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« February 2007 |
Main
| April 2007 »
The USPS unveiled a strange new conspiracy theory stamp today. It's called the Forever Stamp. You can read about it at the USPS site here. The linked article shows the final, chosen stamp (more on that in a second) and goes on to explain that a Forever Stamp, once purchased, will always be good for a first class letter. EVEN IF STAMPS GO UP. Which is why the stamp doesn't have a monetary value on it - just the word "forever." This could be a real savings. If you buy 5000 stamps at 41¢ each you've just spent $2,050 - but just think! You'll never have to deal with increased rates, 1¢ and 2¢ stamps. You may be saving hundreds of dollars in increased productivity, lower costs and peace of mind.
I have a quick word about the stamp that was chosen; a friend of mine who is high-placed in the postal world sent me an image of a plateblock that was initially under consideration for the Forever Stamp:
Now...I suppose the Liberty Bell here is everyone's sentimental favorite but still, you should at least consider each of the other candidates. Spongebob, for example, would seem to be the perfect lickable stamp. He's super-absorbent and probably stays on there real well. Then we have Yoo Hoo - what's more forever than the an "MMMMM! ICY 'HOO SHAKE!" It's Shake-o-licious!
And finally we have Milton Berle. And although he's not around any more, God Bless his soul, he DID star with the muppets in the Muppet Movie and they're still quite active. And Milton has given us countless fond memories and joy that still fill our hearts today.
What do you think? Who or what should have been on the forever stamp? Did they make the right choice? Or miss an obvious candidate? Weigh in via a comment.
Cassini took some fascinating video of a "hurricane-like" vortex located at Saturn's south pole. You can find a quicktime version here and an mpeg version here. NASA has an article here.
The storm has winds estimated at 350 miles per hour. Cloud heights are estimated at 20 to 45 miles, if I read that right, and the storm is about 5,000 miles across. When you study the imagery it's amazing how similar this is to a hurricane: you can see the storm "bands," an "eye-like feature" and even Floridians boarding up their homes.
Here's an image that was created from the video data that Cassini captured:
Image details.
That would be Secretary Lawrence M. Small, the top dog at the Smithsonian Institution. I bet you didn't know that the Smithsonian Institution had a top dog, did you?
Far be it from me to question anyone's spending habits, because really you just don't know until the foot is in the other shoe, but Sec. Small has resigned amid some questions about his expenses. Apparently an audit was conducted which uncovered $90,000 in "unauthorized expenses," including private jet travel and expensive gifts.
In addition to this $90,000 in unauthorized expenses, Small has charged the Smithsonian over $1.1 million for the use of his home since 2000. I really have no idea what that means. I think it means that the Smithsonian Institution has been staying with Sec. Small, drinking all of his beer and leaving the toilet seat up. Some of the housing expenses included $273,000 for "housekeeping." But, really, if this is over six years then that's only $45,500 a year, which is only $125 a day, and where can you find good housekeeping nowadays for less than $125? Well, okay, I would clean his house for about $115 a day, but I'd be losing money on the deal let me tell you.
You can find the article here.
Smithsonian PR
It may be the Year of the Spite Snow, if this AccuWeather.com forecast proves to be correct:
AccuWeather.com Professional Guru Joe Bastardi is also predicting an April cool-down for the east. I suppose we'll see. It may be that Alert Snow-Repeller Tammy has let her guard down, resulting in these late-season forays* by winter.
*Blog Hero cool word of the day! Foray: to ravage in search of spoils (Thanks M-W.com!)
 Sometimes you read something so horrible you want to find someone to shake until they give you some answers. But this story may not have any answers.
Pictured at right is Rebecca Riley, aged 4, who died Dec. 13, 2006 from an overdose of prescribed drugs. (Photo ©AP) This article from the AP via MSNBC says that Rebecca was diagnosed as having attention deficit hyperactivity and bipolar disorder when she was just two-and-a-half. Prosecutors are alleging that Rebecca's parents, Michael and Carolyn Riley, were trying to "keep their daughter quiet" with her medication; they've been charged with murder.
The Rileys, through their attorneys, are accusing Rebecca's psychiatrist of over-prescribing medication.
