The Stealth Geek Collective

Mass Deffect 3

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 17:39:00 -0500

First of all:

SPOILERS AHEAD

Do not read this post if you have not beaten Mass Effect 3.

Seriously. Don’t read this.

Okay. Still here? Well here we go.

There has been an uproar lately about Mass Effect 3. If you don’t know what Mass Effect 3 is, it’s a video game. It’s the 3rd installment in what is arguably the greatest single player experience in video game history. It’s a sci-fi epic in which the player makes choices throughout the game that actually effect the storyline, characters, conversations and overall direction of the experience. That is, until the very end, in which your decisions play virtually no role in the final moments of the trilogy.

Mass Effect is a journey. It’s one of the most well thought out sci-fi ideas since Star Wars. In fact it may be better than Star Wars. Nay, it IS better than Star Wars. Seeing as this is possibly the best sci-fi property going, the developer, Bioware, has created quite a fan base around the game and has given those fans three quality games over the last 5 years.

Bioware is not perfect however.

Mass Effect 3 has issues. I’m not talking about the moderately weak cover mechanics or the fact that you have to switch discs (on Xbox360) throughout the game. I’m not even talking about the moment when Kaiden (your comrade and fellow soldier) makes a pass at you, which regardless of your moral position, is completely out of place. It really does not fit the character at all and seems shoehorned in by a secular humanist intent on shoving their square morality block into a round hole. Can I not offer my injured war buddy some comfort in the hospital without worrying about him taking it the wrong way? Sigh. Even this is not the issue I speak of.

Mass Effect 3’s main issue (which has many fans in a panty-wad) is the ending. The last hour of the 75+ hour trilogy.

To be sure, Mass Effect 3 is a work of art. However, it is not the same medium as a book or a movie. Mass Effect 3 is a game. It’s a medium in which the player….assumes control (see what I did there) of the main character and shapes the experience as he or she deems fit. The game plays out differently depending on the choices you make throughout the game. Even the appearance of Shepard, the main character, can change depending on your choices. Yet, at the bitter end when all hope seems lost, the fate of the Milky Way galaxy plays out the same regardless of your choices.

Spoilers ahead.

Mass Effect 3 ends basically 3 different ways:

-You destroy all the Reapers and all synthetic beings in a red fireball and the Mass Relays are destroyed

-You control all the Reapers in a blue fireball and the Mass Relays are destroyed

-You merge organic and synthetic life (supposedly) in a green fireball and the Mass Relays are destroyed

If you’ve played as a Paragon (positive, good choices) throughout the game, the natural choice would be to “Destroy the Reapers” in order to preserve life in the galaxy and end the Reapers’ murderous wave to wipe it out. Yet, this option is considered the “Renegade” option, as its fireball is red colored which is associated with the Renegade choices throughout the series. This is puzzling.

If you are fighting tooth and nail for years to protect the people and aliens you know and love, fighting to preserve the infinitely valuable sentient life covering many of the galaxy’s star systems, why would you think all of a sudden that some holographic Reaper overlord kid predicting the future (which is impossible by the way) and spouting nonsensical B.S. makes more sense than what you KNOW is the right thing to do?

This Reaper overlord kid is introduced in the last 15 minutes of the game. He tells you they have established a cycle in which they wipe out the sentient life in the galaxy and process them in order to “store the old life in Reaper form.” The kid says this helps those sentient species “ascend.” Here the philosophy of Mass Effect take a nose dive off an ExoGeni skyscraper.

What the hell are the sentient species ascending to? Murder? Oppression? Sitting outside the galaxy for 50,000 years at a time? Rubbish. Am I supposed to think that the Reapers and their cycle stand for something greater than what exists in the galaxy currently? I wanted to put a “shave off the block” into that Reaper hologram idiot right then and there, but Bioware didn’t give me the choice. They forced me to listen to this lunatic for 5 more minutes. The hologram kid then tells you that “synthetics would destroy all organics” if this cycle wasn’t in place. Seriously? How do you KNOW that? Has it happened before? Obviously not, since organics are still around. I mean, if what the foolish hologram saying is true, then how are organics around AFTER the first synthetics were built and there were NO Reapers about to “protect” organics? And even if synthetics got close to actually doing destroying organics, can the Reapers’ cycle truly be a better option? It’s the SAME thing! REAPERS KILL ORGANICS GUYS. THEY KILL ORGANICS.

