Swedish Meatballs

(Actually about my contender for the finest science-fiction TV series of all time.)

Narns G'Kar and Na'Kal enjoy a pleasant dinner 

in Babylon 5 episode 'Walkabout'

(from neatnik2009.files.wordpress.com)

Na'Kal: "Breen! You've managed to import breen from Homeworld! How?"

G'Kar: "It, uh - isn't actually breen."

Na'Kal: "The smell! The taste..." 

G'Kar: "It's an Earth food. They are called Swedish meatballs.

"It's a strange thing, but every sentient race has its own version of these Swedish meatballs!

"I suspect it's one of those great universal mysteries which will either never be explained, or which would drive you mad if you ever learned the truth."

Once upon a time (1994-1998), writer J. Michael Straczynski conjured up a  science-fiction series, to run for five years. Cheerfully borrowing from almost everything, from E.E. "Doc" Smith's "Lensmen" series to "I, Claudius", He called it Babylon 5 , and saw to it that it was good ...

From wired.com

After a lethal misunderstanding (during a first-contact situation) ignited a war that almost resulted in the extermination of humankind, Babylon 5 was constructed, in orbit around a planet in neutral territory, to serve as a United Nations in Space, where the various species could resolve their differences without war. Their efforts were about as successful as our own UN here on Earth, but at least they tried.

The station's first three predecessors (the original Babylon station, Babylon 2 and Babylon 3) were sabotaged or accidentally destroyed before their completion. The fourth station, Babylon 4, vanished 24 hours after it became fully operational.

The station is a five-mile long rotating structure much like an O'Neill Space Colony.

Its first two commanders, Jeffrey Sinclair and John Sheridan, share the same initials as writer J. Michael Straczynski, which probably means nothing more than that the writer is fond of the initials. :-)

Women of Steel ...
Straczynski writes of strong women, tough enough to handle whatever has to be done.

Commander Susan Ivanova, Sheridan's second in command ...

Claudia Christian as Commander Susan Ivanova

After getting a science survey vessel out of trouble that she had warned them about ...

Ivanova: "Confirmed Survey 1. Upon arrival you will report for debriefing. And just one more thing, on your trip back I want you to take the time to learn the Babylon 5 mantra.
 "Ivanova is always right. 
 "I will listen to Ivanova. 
 "I will not ignore Ivanova's recommendations. 
 "Ivanova is GOD!!!
 "And if this ever happens again, Ivanova will personally rip your lungs out!
 "Babylon control out."
 [to herself] "Civilians."
 [looks up] "Just kidding about that God part. No offense."

But, she's not invulnerable to the pressure. One episode starts off with Ivanova walking straight into C&C without any clothes on, assuming everything was normal until the other staff start giggling ...

From scifimusings.blogspot.com

She then realizes her mistake, screams, and wakes up. "I hate that dream!"

She later starts to tell Sheridan about the dream, but can't quite bring herself to say what actually happened. Instead ...

Bruce Boxleitner as Captain John Sheridan

from scifimusings.blogspot.com

Ivanova: "Same thing night after night, one bad dream after another. You know, I get the one where your teeth are breaking off or falling out and you wake up going aaah!"

Sheridan: "Oh yeah, I know that one."

Ivanova: "Or you are lost in a maze somewhere, or you're someplace I have never been before. This morning I dreamt that I walked into C&C totally ... unprepared for my work."

Sheridan: "Oh. Interested in a little time-honored psychoanalysis?"

Ivanova: "No, I'll just bury my soul in the breakfast and ask you to give me some silverware."

Sheridan tells her that it probably has something to do with them breaking away from Earth.

Sheridan: "Subconsciously you are still trying to work it all through. You don't know where you fit anymore, how to define yourself, you are feeling vulnerable, lost, and exposed. It's all perfectly obvious and completely understandable... It'll pass. Your subconscious just needs to work it all through.

"Hey, it could be worse, you could be having dreams where you are showing up to work naked. You would be in real trouble."

Sheridan walks away chuckling, while Ivanova just buries her head in her arms.


Minbari Ambassador Delenn ...

Mira Furlan as Delenn

From godardsletterboxes.wordpress,com and oocities.org

At left is how she appeared for the first few seasons. Later, to become more at home with our culture, she went into a chrysalis and emerged a human-minbari hybrid, resulting in the flowing locks. There's a wonderful scene with her trying to comb and brush it, almost ready to go to war with someone and seeking Ivanova's help with, "How in Hell do you manage this?"

But, she is no one to trifle with, as we gradually learn that she is not just an Ambassador, but also a member of the Grey Council, the rulers of Minbar.

When Earth Alliance warships threaten Babylon 5, the jump points produce three Minbari cruisers and the White Star, with Delenn in the captain's chair.

Delenn: "This is Ambassador Delenn of the Minbari. Babylon 5 is under our protection. Withdraw… or be destroyed!"

Drake (commanding the Alliance forces): "Negative. We have authority here. Do not force us to engage your ship."

Delenn: "Why not? Only one human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else."


Centauri Ambassador Londo Mollari (redefining cynical) ...

Peter Jurasik as Londo Mollari - from thewb.com
Among the Centauri, that crazy hair style is a badge of rank and power.

Londo and G'Kar arrive on Babylon 5 during a celebration.
Londo: "So Doctor… who died?"

Stephen Franklin: [confused] "What are you talking about?"

Londo: "Among my people this is how we celebrate state funerals. Our marriage ceremonies are solemn, sober. Moments of reflection…also regret, disagreement, argument and mutual recrimination. Once you know it can't get any worse you can sit back and enjoy the marriage. But to start with something like this? No, it is a very bad sign for the future."

Franklin and Garabaldi walk off.
Londo: "Perhaps it is something I said?"

G'Kar: "Perhaps it is everything you say."

