DIABLO III on consoles WON'T require online?! What the...

This past summer I wrote about being a newcomer to the Diablo computer games and how much now I wanted to play Diablo III.  The thing is, I'm not happy one bit about the latest entry in the series requiring a constant Internet connection to play, especially being the kind who favors the single-player experience over the multiplayer (true MMOs being the exception).  Ever since Diablo III rolled out last May the game has been plagued with hordes of problems involving the "always online" obligation.  It has made no sense whatsoever and it has been the one major obstacle toward my choosing to invest any money toward this game, and that's no doubt what's kept many others from buying it as well.

Now comes word that software studio Blizzard Games and its parent company Activision might - gasp! - have heard the complaints and taken them to heart!  Sorta.  The upcoming port of Diablo III to the PlayStation 3 and new PlayStation 4 consoles will NOT require a persistent Internet connection.  In the greater scheme of things it means that the PlayStation 4 itself won't need to be always-online to function (Microsoft, take note!) but for PC and Mac players of Diablo III it comes across as an insult.  The only real purpose of the constant Internet for this game was its Real Money Auction House, which players can buy and sell in-game loot and gold (and which Blizzard takes 15% of the profit).  Many have suggested that the Auction House was the true goal of Diablo III and that everything else about the game was just decoration... which might make Diablo III the most expensively beautiful Internet sweepstakes client in the history of anything.

Blizzard and Activision are taking a step in the right direction, but they need to go much further.  As I wrote back in July about how to fix Diablo III, the always-online requirement for Windows and Mac players needs to be halted (which would let the Linux users enjoy it without worry) and players should be given the choice to opt-out of the Real Money Auction House.  If it's fraud that Blizzard is concerned about, I can think of a dozen ways how that can be addressed without the cost of convenience (and good sense) to the players.

I don't own a PlayStation 3 and I doubt that I'll get a PlayStation 4 (no offense meant to Sony's faithful gamers).  But I will eagerly give Diablo III the benefit of the doubt and my money... and many others would certainly do likewise... if Blizzard could give PC gamers the same respect as our console-playing friends.

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Getting SHERLOCK-ed

I will admit: last month when my girlfriend started swooning and gushing over the BBC series Sherlock, telling me that "you have to watch this!" my internalized reaction was something akin to "oh geeeeez... NOT another Sherlock Holmes adaptation."

No disrespect intended but seriously: how many times can one go to 221 B. Baker Street and not know what to expect?  I've probably watched all the Sherlock Holmes movies with Basil Rathbone, along with 1985's Young Sherlock Holmes (does John Lasseter's computer-animated stained-glass knight still astound, or what?) and everything in between.  Even The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother.  Be it straight adaptation or screwball comedy, when it comes to Holmes I've seen it all.

But Kristen wanted to share that weekend together watching the six episodes comprising Seasons 1 and 2 of Sherlock.  Quietly resigned to anticipating nothing to write home about, I settled onto the futon with her and the cats as the Roku began streaming away.

Leave it to series creators Steven Moffat (Doctor Who's current showrunner) and Mark Gatiss to shatter my expectations more than I have experienced from any television series in at least ten years.  Sherlock is arresting television of the highest caliber.  And with production beginning next month for Season 3, I find myself going positively bonkers with giddy waiting for the new episodes.

Sherlock takes everything about Holmes and his world and throws it wholesale into the gamut of the Twenty-First Century. I know what some of y'all are thinking: "oh crap you mean it's 'Sherlock Holmes is a fish out of water' again?!"  Be of good cheer: Holmes is not cryogenically frozen and thawed-out in modern-day London (yeah I even saw The Return of Sherlock Holmes).  THIS Holmes is a character so firmly planted in the Twenty-oughts yet wildly faithful to the original stories that one envisions Arthur Conan Doyle composing his Sherlock Holmes tales on a laptop at Starbucks.

