It is an undisputed fact to say Isaac Asimov is astounding and/or amazing but after re-reading some of his essay’s its worth stating for the record again. Isaac Asimov is always looking to humanity’s bright future. He acknowledges war, overpopulation, and pollution as potential dangers to our continuance but his writing always points to the best we can offer in the face of these obstacles. 

In 1977 he wrote: “In any civilization with computer science so advanced as to make teaching machines possible, there surely will be thoroughly centralized central libraries. Such libraries may even be interconnected into a single planetary library... Each machine would be plugged into this planetary library and each could have at its disposal any book, periodical, document, recording, or video encoded there” -From The New Teachers

In this essay Asimov is imaging what education in the future will look like. Each person will learn what they want and at their own pace. The traditional class room as we know will be a thing of the past. This is a trend of course but the above quote sounds a lot like Google.

1989, Future Fantastic. “In the 21st century we will see a society in which one third of the population will entertain the other two thirds.” It might not be two thirds but with the proliferation of Podcasts and You Tube channels I would say it’s not that far off.

Same essay. “There will be no bar to travel. You can still be a tourist or visit your friends in person by closed circuit television.” Not exactly, but close enough. Can we say Skype, Google hangout, GoToMeeting, etc to see people we could not otherwise afford to.

This one is interesting. “...the technochildren of tomorrow will be accustomed to living in a decentralized world, to reaching out in a variety of ways from their homes—to do what needs doing. At one and the same time, they will feel both entirely isolated and in total contact.”

This is exactly what is happening. While Asimov is a perpetual optimist the simultaneous isolated connectivity is not having the positive impact I think he imagined. I have seen a few articles and I know there a couple books on the subject. Being connected online has not done anything to make most people feel MORE connected, only more alone. A person may have 2,000 friends on their social networks but still experience profound loneliness. It is definitely a modern paradox that we have yet to figure out how to deal with.

This is just what I read today. If I get any more good ones I will tweet them.

People sometimes want to know where I got my idea for the Elbie. It’s simple really. I wanted a totally non-carbon based life form. Pure energy. And I mean pure. When I tell people this they say, “What about the Drej from Titan A.E.?” While the Drej display a level of fluidity they still have bodies and need machines. While the movie never goes into it, they definitely have a sense of government and culture, otherwise they couldn’t be as organized as they are. Don’t get me wrong, I like the Drej, but pure energy they are not.

Seeing in how these aliens (soon to be Elbie) are made of pure energy, energy has rules. The most famous of all is: Energy can be neither created nor destroyed. I think this familiar mantra is what gave me the idea of Elbie transferability. First thing I did; took out a piece of paper and wrote down what those rules were.

With about ten of these rules, I took my first run at this world in 2001. After thirty or so versions I have got it pretty refined now how the Elbie work and what they are like. Then again, with the second draft of book two about to be wrapped up, I am discovering new ways to experience Elbie.

A lot of the Elbie attributes and how they operate in our world are written out on the DPA website and Twitter feed. I had one friend ask if we could send people into space to harvest more Elbie for commercial purposes. I told him I didn't see why not, but since we can barely break orbit, that story will have to wait. If you have questions about Elbie and how they work send me an e-mail or Tweet me.

I’ve noticed that often after kids wake they sort of have this vacant stare. I’m talking about toddlers, mostly 2-5 years old. They don’t respond to you. They just rub their head and blink at you. Sure some adults are like that too, but I think kids are like that because they are trying to figure out where they are.

When you’re a kid you wake up in a different place than where you went to sleep all the time. That almost never happens as an adult and if it does it’s not a good thing. If you wake up in a different place than you were when you went to sleep it probably means you’re in the hospital, jail, or you were so out of if they you have memory loss. Think how disorienting that would be.

I don’t know a thing about cognitive development in children but I’m guessing they haven’t made the connection of traveling in a car with arriving at a new location, they can’t make that leap yet, so it must seem like magic to them. They were at home and now they are at the store, whoa.

Just saying.

I was watching the Italian Job the other day and it reminded me if another great movie that is also set in Venice. Are you ready for it?  If you say League of Extraordinary Gentleman we can no longer be friends.

Back when you could still wander around the local Blockbuster Video Store, I saw this sitting on the shelf and I was powerless to resist. There are so many bad movies in the world and this one of the best. If you really love a good bad movie, Sharks in Venice has to be on your must watch list.

I have been watching Mystery Science Theater since it first appeared on Comedy Central so suffice it to say that I'm a sucker for a good bad movie. In the spirit of truly terrible films that involve sharks, I found another real gem under the same circumstances, in a Blockbuster.

A strong second in this category has to be Hammerhead. IMDB.com has this to say: “A scientist tries to save his son from cancer but his experiments turn him into a shark-man instead. A group of people from a pharmaceutical corporation are sent to the mad doctor's island to investigate his activities.”

Besides its horrendous premise, Hammerhead comes with something for all you romantics in the audience. Long lost love, destined, possibly doomed, to be reunited with her once a man of a man boyfriend who is now a shark of a man (or is is man of a shark?) ex-lover.

When I did a Google image search for this one, and I recommend that you do the same, the images that filled my screen made me laugh so hard my roommates emerged from their rooms to see what all the noise was about. I don’t think it’s a “total terror” but is most definitely a total scream.

Okay, just one more. This one was recommended to be me by the Netflix algorithm. (As if they know me from my previous selections. Those silly equations don't know anything.)

It is everything you fear and hope it to be, including the tender love scene.

It is total coincidence that all three of these movies have sea creatures in them. As I said at the start, I was watching an actual good movie and there are no monsters in that one. But there you have it folks, the power of synaptic misfiring and association.

This is true in Doctor Who and physics. Time does not pass the same for everyone: This true in physics as well as for those of us who are waiting on something. The funny thing about time is that we are so convinced of it consistency but this is a false notion by the laws of science and science fiction. What is up with that? Why do we insist on making time conform to 24 hours, 60 minutes, 60 seconds. It’s a construct based on an incorrect assumption.

How time is treated varies from culture to culture. I think you can break it down to a quantity versus quality issue. In American most restaurants want to turn tables over as quickly as possible. My experience in Italy is that they will not disturb yo until you are ready to move on. (We spent an hour waiting for the check until we realized people were signaling the waiter.) In one country being late is inexcusable and another it’s expected. 

I know the whole tracking time thing with clocks was so that trains could be scheduled and the arrival of loved ones at an expected time, I kind of like not knowing what time it is. When you are waiting for five o’clock it takes forever. When you ignore the clock altogether it tends to speed up.

There is one thing that is true about time no matter how you perceive or experience it. It moves on. It keeps going. It marches forward. Maybe at varying speeds but it does not stop for any man or woman, Time Lord or human.