Podcasting

Came up with a new blog concept. We discussed the new Facebook facial recognition software that went live. It will be up on the indeed podcast site soon. But the discussion prompted all kinds of speculation about Skynet and self awareness.

I started GriefingSkynet.blogspot.com with the intent that we need to upload pictures to the internet and Facebook of random objects (like stones and rocks) and tag them with the names of all your friends. Let's make the facial recognition software come up with all kinds of interesting result.

Life on other Planets?

Some of the recent buzz in the astronomy world has been around a star you may have heard of if you're listening to the news.

Gliese 581 is a red dwarf star we have been looking at because it seems to have some planets around it that we can detect with our telescopes. These guys are so much smarter than I am, that I don't fully understand the math behind it, but the basic idea here is that we can watch a star, and based on it's wobble, determine that there are planets around it and how far out they orbit.

The cool thing about this is that we have figured out the perfect distance from a star where it is warm enough for liquid water. That means it is possible to support life as we know it.

Now the article over at Cosmos Magazine presents a couple of hurdles and obstacles that may inhibit life (link to article here). However, this is extremely interesting on many levels.

First off, the possibility of a planet that humans could move to is exciting! Visions of Sci-fi movies swim through my brain as I think about it. I'm already making plans for a ship named Serenity2. Though we have to get past that annoying issue of physics known as FTL (Faster Than Light for those non-Scifi readers.) There is this annoying limit that Lightspeed is the fastest speed attainable by matter. We could get bogged down by specifics about particles that have exceeded light speed, and so forth, but to current physics, it isn't possible, so a trip out to Gliese 581 is several lifetimes away.

Secondly, and perhaps more controversially is the idea of actual living things on planet that isn't Earth. Scientifically, there's no reason this couldn't happen. If you find a rock flying around another sun, similarly distanced with a similar atmosphere, then there is no good reason that life wouldn't have "developed" similarly to earth. There's not much controversy there. The controversy arises when you delve into the religious realm.

I have to say, I've never really understood the whole uproar surrounding life on other planets and religion. The anti-God crowd claim that finding life on other planets would be the final nail in the coffin for organized religion. I'm not exactly sure the logic behind it, but that seems to be the stance they take.

I've even had some conversations with Christians that believe it is not possible to have life on other planets. This conversation has always been difficult for me since it is not only scientifically ignorant but theologically shortsighted as well.

My dilemma is this: Why can't a God that is powerful enough to create life, the universe, and everything, also create a universe that could sustain multiple life forms scattered all over? Or Why does alien life exclude the existence of a supreme creator?

Digging into some of the doctrines, I suppose the idea centers around the crucifixion of Jesus. According to most mainstream churches, he became the sacrifice to God that cleared away the sins humans have committed. It follows that if there is life on other planets, then Jesus didn't die for them, only for human kind, since he lived on this planet, among these people.

But why would that have to be? There is no chapter and verse that limits that to this planet. There isn't anything in any of the scriptures that suggests the sacrifice couldn't extend to beings on other planets, around other stars. Some churches may have doctrines addressing this issue, but they are not based on the scriptures they claim to believe. I assure you, there is nothing in the bible about aliens or other planets. It's just not there.

For that matter, it isn't a grand leap of faith to accept that a God that can create such a grand universe, and can create life on multiple planets, could also have a plan in place for the salvation of all of those beings. Perhaps they have their own Christ. Perhaps they did not sin and therefore have no need for a savior. Perhaps they don't have the freewill that allows them to choose a sinful life.

We don't know. And we can't know until we solve that annoying little FTL issue, or figure out a way to survive the long, slow trip.

My suggestion is this:

If you believe in an all powerful God, don't limit him by saying it isn't possible to find life on other planets. If he's all powerful, he's bigger than that.

If you don't believe in a god at all, don't show your anti-religion bias by condemning Christians simply because we may have found other beings. It doesn't mean anything religiously. Aliens do not make God impossible, anymore than entropy invalidates evolution.

Just because you don't understand how, doesn't mean it's impossible.

UPDATE!!!!!11One

Yeah, so for those of you that don't already know, I'm co-hosting a podcast over at http://indeedpodcast.com and so they wanted me to update here with what's going on.

So, Here's what's going on in the Kingdom of D:

I have a job. It's an awesome job and even though I often come home exhausted, I love it. I been there a bit over a year, and I'm planning on being there until they pry the keys for the company truck away from me.

I'm going to Nerdtacular this June. I'm getting totally excited. We're still tossing around the idea of getting a sponsor so we can make Indeed Podcast Frisbee (oops should that be flying disks?) for the Frisbee golf tourney on Saturday. Anyone want to chip in and get your business listed as a sponsor? We're willing to plug your business on the podcast as well.

I feel like a shill. Enough with that.

I hear Yes is coming to Boise for a concert. I'm so there.

