Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?

I got bored with the movie on TV, so I took a bath and finished A Brief History of Time. Good book. There was one funny bit that I wanted to use as a subject line, but I forgot what it was, and can't find it anymore. So I used a different one instead, it's nice too (:
( I particularly liked this figure ... )

Anyway, the book is really well-written and (relatively) easy to understand. And even though it was written in 1988, it still seems current. In one of the last chapters, Hawking introduces string theory and in a few sentences manages to explain the concept better than that one TV show, that spent a whole hour on string theory, did.

To show this diagram properly, I would really need a four dimensional screen. However, because of government cuts, we could manage to provide only a two dimensional screen.

Dirki recommends WikiQuote.

The Ultimate Question ...

( ... inside ... )

social criticism ...

... in more serious news, a young man ran amok yesterday at his former school in Germany.
And while politicians once again pretend to solve the problem by banning computer games, Heise Telepolis published his farewell letter.
Please note the distinct lack of "omg Counter Strike is liek soo cool lol I'm gonna reenact that at my school. bbq"ness in his letter. In fact, there's no mention of any computer games, and the author doesn't appear to have lost his grip on reality either. Instead, he criticises society, consumerism, and the fact that not being a consumer whore makes you a social outcast.
And hardly anyone bothers to ask where the hell he got those weapons he used in the first place? This is not america, you're not supposed to just have a few weapons lying around your place. Weapons of all kind are supposed to be hard to come by over here. And yet, even though he had a court appointment today regarding illegal weapon possession, it appears that no one bothered to check his place for weapons.
*shurgs*

Btw, as to the last piece I linked to, I don't really get the maths. He shot 5 people, injuring them, before killing himself. 37 people were injured in his amok run. Does that mean that 32 people tripped and fell while running away from the scene? I don't think we're talking damages to one's psyche here, because you can be pretty certain that most of the 700 students and teachers there got those ...

Aaaaanyway. Yeah. Let's ban computer games.
By now I'm almost for such a ban, mostly because after the next guy runs amok, people just might notice that it's not the friggen games' fault!
By then of course it'll be too late. I doubt anyone's going to stand up and support unbanning games then ... d;