I’m a fan of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s music. I really don’t know anything about the musicians; their politics, ethics or personal stories. I discovered them quite late in life. But I like some of their music.
Category: Life in Dunwich
My Adventures in the Mythical New England Town of Dunwich
Trans-Planckian Problems with Hawking Radiation in Evaporating Black Holes
https://orionscoldfire.com/index.php/2020/02/14/behold-arrokoth-the-jeb-bush-of-the-solar-system/
Good golly Miss Molly! I was reading an article about the highest possible energies that a particle accelerator could accelerate a proton to and the author started throwing around terms like the Planck energy and the Planck distance and pretty soon it was Planck this and Planck that and Planck the other thing. Now I dimly remembered that expressing a physical measurement in terms of its Planck equivalent was a way of normalizing the units so that the fundamental constants like the speed of light; c and the gravitational constant; G were rendered as unity in these measurements and thus the Planck units were the fundamental expressions for these concepts. But I never remembered what sizes these Planck versions came out to.
So, I looked them up in Wikipedia (of course):
| Table 1: Modern values for Planck’s original choice of quantities | |||
| Name | Dimension | Value (SI units) | |
| Planck length | length (L) | 1.616255(18)×10−35 m | |
| Planck mass | mass (M) | 2.176434(24)×10−8 kg | |
| Planck time | time (T) | 5.391247(60)×10−44 s | |
| Planck temperature | temperature (Θ) | 1.416784(16)×1032 K | |
Now the Planck mass is a perfectly ordinary number. 10−8 kg is quite a large number compared to the mass of a proton or a neutron. But look at the Planck time; 10−44 s or Planck temperature; 1032 K. What exactly does 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 degrees K even mean? What would the velocity of the atoms at that temperature be? Would they be traveling at 0.99999999999999999999999999999999 of the speed of light?
So, I shake off this feeling that I’ve entered the silly season and read on. Apparently at these Planck conditions the gravitational force becomes equivalent to the stronger forces like electromagnetism and the nuclear strong force and that allows for “interesting” effects. Reading on into this miasma of confusing ideas I gathered that these Planck units were considered the limits of these measurements. In other words, trying to define a time period less than 10−44 seconds was meaningless in our quantum system. And possibly temperatures above the Planck temperature would just create micro-black holes.
Pretty soon they were talking about how evaporating black holes run into problems with these “trans-Planckian” conditions and pretty soon I was experiencing full blown transphobia. After all, when I had first read about evaporating black holes back before fake news it had sounded kind of bogus to me. Stephen Hawking was one of those characters from the world of science that seems to approach the edges of science fiction. A man with a super genius intellect trapped in an almost completely disabled body who can only move a couple of his fingers and can only communicate with the world via the most painfully slow interface imaginable. If it turns out Hawking is mistaken about evaporating blackholes I’m sure the world will cut him some slack. Other than a few physics PhD’s that might get yanked, I’m pretty sure that the practical damages from evaporating black holes getting blown out of the water will be pretty close to 10−44 dollars.
And speaking of which have we finally found the limits of US federal spending? If Dopey Joe Biden tries to print more than 1 Planck dollars will Washington DC be ripped right out of space time and returned to Cthulhu’s dimension where the Democrats came from? Boy I hope so.
We Need a New Sideshow
Having successfully overhauled a few things on the site, I can now concentrate my energies, such as they are, to providing something worth your time reading. I looked at the news today and there are numerous news and opinion pieces about “Classified Documents.”
There are articles about more documents showing up in various Biden ratholes. There are accounts by talking heads on both sides about why there is or isn’t a smoking gun in all of this. There are articles comparing the two special counsel investigations of Joe Biden and Donald Trump. They even manage to drag Hillary Clinton’s server back into the discussion. It’s fascinating!
