Funny how people use “quantum leap” to mean a large jump. In reality, a quantum leap — a real one, not a Scott Bakula one — is a tiny thing. A very tiny thing. Think decimal point, 33 bagels and a number. Tiny. Tiny beyond belief (or unbelief, for that matter).
And yet…
It does mean jumping to a new level very different from the old.
So I was watching the Olympics, which is what everyone is doing these days, and we’ll get to that in a moment.
What I was watching is that one gymnastics event… you know the one, where the gymnast hangs from a pair of parallel bars and does her amazing acrobatics while suspended above several horizontal sheets of glass, each separated by about six inches.
Wait… What?!?
The tragedy in Aurora, Colorado, naturally re-activated the “discussion” of guns and gun control in the blogsphere. As with reproductive rights and gay rights, it’s not really a discussion so much as two sides throwing comments (or worse) at each other.
At least they aren’t throwing bullets (yet?). I guess that’s something.
So this morning I get up and check my work email. There’s a meeting invite from my boss, posted early this morning, for a 9:30 meeting titled “Re Org Update” and to be held in a conference room (rather than in my boss’s office).
None of that sounded good. Unexpected meeting being held immediately. Odd location. No details. I did a [Reply with Comments] to say, “Oh, oh… this doesn’t sound good,” hoping for a calming reply.
No calming reply.
This is too good not to share:
I was a big fan of 2001: A Space Odyssey when it came out in 1968 (I was in high school at the time). I was already a science fiction fan by then, so it was a dream movie for a guy like me. Later, in college, I majored in film and television, so came to appreciate the artistry of the film on a whole new level: as a visual tone poem by Stanley Kubrick.
It remains one of my favorite films, perhaps more for the memories and early exposure than for it being a great film that stands the test of time (although I rather think it is and does). I still see it as a very beautiful film; the visual poetry remains. The soundtrack also is quite extraordinary, I think.
But I’m still waiting for those commercial TWA flights to the Moon base!
Anyway, enjoy the video. It’s a trailer for 2001 as if it were cut today (making the film a Thriller … in space).
Funniest thing I’ve seen all week, and I’m indebted to the Bad Astronomer, Phil Plait, for posting it! If you like space or astronomy (or science or cool things), this is a blog site you want to visit daily. One of the best out there, as far as I’m concerned.
Now, this is what I call a hail stone!
I’ve seen pictures of similar spiky monsters, but this is the first time I’ve seen one in person!
Today a second Brain Bubble; a pair of related BBs fired into the interweb. The first one concerned the “mainstream liberal media” meme. This one concerns another meme we seem to accept as given, but which I think deserves deeper thought. (Of course, I’m prone to thinking most things deserve deeper thought than they get, but that’s another BB… or SB… or full-blown article!)
In any event, this BB concerns the idea of “Class warfare.” It’s a phrase often used by the upper class to describe any sort of perceived “attack” against them. It implies “dirty fighting” and seeks to turn any complaint — no matter how valid — into an ad hominem attack.
Which, of course, would be unfair, right?
At some point the phrase, “liberal media,” became part of the accepted public dialog.
Perhaps “accepted” isn’t the correct word, as some have taken the tack that, “No, this statement is false, the media isn’t liberal at all. Here’s proof…” I have never found their arguments convincing, although obviously I have my own bias on the situation.
For purposes of this Brain Bubble, I’m going to take it as given that, as a rule, the media really does lean left (for common definitions of “media” and “left”).
It’s official, I really like science fiction author Greg Egan! He’s among the modern science fiction authors; his first SF work, the short story Artifact, was published in 1983, so he’s been writing SF for about 28 years. Like many science fiction authors with a science or technical education, he writes non-fiction as well.
And here’s the thing: If you like your science fiction hard, you want to know about Greg Egan. He writes SF as hard as any I know. For instance, consider a novel (Incandescence) in which a key plot thread involves alien beings discovering (Einstein’s) General Relativity in a completely different way than Einstein did.
He reminds me of Hal Clement on several levels, particularly so in the novel I just cited, as part of it is told from the aliens’ point of view (a common device in Clement’s work).
You know how, if you don’t visit or call someone regularly, sometimes the longer you haven’t connected the harder it is to will yourself into connecting again? It’s been that way with this blog. I haven’t posted in a while, and the longer it goes, the harder it is to return. I’m not strapped for the ideas or the desire or even the time; it’s something else that makes sitting down to write a lesser option.
Maybe I just have a huge inertia quotient, but I do find I get “stuck” in doing — or not doing — a thing. It can be hard for me to will a transition; it seems better somehow, or maybe just easier, to keep doing whatever I’m doing. Or not doing. If I get really into something, be it reading a book or doing some task, stopping to eat or sleep seems so inconvenient, so inefficient.
Fortunately, one can eat and drink while reading or working. I haven’t managed to do those things while sleeping though.
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