Trek Into the Past

So. Star Trek turned 45 last Thursday. Wow.

It's been nearly twenty years since I lost my Star Trek innocence. I wasn't much of a sci-fi fan as a teenager, especially not the teevee shows. I loved Buck Rogers and Battlestar Galactica and... that was just about it. I truly believed most of those shows were horribly corny, with awful special effects and atrocious writing. I was above all that. I would never ever in my entire life become a Star Trek fan. Star Trek fans were pathetic and weird.

Ah, youth. So full of certainty and so full of shit.

Then my friend Ryan spent a few days with us on his summer break from college. This happened at the same time they'd started releasing Star Trek: The Next Generation on VHS. Yes, I am dating myself. Shut up. Anyway, Ryan saw these while we were at Wal-Mart one afternoon and snapped them up with evident glee. His little face just glowed. And he assumed that I, of course, would watch them with him.

"No," I said. "I hate Star Trek."

His face. So shocked. He pitched. He pleaded. He cajoled. He seemed to give up in the face of my continued refusal. I should've known better. Ryan was a man who could hear the word no, but not when it came to entertainment he believed in. And he could be a devious little bastard.

He also knew me very well. Since he was staying at my place with a herd of other friends, he had easy access to both me and backup. So at 8 in the ay-em, when I was still dead unconscious, he came into my bedroom. "We're gonna watch Star Trek."

I think I meant to say something like, "That's nice, dear. I'm going to continue sleeping," but what I really said was, "Groan."

He started in on a let's-watch-Star-Trek-together sales pitch, ending with, "C'mon. Just one."

"If you want me to watch Star Trek," I said, "you'll have to carry me out there."

And so he did. He scooped me right out of bed. He's not the strongest man in the universe, but he was determined. Picture him staggering through my chaotic bedroom, trying to avoid tripping over debris, navigating hazards, while I watched the approaching door with the certainty that I was about to have my head cracked open upon it, if he didn't fall and squish me first. I was about to die because a friend wanted me to watch Star Trek.

We made it to the living room with only minor bruising. He deposited me in front of the television whilst the other houseguests laughed and roared their approval. Ryan may not have been a strong man, but he was a smart man. He stuffed a Coke in my hand, knowing that at this hour and so equipped, I wouldn't have the will to move for at least an hour, and an hour was all he needed. Then he turned on the telly.

The episode, for those interested, was "The Naked Now." Yeah. If you know it, you're already laughing.

By the end of that hour, I was hooked. By the end of summer, I was a full-on fan. I became an officer in our local fan club. I dressed as Deanna Troi for Ryan's next visit (which didn't shock him half so much as the fact that I was wearing makeup). I loved the friend who constantly wore his starship captain's uniform, and didn't think it at all weird that he'd spent months figuring out how to say, "Take your ticket and get on the damned boat" in Klingon. He worked for a boat rental company, it made perfect sense.

I owned the Enterprise's manual. I wrote Star Trek fan fic. I read the books (and to this day, Q-in-Law is one of my favorite reading experiences. Read it. You'll laugh). I watched all the movies. And I discovered a wealth of stories I hadn't even known existed.


Star Trek taught me that sci-fi could be awesome, even in the television industry, even when the special effects weren't all that. It taught me that this genre could tell amazing stories.

I rather drifted away after those halcyon early years of passion. I no longer read the books or write the fan fic. I don't belong to a fan group, or keep up on the new spinoffs, or even all of the movies. But I haven't stopped loving Star Trek.

I'll always want my tea. Earl Grey. Hot.

I'll always want to see them boldly going where no show has gone before, even if I'm not along for every voyage.

Engage.

Equality is Beautiful

New York State is celebrating marriage equality, and it's beautiful.

Niagara Falls by @LanceBass

Governor Cuomo wholeheartedly declared July 24 as a day to commemorate marriage equality, which gives us even more to celebrate aside from the marriages of a lot of very happy couples.  If you really want your heart warmed, click here to see Phyllis Siegal and Connie Kopelov right after they tied the knot.  The Salt Lake Tribune has a huge gallery.  And the Digital Cuttlefish has written a poem especially for the occasion: "My Marriage is Gay Today."  At least one hetero marriage has been changed by all this gay marrying!

By the time I, like Phyllis and Connie, am a white-haired old lady, I hope that every state has allowed same-sex couples to suffer matrimony like the rest of us get married, and that the idea that the United States once was a place where people who loved each other couldn't marry simply because of similar genitalia is as unbelievable to the youngsters as the idea of Jim Crow and bans on interracial marriages.