Reapers process sentient beings in order to harvest their DNA to preserve sentient life. Who actually thinks that life is simply DNA? This is scientific reductionism ad nauseum. It’s RIDICULOUS and it’s not true. The Reaper cycle is just plain murder. The “chaos” that the Reapers say they want to stop is LIFE as we know it.

So, let’s think about life and the galaxy as we know it. It’s amazing. It’s messy. It’s diverse. It’s dirty. It’s connected. It’s wonderful. It isn’t perfect, but it’s beautiful. You’d fight to protect it wouldn’t you? You might even give your life for it. Yet THIS is exactly the “chaos” that the Reapers want to destroy. Yet Bioware thinks that 2 outta 3 options you may want to choose in the game are to let the Reapers live and control them (TO DO WHAT!!?? WHAT purpose could this achieve?) or blend them with the beautiful messy people throughout the galaxy (again, to achieve what? How will this be better? The holo-kid failed to mention that). I’m sorry. Are we just supposed to trust the murdering Reapers when they say that this “final evolution” or “synthesis” of synthetic and organic life is supposed to be good? Evolution does not simply equal good. The Reapers consider themselves more highly evolved than us and boy aren’t they everything you ever wanted to be.

Though the philosophy behind Bioware’s three choices are poor, what really left a pit in my stomach at the end of the game was the unrequited love of Shepard and (in my game) Liara. The destruction of the Mass Relays only compounded this problem as every sentient being on a starship in the Sol system was instantly cut off from their home worlds and everyone they love in other star systems. They are stranded around earth, a wrecked world no longer capable of sustaining that many beings. You may say “But they could rebuild earth, think about the technology they have.” Really? Here is earth after the Reapers begin attacking it:

Oh. M’yeah. You’re right. Looks like a great place to grow Quarian crops.

Technology is not magic. There is no robot Madam Pomfrey to wave around a medi-gel wand to make all the boo boos better.

The Mass Relays being destroyed shattered the galaxy perhaps as much as the Reapers themselves. By choosing ANY of the three options Bioware gave, you end up hurting billions of beings. You may say “But most of the ships have FTL (Faster than Light) drives!” Well, keep in mind The Milky Way Galaxy is 100,000 light years across. That means if you can travel at the speed of light, it will take you 100,000 years to get across it. So, lets say that FTL can take you 10x faster than light. In this case FTL capable ships could get you across the galaxy in 10,000 years. Even if FTL capable ships could go 100x the speed of light, getting Tali from the Sol System to Rannoch would take around 800-1000 years, as they are on opposite sides of the galaxy. Not feasible. Also, FTL drive cores require fuel, and NO ship has the fuel to do this type of travel. The Mass Relays being destroyed literally ended galactic civilization as we know it. The Reapers built the Relays, and correct me if I’m wrong, but no one fully understands how to rebuild them. Nor does any data fully explain how to build one, let alone build two to be linked together. Perhaps if there were, and QEC (Quantum Entaglement Communication) could transmit the data, then galactic civilization could rebuild, but who knows. Well, Bioware I guess. But they’re not telling…yet (hopefully DLC is on the way that will ease the misgivings).

*UPDATE*

This video: http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DynYgr1rqEec&h=9AQG9Vlq0AQG0HVdEwHgDIWK28BCffGmJoxlAXq53oFuQVQ&enc=AZNrXBprEKp8W-XlNHyW5yNSmftTLsimt3wo6ZuYPv6o53FCaksJhtVVTFPnxbPQlDOXUl-Vx4u1qMU5L8p6SoZOFGzRvwlHjUkbSedNMkp59A

is a well-made video regarding the “Indoctrination Theory” which basically says that from the moment (or around the moment) when Shepard get’s knocked out by the Reaper laser in front of the elevator beam on earth, he is either:

A) Dreaming/undergoing indoctrination and never actually goes to the Crucible via the elevator beam

B) Fighting against indoctrination all the way to the bowels of the Crucible where the Catalyst/Holo-kid tries to trick him into making a decision to spare the Reapers (which is why the “destroy the Reapers” option is colored red for Renegade).

