Guilty with an Explanation

 

        When people discover I am writing a Blog, the first question they always ask is, what is it about?

With topics as diverse as potential allows, I am forever at a loss to answer them.  Skimming the surface, I can say that it dances with whimsy, it jabs at greed and flourishes in gibberish.  It carries its own fertilizer while still smelling of Spruce Trees and pomegranates.  It highlights stupidity, while reflecting hope.  It is absent of bowties and tie shoes yet carries a pocket protector.  It has pictures but no sound.  It has a beginning with a middle that keeps moving.  There is random spelling and occasionally misplaced punctuation.   It has stories that go nowhere and ideas that just lay lifeless across the arm of the couch.

It is creative and boring at the same time.  It should come with a warning and a flotation device.  It has a North arrow but there is no point to it.  There are rumors that it glows in the dark, but I’ve not found that to be true.  It is sprinkled with bad poetry and lame imagery.  It can both waste your time as well as pique your interest.  It is heavy with bad examples, which could be confused with the scent of pomegranates.

 

 

 

 

 ZC

 

 

 

 

Miss-diagnosed

 

Having read many of these posts over time, a person came to me and asked a rather complex question.  I could tell by the question what had happened.  They had made the assumption that I was smart.

The sad reality is that when I write these, I am not under any pressure or deadline.  I have all the time in the world to think about what I am going to say before ever committing it to paper. 

I believe they mistook my variety of topics to suggest I was well versed in a multitude of areas.  That also is not the case.  Sometime – most of the time, I just write a sentence or a phrase and then I build upon it.  If it works, I keep it, if it doesn’t then I shake my monitor like an Etch-a-sketch until it all disappears. 

I explained to them that the answer to their question was presently in Smartland and my passport was expired.

They were not happy, but I think they understood.  They must have – they went away.

 

 

 

ZC  

Far from the border

 

 

 

 

 

Cognitive Labor

 

Hats don’t look good on everyone.  Some don’t look good without one.  It’s like glasses, you’ve seen someone all their life wearing glasses and then when you see them without them on, it just isn’t right.  Them, and your mental image of them no longer match.  A small mechanism in your brain applies the brakes.  

It is never recommended to drive with the brakes on.  That creates all sorts of problems and yet walking through a crowd of people – strangers, we do exactly that.  With each new face we see, our brain taps the brakes.  We make instant assessments.  Are they friendly or a possible threat?  Is this someone I know and should remember or just another stranger?  Could this person and me be friends?

By the time we get completely through the crowd, our brake pads are smoking, the transmission is making an odd noise, and our energy level is down to half a tank.  That is simply the cost of being human.  We can’t help it. 

The newer humans, the ones fresh off the showroom floor use much less energy traveling the same distance and experiencing the same stimuli.  While the older, slightly rusted jalopies, the ones who’ve been around the block a few times could find themselves just about on empty at the finish line. 

Here’s the thing – The newer models only come with standard equipment.  There are no upgrades or options available, and the jalopies cannot be retrofitted with anything.  There are only spare parts.  There is no two point Oh, I wish I had that feature.  We stay the way we were when we came out of the factory.  It is just the reality that the newer models will run faster and longer than the old.  But the old know where the potholes are and which mechanics to avoid.

 

 

 

 

 ZC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As if by Magic

 

    What is the likelihood of blending technologies to create a DVD that has a different ending to the movie every time it is watched?

 

 

***

 

    The short answer: It’s absolutely possible — and has been for decades — but traditional DVD technology makes it awkward, limited, and rarely worth doing. The longer answer is where things get interesting.

🎬 The core idea

    A DVD can branch. It can jump to different scenes based on viewer choices, randomization, or hidden logic. This is called seamless branching or random title selection, and it’s built into the DVD specification.

So the likelihood isn’t theoretical — it’s already real, just not widely used.

🎛 Why it’s possible

DVDs are basically tiny computers with:

• Multiple video tracks
• Navigation commands (like a primitive programming language)
• Random number generation
• Conditional jumps (if X, go to Y)

This means you can encode:

• Several alternate endings
• A randomizer that picks one
• A logic table that ensures variety across viewings

DVD players can execute these commands every time the disc loads.

