Aim your browser here for more, including the next technical goal that Boeing is setting out to accomplish: mounting these laser weapons onto sharks.
(I'm kidding! :-)
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Boeing creates laser weapon that shoots down flying aircraft
It's an odd commentary on our culture...
...when all the literature on the front shelves of the bookstores is about either vampires, zombies, or Sarah Palin.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
CLIMATE RESEARCH UNIT HACKED! 61 megabytes reveal massaged data on global warming?! Did scientists conspire on climate scare?!
Ho-lee HELL!! This could turn into one of the biggest stories of the decade... scratch that, decades!
Could it be that the whole "global warming" thing has been nothing but a colossal scam on damned near every man, woman, child and dumb animal on the planet?!
The Intertubes are smoking hot this afternoon from the news about University of East Anglia's Hadley Climatic Research Unit getting hacked and a heapin' big pile of material being leaked online. The 61 megabyte file can be downloaded here. But if you want the gist of it, Watts Up With That has a bigtime discussion going on, including excerpts from the hacked stuff.
And if this small sample is any indication, a bunch of scientists have a lotta 'splainin' to do. There are e-mail exchanges among researchers about hiding data reflecting temperature decline over the past three decades, and even adding on to temperatures. There is also some troubling discussion of political ramifications of the climate research which strongly suggests that it has been severely tainted with outside interests.
Just... wow.
And according to the story at Watts Up With That, the Climate Research Unit has canceled all e-mail passwords and is now admitting that the breach is real. The plot thickens.
This demands to be the hardest-hitting story of the next week if not the next several months. It also needs to be thoroughly investigated... and let the chips fall where they may.
WWII IN HD: Best high-def programming I've seen yet!
HOW did I miss hearing about this until now? Well, no matter 'cuz History Channel is broadcasting them again and if you've got a high-definition television you really owe it to yourself to catch this, because you've never seen World War II as clear and brilliant as this before. See that still image? Those are British soldiers coming ashore at Normandy, and it looks so crisp and sharp you'd swear that this was footage gathered just yesterday.
If History Channel puts this out on Blu-ray... well, between that and Star Trek that's prolly gonna be more than enough to pull me into adopting a Blu-ray player at last. But 'til then, watch WWII in HD however ya can!
LOST Season 6: February 2nd, 2010
ABC's Lost, perhaps the most defining and innovative show of the decade, will begin its sixth and final season on February 2nd, 2010. That's a Tuesday night by the way, which is where Lost will be from here on out (apart from a break for the Winter Olympics). Eighteen hours spread out over sixteen episodes will begin with the two-hour season premiere, "LA X".
Can showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse wrap up everything in those 18 hours?! In no particular order we've got: the smoke monster, Jacob, Richard's eternal youthfulness, Walt being "special", Christian Shepherd and why he's still walking around, the statue, the Temple (which we have yet to get a serious look at), the food drops, why Marvin Candle uses those names for different DHARMA films, the hollowed-out Bible, the Black Rock, whoever thought to build the pendulum inside the Lamppost station (I've thought since last season that there's some importance to that), Sun and Jin and how the heck they're supposed to reunite, how "the rules" don't apply to Desmond... and what promises to be an all-out epic war between Benjamin Linus and Charles Widmore for control of the Island if not of the Earth itself.
Holy cripes crispies, this season of Lost is going to be insane!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Food Nazis strike again! Movie theater popcorn = 3 hamburgers?!?
Those bastitches at Center for Science in the Public Interest made it damned near impossible to get a decent bag of popcorn at the movies for many years after that. Thankfully (well in my book anyway) most chains went back to using coconut oil.
But I learned something from that incident: that it's ridiculously easy in this modern world for someone or a small group of people to hide behind some fancy-pants official-sounding name that cons the media into thinking they're "legitimate". And from there they can claim anything and get away with it, no matter how outlandish. Who ARE the people at Center for Science in the Public Interest? Did anyone in the press do any hard questioning or fact-checking about their accusations at the time?
And that's why Center for Science in the Public Interest has borne a whole 'nother title in the vocabulary of Chris Knight these past fifteen years: the Food Nazis.
And now they're at it again! Once again the target is movie theater popcorn, which the Food Nazis at the Center for Science in the Public Interest insist is the equivalent of three hamburgers.
What the...?!?
Center for Science in the Public Interest claims that the findings were arrived at by "an independent lab". But when you look at CSPI's official release about movie theater popcorn you can't find any solid reference to this "laboratory". We have to take Center for Science in the Public Interest's word that the analysis was conducted and that these were the results being reported.
I don't mind saying this: that's piss-poor scholarship. It wouldn't merit a passing grade on a college paper and it wouldn't hold up under scrutiny in a court of law.
