Friday, January 23, 2015

An Open Letter to Adam Savage of MythBusters and Zak Bagans of Ghost Adventures

            This is a letter directed mainly to both Adam and Zak in regards to the "online controversy" that occurred on January 8th, which I sort of covered in my previous blog post that was published that evening.  It's also, in some way, directed to all the fans of both Ghost Adventures and MythBusters, to try and clarify everything that possibly was already clarified, but….not enough, apparently.  The reason why I am doing this is because I realized, after listening to Adam on his Still Untitled: The Adam Savage Project podcast episode that referred to this controversy (Click here if you're too impatient), that it's my fault.  So, please, lend me your ears/eyes.....

            Dear Adam and Zak,

            I know we probably want to move on from this fight that started up on Twitter (we know which one), but….  I couldn't.  Not just yet.  Not when I'm having dreams where I'm discussing in person with Adam the tweet that started it all (Sorry, Zak; I think my subconscious too afraid to invite you into the dream!).  There was so much guilt and so much wincing that I am overdue to issue an apology.

            Yes: I'm sorry for starting it all.  I'm the one who started that shit storm, creating the opportunity for us all to ride the leaky raft down Shit Creek all the way to the bottom of Asshat Falls (and to add to it, we ran out of duct tape to repair said leaky raft).  I am the person who is responsible by accidentally creating a flame war with a simple mistake.

            I should not have tagged you both in the tweet.  I know Adam meant well as a confirmed skeptic critical thinker (I'm sorry for calling you a skeptic.) that he thinks ghosts don't exist, that ghosts are made up, and that Zak was offended by (somewhat rightfully) misinterpreting the response.  But I was the one who created the opportunity that I should not have made, by tagging both of you in the tweet instead of my Dalek tweeps, or human tweeps, or even the two to five Darth Vader parody accounts who follow me.  Or how about the Sontaran?  I could have asked ANYONE else in the entire Twitterverse (including God, R2D2, a Stormtrooper Intern, and Wil Wheaton's cat), and instead, I asked you two because I stupidly thought, at the time, that it was a "good idea".

            That was incredibly stupid and shortsighted of me for doing that, especially now that this little mistake of tagging you two instead of my Twitter peeps was an experiment that was doomed to epic failure before Adam even responded: Before tweeting, I should've realized, you're both already somewhat professionally biased in terms of my options, because you both would want me to watch your respective shows (which I can do, one at a time), instead of the other respective show—because it's YOUR SHOW!  You put so much hard work into putting it together (or being the hot, handsome talent in front of the camera) that it would not help either of you if I opt to watch another show instead of yours; then again, you both have millions of fans, so I wasn't going to cause too much of a difference—but I did, by asking you two for your (obvious) opinion on Twitter instead of my Twitter Peeps, or texting one of my friends.

            I feel so guilty for this dumb mistake.  And it was made with 2 of the most awesome people I admire.  I was just….an idiot, a fool with matchsticks inside of a professional-grade fireworks factory with exposed fuses.  I was playing with fire, and it wound up being funny at first (as you can tell from my previous post that was mostly directed towards the fans), but it was both aggravating and terrifying.  I was dragged along for the ride, because I kept getting tagged in all the tweets that were responding to Adam and it just wouldn't stop.  My phone (which is a dumb phone, as opposed to your smart ones) can get Twitter updates via text, and I've got my updates set so that my phone gets all my @Mentions, which is set to "Receive all, including people you don't follow," which resulted in a phone that kept going off because Twitter was texting me all the tweets that tagged me.  That's how I knew: people kept tagging me and wouldn't let me even utter a word of the sentence, "STOP THE RIDE!  I want to get off!"

            This apology should've come earlier, but I was either too scared or distracted with ducking my head with latent tweets and it was only after listening to an episode of Adam's podcast (the specific episode that addressed this) when I was walking home that I realized that it was all my fault!!!  California Dalek (aka, Cali) was right; I just hope he doesn't rub it in….


