Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

Sci-Fi Events That ‘Happened’ in the Past

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I’ve always been a fan of science fiction, but many of my favorites in the genre did a poor job of actually predicting the future. The proof of that is that many of my beloved sci-fi events and stories, written to occur well in the future, have already ‘happened.’ If their writers had been right about what the late twentieth and early 21st centuries had in store, we would be living right now in a world of genetically engineered Ricardo Montalbáns, sentient HAL’s and Skynets, time travelling Scott Bakulas with holographic Dean Stockwells, mechanical Arnold Schwarzeneggers, and ape slave-drivers. Fun.

Anyway, here are a handful of science fiction events that, according to their own timelines, have already ‘happened’:

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On ‘Weinergate’

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Why do we care so much about politicians who are unfaithful in their personal lives? We have spent so much time, money, effort, and valuable broadcast time on politicians’ infidelities that they are seared in our memories.

We all know the stories of President Bill Clinton (D) and Monica Lewinsky, Representative Newt Gingrich (R-GA 6th) and Callista Bisek (now Gingrich), Representative Gary Condit (D-CA 15th) and Chandra Levy, Senator Larry Craig (R-IL) and his bathroom stall, Governor Jim McGreevey (D-NJ) and Golan Cipel, Governor Mark Sanford (R-SC) and María Belén Chapur, Senator John Edwards (D-NC) and Rielle Hunter, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) and Patty Baena, and Representative Anthony Weiner (D-NY 9th) and his Twittered . . . um . . . bulge. You will notice that this list is a bipartisan affair; this is not a proclivity unique to either Republicans or Democrats, or more prevalent on one side or the other.

There are occasional instances where these infidelities justified the attention they got, at least to a point.

Clinton, in lying about his affair under oath, committed a felony that would have sent any other American to prison, which is certainly a newsworthy matter (and certainly qualifies as an impeachable ‘high crime’). Sanford, in abandoning his post as Governor of South Carolina to play around with his Argentinian mistress without letting anybody know where he went, should have been impeached under the state’s impeachment clause (which allows for impeachment in cases of any ‘serious misconduct in office,’ even if it’s not strictly illegal). Craig was arrested for soliciting sex in an airport bathroom, which is a crime (although, arguably, not a particularly serious one). Edwards has been accused of violating campaign finance laws in using campaign funds to cover up his affair with Hunter and, once again, the possible crime warrants some public attention . . . although, considering Edwards is not currently in or seeking elective office, I’m not sure of its national media relevance.

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The Grand Design

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The Grand Design

Over the years I have read quite a bit by and about Stephen Hawking. Hawking, a brilliant theoretical physicist and cosmologist, excels at communicating complex scientific concepts to laymen. His most well-known work, A Brief History of Time, was first published in 1988 and has sold well over ten million copies. It is among my favorite works on a scientific subject; after I finished reading it I actually understood the basic concepts behind the theory of relativity and a number of other heady cosmological subjects that had escaped my thorough comprehension previously.

Hawking’s book was more effective in broadening my understanding of the universe than twelve years of public-school science classes ever were. You can take that as a compliment for Hawking, an insult for the public schools, or some combination of both.

In 2010, Hawking and fellow physicist Leonard Mlodinow released a new ‘popular’ scientific book called The Grand Design, tackling the subjects of quantum physics, M-theory, and the origins of the universe. I picked up a copy (for the Kindle) and it finally worked its way up to the top of my reading list last month. Like A Brief History of Time, The Grand Design is an easy read that manages to communicate very complex material to regular folks like you and me. You will not find yourself bogged down in formulas or minutia, but you will find yourself soaking up the key concepts.

In describing quantum physics, Hawking and Mlodinow are as effective in The Grand Design as Hawking was in A Brief History of Time describing general relativity. Having finished the book, quantum physics no longer seems to be completely beyond my comprehension. Oh, I am no quantum physicist—I never will be—but the basics of quarks and gluons, quantum probability, and how quantum theory relates to the theory of relativity are no longer foreign to me. At least at a basic level, I get it now. This is where Hawking has always excelled, and where he and Mlodinow continue to excel. They have taken something seemingly incomprehensible and made it make a lot of sense.

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A Few Little Site Updates

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Over the last week or so I’ve quietly rolled out some little site updates. Nothing too major.

First, the pets (two cats, at the moment) have a little info page now. For the moment, they are located under ‘About > About Scott > My Stuff,’ for lack of a better home. Lest anybody be offended by the cats being under the same area as inanimate objects like cars and computers, rest assured that I don’t intend this to be the permanent location. I’ll be reevaluating the menu structure next time I do a major redesign. It’s just the most fitting place for the moment.

Second, Melissa finally gave me a bunch of pictures of me that she’s been hoarding for a year or two. I’ve added many of them to the Pictures of Me section, and worked a handful into the photo bars too.

Third and finally, I’ve done some work on the quotes section. Under ‘Miscellaneous > Quotes’ you’ll now find a cascade of subcategories. For example, you can narrow it down to quotes by the Saints, quotes by the Founders, etc. I blew through over 300 quotes and categorized them, so there’s a good chance some ended up in the wrong place. Let me know if you find any that seem incorrect. Right now they’re in seemingly-random order in each category (they are listed in the order I added them); I’m planning to do some better sorting in future versions.

Enjoy!

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Anniversary/Memorial Day Weekend

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Melissa and I got out of town for the weekend, which was our sixth anniversary (on Saturday) and the Memorial Day holiday. We headed out to Calvert County and St. Mary’s County, Maryland. On Saturday we visited Calvert Cliffs State Park, where we hiked 1.8 miles from the park entrance to the Chesapeake Bay and Melissa dug up some shells. Then we hiked back and drove to the hotel in Leonardtown to get cleaned up (it was a pretty hot day for hiking). We had a nice anniversary dinner at Cafe des Artistes in Leonardtown, just a block or so from the hotel.

On Sunday, we went to Mass at St. Aloysius Catholic Church and then drove up to Solomons, MD, which is a pretty cool little town on an island in the Patuxent River across from Patuxent River Naval Air Station. We visited the Calvert Marine Museum, which has the Drum Point Lighthouse on the property (relocated from the actual Drum Point, which now has an automatic beacon). We took an hour long river tour on the Wm. B. Tennison, a former ‘bugeye’ oyster sailboat that was refitted into a powered ‘buy boat’ later in her history. Built in 1899, the Tennison is the only Coast Guard licensed log-hulled vessel in the United States, and is supposedly the second oldest Coast Guard licensed passenger vessel in the U.S.

We had dinner at Solomon’s Pier restaurant, which is, as you might assume, a restaurant on the pier in Solomon’s ;-). Anyway, that’s about it. It was a nice, relaxing weekend away from home and (thankfully) away from the mad Memorial Day crowds that seem to crop up in more ‘normal’ vacation spots. We had a good time. Check out a whole bunch of pictures below:

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Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.