The psychiatrist involved is Dr. Kayoko Kifuji of the Tufts-New England Medical Center. You can find her page here, which lists her specialties as "child psychiatry, mood disorders, anxiety disorder, child and adolescent eating disorders" among others. Dr. Kifuji is currently on paid leave. She has denied any involvement in the death and has agreed to a suspension of her license while the state medical board investigates.
The medical examiner said that Rebecca died from a combination of Clonidine, Depakote, cough suppressant and an antihistamine. Clonidine and Depakote are FDA-approved for adults only, although it's legal to prescribe them to children (as is done fairly often.)
The death of Rebecca raises a lot of unsettling and difficult questions: how early can a diagnosis of mental illness be made? Are some parents medicating their children because it's more convenient - and easier - than parenting? Why did the "system" - including teachers, school nurses, neighbors, relatives, pharmacists and medical professionals - fail Rebecca so thoroughly? And who is responsible for little Rebecca's death: her parents, who may have given her more medication than was prescribed, or the psychiatrist, who may have prescribed too much? Or was it simply an accident?
Finally, two sobering statistics from the article linked to above:
"A study of mentally ill children discharged from community hospitals, published in January in the Archives of General Psychiatry, found the proportion of children diagnosed with bipolar disorders jumped from 2.9 percent in 1990 to 15.1 percent in 2000."
The annual number of U.S. children prescribed anti-psychotic drugs jumped fivefold between 1995 and 2002, to an estimated 2.5 million, according to a study published last year by researchers at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville, Tenn.
Feel free to vent/sympathize/empathize in the comments section.
If you would have told me a few years ago that I would be writing meaningless drivel here, and that people would actually be reading it, I would have said "Really?" It would sort of be a surprised really, like what you might say to someone who just told you that Britney Spears checked herself out of rehab they caught a leprechaun in their mouse trap and he gave them a pot of gold and shiny new flatware.
BUT, if you would have told me a few years ago that I would be writing meaningless drivel here, and that people would actually be reading it from Europe, Spain*, India, Saudia Arabia and the Philippines, I would have said "Get OUT!" It would be a exclamation of shock and wonder, sort of like what you might say to someone who just told you that Britney Spears checked herself into rehab it was going to snow in State College.
So, if you're reading tonight from the Mideast, Asia, Atlantis or Spain*, welcome!
*Late-breaking Blog Hero Update: Spain is actually considered part of Europe, and there is no truth to the rumors that Europe almost always picked Spain last for kick-ball, or gave Spain humongous wedgies. Thank you.
Pictionary, for those of you not in the know, is a tool of the devil created by Hasbro. Well okay that's a little harsh. I actually enjoy Pictionary, except for the part at the end where I (and my team member) inevitably lose. We had some friends over last week and we played Pictionary. Whenever you play Pictionary you have to have a partner, and this partner is almost always your spouse, as it is terribly bad form to say "Ooh! Let's all exchange spouses for this game!"
My spouse is Alert Pictographer Tammy, who ordinarily draws and guesses with the kind of mental acuity reserved for Mensa members. However there were at least two incidents in this particular game of Pictionary that probably sank our chances at victory although I'm not actually saying that or blaming anyone or being bitter. I will let you, the Alert Reader, decide.
The first incident involves an "All Play." This is where every team gets an opportunity to drawn the same object, and whoever can guess it first wins. (If it's your turn and you win, you get to roll the dice and advance. Otherwise you lose the turn and it advances to the next team.) I thought I had this one nailed, and here's what I drew:
You can now play along at home. What did Carl draw? Was it:
A. A Daisy
B. Jimmy Hoffa
C. A Fire Extinguisher
D. None of the Above
If you guessed A CLOWN you would be right! But Alert Interpreter Tammy just stared at the paper unable to guess CLOWN. CLOWN. Again, I am NOT BITTER. Just for the record though that line underneath the CLOWN is me beginning to drawn arrows AT THE CLOWN because aside from drawing fire engines and big feet and squirting flowers and bottles of seltzer that was about as good a CLOWN as a person can draw under pressure.
