Yet another youtube link! This one is to a presentation called "Do You Know," full of statistics about the accelerating pace of things. It's pretty interesting.
But- perhaps it's a sign that I'm getting old- it does not inspire me with a sense of wonder so much as a sense of dread. A sense that "This cannot last."
"We are living in exponential times," it says: and that is true enough. But there are several exponential curves in human experience; none of them last forever, and most of them end in crashes. To cite the most obvious example, we're in the middle of an economic crash following what seemed like endless exponential growth.
It cites examples of the massive increase in information flow, which is undeniably impressive; but past a point, you have to wonder what is the point? We're already at the stage where information filtering is a big deal; an exponential information increase won't help that at all. It'll simply be wasted, for the most part.
Oh, well. Like I said, I'm probably just getting old. Or maybe it's the atmosphere of the times, which is so much more pessimistic than it was a few months ago.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
The Monotone With a Million Eyes!
Here's the opening sequence to Roger Corman's epic The Beast With a Million Eyes. It's Roger Corman, really, which tells you everything you need to know.
But I love the matter-of-factness of it. "I feed on fear; live on human hatred," he intones, in the almost-cheerful tones of a school documentary film about the wonders of natural science.
But I love the matter-of-factness of it. "I feed on fear; live on human hatred," he intones, in the almost-cheerful tones of a school documentary film about the wonders of natural science.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
The Disappointing Lexcorp Bailout
Lex Luthor's bailout application, here!
It starts off strong; regrettably, it doesn't stay that way. I wonder why not?
Hmm. The initial joke is the idea that Luthor is a standard corporate CEO. In that context his various anti-Superman plots are pretty funny to listen to, since they're so convoluted and, well, comic-bookish. The humor lies in Luthor's own deadpan lack of awareness; he doesn't seem to realize how absurd it all sounds.
But then the skit suddenly turns metatextual: "I'm Lex Luthor, that's what I do," which doesn't work at all. The shift of tone loses the thread of humor, especially since there doesn't seem to be any real joke involved.
It's a shame, as it starts out pretty strongly. But the ending joke is good!
It starts off strong; regrettably, it doesn't stay that way. I wonder why not?
Hmm. The initial joke is the idea that Luthor is a standard corporate CEO. In that context his various anti-Superman plots are pretty funny to listen to, since they're so convoluted and, well, comic-bookish. The humor lies in Luthor's own deadpan lack of awareness; he doesn't seem to realize how absurd it all sounds.
But then the skit suddenly turns metatextual: "I'm Lex Luthor, that's what I do," which doesn't work at all. The shift of tone loses the thread of humor, especially since there doesn't seem to be any real joke involved.
It's a shame, as it starts out pretty strongly. But the ending joke is good!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
The Exoplanet Catalog
I've followed with interest the discoveries of planets outside the solar system; but I had no idea that astronomers had discovered quite so many.
The Exoplanet Catalog is a helpful listing (complete with details and animations!) of all the planets so far discovered. And there are a lot.
I get a real geeky pleasure of the thought that, at last, there are enough planets that we need a guidebook to keep them straight.
The Exoplanet Catalog is a helpful listing (complete with details and animations!) of all the planets so far discovered. And there are a lot.
I get a real geeky pleasure of the thought that, at last, there are enough planets that we need a guidebook to keep them straight.
Jeremiah 5
I've been meaning to do Bible excerpts since... well, since I started this blog, actually. Somehow I never got around to it. But better late than never, and Jeremiah is very fitting for our present circumstances.
All quotations are from the excellent Bible Gateway website.
----------------------------
Jeremiah 5: 26-31:
...For among My people are found wicked men;
They lie in wait as one who sets snares;
They set a trap;
They catch men.
As a cage is full of birds,
So their houses are full of deceit.
Therefore they have become great and grown rich.
They have grown fat, they are sleek;
Yes, they surpass the deeds of the wicked;
They do not plead the cause,
The cause of the fatherless;
Yet they prosper,
And the right of the needy they do not defend.
Shall I not punish them for these things?’ says the LORD.
‘ Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?’
“ An astonishing and horrible thing
Has been committed in the land:
The prophets prophesy falsely,
And the priests rule by their own power;
And My people love to have it so.
But what will you do in the end?
All quotations are from the excellent Bible Gateway website.
----------------------------
Jeremiah 5: 26-31:
...For among My people are found wicked men;
They lie in wait as one who sets snares;
They set a trap;
They catch men.
As a cage is full of birds,
So their houses are full of deceit.
Therefore they have become great and grown rich.
