Story stub

I'm not sure if I'll post this or not.  It's not the kind of thing I typically post, but maybe.  It's just a fragment that is looking for a story that I haven't thought of.  I think I will post it though.  One of the luxuries of not having any readers is you can post whatever the hell you want, and none of your readers will mind.  May as well make the most of that, right?

Perpetual motion...

There is a place and in this place there is a ground on on that ground there is a sphere.  The sphere is rolling along the ground.  Ponderously.  And it looks as though the sphere is itself moving in a round, circular pattern but the sphere is too large, the course too long, the movement too slow for you to tell if that is the case.  No, the sphere is not moving quickly.  It's not slow either, particularly, but it is moving inexorably.  There is a feel of inevitability to it, as if nothing, no matter how large, how strong, how small, or how subtle, will change its course or speed by the merest bit.  The ball, it moves.  And it does not stop.  Not ever. Tie a million ropes to it and it will snap them, without changing its course one bit.  Send a million men to stand in front, to push back, and it will smash them without even acknowledging their existence.  Bend your greatest thoughts, your keenest insights, your most piercing genius to its cessation and it is all in vain. It is, in essence, inevitable. And inscrutable.  There is no way to know what it is, or why it is. Only that it is, and that it moves. 

And I think, if you think about it, you will know that this thing does exist, in some way, somewhere.  That it must exist.  You may worship it, or you may fear it, or you may ignore it.  You may love, hate, or disdain it, and that says everything about you and nothing about it.  Nothing about the sphere, the motion, the force.  But it exists.

And it moves.  

10,000 years of time

I've babbled about this before, in other forums, but I still think this is just an amazing idea.  Imagine a project to build an entirely mechanical clock, one that is designed to run, on its own, for 10,000 years.  Imagine that a bunch of eccentric rich people wanted to do this as a way to encourage long term thinking (by the way, that's an overly simplistic statement, though accurate).  Now imagine that they've already designed it and started construction.  Now go here and see if you imagined it right :o)

There is something about building things that are meant to span the millenia, that are mean to be as close to permanent as we can get, that intrigues me. It's so different from everything else we do.  We focus on the 5 year goal, the 10 year goal, or if we're really being crazy, the 50 year goal.  NEVER the 100 year goal or the 500 year goal.  And there are good reasons for that, but also consequences.  I think a degree of the "problems with the government" stem from a lack of long-term planning and a willingness to invest substantially now for a profit in 20, 40, 50 years.  In part that could be because long term goals tend to be gambles.  Who knows, for example, if we'll even still be here in 5000 years?  We may be back in the stone ages, or extinct, or moved to another planet by then.  5000 years is a really long time, for humans.  And 10,000 years, well, to be lame, let's just say that 10,000 years is twice that (ha ha).

There should be a better conclusion to this little post, but I think I'm going to ponder it for a few years and then post it - a post to last the decades *wink*.

A bit more from Ylvis

Turns out that last post wasn't so behind-the-times as I thought.  According to good ol' wikipedia, the video went viral about a month ago (so I'm only a month behind).  Ylvis is a comedy duo with 2 brothers from Norway.  As I was digging into this I found a video that I like even more than the fox video.

"Who the f*** builds a stonehenge?!"

Best line of the month.

Here's the video:

What does the fox say?

So as this blog progresses you'll realize that Shifter is never the first to know about anything.  Probably because I don't pay much attention, and I don't spend a lot of time trawling on-line.  So about a year after something is a rave sensation I'll find out about it and post it here.  Why, you may ask?  Well mostly cause I assume there are others, equally out of touch, who haven't seen it yet either.  And for some reason those equally clueless people are reading this blog!  Yes, I get the irony of that assumption.  Having said all of this, if you haven't seen this video you owe it to yourself to check it out.  Three minute spoof music video that is apparently an international sensation - laugh out loud funny!

Here's the link.

And here is me trying to get it to play directly on the blog...

Freaking funny #1

This is an old one, but every time I see it cracks me up.  If you had the fortune/misfortune to grow up in the 80s, you probably saw this video, and you probably loved it.  And this version will help you to love it again - but this time you can do it while taking yourself seriously.

Check it out!

No, you don't get to find out where I work, but ....

This is a not-at-all atypical example of the logic they use at my workplace.  Can you relate?  If so, again, my sympathies.

Cybersecurity policy:

We would like you to use no less than 20 passwords as part of your duties, each with different requirements regarding length, character content, change frequency, and history.  We urge you to make each one memorable.  We urge you to never write them down.  We urge you to change them all every 30 days.  We've reserved a room for you on an inpatient psychiatric unit for when these requirements have their inevitable effect.  In the interests of efficiency, please generate a password for accessing your room on the inpatient unit now.  You will need to update it before you can access your room.  Have a nice day.

Greetings

If you've stumbled across this blog then you are probably a very bored individual.  My sympathies.  Also my empathy.  We all get a little bored from time to time and end up aimlessly crawling through the intertubes, wondering where we may end up.

So if you're reading this, you've ended up, well, here.

I assume at some point I'll put in a more definitive statement of purpose, scope, and, well, identity but for now I'll just say this is a place for me to write Random Stuff I thought someone, maybe even you, might find interesting.

Let's see what happens.