Sunday, May 24, 2009

Math Shooter Game for Kids

Practice and polish your math skill by shooting! Relax and enjoy shooting numbers in beautiful undersea scene. More than 80 math quizzes in 5 levels.







see more free online math games here

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Nanotechnology Challenges: Implications for Philosophy, Ethics and Society. Review

Nanotechnology Challenges is an expansive collection of papers originally published in successive special issues of Hyle: International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry and Techne?: Research in Philosophy and Technology, which were themselves the product of a number of stimulating and energetic conferences held at University of South Carolina. It is a welcome development to have the papers collated and published in a single volume. Edited by Joachim Schummer and Davis Baird Nanotechnology Challenges includes a number of notable contributions — particularly by authors such as Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent, Alfred Nordmann, Cyrus Mody, Jean-Pierre Dupuy and Alexei Grinbaum — which have already become key references in the academic consideration of the societal and ethical dimensions of nanotechnology. As such the volume stands to make a valuable contribution to this young field, and to the development of nanotechnology itself. At the heart of the book Bruce Lewenstein asks a tantalising question: ‘What counts as a ‘‘Social and Ethical Issue’’ in nanotechnology?’. He goes on to suggest that: To say that there are social and ethical issues is to say that science and technology exist only in a social context, and that we cannot understand how science and technology develop without understanding both the social conditions that produce them and the simultaneous scientific and technological conditions that produce society. (p. 202)

Lewenstein therefore argues that science and technology do not simply have ‘implications’ to which society mutely responds. Rather science and technology are enacted in thoroughly social, moral, ethical and political contexts such that it is impossible to speak of asocial or ‘pure’ science.

This is particularly the case given the fact that, as noted by a number of authors in the volume, nanotechnology is a relatively young field and therefore presents an unstable object for social science and philosophical analysis. Indeed, nanotechnology is characterised as much by competing claims as to its societal ‘impacts’ than its technical promise. As Schummer notes in the final chapter of the volume, notions of societal and ethical implications of nanotechnology have been articulated, over the last few years, by a diverse set of actors and interest groups with a stake in the future development of nanotechnology.

That is that notions of the ‘implications’ of nanotechnology are embroiled in strategic arguments about what nanotechnology itself constitutes. Ideas of the implications of nanoscience and technology — both opportunities and risks — are articulated in order to legitimate particular versions of nanoscience the particular social futures that nanotechnology is cast as enabling. What counts as a social and ethical issue in nanotechnology is also therefore intimately tied to political and strategic questions of what counts as nanoscience.

Lewenstein’s question recalls Latour’s distinction between matters of concern and matters of fact. In a challenge to critical inquiry Latour suggests that: The critical mind, if it is to renew itself and be relevant again, is to be found in the cultivation of a stubbornly realist attitude — to speak like William James — but a realism dealing with what I will call matters of concern, not matters of fact. The mistake we made, the mistake I made, was to believe that there was no efficient way to criticize matters of fact except by moving away from them and directing one’s attention toward the conditions that made them possible. But this meant accepting much too uncritically what matters of fact were (2004, p. 231).

Latour’s suggestion is that we move from critical appraisals of what are issues to an enlarged and affirmative assessment of what counts as issues. That is to effect a reorientation of social, political and philosophical scholarship in which the question of what counts as an issue is not taken to be simply a product of ‘the science’. Rather social, political and philosophical scholarship is, in Latour’s view, to be more proactive in widening the scope of what counts as an issue of concern. That is to add vocabularies and repertoires to current articulations of the social and ethical implications of nanotechnology that widen the frames of reference and legitimate socially robust forms of nanotechnology development. Given the breadth and imagination of its scholarship, Nanotechnology Challenges stands to make an important contribution to this ambitious project.

Saturday, May 02, 2009

Senior Dating

Dorothy and Edna, two "senior" widows, are talking.

Dorothy: "That nice George Johnson asked me out for a date. I know you went out with him last week, and I wanted to talk with you about him before I give him my answer."

Edna: "Well, I'll tell you. He shows up at my apartment punctually at 7 P.M., dressed like such a gentleman in a fine suit, and he brings me such beautiful flowers!
Then he takes me downstairs, and what's there but a luxury car... a limousine, uniformed chauffeur and all.
Then he takes me out for dinner... a marvelous dinner... lobster, champagne, dessert, and after-dinner drinks. Then we go see a show.
Let me tell you, Dorothy, I enjoyed it so much I could have just died from pleasure!
So then we are coming back to my apartment and he turns into an ANIMAL.
Completely crazy, he tears off my expensive new dress and has his way with me two times!"

Dorothy: "Goodness gracious! ... so you are telling me I shouldn't go out with him?"

Edna: "No, no, no ...
I'm just saying, wear an old dress."

Friday, April 03, 2009

Reputation

What I got from m-w.com is "the overall quality or character as seen or judged by people in general". Basically it is the quality that people see in oneself be it good or bad.

Hurmm...I dont know what to say. we're all grown ups. this year, all of us who were born in '84 gonna turn 20. So, I assume that all gonna be mature. In relation to that, you dont have to worry about your reputation just because a single unfortunate dumb ass mother fucker (as what we can call him) wants to do that. He doesnt own the world. 99% of the population in this world dont even know him. In fact, they dont even care about him! If he ever dare to say bad things about you, their friends wont buy it (if all of em are not dumbasses like him). however, if they do hate and laugh at you while pointing fingers, that's their loss because who might know what will happen in the future. Just let it be. He wants to say bad things about you, thats allrite. one day, he'll come crawling back to you, coz i've been there.

And thats not all with my life. I've been giving advice to people, but I myself are surrounded with problems. but to hell with it. I feel good helping others instead f helping myself.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

galloping saturday

It was a saturday which hurried past at great pace. I went out for a drive at 11:00 AM and landed up at the strand book stall,Manipal center. I picked up the "The complete sherlock holmes" which i am sure going to savour every bit of reading.Let the detective instincts begin!
Strand book stall, oxford book stall have some really good collections (of course! not computer science!!). I also happened to pick up p.g.wodehouse's "blandings castle". He is suppossedly the best comic writer of the 19th century. After having exhausted all books of "Calvin and hobbes" i thought of reading the book which inspired bill watterson the creator of calvin, charles.M.schulz's "peanuts".

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

this is a physical reminder to myself that i have to update. and i will as soon as i do my effing homework cuz i actually have stuff to say. my past weekend was abnormally eventful. i wouldn't even have realized that i was ignoring blog cuz i though no one read it BUT stephanie said she had no idea what was going on in my life cuz i ignore this thing! it's nice to know i have such a faithful reader hahahhahaha. i'm sad that i don't update as much as i used to. i never talk about what i do when i go out now and all taht stuff cuz it seems so boring/pointless. wiohsguiohsghs whatever