tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50623522011-12-14T16:48:04.384-10:00Raven's RoostRaven's Ramblings. By Charles Carleton, otherwise known in various spots on the net as 'Rampant Raven' because there are too many other people named Charles Carleton for me to be the first on a site with my real name. Raven flies under that name on Yahoo Messenger, XBox Live, and Plastic.com.Charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16762099645395510757noreply@blogger.comBlogger211100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062352.post-1144622956646907002006-04-09T12:34:00.000-10:002006-04-09T13:04:36.730-10:00A Bridge to OblivionHave you ever noticed how vulnerable the bridges are on Hollywood's sci-fi starships? Right out on top, easy to blow up, thus killing the command crew, as well as the movie's main characters. Perhaps you would think that the ships are so high-tech that the bridge is safe in spite of the fact that it's out in the open. But the movies themselves prove this wrong:In "The Empire Charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16762099645395510757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062352.post-1130146776635385872005-10-23T23:31:00.000-10:002005-10-23T23:50:53.803-10:00Intelligent Design for Poodles, not Wolves Proponents of Creationism are now saying that life is so complex, an 'Intelligent Designer' must have been responsible for the designs. This is not science unless we can perform experiments to figure out who this designer is.While this is probably impossible for some creatures, such as Wolves, there are other creatures where intelligent design has Charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16762099645395510757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062352.post-1129786164299342502005-10-19T19:23:00.000-10:002005-10-19T19:30:12.463-10:00Santa Claus and the Crisis of FaithHe sees you when you're sleeping, He sees when your awake... Santa Claus, the omniscient rewarder of good kids is a sweet legend, but it can be a problem when kids are expected to believe that he is real. Santa Clause is invariable revealed to be fiction to the kids that believed in him. This pre-planned crisis of faith could have ramifications for other Charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16762099645395510757noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062352.post-1096832203081387222004-10-03T09:25:00.000-10:002004-10-04T07:39:10.780-10:00Central Planning and the Time-Space Brainpower Continuum
As governments and other organizations get larger, there is a natural tendency to concentrate power arouns some central point. In the worst case, a single person might make all the big decisions. If an organization gets overconfident, it may try to plan things far in advance, as well. But central planning actually reduces the amount of Charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16762099645395510757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062352.post-1093153274340064292004-08-21T19:23:00.000-10:002004-08-21T20:10:47.016-10:00Why the Future May Not Look Futuristic
Visions of the future, such as 'Star Trek' or 'Blade Runner' often show a world where technology covers everything. Walls are alive with pipes, circuits, lights, and other very functional things. Buildings often have exposed evidence of 'high tech' things, more pipes, antennas, etc... Dramatic scenes are shown in computer rooms with huge equipment Charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16762099645395510757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062352.post-1093152134227534592004-08-21T18:57:00.000-10:002004-08-21T19:22:14.226-10:00Making a Sacrifice to Get a Better Republican
George Bush Jr is a bit a of a disappointment as a president. His diplomacy skills are weak, and he's done several things that run counter to some Republican ideals. Republicans typically oppose big government, but Bush has created 2 all new bureaucracies, the TSA and the DHS. Republicans support state's rights, but Bush had the supreme court pull Charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16762099645395510757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062352.post-1084686173203653582004-05-15T19:33:00.000-10:002004-05-15T20:27:09.133-10:00The Perfect Gateway Drug
Marijuana is often called a 'Gateway Drug' as a reason to keep it illegal, even though it's not as dangerous as known killers like cocaine and heroine. But to smoke Marijuana, you first have to accept the act of willfully inhaling pollution. Because Tobacco is legal and socially acceptable, at least for adults, it's often the first way kids learn to inhale pollution.Charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16762099645395510757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062352.post-1073878320740025452004-01-11T17:05:00.000-10:002004-01-11T17:33:47.593-10:00The Logic of Gaming
Video games, like most other forms of entertainment, are designed to trigger our emotions, to give us a sense of fun and excitement. The amygdala is the part of the brain that processes raw emotions like this. But to develop maturity and logic, the Prefrontal cortex of the brain must be developed. It develops more slowly than the amygdala. The thrill of a game comes from Charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16762099645395510757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062352.post-1072520625031971532003-12-27T00:13:00.000-10:002003-12-27T00:25:11.106-10:00All They Needed Was an Excuse
The horror of having a brain full of holes might be abated by the infinitesimal chance of it happening. 'Mad Cow Disease', a nasty side-effect of bovine cannibalism, has a tiny chance of spreading to humans. But people have a tendency to guard against low-risk horrors when it is convenient to do so.
The desire to protect your local farmers is just barely held Charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16762099645395510757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062352.post-1072518110958384722003-12-26T23:29:00.000-10:002003-12-26T23:43:16.746-10:00Selling Fame, and Overcharging for It
We tend to think of record companies selling music to listeners, and overcharging for it. They generally take all the money and give little to the artists until the records are successful.
