Thomas Alan Alda Ladada

I think this picture speaks for itself. Alan Alda.

Thomas the Transformer

An actual Chinese knock off product, composed of several pirated patents. Ain't nuthin sacred in the sweatshops of Shenzen.

Somebody IS always watching you

We're just about there - the time and place where there are security cameras everywhere, such that you in fact might spend a majority of your day monitored remotely.

Does it matter to you? If so, how will you, or anyone respond? And always remember: If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear!

Eye of Jack, Eye of Horus, Eye of Saturn

Eyes! Lost has used the image of the opening eye pretty consistently throughout the show -- the first image of the show is of Jack's eye, above.

So, a prediction (pure specualtion!): Season 6 will open with a close up of an eye, of a character we either don't know yet, or a mysterious character like Richard, or the MiB, or maybe even Jacob. That first scene will most likely be very incongruous from what you expect Lost to be -- recall the Season 2 opener, for example. So, as a guess, it will be the eye of the person who first "discovered" the island.

I'm hoping they go into some detail about the Egyptian influences. But who knows? I don't care, actually, because at this point I have faith in the writers to bring this story home.

Also, of course, Horus (or Horace) is a semi-major character - leader of the DI, and the ghost form that pointed Locke in the direction of the Cabin in Season 3.

Octogons of Former Innocence

This is an edited copy of the blacklight map that appeared on the blast doors in the hatch in Season 2 of Lost. It only flashed on the screen briefly, but lo, all falls before the power of the internet. It always goes a little something like this: A handful of nerds capture the image on the TV, and post it (some better than others). Then, the legion of other internet folks spend countless hours going over theories of meaning, in a true dialectic in that these theories will evolve quite quickly. There's no guarantee of accuracy, of course, but I lean towards a computational model whereby when you have hundreds of people analyzing anything repeatedly, collectively they are likely to come to a correct decision. That is another awesome power of the internet - to provide the space for that collective analyzation.

This image is no longer as exciting as it once was, owing to the fact we've learned about many of the mysteries shown here. However, of note, behold the references to "Cerberus System", which the internet concludes is Ole' Smokey.

Hexagons of Saturn

I had this unsourced theory that geometric shapes such as squares and rectangles don't appear in nature, other than in crystaline structures. But lo! A hexagon, a gigantic hexagon, swirling along on the bottom of Saturn. Mysterious!

Eclipse

Awesome pic of the sun's Corona from a recent total solar eclipse. Fun facts: It is entirely co-incidental that the moon can perfectly eclipse the sun. There is no reason that the moon is the precise size at the precise distance to block out the sun perfectly, other than luck (or a process no one yet has any idea about). That said, the moon is moving further and further away from the Earth every year - every moment, actually - such that, in a billion years or so, the moon will no longer perfectly block the sun.

Also cool is the Corona itself, which we could only see for a long, long time during an eclipse (We can see it anytime we want now thanks to the fleet of satellites monitoring the sun). Strange fact: The Corona extends pretty far out into space, yet it is far, far hotter than the surface of the sun. Also, in the picture above, you're essentially looking at the layout of the sun's magnetic field, with the ejected energy/matter of the sun streaming along these magnetic lines.

Here's another cool pic of the recent eclipse:

 

Black Hole Suns

This here image represents stars orbiting a supposed black hole - the only way, practically, to find black holes: by their effect on the matter around them.

The supposed black hole is the star icon in the center, and each different colored dot represents an actual measurement of a specific star's orbit, and the rest of the orbit is calculated therefrom.

Briefly as I can, black holes are the remnants of massive stars that go supernova. If the star is really big, but not quite big enough, it becomes a neutron star: essentially, a single nucleus the size of Manhattan, made of an incredibly dense fluid. And so on down the line, the smaller the star, the less dramatic will be the aftermath. Our star, for example, will puff up big for a while, but then simply shrink down and wink out, eventually, with no big explosion.

