Ah yes, in response to comments on my last post, I hadn't considered the mental aspect of an alien species. It makes sense that no sane alien species would want to interact with an insane one. However, the concept of what constitutes sane and insane, to an alien, would obviously be mind-bogglingly different. Which would make biological cues that much more important. Whether it could correctly determine how accurate our TV portrayals were in comparison to how we really are would be a subject for much debate, whereas, I expect biological cues to be pretty much similar on any planet. Life fights for survival and dominance wherever it sparks into being.
A bunch of people got killed in the south yesterday by a crapload of tornadoes. I think it's sad when the most exciting thing on TV is the weather channel. I've got 250 channels, including every premium channel my cable company has to offer, and what's the most exciting thing going on? The weather. Sure, a lot of people died, too, and that IS sad, but since I am an egocentric asshole, all I care about is that it made for exciting TV... for about an hour. I know, I'm an egocentric asshole, didn't i just admit that? Nobody's perfect!
And i'm still playing minecraft. Yea, it's pretty addicting. Almost 9 or 10 months and counting. Still waiting for goblins to show up in the game. I'm currently running a multiplayer server and remodeling my extensive farmhouse while avoiding those bastard, sneaky creepers.
End of my work week! Family from out of town coming in tomorrow, means good eating for the next week! Wheeeeeee on both counts! Time to go home.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Space - The Final Frontier
So I'm reading this article at work about life in the universe and why we haven't seen any...
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2011/04/darwins-extraterrestrials-new-theory-for-the-great-silence.html?utm_source=twitter
And it describes the various reasons why we don't see aliens, that we are overlooked, that there's not as much life out there as we think there is, and various theories of how unpleasant it might be for us to encounter an aggressive, advanced race of aliens, and how basically we aren't hearing from them because they don't want to advertise their own species because of possible aggression from yet other, even more advanced beings.
Now, here's something I thought of that maybe all these smarty-pantses didn't...
If we know that advertising our location could invite other, more advanced aggressive species to take us over, and we know that it would be smarter for us to be quieter about it, and that's why other species aren't contacting us, I think we're missing the point entirely. We already HAVE advertised our position. Loudly and often. In fact, we're STILL broadcasting it to anyone within range. Wouldn't another species look at this and say... "Wait. They LOOK backwards, sure, but.. why are they broadcasting their location so vehemently? It's like the Earthlings are ASKING to be invaded... It must be a trap, we aren't THAT stupid. HAH NICE TRY EARTHLINGS!!! WE ARE ON TO YOU!!! We're passing you by!"
I mean, think about it. It's an adage amongst generals to credit your enemy with at least as good intelligence about you as you have about them. Since we know very little about aliens, it's safe to assume they know little about us, and yet... We're advertising ourselves like whores of babylon. We're a radio-transmitting beacon of sound, light, sending out rockets willy-nilly, staring off into space with multiple observatories scattered across the globe. Any alien worth his salt would look at us and say "Something is terribly wrong here."
And it's not just my paranoia talking. Think about nature. There are hundreds of examples of this, but i will use only one. The coral snake has deadly venom. It uses warning colors of red, yellow and black to warn predators not to attempt to eat it because of it's terribly poisonous bite. The venom works in conjunction with the colors to warn others away, because if the snakes were just bland brown, no predators would be able to identify it. Sure, they'd bite it and get bitten in turn, probably dying, but that doesn't help the coral snakes any, they'd still get bit. The whole point of the venom/color combo is to warn them off BEFORE they bite you, that way, the snakes are left unmolested. However, this color combo also works for the rat snake, who has a similar color combination, but no venom at all. The predators looking to bite a rat snake will see the red yellow and black colors and go SHIT NO, DON'T BITE THAT! If you've ever heard the rhyme, "Red next to yellow, kill a fellow, red next to black, friend to jack." Then you've got one up on the animal kingdom in general, which can't tell the differences in the colors well enough to differentiate between the venomous and non venomous varieties of these snakes. So both species are left alone, purely because of the colors and the POSSIBILITY of suffering a deadly bite.