That was the first incident, which I will forever refer to as the CLOWN INCIDENT and everyone will know exactly what I mean or I will go into painful detail to explain what I mean including taking this picture out of my wallet and passing it around because yes I am saving it forever. The second incident involves this picture by Tammy. This was not an All Play and I had all the time in the world to guess it:
Give up? I almost did, until I had the paper turned for me (whoops!)
Ah ha! I bet you think you know what this is. Is it:
A. A Wing from KFC
B. The Southeast United States
C. Washington D.C.
D. Jimmy Hoffa
If you guessed MARYLAND you would be right! Look again! That's actually Maryland up there! Now, it wasn't the fact that I didn't get this right that was particularly disturbing, and I mean disturbing like you come home at 2 am and open the garage and there's a man standing there dressed like a scarecrow and holding a gigantic scythe disturbing - no, what was really disturbing is that Alert Cartographer Tammy insisted I should have gotten this immediately!*
So, I guess I'm not going to shock you when I tell you that we lost. Not only did we lose, but we lost big. I mean, really big.
Jimmy Hoffa big.
*The Blog Hero wishes to add this late-breaking disclaimer for his own personal safety and say that Alert Artist Tammy did a far better job at drawing, overall, than did her graphic designer husband and that really, if she had just had the good sense to trade spouses at the beginning of the game she would have won. But that still doesn't look anything like MARYLAND.
First I would like to say that I am not dead. One of the challenges with having a blog is that as soon as you take some time off (because your company shipped you out to the west coast) everyone suspects that you're dead. Friends, family members, the postal carrier - all have sent email or called to find out it they were bequeathed my collection of Captain America comic books.
But for now Captain America and his sidekick Bucky are staying put. (Okay, how weird is it that Bucky the sidekick of Captain America has a Wikipedia page? And just for the record, I am referring to the pre-2005 Bucky who was not a homicidal maniac. Sigh. Comics these days.)
So it turns out that I wasn't dead - I was merely in California. I know that might sound similar but there are several key differences between being dead and being in California. For one, the price of gas is much lower when you're dead. (It was $3.13 in Sunnyvale this past weekend.) For another, there are large brand-name restaurant chains when you're dead, like Olive Garden and Outback Steakhouse. In Sunnyvale there are only small Mom & Pop "strip mall" restaurants with names like "Afghani Grill" and "The Food Buffet." Finally, when you're dead you don't have to adjust your watch. When you go to California, you gain three hours that magically disappear when you leave California. So what did I do with those three hours? I did...something, but then I lost those hours and the something I did went away like it never happened, except I think I stepped on a butterfly and I'm pretty sure the human race is doomed now.
Here are a few other highlights:
"Do you want the whole can?"
This is the unbelievable question the stewardess asks you with a completely straight face when you ask for a complementary beverage. Even though I was wracked with guilt I did, in fact, ask for the entire 12 ounces each time.
"Please take off your shoes."
I think airport security has probably crossed some line at making people take off their shoes to get x-rayed. With all of the undressing and whatnot that I had to do at the screening I would almost prefer to just lay down on that conveyer belt and get screened. I had to be concerned about my insulin, my medic alert badge (with optional blog hero signal and decoder), my metallic pocketables - such as my keys, scraps of iron, meat cleavers, chainmail - my bionic knee and my backpack. I know, they're just doing their jobs and we love them. But getting that chainmail on and off quickly is brutal.
"Sunny...Vale."
Sunnyvale is appropriately named. The weather was absolutely beautiful for two of the days I was there. I almost understood why people would brave fires, mudslides, earthquakes, ninjas, the Governator, $3.13 gas and a total lack of Olive Gardens to live there. Almost. The great thing about the weather in State College is that we really appreciate a nice day. (Generally, schools and businesses close and we all go meet at Olive Garden.)
Finally, I would tell you why we went to California but I'm afraid that's classified, and if I told you I'd have to...well you know. Besides, that Weekly World News photographer shadowed us the whole time the CIA was demonstrating the alien weather technology, so the photos will be out there anytime now. I mean. Heh. Just kidding.
I was laying around today and for no good reason at all this poem leapt to mind:
Beans, Beans,
Good for your heart.
The more you eat,
The more you contribute to Global Warming.
Like I said, I have no idea where that came from or what it means.
