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Showing posts from June, 2012

As If Hitler Still Walked This Earth

A few months ago I blogged : " Lenin, Hitler and Stalin collectively make today’s mass murder look like child’s play ." But, today I realized that's not quite right. Reading " Peacekeepers At War " in this weekend's Wall Street Journal I was reminded that " the unrest in Congo has claimed more than five million lives since the late 1990's - most of them civilians from starvation and disease... " The article deals with how the UN's peacekeeping role has changed to more aggressive tactics. " On another occasion, U.N. attack helicopters with troops on the ground killed more than 200 members of a militia group moving on Goma ." Now, I ask you, have you ever seen the phrase "U.N. attack helicopters" used before? The indigenous tribes of the Rwanda-Congo region murder villages of civilians whenever an enemy militia encamps nearby attempting to claim more territory. This is a part of their warfare culture.  Does anything

On the Day After Bloomsday

Today is Father's Day.  I spent a good portion of the day around family.  But, this morning I started reading James Joyce's Ulysses again.  This is the third or fourth time I have attempted to read Ulysses .  All previous efforts have ended in failure.  At some point a few hundred pages in I have always given up. Yesterday was Bloomsday , celebrated particularly in Dublin and Ireland but all over the world as well .  June 16 is the day upon which the entire of Ulysses takes place, in 1904 .  This year's recognition of Joyce's novel , considered by many to be the greatest novel in modern english literature, has a different undercurrent, regarding the fact that the novel is now in the public domain due to the  end of its copyright protection . So the novel is now available to the entire world for free, you can even download an audio book of it at no charge .  Ulysses now belongs to the masses.  (Which is ironic, given the fact that, by and large, the masses don

How do you take your 50 Shades of Grey?

A couple of weeks ago I listened to a radio talk show, Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane .  The show featured the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon and I thought it was fascinating.  I am just now finding the time to blog briefly about it.  I recently posted on my interest in the reaction to this erotic trilogy.  I have not read it myself but I eventually might.  It is not the BDSM story that interests me.  I have read that stuff before.  What interests me is the massive success of the novels and what it says about culture, most especially the diversity of reactions to the best-selling books. The Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy  has now sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.  The film rights have already been purchased and speculation abounds regarding all aspects of the film .  Public libraries, once banning the books, are placing them back on the shelves .  And, of course, an entire consumer industry is now emerging because of the popularity of the erotic novels. The radio

Neil and the Horse Ride Again

I’ve been listening to Americana , the new release from Neil Young and Crazy Horse , a lot over the past week. The album came out last Tuesday (June 5) and is the first collaboration between Neil and The Horse since 2003’s Greendale . It features very nontraditional versions of traditional American folk songs. There is plenty of the Old Black sound to enjoy here. In typical Crazy Horse fashion, the album is an acquired taste, the harmonies are inconsistent, and the band rumbles along seemingly on the verge of falling apart, but it definitely rocks. The reviews of Americana are mixed , as is usually the case with Neil and The Horse when they decide to experiment with different musical concepts. A quick perusal of the feedback on amazon.com ranges from “Neil Young and Crazy Horse are back with some SLOPPY JAMS!!!” and “Classic Horse Sound!” to “Oh Neil…Why?” and “Is Neil Just Messing With Us?” I laugh at the polarity that is so common polarity that seems to come with any pro

Prometheus Disappoints

Ridley Scott is another favorite director of mine.  He is up there with David Lean (whose work is a minor plot detail in the film I am about to review) and others.  A great classic film director. Blade Runner  (1982), Thelma & Louise  (1991), and Gladiator (2000), among others.  His revisitation of 1979's awesome Alien , truly a remarkable film in many ways, was much anticipated by me .  Perhaps too much.  For though the film is not without merit, I feel Scott's directing was negatively affected by a mediocre script co-written by Damon Lindelof , a major writing force in the TV series Lost , which I enjoyed for years . I was fortunate enough to see Prometheus yesterday, the opening weekend of a hyped-up film .  I saw the movie in IMAX 3D.  This is one of the more less-3D movies that I have seen.  It was great to see it in IMAX quality, but the film does not utilize the 3D aesthetic in any special way.  It would have been just as impressive to watch in "plain&quo

Venus Transits the Sun

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Tiny Venus transits the Sun at 9PM eastern time on my NASA TV App.  I was here. These past few weeks have been a busy time for space enthusiasts, as several recent blog posts show .  Today, we got to experience the last transit of Venus across the Sun's surface (as seen from Earth, of course, it is all a matter of line of sight) until 2117 .  The days leading up to the transit prompted some interesting conversations with my fellow space geeks about whether a telescope makes astronomy any more "immediate" and meaningful than watching it on my iPad.  Sacrilege to some.  Of course, viewing space through a telescope as opposed to a video stream is the difference between seeing Mount McKinley in person and watching it on a web cam .  I get all that.  But, for some reason, I don't consider I am missing out on anything where space software and apps is concerned. Before my iPad I used Starry Night on my PC regularly to view the night sky.  I could jump into the

A Second Diamond Jubilee

Yesterday, Great Britain celebrated only the second Diamond Jubilee in that nation's storied history.  All the regalia and pageantry was for Queen Elizabeth II , of course.  Being the United Kingdom, water vessels were most appropriate for such an occasion, symbolic of the great naval power that England was (and still is to some degree), making their former worldwide empire possible.  This procession carried on  down the Thames River . More than 1,000 small ships and rowers joined The Spirit of Chartwell for the once in a lifetime event .  I am not a fan of the British Monarchy (or any other for that matter) but I am a sucker for uniforms and flags and such , particularly when it is an historic event.  If history "lives" at all it is in and through such wonderful events as this.  I am reminded of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee and the interesting contrast it provides for Elizabeth's celebration.  Yesterday was an intermingling of Royalty with its &qu

A Supreme Decision

The headline for the March 26 issue of Wall Street Journal read: "Health Law Heads to Court: Justices Hear Challenge in Case That Broadly Tests Boundaries of Federal Power." The Economist took a similar perspective in its March 31 - April 6 issue with an article heading which read: "Full-court Press: Barack Obama's health-care law moves to America's highest court, and looks to be in danger. The case could transform the power of the federal government." These are not examples of sensationalism. The fact is there has not been a bigger, more fundamental case presented to the Supreme Court since FDR advanced the cause of the New Deal . The Case of the Obamacare Mandate (part of President Obama's signature heathcare reform act ) reflects a consistent thread of political debate that is woven into the fabric of American politics since the Founding Fathers first wrestled with the limits of Federal Power. Obama remained silent during the proceedings.