I think this calls for a song.




(And yes, I'll have Los Links up later today. I'm horribly behind, but they're coming.)

For Callan and Lily

Source

Closest thing to a geology wedding cake available.  So this may make Amanda Oakleaf Cakes the official sponsor of geologic weddings everywhere.

Hope your wedding day (and all the rest of your days together) rock!

3.14

Pi Sculpture, Temporary Installation, Downtown Seattle

It's Pi Day!  It's a perfect opportunity to have fun with numbers.  In the spirit of things, here's a clip from Doctor Who on mathematics.  Watch it, it's awesome!



Happy Pi Day, everyone!

Celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Click the link for his "The Other America" Speech.

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

Don't go silent.  

On this day, we remember the power of dreams.  We remember the power of a great many good people all coming together for a just cause.  And we remember that the right words, symbolic actions, and a refusal to back down from demands for justice can remake the world.

Thank you, Dr. King. 

¡Feliz Año Nuevo 2011!

Haz a Happeh!

All right, you all know what to do: bust out the bubbly, grab something noisy (may or may not include humans and animals), and celebrate!

Christmas Rocks

In more ways than one.  For instance, I'm not at work.  Woot!

By the time you read this, it'll be Boxing Day, so Happy Boxing Day!  That holiday always confused me as a kid.  I had no idea why there would be a special holiday for beating people up.  Then I found out it was an extra holiday lucky people in Britain and other such countries celebrated that had nothing to do with boxing, and I think this is where my anglophile tendencies began, because who wouldn't want an extra holiday right after Christmas?  Even if it did have a funny name.

In fact, it seems no one's quite sure why it's actually called Boxing Day.  Who cares?  There's sales on - reason enough to celebrate!

We have rather more luck with Christmas, where the name is obvious and the seasonal celebrations easily traceable.  Hudson Valley Geologist Steve Schimmrich has a good primer up on all that.  And Doctor Science points out that no, in fact, Christ is not the "reason for the season," as so many fundies like to pretend (h/t).  And it wasn't a foundational holiday for early Americans, either.  Our own national hero George Washington saw it as a prime time to launch a sneak attack, as the colonists who would become Americans didn't celebrate Christmas but Germans did.  Isn't there something in Sun Tzu about taking advantage of enemies' hangovers?  I'm sure there must be.

Retailers would have us believe it's all about buying shit, and giving and receiving gifties is awesome, but Doctor Science has some of the other reasons us secular types enjoy a good midwinter celebration:

To have a green tree in the house, filled with light, in the darkest and coldest time of year, as we feel the year turn from old to new -- how can that not be numinous? When we decorate with green branches and red berries, this isn't from Christian iconography --

"I remember hearing," said Susan distantly, "that the idea of the Hogfather wearing a red and white outfit was invented quite recently." NO. IT WAS REMEMBERED.

(from Hogfather, by Terry Pratchett). The rising of the sun and the running of the deer, seeing our families and having enough to eat: all of these things are worth celebrating. Such celebrations don't have to be either secular or religious, in the usual sense: they are pagan in the sense of "rustic, countrified, what the common people do". Human, in other words. 

Good reasons all.  And I'm not fussed about what our midwinter celebrations are called.  "Christmas" is a decent enough shorthand for all those midwinter celebrations.  But next year, I might start popping off with "Happy Boxing Day!" just to see how many Americans have no idea what I'm talking about.

But all of that's just a long lead-up to what we're really here for: the presents!  And thanks to our geobloggers, Christmas this year rocks!

Follow me after the jump for ye delights.

Kittehmas

Merry Kittehmas!  Or Cephalopodmas or Squidmas - really, you can choose any animal you like!

Gifts May Be Late - Kitteh's Got Dem

This was the scene as I tried to wrap and pack my parents' Christmas gifts.  She's sleeping on the shot glasses.  How that can be comfortable, I don't know and don't necessarily want to ask.

Eventually wrestled them away.  But I've had to leave the green tissue, which she decided the instant I removed it from the box was the most awesome Christmas gift my mother's ever sent her.

I Got Paper!  Ana Box!

She is, at this moment, sleeping on the green tissue once again.  Eventually, my living room is going to be filled with tissue, boxes, and other odd bits of packing material that my feline has decided make her life worth living.

So this is Kittehmas.  Ai hopes u can haz wunderfull wun!