Alert Reader Jon gave me the idea for this graphic, which is a follow-up to my graphic with the sun and the earth:
This graphic shows how big the Earth is compared to people, people being human beings like you and me. According to a source that may or may not be Wikipedia, the radius of the earth is 3,963.18 miles, give or take (depending on how you define "Earth radius.") That's a diameter of about 42 million feet. The average human (depicted in silhouette fashion, above, casually fleeing from some global warming) is about 6 feet on a good day. I mean, if he was laying down not six feet in diameter.
Put another way, let's assume the average human is a pixel, like the little white dot in the upper left area of the graphic. The Earth would then be 6,975,212 pixels wide, or would require almost 7,000 monitors set to 1024 pixel resolution to display its width in entirety.
Now, go back to the handy Earth-Sun chart with all of this in mind and take another look at the dot of the Earth, and the Big Yellow Sun behind it. At this point you will either yawn or your brain will melt. Now I'm not trying to say that your light bulbs aren't causing a serious problem or anything, nor am I saying that the Sun is warming the Earth. (I just like drawing figures that involve circles and average humans.)
Alert Reader and soon-to-be Former Cashier Tammy recently noted, during our brief warm surge, that Winter was gone and dead and wasn't that wonderful?* Because, as we know, Alert Reader Tammy dislikes the snow, particularly if she has to drive in it.
This Friday (well, that would be tomorrow) Alert Reader Tammy is scheduled to work her last shift at Target®. However Winter may have another idea, as I mysteriously alluded to her earlier in the week when I warned that a person should never insult Winter. Because, usually, when you do that Winter takes it personally. I know this because I insulted Winter one year, and Winter came out of no where (actually from behind my neighbor's tool shed) and ran up and plowed right into me, knocking me down on the pavement in a most abrupt manner. I was hit so hard I was sort of stunned, and could only kind of wiggle my libs, there on the pavement, on my back, unable to get up. Winter then took off down the street and eventually ran into some guy's shrubs and hid there for many months.
So now it appears that Winter, feeling slighted and insulted by Alert Reader Tammy's prediction of demise, is striking back just in time for her last scheduled shift. Here's the latest thinking from AccuWeather.com:
For those of you who are not meteorologically minded, "Significant Snow" is a code phrase for 4-18". So don't pack up that snow blower yet. We may have one more storm to deal with. ("Heavy Snow" means 18-400".)
*In all fairness the blog wishes to point out that this is a loose paraphrase of what Alert Reader Tammy actually said, which I quote here in painful detail except that I forget most of it. But if I was Winter I would definitely be miffed, at a minimum.
I just saw lightning outside. Well, outside in the sky - not like outside in the backyard. Although that might be cool. Here's a radar snapshot:
The really weird thing is we're calling for snow Friday (more spite snow). I'm pretty sure it's that whole global warming thing...
Global Warming is now causing insects to move north. And everyone knows that insects carry three things in their bags with them: their toothbrushes, a supply of clean underwear and 3-5 diseases. One of their current favorites right now is Bluetongue. You can read all about it here, thanks to Reuters.
At first I thought it read, "The disease, transmitted by midgets, was first discovered in South Africa and has been spreading north since the late 1990s. Experts say that is due to global warming." That confused me, because it sounded like now midgets were being blamed instead of insects. But it turned out that it said "midges" which is completely different from "midgets" - the most obvious difference being that midges are even smaller. They also cling to Toyotas. (Midges that is, I hope I'm not losing you.)
So the next time you're in Scandinavia and your tongue goes blue, and you have no idea what's going on but you look around real quick and spy a midget turning a corner real fast like he's running away, we'll you'll know exactly what is to blame: Global Warming.
A collie named Lassie saved her 81-year-old owner Robert and his wife Elsie from a house fire by licking and nibbling his hands until he awoke and escaped the blaze. Sadly, the couple thought the dog had escaped the fire too, but firefighters found the dog's remains under some collapsed roofing.
The couple were treated at a local hospital for burns and chest pains and were released.
MSNBC has the article here. Lassie certainly lived up to her namesake.