Londo, who has three wives, chooses to keep Timov as his wife and divorce the two others.
Timov: "Why did you choose to keep me as your wife and not them? I've made no pretense of affection for you, I find your recent actions contemptible, I'll never love you, at best I'll tolerate you, and I'll never be what you want me to be. Why me?"

Londo: "Because, my Dear, with you I will always know where I stand."

Vorlon Ambassador Kosh Naranek ...

From diraven.net

The Vorlon species is a member of the First Ones, a group made up of the earliest species to gain sentience in the galaxy. When in the presence of other species, Vorlons wear encounter suits. Only much later in the series do you get to see what's inside that suit.

The Shadows ...

From myspace.com/babylon5

That's one of their ships.  The Shadows are another member of the First Ones, awakened from hibernation after a very long dormancy. Enemies of the Vorlons (and just about everyone else for that matter), they like to work behind the scenes, manipulating others to do their work. They have an ability to bend light so you usually cannot see them. You might catch a flicker of something at the corner of your eye, but when you turn to look directly at them there appears to be nothing there.

I haven't even scratched the surface of this series, considering that there are 110 episodes, about a half-dozen TV movies and a short-lived spinoff, "Crusade" that followed it. You could lose yourself for a long time in this, and it would be a wonderful experience.

It's no accident that I began this post with Narn Ambassador G'Kar, nor is it one that I'm bookending it with him again. This warrior/poet/philosopher ...

Andreas Katsulas as G'Kar - from thecomicking.net

... is simply the heart and soul of the series, advising Dr. Catherine Sakai ...

G'Kar: "Let me pass on to you the one thing I've learned about this place. No one here is exactly what he appears. Not Mollari, not Delenn, not Sinclair ... and not me."

She had gone to him about exploring a world near the star Sigma 957.

After being advised to avoid it, but not forbidden to go, she goes.

While doing a survey from orbit, something huge materializes near her ship, as if coming from another dimension. Taking no notice of her at all, it rotates and disappears.

As with a canoe that was too close to the passage of an aircraft carrier, an energy surge caused by the appearance/disappearance of that thing disables her vessel, leaving her stranded. Fortunately she is quickly rescued by Narn spacecraft that were dispatched to the location by G'Kar who knew that she would very likely get into trouble out there.

Catherine Sakai: "Ambassador! While I was out there, I saw something. What was it?"

G'Kar: [points to a flower with a bug crawling on it] "What is this?"

Catherine Sakai: "An ant."

G'Kar: "Ant."

Catherine Sakai: "So much gets shipped up from Earth on commercial transports it's hard to keep them out."

G'Kar: "Yeah, I have just picked it up on the tip of my glove. If I put it down again, and it asks another ant, "What was that?",
[laughs]
G'Kar: "how would it explain? There are things in the universe billions of years older than either of our races. They're vast, timeless, and if they're aware of us at all, it is as little more than ants, and we have as much chance of communicating with them as an ant has with us. We know, we've tried, and we've learned that we can either stay out from underfoot or be stepped on."

Catherine Sakai: "That's it? That's all you know?"

G'Kar: "Yes, they are a mystery. And I am both terrified and reassured to know that there are still wonders in the universe, that we have not yet explained everything. Whatever they are, Miss Sakai, they walk near Sigma 957, and they must walk there alone."

(I'm guessing that G'Kar, in his study of things human, came across Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House".)

Here is the bottom line, what the show truly tries to capture and succeeds enough for me to consider it the all-time best TV science-fiction series ever ...

"And I am both terrified and reassured to know that there are still wonders in the universe, that we have not yet explained everything."
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The Duck of Death

Although a nod to Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven", wherein Sheriff "Little Bill" Daggett (Gene Hackman) shows his contempt for gunfighter "English" Bob (Richard Harris) by so referring to a dime-novel written about him ...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Little Bill: "That you here, Bob, on the cover? "The Duck of Death?""

    W.W. Beauchamp (Bob's companion and biographer, who wrote that book):
       "Duke. It's the Duke. "Duke of Death""

    Little Bill: "Duck!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
... this post is actually a follow-up to my earlier Nibbled to death by ducks., and concerns the latest duck to waddle in.

After two decades in engineering and then two more in IT (as programmer and troubleshooter) my age (70) has resulted in only finding employment as a part-time grocery cashier (since the last week of 2008).

When asked about it, "soul-killing", and "trap" often come to mind.

The total number of hours per week are not great (barely at survival level),  but they are random and capricious, making it almost impossible to plan anything ahead (unless you decide to simply ask for a certain number of days off, losing those hours that you may never be able to make up. Such is the nature of part-time. And it's probably never going to become full-time; that involves benefits they aren't prepared to provide.)

Just standing there, pulling things out of the bottom of the basket, gets me in the lower back to the point where I am doing it in crippling pain and as a result have difficulty in even walking afterwards. A couple of days ago I nearly fainted (got very light-headed) in the midst of that. I don't dare let that happen; my circumstances are such that "Lose this job and I'm dead" is not a figure of speech.

Should I be looking for something else? You're damned right!

But this job is exactly the trap I so feared it would be; because of the pain described above, I usually arrive home completely exhausted with the life drained out of me.

If you're in your twenties, what I'm doing would probably be nothing at all.

When your body is 70, that's a whole 'nother story.

Trap!

To add to the fun (I know; a lot of companies are so cursed), it's not enough to do your primary job as well as you can. There are various promotional gimmicks, dreamed up by people with way too much time on their hands, with which you are supposed to harass present to customers who are mostly just trying to get their shopping done so they can get on with their lives.

It's so wonderful to feel that you can be doing your God Damnedest at your job and might actually get fired let go for not getting enough people signed up for their latest insanity.

So, what is the duck that provoked this post? The one that might truly kill me?

Yesterday morning (Thursday, 12 Jul 2012) I attended a seminar in which the latest nail in the coffin was presented: A program to let people use their computers and/or smart phones to get coupons for various sale items added to their store discount cards, so when those cards are presented they automatically get their discounts.

Ok. Not so horrible. BUT ...

