I haven’t quite decided exactly what I want to tell you about myself. I’m not sure what you might find interesting (or not). Some things should be obvious if you have read much of this blog:
I’m a science fiction fan; that goes back to the mid 60s; over 50 years! I figure it as the first major discovery.
I was already a total science fiction geek by the time the very first Star Trek aired. I grew up with Kirk and crew; loved Picard and crew; and really enjoyed Archer and crew (and, yes, there were some other ones and their crews… meh).
My interest in science goes back to my earliest days. Possibly literally. My first two words were “star” and “light” (or so I’ve been told; I was too young to remember it).
I was also too young to remember this: I apparently made “wires” by hand rolling skinny clay ropes and networked my wooden blocks. (Imagine that: toys of clay and wooden blocks. This was in an era only slightly after the invention of dirt and sliced bread.)
Now I contemplate quantum mechanics, relativity (general and special!), strings (and branes!) and the theories of consciousness (U, robot?). We exist. Cogito ergo sum. What does that mean for us? Do we have a role in the universe? Is there a spiritual or metaphysical aspect to life?
I’m a software designer; started that about 1978. It has turned out to be the third discovery that paid for all.
There are moments along the life path where I’ve discovered a completely new, unexpected part of the world and embraced it for the rest of my life. At least three, more like five, major times. More minor times than I can count.
Would be as likely to choose a new restaurant as a known one. I’d rather take an unknown path than a known one; that Frost poem deeply informed my life.
I’ve been in love; I’ve been loved. None of it lasted, but it was almost all good while it did. I believe in love; I just never found it long term. I think I’m probably a particularly hard match to make.
Logos con carne 
September 9th, 2012 at 10:40 am
You say you love dogs. So don’t you think it’s about time you got yourself another? C’mon…..
September 9th, 2012 at 10:43 am
Maybe when I retire… which could be after this coming week! 😉
December 28th, 2012 at 7:48 am
you said I ‘intrigued’ you….Mr. Smythe you fascinate me! your posts are quite something, I am going to start at the beginning of the blog and work forwards..could be lurking here a while, so pass me a cuppa 🙂 great blog ! C.
December 28th, 2012 at 11:27 am
Well, gee, thanks! I can think of a myriad of things worse than having someone named “sugar” fascinated by you! 😀
Seriously, perhaps you’re the sort of person I’m most writing for. People with curious minds that won’t shut up. People who don’t accept any of the social, political or religious dogma without question. People who are passionately interested in truth and in what the world is. People who still have a sense of wonder, who still want to learn and grow and discover.
You know; my kinda people! 🙂
January 27th, 2013 at 7:28 pm
Wait, wait, wait! Are you saying you didn’t enjoy Janeway and crew?
January 28th, 2013 at 1:25 pm
I’m afraid I did not (please don’t hate me). Part of it was a difficulty with Mrs. Columbo in space; part of it was the holo-doc (a borderline feature with me made into a key character: blurg!); part of it was Neelix and other characters I just couldn’t like (any of’m, really). And, on the one hand, of course, why not a black Vulcan—cool that a black actor can play the “Spock” role—but, hello, copper-based blood and zero precedent.
That one’s a tricky one, because I’m all for racial blindness in play-acting, but true racial justice means also knowing when not to be blind (e.g., a white actor playing MLK). This seems to be one where, for me, a black actor throws me out of the story a little. (Just a little; this is trivial compared to any of my other complaints.) I think the big thing is that—along with all the others—I just didn’t like the actor!
It was Star Trek, so I tried to like it. I’d see episode listings that described what sounded like a good, but I was always disappointed. After a while, I gave up.
I was going to give you a bunch of Trek links I thought you’d enjoy (you have the Trek and science backgrounds to make more sense of them than most, I think). Then I realized I should put them on my Star Trek favorites page. Heading off to do that now… gimme a few.
January 29th, 2013 at 5:56 am
You’ve obviously given this much more thought than I, and I certainly couldn’t hate you for that. I enjoyed Voyager mainly because I thought it to be the closest to the original in that they were exploring. Well, they were lost..and you can’t get much closer to exploration than that.
I hardly consider myself a Trekie, and while I could spend some time talking about Star Trek, and have, I’m just not passionate or knowledgeable enough about it to actually argue anyone their point. In fact, my counter to just about any disagreement is, ‘I like red-alerts.’ Give me enough red-alerts and I’m good. (I think you may now see why any true trekie would find arguing with me extremely unsatisfying.) Voyager gave me red-alerts and exploration.
