They’ve released the trailer for the upcoming Bond film, Casino Royale.
I’ve got grave reservations about “new direction” the series is moving in, but the trailer doesn’t look as bad as I expected. Daniel Craig as the new Bond looks more like a henchman, though.
Perhaps that’s what they were going for?
Ever want to be meet the Beatles? Ever want to be the Beatles?
Well you can’t.
But, you can spend your day watching the Abbey Road webcam, waiting to see other people who have made the pilgrimage and try to imitate the album cover of the Beatles’ famous album, Abbey Road.
Believe it or not, you don’t even have to watch the webcam very long to catch someone monkeying around.
Looks like Apple is finally getting serious about advertising Mac computers to the world. Apple recently unleashed 6 new Apple ads demonstrating the superiority of the Mac over a PC. You can watch the videos are the Apple link above.
There’s a lot of controversy about the commercial that points out the problem with viruses on Windows PCs and then points out the lack of them on the Mac.
Some people liken this to an airline advertising that they have fewer crashes than other airlines. Others liken it to car companies pointing out superior crash-test ratings.
I think the later is probably the most applicable parallel, but when a Mac virus comes, the media will blow it so far out of proportion that these ads will probably seem like the blew up in Apple’s face.
The fact is that OSX has (it doesn’t matter why) virtually no virus problems, especially when compared with PCs and that, by design, it is more safe than Windows PCs.
That does not mean that Macs cannot be hit by viruses, but even in the PC world, most of the time, virus problems have a human element (the operator) that has shown time and time again that they can circumvent even the best security. (Until the operators are replaced by Korean Fembots.)
Technorati Tags: Apple, Blog, Computer, Mac, OSX, Software, Technology
Gotta Love Taiwan!
While you’re at it, you might check out Alidarbac’s Flickr Photos – This guy has lots of really good photos.
The London Sunday Times => Bigfoot’s 20,000-year-old walkabout – Newspaper Edition – Times Online
The London Sunday Times had this article about fossilized 20,000 year old hominid footprints found in Australia.
Fossilized footprints are particularly fascinating. Fossilized bones, trees and plants represent a preservation of death. They can tell us a lot about the structure and anatomy of the specimen, and in some cases they can tell us something about there life – but always after their death.
Fossilized footprints; however, represent frozen moments in time. A unique and all-too rare opportunity to see something about prehistoric life as it happened. These prints represent a time in the life of 8 hunter-gathers, adults and children.
It’s a truly amazing discovery.
Technorati Tags: Archaeology, Blog, Paleontology, Science
School Reunion
by Toby Whithouse
One of the most annoying things about the new Doctor Who series (last year and this) is the incessant return to Rose’s life on Earth. Russell T. Davies has repeatedly said that he likes to explore the world of those left behind and that it grounds the show in emotional reality for the audience.
Personally, I think it’s a interesting theme, but one that only needed to be explored once. Similarly, and more interesting, is the theme of what happens to a companion when they leave the TARDIS. Over the years, how many have their been? Sometimes they’re left on alien worlds, fall in love, find a new purpose and calling in life, get feed up with the carnage and, yes, sometimes they die.
But how could any life follow the one they led with the Doctor?
And so we come to Miss Sarah Jane Smith, an investigative reporter who once thought she’d identified a mysterious character as a spy and entered into his mysterious Police Box only to find herself in the Middle Ages fighting a Sontaran warrior. Sarah Jane subsequently spent 3 more years traveling with the Doctor spanning the transition between Jon Pertwee’s Doctor to Tom Baker’s. She was the companion in what were arguably the three best years of the series’ history.
Unlike most of the other characters, Sarah Jane did not leave voluntarily. The Doctor received a call to Gallifrey and left her behind, never to return. (Unless you count that time they met up again in The Five Doctors)
In School Reunion, she’s back, looking a lot like the “Ghost of Rose Future” Sad, alone and living a life that has been a letdown since the Doctor left her. For us it’s great to see Sarah Jane again, but for Rose it’s a wake-up call. How long can you live with someone who, for all practical purposes, is immortal? What follows is a lot of soul searching, cat fights, regrets and finally some female bonding.
The estrogen is so high in this episode if it weren’t for the vampires, it would have to be shown on the Lifetime Network.
