MOTHER!

Another incredible pic from our old friend Prokudin. Russia, 1900 or so - a whole different world. Think of the history of Russia from then, to now.

John Kerry is in you, Kremlin! And, of yeah, so too is shit like this:

Trotskyist Disco Demon Jews, bent on selling you out to the Chinese.

Watch out!

To Date

 As always, click for big. This is, in the new, hip style, an infographic of every mission beyond Earth. You can see where we (humanity, meaning mostly the USA, USSR, and the EU) have collectively put our priorities, to date. My big takeaway is look how few missions to Saturn there have been, and yet one of them - Cassini - is incredible beyond belief. And still going!

Fret plenty, however, since as Russia has taken a nosedive, and America's looking to do the same, who knows how many future missions to space at all lie in our collective future. I fear perhaps we are on the edge of a rollback of human progress. Maybe China will save us all. Maybe not.

But, let us not worry about that now. Instead, behold, every single human rocket:

While impressive, collectively and each in their own way (think of the effort that went into every one), it's also mildly depressing. It takes so much effort to simply go the 60 or so miles (straight up) to get to the very edge of space. Alas! Such is the reality of living at the bottom of a gravity well.

And perhaps there's more hope for our future than I admit, at the moment. Private enterprise is blazing paths governments feared to tread. If the profit is there, and our infrastructure on Earth stays relatively stable, we might still have our space mining, asteroid living future. But then, it will be profit driven, and no doubt that asteroid will be owned by Yoyodyne or some such, and all the folks involved will be playing according to their dime. Which can be summarized in the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition, and not in any kind of Utopian Trek "What's money, man?" Directive. And so we'll simply export our Dystopia to space.

Alas!

Death of a City

Michigan Central Station, Detroit. Long abandoned, this beautiful building stands as a stark symbol of what has happened to Detroit over the last 3 decades, and to a lesser degree, much of the United States. There's lots of depressing photo series detailing the destruction of what was once America's 4th most populous city (population in the 2 millions in the 1950's - it stands at 700K now). Here's one. Why? What has happened? I posit two main reasons:

Race. The late 60's featured race related riots in many American cities, Detroit prime among them.

 "White Flight" was a phenomena across the urban North, and many cities were dealt severe blows. The ones that recovered - NYC, for example - did so based on transitioning to the new economy, the so called "Service" industries. Which covers investments, banks, and so on. The cities that have not done well relied on manufacturing. Which brings me to the second reason:

Outsourcing of America's manufacturing base. This has gutted many cities, regions, states. Abandoned factories fill our cold Northern lands. The jobs all went to Japan, then Taiwan, now China, with Vietnam climbing swiftly.

Suicide nets at a Foxconn dormitory. Foxconn made my Mac, and my iPhone, and your iPad, by the way.

In summary, the Conservative movement we live under today was forged in the 60's with the rise of Goldwater and the Birchers. This movement gained power in the states throughout the 70's on the wave of white fear of blacks, and urbanity in general. Also egghead, godless hippy elites. With Reagan came the revolution nationwide, and the scouring of our country. For the sake of profits, our manufacturing industries were shipped overseas and the Unions were busted and everyone (except the 1%) got poorer even though they were working more than ever, and lies became Truth on Fox News, and the Washington Village said it was good.

And thus cities like Detroit fall to ruin in the middle of what is supposedly the richest country in the world, and we all look the other way. But hey! Shit's cheap at Wal-Mart, right?

Living in Sci-Fi

Pencil in Hover Cars and that's some serious Sci-Fi skyline, amirite? NYC, Ladies and Gents - keeping up with the times. Check out Hong Kong or your latest Chinese Metropolis for proof - it's a dog eat dog world out there, architecturally speaking. With so many loose billions floating hither and yon, the City 'scape's gonna get EXTREME.

Future American Composite

If I were writing this article for the NY Tribune in 1910, I'd have suggested mutton chops would have come back in style... in the FUTURE! Also, Magyar = Hungarian.

But the good folks of the NY Tribune could not have possibly imagined non-Europeans as future Americans, of course. Heck!

Apparently these types of articles were all the rage 1941-1945. So insightful!

Really, though, in 1910 it wasn't even conceivable for a person of non-European descent to be considered American. Now look at us! A large block of non-Europeans got together and re-elected a black man born in Hawaii.  Who of course has 50% European background, like many Americans.

