I Like Ike…

Folks,

Eisenhower was an enormously underestimated civilian leader. When I was just six, I was sitting with my dad, watching our little black and white TV, as this dude that took out Hitler and kept the Soviets at bay in the aftermath WWII said so-long to public life. Dad explained that I should remember the speech, referenced below. I remember he said it had something to do with the danger of having too much power and being careless with wealth and power… that I should remember the message.

Eisenhower's words resonate even more profoundly today, than in 1961. We live in the world that he warned us of, and right now, right here, today, is more than ever the time to consider what this warrior had to offer.

S


Ike's Clear Warning…

A Very Fine China Cat…

Folks,

Here the boyz are in fine communication, and having some fun with a fine old tune. Each one of the fellahs is listening close to the others, doing his job as it comes to hand, and hammering in the rivets of a Star Ship. Serious business.

S

A Quite Nice Cat…

Folks,


A young friend was asking me about the film "2001: A Space Odyssey". When I was a kid, back in 1968, my dad took me to see it. He was thoroughly mystified. I totally got it. In fact, that experience rescued me from my teenage depression. I totally related to HAL, the computer, and knew that the unstated message was that the Humans had become machines, mistreated their electronic creation, and that's why there is hell to pay for being careless with other minds… even the ones that we would someday build with our own hands.


I was also encouraged to look to a future where Humanity might actually stumble upon an intelligence other than our own or those of our fellow species on the Home World. That may still happen in my lifetime. We'll see. I doubt that they'd come here to have us for supper, so I'm optimistic. They might also have something or another to teach us. I'm not a UFO crazy, but I do entertain the possibility that they've already been here. We might be their experiment, and our lovely piece of lint in the almost infinite vastness is a cozy petri dish that may, someday, produce something of interest upon their return.


S

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  "2001" is not like any other movie. There is only about half an hour of dialogue in the story's entire couple of hours. Visually, it borders on perfection (tho, there is a now corny trippy sequence near the end). The narrative and themes are timeless, and it is drenched in mystery. After you see it, it may take a few days, or years, of reflection to understand the story and its implications.
  
  What is most compelling to me, these days, is not the film as simply superb art. It is the precision with which Kubric and Clarke described the sort of Human/Machine world that we now must reckon with. Not all the tech details are right on (it was written forty years ago), but the moral and ethical issues stand firmly where we live.
  
  This week, IBM rolled out a computer that understands jokes and word play, and is "smarter" at answering questions thus posed than humans. That is a distinctly non-trivial achievement. It won't be long before we have to ask ourselves if it's okay to turn off such a machine… or is that murder? And, what will such machines make of their creators? Let's be sure to "program" some reverence into their circuits.
  
  Wow. Things are going to get stranger. Let's get on with the show!

  
  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  
  

A Fine Story of Real Humans…

Folks,

If you were a kid back in 1966, you might remember the grownups being a little freaked out that the Captain of a star ship, a white fellow, kissed a black lady on television. Now, it was quite obvious that the beautiful woman was quite deserving of a kiss by any man that would dare approach a proud striding Human, one such as Lt. Uhura. A guy with the best star ship in the galaxy was an appropriate candidate to deliver that smooch. No big deal. Well, except he did get to kiss her. Our nation's knees turned to jelly with that momentary embrace before the commercial for Jiffy Peanut Butter.

As we approach the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr, it is interesting that MLK had a little something to do with arranging that kiss. History is fun! Who knew?

May Nichelle Nichols Live Long and Prosper.

S

Folks,

Look to the skies! This sort of show happens most every night, and you can see it if you are patient. Likely, it will not be as grand on demand as the attached photo, but the heavens are alive with sparks and fire. Happily, we get to enjoy sitting on a presently quiet cinder in the vastness. Thus, if you've got an adequate camera and a tripod, or even a rail on your porch to perch the gadget, you can make a picture like the one below. If not, you can simply look up and wait. The Universe is very patient. It waited for you.

The Quadrantid Meteor Shower is an annual event for planet Earth's northern hemisphere skygazers. It usually peaks briefly in the cold, early morning hours of January 4. The shower is named for its radiant point on the sky within the old, astronomically obsolete constellation Quadrans Muralis. That position is situated near the boundaries of the modern constellations Hercules, Bootes, and Draco. In this haunting time exposure, two quadrantid meteor streaks are captured crossing trails left by rising stars of the constellations Virgo and Corvus, but Saturn leaves the brightest "star" trail.

The meteor streaks, one bright and one faint, are nearly parallel above and right of center in the frame. Fittingly, the old cistern structure in the foreground lies above the now buried city of Qumis. Known as a city of many gates, Qumis (in Greek history Hecatompylos), was founded 2300 years ago in ancient Persia.

S

No More Fun and Games?

Well, folks,

No more fun and games? It seems that we've built a machine to better our own minds at some things that we have always claimed as our own, alone. When will we have to tussle with a gadget that claims to have emotions? Can we ethically hit the off switch? We are coming up close to such a decision.

Watson in Jeopardy

S

The First "Real" Computer…

Ladies and Joymz,

A bunch of true British loonies are about to rebuild the first machine that might be called a modern, electronic computer. At the risk of delving into ethnic stereotyping, I must say that geekiness is best conveyed with an English accent. Think Q from the Bond films. John Cleese. It's just better done with those clipped consonants and the sneering tone attached to even a friendly greeting.

Anyhow, our cousins in Great Britain have taken on a fine enterprise. They are rebuilding, as best as one can today, the very first machine that we might recognize as a modern, electronic computer. The thing will have the power of, oh, say a wrist watch. It will fill a big room. But, if there is a heaven, Allen Turing is smiling, saying "I told you so!" as he twiddles the knobs on a truly Universal Computer.

The Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator

S