Never Forget IX - Cyber 9 Edition!

One's dedication to an ideal can be measured by the amount of flair one is prepared to engage. How much flair do you wear?

You can tell they love America by the masks. And guns.

No one ever thinks they are evil, right? It's always the Other guy.

Titanomachia

Titan (and Mimas - the Death Star moon)! Second biggest moon in the Solar System, and maybe first in our hearts (tough choices). It is one of two moons with an atmosphere, and a very thick one at that. Nitrogen based, like Earth's. However, Earth has no views like this:

An excellent art piece as well. For reference, Titan is bigger than Mercury, and far more interesting, though that's an opinion I suppose. What Titan tells us - and all the other cool moons, but especially Titan - is that moons can be quite diverse, and that large planets can have quite many of them, acting like mini "solar" systems. Saturn to date has a confirmed 62 moons, with more likely to come. More art:

I can't tell you all their names correctly, except Titan at center, occulted. Each moon can exert a gravitational influence on the other moons, and I'm sure one day we'll discover a moon with a moon. It will be cool. For now, appreciate Titan:

False color Titan pics showing the changing cloud formations. It rains on Titan. There's lakes:

More false color. "False color" means scientists have assigned colors to the image based on the data at hand. It's accurate for what it is, but also subjective to a degree, though also close enough. For the record, just about any cool color space shot you've seen is false color to some degree. Here's the real deal:

More lakes! The fishin' ain't so good though, one assumes. As the liquid on Titan is methane, and the mountains and valleys and boulders and rocks are ice. Wicked hard ice - the temp on the surface is around -200 degrees Celsius. Cold as heck. It is truly an alien world, but oh so familiar:

Titan seas, with islands. One day our robot children will vacation on the shores of Methane Sea.

Rivers of methane emptying into methane seas. It's like Earth, but will never be like Earth. Titan is highly inhospitable to us, and so it will be left to the robots. Check out this amazing pic:

The surface of Titan, as seen by Huygens - a probe shot from Cassini during its early years. Another feather in the cap of this amazing science mission. Those are little pebbles of ice. Rounded from some type of erosion, be it liquid or wind. Titan has all the weather we have on Earth, except it's methane raining down from the orange clouds. So cool.

Is there life? Seems hard to imagine, but every year we find life on Earth in the strangest of places - super heated volcanic vents at the bottom of the ocean; 6 miles below ground deep in the bedrock; way, way high in the sky, floating bacteria living forever in the clouds. Life is everywhere on Earth, and it seems it has always been so - evidence of life now goes back to just a few hundred million years after the creation of Earth as we know it - which is not the original Earth, not by many iterations.

Perhaps some form of life similar to life on Earth exists on Titan. Or perhaps a life unlike life on Earth exists on Titan. Or, more likely, life does not exist on Titan, at least not on the surface. It is possible Titan has a vast underground ocean of warm liquid water, and imagine what kind of sealife might evolve there. Gnarly stuff, like everything in the ocean. One day we'll find out - we need to send out the bots in our name.

3 Wolf Meme

The original. A sincere work of art, I reckon. Check it out yourself.

The Internet took it ironically, of course. What isn't, or cannot be taken ironically? Nothing! Everything. Meme's are flexible, man. Also, why does Jesus always look like that? Who has any idea what Jesus looked like?

So dang beautiful. A true work of high art. Imagine this in velvet and a classy frame? Epic.

Not so pretty, but the meme repeating in various configurations is beauty in itself - the process. Dialectic ideas replicating and changing in the duplication, over time. And the process will continue as long as the meme is healthy and replicating. When folks stop thinking about it, talking about it, it dies. That's how Gods die, by the by.

Do you remember Okami, the Wolf God? Of course not. He died a long time ago. Forgotten and faded away.

Why not call it the "Peace Star"?

