Well, that didn’t take long!
Multiple news sources have reported on a two-year microbiology study out of Rutgers University (Is the five-second rule real?). The upshot is: Yes, of course it’s not real.
What strikes me is that anyone actually thought it was real. We (meaning pretty much everyone I ever associated with) always understood it as a bit of obvious irony, a self-serving excuse for eating fallen food. If asked, I would have said one would have to be a real idiot to think it was real.
Well… can’t say I’m surprised.
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9 Comments | tags: Anyone But Trump, basket of deplorables, Clinton for President, complete idiots, deplorables, idiots, James Gleick, stupid, stupid people, stupid stupid stupid, stupidity, time travel, Trump is a loser, Trump is a monster | posted in Science, Society
The 1991 movie Grand Canyon, which I wrote about recently, in large part is about how insane life has become. In the 25 years since, the insanity has grown. Perhaps most are so focused on just getting through their life or are so taken up by the distractions and toys of modern living, that they never stop to realize just how really crazy the world has gotten.
I don’t mean the apocalyptic reality presented by TV news, or by the GOP; I mean the sheer insanity of how we go about our business these days, what we accept as “the way things are.”
I mean what we’ve come to accept as normal.
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8 Comments | tags: Best Buy, crazy life, crazy town, crooks, die die die spammers, die horribly spammers, die painfully spammers, die spammers, Hope Solo, insanity, normal, normality, thieves, vanish from the earth spammers, what is normal | posted in Politics, Society
So… I finally saw the most recent Star Wars movie the other night (it has already made its way to cable; meanwhile, I’m still waiting for Interstellar and Ex Machina to show up). Those who know my value system with regard to science fiction, with regard to movies, and especially with regard to science fiction movies, warned me I that I probably wouldn’t like it very much.
But I already knew that was likely just because of who directed it (same guy who nailed the Star Trek coffin shut), so I approached watching it with very low expectations and without any oxen to gore (since I was never really a fan and never really got into the characters or story).
And even so I still really disliked it. A whole bunch.
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8 Comments | tags: science fiction, science fiction movies, Star Wars, Star Wars VII | posted in Movies, Sci-Fi Saturday
On the one hand, global climate change is likely to make things very — strictly in the curse sense — “interesting” for the human race as this millennium progresses. The effects already are obvious, visual, striking, and — one would think — undeniable.
Randall Munroe, of xkcd, has created another of his brilliant graphics, this one showing the history of climate change. It’s well-worth checking out (do it now). It makes the point in a visually striking, and — one would think — undeniable way.
On the other hand, it’s very — in the usual sense — “interesting” that we’re here at all.
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3 Comments | tags: carbon, climate change, Cowboys & Aliens, elements, global warming, gold, Jupiter, mitochondria, moon, Saturn, Saturn's Rings, solar eclipse, Sun, uranium, xkcd | posted in Physics
When did we change? When did we decide that torture was an okay idea? When did we begin to so tolerate the very presence of nationalism, racism, and gender politics? When did we decide to so forsake the values that defined us as a nation?
Why do we think popular or successful means — even defines — what is right? Why do we cling to clearly false beliefs rather than accepting demonstrated facts? Why do we confuse what we like with what is good?
Where is our moral high ground, the set of values espoused by the founders of the USA and which, until recently, have largely been at the center of our national identity. Where is one of the most important questions of all: Is it the right thing?
What is wrong with us that an obviously unqualified raging narcissistic reality TV show star has even a chance of being elected President of the country? How can we possibly be this foolish? What makes anyone think he can even begin to deliver?
Who will we elect, someone who — like her or not — is clearly qualified to run the country, or an ignorant human monster surfing a wave of hate, fear, and angry frustration? Perhaps more importantly, who are we as a people?
Who do we want to be?
Which way will we turn? Towards the Dark Side? Or towards the light?