They have grown fat, they are sleek;
Yes, they surpass the deeds of the wicked;
They do not plead the cause,
The cause of the fatherless;
Yet they prosper,
And the right of the needy they do not defend.
Shall I not punish them for these things?’ says the LORD.
‘ Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?’
“ An astonishing and horrible thing
Has been committed in the land:
The prophets prophesy falsely,
And the priests rule by their own power;
And My people love to have it so.
But what will you do in the end?
Monday, March 9, 2009
The Lost Temple of 9000 BC
From the Smithsonan Magazine:
Six miles from Urfa, an ancient city in southeastern Turkey, Klaus Schmidt has made one of the most startling archaeological discoveries of our time: massive carved stones about 11,000 years old, crafted and arranged by prehistoric people who had not yet developed metal tools or even pottery. The megaliths predate Stonehenge by some 6,000 years. The place is called Gobekli Tepe, and Schmidt, a German archaeologist who has been working here more than a decade, is convinced it's the site of the world's oldest temple.
This catches my imagination; it's deep, deep history. (Or rather, prehistory.) It was before metals, before agriculture, before any of the basic things we'd assume people used to support a major building project.
...The abundant remnants of wild game indicate that the people who lived here had not yet domesticated animals or farmed.
But, Peters and Schmidt say, Gobekli Tepe's builders were on the verge of a major change in how they lived, thanks to an environment that held the raw materials for farming. "They had wild sheep, wild grains that could be domesticated—and the people with the potential to do it," Schmidt says. In fact, research at other sites in the region has shown that within 1,000 years of Gobekli Tepe's construction, settlers had corralled sheep, cattle and pigs. And, at a prehistoric village just 20 miles away, geneticists found evidence of the world's oldest domesticated strains of wheat; radiocarbon dating indicates agriculture developed there around 10,500 years ago, or just five centuries after Gobekli Tepe's construction.
To Schmidt and others, these new findings suggest a novel theory of civilization. Scholars have long believed that only after people learned to farm and live in settled communities did they have the time, organization and resources to construct temples and support complicated social structures. But Schmidt argues it was the other way around: the extensive, coordinated effort to build the monoliths literally laid the groundwork for the development of complex societies.
Which is a startling thought.
But it makes sense in many ways; people sometimes have the grandiose idea first, and only later get around to solving the many practical problems that vision creates.
But:
What was so important to these early people that they gathered to build (and bury) the stone rings? The gulf that separates us from Gobekli Tepe's builders is almost unimaginable. Indeed, though I stood among the looming megaliths eager to take in their meaning, they didn't speak to me. They were utterly foreign, placed there by people who saw the world in a way I will never comprehend. There are no sources to explain what the symbols might mean. Schmidt agrees. "We're 6,000 years before the invention of writing here," he says.
So we don't really know, and probably never will. Which is part of the fascination of the find, oddly enough.
Six miles from Urfa, an ancient city in southeastern Turkey, Klaus Schmidt has made one of the most startling archaeological discoveries of our time: massive carved stones about 11,000 years old, crafted and arranged by prehistoric people who had not yet developed metal tools or even pottery. The megaliths predate Stonehenge by some 6,000 years. The place is called Gobekli Tepe, and Schmidt, a German archaeologist who has been working here more than a decade, is convinced it's the site of the world's oldest temple.
This catches my imagination; it's deep, deep history. (Or rather, prehistory.) It was before metals, before agriculture, before any of the basic things we'd assume people used to support a major building project.
...The abundant remnants of wild game indicate that the people who lived here had not yet domesticated animals or farmed.
But, Peters and Schmidt say, Gobekli Tepe's builders were on the verge of a major change in how they lived, thanks to an environment that held the raw materials for farming. "They had wild sheep, wild grains that could be domesticated—and the people with the potential to do it," Schmidt says. In fact, research at other sites in the region has shown that within 1,000 years of Gobekli Tepe's construction, settlers had corralled sheep, cattle and pigs. And, at a prehistoric village just 20 miles away, geneticists found evidence of the world's oldest domesticated strains of wheat; radiocarbon dating indicates agriculture developed there around 10,500 years ago, or just five centuries after Gobekli Tepe's construction.
To Schmidt and others, these new findings suggest a novel theory of civilization. Scholars have long believed that only after people learned to farm and live in settled communities did they have the time, organization and resources to construct temples and support complicated social structures. But Schmidt argues it was the other way around: the extensive, coordinated effort to build the monoliths literally laid the groundwork for the development of complex societies.
Which is a startling thought.
But it makes sense in many ways; people sometimes have the grandiose idea first, and only later get around to solving the many practical problems that vision creates.