Well, no it isn’t. The intel agencies and the Justice Department can find a judge to decide any of these “cases” any way they want to. How they are spinning these two fantasies is completely out of our control and honestly of no interest to me. We’ll deal with the fallout. That might have interesting consequences. But nervously waiting to see what they’ll charge Trump with is a waste of time. They’ll use the primary elections as a basis of when or if to indict him. So, what are we supposed to do about it? Nothing.
And so, the news just doesn’t seem to be full of interesting things right now. Of course, it is fun to watch Dopey Joe get slapped around by CNN and MSNBC for a change. It’s hard for me to tell if they’ve gotten their marching orders on this or whether they’re also confused as to what they should do. Who knows, maybe Biden isn’t following orders and is being threatened behind the scenes if he doesn’t agree not to run again. With these people anything is possible. But interest palls quite quickly.
I guess the only value in this charade is to instruct the general public that our federal masters have long ago stopped pretending that they care what we think. In one case holding onto classified documents is just a misunderstanding; no harm, no foul. In the next case it’s a capital crime and then in the third, back to a misunderstanding again. The lesson is that reality is whatever they say it is. But for most of us we’ve already seen this show before.
I guess we need a new diversion to keep me from getting bored with the whole thing. Maybe we can watch to see how the disaster in the Ukraine plays out. That’s a real-life train wreck in slow-motion and probably a major embarrassment for the globalist project. They attempted to force Putin into a fait accompli and he turned the tables on them. He actually believes in his people and their right not to be globalized out of existence. Unfortunately, it will cost the Ukrainian (and Russian) soldiers dearly. Hundreds of thousands will die and the Ukraine will be shattered into at least two parts. But getting into bed with Barack Obama and Joe Biden was a pretty stupid decision on their part and the Ukrainians will learn a very painful lesson about how the world works. It will also cost us several hundreds of billions of dollars or more. And if the State Department and the Pentagon are really crazy it might just get us all nuked too.
Another sideshow will be the Republicans in the House. We’ll get to see how they stack up against the previous generations of Congress Critters. And this is good news for them. They’ll have to fail pretty abysmally to be judged in the same league with John Boehner’s or Paul Ryan’s gangs of stooges. I’ll confess that I have some traces of hope that they might show themselves to be better than expected. So, there is something to keep us amused there too.
But I find that there’s plenty to keep me busy in the real world. Family, friends and the doings of my surroundings keep me busy and allow me to positively impact my little world. Saints be praised, I’m even helping the local Republicans to get things done. Who knows, with a lot of hard work we might even make our corner of New England just a little less cobalt blue!
But now that I’m done with my site work I’ll have some amusing stuff coming up soon. Maybe even a few laughs.
05JAN2023 – Just a Regular Old Thursday. The Calendar’s full of Them
As the tragicomedy of Kevin McCarthy continues to unfold in the Emerald City of Oz, I was tasked with filling out and presenting my documents to Cthulhu’s minions inside the precincts of the nightmare corpse-city of R’lyeh. Well maybe it was the Dunwich town hall. But there was definitely a lot of eldritch horror somewhere close by I can assure you.
My hand was a virtual claw from having to sign my illegible signature hundreds of times to the various documents. I was made aware of the 11 billion separate types of discrimination that Dunwich recognizes and prosecutes along with the blessings of diversity, equity and inclusion that seem to seep out of every document that I was forced to read. It was inspiring.
It was a particularly dreary day weatherwise, drizzling and forty degrees, but I was kind of happy to foray out into the world just to convince myself it was actually still out there. Apparently not having a Speaker of the House hasn’t managed to disrupt the space-time continuum. And the zombies wandering around town looked neither more nor less mindless and homicidal than usual. So, all’s right with the world.
Maybe I’m becoming acclimated to the present levels of dysfunction and unreality in the world around me. I noticed it didn’t rankle me as much as it used to. Of course, that could mean I’m becoming zombified myself. But whatever the cause it eased the pain while moving around town.
