I had ran across this technology when I was researching TV’s for my home theater and the message boards were saying these TV’s were right around the corner.  This did make me wonder if I should put off the purchase for a while, but after not finding much real information on the technology, I went ahead and picked up a nice TV.  Besides, you can wait forever for the next big thing.

Recently, I ran across this article about Laser TV’s.  Supposedly this technology is going to kill the Plasma TV.  How many technologies have we heard that about…LCOS, SED’s, OLED’s.

From what I can tell, this technology looks like another way to get rid of the spinning color wheel and arc lamp in current DLP TV’s and replace them with a laser.  So a similar concept to what Samsung did with the LED based DLP’s.  I assume this technology could be used in any TV that uses an arc lamp today.

I’m all for getting rid of moving parts and expensive bulbs in a TV.  Just the idea of a spinning color wheel in a TV sounds like a kludge.  Isn’t this the digital age?  Why are we dealing with rotating color wheels?

The article states that Mitsubishi will be announcing something in January about their plans for Laser TV’s which means they probably won’t be available until late next year if not 2009.  So by the time I get around to putting together the next media room, these should have been out for a few years and all the kinks will be worked out.  Of course, there will be at least 3 other technologies to cycle through by then.

If you want to find out more about the technology, here is a link to one of the companies building the lasers.

www.novalux.com

We’ll have to wait and see if this technology actually materializes and lives up to it’s hype, or it may be that Dr. Evil isn’t the only one who can’t get frickin’ laser beams.

I created a category called Fun Stuff a while back and noticed there wasn’t anything in it.  Everyone needs some fun once in a while and last week while surfing over at the Pharyngula website, there was this little post.  It’s about a fun little physics and logic game that I wasted about an hour on over the weekend.  I was going to use this as the excuse for why I didn’t post anything last Sunday, but it’s a pretty flimsy excuse.  Oh well, it’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

Here’s the direct link to the game.

In the same vein, here is a link to another game I found a while back.

Enjoy and maybe with a few more posts like this I can get some better advertisements on this site.

Most zombie movies are about how people become zombies and the obligatory fight between the living and the not so dead.  Fido gets past this point in the first 5 minutes and continues on beyond where these typical B-movies end.  The zombie wars are over and the humans have won, or at least contained the zombie hoard.  Not only that, they’ve figured out how to domesticate the zombies allowing them to perform menial everyday tasks for the living.  Fido takes this theme and plays it for all it’s worth.

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I had actually meant to post this last month on the full moon, October 26th, but I got lazy and didn’t get it done.  But now, here it is, late but still interesting, well to me anyway.  Today, November 24th, the moon will be full again, but I doubt you’ll be able to see it with all the rain and overcast skies, so here’s the post I intended for last month with some interesting information about the moon thrown in to try to make up for being late.

I was driving to go play tennis last night and I saw the moon on the horizon.  It was a full moon, but it looked much larger than normal.  I initially thought this was an artifact of the moon being low on the horizon causing some type of atmospheric distortion, but when I got back home I checked out the Astronomy Picture of the Day website and what do you know, the moon WAS larger than normal.  The moon was at its closest point in its orbit with the Earth making it appear as big as it could be.  Looking at the side by side comparison from APOD, it really makes it clear how much of a difference in size the moon will appear throughout the year.

More fun facts about the Moon.

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I was going to post about how crazy these people are to be heading to the stores at 4am to catch the early deals for Christmas and how eager they are to spend their money, but then I starting thinking…I just spent a buttload of money on a home theater so what right do I have to criticize these people…none.  Well, at least I didn’t lose any sleep over my purchases and I didn’t have to fight crazed mall people to get what I wanted.

So instead, I’ll just take this opportunity to talk about a new movie that’s coming out today in wide release.  It’s by Morgan Spurlock, the guy behind Super Size Me and 30 Days.  It’s called What Would Jesus Buy which takes a look at the commercialization of Christmas.  The movie follows Reverend Billy from the Church of Stop Shopping on his crusade to stop the Shopocalypse.  Sounds great.  Check out the trailer here.

This is one movie that is definitely being added to my Netflix list.

Today was turkey day, so that can mean only one thing.  The Cowboys and the Lions will be playing football, not each other, but they will be playing.  I’m not sure how that tradition started, but it’s been that way as long as I can remember.  This event gave me a great opportunity to see how the new TV handled the job.

I took this opportunity to snap a few pictures of the TV in action.

