[extropy-chat] random new years thoughts

[Spike]

As I was reading a science site on today's comet fly-by and tomorrow's
Mars landing, it occurred to me that most people on this backward planet
are more interested in the competition aspect of tomorrow's landing than
in the science: the yanks lost both our last two Mars landers in a most
ignominious way, the Japanese lost theirs, the Europeans lost theirs.
Now lets see if the yanks can get it right this time.

We are cats.  If you place a stuffed mouse in front of a cat, she will
ignore it.  Tie a string to the mouse and pull it across the floor,
watch that cat pounce.  Its just a cat's nature: she doesn't care about
the actual mouse, she wants to ATTACK something.  Its human nature: most
people care little about Mars, they want to see whose team WINS the
GAME.  Hey, that got us to the moon.

In this new year, let us be thankful both for what we have and what we
do not have.  I just got off the phone with a biker buddy who is having
trouble with an inner-ear condition I had never heard of until he got
it.  It causes the rate sensor gyros in the ears to suddenly send
erroneous signals to the brain.  When the brain receives signals which
disagree, it knows not which way is up.  My friend can be walking down
the hall and suddenly bump into the wall or weave and stagger like a
drunkard.  These attacks come on utterly without warning.  He must sit
down immediately, wherever he is, or risk falling to the floor.

Problem: he isn't sure what would happen should this occur while he is
on the bike, or worse still heeled way over in a high speed curve.  He
cannot go with us tomorrow.  The guy is a worse fanatic than I am: he
has six motorcycles, delectable pieces all.  There is real fear that if
he cannot get this condition under control he must call it a day on the
old biking hobby.  The poor chap was nearly in tears, and I was at a
loss to find adequate words of comfort.  I was sure it would get better
soon and yakkity yak and bla bla, but in fact I am not sure at all: I
know nada of this.  Im a biker, not a doctor.

Last week when that earthquake hit, I did not at first realize what it
was, for the S wave was parallel to the load-bearing walls in my house.
For that reason, the house did not creak as it normally does on such
occasions, tipping me off to what was happening, and there was no
rumble.  The house merely swayed, messing up my equilibrium.  My very
first thought was OY VEY its that ear thing that Bill has, and now I
won't be able to RIIIIIDE, holy SHIT, waaaaah!

How shallow of me.  Two women perished in Paso Robles from falling
masonry.  In another quake of nearly the same magnitude a few days later
in Iran, 30,000 souls perished from falling stonework, and I was
fretting over my PRECIOUS motorcycles.  {8-[

May the singularity free us from the more untoward aspects of our human
nature.

Congratulations Stardust team!

Good luck and evolutionspeed Spirit and Opportunity!

Watch it live tomorrow on NOVA.  

{8-]  spike