But for decades the artist put up with this. Why are they essentially paying the companies to make us pay for their music? Shouldn't they be payed for their work, Charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16762099645395510757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062352.post-1072513098776758032003-12-26T22:03:00.000-10:002003-12-26T22:20:38.090-10:00Will Chick-Flicks Dominate the Future of TV and Cinema?
TV execs are now often lamementing the fact that young men are not watching much TV anymore. I guess, they, like myself, are too busy playing video games. Of course, we still go to the movies occasionally, and I sometimes watch TV, but in my case it's usually to be with my wife. If left entirely to my own devices, I stick to Charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16762099645395510757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062352.post-1072511982901096082003-12-26T21:48:00.000-10:002003-12-26T22:04:20.233-10:00Infected By Viral Marketing
I've lately been enticed into dabbling in electronic music over at cokemusic.com. I've always liked digital music, and how it can enable people of even modest resources to produce professional sounding tunes, such as 'Big Mighty Drum Cake', performed by the German Duo 'Sea of Tranquility'. It sounds orchestral, but was done mostly with computers. Similar music and Charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16762099645395510757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062352.post-1058085150347324652003-07-12T22:32:00.000-10:002003-07-12T22:37:00.426-10:00The left and right side of the road
The act of driving your car on a public street is an example of a successful blend of capitalism and socialism. The car is capitalist. Private companies had to compete for your purchase. In most cases (at least in non-communist countries), the car was probably not made by the government. Even if it was, you probably had a choice to buy one that wasn't.
TheCharleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16762099645395510757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062352.post-1058082966965763002003-07-12T21:56:00.000-10:002003-07-12T21:56:06.956-10:00Political Balance
In the classic definitions, liberals are those who want change, and conservatives are those who want things to be the way they are, or even the way that they were before. To be perfectly conservative is to never advance. To be perfectly liberal to to abandon everything that has gone before, and replace it with new things. Therefore, to reap the benefits of technological and Charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16762099645395510757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062352.post-934286392003-04-28T13:17:00.000-10:002003-04-28T13:25:43.000-10:00Sometimes Its the Venue that Matters
You know how things go; you have a beautiful natural paradise and the first thing that happens is that it gets paved over to accommodate the people who came to see it. It's ok to pave over worthless desert, But Hawaii still has beautiful things that haven't been paved over quite yet. But the tourists come, and they want entertainment, and entertainment Charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16762099645395510757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062352.post-934266472003-04-28T12:38:00.000-10:002003-04-28T13:23:26.000-10:00Digital Cinema the Old-Fashioned Way
Digital cinema is the wave of the future. It?s grand, it?s expensive, it?s fabulous. Hollywood is abuzz about the abundant promise of getting celluloid out of the cinema, but perhaps the real revolution comes with the small digital projectors that have become the stock and trade of every power-point wielding road warrior; When paired with DVD players, Charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16762099645395510757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062352.post-900394662003-03-02T22:09:00.000-10:002003-03-09T21:21:44.000-10:00Rock Can Get You Stoned?
When I was in high school, Styx had a song called 'Heavy Metal Poisoning', from the same album that had the hit 'Mister Roboto'. It was a mockery of those religious groups that will try to convince you that modern music is evil. Anyway, when I got to college, I attended a Maranatha show about the evils of rock and roll. After all those years of waiting I would finally Charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16762099645395510757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062352.post-899881642003-03-01T20:50:00.000-10:002003-03-01T20:50:45.000-10:00Rampant Ravings
Why Rampant Raven? As my description states, any real name is too common to be unique in most online communities. I like Ravens, they are some of the most intelligent birds around, and have a cool goth look rahter than the clownish look of the other smart birds, the parrots. But another problem is that any word in the dictionary is common enough to not be unique in an online Charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16762099645395510757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062352.post-899870502003-03-01T20:18:00.000-10:002003-03-09T21:34:19.000-10:00Survival, Submission, and Spiritualism
One thing that most religions have in common is a set of rules. Many of these rules benefit those who follow them, or the societies of those who follow them. Obviously 'Thou Shalt Not Kill' is intended to prevent members of a society from killing each other, which is obviously a threat to society. The Kosher and Halal guidlines for preparing food Charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16762099645395510757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062352.post-897566032003-02-25T18:35:00.000-10:002003-02-25T18:42:30.000-10:00This Weblog Dedicated To Nancy Easley:
During High School, she was one of my English teachers. We would analyze books in such interesting detail that it felt almost as though we were psychoanalyzing the authors. To keep our literary thought processes going, we were asked to keep a journal of essays. A new essay was to be written every week. In retrospect, it was much like keeping a weblog, Charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16762099645395510757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5062352.post-892718632003-02-17T14:33:00.000-10:002003-02-17T14:38:01.000-10:00The Fantasy Frontier (intro):
Have you ever noticed that when it comes to telling tall tales, that they are always in the past, the future, or far away? Why is it that stories about martians are no longer popular? Why were the greek gods on mount Olympus? There seems to be a border between reality and fantasy, a border that divides the nearby and familiar with the far-off and fantastic: ThisCharleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16762099645395510757noreply@blogger.com0