Planetarium for your PC

I came across a piece of software this morning that is a must, if you like astronomy or planetariums!

It allows you to scan the heavens in 360 degrees, external to earth. It’s also in real time so you can see the earth as it would look in space right now, and where day and night are.

Here’s the link: http://celestia.sourceforge.net/ (opens in new tab)

And here’s a screenshot from my computer of the earth in space at this moment in time, 12.42 pm GMT:

My 40k

The hit count on my blog has just smashed through the 40,000 barrier in just under 12 months, and although I’ve not researched this properly, I’m pretty sure that makes it the best blog ever written, ever.

Here are some not so interesting facts about the number 40,000:

It comes after the number 39,999

There is a game called Warhammer 40,000

A man took 40000 ecstasy tabs in a nine year span

It comes before the number 40,001

40,000 is a round number

Asteroid 40000 has the provisional designation 1998 HZ87 and was discovered on April 21^st 1998 in Socorro

40,000 is the only number to end with four zeros and start with one four

A footprint of early humans found in Mexico was 40,000 years old

40,000+ is the visitor count of popular, intelligent, and witty writer Evanescent

 

I originally posted my blog on MySpace as a way to rant incoherently about football and everyday things that pissed me off in an attempt to look cleverer than I was. That’s not me anymore – I’ve stopped writing about football.

I’ve moved from just “atheist” to “humanist” to “anti-theist”, before discovering Ayn Rand, and I proudly identify myself as an Objectivist now. Not only has this been of great personal benefit to me, I think it gave my blog a whole new lease of life. I’ve also had the dubious pleasure of having many political and ethical debates as a result.

I haven’t posted much recently as nothing has moved me to write an in-depth article, and I’m also drafting a perennially-planned work of fiction. I’ll release more information about this in the coming months. Needless to say this will make me rich and famous, but I won’t forget you my readers, the little people, for putting me where I am.

Total Lunar Eclipse - Wed 20th Feb 08

Today (Wednesday 20^th February 2008 – yeah that’s right America, I put the date in the correct format!) sees a total lunar eclipse. Or more precisely, tonight does.

I encourage everyone to take a walk outside tonight and look up and check out this fantastic phenomenon. Or if you live in Manchester, just poke your head of out the cardboard box.

Unfortunately it’ll take place at about 3am here in England, so if I do get up to see it what do you want to bet the sky will probably be overcast? Yes that’s right, believe it or not it does cloud over from time to time in England. That’s a bit harsh really, given the beautiful weather and clear skies we’ve had lately. For the first time in months the British public was treated to a rare sight indeed. The sun. I don’t care though – I hate the sun. My friends have started calling me a vampire. I just thought that had something to do with the black nail varnish and leather. I’m joking – I don’t wear leather.

Here is the MSN Link for the total lunar eclipse: http://news.uk.msn.com/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=7587885

And the same from Facebook which shows what times the eclipse will be visible around the world: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=19232260290

If anyone observes this amazing spectacle and gets any good pictures (of the moon) or wants to describe it from their POV, drop me a comment.

 

 

Objectivist Round-Up 30

Objectivist Round-Up #30

Welcome everybody to this week’s Objectivist Round-Up. This is my first time hosting this carnival and it’s a privilege to give Rational Jenn a well-deserved rest for a week!

Here are the accepted submissions for this week, in no particular order:

RationalJenn wants to know which states are currently complying?, and says…

“Somehow, this whole thing snuck past me when it went through Congress nearly 3 years ago. It looks as if the Feds are going to come down hard on states that refuse to comply fully with the federal “security” guidelines for the issuance of state ids. Not only that, I fail to see how on earth this will protect me from Bad Guys. But I see quite clearly how much information our federal government will have about me and everyone else who wants to drive a car or ride in an airplane.”

Nicholas Provenzo at The Rule of Reason tells us Why Boycotting Berkeley is Important.

Stella Daily at Reason Pharma reckons it Would be Cheaper if You Were Dead!

Gus Van Horn presents Heartland on VanDamme

Evanescent exposes the Nihilism of Subjectivism.

That’s all for now! The next round-up is over at The Crucible & Column, where the theme will be “Best of 2007!” You can submit your articles here.

