The Prisoner

We don't get AMC here, but if you do, you might want to check on the remake of the Prisoner.


Ian McKellrn stars as Two, the boss , but Jim Caviezel plays the Patrick McGoohan role....

The 4.2 kiloyear event

Yesterday, Discovery channel had a special on the fall of Egypt: Why the Old Kingdom collapsed, and was followed by 200 years of chaos and lack of records. They implied it was a long drought (at which point I fell asleep, alas).

But I am also listening to podcasts on the ancient civilizations of India, and the Harappan civilization of the Indus valley also disappeared about this time...but Wikipedia says no, not 2200 but 1700 BC...
more HERE.
more about climate changes and the effects on civilization HERE.

Robo fairies

In an A&M University presentation of "A Midsummer Night's Dream", the fairies are all accompanied by...robofairies:


"The idea of flying robot fairies was one I had early on, as soon as I heard about the possibility of a collaboration with the Department of Computer Science and Engineering," Hopper said in a press release. "What's great is that they have been a part of the production from the beginning and the robots seem more and more like characters that have always been a part of the story. To see them flying, spinning and bouncing through the air just adds to the magic and mystery of the world Shakespeare created."

headsup Physorg

Stuff below the fold

The lawyers at PowerlineBlog discuss the legal implications of trying terrorists in civilian courts...

and point out that the Nuremburg trials were military tribunals

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MPAA police are shutting down community WiFi sites.

nah, just because they cut the profit of the telecoms has nothing to do with it.

And if you think that is scary, ZDNET points out:

Microsoft shuts down Xbox Game Portal access to users with XBox Consoles that have been modified or are playing pirated games.

• It’s estimated that over 600,000 users have been affected.

Big Brother is watching you...and your XBox.

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A lot of us worry that children playing violent games, like children who watch violent TV programs, will desensitize them so that they are more prone to commit violent acts.

But others argue that playing video games (like sports) will allow a non violent way to divert rage and anger, so that the anger is defused.

StrategyPage, in an article on the prevention of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, notes:
, when possible, combat troops sleep in air conditioned rooms, and have access to the Internet and video games, as well as good food and other amenities. The video games and Internet resulted in an unexpected positive effect. The surveys found that troops that spent 2-4 hours a day on the Internet or playing video games (even violent ones) had far fewer stress problems. Having exercise facilities available also helped....

The answer is probably both: When there is anger, expressing it in a harmless way is one way to defuse it. But when a person already is prone toward harmful acts, games and media that glamourize violence allow "permission" to act out.

Family News

The flu is going through employees again...Ruby and Joy both had a mild case, and several employees. Lolo and I are okay, probably because we had it the last round in June.

The workmen have been here day and night making booths for the local businesses for trade fairs. Finished now, so everyone can go to sleep before midnight.

Dog killed another kittie, who wandered out looking for mom...I heard him but am slower than the dog.
Sigh.

However, on Sunday, Chano saved a stray kittie that wandered in here...mangy but strong. So we still have four kittens.

Blackie's puppies are starting to get out of their box...will have to banish them to the kitchen, whose tile floor is easier to clean than our hardwood floor in the bedroom.

The Gods must be Crazy

if you have never seen the movie "the Gods Must Be Crazy", and want to laugh out loud, go to link...

You see, there was this coca cola bottle, a bushman, a naive blond teacher, a klutzy scientist, and a bunch of insurgents...

The funniest part: when the scientist got his Landrover stuck in a tree...

Chicken post number two

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

The real disaster news of the week:

Chicken wing shortage forces sports bars to punt

Article tells you why:
It's the economics, stupid.

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Trivia item: In the US, barbecued chicken wings are called Buffalo wings, after the city (Buffalo NY).
And here is how you make them:

House beautiful

When we lived in the US, Lolo always bought Better Homes and Gardens. His sense of design is worse than mine, but he enjoyed looking at beautiful rooms and decor.

