NOTE: I stole some photos. Click them to go to their sources.
So at the beginning of Part One I said, “If I’m being completely honest, I’m a bit torn as to how I feel about the amazing thing that is my brain. On the one hand…” and went from there. If you’ve read Part One and Part Two you might be wondering why I’m torn. It seems pretty simple, my brain is awesome. What’s the other hand?
Well, sometimes I see things. I don’t mean that I have hallucinations; I know these things are not actually there. And it’s not like I can’t see what other people see either. It’s like my brain looks at something and then says “Oh, sure. That’s what they want you to think” and then… changes it.
It’s just a flash; if I do a double-take it’s gone. It’s almost like I’m getting a glimpse of some alternate reality. Maybe it’s the dreams showing through…
So one time I was walking through Chicago O’Hare airport when I got on one of those moving sidewalk things. It looked like this:
Trippy
But what my brain showed me was this:
ooooo-WEEEEEOOOOO-ooooooo
Now that one is kind of fun, but they aren’t all. For example, I then passed a shoe-shine station where the shiner (heh) had fallen asleep. It looked vaguely like this:
But what I saw was this:
Whoa
And it happens a lot.
My intent here was to list a few more examples, but since it isn’t a conscious choice to see these things, it’ll probably work better to just post them as they come up.
And so I introduce to you, a new page on this site: Mind Games
I’ll update it as I get new ones. I’ll attempt to put the most recent first. You’re welcome.
Don't worry, you can share me. I come in six-packs:
Just kind of all the time. Everywhere. Around my work building, around my house… on the side of the road. In random places. I’ve even seen them parked… or at the very least saving a parking spot for someone else.
Apparently wild rabbits are a thing around here, and I guess they’re out in force this season. I never really associated rabbits with fall, but maybe I’m just a product of our culture – shoving rabbits at everyone in spring and insisting they lay eggs. The rabbits I mean. I’m not sure I’ve ever had someone shove a rabbit in my face and insist *I* lay an egg, but I guess it wouldn’t surprise me.
And sometimes, if my day is just going too well or something, they’ll look like this. And it just breaks my fucking heart.
If you’re a masochist or horribly curious and you clicked on that link because it didn’t occur to you that I didn’t post a picture for a reason, here:
I hope this helps.
But the thing is, if I’m being completely honest, I’m kind of afraid to ask if anyone else sees them too….
Don't worry, you can share me. I come in six-packs:
YEP, another post today. But this one happened yesterday. And sort of the day before. So I am writing this from the past. Which is actually relevant, for once.
Okay, so not really that. I mean you think of something and decide you want to know more about it. So you look it up. And while reading that you come across something else you find interesting and look that up. This leads you to something else and before you know it you’re lost in a sea of knowledge drifting ever further from where you began until you don’t even know how you got there.
Yeah. That happens to me a lot.
So this time, I started by looking up something and an hour later found myself looking at this:
Fun fact: That little blurry bit at about the 10 o’clock position on the other little blurry Earth bit, isthe moon.
So now I am going down the rabbit hole and I must know why NASA has this picture of me. Should I be worried? Am I being stalked by Cassini from space? Do I need a restraining order or is there a moon-made ring in my future?
It’s time to roll up those sleeves, because we’re diving in.
So according to the official data, this is a compilation of 165 images taken by Cassini’s multiple instruments over a period of 3 hours on September 15, 2006. One of these instruments can image a 2.4cm area from a distance of 4km. This particular series covers 260km (or 162miles) per pixel. I’ll give you a minute to let that sink in….
Also, this is a picture of Earth from the past.
Okay, yes. I know, all pictures are from the past. And I did just say this was taken in 2006. I got it. But stay with me here.
As I looked at this, I began wondering how far in the past the Earth was from the point of view of Cassini. Not how old, how far in the past. For example, the Earth is roughly 8.33 light minutes from the sun. So technically if you notice the sun is glaring off your computer screen like it does, it was actually in the position to do so 8.33 minutes ago and has since moved on. You’re seeing the sun on an 8 minute delay. Still with me? Good.
Now, Saturn is roughly ten times as far from the sun as the Earth and, as you can see, Cassini took this photo from beyond Saturn while facing the sun. So I looked into the statistics and found that Cassini was 2.2 million km from Saturn when it took this:
AnankeRose
The Oubliette 