I'm going to first remark that Martin Freeman as John Watson is one of the many things that make Sherlock such brilliant drama.  Freeman's Watson is a considerably traumatized British army doctor who served in Afghanistan (an update to Doyle having Watson in the second Anglo-Afghan war).  Coming to have Holmes as a flatmate at 221 B. Baker Street (owned by Mrs. Hudson, delightfully played by Una Stubbs) and the growing friendship between him and this strange "consulting detective" gives us an average person's perspective on Holmes, but it is also compelling to watch Watson's recovery unfold for its own sake.  Part and parcel to that is the blog that Watson maintains about Sherlock's various cases: another slick upgrade for the new millennium.  I first got to behold Freeman in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and quickly became a fan.  It's even more a joy to watch him as Watson.

Sherlock is not your standard television fare.  With two seasons there have been only six episodes.  But you'll be hard-pressed to notice.  Each runs an hour and a half and they are packed tight with a florid spectrum of drama and humor.  Indeed, I felt like I was watching a series of high-budget motion pictures rather than a series produced by the BBC.  The episode titles alone hint at the direction of the show: "A Study in Pink" and "The Hounds of Baskerville" will elicit a smile from even the casual Holmes fan.  Many will spot the many sly nods and winks at the original Holmes stories (incidentally, the episodes themselves are credited as being based on Doyles' works).

But what has captivated me most about Sherlock is Holmes himself, portrayed with power and precision by Benedict Cumberbatch.  And I'll tell you why: Sherlock's Sherlock is already the character who, more than any other that I can remember from television, I find myself identifying and empathizing with the most.  For all of those who ever wanted to have Sherlock Holmes' deductive abilities: forget about it.  Because here Sherlock is revealed as a man whose observational prowess is as much curse as blessing... perhaps more so.  Cumberbatch's Sherlock is a surly and antisocial man divorced from many facets of the human condition by what can only be described as enhanced mental acuity at best and highly functional mental illness at worst.  There are certainly indications that Sherlock has Asperger's syndrome and that his deductive skills are a thing that can not be turned off.  Distracted from, yes (sometimes by firing pistols at the walls) but a complete escape from?  Never.  Whatever falls into Sherlock's line of sight, his mind falls upon with the focus of a laser and analyzes with brutal calculation.

It is something that Sherlock cannot control.  Exactly like a mental illness such as bipolar disorder.  And if ever there was a character on television who most reflects what individuals such as myself and many others have to endure, Sherlock's Holmes is that character.  A hero (or anti-hero) for the rest of us.  And a much-needed reminder that whatever it might be that prevents us from most fully engaging in the society around us, we can turn it into a tool for good.  Maybe even a tool that will be much appreciated by others in due time...

The writing, the acting, the cinematography, the gorgeous London scenery... all of those and more make Sherlock hopelessly entrancing.  The show's score by David Arnold and Michael Price is as hypnotic as it is elegant, particularly the theme music (which I often find playing away in my head... and I don't mind that one bit).  It's also available on iTunes.

Sherlock is television the way it could be and ideally should always be.  There has been darned few series of this quality from America studios.  With Sherlock, our Brittish brethren have set a high bar and one that us Yanks would do well to be inspired and encouraged from.  Whether you watch it on streaming video from the Internet or BBC America or on Blu-ray (which I shall endeavor to purchase soon), Sherlock gets this blogger's highest possible recommendation.  It is television of the finest kind and it is not something you want to miss!

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I just downloaded a functional .22 pistol

In two months' time DEFCAD has garnered more than three thousand visits an hour and nearly a quarter-million downloads.  What makes up the bulk of that traffic?

Guns, guns, guns.  Parts for guns.  Accessories like suppressors.  Ammo casings for NATO and Warsaw Pact small arms and rifles.  Even combat munitions like hand grenades.

And they all work too.

Provided you've a 3D printer, the right materials and a few other items that can be bought at most any hardware store, you or anybody else can spend a nice relaxing evening or weekend putting together a small arsenal in your home office.

Sorta brings whole new meaning to desktop publishing a magazine, huh?