More later. I'll probably be updating this during future podcasts since I'm getting pestered to do so.

-k

So, I'm a blogger.

Hey, it's a year later! I'm so good at this blogger thing.

Let's see, read the previous post and add one to each kid's age.

Chris is in town, so we're goofing off and having fun.

Uh, yeah. My exciting life!

Has it really been since February since I last posted to this blog? Oh, man where are my priorities.

Well, that means that since I last posted, Braden turned 7, Jillian turned 4 and both have started school for the year. Raegan will be 2 in a couple months.

Listen...

That's the sound of me growing old.

Totally hands free Cell phone.

If this isn't the coolest technology I've seen, I don't know what is.

http://www.core77.com/competitions/GreenerGadgets/projects/4673/

It's still vaporware, thought the writeup says they demo'd it at the hippie trade show, So I'm not real sure what they mean. My guess is that the blood powered fuel cell doesn't yet exist, but the rest of it is ready for prime time.

In any case, if it's configurable (IE it can be a display for my "hands free cell phone" then configured to be an interface for my MP3 player), durable, and won't leave a 2"x4" patch of dead skin on my arm, sign me up.

Dare I ask though, where to plug in my headphones?

The reality of Surrealism

I recall seeing a picture of this painting in highschool. I enjoy looking at a well done piece of art as much as anyone I guess, but I'm not sure I understand this one. Whether it's the duck-horse thing sleeping on the ground, or the UFO landing pad in the background, I"m not sure. In any case every time I see this painting, I wind up asking myself two questions:

What was going through his mind? And...

What was he on?

Well, I think I have a pretty good idea.

Wednesday night, I had just drifted off to sleep when my wife wakes me asking "what was that sound?" I don't know, I had been asleep.

I didn't think much about it because we have neighbors. Now, our neighbors aren't loud or disruptive by any means. To our left we have a couple younger guys that have a welding business, and on occasion they have what I would guess is a pretty typical Mexican style party. Granted, having never been to a party in Mexico, I really have no frame of reference, but before you brand me a racist understand that the party format pretty much fits the "Mexican" stereotype as seen on TV. Bunch of people sitting in lawn chairs or wandering about in the back yard, drinking beer, yelling in Spanish, and listening to Mariachi music. I'm not a cross cultural party expert by any means, but in my brain, that gets filed under "Mexican style party."

Across the street we have a couple houses with kids, and behind us around the corner there is a garage band of indeterminate ability. Noise is not uncommon in our neighborhood.

Well, my wife had ventured into the living room, to check out whatever she had heard and I settled in to go back to sleep when she yells "Come here!"

Well, I'm awake now. Should I grab the pistol first? I didn't. My flashlight isn't where it's supposed to be next to the bed. I'll have to go look for it.

I wander into the living room and look out the blinds where my wife is also looking, and it takes a couple seconds to register. There is a car in my front yard, with a guy trying to push it backwards over the berm, yelling something at the driver. I don't know if it's because I just woke up, or what, but I just didn't get it on first glance.

I went to the bedroom, put on pants, looked at the gun case again... no, I don't think they're here to hurt anyone, and walked to the front door. I opened the front door, and was told: "Dude, help us."

This guy just put his car in my yard not 8 feet from where my 3 year old daughter is still sleeping, and he wants me to help him get unstuck? Whatever Dali had been taking, this guy had consumed plenty of. I couldn't say anything. What do you say to that?

Well, amidst pleas for help, the driver seemed to have started the car, though it didn't sound like it would run for long. He got it in gear, stepped on the gas, and got about 3 feet closer to the wall where my little girl lives. Well, that was enough for me. I went into her room and picked her up out of her bed to keep anything from happening to her, and took her out to the living room. By the time I got back they had got the car moving in the right direction, and were working it up and over my landscaping. The glare of the headlights prevented me from getting more from the license plate than 1A, and my wife had finally located the phone to call 911.

I turned to take the phone from her, and they made it out into the road, and sped off down the street. The lights on the rear plate were completely out, so I couldn't get the tag number there either.

As a witness I was pretty worthless.

Well, we called 911, gave them the best description we had, and during that conversation, a neighbor across the street had heard the commotion, come out to see what was going on, and jumped in his truck to follow them.

They didn't make it far, the car broke down (or they abandoned it) a block or so away, and they tried to hide. My neighbor led the Police right to them. They were taken into custody, and an officer came down to get statements and took my wife over to identify them if she could. I don't' know if she made a good ID or not, but they had enough of my yard on the underside of their car that it's pretty obvious that they weren't sticking to city streets.

Needless to say, it was a couple more hours before we were able to get to sleep. None of the children woke up, and we're recovering from our short bout of adrenaline caused sleep deprivation.

Of course, now I need to figure out what kind of bushes I want to put in my yard.