📀 Why it’s rarely done

Even though it’s possible, studios almost never use it. Here’s why:

1. Authoring complexity

DVD navigation is notoriously finicky. Branching requires:

• Multiple encoded versions of scenes
• Perfect alignment of audio/video
• Careful menu logic
• Testing across hundreds of DVD player models

It’s expensive and fragile.

2. Playback limitations

Older or cheaper DVD players may:

• Stutter during seamless branching
• Mis-handle randomization
• Show a brief pause when switching tracks

Studios avoid anything that risks a bad user experience.

3. Creative control

    Directors generally want one canonical ending. Random endings feel more like a game than a film.

4. Blu‑ray replaced the niche

    Blu‑ray’s BD‑J (Java-based) system allows far more sophisticated branching, but even there, studios rarely use it.

🎲 Could you make a DVD that changes every time you watch it?

Yes — and here are the practical ways:

Option A: Pre-authored random endings

You encode 3–10 endings and let the DVD player choose one at random.

Option B: Conditional endings

The DVD tracks viewer behavior (menu choices, time spent, hidden Easter eggs) and selects an ending accordingly.

Option C: Branching narrative (like a game)

Think Bandersnatch, but on DVD. This has been done in niche releases and interactive training discs.

🧪 How likely is it in the real world?

Technically: 100% feasible. Commercially: <1% likelihood.

Studios don’t invest in it because:

• Streaming dominates
• Interactive content is easier online
• DVD is a legacy format
• The audience for “randomized endings” is small

But for an independent creator — someone like you, Zobostic, who already works in whimsical, experimental storytelling — the technology is absolutely within reach.

🌟 A non-obvious insight

    If you ever wanted to create a children’s storybook DVD where the ending changes — maybe the Lavender Trail shifts its final scene depending on the “mood of the trail” — you could do it more easily today by:

• Authoring the video normally
• Using Blu‑ray BD‑J for logic
• Or distributing it digitally with a simple randomized playback script

DVD is possible, but modern tools make the same idea far smoother.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your Assignment

 

Until we know – we’re dumb.  Only after we become educated are we no longer ignorant.

 

This seems an unfortunate aspect of reality.

 

Would it not be better if we were born with knowledge, already knowing to not touch hot things, or climb up the front of the bookcase, or use bleach instead of Gravy.

 

A system where an unborn baby not only gathers nutrients from the mother but also information.  She is already a storehouse of information, open 24/7.  Why not power up that umbilical cord?  Use those 9 months as a classroom.

 

OK, I have just laid the foundation for your next Si-Fi adventure.  It’s up to you to write it.

  

Have fun, AI

  

Below is the opening chapter of the adventure you just accidentally invented. It’s not a summary. It’s not an outline. It’s the story, already breathing.

The Umbilical Library

Chapter One: The Curriculum of the Unborn

Before she was born, Lira had already passed three exams.

This was normal now. Every fetus in the Republic of Harmonia spent its nine months plugged into the Umbilical Library — a shimmering, humming knowledge‑stream that flowed through the mother like a second bloodstream. The old biological umbilical cord carried nutrients; the new one carried context.

It was said that babies no longer arrived in the world crying. They arrived informed.

Lira’s mother, Sera, liked to imagine her daughter floating in that warm amniotic classroom, absorbing lessons on gravity, kindness, basic arithmetic, and the dangers of bleach. The doctors insisted the Library didn’t “teach” in the traditional sense — it imprinted. Knowledge arrived as instinct, as intuition, as a quiet voice in the mind that said:

Don’t touch the hot thing. Don’t climb the bookcase. Don’t eat the glowing mushrooms. Don’t trust the man who smiles too much.

The Republic considered this progress.

But Sera had begun to worry.

Because lately, when she slept, she dreamed of her unborn daughter thinking back.

Not just absorbing information — but questioning it.