            Anyways, I should probably shut up; I really do not ever want to start up the flame war again.  I'm sorry you both got shit for this, when I was the one who should've gotten it.  Really.  Also, Adam is not a cyberbully (or a robot or Vulcan) who is "anti-science" or "closed minded" or whatever; he's totally pro-science, and amazingly hilarious with an awesome career (CEMENT TRUCK!) and a really cool, grounded perspective of the world who, to be honest, could've reworded the response he gave so it's not one that would open the door to the cyber abuse the Interwebz is known to be a platform for.  And Zak is not an idiot or a fool who chases his imagination (though he looks like a hot jock) because he believes in ghosts and can bet his electrons on the personal experiences he had in his life.  And we're all human, which means we're bound to make mistakes, and we're nerds because we're passionate about what we like, to the point where, if someone confuses Star Trek and Star Wars, or Friday the 13th and Nightmare On Elm Street, we (at least both Adam and myself) would write a 2-page thesis—1 tweet at a time—about how they are different.  (Don't deny it, Zak!  You are a nerd of a specific type, being a horror movie buff and a believer in the paranormal—yes, paranormal nerds exist!  And don't worry because nerdy is the new sexy!)

            I'd suggest ways to fix this, but I'm also afraid of getting my ideas shot down by you two.  It's because I'm a total fan-squirrel (squirrelly fangirl) who belongs to the third camp: the one that sits between the skeptical-of-ghosts-and-the-paranormal MythBusters Adam Savage fan camp and the believer-in-ghosts skeptical-of-skeptics Ghost Adventures Zak Bagans fan camp, and it's the one that has fans who, like me, enjoy both of your shows.  But I hope we can FINALLY get past this without getting any more weird dreams that is really our subconscious scolding us.

            Also, one more thing: I'm sorry that this ever happened, because I'm very, very, absolutely sure that there is now a fanfic genre of the two of you….er, you know…..  Rule 34?  *DUCKS!*

            Anyways, one last apology (I'M REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY SORRY!), with an update: I've solved my problem—each week on Saturday, I'll watch one of your shows at 9pm EST, and then catch the late night repeat, but it'll alternate so that one week will have MythBusters at 9 and Ghost Adventures at midnight and the next week will have Ghost Adventures at 9 with MythBusters at 11pm.

            Just be glad that Doctor Who Season 9 didn't start yet; if I added that third option, the nerdy fan base shit storm will end up evolving into a shit hurricane, and all we would ever be able to do is hide from the Interwebz until it passes completely, hanging onto each other for dear life as though it would make everything better, with me sobbing quietly into the darkness.

            I've learned my lesson: DO NOT ASK THE ON-SCREEN TALENT WHICH OF THEIR SHOWS I SHOULD WATCH!  Because if I do, open-season on the Interwebz starts up and everyone will have to run for cover.  *writes note to self to "Wear a bullet-proof vest everyday from now on"*

            Anyways, thanks to the both of you for your awesome shows, and please know that I nerd over the both of you equally!  Though, now, I'm sure I started the war up again…..  HIT THE DECK!

           
           With much nerdy love,


            Lady Eden Pyrithea

Monday, January 12, 2015

The Lives of Stephen Hawking, and of Subatomic Particles

            Hi, y'all!  Yes, I said y'all—I blame my time is West Virginia for that.

            Anyways, I'm back, still ducking my head from that flame war I was quite privy to whenever people are trying to criticize scientifically-and-humorously-minded and CONFIRMED SKEPTIC Adam Savage of MythBusters, mostly due to how I was still being tagged in all those tweets.  It's not that I regret doing it; I'd totally do it again, but with two separate differences: First, I'd NOT tag Adam Savage and Zak Bagans directly in the tweet again; Second, if I did tag them and Adam responded in the same way, I'd text my family and friends that I can't text right now, if you need to talk, CALL ME OR WAIT, while plugging my silenced cell phone into the charger due to an oncoming FLAME WAR.  *facepalms*  At least I learned something from this experience, and, as a bonus, figured out a contingency plan so I don't have to suffer ever again.  At least  I was able to feature the HILARIOUS tweets!  Note to hardcore paranormal-til-death Ghost Adventures fans: Adam Savage is a CONFIRMED SKEPTIC and prone to making assumptions, so don't get your panties in a twist any time a CONFIMED SKEPTIC says something negative about one of our favorite series, and also, if you're going to flame someone, at least make it funny, so I don't have to feel shitty inside, like the guilt just left its muddy fingerprints all along the lining of my intestines, stomach and soul—I HATE THAT FEELING!

