Wednesday, April 30, 2008
17 Minutes and 4 Seconds
Oprah Winfrey today broke the world’s record for watching a human hold his breath.
Actually I thought I had once held this record, but apparently the rules say that the other person has to start breathing again.
Actually I thought I had once held this record, but apparently the rules say that the other person has to start breathing again.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Albert in the Sky with Diamonds
At 102, a visionary turns off, tunes out, drops dead -- the ultimate trip !
Watch the Parkin' Meters
Just curious -- do YOU know your religious leader's political beliefs? If you did, and disagreed with them, would that be sufficient reason for you to leave your church or temple?
If someone you knew belonged to a house of worship that was led by someone whose political beliefs you disagreed with, would that be sufficient reason for you to disassociate yourself with that person?
If you were considering employing that person, would his membership in a church or temple led by someone you disagreed with be sufficient reason for not hiring him?
Oh, by the way -- do you happen to know WHY the United States government was originally created? Just curious.
If someone you knew belonged to a house of worship that was led by someone whose political beliefs you disagreed with, would that be sufficient reason for you to disassociate yourself with that person?
If you were considering employing that person, would his membership in a church or temple led by someone you disagreed with be sufficient reason for not hiring him?
Oh, by the way -- do you happen to know WHY the United States government was originally created? Just curious.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Fly Me to the Moon
How many people do you personally know who would accept a free invitation to fly a rocketship into space? Would you?
If you were offered an opportunity to spend a relatively risk-free year on Mars, and could take whatever friends and family members (and pets) you wanted -- and were guaranteed your job would be waiting for you when you returned (or at least a hefty book contract!) -- would you go?
Why?
If you were offered an opportunity to spend a relatively risk-free year on Mars, and could take whatever friends and family members (and pets) you wanted -- and were guaranteed your job would be waiting for you when you returned (or at least a hefty book contract!) -- would you go?
Why?
Sunday, April 27, 2008
The Truman Show
Congratulations! You are the only reader of this blog entry. It was written and posted just for you. Everyone else online knows that it's here, and has been waiting to see when you'd finally discover it. Now you have. We're all happy for you. Hope you enjoy it, and be sure to leave your comment. We'll know it's yours, because -- well, who else?
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Naked Came the Mayor
What if every wannabe screenwriter in the world joined hands to create the quintessential L.A. noir screenplay? Well, it's happening as we speak.
Over at L.A. Observed, Eric Estrin's delightful Script Project is in its tenth week. Eric kicked it off with a few pages that introduced some intriguing characters (a charismatic L.A. mayor, a fading movie star, her industrialist husband). Each week since, contributors from all over the planet file the scene they imagine should come next, complete with snappy dialogue. Eric sorts through the entries, and every Sunday at midnight selects the weekly winner, whose prize consists of an official Script Project t-shirt. (No seven-figure deals here... yet!) Eric posts the winning pages, explaining what he admires about them, and then scribes near and far study them, and then scramble to be the ones to have their new pages selected the following Sunday.
At least as entertaining as the new scenes are Eric's accompanying Script Notes, which help prod and guide potential participants, so that the plot marches forward in logical, if surprising, directions. Sometimes you can almost feel Eric's frustration that the characters aren't behaving quite the way he envisions they should, but he knows that comes with the territory. He freely admits that, as someone who has successfully written for more TV series than he cares to remember, it's easier to be the producer than the screenwriter.
The script, called "Right of Way," is to L.A. traffic what "Chinatown" was to L.A. water. Competing solutions for energy sources and transportation woes are embodied by an eclectic batch of menacing characters, who stand to gain (or lose) fortunes, depending on which course the city takes. But don't let the heavy-duty subject matter fool ya -- it's also got a clever car chase, a mysterious map, 3 unexplained homicides, and an adulterous affair that could rock the tabloids. And that's all before page 36 -- the beginning of the second act.
