Can someone explain to me why this dude isn’t in charge of everything?
Look, I’m a reasonably sharp guy. I have a doctorate, am qualified for admission MENSA (actually 3 times, by virtue of IQ test, GRE and LSAT), and I don’t sniff glue. Just yesterday I had a nice converstion with Blue Cyclone about the Mohorovi?i? discontinuity, which is a kinda intellectual topic. I do logic games books to relax, and love taking practice GRE tests. Sure, I can be a bit retarded on certain things. I think all kinds of wacky shit, like why do they sell soft and super soft toilet paper, but no hard toilet paper. Not like I want to wipe my ass with sand paper, but every now and again a man wants to be able to dig, you know? Anyway, much like Socrates and Plato to Vizzini, this man makes me a moron.
According to his wiki page, Dr. Michio Kaku
was born in San Jose, California to Japanese immigrant parents, and attended and played first board on the chess team of Cubberly High School in Palo Alto in the early 1960s. At the National Science Fair in Albuquerque, N.M., he attracted the attention of physicist Edward Teller, who took Kaku as a protégé, awarding him the Hertz Engineering Scholarship. Kaku graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University with a B.S. degree in 1968 and was first in his physics class. He attended the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley and received a Ph.D. in 1972, and held a lectureship at Princeton University in 1973.
So yesterday I was sitting at home after work, watching a little TV. Actually, I was playing WoW and listening to the TV. As usual, I had the TV on something Geek, I think it was the Science Channel. Anyway, this cat comes on and does a special on how he would make a spaceship to transport him to Alpha Centari. I didn’t really understand some of it, but damn man, who doesn’t want to go off and make it with some blue alien chick, a la CPT Kirk? (You can watch part of that segment here. Exit Question: Just me or does he sound like an Asian Jon Lovitz?)
So after he solved that little problem, he spent another 1/2 hour telling us all to make invisibility suits. Just imagine how this would revolutionize college locker room shower scenes in movies. He even dropped a few Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter references.
Here he is talking about light sabers. You show me a kid who didn’t want a light saber, and I will show you a guy who grew up to enjoy musicals.
But (and here is the point of this asinine post)….guess what his first job was? I mean, what would the smartest dude on the planet do for a first job? Simple my dear Watson, he was an INFANTRYMAN. Yup, this cat was a grunt before he was a theoretical physicist and futurist.
The Infantry, is there anything we can’t do?
[As an aside, I was talking to Caro last night about how I have a Tom Brady-level mancrush on this dude. I’m explaining the spaceship to her and she asks if it has left yet. I’m like no, he only plans the shit out he doesn’t build it. Then this happens:
Me: Dude also explained how to make an invisibility suit.
Her: Was he wearing it?
Me: No, he was just talking about it.
Her: Is anyone using it?
Me: No hon, it’s theoretical, they have made things disappear, but only for mili-seconds at a time.
Her: What things?
Me: Well, just atoms, something about stopping the electrons or something. Not sure, got attacked by a Jormunger while I was watching that part.
Her: So no suit?
Me: Not yet.
Her: How about a glove?
Me: No, nothing yet.
Her: That’s dumb. Call me when he at least makes a finger sock disappear.]
I literally have $5 through next Tuesday, so if anyone has any of this guys books that they could part with, would love to borrow.
Category: Politics
Michio is a true BAMF and I have loved him for years. I have one of his books at home, and if a certain Jeep manages to disappear by invisibility on the spaceship to Alpha Centauri…somebody might just get a present
Dude, I haven’t laughed this hard at a post in a long time. Yeah, my geeky side has watched science/history channel stuff where this guy was one of the people describing the subject matter of the show. He’s definitely on a much higher level than the average bear. Although, I’m not quite geeky enough to get into WoW (I do like a little Axis and Allies board game action, over several adult beverages, though).
As for your conversation with the lovely Caro…..I guess it would have been better if she was watching the same show, kinda one of those “had to be there” things?
Michio is the shit. He has an incredible talent for taking something really weird and out there, and making it much easier for us old Cav guys. Like the show where he explained String Theory, I finally got it.
He never served as an infantryman. Doesn’t count. Stop trying to make everyone look like they want to be in the army and want to kill people. This guy was drafted during vietnam. I’m sure he’s smart enough to have options besides killing other races.
*waves* Hi SD!
http://books.google.com/books?id=_HBtAHuG6dwC&pg=PA164&dq=%22michio+kaku%22+%22fort+benning%22#v=onepage&q=&f=false
HB: You’re not smart enough to not be a douche, so what’s yer point? So what if he was drafted; he served, didn’t run, didn’t hide, didn’t look at it as a race issue. You, on the other hand, are a tad bit biased in your statement and, of course, you might want to take a look at your last sentence and realize how stupid it makes you look.
