The bright side of a Moon
Today I swam in the ocean, drank, talked to new friends from London, South Africa, Wisconsin, California, Canada, and of course, Mexico. And had dinner with my family. I left my iPhone in a taxi, and it was returned to me – after I offered a reward.
I understand it snowed back in Portland.
Merry Christmas, everyone.
As a guest writer, there are a number of things I’ve thought of writing here. However the only words that are coming to my head, at the moment, are sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. Very cliché, eh? And yet, when one ponders it further, those three things are the very ideas Americans still revolve around: The lusts, addictions, and subjective feelings that consume us.
No matter the reasons which brought us to this point, we all have a mantra which helps get us through the day. Mine is, “Make ’em laugh!” Although there were few I love yous said aloud in my homestead, I grew up hearing the sweet sound of laughter as its replacement. This sound connects me to others. I refined it and was paid as a professional, for a number of years, to use it. I am addicted to the contagious human-made noise.
We ponder. We react. We desire and search. Subconsciously justifying it in our heads, and consciously acting due to the result. All of it making us rather unique, while still fitting perfecting in with the rest of society. Whether it’s right or wrong, it is what people do.
“Sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll, man!“
Think about it.
One glimpse’ll show you now, baby
What the music can do
One kiss’ll show you now, baby
It can happen to you
I am leaving for Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico, early tomorrow morning. Posting from me will be light until after I return on Thursday 3 January 2008. I may post. I may not. You’ll just have to wait and see.
But in the meantime, I’ve asked some of my friends to fill in, with a guest post each (more if they feel the urge). I can’t wait to see what they’re writing about; I gave them no direction beyond “write whatever you like.” They may disagree with me; they may respond to something I’ve written before; they may make death threats (but I hope not – they don’t strike me as the death-threatening kind). But they’ll bring a different perspective to my little truck on the intertubes, and for that, I am thankful.
The guest posters are (in alphabetical order):
I’m not going to be too mad if these four get way more comments on their posts than I do. Not too mad…
At any rate, I hope all my readers enjoy their year-ending celebrations, and take care of each other. Feliz Navidad!
This is my second year for the Carl Sagan Blogathon.
In fact, it’s the second year for the Blogathon itself.
Yay, I got in on the ground floor!
December 20th, 2007 is the 11th anniversary of Carl Sagan’s death. It is also the 10th anniversary of the release of “Contact”, the science-fiction flick based on Carl Sagan’s only work of fiction. Sadly, the astronomer did not live to see the debut of the film.
I have a confession to make; I have never read “Contact”. When the novel first came out, in 1985, Dr. Sagan was at a peak of his popularity, and I had long been a fan of his pop science books and of “Cosmos”, the television series he created. But for some reason, the idea of this man of science writing genre fiction did not sit well with me.
Don’t think that I was above reading sci-fi. Not at all. I read it. It was most of what I read, if by “most” you mean “99.9993%”. Larry Niven was my fav, if I recall correctly.
But could an actual scientist write a good story?
Little did I know that science and the pursuit of science lends itself particularly well to crafting a good story. There are so many scientists who write, I am now well aware. And, in fact, I was even aware of those authors back in 1985: Isaac Asimov, who was a professor of biochemistry at Boston University. Arthur C. Clarke. a mathematician and physicist. Rudy Rucker, a mathematician who taught at many schools, before retiring from San Jose State University.
The difference was, I knew them as authors first, and as scientists second.
Carl Sagan was always a scientist in my mind. And that meant that I never even considered his work of fiction, Contact.
So my first experience with Dr. Sagan’s gift for sincere, hopeful, human storytelling about relationships, was the Jody Foster movie. Seeing the character of Ellie Arroway butt heads with bureaucrats and politicians to try to get some science done, and seeing her fondness for her father, showed me a side of Carl Sagan I had not previously understood. Carl Sagan knew people, just as much as he seemed to know astrophysics.
After seeing “Contact”, I had a new-found appreciation of the book he co-authored with his wife, Ann Druyan, “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors: A Search for Who We Are”, shows how compassionate and insightful an atheist could be towards the only species we know of that has evolved intelligence… and how close that species (us) is to the rest of life on this planet.
Re-reading “Dragons of Eden” after seeing “Contact” only reinforced the view; Carl Sagan knew people. He knew the lows to which they could sink, and the heights to which they could rise. And he strove towards the latter. In public view, he was always positive, and cheerful, even when pointing out the terrible mistakes he saw humanity making.
And as I noted last year, Carl Sagan was able to admit his own mistakes and failings.
Carl Sagan is one of my intellectual heroes. This is not a sad day. Dr. Sagan’s legacy is that we should continue to reach for the stars.
If I were braining clearly, I would come up with a word, a new word, a word that encapsulated the experience and feeling of having a call come in that’s clearly identified by the Caller ID to be someone you know, and picking up and saying “Hello?” as if you did not know that person, and having them, in a worried or nervous or confused way, explain to you who they are.
Just seems like a weird oversight that there are no FlexCars at or near the Portland Airport. Maybe even several cars.
For example, I have an international flight leaving at 6:00 AM on Saturday, and it would be nice to reserve a car at the airport the night before, take it home, and then return it around 3:30-4:00 AM, giving me plenty of time to check in for my flight.
But I can’t. No FlexCars at the airport. Just seems weird.
Watching the new Futurama movie for the third time last night, I noticed that Bender’s email address is bender@ilovebender.com.
Just figures that robot would have his own custom domain. Hell, he probably hosts it himself. Literally.
So I sent him this:
From: Me
To: Bender [bender@ilovebender.com]
Subject: I love Bender, too!I want to be as evil as Bender if I grow up!
And nearly immediately I got the following response:
From: Bender
To: Brian Moon
Subject: Re: I love Bender, too!Dear New Friend,
Thank you for writing to me, Bender. It really means a lot to me. Not many humans contact me because I am so rude and impatient. You’re starting to get on my nerves now. Quit buggin’ me, meatbag!
P.S. – Buy my DVD.
Love,
Bender
And, of course, there’s a bunch of promotional stuff located at that domain.
I love modern internet-based marketing. But only when they’re marketing things I love. When they’re things I don’t love, they suck.
In fact, my default ringtone is the theme song to “Futurama”… and my close friends announce their incoming calls on my iPhone with Bender saying, “Bite my shiny metal ass.” Which makes me laugh every time I hear it.
But I want to have my all-time favorite Bender line:
Futurama – Bender – Oh Your God! – Watch the top videos of the week here
I’ll have to rip it myself, I think. Can’t find it out on the internets.
These are the new albums or artists I liked enough to purchase in 2007:
Lights out at the coffee shop means whoever was supposed to open, isn’t.
No coffee means whatever is supposed to wake me up, isn’t.
Last week, I ran at least 7.5 miles for my long run. Including walking breaks and water breaks, I finished in an 1:36 – that’s an hour and thirty-six minutes.
This week, I ran at least 8 miles for my long run, and I finished in 1:30. Yes, six minutes faster.
Feels good.