There are so many examples of this in the animal kingdom that I am surprised no one has thought of this in the world of physics... Animals frequently use warning colors, sounds or other ways to denote their vicious nature. Rattlesnakes, bees, black widows, I mean, just about ANY variety of poisonous/dangerous animal has some way of warning predators off. Aren't we pretty much assuring ourselves of an unmolested, contact-free eternity by broadcasting to all the universe where and who we are? I think instead of worrying about an advanced species finding us and turning off all our broadcasts, we should increase our efforts to the point where we are like a warning beacon to anything in the milky way galaxy. We'd essentially be the martians in Mars Attacks, saying "Don't run! We are your friends!" as we blast you with disintegrator beams, and who'd want to be friends with a funny looking martian hell-bent on disintegrating you? That way, we'd be left alone long enough to actually BECOME an advanced species by ourselves. If you're thinking this sounds a lot like my strategy on dealing with bears, you are correct. lol
And honestly, isn't that what we really want when we talk of first contact with an alien species? First contact on OUR terms, and not those of the aliens? I would MUCH rather wait til we could handle whatever they throw at us than try and initiate contact NOW, when we can barely tie our own intergalactic shoes, so to speak. And preferably, do it on THEIR planet, not ours. It's just safer that way.
So keep broadcasting how friendly we are! It should ensure our being alone in the universe for millennia to come! lol
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2011/04/darwins-extraterrestrials-new-theory-for-the-great-silence.html?utm_source=twitter
And it describes the various reasons why we don't see aliens, that we are overlooked, that there's not as much life out there as we think there is, and various theories of how unpleasant it might be for us to encounter an aggressive, advanced race of aliens, and how basically we aren't hearing from them because they don't want to advertise their own species because of possible aggression from yet other, even more advanced beings.
Now, here's something I thought of that maybe all these smarty-pantses didn't...
If we know that advertising our location could invite other, more advanced aggressive species to take us over, and we know that it would be smarter for us to be quieter about it, and that's why other species aren't contacting us, I think we're missing the point entirely. We already HAVE advertised our position. Loudly and often. In fact, we're STILL broadcasting it to anyone within range. Wouldn't another species look at this and say... "Wait. They LOOK backwards, sure, but.. why are they broadcasting their location so vehemently? It's like the Earthlings are ASKING to be invaded... It must be a trap, we aren't THAT stupid. HAH NICE TRY EARTHLINGS!!! WE ARE ON TO YOU!!! We're passing you by!"
I mean, think about it. It's an adage amongst generals to credit your enemy with at least as good intelligence about you as you have about them. Since we know very little about aliens, it's safe to assume they know little about us, and yet... We're advertising ourselves like whores of babylon. We're a radio-transmitting beacon of sound, light, sending out rockets willy-nilly, staring off into space with multiple observatories scattered across the globe. Any alien worth his salt would look at us and say "Something is terribly wrong here."
And it's not just my paranoia talking. Think about nature. There are hundreds of examples of this, but i will use only one. The coral snake has deadly venom. It uses warning colors of red, yellow and black to warn predators not to attempt to eat it because of it's terribly poisonous bite. The venom works in conjunction with the colors to warn others away, because if the snakes were just bland brown, no predators would be able to identify it. Sure, they'd bite it and get bitten in turn, probably dying, but that doesn't help the coral snakes any, they'd still get bit. The whole point of the venom/color combo is to warn them off BEFORE they bite you, that way, the snakes are left unmolested. However, this color combo also works for the rat snake, who has a similar color combination, but no venom at all. The predators looking to bite a rat snake will see the red yellow and black colors and go SHIT NO, DON'T BITE THAT! If you've ever heard the rhyme, "Red next to yellow, kill a fellow, red next to black, friend to jack." Then you've got one up on the animal kingdom in general, which can't tell the differences in the colors well enough to differentiate between the venomous and non venomous varieties of these snakes. So both species are left alone, purely because of the colors and the POSSIBILITY of suffering a deadly bite.
