In case you haven’t noticed, it’s nearly the end of February and I haven’t reviewed a single movie this year…until now.  It’s not that I haven’t watched a few, it’s just that none of them seemed worth the effort.

• Coraline was visually stunning, in 3D no less, but the story was mediocre and drawn out. (3 stars)
• City of Ember was even worse than the book. (3 stars)
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was just dumb. (2 stars)
• Burn After Reading had its moments, but couldn’t decide what type of movie it wanted to be. (3 stars)
• The King of Kong was very well done and a fascinating personal story but a bit too geeky. (4 stars)
• Transamerica had great acting but the story was just too slow. (3 stars)
• 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days Although good, was too depressing. (3 stars)
• Jindabyne was terribly slow and pointless. (2 stars)
• Dear Zachary was an incredible documentary from someone who wanted to create a memorial to his murdered friend but it’s way too depressing.  However, I highly recommend it. (4 stars)

But Saint Ralph struck a chord.  Sure, it’s a bit sappy and somewhat predictable, but the combination of humor and underdog story worked for me.  Maybe it’s the background of the Catholic school that resonated.  Although I never went to one, being raised Catholic instills many of the same nervous twitches.  But before I delve too deep into my psyche, I’ll get on to the review.

Read the rest of this entry »

TED.com is one of those sites I love.  So much so, I subscribe to their podcast, which for them means they release one of their conference speakers talks every few days or so.  What great conferences these must be.

This video is probably one of the best I’ve ever seen from TED.  Not just for its content but for it’s presentation style as well.  It’s incredible information along with appropriate wit.  Not all the information is pleasant, but the overall message is positive and as the title of the talk includes…mindboggling.  It’s worth your 20 minutes to watch.

You have to wait for it, but near the end is the best line of the talk, "That would be a mildly arrogant viewpoint".  I’ll let you watch the talk for the context.

Fresh off of the recent 200^th birthday of Darwin, today marks the anniversary of the birth of another great scientist, Galileo Galilei.  He was born on this day, February 15^th, in 1564.  We all know the story of Galileo.  He improved on a design of a looking glass and pointed it to the heavens.  With his observations of the moon, Venus and of Jupiter, he was able to confirm the Copernican theory that the Earth was not the center of the Universe, but that the Sun was at the center of the solar system and that the Earth moved.  The heliocentric system.

For this, in 1633, the church condemned him.  It took hundreds of years before the Church finally recanted and accepted that they had made a mistake.  And it wasn’t until 1992 that the Church publicly stated they had mis-handled the situation and accepted that the Earth was not stationary.

With that, I’ll shut up and just post a few videos about Galileo.

Now this is refreshing to hear and fills me with hope.

Here’s the quote that got to me the most.

"Promoting science isn’t just about providing resources, it’s about protecting free and open inquiry, it’s about insuring that facts and evidence are never twisted or obscured by politics or ideology."

All I can say is WOW!

February 12^th 2009 marks the 200^th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin.  Obviously, he created a stir with a theory he proposed nearly 150 years ago when he published a book called On the Origin of Species.  Every year on this day, people gather to remember the contribution this man made to our understanding of the world in which we live.  But this year people are going all out.  Instead of talking about him or his contributions, I decided to just put together some links about this day and the man himself.

• Events in Austin – The Center for Inquiry Austin has put together some events this weekend to commemorate this day.  If you have the chance, try to attend.  There’s even one for the kids.
• Strange Facts about Darwin – Interesting article about the human side of the man.
• Nova episode on Dover Trial - Nova is replaying their two hour episode on the 2005 trial in Dover, OH about ID in the schools.  Well worth watching.  Note that one of the people from the Discovery Institute who backed out of the trial is now on the committee here in Texas to decide our science curriculum.  Scary.
• Catholic church and Evolution – The Catholic church came out again and stated that they have no issue reconciling Evolution with their religious beliefs.  This is the case for the majority of the world’s major religions.  It’s only the vocal minority that are causing the stir.
• Darwin Day Website – The official website for Darwin Day.
• Science Talk Podcast – A special episode on Darwin from Scientific American’s podcast Science Talk
• I Believe Evolution – a This I Believe commentary from a paleoanthropologist.  It’s not I believe IN Evolution, it’s I believe Evolution.
• Roger Ebert on Darwin – a fantastic synopsis of the various sides in the debate about Evolution.

Today also marks the 200^th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln.  Also an influential man and one that is getting a lot of attention since President Obama continues to be compared to him.  Let’s hope both men get their appropriate rememberance on this day.

It’s nearly official, the retirement of analog TV broadcasting and the switch to all digital TV broadcasting is on hold.  The House and Senate have passed a bill that will delay the switchover from February 17^th, to June 12^th.  All that remains is for President Obama to sign the legislation which is nearly a certainty.