A Special Holiday Message from Ricky Gervais

Happy Yule, my darlings!  Whether you're celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, the Solstice, or whatever other midwinter festival, I hope you're having a blast.

And here, courtesy of Ricky Gervais, is a nice bit of ammunition for all of those relations who might be giving you guff for being an atheist at this time o' year (h/t):

Wow. No God. If mum had lied to me about God, had she also lied to me about Santa? Yes, of course, but who cares? The gifts kept coming. And so did the gifts of my new found atheism. The gifts of truth, science, nature. The real beauty of this world. I learned of evolution – a theory so simple that only England’s greatest genius could have come up with it. Evolution of plants, animals and us – with imagination, free will, love, humor. I no longer needed a reason for my existence, just a reason to live. And imagination, free will, love, humor, fun, music, sports, beer and pizza are all good enough reasons for living.

Haven't lacked in the reasons for living department myself.  If I want transcendence, I can wander off into the mountains and soak some right up.  A nice waterfall's quite enough cathedral for me.  Communing with the universe via Hubble isn't a bad way to spend an afternoon, either.  Crack open a book on science, and I have all of the wonder I need to sustain my soul for a good long while.

And I do believe that's where all of those friends and relatives who give us atheists the old pitying stare and the firm lecture have an abject failure of imagination: they can't imagine how a universe without god can possibly be enough.  I say the universe doesn't need a god.  Gods are surplus to requirements.  It's already got an embarrassment of riches.  Gods just get in the way.  The stories about them are fun, true, and I do enjoy a good myth, but as an explanation for how the universe really works, myths are poor substitutes for the real truth.  I've never yet come across a myth that astonishes me half so much as what physics has revealed.  The natural wonders around me don't need a god to make them wonderful: geology, chemistry, physics and biology have done a good enough job of that - far better, in fact.  The stuff we humans make up isn't a patch on the breadth, depth, and astonishing underlying simplicity of reality.  

As a bonus, science doesn't require me to go sit in a church on Sunday mornings and condemn the unbelievers to hell.

For some people, I suppose, the world is not enough.  Something in their wiring requires a deity to make them feel like their life has meaning.  Sometimes, I wish I understood why.  I used to, until I gave up on the god thing and realized how very unnecessary that had been.  I suppose I used to have the same fear of falling that so many others do - felt if I didn't have a god there whipping me, I might stray from the straight and narrow.  But morality hasn't been a problem.  The opposite, in fact.  Morality's easier when it just comes down to us.  We've got to treat each other well, help each other out, because we're all we've got.  There's no one coming down from Calvary to save us.  We've got to do it ourselves.  So unfold the hands, roll up the sleeves, and get to work.

We haven't got dominion over the Earth.  We're residents, and if we tear the place up, well, we haven't got anywhere else to go, so best take care of it.  That includes our fellow creatures, who support our lives here in ways we're only just beginning to understand.  Ecology is a crazily interconnected thing.  If you think that story about a missing horseshoe nail causing a war to be lost is a good proverb about the importance of the small details, well, you might want to have a look at what happens when something so seemingly inconsequential as an insect is removed from the food web.  Even bacteria matter far more than we might have cared to admit. 

Thing is, I can see those things, now that I'm not worried about the afterlife and all.  Far from contracting, my worldview has expanded since getting rid of gods.  Anyone else experienced the same thing?  Anyone else found a universe of possibility opening up before them once they'd taken the god-goggles off?  Wonderful, isn't it?

And like Ricky said, I no longer need a reason for my existence.  I know, roughly, why I'm here: there's a whole story of evolution and reproductive biology behind that, a history of contingency and coincidence and one damned thing after another that led to the person typing this.  I don't need any more reason than that.  It doesn't concern me.  It's an inane question, really, asking why I exist and not some other combination of genetic material, what reason I was put on this earth - I've come to find out that not everything needs the kind of reason religious people mean.  I'm here.  The important question is, what am I going to do now I'm here?  And that I get to decide for myself.  There's no one set path I must follow.  I can explore, let my imagination lead me around by the nose, let curiosity drag me from one adventure to the next, without ever worrying whether it's the right thing to do.  "An it harm none, do what ye will."  I have filched that from Wicca and live by it daily, happily.

Do I feel like I'm missing something?  Yes, all the time.  I'm missing those years I wasted chasing after religion when I could have been chasing after science instead.  Aside from that, no.  There are no gaping holes left in my life, no god-shaped gap demanding to be filled.  I can't even imagine wanting a god to worship anymore.  I'm filled to overflowing with the wonders of the universe: there's no more I desire.  Well, that's not strictly true.  A bank account full enough to live off of for the rest of my life wouldn't go amiss.  More time to explore the universe, then, you see!  But that's just a fancy, nothing more.

