With all the commercialization of this holiday, sometimes it's easy to forget the reason for it. This man had a vision of a better future for all of us. So when you're having your salmon and singing "Magic Carpet Ride", please remember Zefram Cochrane and all he did for us.
Happy First Contact Day
And Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, was present at the end of the universe, having witnessed every black hole evaporate and every proton decay. Even so, Death would not come.
This is particularly interesting as the film predates Carpenter's The Thing by two years.
The poster for Alien 2: On Earth. The background shows a human eye morphing out of rock with a hand reaching out. Two spelunkers rappel on the left side of the poster. The title of the film is in yellow text at the bottom.
Started a watch through of various horror movies for #31NightsOfHalloween with "Alien 2: On Earth".
It finishes stronger than it starts but not by much. It being made to trick people into thinking it was an Alien sequel is interesting as it feels like a bad ripoff of The Thing ('82).
#spooktober
A picture of three postcards on top of a striped ironing board. The top left postcard is of a bigfoot like creature from Star Trek: The Original Series. The top right is a close up of a sunspot on the sun. The bottom card shows the Texan anti-littering slogan "Don't mess with Texas" with a star above and a silhouette of Texas below.
Outgoing #postcrossing cards to Oregon, Finland, and Germany.
When I met Ryan Coogler several years ago, we were standing in a group of people chatting, when a woman with visible hearing aids walked up, and he casually began to sign the whole conversation so she could participate. She mouthed “thank you”. He nodded and just kept doing his thing.
carl sagan: we will venture to the stars one day.
humans: badass!
sagan: we only need to avoid destroying ourselves. that’s literally the only thing.
humans: nno,
They'll have to take the low-budget genre TV shows shot in the Vancouver suburbs from my cold, dead hands
Three postcards on a gray fabric background. The card in the top left shows a picture of a pint of Guinness and a plate of shepherd's pie on the counter at a pub. The green text on it reads "I ate Shepard's pie at Galeway Bay and all I'm sending you is this lousy postcard." The bottom left postcard is from the city of Blankenberge, Belgium. It is a multiview card with six pictures and the text "Blankenberge" in black font on an orange background. The pictures on the card (clockwise from the top left) are of people standing on a submerged bridge in the water, a large building on the end of a pier, a collection of buildings including a Church steeple, boats in a marina, a view of buildings from the beach, and several groups of people playing at a putt-putt golf course. On the right, the postcard shows the semi-transparent face of a gray alien over a picture of the outskirts of Roswell, New Mexico where there's a sign that reads "Roswell City Limits Elev 3570."
My mailbox was happy today. I got three cards from #postcrossing from Washington state, Rhode Island, and Belgium.
One thing I dislike about the Star Trek lore post "First Contact" is that it made the rebuilding of humanity after the chaos of the mid-21st century feel too much like it was only because of the Vulcans' help. I wish it had a more humanist story of us pulling ourselves out of the darkness.
Three postcards on a dark blue fabric background. The top left is of the evil mirror universe version of Spock from Star Trek. The bottom right is a black and white photo of a man using a rope swing over a street. The right is a scene of a horse grazing in a field in front of the mountains of Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
The various stamps of three postcards showing the Sun, sailboats, snowflakes, and flora.
Three more outgoing postcards to Texas, Hong Kong, and Germany. #postcrossing
Protestors with signs and American flag.
Protest sign that says Code Red
Protestors marching with signs and flags.
On the 250th anniversary of Paul Revere's ride, we all carried his torch a bit further today. We fight back! 🇺🇸
One of the things about being a teacher is that sometimes your student hands you a fairy wand and you just go with it
An image of two postcards laying one dark gray fabric side-by-side. The one on the left shows a children's cartoon style depiction of the solar system with a child and their father gazing at the solar system from the bottom right. The text on the card is in German and is the mnemonic for the order of the planets in the Solar system. It reads, "Under Sonnensystem: Mein Vater Erklärt Mir Jeden Sonntag Unseren Nachthimmel". The postcard on the right has the text "Space Shuttle landing at White Sands" at the top in white text. It depicts the space shuttle Columbia landing in the desert followed by two NASA chase planes. In the background, there are mountains and a clear blue sky.
I got two lovely space-themed #postcrossing cards today. One from Germany and one from Oregon.
Outgoings to Germany and Indonesia
#postcrossing
Outgoing postcards to Germany, Taiwan, and the U.S. Sent out the first of my #StarTrek postcards from the 70's.
#postcrossing
A couple of cards that came in today from #postcrossing. I love them both
When it’s over, there will be attempts to spin an epic narrative about this. Realist IR theorists will come up with some balance of power BS, the media will try to make it some kind of operatic tragedy, etc. Resist this. It was stupid and pathetic and senseless. Don’t let them gaslight you.
New outgoing to Switzerland showing off the beautiful Rocky Mountains at sunset #postcrossing
I'm currently planning on reading (or rather listening to) Iain M. Banks' "The Culture" series this summer while just walking around to get exercise in. The only problem is that most of the middle of the series isn't available via audio in the U.S.
From EARTHSEED: THE BOOKS OF THE LIVING Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears. To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool. To be led by a thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen. To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies. To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery.
from “Parable of the Talents” by Octavia Butler
A hand drawn postcard of a cartoon astronaut doing a spacewalk near a rocket with multiple planets in the background. On the left, top, and bottom of the card there is a series of memes cut out on small strips of paper. On the right, there are three sheets of space themed temporary tattoos.
A photo of eleven postcards showing characters, aliens, and matte paintings from Star Trek the original series.
A photo of nine postcards showing characters, aliens, and matte paintings from Star Trek the original series.
A postcard from Singapore showing the Gardens by the Bay and the Marina Bay Sands hotel.
Some fun #postcrossing stuff. I got an amazing, high-quality card from a first-time postcrosser in Ukraine. I also got a bunch of new (old) Star Trek postcards to start sending out once my more wintry "Ski in Colorado" postcards have been sent out. I also got a lovely card from Singapore. #startrek
Star Trek did say the 2020s were gonna be a little rough
Sent out one of my Wintery"Sky in Colorado" postcards I got recently to Germany. #postcrossing
A postcard depicting the city of Evora, Portugal from space.
New incoming #postcrossing postcard from Portugal. I really love this one
New incoming from Australia today. This is easily one of my favorite postcards I've gotten from #postcrossing
A non-Postcrossing card being sent out to a 2nd grade class in Ohio.
GEORGE LUCAS IN 1999: a trade embargo is going to spark the galactic reckoning and collapse
ME IN 2025: ah, okay
Outgoing to Pakistan and Texas #postcrossing
It really sucks living on the other side of this Carl Sagan quote.