Happy Birthday

In response the the attempted Christmas day bombing I could write a long-winded dissertation about America’s inability to learn from its mistakes, but instead I will keep it simple.  It’s true, our airports need more security, but that can not be our only solution.  We cry out “the stupidity!” when we learn about how the officials overlooked the numerous red flags sent up by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab .  No one is making any concrete efforts to fix the problem at its roots.  Sure, better airport screening could have stopped him from getting on the plane, but more dilligent efforts should be made to keep people like Abdulmutallab from even getting a visa.  And since this new, invasive airport screening technology isn’t winning any popularity contests there’s really only one option; take what we have and make it better, don’t throw more junk at it.

Happiness and Humanity

I wonder what President Carter would think of this article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/nyregion/22nyc.html?_r=1

Happiness - is this not why we stay alive?  Is this not our only obligation?  But the author raises a valid point at the end of the article; that under much duress we produce greatness.  Do you wan to benefit from your wellbeing or have others benefit from your pain?  What is it worth?

Lost list #2

So, season 2, what can I say?  A lot of people lied and I bring you the worst.

Top 6 Most Detrimental Lies in descending order

• Charlie lying to Claire about his intentions with the Virgin Mary statue
• Sun and Jin’s doctor lying about Sun’s inability to conceive
• Locke lying to Jack about Ana Lucia’s scratched forehead
• Goodwin pretending to be a Tailie
• Michael misleading his co-survivors in order to get Walt
• “Henry Gale”

Constellation debris

This Friday evening on my way to work while at a stoplight I observed a ball of flaming light falling in the sky.  For a split second I thought “shooting star!” but after the thought was completed the flaming ball of light was still falling for three and a half more seconds.  Puzzled I told this story to my co-workers and one of them offered “meteor shower” to which I agreed but wasn’t sure because wouldn’t I have read about such galactic activity online like usual? 

About an hour ago at 4am I read this article http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34364574/ns/technology_and_science-space/ thus answering my question.  But what an opportunity!  I always come across meteor shower articles after the fact or I am in the wrong area at the wrong time, so before I even finished reading I grabbed my coat, hat and mittens and watched the sky.  Since I missed the peak shower fall I wasn’t hopeful for a downpour but the sky was chrystal clear and only seconds after stepping outside I saw the familiar balls of light.  After about a half hour of teeth-shattering cold I probably saw twenty good ones while others were so faint I wasn’t sure if they were actual meteors or if my mind was playing tricks on me.  A fulfilling endeavor nontheless that I would recomend to anyone regardless of the low temperature.

We have to go back

It’s not easy being an avid Lost follower but someone has to do it.  Before the 6th and final season I have started rewatching the previous five.  I have finished season one and though this is at least the fourth time I have watched it, it is the first time I noticed how episodic the season is.  “Genius! A TV series with episodes!”  Don’t be so facitious, what I mean is, Lost has very few filler episodes, I would almost go so far as to say less than five, which means you recognize each episode as part of a whole.   But in season 1 the episodes are  in fact very complete, though the reason for this may be what is the biggest debate in all of Lost-dom: did the writers plan the whole series from the beginning or are they making it up as they go along?  As far as the core mythology generally yes, but as far as details and the flashbacks generally no.  The Lost gods declared in season 3 that season 6 would be the end and some believe this is when it becomes more  obvious to the viewers the writers have a more clear road map for the series.  I will be looking for this.  

For now during my journey back through the Island I will compile a series of Lost lists inspired by the most current season.                          

Season 1’s Top 6 most painful moments endured by a character in descending order:

• Sayid getting electrocuted by Rousseau                                   
• Marshal getting the shrapnel taken out of his side and the aftermath up until his death
• Sayid gunpowdering Charlie’s wound shut             
• Sawyer getting tortured by Sayid  
• Boone falling from the cliff while inside the plane and then getting his leg reset after breaking it
• Claire giving birth on the island without any medical aid

Sailing

Need I say more?

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/travel/15sailing.html

 

Food for worms

A comendable project, I hope to see the documentary one day: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091031/ap_en_mo/us_dead_poets

If you’re not doing anything today, get thee to ye olde graveyard and extol praises worthy of the poet who lies below.

City lights

I thought I would list every city I have ever been to in the order of most to least visited (though keep in mind I can’t remember the exact number and I’m probably even forgetting a few):

Boston, MA

Providence, RI

New London, CT

New York City, NY

Manchester, NH

Washington DC

Hartford, CT

Paris, France

Guayaquil, Ecuador

New Orleans, LA

Richmond, VA

New Haven, CT (driven through)

Jersey City, NJ (driven through)

Philadelphia, PA (rode through on train)

St. Louis, Missouri

Baltimore, MD (Airport only)

Miami, FL (Airport only)

Yeah, well, we have modern medicine

This makes me feel inadequate:

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE59D0BR20091014

If we can just keep spreading our medical technology we’d be all set.

The newest wave of communication technology

 

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/12/google-wave-and-the-dawn-of-passive-aggressive-communication/#comment-3040406

If you have time read the comments to the article on the right.