Before the Dark Times

Iranian students, 1975.

 Iranian pin up model, 1975.

As you can see, there's been a rather dramatic change in cultural norms in Iran over the past 30 years - from an almost completely Westernized country then, to a country today playing the game of "Keeping up with the Mullahs", it's been about 180 degree turn. Never forget this could happen anywhere - cultural forces can sweep over the objections of an individual.

Many people left Iran in the wake of these changes. And I'm sure some (many?) are glad. Progress is an odd thing - sure, Iran may have been Westernized with a greater amount of freedom, but there were also under the thumb of a despotic royal family prone to torture and disappearances (backed by the USA as well).

The same could be said for America, for example - one could look back fondly at the 1970's, and wish for those simpler times, but those simpler times were also periods of overt racism, sexism, etcism. So I guess the question you should ask yourself: Simpler(better) times for who? And why?

How it's done (Warning! Sexy Sci Fi ahead)

Geek Goddess (official) Olivia Munn. She's won the hearts of most geeks on the intertubes with the various costumes she wears to the annual Comic-Cons. She's got her niche!

Cos-Play (Look it up):

That said about Olivia, I've got to give this round to the anonymous fan. Nicely done!

A Study in Shame, or the lack thereof

Err, yeah. See, the thing with the Leia Metal Slave Bikini is, well, it takes a certain body type to pull it off. First on the checklist would be a feminine body type; hairy nerds? Not so much.

And check out this slug:

You don't want to get typecasted as a "human Jabba". 


Also, hope you like the re-design. Let me know if you have comments. I'll be tweaking it over the next week.

A Study in Stormtroopers

I'm not sure what super powers the Burger King has - I suspect they're similar to your average movie serial killer monster, like Jason or Michael Meyers; we all know what Spiderman can do, of course.

Winner? Spidertrooper.

Darth Pimpin', Boba Fettin'

Just 100% Grade A Awesome. Nice work, gents.


And for you wags out there saying, "Hey, Redshirt! What's with all the Star Wars stuff? Aren't you supposed to be a Trekkie?" I say to that, "Well, I'm glad you asked. In the great and endless debate between Star Trek and Star Wars, alas, in recent times I have fallen squarely on the Star Wars side, and I blame the truly atrocious last 10 to 15 years of Trek for that. Furthermore, from a funny picture perspective, Star Wars lends itself to way more funny pictures than Star Trek. As you will see in the next series of posts. Thanks for stopping by!".

Well, I might say all that. Possibly.

Remasked

This looks like 100% good clean family fun. Hooray!

Unmasked

From left to right: Han Solo, Darth Vader, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, R2-D2, and Lukey Skywalker.

Please take a moment to think about all the midgets who no longer get roles in movies and TV shows thanks to CGI technology. Hundreds of midgets were employed for the original Star Wars trilogy, but in the prequel, just a couple, and the rest were computer animations. For shame Hollywood! Our shortest actors need work too!

Little did we know

It must be a sign of my gathering old age, but I've realized I've come to love all things 70's - watching some stupid movie from the 70's (Smokey and the Bandit, for example) becomes pleasurable only because the 70's atmosphere - the looks, the attitudes, the behaviors. Everything seems so much better back then..... (OLD!).


Anywho, this is a test photo from 1976 when Carrie Fisher was trying out for the part of Princess Leia. She's so beautiful here - 70's beautiful. All natural, in other words. I miss those simpler times!


I'm sure, little did she know she'd be signing up to become a part of our human mythology:

"This was the typecasting you were looking for."

Dark Side Trucking

Darth Maul themed tractor trailer. Subtle, well done, not obviously Star Wars.... 9.5 out of 10

 Would be fun to tailgate, I guess. 4 out of 10.

Rebel Alliance Auto Association

Understated, yet thematically correct. 8 out of 10.

 Great concept, yet the internets tell me this car broke down. So, 7 out of 10.


Fans of this stripe are easy to make fun of, but rather than mocking, I applaud you, hardcore fans. Your dedication to your hobby has trumped the social restrictions imposed by peer pressure.

And always remember: Sports fans are as big as nerds as you are - and they're celebrated for it. Stay on target!

