The subject of this week’s newsletter is just one of my rambling notions. It’s got to be frustrating to be a genius with no platform.
Please get jokes?
But the singularity might happen so fast, we won’t have a chance to comprehend it’s happening. Then it’s anyone’s guess about fundamental changes to our reality. If it happens, which is a conversation. I’m leaning yes.
Ok… we’re off and running! I’m realizing there’s a disconnect about how people use the internet. There’s the consumers… scrollers, readers, meme watchers. Then there’s the creators. I sit on the fence in the middle, inhaling the better parts of that information I am addicted to, and then spreading it wide. Frankly I have about 40 ideas for books and I’m going to start down that path once again… but the newsletter is just fun fun. I’ve actually gotten incredible feedback, and it’s appreciated and good to know.
When Bill Murray and Chevy Chase got into a physical fight during Chase’s return to SNL as a guest host, Bill Murray pointed at Chase and yelled, ‘MEDIUM TALENT,’ and I think that might be the most brutal insult in history.
No Wilde quote, no rap diss track compares.
— Gail Simone (@GailSimone) April 17, 2021
- Man, the future is so effing weird:
WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS, YOU FIGHT FIRE WITH SNOW

SPACE
- Thomas Pesquet’s photostream #flickr https://flic.kr/ps/26LQ67 Astronaut @Thom_astro‘s unbelievable images of the earth from space. That’s Milan, but click through for so much more.
- I had posted about the company testing out how to clean space junk up, after a Chinese and Malaysian satellite both went offline, former by Russian spacejunk, and latter TBD. Of course we need to clean it up… but what are the legal ramifications? Who do you sue when your sat is destroyed?
“Does this spark joy? Decluttering space – the legal questions” https://www.aerosociety.com/news/does-this-spark-joy-decluttering-space-the-legal-questions/
- Hubble’s back online, and wow. Voltron battling Galactus? No, but I’d like to see it.
Amazing Hubble telescope photo shows space ‘sword’ piercing huge celestial ‘heart’: The photo captures a relatively uncommon phenomenon called a Herbig-Haro object. https://www.space.com/hubble-telescope-space-sword-heart-star-jets-photo

- It’s wild, this time lapse imaging of the Caldor fire. I wonder if aliens look at civilization and are like “well the city is a tumor” the fires and floods are open sores and these guys don’t have much time.
WILDFIRE UPDATE: The raging #CaldorFire continues to threaten communities near #LakeTahoe, seen here last evening from @NOAA‘s #GOES17?????. At last report, the #wildfire had grown to 186,500+ acres and the governors of Calif. and Nev. have declared states of emergency. #CAwx #NVwx pic.twitter.com/K6qqs5KB8b
— NOAA Satellites – Public Affairs (@NOAASatellitePA) August 31, 2021
- Advanced civilizations could be using Dyson spheres to collect energy from black holes https://phys.org/news/2021-08-advanced-civilizations-dyson-spheres-energy.html

SCI-TECH
- I think we’re overstating where we are, but fusion breakthroughs are a huge deal, and they are the balm that will heal our planet and impact….
“Physicists Just Broke the Laser-Fusion Record, Generating 700 Times the US Energy Grid Producing 10 quadrillion watts of fusion power!” https://interestingengineering.com/physicists-broke-the-laser-fusion-record-700-times-us-energy-grid
- Anyone seen the film “Chopping Mall”??
Robots To Patrol Singapore Streets To Detect Bad Social Behaviour Singapore has started trials of two autonomous robots to detect poor social behaviour such as flouting of COVID-19 safety measures and smoking in prohibited areas. https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/xavier-robots-to-patrol-singapore-streets-to-detect-bad-social-behaviour-2531742