While doing my duties as a cashier, I'm now expected to engage the customer in a conversation, extolling the wonderful virtues of this new program, persuade them to sign up for it, hand them over to an "Ambassador" (a newly created post for this lunacy) who will then help them with downloading an app to their ipad or smartphone.

This, mind you, in a (hopefully) busy supermarket, further delaying customers who are usually in a hurry anyways.

WHY am I so gloomy about this particular atrocity?

Besides being just plain nuts under the circumstances (inflicting things like this upon customers is an excellent way to create new business for HEB and Kroger), the people responsible for this are upper-level managers who truly are responsible and have to justify what they've started. They've invested a lot of money in this and it ain't gonna die as quickly as some of their other whims. This monster could have years of life in it (assuming that it doesn't completely sink the grocery chain).

That means constant monitoring by them calling our local managers and asking them "How's it doing?", "How many sign-ups have you gotten so far?", "Send me a list of your cashiers, with their results."

Get the picture?

I'll be expected to be a huckster (the guy in the seminar was a cheerleader type, coming on like the guy many of you have probably seen in mattress commercials before changing the channel), and I JUST CANNOT DO THAT!!!

So, just what the Hell am I going to do?

Haven't a clue. Just too damned wasted right now.

But, I'll figure out something. (I hope! :-)

Update - 0700 Sunday, 15 Jul 2012 - Threw up this morning. BLOOD!
Just a spoonful or so, but I don't like seeing any of that there. Stomach cramping, really hurting. Shaky and feverish..

This situation is literally eating me alive. I'm scheduled to go to work in a bit, and I'm actually going to go.

WHY?!!!

Not only do I need the hours, but I'm completely alone. Normally, that's the way I prefer it, but I'll confess that it sometimes has its drawbacks.  If I collapse at the store, at least there's people around.

Odds are I'll get over this and will be Ok in a bit.

But, there's nothing like a small amount of blood, where you do not want to see it ("Blood bother you, Mister?" "Only my own." :-), to get your attention and put things in perspective.

Something could happen at any time. I'm adding this in case I completely drop off the radar (as a fellow blogger has done, for a couple of months now - I fear the worst).

If I truly feel the end is coming, and I'm able to, I intend to add the names of the store and the chain so people will know who the hell pulled the trigger. As there's always the possibility that I wont be so able, the email I'm going to send announcing this update will name the bastards.
-

"The Horror! The Horror!"

... A night without the internet.

(Until mid 2015, I depended on a dial-up connection.)

Yesterday afternoon, I logged on and managed to get a lot done, including making a last-minute just-in-time online payment of my AT&T telephone bill.

That evening (the Perversity Of The Universe at work here? :-) I started getting interruptions and disconnects from my phone connection. When I did manage to get an internet connection (before losing it again) it was painfully slow (maybe around 12 kB/s showing on the connection widget, and only a small fraction of that on the browser).

Attempts to phone anyone usually succeeded, but with a lot of noise and static on the line.

I called one of the '1-800' repair numbers for AT&T and got a guy who could also clearly hear the static. After I confirmed his suspicion that there was heavy rain in my area, he asked me to hang up while he did a test of the line, saying that he would call back in a minute or two.

He did, telling me that he had located the problem in an outside line, and that someone would be on it in the morning. As it was outside, they didn't even need access to my apartment.

A huge chunk of Houston's telephone service network is underground (during Hurricane Ike, in September 2008, the telephone landlines were the most robust of the utilities here, still functioning in areas where cellphone service was dead), but some parts of it are aboveground on utility poles.

Because of the rain, I'm gonna take a wild guess that tree branches come into this somewhere.

This morning (about 0930) I logged on. Back to whatever passes for "normal".

While I had heard of something like this before with communication systems,  I still thought it so cool that he found the location of the problem from whatever center he was operating from.

I'd love to hear from anyone who may know just how he did that (I didn't ask him as I felt he probably had a lot on his plate at that time).

I'm guessing some way of sending a signal on the line and measuring response time and signal strength, or maybe various gadgets on the line to locate signal problems.

Why don't I just look it up on the internet myself?

I'm trying, but another real horror story is trying to conjure up the correct incantation phrasing of words to get the results I'm after (rather than countless items on using the telephone for remote diagnosis of other systems).

I'm SEVENTY YEARS OLD!!! I'm not sure I have enough years left to find that information through an internet search.

HELP!!! :-)

Addendum - Same day, 1352 CDT - The info I'm after may even be based on some pretty ancient technology. I have a vague recollection of reading somewhere that when the trans-Atlantic telegraph cables were laid, they had  already worked out a method of knowing just where to look for a break in the cable.  I'll try to find out some more when I get back from work this evening.

Update - 2340 CDT, Tuesday, 10 Jul 2012 - Commentor Anonymous pretty well answered my question of how it was done (see first comment). My recollection about the trans-Atlantic cables was off; they do use the technique, but the first cables were laid long before it was developed.

You may have gathered that I consider AT&T's techies, charged with helping to solve your problems, first-rate and world class.  But, their others are a different story.

So, for the absolutely perfect cherry with which to top off this experience ...

As I was about to leave for work, I picked up my cellphone and noticed a voice-mail waiting for me. It was from the repair group asking me to call them and let them know if the issue had been satisfactorily taken care off.

Calling that '1-800' number gets you an automated menu that, if you patiently wait out their options, will eventually get you a human being to talk to (as it did last night).

This time, when I thought that was about to happen, what I got instead was
  "Thank you, for calling A-T-&-T."
  "Good Byyyeee!" 
   (click)
   (dialtone).
-

1045 CDT, 12 Jul 2012 - I referred above to a comment by Anonymous that answered my question. Most people reading this post are probably viewing it on the main page, in which case they will never see that comment unless they click on the "comment" link. As few ever do, I've removed that comment from the comments section and am here placing it within the body of the post ...
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Anonymous said...

