| Links from other Tucana pages are consolidated here. Also, a few extra
ones are added.
E-mail me! Consciousness LinksDennett's Conscious Robot Project An Interesting Dennett E-Mail Archive Journal of Consciousness Studies A Discussion of Searle's 'Rediscovery of the Mind'
Civilization II LinksWhy not try the Ultimate Civilization II site? The above maps, and many more by other people, are available for download there. Also available are scenarios and lots of other stuff vital to Civ 2 addicts everywhere. Also, how about a Civ II utility to show you the history of your civilization and plot comparison graphs as you play (and not just at the end)? There are some really excellent and realistic maps at Mike Strong's site. If realism is what you're after, you couldn't start at a better place: World Maps for Civilization II Age of Empires Heaven can be found here: Area 51 Nanotech LinksThe first nano-supercomputer is scheduled to be tested in 2011. If you want to read more about nanotechnology, look up the writings of Eric Drexler, check out Nanotechnology Magazine, or speak to the Nanogirl. SETIif you want to help with the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence project, you can: go here and download their screen saver, which analyses radio data from the Arecibo radio telescope while your computer is idle. Further ReadingAs and when I come across books relevant to this site, or books that I like, I will be adding links to the Internet Book Shop (iBS), where you can buy them (and many others). I will get commission if you buy the book attached to the button you press to get to iBS, but only if you buy it having connected using the specific buttons given. So if you go there to look, but want to buy later, come back here first and use the buttons here! Unfortunately, a lot of good books go out of print rather quickly. When that happens, for now I will be leaving the link here: you may be able to find an alternative supplier or title. Search the site for books by the same author and you may find a more recent edition too. Here are a few worth considering. Firstly, "Chomsky for Beginners" by David Cogswell. This book manages to make philosophy fun as it talks about Chomsky's linguistic theories, and his political view that we are all dupes of big business and big government, who tax the poor and subsidize the rich, and control the resources of other people's countries through the use of subterfuge and brute force. If you've ever wondered how George Orwell's 'Newspeak' and 'Doublethink' applies to Western society, this book is a great place to start.
Another good book, the talk of well-read yuppies everywhere, is "The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History" by David Hackett Fischer. He examines changing prices from 1200AD to 1996, and discovers that in three previous centuries, price inflation behaved in a remarkably similar way to the manner we've come to know and, er, love, in the 20th century. Trouble is, each of these earlier inflationary periods ended with a destructive phase of plague, war, revolution, crime, and so on. Are things different today, or as the 20th century price revolution draws to a close, is it heading towards the same disastrous reality check?
A book highly relevant to my God page, is called "Soul Searching: Human Nature and Supernatural Belief" by Nicholas Humphrey. He is a leading psychologist who takes a critical look at people's need and tendency to believe more than perhaps the facts warrant. Unlike many scientific authors, his work is not tainted by a judgemental condemnation of so-called superstitious beliefs, such as a belief in God or in paranormal phenomena. He merely asks some difficult questions. A good book for open and enquiring minds. My dream interpretation page made reference to this book which I highly recommend to anyone seriously interested in Jungian dream interpretation. It is not at all a difficult book to read: it covers its subject by way of worked examples throughout. The full title is "The Way of the Dream: Conversations on Jungian Dream Interpretation" by ML von Franz and Fraser Boa. The other book mentioned on the Dreams page was this dream symbol dictionary by Tom Chetwynd. Unlike most in this genre, it is firmly grounded in practical psychological experience rather than so-called old-wives' tales about meeting tall dark strangers and great wealth. For those wanting a bit of prompting in their dream interpretation, this book could be a big help. Some of My Own BooksI have written 11 books myself (and edited about 60 others), about computers. The trouble with the computer world is that it moves rather too quickly, so although some of these books are still in print, just about, they are pretty much out of date! Anyway, here they are, for completeness's sake. The LocoScript Pocketbook is a quick-reference guide to the word-processing language provided with the old Amstrad 8256 and 8512 word processors. It is heavily indexed and cross-referenced to make things easy to find:
The New MS-DOS Primer covers DOS versions 3-5 for the PC:
If you've ever wondered how to program in 8086/88 PC assembly language, you might try my PC Assembly Language Course; it is considered by many to be the best introduction to 8086/88. In particular, it has you writing and running your first assembly language program in chapter 1, so there's no pointless theoretical preamble to wade through before you get to what you really want. New commands are introduced by way of working example programs throughout the book. Any theory you need is introduced as and when necessary to aid the understanding of working programs only. By the end of the book, you will realise that assembly language is no more difficult than using a programmable electronic calculator:
For those of you more into the Z80 series of chips, how about my Spectrum Assembly Language Course? It is in the same style: quick-start, easy-learning, no theory without practice:
I'm currently working on a sci-fi novel, the first of many, I hope, so if and when it gets published, I will add a link here!
Miscellaneous LinksSomething to Think AboutIf you'd like to stretch your mind with brain-bending ideas, you could do worse than trying Robert Anton Wilson's home page. Be warned: his plan is to force you to think. He claims that all his works contain at least one lie . . . Robert Anton Wilson's Home Page
UFO's You may not be surprised to hear that I'm kinda sceptical about the notion that UFO's are transport devices for other-worldly beings. Nevertheless, I thought I'd recommend a couple of books for those who may be interested. I have, over the years, read a *lot* of UFO books, and I am pretty content with the notion that the majority of them are filled with lies and distortions. Some which I am certain are not true are those by Erich von Daniken, "Chariots of the Gods"; "Return to the Stars" Good, "Above Top Secret". Jenny Randles' books are popular these days, but I am not convinced by them. Books by Colin Wilson, on the other hand, strike me as genuine attempts to survey the field, and are probably worth reading. However, the books of John Keel, "The Mothman Prophecies" and "Disneyland of the Gods" are in a quite different class altogether. These books are really very good indeed. If you want to be genuinely scared and confused, get these books! Just don't blame me if you have a paranoid breakdown afterwards... He has also written "Operation Trojan Horse" but I haven't read that.
MkzdkStrange name, strangely beautiful site. Something tells me the author went to art school. Plus, he has lots of pertinent things to say about the nature of the cosmos, human nature, and alien life. Not to be missed.
GraphicsBackgrounds Courtesy and © Albino Frog Software, Inc.
Promoting Your Web SiteIf you found this site by use of a search engine, then this is how it got there. The free version allows you to place your site into around 20 main search indexes, and if you want to spend some money, the information can be added to some 100 more:
Search EnginesThe Inference Find search engine is in my view one of the best search engines I've tried because it categorises its results, and mostly removes redundancies: I nearly always find what I am looking for in my first search. Multiple word searches work particularly well with it: ***UPDATE*** The Inference Find search engine seems to have disappeared! Watch this space... Alternatively, you might like Starting Point, which aims to be useful for beginners to the Internet:
Or, you might try the World Announce Archive, at the following link: These people's search page includes a utility to map the links on your site. Just enter the URL and the program produces a diagram of your site. You don't even have to download it! There are also some interesting 'Announce' pages, where you can temporarily add a link to your own site. Webaholics the world over looking for something new often check out such announcement sites. |
Rediscovery of the
Mind 
Chomsky for Beginners 
