Randomization

I little while ago I wrote a post about re-reading the Rama series of books. I'm a fairly quick reader, but I tend to take long breaks at random times. This means that in the long run, it can take me a long time to read a book if I walk away from it for awhile. So, this week, I decided to pry myself away from the shitty news cycle and finished up the second book and started the third. It starts about nine months after the previous books when the main character has her baby and an alien space ship. She also remembers some things from the past nine much, such as recording a video for her daughter she will never see again that is left on Earth and then rewinding the tape......in the 2200's. This made me giggle a little. Tape still has it's uses, but it's mostly for long term storage. Not a record to be send by radio waves type use. The Rama books do pretty good on this front. They are more about explaining the advanced nature of the alien ship than they are about human tec...

I have, in the past, been late when writing blog. My memory isn't great for stuff like that until the day after. My brother, Pilot, seems to be much better. He hasn't missed a Tuesday and has even posted a few times that weren't his turn. Imagine my surprise when he didn't post this week on his day. He eventually posted his late post and indicated he was sick. Poor little guy. Now, as I said above, I've done the same thing without being sick, so I don't want to judge him. Things happen and it's not the end of the world that he missed. But, imagine my shock when I found his princess diary and it told the real story! Let's listen in with our eyes below! -- Jan 20/202 5 6 Dear Diary, OMG! What a crazy day I've had. I woke up this morning, as usual, and had my breakfast. Rhonda was out back practicing her Kung Fu skills with Bruce Lee's ghost and the kids were still locked up in the basement. Ahsoka ran over to me and said "Hey, pops! Let's ...

I've talked about wanting to write more in previous posts. As it sits, I've basically just done nothing. I've got a single chapter of a story and it's not good. One of the issues is that I'm really not good at writing dialogue or what people are doing. I'm more of a technical writer. I got inspired a little back by the first Rama book cause it's mostly just a description of a world and very little dialogue or character development. But I already posted about that. The other day it hit me though. I have an idea for a large world. I enjoy building a world more than I do telling stories that happen in it. I also would like to get into technical writing more, but I have no experience at the moment. So, why not write scientific papers on the creatures and places of that world? It would be good experience and then I'd have some sort of portfolio. Of course, there are issues with this. Namely, I've never fully read a scientific paper, just snippets. So, whe...

The Kardashev scale is a method of classifying civilizational technology level. It is entirely based on the amount of energy consumed from different sources. If a species can use 100% of their planetary energy, then they are a level 1 civilization. Once they can use 100% of a star, they are level 2. Level three is reached by using 100% of a galaxy. Mankind currently sits around a 0.7 on the scale, which means we can harness and use 70% of the earths energy. I feel that's a little high since we are so geothermally untapped, but much smarter people than me came to that number. I do wonder if we will ever hit level one or if we could just skip to level two. The depths of the oceans and the interior of the planet are so difficult to get to that space travel becomes easier. We technically have all the technology we need to be able to create robots that min mercury and create solar panels and other robots. It would be a lot of money, but the tech is there. Mining to through the Earth...

I was watching a Hank Green video a few weeks ago and he made a comment that has stuck with me. I don't remember exactly what the entire video was about, but he basically started out saying that educating people about many issues doesn't work and we know it doesn't. I know that sounds bad but I'm also paraphrasing. We've taught people about climate change, trans rights, etc. and it doesn't matter for most people. If they have a thought in their mind, no amount of education will change that unless they want it to. That's not to say that you can't teach an individual something, but it's hard to do it for a lot of people and yeah, we know that. I think that has a lot to do with curiosity. I've been bugged before about not travelling the world by people who spend their average day just doing their job, watching TV and learning nothing new. I am constantly ingesting new facts and knowledge though. Do I remember all of them? Hell no, but I am always cu...

Beyond the realm of man, Past our longest memory, Before the reign of mammals, And the even before that. A beard in red, Toys in a sack. Behold the terror, Of gifts in the night. Every home in one day? To hell with your physics! Past lightspeed he goes, Devastation he spreads. He starts at a spot. We know as Chicxulub. Red. Red! RED! All is fire. The shockwave flies, Extinction arrives. The ash settles down. Quiet engulfs the land. A lesson he's learned, About his powerful reach. "Ho, Ho, Ho." he exclaims! "I've killed the dinosaurs! Next time I'll be more careful, and make my home in the North." "For I am Santa Claus, A being of great might, But I guess I fucked up, Whoopsie Daisy."

...Really wasn't that bad up here in Saskatoon. I decided to stay home Wednesday and Thursday rather than risking driving. belle had to drive, she couldn't work from home, and had a rough time driving home. But in the end it really wasn't bad up here in Saskatoon. We got less than half of the foot of snow predicted and I easily could have good to work on Thursday, I just wanted to hang with Capone and Sadie. Many places south of us got it. We basically just caught the north edge of it so it just was making sure we have a white Christmas. Christmas. Yup. It's coming. Less than one week and I haven't done any shopping at all. Cool. Money is a bit tight this year so Daniella and I have limited how much we are spending and focusing on making things for each other. She knows what she is getting as she specifically asked (demanded) for it. I, on the other hand, have no idea what I am getting. Probably some sort of fusion reactor. This is actually a weird situation because...