 In what can only be described as some sort of marketing brilliance, a Sydney Australia-based company is selling carbon credits that can be used to offset flatulence. That means passing gas. As in, the digestive sense. You can find out more about Easy Being Green here.
I believe this is how the program works (based on a cursory read):
1. You have an uncle. His name is Pete and he is very, very, stinky (and actually quite proud of it.)
2. You, being the environmentally-conscious person that you are, are quite concerned about Pete's effect on climate change. I mean, it happens after every meal! Ugh.
3. You decide to purchase a Flatulence Offsetting Gift Card in Uncle Pete's name.
4. Easy Being Green takes your money (gladly, I assume) and puts it towards installing more efficient, more "green" technology in homes. Or, they use the money to book a flight out to Pete's and plug him up. Or give him some Beano. You know, whatever it takes. Stop eating that Broccoli Pete you're killing the planet!
So I hope that clears that up. Now, you might be thinking that you can purchase this sort of thing as a joke. I'm sure that was not why it was invented, but there are few things as amusing as sending a Flatulence Offsetting Gift Card to your favorite meteorologist.
National Geographic has the scoop here.
Now that winter is over (the exciting, snowy part of winter, which some people report having seen but in State College was, for the most part, hiding behind my neighbor's recycling bin) and the El Niño has faded meteorologists have looked high and low, long and hard to find some sort of weather boogeyman. Okay, I suppose that's not entirely true and I just wanted to type "boogey" but now that I did that I can move on with what I was saying. Boogey boogey boogey.
The current candidate? La Niña! As any fifth grader can tell you, La Niña is the cooling of the equatorial waters in the Pacific Ocean. This often leads to complete and total disaster on an apocalyptic scale. For one, lots of fish are very disturbed because of the cooler water. This leads to fish flatulence, one of the main contributors of fish-induced global warming.
The other potential problems are increased hurricane activity in the Atlantic, and droughts in the southwest United States.
You can read about the La Nina here at the OCRegister.
As I mentioned previously, there was a good chance we were going to get a Spite Snow today. It turns out that we did - it snowed maybe 4", but as of this writing a majority of it has melted. If you remember, one of the characteristics of a Spite Snow is a snow that falls and then melts before you have a chance to enjoy it. That usually takes a day or two, but today it appears to have taken only a few hours.
Based on the long range forecast it looks like the snow is done for the season. Truly an ugly, forgettable, anti-winter season. I suppose there's always next winter...
Charlie Brown, I got a rock.
Some of you have asked, "How big IS the sun?" I assume you're asking this because you're curious about NASA's planned manned mission to the sun, or you think that the sun has something to do with the temperature on Earth.
Well I've prepared a handy chart to illustrate the size of the Earth and the Sun. You'll find this handy chart below:
Given that the Sun is about 900,000 miles across, and the Earth is about 8,000 miles across, the Sun is about 112.5 times bigger across than the Earth. (I got this from a Ph.D. mathematician I know. So if it's wrong it's, you know, all his fault.)
The circle above is the sun, and it's about 490 pixels across. That would mean the Earth would be about 4 pixels, and if you really squint your eyes and look hard you can see the pixels up there, right above "earth".
Feel free to clip and save this handy chart to show your friends, family, convenience store clerks, and any others who are easily excited. The sun is HUGE! I mean, really big. Whether or not it warms the Earth though - who can say?
 Odds are, if you know what the title of this post means, you've already heard the news. If you don't know, you probably haven't heard the news nor do you care too much. But I love LEGOs too much not to mention this.
A press release on LEGO's site announced that they've picked a developer to work on their MMO - Massively Multiplayer Online game. In addition to the PR, LEGO has a page here where new info looks to be posted.
I've played both Star Wars LEGO games for the Playstation 2 and just loved them. It's such a fun, nostalgic and friendly game. Sure, the Wookie grabs people and rips their arms off, but they're just LEGOs! No blood and gore. No getting shot in the head. It's just a brilliant way to create an adventure game. I would expect that the MMO experience may model those two games - and if they're creative enough they should have Lucas allow them to develop a Star Wars area. It will be interesting to see how this evolves.