For all we know, CSPI pulled these "findings" out of their collective ass and thinks we'll be none the wiser. Jayne Hurley and Bonnie Liebman, the two "scientists" who published this alleged "study", are each longtime activists with CSPI, and the organization itself has quite a history of unfounded "attack dog" tactics.
These are jerks with nothing else to do but try to ruin a good time for everyone else so that they look superior and un-reproachable.
Just trickery trickery trickery, friends and neighbors. Don't fall for it.
(And when I go to see The Road next week, I'm buying an extra-large tub of popcorn with plenty of butter in honor of Center for Science in the Public Interest!)
Box art for BIOSHOCK 2
I'm really digging the BioShock 2 logo: more decrepit than the one for the first game and now encrusted with barnacles and other sedentary sea life. And look: the Big Daddy is so ticked-off that he's smashed a crack in the game's cover! But what's seriously wigging me out is that... thing... to the left of the Little Sister's head. Is that a group of fish or someone's face?
Just two and a half more months before we get to return to Rapture!
New wallpaper protects against bullets and bombs
I'm wondering how 'spensive this stuff is. X-Flex probably has a hideous price tag. But if nothing else I could see papering your bathroom with it and hunkering down in the tub during a tornado and really being secure :-)
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Finally watched last night's V and finale of AMC's THE PRISONER
AMC's much-promoted revamp of The Prisoner concluded last night. After watching both hours twice-over now I am going to say that that, acknowledging that while mine is going to be in the minority of opinions, that I very much enjoyed it and thought it was time well spent. And I will likely be getting the DVD of the series when it becomes available. But I will say that AMC way over-hyped The Prisoner. And so much so that I have to wonder how much confidence they had in their own product. Doing "coming up" bumpers before each commercial break did nothing to instill one's faith in this show as a viewer. Without those, I think The Prisoner could have been much more enjoyable. Another reason why I'm looking forward to a DVD set of this.
Meanwhile, ABC aired the third episode of the relaunched V. I watched it from the good ol' DVR this morning. Last week I said that V needs to drastically ramp-up its action and intrigue. Well, it's a funny thing but last night's installment "A Bright New Day" did just that and in spades! The Visitors (in perhaps a thinly-veiled commentary on real-life immigration policies) began receiving passports and visas to travel throughout the country. We discovered that the Visitors had secretly been installing themselves on Earth for at least twenty years. We learned a lot more about the traitors and the words "Fifth Column" were finally used in this V's incarnation. And there were devious plot twists out the wazoo. If V keeps up this kind of tempo, it will almost certainly become the breakout hit of this television season and set itself up as the high-brow science-fiction series of the medium in the absence of Battlestar Galactica and the soon-to-depart Lost. After last night's show, me want more V!
Okay, three hours of television from one night: that's way more than what I'm used to. I'm gonna go read a book or three and compensate.
International Space Station transits the Moon
Bernhard Christ, an amateur astronomer from Germany, put himself in just the right spot on the Earth's surface (a testament to his mad plottin' and plannin' skillz) and using a digital astronomical camera produced this sequence - made in less than 0.4 seconds - of the International Space Station transiting across the Moon...
That's five shots of the ISS taken at equal intervals. If you're wondering where the fifth is, click on the image to drastically embiggen it and look just inside the Moon's limb toward the left side of the picture and you'll easily pick it out from the lunar landscape.
Aim here for more about Bernhard Christ's astonishing photo, and many thanks to Shane Thacker for the great find!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
"...Only to God and woman."
Last week President Barack Obama met with Akihito, the titular Emperor of Japan. You might have heard about it: Obama made a ceremonial bow to Akihito and it's purportedly caused a lot of his political enemies to seethe with outrage...
Interestingly, many if not most of these same critics defended George W. Bush when in April 2008 (when he was still President) Bush not only held hands with but also gave a big fat slobbering fat kiss right on the lips to the visiting king of Saudi Arabia...
Bush's supporters at the time claimed that Bush was just "following protocol", exactly as Obama's defenders are doing now.
Me? I can't see a difference between what either of these two Presidents have done. And regardless of who's doing it, it sickens me to no end.
If either Bush or Obama had acted like this as private citizens, that would have been their right. But Bush and now Obama, as elected head of state of the United States of America, each ceremoniously capitulated their nation to a foreign sovereign power. This ain't about our home-grown assumption that the United States is "the greatest" country on Earth and everything with our understanding that in the roll call of nations ours is equal - no more and no less - to any other.
That's not a small matter, folks. And I can't see how it can be defended.
