The last few weeks I’ve been on a mad dash to create promotional material for JenEric Designs and all its facets. This will eventually lead into an awesome new website redesign.
One of the things I did was create a Collage for the Travelling TARDIS. At the end of August the TARDIS will have been travelling for four years. It and it’s stunt doubles have been to three continents, met two Doctors, four Companions, two Supermans and countless others.
It’s been a great four years and that’s just the beginning. If you’d like to order your very own travelling TARDIS you can can commision one in our store. The Large one is a foot and the small one is three-quarters of a foot.
Let’s hope the TARDIS flies on for many years to come.
Éric
I visited New York City in November last year, and I loved it. The people, the rush, the insanity…
I was there with my classmates, on a tour organized by Travac. I highly recommend them.
However, if you want to go to some famous fandom haunts, you may want to build your own itinerary.
Times Square, facing the TKTS booth and the red stairs. Photo taken by Jen of www.jeneric-designs.ca
New York City Comic Con October 8-11, 2015
This spectacular event is happening in 71 days! They’ve announced a few pretty awesome guests, including Felicia Day, Jewel Staite, Nathan Fillion, and (omg!) John Rhys-Davies. They are also hosting the NYCC Eastern Championships of Cosplay
Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular October 7, 2015
This is a once in a lifetime event, happening the day before NYCC! I seriously wish I could go to this. Hosted by Michelle Gomez (Missy from Doctor Who), there are two shows: one at 3pm and one at 7:30pm, with tickets ranging in price from $80-$210.
The Way Station
A TARDIS-themed bar (must be over the age of 21 to enter), they have cool events happened almost every single day. Check them out on their website or Facebook.
Central Park
This park is gorgeous, and I was there after all the leaves fell. There are many things to check out in Central Park. On top of that, as of 2011, there have been 305 films shot in Central Park. (What??) That’s not even counting the number of TV shows that had scenes there (Doctor Who The Angels Take Manhattan, for example). Viator has a walking tour that will take you to 30 different locations in Central Park that were used in various movies.
Central Park Film Festival August 25-29, 2015 Free movie screenings! A fun line-up for this year, too.
Seeing a show on Broadway (or off-Broadway) is an absolute MUST for everyone who visits New York. You can buy your tickets in advance here, or you can stand in line for two hours at the last minute ticket booth (TKTS) underneath the red stairs in Times Square and get up to 50% off. (Go as early in the day as possible, and before you stand in line, ask an attendant if the show you want is available for purchase there…you might have to go to the theatre itself to buy the tickets.) You can spend the time pretending that the stairs are going to get destroyed by an evil villain. (That’s what I did…)
There are so many options for shows, and I can highly recommend Wicked, Lion King, Jersey Boys, and Matilda, all of which were seen by myself or my classmates. It really is an amazing experience.
For a different sort of entertainment, Ellen’s Stardust Diner has singing waiters who will perform for you while you eat. There is always a massive line to get in, and the milkshakes are awesome, but nothing beats the voices on these waiters. It’s not too far from Times Square, about a block up and over.
Grand Central Station and the Whispering Gallery
Grand Central is more than just a Subway station. There is an amazing cafeteria, and a very cool open gallery, where if you stand in one corner and whisper into the wall, a person in the opposite corner can hear you as clearly as if you were right beside them! We had fun whispering stuff to our friends until a wedding party showed up and we gave them the space.
There are SO many things that can be done in New York City, and I barely scratched the surface. Check out these cool places or this detailed website that you can go to if you have a few minutes (or hours) of free time in NYC.
I am not really a handy person. I can hang pictures, do some basic plumbing but I can’t install a water softener. I can patch a hole in drywall; beyond that I’m completely useless without help.
My skills are mostly book related but I love watching HGTV. I was amazed to find out how many of the HGTV stars are Canadian.
Has the team teaching a poor home owner how to build strong and legal decks. (My only gripe with this one is that the homeowner that helps them is almost always the guy.)
The newest by this team but by far my favourite; each episode they build a new piece of furniture for one customer and renovate a room for another. That even inspired me to check the leather furniture gallery – too many new ideas I’ve got! Their ideas are always creative and fun.
If you like watching building shows where they make amazing stuff go check out all of these shows.
I found out some incredibly exciting news last week about the Galapagos Islands: baby tortoises have hatched there for the first time in ONE HUNDRED years! Read the article explaining the situation here.
Baby Galapagos Tortoise! So adorable! Picture from www.thedodo.com
The islands were the influence for Darwin’s Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection, due to the massive variety of species and subspecies found on the different islands. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The “archipelago and its immense marine reserve is known as the unique ‘living museum and showcase of evolution.’”
An International law was put in place in 1998: “Special Regime Law for the Conservation and Sustainable Development in the Province of the Galapagos.” This regulates “tourism through a visitor management system.” No large vessels are allowed near the islands, and only small group tours are permitted. Ecoventura is one such tour company.
Friends of mine went to Ecuador, and visited the Galapagos Islands, on their honeymoon six years ago. I asked them some questions about their experiences:
Why did you choose the Galapagos Islands as the place to visit on your honeymoon? Kristen: I love nature and Ed loves science/scientific discoveries. I had heard that the Galapagos has some beautiful nature, varied environments, and creatures that are almost entirely unafraid of humans.
Ed: In school, we always learned about Darwin and the Galapagos finches. I thought it would be neat to see myself. The fearless animals were also a draw.