Anyways, a black hole could also be called a Singularity, a word used to describe what is frankly impossible in physics: Infinite mass in zero space. How could that be? The effect of the black hole on space-time (think of space time as a giant loaf of slowly expanding bread - every thing that has mass presses down onto this bread, depressing it to the degree of their mass.) is to essentially rip it - a depression in space time so deep we really don't know what is at the bottom, except for infinite gravity in zero space....

But! There is a thing down that hole which could be called the physical manifestation of the black hole: Matter, space-time itself falls down into the hole, faster than light, generating enormous, enormous, enormous energy (and heat). The further down you go the faster you fall, except you're also being compressed. As the compression and speed increase ever further down, eventually you reach a spot where there's just nothing more to do, and matter is actually forced back up the black hole, ever so briefly. There it meets the matter falling down, of course, creating an interference which we would describe as a cloud. A black cloud of inconcievably hot matter.


Finally, it is always interesting to me to consider that, supposedly, our Universe, our entire reality, was "big banged" out of a Singularity. And now, consider the notion of thousands of Singularities, tens of thousands, existing in every galaxy. Is it the same Singularity? The same kind or type? Something entirely different?

No one knows - but mark my words well: This notion of the Singularity, if we can ever tease meaning out of it, will be revolutionary.

That's why it's called a Sacrifice

This is the drawing the young John Locke had hanging up when visited by Richard Alpert as a small boy. Means something I think!

The idea of "the sacrifice", it occurs to me, is similar to the idea of the "American Dream", in this sense: Elites use a meme which causes people to give themselves up for an Elite cause. A traditional mythic "Sacrifice" is always done at the behest of the elite, and the sacrificee is almost never part of that group, save for some children of the elite.

The American dream, of course, is a great tool to convince vast majorities of the population to buy into an economic system designed against them - however, because of the few rare cases where people do succeed in this system (and these cases are almost always highlighted by the Elite media), people buy into it, and think, "Yeah, I could get rich too".

Odds are you won't, but in the process of trying, you'll be aiding the continuation of your own subjugation. But more on this later. For now, this:

 

Where There's Smoke...

There's laughter! Smoke Monster spin-off?


H/T The Onion.

Workman

Be sure you're stocked up on Dharma beer - it's almost time to break it out! 2/2 approaches.

Skull n' Bonz

Lots of bones out there at America's Elite Uni's.

"taH pagh taHbe'!"

You might be surprised at the number of people worldwide who speak and/or write Klingon. Nerds everyone of them, no doubt.

The title is "To be or not to be" in the original Klingon.

Shats

I got all the Shats for Xmas once, but my mood was more cerulean.

Rumble

Oh, I am ready. This is gonna be the best Lostmas EVER! I've banned myself from reading anything about Lost on the almighty Interwebs, so as to avoid any possible spoilers - spoilers are a bane on the net. Take it from me, friends, getting unexpectedly spoiled stinks. Thus, my advice to all is read nothing else about Lost on the intertubes, except here on this blog with my 100% Iron Clad Locked Guarantee SPOILER FREE ZONE!!! Of course.

Said it before, but who is the bad guy on Lost, really? Ben is an easy candidate, but one can have some sympathy for him, and he appears to have been sincerely working in what he thought was the best interests of the magical island, and Jacob in specific. If the island turns out to be Good, does this redeem Ben?

I think it's conclusive, ja? That Ben never talked to Jacob until the Season 5 finale; however, less clear in my mind is who was calling the shots with the Others then? Ben was getting instructions from who he thought was Jacob, via Richard. So, was Richard really dealing with Jacob, or was he dealing with the Man in Black(MiB)? And even then, if it was the MiB, was it the MiB pretending to be Jacob, or straight up, fully representing MiB? So many questions!

Does Widmore really seem like the bad guy? He, too, has some sympathetic characteristics - did he grow up on crazy Island, as an Other? If so, can you really blame him for being a bit "direct" as an adult? And while he's unquestionably committed evil acts as well, it's quite possible he knows the truth about Jacob and the MiB and is doing everything he can to help Jacob. Widmore quite possibly might be the big hero. Or the big villain.