A little over a hundred and fifty years ago in 1859, John E. Ward arrived in China. Ward, a proud native of Georgia and former mayor of Savannah, had been dispatched by President James Buchanan to begin trade relations with China in accordance with the Treaty of Tientsin. But before such could happen Ward would have to come to Peking: a place that no American had been allowed to enter. Ward was allowed to proceed but on every step of the journey he asserted his native land as equal to China and not as a vassal state, as the Russians and the British and everyone else had done according to "diplomacy". The final act of "insolence" on the part of this American "barbarian" was his refusal to kow-tow: a low bow before the Emperor.
John E. Ward refused to bow. The representatives of the Emperor told Ward that he must bow not only for purposes of diplomacy but out of respect for the land's religion.
The reason Ward gave the Chinese: "I kneel only to God and woman."
True to his word, Ward did not bow to the Emperor of China. He never got the audience with the Emperor that he had been sent to have, but Ward wasn't fazed. He still delivered his letter about the treaty (to a minor official) and returned to America, his pride upheld... and China beginning to respect "the Country of the Flowery Flag". You can read more about John E. Ward at AmericanHeritage.com.
Y'know, I can't even begin to imagine either Bush or Obama getting up the nerve to think of something as brazenly principled as "I kneel only to God and woman." In the chronicle of American statesmanship, John E. Ward is certainly the greater man than our two or three or four most recent Presidents of the United States.
And if we had men (and women) of Ward's caliber and character, this nation would no doubt have more respect and standing among the countries of the world today.
Auto-Tune as explained by Rocketboom and "Weird Al" Yankovic
Depending on you who listen to, Auto-Tune has become either a boon or bane to music production. The Rocketboom Institute for Internet Studies examines the Auto-Tune phenomenon in their latest video, with some rather scholarly assistance from visiting professor "Weird Al" Yankovic!
Thanks to Geoff Gentry for the heads-up!
BioShock EVE Hypo Prop Replica (yes, you can BUY this thing...)
Got a small daughter or know where to borrow a little girl (legally 'course)? Wanna have some fun freaking out the neighbors? The officially licensed BioShock EVE Hypo Prop Replica from Play.com is just what you need!
According to this "toy"'s description, "EVE is the lifeblood of the underwater city of Rapture, the setting for Bioshock and Bioshock 2. It is the substance that fuels the bizarre powers of the genetically-engineered splicers' plasmids, and it is the fight to control this precious resource that has nearly destroyed the underwater city. This Play.com exclusive EVE hypo prop replica is based on the in-game models, and features a light-up LED feature for that authentic eerie blue glow!"
Yuck... but still awesomely kewl!
Just finished watching the second installment of AMC's THE PRISONER
We had the first run-through (or "stumble-through" as it was officially called :-) of both acts of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever last night, so I was late getting home. But I had the DVR whirring away recording the second two hours of AMC's remake of The Prisoner and I just finished watching 'em.
I know that I'm in a solid minority here, but I am absolutely digging the heck out of The Prisoner! To me, it's the same theme going on as the Sixties original series. Just... different. Patrick McGoohan's The Prisoner was about individuality, and this one starring Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellan is about personal identity. Now, those may seem like the same thing, but they aren't. They're just aspects of the same thing. I don't have any better word for it other than "soul".
Is The Prisoner meant to be entertainment? Hmmmm... not really. It's more like something made to be endured (call it "enduretainment" perhaps?). There are no easy answers here, just more questions that one winds up asking more of self than of the show. But then, the original The Prisoner, forty years and more later, is still doing that. So on that note, AMC's revamp is already successful.
The final two hours air tonight. I'll be watching with great interest.
EDIT 12:31 p.m. EST: I like the "enduretainment" term so much that I thought it deserves an apt definition...
Enduretainment (noun): A work of performance art, usually but not limited to television and motion pictures, intended to bring about sometimes painful personal reflection and self-questioning as opposed to being intended for pure enjoyment and distraction.
Monday, November 16, 2009
A tiny lil' musing this afternoon
The smallest sincere kindness mocks every cruelty of the world entire.
Edward Woodward has passed away
Woodward was a very, very good actor. His portrayal of Howie in The Wicker Man has always haunted me for some reason. But like many people I was especially awed at Woodward's ability to convey "controlled rage". Robert McCall, his character in The Equalizer, was a man with James Bond's dirty tricks combined with Batman's thirst for justice. The last time I saw Woodward in anything, it was in the ill-fated Babylon 5 spinoff show Crusade: he played a Technomage who was the father of series regular and fellow Technomage Galen (who incidentally was played by Edward Woodward's real-life son Peter Woodward).
Thoughts and prayers going out to his family this morning.
