Episode 2: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Episode ?: (18th April) Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

• Collective Intelligence in Action
• Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja
• Ruby in Practice
• The Well-Grounded Rubyist

Reason has built the modern world. It is a precious but also a fragile thing. Which can be corroded by apparently harmless irrationality. We must favor verifiable evidence over private feelings, otherwise we would leave ourselves vulnerable to those who will obscure the truth.

– Richard Dawkins The Enemies of Reason - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

From preface:

Imagine, with John Lennon, a world with no religion. Imagine no suicide bombers, no 9/11, no 7/7, no Crusades, no witch-hunts, no Gunpowder Plot, no Indian partition, no Israeli/Palestinian wars, no Serb/Croat/Muslim massacres, no persecution of Jews as ‘Christ-killers’, no Northern Ireland ‘troubles’, no ‘honour killings’, no shiny-suited bouffant-haired televangelists fleecing gullible people of their money (’God wants you to give till it hurts’). Imagine no Taliban to blow up ancient statues, no public beheadings of blasphemers, no logging of female skin for the crime of showing an inch of it.

This is exactly the kind of book I was looking for. In this book, Richard Dawkins answers most of the questions I have been asking myself. And others have asked me similar questions during my infamous “does god exist?” debates, which I have stopped having cause they all end up very badly.

Here are some of the questions that this book explores:

• Agnosticism is a reasonable position, but isn’t atheism just as dogmatic as religious belief?
• Have philosophers and theologians have put forward good reasons to believe in God?
• Isnt’ it obvious that God must exist, for how else could the world have come into being?
• How else could there be life, in all its rich diversity, with every species looking uncannily as though it had been ‘designed’?
• Is religious belief necessary in order for us to have justifiable morals?
• Don’t we need God, in order to be good?
• Is religion as a good thing for the world, even if you yourself have lost your faith?

The answer to all the above questions is a BIG NO, and the book tries to give very strong arguments.

Reading books on PC has its advantages: Instant google, post excerpts and opinion on blog, all while reading the book.

Steps to run Firefox 2 and 3 at the same time: (Assuming you have already installed Firefox2)

1. Create a new Firefox profile: In the Windows Run box (Win+R) type:

   firefox -profilemanager -no-remote.

   Click on “Create Profile”, name it “firefox3″.

2. Download a nightly build of Firefox3. Download the zip file (firefox-xxxx.en-US.win32.zip). Extract it in some directory, say c:\myapps\ff3

3. Run Firefox3: In Windows Run Dialogue type:
   c:\myapps\ff3\firefox.exe -P minefield -no-remote

Reference: blog.codefront.net

Verdict: 2/3. Not Bad.

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.”
– Albert Einstein

“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”
– Albert Einstein

My Verdict: Highly Recommended. Just get it and play.

Genre: Single-Player, First-Person, Action/Puzzle.

Details: Portal is based on Source Engine developed by guys at Valve. It is a part of The Orange Box package.