If “A” happens to be true, then Bioware is guilty of the cliche “It was aaaaaaall just a dream” story arc, and has apparently constructed the end of the game to get people to buy DLC. This theory could potentially put the blame on EA though.

If “B” happens to be true, the easter egg on the best possible ending of Shepard taking a breath (regaining consciousness) whilst laying in the rubble of Earth makes no sense. Shepard has already re-entered a planet’s atmosphere from space without a ship before and died in the process. He would certainly die re-entering Earth’s atmosphere once the Citadel was destroyed/seperated. He’d burn up just like a meteor.

If either of these is true, more story will be needed to fill in the gaps and apparently the DLC is touted to do just this. But this seems cheap in that NOT ONE SINGLE player has actually beaten Mass Effect 3.

The ending of Mass Effect 3 did not go over anyone’s head artistically. It went under everyone’s head because it makes no sense or intentionally leaves holes to be filled in later.

Hey, I was wondering how you made the Omni Tool on your Mass Effect build. Thanks

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 19:58:00 -0500

Sure thing. There was some scrap plexiglass (acrylic) at my work that I procured. I then cut out shapes using a band saw, then used a giant belt sander to further refine the shapes. I then used an oven on low temp to heat some of the pieces one at a time to the point where they were flexible, which made it possible to shape them into the rounded shapes necessary. Then I used screws and super glue to put the pieces together. NOW STOP, do not do as I did (use screws and super glue). INSTEAD, you should use acrylic cement to put the pieces together. That stuff basically melts the peices together. I then glued 9ft of EL wire around the edges of the thing. I used tape to hold the EL wire on there to begin with though. If you want cheap plexi though, go here: estreetplastics.com

-Captain Ahmazing

It is Done. DragonCon Here I Come.

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 23:33:45 -0500

Down to the Wire

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 00:25:04 -0500

The road to Dragon*Con is a long one. I’ve been off and on it for a year with this costume. I better get it done.

Progress report:

Knee pad things made

Gloves made

Thigh pieces and code piece strapped together with belt
Flair added to thigh pieces

Cerberus Logo and flair added to torso piece

Get Em While They're Hot

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 01:13:28 -0500

Yesterday, Aug. 20th, 2011 was a fire sale day. HP announced he will no longer be an Auror…wait. No, that’s not it.

HP announced it will be kick flipping its way out the hardware biz (of which they’re probably the largest when it comes to makin’ PCs) and focusing on what will most likely be boring stuff you can’t physically play with.

Out of this announcement sprang forth the news that HP’s tablet, the TouchPad would be discontinued (along with support for its operating system WebOS) and would be sold for hundreds of dollars of the retail price.

Pause.

I’ve been reluctant to enter the tablet market. I do not believe the tablet computer as we know it has been fully realized. The iPad is definitely a cool device, but as I weighed the reasons to get one, several lacking features kept me from doing so. The iPad won’t run Adobe Flash, which means I couldn’t read Marvel Digital Unlimited Comics, nor could I watch videos on Hulu.com (this was in the days before I had Hulu Plus). Another lacking feature was an affordable price of entry. I don’t have $600 just lying around, and if I did I would probably pay down that American Express debt, you gnaw’d I’m sayin’ wookie? For this same reason I didn’t purchase any tablet computer as they are all above $400 and something I don’t necessarily need.

Plus, my five-year-old HP laptop runs like a frickin’ champ, so what do I need a tablet for?

Unpause. I mean play. Hit play.

The 32gig HP TouchPad went from $599 to $149 in one night. This begs the question: “Why would you not buy one?”

I saw the news on Twitter at about 8 o’clock that evening. Android Police was having various conversations with people about it. This was before the frenzy really picked up. Or after they were sold out everywhere online. Or somewhere in between the two.