I had no problem with the halo-doc, I thought he was pretty cool. I did have a problem with the halo-deck in Voyager, in general, and for reasons other than the ones you state. I thought it to be a tremendous use of resources for a ship which was lost, but I could have easily overlooked this were it not that I found most of these indulgences into crew member fantasies to be boring. Anytime an episode opened with a character dressed in any type of period-clothing as opposed to their uniformed the chances of y getting a red-alert went way down.
January 29th, 2013 at 9:29 am
That’s true about the exploring. DS9 wasn’t quite as interesting due to the central location of the space station. (Many feel it was a rip off of Babylon 5.)
“Red alerts!” That’s funny!! Love it.
There has been a truism in TV SF that, once they start doing westerns they’ve run out of ideas. Many feel that OK Corral (“Season of the Gun”?) episode in TOS was one of its death knells. In TNG we have the one I mentioned, Worf and son in a western holo-adventure.
Firefly gets a pass. It was a western… [booming voice] IN SPACE!
January 29th, 2013 at 12:15 pm
Firefly is an exception to many things 😀
January 29th, 2013 at 2:15 pm
I have some characteristics that seem to amaze other people, but I’m deeply, deeply flawed in odd ways that keep me well tethered…. For instance, I’m very ashamed to admit I’ve been watching these commercials for a show, Castle, and thinking it looked a bit too “romcom” for my tastes, but… gee, that guy sure seems familiar!
In my defense, it’s been a while since I watched my Firefly or Serenity DVDs (long enough that I’ve been thinking of queuing them up; I do re-watch old faves from time to time).
March 4th, 2013 at 9:38 pm
I love your blog! I nominated you for a blog award. http://moutnaingirl.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/liebster-blog/
March 5th, 2013 at 7:45 am
Well, how kind of you! Thank you very much! I’ll drop by for a longer visit when my week settles down, but I swing by right now to say “Hello.”
March 27th, 2013 at 4:32 am
Hey Mister….http://heysugarsugar.wordpress.com/2013/03/25/true-colours/
July 30th, 2014 at 11:28 pm
I have nominated you for the “One Lovely Blog Award” – please see the link for details:
Always enjoy reading your posts, Wyrd Smythe!!
July 31st, 2014 at 11:46 am
Well, thank you, very kind of you! 😀
April 9th, 2015 at 2:28 am
Great stuff! I Loved your blog!
Regards from Ravija from at Beyond the Beyond.
April 9th, 2015 at 2:52 am
Thank you; I’m glad you like it!
July 25th, 2015 at 5:11 pm
Hey, is Wyrd Smythe your real name? It seems almost too perfect for a blogger to be a wordsmith. 🙂
July 25th, 2015 at 6:37 pm
Heh. No, not my real name, but one I hope suits me. 🙂
July 25th, 2015 at 5:34 pm
About Voyager. If you get a chance, view Season 5 Episode 23, Relativity on Amazon Prime. I’m a big fan of time travel … and Jeri Ryan.
July 25th, 2015 at 6:42 pm
I’m afraid I was never a fan of Voyager (I could never get past Mrs. Columbo as a starship captain, and I actively disliked most of the cast — hated the holo doc). Just not my cup of tea.
A big fan of time travel… have you seen Looper and Primer? Two very good TT stories!
July 26th, 2015 at 5:38 am
“Looper”, yes. Not sure I’ve seen “Primer”, but I just added it to my watch list in Amazon. Loved “Time Cop”, and “The Time Traveller’s Wife”.
July 26th, 2015 at 11:54 am
Timecop was pretty decent for a JCVD movie. (Did you ever see the really odd movie he did actually called JCVD? Very strange movie where he plays himself.)
To be honest, between Voyager and The Time Traveler’s Wife, I think it’s safe to say we have extremely different tastes in storytelling.
I’ll toss out a funny time travel comedy I saw a while back: Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel. It involves science fiction fans who are well aware of time travel themes and who become involved in time travel. It’s kind of a hoot.
July 26th, 2015 at 12:04 pm
Come to think of it, if you loved The Time Traveler’s Wife, you’d likely love About Time. Done by Richard Curtis, who also did Love Actually. I’m not normally much a fan of romcoms, but that one was quite good for the genre, I thought.
August 24th, 2021 at 2:50 pm
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