The weight of empty space.

Observation -> Our universe is expanding at a certain rate.

To let the universe expand there has to be a driving force.
That force must be bigger than the sum of gravity which tries to contract it.
But not bigger than the speed of expansion would allow it to be.
There is a certain amount of detectable matter in our universe.
That amount of detectable matter/energy isn’t enough to explain the phenomenon.
The phenomenon is still there.
Science requires scientist to think harder.
Scientist comes up with a great solution.
We need more mass.
Because of quantum fluctuations, matter constantly ‘pops’ in and out of excistence.
So on a quantum level empty space actually has energy.
Energy is mass.
Empty space has mass.
Voila, we have so called Dark matter/energy.

Dark matter... Physicist are awesome.

The sum of all dark matter/energy and detectable matter/energy equates to the total energy of our universe.
The total energy of the universe is precisely zero.
A universe can begin from nothing.
If you have nothing in quantum mechanics, you will always end up with something.

The longer, but far more eloquent source (which I have obviously plagiarized):

Let the great pondering commence (You can also check this out, but remember to keep breathing while the magnitudes destroy your brain).

(Windows * Bootstrapper (PHP + ZendAMF + (WAMP || XAMMP))) = Major Headache.

Quick programming update: Zend Framework.

For everybody who wants to start remoting with flash and ZendAMF under windows, please use the following bootstrapper to load the framework.

FIRST
Edit your php.ini in your WAMP or XAMPP installation so the path is actually included(I use xampp):
include_path = “.;C:\xampp\php\PEAR;C:\xampp”

THAN:
Use the following bootstrapper index.php to include the ZendAMF framework. I have it located in C:\xampp\frameworks

<?php
error_reporting(E_ALL|E_STRICT);
ini_set(“display_errors”, “on”);

//this one doesn’t work
//ini_set(“include_path”, ini_get(“include_path”) . “:../frameworks”);
//this one certainly doesn’t work
//ini_set(“include_path”, ini_get(“include_path”) . “;” . realpath(“../frameworks”));
//this one is totally jacked up
//set_include_path(‘../frameworks/’ . PATH_SEPARATOR . get_include_path());

//a good couple of hours later:
$includePaths  = dirname(__FILE__) . PATH_SEPARATOR . get_include_path();
set_include_path($includePaths);

require_once ‘Zend/Amf/Server.php’;
require_once ‘Tutorials.php’;

$server = new Zend_Amf_Server();
$server->setClass(“YourClass”);

echo($server->handle());
?>

THERE!
I just spared you a major thumping headache!
Go here for more Zend related stuff.
I’m done.
Blech.

Modern Warfare 2 hates castles, likes space.

Beware. Awesome though f-word intensive trailer analysis ahead:

Click me!

Yeah biatch! YEAH!

Sorry ’bout that. I just can’t help myself.

Russia is interesting dude!

Look, I like Russia. And I want to know more about it.

I like them for their arrogance towards the West. Positive arrogance mind you. Odd thing to say, I know, but any country that was so thoroughly devastated after the last couple of decades, deserves a little bit of slack. Just to get the the Russian common man on his feet again.

Russia has this steadfastness. It’s a kind of silent force, a slow but unstoppable growth in wealth and assets, political dominance and cross border interventionism, nationalism and, well, pride. Good old Russian let’s-drink-another-15-gallons-of-cheap-wodka-and-sing-about-our-motherland-pride. Pity it’s still riddled with hate and bigotry. But hey, what else is new, right?

Europe is a little disoriented... Those damn commies died right? RIGHT? What the hell is this new roaring from the east??

And what the heck is up with these guys? An ex KGB goon and an ex oligarg being far too friendly to each other.

Fishy!

Though interesting!

First step: learn about Medvedev (always start with the present)! Go here.

You go first. No, you go first. No, you go! No please, you go! No...please.

Awkward families

Look! Other families are weirder than mine!

Imhotep and his siblings.

weieieieird

Sisters, daddies, water, water, water, water. Bats, jokers, asylums, batarangs. Dirt, mud, sand, rock, gravel. It’s been swell couple of weeks on my 360.

Finally got a chance to play Bioshock after buying the special edition second hand. It’s pretty great. Good artwork, great hacking interface and an all ’round fantastic horror vibe. And those ‘Big Daddy / Little Sister‘ enemy combos kick major ass! I think I’ll be finishing the game before too long.