Captain’s Log, Spacedate 12345 (Hey, that’s the same as my luggage combination!) I remember it like it was yesterday, man. Space Fleet Command had ordered our Caucasian-class battledestroyer to Mangina IV to resupply the inhabitants there with more tampons and other essentials…apparently all of the females’ cycles had sync’d and there was a real chance of the station’s replicators running completely dry of chocolate and ‘The English Patient’ video credits. As we entered the system, we were immediately jumped by a K’Rove cruiser, its halliburton torpedoes ripping our disruptorator shields to shreds. We countered with our fruiton beams and tore those K’Rovians up like a manufactured hurricane hitting a coastal city in the Gulf Of Mexico. By the time we landed our supplies to the Manginians, the crisis had bloody well passed, and things were getting back to the regular flow, but in retrospect, the entire ordeal now seems real fishy to me.
Space Commander MC T’so
CO, USS Ewessess
I’m sure he’s smart enough to have options besides killing other races.
Sure, he could have become a teacher, or run off to Canada…
Claymore,
Spew alert next time…..you owe me a new keyboard!!!
…..freaking Mangina….I’m still laughing…
I have been a fan of this guy for some time. He has his own show on cable now, SciQ Sunday on the Science Channel and he has been my go to guy for explaining things like black holes, the String Theory, the Hadron Collider and all things science geeky that there is no way my little brain can grasp, but he makes it simple to understand.
I didn’t know he was an Infantryman though, which might explain why he can explain stuff so I can understand it.
For more of Michio Kaku here is a link to his You Tube videos and he is a frequent guest on Fox News.
Mensa huh?
Try a library near you. They’re usually largish buildings filled with books.
http://sherloc.imcpl.org/?q=Dr.%20Michio%20Kaku
My Proffessor for Quantum Mechanics used to say “If any of this stuff makes sense to to you, you don’t get it”
I still don’t get how I A-ced that class…..
“I’m sure he’s smart enough to have options besides killing other races.”
Anyone wanna bet that “harrisonburg boy” lives in a Lilly white ivory tower within a gated community???
Hmm I wonder if Harissonburg BOY knows anything of Japanese history? They sort of made an art form out of warfare before they invented video games.
earning a chord makes you Infantry.
even if you didn’t “serve” as an Infantryman doesn’t mean he didn’t serve.
and by “serve” I am sure you mean deployed in combat.
Infantry is a brotherhood, its is not defined by politics, race, creed, wealth, or education.
It’s a bond that transends self.
try:
http://www.asamnet.de/%7Ebetheakr/creed.html
yeah, to a lesser extent than spec ops units, Infantrymen live, fight, and die for the men to the left and right of them.
But, I guess people who don’t even take an oath/contract as sacred/unbreakable, it is hard to understand.
I am the Infantry!
Follow Me!
LOL @ grunt. Thank God they found video games.
Another genius I’ve been in love with for decades is Richard Feynman. He’s a physicist who’s books are hilarious.
Some time after the Manhattan Project his politics got a little left- but not so much you can’t tolerate him.
He wrote The Pleasure of Finding Things out.
Richard Feynman is the shit. Also MY geek crush. He was a fucking riot.
Claymore…Fuuuck! *That* so needed a spew alert. I save 3.347 to get a Dunkin and a donut and I freaking lost it with laughter, thankfully not on the mac, but the peripheral screen!!
Ponsdorf- there is even one next door to his office!
On the rest of this stuff talk is cheap, and frankly it all sounds like something he thought up while drunk playing WoW. I think it would go something like “Dude, I need to go into 3 more dungeons and collect 5 gold coins from the fairy before I can buy my invisibility cloak!…woa dude, what if we had an invisibility cloak for real!”
Ooof.
No way I am recovering from that one.
Ouch!! I think someone is getting Thor’s hammer thrown right at their melon!
Way to go Caroline!!! TSO – it is lunch time, go the library. By the way, you planning to EVER take the bar exam?
Yes Ma’am, Indiana bar in July, am registering for BARBRI shortly.
Longtimenosee, hope all is well!
Michio is my bitch-io. No worries, that’s just how I roll.
For the record, it was 13 gold from the fairy and it wasn’t an invisibility cloak, it was “Cloak Of The Unseen Flamer”.
Caroline noted: On the rest of this stuff talk is cheap, and frankly it all sounds like something he thought up while drunk playing WoW.
Well I’ve heard it said that geniuses sometimes forget to put on pants and such. Your perspective is valued in this case, although I’m having trouble picturing a date for you and TSO. A candle lit table in a fine restaurant – he reaches across the table and gently takes your hand. “Caro, the time I spend with you is wonderful, but will you bring my dinner home in a doggie bag so I can get back to my WoW? Here’s my credit card, do leave a nice tip.”
