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I think I tackled this in the past, but here is a brief reminder, yet again. I am against bloging senseless! I really don’t enjoy blogs that post 10+ times each day, that’s just ridiculous! Yes, there may be a lot to blog about, and there is a lot going on in the world all the time. But, putting this many posts ends up only hurting your readers, in my humble opinion. It becomes impossible to read every post, and since there is no way to know which posts may be important to you without reading them all, people just stop trying!

So, philosophy of this blog is to weed out the essence from the noise, and bring you just things of interest. Plus, don’t forget the hourly updating Latest Shared Links section on the right. That’s where I bring you latest deals, news of interest, and other fun things. That section is updated frequently, but don’t worry if you don’t keep up.

Now, onto the promised Weekend Fun. This weekend I bring you the amazing advances in Computer Graphics Technology, using 3D shaders rendering, bump-mapping, and other such hard to pronounce methods that lead to the amazing creation on the right. If you are not a fan of that sort of stuff, please don’t click on any of the links below, you’ve been warned!

Now, if you are still reading, I presume you enjoy this skillful art and technology coming together, like me. So, here are some video clips from the excellent Dead or Alive: Xtreme 2 game. It’s just a compilation of mini-games, but Who Cares! when the graphics is this good!!! And you probably would want to visit the game developer site, just make sure to click on the English magazine laying towards the bottom of the screen, that’s how insiders get in.

Still reading this? Ok then! Check out this Promotional Trailer and then Game Opening Movie. Done? Did I mention that this game plays via HDMI on your 42″ or larger HDTV screen!!! So, go on and buy the game, with XBox 360 if you still don’t have it!

PS: I was trying to stay family friendly blog by avoiding words like Sexy, Blonde and Girl, but the traffic spike from the search engines seeking just these words is something I can really use right now

PPS: For some reason there is one new Amazon favorite item (on the right column) which isn’t showing image, but be sure to click through and find out what it is!

Little known fact (or maybe it’s famous fact?) about me is that I am a video technophile. I love to capture/convert/archive videos in all their form. Whether it is first time my child walked, or my favorite Music Video, and so forth.

Aren’t you upset with pathetic quality of YouTube? The dismal video size and the awful compression artifacts in there are not driving you insane? In this day and age the technology has come far enough where we should expect more from our Internet video!

Yes, there is a better way! Enter Stage6 from Divx. Just about everyone has heard about this video compression technology by now. There is a whole range of consumer devices today that can play Divx video, and the format continues to gain acceptance. And, Stage6 lets you easily upload and share your own videos, with family and friends, either directly or through their high quality Windows utility that will encode and upload your video to Stage6 for you. In my opinion Stage6 and Divx offer highest streaming quality available on the web today, though competing technologies are coming, in Microsoft’s Silverlight and with H.264 support in future Adobe Flash.

Today’s music video is from Linkin Park, one of my favorite bands. I am not sure why this particular clip hasn’t gained wider popularity here in the USA, but it sure is very popular on charts around the World. Perhaps the implications of reflecting on What You Have Done is something many people feel uncomfortable with. For me, however, watching this music video makes it even more of a time "not wasted".

Remember, the quality of this wide-screen Linkin Park video is so high, I couldn’t even fit it into this blog! Instead, click through to Stage6, install the little player plug-in, and enjoy video in all it’s glory! Make sure to click the little ‘maximize’  button on the lower right of video, to watch full screen. Happy Friday!

UPDATE: Looks like some "entrepreneurs" already using Stage6 to host wealth of high quality no cost movies, cartoons and what not. Of course, just like YouTube, they claim Safe Harbor. Enjoy it while it lasts, folks: Joox.net (Thanks for the tip, Russell)

While all signs pointing to upcoming demise of TV as we know it, I think we should try to make the most of this transition period.

Today, I compiled a short list of resources to help everyone’s TV addiction, now that Prime Time TV season is back with their best entertainment offerings. What’s more, this year almost all Prime Time shows are presented in glorious HDTV, delivering not only the increased resolution, but an overall improvement in clarity and color accuracy.

Arguably ABC has the best technology right now for legally streaming your shows over the Internet, along with unique offering of (near) HD quality that you can watch full screen on your computer monitor, which is naturally HD quality or higher, usually. You will need to install tiny ActiveX control to enable viewing, but it’s fast and easy. They recommend dual-core CPU for HD, but I found that it works fine on my Athlon 64 4000+ single core also.

The other excellent approach is to watch on DVD! Set yourself up with Netflix subscription, and rent entire Seasons, DVD after DVD, all Commercial Free! Most popular shows are available, including our favorite House M.D. Here is a post from famous Lifehacker blog with more ideas, including links to streaming from NBC and CBS, though, for some reason they omitted CW.

Remember, Personally, I recommend Interactive Entertainment instead of just sitting on a couch and watching TV, or at least balance the two!

Lately I felt that I have been posting way too much on Technology or plain fun stuff, and not at all enough on Meaning of Life, as the sub-title of my blog implies. I have been contemplating for a while to break this trend, and today, the opportunity just screamed out at me while driving to work.

You see, I was listening to Episode 124 of the ever excellent EscapePod, which is by far my favorite podcast. It presents short science fiction stories each week, and each is profoundly thought provoking, while staying fun and fresh (and often sexy!). I highly recommend you subscribe to this podcast, and to your advantage, there are over 100 earlier episodes that you can try to catch up on! 

I won’t spoil the plot of Episode 124 for you, entitled Save Me Plz, but instead lets switch to the promised topic of this post, which has risen to the news again lately: Our Entire Universe is Simulated.

In fact, there has recently been a mathematically calculated proof that there is probably a high probability we are living in a simulation.

You can read more on this fascination philosophical argument, but I just wanted to move on and say Yes, lets assume that we Are living in simulation.

So what? Should you live your life any differently? Is your behavior less or more important, even if there were conclusive proof that we are living inside someone’s little simulation tube? I think by definition our creators wouldn’t want to interfere (read: communicate) with us, so should we even try to reach them? But maybe we are already in constant communication, Sims style, with the grand creators of our simulation. And these communications reach our subconscious and often tell us what we "want" to do next (though sometimes we don’t listen, naturally). The Book of Kabbalah also reaffirms this, by implying that our life here is a Dream, and our wants are given to us from "the source".

Speaking for myself, I wouldn’t change a thing! Ups and Downs of life are here to be enjoyed, and dare I say, equally enjoyed. Give this little sentence more thought, as you go off and play Sims 2 or World Of Warcraft (former: Girls favorite, latter: Boys favorite, but your results may vary!)

So Make Sure to Enjoy Life, with this Simulated Post that’s in it!

Enjoy a little break from the geekyness of this blog. This is one of the latest Hilary Duff videos, and it seems to be her most adult style ever, which is great by me

Speaking of music, I went to Amazon to try to purchase from their new MP3 store some of the music, both old and new, that is on my "to buy" list. To my disappointment, I was unable to find Any of it.

While their MP3 store has excellent promise, I really wish it had more selection. I hope it is just a matter of time as more artists/labels sign up for this revolution. So, Amazon did not take any of my money, but I will try to be patient