Recently in Calvin Category

Another useful program for teaching programming is from MIT. It's called scratch.

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Calvin and I have been reading a really interesting book about the politics of physic (yes there is such a thing called) The Trouble with Physics about the big issues with string theory. Thanks to Peter for sending to me.

He describes a really interesting theory called Doubly Special Relativity that although highly speculative makes more sense to us then a 12 dimensional universe. Basically it says that just as there is a speed limit for light at C, there is also a smallest possible length which is called Planck's length. As things get smaller and smaller (remember as you go faster, everything gets shorter and time gets longer, until you get to the speed of light when time stops and distances are zero), that the all observers can agree that nothing is smaller than Planck's length with is

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Well, everything is online, so here's a quick way to see what available:

Tickets The site name is wierd beyond words, but you can go to Gohuskies.com which redirects to CSTV which redirects you to evenue.net. Tickets are $5 each, Children at $3 and for $15 you get 4 tickets. So if you are one adult and three kids ($5+3*3=$14), you save by buying it that way. A child is someone high school or lower. Kids under two are free. There is a $6 processing fee and it is will call, so you have to get there early.

As near as I can tell with Google Maps, it is right behind the baseball field, so you take a right on wahkjakum Ln and it is at the T intersection of Walla Walla Rd

The Field was built in 2004 and it is a dedicated soccer stadium. It is north of Husy Stadium and just south of the Montlake parking lot (which confusingly should really be called the U Village lot as it is just south of that). It has concessions and so forth.

Calvin was trying to figure out what a MacGuffin is and is the ring in Lord of the Rings a MacGuffin. It turns out that his definition wasn't quite right, its a term from Alfred Hitchcock that refers to something that gets you into the plot but actually has nothing to do with the real story.
MacGuffin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin or Maguffin) is a plot device that motivates the characters and advances the story, but has little other relevance to the story

Well, in prepping for Calvin's party, learned some fascinating (at least to me!) things about the Olympic theme songs:

1. Answers.com. The song we most closely associate with the Olympics has nothing to do with the official Olympics. It is actually written by Leo Arnaud and is called "Bugler's Dream". Someone at ABC heard it and liked so they used it in 1968. When NBC picked up the rights, it was so tied to the Olympics that they licensed it starting in 1992.
2. Chiffboard reminds us that most people think that John Williams wrote it because in the 1984 Olympics, he incorporated the piece into something called the "Olympic Fanfare and Theme" so that's what most people here, but it really comes from Arnaud.
3. DClarion did a strawpole and most folks like the Bugler's Dream better, so sometime the olds beats the new :-)
4. Mediaconcerto points out that there is actually an official Olympic theme song called Ancient Immortal Spirit which is actually a greek poem by Palamas set to music.

As a nerdy aside, MusicClassical keeps track of famous pieces that are used in contemporary songs and so forth like Arnoud's piece or one of my favorites, Donizettis's Regana va nel silenzio from "Lucia di Lammermoor" that was used in the Diva scene of the Fifth Element.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Planets plan boosts tally to 12

The number of planets around the Sun could rise from nine to 12 - with more on the way - if experts approve a radical new vision of our Solar System.

The IAU draft resolution recognises eight "classical" planets - Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune - three "plutons" - Pluto, Charon and UB313 - and the asteroid Ceres.

At just 2,360km (1,467 miles) across, Pluto is significantly smaller than the other planets. But until recently, it was still the biggest known object in the Kuiper Belt. That changed with the discovery of 2003 UB313 by Professor Mike Brown and colleagues at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). After being measured with the Hubble Space Telescope, it was shown to be some 3,000km (1,864 miles) in diameter, making it larger than the ninth planet. Charon is currently described as a moon of Pluto, but because of its size some experts consider it a twin planet.

Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and like a planet is spherical in shape.

A surprisingly fun game, this is a baseball simulation. We got a starter kit and they have cool booster packs. Ebay of course ahs these cards galore.

http://www.southafrica.info/ess_info/sa_glance/history/anthem.htm
http://www.du.edu/langlit/russian/anthtxt.html
http://www.chinaodysseytours.com/guide/national_anthem.htm
http://www.nationalanthems.us/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1080243799/7

We downloaded the MVP 2004 demo and Calvin just loves it, unfortunately, because EA lost the rights to MLB, they now only have NCAA Baseball and it is only on consoles, so nothing for our beloved PC. You can still get used MVP 2005 on ebay though. And you pretty much have to have a game controller as well to play it.

IGN: MVP Baseball 2005 Review

It has been an eventful year for sports video games. First, EA bought the exclusive rights to the NFL license effectively pushing all competitors out of the market. Then Take Two struck back by purchasing Visual Concepts and the exclusive third party rights to the MLB license. After all of the wheeling and dealing where does that leave the fans who are just looking to hit some dingers? It leaves us with the third and final instalment of the MVP series, at least for the next seven years. It looks like EA Canada wanted to give us something memorable because MVP 2005 delivers the best baseball experience on the market today. Unfortunately for PC users, this experience is a bit more enjoyable on the consoles.

Sports - Reviews and free downloads at Download.com. Calvin loves sports games. Here is the place to get demo versions so he can figure out.