Here in the Philippines, if we want to buy this type of magazine, we go to the used book store which sells the unsold magazines from a couple months ago.

But what is amazing is all the design and decor websites available on line.

The link is to The Peak of Chic, one of the best.

Peacekeeping and anthropology

StrategyPage notes: The US Army is teaching cross cultural anthropology by using games. This enables direct work with locals in peacekeeping.

Ironically, I've stumbled across some of their webpage educational sites for various countries (not games, just descriptions). Lots of cultural points and tips for lots of countries.

And this page let me download useful medical phrases to use when I see sick employees and their families.

Medical personnel might consider downloading it if they need to talk to someone in Tagalog (or a couple dozen other unusual languages) in case your patient only speaks Khmer or Somali or Spanish.

The "WAGD" post of the day

could global warming lead to an instant "mini ice age" as in AlGore's disaster movie?

Well, probably not. 12,800 years ago, it took a year to restart a mini ice age, giving you time to buy your sub zero parka before you froze to death.

Musical interlude of the day

turn up speakers and Hula!

Trivia fact for the day

The Bayeux Tapestry had a "picture" of Halley's comet on it...the comet was considered a bad omen back then.

Bart's comet

Sorry but thanks to the copyright police I couldn't find any link to theSimpson episode where Bart finds a comet ready to demolish Springfield.

But Wikipedia has a summary of the plot, and this link says it has the episode for you.


614

Science stuff of the week

The "we're all gonna die...well, maybe not" story of the week:

Asteroid 2009 VA Barely Misses Earth...

FromTheGonzoBlog calculates how much damage a meteor that size could cause, depending on what it was made of and how it hit.
Worse case scenerio?
Imagine a 3,800 foot wide, 800 foot deep crater suddenly becoming an obvious landmark in your hometown, wild stuff.

Astronomycast podcast discussion here

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Nanohair inspired by sea urchins.
From Technology Review: (The nanobristles) spontaneously curl into a precise array of helical bundles when immersed in an evaporating liquid. AAizenberg likens the phenomena to the way wet, curly hair clumps together and coils to form dreadlocks...

Via BoingBoing.
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In humans, however, curly hair is caused by a single gene.

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But a lot of questions about the toxicity of nano particles is still being questioned.
if you love protesting chemicals, just wait till nano particle hysteria starts
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Putting textbooks on Kindles could save money, but they are "too hard" for the visually impaired to figure out how to use the text to speech function, so the PC want to ban them from some universities as "discriminatory".

Silly me. I thought if you went to college, you'd be smart enough to figure such things out.
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Family News

They are up all night making booths for the local businesses to use in trade fairs.

Last night they set up in Clark.

The puppies have opened their eyes, and are starting into the "cute" stage.

Lolo and I are well.

Minor brownouts, but no posting yesterday was due to lazyness.

You know you're getting old

When your classmates at the reunion look like your grandmother.


see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Enchanted April

Enchanted April just popped up on Youtube...



and if you don't get a chance to watch it before the copyright police remove it, listen to the audiobook HERE.

(headsup the Anchoress)

Fort Hood and crime statistics rant

NYTimes story on violence at FortHood.
moved to BNN.

the president is right: Stress the heroism, not the psychobabble.

Audio Links for today

Librivox has links to books on nursing in wartime

A nurse in WWI: LINK

A nurse in the Civil war LINK

BBC program on Florence Nightingale HERE.

She still inspires nurses all over the world today, as this video by nursing students shows: LINK Part ONE:

Another Day another (fill in the blanks)

Another Day, another Volcano...

Mayon spewing lava again...far from us so we're okay.

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Another day, another impeachment try...

$329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) contract with China’s ZTE Corp. was overpriced by about $130 million to cover kickbacks.

They got a whistleblower on the case because he was shocked that the kickback was too high...

Alas, such things are common via Instapundit:

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD ON THE GLOBAL COST OF CORRUPTION:

How much do crooked politicians and others steal every year?