 

Liars and Plagiarists

I came across a blog a while ago on Myspace because it linked to my blog here at WordPress, as there were hyperlinks in the article. As soon as I started reading, I noticed how well-written and articulate it was – and how much I agreed with the viewpoints expressed. In fact, it reminded me of something I had written myself. No surprise, because it was something I’d written! The “blogger” in question (I use that word lightly, I should say ‘plagiarist’) had simply copy and pasted my article into his own blog, passing it off as his own. When I commented on the article exposing the fraud, he deleted my comment but put a link to the original at the very bottom, with no other comments.

Now, it’s happened again. I hesitate to give this guy more traffic, but here is the link. Which is a direct copy of my article Why Do I Bother? I’ve left him a comment but I doubt it will remain there for long.

I put a lot of time and effort into my blog, and it’s no sacrifice because I enjoy it a lot and it’s a great form of creative and emotional expression for me, and I get the chance to interact with other intelligent people. The height of intellectually laziness and personal dishonesty though is passing somebody else’s hard work off as your own.

Maybe this guy did credit me (I can’t find it though), but if you stole someone else’s work, wouldn’t you feel a twinge of guilt and conscience every time someone said “great post”, “great blog”, “great article, well said!” etc? And just look how many compliments this guy gets on “his” blog – does he correct anyone even once? Nope. He just lets it lie, hoping a lie of omission doesn’t count as a real lie.

That’s all I want to say because I’m fuming right now. I encourage my readers to drop by the article and tell this guy what a liar he is. I get the impression from other comments that he does this sort of thing a lot.

UPDATED:

The plagiarist has since replied on his Myspace blog, presumably in between sending chat-up messages to other teenage kiddies:

Funny because this isn’t the first time I have posted this. The first time I posted it was here, and I gave you credit at the top.

Somebody emailed me the other day asking why I bother with the debate on myspace, and I remembered the article. I linked them to it. Then I thought it deserved a repost, so I hit ctrl a, and ctrl c real quick, but it copied a bunch of crap with your article, and I erased everything with code it in before the article, including your link.

You really shouldn’t come in here attacking my character and leveling accusations at me for several reasons:

(1) I have never spoken to you before (not that I am aware of)

(2) Your accusation of dishonesty is unfounded, considering I gave NO indication that I wrote the article.

(3) I have written better articles than this.

(4) Your wordpress blog is HIDEOUS

To prove that I am being dishonest you would have to know my intentions, which you don’t. It seems you are more concerned that you get a little pat on your back for your article, than you are with the application of the article.

I do not seek credit for any of my work, and I do not seek popularity (as you can probably tell from how I am speaking to you). What I seek, is to have an effect. It is highly suspect that a person who says they are concerned about their fellow man, is offended that his article is spread around the internet without a fucking link to his shitty wordpress blog. You are almost as bad as an evangelical who asks for money.

To which I replied:

“Yeah I remember you posting it first time around, and I messaged you with a comment. You THEN put a link at the bottom of “your” article and deleted my comment.

As for your nonsense about the application of the article, something I also feel strongly about is honesty. If I was going to reproduce someone else’s work, I would damn well make sure I didn’t pretend it was mine. You are dishonest, because you posted the article originally without any credit (I would be saying all this whether it was mine or not), and then did it again. And each and every time someone new came along saying “good post”, “good blog” etc you sat there lapping it up and saying nothing - a lie of omission is still a lie.

Now, it is your dishonesty that I dislike, and I would be just as angry no matter whose work you appropriated. If this is a topic that you feel strongly about, why not write your own article? Or link to someone else’s?

So

1. your character speaks for itself

2. oh ok, so I can reproduce the lyrics and music for any song ever written and unless I explicitly state otherwise, people must ASSUME that I DIDN’T write it? Pathetic. Try that with any author or artist and write to me from a jail cell when you get sued.

3. really? Where are they? It seems you couldn’t write a better article than my “Why Do I bother?” though eh? Liar.

4. Sorry, if my wordpress blog looked like a toy advert and scene from Tiberium Wars, that would make it better yes? Sorry, some of us who take this subject seriously publish our articles on something a little more professional than a social-networking site.

If my work is so rubbish, don’t pretend to pass it off as your own. Your work is amateur.

If you don’t seek credit for your work, you should have disavowed the article….curious that you didn’t. I do seek credit for my work, unashamedly, because I’m proud of it. Your actions aren’t a slight against me, they’re a sign of bad authorship and dishonesty, the very things you claim to despise. At the very least, it’s a sign of awfully bad blogging etiquette, you should know better.”