∇
Leave a comment | tags: Anyone But Trump, Clinton for President, democracy, Democratic Party, democratic society, dialectic, Donald Trump, election 2016, GOP, Hillary Clinton, HRC, politicians, Republican Party, social change, social issues, social media, Trump is a loser, Trump is a monster | posted in Opinion, Politics, Society
A different, more personal, anniversary… Looking back at the five years of this blog (or, for that matter, the many more years of this blogger), I can’t help but reflect on how man- and mice-plans go astray.
Case in point: Sidebands. Originally, as the name implies, meant as out-of-the-norm posts. True of the first few, but by #41 they’d become too inclusive, not much different from regular posts. The idea needed retooling; it was over a year before I posted #42. (And I added Brain Bubbles for minor-topic or very short posts.)
Since then, I’ve tried to restrict Sidebands to extremely technical topics. (For example, #59. I should have made that tesseract post #60, and today doubly wish I had.)
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Leave a comment | tags: 60-61, sun sign | posted in Life, Sideband
It’s one of those days you remember better than any birthday or wedding. Those were planned; these hit you suddenly, stunning your mind, breaking your heart. “The shuttle blew up!” “The Towers fell!”
The impact was even greater if you saw it happen in real-time. If you watched the shuttle launches. If you caught the breaking news before the second tower was hit. Saw the second plane, realized at that moment, “This is no accident!”
Even if you saw it after, you saw it; saw it as an attack.
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5 Comments | tags: 9-11, Earth, emotional mind, human mind, humanity, making movies, media, moon, rational mind, rational thought, Sun, Venus, war movies | posted in Life, Politics, Society, TV
Foam: Lots of little bubbles. In this case, a dump of various news items that caught my eye but which didn’t — for whatever reason — fit into the previous bubbles. (Or which I just forgot to include.)
Truth be told, I’m actually getting a little bored with these bubble posts of news items. But I’d accumulated so many of them by the time I got the idea that it’s taken some effort to flush the queue. And it has been nice that other writers, and other events, have been making my points for me.
And now I’m down to the foam at the bottom of the glass…
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Leave a comment | tags: carbon, Comedy Central, consciousness, Facebook, Gawker, human consciousness, human mind, Immanuel Kant, Joan Didion, John Oliver, Jon Stewart, Nick Ut, Phan Thi Kim Phuc, Samantha Bee, The Daily Show, The Nightly Show, Trevor Noah | posted in Brain Bubble, Society
I’ve said in the past that all the crazy and stupid in the world doesn’t make me bitter so much as bemused (which is not at all the same as amused). Lately, as the stakes seem higher and the ought-is gap ever wider, I have to admit to a fair degree of bitterness. It just doesn’t have to be this bad, and often I can’t really grasp why it is.
I read my news feed and am struck by the juxtaposition of items describing the tragedies of life so many experience daily with… handwringing over Taylor Swift’s latest romantic breakup.
Ah, the flotsam and jetsam of modern humanity…
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18 Comments | tags: Burning Man, Candy Crush, Clint Eastwood, fads, Harambe, internet, interweb, National Parks, Pokemon Go | posted in Brain Bubble, Society
Looking back over the trail of sour bubbles, obvious themes emerge: Society, Politics, Media, The Interweb. Important topics that affect and reflect us. Topics I find filled with dire signs and portents, chill winds carrying a hint of smoke that makes my neck hairs stand up straight.
For example, Vin Scully is retiring. If that’s not a sign of the coming apocalypse, I don’t know what one is. Adding insult, my Minnesota Twins are having a bad season of truly biblical proportions.
So, a strange sour silly summer…
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2 Comments | tags: Anyone But Trump, democracy, democratic society, dogs, Dunning-Kruger effect, emotional mind, Google effect, internet, interweb, millennials, nevermore, opinions, politicians, rational mind, rational thought, stupid, stupid people, stupid stupid stupid, stupidity, Trump is a loser, Trump is a monster, truth, Vin Scully | posted in Brain Bubble, Politics, Society, The Interweb
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