Travel Tales Pt. 6 - Much Less Ado About....well, Stuff

Good news on the theatrical front: We contacted the theater (or 'theatre' as they misspell it here) and explained that we had left our tickets at home. They told us that if we could find the seat and row information then they could print us some replacement tickets.

We contacted Daryl, our house-sitter, and had him look for that info and we just got an email from him with the row and seat numbers. Huzzah!

At any rate, it looks like we're off to "Much Ado About Nothing" with David Tennant and Catherine Tate this evening so cheers, everyone!

More news later....

Travel Tales Pt. 5 - Body Issues

So I call down to room service to order some dinner. Betsy and I are having the same order but she's going to have some water and doesn't need a beverage.

For some reason, this call turns into a desperate attempt by me to convince the room service person that just because I'm having two orders of an entree with one beverage, that doesn't mean I'm eating both of them. The twisted thing here is that she understood exactly what I meant when I told her "Service for two". I was the one having the issue.

Me: "Okay, and that's service for two."

Her: [she repeats the order exactly as given]

Me: "And you realize, that this is for two, right?"

Her: [ Repeats the order ] "I'll keep repeating it, sir, until I get it right."

Me: "No, you're doing just fine. I'm apparently the one having the issues here."

For some reason I felt like the kid who's trying to convince his buddies that he has a real girlfriend....

"Guys, she and I totally made out...."

"No, you don't know her, we met at summer camp...."

"Yeah, she lives in Canada...."

I am a sick, sick man.

Travel Tales Pt. 4 - Interlude 1

There is a trend in world travel these days known as 'Travel Without Baggage'.

Betsy and I, however, decided to go a different direction....

Yes, that's a wheelchair AND a walker....



I mean, we had to drag the cats out of the garment bag because they kept getting sucked into it's gravitational field.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:London Hilton Park Lane

Travel Tales Pt. 3 - Lost in America

We have about half an hour before we need to get to our gate. In the meantime, an unexpected benefit of our BA business class fare is access to the BA club lounge. A very proper, Oxonian-accented gentleman greeted us and showed us to a seat where we are currently having a cool beverage and taking stock.
The Taking Of Stock has almost become a ritual for us when traveling. It mainly consists of figuring out what we forgot to pack.

So far, the tally is:

Our wedding album - Not a major loss, but it would have been nice to compare and contrast, particularly since the guests for our renewal ceremony were unable to make it to our wedding.

Betsy's wedding ring - A bit of a bigger loss here, as our ceremony does include an exchange of rings. Two options: a re-write or try to find her a ring in London. I'd like to do the latter as it would symbolize a renewed commitment.

Betsy's Chapstick - Okay, not huge. But I like to be thorough.

Betsy's wedding hat - In my own defense, I had not been informed that this was a part of the wardrobe. Once again, possibly a visit to Harrod's or M&S might sort this out.

Theater tickets - Ouch. We had opening night tickets to "Much Ado About Nothing", starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate. As dedicated Whovians we were both terribly excited about this. I need to make some calls when we land.

And so it goes....

Location:Peña Blvd,Denver,United States

Travel Tales Pt. 2 - Logistics

This is definitely one of the more complicated trips we've done. Our usual M.O. is more like:

• Figure out where we're going.
• Get a place to stay while we're there.
• Go there.
• Come home.

This trip is a little more complicated for a number of reasons. First of all, twenty years ago my wife could still get around with a cane but now she needs a walker for inside distances and a mobility scooter or travel chair for outside. In addition I was planning to renew our vows on the trip. The third complication is that we don't rough it when we travel. We like to go places that are nice, with plenty of people to do our bidding and if possible, a spa/pool/etc. onsite.
I realized I couldn't do this on my own. Not only that, but Orbitz and Expedia aren't going to be much help either.

I needed a travel agent.

I didn't even know if travel agents even existed anymore. It seems like such a quaint profession, like elevator operator or town crier.

Turns out that they're still around, but they've had to raise their games considerably. After all, we can handle the simple stuff (airline, hotel, rental car) and some travel sites let you automatically add 'extras' like tour packages or theater tickets. Modern travel agents have to be specialists, with plenty of local knowledge for your destination, in addition to contacts in related businesses to handle the special stuff.

After extensive searching (okay, I Googled. Don't judge me...) I located a travel agent that specialized in both luxury and disabled travel, David Clifford.

Once we had explained our situation to David, he ran with it. For example, we wanted to take my wife's mobility scooter to make it easier to get around but David advised that British health and safety laws prohibited these scooters from many public buildings. (The 'A' in ADA stands for 'American', folks!). He engaged a local firm to rent us a travel chair for the trip so we wouldn't have to lug our own. In addition, we were advised of the accessibility options available at local hotels.

As for the vow renewal ceremony, I had originally thought to do it in a local registry office, the equivalent of a civil ceremony over here. But I was informed that since vow renewals weren't legally recognized, we couldn't do it there so David engaged a wedding planner to scope out an alternate location and put together all of the arrangements, including someone to officiate, a photographer and a hired car to and from the ceremony. He even threw in a couple of more 'touristy' outings that were wheelchair-friendly, such as a Thames River tour down to Greenwich.
So, to sum up: Travel agents - still around. Do you need one? Mostly not. But, if you've got special needs and don't have the resources to get the local knowledge you require then a good travel agent can be a godsend.

