Watching the MIT Lectures of Walter Lewin

artcoder: Watching the MIT Lectures of Walter Lewin: "Whoever says that they don't like going to university classes should take a look at these video lectures found in the below links. Now if only if I have the time to watch all of them..."

Free Computer Books, Tutorials, and Lecture Notes (http://computerbooks.web.com) - Game Development

Free Computer Books, Tutorials, and Lecture Notes (http://computerbooks.web.com) - Game Development

Free Sim City Clone

Main Page - LincityWiki: "LinCity-NG is a City Simulation Game. It is a polished and improved version of the classic LinCity (http://www.floot.demon.co.uk/lincity.html) game. Within the scope of the GoTM project (http://happypenguin.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1243) at happypenguin (http://happypenguin.org) we have created a new iso-3D graphics engine, with a completely redone and modern GUI."

Did Jesus exist? Case dismissed - Feb 10, 2006

CNN.com - Did Jesus exist? Case dismissed - Feb 10, 2006: "ROME, Italy (AP) -- An Italian judge has dismissed an atheist's petition that a small-town priest should stand trial for asserting that Jesus Christ existed, both sides said on Friday.

Luigi Cascioli, a 72-year-old retired agronomist, had accused the Rev. Enrico Righi of violating two laws with the assertion, which he called a deceptive fable propagated by the Roman Catholic Church.

'The Rev. Righi is very satisfied and moved,' Righi's attorney, Severo Bruno, said. 'He is an old, small-town parish priest who never would have thought he'd be in the spotlight for something like this.'

Cascioli, a former schoolmate of Righi's, said he had not expected the case to succeed in overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Italy.

'This is not surprising but it doesn't mean it all ends here,' he said, adding that he's considering taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

'This is an important case and it deserves to go ahead,' he said.

Judge Gaetano Mautone said in his decision that prosecutors should investigate Cascioli for possible slander.

The ruling was released Thursday in Viterbo, a town north of Rome where the priest is based. Cascioli filed a criminal complaint against Righi in 2002 after Righi wrote in a parish bulletin that Jesus existed, that he was born to a couple named Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem and that he lived in Nazareth.

Righi, 76, said substantial historical evidence proves Jesus' existence."

Wired News: Making a Living in Second Life

Wired News: Making a Living in Second Life: "Jennifer Grinnell, Michigan furniture delivery dispatcher turned fashion designer in cyber space, never imagined that she could make a living in a video game.

Grinnell's shop, Mischief, is in Second Life, a virtual world whose users are responsible for creating all content. Grinnell's digital clothing and 'skins' allow users to change the appearance of their avatars -- their online representations -- beyond their wildest Barbie dress-up dreams."

LEGO Technic Difference Engine

LEGO Technic Difference Engine: "Before the day of computers and pocket calculators all mathematics was done by hand. Great effort was expended to compose trigonometric and logarithmic tables for navigation, scientific investigation, and engineering purposes.

In the mid-19th century, people began to design machines to automate this error prone process. Many machines of various designs were eventually built. The most famous of these machines is the Babbage Difference Engine.

Because of engineering issues as well as political and personal conflict the Babbage Difference engines construction had to wait until 1991 when the Science Museum in London decided to build the Babbage Difference Engine No.2 for an exhibit on the history of computers.

Babbage's design could evaluate 7th order polynomials to 31 digits of accuracy. I set out to build a working Difference Engine using LEGO parts which could compute 2nd or 3rd order polynomials to 3 or 4 digits."

Exam measures students' 'information literacy'

CNN.com - Exam measures students' 'information literacy' - Feb 3, 2006: "When it comes to downloading music and instant messaging, today's students are plenty tech-savvy. But that doesn't mean they know how to make good use of the endless stream of information that computers put at their fingertips."