Only by watching things like this can you realize how far have we moved in terms of visual entertainment over the last 100 years. Some effects look ridiculous while it will take some more years to out date the other ones. Enjoy!
We had a few discussions about Civilization IV game today in the office. I wasn’t paying much attention as I am not a big fan of strategy games, especially turn-based strategy games. But at some point I was looking at this technology research tree diagram (click for full-sized version, source).
Civilization IV technology tree
And I couldn’t help to get impressed on how far the world has come in terms of research. And also how much was actually discovered in the last few decades.
Yes, I know, not everything on that diagram is a technology, and not everything was actually researched. But, on the other hand, there are many technologies which were researched and worked on, and they aren’t on that tree diagram.
A diagram like this provides a perspective on how much people knew back in the early days and how much more complex (not necessarily complicated) the modern world is. Of course, when playing such a game against a few opponents, the perspective becomes even more realistic – the more stuff you have researched, the more you can do and more powerful is your nation.
If only now we could incorporate these games with history classes somehow …
The software is checked very carefully in a bottom-up fashion. First, each new line of code is checked, then sections of code or modules with special functions are verified. The scope is increased step by step until the new changes are incorporated into a complete system and checked. This complete output is considered the final product, newly released. But completely independently there is an independent verification group, that takes an adversary attitude to the software development group, and tests and verifies the software as if it were a customer of the delivered product. There is additional verification in using the new programs in simulators, etc. A discovery of an error during verification testing is considered very serious, and its origin studied very carefully to avoid such mistakes in the future. Such unexpected errors have been found only about six times in all the programming and program changing (for new or altered payloads) that has been done. The principle that is followed is that all the verification is not an aspect of program safety, it is merely a test of that safety, in a non-catastrophic verification. Flight safety is to be judged solely on how well the programs do in the verification tests. A failure here generates considerable concern.
The above was written by R. P. Feynman, in Feynman’s Appendix to the Rogers Commission Report on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident, 1986. More than 20 years ago. Much recommended reading.
Found via Richard Feynman, the Challenger Disaster, and Software Engineering.
Some weeks ago, as part of their 10th anniversary celebration, Google presented Google Circa 2001 (yes, I know, I am doing very old news right now – Slashdot, CyberNet News). Google Circa 2001 is basically the way Google was in 2001, including the web index of those times. What’s the big deal? Well, for those of us who were on the web from back then, it provides for a way to see how things were different.
For example, back in 2001 I was better known as “Leonid Mamtchenkov“, not “Leonid Mamchenkov”. That was due to another spelling in my Russian passport. Also, my web site looked pretty different from what it is now. But it was already a blog, even if in the simplest form. Surprisingly even, I found a few posts that were not migrated to the current archives, or got lost somehow after a few CMS and back-end script changes. I’ll restore them for historical purposes later on.
Oh, sweet memories …
How well are you familiar with YouTube celebrities – Numa Numa, the Star Wars kid, leave Britney alone, Coke and Mentos, etc? If you missed any, of if you want to refresh your memory, here are they all on one page. The first clip is a music video “Pork and Beans” by Weezer band. After that, each and every one of them in a separate, original video. Loads of fun!
I am not a big fan of Tom Cruise. In fact, I passively try to avoid his movies. He is not a very good actor and there is something negative about the guy. When I saw the trailer for the “The Last Samurai” in the movies back a few years ago, I didn’t like it, and missed the movie on purpose. I though it would be some historical non-sense about an American getting into Japan, learning centuries of samurai traditions and skills in a couple of month and then showing them how real people fight. Or something along those lines.
Today I rented the film because I was really bored, because there weren’t much else to rent, and because I thought the time has come to finally watch it. Once again it seems I missed watching a really good movie on a big screen. Boomer!
There are quite a few things that would have made the experience so much better for if I went to see it in the cinema. First of all, the battle scenes and all the small fights. Secondly, some really amazing scenery and photography. The film was shot mostly in New Zealand, which has been proven many times to be one of the most beautiful countries. At least, on the big screen. Thirdly, this film has an excellent soundtrack and it would have been a bigger pleasure listening to it in something other than a pair of cheap headphones.
I also really liked the story in the film. Not that it shows something that I haven’t seen or heard of before, but it rather reminds of quite a few subjects which are very good to be reminded of. The film has its way around such topics as honor, discipline, loyalty and friendship. These should be talked about more often in the movies for the sake of making the world a better place. (Yes, the whole world, including yours truly.)
Being a complete moron in history, cultures, and traditions, I can’t judge the historical truth of the film. However, Wikipedia, as usual, has an excellent article which describes how the story is relevant to the things that took place in real life.
Overall: 9 out of 10.
Slashdot runs an excellent discussion on the topic of “What Did You Change Your Mind About in 2007?“. If you want to learn more about what people on the Web had changed their minds in 2007, try this Google search – plenty more there.
What did I change my mind about in 2007? Short answer: Google. Continue reading for the long version.
[Read the rest of this entry...]
People all over the web are saying good bye to Netscape. Since Mozilla and Firefox started to get better, Netscape sort of faded away. Now it faded away so far that AOL decided to end the support for the browser. This is the time when thousands of people all around the world, including yours truly, suddenly felt very old and broke out into uncontrollable nostalgia…
If you want to read more about the sentiment, here are some links for you:
I’ve been fascinated by chess for as long as I can remember. This is one of those games that brings it all together – intelligence, suspense, entertainment, magic… Unfortunately, I wasn’t ever any good at playing chess, or even understanding most strategies. But that didn’t stop me from enjoying a game now and then.
I have recently came across two interesting bits about chess. One is this post on the gaping void blog with the history of chess pieces. It explains where from the names and looks came, as well as why the pieces move the way they move. Another one is this Battle Chess web site (in Russian). Battle Chess is a variation of the chess game, which, as the site says “is a war, not a game”. What they do is let each chess player arrange his pieces on his part of the board any way he wants. The second player does the same. The trick is that they don’t see each others positioning before the game starts. And then they start. Sounds exciting. And innovative. Which I guess isn’t very easy to do with a game a few centuries old.
One thing that Google Maps could benefit from is a time dimension. Imagine, being able to scroll the time-line while looking at the satellite picture of the same place. You could see how cities are growing, roads built, and rain forests destroyed. You could see traffic jams. You could see how building shadows drop to find the better parking in a hot place like Cyprus…
I guess Google will have to collect much more data than they already have though.