I just downloaded a .22 single-shot pistol from DEFCAD, designed by a user named "caboose".  The entire ZIPped-up file was over half a megabyte.  I don't possess a 3D printing setup but in the future, that will probably be a standard appliance in many homes.  I may take a stab at it then, if not sooner.

There's an intriguing article at Venture Beat about DEFCAD, including an interview with site founder Cody Wilson.  Among other things he notes that DEFCAD is getting lots of visits from foreign countries.  Might we speculate that at least some of that is from places with stringent gun control?

Why smuggle in weapons for your revolution when you can just get it off the Internet?

'Course, this will probably mean that 3D printers are soon to become a restricted technology.  But hey, "when 3D prototyping is outlawed..."

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When worlds collide? Comet C/2013 A1 may hit Mars next year

2013 is promising (or threatening, depending on the stock one puts in omens) to be an incredible year for comets in our sky.  Depending on where you live there are two and maybe even three of those cosmic iceballs that may give us quite a show.  In a few short weeks Comet PANSTARRS will become visible to the naked eye in the Northern Hemisphere: perhaps more brilliant than any in more than a decade.  Comet Lemmon, found late last year, could turn into a moderately bright beauty for our friends south of the Equator (and certain gases in its tail are giving it a green color).

The big, big show is still to come.  This fall brings Comet ISON... and it could be one massive honker of a spectacle, folks!  If you remember Comet Hyakutake in the spring of 1996 and how enormous it was (I'll never forget how it looked during spring break at Elon College), ISON could possibly eclipse that.

And now there is Comet C/2013 A1 waiting in the wings: a visitor from the far-flung reaches of the Solar System that might... emphasis on might... have repercussions for places close to home.  Namely, Mars.

Comet C/2013 A1 (credit: Carl Hergenrother)

C/2013 A1 was first spotted by Robert McNaught in Australia early last month and since then astronomers have been scrambling to figure out where it came from and where it's going (the comet, not Australia).  More observational data is needed to crunch the numbers but as things stand now, C/2013 A1 (can't we just call it "Comet McNaught" like we would have in the old days?) harbors a possibility of colliding with Mars on or around October 19th, 2014.

Hit here for more about C/2013 A1 at Discovery.com's article.

Ever see those photos of Shoemaker-Levy 9 when it smashed into Jupiter in 1994?  It wasn't one complete body: it was a big chain of teenier fragments of the parent comet after it was broken apart by Jupiter's gravity.  The smaller chunks flew into Jupiter like pearls loose from a necklace and you could see the impacts from Earth with even a medium-sized telescope.

Now envision one solid mass of rock, dirt and ice the size of three or four big-a$$ mountains smooshed together, and that mass rushing toward Mars at about 126,000 miles per hour.  Toward the planet next door.

Depending on where you live and the sky conditions, if C/2013 A1 hits Mars, it might well be visible with the unaided eye.

Assuming that it hits Mars at all.  Or that Marvin doesn't get to it with his Illudium Q36 Exploding Space Modulator first...

"Where's the 'KA-BOOM!'? There's supposed to be a C/2013 A1-shattering KA-BOOM!"

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The strange Cold War bar codes across America

The "bar code" at Walker Field, Maryland

Adjacent to the runway of a Navy airfield in Maryland is a paved rectangle.  And within that area are a series of quadrilaterals painted bright white, in pairs and ascending in size.

By itself its existence would be a mystery, or at least a curiosity.  Except that it is one of dozens to be known throughout the United States, with most of those found near military bases and other restricted facilities.  Some remote locations have entire arrays of the "bar codes" stretching for miles toward the horizon.

So what are these test pattern-ish arrangements?  Based on available evidence, they seem to have been put in place by the government during the first few decades of the Cold War.  With tensions high between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, the advent of high-altitude aircraft reconnaissance - and then "spy" satellites - became an important asset of military intelligence.  And as with any other system of optics those high-flying cameras needed a means of determining that they were properly focused.

The rectanglular codes, therefore, are apparently intended to calibrate the zoom and resolution of aircraft and satellite photography.  F'rinstance: letting an SR-71 use one to adjust its precision camera before sending it to fly across the Iron Curtain.

