Minecraft Resources

I've been expanding my Minecraft game a lot in recent weeks. I'm trying to make the move from casual player to map creator. I have been absorbing the work of many others you create YouTube channels and have started to assemble a collection of Minecraft links and resources on my Google+ page. Please check out the collection and let me know what you think.

I'll add more to it as I can. Minecraft is a great game with lots of resources on the Web to help you.

Some of the best ones for beginners are:

Minecraft Seed List
Minecraft Server List
Minecraft Maps List
 

The New York Times even ran an article last year on how popular the game has become.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/magazine/the-minecraft-generation.html

Quick Explanation of the Scientific Method

I was trying to explain the Scientific Method to a friend, who had heard the term but didn't understand what it meant. Here is my incredibly brief explanation.

First, it was developed in the early 17th Century by the philosopher Francis Bacon. He in turn built on some early work in this regard from the Arab scientist Alhazen, who had come up with similar concepts about 600 years before.

Bacon's scientific method essentially has the following steps for a scientist.

1. Make observations.
2. Form a theory to explain what you have observed.
3. Conduct an experiment to see whether your theory works.
4. If it works as expected (essentially proving your theory), share it with other scientists to establish a peer review of your work.

 All too often, we forget about the importance of step 4. It's really critical to open up your observations, experiments, and theory to others. This allows them to "poke holes" in your work and highlight mistakes you might have made.

Anniversary of the Allies Re-Taking Palermo

Today is the anniversary of the re-taking of Palermo, Italy by allied forces on July 22, 1943 - 74 years ago.

The Allied invasion of Sicily took place nearly two weeks before, on July 10. Palermo, the principal city on the island, was in the North. American forces had cut off nearly 50,000 Italian troops and drove many of the German forces to a remote corner of the island.

Within about a month, the entire island of Sicily was under Allied control, and Sicily became an important staging point for the upcoming takeover of Italy from Axis forces.

Yoga Beauty

I've been taking yoga classes across the street at the local gym. I kind of have to admit I was inspired by some of the cute girls already taking the class (I have a thing for yoga beauties), but since I've been going a few weeks I've started to really enjoy the classes.

I'm good at all the basic poses, like Downward Facing Dog (Adho mukha śvānāsana in Sanskrit) and of course Child's Pose, lol. Still struggling with some of the tougher poses but working on it.