Keep Moving

Citizens! Follow these guidelines so that the next time you can punch that dastardly Jap rather than the friendly Chinese public servant!

Um, yeah, lady? By the wording of the sign, maybe you should be leaving the neighborhood as well? Being a woman and all. But committed to your distrust of Japs!

You see here three very positive trends: 1. This kind of outright racism is no longer tolerated in most places. Sure, it still exists, but pushed down and frowned upon, which is but a step towards elimination. 2. Former enemies can become great friends! Or, at least, geo-politics makes for strange bedfellows. 3. Peace can be made and grown over generations. Arguably, Japan (and Germany) had fairly aggressive and war like societies prior to World War 2. Since, they've been two of the most peaceful countries in the world, and their societies have become much more tolerant and less martial.

We are making huge strides as a species for the most part. An important fact to remember when reading the latest Rightwing slobberings. It's never a settled matter, however. Peace and Justice must be fought for on a daily basis.

Geese Jam

I've actually been stuck in a goose related traffic jam. It was as frustrating as any other traffic jam - stupid fucking geese! Get out of the road you stupid fucks! I mean, ducks.

Best friends forever! Or at least for the next 2-4 weeks.

Cities from scratch

Some random "new" city in Western China, I have no idea which one actually - any help? New cities sprout like mushrooms in China today, due to, what else, money. China makes everything, and thus, everyone gives them money. I've visited Shenzhen several times, and was constantly amazed - what was a low-slung fishing village but 30 years ago is now a gleaming metropolis who's skyline resembles New York from certain angles. And that's happening all over China.

Lesson? Don't outsource your manufacturing base, assholes! Also too, congrats, China.

Spoony

Bad English or clever pirate? Ironic misspellings are a favorite of hipsters everywhere.

Death of the Astronaut

The state of the US of A's manned space program: Dead, by suicide. Prodded on by Repuglicans. Why? It's an easy budget item to ax, all sciency and shit. It also helps humanity in general, rather than the Confederacy directly, so, gotta go!

Granted, robots are better than humans in space in a whole slate of categories. Most, actually. But there is an inspirational effect that man in space achieves that could never be replicated by a robot. The USA - in Cold War Fever - set the bar for this effect, when Neil Armstrong stepped off a ladder with the words "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Alas! It was not true, Neil, despite your noble intentions.

All photos by Neil DaCosta. Brilliant series.

I'm not sure Americans will get back into space in a large way, government backed. Maybe private shuttle services, astro-truckers, essentially. Lets root for the Chinese in their needful pride to send folks back to the Moon and beyond. Go China!

L'il Nixon goes to China

Go ahead and do a Nixon impersonation - I guarantee you'll feel awesome when done. For impersonating Nixon IS fun, period. I. Am. Not. A. Crook!  Blalghalalghlagh!

And how would a little girl in China know how to do a Nixon impersonation? Memes. And why would she do it at her Birthday party? Cuz she's awesome.

OG (pre-old-school)

Word. L'il gangsta's keepin' it real. And extra fresh.

But seriously: Hilarious. And sad - this boy's life is no doubt already ruined, destined for frequent run ins with the law and perhaps an untimely death. And for why? The sins of his parents.

Also too: Memes repeating at the cultural level. The gangsta look is relatively new in China, but I bet it's extremely popular among certain groups. Imported via evil American media, no doubt.

Think of the power of the meme - someone/people in America invents gangsta culture, based on mafia movies. This invention in turn inspires people in far away lands to emulate that culture, thereby producing behaviors that would never occur organically. The meme jumps from mind to mind and can re-write everything if the winds are right.

Number One Day For You

Number One - Commander William T. Riker - gets plenty of love on the Internets,

but he doesn't have his own day, yet. I bet some plucky little Enterprise schoolchild could organize a campaign to make it so. And should it not be so? Riker ruled,

though it became more and more curious why he would not accept his own command. I know - the realities of TV demanded it, as no bridge crew of any Trek show really changes for the length of the show, which should be pretty unrealistic in any true military organization. But serving on the Flagship of the Fleet must have its appeals, especially working with Picard.

Not a water based prank

A real photo, apparently, from Tibet, of a monk aflame. If it's come to people lighting themselves on fire in protest, safe to say society has become overly authoritarian, and needs to relax, quite a bit.

Some serious stuff to light one's self on fire, right? Damn.