One of the most common ways to do this is called Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR). It works kinda like radar. A pulse is sent down the line and is reflected by changes in the cable. The time it takes for the pulse to reflect back is computed to find distance. The shape (actually phase shift) of the reflection can tell if it is a short, open or change in capacitance (degraded insulation etc). Pretty cool tech and its been around for about 70 years or so. Used to be you needed to be an engineer to figure out the reflections but now it is all computerized and the machine spits out the distance and probable fault.

Comment posted: July 10, 2012 7:44 PM
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-

"You keep using that word.

- I do not think it means what you think it means."

Thus spake Mandy Patinkin as Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride (1987).
(That is the second most-quoted line from the movie. The first?  Many of you probably already know, but we'll get to that anyway.)

That movie was the midnight special at the River Oaks Theater last night.

The night was a bit of an adventure. Catching that showing was already on my to-do list, but got complicated by my car being in the shop Saturday, and not being finished (as they were sure it would be) so I'm on foot until Monday.

Fun part of that situation is that lower back pain makes walking difficult and painful.

Plus, you may have noted the "midnight" part.  The theater is a mile from my apartment and I walk though a mixed residential and commercial area (West Gray Street is a series of strip shopping centers in that area). Heading to the theater, a bit after 11 PM -- not so worrisome as plenty of people are out and about.

It was the return, at 2 AM that I wasn't all that thrilled about. So I took advantage of my CCL and was packing when I went to the theater.

In my post Speedloader, I mentioned a fanny-pack that I could use for concealment, but its problem is that it draws attention to itself. Instead, I just emptied the right-hand pocket of my slacks and put the .44 there.

It's a big pocket, but not an ideal solution as the weapon could snag if you don't grasp it properly (and adrenalin triggered by fear could certainly render "properly" as problematic), but I did feel much better knowing it was there. I figured on using situational-awareness as a substitute for fast draw anyway.

Also, it does make a bulge in that pocket, but it's not noticeable with black slacks at night. I would feel very uncomfortable in broad daylight with this. I'm really gonna have to come up with something better. But, time and money. Time and money. Mostly money.

I seem to recall starting off talking about a movie.

Ok, then ...

I wanted to experience the movie in a theater full of people who absolutely love movies, and that is an accurate description of the typical River Oaks Theater attendee. The usual audience is much better behaved than you find at most theaters, not because the theater has a huge bouncer (it doesn't), but because that's just the way they are.

What I did not expect is that the movie has such a following of people familiar with screenwriter William Goldman's dialog, that it would get a The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) treatment from the audience saying most of the lines in unison with the movie. I had no idea it had become that much of a cult item.

Loved the experience and am so glad that I didn't let my fears keep me from going.

Absolutely wonderful and fun movie. If you can't experience it the way I did last night, at least get the DVD and give yourself a treat.

So, what's the most-quoted line from the movie? To the point where the movie even quotes itself? Once more, it's from Inigo (who gets some of the best lines in the movie) and is unappreciated by the one to whom it was directed.

Mandy Patinkin as Inigo Montoya
from billybrew.com

Inigo (to the man he has found after searching for him for twenty years):
 "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!"

The man (after Inigo has repeated it for about the fifth time while pressing his attack): "STOP SAYING THAT!!!"
-

Whenever I think the Syfy Channel has reached its limit ...

... it manages to surpass itself.

For tonight (Sat, 16 Jun 2012, 8 PM CDT) TV Guide lists for The Syfy Channel ...

 Piranhaconda (2012) A piranha-anaconda hybrid terrorizes a movie crew.

Words fail me.
-

Update 2200 CDT, Sat 16 Jun 2012 - Going way above and beyond the call of duty, I've just finished watching it.

When I first heard of this, I flashed on another Syfy Channel offering of some time ago, Sharktopus (which is being repeated as I write this, with an encore of Piranhaconda to follow). Looking them up on the Imdb, it shouldn't shock you that I've learned that these two share a writer.

Having now seen it, I suppose some more words are in order.

Problem is, the words just don't exist.
-

Update - Sun, 17 Jun 2012 - Perceptive readers will notice that I've added a new label (Syfy Channel) to my Categories list. It promises an endless supply of material for when the muse goes on vacation and I can't think of anything else to write.

Commenter roadgeek noted, "It gets worse. They're about to premiere another movie called 'Arachnoquake'." (see his comment below).

Breaking tradition, it appears to not be from the writer who conjured up  Piranhaconda,  Sharktopus before that, and Dinocroc vs Supergator (Damn! Missed that one. Seeing a pattern there?).

But it does appear to follow the Syfy Channel's M.O. of adding to a cast of relative unknowns, in a supporting role, precisely ONE actor you may have even heard of (probably attracted to the project because rent is due, and he'd like to eat).

In Sharktopus you had Eric Roberts (Julia Roberts' brother; a fairly decent actor whom I last saw in The Dark Knight - Yes! The Batman film with Heath Ledger as The Joker).

Piranhaconda's token is Michael Madsen; a long way from Reservoir Dogs or Kill Bill.

Arachnoquake lists Edward Furlong (Sarah Conner's son John, in Terminator 2: Judgment Day).

No idea if it will have some of the (inadvertent) humor of Piranhaconda; in addition to their other problems, some bandits kidnap the movie crew for ransom. On recovering a videocam left by a victim of the title creature and seeing on it what they might be up against ...
  Chief thug's girlfriend:  "It seems to be a blend of piranha and anaconda
      "-- a PIRANHA-CONDA!"
  Chief thug:  "I can't believe you just said that."

-

"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

Dear God!  I'd almost forgotten.

It was twenty-five years ago today when President Ronald Reagan issued that challenge to Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, in a speech by the Brandenburg Gate on 12 Jun 1987.

That obscenity went up in 1961, and lasted until November 1989.

Twenty-eight years (twenty-six of them seeing all too many people making excuses for the damned thing until Reagan had the gall to treat it exactly as what it was) until it was finally destroyed. Although it stood for two more years, his speech almost certainly put the first crack in it.

