Update on time travel

NewMexiKen did a little research on time travel and there is good news and bad news.

The good news is that it is possible.

The bad news is that according to Einstein’s theory of relativity, you will only be able to time travel to visit relatives.

Timeless

NewMexiKen sees that the Time Travelers Convention mentioned here on NewMexiKen the other day is front page news in The New York Times today. Remember you saw it here first. (Of course, I suppose “first” doesn’t matter if we have time travel. Oh, well.)

Anyway, this time travel business got me thinking. The organizers talk about people from the future coming “back” to this convention. To me it would be a lot more interesting if the people from the future who have perfected time travel went back to the past and picked up some hitchhikers. You know, sort of like Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.

Best line from The Times story: “Mr. Dorai and fellow organizers are the kind of people who transplant a snowblower engine into a sleeper sofa and drive the couch around Cambridge.”

Lassen

At the southern end of the Cascade Range, Lassen Peak was designated a national monument on this date in 1907. It became a national park in 1916.

This from the National Park Service:

Beneath Lassen Volcanic’s peaceful forests and gem-like lakes lies evidence of a turbulent and fiery past. 600,000 years ago, the collision and warping of continental plates led to violent eruptions and the formation of lofty Mt. Tehama (also called Brokeoff Volcano.) After 200,000 years of volcanic activity, vents and smaller volcanoes on Tehama’s flanks-including Lassen Peak-drew magma away from the main cone. Hydrothermal areas ate away at the great mountain’s bulk. Beneath the onslaught of Ice Age glaciers, Mt. Tehama crumbled and finally ceased to exist. But the volcanic landscape lived on: in 1914, Lassen Peak awoke. The Peak had its most significant activity in 1915 and minor activity through 1921. Lassen Volcanic became a national park in 1916 because of its significance as an active volcanic landscape.

Dream a little dream of me

Fortunately for you, NewMexiKen cannot remember dreams very well. But today is Freud’s birthday, so I will make an effort.

Lately I have had a series of dreams — we’re talking a few dreams over many weeks, but a definite pattern. Each of these dreams has featured a woman I have known. I don’t mean that known. I mean women I’ve been friends with, women I’ve worked with or for, women who are ex one-thing or another. It’s like Sundance, only each film features the comeback of some actress who was once part of my life.

There doesn’t seem to be a theme running through these dreams, other than the main character being a woman I knew. But for someone like me who doesn’t remember dreams, the pattern is curious. What does this all mean? Where are the male leads? Why are some of these dreams musicals?

Clueless

Can you answer the questions in the States Clues game?

It’s the last game listed on the page. Some of the others looked good as well. Beware: the audio is a little annoying.

Best line of the day, so far

“[Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens] loves to tell of moving to Washington, and, on a bank application, listing “Justice” as his occupation. The skeptical bank clerk replied, ‘OK, last week, I had a guy who said “Peace”.’”

From an essay on Stevens by a former clerk: In Praise of John Paul Stevens - Newsweek National News - MSNBC.com

On this date

… in 1937 the zeppelin Hindenburg exploded and crashed at the Naval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirteen of the 36 passengers and 22 of the 61 crew were killed, as well as one ground crew member.

Listen to Herbert Morrison’s famous broadcast [RealAudio] from Old Time Radio.

Here’s the video, albeit rather tiny.

And here’s The New York Times report on the disaster.

The Week Quiz

The Week Quiz has a nice new look.

NewMexiKen isn’t reporting my score, but let’s just say it would have been a total disaster if it weren’t for the American Idol and NBA questions.

Can we change the highway back now?

“[H]istorians studying a newly discovered fragment of the oldest surviving copy of the New Testament announced that the legendary “mark of the beast” is probably 616, rather than 666.”

The Week Newsletter

On this date

… in 1864, Confederate General James E. Longstreet was wounded at the Battle of the Wilderness. Many of his troops thought him dead, but he recovered. The Library of Congress tells us more:

Although his right arm was paralyzed by the injury at the bloody Battle of the Wilderness, Longstreet resumed his command in November 1864, but, by that time, Lee’s army was embroiled in the siege of Petersburg. Longstreet remained by Lee’s side to the end, surrendering with him at Appomattox.

General Longstreet, who remained the friend and admirer of both his West Point classmates General Ulysses Grant and General Robert E. Lee, became an active member of the Republican Party after the end of the war.

As a supporter of the Reconstruction Acts and of Grant’s Administration, Longstreet was appointed surveyor of customs for the Port of New Orleans, and later served as U.S. Marshal in Georgia and, for a brief time, as the U.S. Minister to Turkey. His reconciliation to the Union, along with his open criticism of General Lee’s handling of the Battle of Gettysburg, offended many Southerners and made him a controversial figure for the rest of his life.

In retelling the story of his war wounds in his memoirs From Manassas to Appomattox, published in 1896, Longstreet indicated that the post-war controversies had been more personally painful to him than the flesh wound he had suffered:

Bad as was being shot by some of our own troops in the battle of the Wilderness,—that was an honest mistake, one of the accidents of war,—being shot at, since the war, by many officers, was worse.

May 6

A year ago today NewMexiKen wrote about some pretty darn interesting things. Among them:

The Shining in 30 seconds with bunnies; Amadeo Peter Giannini, the founder of Bank of America and a hero in the aftermath of the San Francisco Earthquake; dreaming about Sigmund Freud (it’s his birthday); Willie Mays (it’s his birthday); Orson Welles (it’s his birthday); the Hindenburg explosion (it happened on this date in 1937); and about my son Ken (it’s his birthday). Happy Birthday, Ken