From the original article at Mail Online...

Consisting of a concrete pad measuring 78ft by 53ft and coated in a heavy black and white paint, they are decorated with patterns consisting of parallel and perpendicular bars in 15 or so different sizes.

This pattern, sometimes referred to as a 5:1 aspect Tri-bar Array, is similar to those used to determine the zoom resolution of microscopes, telescopes, cameras, and scanners.
The targets function like an optician's eye chart, with the smallest group of bars discernable marking the limit of the resolution for the camera being tested, according to the CLUI.

'For aerial photography, it provides a platform to test, calibrate, and focus aerial cameras traveling at different speeds and altitudes,' the CLUI adds.

'The targets can also be used in the same way by satellites.'

Ironic, aye?  That military secrets from fifty years ago are now wide-out in the open because of that same technology and Google Earth.  Anyone with a desktop or tablet can now view what likely had been classified top secret by the CIA.

I wonder what else might be on the ground across the fruited plain, waiting to be discovered...

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THE WALKING DEAD: "I Ain't a Judas" brings an appreciable respite

Did anyone else come away from this week's episode of AMC's The Walking Dead thinking that regardless of how little time we saw of him, that the highlight of "I Ain't a Judas" was Carl (Chandler Riggs) talking to his father Rick?  Because that's what keeps sticking out most in this blogger's mind ever since watching it last night.

I have said it before and I will say it again: if Chandler Riggs doesn't get an Emmy nomination this year, then I will be more than extremely disappointed.  Carl is a character who has solidly destroyed the mold of child characters on television and Riggs deserves some mighty high accolades for the strength, courage, restraint under stress and sheer wisdom that he has portrayed for such an exceptionally young actor.  Carl is becoming a true leader right before our eyes.  The scene before the opening title where he comes to Rick, telling his dad that he should let go because he's taking on much too heavy a burden: that was pure dramatic gold.

And then there was Hershel's no-holds-barred rant at Rick: he wanted this Rick-tatorship... and it's time that he began owning up to it.  In Scott Wilson's hands Hershel has become the group's sage voice of sanity.  Maybe Wilson will get an Emmy nod too (as well as Norman Reedus).

"I Ain't a Judas" was obviously heavy on Andrea (Laurie Holden) and her moral quandary: whether to return to the friends she has been with since before leaving Atlanta, or to remain at Woodbury with the Governor.  In that regard this was considerably a less action-packed chapter of The Walking Dead than we have gotten used to... but after the past several episodes I think that a quiet respite was needed.  Indeed, perhaps even desired more than we initially realized.  The focus of the episode was squarely on Andrea.  More so even than Merle (Michael Rooker) now becoming officially part of Rick's gang at the prison.

(Something else I noticed: duct tape was used at least twice in this episode.  Must remember to stock up on plenty of it when the zombie apocalypse hits.)

"I Ain't a Judas" lacked the gory violence that usually comes from this show every week.  But it was certainly no "filler" episode either and I think that sooner than later we'll be thankful that we got this.  It's very apparent that Rick and his people will soon be facing war with Woodbury and it's nice to have some time to breathe easy before the conflict erupts in earnest.  An altogether well-orchestrated episode, and it looks like next week's will be even better.

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"Hitler did nothing wrong"

Worst. Wi-fi network name. Ever.

That is a screen capture I made of my iPad this past Friday when I was at Mysticon at the Holiday Inn Tanglewood in Roanoke.  The hotel itself deserves bigtime props for opening up its own wi-fi network to all of the convention goers.  That's what I was doing when I was inside my iPad's network settings and saw... that.  We were waiting for the Peter Davison panel to begin in one of the hotel's ballrooms.  I haven't even made the image a JPG as usual: that's the original PNG file.  All I did was change the file name.

I know wi-fi SSID names need to be unique but c'mon: that is beyond the tasteless.