By midnight CST, everyone was scouring the nebberwebs searching for this elusive $149-but-really-more-expensive tablet. Yet, they could not be found. Touchpads were harder to find than a power steering fluid reservoir cap for a 2000 Nissan Maxima. I know this for a fact.

The ol’ Captain had a trick up his sleeve though: Early arrival at a boring Office Depot store in a part of town where people don’t usually care about this sort of thing. I arrived 30 minutes prior to opening. Stood at the door and waited. Alone. I could hear the phone ringing constantly inside. While yall haters hatin, I’m Office Depot waitin.

I picked up the 32 gig version and a 2-year protection plan (as HP was no longer supporting the device I thought it was a wise decision).

Pause. Time travel back to 2009 Consumer Electronic Show (CES).

The Palm Pre is unveiled running Palm’s new mobile operating system WebOS. It’s the darling of the show. It’s all anyone can talk about. It was “hotter than hot, it was hot hot hot!”

I see this device. I want this device. I’ve been looking for an excuse to jump off AT&T’s humpback for a while now and this is just the chance. I get the Pre.

Fast forward a little bit.

The Pre hardware is too slow for me and big ol’ phones are starting to come out. I jump off WebOS like Jar Jar Binks jumping off a Kaadu and go with Android (on a HTC Evo 4g).

I dig Android (still do), but I really miss some innovative features WebOS had. Features like the Cards system of managing apps running in the background. The Cards are better than anything Apple or Android currently utilizes. Way better. The HP TouchPad has the Cards and it’s like butter. So intuitive, so fluid. It just makes sense.

But WebOS isn’t supported like Android and Apple. It doesn’t have the app catalog biceps like they do. And we be likin’ them biceps.

SOLUTION:

License WebOS out and integrate it into systems like Android. All the customization and support native to Android, except with the Cards. Call it Android Cardigan. It will be better. It’ll be a boss.

And Then There Was Light

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 00:46:54 -0500

Electroluminescence Wire installed. Looks good.

Painting done.

Now I’m Modge Podging the whole thing. Time consuming.

Another Night, Another piece(s) Made

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 00:35:10 -0500

Bracers made
Pauldrons attached to bicep pieces
Lights on
Last straps added to thigh pieces
Lots of Velcro strapping used
Oh, and check out that cod piece

Cerberus Assault Armor (Countdown)

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 22:23:44 -0500

Bioware recently announced they are having a costume contest. Entries (via Youtube submissions) are due by August 20th. Pressure is on. I want to enter the contest.

I worked a good bit today on a few things.

Thigh pieces are looking good. Just need one more strap at the bottom of each, final coat of paint, then add the craft foam parts in the middle.
Lights are installed in pauldrons and back piece. Just need to order the blue EL wire for the back piece.
Codpiece has been re-cut and etched.

Here’s a pic of the light on in the back piece

I brought the mannequin back up. Hopefully will help get it symmetrical.

Video of the CNC router at work in action! (Cutting out the...

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:24:14 -0500

Video of the CNC router at work in action!

(Cutting out the right thigh piece of my Cerberus Assault Armor from Mass Effect 2)

Mass Effect Armor Update

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:22:02 -0500

Got some pictures and video of the CNC router at work cutting out a thigh piece. Pretty cool stuff!

Mass Effect Armor for Dragon*Con update

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 23:57:00 -0500

I’ve been secretly working on the armor. My buddy Brian at work helped me use the CNC router to cut some pieces out. These were the test pieces to see how it’d fit/look:

They looked good, so we went ahead and cut the foam.

Then I painted a first coat and added some craft foam pieces to the bicep parts.

Social (Bet)work

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 23:07:26 -0500

Social networking is here to stay. There’s money in it. Everybody wants a piece of that pie, uh drippin’ that uh chocolate sow-suh.

But which ones will be hits with lasting appeal? It’s a gamble for all the startups.

There are several new social sites that seem to be picking up steam or showing loads of potential. A site my wife has a considerable obsession with currently is Pinterest.