And what of the Dharma Initiative? Surely they're not done in the tale. And while they were ostensibly all peace and love, they sure did have a lot of evil folks and evil plans, it seems. What about Alvar Hanso, and the DeGroots? So many questions!

Is the MiB also Smokey? If so, how would Smokey get to the Hydra Island and take the form of Locke, if that's what's going on (which seems likely to me, since we've seen the Smoke Monster scan people and play back their memories, and we've also seen dead people from the past visit these same people who were scanned). Is Christian working for Jacob or the MiB?

I could go on, and I will. But later.

Come on 2/2!

All Ackbar, All the Time

Strangely, I find myself genuinely appreciating Admiral Ackbar, in many different regards. For example, in an evolutionary sense, I suppose there's nothing in particular - is there? - which would prevent any lifeform from developing sophisticated strategies for dealing with their particular environment, and through the millennia, and with successful reproduction, the lifeform continues to advance until one day some magic happens and they are "smart" - language, rudimentary trade, specialization, tools, etc. So on and such till there's some big fish in charge of the Rebel Fleet. Could it happen on on some alien world if all the conditions turned out right? Why not?

Sadly though, Ackbar is proven wrong on more than one occasion in ROTJ, so he's something of a tragi-comi-evolutionary hero for me, you see? Advanced fish might just be objectively inferior to advanced mammals, and struggle mighty though he surely does, even Admiral Ackbar cannot overcome that, can he?

Also, I am a gigantic nerd, if I have not mentioned that recently.

What would Admiral Ackbar say?

That's all he ever says. According to the "media".

If you're looking for nerdy, wholesome fun, here's the link to the "'Admiral Ackbar's' "It's a Trap" Generator Extravaganza", here .

Massholes

Sorry America, and thus the World! I've lived in MA far, far too long now. I despise the place utterly and completely, save for the small understanding that it's probably better than South Carolina. For what that's worth.

As a Mainer, I find this state to be filled to the brim with assholes. Everyone's an asshole -- I, in fact, have become an asshole on the road, just like everyone else, despite my best intentions. This place is poison!

So, I've always been somewhat amused to hear MA referred to as some Liberal Mecca - I've never seen it. Of course, you've got pockets of concentrated Dirty Fucking Hippies (DFH), like in Cambridge, but I've always seen this as a college phenomena - these so called Liberal towns are really big college towns, and I think any college town in any state is prone to be more liberal than the norm.

Because my anecdotal experience is, there's as many Wingnuts in MA as anywhere. I work for a high tech company, filled with intelligent people, and I swear I'm one of 5 people maybe who voted for Obama - I made a ton of money betting with people throughout the office. It was shocking and depressing to me, however, to learn that these smart, engaging people were otherwise mindless zombies programmed to destroy America all the while chanting NEVER FORGET!!!

So, we elected a male, nude, Sarah Palin - make no mistake, this Brown guy is no moderate, and he'll fall entirely inline with the Southern Agenda, which is of course to ensure no Democrat can succeed, even if that means sinking this nation in the mire. As long as Republicans can "win the day", that's all that matters. Oh, that and massive amounts of money and power.

As I've said before, I am a member of no party, and the Democratic party is something of a joke, especially in MA. But, if I'm forced to choose - and I am - I'm choosing a Democrat everysingle time over any Republican. Because the Republican party is really hell bent on destroying this nation - do you want to join that effort, or fight against it? 

Don't say bot

Robonic is the new way to say it, man. George Lucas owns the word "bot", and you can't afford the long term license fee, so you might as well start saying Bonics for short.

They're coming...

The robots, that is. These are robotic jellyfish, for example. Cool and all, but a harbinger of the terrible mechanical doom which awaits. And this concludes my annual "Be afraid of the robots!" post.