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Tammy Tuesday: Nose for trouble

Despite a regular and healthy regimen of doggie treats, pieces of ham (leftover from my breakfast every morning) and the occasional flake of popcorn that falls to the floor, Tammy is bound and determined to sniff out more yummy bites!

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We met Peter Davison!

Mysticon 2013 transpired across space and time at the Holiday Inn Tanglewood in Roanoke, Virginia this past weekend!  Among the special guests were bestselling science-fiction author Orson Scott Card (I finally have a signed copy of Speaker for the Dead, the book that dang nearly destroyed my Spanish grade in my sophomore year of high school and I mean that in a good way) and none other than Peter Davison.  Yup, the Fifth Doctor himself!

And speaking of Doctor Who, I have never seen the Doctor and his mythology so represented by fans at a sci-fi convention.  I mean, there were people in TARDIS costumes, fercryinoutloud!  Those were mostly ladies in blue dresses bedecked with windows and the "Police Box" plaque on the door.  There were literally dozens of guys in Eleventh Doctor costumes (including not a few red fezzes), along with a healthy dose of Fourth Doctors, a number of Tenth Doctors and at least two Ninth Doctors.  For the first time in my life I saw a First Doctor costume, a Third Doctor getup and a Seventh Doctor (he even had the umbrella).  I have to say: it was quite refreshing to be at a convention where the quantity of Doctors vastly outnumbered that of Starfleet officers, Jedi Knights and vampires.

But anyhoo, yesterday morning Kristen and I got to attend "Breakfast with the Doctor" in the hotel restaurant.  This was something with very limited attendance but Kristen pounced upon tickets for it as soon as they went on sale.

Here she is with Davison...

And here I am with Davison on Saturday afternoon.  He even signed my DVD of "Earthshock" (which he told us in a panel discussion on Friday was his most memorable Doctor Who story)...

And did I tell you that there were Doctor Who costumes at Mysticon or what?  Here's me with one of Kristen's friends.  She made a crazy awesome Weeping Angel costume that would be hard to keep your eyes off even if the Angels weren't quantum-locked homicidal maniacs!

The very last photo ever taken of The Knight Shift blogger
Chris Knight, who forgot that one must NEVER take his eyes
off of a Weeping Angel.

And a good time was had by all :-)

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Was the real ending to John Carpenter's THE THING in plain sight all along?

John Carpenter's 1982 science-fiction horror film The Thing is one of those movies that no matter how many times you watch it over the decades, you can always spot something new that you've haven't caught before. Case in point: I had never noticed that Doc Copper has a nose-ring until almost two years ago. It's the smallish details like that which keep the debate and discussion going about The Thing... and I'll admit that nearly thirty years after I first saw this movie, I still haven't figured out who was where and for how long at Outpost 31.

But I had thought that there was nothing major left to be discovered. Nothing at all. How could there be, in a movie that I've bought no less than three times for my personal library (the latest being the gorgeous Blu-ray that I watch every time I get snowed-in during winter). Heck, it's a movie so near and dear to my heart that I had already put the Blu-ray version on my iPad long before good friend Lee Shelton alerted me to this story about The Thing and its classic ending. Specifically, how John Carpenter possibly answered the last big question about the story and it has been right in front of us the whole time.

If you haven't seen The Thing (shame on you!) and you don't care about spoilers, it's like this: in the final scene, the only survivors of the camp are helicopter pilot MacReady (Kurt Russell) and mechanic Childs (Keith David). With the entire outpost destroyed and the hard biting cold of the Antarctic night bearing down on them, it is only a matter of time before they freeze to death. The film ends with both men starting at each other, wondering if the other is fully human.

Here's the comment that started it all, from one KicksButtson on Reddit.com...

A friend of mine, back when he was an assistant, spent a great deal of time with John Carpenter doing interviews and the like for video games and comic projects. I was discussing my conversation with Larry Turman with this friend and he said

"You know, I asked John Carpenter about The Thing."

"Oh yeah? What did he say?" I asked.

"He said he never understood where all the confusion came from. The last frame of The Thing is Kurt Russell and Keith David staring each other down, harshly backlit. It's completely, glaringly obvious that Kurt Russell is breathing and Keith David is not."