For a few weeks, Eric kept hinting that we need to see a private-eye protagonist show up soon, but then a writer surprised him and turned in pages that indicated that the mayor himself, a former high-ranking L.A. cop, would step into that role, with a slick Scientology-like cult leader as his nemesis. The first mysterious murder the mayor has to solve is that of his own friend, that wealthy industrialist, even as he's been bedding the guy's movie-star wife. And now she's being held hostage, and he's on his way to rescue her. Whew!
The project is not without precedent. Forty years ago, two dozen Newsday journalists gang-wrote what set out to be a deliberately over-the-top trashy novel, "Naked Came the Stranger." They used the pseudonym Penelope Ashe, and it became a New York Times best-seller. Similar communally composed novels have appeared through the years, all paying homage to the original by using the "Naked Came ___" construction for their title.
Now this isn't the first time that a screenplay is written collaboratively by a group of far-flung strangers who've never even met each other -- the Writers Guild would be the first to acknowledge that, in fact, that's almost a working definition of a produced script these days. But "Right of Way" is probably the first to be written in serialized form, with each contributor sequentially tacking on a few pages to what's come before. Eric is the guiding sensibility whose job is to prevent it all from turning into a complete traffic wreck -- no easy task! -- but even he has no clue where it's all headed.
So go read it yourself and, what the heck, try your hand at it. I did, and because it was the first week and there weren't too many entries, I got lucky and concocted what became pages 4-6. I'm wearing my prize t-shirt as we speak. My pre-teen son and I have followed the story zealously ever since, formulating our own plots, just for our own amusement. During his school's spring break he took a shot at writing an installment (with a little assist from the old man) and now he has his own matching t-shirt (pages 15-17). Eric appreciated that my son added the requisite femme fatale -- "a hot tamale like Angelina Jolie."
Anyway, now is the best time to enter, when the script has got lots of meat on the bone to inspire you, but is still early enough in its development to give you plenty of creative freedom in shaping the destiny of its colorful characters. And even if you're not interested in writing, you'll appreciate a good read. You can start enjoying "Right of Way" right here.
Over at L.A. Observed, Eric Estrin's delightful Script Project is in its tenth week. Eric kicked it off with a few pages that introduced some intriguing characters (a charismatic L.A. mayor, a fading movie star, her industrialist husband). Each week since, contributors from all over the planet file the scene they imagine should come next, complete with snappy dialogue. Eric sorts through the entries, and every Sunday at midnight selects the weekly winner, whose prize consists of an official Script Project t-shirt. (No seven-figure deals here... yet!) Eric posts the winning pages, explaining what he admires about them, and then scribes near and far study them, and then scramble to be the ones to have their new pages selected the following Sunday.
At least as entertaining as the new scenes are Eric's accompanying Script Notes, which help prod and guide potential participants, so that the plot marches forward in logical, if surprising, directions. Sometimes you can almost feel Eric's frustration that the characters aren't behaving quite the way he envisions they should, but he knows that comes with the territory. He freely admits that, as someone who has successfully written for more TV series than he cares to remember, it's easier to be the producer than the screenwriter.
The script, called "Right of Way," is to L.A. traffic what "Chinatown" was to L.A. water. Competing solutions for energy sources and transportation woes are embodied by an eclectic batch of menacing characters, who stand to gain (or lose) fortunes, depending on which course the city takes. But don't let the heavy-duty subject matter fool ya -- it's also got a clever car chase, a mysterious map, 3 unexplained homicides, and an adulterous affair that could rock the tabloids. And that's all before page 36 -- the beginning of the second act.
For a few weeks, Eric kept hinting that we need to see a private-eye protagonist show up soon, but then a writer surprised him and turned in pages that indicated that the mayor himself, a former high-ranking L.A. cop, would step into that role, with a slick Scientology-like cult leader as his nemesis. The first mysterious murder the mayor has to solve is that of his own friend, that wealthy industrialist, even as he's been bedding the guy's movie-star wife. And now she's being held hostage, and he's on his way to rescue her. Whew!
