Time Travel Note

It's pretty standard, in time travel shows or stories, to have someone at some point say "well, there is no time, there is no before, there is no after-- it's all perception."  It's also standard to have someone struggle to find another way to say 'before' or 'after' without implying time.  Sometimes, it's the same character, commenting about the way human language can't handle the complexities.

If time is a matter of perception, then there still is a before and after, and it would be identical from an individual standpoint.  The only difference, accepting the theory, would be that "before" and "after" aren't constants, they're descriptions of an individual series of events.

Am I missing anything?

(Brought on by this, and figuring out if it was flawed.  I think so....)

Monster Talk!

It's a podcast I know I've mentioned around.  They're on iTunes, and typing monsterquest.com will get you directed to their site.

I get a kick out of it for a couple of reasons.  First, because it was my introduction to the religion of Skeptic-- listen, you'll see what I mean; their way of talking about it matches up pretty well with PID's Christian talk-- second, because their stated goal is to scientifically argue against cryptids (Bigfoot, Nessy, what have you) and they keep failing.  Seriously, I'm still not entirely sure they're serious-- "Ho ho!  We, the Skeptics, are the voice of Reason!  And this claim is false, because it was made by CREATIONISTS!"  By the way, pretty much anyone not utterly agreeing with their form of evolution is a CREATIONIST.  It's sort of funny.  A softball like this, their choice of targets, and they fail on form?

Also, it's enjoyable to listen to them or their guests talk and ask yourself why they missed an obvious answer.  First example to come to mind: a guy is talking about his upcoming book, and he very earnestly tells them that the topic has never been covered-- he went to amazon, typed in 'cryptozoology,' and all of the top 100 results that came up were for it, or only refuted one-- Bigfoot or Nessy, generally.  My first thought: well, duh, not a lot of folks write books countering an entire field unless they've got a bug in their ear, like you do.  (incidentally, the top result when I searched was Cryptozoology A To Z: The Encyclopedia of Loch Monsters, Sasquatch, Chupacabras, and Other Authentic Mysteries of Nature.  I have this book, and part of why I like it is the way it lists known frauds, hoaxes and such, seems to try to keep a neutral tone.)

Really enjoy their latest podcast, though, since the guest seemed to try very hard to stick to science, even if he did keep going on about creationists, and was rather off-putting and stuck up about amateurism vs professionals.  If you put yourself in the mindset that the science they accept is a religion and don't expect it to be the sort of idealized science of theory, it makes sense.  (For example, also in this ep, they spent a few minutes making fun of some guy for being a Creationist who first suggested that sea serpents might be Nessy type dinosaurs. {I know, technically not dinos.}  Eventually, they mention it was before the theory of evolution, and that he was making the theory based on the fossil remains around England.  Uh, guys?  That's science; you take what data you have-- reports of 'serpents' in the sea, fossils of long-necked swimming creatures-- and make a theory.  Even if it's wrong, that's what you're supposed to do....)

Interesting, though, and it's great fun to sharpen arguments for something that doesn't matter!

Singing Metal

As in "rock," not as in "poetic description of swords."

I have no idea where I got this, I remember seeing the link a while ago, opening it and then not getting around to watching it because Hulu got a new batch of Modern Marvels in....

Anyways.

Watch, or at least listen, is awesome!

That Eco-Terrorist

Wintery Knight already wrote up all the disturbing details.

Go down below the obvious-but-must-be-said stuff.

Me, I'll go back to trying to remember what book it was that had a villain like this guy-- I think it was an Anne McCaffrey book, with a "social Darwinist" as a secondary villain.

"But They're Already In The House!"

New home security radio commercial, the woman keeps saying that-- I didn't pay attention until the first time she said it.  The guy was obviously over a phone, telling her to calm down and call 911.

Ended with her saying "the children, I'm going to the children."

Cue the "our system stays up even when the power is down, inexpensive install and subscription" and such.

...

You know what this jumpy mcfraidy pants does when she hears a sound?  Grabs a weapon and goes to investigate.  WD-40 probably isn't as good as wasp spray or as appropriate as mace, (of course, you can't have a resistance to 'I just got grease in my eyes' either) but I'll take it over trying a shield-bash, and for similar reason-- disable any theoretical bad guy long enough for me to do harm with whatever I have in the other hand, get Kit, get out.

Of course, there's always guns, too, but that would be over kill for "odd sound" checking around; also rather dangerous, since we don't have a shotgun.  (Hm.  Mental note: get snake shot.)

It may not be a great plan, but I do have a plan (or three) for any likely route of unauthorized access, including knowing what walls are solid enough to be decent cover and which ones are basically painted cardboard. (that would be most of them....)  Knives in strategic places, aim-able sprays by them; it's not like I'm buying new stuff, I just have things like the WD-40 in a handy spot for normal use, so I put a knife with it.  We even have a sword hanging around.  Not sharp, but get thumped in the knee/ankle it a pointy baseball bat and you'll feel it.  (Can't wait until we can get Elf's stuff to this side of the country-- he's got a nice Japanese blade collection.)

I'll probably stop short of taping wrenches under tables, though.  That's a little TOO much like the engineers.