I looked at my friend for a minute, soaking it in. Straight from the horse's mouth.

"That's a pretty subtle cue to expect the audience to absorb having seen severed heads grow spider legs and run around," I said.

"That's the genius of The Thing," my friend said, and we moved on to other subjects.

As soon as I read that I whipped out the iPad and went to The Thing's last scene.

And son of a gun... it's true.

MacReady's breath is so visible, so unavoidably obvious, it can't be anything but an in-your-face indicator of something significant.

But there is no breath at all coming out of Childs. He comes out of the darkness, he talks to MacReady, and he's not breathing.

Well played, Mr. Carpenter. Well-played indeed. Looks like I'll have to be watching your movie at least another dozen or so more times, just so I can study where Childs goes and when.

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Hey all of you DOWNTON ABBEY fanatics...

Most of you have seen this already, I'd bet. The only thing I know about Downton Abbey is that it has the inimitable Maggie Smith among the cast and for that alone I'm gonna make time to eventually watch this show.

This series must be a big deal. For one thing my Facebook front page was loaded with all kinds of numbstruck horror over the weekend because of the Downton Abbey season finale. And then there's the fact that Sesame Street has now spoofed it! Even without knowing the particulars of the source material, I thought this was pretty funny.

So here is "Uptown Downton Abbey"...

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A troubling trend in News & Record journalism

The News & Record in Greensboro - the region's largest newspaper - has a story on the front page of today's edition about last night's resolution by the Rockingham County Board of Commissioners to restore the Confederate Soldiers Monument in downtown Reidsville (see earlier post here).

For some reason or another Joe Gamm - the reporter who wrote the story - chose to include the following in his article...

"After a court approved replacing the monument, vandals spray-painted the words 'Monument is coming back' on an auto body shop run by an African American businessman who outspokenly opposed returning the statue to its original spot."

Could somebody please explain to me: What does the above reference by Mr. Gamm have anything... anything at all... to do with what happened to the Confederate monument from the time of the accident in 2011 up 'til today?

Because I can't find any legitimate reason whatsoever.

What I do see however see is a not-so-subtle attempt to inject an inflammatory issue into the matter at hand, when said issue is NOT germane to the discussion at all.

"Objective journalism"? Hardly. It's not the first time I've seen such writing employed by the News & Record lately either. Earlier this month Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson suffered a heart attack. The News & Record article made a teeny mention of that significant fact, choosing instead to harp on the lawsuit that Johnson is facing from the United States Department of Justice in regard to alleged racial profiling.

Nothing personal against Mr. Gamm. But I expect better out of the News & Record and every one of its writers (many of whom I have come to know and respect over the years). Unfortunately there is an appearance of considerable bias in what is otherwise a well-written story. However one such aside as this - when its sole seeming purpose is to inject overtones of racism into a matter demanding sobriety of senses - throws everything about it into question and doubt.

And that isn't meant to suggest any disparagement or diminishing the grievousness of the vandalism done to Ernie Pinnix's property. Vandalism is a severe crime regardless of the motive. It should be prosecuted because it is a crime, regardless of why the perpetrator did it. But that incident was, or at least should be, a completely separate matter from the Confederate monument.

Mr. Gamm, News & Record editors: this isn't proper journalism, and we all know it.

Again, do better.

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Rockingham County commissioners UNANIMOUSLY approve restoring the Confederate monument!

The message went out loud and clear last night from citizens and their elected representatives alike: "Mayor Festerman, tear down this tree!"

Confederate Soldiers Monument in downtown
Reidsville, North Carolina prior to the
May 2011 accident

Lots of friends who went to yesterday evening's meeting of the Rockingham County Board of Commissioners conveyed the good news: that by unanimous vote, all five board members passed a resolution calling for the return of the Confederate Soldiers Monument in downtown Reidsville.

And what's more, there was not one person at the near-capacity public hearing in Wentworth who spoke against restoring the monument.