What were some of the things that you did on your trip? Kristen: We hiked through a lot of different environments – an island covered in hard black volcanic rock, an island of volcanic ash dunes, and one full of lush rain-forest vegetation. We also snorkeled among sting rays, bright colored fish, sea lions (a real treat) and reef sharks (a bit of a surprise to us).
Ed: We strolled around a town and stopped by a fish market where there were as many pelicans and sea lions as there were customers. We visited a ranch with huge turtles, and a facility where they are breeding little baby turtles too! We attempted to see the canyon of a volcano (but it was too foggy that day), and ventured down into some lava caves.
Kristen: We also spent some time on the boat itself, getting to know the other dozen or so passengers from around the world. Their stories and impressions were almost as memorable as the sights on the islands.
What was your overall impression of the Galapagos? Ed: The animals are so fearless that it almost seems like everything is fake. Their indifference to human presence is surreal and feels almost unnatural. The variety of environments and mircro-climates is mind-boggling, especially since they are all so small and close together.Just when you think you’ve seen everything there is to see, there’s something more.
Kristen: I agree. Visiting the islands feels a bit like walking through a zoo, with lazy animals not really paying attention to you, or maybe if you’re lucky, putting on a show for you…but all the while, you have to remind yourself: This is not a zoo, this is nature. It’s a bit surreal.
We went to the Amazon for the second half of our honeymoon and that was more what we’re used to: “Look way up there through your binoculars and be very quiet and you might see a monkey or parrot” as opposed to “Please don’t touch the sea lion who is having a nap on the dock while you board the ship.”
Would you recommend this trip? Kristen and Ed: Yes. We would recommend the trip, but would suggest that you really research which tour group you are going with. Having a really knowledgeable guide can make the hikes more interesting and memorable. Also, the ships range from around 16 passengers to 90. We really enjoyed our small ship, because we got to know people better, but the 90 passenger ship might be more sturdy for someone with sea-sickness. (We had one night of pretty choppy waves) Side note from Jen: The larger scale ships don’t have the same approval from the government of Ecuador, so you won’t get to see as much. The Galapagos Islands are highly protected, and big tours aren’t recommended.
Any other thoughts you’d like to add? Kristen: The Galapagos is wonderful, but there are also a lot of other neat things to do while in the Ecuador area. Peru (Machu Picchu) is not far away, and the Amazon rain forest extends right down into Ecuador. If you are heading all the way to South America, you might consider extending your stay a few days to check out one of these other wonders as well.
Ed: If you plan to venture out of Ecuador, be aware that there is a $25 exit fee (Airport Departure Tax) every time you fly out of the country.
The Fandom portion:
“How do the Galapagos Islands fit in the theme of Fandom Travel?”
Well, if you don’t think that influencing Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution is enough to qualify this location as Fandom, that’s ridiculous. 😛
However, the Galapagos were used as a set location for a feature length film in 2003. Can you guess the movie?
Follow in the footsteps of Russell Crowe, Billy Boyd, James D’Arcy and Paul Bettany, although you’d have more chances to explore the islands than poor Bettany’s character.
Suggestions for the next place you’d like to see me write about are welcome! Where would you like to go?
I came across an argument on the internet the other day that stated that Morals could not exist without a God.
The idea being that Morality is intrinsically tied to Religion because of the authority of God.
I’m not going to argue the benefits of religion, atheism, or anything in between. Let’s stick to morals.
Merriam-Webster defines Morality as, “beliefs about what is right behavior and what is wrong behavior” and defines ethics as, “rules of behavior based on ideas about what is morally good and bad”
There is also the philosophical discipline of Ethics witch, “deals with ideas about what is good and bad behavior: a branch of philosophy dealing with what is morally right or wrong”
It’s extremely easy to get lost in a doctorate level of research into Ethics and Moral Reasoning. Let’s stick to a derivative definition that says Morality is the beliefs about what is right and wrong and Ethics are the rules around right and wrong.
Where do morals come from?
If morality is the purview of God than it should be unchanging and perfect.
If it’s the purview of man, morality is in constant flux.
One of the statements above is false.
Yep. Good job, it’s the first one. I don’t care what your stance on God is, humanity is flawed and it’s humanity that interprets God’s theoretical Morality.
It could even be argued that the changes in what we see as Right and Wrong are due to our own faults and not God’s.
If we take God out of the equation we have to assume that either Morals have a evolutionary survival benefit, or a societal benefit.
So that means that Morals come from one of two places:
Humanities interpretation of God’s morals, or
Humanities ideals on what is best for ourselves and each other
Either way Morality is the domain of humanity. Either we decide for ourselves or interpret God, the end is the same; Humanity chooses.
Aren’t Morals set in Stone?
No, and consider yourself lucky. The morals of the past included all kinds of crazy things. At several points in history it was considered Right to own people. It was proper to cut off genitals to protect royalty. In the days of the Witch Hunts you could be killed for being single and attractive.
Morals vary from society to society. What is considered Right for some is considered disgusting by others. We don’t eat Cats, Dogs, or Horses but in some societies that is considered ok. Stop to think logically and figure out why a Cat or Dog is morally superior to a chicken, pig, or cow.
But everyone in my society has the same morals
Nope! Ask a friend who’s a proud vegetarian and then go talk to someone who’s a proud carnivore and tell me everyone in your society has the same morals.
Conclusion
Morals can exist without God. It’s up to us to think about what is Right and Wrong and not just accept what someone else says.
Doubt and critical thinking are the best friends of Morals. Always think how your actions affect others and how they affect the world.
If we all do this we’ll live on a much better planet.
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