In other gaming news, great week for demos on the 360. Been playing Batman Arkham Asylum over and over and over… and over again. That game is RAD. Love the way it looks, moves and sounds. Check out the raving reviews and proceed to blow some serious money on this product. These guys deserve it! This could be my game of the year.

To top it all off, I’m also checking out the Dirt 2 demo. I’ve completely finished the first Dirt and it was one of the best offroad rally games I’ve ever played. The force is strong with this new one as well.

Dirt2 rules. Believe it!

I’ve also been following the good folks from Blizzard announcing a new character class for Diablo 3, the Monk. A very cool new archetype for the Diablo franchise. Fast, agile, deadly; think Kill Bill Five Point Palm Exploding-Heart Technique, but with even more blood’n'guts. And vile monsters from the black depths of Diablo’s burning realm off course, but let’s not linger on these logical things.

And the game version of deadly  rapid hand movement

Lastly I’m crawling at glacial speed through the Sam ‘n Max episodes. That’s because it’s so hilarious it would actually kill me if I played it in longer stretches. So my blogging vacation is over and expect some more activity again!

That's how it's done!

29 years come and gone.

I’m 29 years old. 29 Years, that’s a sizeble chunk of time, at least that’s what I’d say…before last night. Because last night I contributed to the more than 29 years of gameplay (258,153.19 hours) the first day of Battlefield 1943 racked up on the Xbox 360. And I also died a lot which is reflected in the 5 million kills registered that launch day.

By the way, Battlefield is a pretty awesome game.

Word!

Checking out the ladies

Obama going all Berlusconi on us!

Can't blame him really...

Update: Looks like he’s a decent man after all…

Iranian politics

For the first time since the 1979 islamic revolution and the rule of Ayatollah Khomeini it looks like the people of Iran are fed up with their theocrats. In open revolt against the election of hard-liner Ahmadinejad they are taking to the streets in droves. I thought this quite a good thing because the protesters are fighting for reforms and Ahmadinejad’s opponent, Mousavi, portraise himself as a reformer. But there are problems here too.

Cheery image guys!

Mousavi is actually an old hardliner who ‘called Israel “a cancerous tumor.”  In 1987, he attacked America as “the great satan.”  He’s also called for author Salman Rushdie to be killed, branding him “a tool of zionists against Islam (cbn.com). According to the Washington Post he helped found the terrorist group Hezbollah and had close ties to Iran’s intelligence services. Also according to a 2007 IAEA report, Mousavi played a lead role in establishing Iran’s controversial nuclear program.  He continues to support that nuke program today, and has yet to retract any of his past statements about America or Israel.’

Satan and his book

We all know that you can’t be picky about the leaders you get after a disaster like Ahmadinejad, but this hardly seems a change at all. Although a lot of this stuff about Israel and America is propaganda, the fatwa against Salman Rushdie is pretty insulting. And the nuclear program is downright problematic. So what to think of this whole stand off in Iran? It’s hard for me te get a clear picture. While the people in the streets get hammered in submission by the parties of God, I don’t know what to think about the whole turmoil. Obama seems to be right there with me, if you would excuse my vanity. First denying the protesters some much needed support by stating: ‘..it’s not productive, given the history of U.S.-Iranian relations, to be seen as meddling, the U.S. president meddling in Iranian elections…’ , effectively dismissing the whole thing is an internal matter. Than backtracking and condemning the Islamic regime for its cruelty and oppressive behaviour, as if the violent crackdown was something of a surprise.

Photo's of revolt always deliver

As it stands now, the unrests have (literally) died down, and dozens of protesters are in jail. Freedom and reform, as always, are paid in blood.

Chills up your spine

Good music is like a good steak. It doesn’t matter how many times you consume it, it keeps its original delicious munchiness… so to speak. Also, most really good music is made by really unstable people (artists for short). I guess they connect their weird inside world to ours in such a way that we get a glimpse of how impossibly deep the rabithole in their imagination goes. And what wonder lies at the other end! Now, I probably sound a little melodramatic, but that’s just because I was listening to one of those artists. I was swept off to distant feelings that aren’t actually mine and captured by a whiff of the drug induced melancholy that is the life of this artist.

Everybody listen to Pete Doherty’s album Grace/Wastelands. It’s brilliant.

Lovely