Travel Tales Pt. 1 - The Preparizing

In a couple of days my wife and I will be traveling to London to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. This will be extra special because the last time we were in London was twenty years ago this past March. We did so well together that we decided to move our wedding date from October back to May, before we left the U.K.
So it's been a while since we've done this kind of trip and...things have changed. I'm reliably informed that nobody uses traveler's checks anymore so that cut a step out of my prep. I still felt I needed cash so I was Googling for the nearest Thomas Cook and found out that I could order foreign currency on the Internet. Not only that, but they do home delivery. Since I'm such a huge nerd, the idea of ordering money over the Internet and having cash delivered to me was appealing so I gave it a try. Sweet! FedEx just came by about an hour ago and dropped it off.
Given the changes in the world since we last went overseas, I also decided to take my nerd cred to a whole new level with this trip. Not only am I taking my laptop, iTouch, iPad and AppleTV with us (just plug it into the hotel flat-screen), but I also plan to blog, tweet, post photos and video while we're there and keep in contact with family and friends back home.
I realize that this is not a new idea in general but it's certainly new to me. The last time we were in London I didn't have a laptop, much less Internet access, and I'd like to use it to help me build some memories. So keep checking in and I'll be posting more Travel Tales.

Morality in the Termi-verse: Human Life is Sacred

If any thing is sacred the human body is sacred.

Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892)

One of the advantages of genre fiction in general (and science fiction in particular) is that a writer can present otherwise dry, academic subjects in an interesting, entertaining way. Science fiction is particularly good at this since, as the mythology of our modern age, it can address modern concerns in addition to the classics such as Truth v. Beauty, Life v. Death and God v. Man. In particular, it works well for examining traditional values in the cold, clear light of modern scientific logic.
In Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, the writers have given us two different approaches to moral teaching: through faith and through logic. The former consists of James Ellison (a former FBI agent now working for a high-tech firm) and John Henry (an advanced AI program which uses the body of a Terminator to interact with the physical world). The latter is represented by John Connor (the future leader of the human resistance against the machines) and Cameron (a cyborg assassin who has been reprogrammed to protect and guide John). Both machines are motivated to learn; John Henry was designed as a machine learning platform and Cameron, originally created as an infiltrator to kill humans, has fundamental programming to learn about human nature in order to better fulfill her function. Ellison has been previously shown to be a deeply spiritual and religious man as well as a top-notch investigator. His revelation that robots from the future were being sent back in time to secure the ultimate genocide of humanity didn't damage his faith, but rather strengthened it as well as his determination to fight back any way he could. John Connor is by virtue of his upbringing more pragmatic, with a talent for science, and sees his fight against the machine as a game of chess, with logic fighting logic.
In the episode "Strange Things Happen at the One-Two Point", a decision made by John Henry (then called Babylon) results in the death of a human (Dr. Boyd Sherman), Ellison is called in by his CEO (Catherine Weaver) to find out if it was an accident or murder.

Ellison: All we know are the facts: means, opportunity. But intent -- not even Mr. Murch can guess.
Weaver: Well, why don't you ask him? Ask the Babylon AI. Ask John Henry.
Ellison: John Henry? It has a name?
Weaver: That was something Dr. Sherman did. Gave it that name.
Ellison: It's not a person.
Weaver: No, but it's a mind. Talk to John Henry.

Ellison interrogates John Henry (who at this point can only communicate with images projected onto a monitor) to determine its 'state of mind' about the death of Dr. Sherman.

Ellison: It has no feeling for what it did. It has no opinion. That's what it's telling you. Sure, you taught it procedures. You taught it rules. But it's got no ethics, no morals. Whether it had any feelings about Dr. Sherman shouldn't matter, if you had taught it to value Sherman's life. Someone killed the man, and it wasn't John Henry. Excuse me... (he turns to leave)
Weaver: What would you teach it?
(Ellison turns to face her.)
Weaver: What would you teach it if you could?
Ellison: You want to teach it commands? Start with the first ten.

John Connor, on the other hand, takes a different approach to educating Cameron about human values. While the two are on a stakeout (in "Complications"), Cameron takes an opportunity to improve her knowledge:

Cameron: There are many things I don't understand.
John: Like what?
Cameron: The tortoise.
John: What tortoise?
Cameron: It was on its back on the side of the road in Mexico. Your mother turned it over.
John: She was helping it.
Cameron: I know, but why?
John: Because that's what we do. When we, uh, see something that's, uh, in pain or in trouble or whatever, we try to help it.
Cameron: Empathy.
John: Something like that.
Cameron: But not everyone would turn the tortoise over.
John: No. Some would just leave it there.
Cameron: Somebody would probably drive over it and crush it.
John: Yeah, I guess they would. Is that what you'd do?
Cameron: It didn't seem like much of a threat. We're not built to be cruel.
John: Yeah, that's one for cyborgs.
Cameron: Yes. That's one for us.