So sorry to disappoint those fundies who love to dream and tell tall stories about those sad, crying, empty atheists who sit around miserable and alone at Christmas.  The reality's quite different.  Oh, chances are, I am alone - but that's not because I'm an atheist, it's because I'm a writer whose family lives out of state, and hence I can plead inability to get time off work and money for travel in order to squeeze out a little extra time with ye olde scribbling.  Blissful, that.  So yes, fundies, there's one consolation for you: I'm alone.  But sad, crying and empty, I am not.  How can I be?  There's too much wonder in the world for me to ever be miserable for long.

My darlings, atheists and believers and all in between, I do hope you're putting this holiday to great good use.  There's food, family, friends, fun and loot to be had.  Whatever your reason for the season, just pause for a moment to reflect on how many reasons we have for living.  There are so many, great and small, that we'd be here well into the new year before I got done listing them all.

Here's to you, and here's to life, and here's to another shopping season successfully survived!

Ding, Dong, DADT Is Dead!

Finally!

I am petty much dying of shock, because somehow, six Senate Republicans managed to do something right for a change.  Drugs?  Blackmail?  Vestigial human decency?  Who knows?  All I know is, 57 Dems, 6 Republicans, and 2 Independents pulled together and

DADT IS DEAD!

Huzzah!

You may ask, why not 58 Dems?  Well, that's because Sen. Manchin seems to find holiday parties more important than voting for legislation that restores civil rights to those who serve in our country's military.  When it comes to lead, follow, or get out of the way, he apparently chose option 3. 

Would've been a perfect day if the Senate hadn't been busy killing the DREAM Act earlier.  Sens. Lugar, Bennett and Murkowski deserve no blame on that one - they did the right thing, it was five defecting Dems who decided children who got dragged into this country illegally don't get a chance to go to college and get decent jobs in the only country they've ever truly called home.  You can find the offending dumbfucks at the link, and add them to your list of Dems who deserve to get primaried when next they beg for our votes.

Still.  Banner day.  I have no idea how the hell this happened - I expected Senate Cons to stand united against teh gayz, considering what frothing insane Tea Partiers are likely to do to the Republicans who try to take even small, popular stands for basic rights and freedoms - but I'm so glad DADT is dead.  Let's hope Gates et al work quickly to get the new policy in force.

And should you get a chance, give an LGBT servicemember a hug today.

Special Day

It r a speshul dai for Suzanne!

Happi happi birfdai!

We wuv u, Suzanne! 

She's My Girl

And I love her:

(Click for clearer image.  Don't ask me why Blogger's suddenly decided to display sub-par crap in the post proper.)

Credits:

Toyota of Kirkland ensured I got the car I wanted at the price I wanted.  Barry Glenn, my outstanding State Farm agent, made sure financing was available and, as always, did a brilliant job setting me up with the right policy.  Chris saw to it that I had the right info.  And, vitally, my intrepid companion chauffeured me around and waited in dealerships without complaint. Thanks, guys!

Apologies to my favorite dealer.  I wanted to buy a car from him.  He didn't have this car.  But if any of you are in the market for an extremely sweet Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V, or indeed a Hyundai of any description, call Hyundai of Seattle and ask for Peter.  You'll not only get an excellent car, you'll get some of the best customer service in the industry at a price that will leave you very pleased indeed.

Regular blogging will resume tomorrow night.  But don't be surprised if there's the occasional gush over how amazed I am that I own a car this sweet.  ;-)

Have You Appreciated A Vulture Today?

Deary me.  Today's Vulture Appreciation Day.  Must take a moment and find some vultures to appreciate.  Why bother?  Because they keep icky dead bodies from piling up all over the place, and besides, they're lovely in the right light.

Take, for instance, this king vulture:

King vultures are denizens of the New World, but you'll have to head for parts between southern Mexico and northern Argentina to see one in the wild.  It can glide for hours without bothering to flap its wings.  If that doesn't impress you, you're hopeless.

Slightly less majestic is the fact that these tropical-to-sub-tropical denizens poop on their legs to cool down.  This, it turns out, is also a habit of some storks.  Sometimes, evolution is icky.  Whatever works, I guess.