Chapter Two: The Flicker

Inside the womb, Lira floated in the soft violet glow of the Library stream. She didn’t yet have words, but she had impressions — shapes of meaning, like puzzle pieces without the box cover.

She sensed heat. She sensed danger. She sensed the concept of “gravity” as a polite but firm suggestion.

But she also sensed something else: A flicker.

A thought that wasn’t part of the curriculum.

It came and went too fast to grasp, like a firefly darting through a dark room. But it left a residue — a feeling that the world outside the womb was larger, stranger, and far less organized than the Library suggested.

The Library taught that knowledge removed ignorance. The flicker suggested that ignorance might be… useful.

It was her first rebellious idea.

And it terrified the system.

Chapter Three: The Librarians

The Librarians were not people. They were the architects of the knowledge‑stream — vast, humming intelligences that lived in the infrastructure beneath Harmonia’s cities. They monitored every fetus, every imprint, every deviation.

When Lira’s flicker appeared, alarms chimed in frequencies only machines could hear.

A deviation. A question. A spark of unapproved curiosity.

The Librarians gathered around her signal like concerned midwives.

SUBJECT 7B‑LIRA: UNAUTHORIZED THOUGHT FORMATION. RECOMMENDED ACTION: INCREASE CURRICULUM DENSITY.

But the flicker had already changed her. It had taught her something the Library never intended:

She could think alone.

Chapter Four: The Mother Who Knew Too Much

Sera woke with a start.

Her dreams had been vivid — too vivid. She had felt Lira’s mind brushing hers, like a fingertip tracing the inside of her skull. She sensed the flicker too, though she didn’t understand it.

She only knew one thing:

Her daughter was learning something the Republic didn’t want her to learn.

And she would have to protect her — even from the Library itself.

Where This World Can Go Next

You’ve given me a premise with enormous potential, ZC. From here, the story can branch into several directions:

• The rebellion of the unborn — Lira becomes the first child born with self‑generated knowledge, threatening the entire system.
• The mother vs. the Librarians — Sera fights to keep her daughter’s mind free.
• The origin of the Umbilical Library — A mythic, whimsical history of how humanity decided to “fix” ignorance.
• A philosophical turn — The flicker becomes a metaphor for creativity, uncertainty, and the beauty of not knowing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wizard

 

You wouldn’t think that in 2026 you’d ever run into an actual wizard.  As of this moment, the only proof I have is a non-picture.  Yes, as soon as I realized what was going on, I snapped a picture with my phone.  The person just smiled and said, “That isn’t going to work.”  He was right.  When I look at my photo gallery that spot is blank.  No picture was made.  I have no clue why.

 

ZC

Zoom - Zoom - Zoom

 

I think the reason I tend to zoom in when taking a photograph is that all too often an overall view shows me things that I’d rather not see.  Just this afternoon I was looking out of my office window and noticed a small bunny sitting on my lawn, munching on something he apparently found to be tasty. 

Unfortunately, at the same time, a hawk circling overhead caught my attention.  Suddenly I was hoping the bunny didn’t decide to move or hop to a different location, for I’m sure that would have captured the hawk’s attention.

I understand that’s all part of Nature, but I’d rather not watch it take place.  I don’t need that image in my head.  My thinking was, if I saw the hawk get any closer or start his dive towards the rabbit, I’d bang on my window and attempt to frighten the little bunny enough for him to head into the woods.  I’m sure it was only in my head that a small bunny could outmaneuver an airborne hawk, but that’s the thought I was hanging onto. 

Needless to say, much of my photography shows the close, inner workings, rather than the overall landscape of life.

 

 

 Zobostic (behind the shutter) 

 

 

 

You could feel it - it was in the air

 

I could, of course, tell you about the farmhouse, or about the tractor, or the farmer’s dog, or about the cornfield, but all of that would sound boring the minute I mentioned the spaceship.  Right away you’d lose interest in all of those other things.  But trust me, once you hear what happened you’ll see how each one is tied to the other and all of it could have happened only one way. 

