Year: 2007 (Page 2 of 8)

So, I see this post on slashdot: The Universe Damaged By Observation? Before I even read the article I was reminded of a very bad episode of Star Trek The Next Generation called Force of Nature. It was about how warp travel was wearing out the fabric of spacetime. The episode in the tradition of original Trek’s Let That Be Your Last Preachy Episode created an even more blatant beat-you-over-the-head message. ST TNG had other preachy episodes as well.

I wrote my comment and said I couldn’t find the name of the episode. Several other slashdotters came to the rescue and named the episode Force of Nature and was correctly pointed out it was a lame ass allegory for global warming.

Now here comes the interesting part. Another commenter pointed out the proponent of this idea that our observation of the Universe is shortening it’s lifespan is none other than physicist Lawrence Krauss, author of The Physics of Star Trek. How cool is that?

What bothered me most about the article had nothing to do with it’s merits. We’ll let other physicists sort that out. It’s that such an idea would be used to stifle science as in “Things Man Was Not Meant To Know”. There’s enough people out their doing their damnedest to stifle science. Some of them hold very high office.

The ultimate green car would be a bio-diesel pluggable hybrid. It would have solar panels on the roof, trunk, and hood. It would also have a hand or bicycle generator. These latter two items are for emergency and supplemental power. And of course you’d have solar panels, a wind generator, and the grid to charge it up at home along with your own home brew bio-diesel production.

This sounds more like a fantasy vehicle out of Mad Max. “Who run Barter Town?” “Two men enter. One man leave.” If you had such a dream green vehicle when civilization collapses, the first thing that will happen is you’d be killed by roving bands of thugs who’d just take it and drive it until it ran out of fuel. Then they’d push it over a cliff or down a ravine to watch it get smashed to pieces.

I wrote about how we are all made of corn in my post Children of the Corn. Now comes the film King Corn which goes into even more detail.

Something changed in the American diet back in the 1970’s and early 80’s. I think it was the introduction of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). We now have an obesity epidemic and most likely a type II diabetes epidemic as well. The link with HFCS probably cannot be shown directly but I suspect it is a major factor. Although the hazards of smoking tobacco were well known and documented for decades the tobacco companies fought for decades with fear, uncertainty, and doubt. I’m sure that ADM and Cargill will be at the forefront of denying that corn may be a factor if not the culprit.

I don’t know even know why I’m writing this post, but I’m going to use some strong language.

I’ve decided the Internets are a good thing. These tubes expose nuttery at record speed. No I’m not talking about Roswell aliens, global warming deniers, 9/11 conspiracy buffs, or even Illuminati. I’m talking about reptilians or reptiloids. Apparently youtube has exposed this sinister plot that there are reptiliacs among us. Just do a youtube search for reptilian.

How did I come uncover this? Glad you asked I was watching a video on how Fox News shows tits and ass on all their shows. I thought I was watching a Girls Gone Wild commercial. And I looked at the sidebar and saw this thing about reptilianids. So I clicked on it. I thought what the fuck is this shit and clicked on a few more.

There are three possible explanations. 1) These people are retarded and they watched too much V. 2) Brain parasites are causing these bizarre delusions. 3) Crab People want us to think that their are reptilite humanoids (see South Park) . I base all of this conjecture on absolutely nothing and just wanted to share the most bizarre thing I’ve come across the Internets lately. OK well the story about the preacher who suffocated in a wet suit in his living room with a dildo up his ass was a little more bizarre.

One of my favorite scenes in one of my favorite movies The Magic Christian uses the word ‘nipple’ to great effect.

The movie stars Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr. Peter plays a rich Englishman, Sir Guy Grand, who adopts a homeless man played by Ringo Starr, Youngman Grand, and hilarity ensues. Graham Chapman, John Cleese, and Raquel Welch all make cameo appearances though the uncredited Yul Brynner’s cameo was the most surprising. Anyway back to the word ‘nipple’.

There is a scene where Sir Guy, his sisters, and Youngman are in their sitting room watching the telly showing lots of violence:

Youngman Grand, Esq. (Ringo): Dad, do you think words corrupt?
Sir Guy Grand KG, KC, CBE (Peter): I don’t know, let’s try. (pause) Agnes?
Dame Agnes Grand: [looks up from the television] Yes?
Sir Guy Grand KG, KC, CBE: Nipple.
Dame Agnes Grand: Shh!
[turns back to the television]
Sir Guy Grand KG, KC, CBE: [watches her a moment] Well, there’s no immediate physical change.

The first time I saw The Magic Christian I had no idea what the hell was going on. I came in on the middle of it during the pheasant hunt. “Over to you Red Leader One”. You cannot figure out what is going on unless you watch the beginning. Only then as you continue to watch the movie and re-watch it does it dawn on you what they are doing, which makes it even funnier.

Thinking back on the movie it is even more relevant today than it was when it was first made in the late 60’s. It is still one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. Both Graham Chapman’s and John Cleese’s scenes were before they rocketed to fame in Monty Python’s Flying Circus. What struck me about the narration was that it very much reminded me of narrator’s voice from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I wonder if it inspired Douglas Adams?

One note about Raquel Welch. She was one of the bombshells I grew up with in the late seventies, though most of the movies I saw were made in the sixties before I knew what a bombshell was. I’ll probably end up writing another entry on the bombshells and other babes I grew up with: Raquel Welch, Shirley Maclaine, Barbara Eden, and I’m sure I could think of a few more. Hmm…nipple. I guess maybe words do corrupt.