JohnnyEnzyme

Just Exquisite! Therefore, with great joyfulness, I hereby dedicate them to Ro Laren, who should be able to see them… uh, in a few centuries, I guess.

(right then, I’ll just smack myself in the forehead and see myself out)

I’ll play along because why not?

I think something kind of extraordinary is happening right now in the States along the lines of belief systems running in to various brick walls of reality. The relevant backstory is that there are a collection of myths about the United States, and a lot of people bought in to those myths over the years. Myths about greatness, liberty, equality, throwing off tyranny, and accepting all peoples. Not that there weren’t grains of truth there, but with most of those, there was plenty of distortion and exaggeration going on IMO.

Combine that with the States having a roughly four decade period of greatness based on non-replicable events that ended roughly in the mid-70’s. My impression is that most Americans came to believe that such was a kind of birthright and inherent feature of being an American, and would automatically be upheld by the universe, or something like that.

Both of those things together led to a sort of fatal and complacent overconfidence, not unlike Putin and most Russians thinking of Ukrainians as a sort of backwards peoples and the nation as being ripe for the plucking. Or maybe the much older idea that Rome was the greatest civilisation in the world and could never fall. In any case, the pattern repeats almost endlessly through history, I find. My final point is just that loads of Americans these days are in the “finding out” stage, although how many of them are going to frame the problematic backstory the same way I did is more doubtful, I think. IMO there’s moreso going to be a lot of confused and angry people, but it remains to be seen if their disgruntlement will make the difference in the upcoming elections.

My stepmom actually insisted on calling 3.5” floppies “hard drives,” because of the casing.

I’m not sure she ever got over that mistaken assumption before they eventually faded from use, lol.

Part of why authors like Tolkien are so ding-dong-diddly impressive.

I’m turning NedFlanders
I think I’m turning NedFlanders
I really think so

That sounds more or less correct to me.

My quibble with your original comment is of course, unchanged, and I’m perfectly happy confining myself to the majority science POV on dark matter.

Funny… as a long-time graphic novel reviewer, my attitude towards ‘reality’ has shifted a lot over the years, and at this point I’m willing to entertain pretty much any unfamiliar (read “crazy") story premise, as long as that world has an internal consistency.

So the story and setting might as well be set inside another universe (or black hole), with its own differing set of natural laws, but for me it has to live up to that premise, and not take any shortcuts along the way just because it’s ‘exotic.’ For me, you’re not allowed to cheat like that, but of course, some try to!

Dark matter is the observation,

It can’t be a direct observation, as “dark matter” is simply a made-up term to describe something we only have a partial understanding of. A direct observation might be particles, waves, matter, and things which exist within the framework of known science and laws of nature.

Yes, I’m only a layperson, but I think science is pretty clear about that kind of thing.

Note that it’s always good to keep in mind that “dark matter” is a scientific hypothesis at best, and really just a placeholder for trying to quantify some form of mass / effect that can’t be directly observed.

I love the black hole angle, though, especially as a bit of a Kurzgesagt fan.
Indeed, this one is probably the most fascinating hypotheses I’ve ever heard when it comes to cosmology:

Image
This Black Hole Could be Bigger Than The Universe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71eUes30gwc

(raise your hand and wave it around if you’re cool with living inside a black hole!)

If you squint just right, the blue nebula vaguely looks like a hamster fused with a TRON lightcycle.

So this may be the first time the wheel is rolling around inside the hamster. :D

I’m watching it here:
https://tubitv.com/tv-shows/200261747/s05-e31-the-encounter

It does have some ads here and there. It also might be on DailyMotion, ad-free.

I’m just now watching his Twilight Zone episode. Intense stuff…

Ah yes, the freezing. My ancestors would be disappointed in me for leaving that out(!)

Not sure about the protein content of potatoes vs. grains, but IIRC, the vitamin & mineral content is generally superior. Potatoes are a complete superfood one can live on for long periods, again if I’m remembering correctly.

I suppose if I ever go back, I might try chicha again. Was really unimpressed the last couple times I tried it, heh.

This is how the Incas and other Andes peoples would store their crops– they’d mash it down in two stages by dint of their feet, and then the potatoes would store indefinitely.

Even better than bread and beer storage of grains, and potatoes are more nutritious than either, to boot.

Did you see the one (above) with the original music synced in? Because I think it helps a lot.

Would you believe me if I told you that Captain Picard sang and danced the song “You’re Adorable” right on the bridge of the ol’ NCC-1701D?

"That’s impossible!" I hear you saying…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZNs-9Jr5TI