He had a knack for speaking plainly in spite of an attitude from professionbal diplomats that "you cannot DO that" (especially his reference to the Soviet Union as "an evil empire").

Can you imagine any of that from the current occupant of the White House,  President Barack Obama?

Hell! He couldn't even be bothered to interrupt his golf games and fund raisers to help the union people in Wisconsin who had done so much to help his election.

Now, I am personally delighted at the outcome of the Wisconsin recall vote, but Obama's action there (or lack of) speaks volumes about the gulf between him and Reagan.

Right now, I miss almost everyone who preceded this disaster into the White House, and truly hope to God that this November will see him handed his eviction notice.

Remembering what we once had does not make me feel charitable towards this pathetic excuse of a politician at all.

Yup! This IS a vent.
-

Global Warming - A force so powerful ...

... it stunts black holes

This poster was created by Anthony Watts of Watts Up With That ...

... for his post Quote of the Week: ‘global warming stunts black holes’ , in which he was reminded of this line from Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men ...
   “Should we or should we not follow the advice of the galactically stupid!"

If the bottom line of the poster is difficult to read, it says ...
   "Takamitsu Tanaka - The New Scientist - June 9 2012"

Apparently, Takamitsu Tanaka at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching, Germany, and his colleagues developed an explanation ...

... that a prodigious amount of X-rays emitted as the supermassive black holes gulped gas would have heated up the universe. Black holes need cool gas to grow so this would have slowed down the growth of other black holes in smaller protogalaxies, even as the growth of black holes in the most massive protogalaxies continued apace (arxiv.org/abs/1205.6467v1).

"This global warming process could have basically quenched the latecomers," says Tanaka. "The early ones end up being the monsters and they prevent the overgrowth of the rest."

I suspect that Mr. Watts is having a bit of fun at this (admitting that he hadn't even finished his morning coffee - a very dangerous working condition as I have learned many times :-), noting ...

Tanaka probably should have said the “galactic warming process”, and maybe he did, and this could is a misquote by the unnamed author of the article at TNS. Either way, it shows how global warming on the brain tends to create an environment for such ridiculous comparisons to make it to press.

Update 1415 CDT, Sun, 10 JUN 2010 - I put this up a little over thirty minutes ago, and already Mr. Watts has struck out the likelihood of it being a misquote.

A commenter to Mr. Watts post said ...
To be fair, Tanaka might have made the comparison facetiously and New Scientist, being New Scientist, took it seriously.

That too seems reasonable. As I noted above, Mr. Watts could have been having fun and venting at the same time (the two are not mutually exclusive), and probably wishes he'd found justification for using a much more famous line from Jack Nicholson in that movie.

I, on the other hand, have no shame and require no such justification, but will plead that it really does apply to many of the global warming advocates ...

   "You can't handle the truth!"
-

The Wisconsin Voters Speak!

Photo from wattsupwiththat.com (Recycled
from Foray, where I explain it a bit more)

Update Thursday, 07 Jun 2012 - As of this morning, the latest unofficial tally I can find is a 1:07 AM Cleveland Plain Dealer report of 53%-46% in favor of Walker.

Considering how much union money went into this effort (screams about the Republicans outspending their rivals deliberately ignore funds coming from union dues and that paid union workers performing campaign duties are often referred to as "volunteers" to avoid listing them as part of campaign spending), a 9 to 10% margin still qualifies as an impressive broadside under the circumstances.

Impressive enough that a political action committee (Michigan Rising) has called off its efforts to force a recall against Michigan Governor Rick Snyder.

White House Spokesman Jim Carney told reporters that the result “probably won't tell us much about a future race."  Well, whistling past the graveyard is a part of the thankless job he has, and at least he's trying to earn his paycheck.

November is looking more and more promising. :-)

Update - 1852 CDT, Thursday, 07 Jun 2012 - NEVER do an update before you've had your morning coffee. The margin noted above should have been 7% - not 9 to 10%..

Still decisive. Still impressive enough. The Huffington Post Live Election Results is showing  1,334,450 votes for Walker, 1,162,785 for Barrett ( 53.1% vs 46.3% ). I have yet to see a count declared "official", but they show the reporting to be 100%, so it's extremely unlikely there will be boxes of uncounted ballots discovered to overturn this.

The comments I made in the first update (except for the margin) still stand.
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Dawn of the Commercial Space Age (Updated)

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 - Updated below, with more pictures. I love pictures.
Mon, 08 Oct 2012 - Updated at end. The second mission is now underway.

Yesterday (Friday, 25 May 2012) was my 70th birthday and, as an avid believer in our future in space, consider that day's news as the best present imaginable.

A commercial space vehicle has not just taken baby steps into space, but delivered cargo to the International Space Station.

See Dragon Docks and the commercial space era begins, by Jerry Pournelle.

Wordwise, there's nothing I can add to Dr. Pournelle's post, but I'm fond of pictures.

So, I scrounged up a couple ...

SpaceX's Falcon 9 launcher lifts off carrying the Dragon capsule,

early morning 22 May 2012 from Cape Canaveral, Florida,

to deliver cargo to the International Space Station. 

Photo from a.scpr.org

From www.SPACE.com

I truly believe we are on the right path, and on our way.

Update - Friday, 01 Jun 2012 - It's back. Here's some more pictures.
Yesterday (Thursday, 31 May 2012), the Dragon capsule successfully returned to earth.

So, I found these to add to the post:

It was launched Tuesday AM, 22 May 2012.  On Friday, 25 May 2012 ...

Photo from redorbit.com

... here it is closing in the the ISS (International Space Station). Three days to match orbits?  Well, it can be done faster (and has), but when it's just cargo that ain't whining, "Are we there yet?", you're apt to go for a more leisurely and energy-efficient path. Also, some of that time was used for various tests in orbit.

In space ...

