Hi, my name is George and I'm from Ursa Minor

While I sleep tonight, NASA will be holding a news conference to announce an astrobiological discovery. I reckon NASA is most likely to say they've found evidence of crusted up bacteria stuck to the underside of some space junk. Fox reckons the news is going to be disappointing, and wasn't heartened by my theory of microscopic aliens fossilised in ancient meteor impact sites - but that's because a) she's not easily impressed and b) she's anti-bacterial (yeh yeh I know, anti-bicrobial but that's not what's going to make her roll her eyes as much)

But maybe it is going to be a big deal - a huge anouncement - evidence beyond doubt. What if they wheel out some dude who lives the hell across the other side of the Galaxy? No that would be some news conference.

"Hi, I'm George and I'm from Ursa Minor. Can I borrow a cup of sugar?"

A couple of clues to the fact that it could be that major lie in the dot points below:

1. The onslaught (well three, maybe more) of alien invasion movies hitting the cinemas this summer. Everywhere I look (well three places, maybe two) on apple.com/trailers has people being beamed aboard alien space ships. Is it that because of our economic climate, Hollywood has decided to make us realise, look, it could be a LOT worse, or is it George, from Ursa Minor seeding our minds so we're not so resistant to the idea of being assimilated?
2. Last night at the U2 concert in Melbourne - all the band could talk about was space, and science, and the universe, and how we're all the same really. Every man is the same as every other man. Tasty tasty same? bit like chicken? No, wait, Bono didn't say that - but he did sound like he was saying goodbye to the world all night - and played quite a lot (well three, maybe more) of film clips featuring flying saucers and aliens (maybe two). And you know if anyone is gonna know that the end of the world is coming it's Bono and the Boys cos people tell them stuff, right? (well maybe two things, one being the end of the world is nigh) I mean, that stage - The Claw - clearly alien technology.

If NASA come and talk about finding fossilised bacteria that is not of this world - or, in fact, ON another world (Mars, for instance) that'll be interesting.

If they introduce some Klatu-type dude who's going to tell us we're fucking up the planet - well he ought to travel across the Universe to bring us something we don't know, dammit!

If it's brain sucking insectoids from outer space - I hope like jimminey I'm at Hive Zero - I'm so fecking exhausted I wouldn't mind having THAT as an excuse not to go to work anymore.

3 Dec 2010 6:36am NEWS UPDATE : FINDINGS REDEFINE MEANING OF LIFE (ohhh I see what you did there) and BOOYAH (redefined something WAY more important)

(I'll fix some more of the site this weekend - first up: lists)

All jacked up and no where to go

Tanja "Do you know how you know you're getting old?"
Michelle "Yes. Do you?"
Tanja "Yes, I'm going to buy a pair of Birkenstocks."
Michelle "Yup, that's a sign."

It's far too early to say there is a trend, but the last two mornings I have woken in the middle of the night and have spent hours trying to find sleep again.

There are several reasons why a person might suffer a broken sleep like this - I would Google it but the results are too tedious to go through, so let's just make some stuff up:
stress


Okay that's all I've got because right now I am refusing to put down "advancing age".

OK OK I am sleeping like an old man who has spent all his time at sea on a fishing trawler. Wanting to be up for four hours and alseep for four hours. Maybe it's a past life thing - that'd be right wouldn't it... I wasn't Cleopatra, or Boadicea, or Mark Twain - I was a fisherman, working shifts and swabbing decks.

And how I babble when I don't have much sleep. I feel a little jacked-up (the righthand side) on mediocre coffee*, generally cold and I don't have any finesse around my tasks. What I mean by the last bit is that I can only do exactly what is needed. If what is needed is creative? just forget it. I couldn't even order my lunch today at the salad bar.

What is wrong with people? When I say to someone who makes a bazillion salads and stuffed hot potatoes a day "Make me a salad please, I don't mind what's in it or what it's dressed with." why can't they handle that? wouldn't you just make your favourite salad? cos you know what tastes good, surely.




*still can't find a good coffee place in my new work neighbourhood

eDinner

(note the two bloggers in the photo above - first thing they do is take a photo!)

It's such a simple idea, I have no idea why I didn't have it earlier.

That's what he said. <= Bart's got better words than I do.

Exceptionally lovely evening - as if we were at the Bart and Kelly's house sitting around their table eating together and having a great time. THANKS B&K for eating early! (there's a three hour time difference between KL and Melbs)

This is what the internet is all about. It's not stories of hackers and spam and ripoffs with spooky music on the television news; it's not about banning access, restricting sites, making everything difficult. It's about making connections with people easier and more creative. It's about using technology to spend time with people you love and like and laugh with. It shrinks the world down to managable chunks so you can pass the pepper grinder to your dining companion 6000 kilometers away.

Recently I saw a photo on Flickr from Shelley Bernstein. Shelley is the Chief of Technology at the Brooklyn Museum - she is a passionate (not using that term loosely) promoter, user, advocate of social media tools, free public wifi, podcasts et al to gather the community to the hearth of the museum - and to connect and communicate with people in and of the community. I saw her speak at Webstock 2010 and she was so wonderful - the stories she told, the way she spoke, the philosophy of the museum - and so obviously her own philosophy - I decided to visit while I was in New York; and I did, and it was fabulous.

ANYWAY.. back to the photo on Flickr.

It was a photograph of a flyer she set free in Brooklyn inviting people to her house for a Vegetarian Thanksgiving Dinner.

I thought that was really cool - and a little bit crazy: I loved the idea instantly. I decided to send an email with a link to the photo to Kiki, my dear friend (and ex-roommate) who lives in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

The internet - seeing a speaker at a conference who shares a photo through Flickr to influence a woman in Melbourne, Australia to get an American citizen to attend a shared community Thanksgiving in Red Hook, New York.

The Internet: THAT'S what I'm tolkien about.