Me, I’m snob… I was invited to join Mensa and turned them down (really). AND I know how to find a library and even have a library card!
Hey TSO.
If you think the discontinuity thingy is interesting look up the SAA. I, personally, found out about it when I was working for NASA. Current opinion is that it may be the precursor for a pole swap.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Atlantic_Anomaly
You all sit and try to joke on me..yet ponsdouche just asked TSO if he wanted to do a pole swap.
Who’s the pansy now bitches??!
“I’m sure he’s smart enough to have options besides killing other races.”
Are you talking about aliens here? Because, last time I checked, there is only one race: Human.
Everything else is an artificial construct, made up by groups, primarily leftists and other related idiots, to pit one section of society against another. Leftists, (and other assorted idiots) use this tactic in order to gain power and hold it. See how well it’s worked in every major city that the leftists (and other assorted assmaggots) have run.
Detroit
Chicago
Washington DC
Philadelphia
All real-life worker’s paradises, eh?
So would a pole switch between two dudes be called a “Fagnetic Polar Reversal”?
Pons, Cyclone and I also discussed that as well.
I said the pole switching doesn’t scare me like the idea of a Yellowstone eruption does.
SD; you are one funny dude. I look forward tomore of your posts; I really do.
The idea of a super-eruption at Yellowstone OUGHT to scare the bejeebus out of everyone. When that one blows, and it will, it will be a life & society altering event for this entire continent, and likely the rest of the word.
HB said: You all sit and try to joke on me..yet ponsdouche just asked TSO if he wanted to do a pole swap.
I dunno why I’m bothering to reply… maybe it’s the ‘ponsdouche’ bit. That was almost clever.
There’s a sort of cachet associated with a new appellation that will require some thought, but thanks.
TSO observed: I said the pole switching doesn’t scare me like the idea of a Yellowstone eruption does.
None of that sort of thing frightens me. There are far more immediate threats, and one has to prioritize.
Still, I figured you were pulling my leg some with your reply, but I’ll add that anomalies and discontinuities ARE things that are puzzles by definition.
If you’ll forgive my wandering even further off topic?
Look up The Principia Discordia. It’s an odd take-off on Newtons Principia Mathematica.
It also serves as a kind of introduction to chaos theory.
As an attorney wannabe it will drive you crazy. [grin]
Nope, genuinely VERY interested. Wasn’t at all interested until I listened to a Short History of Nearly Everything and now addicted to science. Guns Germs and Steel did the same for me with anthropology and such.
Jeezus, and I thought the WoW lingo was confusing. Now y’all talking bout
quantimquaitmenabout them there science thingies.Can we bring this back around to the proper technique to employ when trying to execute a silent takedown of enemy soldier or something a little closer to somebody who is likely to appear on “Are you smarter then a 5th grader”?
As one of the students.
Ponsdorf- So far TSO has been very good at not spending all his time on WoW when we are together, but I’m thinking things could change when my address does.
LMAO @ Grunt!
Caroline offers some valuable perspective with:Ponsdorf- So far TSO has been very good at not spending all his time on WoW when we are together, but I’m thinking things could change when my address does.
TSO has been playing with his inflatables too. Beware…
In truth I only hope it happens, and I will make the trip to warn you of your mistake. After that I’ll just be all smiley and stuff.
The Milblog conference is taking on a new and different aura.
Caroline – the grounded one being sacrificed to the WoW gods. Saddens me, but it also has a kinky element that may float yer boat?
Late in the day here… YMMV.
True confession time. I got WoW for a Christmas present. I also had a trial subscription that I was using. Yesterday my trial period expired so I went to upgrade. The site wouldn’t take my product code from the CD. I called their customer support. After being on hold for an hour and a half I hung up and instead sent an email.
It has been 20 hours and still no response to my email and damned if I am calling them again. They probably just lost a customer.
JAG- The “probably” in your comment definitely makes you a full-fleged WoW dork. You are in good company though, with TSO, Claymore,and Brown Neck Gator.
Well,
My 11-year old daughter got WoW for Christmas to. The Battle Chest version, along with a new LapTop. She played it for a day, then decided she didn’t want it anymore. She prefers RuneQuest, and that whole WebKins thing with the plush toys. She also plays Age of Empires, and is so friggin’ smart she scares me sometimes. Currently she’s learning how to do her own videos. She wants to have her personal YouTube show.
Homeschooling is fun right now…..
OldTrooper, in #32, were you really thinking it was SD, or maybe ASH?
AW1 Tim: For a geeky support of that theory, check out Edward James Olmos at the UN Battlestar Galactica Shindig. “There is only one race…the human race. SO SAY WE ALL!”