Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Mindless Drivel

"Don't let your mind stop you from having a good time. Cuz if there's anything that slows us down, it's all that under the hat." ~Jason Mraz

Mraz relayed this bit of wisdom to the audience the other night when he played at Morongo Casino in Cabazon, CA. It stuck with me because it's one of those tests I'm still failing every time it comes up in my life. Witness a few nights ago: I was out with a new friend and we were trying to get down to the beach but the roads we kept picking didn't have public entrances. He was more than willing to trot across someone's lawn and go down private stairs to get there quicker, but I wanted to go around by a road I knew had a public staircase. He asked me, “What are you afraid of?”

I dunno... cops? Angry property owners? Spilling my latte?

I thought about this a lot on my way home. Is it a good or a bad thing that I don’t like risking getting into trouble (in some situations)? Am I missing out on a lot of experience, or am I being a good citizen? I feel like I’ve had more exceptional life adventures than the average bear, but then I hear of others’ worldliness with realms unfamiliar to me because I was too afraid to go there and I think, “yeah, I am lame and where did this pole come from?”

As with all things I'm sure the answer lies in the balance, but the line is fuzzy and vague and sometimes you only know you’ve crossed it when it’s too late.

~*~

So did you see they kick-started the Large Hadron Collider at CERN? We’re one step closer to getting sucked into a black hole of our own making. That would solve all our environmental problems, wouldn’t it? We just wouldn’t have an environment.

Trouble is they broke it already. A 30-ton transformer failed in its duty to power cooling stations that keep the liquid helium at a frosty -459.67 degrees (much like New Jersey in January). Not to worry though, CERN called Hasbro and Hasbro contacted Cybertron. Optimus Prime was sent to deal with it. The magnets were back on the subzero frig by last Friday, but now electricity bills and maintenance schedules seem to be keeping it from actually firing up again until next Spring. Go figure.

Science moves forward like a chameleon.

I think the research they’re doing is both exciting and dangerous at the same time. It’s like aliens gave us a book of matches and told us to go play in traffic.

If we actually observe the Higgs boson, and can therefore make some solid claims on how massless particles become mass, that would be huge. We haven’t had a major advancement in science of that magnitude since Einstein.

On the other hand, scientists swear they have calculated the math nine ways to Sunday to make sure we’re not going to cause a major catastrophe, but hello… they’re called probabilities for a reason. Probabilities usually encompass a few remote occurrences where side effects may include getting run over by our own sun as our universe is inhaled by God’s bright yellow Dyson. And we all know the Cosmos enjoys a good jokes on the humans.

But hey, don’t let your mind stop you from having a good time. :D

2 comments:

Melissa said...

Personally, I think it's just good manners not to walk on someone else's private property. I say this as someone who has had people walk through their yard over and over, even after nicely saying "Please don't walk here." It's annoying, but not worth chasing anyone with a broom. I also feel the answer is found in balance (I have an entry on my blog titled "I covet balance.")

What I want to know about this Large Hadron Collider is this - WHY ARE WE WASTING OUR TIME AND ENERGY AND RESOURCES AND MONEY AND LIVES ON SOMETHING THIS POINTLESS AND STUPID? We have so many more problems that are so much more important to resolve in a better manner than we are now. I hear a quote from Jurassic Park "You spent so much time figuring out if you could do it and no time thinking if you should do it." Something like that. How can people who are so "smart" be so "dumb"? I'm just shaking my head. But at least I got a laugh out of your "getting run over by our own sun" comment. Not really funny if it happened, but kinda made me giggle.

~What a world~
Melissa

Unknown said...

First off nice link on "the black hole of our own making" lol. Funny & so true...

I have taken Jason down & put him back up on the genius "pedestal" so many times I seriously have no idea where I put him now, I think he has scurried away under the refrigerator, but this is one time I have to fully agree with what he is saying in theory.

The whole black hole tie in is the main reason why. If we all sit here and worry about getting sucked into a big old black hole what is the very likely thing to happen? That's right, a big old black hole! You girl of all people should remember we manifest what we want so if what we all start thinking about is the tragic end to our little green & blue marble in space...well you get the picture.

I think Jason's whole theory here is concentrate on what is good, what is fun, light and happy and that is what will manifest. I can not say I do this all the time...after all I am Only Human but it is something I have been working on a lot lately and I do feel happier inside!

With all that said...exploration and the way to get there is definitely a judgement call. I have been known to wander into places I am not "supposed" to go but other times I pay attention to Keep Out!. Generally I only pay attention if there are signs threatning being shot or something though. Cops, angry people & spilled coffee do not usually scare me :) Neither do black holes because in the end I really will not know the difference so I may as well enjoy it all right now!