Head Rattle

I.This book I'm "reading" (A Hologram for the King) contains a joke. I think I should try to memorize jokes -- for cocktail parties or whatever (haha). It goes like this: There was a man whose last name was "Odd". Yes, he was Mr. Odd. He hated his name! When he was near the end of his life and was making out his will, he specified that under no circumstances was he to be buried under a headstone that was engraved with his name. And so it was. To this day, whenever people walk past his grave, they point to it and say, "That's odd!" [cue laugh track]

II.Nerds, rejoice! Scientists say a "warp drive" may actually be possible here. Essentially, it would contract space in front of the -- uh, why not -- Enterprise (alas, it would have to be a football-shaped Enterprise) and expand space behind it. Whoosh -- faster than light. Or actually not faster than light? It would just be faster from the point of view of those outside the "warp bubble", but inside the bubble, the same light barrier would apply. Or something. I guess it's all relative, as Einstein might say. Thinking about this gives me a headache. But one of these eons the Sun is going to bloat and fry the Earth crispy, so this may come in handy.

III.We had torrential rain and even tornado warnings today. I would have battened, but I don't have any hatches.