This Star Trek: The Original Series episode’s plot shows the stupidity of segregation and racism. The Enterprise encounters two humanoids who are black on half their body and white on the other (as shown in the image). The crew cannot figure out, at first, why these two men hate each other over “racial issues” when as far as the crew can tell, the men are exactly the same. One of the men looks perplexed that the difference cannot be seen, for it is clear to him that he “black on the right and white on the left” while his “different-raced” enemy is “white on the right and black on the left.”
This is clearly to show, even in a racially sensitive society in which the episode was aired, that differences in skin color really shouldn’t play any role determining the worth of an individual.
So what is the observation I want to make about this episode? It is that if their racial bias is based on the fact that one race is “black on the right and white on the left” while the other race is “white on the right and black on the left,” wouldn’t each race hate the “oppressive” or “inferior” race they see in the mirror each morning? Can you imagine seeing something you, rationally or irrationally, hate in the mirror each morning? To me it seems that this simple fact would have eased the racial tension of this species long ago.
I have not worked a full day of work in my hometown in almost 7 months I think. I have been travelling for work so much while doing consulting for various projects. Every time I was home, I would come into work and put in a travel reimbursment claim and then take the rest of the few days off because of accumulated comp-time.
It is so hard to get my mind to think “Ok, you have to actually work in your normal office again!” I keep getting too distracted and going home after 4 to 6 hours. I do have a lot of things I am getting done at home though like cleaning and errands which have accumulated over the many months.
Today I am going to stay at work for at least 7 hours! Next week I will make it to the full 9-hour days. Heck I MIGHT even make it today, but optimism isn’t high.
As soon as I heard “iPad,” my initial reaction was to dislike the name. However, after seeing the device, I wonder how much the iPad name was influenced by the “PADD”s in Star Trek TNG and DS9.
Regardless of possible name influences, it is nice to see more technology go from Star Trek to reality. Now, bring on the Holodecks!
If there is one big thing I have noticed in my life, it is that I am approximately a decade behind (agewise) when most other people tend to discover and/or get into certain stages of life. This really gives me a bright outlook upon the next decade because, given this fact, I am really only around 18yo and it’s time for me to start the “grown-up” portion of my life! One of the big things to me, if this pattern holds, is that I have yet to enter the most creative and productive portion of my life. I can’t wait to find out what the next decade holds for me!
“The Book of Eli” is a story about a post-apocalyptic world in which the human race has been mostly wiped out. It has been 30 years since “the flash” and a few small, makeshift towns seem to have popped up again. Eli (Denzel Washington) is a traveler who is heading west with a book he believes is the key to saving civilization. When he comes across a small town run by Carnegie (Gary Oldman), Carnegie finds out about the book and tries to take it from Eli at all costs. That’s pretty much all I feel I can say about the movie without giving things away.
I really had no idea what to expect going in, but “The Book of Eli” ended up being a pretty good movie. I wouldn’t say there was anything special about it though. It simply kept me interested and drew me in to where I really cared what happened to Eli, Solara (Mila Kunis), and the book. The movie was pretty slow in a number of places, but the slowness definitely added to the suspense. My mind had time to race around and wonder how things were going to play out.
There were only 3 small things that bugged me in the movie. First, overall the explosions and special effects were pretty well done. There was one place in particular though were a bomb was thrown next to a car. Instead of an explosion happening NEXT to the car though, an explosion emanated from the inside center of the car. Second, there were a couple of times where Solara (played by Mila Kunis who is the voice of “Meg” on “Family Guy”) was pleading with Eli in a whiny voice. Unfortunately, this “whiny voice” is the same voice she often uses for “Meg.” It was enough to knock my train of thought out of the movie for a bit. Finally, the “great revelation” at the end of the movie was very “meh” in my opinion.
Before I get into a final description that I see as containing spoilers, let me go ahead and give my overall rating for this movie. As I stated, there was nothing really special about this movie, but the acting was good and it drew me in and made me care about what happened to the characters. I give this movie a 7.5/10.
Today I found something that has made me very happy. Apple has allowed Qik to publish two iPhone apps that allow you to capture video on ANY iPhone. The app to stream video directly to your account on Qik’s website is free while the app that lets you save video on your iPhone is $0.99.
Here is a video I shot using the free app. I live streamed this over my AT&T 3G connection while watching the video on my laptop via a broadband internet connection. I only noticed a 4 second lag between realtime and the video on Qik’s website.
I am pretty happy with the results and I can’t wait to get a chance to stream some video!
I found a clip of John Stossel’s show from December 17, 2009 where he is discussing the state of healthcare and what reforms, if any, need to happen. He has the CEO of Whole Foods Market, John Mackey, as a guest. If you have not heard about the controversy surrounding Mackey’s healthcare comments, read here.
Unfortunately, I am not a huge fan of Stossel’s new talkshow format, the clips below are still pretty informative.
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