Look, I didn’t know this… and odds are, you didn’t know this. In fact, one of you stumbling across this will exclaim, “I have leftover fries right now.” Enjoy.
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Video VideoCities… but Why?
Play enough Civilization and you ponder why the AI places cities where it sometimes does. I’m pretty sure said AIs have never watched this video by Wendover Productions.
Now, if you’re wondering why cities exist in the first place, well, first off, lovers of both Civilization and SimCity will look at you sadly… or maybe longingly, knowing how many accumulated hours, month, and years you haven’t been playing Civilization and SimCity.
More importantly, however, you can watch this video by Wendover Productions.
Fine. The Whole History of the Planet. I guess…
So, last week, I figured we Internet denizens needed a dance break (and hey, being a movie buff, it was a good mash-up), so why not do another video post? This time, it comes from the musically-inclined Bill Wurtz (technically, bill wurtz?)… and it gives a summary of the whole planet (human-centric, naturally).
Note that there is not-safe-for-work (NSFW) language and it’s irreverent throughout, including at least one event that you would like to get more attention.
But it’s damn fun.
Mandatory Dance Break
It’s the even of Memorial Day Weekend here in the States and, despite the holiday being a more solemn occasion, the long weekend has long been the official unofficial start of Summer
So let’s go ahead and help get that out of our systems.
Let’s Talk About Death! (But, y’know, indirectly)
It’s Friday, so it’s time for something light and cheerful. How about death? It is Friday the 13th, you know.
No really, this is about as fun an exploration about the language we use regarding shuffling off the mortal coil that I recall seeing this side of a Charles Addams cartoon. And the doctor below happily explains all sorts of geeky trivia regarding words.
Seriously, if I understood how much fun I might have before having to smell flowers underground, I would have continued some of my linguistic studies.
Boldy Going: First Contact Day, 2022
Okay, I’ll come back and expand on all of this, but for the Trek fans among you, there are several things to celebrate
First is that season 3 of Picard is going to get the band back together as they close out a certain British Frenchman’s story:
Next, they have a glorious 4K restoration of Star Trek: The Motion Picture on Paramount+. If you’re not already itching to see it, wait ’til I explain a simple test to see if you want to watch it (hint: many of you won’t and you should feel free not to).
Finally, they’ve been rocking a series of 30-second character teasers followed by an official trailer for the May 5th debut of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and some clever (video editing) engineer has put them all together:
Again, I’ll come back and comment on all this later. For now: live long and prosper.
Go Boldly, Any Way You Can
I’m working on some more writing this week, so it felt like time to share this:
In my own series, Rogue Tyger, the characters refer to an “FTL drive,” but they also talk about “jumps” so you can deduce that ships in the ‘Tygerverse’ use a form of jump drive. Visually, it’s probably best been represented with the recent incarnation of Battlestar Galactica, but a major inspiration for how the drive works and the variations between commercial and military versions of FTL drives came from Vernor Vinge’s A Fire Upon the Deep.
One of the reasons I went this direction is because a ship’s ability to “jump” or fold fit how I wanted ships to behave in stories. I didn’t want them to be “in hyperspace” or “at warp” for any long period of time. The distance a ship could jump and the speed at which it could re-jump also had dramatic applications I liked — as well as skilled pilots being able to execute pinpoint jumps the fraction of a light-minute versus rookie pilots.
What sort of propulsion systems do you most like (or dislike) in science fiction?
Traffic Schmaffic
I’ll believe the pandemic is behind us when I can’t even see it in the rearview mirror, but it does seem that places are opening up again. That means going back to work in an office for a lot of us… and that means traffic. But what if there were a way to fix traffic? This 11-minute video offers some possible solutions.
Where do Ideas come from? David Lynch Edition
The post from the other week about how hard hobbies are to schedule time for made me think of something I recently saw regarding how to generate ideas… and from a man generally known for having some out-of-the-box type ideas: David Lynch.
As many of you might know, I love using Workflowy, including for capturing ideas. I mean, I love the habit of always carrying around an old-school notebook to jot things down in –and I do have a number of those– but I have to be honest: the ability to jot things down AND link to reference URLs and videos has proven very useful (to say nothing of revising whatever notes or lists I have on the fly based on new ideas).
But whether in print or electronic, my general approach is similar to something I read about author C.S. Forester‘s process in The Hornblower Companion, where he mentioned ideas were like timbers that sank into the sea of his mind until they had enough barnacles (details) to pop back up again and be used for writing (note: this works for writing only, it will not aid the construction of seaworthy vessels).
David Lynch doesn’t employ a timber analogy, but water still plays a role:
I love the idea of tempting ideas to come to you… and in many of his interviews and talks, he’s mentioned being in good health, having slept well, and so on, is a better way to find ideas and be creative — which I appreciate because I’ve long disliked the “starving/suffering artist” stereotype.
Now, while the video above is interesting, the one below uses animation to be a bit more “Lynchian,” where he also directly addresses the suffering silliness.
So go out and catch yourself an idea.
Jon Stewart, Financial Theories, & A Whole Pantry of Canned Worms To Open
Just like last Friday, I have a longer video to share and –if your curiosity is like mine– there’s a whole host of topics you’ll want to read/watch/study more after checking out this hour.