Lab warmed with David Freeman workshop #new #cute #mxr

We had a whole day workshop conducted by David Freeman on the methods of delivering public speeches and storytelling techniques (on yesterday - 02122010). Well, that was great and unique experience. The workshop kick started with a 20-minute session by looking into someone’s eyes directly. Then after, another session, where we practiced our “spiritual powers” and how we can use them before a presentation. Followed by many secret techniques we can use when preparing to deliver a speech.

Several key points,

• When delivering a speech you have 2 types of audience: your friends and your future friends
• When walking to your talk, right posture is critical
• Do shake hands with the audience before the talk
• Be present by noticing everything in the room
• Keep good posture and look in eyes of the audience

CUTE Center / Mixed reality lab.. in a new location

CUTE Center has moved yesterday to a new and larger space (within the same building though) with all the people from both MXR and MIME labs in NUS, Singapore. The floor plan and arrangement are decent although some complains from the students. First argument is the large area allocated for workshops that are going to be used occasionally. Second is the position of working areas. We have requested to accommodate the working areas near the window so that we can look long distances through the window to rest our eyes a little bit. Anyway, they are not very strong complains. Let’s try to be positive and work hard to generate more innovations. Fingers crossed!!

The worst movie I have ever watched…. Harry potter 7 #hp7

Yesterday night (from 8.30PM to 10.50PM) I watched this crap and believe me those were the longest minutes ever in my life. I will never get that time of my life back. It really sucks..

I do not know about you readers, but for me the harry potter is more like harry zilch. After all, it is a book for kids.. I couldn't understand why these adults are going crazy about it. Sometimes I feel that it is also become more like the well-known “vegetarian” phenomena, nothing but showing off by many people. It’s just a fantasy story, and I think it does not have any background (either scientific or as a fantasy). And the people who loved it this much.. Well I guess they never enjoyed a fantasy in their childhood or may be for the entire life time..
it is not original, not creative. The main actor could be the worst ever I have seen, most boring acting and no descriptive scenes at all. They are jumping here and there and trying to build up a storyline which they never succeeded at all.
Finally, these stories were composed for wide-eyed kids and not for jaded adults..

Chariots of the gods from 70s by Erich Von Daniken

As I tweet this few days back I finished reading this book, which I was searching for years. Finally, got it from Kinokunia, KL bookstore. Anyone as crazy as me about the universe and a strong believer of alien races, this book is for you!

In fact, this was written and first published in 1970, and it was immediately recognized as a work of immense importance when it introduced the theory that ancient earthlings had contacts with aliens. What makes it more appealing and exciting to read is he did not just present his wild thoughts, he presented several unknown and unexplainable facts all around the world; from ancient cultures we had: Mayan, Egyptian, Indian, as well as Incan. And his original thought is the aliens who visited the ancient earthlings are alien astronauts.

Below are several artifacts he used to make arguments on his original thought,

• Sophisticated batteries found in Bronze Age cities
• An alien astronaut preserved in a pyramid with drawings
• Thousands of years old spaceflight navigation maps and the maps of earth drawn as can be seen from the outer space
• Mayan, Incan, and Egyptian knowledge of mathematics and astronomy

And many more…… feeling dizzy? You must read this book..

Despite the fact that it is a great and delightful archive, I found the way his arguments are presented rather straightforward. However, the author does not expect the reader to believe all his theories (as I guessed), he just wants people to open their minds a little and question things more.

After reading this one could certainly argue that this is a waste of money and time or it is in lack of scientific integrity. Well, I don't truly believe all his theories, but they are incredibly fascinating and tempting. In a way, again the fundamental question raises whether you believe the existence of alien races or not. People who believe they gonna like this for sure!!

I am a believer of the existence of alien races in the universe; there are so many hidden facts and artifacts. We even don’t know about earth and human beings, so how can we possibly sure about there are no living beings in this vast universe.

When I was reading this, I was thinking that even in Sri Lanka there are many unexplained ruins, archaeological findings, as well as myths/legends. In particular the ancient kingdom Sigiriya, and also the ancient temples and ruins of palaces, tanks, and many more.. Even the modern technology couldn't explain the existence of those ancient creations. One thing for sure definitely they are not primitive. Best example is the recent discovery of iron melting pots: the ancients were using natural wind on mountains to acquire the necessary temperature to melt iron for making swords and stuffs.. Incredible isn’t it??

Tweets from the Space

This is amazing.. the social media even populer in space nowadays. Several images were published via twitter by current ISS commander from space as engadget says this morning. He is also the first person who signed in to foursquare, the location service from the space. I believe in near future they will tweet the first shots of an alien race who met in the space station.
I very much hope so.. but are we still too primitive to them??
source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/18/astronaut-shares-amazing-twitpics-from-space-booze-not-involved/
http://techcrunch.com/2010/01/22/nasa-astronaut-tweets-from-space-for-real-this-time/

"Everybody thought we'd have a revolution in energy, instead we had a #revolution in #information"

Just saw this attractive quote from this: http://boingboing.net/2010/11/15/how-quantum-mechanic.html Where it describes how we got the blu-ray technology!! fascinating...
Talking about the title itself, although we had a revolution in information and processing power still there is this fundamental problem, "Power". Researchers are yet to find out the ultimate power source for the betterment of all human beings (hopefully this will be a greener and cleaner source like Nuclear energy). In a way power may be the fundamental problem in any technologically advanced civilization!!

7th International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology (ACE) 2010 #ace2010

This time ACE 2010 will be held on Taiwanese soil from today (17 Nov 2010) to 19 Nov 2010. It is a pleasure/unique that around 12 of CUTE Center members are attending the conference this time (and needless to say the quietness in the lab… ha ha).
I thought to write something from last year #ace where Ken and myself were attending in Athens, Greece. In a way it was a hectic experience with two demo setups and three presentations (Petimo and Poetry Mix-Up), but at the end it was a memorable event in my life.. "First time I saw the usage of Greek letters other than the mathematical equations..!!" and the "new Acropolis museum…" it was unique.. really..
The cold and perfect weather (bit dry though), the pigeons, museums, The Acropolis.. it was awesome!! Thinking of visiting Greece again sometime in the future……….
http://www.mixedreality.nus.edu.sg/index.php/2010/04/ace-2009-conference/