Redshirt's Top 10 Predictions for 2012

Check back in before 12/21/12 to see how correct I was (don't bother checking after, as there will be no Interwebs after that, right?). Not in any particular order:

1. This Mayan Apocalypse nonsense will get increasingly insufferable, with, for example, pseudo scientific "documentaries" on the National Geographic channel and the like. "Some say the world will end this year; others disagree. Lets examine both sides of the issue..."
2. The Repuglicans get even crazier. This presidential election is going to be horrific, for the Repuglicans are an absolute joke and a real threat to America and the world, and yet they're already gauranteed about 42% of the vote. The MSM led by Newscorp will do their best to supply the remaining amounts.
3. That said, Obama wins re-election 53% to 46% against Willard "Magic Underpants" Romney.
4. Global Warming continues unabated, with ever more diverse freak weather incidents around the world. Repuglicans still able to stop all progress worldwide.
5. No new major wars!
6. The World economy continues a slow but steady recovery, yet the fundamental issues that caused all the trouble remain, looming over the horizon. China continues to get rich as heck.
7. And yet, China starts to see serious internal dissent, based on two factors: Economic imbalances between urban/rural populations, and climate change.
8. Alternatives for fossil fuels go mainstream, heralding a new future for energy consumption worldwide (bacteria produced diesel fuel).
9. Tons more exoplanets discovered. Most folks don't care. Kepler defunded because of narrow Repuglican control of congress.
10. Jesus still doesn't return, though certainly many people will predict so, jumping in on the revenue potentials of 2012.

Got any predictions? Post 'em in the comments!

And a request! If you like this blog, please click the "Join this site" button to the right and be sure to get all your Redshirt's Laments posthaste!

Good luck everyone! It's going to be a great year overall, and if we're not all dead, the future is bright!

Jar Jar Binks Tongue Candy

Literally. I mean, yes, look at it - I believe you were supposed to suck Jar Jar's tongue for Forceful flavor. Or something. Maybe it was a flashlight? I have no idea where I got this photo. Feels like China though.

Nice Melons

See what I did there?


Science chat's over for the nonce. On with the LULZ.

Shadow in Space

I'm sure not many care, but this is the last voyage of the Starship Discovery, pictured above from last week, with the ISS casting a shadow from on high.

In many ways, the Space Shuttle is an apt metaphor for America over the past 50 years. To wit, born in a time of rapid advancement and progress (60's), milked for all it was worth by Regan and minions who offered nothing in return, and then left to meekly die because we've run out of money in the 21st century.

Summarized: With the rise of the Wingnuts, all long term planning/investment went out the window, and all efforts are made towards short term political gains, increasing wealth for you and yours, and making sure the little guys gets it in both ends. America! All while proclaiming one's great Patriotism.

We've got no replacement spaceship, and instead we're praying the private sector can come through. They might be able to, but even if they do, it's going to take awhile. And thus, in a weirdly poetic circle, Americans will now depend on Russians to get into space. USA! USA! Thanks again, Ronnie.

But alas! I did not want to touch that poison, for too long. Here's some neat-o shots of the ISS and the Space Shuttle. This first picture is from 2007, care of Phil Plait:

 That's the ISS and Space Shuttle shooting across the heavens, very close to each other. This next pic is from the current mission, and is awesome, as it was taken from earth:

 Click for big, as always.


Alas, it won't be till the Chinese make some real headway in space till America gets back in the game, because then the Redneck Wingnuts will say it's for defense, and the golden flow of money will commence. C'mon new Cold War (Chinese Space Version)!

The last 30 years of society, explained

To be clear, it's all Reagan's fault. Well, he's the symbol of it, the guy who led the charge. But it's really of course the thousands and thousands of minions and acolytes who made it happen. But this is not a political post, but rather, cultural/fashion. Just don't forget the political background.

My thesis: It has been technology which has driven ALL major societal changes throughout the history of humanity. Fire, stone tools, metal tools, etc. What is new, recently, however, is the pace - we're on the upcurve of an exponential explosion in technology since the Industrial Revolution, but really and for my purposes, kicking in with the arrival of the computer.

The 80's are my focus here, as it is when several trends crystallized and gained strength, and now dominate nearly every aspect of American culture today. Everything 80's is pretty much in the picture above. But let me paint this picture for you - and yes, I spent about a half hour thinking about this, so I'm sure it's 100% correct.

