I can’t seem to get the song, It’s The End Of The World As We Know It by R.E.M out of my head today. The song was released in the late 80’s, and made famous during the early-mid 90’s. Most of it due to its’ association with Independence Day, a movie about aliens invading Earth. I now know of something else the famous apocalypse song can attach itself to, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

The LHC which is referred to as the “Big Bang Machine” was finally turned on today. Deep underground at a CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire) facility, rests the largest particle collider ever constructed. Everyone, specifically the engineers working on the project held their breath today, as the machine that has been 14 years in the making powered up. As the beams of protons were sent around the LHC for the first time, the engineers cheered as all went smooth. The machine won’t reach its full potential for doing what it was made to until about a month after being turned on.
Read the rest of this entry »

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

All I could muster is, ‘meh’, when I saw the 4th Generation being announced at Apple’s Let’s Rock event. Steve Jobs took the stage like he always does, to give us information about the new iPod line. I wonder if you’ll be as unimpressed as I was.

Does anyone honestly believe this is worth a purchase, especially if you already own a current gen iPod?

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

The one game that I was salivating in anticipation for this year was Spore. I bought it, I’ve played it, and so far I love it. I was finally able to obtain the game, and have put it through its’ paces. Spore should honestly be called “Crack: The Game” because I’m addicted and I’ve just barely scratched the surface.

The great thing about Spore is there are a few different ways to play the game. Technically you could play the entire game, and not get into the actual “gaming” part of it. If you want to create unique, and strange creatures then you’re able to do just that. Once you’ve gotten your creative juices flowing, there’s also a game that you can play through. Which opens up even more creativity.

When you first start off in Spore, you create a very basic “cell” like creature, and have a limited amount of options. As you progress and survive, you will unlock parts and resources for evolving your creature. The gameplay is very simple, but at the same time very engaging. It has a very raw, survival of the fittest feel, yet it pulls it off in a cute, and friendly way. Think Charles Darwin meets the Care Bears. The “cell stage” of the game is simplistic almost to a fault. You basically swim around, fighting off other cells while trying to gather food. All of this leading up to your first evolution.
Read the rest of this entry »

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

There are some people out there who love to build. These are the ones that played with Legos, played Sim City, and would rather saw off their arm then call a handyman to fix something. I happen to be one of those people; I love to tackle situations on my own.

The XR3 is an ambitious, and odd looking car from Robert Q Riley Enterprises. Instead of the standard 4 wheel layout, the XR3 will have three wheels, with only one supporting the back end of the vehicle. The car can get up to 225 MPG, if you use the diesel, electric combo setup that is offered. So everything is sounding great, right?

Well, although you get great MPG, there is one tiny problem with the XR3. You have to build the vehicle yourself. Dont get me wrong, I love to build. But if I’m driving down the highway around 60-70 mph, I want to know that this was put together by someone who knows something about car engineering.

What’s really hilarious is that the company that designed the prototype doesn’t even sell the kits for it yet. They only offer the plans, which does come with a CD/DVD combo. So if you happen to have some wheels, and spare metal sitting around then you could get started on your XR3.

The plans themselves cost $170, and $200 if you want the DVD. Of course, Tom Hanks says to drive an electric car, so maybe this isn’t such a crazy idea.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!