What does Automation get us?

In high school I did a research paper about the early astronauts. One of the things that I found interesting was that the astronauts (pretty much all former test pilots) had to fight the administration types so that they could actually fly the space craft. Much of it was still automated but without fighting for it probably all of it would have been.* They wanted the opportunity and the thrill of driving these spacecraft for themselves.
Lately there has been a lot of talk (and some testing) of automated vehicles. Then we don't have to drive!
I don't know much about automated cars or the implications of such things but it has made me think. First, why is it that things one group of people fights for is then readily given up by another group. (And I'm no different... I didn't make much of an effort to vote this year).
Second, in our effort to delegate everyday chores to machinery I wonder what we lose in other ways.... In the past women gathered to wash clothes together and men gathered to work the fields, especially in harvest. Automation of much of these tasks has cut out on this community.
Potentially, automated cars could give us more time to do other things while being transferred about, like reading or playing games on our phones (at least that is what I did when I took the bus regularly). Which honestly doesn't sound that productive/healthy. Sometimes I wonder if in all our getting we don't get understanding.... we just make more time for recreation... which isn't always a good thing.

*From what I remember this was more for the early orbiting missions rather than for the landing on the moon and docking missions later. 

Media Emotional Manipulation*

I watched a suspenseful movie last night with some friends, it was not my first choice but I was trying to be a team player, but it got me thinking about why there are some movies, including suspenseful ones, that really bug me. The reason why I don't like them is because I feel like the movie makers are trying to manipulate my emotions to feel something very specific aka fear, surprise, etc by doing certain things with the filming and music etc.
After thinking about that though, I noticed a flaw in my logic. All movies (and media) pretty much want to manipulate our emotions. They are telling us a story and want us to feel certain things while we watch them, so why does it bother me so much in certain types of movies? I mean one of my favorite scenes** from the LoTR is the one where Pippin sings to Denethor while Faramir is fighting the orcs. The music in that scene is evocative and my emotions fall in line with what I think was intended, disgust at Denethor, and sadness at the futile nobility of Faramir's obedience. But that manipulation doesn't bother me, in fact I am impressed by it. Thus, I decided that what bothers me is that it is trying to inspire emotions that I don't want, namely fear, and so I can't enjoy the movie. Instead I spend my time finding plot holes so that I never become invested and they can't make me care.
So, in conclusion, it's not the manipulation of emotions that I object to, but the emotions they are trying to create.

*Say that 5 times fast.
**Note this scene portrays Denethor accurately but the way in which they trashed Faramir's character is disgraceful!

Halloween Creativity

I've decided that I really like Halloween! I like it because I love seeing the creativity it brings out in people. I feel like the two main activities associated with Halloween are carving pumpkins and dressing up and both of those are very creative activities, both in coming up with ideas and also in the execution of it (either the carving of the pumpkin or the creating of the costume). I think it's fun to do it myself (ok, I haven't gotten into the creating of costumes) but I also just really enjoy looking at other people's creativity on display. I feel like Halloween might be the most overall creative of the holidays and that's fun.

So I hope that even if you didn't dress up or carve a pumpkin you were able to appreciate someone else's creativity.
(Also I apologize that I don't have any pictures.... I didn't take a picture of my protoceratops pumpkin...)

Spending Time

Recently I visited with a friend from my Nauvoo digs and we relived our time there. There was three of us who were pretty much inseparable. For a month and a half we worked long days in hot humidity and then in the evenings and on our off days we would play together.
Several years ago I drove from Washington DC to Utah with my sister and her four children. On the last night when we had arrived at our parent's home at 1 or 2 in the morning after spending 4 days in a car together we still couldn't seem to stop talking. There was always just one more thing to say.
These experiences and others like them are memories and relationships to be treasured because they are relatively rare. But it also makes me remember that there isn't just one type of person that I can be really good friends with and there is more people out there then I think sometimes that I do like to spend time with.

Routine vs. Unusual

Yesterday I got to drive across the causeway that crosses the Great Salt Lake. Some of the people with me were super excited because few people get to do this. I didn't actually know much about it, but it ended up being super cool. It's this embankment of rock, dirt and wood that spans the width of the lake, made entirely by human hand. (I guess there's a cool show about the making of it on youtube but I haven't actually watched it). The whole thing is the width of a traintrack and a dirt road (we took the dirt road). It separates the north and south portions of the lake, with little water flowing between the two sections. Thus, the north is extremely salty and has a bunch of algae that causes the water to look pink. The south is less salty and less red.

looking east across the causeway

The other day I was feeling kind of tired of the work I was doing and my friend told me I had a rough life because I was doing real science and working with 125 Million old dinosaur bones. Like in my hand! It made me realize that because I work in a dinosaur museum, surrounded by fossils, and getting to go into the back room with the special stuff then it had all become routine.
The causeway was cool because it was the first and special time I went.... but I'm sure to the people who drive it frequently it's just a washboard dirt road. The bones were just work because that's what I do every day. It was a good reminder that if we don't work to keep things from being ordinary even the coolest most amazing things can become routine.

Breaking Silence

I have noticed that sometimes the longer a silence goes on the harder it is for me to break it. Almost like the longer there is silence the more emphasis there will be on the words spoken. Like the silence is future exclamation points... and so what I say has to be good! I know this is probably weird, and it's not how I feel all the time but sometimes...
On the other had I've been around some people that after a brief silence, that doesn't seem awkward to me, break it with some almost inane comment about it being awkward. Apparently they don't feel the hidden exclamation points that I apparently do...

Figurines

All the figurines I painted for my brother.

Sorry, I'm not very profound today, but I've been working on the material for this post for a LONG time. After I painted some little figurines for a friend (pictured here) then my brother asked if I would paint some little metal figurines he had cast as a scout (I think). They weren't the best quality but I figured why not. I have to admit I think the paint really did help too.

The "bad" guys.

The best of the figurines. It helped that the castings were a lot more detailed.