Graphs, and How Awesome They Are

Technorati Tags: Links,Graphs

This post is two things, really:

1) A test of latency – the earlier post kept on timing out, and I think it’s because it was image heavy. This post is going to only have linked images, so if it posts off Windows Live Writer, then the blog editor program officially sucks at uploading images.

2) Today, boys and girls, I discovered the epic awesomeness of win that is Graphjam. Think ‘lolgraphs’. Here are some examples:

 

Grid Tables

So my friends and I, who play Pen-and-Paper Role Playing Games (P&P RPGs, as opposed to MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) RPGs like World of Warcraft, PBEM (Play by Email) RPGs, or CRPGs (Computer RPGs like Final Fantasy)), were having a rousing round of D&D last night. My group normally prefers more social-heavy gaming like World of Darkness (WoD), but we were trying out some of the stuff we’d picked up about the upcoming 4th Edition of D&D.

D&D relies heavily upon ‘grid-based’ combat, where squares are used to denote the battlefield, each block representing a 5 foot by 5 foot area. I had been pondering means of representing this easily and cost-effectively recently, and was eventually inspired to create a Grid Table.

The Grid Table is basically a layer of Contact (I don’t know if it’s a brand or generic name, but it’s normally clear adhesive plastic which you stick to book covers to keep them from damage). It was pointed out to me that the reverse side of Contact when you purchase it (a piece of paper with a ’shiny’ side so the adhesive comes off) has a grid printed on it, which can be seen through the clear plastic. While we tried this, the grid wasn’t drawn strongly enough to be visible. I decided to try drawing with permanent markers on this grid to darken it. Photos below are the (almost) completed Contact.

This is a photo of the reverse side of the contact. Note the large pictures which were also a source of annoyance, because the squares were unclear on occasion.

The reverse side of the contact – you can see the squares pretty clearly now, but they’re not so graphic that you can’t ignore them – perfect!

Our bold adventurers (represented by buttons, the right scale for what we’re doing), facing off in a 25″x25″ dungeon room against four dastardly hobgoblins! Note the clarity of the lines drawn on the topside compared the lines drawn underneath.

In last night’s gaming session, it was discovered that Koki could be drawn on and removed with a simple wipe, while permanent ink would stay. Initially, I was planning on tossing the Contact and not using permanent ink again, but when I was rubbing out some white-board marker that I’d used on top of the permanent ink, the permanent ink came off. Curious, we investigated the white-board marker – which used alcohol as part of it’s mixture. So this morning, I set off to the pharmacy to pick up some Surgical Spirits (medical alcohol), cheap at R5.60, which let me wipe the drawn ‘terrain’ of the grid clean, while leaving the grid (drawn on the reverse side) intact.

The final result is very satisfying – a large grid that I can draw on, and the ink doesn’t rub off until I wipe it with alcohol. The grid itself stays, and everything was put together for next to nothing – a full roll of contact is about R20, thin permanent marker for about R15, and medical alcohol for about R5. Throw in a bit of prestick, and you have a grid attached to a table that can be used for hours of gaming.

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

 

I’m *SO* keen to watch this, there are no words. I’ve argued this back and forth, a million million times before, and from the reviews I’m hearing, this guy gives Darwinists there time to speak before making his point. We need more of this! We need more open, public debate that challenges without ranting.

This is on my “to purchase when it comes out on DVD” list.

Edit: So I’ve been doing some reading on this movie, and a few things have come up. Firstly, a link: Expelled: The Movie. This is the main movie website, go and take a glance. I thought it was cute, if a bit silly, though in some ways it seems that that is the tone the movie takes. Secondly, and what had me rolling on the floor nearly in tears, was the Wikipedia entry on Expelled: The Movie. Seriously, if you don’t take the film’s statement of non-Darwinian science being oppressed, read this (unless someone edits it before you get an opportunity).

A few points about the Wikipedia entry:

• Wikipedia is meant to be opinion-neutral, or to at least maintain that facade. This is so remotely distant from neutrality, it’s laughable. The entire entry is attacking the movie’s ID stance.
• A quote from Amanda Gefter, from the New Scientist magazine, amused me:
  

  Its selling point is that academic freedom in the US is threatened by a vast conspiracy of atheist scientists, hypnotised by what Stein labels in the film the “Darwinian gospel”. Supporters of ID are fired from their institutions or denied tenure, the film argues, while journalists who report on ID are silenced or shunned. This is an old trick. By claiming their views are suppressed, proponents of ID hope to be protected from criticism. When someone argues that ID is bogus, all they need do is yell: “See? Suppression!”

  Now, I see her point. Heck, in the past, when I was a whiny idiot (and yes, I’ll admit to that then, and to some extent it’s still something I’m growing out of) I tried to use similar things. Unfortunately, the reverse is exactly true. What she has just said results in a similar fallacy: Now, whenever true persecution DOES come, and people stand up and recognize that persecution and identify with this film, people will go “See what Amanda Gefter said? Stop being an idiot, and sit down, Steiner was just giving you an out so you can whinge”.
  I’m not trying to say that he DIDN’T. But sometimes, what he says is true. Which leads me to:

• I’ve felt it, my colleagues have felt it, my friends and family have experienced it. Sciences in modern educational and academic institutes will not allow a person to believe in anything other than hard atheism or, (and even then ridicule is possible) vague agnosticism. This is infuriating and frustrating, but most Christians just shrug their shoulders and walk away. And it’s a shame, because most of the best scientists I know are Christian, and just don’t talk about it.

You know what excites me? (Cue sarcastic remarks from my friends, ignore them)

The work of Dr. Andrew Basden. For many years, I laboured under the false assumption that my field of study (Computer Science) had no relationship with religion and never could – that it was a purely practical/academic field, with little in the way of Kingdom impact.

I am extremely excited to see Christians making an impact in areas of academia where I had never even imagined Kingdom principles might be felt.

And now it is late and I sleep