- Our Universe may have a fifth dimension that would change everything we know about physics https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/fifth-dimension/
- Israeli scientists discover how to reverse cell aging A team of scientists has found why elderly people are more susceptible to COVID-19 and are working to reverse the aging process of the body’s immune system https://www.jpost.com/health-science/israeli-scientists-discover-how-to-reverse-cell-aging-678081
- I was looking up whether you should use hot or cold water when making ice cubes, which is a window into how I am curious about the potential of literally any thought, as answered by science… soooo….. When hot water freezes before cold water:
If the water is initially hot, cooled water at the bottom is denser than the hot water at the top, so no convection will occur and the bottom part will start freezing while the top is still warm. This effect, combined with the evaporation effect, may make hot water freeze faster than cold water in some cases. In this case, of course, the freezer will have worked harder during the given amount of time, extracting more heat from hot water.” https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-it-true-that-hot-water/
- Oil rig roughneck work is BONKERS dangerous. I don’t know what any of this stuff does, and I’m scared.
DAMN NATURE YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY INSANE
The reaction of some of the people like “huh I guess it’s the end of time” passivity is WILD.
When humans have been ground down, I wonder if the apocalypse will just be passivity at the madness, and we greet our end with a shoulder shrug, nervous giggles, and “what now?” while hanging out on the corner with the neighbors.
Así../ pic.twitter.com/JxaNJhyTy3
— Javier Alarcón (@Javier_Alarcon_) September 8, 2021
MOVIES OR TV OR COMEDY
- Been watching this guy since his Comedy Central special of 2015… and it’s been a joy to be on the ride. Some of the funniest stand up ever, and it’s clean as something squeaky.
The Nicest Man in Stand-Up: Nate Bargatze’s humor is slow, inoffensive, even soothing. And he’s one of the hottest acts in comedy. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/10/nate-bargatze-nicest-stand-up/619812/
- BASELESS RUMORS AS A TASTY JAM LIKE MARMALADE: “Comedian Gilbert Gottfried alleges that Romero used to get buck naked and ask stage-hands on the set of Batman to throw orange wedges into his gaping anus…sort of like a dart game but the darts were orange wedges and the target was Romero’s own ass hole.” (source: Santo Padre Chronicle, 2014)
Ok… actually, I’ve got to share a story from the Gottfried podcast that is the definition of blue. This is a graphic story about the famed Barry Sonnenfeld, who started his storied career… shooting porn. The story at 19m15s is something else, and hilarious if you like stand up comedy that they can’t say on the stage.
“And your wife is going to stay in the room?” lol… this is about a scene that got a bit too close for comfort, and knowing you’d never want to have porn released in smellovision. WARNING… the story is so graphic but grossly hilarious. BUT BLUE AS CAN BE.
“Gilbert and Frank welcome former cinematographer and award-winning director and producer Barry Sonnenfeld for an uncensored, laugh-filled conversation about directing temperamental actors, distrusting optimism, respecting movie audiences, helming “The Addams Family” and “Get Shorty” and writing his new memoir, “Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother.” Also, George C. Scott pushes the envelope, Gene Hackman grows a goatee, Barry and Larry David compare neuroses and Michael Jackson cameos in “Men in Black II.” PLUS: “Throw Momma from the Train”! In praise of Dennis Farina! The obsessiveness of Stanley Kubrick! The many conquests of James Caan! And Barry shares his rules for filming comedy scenes!”
- Potentially nightmare inducing, I cannot explain the excitement of the potential energy hiding in Phil Tippett’s directorial debut. Of Star Wars and Jurassic Park fame, and one of the greatest effects people in the history of cinema has made a stop motion freak out that I am ready for.
- Ok… so this smouldering clip led me down a rabbit hole of “thirst in cinema”:
I wish I had words for this but I really do not pic.twitter.com/xJVzOJJCeh
— Christina Newland (@christinalefou) September 4, 2021
And that led me to this Tumblr blog: You know Gene Kelly’s derriere is so storied and famous, people have blogs dedicated to it. Or him? Or both. Gene Kelly’s Butt https://genekellysbutt.tumblr.com
- Oooooof, so sad.
Michael K. Williams talking to different versions of himself on getting typecast as a black man. pic.twitter.com/uRowCxU4Tf
— chu (@chuuzus) September 6, 2021
- ‘The Batman’: “Very graphic, Very Dark, and Very Scary” 3-Hour Cut Screens at WB Headquarters https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2021/8/the-batman-screened-at-wb-headquarters
- I hope Roland Emmerich is in therapy, but I do like his films for what they are. A lot, actually. Here’s his newest disaster film, Moonfall, and it looks like chaos.
MUSIC
- During the Postal Service’s Zoom auditions for new members, The Alan Doore Band’s Manager makes his case:
The Alan Doore Band has 18 members that are hungry to get on stage and do whatever the [pffff] people tell them to. Frank Schøttendt makes his case for adding all 18 to the band the Postal Service because that will cover it. Yeah, that’ll do it.
18 rowdy roughneck arsonists who will bad mouth you, and try to ruin what you have got going, with his mouth.
- “Midnight Sugar”, on the Japanese “Three Blind Mice” label, Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio with just the late night groove. I think we’re all here for it.
- Name a happier song than this? I don’t care because nobody gonna break a mah stride.
Culture, Society, People, and VR Arts
- This photographer takes pics of pups waiting for treats at high speed, and it’s adorable and funny.
- My father in law is Prof Emeritus at a “3 letter agency grad school”, ie The Institute of World Politics and he teaches people about American military history and strategy to people who end up in the State Department, NSA, CIA, FBI, etc. He’s been helpful in giving me perspective on current events, vs the broader timeline a human life has trouble seeing. But in this day and age we need perspective… society is crumbling but it is as equitable as it has ever been. It’s a lot of duality these days, but it’s a lot of compartmentalization. Whatever the case, this perspective was profoundly helpful on understanding our withdrawal from Afghanistan, and why it will be viewed less harshly than the modern news pundits: https://www.iwp.edu/articles/2021/08/16/afghanistan-in-perspective/
- For years, Hawai‘i has been packaged as a picturesque paradise. A place where mainland travelers could forget the worries of home. The problem? Hawai‘i’s land, history, and people are often ignored or trampled. Chris Colin reports on the locals who are pushing back. https://www.afar.com/magazine/learning-to-decolonize-and-travel-responsibly-in-hawaii
- This guy is the definition of “a character”:
- Burning Man is virtual this year: Meaning Virtual Reality. If anything like Museum of Symmetry, I cannot wait. I’ll even dump a vacuum bag worth of dust on the floor! https://virtualburn.burningman.org/booth/
- Hermann Hesse on Little Joys, Breaking the Trance of Busyness, and the Most Important Habit for Living with Presence “The high value put upon every minute of time, the idea of hurry-hurry as the most important objective of living, is unquestionably the most dangerous enemy of joy.” https://www.brainpickings.org/2017/03/06/hermann-hesse-little-joys-my-belief/?mc_cid=eeecaf9f34&mc_eid=ef619e3582
My advice to the person suffering from lack of time and from apathy is this: Seek out each day as many as possible of the small joys, and thriftily save up the larger, more demanding pleasures for holidays and appropriate hours. It is the small joys first of all that are granted us for recreation, for daily relief and disburdenment, not the great ones.
VEHICLES
- THIS THING IS AWESOME. HOVERCRAFTS. I joke that I thought garbage disposals, lava, and quicksand were going to be a way bigger problem for me in my adult life, but I also forgot that I expected hovercrafts EVERYWHERE. I thought they were just a GI Joe toy until I went across the English channel in one, mind blown. This thing better be real:
https://robbreport.com/motors/marine/vonmercier-arosa-worlds-first-luxury-hovercraft-1234633563/