ATTN: NERD ALERT

Imagine getting dropped off at school in this. Mortifying, yet fascinating.

No one could have predicted!

I don't know man. It ran great during the test drive, but a couple of days after I got it home it started leaking all over the place. Damn used car salesmen!

She wants lemon

Or

Your choice. Either way, I'm free.


Damn these dialectic demands! 

Fallen

This is about another of my favorite subjects: Gravity. Some quick, interesting facts about gravity:
1. No one really knows what it is. There's been many theories, and while we can predict the effects of gravity real well, no one really knows what it is at all. There are three current models of gravity in use, and each has a place: There's old school Newtonian Gravity, which works very well in our day to day life, but begins failing when dealing with more extreme conditions, like in space - where the next theory takes over: 2. Einsteinian gravity via Space Time. Einstein proposed the idea of SpaceTime - the fabric of the Universe. The picture above is a representation of star bending Spacetime, causing a near by photon to bend  - we have confirmed beyond doubt that light does indeed bend around heavy objects. Many other proofs of this theory have been produced, and so it seems quite solid. And yet, at the most extreme conditions, Einsteinian gravity fails as well, since it cannot explain the Singularity, which leads to the third theory, currently still a work in progress: 3. Quantum gravity, which uses a force particle called the Graviton (never detected) to convey the force of gravity at the particle level.

A large task underway in physics is to combine the wildly successful concept of Spacetime with quantum gravity. Get to it if you're looking to make a name for yourself.

Now, most depictions of SpaceTime show it as a 2-D graph, as above. It's just easier to visualize. But something never made sense to me - if it is the bending of space which causes gravity, then isn't it still just "mass falling down"? Sure looks like it above, right? However, that is a problem with the graph. A true 3-d representation of SpaceTime looks like this:

It might be a bit hard to conceptualize, but picture the circle above as our sun, and the square as SpaceTime surrounding the sun in all directions - Spacetime will be stretched in all directions around the sun, with the more extreme stretching the closer to the object. As you might now see, gravity is a result of SpaceTime pushing down on you, NOT something attracting you to it. Any object that bends SpaceTime (i.e. any object with mass) will have a deformed sphere of SpaceTime around it, and it's that deformation pushing down on you which we measure in units of gravity. Big concept here - gravity is not a force but a measurement.

BUT! That could be all wrong. Quantum theories of gravity think so.

Now, I've posted this before, but it's germane to this discussion - a 2-d representation of SpaceTime in our Solar System:

The deeper the depression, the "stronger" the gravity. But this is just the start of course, since our solar system is but a speck of dust in the Galaxy, and our Galaxy is just another average Galaxy in a Universe of billions of galaxies, such that one can extend this 2-d representation of SpaceTime gravity wells to the galactic level, as such:

And this goes on even further, of course. And I suspect if we do indeed reside in a Multiverse, than Universes no doubt orbit other Universes. Mind boggling, really.

The point? Two points: We sit at the near top of a mountain (the moon is above us), and we're looking/falling(being pushed) down, down, down a hole that never ends.


And/or 2: This theory is wrong, and a quantum theory of gravity will explain why gravity exists and how it works.


String theory is the work-in-progress attempting to synthesize the theories of Einstein with Quantum Mechanics. More on string theory at another time, alas!

Expanding

Expansion from a Singularity - that's the headline which describes our entire reality. As you can see, everything is getting further away from everything else as time goes along, since space time itself is expanding (like an inflating balloon).

This picture is a version of the cone diagram showing the WMAP survey two posts down. There is a big debate in science as to the future of this expansion - will it continue? Speed up? Slow down? The answer determines the future of our Universe. If it were to speed up, then eventually (some 20-30 billion years from now), matter itself will start to fall apart as the expansion of space time pulls apart the nucleus. 

If it slows down, then we could be heading for a Big Crunch, in which gravity gains the upper hand and pulls everything back down into a Universal size Singularity (which, in my preferred theory, would then eventually explode again, forming a new Universe).

No one is sure right now how it will play out. Regardless, we'll never see it. So, enjoy your day!