Essentially, if you like you something on the interwebs (a picture, a poem, a product, a recipe) you can pin it up on one of your virtual Pinterest boards, each with its own category. You’ll find mostly females pinning on Pinterest, but I like to have one to keep track of all the places I’d like to visit and foods I’d like to try.

My boards: http://pinterest.com/ben_r_moon/

I recently received an invite to the social music site (currently in beta) Turntable.fm

Turntable.fm is similar to internet radio sites like Pandora, Last.fm, and Rdio but instead of the algorithms picking the music, real human “DJs” select which song to play. Turntable.fm has rooms designated with a certain genre(s) and music within the rooms generally stays within the confines of the genre. If a DJ strays away from the genre or plays music unfitting to the ears of the rooms inhabitants, that DJ can be booted out of the room (by the room’s admin) or the song can be voted down and skipped. DJ-ing is surprisingly simple and can be quite fun as you observe listeners’ avatar heads bobbing to your selections.

Obviously there’s some tweaking left to do on Turntable, such as being able to hand off admin abilities to another DJ if the original admin leaves the room (currently the room just shuts down when the admin leaves). Also, you can upload your own music into your playlist if you’re DJ-ing or simply choose from Turntable’s extensive list of music, but it would be nice to see that list expand. Same goes for the number of users (there’s hardly ever anyone in the one videogame music room!)

The biggest social network hoopla currently is most assuredly Google+

Google+ has its crosshairs set on none other than the 800lb social network gorilla, Facebook.

Google’s ambition may sound laughable at first, as Facebook has had a clear domination of the social network realm for several years now. But receiving an invite and actually trying Google+ for yourself can turn that doubt into something more like desire.

Google+ is essentially like Facebook used to be, before the vampires, mafias, causes, farms, worthless gifts, and all the other meaningless apps and riffraff currently plaguing the ol’ FB. So, Google+ is like old school Facebook but with new school technologies like the “Hangout” feature which allows friends to video conference in a group all at once. There is even a Youtube sharing feature which allows any member to show a Youtube video to the group, all in the same window on the fly. It’s really slick.

Google+ also has the “Circles” feature which is really it’s main selling point. Divide friends, colleagues, family, etc into various circles and share information/links/photos only with those circles the content is relevant/appropriate for. Facebook has recently scrambled to add a similar feature.

Google+ plus has the potential to replace FB for many a savvy tech user and possibly even average users. However, Twitter is another story. Twitter is something that feels open to the entire world when used, as opposed to the closed in feeling Facebook gives. If Google+ could somehow combine the closed in feeling (your world) of FB with the open (entire world) feeling of Twitter, they could have a Godzilla on their hands. In a good way. Some think Google Buzz may become “Twitter” tech of Google+ but it’s yet to be seen if Google even means to implement something like this.

If you want to try out Google+ you’ll need an invite, and your friendly neighborhood Stealth Geek is givin’ em out like all day! Just PM me your email address and I’ll get one your way.

Costume for Dragon*Con Update

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 21:53:50 -0500

Bicep pieces shaped, strapped, painted.

Shoulder straps painted.

Pauldrons painted, LED’s installed, accents attached.

Codpiece cut, belt created/installed.

Nerd Rage: First Class

Sat, 04 Jun 2011 10:30:00 -0500

X-Men First Class was released in Theaters last night (June 3rd). While many casual movie-goers enjoyed a fun period piece with interesting characters and a fairly well-crafted story, there were many Marvel Comics fans who were about as happy as Wolverine in a bar that just ran out of beer.

To figure out why comic book fans are so upset, we must go back to the time before the “do no wrong” Marvel Studios was created. Marvel Comics didn’t print money like they today and subsequently made some very poor deals with movie studios (i.e. Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox) by selling the movie rights to several of their properties for many years. We’re still in those “years” and Marvel Studios is currently barred from making movies with Spiderman or anything termed “mutant.”

Spiderman/X-teams movies are in the hands of people who do not value the source content like the people who actually own it. Sony and FOX’s studios value money above all and while the bottom line is obviously important, it’s no excuse for deviating from the comic books so heavily.