Why do I care?  Does this affect me in any way?  Well, no.  I’m not one that only gets their TV signal over the air and only have analog TV’s.  Quite the contrary.  All the TV’s in my home can receive digital signals or are connected to my local cable provider and I already receive digital HD content over the air, so I’m ready for the switch.  I don’t work in the broadcasting industry, so I don’t have to maintain equipment to support both analog and digital delivery of content.  But I thought a trip down memory lane would help to put this all in perspective.

The original mandate to convert television from an analog medium to a digital one began back in 1996…that’s right, 13 years ago.  The original decree gave the broadcasting industry 10 years to make the necessary investments in equipment and infrastructure.  Seems like a long enough time, right?  But no.  In 2005, it was decided that the broadcasters weren’t ready for a 2006 transition and were given an additional 3 years, or until 2009.  Also, congress mandated that all new TV’s sold starting in 2007 should be able to support a digital signal in addition to the old analog.

Fast forward to 2009 and now as the date approaches, it’s not the broadcasters that aren’t ready, it’s the users.  Despite a massive advertising campaign to try to provide information to people about the switch, much of it as TV advertising, there are apparently still millions who aren’t ready, 6.5 million according to Nielsen.  That’s a small percentage of total viewers, less than 6%, but groups are screaming that we can’t cut people off from their source of information.  Wait a minute…information source?  Do they seriously expect us to believe that these people are watching TV for information?  I don’t think so.  Most people are busy being entertained or watching crappy reality shows.  If they were watching TV for information, they would know the switch was coming and would be ready.  Besides, it’s not like if their TV went dark they wouldn’t be able to get information.  There’s still radio.  Or heaven forbid, they should go buy a newspaper and read.  I think we can make the switch and then let the antenna’s fall where they may.

Analog TV has been around for what, nearly 60 years?  That’s a long lifetime for a technology.  Here’s a few tidbits on other technology lifetimes for comparison.

DVD killed the VHS tape.  DVD for home video was originally released in 1996 in Japan and the US in early 1997.  A short ten years later, the last movie was released on VHS, officially signaling the death of that technology that was born in the mid 1970′s.  There was no discussion of the millions of people who hadn’t yet bought a DVD player.

CD’s are in steady decline now.  Originally released as a consumer technology in 1982.  They are certainly on their death bed after less than 30 years.  They are quickly being replaced by electronic downloads through the Internet.  There is noone screaming about those who don’t have an Internet connection being cut-off.

HD-DVD died last year after only about 2 years of life as a consumer product.  Although this was a newer technology with little penetration into the broader market, its death still left many stranded with an obsolete box.  Again, no discussion of what to do for those people who made the plunge.

13 years is long enough.  It’s time for the change.  Is 4 months really going to make that much of a difference?  I personally don’t think so.  All it does is hurt the broadcasters and keeps the analog spectrum from being used for other things.  Technology’s naturally become obsolete, that’s the way things work.  Pull the plug on analog TV like you would a band-aid…there will be some short term pain, but it will soon pass.

And only a little more than 15 years after his actual appearance.  Maybe I should back up a bit for those who don’t know the story.  Bill Hicks went on the Letterman show 12 times to perform his comedy, starting with his first appearance back in 1984.  His 12th and last appearance was taped in October of 1993.  Prior to the airing of the show, David Letterman made the decision to cut Bill’s segment out of the show.  Why?  No one really knows.  But it probably had something to do with his concern over the content of his comedy.  This was to be Bill’s last appearance on the show as he succumbed to pancreatic cancer a few months later in February of 1994.

Fast forward more than 15 years and I guess Letterman is trying to make amends.  He invited Bill’s mom, Mary Hicks, to appear on the show and while she was there, he played the tape from Bill’s appearance of October 1993.  Below is the video from Friday nights show of Mary’s interview and Bill’s 1993 performance.

After watching this, it’s hard to imagine what prompted Letterman to cut it from the show.  Sure, it’s not Bill’s best performance, and you can certainly tell he toned things down for television.  He seems a bit uncomfortable and more controlled than normal.  But the content doesn’t seem that radical.  Were we that uptight 15 years ago about gays and lesbians?  And of course, the jokes about Easter, the cross and Jesus, maybe that was it.  Although it’s really directed at his followers, not the man himself.

I don’t know.  I’m wondering why Letterman decided to do this now.  Is he truly feeling regret over the decision?  Is he trying to clear his conscience?  Who knows.  In the end it was a nice gesture and I’m glad Bill’s mom was there to receive it.  Too bad Bill couldn’t.