All signs point to the Singularity

Here's some examples of how matter bends spacetime - think of it like a bowling ball laying on a sheet, bending it down based on its weight (except in reality it's not a flat plane, but rather a sphere). Stars by themselves are large objects that massively bend spacetime, but compared to their remnants - neutron stars and black holes - they're tiny.

I'm focusing on Black Holes here, and specifically the Singularity which lies at the heart of every black hole (it is the object, in fact; everything else is a by-product of the Singularity). But Neutron Stars are extremely interesting in that they still reside in our "normal" world of physics we understand, yet they are right on the line to becoming a black hole, and are very strange. Did you know the surface of a neutron star is solid, and a neutron star could in fact be considered a single, solid particle?

Anyways, the Singularity - the point at the center of the black hole. It's called a Singularity simply because there's no other good words to describe it - we literally have no idea what happens in a Singularity, whether the rules of physics apply or not, etc. As our current understanding works, the Singularity is defined as infinite gravity in zero space; which is impossible, and thus the big task in physics today is to understand the Singularity.

Here's two diagrams showing the composition of black holes:

Again, these are not real structures per se, but rather the results of the Singularity in action. Black Holes are black because anything that reaches the event horizon never comes out, including light. No light means we can't see it - even using x-rays, gamma rays, etc. However, the areas just outside the event horizon can be seen, and in fact, at the north and south pole of every black hole will be large jets of gas shooting out, detailed here:

To wit: We know we don't know anything about the Singularity, and all we do know comes from its interaction with the surrounding Universe. We also know that there is a Singularity with every black hole (by definition), and we know that our Universe could be filled to the brim with black holes. There are different categories of black holes: stellar (made from an exploding star), and supermassive (likely the result of many mergers between stellar black holes). As an example of how fundamental black holes are to our existence - every galaxy (including ours) has a supermassive black hole at its center, such that, to me, it seems a supermassive black hole is a requirement for galaxy formation.

So, to bring it all home: We don't know anything about Singularities, and this lack of knowledge makes it likely our current models of physics are not correct, or at least missing something big (couple that with the matter distribution chart below - would you trust a theory that said "I don't know anything about 96% of the Universe"?) . We do know that Singularities are numerous, however, and important to the way our Universe works.

And finally, as I've shown with models of the Big Bang, scientists refer to the moment before the conception of Universe as a Singularity as well, since we don't/can't know anything about it. If correct, our Universe, and everything in it, came from a Singularity - the same type of object that exists right now throughout our Universe in Black Holes.

And now my theory - MY theory, so feel free to correct: The Big Bang was the result of a Singularity in another Universe exploding, and this explosion created a new Universe - ours. This process happens all the time, and eventually, once a black hole(S) get big enough, will happen in our Universe as well. This is the foundation of the Multi-Verse - a higher order dimension that contains Universes like so many soap bubbles. Think of the scale of that for a while.

Once again, we come from nothing, which is also everything. Form is emptiness, emptiness form.

Where we're at

I love this graph (click for big)! It shows our current understanding of the Big Bang, the immediate expansion of space, and then the much slower expansion caused by Dark Energy. Important to note that the reality of this graph would be a sphere expanding in all directions yet with no center, and not the cone shown here - it's a cone for ease of understanding.

The blue/green section to the left represents the pictures taken by the WMAP project, which shows us our earliest view of the Universe (in microwaves). Here (in sphere form):

Red equals high temperatures, blue low; an interesting fact to our existence is it is ONLY imperfections that allow us to exist. If the early universe were completely uniform (symmetrical), matter would not have had the chance to begin clumping together, and thus no accretion of matter. As the pictures above show, there was plenty of asymmetry in the early Universe, and is that imbalanced beginning which gave rise to anything and everything we see or know about today (in terms of matter).

One last pic, showing basically the same thing as the top picture:

This pic represents the farthest back we can see in visible light, via the Hubble. Future telescopes may be able to improve this a bit, but only so much - since, as you can see, there was a time in our Universe when there was no light - photons could not escape the densities of the early universe, and were unable to escape. Only with the arrival of the first stars (consider: There was a 1st star, somewhere at some time) does the fog clear, and light was free to travel, and continues to travel, billions of years later reaching your eyes

Dark Matter

Most of the objects in this picture are galaxies (think about that for a bit). The gaseous, white ring you see here is indirect evidence of Dark Matter. Dark Matter is basically matter we think is there, that has a gravitational effect on surrounding "normal" matter, but it does not reflect photons, and thus is invisible to us."Normal" matter is drawn to large collections of Dark Matter - due to gravity - and thus the inference for the existence of dark matter.