- I had no idea military hovercrafts were so giant:
- I highlighted a GT concept they did, but Audi is thinking into the future quite nicely. Actually it’s so sexy I need to show it again:

This Audi sedan concept further introduces future concept for production. The inexplicable plant is weird, sure. Like what? BUT… I assume it can go away as easily as the steering wheel does, disappearing behind that monstrous but elegant dash.
The Audi Grandsphere Is a Level 4 Autonomous EV Concept With a Disappearing Steering Wheel It’s designed to take your mind off driving—without huge TV-like screens https://www.thedrive.com/tech/42236/the-audi-grandsphere-is-a-level-4-autonomous-ev-concept-with-a-disappearing-steering-wheel

- Could you imagine getting on an Indiana Jones DC-3 in this day and age? I know they’re well maintained but sheesh—> What Are The World’s Oldest Active Passenger Aircraft? https://simpleflying.com/oldest-active-passenger-aircraft/
- CHIP SHORTAGE DRAMA CONTINUES: GM shutting down production at most of its plants in North America https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/09/03/business/gm-plant-closings-chip-shortage/index.html
- Possible Photo Of Highly Secret RQ-180 Aircraft Surfaces Online https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/aircraft-propulsion/possible-photo-highly-secret-rq-180-aircraft-surfaces-online

- Luxury airships is a go! https://www.oceanskycruises.com/our-aircraft/
Looks like a butt. https://futurism.com/the-byte/worlds-largest-aircraft-giant-butt
View this post on Instagram
BUT….
I previously wrote a post about luxury airships as sustainable travel:
Because:
BUT, no… it does really looks like a butt.
- NASA dreams of this reality, based in their “advanced air mobility campaign” –> https://www.nasa.gov/aamnationalcampaign

WELL THEY ARE STARTING TESTS… and this thing is so quiet it’s bonkers. Joby EVTOL has me thinking “I should invest in this company” because it *is* a design game changer… More here: https://www.aerospacetestinginternational.com/news/drones-air-taxis/joby-and-nasa-conduct-flight-tests-for-evtol-noise-analysis.html
- Also, this Audi ad is charming. It was pulled for some reason when Audi USA ran this, and Germany no likey:
https://www.thedrive.com/news/42172/heres-the-deleted-ad-audi-doesnt-want-you-to-see
WTAF I AM SO ANGRY… it’s a great ad. How did HQ not get it?
