ASTROBIOLOGY

ASTROBIOLOGY







This weeks extra clip talks about the arsenic eating bacteria that live in mono lake. This phenomenon is a direct result of the lake kissing another sickly lake. If DNA no longer follows the rules that we once thought it did then, yes there can be aliens made of gold. I am not just basing my theory on hopes and dreams and video games, but facts drudged up from the bottom of a poisonous lake. Is this not how all theories should be founded? We also spoke this week with our guest, Emily Rittershous about our own origins. We asked if it is possible if the Earth was seeded with asteroids carrying DNA or bacteria. Here is an artists rendition of the event I drudged up from Google images:

Notice the double helix type antenna coming out of the alien's head. This suggests his hair contains human DNA. What surprises me is that modern scientists missed the fact that these so called seeding asteroids were actually rocket ships with an on board computer with a set trajectory, but I guess after 3.5 billion years of decay a rocket ship would end up looking like an old rock. The other important question is, did this picture make Emily giggle? 

Check out professorblastoff.com for links to other videos and aaronburrellcomedy.com more more blogs. Thanks ladies...and germs. 

Samurai

This week we had a little trouble with the proper spelling of Samori. Here is a little trick to help you remeber. It comes from what the professor said, "who took my cat Ana, Sam or I?".  And there you have it, the proper way to spell Samori is Sam or I. Thank you Dustin, by the way for all you do!

Since I used up all my childhood fighting stories in the blog about Kung Fu, I will get to the research that went unused in this episode. While studying the topic, I kept coming accross the name Miyamoto Musashi. He was one of the most famous Samurais and wrote a book called The Five Rings. I was impressed by the back story of Miyamoto. After surviving an all out blood bath of a battle he camped out in the woods for four years so he could practice how to become the best warrior he could be, and this was several centuries before the use of  montage mind you. There were no short cuts here. It is said that he had a no nonsense personality, which doesn't surprise me. He didn't have anyone to riff off of for four years. Even if he came up with the greatest joke in history he couldn't have shared it with anyone. That has weigh on you, and would explain why he got so skilled at fighting. Which reminds me of David's upcoming comedy tour, revenge of the comic. "This time he's serious folks!"

I'm also sharing this documentary I watched on Miyamoto, enjoy this when you have a good hour and a half to kill. After watching it, if you have more time to kill, go stand out in the woods and see how long it takes before you loose your sense of humor. It took me 22 minutes, but that's because I my blood sugar was dipping because I ran out of animal crackers.



Now that you have cleared your mind of any silliness, check out these bonus links to the history of the Samurai. All joking aside, this is a fascinating part of history.

http://www.samurai-archives.com/cultcat.html
http://judoinfo.com/samurai.htm

Lastly, are Klingon's Samurais? When they face a battle they always say things like, perhaps today is a good day to die. I feel like forced laughter was invented for situations like these. Buck up soldier! By the way, watching a grown man charge at you, going full speed, with a sword in his hands, whilst laughing uncontrollably, is the best way to cure the hiccups. If you don't believe me try it.

For back loged blogs go to my website AaronBurrellComedy.com and follow the blog link. Also go to professorblastoff.com more more extras! Thanks guys, and girls.

Art

Art helps us answer some of life's greatest questions. It is a way for men and women to express the otherwise inexpressible. How do you explain what it feels like to have your heart ripped from your chest? Perhaps you write a song as I did with my first heart break, or paint a pretty picture as I did with my second, or maybe you create a blog, as I did with my third. Unfortunately though, I haven't had my heart broken for years, and that is why I never graduated film school.

So what does it take to be a good artist? Is it insight, talent, perspective, persistence, what? I think that the journey of finding and appreciating good art is almost as difficult as creating it. I hear it takes 10,000 hours to become a master at something, my problem is, I get bored after about 15 minutes. So sticking to one craft for 10,000 hours would require quite a dynamic medium. I think I may be able to stick to researching for that 10,000 hours, but that's not exactly artistic in and of itself. But check back in 10,000 /(24X365.25) years and maybe I will have created an incredibly mind blowing montage. My math may be off due to the fact that I didn't give myself any time to sleep, or eat, or de-wax my ears, but 10,000 hours is only a little over a year. So really there is no excuse for any of us not to become masters of some kind of art. Seriously get to work!



Referring to this week's clip though, simply throwing a bunch of hours at a project doesn't always garner the respect of your peers or make you a master. Mr. Brainwash, from the film Exit Through the Gift Shop, spent hours upon hours documenting, and learning about street art and the artists behind it. But when it came time for him to display what he had learned from all of that research, he seemed to be out of step with the artists who mentored him.  In his subjective opinion, maybe all art is is making something exist for people to see. For me, art is more personal. It is a conduit for making emotional connections, a way to share the human experience. And if you never really pour your heart and soul into your art, then what kind of connection can you possibly make with your audience?

And finally, the anatomy of hand turkeys.

Thanks for reading, and thanks to all the artists out there. If you have any hand turkeys you would like to share, please do.

Enligtenment

In the 18th century, philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote an essay on the question "What is Enlightenment?". He said “Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one's understanding without guidance from another. This immaturity is self-imposed when its cause lies not in lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without guidance from another.! [dare to know] "Have courage to use your own understanding!"--that is the motto of enlightenment.”

See his essay in entirety here: 
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~mgamer/Etexts/kant.html

In Jr. high I had an enlightened, catty teacher who was constantly calling me immature because I refused to pay attention to her algebraic indoctrinations. "You can't sit there and expect me to believe in your imaginary numbers!"I would say. Who knew this was an enlightened response? I was simply trying to shrug off the guidance of my math master in an attempt to gain my own understanding of the numeric world. OK, I lie. I was just lazy, but this does make me think. What is the point of learning all about math and science if you never ask yourself what it all means for you? Furthermore, if one never expands the knowledge beyond ones self, what have they contributed to this interconnected world?

I think that as a society becomes more knowledgeable, more individuals have the potential to become enlightened. There are more fountains of knowledge to draw from. So why do we live in an age of the world wide web where there is a buffet of free information but people still remain in the dark about so many things?  I think, for one, some people fear knowledge, because having more of it makes you more accountable. You can't just walk down the street and watch a man choke to death as you do nothing when you knew how to save him. Most of society would expect you to act on your knowledge. Early on in my youth I made the mistake of learning how to make cinnamon rolls, and guess who got suckered into whipping up a batch every time gamma came to visit? ME! So I say no thank you to learning how to cook, or if I do I keep it to my selfish little self. So with that I invite you to watch this clip about the development of the French encyclopedia. I will warn you though. It might spark an interest inside you to gallivant around trying to learn about things. If this happens, just remind yourself, the more people know you don't know, the less they will ask you to do stuff.



Now the most dangerous thing you can ever get out clips like these, is learning how to learn. I made this mistake in college. Once I started learning stuff on my own other students in my classes started asking me questions which totally ate into my video game time. Then I learned how to give them wrong answers and they left me alone. But then I felt guilty about it. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't hide your corn chips under a bushel, put them on a candlestick for all the world to enjoy.

 A special thanks goes out to the worlds most enlightened guest Kevin Burntson, and to all who have contributed in one way or another to our journey to enlightenment. For more Professor Blastoff extras go to professorblastoff.com and for more info on me aaronburrellcomedy.com where you can link to backlogged blogs and more!