X-Men is one of most amazing cast of characters ever created and stories about the X-Men are going to be fun simply by the nature of who they are and what their stories contain. X-Men First Class is no exception. Fun characters will give you a fun story. But Marvel Studios has proven time and again that you can stay true to the comic books and make great movies. Iron Man, made by Marvel Studios, is still regarded as the best comic book film to date by most people and not one single fan was outraged by it. Why? Because Marvel Studios VALUES the source content. They honor it. They see no reason to change the comic book canon. They craft wonderful movies using the canon. It CAN be done.

Deadpool.

Deadpool is one of most beloved characters in Marvel comics. A wisecracking assassin with healing powers and insane combat skills is a surefire win amongst males age 10-40. But in the movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine, 20th Century Fox turned Deadpool into some Baraka/teleporting/bowel movement sandwich perversion of the comic book character. Why? To help craft some meaningless story that fans are going hate/dismiss for eternity? Foolishness. In fact First Class attempts to stay truer to the X-Men films before it than the actual comics it’s based from.

X-Men First Class probably does not deserve the flak it’s receiving from diehard Marvel fans, but FOX’s unwarranted drifting from dearly-held canon deserves as much flak as possible.

Here’s a quick list of some deviations from the source material in X-Men First Class:

The comics 1st class was Beast, Jean Grey, Iceman, Cyclops, Angel
Banshee is Irish in the comics (with an accent)
Sebastian Shaw’s life/death is different from the comics
Shaw doesn’t play a role in young Erik’s life in the comics
Xavier loses the use of his legs a different way in the comics
Havok’s power looks completely different than the comics
What happens to Darwin in the film does not happen in the comics

Armors

Fri, 27 May 2011 23:26:38 -0500

Bicep and shoulder pieces cut. Helmet’s inside padding installed.

Cerberus Assault Armor Update

Sat, 14 May 2011 14:54:19 -0500

Continuing construction of the Cerberus Assault Armor. Contemplating starting over on the front torso piece. Haven’t decided yet.

Ordered the EL wire for the omni tool. That thing is gonna look dope.

Back on the Old Space Highway

Thu, 12 May 2011 22:27:00 -0500

It’s time. Time again to prepare for Dragon*Con. Work has begun on completing the Mass Effect Cerberus Assault Armor. I feel the fire again.

Update:

-Omni tool construction complete, minus EL Wire installation

-Front Torso etched and painted with first coat of white

I Heart Robots

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 21:50:09 -0600

You think the dog is man’s best friend? No. You think diamonds are a girls best friend? Negative.

Man’s best friend is the robot. Robots are helpful (as long as they are not self-aware and sick of vacuuming your house autonomously) as well as entertaining. They build things for us, clean things for us, ferry things around warehouses, fall down stairs:

Exhibit A:

But entertaining us…that’s what is most important, am I right? Who cares if Asimo can kick a soccer ball right at you, that clumsy humanoid face planting at the base of a staircase is hilarious!

There is a fairly new entertaining robot called the Keepon. It’s “hears music and can dance in perfect rhythm while following your face with its built in cameras. You can squeeze its squishy yellow body too. If you want a Keepon you’ll need:

An institution which engages in studies of autism or other research
$30,000

Luckily, a $4o version of the Keepon is currently being developed for consumers. Try to tell me you don’t want one.

Exhibit B:

More on the Keepon at http://beatbots.net/

Darwin Day! Also known as: I am Right, You are Wrong Day!

Sat, 12 Feb 2011 17:39:00 -0600

The Stealth Geek Collective blog is light-hearted. We talk about tech, video games, science, sci-fi, etc. The blog isn’t meant for matters of faith or belief. However, today is Charles Darwin’s Birthday and with his name, the topic is certain to arise. Some people celebrate Darwin’s B’day, some curse it. His name alone stirs controversy and finger pointing. I recently had a friend report to me that scientists were evil and that evolution is a “lie from the devil.”