Seriously though: I just read an article describing efforts to create a robot/software that allows the robot/software to improve its own operation. Much like Natural Selection, the system had to go through an enormous amount of attempts to generate anything, and the vast majority of these were utter failures. But over time, the system got better and better, till it was outperforming the scientist's own programing of the same function. But, even more disturbing, the manner in which the robot/software did this was not understood - for instance, on the computer chip was the subject of the repogramming, there were sections entirely disconnected from the rest. We normally would never program like that. The scientist could not figure out what these isolated sections did, but lo! As soon at these sections were disabled, the entire process stopped.

So, robots designing better robots - that will be our Darwinistic doom. Maybe.

Fish out of water

In America, everything gets a Hall of Fame. This one is for Fresh Water Fishing, which is very popular, or so I've read.

Waves

Waves are everywhere - perhaps one could say accurately, waves are everything. Ocean waves are caused by a variety of sources - the sun (which is the root cause of the others, really), wind, and the moon, via tides.

The now accepted theory about the moon is it was created some 500 Million years or so after the creation of Earth 1.0. A planet the size of Mars collided with Earth 1.0, utterly destroying itself and the young Earth, reforming eventually into a more massive Earth 2.0, with a new satellite, the moon.

When Earth 2.0 finally cooled enough for water to form - and it took a while, for, veritably, it was Hell on Earth for millions of years - the tides were present from the start, and massive due to the proximity of the moon (much closer). For millions and millions of years, massive tides, hundreds of feet high, swept over the Earth, churning up everything. The theory now goes that it was this churning which was key in the development of life on Earth 2.0 (along with water, of course), as it broke up bigger rocks and mixed nutrients - such as iron - into the water, and thus to spread across the globe. These elements make us up, make everything up, and thus, life on Earth exists because of the moon. A theory!

Interesting tangent: If the moon were to magically disappear, all the water on the globe would instantly snap to a solar tidal pattern - which exists today, but is far weaker than lunar tides. This snap back would the biggest wave ever to exist on Earth, and would make an eternal legend out of some lucky surfer.

All my dreams of yesterday are today's cliches

There is no official map, so take it as but an interpretation, but based on my reading of Lost, this is the most accurate map existant. There are many versions that place the Hydra to the Southeast of the Island, but I think the events of Season 5 prove that wrong, and North to be the correct location (NERD!!!).

Anywho, years and years ago I came up with a cool story idea that heavily featured an island upon which a secrective organization attempted to build a Utopia and thence change the world. Not exactly an original trope, I grant you, but not that cliche either, until of course Lost, which has taken that idea and run with it, to great success. Such success, in fact, that forever and anon, the trope will be associated with Lost, and any use of the trope thereafter will be attributed to the show, for good reason. But I thought of it first! I even drew up a cool map.

And so it goes: I wrote a few books in the glorious mid 90's, and have spent the years since watching all the good bits get used in other works. Don't get me wrong, I am taking zero credit for any of it, just lamenting.
 

That's what it's all about, after all!

4 8 15 16 23 42

It's either a fairly incredible co-incidence, or a very smart trick by the writers, but when you convert the numbers from Lost into geographical co-ordinates and place that into Gmaps, well, gosh - it takes you deep into the Pacific Ocean, roughly along a general flight path from Sydney to LA, as convincing a location for the Island as any other.


Cool. Need I say I'm obsessed with this show? More cool Lost posts to come in the lead up to 2/2. And I can promise you this, fellow Losties: There will be not a hint, not a whiff of any spoilers here.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY A GAME?

10 Throw graphite rod
20 Chase graphite rod
30 Retrieve graphite rod
40 Return graphite rod
50 GOOD ROBOT DOG

60 goto 10

Signal in the noise

Here's a fun picture - the big solid bright line you see above is the main light from the far away star, and the color represents the wavelength of the visible light. Slightly above the main band, however, there is another band, and this is the spectrum from an orbiting exoplanet -- the first time we've been able to see an exoplanet's spectrum

Evaluating these spectrums is extremely important in astronomy, as you learn two very important facts - the motion/speed of the object, and its composition. Redder lights means the object is moving away, bluer lights means is moving towards us; individual elements reflect light differently, so it is possible to asses what the object is composed of by analyzing its spectrum of light.

