Timeline of the Inevitable

Recently I've been compiling a list of the different ways Humanity will be destroyed assuming we don't develop the technology to escape Earth.
The list is divided into two columns.
The first column contains all the ways in which we could theoretically be destroyed in plausible, but unlikely ways, like for example an alien attack.
The second column lists all the ways in which we will be destroyed inevitably somewhere down the line due to the reality of the laws of Universe we currently exist in.

This is why I'm a hit at parties folks.

Anyways, sometimes the items destroying us will land into both columns, asteroids for instance.
This has given me reason to rework the list (that and the theoretical list is notably larger in size due to late night contributions that really don't belong on there, i.e. Godzilla).

While reworking the list, and looking over literature covering the last five mass extinctions of the dominant species of the past, I was reminded that the Moon exists.
The Moon is solid, unlike the Earth which we all know has a solid inner core surrounded by a liquid outer core.

The thought of the liquid outer core cooling and solidifying enough to meet the mantle hadn't occurred to me, but now that it has, it's on the list.

However, there's a problem.
The complete cooling of the Earth's liquid core wouldn't happen until after the Sun evolved into a Red Giant, which would engulf our planet. With that in mind, does the cooling of the core actually pose a threat?

Keep in mind that these are events that are bound to happen no matter what. They are on the timeline of the inevitable.

The Merry Old Cyborg

Balthazar, 101, reached out with his less stiff hand and closed it around a cookie. As he brought it closer to his face he realised it was a stocking and not a malformed gingerbread man. Not that it mattered, it had been months since Balthazar could taste anything.
The doctors called it as Ageusia, Balthazar called it as Life, another item checked off on the long list of items one loses with age. Most of these items could be replaced or assisted; his teeth had been replaced by imitations, his eyes assisted by glasses, his memory by photographs.
Taste however...
Balthazar bit into the cookie and concentrated on the way it broke down and crumbled like a little civilisation swiftly eroded away by the elements of his mouth. He figured it was just as well he couldn't taste anything, he heard nothing but complaints from other "guests" about the food anyway.
His health assisted by pills, his movement by a cane, and his dwelling replaced by an assisted living center.
Balthazar was then struck by the thought of himself as a creature from a science fiction film.
The thought amused him. He pictured himself as a cyborg trapped on an alien planet.
These thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a needlessly loud knock at his door.
Balthazar’s eyebrows lowered in confusion over his sunken eyes like two large furry dragons descending in unison upon identical watery caverns.
The knocking persisted until Balthazar made eye contact with a pair of inquisitive eyes that gave away this girl being full of mischief.
Her name was Ivy, 11, the child of his old neighbors who he secretly gave knife throwing lessons to.
Her presence gave Balthazar an idea.
Quietly, Ivy and Balthazar made their way to the kitchen, all the while Balthazar's imagination narrated the adventure with thoughts of his cyborg navigating the treacherous alien planet with the help of a clever mutant.
In the kitchen they searched for knives.
Balthazar reached out with his less stiff hand and selected one he found suitable for throwing.
He lifted the knife parallel with his glasses and searched for something to throw at.
Ivy helpfully offered a stack of Christmas cards.
Balthazar pictured the cyborg again. Despite having lost most of its original parts, it still managed to retain a skill buried deep in its mind.

Help!

Imagine walking somewhere. The weather is generally acceptable and you're not in a hurry to get there, so your stride slowly changes into something more of a saunter.
Suddenly something across the street catches your attention.
It's a person.
For a moment the two of you make eye contact.
They appear to be in your age range, possibly younger but not by much. Despite showing no clear signs of illness or peril, you are somehow able to tell this person is in some sort of danger.
However, with no clear-cut indication as to whether or not this person needs your help you continue on to your destination.
The next day, after consulting your daily news source, you learn that the person you passed by the previous night was found dead less than half a kilometer from where you spotted them.
Details on the cause of death have been withheld.

Would you tell anybody that you saw this person the same night they died?
If you did, would you tell them about your sensing danger?

Dinner and a Movie

Dinner of Darkness
The Amazing Dinner Adventure
Scenes from a Dinner
Take the Dinner and Run
The Most Dangerous Dinner
A Fistful of Dinner
The 40 Year Old Dinner
What About Dinner?
Dinner Begins
Rosencrantz & Gildenstern are Dinner
The Seventh Dinner
No Dinner for Old Men

Par for the Course

A short film I worked on with my intern for my friend Tom Lutz, the Pastor of the local Lutheran Church.

Anti-Social Networking Ideas

A while ago I made a satirical entry about a fictional website called getawayfromme.com

Today I was made aware that similar anti-social networking sites exist, arsebook and farcebook These sites aren't nearly as innovative as getawayfromme.com, which is disappointing. Basically, all they did was paint the old idea a different color, "Instead of your friends, it'll be your enemies!"

Uh huh.

Discovering another one of my predictions about the Internet, culture, and art exists is affirming but not surprising. Humans have only a limited number of reactions, therefore the idea of an anti-social networking site was inevitable.

Where do you suppose all the other inversions of websites are. Where's the upturned Twitter where you can type all the words you want (er... I think that's called a blog), or how about a variant of Google that changes your search into an anagram of what you typed and searches that instead.

"Above all, it's creative thinking that lies at the basis of discoveries. You must dare to think differently, see things from different sides, in order to come across fortuitous new ideas frequently. You should develop even the most stupid ideas and when you do this systematically, there will always come something useful out of it." -Simon van der Meer

the truth

"You can't handle the truth." -Aaron Sorkin

The above quote is taken out of context, but nevertheless is an accurate description about how most of us respond to reality; we can't handle it because we find it uncomfortable, and because we find it uncomfortable we will therefore find ways to dodge it. People will deny the truth, twist it about, select the pieces that they like while leaving the rest, et cetera.

Why is this?

I don't think the truth hurts. Or rather, I don't think the truth should have to hurt.
Everytime the truth does hurt it happens under dubious circumstances and I feel as though I may have uncovered what those circumstances are.

A few cultures across the globe have the morally suspect practice of teaching their children that a rotund man will methodically follow and document their every move all day, every day, for the entire year, in order to determine whether or not the child is worthy of receiving his presents.

If you happen to be a particularly paranoid child, learning that you are in fact not being followed year round by this unusual and bearded man and his wild animals comes as something of a relief.
However, most children become distressed once they learn the truth and for various reasons.
But what actually upset them?

I would argue that a child that had the truth explained to them from the very beginning does not face the same disappointment. Aside from questioning the motives of the adults that perpetuate a tradition of needlessly lying to their children, we learn from this example that it wasn't actually the truth that hurt.

Consequently, I believe that people should be exposed to the truth immediately, whatever the case may be.