The Orville gets an early season 2 renewal
The bad news: season 1 will only have 13 episodes. But an early renewal indicates a promising future.
Nov 022017
Nov 012017
Since yesterdays Cultural Enrichment Event in New York, I’ve heard more than a few politicians on the right argue that the driver should be dealt with not as a criminal, but as an enemy combatant. from a certain point of view this kinda makes sense… the guy is not a US citizen and he was pledged to a foreign political entity and an alien ideology. But the thing is, though… if he’s an enemy combatant,that makes him a prisoner of war. And there are two problems I have with that:
1: There is dignity and honor in being a POW. This feller has neither.
2: POWs go home.
There are two preferable outcomes for the driver after a proper trial: execution or life in a deep dark hole. Can’t execute a POW. The upside, though, is that POWs go home when the war’s over… but this war? I can’t see how it will *ever* be over. Who’s the leader on the Surt Worshipping Cultist side? Who has the power and authority to surrender or draw up an armistice? And even if someone did, does anyone honestly think that the attacks would stop, the radical would de-radicalize, the jihadists would convert to quiet Lutheranism, Mecca would become a world famous tourist attraction known for its welcoming acceptance of all creeds? No, this war is never going to end, so the POWs would remain POWs forever… or until some weak-willed administration decided to trade them away.
Treat the guy like what he is: a criminal. A good, honest trial followed by a life sentence in general population.
Nov 012017
The universe is full of places.
Kepler data reveals existence of 20 promising exoplanets ‘hiding in plain sight’
Nov 012017
Our betters, those fine Hollywood types who are forever going on about how enlightened they are, how tolerant and diverse and whatnot they are, and how those of us in flyover country – you know, the little people, the deplorables, the unenlightened – should leave our backwards ways and be more like them… it seems they have themselves a bit of a problem:
Andy Dick Fired From Movie Over Sexual Harassment Claims
Jeremy Piven accused of sexual assault on set of ‘Entourage’ by actress Ariane Bellamar
Kevin Spacey: More allegations of sexual harassment surface
NPR’s top editor placed on leave after accusations of sexual harassment
Dustin Hoffman accused of sexual harassment
‘Sex and the City’ heartthrob was ‘a piece of meat’ for Hollywood execs
Six women accuse filmmaker Brett Ratner of sexual harassment or misconduct
… and so on.
On a surface level a lot of this just simply doesn’t make sense: if you are rich and famous (at least, if you’re rich), you don’t need to use force to obtain sex. You can just easily pay for it. But it seems to me that a whole lot of this seems to be less about the actual sex and more about the exercise of *power.* That’s certainly what it seems to have been with Weinstein.
But here’s the thing: the infotainment industry seems to have more than its share of this problem right now, which would seem to indicate that it has more than its share of people who are in it for the *power.* Which should, I would hope, inform public opinion about the wisdom of listening to these people when they start yammering on about political issues. Couple their excess in preverion, their lust for power and the fact that they live in a world of make-believe and fantasy, and you’d think that people would be smart enough to not ever listen to them.
Nov 012017
NASA has compiled a playlist of “spooky” space sounds (what with it having been Halloween and all) derived from space probes such as Juno and Voyager. I debate the actual spookiness of them, but they are certainly interesting and several are certainly a bit unsettling.
Nov 012017
Utah nurse violently arrested in viral clip settles with hospital for $500G
Y’all will no doubt recall the thrilling tale of Nurse Wubbels and Detective Payne, where the detective aggressively arrested the nurse because she refused to draw blood from an unconscious patient when the detective did not have a warrant. She was utterly in the legal right; he was a dick.
I’m on her side here. But… dayum, half a million bucks? Does that not seem perhaps a bit much… especially since it’s partially coming not from the now-ex-cop, but from the hospital? The half million is split between the hospital and the city of Salt Lake, even though the hospital did not arrest her. I guess the worst yo can say is that the rent-a-cops just stood by, but I wonder just how many security guards anywhere would ever intervene in an arrest.