Today at work I had a lengthy discussion with an 11 year old and her mother about evolution. They said you could not be a Christian and believe in evolution. When I told them I was a follower of Christ and that I did accept evolution, they looked at me as if I’d said 2 + 2 = 7.

I wrote my evolution-dismissing friend a letter describing my position on the subject. I feel it’s well written (with some content borrowed from Biologos.org) and wanted to see what you guys though about it. Feel free not to read it if it’s boring to you.

Lies from the evil one….Now, to be sure there are plenty of lies spewed forth from the evil one. Agreed. And let me say, I could be wrong about a number of things. I absolutely don’t have all the answers nor do I claim to. I can only see the world as the Lord has revealed to me, and that is through His Word, my senses, and through scientific discovery. We all know that scientific “fact” is a bit of a misnomer since many theories and ideas get overturned with newfound evidence of the contrary. So, there is always that. Perhaps that is why wisdom of the Lord is more concrete than this haze of life through which we walk through grasping at straws of knowledge. Having said that, when we spoke last and you proceeded to devalue and denigrate knowledge and science, I couldn’t help but imagine what Galileo Galilei must have felt as the church found him “vehemently suspect of heresy” when he disclosed his support of the Copernican idea of heliocentrism.

During Galileo’s lifetime, the people used the Word of God like a text book, citing the verses Psalm 93:1, Psalm 96:10, and 1 Chronicles 16:30 which include text stating that ”the world is firmly established, it cannot be moved.” In the same way, Psalm 104:5 says, ”the LORD set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved.” Further, Ecclesiastes 1:5 states that ”And the sun rises and sets and returns to its place.” It was VERY clear to them what scripture had to say about the physics of the earth and the sun. To them, the earth did not move and subsequently everything else revolved around it. Today, we know that the church was wrong and Galileo was right. Job 38:13 tells us that the earth has “edges” and Christ tells us we will be His witnesses “to the ends of the earth” in Acts 1:7-9. Reading these passages, Biblically we used to think the earth was flat (with ends to it). So do we call the Bible into question when we agree with the Greek astronomers who said that the earth was spherical? No, because we are not to take the words scientifically literally. They were not meant to be as such. Yet the church at the time made the scientific mistake of doing so. To disagree with them was heresy (and it seems to be the same way now in America). It was considered non-biblical to believe these things. But we know for aan absolute fact that this solar system is heliocentric and that the earth is round. Now that we know this, we don’t discount the Word of God, but rather we change how we read it. How we interpret it.

So what was the deal back then? Well, I think the church lost track of the fact that the Bible is not a textbook. Rather, the Word is the Revelation of Jesus Christ in narrative form. When we read Scripture, we should always look to how it points to Christ, as Brennan Manning would say. I think it’s safe to say that Galileo took Augustine’s position on Scripture: not to take every passage literally.

The two different creation accounts in Genesis 1 and 2 set the precedent for readers to be openminded to truths that run deeper than historical accounts and to be wary of interpreting every word in a scientifically literal way. In Genesis 1, God creates the plants, marine animals, birds, land animals and then man and woman together (Genesis 1:1-2:3). In Genesis 2, however, God creates man first and then plants, land animals and birds and finally woman from Adam’s rib (Genesis 2:4-2:25). Clearly, the order of the creation differs in these two accounts. Also God creates night and day on the first day in Genesis 1:3-5 but it’s not until the fourth day in Genesis 1:16 that He creates the sun and moon. It’s these things that lead me to believe we’re not supposed to take these chapters literally.

Biologos.org I think says it well: “Studying the context of Genesis 1 and 2 truly helps us understand the foundational theology of Genesis rather than detract us. These passages lay the foundation of biblical understanding which tells us who God is, what the world is and what it means to be human. Through these passages we know that God is outside of the world and has total control; the universe was not created through a cosmic battle as other creation myths of the day claim. God is not an abstract concept but a personal being; his spirit hovers over the waters. He is also the consummate artist that brings beauty from ugliness and order from disorder.”

Also, God was using their way of thinking about the material world in order to communicate his revelation concerning the functional world. When the Bible talks about thinking with the heart, we discount the material statement because we understand that the Bible is not communicating physiology. God has accommodated their material way of thinking to make the functional point.

