I’m torn over today’s topic. I’m tired (for the moment) of nattering about work (got some thanks, but no thanks messages today, and that makes me disinclined to discuss the distress; nepenthe beckons, I’ll answer the call, now 94 bottles of beer on the wall).
And I’ve spent some time in the blogsphere, which is endlessly fascinating, but time-consuming and a bit draining. After reading about the struggles of others, mine own seem pale and pointless.
So it’s time for something light and refreshing. I realized I haven’t bored anyone with science recently, so, as the good The Doctor would say, “Run!”
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Leave a comment | tags: CERN, Einstein, neutrinos, OPERA, particles, quarks | posted in Physics, Writing
This is a piece I started almost a year ago, set aside for polishing and never returned to. It started as a rant and morphed into a looking back at what, now, might be the fullness of a career.
It seemed like it might be a good companion piece to the recent post, Ground Rush, so here it is for your dining and dancing pleasure.
The original title was…
Vent: Work
Things have been changing recently at work. In fact, for two years or so, lots of things have been changing at work; you’ve probably noticed.
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7 Comments | tags: change, economy, field service technician, hardware, nerds, software, work | posted in Life
The awkward Supreme Court ruling, known as “Citizens United,” has generated a lot of discussion about corporations being people. Note that this 2010 ruling did not establish corporations as people: that’s been on the books since the early 1800s.
The Citizens United ruling allowed them to spend vast sums of money as “free speech.”
Anyone not terribly alarmed by this and what it implies for our political future isn’t paying attention.
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Leave a comment | tags: Citizens United, corporate body, corporate personhood, corporations, Information Technology, IT | posted in Life, Philosophy, Rant
It’s Monday, but for me it’s the middle of week two (weak, too?) of six in the, “oh, crap, they eliminated my job, now what,” fun-filled fun fest. If you’re tuning in late, here’s chapter one of the story. So far, I’ve applied for a dozen different positions, had two interviews, and have another one scheduled tomorrow.
Given that The Company seems fine with the idea of losing my 33 years of experience (and over 35 years of software expertise), I’m very tempted to just consider the retirement options. They aren’t what I’d hoped for, but… well, we’ll see.
I mentioned before that, if the clock does run out on this, it would be just in time for my birthday. Turns out, if I don’t find another position within TC, my last day at work would, in fact, be my birthday.
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5 Comments | tags: fired, free fall, ground rush, layed off, let go, parachute, skydive, unemployed, work | posted in Life
As I watch my Minnesota Twins do their best to lose three games in a row to Tampa Bay, I find myself pondering the difference between “winning,” “losing,” “not winning” and “not losing.”
Somehow, in some way I haven’t quite yet worked out, I think they’re four distinct things.
Filed for future reference.
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1 Comment | tags: assassin movies, atomic bombs, Babylon 5, Dr Who, Firefly, Minnesota Twins, self-awareness, Star Trek, TARDIS | posted in Brain Bubble
I meant to write an article discussing Christopher Nolan‘s latest (and final?) Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises (henceforth, TDKR). I started off writing that article but ended up writing a screed about going to the movies. Words not wasted, perhaps, but now I return to the original intent: trying to say a few words about the movie itself.
The bottom line is that I give it an Eh! on my scale of Wow!, Ah!, Eh!, Meh!, Nah! & Ugh! It’s above the no-go line, so I say it’s worth seeing if it’s in your interest zone. If you’ve seen the other two, you certainly want to see this one. That said, it’s my least favorite in Nolan’s Batman trilogy as well as my least favorite Nolan film. And to be honest, were it not for superhero movie fatigue setting in, I might well have given this a higher rating. I’ve just gotten tired of the genre.
Warning: In this article I’m not going to make any attempt to avoid spoilers, so if you (a) haven’t seen the movie and (2) don’t like spoilers, then you shouldn’t continue reading.
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1 Comment | tags: Bane, Batman, Christopher Nolan, Knightfall, superheroes, The Dark Knight Returns, The Dark Knight Rises | posted in Movies
Yesterday I threw down the gauntlet regarding Christopher Nolan’s new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises. In fact, that article was a first entry into a discussion about how we’ve constantly upped the ante regarding violence in movies and television and modern life in general.
That larger discussion will evolve over time as I find things to say about it. In this article I want to talk specifically about the Batman movie… or rather about the “going to the Batman movie” theater experience.
When it comes to going to the movie theater to see a movie, each time I do that lately I seem to find one less reason to do that ever again. Let me count the ways:
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10 Comments | tags: AMC, movie theaters, popcorn | posted in Life, Movies, Rant
The other evening, I finally went to see the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises. The punch line (and never was the term “punch” more appropriate) is that I have to give it a definite thumbs down. It is, without question, my least favorite Christopher Nolan movie, and that’s saying something, because (unlike some), I quite like Nolan’s work.
I’m a life-long comics fan and a life-long fan of the Batman. I’ve known the worlds of DC and Marvel for over 40 years. For me, Superman has a slight edge, but the Batman has always been a close second. Those two comprise a full quarter to one-third of my comics and gnovels (graphic novels) collection. Frank Miller‘s The Dark Knight Returns is one of two seminal works I hold in the highest esteem. (The other, of course, is Alan Moore‘s Watchmen.)
And, as I mentioned, I’m a fan of Nolan’s work, and I liked both his first two Batman movies. I fully expected to like his latest.
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Leave a comment | tags: Alan Moore, Batman, Christopher Nolan, superheroes, The Dark Knight Rises, violence, violence in movies | posted in Movies, Rant, The Interweb, TV
Saturn V
Kudos and congratulations to Curiosity! The Mars Space Laboratory — the “rover” — is safely down on Mars. Other blogs have covered it in great detail, so I won’t go into it. The Bad Astronomer is a great place to start with anything space-related; here’s a good one, and here’s another. Maki, over at sci-ənce, has a really cute comic. And you can always count on Randall Monroe, over at xkcd, for a good take on it. (And speaking of xkcd and Mars, I’ve always loved this one.)
But I do just want to say, “Wow! This is really cool!”
And isn’t Curiosity an apt name for a mission designed to slake ours.
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Leave a comment | tags: Curiousity, Mars, MSL, NASA, Project Gemini, Project Mercury, Redstone rocket, Saturn V rocket, Titan rocket | posted in Life, Science
In fact I’m actually going to write a rant about two bits from the Lord of the Rings movies, but they’re directly related to the Han Shot First controversy. In both cases, Hollywood seems to be demonstrating a classic far left bias I can only think of as Limp Dick Syndrome.
In the Star Wars case, the bias is so strong it involves revisionism of previously published material!
But let’s first discuss those two bits from Peter Jackson’s film version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. It’s kind of more of the same sort of LDS problem (and I don’t mean Latter Day Somebodies, and I didn’t misspell LSD).
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7 Comments | tags: Boromir, Ents, Faramir, Han Shot First, Lord of the Rings, Torchwood | posted in Movies, Rant
Logos con carne 