Forward In Time Until You Die

On my commute home yesterday, I was listening to the latest archived ABC Radio Nation "Big Ideas" show, "The Biggest Questions of the Universe," a sort of broad overview of string theory, theoretical physics, naked singularities, white holes, expansion, collapse, uncaused events, and so on and so forth.

Talk, of course, turned toward time machines, and the feasibility of, say, using a worm hole to travel back in time (but never to a time different than that in which you built your time machine).  The argument arose that all things that "consume energy" can only move forward in time...we have to keep consuming (moving forward) to stay alive (progressing in time).

ANYways, I had a crazy dream last night (probably partially induced through some sleep-inducing cold medication I've been taking) that involved some sort of weird observation of a body (not a gross corpse) dying, thus halting its forward progress in time.  Very hard to describe, but it basically turned to dust in my perception as one who (besides hallucinating due to cold medication) continued to consume energy and move forward in time...but this body, as it turned to dust, began this weird 90-degree turn "off" of our perceived progression of time (not sure how I "saw" this, but I did).  I had the sense that it had intersected with some other...thing (dimension?)...that didn't require energy consumption and forward progress.

Hmm.

Anyways, my cold is getting better.

Katy & Aluba

You can't go wrong with a dachshund rolled up in a rug (from Xanth's Katy & Aluba set).

What I've Been Listening To (1/22 - 1/26)

• The Bleep43 Podcast (particularly Show 44 with Agent2 and Show 39 with Surgeon)
• Djs Anonymous 18, with Tom Croose & Slowhand
• Beats In Space from January 17th, with Phil Mison from Reverso 68 (stream / mp3)
• Deutscheunschuld's D.U 0701 deep mix from Net-Mix.org

Finally, since it seems a ridiculous amount of people are coming to Clampants looking for Mark Ronson torrents, The Mixing Bowl, as always, has a torrent of his Essential Mix from January 7 (though, you have to sign up and you should contribute to the group).

Remember to stay tuned to my del.icio.us mixset feed (rss)

Miles, home and happy

As a follow up, Miles is home (and happy) from the hospital...though he wasn't particularly unhappy at the hospital.

He had a good overnight at the hospital, and around 3pm the following day, he was cleared to leave (as the "worst" of his cold has passed and he was now getting enough oxygen.  He's been getting progressively better each day...while Kat and I have been struck down by what is, we assume, the same nastiness Miles had.  But whereas he was cradled and soothed, we get medicated and tired.  But so be it.

My nose is running, and I need to go catch it.

A Lynch Family Portrait

A Lynch Family Portrait (thanks to Chris)

Miles General Hospital

Following up with my last post, we had to bring Miles in to Mass General Hospital this morning (hence, his foot is glowing in the picture above).  Long story short, Miles was still wheezing his way through his RSV, so our pediatrician felt it would be best to bring him in to be monitored over night.

Again, Miles is totally cool, toughing this out.  Just...imagine, if you will, having the worst sore throat and chest congestion in your life...and you don't really know how to cough or make yourself feel better.



What he's really being monitored for is the second (blue) line on the display:  his blood/oxygen level, which tends to dip (scarily) when he's sleeping.  Compounding this are the beeps, the flashing lights, and the little "ALARM" indicators that flash on and off.

So, i'm home now, managing some sad, confused dogs, while Kat and the dude hang out in downtown Boston.  It's weird to have no baby in the house.  I don't think I like it.

...a negative-sense, enveloped RNA virus

Miles has his first illness:  RSV (or Respiratory Syncytial Virus), "the most common cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia among infants and children under 1 year of age."

Overall, he is fine.  Coughing, snotty, wheezy...pretty standard fare...and he's even sleeping pretty OK (despite my claims he forgot how).   Still, it is pretty sad to see a pouty-faced baby sounding like a life-long smoker with his nose running all around the house.  Moreover, since this our first "baby health issue," it's been a challenge to stifle the "freak-out" reactions...reading about the small percentage of babies who end up hospitalized and on a respirator or who develop asthma doesn't help.

But he is home sick, watching Teletubbies...something I am currently envious of.  Sort of.

