Category Archives: Blogs' Archive

Yes, I think that point needs to be made more often, that the famous Drake Equation is not an equation at all, and should be more properly called the Drake Checklist.  When we  know all the numbers, when we have  values for things like ‘what percentage of planets have evolved life, then we will probably have already established contact  and tourists from Earth will be traveling far and  wide throughout the galaxy, and annoying the hell  out of everybody.

But I think the stickler might be ‘percentage of planets where life evolves which evolve technological civilizations.’  Perhaps I’m thinking a bit too much of ‘life as we know it, but it seems to me two  things are necessary for that – opposable thumbs  and the ability to work metal.  And that means any intelligent life that evolves in  an ocean  is probably out of luck, because you need  fire, and any airborne creatures wouldn’t be able to accumulate the raw resources, so you need to evolve  on a planet which has plenty of  water, and an  atmosphere, but also enough land to support a technological  civilization.  Seems to me, it might be  a rare combination.

This video right here, which doesn’t look like it  was photo-shopped at all to me, is the funniest thing to come through the old intertubes in a while.  The Democrats in congress may be too weak to mount an impeachment, and I suspect that Mueller, in the end, may be too much of a political putz to bring an indictment, but it certainly makes him look ridiculous and  is absolute proof that he’s been lying about that being his  own hair.  Provided, of course, it’s genuine, and so far I see no reason to  believe it’s not.

Then, there’s this thing about having a big, Soviet style military parade.  It’s nuts, it’s clearly nuts, but I’ve already seen some of the Trumpeteers on my page supporting it, saying we liberals don’t truly support the military.  And by military, I’m sure they mean the flag and all the rest of that foofaraw.  I’ve heard plenty of good responses to it, there are memes galore, but I felt Rand Paul delivered the best response.  “Sure, let’s have a parade,” he said.  “Let’s declare victory in Afghanistan, bring all  our troops home, and have one hell  of a  parade.”  I paraphrase, but that was the gist.

Rand Paul may be a bit of a right wing lunatic of his own kind, but he’s smart and sometimes says things I  agree with.  Also, unlike Trump, I think he actually is working for what he thinks is the good  of the country.  Trump just wants a parade.

I certainly hope that his plans for energy independent homes, cheap rooftop solar tiles, and electric cars gain traction and free the world  from the grip of the evil oil  companies, who would willingly kill us all just to stay  rich a little bit longer, but what he did today certainly cements his role as coolest human being alive.  Cooler even than Bernie Sanders, and that’s saying a lot.  Cooler than Bernie Sanders and Ed Sheeran put together.

He launched a rocket from Cape Canaveral, at less than a tenth the  cost of  a NASA launch, by the way, which was an amazing success.  It  was larger than most rockets, so  will be able to take larger things into space.  That’s why they called it Falcon Heavy. Two of the booster rockets – you know, the ones that always fall away after a launch and burn up on re-entry- landed, unharmed and upright, exactly on the x prepared for them back at Canaveral.  (The third one was supposed to land on an aircraft carrier but missed, landing in the ocean.  So, it wasn’t perfect.)

But the coolest part of all was what the rocket carried into space: a cherry red, convertible Tesla roadster, with an astronaut (well, a spacesuit) at the wheel.  It will do  a flyby of Mars and continue out into space forever, at a speed no car on Earth could ever imagine, with David Bowie’s ‘Star Man’ eternally playing on the radio.
Imagine: a few centuries from now, an alien ship is approaching Earth.  They see, coming toward them, a bright red convertible.  I can’t think of a better introduction.

Albert is definitely the worst supermarket in the world.  They are badly organized, they run out of stuff (like rolls, for  instance) a lot, and their cashiers tend to be old, and rude, and unpleasant.

But, it’s where I usually shop, just because it’s the closest supermarket to where we live.  In fact, it’s the closest two.  There’s a Billa just a bit further than the 2nd Albert, and a Kaufland about that distance in the other direction, but unless I’m looking for a long walk, and not buying anything heavy, I usually wind up at Albert #1.

Now, the other day there, I decided to stock up on the cheap, packet noodle soups.  We call them Chinese soups but any Chinese person would probably resent that.  They are probably not the most nutritious option, filled  with  monosodium glutamate, but the kids love them, they are easy to make and, as I mentioned, they are cheap.

4 crowns 90, which of course is always rounded up to 5 crowns.  They don’t even  mint the hellers anymore.  So, 4 crowns 90 is actually an  imaginary amount.  Unpayable.  An unreal number.
So, the  cashier saw I had ten (figuring that way I  would  only pay  49 crowns, instead of 50) and said “I’ll just ring this up 5 at a time, O.K.?”

Well, partly I wasn’t quick enough to mount an argument, partly I  was gobsmacked they would pull that shit, but mostly I  didn’t want  to get into an embarrassing argument over 1 crown (20 something to the dollar, so a bit less than a nickel) with a line behind me.
Also, I’m sure it wasn’t the cashier’s fault.  I’m sure she’d been instructed to do precisely that in that situation, because it’s no more trouble to multiply by 10 and get to 49 crowns as to do them 5 at a time, round up each 5 from 24.50 to an even 25, and there you have it.
But, here is why some people are rich and some people are poor.  While I would have been embarrassed to cause a confrontation over such a small amount, the owners of Albert who, I’m sure, are all worth millions (in Euros) are not embarrassed at all about using such a cheap, penny pinching trick dozens, probably hundreds of times a day.

Bastards.

It’s funny.  I mean funny as in strange, not as in ha-ha.  It’s funny that some things are important to us and others aren’t.  I guess that’s not funny, because obviously we’re going to prioritize some things over other things, but which things, that’s what’s funny.

I don’t care much about American football.  I enjoyed playing it as a kid, went to all the games in High School, but haven’t watched it in years and never had a favorite pro team.  It doesn’t affect my life at all.  Nonetheless, although I’ve never had a favorite sports team, there have been a few I’ve disliked intensely.  Dallas Cowboys.  L.A. Lakers.  And, most recently, the Patriots.  It’s not too hard to figure out the pattern.   When a team starts winning too often, I want to see them knocked down a peg.  The lobster brain is kicking in.
So, congratulations to Philadelphia and the Eagles.  What’s up with your moron fans, though?  You need to get that shit under control.

On the other hand, even though it may be an omen of bad times to come for the world economy, I find myself not caring at all that the Dow dropped over 1,000 points today.  To be honest, I have very little idea of how big a drop 1,000 points is.  I mean, is that like 6 points in American football, or like 36?

Doesn’t matter.   I don’t have any money in the stock market, haven’t since 2008, and so I don’t care.  Other people lost money, and almost all of them are wealthier people than me, so they can deal with it.

That’s how it works, isn’t it?