Lifeboat Foundation

2001: CREATING KUBRICK’S SPACE ODYSSEY chronicles the creation of one of the most influential films in the history of cinema. This new documentary examines the work of legendary director Stanley Kubrick and iconic novelist Arthur C. Clarke in creating what they called “the proverbial good science fiction movie.” Filmmaker Roger Lay, Jr. tackles the enigmatic film through interviews with 2001 star Keir Dullea (who played astronaut Dave Bowman) and choreographer Dan Richter (who played Moonwatcher, the proto-human ape who learned to use the first tool). Both provide personal insights into their work on the groundbreaking film.

Other interviews include 2001 visual effects technician Brian Johnson (Academy Award winner for Alien and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back), film historian Michael Benson (author of Space Odyssey: Kubrick, Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece), and technologist Jules Urbach (CEO of OTOY). They discuss not only the revolutionary visual effects of the Kubrick film, but also the movie’s enduring influence.

Continue reading “2001: Creating Kubrick’s Space Odyssey” »

Made famous in 1995 by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, the Pillars of Creation in the heart of the Eagle Nebula have captured imaginations worldwide with their arresting, ethereal beauty.

Now, NASA has released a new 3D visualization of these towering celestial structures using data from NASA’s Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. This is the most comprehensive and detailed multiwavelength movie yet of these star-birthing clouds.

“By flying past and amongst the pillars, viewers experience their three-dimensional structure and see how they look different in the Hubble visible-light view versus the Webb infrared-light view,” explained principal visualization scientist Frank Summers of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, who led the movie development team for NASA’s Universe of Learning.

Researchers develop flexible, colorful films made entirely from cellulose, combining the optical properties of nanocrystals with the strength of nanofibers for sustainable electronics.

Alderon Games, an Australian-based developer behind the dinosaur-themed multiplayer survival game Path of Titans, announced “we are swapping all our servers to AMD” because “Intel is selling defective” CPUs — specifically 13th and 14th Gen models.

The post doesn’t mince words; it states that its customers have been reporting thousands of crashes on Intel 13th and 14th Gen CPUs (verified by the game’s crash reporting tools), and its game servers have been “experiencing constant crashes, taking entire servers down.” It also claims that it’s only a matter of time before Core i9-14900K and Core i9-13900K CPUs that have yet to fail will fail.

“Over the last 3 to 4 months, we have observed that CPUs initially working well deteriorate over time, eventually failing,” Matthew Cassells, Founder of Alderon Games, writes. “The failure rate we have observed from our own testing is nearly 100%, indicating it’s only a matter of time before affected CPUs fail.”

In this episode, Ben Watkins sits down with Professor Pete Mandik to discuss several different ways of conceiving of materialism along with strengths and weaknesses of each approach. Professor Mandik also gives a summary of a view inspire by Quine he calls “Type-Q Materialism.” Additionally, Ben and Professor Mandik discuss various aspects of religious mysticism and touch on the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Facepalm: Crashes experienced by customers owning recent high-end Intel processors aren’t just software or BIOS-related issues. Alderon Games founder Matthew Cassells says Chipzilla has made his company’s life much more complicated than it should be. The game developer has experienced considerable Intel CPU problems, including crashes, instability, and memory corruption.

The number of people and organizations forced to experience crashes and general instability on Intel’s latest CPU models keeps growing. Now, a game developer is blatantly pointing the finger at the Santa Clara corporation and its alleged “defective” products.

“Despite all released microcode, BIOS, and firmware updates, the problem remains unresolved,” Cassells said.

With another emulator capable of running 3D PlayStation 4 games, good PS4 emulation might arrive sooner than a PC port of Bloodborne.

Generations of scientists have compared the universe to a giant, complex game, raising questions about who is doing the playing – and what it would mean to win.

By Marcus Du Sautoy

“Portrait (He Knew)” was released in 1977 on the album Point Of Know Return. It was clearly about Albert Einstein although not a lot of people seemed to be aware of the fact. It was a great song for a video, and one of my favorite on this particular album, the other’s being “Nobody Home”, “Closet Chronicles”, and “Dust In The Wind”. Point of Know Return was HUGE in 1978! I remember listening to it over and over and over…loved the many instrumental breaks and solos. The video is just layers and layers of masked images and masked video. Tried for some really cool effects and found some pretty neat ones…’specially fond of that tree recoil effect from the atom bomb at that cool little note drag! Anyway, as usual…I hope you find something to enjoy. [Lyrics] He had a thousand ideas, you might have heard his name He lived alone with his vision Not looking for fortune or fame Never said too much to speak of He was off on another plane The words that he said were a mystery Nobody’s sure he was sane But he knew, he knew more than me or you No one could see his view, Oh where was he going to He was in search of an answer The nature of what we are He was trying to do it a new way He was bright as a star But nobody understood him “His numbers are not the way” He’s lost in the deepest enigma Which no one’s unraveled today But he knew, he knew more than me or you No one could see his view, Oh where was he going to And he tried, but before he could tell us he died When he left us the people cried, Oh where was he going to? He had a different idea A glimpse of the master plan He could see into the future A true visionary man But there’s something he never told us It died when he went away If only he could have been with us No telling what he might say But he knew, he knew more than me or you No one could see his view Oh, where was he going to But he knew, you could tell by the picture he drew It was totally something new, Oh where was he going to?