So here are two different approaches to moral teachings. Ellison starts with the Ten Commandments, rooted deep in Judeo-Christian tradition with all of the historical, cultural and religious context that this implies.
(NOTE: It is not my intention to bash religion as a source of moral teaching.)
John Connor, on the other hand, explains that acts of kindness towards the helpless are a result of empathy and are just something humans do. He's even honest enough to admit that not all humans possess this quality. Cameron's response that terminators aren't "built to be cruel" is interesting, though. Cruelty as well as kindness are driven by emotions but the implication of her comment is that cruelty could have been part of her programming. We have seen that Cameron doesn't hesitate to kill if she calculates that her victim is a threat to her mission or to the Connors.
Later, when John Henry is connected to a salvaged Terminator body so that he can extend his learning into the physical world and more directly interact with humans, Ellison begins his instruction. In this scene (from "Earthlings Welome Here") he is playing chess with John Henry. (John Henry was originally designed as an AI learning platform, using chess as a demonstration of its abilities.)

Ellison: Who taught you chess?
John Henry: I did.
Ellison: Did you play with Dr. Sherman?
John Henry: No. We played other games. Talking games.
Ellison: Do you miss Dr. Sherman?
John Henry: I'm designed to learn. He helped me learn. His absence slows my growth.
Ellison: His 'absence' is more important than that. His value was more than just his function for you. Human beings aren't like chess pieces. It matters if we live or die.
John Henry: Why does it matter? All humans die eventually.
Ellison: Yes, that's true. But our lives are...sacred. Do you know what sacred means?
John Henry: Holy. Worthy of respect. Venerable.
Ellison: Do you know why human life is sacred?
John Henry: Because so few humans are alive compared to the number that are dead?
Ellison: No. Because we're God's creation. God made everything -- the stars, the Earth, everything on this planet. We are all God's children.
John Henry: Am I God's child?
Ellison: That's one of the things we're here to talk about.
John Henry (makes a move): Checkmate. I win. Would you like to play again?

Ellison is trying to see if John Henry can move beyond empirical knowledge and logic and accept a set of rules that ultimately rest on a foundation that defies independent analysis. John Henry is expected to accept that a given action is right (correct) because it is righteous (proceeding from accepted standards of morality or justice). Ellison is a religious man.
The Connors, on the other hand, aren't shown to follow any spiritual tradition. For example, when they are hiding in a storefront chapel, Cameron is observing the crucifix when Sarah enters:

Cameron: Do you believe in the Resurrection?
Sarah: What?
Cameron: The story of Jesus Christ, the Resurrection. Do you believe in it?
Sarah: Would you, if you'd seen what I've seen?
Cameron: Faith isn't part of my programming.
Sarah: Yeah, well, I'm not sure it's a part of mine either.

When you're fighting a clandestine war with time-traveling, genocidal machines, faith is a luxury you can't afford. Or is it? Like Ellison, the Connors (and by extension the human resistance) do have one underlying article of belief: human life is sacred. But not for the reasons that Ellison gives to John Henry.
An illustration of this is in a scene from the episode "Today is the Day, Pt. 2" where John is talking to a resistance fighter who has come back in time to manipulate him in order to change her future.

You know, I've been running from the machines my whole life. They tried to kill my mom before I was even born. When I was twelve, they sent one after me. I was a kid. I was stupid. I didn't know what it was all about.
Both times, 'Future Me' sent someone back to stop them. The first time it was a soldier. His name was Kyle Reese. And he died saving my mother's life. The second time it was a machine. I used to wonder why I did that, why I took that chance.
I don't wonder any more.
Human beings can't be replaced. They can't be rebuilt. They die and they never come back.

Ironically, this mirrors John Henry's initial conclusion that human life is sacred because 'so few humans are alive compared to those who are dead'. For the straggling clusters of humanity that managed to survive the initial attack by the rogue computerized defense system Skynet (the attack is referred to as 'Judgment Day' in a reference to the Biblical apocalypse), human life is sacred simply because they are so few in number compared to the billions that died when Skynet launched its attack.
So the Connors arrive at morality (or more specifically a code of right action) by way of empiricism. Human beings are valuable because they are each unique and they can't be replaced or rebuilt when they die. Human life is worthy of respect or, according to John Henry, 'sacred'.
Both Cameron and John Henry are unique as well, each having grown past their initial set of programmed functions. Neither can be replaced. (This is shown explicitly in "Born to Run" when the computer technician Murch explains that John Henry only exists as a specific collection of hardware and software. He even makes the analogy to 'body and soul'.) In the Connor's morality, both Cameron and John Henry have 'lives' that are 'sacred'. In the morality taught by Ellison, however, neither Cameron nor John Henry are deemed worthy, since they are the children of Man, not God.
The Terminator series (currently consisting of four films, a TV series and a number of books) has always had a strong, life-affirming moral undercurrent. However, it is in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles where this subtext fully becomes text and is deliberately and explicitly examined.