Approaching (But Not Acheiving) Rest

Not long after this immeasurably cute (if I do say so myself) picture was taken, Miles forgot how to sleep.

Now, I'm sure this is common occurrence among the rearing-the-sub-six-month-old set, but words cannot describe the feeling of being back at square one with a howling, non-sleeping, unhappy baby.  I take sleep for granted.  Normally, when I am tired, I sleep.  With Miles (and babies in general), sleep is a distressing phenomenon.  Fatigue crashes down on the untrained baby and causes great distress, and without the knowledge of the simple solution (going to sleep), they rage wildly against the sensations, much as one might curse the wind and punch at the clouds for mussing one's hair and knocking off one's cap (but with less cane-waving comedy and more blood curdling howls).



But, we, of course, cannot hold this against him since he's a cute baby.

What I've Been Listening To (1/15 - 1/19)

• B-Pitch Control Presents Ellen Allien & Apparat Live (from SamuraiFM)
• Beats In Space (1/12), hour 2, where Tim Sweeney drops a mix of some of his favorite tracks from 2006 (stream / download)
• Together Podcast 10:  Audio Jackers ("If you like your electro LOUD and your guitars even LOUDER, then you’ll love this! Turn it up.")
• Stones Throw Podcast #16:  Tribute To James Brown with Peanut Butter Wolf, J.Rocc, and Egon (stream)

Remember to stay tuned to my del.icio.us mixset feed (rss)

Rex Grossman Image Zen

Five things...

So, Brian "five thinged" me...which sounds awkward, but trust me, it just involved an email.  I'm now supposed to share five things I think most people don't know about me.  This would be a good time to discuss the corpse that is buried in the woods behind Westside field in Winchester, or how I will probably outlive you all because of the advanced servos and nano-processors whirring around in my aluminum skull (and how both of these things could be connected...I, as a young biomechanical boy hungered for blood)...but I think most of you know these things already.

Here are some more mundane things:

1.)  The first CD I ever bought was Morphine's "Cure For Pain."  I actually wanted to buy Meat Beat Manifesto's "Satyricon," but I forgot what it was I had heard at my friend Jon's house, and bought Morphine, instead.  Meat Beat Manifesto's "Satyricon" was the second CD I ever bought.

2.)  When I was in fourth grade, my friend Luke coerced me to drink water from one of our science class growing seaweed experiment plastic vials (if I recall, it was pretty stagnant water).  Luke then told everyone that I had, indeed, drank the water, and my classmates came to the conclusion that this was disgusting.  I then sat at my table and cried in class.

3.)  I hit one home run in my entire little league baseball career.  To this day I chalk this feat up to the lucky potato beetle I had just happened to slip into my pocket before stepping to the plate.

4.)  I used to collect Matchbox cars, and I lied to some of my friends in junior high about owning shares of Matchbox/Lesney stock.

5.)  When I was in elementary (4th or 5th grade?), I wrote a science-fiction short story that won third prize (in my age-group) in some MIT-sponsored contest.  "Starbase X-14" or something.  I need to see if I can rustle up that story.

Do I even know five bloggers to pass this on to?

The Strangeness of Science

A mind bending discussion on the limits of human comprehension...from the CBC's "Best Of Ideas" podcast...

The Strangeness of Science (mp3)

Human beings are unable to grasp the reality that exists beyond our perceptions. Evolutionary theorist Richard Dawkins explains why in the Beatty Memorial Lecture recorded at McGill University. Richard Dawkins is the also the author of a number of controversial books, The Selfish Gene, and most recently The God Delusion.

I smelt the last ten seconds of life

My favorite tune in recent days, far and away, is Mark Ronson (feat. Daniel Merriweather) "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" (which you can hear a clip of on Daniel Merriweather's Myspace page).  Absolutely stupendous...

- - - -

Tangentally, I've "rediscovered" Mr. Ronson this week, first through his vast Essential Mix (which includes many ridiculously good tracks, like Mark Ronson feat. Dirt McGirt & Tiggers "Toxic,"  T.I. "What You Know (Low B Remix)," The Pack "Vans (DJ Eli Remix)," and Gorillaz "Feel Good Inc (DJ Eli Remix)" amongst many, many others (and i'm sure the mix is available to download via the usual torrent sources)...and also through his East Village Radio show, Authentic Shit.

