Danger Will Robinson - 600 Generations Removed

Dave unearths a fascinating report by one of two teams charged with designing a marking system for a massive nuclear waste dump which needs to accurately convey the danger of said nuclear waste for at least 10,000 years. What would you do? I definitely classify this link as a must read for the extremely interesting issues such long-term and imperative thinking raises. Interesting how 10,000 years is such a milestone. Witness the Clock of the Long Now.

Addicted to Time

After seeing the movie The Time Machine, I was inspired to start reading a book that had been on my shelf since its release in 1999: Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything (official site, with book bits and links) by James Gleick, author of Chaos and a biography of physicist Richard Feynman. It is a very interesting book, one of those that makes you realize what you have been doing and why without making you feel like an idiot. It is also a great piece of historical teaching, going back to the invention of clocks, wrist watches, etc. and exploring associated issues like societal acceptance, impact, technology, psychology, etc.

I will post from time to time the various thoughts that stream through my mind as I continue reading the book. I wonder if the last book I read, Gonzo Marketing, will impact my impressions. The next book I tackle, Small Pieces Loosely Joined, should be a nice follow-up. Those who know me are well aware of my addicition to time. My first domain, purchased in 1997, and still online (although not touched in 2 years) is Y3K.com.

First ponderance:
James recounts a passage from Gulliver's Travels in which the Lilliputians assume that his watch is his god because "he seldom did anything without consulting it: he called it his oracle, and said that is pointed out the time for every action of his life." People perceive time as a bandit, a guide and a challenger, among other metaphors. What if time was a companion? We occasionally hang out, sometimes I am the dominant part, sometimes time is. We compromise, we understand when certain things are dominated by Time and when other things are not relevant to Time. What if you spent just one week of your life without consulting clocks unless specifically for an upcoming meeting or other time-sensitive issue. Otherwise, what would happen if you spent a week being time-insensitive? I dunno....

Recently there has been some discussion in blogs about the Internet experience as place, space and/or time, among other attempted metaphors. I tend to agree with the idea that the Internet should be considered CyberTime more so than CyberSpace. Our experience with the Internet is almost always based on the nomenclature of time. We wait for pages to load; we communicate with instant messages or e-mail (as opposed to snail mail); we want fast connections that are always-on (no-time-to-connect); we get annoyed by interstitials; we download tools to block page-load-delaying banners and other tools to block the time wasted on closing pop-up windows (and don't you always have to catch it before the content loads so you can tell your friends "I always close them before they even load! Worship me!"); we want instant news alerts and we want to be notified of responses to our message board postings or updates to our favorite blogs so we don't waste time simply checking in. None of that has to do with space or location.

My readings continue. My ponderances will continue. Please feel free to comment.

The Scoop of the Century

I am happy to be writing this post shortly following the release of the new Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones trailer. A friend and fellow graduate of the film school at Brooklyn College is writing, producing, directing and starring in his very own Star Wars fan film. Here, for the first time ever, is your sneak peak at his first screen test (in Quicktime format, which may require a plugin).

Star Wars: The Fett Prophecy screen test

click to view the video file (1.8 MB)

May the Shwirtz Be With Him!

Six Months Later

1.4 million tons of debris have been taken away from the WTC site
That's 83% of the WTC rubble
Only 5 people were rescued from the WTC rubble on 9/11
2830 people were killed at the WTC (not "around 3000" or "more than 2000" but rather 2830)
343 of those were firefighters
200 firefighters still aren't back to work because of respiratory problems
103 firefighters still aren't back to work because of stress
44 people were killed on the plane that went down in PA
189 people were killed in the Pentagon

Statistics are cold facts that convey no emotion. Abstract statistics ("around 3000") insult the dead. Placing importance on the 180th day following the attacks is typical human sentiment for mostly meaningless benchmarks. The 179th day, the 181st day and the 1800th day all bear the same responsibility of remembrance, vigilance and dedication to insuring nothing like the attacks of September 11th ever happen again.

Will killing those who share the ideology of the suicide terrorists help? Sure. Will it eliminate the root of why they have that ideology? Probably not. When a coward boards a public bus in Israel, pays the toll, sits down and blows himself up, he KNOWS that his village, possibly his mother and father, will be decimated in retaliatory strikes by Israeli F-16s. It doesn't stop him. Taking a further step back, his parents may have very well been killed in a previous retaliatory strike which he is now retaliating against. And so the cycle continues.

What can we do? What can our government do? What can we teach future generations?