            Aside from that issue, I figured that I should continue on with my blog, by featuring "The Edge" by Nigel John Stanford as this post's optional theme song:


Hawking: The Discovery Dramatization Show Where I'm Sure of the Existence of a Friendship Between Stephen Hawking and Benedict Cumberbatch—Translation: SQUEE!

            You guessed it: being a fan of science, I'm going to talk about Discovery's recent broadcast/airing of the 110-minute dramatized documentary of Stephen Hawking's earlier life (in this case, life in college), and his discovery of the Big Bang, as well as his battle with another noted-at-the-time scientist over the universe being in a perpetual static state vs. the ever-changing state that we now know it is.  I also tweeted about the "battle" between religion and science:


            But I loved it!  I loved how Mr. Benedict Cumberbatch (*said with a bit of British class*) was able to portray him, how he was able to carry across the struggles that Dr. Hawking had at the time, how he was able to be profound and smart and classy and brilliant and fighting a battle that he was not expected to win in a role that was only mirrored by Eddie Redmayne in the movie The Theory of Everything.  It was beautiful!  In fact, because of all this, I decided to look up tweets that tagged this feature film and include them here:

            Extra-special double-unicorn magical thanks to Jenny The Bloggess Lawson for introducing me to Storify in her blogs.

          So, yes: I really was sure that there is a friendship between (*British class*) Benedict Cumberbatch and Dr. Stephen Hawking (*clears throat, resuming to normal*), because I had recently watched Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking on DVD (meaning, I did it last year) and noticed that Benedict Cumberbatch did voiceover for him on that DVD!  It could also be that Mr. Cumberbatch did an excellent job as Adam Turing in The Imitation Game, leading to his casting, but it's too much of a coincidence for that to be true!  *CONSPIRATORIAL FACIAL EXPRESSION*

            Overall rating: 6,000 beautiful nebulae out of 10 stars!  Or if you want it in Dalek terms, it'd be 60 plungers out of ten!  (The 6,000 is a reference to Creationism being stupid by denying the evidence of the trillions of years that the universe actually IS, with its birth being the Big Bang.)

            From Astrophysics to quantum physics-and-mechanics, I just had a really interesting and weird thought about protons and electrons and the Force of Star Wars!

What the F*ck Are They Thinking?  The Inter-Subatomic Particle Dialogue of the Protons, Neutrons, and Electrons

            So, yes, I tend to be a bit a crazy, quite weird, in a lovable and fun way that I'm very sure isn't annoying (*pointed glare at hometown*), but I did have a recent thought that pretty much was Shinto or Animist in principle, but it was on the scale of atoms: what the hell are protons and electrons thinking?!

            I'm sure that it goes like this:

~Protons (+, the Jedi): We're the good guys!  We balance out the bad guys, we want the universe to be good, because we're positively charged!  Yays, positivity!  Come here, electrons, so we can f*ck with you in multiple ways!

~Electrons (-, the Sith): We're the real good guys!  We provide the real balance in the universe because whenever , and even though we are smaller than our positive counterparts that like to stick together in the nucleus, where it's "nice and safe" with the Strong Force keeping them all together, we're free to orbit around them, messing with their Up particles and Down particles, and we're behind the formation of molecules with other elements!

~Protons (+): No, WE'RE behind those formations!

~Electrons (-): NUH-UH!

~Neutrons (o): *munches on popcorn* This is interesting, so we're just gonna sit around and watch.  We ain't taking sides, so….you're on your own, here, boys and girls.  We also have good cheese here, and manufacture awesome watches.

~Electrons (-): But…but….they're so….stuck together and stuff!

~Protons (+): Yeah, but you like to move only in straight lines!  It's no wonder the cool dudes at CERN picked us to be in their Large Hadron Collider!

~Neutrons (o): *Chris Hardwick voice* Points to the Protons!  Also to the Electrons because we don't take sides, we're just here, partying in different isotopes.