From news.nationalgeographic.com

... there ain't no "up" or "down". It's all relative. At the bottom of this photo is part of the ISS. Rising up from it is one of the specialized robotic manipulator arms the Canadians appear to have a lock on. It's used to grab this (or any other) spacecraft and pull it down to the docking hatch.

After docking ...

From gizmag.com

... two of the ISS astronauts went inside to check things out (later followed by others).  The protective masks and goggles are routine when entering any spacecraft that has arrived (I'm guessing because of the combination of zero gravity and possible exposure to vacuum resulting in particulate matter, from cargo and God knows what else, being suspended in the air when it is opened up. That's a pure guess on my part. I've got a lot of things on my plate right now, and haven't had a chance to research that yet.).

I had to do a double check of the diagram of the capsule, as that appeared to be a big damned door, but it really is the docking hatch that you are looking at there, with the capsule interior behind them. We've come a looong way since the Mercury capsule. :-)

On Thursday, 31 May 2012 ...

Photo from mashable,com

... after its nine-day odyssey, Dragon returns, to land in the Pacific about 500 miles west of Baja California.  The photo is supposed to be from a video provided by NASA. I say "supposed" because I'm not at all sure what I'm seeing in the background. But, they could have caught it very high up, using a very long lens - they have some dandies!

From cheapcurts.com

From parabolicarc.com

Recovered, and by now probably on its way to the Port of Los Angeles, from whence it will be sent to a processing plant SpaceX has in McGregor, Texas (between Waco and Ft. Hood), for a final inspection.

Future missions are planned to come down on land, using retro rockets to soften the landing, and (hopefully) will be able to do it with "helicopter-like" precision.

So far, so good.

Addendum - Saturday, 02 Jun 2012 - The Astronomy Picture of the Day site put up a video the day after launch.  It's a Flash video, just under two minutes, and might take awhile to load on a slow connection (like mine).  As there's a delay of five or six seconds between ignition and hearing the sound, the video was shot around a mile from the pad.

See SpaceX's Falcon 9 Launches to the Space Station .

Update, 0115 CDT, Mon, 08 Oct 2012 - The second of these missions is now underway. About six hours ago, it lifted off at Cape Canaveral, Florida at 2035 EDT (1935 CDT), Sunday, 07 Oct 2012 in what was described on NASA TV as a picture perfect launch. It is now in low Earth orbit.

Once again, so far, so good. :-)
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Nibbled to death by ducks.

Supposedly, it was someone in the State Department, in the '40s or '50s, who thusly likened working there under their endless rules and protocols.

My suspicion is that the sentiment was voiced shortly after the first bureaucrats painted their edicts on the walls of caves (probably "No Painting!" signs).

I don't post as often as I would like, because sometimes the muse shacks up with someone else and all I can do is wait and hope she returns so I can inquire, "Well, did you have a good time?"

So, what's the latest duck to come waddling into my workspace, inspiring her return? ...

... a memo, from the powers that be, that we need to work on our rapport with customers, and a little form to be filled in daily with your little helpful hints.  From this copy of what I turned in, you can see I gave it exactly the respect it deserves.

I just hope it doesn't get me fired for responding that way, but sometimes I just cannot help myself.  I've been that way for a long time.

I was first introduced to bureaucracy and Mickey Mouse crap passed down from on-high (from people with way too much time on their hands), while in the USAF, half a century ago!  In fact, while still in Basic Training. Would you believe that one of my drill sergeants referred to me as an "agitator"?  (He didn't seem all that displeased; I suspect we were actually in agreement where some of my bitching was concerned.)

Ok, then. What's so insane (so Dilberty) about that memo?

"... you could utilize to start the conversation with your customer."

This is a supermarket, where you are trying to move things fairly rapidly. YES!!!  You DO wish to have good relations with your customers, but most customers come here to get something and then get out, because they have other places to go, other things to do, and conversation is NOT what they came in for.  You really want to get people antsy (cashiers, managers and other customers):  get that conversation started while people line up waiting to get their business done and get out.

I'm never good at long conversations and do not try to initiate them. I AM open and friendly, and have never had a complaint about being cold and aloof. Basically, I try to use common sense.

And that is precisely the gripe I have about that (and similar) memos. That they absolutely give you no credit whatever for possessing common sense and take the attitude that they must lead you by the hand every step of the way.

It's degrading, demoralizing and an insult to your intelligence.  I suspect that is considered a sine-qua-non by the people who justify their miserable existences by conjuring up and inflicting those memos on the rest of us.

I promised the manager who hired me that he would not be getting some disgruntled guy showing up with an attitude, and I've done my level best to keep that promise, but sometimes ...

With Dilbert, Scott Adams has probably already said everything I could possibly say on this subject.

I just needed to get that out of my system.
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Foray

- "a quick raid, usually for the purpose of taking plunder."

My previous post, Treasure Island, began ...
 On Saturday night, 05 May 2012, the SYFY Channel made a foray there.

That post was prompted by the SYFY Channel showing their version of the story. While I spent a few paragraphs on it, I mostly wrote about the 22-year-old TNT Channel Charlton Heston version that I found to be far superior.

I used that word "foray" because I had heard it before and liked the sound of it. In my usual nit-picking after-the-fact analysis I often conduct on things, I later looked it up to see if it was a good choice. It was purest accident that it turned out to be perfect in that context.

Well, yet another foray appears about to occur.

Tomorrow (Friday, 18 May 2012), "Battleship" hits the big screens.  Based on the Hasbro board game (of which I know absolutely nothing; Hasbro was also responsible for "Transformers"), it sounds like the kind of put-brain-in-neutral-and-enjoy type of special effects extravaganza I will almost certainly check out.  All about the US Navy (including that Battleship) taking on hostile alien spaceships.

So, what do I find in the TV Guide for the very next evening (Saturday, 19 May 2012); on the SYFY Channel?

"American Battleship (2012) - The Crew of the USS Iowa take on a fleet of hostile alien spaceships."

