aphexddb.com

The new title notwithstanding, things are looking promising. The title is from a short story in Ian Fleming’s anthology “For Your Eyes Only”. Thankfully the film should appear as gritty and real as Casino Royale (94% on Rotten Tomatoes) with the news that Dan Bradley was hired on as second unit director because of his work on the Jason Bourne films.

‘Quantum of Solace’ continues the high octane adventures of James Bond (Daniel Craig) in ‘Casino Royale.’ Betrayed by Vesper, the woman he loved, 007 fights the urge to make his latest mission personal.

Pursuing his determination to uncover the truth, Bond and M (Judi Dench) interrogate Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), who reveals the organization which blackmailed Vesper is far more complex and dangerous than anyone had imagined. Forensic intelligence links an MI6 traitor to a bank account in Haiti where a case of mistaken identity introduces Bond to the beautiful but feisty Camille (Olga Kurylenko), a woman who has her own vendetta.

Camille leads Bond straight to Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a ruthless business man and major force within the mysterious organization. On a mission that leads him to Austria, Italy and South America, Bond discovers that Greene, conspiring to take total control of one of the world’s most important natural resources, is forging a deal with the exiled General Medrano (Joaquin Cosio). Using his associates in the organization, and manipulating his powerful contacts within the CIA and the British government, Greene promises to overthrow the existing regime in a Latin American country giving the General control of the country in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of land.

In a minefield of treachery, murder and deceit, Bond allies with old friends in a battle to uncover the truth. As he gets closer to finding the man responsible for the betrayal of Vesper, 007 must keep one step ahead of the CIA, the terrorists and even M, to unravel Greene’s sinister plan and stop his organization.

I’ll be first in line on opening day. Woo!

http://www.fitnathemovie.com

Shame on you Network Solutions! Pre-emptive censorship!?

Un-American asshats!

How can a site with no content violate your terms of use, yet you host all sorts of porn and hate speech (Al Queda, Hezbollah), etc. Cultural marxism is a scary thing.

 ”The problem, Glenn, and you and I talked about the political correctness tyranny in this country. There`s a great British social commentator Named Pat Cundeau (ph) who said the lie of political correctness is that we`re being told that what we should think is more important than what we do think. “

Number of locations on earth which can make 600 ton steel ingots: 1. How is that possible? I guess even in 2008 materials science pales in comparison with making massive blocks of steel.

The Japan Steel factory’s rusting, corrugated-metal warehouses, blackened by soot, belie the precision and patience required to fashion a 600-ton steel ingot into a tube with walls 30 centimeters (12 inches) thick. Blue-clad workers, some wearing balaclavas to keep warm, draw on knowledge built up when Japan Steel made the 18-inch gun barrel — the world’s largest at the time — for the World War II battleship Yamato. A 1945 attack on the Muroran plant killed more than 200 workers.

“Our accumulated technology for cannon barrels helped us make this technical breakthrough in forging,” plant manager Sato said.

The company’s basic product, steel of the highest quality, has the same enduring appeal as the samurai swords still fashioned in limited quantities by craftsmen at the plant.

15,000 Tons

To make the 600-ton ingot, workers heat steel scrap in an electric furnace to as high as 2,000 degrees Celsius (3,600 degrees Fahrenheit). Then they fill each of five giant ladles with 120 tons of the orange-hot molten metal. Argon gas is injected to eliminate impurities, and manganese, chromium and nickel are added to make the steel harder.

The mixture is poured into a blackened casing to form ingots 4.2 meters wide in the rough shape of a cylinder. Five times over three weeks, the ingots are pressed, reheated and re-pressed under 15,000 tons applied by a machine that rotates them gradually, making the floor tremble as it works.

The heavy forging is needed to make the steel uniformly strong by aligning the crystal lattices of atoms that make up the metal, known as the grain. In a casting, they would be jumbled.

It would take any competitor more than five years to catch up with Japan Steel’s technology, said the company’s chief executive officer, Masahisa Nagata.

via Bloomberg

What a strange day for Warner Bros. First, rumors explode today that they’re giving the heave-ho to Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are, and now word arrives that they’ve greenlit two ambitious live-action films based on the landmark Japanese manga and anime Akira, with Leonardo DiCaprio‘s Appian Way producing. Mere rumor is he may star as the lead character, Kaneda, in the franchise, which will be set in New Manhattan, “a new metropolis rebuilt after being destroyed 31 years earlier.” The first film is being fast tracked for summer 2009.

via Slash Film

Steve Jobs knows what people need, period. As such the following quote is well suited:

“Java’s not worth building in. Nobody uses Java anymore. It’s this big heavyweight ball and chain.”

- Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Feb. 2007

Sun’s announcement that they will create a Java platform for the iPhone is like a wet noodle hitting the ground. “Plop”… who cares! The very specific wording used in the Apple iPhone SDK is as follows:

An Application may not itself install or launch other executable code by any means, including without limitation through the use of a plug-in architecture, calling other frameworks, other APIs or otherwise. No interpreted code may be downloaded and used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple’s Published APIs and built- in interpreter(s).

Thus the only way Sun can maybe enable Java on the iPhone is to create a developer API / library that is used to build standalone Java applications. These could then be sold individually on the Apple store, if Apple permits this. This of course would also prohibit a Java runtime and the running of local jar files. The last thing I need on an iPhone is another layer of interpreted byte code so I can see some shitty swing interface, some slow running monstrosity, a java.io.exception, and random reboots. For that, I have a Blackberry 8800. I think I will take a silky smooth UI that has $100 million in application innovations around the corner. Apple knows best for consumer electronics. Also, some great slashdot comments (1 2) on this issue!

post title concept from Digital Daily

Now my kids are going to know what my day to day life was like, yikes. Bye-bye prehistory!

The date marking the end of prehistory, that is the date when written historical records become a useful academic resource, varies from region to region. In Egypt it is generally accepted that prehistory ended around 3200 BC whereas in New Guinea the end of the prehistoric era is set much more recently, 1900.

via Wikipedia

I did find a super video about Twitter, why it’s useful, and it’s role in social relationships and interactions. I got the video from jasonbutler42 and hist post made me go find my first tweet (April 08, 2007 @ 8:15 PM) almost one year ago!

via jasonbutler42.com

This is the most accurate flowcart ever created. It speaks truly to the process of geek evolution and how D&D is at the root of all that is awesome. Thanks Gary Gygax, rest in peace.

via nytimes.com

Hate to see this thing pop out of a heating vent and have a laser sight aimed at your head.