of the theme of Acceleration, marked out by Data Points!
All this, plus the rise of Starcraft!
Links from the show:
http://www.lambdassociates.org/blog/decline.htm - The decline and fall of the British university
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/03/the-dawn-of-starcraft-e-sports-come-to-the-world-stage.ars - The Dawn of Starcraft: e-Sports come to the world stage
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/02/tech-giants-to-enable-ipv6-on-world-ipv6-day-in-june.ars - World IPv6 day
http://www.the-gutters.com - good comics about comic industry
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2011/03/ebooks-and-self-publishing-dialog.html - Self publishing beats traditional publishing
http://www.pvponline.com/2011/03/26/rube-goldberg-de-vicing/ - Scott Kurtz gives up on National Cartoonists Society
http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1139619&start=120 - Great discussion on the cloud and open source goals
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I'm a writer and programmer. I write science fiction stories and novels.
I am the writer for the upcoming documentary series Arcade Dreams.
I also write technology articles for Ars Technica.
I'm the creator of newLISP on Rockets, a web development framework and blog application.