The project is not without precedent. Forty years ago, two dozen Newsday journalists gang-wrote what set out to be a deliberately over-the-top trashy novel, "Naked Came the Stranger." They used the pseudonym Penelope Ashe, and it became a New York Times best-seller. Similar communally composed novels have appeared through the years, all paying homage to the original by using the "Naked Came ___" construction for their title.
Now this isn't the first time that a screenplay is written collaboratively by a group of far-flung strangers who've never even met each other -- the Writers Guild would be the first to acknowledge that, in fact, that's almost a working definition of a produced script these days. But "Right of Way" is probably the first to be written in serialized form, with each contributor sequentially tacking on a few pages to what's come before. Eric is the guiding sensibility whose job is to prevent it all from turning into a complete traffic wreck -- no easy task! -- but even he has no clue where it's all headed.
So go read it yourself and, what the heck, try your hand at it. I did, and because it was the first week and there weren't too many entries, I got lucky and concocted what became pages 4-6. I'm wearing my prize t-shirt as we speak. My pre-teen son and I have followed the story zealously ever since, formulating our own plots, just for our own amusement. During his school's spring break he took a shot at writing an installment (with a little assist from the old man) and now he has his own matching t-shirt (pages 15-17). Eric appreciated that my son added the requisite femme fatale -- "a hot tamale like Angelina Jolie."
Anyway, now is the best time to enter, when the script has got lots of meat on the bone to inspire you, but is still early enough in its development to give you plenty of creative freedom in shaping the destiny of its colorful characters. And even if you're not interested in writing, you'll appreciate a good read. You can start enjoying "Right of Way" right here.
Everything to Fear
I jokingly coined the word "phobophobia" in conversation the other day -- in connection with FDR's "nothing to fear but fear itself" -- only to later discover it really is a medical label.
You're saying to yourself: "If you fear fear, then what do you not fear?" And frankly, I was afraid you'd ask that.
You're saying to yourself: "If you fear fear, then what do you not fear?" And frankly, I was afraid you'd ask that.
Ipso Facto
Sometimes it's not until you actually write down an idea that you realize how little you really have to say about it.
Other People's Dreams
Why is it that other people's dreams are terribly fascinating -- but only to themselves? And yet that doesn't prevent them from trying to relate them to you in tedious detail. Yawn.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Stay Awake
If humans never required sleep, what specifically would you do with all that extra time? How would your family and home be different? How would your town or city be different? How would the world be different?
Would "progress" be faster? Would anything be faster? Would more get done? Or would the awareness of all that extra "productive" time counterbalance any inclination to use it productively?
If, conversely, humans required 16 hours of sleep per day, would their 8 waking hours be spent more productively? Is productivity even a desirable goal?
Do we work hard to enjoy our rest, or do we rest to be able to work harder? A religious view is that the Sabbath is the reward for our labors and not a springboard for more toil.
And if sleep were possible, but not mandatory, how many hours per day would you spend asleep? In one big chunk, or sporadic catnaps?
What's the longest you've ever slept -- and why? What's the longest you've ever stayed awake -- and why? Which was the more enjoyable experience?
Would "progress" be faster? Would anything be faster? Would more get done? Or would the awareness of all that extra "productive" time counterbalance any inclination to use it productively?
If, conversely, humans required 16 hours of sleep per day, would their 8 waking hours be spent more productively? Is productivity even a desirable goal?
Do we work hard to enjoy our rest, or do we rest to be able to work harder? A religious view is that the Sabbath is the reward for our labors and not a springboard for more toil.
And if sleep were possible, but not mandatory, how many hours per day would you spend asleep? In one big chunk, or sporadic catnaps?
What's the longest you've ever slept -- and why? What's the longest you've ever stayed awake -- and why? Which was the more enjoyable experience?
Thursday, April 24, 2008
How Many Days Left In Your Life?
