August 29, 2006

the universe is not the Earth

on last Thursday's Colbert Report, theoretical physicist Dr. Janna Levin said that she and a growing number of scientists think the universe is actually finite and not infinite, as is believed by most of the scientific community (and myself). however, she made a comparison that i think is wholly incorrect: she compared the universe to the planet Earth.

she said that there was a time in Earth's history when people thought there was an end to the Earth, i.e. if you sailed too far, you would sail off the the edge. the truth, however, is that if you sail in a straight line away from your starting point (let's assume this is possible for a second), you will end up in the same place because of the curvature of the Earth. you'll just go around the world. she said this was how she belived the universe to work as well. like the Earth, the universe is finite, but there is no edge. if you fly in one direction, after some time you'll just end up where you started.

this doesn't make sense to me. the Earth is finite, its true, but we can get off the Earth. we've done so a couple of times now. it's true that if we only go in cardinal directions (a two-dimensional plane, for all intents and purposes), we will always end up at our starting point. but we can go up, into the third dimension, and off the Earth.

it's my belief that the universe is finite, but like we can escape the Earth, it is theoretically possible to escape the universe. since traveling in the universe means traveling in a third-dimensional object, the only way to reach the edge, and then get off the universe, is to enter the fourth dimension.

does that make any sense? i just felt an overwhelming desire to write about this because all i could do while watching the show was yell at my TV instead of engaging her in a discussion.

thecomicman spoke @ 01:23 AM |

Doujinshi

go here:

http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,71597-0.html?tw=wn_index_15

important things to note:

1) i have been to Otome Road (and the Mandarake store in question), and it was not at all what the author described, but that is not surprising since i was at Otome Road about two years ago and Japanese culture completely changes more often than my underwear.

2) my views on fan-fiction aside (which shall not be repeated here in order to avoid a flame war), this fan-pro relationship that Japan has going on is very interesting. it does seem to keep the flame stoked, doesn't it?

3) Akihabara is filled to brim with nerds, geeks, and dorks. it's like a convention everyday. which is exactly why it's so hateful.

thecomicman spoke @ 01:22 AM |

August 01, 2006

E3 Cancelled!

holy shit!

among all the other places you can read it at, this is where i found out.

dammit! another thing i really wanted to go to, but waited too long to try.

what's next? San Diego Comic-Con?

thecomicman spoke @ 10:18 AM |