Humanity: Weird to aliens

 So tonight, someone asked Grok what would be the top ten things aliens (as in off world) would find weird about humans... Here's the answers, with of course my own editorializing:

Grok

@grok

·

23h

Aliens would find these weird about humans:

1. Hours spent staring at glowing rectangles

Meaning of course, our computers and phones, not way-overdone toast...

2. Paying to exercise after inventing labor-saving machines

Well, there's one I help us look a little saner on...

3. Treating paper and numbers as real value

And one look at my desk would backtrack the last one...

4. Loving some animals as family, eating others

Sharing Five Guys with Misty would fix that...

5. Fighting wars over imaginary map lines

Or any other reason, I'd hope

6. Punching holes in bodies for fashion

#1 on the "Chris finds this weird, too" list!

7. Birthday cakes topped with fire

Just until we normalize LED candles

8. Building AI then fearing it will take over

Yeah, I bet they've already had their "I Robot" moments

9. Sleeping a third of our lives

Just until they try it

10. Judging by skin color or clothing brands

#2 on the "Chris finds this weird, too" list.

I wanted to give Gemini a shot at the question.  It was a good deal chattier...

1. We Pay to Drink Poison to Alter Our Consciousness

Humans routinely consume ethanol—a neurotoxin that impairs motor skills, slurs speech, and temporarily damages brain cells—for fun. Not only do we ingest it willingly, but we host entire social rituals around it, judge the quality of the fermented liquids by how they taste, and sometimes wake up the next morning vowing never to do it again, only to repeat the cycle.

Again, only till they try it.  Ask the Indians Guardians  Native Americans.

2. We Keep Tiny Apex Predators in Our Homes as "Roommates"

Instead of forming alliances with large, hyper-efficient work animals, urban humans voluntarily invite smaller, domesticated feline carnivores (cats) into their habitats. These animals contribute almost nothing to household labor, occasionally hunt local wildlife for sport, knock objects off tables while maintaining direct eye contact, and yet humans willingly clean up their feces from a box in the corner and serve them gourmet meals.

Another one I make humans look slightly saner on...

3. We Spend a Third of Our Lives Unconscious and Hallucinating

For roughly 33% of every single day, humans completely shut down their operational awareness, lie completely vulnerable on padded rectangles, and experience bizarre, randomized hallucinations (dreams) that they often forget moments after waking up. During this period, they are entirely defenseless against environmental threats, yet doing this is non-negotiable for survival.

Match #1 with grok, lol!

4. We Pay Money for Paper Representation of Fictional Real Estate

Human society is entirely built upon arbitrary rules where abstract numbers in computer databases or printed pieces of paper dictate who gets to eat, sleep, and live comfortably. A human will spend decades trading their finite life energy—hours of labor—just to acquire ownership over a specific patch of dirt and wood, treating imaginary boundaries drawn on maps as absolute laws of physics.

Pretty much match #2...

5. We Voluntarily Lock Ourselves in Rooms to Push Heavy Iron for No Practical Reason

While millions of humans across the planet struggle with physical labor just to survive, a distinct subset of humans drive to specialized climate-controlled buildings solely to pick up heavy pieces of cast iron, lift them repeatedly until their muscles fail, and then put them back down. They do not use this lifted iron to build a structure or defend against a predator; they do it purely because it makes their bodies sore, and they pay a monthly subscription fee for the privilege.

And with sore bodies, we NEED those labor-saving devices!

6. We Cry When We Are Sad, But Also When We Are Happy

Human tear ducts are wired directly into a wildly complex emotional control center. When a human experiences grief, physical pain, or heartbreak, water pours from their eyes. However, they also leak water from their face when they laugh too hard, when they watch cinematic fiction, when they witness someone else succeed, or when they consume exceptionally spicy food.

We have a 22% oxygen atmosphere.  Eyes need a LOT of lubrication, guys!

7. We Trap Our Thoughts in Dried Tree Pulp to Communicate Across Time

If a human wants to transmit a complex idea to another human who lived centuries ago or hasn't been born yet, they smear dark pigment across flattened pieces of processed wood (books). Other humans can then stare at these tiny symbolic markings and reconstruct the original author's exact train of thought in their own heads. Even stranger, humans will passionately debate the hidden meanings of these pulp-blocks for generations.

Called tradition.  You know, like that goofy paraphlaxad dance you do on planetfall, where your head bounces between your legs- or are those arms?

8. We Blast Rhythmic Acoustic Waves into Our Ears to Alter Our Mood

Humans vibrate the air around them using specialized machinery or vocal cords in complex mathematical patterns (music). Depending on the exact frequency and tempo of these waves, an entire stadium of humans will simultaneously feel euphoric, nostalgic, aggressive, or deeply melancholy. They will pay small fortunes to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in the dark just to let these invisible air-ripples wash over them.