I read a post by Curtis Yarvin on his Substack that referenced Heinlein’s story Waldo. Now Yarvin is a neo-monarchist who is mostly interested in the political situation we find ourselves in. But he’s also a technologist and here he hypothesizes that one of the more promising areas of technological progress could be in providing human/machine interfaces that allow humans to utilize their manual dexterity at different scales and remotely. So, he sees a sort of virtual reality setup where a surgeon could utilize microscopic equipment as if he were the size of the miniaturized characters in “Fantastic Voyage.” Or a gigantic machine hundreds of feet long could be controlled by a human with the point of view of a giant. His premise is that human intelligence and dexterity after proper training is much more responsible and skilled than an AI. After reading about some of the failures of self-driving cars he may be correct. I never thought Robert Heinlein and Curtis Yarvin would intersect in this version of the multiverse. But there it is.
Will Cain did an interview of Tucker Carlson. What I found interesting was Carlson’s answer to what had red-pilled him. He described his mindset as we went through the Iraq War (from 1:36 to 3:19 in the video) and I found myself remembering a very similar evolution. I went from believing that we were there to make America safer to eventual disillusionment and a sense of absolute betrayal by the Republican establishment. And Carlson echoed that. I didn’t watch the whole thing yet because it’s too long but that little snippet stuck in my mind. Millions of people in this country feel totally betrayed by the Republican party and will never forget that. And that is the reality that gives me hope. If people as different from each other as Tucker Carlson is from me can both come to essentially the same point of view about our political system then it must be the truth. And if it is the truth then I’m finally working from correct assumptions. And that is what I’ve been trying to achieve all these years. It’s not that the truth guarantees that things will work out. It’s that basing your actions on false assumptions guarantees failure.
As this was finishing up I se that McCarthy is still furiously negotiating to buy off his enemies with committee seats and promises of accountability. Ah, what a circus. We really should require all of Congress to wear the red nose, baggy pants and size 20 shoes. And the Speaker should always arrive at the podium in a tiny car. As I said in a comment on the last post, we must be terrible people to be sentenced to leaders this atrocious. Robespierre and Caligula were paragons of sanity compared to the bozos we’ve got working for us today.
Well, that’s enough.
Enough of Gloom and Doom for the Last Week of the Year
So that post I had up for yesterday was certainly depressing. Well, I had an antidote for that today. After getting home from an errand this afternoon, I had all four grandsons over for a viewing of the extended version of the “Return of the King.” This includes my personal favorite scene from the motion picture series, “The Ride of the Rohirrim.”
There’s nothing like hanging out with my young descendants to cheer me up. This was the first viewing of this decisive completion to the trilogy for the two younger fellows. And there was much excitement over the visually impressive Battle of Minas Tirth. We cheered on the good guys and laughed when the various orcs and trolls were splatted by projectiles hurled from the battlements.
Camera Girl, always the gracious hostess, provided grilled cheeses sandwiches, mac and cheese and desserts. There were several pies, various flavors of ice cream, cheesecake and cookies available. And this being a vacation week we all ate way too much.
After the movie ended, we debated many important points of Tolkeiniana. I expressed my opinion that regardless of the violence done to the plot Sam should have been allowed to liquidate Gollum. In all honesty, in the movie version, I despise both Gollum and Frodo almost equally. Frodo is such a hopeless basket case that it defies imagination that Sam was able to finally carry him over the finish line to Mount Doom at all. If they had taken along a ten-year-old girl instead it couldn’t have been any more pathetic. I think if Elrond had given the ring to Sam, he would have chucked it in Mount Doom a couple of months early and been back in the Shire in time for potato planting.
My younger relatives seemed to enjoy most the scenes where Gimli and Legolas compete to kill the most orcs. I have to confess the liberties that the movie makers took with the dialog around Gimli borders on the farcical but I will admit that sometimes the lightheartedness is a welcome addition. Although I do draw the line at the dwarf tossing and elf snowboarding scenes in “The Two Towers.”