For reference, I've posted this before, but here is what scientists think is the makeup of our Universe:

I'll leave the rather large issue of "Dark Energy" for another time (basically, energy we can infer yet cannot detect). But look - all of the "normal" matter we know - hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, anything and everything you see on Earth, in space, is "normal" matter, and yet, it only makes up less than 4% of our Universe. Think about that for a bit, especially in conjunction with the photo above.

Now, what does all this mean? Good question! What does anything mean? What I get from this is our reality, our very existence, is a grand mystery. We can nibble at the edges of this mystery, learning more and more, and yet the mystery is so grand, so large, so all encompassing it seems unlikely we will ever know but a glimmer of the Truth.

And this accords perfectly with a Buddhist outlook on life. That what we think is so real - your computer screen, for example - is nothing what you think it is. We are nothing what you think we are. We are so much more.

My task, as I am coming to realize it, is to spread this awareness. For it is powerful, and I believe can serve as the bridge from our past (tribal mythologies) to our future (universal citizens).

I hope you'll join me in this task. 

Poor Mom

At least you're still holding hands and posing for cheesy photos. Just wait till the older one develops the inevitable meth addiction and begins robbing you blind.

Ahh, children. Our future!

Hair I am (look at me!)

I like the style, but have to object in principle. As a Redshirt - if you want to live - your goal should always be: to be as inconspicuous as possible. Don't draw attention to yourself, don't make scenes, speak only when spoken to, don't volunteer, etc

This guy, braver than I, is just asking to be sent on some dangerous mission from which it is unlikely he will return. Consider that, the next time the urge to mousse up your hair strikes - is it worth the anonymous and predictable death?

I think not. Your mileage may vary.

Big in Thailand

Apparently, I've got a lot of fans in Thailand. You go, Redshirts!

Wise Man's Night Out

I'm sure his friend is getting the beers and hotdogs, extra mustard.

Dream made real

Dreams are nothing but hot air unless you take specific actions to bring them into reality. One can talk-talk-talk about writing, or making music, or quitting your stupid job to start organic farming, all the live long day; but in the end, few of us make the leap from talk to action.

Writing is a pretty easy jump to make in comparison - all you need is a pen and paper. I've always wanted to be a writer (though I'm not so sure anymore), and so, way back in the year 1990, I made a vow to myself to write everyday, as a concrete action to turn a dream into reality. 20 years later and I've kept to that vow (missing some days of course, but not many). I am always interested in how artists work, what tricks writers might use, or what schedules, etc. I learned a lot from Henry Miller in this regard, with his "4 hours every day" school of writing. Writing everyday is my committment to myself to continually explore my own mind for new ideas. I challenge myself in these notebooks, because I have no thought of audience, other than myself. I highly recommend this routine for anyone looking to write, or heck, think better.

So! All that for setup for this rather mundane photo of some spiral bound notebooks. They happen to be Madonna's, and they cover the early 90's. These notebooks were stolen from Madonna by an assistant who later tried to sell them, only to have to spend a great deal of time in court. Regardless, look: Madonna used the same notebook I started with in 1990! It's the blue one in the lower right column, and I remember her well (gone now, thrown out). I have since upgraded to super fancy, artsy notebooks, but I remember these spiral jobs fondly.

We are clearly entering a period in human history where paper will fall by the wayside, and while I am going along with that in some ways (this blog, for example!), in others, I hope to stick with paper - my precious notebooks - till I return to the Source. Nothing beats a beat up piece of paper covered in notes!

Proof:

 

A Dream

This is one of those dotcom wunderkid's personal library, complete with original Sputnik and top secret NASA rocket model, along with thousands of books, some with ruby encrusted bindings. Consider the effect incredibly rich yet socially retarded people will have on the world. So far, so good with old Billy Gates, it seems. Perhaps these dotcom billionaires could team up and form a league of some kind, solving crimes both high and small, and the like.