            You get the idea.

            And then I had that tiny bit of an "Ah-ha!" moment: the electromagnetic force is the Force in Star Wars!  I mean, come on!  Emperor Palpatine was able to shoot lightning from his fingers to wrongfully kill the badass Mace Windu (who wants his motherfucking Sith off of his motherfucking ship!!!), but that's what electrons do!  I mean, come on!  If anything, Disney shouldn't ever kill off all the Sith, because it will throw the Star Wars universe out of balance!  I mean it!  Get to tweeting at or emailing to JJ Abrams, because he HAS to keep this in mind!  It's not too late to save Star Wars!

            Huh?  Am I doing this JJ Abrams thing?  No, I'm just watching you guys do it.  *munches on the Neutrons' popcorn*  Because this is interesting….  What do you mean, which side am I on?  I've already picked between the Light Side and the Dark Side!  I'm a Grey Jedi and I'm proud of it!

            So, if any astrophysicists or particle physicists, or quantum physicists want to start complaining, go ahead.  I just want you to say, "What if protons, neutrons and electrons could talk?  What would they say?"  I'd love to see Dr. Neil Degrasse Tyson, Bill Nye the Science Guy, Phil Plait aka Bad Astronomer, the ghost of Carl Sagan, Dr. Stephen Hawking, Leighann Lord, Chuck Nice, Eugene Mirman, Chris Hardwick, Matt Mira, and Seth MacFarlane provide their input on this.  Yes, that's an invitation to discuss this, y'all.  I'll be expecting to hear from you soon (if you would just please, please, please talk about this and then get back to me!   PLEASE!)

            So, yeah.  Not sure what else to say, except to check out Diane Martin's Di-Hard Podcast.  Because she's awesome and hilarious.  And a band-o—YAY MARCHING BAND!!!  And  to listen to StarTalkRadio, to watch StarTalk TV on National Geographic, check out both MythBusters and Ghost Adventures, and to buy the Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey DVD/Blu-Ray because SCIENCE!  (#neilwithit)

            With that, I shall leave you with this picture.  Enjoy it, AND YOUR TACQUITOS!



P.S. In case you REALLY wanted a showdown between MythBusters and the paranormal, here's one of those Epic Rap Battles ofHistory!


NOW, we're done!  So, please, STOP TWEETING ADAM ABOUT IT!  *ninja-poofs!*

Thursday, January 8, 2015

New Year, New Post—and Old Battles Still Being Fought on Twitter

            Happy New Year, y'all!  It's 2015 and EVERYTHING SUCKS already!  *sniffles*  Sorry, just went through a hard time, and still doing so; I'll explain why when the time is right.  However, I have a few things to express.  First of all, I have a few goals for this year: EDUCATE people about how vaccines do NOT cause Autistic Spectrum Disorders AT ALL(!); explore how humanity is getting worse and worse (especially American society and government); how ghosts MAY exist or how your brain can trick you; celebrating science and positive changes being made in the world, etc!  I'll also continue to review books, movies, television shows, and continue to nerd my pants over certain shows and celebrities.  I plan to lose mass (at least better than I have been last year—it fell apart from lack of momentum!) and become more confident, and I have an even better reason to do so now (the hard time stuff).
            Anyways, I should also add that what happened with the satirical magazine in France is TRAGIC!  ISIS is a group full of assholes and they should be EXTERMINATED!  They retaliated in the wrong manner in response to a cartoon that was published by a SATIRICAL newspaper!  The following tweets express my feelings:


            I am Charlie, and I'm not afraid!  (More will be expressed on my DeviantArt page….)

            Anyways, onwards to this blog entry's topic: Celebrities, Trolling and the Schedule Conflicts of Television!  For the optional theme song, check out the Steve Angello x Jacques Lu Cont remix of Depeche Mode's "Soothe My Soul":


Two Shows I Nerd My Pants Over, One Time Slot (Porno, Anyone?)

