So what has been the deal with me being lazy?

Seriously, I don't know.

Maybe I don't want to know. I just get into these flurries of wanting to share useless info sometimes, and then go on a kick where I find as much useful info as I can, and then I'll cycle into silence for a month, a year, or a decade. I guess it's all part of the machinery that makes me go. I suppose anyone who knows me will see that as one of the less grievous faults.

This time of year is busy. Work has pretty much swamped me (not to mention one friend left recently, one is on FLMA, and another is seriously thinking of leaving. That won't make it a better environment, that's for sure), we're in the middle of softball season, the Avs are into the second round of the playoffs, and I have become readdicted to racing digital autos- that means practice so I don't embarrass myself, and less time to think about the things that matter. I also picked up a copy of The Physics of the Buffyverse and am having a BLAST reading through it.

Anyhoo. I know there are a couple of you who actually take a peek here every so often. I haven't forgotten about life, or sharing things I think are important, and I'll make an effort to get some consistency going. Or not. If you read this, I probably speak to you daily, anyway, so you know I care.

A New Link or Two

You'll notice them to the right, where they always appear. Just a couple things I find to be interesting or important- Sciencedebate is an organization working to ensure that the issues of science are not ignored or glossed over this election year. I see this as absolutely critical to the future of our country, and it is a very admirable and worthy cause they're working toward.

The other, Homeless in Hell, is a blog kept (actually copied to Blogspot from the original Myspace blog) by a friend, Lori. It's a chronicle of some of the homeless here in our small slice of Western Colorado paradise, and is a must-read. It's short and won't take a lot of time away from your life, while providing some insight into the lives of those who didn't get the right roll of the dice. Go have a look.

Two Words: Tank Girl

Yes, Tank Girl!

Sometimes I forget about the small, simple things can can bring joy into my life. Last night about 10:00, I got a very random reminder of one of these things- just happened to check, and right there on the Encore listings, those eight letters jumped out like x-rays from a pulsar.

I undestand that this is not a good movie. It's not particularly well written, acted, or directed, and it makes very little sense. It's silly, overblown, illogical, and has no great message to society. But I love it anyway. I should have done it ages ago, but right after work I'm going to go find the DVD and treasure it.

I know, I know

The silence from me is just deafening. The one person who I think actually reads anything I write keeps bothering me about it, but truthfully, there's been very little to say lately, and when there is, it seems to be very trivial stuff that not many people need to hear from me- ESPN provides better sports coverage than I can!

But I suppose I can avoid feeling like a completely inert lump of electrochemical goo if I write SOMETHING, and the only thing anyone seems to care about is the elections (which I have opinions on, but I am seriously tired of talking about it all). I'm really not feeling like being politically charged right now, so I'll avoid that- and write about trivialities instead.

I'm an odd sort of sports person. This time of year is really great for me, because the things I enjoy are getting into full swing- racing (Formula 1, World Rally Championship), NHL hockey (go Avs, and welcome back Peter Forsberg and Adam Foote! That new Salei guy is pretty good, too), EPL soccer/football (Guuuunnnnners! Arsenal beating AC Milan in the San Siro was brilliant), and of course, baseball. Not only has spring training started, but the NCAA season is well underway and our Mesa State Mavericks are doing well. Not as good as last year, but they lost so many great players it's not a surprise- and putting a 37-0 (yes, that's thirty-seven to zero) pasting on someone is impressive no matter what.

Spring is always great, because of the things above, but also because I seem to find so much to do that I fall away from in winter. Softball season starts again this month (hooray for being center field again. I better tune up my running shoes), and that's something to look forward to. And getting my new PC all set up and running like clockwork means I got rFactor, GTR2, and Richard Burns Rally installed and being awesome again- so when I get stuck indoors, I have my racing simulations to keep me going. Thankfully, I've kicked any semblance of online gaming addiction, finally realizing how terrible all those games are and seperating myself completely from participation in them- I am much happier for doing so, too, believe me. And about thirty bucks a month richer.

I think I've done my civic duty at this point. I said it would be trivialities, and I don't think I disappointed on that count. I'll try to have something meaningful to say tomorrow.

It's been HOW long?

Six weeks, you say? Man, time flies sometimes. I haven't updated anything, haven't had much to say, and it shows. Slow, lazy, winter = slow, lazy me.

I think I really just get media-d to death every so often and don't feel like contributing to the billions of words flying around. Since the last entry, about the most significant event for me personally is seeing Cloverfield (twice) and not being disappointed in the least, and that's hardly worth my writing or you spending the time to read. There are only a dozen or so of 'you' out there, anyhow, so it isn't like I have a slavering, panting public to feed with my wit and charm.

Right?