Anyways, a dream of mine would be a personal library - not so grand of course, unless we are really dreaming - like being a dotcom wunderkid. A room to close the doors, with tall ceilings and shelves to the top, and one of those delightful ladders on wheels. Some chairs, tables, lamps and smoking jackets, and I think you get the drift.

Further, anyways, apropos a theme, another dream:

I have not forgotten about you Lost! I was just offline. Don't think anything of it. However, I will report that many people I spoke with from lands far from the Internet were disappointed with the final in ways I found unfulfilling, revolving around lack of answers, but to that complaint I say, "Answers? You want answers to life's greatest mysteries from a story? Why not seek them out in your own life - such as: What is your purpose in this stupid show? Why did you have such a boring middle stretch of seasons?"

But that never works. So I just say, Internets, I missed you! Lost rules, and I love the finale more than I did a week past. It completes most of the large themes of the show in gratifying ways, connecting many elements of the story together in a cohesive tapestry, rich with characters and nuance. Or, it's deep, man.

Whatever your feelings, I am grateful for an enjoyable and engaging tale, and I hoped to have learned much from the watching but more important, contemplating. To get your audience to think about your words while they are not hearing/reading them is a wonderful place to be. It means they have personalized your story, and that is the ultimate connection in the craft. It's how stories live on. This is myth.

Namaste.

Flow charts

Such a wonderful photo - a writer's dream. I imagine the writers must have kept a series bible close at hand in order to keep the backstory clear. It's easy enough to miss a detail, and in this day of endless eyes, any mistake will be identified.

Flow charts are one of the keys to a successful life, by the way. Everything flows, after all.

Off Camera

We're all someone different when the camera is on, or off. In fact, we are different people all the time - when dealing with family, with colleagues, with friends, exes, etc.

So who are we? A collection of roles?

Anyways, Jack smokes. I'm crestfallen.

So it goes

I liked it. A lot. Here's the last shot - thematically bringing it all back to the beginning, and I believe the writers when they say they had this final shot planned from the beginning.

To summarize (Spoilers!): The Alt universe was purgatory; it's timeless, so people can die at different times and still be there together. This purgatory was created by the collective survivors, or maybe just Jack.

Everything we saw on the Island happened, and the Alt Universe was the heavenly coda, occurring perhaps long, long after the actual events depicted (consider that Hurley might remain Island protector for thousands of years, with Ben as his faithful number 2).  

On the Island, as per the Alt reality scene between Sawyer and Juliet (she tells him to unplug the machine then plug it back in to get his candy bar), Jack reboots the island. It was only during the reboot that Smokey could be, and was, killed. Thus, no more Smoke Monster. I think.

I've got a lot to say about this episode, but not much time now. I found it very emotional, and I very much like the fact the story goes on - Sawyer and Kate (and Lapidus! And Alpert!) escaped the Island (probably because the rules about leaving were gone), Hurley and Ben are the Guardians, Desmond is still on Island but one assumes he gets to leave and reunite with Penny.

Jack's dead, but he died nobly - and is that not reward in itself?

Finally, as I've been hypothesizing all along, Vincent was the key to everything:

And even though I was emotionally invested in this show, it was still a fictional dog that got me worst of all. Good boy. 

The End

Ends are the best, or, at least, can be the best - they are often botched. But there's nothing better than a great end. Second best would be beginnings. Middles are always predictable.

Drink Milk!

That Party of Five guy says so.

Kate Smoke

Terrifying, is it not?


I've come to like Kate this season, as her motivation for coming back to the Island was quite powerful (to save Claire), and the way this quest has played out (Claire's crazy) has been dramatic  - I sympathize with Kate's torn emotions. To give up her child to save the real Mother only to find her crazy and controlled by the Devil.... it's a dilly of a pickle.


That said, the Kate Hate is still strong on the interweb. Many are hoping for:

But I suspect she'll somehow survive the inevitable slaughter to come. Odds on Kate surviving: 60%. I can't imagine there will be many survivors however - I don't think we're getting a happy ending on the Island. The sideways world, maybe.


Countdown is on! Happy Lostmas!