Let that lil' detail sink in, friends and neighbors. During a two-plus hour public meeting that had been announced and advertised well in advance, nobody came to the podium to insist or remotely suggest that the monument remain absent from the town's landscape. That alone indicates the overwhelming belief across the community is that the Confederate Soldiers Monument should go back to its rightful place as a memorial to the men of Rockingham County who, for whatever reason God or conscience led, volunteered to serve and defend what they saw as their homes and their loved ones.

The Confederate Soldiers Monument (seen at right in its proper glory) had stood vigil at the intersection of Scales and Morehead streets in Reidsville since its dedication in 1910. But in May of 2011 the monument was severely damaged and the statue atop it smashed into pieces when a driver fell asleep and crashed into it.

In any other municipality to be found across America, the logical and obvious thing would have been to repair the statue, restore the monument to its previous condition and then let it all stand anew, as if nothing had happened and none the worse for wear. The driver's insurance would have paid for all the work that would have been required.

Except this is Reidsville, North Carolina we're talking about. Oh the people here are fine. But this town's current administration is so drunk on power that it would put Boss Hogg to shame.

So instead of letting things run their proper course, Reidsville's city government removed EVERYTHING pertaining to the monument and WITHOUT consulting the citizenry or even letting it be known that the monument was going to be pulled out at all! There was no due process whatsoever on the part of Reidsville City Council and Reidsville Mayor James Festerman.

Mayor Festerman arbitrarily chose to have the Confederate Soldiers Monument removed wholesale. In its place has been a butt-ugly eyesore that has variably taken the form of a massive planter or the town Christmas tree (the current occupant of the site). I've taken to calling it "Festerman's Folly".

And what has Maximum Mayor James Festerman the First of His Name to say about it? He's gone on record as decreeing that the Confederate statue is "never" going to be returned to its original location.

Huh. If that isn't the mentality of a dictator, then I don't know what would be.

Festerman insists that the monument is a magnet of "controversy". But it had never been before. If there is any now it is only because some people demand to see controversy around the monument. Apparently the fact that it's a (gasp!) monument to soldiers who fought in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War is enough to... something. Rationale on the part of Reidsville government in the matter has been spotty at best.

Confederate history enthusiasts - many dressed in period costume - have protested for the return of the monument at the site for most of the past two years. It should also be borne in mind that these have been people from all walks of life, both white and black. Those peaceful assemblies ended when the Reidsville Police began prohibiting the protestors from the traffic circle. Okay, actually the protestors were limited to six inches of space in which they could stand (for realz, folks).

Anyhoo, for most of this time a group of citizens calling themselves the Historic Preservation Action Committee (HPAC) has been doing some admirable work toward restoring the monument to downtown Reidsville. As HPAC members have noted, the monument is one toward all the Confederate soldiers of Rockingham County, not just the ones from Reidsville. And that's something that shouldn't be done away with at the whim of one person.

Last night the county commissioners weight in. From the Save the Reidsville Confederate Monument page on Facebook...

Big news tonight from Wentworth, North Carolina! The Rockingham County Commissioners unanimously adopt a resolution in favor of putting the monument back up in Reidsville.The County Commissioner's chamber was filled with those in favor of the monument being restored. All those who spoke from the public were in favor. Not a single negative comment from the public! Emotions were high and it was a standing ovation as the commissioners voted all in favor. Although this resolution has no legal binding withing the City of Reidsville, the Reidsville City council has some pressure on it and now has some explaining to do to the public. More to come as it develops.

Commissioner Craig Travis remarked that "We're talking about a City Council that's run amok. If you don't like what they do, vote them out. The cities need to be held accountable." Indeed, it is now coming to light that there have apparently been some seriously under-handed shenanigans on the part of Reidsville officials to not only obscure and obfuscate its citizens in regard to the monument, but also some illegalunethical legal finagling involving the United Daughters of the Confederacy. I'm gonna be listening for more about that particular item especially...