There are so many examples of this in the animal kingdom that I am surprised no one has thought of this in the world of physics... Animals frequently use warning colors, sounds or other ways to denote their vicious nature. Rattlesnakes, bees, black widows, I mean, just about ANY variety of poisonous/dangerous animal has some way of warning predators off. Aren't we pretty much assuring ourselves of an unmolested, contact-free eternity by broadcasting to all the universe where and who we are? I think instead of worrying about an advanced species finding us and turning off all our broadcasts, we should increase our efforts to the point where we are like a warning beacon to anything in the milky way galaxy. We'd essentially be the martians in Mars Attacks, saying "Don't run! We are your friends!" as we blast you with disintegrator beams, and who'd want to be friends with a funny looking martian hell-bent on disintegrating you? That way, we'd be left alone long enough to actually BECOME an advanced species by ourselves. If you're thinking this sounds a lot like my strategy on dealing with bears, you are correct. lol
And honestly, isn't that what we really want when we talk of first contact with an alien species? First contact on OUR terms, and not those of the aliens? I would MUCH rather wait til we could handle whatever they throw at us than try and initiate contact NOW, when we can barely tie our own intergalactic shoes, so to speak. And preferably, do it on THEIR planet, not ours. It's just safer that way.
So keep broadcasting how friendly we are! It should ensure our being alone in the universe for millennia to come! lol
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster, it's Spring!
Well goddamn, I made it through another winter! Holy shit!
It's now April here, and while on tuesday we had snow, by friday we are supposed to have temperatures near 70. Ah, weather, I yearn to find out why you enjoy afflicting us with head colds by doing this rapid temperature change shit in the fall and then hit us with allergies every spring. Mother Nature is apparently a cruel and fickle bitch.
Just kidding, Mother Nature! Honest. And I apologize because at one point a few years back, we had a huge storm predicted for our area, and being the storm-lover that I am, I was eagerly awaiting the thunder and lightning show, because, hey, fourth of july only comes once a year, but storms can occur year round! So there I was, sitting in my room, happily playing some random game (it's what I do, it's all i do, I am... The Gaminator!), and I hear this tiny little rumble of thunder, and then... nothing. Not being the first time I have been sorely disappointed by the weatherman's pronouncements of impending doom only to be greeted by a minor sprinkle, I angrily said, to the open window, in one of my more loony moments "Is that all you got, Mother Nature!?" I may have been partially drunk. To which Mother Nature responded immediately with the loudest and longest burst of thunder I have ever heard in my life. I may have wet myself. And them proceeded to follow it with 4 goddamn HOURS of near-constant lightning and thunder. So, I no longer try to piss off Mother Nature, on the odd chance that I am actually successful and she sends a tornado into my bedroom whilst I sleep.
Women can be pretty vengeful at times.
Well, I'm 41 now. Yep. Had a decently fun birthday yesterday, or at least, nothing overtly bad happened, which is a good day lately, and I spent it eating food that was bad for me and ... well, playing PC games. I had a chance to watch The Wolfman again, but I've seen it several times already so I just went back to Minecraft.
At work yesterday, and yes, I did work yesterday, I went through the annual round of "You're what, 80 now?" and "Happy birthday old man!" Yes, well, in the tech field, one deals with that sort of nonsense from the newborns they hire who think they know something because they were able to successfully use the blink tag in html on their grammar school web page. All my managers (and there are many) are younger than I am, and for two glorious weeks some years back, I was proud to be the oldest person in the call center. Yes! Go, me! And then they hired some 50+ year old woman, who, let it be noted, I got along with well, who had a rich sense of humor, and moved on to greener pastures. And by that, I mean she got another job, not that she died. In the interim, they hired other older folks, so I am still not the oldest person here. But I bet I will outlast them all! MUA HA HA HA HAAAAA!!!
I'm not really sure what it is about young people that makes them think all old folks have nothing important to say. I do, of course, remember feeling the same way when i was younger. However, I still feel that people older than me are semi-retarded for the most part. Come to think of it, I feel that many of the young people nowadays are completely retarded, so maybe I am just an egotistical prick who thinks too much of his genius level IQ. It's possible. I did turn down membership in MENSA. Twice.
Frankly, I am happy to have lived as long as I have. Sure, that makes me sound like an old man, but I greet each day with wondrous humor and usually awaken with morning wood and sometimes a hangover, so I got to be doing something right, it seems like. Plus, I get lots of free time, usually have a decent amount of pocket money, and I can buy whatever I want. I mean seriously, what more can you ask out of life other than fun, good friends and internet access to porn?
