Author: Mark Alexander

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50 Years Ago Today

“The vast loneliness up here of the Moon is awe-inspiring, and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth. The Earth from here is a grand oasis to the big vastness of space.” — Apollo 8 astronaut Jim Lovell

From NASA: Fifty years ago today, this iconic “Earthrise” photo was taken aboard Apollo 8 by Bill Anders. Before humanity ventured to the Moon, our view of our home planet consisted of what we could see from horizon to horizon. It was not until this stunning photo (along with many others) came back to Earth with the three Apollo 8 astronauts in December 1968 that we saw Earth as a vibrant, delicate, blue and white globe framed by the velvety blackness of space. This iconic picture shows Earth peeking out from beyond the lunar surface as the first crewed spacecraft circumnavigated the Moon.

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Shower Thoughts

There’s most likely a dimension where Freddie Mercury never died and went on to make even more amazing Queen hits that we’ll never get to hear.

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Counterpart

Counterpart is a show I stumbled upon last year and immediately fell in love with. Set primarily in Berlin, this modern day (sci-fi?) spy thriller tells the story of what happens when a door opens between parallel dimensions and it’s existence is kept secret from everyone except for a very select group. For every person on one side, there exists a doppelgänger on the other.

It’s not one of those shows you can have on as background noise while you’re doing something else or whiling away your evening online. It demands your full attention or you’ll soon be lost.

Last year, coming in from the beginning it was relatively easy to follow along. Determining which side of the doorway you were on was a simple matter. The wife of the main character was hospitalized in a coma after being struck by a car on our side, but perfectly healthy and active in the other. The two Berlins were similar, although some very funky architecture existed on the other side that was easily recognizable even for someone who knew nothing about the city. The other side had tech we lack, but for some reason never developed cell phones.

It’s been a while since Season One ended, so my memory is a little hazy on the espionage aspect and interwoven storylines, but that being said, I’m two episodes in this year and I’m totally lost. The wife who was hospitalized is now back home and the main character and his double both find themselves trapped on the wrong side the portal after a terror attack shut down diplomatic relations between the two worlds and closed the crossing.

European architecture has become so outré lately that city skylines alone no longer tell me which side the story is happening on.

I hope at some point the writers explain the who what when why how of the crossing. There’s nothing special-effects heavy about it; it resembles an underground brick-walled corridor. You go in one end on our side and emerge on the other in their world.

I was drawn into Counterpoint because of its more than passing passing similarity to Fringe, a favorite series from years gone by.

At this point I’m so frustrated I’m thinking I need to go back and binge Season One this weekend just to get reoriented…

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Wrap Your Mind Around That

The infinite world theory says infinite worlds with infinitely different realities exist. In order for this to be true, this theory must be true in every reality. However, since any reality can exist, there’s at least one reality where it isn’t true, therefore no other universe exists except it.

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I suppose…

I suppose that when David Karp sold tumblr he was obligated to sign an “in perpetuity“ non-compete agreement that would prevent him—even if he wanted to in light of recent events—from ever launching another tumblr-like site…

Pity. I wonder how he feels about what the Asshats at Verizon are doing to his creation.

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