Quick, without calculating -- presuming you'll live to a ripe old age, how many days do you think you have left in your life? What was your guess? Most people shrug and say, "A million."
Sad news for you: A million days is about 2740 years. No matter what kind of medical advances are around the corner, I don't think we're going to be seeing you in two millenia. Sorry.
Here's the harsh reality. Even if you live to be 100, you've only got 36,500 days in your entire life -- maybe a couple dozen more if you count leap years. My friends, that's thirty-six thousand. Total. It gets worse -- the odds of you living to 100 are pretty slim. More likely you'll hang around until you're 80 or 90 at most. Already you're down to about 30,000. If you make it only to the Biblical three score and ten, that's closer to 25,000.
If you're reading this, you've probably already used up at least a quarter to a half of those days, if not more. Which means you're fortunate if you've got another 10,000 to 15,000 days ahead of you, max. Unless you're one of those insects whose lifespan is only one day, suddenly ten thousand days doesn't seem like so much, does it?
Of course, a third of that time is spent asleep -- which means you may only have the equivalent of 6,600 "waking" days to look forward to. If you're lucky! And, a sad-but-truism: the older you get, the faster those days whiz by. So get going! Have a nice day -- while you still have a few left to enjoy.
Sad news for you: A million days is about 2740 years. No matter what kind of medical advances are around the corner, I don't think we're going to be seeing you in two millenia. Sorry.
Here's the harsh reality. Even if you live to be 100, you've only got 36,500 days in your entire life -- maybe a couple dozen more if you count leap years. My friends, that's thirty-six thousand. Total. It gets worse -- the odds of you living to 100 are pretty slim. More likely you'll hang around until you're 80 or 90 at most. Already you're down to about 30,000. If you make it only to the Biblical three score and ten, that's closer to 25,000.
If you're reading this, you've probably already used up at least a quarter to a half of those days, if not more. Which means you're fortunate if you've got another 10,000 to 15,000 days ahead of you, max. Unless you're one of those insects whose lifespan is only one day, suddenly ten thousand days doesn't seem like so much, does it?
Of course, a third of that time is spent asleep -- which means you may only have the equivalent of 6,600 "waking" days to look forward to. If you're lucky! And, a sad-but-truism: the older you get, the faster those days whiz by. So get going! Have a nice day -- while you still have a few left to enjoy.
She Sounds Just Like Her Great-Great-Great Grandmother
Visit an art museum, and you realize that we have only a rough idea of what our ancient forebears looked like. It's been less than two centuries since we've been able to capture a photographic record of how people actually looked -- and, for most of us, we're lucky if we have even faded photos of our own grandparents or, even less likely, our great-grandparents. Because those images are scarce, and scarcely candid, we have to strain to make out inter-generational resemblances -- and even then, they would have to apply solely to facial shapes and features. Your nose may be said to resemble a distant uncle's; your sister may have your great-aunt's eyes. Ain't biology grand?
Future generations will be luckier. They'll have audio and videographic records of not only what we look like today, but our facial mannerisms, hand gestures, body language. They'll be able to hear our voices. It will add a whole new dimension to observing and studying how behavioral traits are passed down. It won't just be physical resemblances they'll notice, but also how we walk and talk -- and sing a song, tell a joke, swing a bat, dance a hora. Our great-great-great grandchildren will be able to compare and contrast their own (and their contemporary families') actions and movements to ours.
So try not to be an embarassment!
Future generations will be luckier. They'll have audio and videographic records of not only what we look like today, but our facial mannerisms, hand gestures, body language. They'll be able to hear our voices. It will add a whole new dimension to observing and studying how behavioral traits are passed down. It won't just be physical resemblances they'll notice, but also how we walk and talk -- and sing a song, tell a joke, swing a bat, dance a hora. Our great-great-great grandchildren will be able to compare and contrast their own (and their contemporary families') actions and movements to ours.
So try not to be an embarassment!
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Fastest? Longest?