For a long time, American society progressed and changed slowly. You could look at pics of businessmen in the 50's and and 20's and while the fashion's changed, the same air of formality, of tradition, permeated all.

Then came the first stirrings of the counterculture, inspired by jazz and blues and other African American creations, these trends first gained heavy traction in the culture with the Beats - Kerouac, Ginsberg, and all the rest. The Beats helped shaped/became the Hippies in short order, and this was a mainstream development. Again, look at the differences in clothing and behaviors from 1953 to 1963 to see what monumental changes took place at this time. And the key, parallel technology development of this time? The TV. That was the key.

The 1970's continued all of these trends, but now with a corresponding backlash from "conservatives" of every stripe - from sexism to racism to new ageism, here began our continuing war of "Punch the Hippy". It's very much still going on ("SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!" is as succinct a summary of this trend as possible). However, the larger forces of culture and technology continued to move on, with the perfect storm of the 1980's, in general.

Fashionwise, it's easy enough to see the progression from 60's hippies to 70's rhinestones and plaid to 80's day glo and pastels, and even working its way into 90's grunge and hip hop. I think we've stabilized the craziness on the fashion front since the 2000's, but maybe I'm still too close to the time period, and can't see it (Note! I realized in 1993 that fashion is idiotic by looking at pictures of myself from 1984; I vowed to try and dress in a "timeless" fashion from then on, though what is and is not timeless is of course hard to say at the time. My rule of thumb: The plainer the better. Always.)

But it's the technology that's key. Several huge developments in the 70's paved the way for quite an upheaval in American culture: Cable TV, and computers/video games, and portable music players. Each of these new technologies allowed an individual to create a shell - a world they no longer had to leave (or leave rarely). You could find out what kids in California were doing with ease now; you could hear the music that's popular in London overnight; you could play the same game you once played in an arcade (social setting) at home. And thus, the segmentation/fragmentation of culture - which again, is only continuing.

With all specializations - and that's what a segmentation of culture is to me - you have more extremes. Music can be more extreme; fashion, games, everything leads to more extremes, since you have people so focused on the particular topic, AND there's now a nearly real time feedback loop where you can build on the works of others very quickly.

The feedback loop only gets more extreme as well - the Web is the best example of this effect ever invented. And I suspect that too will only continue, as technology will soon allow our brains direct access to a web of other brains, leading no doubt to a cyborg future.

Till then, and only as an observation - I make no value judgments about any of this - we continue on these same paths built for us by poor black  jazz musicians and Jewish poets and a generation of  kids who now have it baked in their bones that the future is always more, faster, bigger, etc.

These trends all congealed around the Reagan Revolution, which led to a MASSIVE increase in the mindset of American consumer culture, leading directly to the outsourcing of most American manufacturing, and the subsequent destruction of economic fundamentals of the country. America exists today as a strip mall, supplied by China, populated by poor people deep in debt, brainwashed to believe their misery will go away if they can only get the newest flat screen tv, or whatever.


Until the dam breaks (external event), might as well enjoy the ride.

T Minus 11:14, 11:13, 11:12...

These are scary days for the manned American space program. We are about to give up our access to space, and wait for private industry to get us back up there. Or Russians. I'm hoping for the Japanese or the Chinese since it seems without some breakthrough in technology, only a nationalistic based space race will get us into collective gear.

There's a lot of development in the private sector, and NASA will now act more like a venture capitalist/philanthropist, providing grants, funding, and for the best options, large purchases of services. And over many years I'm quite confident private space vehicles will be the norm, and far cheaper to build and fly than the current Shuttle. And I'm sure someone, someday well into the future, will make a go for an asteroid, since if one were able to capture a good size asteroid you would have more metal and other minerals than has ever been used by humanity, ever and for all of time. You'd be beyond rich. But that's well down the road.

Alas, since we seem to be motivated by greed and fear, then a good old profit motive/fear of the other doing it first will work, I'm sure, eventually. It's just a question of, how soon?

Could be years. And we - America - will be grounded on Earth. Sad state of affairs since Apollo and my childhood dreams of how freaking 2011 would be. But, we've got iPhones and iPads, so I guess it's all not so bad...

Also, and by way of apology, sorry! I'm in the final stages of the construction of my mountain Fastness, or Redoubt, if you will. New Gondolin rises! And soon shall be my abode. Till then, I remain, your's in Redshirtedness.