Eventually some of the discussions spilled over into arguments about the actual text in Tolkien’s books. I had to bring out my copy of the trilogy in order to provide authoritative answers to questions like which were older, the Oathbreakers on the Paths of the Dead or the dead soldiers in the Dead Marshes? As it turned out they were both from the same time period, the Last Alliance of Men and Elves against Sauron at the end of the Second Age.
And so, we ended the get together and I brought them home in time to finish their chores and prepare for the next day of their Christmas vacation. But if life in this confused world still includes time with such admirable characters as my grandsons, then it can’t be all bad. We’ll have many good things to do in the days and weeks ahead. And I’ll get to see them grow up to be fine young men. As for problems, well, helping family with their problems is what family is all about.
December 26th 2022
And just like that it’s over. All of Camera Girl’s hard work has been expended and all the splendiferous foods have been eaten and all the children have gotten their gifts. And we wake up on Monday morning and groan from the food we consumed and begin to straighten up the kitchen and the house and cart away the imperial ton of wrapping paper and boxes and put away the good china (of which one plate didn’t survive the exercise, requiescat in pace) and shake out the table cloths for the birds before they go in the washing machine (the tablecloths not the birds).
And we talk about all the moments we had with the kids and the grandkids. And they are remarkable things these moments. And we agree that it doesn’t get any better than this. Spending time with the people you love and being relaxed and happy doing it is the pinnacle of life. All of the hard work that went into the meal was repaid with interest by seeing the guests enjoy it. Watching the young children playing together and sitting with the older children and talking about their lives and interests is the culmination of decades of work and is enormously gratifying to a parent and grandparent.
I was having a conversation with one of my sons-in-law. We were talking about the uncertainty of conditions in the world for regular people and he said some things that told me he understands what’s important. He said the only certain thing in the economy is that if you have a skill that people need, you’ll be able to survive. And I said that’s true and I added, “No one is looking out for us anymore. We have to depend on ourselves and each other.” And he agreed.
And afterwards I thought about what I had said off-hand. It’s true. The government has abandoned us. We’re looking out for each other or no one is. If something happens to one of your family you may be the only thing between him and homelessness and death. The government can’t be bothered. The Canadian government, always ahead of us on the edge of progressivism, now uses the idea of assisted suicide for any situation where people feel abandoned by society. If you can’t get help with a health problem, they’ll suggest, “Why not end it all with our convenient and economical assisted suicide kit.” It comes with a YouTube video and on-line instructions to make sure everything goes smoothly.
I’m sure soon they’ll add it to all government FAQ pages as an option to all life’s difficulties. Can’t get that rental house this summer? Then end it all. Can’t find that bargain on eBay you wanted? Why not off yourself? It’s fun and practical. You won’t need to skimp on anything. Just have a big weekend at a resort, run up an enormous hotel tab and then finish it off with an overdose of fentanyl. Quick, painless and easy.
Well, excuse me if I don’t run for the exits. Life is extremely precious. Our overlords are working overtime to encourage people to give up. Don’t get married, don’t have children, don’t buy a house, don’t work hard, just drop dead.
Well, too bad. I won’t take the hint. They’ve stopped pretending they’re our fellow countrymen. The globalists say we’re all just one big world. And it’s a world that has too many people in it. Fine then. We’re nothing to them and they’re nothing to us. Less than nothing. They’re our avowed enemies.
Let’s remember that and act accordingly. We only have each other. But the help of people that actually care about you is more valuable than anything else that you’ll find in this fake world of woke propaganda. Recalibrate what you can and can’t depend on and decide what is worthwhile to do and what is a waste of precious time. And you’ll be surprised how much less bleak things will appear. Just find people you like and work together to make a little world around you that includes the things in life that actually matter. That’s my thought on this day after Christmas.
Christmas Day 2022
Christmas Eve with the grandsons at their home was great. They were in epic high spirits and we talked of various things. With the eldest it was nuclear fusion and robotics. With the youngest it was, of course, dinosaurs but also his latest pet, a bearded dragon with an inexhaustible appetite for “super worms.” With the others there was talk of soccer and what they would be doing on the Christmas holiday next week. Much food was eaten and the younger kids were occupied with happy mayhem. Something with plastic swords and shields.