Cool, right?

All of them

It's taking me some mental effort to make this adjustment, but remember: These Teabaggers, Fundies, Wingnuts and the rest of the motley crew don't care about facts, logic, truth, evidence, science, anything really, unless it explicitly aids their agenda of the day. How do you reason with people who don't believe in reason? A big question for the future of America.

Also:

This is an actual review of Bill Donohue's new book. Donahue represents the oh-so-fun Catholic League, who's job of course is to harass anyone who doesn't bow down to their viewpoints.

Remember when Colbert hosted the Press Roast for President Bush, and actually lambasted him, much to the horror of the Washington Village - they had no idea what his humor was, but invited him anyways. These people literally don't understand satire, and think Colbert actually believes in the content of his show.

It's incredible, really, this gap in understanding.

We don't need another hero

Hey mister, I done found your missin' feline.

O Politics

Isn't it just wonderful, the hypocritical dance politicians do to win votes? Before the election, they will  say and/or do anything, go anywhere, to get elected. Once elected, that might not change much, except the audience is now lobbyists and corporate fat cats rather than voters, because it is those people who are really footing the bill.

There's nothing new about this, or even partisan of course - it's gone on for as long as there's been some form of election. It's just strange kabuki is all - so transparently false, and yet we all play along.

In this here picture, the wonderful Katherine Harris holds a possum to show the voters of Florida she...... who knows. Is a "Real 'Murican"? Also, she got fake boobs for the same reason. Neither stunt worked, thank FSM.

Touched by The Fonz

Fonzie magic was good, but not as good as Dino-Fonzie magic.

In T-Rex Heaven

Also a villain, according to Paul.

Villains

There are several stories that could be looked at easily enough as actually the stories of the villain: Star Wars could be said to be the story of Palpatine, and his rise and fall. Lord of the Rings is named after the villain of the story, Sauron, and it his actions which cause all other characters to react. Jaws was really about the shark, man.

Ben, from Lost, is one of my favorite villains ever, perhaps the favorite. First, and most obvious, because of the discrepancy between his physical stature/appearance and the viciousness of his actions/mind. Also, the back and forth between calm/polite and evil beyond belief is jarring. I can not think of many other villains who are so unassumingly terrifying - Kayser Soze from The Usual Suspects comes to mind, and that's it. Palpatine, a bit, but he's all wizardy under the robes and quite powerful, whereas Ben has no "superpowers" other than supreme cunning. And maybe some visions of the future.

Another awesome thing about Ben: Throughout the show, he's claimed he's the good guy. And while we've seen him lie/kill/deceive/destroy/etc, it still could be true that he is the good guy, given the nature of this tale. Widmore might be worse, Dharma might be worse, Jacob or the Man in Black might be worse. Who knows - fun fact: We really don't yet know who the ultimate villain is in Lost. Which is awesome.

America's Royal Families

When history looks back to this period, the influence of the Bush family will be fairly prominent. Which should say everything you need to know about the quality of this particular American Royal Family: They stink. And on behalf of all Mainers, I apologize to America and the World for them. 

America's got a few other Royal Families - the Kennedys, of course. I'm sure there's a bunch of Rockerfellers running around out there.... but I'm blanking on other prominent examples. Is that it? Bush and Kennedy?

Flat Screens Everywhere

Soon enough there will be TV's everywhere, and since TV's are optical black holes from which few eyes can escape, this represents reason 1,101 we are doomed.

Orange Dude Forever!

It appears a great tragedy has been averted! The new season of Lost was scheduled to premiere on February 2nd; however, one of my other favorite things in this world - President Obama - was contemplating a couple of different dates for the State of the Union speech. 