Here's another vivacious vulture - the Egyptian vulture:

Otherwise known as the Pharaoh's Chicken, this old-world bird is one of the very few avian tool users - it's not above using stones to bash open ostrich eggs, and the Bulgarian variety actually winkles wool with twigs for nest-building, so they're clever little bastards as well as widely-traveled.  They engage in some coprophagy, but don't judge - we do silly and disgusting things for beauty, as well, and it's possible they get pigments from poo that give them those beautiful orange and yellow faces.

There.  Hadn't given much thought to vultures before now, but today I've discovered that they're varied, gorgeous, and eminently worth our respect.  Where would the world be without them?  Possibly knee-deep in dead bodies, so pay your respects.

ATTN UK CHIROPRACTORS: UR REMEDEZ R BOGUS! HA HA HA HA HA!!!

Excuse the shouting there, but it's so nice to know that we here in the States can call a spade a spade without considering how much our bank account converts to in pounds sterling (although I guess it's Euros now, innit?):

American authors, journalists, and bloggers can breathe a sigh of relief: with broad bipartisan support, a short time ago President Obama signed a bill into law that makes sure that the awful and regressive libel laws in the UK cannot be enforced here in the United States.

Huzzah!  Now all we have to deal with are the ridiculous SLAPPs from butt-hurt woomeisters.  Which is a breeze compared to defending against a libel charge in Britain.

I have only one thing to say to the dumbshits who hoped Britain's noxious laws would save them from good ol' American dickishness:

HA HA HA HA FUCK YOU!

Wonderful Life

It's been one of those perfect nights - good food, lying about under the stars watching a few desultory meteors flash across the skies, cuddles with kitteh.  I've spent the past hour writing up some of the trip pics from Rainier, and that should be ready for your viewing pleasure tomorrow.  It's just one of those moments when life is truly beautiful.

So I thought I'd take a moment and invite you to envision your perfect moments.  Just drop whatever you're doing and remember a time when life filled you to overflowing, until you felt you could burst from the beauty of it all.  Have you got it?  Good.  Indulge, revel, immerse yourself in that memory for a moment.

There.  Now you've got a proper start to your weekend.  Go forth and have the time of your lives.

It R Mai Nefuz Birfday!

Iz wun yeer old.  Ai wuv u, nefu!  Haz a happee!

Victory

Thank you, Judge Walker!

Oh, Dear - Happy Belated Blogiversary!

It's John's 5th Blogiversary!  Well, the 24th was, anyway.  Look, the point is, John Pieret's been pureeing the stoopid for five glorious years, and we loves him, and if this were a real cantina he'd be drunk on comp drinks by now. 

Happy happy blogiversary to ye, laddie, and a great many more!

Bad Astronomy the Series!

Woot!  Yippee!  Phil's finally gonna have a show!

Finally, at last, after many months, I can now officially reveal the project that has kept me so busy over all this time. I think you’re gonna like this… so why not just jump right in to the teaser trailer posted online by a small TV network you may have heard of called THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL!

[evil laugh]

[snip]

I’ve been working with the Discovery Channel on hosting a new TV science show called "Phil Plait’s Bad Universe". It’s a three-part program where I dissect issues in astronomy and science, putting claims to the test. 

I first heard the news on Twitter, and I very nearly leapt from my desk, ripped my headset from my head, and danced through the cubicles for joy.  However, it's a tough economy, and such behavior might be frowned on by Management.  So I had to settle for a retweet instead.

I've been hoping Phil would end up on my teevee since the idea for the Skeptologists was first floated (and I still hope that show gets produced).  This is a joyous day indeed!

Alas, the video is broked, but when it's up and running again, I shall post it.  And thee shall have the happy knowledge that actual real science will be aired on the Discovery Channel very soon.  And because it's Phil, we know it shall be entertaining as hell.  Huzzah!  It'll be the baddest universe ever.

At Short Last, the Strike is Over!

At short long last, the strike is over!  And just in the nick o' time, too.  The Pharyngula withdrawl was getting acute, and since I'd pledged not to visit ScienceBlogs until the strike was finished, I suffered from knowing Orac and Erik had new posts up but not being able to read them.  Yes, granted, there were plenty of ScienceBlogs expats to keep me occupied, but I'm a total Pharyngula addict and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

It's good to see that Seed Media cared enough about its (remaining) bloggers to act quickly (though they could've acted before the strike, y'know), and that we'll probably have a viable ScienceBlogs going forward.

This doesn't mean I'll forget the expats.  Never!  Wherever they end up, there I'll be.

And, Bora?  Thank you.