If you wanna read more here are all the posts that have appeared on this blog about the monument since the 2011 accident. And fellow Reidsvillian Rob Jernigan has been all over this matter since Day One: here's his Speaking Up & Out news site, which Rob has said will be hosting video of last night's meeting later today.

If this momentum keeps going, it wouldn't surprise me if Festerman's Folly was ripped out by the end of the year and the Confederate Soldiers Monument put back where it belongs.

I'll be praying that there is enough shred of sanity to make it so.

EDIT 10:39 a.m. EST: D'oh! Rob works fast! Here's the video from last night's meeting that he just posted...

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It's the start of Tammy Tuesday!

Beginning today, look forward to a weekly (meaning: as often as I can remember to do it) photo of Tammy: my miniature dachshund! These won't necessarily be a just-taken pic of her. It'll be whatever is in the Tammy-file that I think might bring a smile to y'all's faces. But since she's still just ten months old, there aren't that many photos of her that I could have made anyway.

Here she is from last week, looking content in the "nest" she's made with a blanket in the recliner...

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Last night's THE WALKING DEAD nearly made Chris lose bladder control!

And mind ya, that was just from the final five minutes!!

Two things I will say before anything else: that after "Home", this week's episode of AMC's The Walking Dead, David Morrissey has damned-well earned enough street credo to be top choice to play Randall Flagg in that forthcoming film adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand.

Yeah, just try to get that idea out of your head now that I've put it there. I dare ya...

Second: Daryl Dixon is the most awesomesauce-loaded BAD-ass on television since the invention of the cathode ray tube:

Norman Reedus more than deserves an Emmy nod this year, for the life he's brought to Daryl. Along with Chandler Riggs (hey, wouldn't it be soooo appropriate if both Daryl and Carl got supporting actor nominations?).

"Home" delivered everything that has made The Walking Dead the best drama series on television right now. I emphasize "drama" because it was past the halfway mark of this episode before we saw any walkers get offed. But when that finally came we got perhaps the most gruesome zombie-slaughterfest of the series to date (note to self: a hatchback is a potent weapon against the undead).

(By the way, Merle might be dumb, but he did at least have the good sense to ummmm... "disarm" himself before he answered the call of nature. 'Fess up now: how many others out there also caught that.)

The dialogue between the Brothers Dixon following the Skirmish of Yellow Jacket Creek was so compelling that I had to rewind the DVR and watch it again. Glenn has become a man motivated by wrath: something we haven't seen before in the poor guy. I'm feeling conflicted because as much as that kind of thinking tends to lead one to a bad end, you gotta admire how this show isn't afraid to shake its characters down to the core.

Andrew Lincoln went 3/4ths of this episode before getting a spoken line of dialogue. But even so, he's so persuasive playing Rick as a broken and despondent man that it was almost like watching silent film of the finest form.

Yeah, everything about "Home" was spot-on flawless.

And then came those final five minutes.

I ain't saying anything else, for sake of those who haven't caught the episode yet, 'cuz it really is worth it to go into this episode pretty cold. But I will make this comment: that what we saw at the end of "Home" was NOT the real war with Woodbury. That is no doubt still to come. And if the final minutes of "Home" are any indicator, when the full-bore all-out conflict comes it is going to make everybody watching it scream out and cry for Momma.

And that music that Bear McCreary came up with for the attack (including the "bomb") was terrific! Yet one more reason why we need to get a proper soundtrack CD or three of his The Walking Dead work (hey AMC are you guys listening yet??).

If "Home" isn't the best episode of The Walking Dead so far, it's pretty dang close. Gonna watch it again later tonight :-)

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Air Jordan: Forever young

The people who I tend to admire the most are those who stay true to themselves, but also know how to change and grow as they get older. People who don't let time wear them down but instead become the better for it.

This is one such person...

The Knight Shift says "Happy Birthday" and wishes all the best to Michael Jordan - perhaps the greatest player that the game of basketball has ever known - on the occasion of his fiftieth birthday today!

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From YouTube's front page today...

I'm not saying anything. This blog has involved me in enough litigation already. I'd rather save having to call the attorneys for the big big stuff.

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