Sure, the name "Death Star" conjures up fear and dread, and while that is ultimately the point, of course, why not use Orwellian language to tart it up a bit, make it more "brand" friendly? That is, the "GALACTIC EMPIRE" is not a force for evil, but rather peace and order, and justice. You can still be cold rollin' around blasting planets, but it plays way better in the Space Media to hear "And meanwhile in other Space News, the "Peace Star" was forced to neutralize the TERRORIST planet of Alderaan in order to prevent their immanent launch of deadly Space Missiles. Now, over to Bill with Space Sports."

Also, it's not really so much a star as a moon, ironically. So why not "Peace Moon"? Who could object to a Peace Moon?

Death Star Contractors

"Right Livelihood" - The Buddhist tenant that you are indeed responsible for the results of your efforts. For instance, say you are an Accounts Receivable person working on the Death Star. You, personally, are not killing or torturing anyone, but of course, you are supporting an enterprise which is - you are, in this view, just as morally culpable for any actions taken on your behalf.

By this logic, of course, every American is responsible for everything that happens in Iraq, Afghanistan, anywhere else the American Empire is working these days - their works are our works, and each of us bears their weight.

So! What are the fruits of your labor, and can you be proud of them? Do you stand behind everything associated with your efforts?

Another example of "If everyone lived this way, the world would be paradise"

Also:

 

Fear Sells, and Everyone's Buying

I've been thinking - as an UberNerd is wont - about this Stormtrooper v. Redshirt divide in my head. Yes. But then, I think about a lot of things!

Both character tropes are expressions of fatalism - they're both fodder. In this way, they are the same, and represent the anonymous foot soldier that has fought and died in the countless wars we've waged on ourselves in our history. But perhaps the similarities end there. 

The Stormtrooper IS anonymous - this is no doubt a big part of the lure. Put on the mask, and you're like everyone else. Whereas a Redshirt is maskless. Additionally, the Stormtroopers were the footsoliders of an evil Empire, whereas the Redshirts were merely the scouts and security for away missions, away missions usually dedicated to exploration, diplomacy, or some other high minded ideal.

America has become a deeply militarized country since St. Ronnie started his revolution. Any wonder then the Stormtrooper far exceeds the popularity of the Redshirt? One represent anonymous service to an Empire; the other, freely chosen work towards exploration. Which seems more in line with our Foxified country these days?

Also, and fair warning: I'm going to mark 9/11 with as many satirically blasphemous pictures as I can find. A teaser:

You know why? Because I want to take the fear out of it. The Repuglicans have milked this fear so well, for so long, it's sickening to me, and I'm tired of it. So instead, I will laugh. At them, at terrorism, at death, at everything. In a world of confused suffering, it's either laugh or die. I choose teh lulz!

A New Hope

Can you still feel it? The Change?


Savor it, because in short order the lustre will fade, the extraordinary turned every day....


Now I know how Wedge Antilles felt on the 3rd moon of Endor, post Death Star destruction. AMIRIGHT?!

Chewbacca got no medal

Rightfully, at the end of Star Wars, Luke and Han are given medals from a thankful Rebellion. However, Chewbacca, participant in all heroic acts, standing right there! Get's no medal.

Fact: Chewbacca helped Obi Wan and Luke and the plans for the Death Star escape Tatooine

Fact: Chewbacca helped rescue Princess Leia and escape the Death Star, at great risk to himself on multiple occasions.

Fact: Chewbacca co-piloted the ship which blasted Darth Vader from the Death Star trench, thereby giving Luke a free shot at the shielded exhaust port.

For all the heroic deeds leading up to the destruction of the Death Star, Chewbacca was in the center of the action and in fact a principle participant, equal in stature to Han Solo. And yet, and yet! Chewbacca got no medal.

Why? Too tall? Not a long enough sash? Or is it more likely this "Walking Carpet" was not appreciated for his efforts as an equal lifeform among equal lifeforms? I don't want to say the Rebellion was racist, for the Mon Calamari policies attest to the Rebellion's willingness to work with non-human species. But I guess Wookies don't have enough lobbyists on Coruscant. Or something.