Time, distance, and so many questions

Questions that crop up in unexpected places, too. I'm sure any question I can ask is answered in a dozen places by a dozen knowledgeable people- my forays into the field are at the most basic "For Dummies" level that you can imagine. But, at any rate,it is all fascinating and illustrates just how little we really know about the big picture. It's amazing that, with all the things we've learned, there is a seemingly infinite number of things we are still learning. The latest bout of this realization was prompted by something I discussed with my 13 year old daughter while we were out looking at the sky one night. I asked her if she could spot Mars and point it out, which she did (from our viewpoint, it was almost directly beneath the moon and very bright on that night). I asked her how she picked it out so easily, and the cascade of questions started. It went something like this:
"It's right there, under the moon."
"Right! Good job. How did you spot it so easily?"
"Well, it's red, isn't it? There aren't many red things to look for. Except that one there (pointing at Betelgeuse). What's that? Another planet?"
"No, that's Betelgeuse. It's a star, and a huge one at that. But you're right, it's pretty red, too."
"Oh, OK. How far away is that?"
"About 400 or so light years (after digging frantically in my head to come up with a number that wasn't completely wrong). Not far by interstellar standards, really, but it's a long way."
"400 light years....what does that really mean?"
"It means a big number. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. So, take that figure and multiply it by how many seconds are in a year. Then times 400 years. That's how far away it is, and the light we're seeing right now left Betelgeuse 400 years ago. You're seeing the past when you look at it."
".....how are we ever going to manage to go there? How fast can we travel?"

At that point is where things kind of tip over into inescapable territory. It's like walking across a seesaw- you reach a point where it tips from going up to going down, and no matter how far out you walk the far end stays down there. I don't have answers for the things that are unwrapped and presented for consideration past that point. That dive into the unsure waters of pure theory and speculation can be scary.

It does make for an enjoyable evening of mulling over, though. How will we ever manage to visit distant (by our Earthly standard) places? I want to believe we will- but there are problems, Herr Einstein's E=MC^2 being only one of them. We know that as velocity increases, so does the effective mass of the object being accelerated, until it reaches a point of diminishing returns and we run out of possible energy to drive it any closer to light speed. So, under the rules of our universe as we now understand it, near light speed travel may be possible- but we aren't going to leap past it. Even if the energy was available, could we engineer any craft able to withstand the forces and pressures that would be applied at those speeds? I think we'd need a little more than a carbon fibre and aluminum honeycomb at that point. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

One of the things about faster than light travel that always gets my brain in a knot is the possible paradoxes. I know that the time dilation effect addresses this, but I can't help but think about it- it's one of those things that hurts your mind to think about, but keeps coming back to visit. if I left here, travelled to a planet 5 light years away at 1.1C, could I then, 6 months after landing, go back to the pad and see myself arrive? No, of course not. But could I, with a powerful enough visual aid, look back and see the launch that started my voyage? Isn't that still very paradoxical? maybe not- particles do it. We know that a single particle can exist in two locations at the same observed time, so what's stopping us from exhibiting the same behaviour? Is it just that we can't move fast enough?

That darn seesaw just keeps tipping downward.

THOSE questions.

We've all been presented with them, either in person, on line, in a letter or e-mail. The ones that are supposed to provoke deep thoughts and existentialist musings, I suppose, as we ponder the importance or necessity of various objects in our lives. I've answered them- and be honest, you have, too. But do we really think them through? Example:

"What is the ONE THING that you could not live without?" I really can't answer that and be truthful. None of us can. There are at a bare minimum THREE things I can't live without, those being a breathable atmosphere, water, and a food source. So from this point, the question becomes nothing but an exercise in sentimentality, and I really doubt it's ever answered in a way that has been thought out and clearly determined as correct. Ask me today, when it's twenty degrees and snowing, and I'd be pretty stupid to not answer by saying I need clothing. If I had chronic asthma, I would have to honestly include my inhaler, or insulin if I was diabetic. I truthfully think we're facing a question here that can't be answered- but it is continually asked. I think next time, I'll answer with "the power to critically and logically dissect questions". That might cover the bases.

There's also the variant: "If you were stranded on a deserted island (if I was there, it wouldn't be deserted, would it?) what 5 things would you take with you?"

I tend to cheat on this one. My answers run along the lines of "A Zodiac inflatable raft, an outboard engine, a large refinery storage tank of gas, a fully stocked grocery store, and Jessica Alba". Very illogical, all in all, because with the boat the grocery store would be pretty much not needed. And I suppose I'd have to hope that Jessica was a great navigator. And that the grocery store was one with self-checkout lanes, since I didn't include employees in my list- I don't want to raise the crime rate on the island to 50% or more.

I know, I'm missing the point, and these are just fun thought experiment-like questions. But sometimes I can't help but turn the burning eye of logic on things and see what it sees, which usually results in the realization that even when I try to apply every logical and objective standard to something, I can't resist having a little bit of fun with it. And with the world full of bad news (well, not full of, but it does sometimes seem that way, even to an eternal optimist) a little distraction might not be an unhealthy thing. Look around, find the humour and lighter side in things. You don't even have to share. The laughs we keep to ourselves are sometimes the best ones, and it's never worsened a situation or hurt anyone.

Maybe I should consider trading the boat, motor, and fuel in for a volleyball set, a library, and a nice chessboard.....