Thoughts on The Road to Reality

Done! It seems unbelievable, but yesterday I managed to finish The Road to Reality, by Sir Roger Penrose. I must say I liked it a lot. It has its failures, of course, and it is sometimes contentious (willingly so), specially at the end. I have made a list of things I have found outstanding in the book.

 

Our new laptop

We have a new laptop, a Sony Vaio. Here are some comments on the process that led to this choice, which ended up being, in a nutshell:

• Apple vs Sony
• Mac OS vs Vista vs linux

 

Windows XP secrets

Recently, I had some problems after installing Windows XP SP3 and asked for technical support. I don’t like Windows too much, but I have to use it for many applications; one thing that I did like was the support I got, with a technical representative calling several times to guide me and check if things were going smoothly. In the process I learned some secret XP lore.

 

TV series

Just a list of recommended TV series from Pablo, the expert.

 

La movida superficie de un líquido

(Yet another post in Spanish, since the news article is in this language! ). Se insiste mucho en esto, y por fin nos hemos decidido a tenerlo en cuenta: la divulgación de los resultados de la investigación. Aqui está La movida superficie de un líquido, que divulga nuestro último artículo en el JCP:  en  madrid+d y en  plataformasinc.

 

Dyson and Global Warming

Eminent physicist Freeman Dyson has recently been critic with the overall emphasis on  Global warming as the main problem to focus upon. His latest review for The New York Review of Books , The question of global warming, ends with some food for thought:

Environmentalism has replaced socialism as the leading secular religion. And the ethics of environmentalism are fundamentally sound… This is a religion that we can all share, whether or not we believe that global warming is harmful.

Much of the public has come to believe that anyone who is skeptical about the dangers of global warming is an enemy of the environment. The skeptics now have the difficult task of convincing the public that the opposite is true. Many of the skeptics … are horrified to see the obsession with global warming distracting public attention from what they see as more serious and more immediate dangers to the planet, including problems of nuclear weaponry, environmental degradation, and social injustice…

 

Kevin Huizenga’s “Curses”

Curses, by  Kevin Huizenga. A graphic novel that has impressed me quite a lot, specially the last part, devoted to a theological argument about the nature of condemnation: either Hell or annihilation. Other memorable stories concern fertility daemons and maddening birds.

 

Feria del libro

Otra entrada en castellano. Ésta es algo especial: una lista de casetas interesantes de la Feria del Libro de Madrid 2008, que iré actualizando. La idea es planear algo las visitas de este año, que suelen ser bastante caóticas.

 

Console games

I am pretty happy with PC gaming, but there are some games out there that would make me get one of those consoles:

• Katamari Damacy (PS2). Really original game in which you have to roll stuff up to form a star.

 

Monsieur Michel Ancel

I have tried few games designed by famous designer Michel Ancel: Beyond Good and Evil and Rayman 1 and 2: The great escape (not that he has many more). And I must say, he seems to be one of these designers whose character is imprinted in the final game (like, say, Tim Schafer or Ron Gilbert). His absence is painfully patent in Rayman 3 which completely lacks the innocence and magic of the previous games (I still have to try Rayman Raving Rabbids, but I am afraid the same will apply).