But:
What was so important to these early people that they gathered to build (and bury) the stone rings? The gulf that separates us from Gobekli Tepe's builders is almost unimaginable. Indeed, though I stood among the looming megaliths eager to take in their meaning, they didn't speak to me. They were utterly foreign, placed there by people who saw the world in a way I will never comprehend. There are no sources to explain what the symbols might mean. Schmidt agrees. "We're 6,000 years before the invention of writing here," he says.
So we don't really know, and probably never will. Which is part of the fascination of the find, oddly enough.
A Bad Day
You know what's a sign that you're having a bad day? When you pull your pants out of the laundry and your ipod falls out of the pocket.
(Grrrr!)
You know what's another sign that you're having a bad day? When you're in school for radio maintenance, and you set the radio on fire.
(Well, kind of. There was smoke. Lesson learned: it's a bad idea to set the card you're troubleshooting in a position where it can accidentally touch the radio's power supply.)
(Grrrr!)
You know what's another sign that you're having a bad day? When you're in school for radio maintenance, and you set the radio on fire.
(Well, kind of. There was smoke. Lesson learned: it's a bad idea to set the card you're troubleshooting in a position where it can accidentally touch the radio's power supply.)
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Florida-Bound!
Well, not exactly. I'm off the ship, but still formally stationed in Norfolk until the 10th. The ship left this morning, off to adventure and excitement on the high seas, while I slept late.
There's an odd feeling of disconnection. It's not just that I've left the people I've worked with for four years (though that's certainly part of it.) But I've had obligations of all kinds over the past few years, and none of them apply to me now. It's low-stress, I suppose, but also isolated and rather boring: I feel like I'm spinning my wheels.
Oh, well. Soon to Florida! (With a stopoff at my parents' to see my dog and my bouncy, train-loving nephew.) And soon I'll be muttering about the complications of radio tech manuals.
There's an odd feeling of disconnection. It's not just that I've left the people I've worked with for four years (though that's certainly part of it.) But I've had obligations of all kinds over the past few years, and none of them apply to me now. It's low-stress, I suppose, but also isolated and rather boring: I feel like I'm spinning my wheels.
Oh, well. Soon to Florida! (With a stopoff at my parents' to see my dog and my bouncy, train-loving nephew.) And soon I'll be muttering about the complications of radio tech manuals.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
We Are The World (Or Its GDP)
Another weird map, which unfortunately is too large and lengthwise to be shown here. (But click and see!)
So, basically, the names of the states have been replaced by the names of countries with a roughly-similar Gross Domestic Product. Which gives us the bizarre view of an America made up of an entirely-different kind of states.
It's fun to look at, but it doesn't really tell us much as a map, for a couple of reasons. The most prominent states (aside from the one you live in, I guess) are going to be the geographically-largest ones; and California and Texas excepted, size doesn't equate to economic strength. Notice how the tiny northeastern states are crowded with developed-world nations, but the large-scale west has nations like Bulgaria.
Secondly, but closely-related: geographic size doesn't tell us anything about population, and population is much more of an economic indicator than landmass.
But, still. It's fun and interesting to gawk at; if only because the replacements give me geeky parallel-earth imaginings.
(Are there any other kind?)
So, basically, the names of the states have been replaced by the names of countries with a roughly-similar Gross Domestic Product. Which gives us the bizarre view of an America made up of an entirely-different kind of states.
It's fun to look at, but it doesn't really tell us much as a map, for a couple of reasons. The most prominent states (aside from the one you live in, I guess) are going to be the geographically-largest ones; and California and Texas excepted, size doesn't equate to economic strength. Notice how the tiny northeastern states are crowded with developed-world nations, but the large-scale west has nations like Bulgaria.
Secondly, but closely-related: geographic size doesn't tell us anything about population, and population is much more of an economic indicator than landmass.
But, still. It's fun and interesting to gawk at; if only because the replacements give me geeky parallel-earth imaginings.
(Are there any other kind?)
The Future, Systematically Presented
A Comprehensive Map of All Possible Human Futures.
Yikes! But it does have a sort of rough-hewn, Darwinian get-right-to-the-point kind of plausibility about it.
Yikes! But it does have a sort of rough-hewn, Darwinian get-right-to-the-point kind of plausibility about it.
Whoops, New Year!
I haven't exactly been hibernating (ah, that would have been nice...) It's just been extremely busy as I prepare my move to sunny Florida.
But hopefully I'll be posting again, now that I'm home. I've got a couple of things saved up that I'd meant to blog about.
But hopefully I'll be posting again, now that I'm home. I've got a couple of things saved up that I'd meant to blog about.
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