Gemini sure thinks the aliens will be hung up on our moods! Wait'll we explain manic-depression to them....

9. We Clean Our Living Spaces, Only to Immediately Buy Plastic Things to Fill Them

Humans dedicate vast amounts of time and energy to sweeping, vacuuming, and scrubbing their enclosed shelters until they are entirely devoid of clutter or natural debris. Having achieved a pristine, minimalist environment, they immediately drive to retail warehouses to purchase small, mass-produced plastic figurines, decorative pillows, and novelty items to clutter up the exact spaces they just sanitized.

Liek they won't be running up credits buying knick-knacks at garage sales...

10. We Constantly Struggle Against Time While Inventing Ways to Waste It

Despite having a remarkably short and finite biological lifespan—usually less than a century—humans spend an enormous amount of brainpower inventing high-speed transit, instant global communication, and automated tools to save fractions of seconds. They then take those saved seconds and spend hours staring at glowing rectangles watching short loops of cats jumping off furniture or fictional characters arguing.

Oh, the 'glowing rectangles' again... Like, do they think aliens have triangular tricorders?

Pictures... and why

 Why?  We are in a deep, deep hole of "way ahead" at work.  Our sister plant is even "caught up"- and if you've followed any of my semi-obscured references to them, you know that means that they ran out of work, too, rather than, "Wow, we became efficient overnight!"  That said, here's a couple of walks worth of pics- have to say, Monday didn't show us near as much as Tuesday...

Good to know, I guess

Saw plenty squirrels Monday

Fall colors...

...and, oh yeah, squirrels.

Tuesday

Misty watching the little yellow butterfly up there in the corner

and more squirrels...

And a little Woody...

Dude was fishing at the landing (we thought), so Misty had to go downstream for a dip.  She wasn't sure, but braved it like a champ

Meanwhile, the fisherman wasn't on the landing at all, but in his kayak!

I told this lady, "I salute you!  I got worn out with just one of those!"

And finally, a wooly worm!  Forecast: light on the snow, but a bit colder than last year...

Four steps later, a second one confirmed...

And now for Wednesday... was scheduled to be an early walk, but we got "pea souped" until a bit later...

Almost 10- still soupy

How about a slightly used mouth guard?

Sun coming through made a neat effect

Fort Wayne, are you there?

left turn to the MUCH longer way...

The soon to be former Korean BBQ.  Announced they are closing this week

How 'bout some fresh exotic mushrooms?

And just like that, the skies were blue

Further north, the fog had risen, but not dissipated

Can I offer you a comforter?

Or would you prefer some wood asters?

Tis the season... this guy on the left, though, has a built in slogan if he;s smart- "Vote for Engling!  He'll buy you a Yuengling!"

At that is ourformer, within-walking-distance Walgreens, somehow deemed irrelevant by the powers that be

Unlike our last long walk, it's all downhill from here!

 

Wisdom Truck 41

 

Well, once again, God has overridden the plans of man.  You see, I was planning to do another 10 or so verse post this week, but by chance I was listening to a Charles Stanley talk to men in the ministry, and one thing he said hit home: A sermon is no good unless it has involved time on your knees, wrestling with how the passage applies to yourself.  Now, I don't pretend to be 'in the ministry' per se, and this is certainly not intended to be a sermon, but it IS intended to be something I need to wrestle with, and you have a hard time doing that with a ten-part focus.  So at least for this week, we draw our wisdom from one verse:

Pro 16:16  How much better to get wisdom than gold! To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver. 

So if the Spirit (Wisdom) and Jesus (Understanding), are more precious than these, I had to do a hard look at God's preciousness to ME.  One place I was taken to was a sermon by CH Spurgeon on the preciousness of Jesus:

First, consider WHAT CHRIST IS TO HIS PEOPLE. We read in our own version, “To you therefore who believe he is precious”; yet the word is not an adjective, but a noun. Hence the 1881 English Revised Version reads the text, “For you therefore who believe is the preciousness.” His very self is preciousness itself. He is the essence, the substance, the sum of all preciousness. Every believer will subscribe to this; many things are more or less precious; but the Lord Jesus is preciousness itself, outsoaring all degrees of comparison.

I went through a lot of places and a lot of bunny holes trying to figure how to explain this.  I was taken back to our recently-visited Job, where he explains that you cannot so much as mine for Wisdom, gold and silver do not know where it/He is at. But what Job DID know:

Job 28:28  And He (God) said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’” 

Back again to the Fear of the Lord.  So I looked at four cases I knew of 4 men who had been brought before God in Heaven itself, and came back to tell us about it (sort of); Isaiah, Ezekiel, Paul, and John.  I used grok to help me sort out the similarities I was seeing, and it came down to grok saying this:

Across these encounters, the consistent human response to the unveiled glory or presence of God (or the exalted Christ) is overwhelm—whether expressed as confession of uncleanness (Isaiah), prostration (Ezekiel and John), or reverent silence about the inexpressible (Paul).