Vampires? Oh, that’s right, there was an adventure story going on behind the scenes, too.
Seems these alien vampires, who adopt the characteristics of the races they conquer, have taken possession of a school in London. Good old Micky Smith calls Rose and the Doctor back to Earth to investigate. Here they meet Sarah Jane, whose investigative reporter instincts have also led her to the school.
The aliens are using human children brains to unlock a secret formula to allow them to restructure the universe in any form they want. Well, let’s not worry too much about their motivations, they’re nasty and they eat people. I suppose that’s not good enough anymore, they have to threatening the whole fabric of the universe – by using English school children. Like I said, let’s not analyze the motivations too closely.
Oh yeah, and if that wasn’t enough, K9, the tin dog, was in the episode, too. (…and Micky, too, the human tin dog.)
Even though this episode wasn’t written by Russell T. Davies, it still had some real logic clinkers in it. For example:
Despite all that, I still enjoyed the episode and Tennant’s Doctor goes from strength to strength. Sarah Jane was, in my opinion, the best companion the Doctor ever had and it was good to see her again, even if it was only to say goodbye.
Goodbye Sarah Jane Smith.
Technorati Tags: Blog, Doctor Who, Review
When I was a kid, we went camping almost every weekend, and quite often we went hiking.
One of the coolest things to hike to were fire lookout towers. Not only could you climb them, they had a great view, and sometimes the Ranger would be there and you could go up into the tower for a while.
Despite that, those towers always scared the bejeebers out of me. They swayed in the wind and with every footstep your took. How could they be safe?
This isn’t one of those towers. This is probably an aboriginal structure in Taiwan but I ran across this picture on flickr and it brought back all those memories.
Unexplained Mysteries => More cold readers in court for fraud
Here’s an interesting column which suggests that legislation is needed to sort the real psychics out from the false ones.
I’d love to work for that branch of thee government when it gets formed!
Discovery Channel => Scientists Debunk Astrology
April 24, 2006 — One of the largest studies of the possible link between human traits and astrology found little, if any, connection between the traditional sun signs of the zodiac and characteristics of individuals.
The study adds to the growing body of evidence that there is no scientific basis for star signs, such as Aries, Taurus and so on. These signs are based on the place of the sun in relation to the date of birth of the subject.
“Growing” body of evidence?
I suppose the body of evidence that the Earth isn’t flat is “growing” too.
Far out at the crossroads of I-17 and the 101 Loop situated in one of those shopping centers built around a mega-theatre complex, is Luna Pizza.
It’s a pleasant little place inside and had quite a few people late on a Sunday night. It’s in a poor location in the shopping center, and everything near it was closed.
One person appeared to be using his laptop with available wireless internet, but I suspect it was coming through from the Wildflower Bread Company next door.
I try to approach every pizza restaurant with an open mind, but the pizza on the other patrons’ tables didn’t look too promising.
When our pizza arrived, I was still under-whelmed by its appearance. The crust just looked flat and lifeless.
The pizza spilled cheese and sauce everywhere as we pulled the first pieces and so I took a fork and grabbed a bite of cheese and sauce only. I couldn’t quite place my finger on it, but I didn’t like the sauce, it was a bit too much like a jar of spaghetti sauce. The cheese was overpowered by the sauce.
There was also a loose piece of pepperoni, so I tried that before having a bite of pizza proper. The pepperoni was bitter.
Once I’d gone this far into trying the pieces separately, I decided to take a bite of the end of the crust. As it looked, so it was – lifeless and flat.
And so, having determined that I didn’t really like any part of the pizza, I started to eat.
I’ve always said that pizza is more than the sum of its parts, and Luna Pizza proves that. Perhaps it’s the missing link between just ingredients and pizza, because it was a lot better as a whole.
It still wasn’t great, and I wouldn’t recommend it, but it was better than I was expecting.
Their prices already have tax built in, so to equalize their prices versus my other reviews, I’ve applied the following formula X*108.1%=$10.50 or X=$9.71
At that price, it works out to $0.06 (0.063) per in2
Luna PizzaConclusion: Not recommended
Technorati Tags: Blog, Food, Pizza, Restaurant, Review