But this morning, Camera Girl is at peak output with potatoes being mashed, lasagna, roast beast and ham cooking and side dishes being prepared. I can tell her patience is exhausted so I have to tread carefully around the outskirts of her kitchen or a carving knife might end up under my ribs. She does have Sicilian blood on her mother’s side. But I can tell all is going well. She’s in the zone. All of the desserts are already prepared and the meat courses are right on schedule. It will be a feast to remember. And the leftovers will be glorious. That ham will end up in at least a lentil soup and probably some breakfasts.
But after eating way too much food and way too much dessert I’ll spend the time with the grandkids. Now that Princess Sack of Potatoes is a full four years old, she’ll be right in the thick of it with her older cousins. I might even try to put on a showing of one of the “Christmas Carol” movies but Camera Girl frowns on television watching on the holidays. She prefers more sociable pursuits like cards. We’ll see.
The weather has cooperated. Although bitterly cold, the roads are in mostly good shape. Only a few curves of the hills have some large ice hazards but last night I noted that these had been treated with salt so my guests should be safe coming and going today.
Monday we can get back to the political nightmare our country has descended into but today will be “Peace on earth, good will toward men.” So, all of you have a great day and night and in Tiny Tim’s immortal words, “God bless us every one.”
Update:
I ruined my own surprise by hanging around the kitchen. Camera Girl had secretly bought me a boneless loin of lamb. She hates lamb and vociferously refused making it when I mentioned it last week. But after performing my duty of cutting an X on the raw chestnuts, I glanced over at the stove and there it was. My discovery angered her but what could I do? She should have hidden it. I did thank her heartily but she is pretty mad for me spoiling the surprise. Well, I’ll make it up to her later. Christmas just got a whole lot merrier. But, boy will I be groggy tonight.
24DEC2022 – OCF Update – Christmas Eve
I’ll be heading out for a Christmas Eve dinner a little before 3 pm. I intend to eat too much and spend as much time doing whatever the grandchildren want to do as circumstance allows. Their parents are hosting the party so they’ll have to do all the work and I’ll get to hang out with the kids.
I haven’t written a political post lately other than the odd comment on the headlines. It’s just too grim to do on the holiday. The only rational option is to ignore the horror for a few days to allow some joy in our lives before we have to face the wreckage that is waiting for us up ahead.
And that’s reasonable. Human beings require joy in their lives every once in a while just to survive. And Christmas is the prime example of how we attempt to make a recurring ritual of joy in our lives. So Biden and Pelosi and Schumer and the rest of the vampires will still be there when the holiday ends and we will still be up to our ears in dysfunction and depravity. But we will have had a few days to feel a little happiness in our lives and remind ourselves that there is good in the world.
So I hope everyone has a good day. And even if it’s just a day off, enjoy it and forget about the problems of the world for as long as you’re allowed. I’ll post as time allows and as the spirit moves me.
Merry Christmas.
Wampanoag Lasagna
It is reputed that at the Pilgrims’ first Christmas dinner the main course was lasagna. Apparently, some of the Wampanoag Indians learned how to make this dish from Christopher Columbus or one of his friends back in the late 1400’s when they were on a Caribbean vacation and upon returning home it became traditional in the New England area. Admittedly some scholars reject this time line. These dissidents claim it came into vogue in the 1900’s with a later wave of Italian influence.
Regardless of which camp you find yourself in it’s obvious that lasagna is a very interesting choice for a Christmas menu. Now Camera Girl had asked my opinion about the Christmas menu. I had recommended a roast beast after the Italian wedding soup and she added a ham and then as an afterthought I asked about lasagna as a course. Surprisingly there was resistance to this reasonable recommendation. Something about not everyone liking lasagna. I can’t remember if I pounded my fist on the table and shouted some strangled syllables that might have been, “Heresy!” Later I calmed down and just swallowed my disappointment.