Many people argue about evolution, but those opposed to it rarely, if ever, give any scientific evidence for why people shouldn’t accept it. Granted, I still view evolution as a theory (with holes such as the Cambrian explosion mystery), but I’m not vehemently opposed to the idea since I don’t see much danger to our faith in it.

One of the reasons I’m open to the idea of evolution is that so much of what we find points to a really old universe. Take my hobby astronomy for example. When I look through my telescope and see the Andromeda galaxy, I’m looking at a galaxy that is 2 million light years away. That means it takes light 2 million years to traverse empty space from that galaxy and reach my telescope. So I am not seeing that galaxy as it is, I am really seeing that galaxy as it was 2 million years ago. Red shift of the light tells us how far away objects in the universe are from us. It’s accurate, it’s real. If it wasn’t, our deep-spacecraft would never make it to their destinations, and yet they continually do.

I have had friends tell me “Well, you know God could have created everything with apparent age to it.” But we know that God “is not a God of confusion.” 1 Corinthians 14:33. If he made everything to look like it’s billions of years old, why in the world would we criticize scientists for disclosing merely what they observe? I don’t think God would do that, so I’m left to believe that we’re in a universe that is scientifically billions of years old.

What does time matter anyway, for we know that “For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.” Psalm 90:4

I think this is a wonderful discussion. But I think we should really dig deep and not have “blind faith” which really isn’t a Biblical idea. As a matter of fact I think the Word discourages it: Proverbs 14:15 says “A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thoughts to his steps.”and again in 1 Corinthians 13:11: “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.”

And honestly when we get down to it, Job 38:4 says it best: “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding.”

Case of the Wannabees

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 23:16:00 -0600

Test Drive Unlimited 2 was released yesterday (Tuesday, Feb. 8th, 2011) for Xbox360, PS3 and PC. I picked it up for 360. This game is a “value” title priced at only $49.99 instead of the usual $59.99. Unfortunately, if you buy it, you’ll wish they put that extra $10 worth in the game.

TDU2 has a bad case of the wannabees.

It’s races wanna be Need for Speed
It’s graphics wanna be current-gen but look like an HD overhaul of last-gen
It’s radio stations wanna be Grand Theft Auto 4’s
It’s open world is a wanna be Midnight Club: LA
It’s voice actors wanna be good but are as bad (or worse) than Just Cause 2
It’s vehicle decal creator/editor is a wanna be Forza 3 system (yeah right)
It’s cell phone calling feature is a wanna be NFS: Underground 2 system
It’s various race types wanna be like NFS: Underground (but can’t)

TDU2 tries to implement all these things, yet falls short on all of them. The car customization is so sparse that players who have played the NFS: Underground series or Forza 3 will be sorely disappointed/underwhelmed.

Need for Speed: Underground is my favorite racing game. Ever.

Though TDU2’s races are a bit more interesting that Forza 3’s boring circuits, they fall short of NFS: Underground’s unbeatable arcade race/drag/drift combo. Even though the NFS: Underground series was released 8 years ago, it still remains the most entertaining racing series of all time IMO. Even playing Forza 3 simply made me wish for a new NFS: Underground w/ a vinyl graphic editor on par w/ Forza 3. Oh to have NFS: Underground 3….. I digress.

One TDU2’s big selling points is the community features. However, many of these features are either currently unavailable or are plagued w/ bugs. Try to enter a multiplayer challenge and you receive a message informing you the TDU2 servers are unavailable. Try to search through the various multiplayer clubs and the game hangs as it attempts to load the list. If you find another racer driving around in the open world and challenge them to a race, 9 times out of 10 they will refuse, which isn’t the developer’s fault, but is still a problem.

One of my biggest beefs w/ TDU2 is when walking around buildings in first-person mode there is no option to invert the Y-axis. Seriously? EVERY game has this option these days.

Overall I can’t recommend this game at its $50 price point, but when it goes down to around $20 it could scratch your racing itch until we see a AAA racing title like Forza 4 or Split/Second 2 released.