Marcel Gagne @wftl@mastodon.social

If the streets were actually paved with gold, then gold would essentially be worthless. At best, gold would be as valuable as asphalt.

When you feel like there's little hope for humanity, or you're just feeling a little down, then watch this amazing video and remind yourself that you are a member of a species that is capable of achieving wondrous and inspiring feats such as this one. https://youtu.be/4czjS9h4Fpg

Life is essentially meaningless... so make the most of it! Oh, and watch this video. It's totally going to cheer you up!

https://youtu.be/CAb_bCtKuXg

We are the Martians, my friend,
And we'll keep on roving 'til the end.
And go for a flight in
Our Mars helicopter . . .
A whole world to explore,
'Cause we are the Martians . . .
#MarsPerseverance

I know it's not great, but damn, I feel like singing!

Refilled the bird feeders so now, as I watch from my office (dining room) window, there there are tons of them fighting with each other, head butting each other, and pecking at each other to get at the food, of which there is a lot. Birds are such dicks.

Today, someone alerted me, in all seriousness, to the dangers of "remote neural monitoring via 5G". Ye gods and demons! And here I thought we were in danger of running out of batshit crazy theories.

Here's something you might not have expected. In "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back", the Emperor Palpatine was played by Marjorie Eaton, born Feb 5, 1901.

"If hard work were such a wonderful thing, surely the rich would have kept it all to themselves." -- Lane Kirkland

Some apps, you use on a daily basis because it's part of your job, like email, and others to keep current or prepare for the day, like news and weather. "Daily Art" is an app that I come back to for the sheer pleasure of it. Daily Art asks for a minute or so of your time to look at, appreciate, and learn a bit about a famous painting or sculpture and the artist who created it. It's a tiny morsel of history that sheds light into the heart & soul of that artist and the inspiration behind the work.

Eventually, the shine goes off the even the most precious of gems. Indeed, some things we considered priceless are all but worthless today. Aluminum, after all, was once more precious than gold. Time marches on. Lustre fades . . . from names, just as with anything else.

Best not to bother in the first place. I recommend we simply number things instead. Like a MAC address on networked devices.

We should really stop naming things after people. Eventually, whether it be 50, 100, or 500 years from how, we're going to have reason to vilify those people.

Consider this example . . .

I'm not a vegetarian, but I nevertheless believe that sometime in the future, killing animals to eat their flesh, will be seen as barbaric. The people of the time may well want to erase the names of these cruel barbarians from history.

"World Builder". Fascinating and touching SF short. It's just under 9 minutes long but worth those 9 minutes.
https://youtu.be/OX1hSQwnngo

The latest episode of TIC TEK TOE, number 22 and titled, "Embrace The Cringe," is hot off the audio editor and ready for your listening (dis?)pleasure. https://anchor.fm/tic-tek-toe/episodes/Embrace-The-Cringe-eppmui

The stock market is not reality. It's not even a reflection of reality. The stock market is a (mostly) legal gambling den. Like any successful gambling den, it is designed so that the house (rich people and corporations) always win. Almost always. #Gamestop

I sleep because I have to, biologically speaking, but I don't like it. Dreaming can be fun, but I can do that while awake, with a book or game and I'll remember it more. It's not that I see sleep as a waste of time. I really just don't like sleeping. Anybody else feel that way?

Does your mind continue through the night? Are you even the same person when you wake up in the morning? Maybe you're going through some kind of neurological upgrade or adjustment. Maybe you aren't so much waking up as rebooting. What do you think?

Sure, it's a little terrifying, and intimidating, and we're totally doomed, but it's also insanely cool!
https://ca.style.yahoo.com/boston-dynamics-family-dance-214532934.html

Fun fact. If you made $13,698 per day and could collect it for the next 200 years, you still wouldn't have a billion dollars!

I wanted to place coins, health pickups, or some other form of token, on uneven, randomly generated surface terrain for a game I was working on in Roblox Studio. On a flat surface, the health tokens would float nicely at 4 studs above (or 2 or 6), but with hills, lakes, etc, they could be inside a mountain or floating 30 feet up. How can you determine the actual position above ground when the ground isn’t flat? The answer is in this video. #roblox #robloxstudio. https://youtu.be/ja9XjYEvLmc

Heroes Like You
It seems so cliche to say it, but these are difficult times and 2020 has been one difficult time after another. Rather than provide a laundry list, I'll let you fill those blanks in for yourself. Even as you try to 'fight the good fight', it starts to seem hopeless and you may even find yourself questioning whether there's any point in trying.

It's good to step back and consider that there always needs to be an islan
http://marcelgagne.com/2020/12/11/heroes-like-you/