But Camera Girl is a mysterious creature and without my knowledge or permission she bought the ingredients for lasagna and today she is doing the assembly for later cooking. There are fragments of sausage and meatball, sauce and various cheeses that go into the layers between the pasta layers. Of course, I forgave her for her treacherous silence and subterfuge. Just as Adam forgave Eve for that whole apple thing, I was the better person and put the whole treacherous story behind me and gave my blessing to this lasagna conspiracy.
But this does create an awkward situation for my meal. I really like roast beef and I like ham. But lasagna is enormously delicious and infrequently available. How do I do justice to this dinner without ending up in the hospital emergency room? Ah, heavy is the head that wears the crown. Well, I’ll figure it out. And of course, left over lasagna is a very pleasant situation and I’m sure Camera Girl will distribute it to the households that have children to feed. Maybe the real concern is that some of it remains for me on December 26th and 27th.
Here is a photo of the intermediate stage of the lasagna assembly process.
And one of the end product.
And here’s one of the Italian cheesecake she’s also got going.
Well, I have to say, Christmas 2022 is shaping up to be pretty remarkable. It seems that the crazier the world becomes the more special become the personal moments that we share with our friends and family. In fact, that’s probably why they’re that way. It’s a defense mechanism to keep our sanity and concentrate on the things within our control and keep the awfulness at arm’s length. Well even if that’s so it doesn’t detract from the greatness of these special things we do. Tomorrow we’ll be away at Christmas Eve most of the day so I’ll say Merry Christmas to everyone here. May you enjoy your time and make the most of it.
Merry Christmas
21DEC2022 – Winter Solstice
Winter Solstice. The first day of winter, the day when the sun spends the least amount of time above the horizon. The longest night of the year. Well, while some neo-pseudo-druids will be cavorting around the Stonehenge site I’ll spend today reveling in the joys of the season. I’ll watch some more of my favorite seasonal movies, eat some more Christmas cookies and try to work off the calories with some exercise. Camera Girl is devilishly busy with her preparations for the Christmas feast and I am more or less nothing but a hindrance to her at this point. I ask if I can help and just get scowls of contempt for what she considers hollow offers. Maybe I can carry some heavy pots of soup or sides of meat downstairs. But other than those few things I’m essentially of no use to her. Well, what can I say? God has divided us, quite wisely, into men and women and along those same lines he has provided or withheld various talents to the members of the human race. And like the fabulous ant and grasshopper of Aesop some of us toil and are productive and others of us feast and sing. I am cursed to be among this latter group. And Camera Girl is solidly in the former category. Such is life.
It’s bright daylight today. I intend to walk around in the woods and snap a photo or two of whatever strikes my eye. If tonight is as clear I must take a walkaround in the starlight and enjoy a sight of the winter constellations on this longest night. In fact, the moon is on the next to last night before New Moon so viewing the sky will be almost optimal. Orion will be about 45 degrees above the horizon at about 11 pm and that’s when I’ll take a wander outside. The forecast is for mostly clear skies and 25 degrees Fahrenheit. Sounds pretty good for late December in New England.
The world diverges into two contrasting pictures. When I hear what is going on in the wide world it is a ghastly disaster. Evil men run just about everything there is to control. Joe Biden is a symbol for a world collapsing into decay. But when I look at my personal world, I see good things all around me. Good people are working hard to improve the lives of their families and displaying wonderful qualities of self-sacrifice and industriousness. I see youngsters working hard at their studies and displaying intelligence and good will. So, it’s a paradox. How can so much good exist in a world that has embraced nihilism and irrational goals? And I must say I haven’t an answer. But I will celebrate the good and hope for the future no matter how bleak the big picture seems to be.
So, I’ll go out today and take the optimistic approach. From here on in the hours of daylight will be increasing and the New Year comes with the ever-renewed hope that the world will come to its senses. That’s good enough for today.