It wasn't so long ago that the idea of running a mile in under four minutes was unthinkable, and many scientists even set out to prove that it was humanly impossible. But in 1954, Roger Bannister famously broke that barrier, and in the half-century since, that record has incrementally been lowered by nearly 17 seconds.
Who holds the current record? You'd think it would be a household name, but it required a Google search to reveal that it's one Hicham El Guerrouj of Berkane, Morocco, who broke the world record in Rome on July 7, 1999. His time? 3:43.13, just a smidgen less than Noah Ngeny's of Kenya: 3:43.40. (For the record, the women's world record belongs to Svetlana Masterkova of Russia, who ran one mile in 4:12.56 in Zürich, Switzerland, on August 14, 1996.) Now you know!
So the question remains -- what is the fastest that a human can run a mile? Sure, we know what it is today, but will the record continue to be broken? By the year 2050, will someone clock a 3:30 mile? Is a 3-minute mile ever in the cards? (That would be 20 MPH). Logic dictates that --no matter how fantastically humans evolve, no matter how strong legs and lungs become -- there must be some natural limit to human speed. But what is it? And how will we know when it's reached? Won't there always be someone who can trim a tenth or even a hundredth of a second off it?
One of the Websites that carried the information about Hicham El Guerrouj was http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/ . Which naturally makes one wonder which domain in fact does hold the record for being the longest. Domain names are not supposed to exceed 63 characters, so theoretically this would qualify. (Since one could go blind actually trying to count all those characters, it's best to just presume there must be 63 characters there -- otherwise why bother with such heft?). But then along comes http://www.thelongestdomainnameintheworldandthensomeandthensomemoreandmore.com/ (also 63 characters, one presumes, though admittedly it looks longer), and tries to get the Guinness World Records folks to ordain it as the official longest. Guinness politely declines:
So as with the four-minute mile, the question remains: what are mankind's natural limits? If David Blaine indeed breaks the record (on live TV!), how long will it be before someone else comes along and breaks it again?
Surely there must be an absolute limit on how fast a man can run a mile, on how deep he can free-dive, on how long he can hold his breath. But what is it? And how will we know when it's been reached?
Who holds the current record? You'd think it would be a household name, but it required a Google search to reveal that it's one Hicham El Guerrouj of Berkane, Morocco, who broke the world record in Rome on July 7, 1999. His time? 3:43.13, just a smidgen less than Noah Ngeny's of Kenya: 3:43.40. (For the record, the women's world record belongs to Svetlana Masterkova of Russia, who ran one mile in 4:12.56 in Zürich, Switzerland, on August 14, 1996.) Now you know!
So the question remains -- what is the fastest that a human can run a mile? Sure, we know what it is today, but will the record continue to be broken? By the year 2050, will someone clock a 3:30 mile? Is a 3-minute mile ever in the cards? (That would be 20 MPH). Logic dictates that --no matter how fantastically humans evolve, no matter how strong legs and lungs become -- there must be some natural limit to human speed. But what is it? And how will we know when it's reached? Won't there always be someone who can trim a tenth or even a hundredth of a second off it?
One of the Websites that carried the information about Hicham El Guerrouj was http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/ . Which naturally makes one wonder which domain in fact does hold the record for being the longest. Domain names are not supposed to exceed 63 characters, so theoretically this would qualify. (Since one could go blind actually trying to count all those characters, it's best to just presume there must be 63 characters there -- otherwise why bother with such heft?). But then along comes http://www.thelongestdomainnameintheworldandthensomeandthensomemoreandmore.com/ (also 63 characters, one presumes, though admittedly it looks longer), and tries to get the Guinness World Records folks to ordain it as the official longest. Guinness politely declines:
"After having ... given full consideration..., I am afraid we are unable to accept your proposal as a record... because there is no merit whatsoever in this. It takes little to no effort and is similar to taking the largest number in the world and then adding 1 to it."