Spite Snow: Mostly a Noun. Usually the last snow of the winter season. Total accumulations from a Spite Snow never exceed 4". Spite Snows are often accompanied by extreme cold temperatures, or high winds and wind chills, or both. A Spite Snow will be useless for playing in because it will either be as dry as sawdust from the extreme cold temperatures, or it will be gone in two days by a freak spring warmup that see the temperature raise 40 degrees in 20 hours and an inch of rain fall. Spite Snows are often cited as the cause of irrational behavior in people who love snow but have experienced a far-below-normal snowfall for the season. This irrational behavior can include writing nasty letters to meteorologists who kept predicting snow but never seemed to get it right; spraying graffiti on snow blowers, and mailing chocolate chip cookies to your favorite Blog Hero.
I bring this up because it appears that our Spite Snow is coming:
AccuWeather.com graphic copyrighted and owned whole and in part by AccuWeather.com. AccuWeather.com - the greatest weather on the web ever. Go there now and email people and tell them to bring back 38below - they really love to hear from people like that.
We appear to be right on the 3-6" edge. This would suggest to me that we'll get less than 3", even though the AccuWeather.com site is calling for 4.2". Based on its timing I would expect school to be cancelled Wednesday morning* although my children, home schooled as they be, will have their regularly scheduled grumbling-whining-moaning learning experience.
*The Blog Hero wishes to state in an emphatic and completely legally responsible way that he does not inform the school district in any way, is not even here and now providing any information to the school district, and will not be responsible for the crushing of the spirits of little boys and girls who want one more day off, even if it will be bone-chilling cold and snow like unto sawdust. Yea, verily - the disclaimer hath ended.
"He failed to beat it to death but did cut off its tail."
(This is what is known as "foreshadowing" in the biz.) The rest of the story.
Incidentally, there are those that I work with at AccuWeather who know I have this bad habit (a penchant, perhaps) of saying, "If this was a movie..." to certain situations, after which I'll set up the scene which may or may not be humorous. And I can't help but think here, if this (quote) was a movie, the next thing you'd see would be the man getting ready to open the kitchen door while everyone in the theatre screams "NO! NOT THAT DOOR!"
Fortunately, life is sometimes more ironic than the movies.
 Alert Reader and First Time Emailer* Brian pointed out this fascinating article at National Geographic that suggests that the sun may be heating the Earth. The sun (to review) is a large solar body (sort of like a star) that revolves around our planet once a year**. Apparently when the sun is not busy revolving around the Earth (the other 364 days a year, naturally) it is busy revolving around other things, like Mars. Scientists have checked the temperature on Mars (during a recent period when Mars was revolving around the Earth) and discovered that it is warmer than the last time it revolved around the Earth, which was approximately three years ago.
The parallels between what is happening to Mars and what is happening to Earth are too amazing to be coincidental. For example, Mars's south pole made up of carbon dioxide "ice caps"*** is shrinking. On Earth, our "ice caps" are shrinking as well. On Mars, the polar bears are getting stranded on small carbon dioxide "ice floes"**** - on Earth, polar bears are boarding planes to Cleveland and Erie.
Are climate scientists convinced? The answer, in two words: No.
"This study is bunk," said one noted climatologist, who asked not to be named. "Everyone knows that the Sun only warms one planet in any given sun-cycle" Peter Boughton the unnamed climatologist added.
NASA is preparing a manned flight to the sun next year to conduct studies determined to answer the global warming question once and for all.
*That is to say, the first time Brian has emailed me. Not that Brian hasn't emailed other people long before this.
**At the risk of pointing out my own satire, yes, I know that the sun sometimes take more than a year to revolve around the Earth.
***The words used in the article. I would never call carbon dioxide "ice caps." That's just silly.
****Okay, sorry, that was me.
Gas has soared 31 cents a gallon in the past month, according to this Reuters article written by some writer who doesn't live in State College, Pennsylvania, where gas has actually soared 40 cents a gallon in the past month. Of course while that's not fair to those of us in State College there's a perfectly rational explanation.
(Insert perfectly rational explanation here.)
Many of you are not aware that State College is actually a separate country. Our full name is the State College Autonomous Sovereign Dictatorship of Penn State, and as a autonomous sovereign dictatorship we apply steep tariffs on all imported fuel. This usually results in the cost of a gallon of gasoline being a full ten cents to four dollars above the national average.