I could spend weeks of research and probably never find a better example of what the SYFY Channel is apparently about.  Sure, other networks are also guilty of this, but I cannot think of any that are so blatant about it. They don't even pretend to be not ripping off other works.

They are truly unmatched for audacity.
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First Update - Fri, 18 May 2012 - Saw "Battleship" .
Bottom Line:  Save your money. Dumb doesn't even begin to describe it.

I wrote this post, not as a review, but as a comment on the SCFY Channel's policy of latching on to the latest potential hit out of Hollywood in an attempt to rake in a bit for themselves by ripping it off.

Now, I'm wondering if I'll wind up enjoying their version more. That would be truly ironic. I'll know more tomorrow evening.

This will be a long night;  in a little bit, I'm going to a midnight showing, at the River Oaks theater, of a 2000 Japanese gore-fest called "Battle Royale" (sort of "The Hunger Games" on steroids). Thank God I don't have to work tomorrow. :-)

Second Update - Sat, 19 May 2012 - Up above, I seem to have committed myself to checking the SYFY Channel offering.  So, I did.
Bottom Line on That: Could have been worse.

The most damning thing about "Battleship" is that is the best thing that could be said about it.

"American Battleship" (as it's called in TV Guide; "American Warships" is its actual title) can be described as "not too bad", and is a surprise by not being from Romania or Bulgaria as so many made for SYFY Channel movies have been.

If you didn't catch it, you really haven't missed anything. Nothing left to say.

Update Tue, 05 Jun 2012 - I found this photo of the USS Iowa delivering a broadside, and the kid in me (which is the dominant part of my nature :-) reacted with "Cool!!!".

An overhead view of the battleship USS IOWA (BB-61) firing all 15 of its guns

(nine 16-inch and six 5-inch) during a 1984 target exercise near Vieques Island.  

What made me go for this one over the many other photos available was the concussive effects on the water of the gun's firing. That bowl-like depression in the water is about a city block and a half across.

In the SYFY Channel movie, the Iowa is on its last voyage, on its way to becoming a floating museum when hostile alien spaceships attack with EMP weapons that fry and make useless all the solid-state gadgetry of modern vessels.  As this antique has old fashion stuff immune to such attacks, all of a sudden it comes in pretty handy.

On Anthony Watt's Watts Up With That? site, I found Memorial Day tribute – USS Iowa final voyage this weekend , from whence the photo came. That final voyage was the ship on its way to becoming a floating museum. So far, no mention of spaceships.

As it turns out, the photo is on topic here; neither the movie "Battleship" nor the SYFY version having any scene to hold a candle to that photo.

But even if this blog was devoted exclusively to needlepoint, I'd have found some justification for putting it here. Some photos justify themselves. 

(I guess I had a bit more to say after all. :-)

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Treasure Island

On Saturday night, 05 May 2012, the SYFY Channel made a foray there.

To their credit, and true to their apparent resolution that their new name is just a meaningless bit of noise giving them license to show whatever they wish without the necessity of it having anything to do with "science-fiction", they did not introduce a device or being from another world into the story (as they actually have done in some of their previous efforts with classics).

Unless you count the casting of ...

Eddie Izzard as Long John Silver  in Treasure Island (2012) - from theartsdesk.com

... comedian Eddie Izzard as Long John Silver.

But, this is not a diss on Eddie Izzard. Indeed, he is easily the best thing in an otherwise forgettable savaging of the story, and is the only reason to check it out when it is inevitably repeated, becomes available on Netflix, or is issued on DVD (probably within a few months).

His take on Long John is one of the best in ages, deserving to be in a far worthier movie. He adds a tremendous amount of depth and presence to a cunning and almost completely amoral character.

His problem is that, except for an appearance by Donald Sutherland as Captain Flint (this should make most of you who know the story react with, "WHAT?!!!"), he is mostly a one man band here. The rest of the cast is competent, but that's all I can really say about them. That translates pretty well as forgettable.

I have argued before and, after this, still consider the absolutely finest version of the story to be ...

(All images below are screencaps from this DVD)

Charlton Heston created perhaps the finest version ever of Treasure Island (1990) as a made-for-TV movie, and populated it with a wonderful cast (he did pretty well with his part as well, considering that Long John Silver is not an easy role, having to be tough enough to control a pirate crew and still manage to be sympathetic to a young boy).

Long available only on VHS tape, late last year if finally became available on DVD (and about damn time too.)

Considering that I described Charlton Heston as "did pretty well with his part as well, ...", you might be wondering, "In that case, what's so special about this version?"

My answer would be, "Just about everything else."

From the music soundtrack by Paddy Maloney and The Chieftains augmenting their traditional pipes and whistles with native drums and the unmistakable bass-note stuttering Whonk-wong-wonnnggg of an Australian aboriginal didgeridoo (those additions are not gimmicks, but fit perfectly with the mood the movie is trying to set at times), to the casting of major A-List players for various parts.

Such as ...

Oliver Reed as Billy Bones

and ...

Isla Blair as Mrs. Hawkins and an impossibly young Christian Bale as Jim Hawkins

along with ...

Christopher Lee as Blind Pew -  "SIT, right where you are!", as he confronts Billy Bones

and also ...

Pete Postlethwaite as George Merry

Those are A-List actors, some for parts that would normally be filled by lesser players. And this pays off in the result.

Of course, for Long John ...

Charlton Heston as Long John Silver

Although I praised Eddie Izzard for his interpretation of Long John, I still maintain that Charlton  was just fine in that role, just a bit less obviously so because he surrounded himself with exceptional talent. As he produced the movie, making the whole thing possible, here's another picture with him ...

Robert Putt as Job Anderson, Michael Halsey as Israel Hands,

and Chuck as, well you know.

Note that dude in the center. Israel Hands is one of the most interesting characters in the story, and Michael Halsey (I'd never heard of him before, but he's done quite a lot of work in television) absolutely owns the character.

