Obsure Data Dumps and an Evening on the Town

I had one of those epiphanies, or more appropriately described as “data dumps”, today while getting ready and making myself presentable for the world this Sunday morning. I listen to so many podcasts that I believe my subconscious is almost always pondering and processing the information I take in while I go about my day-to-day life—writing, thinking, working out, and keeping myself appropriately caffeinated.

Two ideas made their way into the cyclone that is my thought-bubble today. I know where one of these came from, JRE Podcast #2394 featuring Palmer Luckey.

Idea #1 Perception Is A Construct
Those in power don’t necessarily need to change what you believe to control you, they need only to slightly alter your emotions to change that malleable lens in which you see the world.

Have you ever had a bad day where it seems like everything is going wrong and the world seems to be crashing in on you? I had one of these kinds of days yesterday. Most often these hard days are ones where we wake up in a negative/pessimistic mood in the first place.

On the other side of the spectrum, when you’re feeling upbeat/optimistic troubles seem to roll off your back and solutions to those problems are infinitely easier to find.

Our emotions fine-tune our lens of perception. This controls how we perceive the events that unfold in our life and the world. You don’t need to change how people think to influence their behavior but merely how they feel and their ideologies will naturally alter themselves downstream.

This is precisely the mechanism that mainstream media and social media bots have used to influence the masses—dividing the world, spreading hate/fear, and pushing everyone to the extremes. So be cognizant of the company you keep and guard those emotions people, I know I will be paying more attention to this.

Idea #2 Time-Folding

In the podcast I mentioned above Joe and Palmer were discussing the UAPs that were appearing over U.S. military installations last November. Palmer mentioned something about how his instinct tells him that these aren’t alien vehicles. He believes the origins of some of the unexplained UAP sightings are even stranger than anyone can imagine. Palmer thinks these are either time-travelers from another dimension or some ancient advanced human civilization that have managed to hide themselves in a remote area or under the sea before the last ice age. Interesting theories to ponder.

Then I got to thinking about how different timelines could be coexisting in the very same physical space only vibrating at different frequencies so we can’t see, hear, touch, or feel each other. This theory could explain both apparitions (people from the past), and UFOs (people from the future). Ghosts could just be some subtle glitch in space/time giving us a temporary glimpse of the past. Aliens/UFOs could be chalked up technically advanced humans from the future who’ve learned to manipulate space/time itself. There are some who even believe the classic gray alien form is the direction human evolution is heading. Kind of freaky to think this could be the biological form we’re evolving into.

These are the things that rattle through my head when I’m on autopilot going about my day. I suppose this is why I like writing science fiction. Does this happen to any of you? I can’t imagine I’m the only one.

The Sandman

On a lighter note, I scored tickets to the Adam Sandler concert last week. I haven’t had an evening out with friends in what seems like forever and it reminded me of how much I miss it.

A friend and I went to the show and tried a new St. Paul restaurant before the show called Emerald Lounge. It was a charming little restaurant and everything we tried landed a notch or two above expectations. The menu was small and the crowd in the dining room was large.

In this day and age it’s so good to see a local restaurant like this thriving. Emerald Lounge was reminiscent of a lot of the cool little spots I visited while spending time in New York City. My friend Dan, who’s been in the restaurant industry for forty years, was even impressed and that’s saying a lot. If you’re in the Twin Cities area please give Emerald Lounge a try.

Some of the opening acts were questionable but Sandler didn’t disappoint. David Spade and Rob Schneider also made guest appearances, which I wasn’t expecting. I’ve watched Adam Sandler’s standup routines and songs on television for decades but he was much funnier in person. If you can catch him during his tour I’d highly recommend it.

Speaking of Time-Traveling Aliens—Elon

Just kidding (or was I?) My plans for the Tesla shareholder meeting in Austin, Texas are all locked in for November 6th. In the past few days I’ve learned Elon Musk’s trillion dollar pay package is looking as if it’s likely to pass this time.

How crazy it will be to be in the same room with the world’s first trillionaire if the vote goes his way! However, even if the pay package does pass Elon doesn’t get his trillion right away, there are several performance-based benchmarks he’ll have to achieve with Tesla in the coming years before he actually gets the money.

Unfortunately I’ll be going solo this time. It turns out my brother had to travel for work at the last minute so he can’t make it to Austin with me. I’ll still manage to have fun.

I’m building out a loose itinerary now that includes plenty of local sights, possibly a show at Rogan’s comedy club, Comedy Mothership, and some of that Texas barbecue that everyone raves about.

All for now. Thanks for reading.