But why such a steep tariff? Well, two words: Cows. If you know anything about the SCASDoPS, you know that our main export here is cows. Below is a country map showing our major exports:
It's pretty much cows. And a lot of cows means a lot of, well, cow-gas. And cow-gas tends to create global warming, which is also created by... yes, the sun. But in addition to the sun, global warming is created by cars. And cars run on gas. So, that's why we have the tariffs.
So the next time YOU think you have it bad at the pump, just remember us here in State College and...go eat a hamburger. With or without cheese.
Josh Hutcherson and AnnaSophia Robb in Bridge to Terabithia (© Walt Disney Pictures & Walden Media)
Tonight we saw the movie Bridge to Terabithia. You can find the official movie site here and the Wikipedia entry about the book here and movie here. (Some of these are likely to contain spoilers.)
I wasn't familiar with the book before going to the movie; Connor had read it and hinted at a significant development that I said I didn't want to know about. The advertising for the movie is somewhat misleading; the trailers and print materials focus on the "magical world" of Terabithia with obvious comparisons to Tolkien and Narnia. However, the movie has more to do with the trials and travails of an eight-grader: dealing with bullies, a distant father, money issues, and the dreaded school bus ride home, which I remember in vivid detail. (Some things just can't be fixed with therapy.)
So if you plan to see this movie, two important things to consider are:
1. It's not Lord of the Rings for kids
2. It's a bit heartbreaking
I suppose "heartbreaking" is a strong word, but this isn't SpongeBob Squarepants, That's So Raven or High School Musical. To Disney's credit, the movie adaptation (from Katherine Paterson's book) deals with difficult issues that don't have come with simple answers. There's a bit of muddled theology involved, in my opinion, but all of the stories elements fit together nicely. (I don't know how much detail the book presents on the theological issues - author Paterson partially addresses this question on her website here and in an interview here.)
Overall I would rate Bridge to Terabithia 3 out of 4 stars. Right now on Rotten Tomatoes it has a "freshness" rating of 83%. On the hankie scale I would give it three solid hankies (out of four.) Of course, I'm a guy and you might have to adjust my hankie scale appropriately. It's rated PG for "thematic elements including bullying, some peril and mild language."
If you've read the book or seen the movie leave a comment/email, I'm curious to hear what you think.
Pictures courtesy Cassini. It's just amazing to think, "There's Saturn." At least, I find that amazing and a little mind-boggling.
NASA has the details.
Jesse started video-blogging at AccuWeather, video-blogging being all the rage now. I would video-blog except for my fear of video cameras (I was beat up by a video camera as a child, and therapy has really never gotten me past it) and I don't have a video camera, which could make video blogging difficult.
In any event, the automatic video process at AccuWeather stamps a play button on the screen and generates a still image. This has to be the best combination I've seen to date. He should buy that mask! He could fight crime as "Jesse Man." I assume his powers would be weather related: he could cause intense headaches and pain in people's knees by mimicking an approaching front.
His video is here, if curious.
This blog's favorite former Canadian Defense Minister, Paul Hellyer, demanded today that world governments release all of their alien technology (which they have been using in secret to inflate the price of toilets) to the public so that we can solve this global warming thing once and for all.
His reasoning is (of course) quite sound: since aliens have to travel millions and millions of miles to get here they clearly have developed some sort of technology that powers their UFOs without the use of fossil fuels. We know this because many, many aliens have visited and yet there isn't a global warming problem in space.
Since aliens have been in contact since Roswell, which happened way back in 1947, we've had this technology for quite some time. Applying it to automobiles would solve two of our biggest problems: 1. the burning of fossil fuels adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere causing the polar ice caps to melt and 2. the lack of flying cars, which now that it's 2007 is frankly unacceptable.
Article here.
Alert Reader Angela sent this photo in light of my story last night about Alert Skunk Driver-Over Tammy and her Honda Stink RV. The caption she sent with the photo was "Daddy, look at the kittens!" I'm not sure if this is a family event or one of those apocryphal web stories that goes 'round and 'round. I LOL'ed though. I hope the parents have (had) stocked up on Tomato Soup.
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