Early in the voyage, before disappearing overboard one night, First Mate Mr. Arrow ...

... had this as his last sight.

Israel Hands was Captain Flint's chief gunner, so if you are not a friend of Israel,...

... this is not where you would wish to see him.

After Jim has had a confrontation with Hands, ...

"Oh, Jim. You didn't keep your powder dry. Didn't they learn you nothin'?"

A classic painting for a special issue of the book set up these scenes ...

Bottom line: Michael Halsey absolutely owns this role, and he alone would be ample reason to seek out and buy this DVD, but there is so much else as well. You can probably find it in bargain shelves at Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, and others.

I would so love to see this on the big screen, with an audience, perhaps as a midnight movie at the River Oaks Theater. I actually think it would do well and the audience would love it. But, I wont hold my breath waiting for a dream.

(Yes!  I really think it's that good.  Go find it, buy it, and tell me what you think.  Ok?  :-)

To an unknown viewer in Minnesota, who has lately appeared many times on my site meter (seeking "michael halsey actor") ...

I'm delighted at the interest in a post I'm quite fond of.  My email address is linked in the left column on my page. If you feel like it, I would love to hear from you.
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"The more things change ...

... the more screwed up they become."

Ok! That ain't the French way of putting it; it's my way. But I'll bet they sympathize.

On the old "Siskel & Ebert" movie review show, while reviewing Rob Reiner's "North", Roger Ebert noted that when writing his review for his column in the paper, some inner demon took over and he wrote, "I hate, Hate, HATE this movie!", using the word "hate" 17 times in the review.

At the moment, that pretty well describes my reaction to Blogger.com's new user interface, especially when editing and creating posts.  I can't help but wonder if this is the reason I haven't seen anything new in almost a week from a fellow Blogger.com user, who may have decided that "Life's just too damned short!".

As a former programmer ("Software Engineer") I can attest that sometimes the great and pressing need for a change in software is relief from boredom. We really do sometimes make a change because it's cool, without much regard for the poor user who's just trying to get something done.

It's not really unusable; it's just that nothing seems to be in the right place, and you're spending an inordinate amount of time doing things that had become second nature in the old interface.

I've yet to see any genuine improvement or advantage over what it's replaced, and my cynical feeling that it was done on a "Wouldn't it be cool?" basis is probably correct.

I won't abandon Blogger.com over this, and will probably get accustomed to their new way of doing things, by which time one of their programmers will almost certainly propose, "You know what would really be cool?"

(Having told the great secret about programmers, you know I have to kill you. Right? :-)
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Notes by others on Holocaust Remembrance Day ...

Thursday, April 19, was Holocaust Remembrance Day.

A number of bloggers wrote some very fine pieces on it, but Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit posted Obama Celebrates Holocaust Day By Putting Jew-Bashing Crackpot on Atrocities Board, noting ...

Jeff Dunetz at The Lid reported:

Today the President tried to show he was a friend of the Jews with a beautifully crafted speech at the Holocaust Museum. Showing his words mean nothing, also today Samantha Power began work today as chair of President Barack Obama’s new Atrocities Prevention Board. If you don’t remember Ms Power, she once called for a US force to invade Israel and force through a “peace settlement.” Powers also had some unflattering things to say about about America’s Jewish population during the 2008 campaign

How long do you think it will be before Powers uses that board as a tool to de-legitimize Israel?

Yes, there are a lot of words here in this post that are not mine, but with which I'm in complete agreement, including a comment reprinted in its entirety, in which I emphasized (with bold face), the "money quote" that is the reason for this post in the first place.

Here is that comment ...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update - 07:05, Tue, 24 Apr 2012 -

No, here is not that comment. For those who never bother with reading them, the first legitimate (non-spam) comment this post got said ...

What a conundrum. 

The attribution to Sebastian Vilar Rodriguez is false. 

The claim that it was published in an unnamed Spanish newspaper is false. 

But every statement in the article is true.

Further research discloses, as commenter antares suggests, that this may fall into the "fake, but accurate" category (as CBS news so lovingly described the counterfeit documents it promoted in a story about George Bush's Air National Guard experiences).

So, however sympathetic I may be to what it said (and that is precisely the danger there; it appeals to personally held beliefs), being unable (at the moment) to back it up, I've pulled it.

It may be a fine subject for a post, but it should come from words I've conjured up from my own research; not just passed along from an email.
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"They say a snake bit her once ...

... and died."

I thought of that line when Democratic “strategist” and DNC adviser Hilary Rosen attacked Mitt Romney's wife Ann with “Guess what, she's actually never worked a day in her life.” (Ann Romney is a mother who has raised five kids. How many of you mothers appreciate the notion of that not being real work? I thought so.)

Problem is, to use that line in reference to Rosen gives her way too much credit.

It's from the the BBC mini-series I, Claudius (1976), in which Tiberius was speaking of his perpetually scheming mother Livia.

But Livia Drusilla (or Livia Augusta, as she was wife to Emperor Caesar Augustus), played by the absolutely mesmerizing Siân Phillips, is infinitely more interesting than Hilary Rosen could ever dream of being, and might even be someone you would like to meet (provided you survived the experience).

Siân Phillips as Livia    -    from www.themakeupgallery.info

From what I can glean, Siân is the Welsh form of Jane, and

 is pronounced "Shan" -- with a short a sound (as in Ann)
(19 Apr 2012 - I love that photo; a combination of
majestic beauty and Medusa. I suspect that Livia
could hold that expression while watching you
being disemboweled, probably by her order.)

Bringing up the example of "I, Claudius" only demonstrates how shallow and empty the current crop of political connivers are.

To Ms. Rosen, and to the rest of the vipers in The One's re-election campaign: You could do far worse than to study "I, Claudius", to see how it's really done.

But you are, and will remain, just a pathetic bunch of wannabes. This post is fading fast because not one of you is truly worth the effort.
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