This possible conflict was very troubling to me. So, it was with great joy I read the following today from Press Secretary Robert Gibbs:

"I don't foresee a scenario in which millions people who hope to finally get some conclusion with 'Lost' are preempted by the president," he said. "You can quote a senior administration official."

 You see how awesome these guys are?!

The Media is the Message

It seems with each passing day, I grow more and more ANGRY at the US media, at least the vast majority of it. I have conspiratorial tendencies, which I am aware of, and I try to keep logic and facts at the forefront. Here are some facts about the MSM:

- All major media outlets are owned by massive corporations. The so called "liberal" MSNBC is owned by GE. To wit, corporate parents will never let their news children really do them - or their interests - any damage, yes? It's a logical conclusion. 

- Thanks to Clinton (who passed, due the Wingnut Repubtards witch-hunt, two really bad laws), laws relating to ownership of media outlets in a given market were waived, which has predictably led to a concentration of media outlets in fewer and fewer hands - witness the Newscorp buying spree of the past ten years. Less diverse ownership will, by definition, mean fewer opinions or perspectives.

- In regards the media itself, their main interest is not the news or accuracy or investigations or anything of the sort. It's ratings, which translate to ad revenues. That's it. So, commercial pressures will force complex topics away, and more sensational topics will be favored. Once this is realized, why not create the controversy yourself? It's in your interest to do so, and there are, seemingly, no negative consequences.


I could go on. But suffice to say, we are firmly in a period of extreme Yellow Journalism and sensationalism, truth and logic be damned. Example:


Today on Good Morning America, "America's Mayor" had this to say:

What [Obama] should be doing is following the right things Bush did. One of the right things he did was treat this as a war on terror. We had no domestic attacks under Bush. We've had one under Obama," Giuliani said.

Now, this is on the heels of several other "Republican Strategists" claiming over the last few weeks the very same thing, one of them going so far as to say 9/11 was inherited by the Bush Admin.


It's insane, of course, and no longer surprising. However, no one in the media makes any point to correct these obvious lies. And why should they? Will that help their ratings? No.

Return of Giu911iani

Remember! BE AFRAID!!!!

Also:

 

Ginger Cheesecake

Dude's damn ginger.

Another Episode of "That's Our Bush!"

Gosh! I wonder if the media would act the same if President Obama did something like this? Hmmm...... 
Also: 

Cullyfornia

Not really sure what's going on here, other than it's pretty funky.

Land of the Fee

Yo! Protecting our Nation's treasures like it ain't no thang! Word, also!

Home of the Brave

I've learned so much these past few years. For instance, I always understood conceptually the role fear plays in Authoritarian movements - it's central. Every Authoritarian will try and make his population afraid of something, and then will direct that fear to an "other" - for example, the Jews have sadly served this purpose for many authoritarians throughout history, Hitler being prime among them.

All by the books, ja? Well, look at the responses to the recent Underwear Bomber attack. Obama's initial response was perfect - he didn't say anything, and he let his people handle it. But this was not enough for the screamers in the Repuglican party and their mouthpieces in all forms of Media. So it became the story - Repuglicans attacking the President over a failed, pathetic terrorist attack. And the fear followed. Do you see it? They want us to be afraid - not the terrorists mind you (though of course they do, but that's to be expected), but the Repuglicans. And the media wants to talk about it, cuz fear sells. And so, following the Fox model ("One of the toys your child plays with could kill them - tune in at ten to find out which one!"), the steady diet of fear-fear-fear has returned.

The only question I have now is: Does this shit still work? Are Americans truly so chicken shit they would give up their freedoms cuz some moron lit his underwear on fire?

Wait and see...

You are what you eat

For an easy example of why E=MC2 is true, consider food. A solid of some sort, or perhaps a liquid, but hardly ever a gas, is consumed, by you, and your body - a cunning machine - converts this matter into energy, which we measure in units called calories. We use this energy to operate the very machine that converted the matter into energy in the first place. Hmm. To what end, one wonders....