Nerdy Fool

For my own reference (and that of anyone else who's interested), I'm listing the types of time travel to the past that I'm aware of. Any other thoughts or things I've missed, let me know. It Changes the Past This is the most straightforward. You go to the past, and every action has a cascading effect on the future. Butterfly effect and all. And it's why, as Hawking said, time travel to the past isn't possible -- because every action changes the future which changes the action of the person who went to the past, which changes the future, etc., an infinite feedback loop resulting in travel to the past never being accomplished. But, continuing in theory anyway.... It Can Change Minor Events, But Not Major Events Like water droplets flowing through a pipe, each drop of water may move wherever it wants. But, ultimately, the flow of water will end up in the same place due to the constraints of the pipe.  Thus, in this view, some unknown force causes major events to ha...

So, I took Bernie to Starbucks just now. He always gets a whipped cream when we come. But after I got here, I decided it was too sunny to work outside. So I decided to leave, and I began to walk back to my car. Now, normally, when I walk to my car, Bernie will follow me. But this time he just sat there, staring at me (which is his way of telling me he doesn’t want to do something). I called him repeatedly, but he just sat there, staring at me. I even went back to get him, but he just huddled next to a person, as though they were going to protect him from having to leave! Now I should say that Bernie is very obedient, and he will almost always come when I call him. And even when he gives me the “stare” to tell me he doesn’t want to do something, he’ll give in after I call him a few times. But this time he wouldn’t. He just sat there, staring at me. He just really, really wanted that whipped cream, dagburnit! Anyway, I ended up relenting and decided to stay and got him his whipped cream....

Ran into a woman at the park today who seemed very lost and confused. She asked me to give her a ride to Lowe’s. But she wasn’t sure which Lowe’s. And she said she had been walking from her house, trying to find Lowe’s. But according to where she said she lived, her house was at least 6 miles from there. She seemed to be very lost. Thinking she might be an Alzheimer’s sufferer (even though she only seemed to be in her 50’s), I called the police, figuring they might be able to track down where she was supposed to be, or know if someone had reported her missing. The police arrived a few minutes later and called the home number she gave them, but no one answered. Then she gave them another number, one for her aunt and uncle. Turns out she was staying with her aunt and uncle a few miles from the park, and the Lowe’s she was trying to get to was near the house she had just moved out of, which was in another city. Her aunt and uncle were, indeed, looking for her, and told the police offi...

You spend the first part of your life trying to be old, trying to convince everyone that you're older than you are, that you're just as good -- if not better -- than a grown-up. Then, when you're in your late teens, you put the brakes on trying to be older. Like a wall that you were speeding towards when it was just a speck in the distance, you now start to apply braking pressure to avoid hitting it. At first you only have to touch the brakes a little. You're almost 20, and 30's a long ways off. You barely have to think about it. But then you hit 30, and panic sets in. You start hitting the brakes a little harder, as you realize that that wall that was once so distant and so small is now steadily and quickly racing towards you, and the amount of highway between you and it is getting less and less all the time. But you comfort yourself in knowing that at least you're not 35 yet! But then you hit 35 and you realize that 40's up ahead, and you begin to p...

I read this article about two sisters, ages 36 and 38, who are serving two life sentences each for armed robbery, but will be released if one donates a kidney to the other. Apparently, the one sister's dialysis is costing the state $190,000 a year, and they're eager to be free from the expense. It's an interesting story in and of itself. But what I found more interesting is why these two women got double life sentences in the first place. Apparently, they were only accomplices to the armed robbery, leading two men into an ambush, where they were hit over the head by some others, and robbed of $11. It's a crime that they should be punished for. But double life sentences?? People who commit murder don't even get that most of the time. And here these two women in their early 20's - with children - are sentenced to double life sentences for being involved in a mugging. The first thought I had when I read that was: they must be black. There's no way a jury...

At the beginning of Toy Story 3 we see a bunch of toys that are no longer wanted or needed because Andy is grown and is about to leave for college. These are a metaphor for Andy’s parents. They were once beloved; but now they’re no longer wanted or needed by him. Andy has a choice between throwing them out (forgetting about his parents altogether), or putting them in the attic (writing/calling every once in a while, but mostly forgetting about them). Eventually they end up at Sunnyside Daycare, a metaphor for a nursing home. There, the toys that were once loved are abused, mistreated, and imprisoned - all the while forgotten by the kids who once loved them - until they despair of life itself. The only way out of the place, we are told, is through the garbage chute (death). And in the end we see our merry band of misfits at the city dump (the graveyard) - their "final destination." So the film’s message is clear: once we have “served our purpose” and our kids are grown...