            So, yeah, that subheading title is a reference towards that Two Girls, One Cup porno (which should NEVER be watched or googled), but it's in regards to a dilemma I decided to tweet about, tagging Adam Savage of MythBusters on Discovery Channel, and Zak Bagans of Ghost Adventures on the Travel Channel:


            I did not expect to get a response….but I totally DID!!!!  From Adam Savage—SQUEEEEEEEEE!!!!!  His response was almost typical because I expected something along the lines of "MythBusters because we're real."  I did NOT expect the fans' reactions!  My cell phone (Obamaphone, free unlimited text messaging, I get mentions, direct messages, favorites and retweets directly on my phone through text message…) started blowing up with responses!  A ton are funny, but a lot were REALLY uncalled for!  I can't just embed them ALL into my blog post at once because that's a LOT of tweets to embed and it makes the blog post here TOO DAMN LONG!!!!  So, I've decided to Storify it…..

            Those last few tweets bashing on Adam is just really dickish!  Since when is it okay to tweet to an influential someone to say, "FUCK YOU!  I'm never watching your show again!  Your an asshole!  Suck a dick and go die from a demon attack at Bobby Mackey's!"  (For your information, I would NEVER endorse the last one!  Bobby Mackey's, if you're unfamiliar with their reputation beyond being a country club already, is really infested with demons!  These dickhead demonic entities are really nasty to the point where if you ever mention Zak Bagans' name inside that place, you get attacked!  It's really insanely bad energy inside there, and to suggest to a skeptic to go in there, mouth running off with insults and saying Zak's name over and over is irresponsible, mean, dickheaded, immoral, and all out WRONG!  Especially if they did not have any experience with a demonic entity scratching you, insulting you, trying to possess you, oppression and attachment, etc.  It's a real danger—which is why I vehemently CONDEMN such a response!)

            Has anyone ever heard  of Wheaton's Law?  Anyone?  If you're that good of a nerd, you'll already know it by heart, but I'll share it here as a refresher:
DON'T BE A DICK!!!!!!
It was first stated by Wil Wheaton (friendly co-performer at W00tstock to Adam Savage) to his team at PAX one year, and before long, it was being quoted in forums and on websites and it earned the name "Wheaton's Law," and it's a REALLY GOOD LAW TO HAVE!  In fact, when I was in Nerf Club at college, when we first drafted up the rules, Wheaton's Law was Rule #1; Rule #2 was "Always follow Rule #1!"

            So, when one is a fan of Ghost Adventures and MythBusters and reads Adam's tweet, they're obviously going to take it a bit too personally, assuming that it's negating their beliefs in an afterlife.  Granted, Adam is a definite skeptic, and he doesn't believe in ghosts and demons and what-not, but to raise a stink over a single tweet?!  That's immature and ridiculous!  I'm sure that Adam did NOT mean it like that at all (then again, he could have—I don't know for sure; I also am not affiliated with him in any way beyond being a fan of his and MythBusters), but don't call him a cunt and a dick and an asshole just because he shared his opinion and input in response to my dilemma to ME.

Let's Break It Down!  *Beatboxes*


            MythBusters is an excellent show, promoting critical thinking and applying common sense to life so that you don't have to spend time and energy worrying about something that isn't true or factual (i.e., water heater explosions, earthquake survival, the JATO rocket Darwin Award myth), and learn what it takes for things to be real, as well as being surprised by things that are real.  So, even though Adam isn't, as Phil Plait would put it, a "classically trained scientist," he still has experience with the Hollywood special effects tricks of the trade, being able to bust myths that stem from movies, television shows, etc.  And who (besides terrorists) can go wrong with explosions?!  That cement truck just disappeared like Alderaan!  So, even though the show's name is "MythBusters," it's not proof that they're "fake"!  It's a short, easy title that describes EXACTLY what they do: they bust myths!  Also, they're based in San Francisco; Hollywood is a "little" TOO FAR SOUTH to be where they're at!  (However, if they want to take a field trip there, they certainly can!)

