Windows 7 Likes to Tell You Stuff

by Marcus on May 14, 2010

I recently installed Windows 7 for work-related purposes, and I think this screenshot is a pretty good represenation of my experience with the operating system so far.

Come on.

I got on Reddit

by Marcus on May 12, 2010

This is odd. I stumbled upon this, randomly posted it on Reddit, and the next day it was on the frontpage with 500 comments. Then MrBabyMan ripped it, and it landed on the Digg frontpage, and just now I found it on my favorite movie website Slashfilm. It’s a small world.

Why Intelligent Design is not Science

by Marcus on May 7, 2010

It’s kind of weird, that I haven’t written about evolution or intelligent design in here before, because it’s two fields that interest me a lot. Anyway, I found this great excerpt, which quickly and precisely explains why intelligent design is not science.

Intelligent design is an assumption with no scientific basis whatsoever. For any assumption to be considered a hypothesis, there must be evidence. There is no evidence for intelligent design.

For a hypothesis to gain credibility, it must be testable. Intelligent design is not testable.

For a hypothesis to become a theory, the testing must be repeatable with the same results each time and open to every scientist on Earth for meticulous scrutiny.

Without passing the first hurdle, intelligent design fails to be considered anything more than a nice story.

Intelligent design is a concept that has emerged only in the past few years. There has been no testing, no peer review, no evidence, and no use of the scientific method.

It simply is not science.

While creationism may be an interesting subject in a theology class, it is best to focus on science in a science class.

Source.

That is all.

Optimizing Your Computer Use #1: Firefox Search Keywords

by Marcus on April 28, 2010

I’m a huge fan of optimizing the way I use my computer, if I stumble upon a task I know I will be doing in the future (e.g. looking up opening hours for the local grocery store) I usually try to make this task easier. So I’ll write a couple of articles about what techniques I use to do these things, the first being Firefox search keywords, which I’ve talked about before.

Firefox has a built in function that lets you add keywords for search fields on websites by right-clicking them and pressing “Add a Keyword for this Search”. This makes it possible to make a search on a site by typing “<keyword> <search term>” in the address bar (e.g. “i die hard” searches IMDb for “die hard”). This obviously has a lot of possibilities, and it’s probably the one thing that saves me the most time on a day to day basis. I use the following keywords:

  • Google
    A standard Google search. Type “g <search keyword>”.
  • Keepvid
    Download video from sites like YouTube, Metacafe, etc. Type “d <video URL>”.
  • Port Check
    Checks if a certain port is open. Type “p <port number>”.
  • Google Maps
    Searches Google Maps. Type “gm <location>”.
  • Google Maps – Directions From Home
    Search for a direction from your home. Change “blegdamsvej 78A, københavn ø, denmark” to your own address. Type “gmd <destination>”.
  • Google Translate
    Type “gt <text or url>” to translate something from English.
  • YouTube
    Search on YouTube. Type “y <search term>”.
  • WikiPedia
    Search on WikiPedia. Type “w <search term>”.
  • IMDb
    Search on IMDb. Type “i <search term>”.
  • Kino
    Search on Kino.dk Type “k <search term>”.
  • RottenTomatoes
    Search on Rotten Tomatoes. Type “rt <search term>”.
  • Play.com
    Search on Play.com Type “p <search term>”.
  • UrbanDictionary
    Search Urban Dictionary. Type “u <search term>”.
  • Ordbogen
    Search on Ordbogen.com. Type “o <search term>”.
  • Google Currency Converter
    Convert money to Danish Kroner. Type “dkk <amount and currency>” (e.g. “dkk 50 usd”).
  • Google Currency Converter (USD)
    Convert from US Dollars to Danish Kroner. Type “usd <amount in US Dollars>”.
  • Google Currency Converter (EURO)
    Convert from Euro to Danish Kroner. Type “euro <amount in Euro>”.
  • Google Currency Converter (POUNDS)
    Convert from Pounds to Danish Kroner. Type “pounds <amount in Pounds>”.
  • Dansk Wiki
    Search on the Danish WikiPedia. Type “dw <search term>”.
  • Wiktionary
    Search on Wiktionary. Type “wi <search term>”.
  • Amazon.co.uk
    Search on Amazon.co.uk. Type “a <search term>”.
  • Filestube
  • Search for files on Rapidshare. Type “f <search term>”.

You can follow these steps to import my keywords:

  1. Right-click on my Search Keywords bookmarks file and choose “Save Link As…” Place the file somewhere on your computer.
  2. In Firefox, from the Bookmarks menu, choose “Manage Bookmarks”.
  3. From the Bookmarks Manager File menu, choose Import. Choose “Import Bookmarks from File.” Browse to and open the file you just saved.

The next article will be about Greasemonkey scripts.

My First Foray into Strategy Board Games

by Marcus on April 10, 2010

There’s something very fascinating about board games that successfully envelop you in fictional universes in a way that’s usually reserved to computer games and movies. Twilight Imperium is the first big strategy board game I’ve tried, and it did just that. Yes, it takes several hours just to set up and get into, but when you’re there it’s very entertaining and actually not very complicated. Ten races make up the game, and in the duration of a single turn you set up trade agreements, vote on political issues, gain technology, increase your fleet size, invade and capture planets, fight space battles and much more. One game consists of 10 turns, which didn’t sound like much to me, but when we stopped playing after 10 hours, at 6 in the morning, we weren’t even halfway there.

Setting up the game and getting into the rules, which took us about 2 hours.

Under way!

Moving units.

This was near the end of the game, a lot of units and battles, but we were just too tired to continue.