The death of Stephen Hawking revealed an amusing anecdote about him.
A clip from 2010 documentary Into the Universe shows Hawking waiting for invited people to show up at his party.
According to an article yesterday:
“I like simple experiments ... and champagne,” says a voiceover as the camera pans over plates of hors d’oeuvres and flutes of Krug. “So I’ve combined two of my favourite things to see if time travel from the future to the past is possible. I’m throwing a party. A welcome reception for future time travellers.”
The scientist is seen sitting in his wheelchair alone in a sumptuous, brightly lit room at the University of Cambridge, decorated with balloons and a large sign that reads: “Welcome time travellers.”
However, the cosmologist explains, “there’s a twist”. He didn’t send the invitation out until after the party.
“You are cordially invited to a reception for Time Travellers,” the invite reads. “No RSVP required.” It gives the date, time and exact coordinates of the location at Cambridge University’s Gonville and Caius College.
“I’m hoping copies of it in one form or another will survive for many thousands of years.” he explains. “Maybe one day, someone living in the future will find the information and use a wormhole time machine to come back to my party, proving that time travel will one day be possible.”
A hopeful Hawking is seen sitting alone in the room as the seconds tick by, and no one appears. “What a shame,” jokes the scientist. “I was hoping a future Miss Universe was going to step through the door.”
. . . .
Of course, just because no one came to his party, doesn’t mean that time travel doesn’t exist, Giant Freakin Robot blog has pointed out. The issue could be that the party took place on a different reality timeline, the invitations didn’t survive long enough for anyone to see, time travellers can’t control their movement or simply that “time travelers are d**ks.”
http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/stephen-hawkings-champagnefuelled-time-travel-party/news-story/3af5baf5f25d778b7f45a33f4998dc07
By the way, the same article contains another anecdote about Stephen Hawking:
In June 2014, comedian John Oliver asked Hawking in an interview: “You’ve stated that there could be an infinite number of parallel universe ... Does that mean there’s a universe out there where I am smarter than you?”
Lightning fast, Hawking countered: “Yes. And also a universe where you’re funny.”
The time travel anecdote above coincided with my coming across a story about these plaques in London:
The above pics are from a blog called Darkest London, which contains the following comment, from 2013:
The plaque was the work of Dave Askwith and Alex Normanton, who made the signs look as authentic as possible and then surreptitiously secured them to buildings. Some lasted weeks, some months.
They released a book of their witty, realistic-looking work called Signs of Life in 2005. Now out of print, it’s available here on Amazon, or here on Abebooks if you can’t stomach non-tax-paying conglomerates.
And why have I posted the comment in full? Because it is ironic that in an item about time travel, the first readers comment:
Hate to tell you, but Amazon bought Abebooks in 2008. Yeah, i didn’t know until last month. 😦
So today’s theme, dear Byters, is time travel. Most is from a 2013 Bytes post but there is some newer material as well.
Enjoy.
Future Man tells the 50’s about social media:
Corn Corner:
I used to be addicted to time travel but that’s all in the past now.
"Please help me, Doctor, I keep seeing into the future!"
"Ah. And when did this start?"
"Next Tuesday afternoon."
A time traveller had a great meal so went back four seconds.
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