Nobody really knows, of course, but as the BBC reports today, the UN estimates that $1.6 trillion each year is stolen each year and moved across national borders.

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No typhoons this week however.

Craft item of the day

a David Hasselhof paper doll...
via AyyeBlog.

Craft item of the day

If you hurry, you just about have enough time to crochet a Turkey Tea Cosy for your Thanksgiving supper table. Pattern at link.

Design by AngelinaCatirina...

Reading links FYI

I have most of Sigrid Undset's books with me.
You might have heard of her book Kristen Lavransdattir, which is still in print and was made into a movie a couple years ago.

What I didn't know is that she had written a biography of Catherine of Sienna, now being republished by Ignatius Press.

Ignatius press is also releasing a biography of Dr.Takashi Nagai, whose books helped heal the bitterness in Japan after the bomb...he lost his family in the bombing of Nagasaki.
More about him here at JesusOtakuBlog...
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Librivox has coffee break stories of faith for your listening pleasure.

Includes "How The Virtues Of Abstinence And Patience Rise In The Sensuality"

And if you don't find that stimulating enough, try listening to speeches given to the UK House of Commons.

Uh, it was around here somewhere...

"...Hundreds of bleached bones and skulls found in the desolate wilderness of the Sahara desert may be the remains of the long lost Cambyses' army, according to Italian researchers...."

Again, Herodatus story, which many had ridiculed, turned out to be true.

Herodatus says Cambyses went crazy after wounding the Apis bull.

Lesson: Don't mess with the (Holy Apis) Bull...
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In another bull story a man in the Philippines was gored by a waterbuffalo for preventing him from visiting his girlfriend.

Sigh

Benny HIll

Benny Hill won't get his own stamp in the UK:

"Benny Hill has been included in previous presentations but concerns were raised by our public relations team as it was in direct opposition to company's policies on harassment in the workplace," the minutes stated.

Gift item of the day

A Nativity set for the bear lovers in your home.

Stuff below the fold

How a casual remark brought down the Berlin Wall...
BBC calls it a "baffling year".


JP2, Reagan, Thatcher, andSolzhenitsyn might have had something to do with it...

---------------------------------
Pashtuns and Kurds and Baluchis o my...

Do you give tribes their own country, or integrate them into larger countries, or ethnically cleanse the area, like the Turks did to the Greeks?

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Forget the JDAMS:

Beware of the Bears.

Movie Suggestion for the week

Post Traumatic stress syndrome is not a new problem...

and for my spin on the Fort Hood murders, I have it on BNN. And my non PC version is HERE.

Japanese names

I am always fascinated on how different cultures devise names.

Until the reforms of the Meiji period, one's "name" would essentially be a description of one's family...

"...Here's how it breaks down: Saito, the family name, refers to a real or fictitious ancestor's official post as head of ritual purification (sai) at Ise Grand Shrine in present-day Mie Prefecture, the nation's holiest Shinto site. Ichiro, meaning "first-born son" (just as Jiro means "second son," Saburo "third son," and so on) isn't so much a name, as it would be today, as a kind of decoy — more on that in a moment. Sama-no-kami means "Head of the Left Horse Stables," an ancient title evocative of ancestry serving in the Imperial Palace, where all duties were divided for symmetry into "left" and "right." Minamoto is a clan name. Ason is another ancient title, of the sort known as kabane — there were eight in all, awarded to clan chieftains most eligible for hereditary government office. And Tadayoshi is the personal name, whose utterance in everyday situations that decoy "Ichiro" made unnecessary. Why was that desirable? Because in Japan until the Meiji Era, personal names — used sparingly even today — were taboo..."

headsup TokyoMango

First step toward a space elevator?

"...The team's robotic machine raced up more than 2,950 feet of cable dangling from a helicopter.

Powered by a ground-based laser pointed up at the robot's photo voltaic cells that converted the light into electricity, the LaserMotive machine completed one of its climbs in about three minutes and 48 seconds, good for second-place money..."

podcast on space elevator HERE