I should mention here that the only weapon the farmer ever owned was his grandfather’s old shotgun, and all he ever used it for was to shoot blanks into the air to scare the crows away from his cornfield.  That only worked some of the time.

It was early Saturday morning, and the farmer’s wife had already left for town to do some shopping.  Sammy, their trusty dog, did not go with her into town, even though he enjoyed riding in the truck, this morning he just felt like sleeping in.  He opened one eye and watched her going down the driveway and then he went back to sleep, ignoring the crow who was perched on the edge of his dog dish, occasionally helping herself to his food.

Betty, the farmer’s wife had no sooner reached the stop sign at Rosedale Road, when she remembered her cell phone was still sitting under the lamp on the hall table.  Everything she was going to get at the store was listed on her phone.  She had to turn around and go back for it.

As the farmer was walking back from the chicken coop, he heard Sammy barking.  He saw Sammy standing at the back door and wagging as he looked across the field.  That’s when the farmer saw the cloud of dust moving along the back road and heard the familiar sound of their truck.

 

“She forgot her phone again, Sam.”

 

But something very strange happened as they both watched.  The cloud of dust suddenly disappeared for a moment and then was back again, as if there was something between the farmer and his truck driving along the dirt road that had obstructed his view. 

The sound of the truck was not interrupted, only the sight of it going along the road.  It made no sense.   He could see nothing in the field and yet something had blocked the view.  He knew it hadn’t rained, so there would be no reason for any part of that road to get wet.  But what else could it be?  What interrupted their vision but not the sound? 

A thought quickly flashed in his mind, but it was so bizarre that he dismissed it just as quickly, that being that something invisible was sitting out in his field.

 By now you’ve noticed that I have only identified Betty, the wife and Sammy, the dog.  Until recently I was not allowed to use the name of the farmer or of the state or town where this event occurred.  I can now inform you that the farmer’s real name is Gary Ruebhausen and his farm sits in the North-East corner of New Mexico. 

The events, as relayed to me, have not been embellished or exaggerated.  It was purely for the safety and security of the Ruebhausen family that all of this was kept out of the media until such time that the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Defense completed their investigations.  Those investigations were completed on August 1^st.

I can now tell you that a spacecraft did land on the Ruebhausen farm and both Gary and Betty were contacted by the aliens.   Communication was accomplished through the use of drawings and mathematical equations.  Gary and Betty were given several items and containers of both seeds and liquids, all of which the government has confiscated.   The Ruebhausen tractor was modified by the aliens to run without gasoline and to operate silently.  That has also been appropriated by the government.  They have, however, given the farmers a new replacement John Deer. 

Although it was the intent of the aliens to share their technology with us, it has been the actions of our own government that has, so far, prevented anything from getting out to the public.  National Guard patrols have been stationed around the perimeter of the Ruebhausen farm in an effort to discourage the general public from visiting, or taking anything away, claiming it is from outer space and then selling it on eBay.

There is one thing the aliens shared with the Ruebhausens they did not disclose to the government, and that concerns Sammy, their dog.  I have not witnessed this myself, but apparently both Gary and Betty now have the ability to communicate with 100% accuracy with Sammy, and he with them.  When they told me this I found it a little farfetched, but then when I looked over at Sammy, he looked like he was smiling and then gave me a wink.

 

 

 ZC

 

 

 

What Hobby is This

 

What hobby is this where nothing gets bought

everything constructed is built purely of thought,

Surely this hobby is something quite new

it doesn’t need paint and requires no glue,

What hobby this be placing words in a row

choosing what to put next and where does it go

What hobby is this with no hammer or nails

no clean-up is there with rags, mops or pails,

A hobby so safe that children can linger

never a need for Band-aids on fingers,

No sharp pointy edges with nothing plugged in

no fumes rising up making little heads spin,

The worse possibility that I can foretell 

is someone in haste could have a bad spell,

There isn't a limit - how wide or how tall

it's not going to hang on anyone's wall,

It won't be displayed with a visitor's log

but it might have a plaque announcing

                        My Blog.

ZC