Miles' gDiapers (Or Prepping The Baby For a Summer In The South Of France)

We ordered some "environmentally more-sound" (yet cool and awesome) diapers for Miles - gDiapers.  The gist is, they have a washable outer "shell" (the aqua part, plus a liner) and a flushable/compostable inner part.  So far, they work really well...the downside is they are about 2 1/2 times as expensive as the Earth-raping, landfill-clogging Costco diapers we currently get.

But, at least when he does wear them, he looks like a rotund Italian gentleman strolling along the Riveria in his high-cut bikini briefs.

"Fire trucks raced around in search of the odor."

Chris and I mused a bit about the news out of NYC that a foul odor is besieging the city.  I suppose it isn't funny...but maybe it is when I am comfortable in cozy, lavender-scented Cambridge, MA.  Also, I have nothing, at all, against Jersey City.  I hope all smells fine in the near future:


Chris: "Mysterious odors come and go in the New York City area, sometimes never identified."
Tim: "Fire trucks raced around in search of the odor."
Tim: Cue Benny Hill music
Chris: I'm imagining the Keystone Cops right now....
Tim: odor goes in one door, followed by fire truck, only to peek out two different doors
Chris: and then the fire commissioner's bald head is patted really fast.
Tim: "...but the busty nurses did not appear to be harmful."
Chris: lol
Chris: ahhhh....
Chris: NYC really is the greatest city in the world.

...

Tim: "Emergency vehicles and fire trucks were stationed along the waterfront, but workers appeared calm."
Tim: That's a weird sentence
Tim: Normally, workers would panic at the sight of vehicles stationed at the waterfront
Tim: But not today!
Tim: The soothing odors
Chris: agreed. I wish it ended with "...and workers were firing semi-automatic weapons at unseen attackers emerging from the waters of the Hudson River."
Chris: "The odors are coming! The odors are coming."
Tim: lol
Tim: And a huge dark blue plasmoid fell from the sky, the dying husk of a hyperintelligent, yet foul smelling, creature from the future
Chris: *cue slide whistle and Model T horn sound"

...

Tim: It would speak, gasping, haltingly, in the voice of Devin from Knight Rider
Chris: yes!
Tim: "I...I...came...to...to...bring peace..."
Tim: *splort*
Chris: oh god.
Chris: as FEMA workers bust out the huge cans of Oust! air disinfectant.
Tim: And new yorkers would bow their heads, ashamed at human arrogance, and vow to create a sulphur-smelling memorial in Jersey City
Tim: ie: leave it alone
Chris: zing!
Chris: awesome
Tim: lol
Tim: "Oust doesn't just cover up beings from the 11th dimension..."

Ye Olde Days

Kat has scanned in a bunch of sweet old photos (note: not digital...imagine that) of various things in the past 7 years, like our trip to London in 2000 and the last time I/we visited Ithaca.

Included is, I think, one of the only surviving pictures of my old faithful 1992 Mazda 626 (above).  To this day, I am saddened that it would have cost more for a garage to investigate what was wrong with the AC than the whole car was worth. 

And then there is our courtship:

Who Killed The Electric Car

As I gear up for a weekend "10 to 15 degrees above normal," I just got through watching "Who Killed The Electric Car."

"Who Killed the Electric Car? is a 2006 documentary film that explores the birth, limited commercialization, and subsequent death of the battery electric vehicle in the United States, specifically the General Motors EV1 of the 1990s. The film explores the roles of automobile manufacturers, the oil industry, the US government, batteries, hydrogen vehicles, and consumers in limiting the development and adoption of this technology."



A good, if depressing, watch (especially the overview of Joseph Romm's "The Hype About Hydrogen" as a "not economically feasible" yet big-oil-backed alternative fuel).

It makes me sad, and makes me feel pathetic and trapped to be schlepping to work, 40-minutes each way, each day, making polar bears cry and ExxonMobil happy.

Joe's Debearding

(at YouTube)