Which brings to mind a recent news item about breaking records -- but in this instance, "adding 1 to it" can mean the difference between life and death. It seems David Blaine, Mr. Endurance himself, can hold his breath underwater for more than 16 minutes -- 16:09 to be precise. That's just 5 seconds short of the Guinness world record, which he plans to break on April 30 on (where else?) the 'Oprah' show.
Now the New York Times report on all this included some interesting facts. In the early 20th century, Houdini was celebrated for being able to hold his breath for 3-and-a-half minutes; with minimal training, the reluctant Times reporter was able to last 3:41 . (Synchronistically -- but irrelevantly -- almost as long it takes the world's fastest man to run a mile.)
And it's not just the lengths to which divers go that has dramatically improved in recent decades, but also the depths:
"Researchers in the 1960s calculated, based on lung capacity and the effect of water pressure, that humans couldn’t dive deeper than 165 feet. Today free divers are going down more than 600 feet and returning in apparently fine shape."
So as with the four-minute mile, the question remains: what are mankind's natural limits? If David Blaine indeed breaks the record (on live TV!), how long will it be before someone else comes along and breaks it again?
Surely there must be an absolute limit on how fast a man can run a mile, on how deep he can free-dive, on how long he can hold his breath. But what is it? And how will we know when it's been reached?
Try The Impossible
If a magician performs something impossible, then that automatically makes it possible, yes? And if it's possible, what's so astonishing about performing it?
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
If Only I Had Saved My Beatles Card Collection...
Baby boomers perpetually lament their lack of prescience (or, more likely, their parents' lack of prescience) when it came to hanging on to the jewels of their youth (or, more specifically, the stuff from the Fifties and Sixties that's now selling for a fortune on eBay) -- Beatles bubblegum cards, Superman comic books, Barbie dolls. If only!
The next time you hear someone whining about their lost treasures of yesteryear, ask them this: If you were to live another 50 years, what inexpensive pop-culture items would you save and collect TODAY that will assure you instant wealth in 30-40 years? Or, for parents: Which of your kids' toys, books, gadgets should you store in a metal trunk for them so that they will be able to cash in during their adulthood?
Thought so.
The next time you hear someone whining about their lost treasures of yesteryear, ask them this: If you were to live another 50 years, what inexpensive pop-culture items would you save and collect TODAY that will assure you instant wealth in 30-40 years? Or, for parents: Which of your kids' toys, books, gadgets should you store in a metal trunk for them so that they will be able to cash in during their adulthood?
Thought so.
Does Animal Music Evolve?
Human music evolves, but what about the tones and rhythms of other critters?
Since we've only been able to record and hear sounds for the past century or so, we have no way of knowing what our forebears voices sounded like, much less the "music" created by ancient birds, elephants, whales, crickets.
Is it possible that each species has gone through its own evolution -- ragtime, Dixieland, swing, bop, blues, rock, fusion, hip-hop, adult contemporary?
And if we now start recording and playing back their music to them, and expose each species to the auditory delights of other species, how will that affect the planet's audio evolution?
Will future generations (of humans) chart the musical progress of the world's critters? Will distinctive styles emerge? Will animal bands entertain stadium crowds -- until the lead baboon enters rehab, causing the camel and kangaroo to part ways over creative differences?
Since we've only been able to record and hear sounds for the past century or so, we have no way of knowing what our forebears voices sounded like, much less the "music" created by ancient birds, elephants, whales, crickets.
Is it possible that each species has gone through its own evolution -- ragtime, Dixieland, swing, bop, blues, rock, fusion, hip-hop, adult contemporary?
And if we now start recording and playing back their music to them, and expose each species to the auditory delights of other species, how will that affect the planet's audio evolution?
Will future generations (of humans) chart the musical progress of the world's critters? Will distinctive styles emerge? Will animal bands entertain stadium crowds -- until the lead baboon enters rehab, causing the camel and kangaroo to part ways over creative differences?
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