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Nova this week had a show about a tribe of people called the Mofu of Cameroon who survive mostly on a sorghum grain they grow.  Their land is not very fertile, and they rely on an annual heavy rain to insure their harvest will be plentiful.  When the rains were late, one of the elders went to the chief and told him it was time to bring out the stones.  These aren’t just a bunch of rocks, but sacred rain stones.  They mix the contents of a goats stomach with some of it’s sacrificial blood, throw in some grass and then dump the sacred rain stones in there and mix it all together until the stones are completely covered in this concoction.  The stones are then removed, washed and returned to their safe location within the chiefs house.  This ritual is supposed to bring on the rains.  And what do you know, a week or so later, the rains came.  Before you laugh and think this is silly, compare this to the ritual that happened in Georgia recently where the Governor decided to pray for rain.

What happened in Georgia is not quite the same ritual, but probably just as pointless.  It’s amazing how when you see a ritual that you are unfamiliar with you think how can these people actually believe this is going to cause rain to fall from the sky.  Why do we believe that our rituals are any more grounded in reality than the Mofu’s?  Is it because we grew up with them and they’ve been handed down for generations, just like the Mofu grew up with their rituals?  Probably.

Both the Mofu and the Christians believe their prayers will be answered and rain will come.  Both have proponents who claim the prayers were answered.  Which ritual should we point to and think this is silly?  Did both the rituals work? or were both results just coincidence.

The Mofu also had a problem with termites.  One of the villagers houses was being destroyed by these termites and they threatened to get into the grainery.  To get rid of them, the elder came and said a prayer at the termite mound to call forth a special type of ant to come destroy the termites.  Well, a few days passed and the ants didn’t come.  Apparently, they didn’t hear the prayer, so they had to go find the ants and bring them to the mound.

So for the Mofu, their prayers were answered 50% of the time.  Just about the same as George Carlin when he prays to Joe Pesci.

Rituals provide something to the people performing them, a sense of being in control when you aren’t.  I can’t make it rain, but if I pray, God will hear me and help me out, or if I use the sacred stones, rain will come.  Both sound about as silly as the other and both will work just as well.  So as Carlin says, “pick your superstition, sit back, make a wish and enjoy yourself”.

There’s a group of cultists over in Russia that are holed up in, well, a hole.   They seem to think the end of the world is near.  In fact, they say in May 2008 the world will end.  This is not the remarkable part of the story.  The remarkable part is that a high ranking Russian Orthodox Church official is quoted as saying “what we’re seeing right now is a most vivid example of what could happen to a country, to a society, if this society is deprived of proper religious education“.  Don’t confuse the Russian Orthodox Church with this cult, the True Russian Orthodox Church.  I’m confused already.

Wow, so according to the non-cult church, this is the result of these people not being properly educated in religion…hmm.  Seems like the US doesn’t have a corner on the market for people who want religion in schools.

In my view the “proper education” would be one that teaches children to think for themselves and to question what any leader, religious or otherwise is trying to sell them and to determine whose interests are really being served.  Having a good self image and self worth go a long way to avoiding the pitfalls of unscrupulous charlatans that exist in this world, religious or otherwise.

There’s an update to the story here.  Unfortunately, these people are still in the hole and refusing to come out.  They supposedly have enough food to last until Spring, let’s just hope they come to their senses soon.

Well, not really funny funny, but funny strange.  See, you know my nephew, your son? well, he’s not really your son and not really my nephew.  See, well, 34 years ago or so, I slept with your wife, my sister-in-law, and well, I wasn’t going to tell you, but this damn court ordered paternity test is making me have to tell you.  So, your son is really my son, brother. Umm…sorry.

In case you’re wondering what I’m talking about…another leader of a Megachurch is embroiled in a sex scandal.  This time it’s the 80 year old leader of a Megachurch outside Atlanta, called The Chapel Hill Harvester Church.  And yes, he did father a boy with his brother’s wife. Strike One.  This was revealed after a court ordered paternity test which by the way also made him a liar since under oath he didn’t reveal the affair.  Strike Two.  And apparently, this wasn’t his only transgression…he is being sued by a former church employee who says he forced her to have an affair with him by saying it was her only way to salvation.  Strike Three…YOU’RE OUT!!

Next Father’s day is going to be very awkward around their house.

On the positive side, the church is down to 1,500 members from a height of 10,000.  So that’s 85% who now might know better.

As the day approaches for my new TV to arrive, tomorrow WOO-HOO, I have all the cabling in place, except for the HDMI cables to connect the DVD player to the receiver and the receiver to the TV.  Two little cables, now that shouldn’t cost too much should it?

You wouldn’t think this was a big deal, but have you priced HDMI cables lately?  If this isn’t Highway Robbery, I don’t know what is.

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