            As for Ghost Adventures, it's not a show that "looks for ghosts," the way Finding Bigfoot tries to find a Sasquatch; it's actually a show that is all about gathering evidence in support of  proving the existence of ghosts, as well as researching what a ghost could be, and even possibly helping homeowners or property owners and their families and friends realize that they aren't crazy!!!  Or that what they're afraid of really isn't dangerous at all.  So that weird feeling that trolls get in their pants when tweeting their rage at Adam with misspellings and all isn't a ghost; it's just them cranking one out from being a dick (thereby violating Wheaton's Law).  It's obvious that a lot of fans love this show, especially since the members of the investigation crew are the producers, the camera crew, the host, etc.; they created the show, they film the show themselves, there's no glamour or Hollywood involved—it's raw, it's real, it's almost indie and very, very organic.  Stemming from a self-shot documentary from the early-mid naughties (2000-2009), this is also a way to help boost tourism to certain locations, which helps generate revenue for the locations and tax dollars for the cities and states these are all located in.

            Also, I should point out that the science labs aren't the places that are haunted, it's these places such as the Washoe Club, the Winchester Mystery House, the Sun Inn located in Bethlehem, PA, etc.  And any good scientist should know that if you can't create this situation in the lab to study, you should conduct a field study.  So, discounting ghosts completely without fully investigating the culture and approaches and the evidence is just…..I don't have a word to describe it, but it's equivalent to mixing up, "close-minded, presumptive," and either "fearful of the results" or "lazy".  And don't assume that one show was running longer than the other: Ghost Adventures started airing in 2008, and MythBusters definitely started earlier than that, with 10 YEARS under their belt!  So, they both have a ton of positive points.  So, tweeting, "FUCK U!" to someone really isn't the way to go…..

Ethical Criticism: Why the Internet Has a Larger Underbelly Than It Should

            Most hate-tweets are very unproductive and have a total lack of class and character.  Criticism is helpful because it allows people to improve in the areas that are addressed.  However, haters and trolls just do it to be a dick.  Trolls gonna troll, haters are gonna hate, and even them Sontaran taters are gonna tate, no matter what.  BUT, you can ditch these labels and provide tweets that are better constructed.  Adam won't listen to "EAT A DICK!" (I received this tweet directly; my response was, "As long as it's not yours!") but it's very likely that instead of allowing your emotions to be in charge of your twitter feed, you provide a calmer response that goes along the lines of "I disagree with your statement, because…"

            Bad: "Ghost Adventures is REAL!  So, fuck you, loser!"
            Good: "I disagree: it's real because….."

            Bad: "You're an asshole!  I'm never watching your show again!"
            Good: "I now feel like my beliefs have been devalued.  Thanks!"

            I hope everyone gets this, because I don't ever want to cover this topic ever again!  We have the ability to use a wide range of words that will make us sound educated; why not use it?  (Flame wars are pointless; don't engage in them!)

Diffusing the Rage


            As many of the tweets have suggested, several Ghost Adventures fans believe that Mr. Adam Savage should go on Ghost Adventures to prove his point.  "Why?  It'll just be a waste of time!"  How would you know that if you've never conducted an experiment to prove or disprove this hypothesis?  The only way to prove that it's a waste of time is to 1.) Be patient and 2.) just join Zak and crew on a lockdown.  Just make sure that it's the Ghost Adventures Crew, and not some other paranormal investigation crew, because if it's someone else, the camera crew might be allowed in, and their job would be to film the talent, not the evidence or activity.  So, if it's just Zak, Nick, Aaron, Billy, and Jay, with the camera crew hanging out at nerve center, there's less contamination, and a better likelihood of capturing evidence that isn't easily debunked.

            So, I agree: Adam Savage should go on a full 12-hour lockdown with the GAC on their show, and try to debunk the evidence if he would wish to.  At least he'll know (without assuming anything) that ghosts do exist, and that Ghost Adventures isn't fiction.

            But I'm very sure that I've said all I needed to say, and that it seems like I should start taking cover before the bullets start flying between the fans of Mythbusters who are hardcore skeptics of ghosts, and the fans of Ghost Adventures who are hardcore skeptics of skeptics!  (HA!  See what I did there?!)  In the meantime, keep it cool, keep yourself warm, enjoy your tacquitos, and above all, DON'T BE A DICK!!!!!

            *dons dragonskin vest and other armor, then takes cover in a warm bunker!*