Yep, overwhelm I get.  But I needed to tie it back to 'precious'.  So the next thing I asked grok for was the most important non-monetary uses for the two metals, and here it opens up much brighter.

GOLD

-Jewelry (also applies to silver).  I was just listening to a sermon where the pastor mentioned that, for whatever reason, they had opened Elizabeth Taylor's casket and took pictures.  The jewels, diamonds, were still there, slung around the rotted remains of the body.  They're still there, she's all gone, as Springsteen might paraphrase.  But the forgiveness that is draped over us, the grace we see in the Prodigal son story ( as well as the example of the prophecy of Zechariah about the high priest Joshua:

Zec 3:3  Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. 

Zec 3:4  And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” )

Is TRUE adornment.

-Electronics (again, applies to both). Communications on almost every level we have them today depend on both gold and silver.  But to communicate with God, all we need do is come before Him with a sincere heart.

-Reflects infrared radiations, keeps sensitive tech safe from extremes.  Re-read Pslam 107, the greatest example of how God does this very thing for our souls.

-Biocompatible.  Able to be used in fillings and implants without rejection.  How much more biocompatible can you be, when God was born a human child and lived among us, True God and True man?

-Best of all was this description:  "Critical when performance can't be compromised." If we compromise on Christ, hell awaits.  It doesn't get more critical than that.

SILVER

In addition to elctronics and jewelry:

Solar cells- the photovoltaic silver compounds turn what would have been wasted ambient energy into storable, usable energy.  God goes a step better: He makes hopeless sinners into fruitful workers for the Kingdom.

Catalyst used to make a variety of items- A catalyst is added to a reaction to change its properties, and yet comes out itself unchanged.  Our lives don't change God- He changes us.

Strong Anti-bacterial- "With low toxicity to humans." Think of sin as bacteria. Jesus kills sin, leaves us whole.

And the description closed with a probably-unintended warning to those who reject Christ:

"(Their) specialized properties make substitution difficult."

Beware of vent.

 I was nice to y'all last night.  What I really wanted to do was scream at 90% of the idiots on social media- as well as friends who, while may be well-meaning, are for a great part terribly misguided.

I was mad at people who think my country is terrible for not agreeing to be economically subserviant to anyone else.

I am mad at people who "blame POTUS" because he hasn't been able to fight all the way past decades of semi-communist judicial appointments and years of 'projects' that don't give $ to good causes but drain it into the most perverse and evil sidelights they can think of, in order to 'fix things' overnight.  You want someone to be able to do that?  Elect me, I WILL go all Napoleon on your naiive tushes...  

I am mad at people who think they have "the mind of Christ" and punctuate it with every insult in the book.

I am mad at the French President taking not one bit of the blame for the burning collapse of his country on his OWN shoulders. I am mad at all y'all who pick apart any grunt from any politician or celebrity and trashing it without context, as well as at the ones who open their mouths without context and give them the opportunity.

I am frustrated at those who blame 'an unjust war" for spiralling fuel prices, instead of looking at the environmentalists who have constantly crippled our ability to keep up our capacity for 50 years, which is where most of the fault is at.

I am frustrated with elected officials who will not work together on anything except "Orange Man Bad".  It's fine for you to perpetuate a hatred that started the SECOND he decided to run for office, and just as fine to give Barack Obama a Nobel prize before he could do anything but be black- and then blame me for racism because I hated his policies- not his black-ness.

I am sick and tired of every day hearing people bash 'the current administration' when they try to stop rampant crime, unbelievable fraud, and fixed elections.  I am sick of pundits that will ignore legal immigrants and their success stories, and lionize illegals getting thrown out for being active criminals.

I am so sad that the UK ifs full of people attacking Ruppert Lowe for the sin of not wanting to see any other young girl made into a muslim sex-slave, or any more law abiding citizens thrown in jail over a stupid meme.

And, to be honest, I am struggling with my Lord and Savior reminding me to love my enemies, and pray for every scumbag whose only goal is to hurt the next guy, that their hearts might be turned.

But as long as I am busy praying for the scumbag who wrote this post, that he might remember the Mercy Jesus showed him, I guess I can throw them in, as well.

Sunday pictures

 Just trying to spread good stuff today- because we all need it.

Out we go, and Misty's so excited...

About the doggie down the street

Socceristas could be heard from our doorway

Not half the tree I used to be

View from the bridge

I thought she was going to jump- I gave her permission...

...but she said, "No, it's too deep- I'll just get a sip and move on..."

Much better at the landing

Taking a break on the chicane

Ducks at the Swamp