Keep enjoying my blogs, brando, old buddy, and I'll keep being literally insane so you have something to giggle at. I still think daylight savings time has to go, and I've been to arizona. Too many old people. And so dry there. SO DRY! I went as a kid and it was 115 degrees out and I was bike racing with my cousins (this was years back), and it didn't even feel hot out. There's just something wrong with a place that can be 115 degrees in the burning sun and not feel hot, I think. It's like hell, only with more old people. Smells funny, too, but that could just have been my aunt. She's like 150 or something.
It's now April here, and while on tuesday we had snow, by friday we are supposed to have temperatures near 70. Ah, weather, I yearn to find out why you enjoy afflicting us with head colds by doing this rapid temperature change shit in the fall and then hit us with allergies every spring. Mother Nature is apparently a cruel and fickle bitch.
Just kidding, Mother Nature! Honest. And I apologize because at one point a few years back, we had a huge storm predicted for our area, and being the storm-lover that I am, I was eagerly awaiting the thunder and lightning show, because, hey, fourth of july only comes once a year, but storms can occur year round! So there I was, sitting in my room, happily playing some random game (it's what I do, it's all i do, I am... The Gaminator!), and I hear this tiny little rumble of thunder, and then... nothing. Not being the first time I have been sorely disappointed by the weatherman's pronouncements of impending doom only to be greeted by a minor sprinkle, I angrily said, to the open window, in one of my more loony moments "Is that all you got, Mother Nature!?" I may have been partially drunk. To which Mother Nature responded immediately with the loudest and longest burst of thunder I have ever heard in my life. I may have wet myself. And them proceeded to follow it with 4 goddamn HOURS of near-constant lightning and thunder. So, I no longer try to piss off Mother Nature, on the odd chance that I am actually successful and she sends a tornado into my bedroom whilst I sleep.
Women can be pretty vengeful at times.
Well, I'm 41 now. Yep. Had a decently fun birthday yesterday, or at least, nothing overtly bad happened, which is a good day lately, and I spent it eating food that was bad for me and ... well, playing PC games. I had a chance to watch The Wolfman again, but I've seen it several times already so I just went back to Minecraft.
At work yesterday, and yes, I did work yesterday, I went through the annual round of "You're what, 80 now?" and "Happy birthday old man!" Yes, well, in the tech field, one deals with that sort of nonsense from the newborns they hire who think they know something because they were able to successfully use the blink tag in html on their grammar school web page. All my managers (and there are many) are younger than I am, and for two glorious weeks some years back, I was proud to be the oldest person in the call center. Yes! Go, me! And then they hired some 50+ year old woman, who, let it be noted, I got along with well, who had a rich sense of humor, and moved on to greener pastures. And by that, I mean she got another job, not that she died. In the interim, they hired other older folks, so I am still not the oldest person here. But I bet I will outlast them all! MUA HA HA HA HAAAAA!!!
I'm not really sure what it is about young people that makes them think all old folks have nothing important to say. I do, of course, remember feeling the same way when i was younger. However, I still feel that people older than me are semi-retarded for the most part. Come to think of it, I feel that many of the young people nowadays are completely retarded, so maybe I am just an egotistical prick who thinks too much of his genius level IQ. It's possible. I did turn down membership in MENSA. Twice.
Frankly, I am happy to have lived as long as I have. Sure, that makes me sound like an old man, but I greet each day with wondrous humor and usually awaken with morning wood and sometimes a hangover, so I got to be doing something right, it seems like. Plus, I get lots of free time, usually have a decent amount of pocket money, and I can buy whatever I want. I mean seriously, what more can you ask out of life other than fun, good friends and internet access to porn?
Keep enjoying my blogs, brando, old buddy, and I'll keep being literally insane so you have something to giggle at. I still think daylight savings time has to go, and I've been to arizona. Too many old people. And so dry there. SO DRY! I went as a kid and it was 115 degrees out and I was bike racing with my cousins (this was years back), and it didn't even feel hot out. There's just something wrong with a place that can be 115 degrees in the burning sun and not feel hot, I think. It's like hell, only with more old people. Smells funny, too, but that could just have been my aunt. She's like 150 or something.
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