Sunday, August 28, 2022

We need so much more of this…

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/student-sneaks-lightsabers-into-graduation-to-challenge-principal/



Short. Sweet. To the point. That's the beauty Dave's iPhone. 

Scientists Grow “Synthetic” Embryo With Brain and…

This is … well, a little creepy.

And it brings up a host of ethical questions.

But I have to wonder, in todays climate where abortion debates and religion govern some of the laws, does this qualify as "human life?" Does it "have a soul?"

The world is changing (often for the better due to science) and we're still living with fairy tales and antiquated notions - mostly to control people.

It should open up a broader debate because there is no conception here. So what does human life mean?

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-grow-synthetic-embryo-with-brain-and-beating-heart-without-eggs-or-sperm/


Short. Sweet. To the point. That's the beauty Dave's iPhone.

Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Obi yawn kenobi

I was excited for the series on Disney+. I have really enjoyed the content thus far, so I was looking forward to seeing how they treated the iconic character. 

I was waiting for my son to come home so we could enjoy it together…I avoided discussions and spoilers over the month or so since it premiered.

6 episodes. Each 45 or so minutes. Can't wait.

And then…disappointment. It sucked. They really missed on the character and storyline. Sure, the concept was okay. But they spent almost the entire first episode setting the tone for the show, as we watched Ben work in a packing plant and take long rides across the desert.

Uhhhhh. Wow. What a waste of an episode. Maybe it gets better in #2?  Not really. Just a snooze fest.

It's not what I expected obi wan to be doing. Or how I thought he'd be acting. Or whatever.

And on top of that, if you're a diehard Star Wars fan, maybe you know about the inquisitors. But if you're a causal fan, probably not.

They spent 5 minutes giving you their back story. And even then it was weak sauce. 

So that part of the story was glossed over, while they bored us with Ben telling everyone he left that life behind. 

The dialog was mostly drivel. There wasn't a purpose, other than meeting Anakin, er, Vader along the way. 

They could have kept the core story points and created a more interesting and richer story. But why bother? It's obi wan. People will love the fan service!

That's not to say there weren't a couple of bright spots. I liked young Leia. She was much as I might expect. And a few of the background characters held a little interest.  The battle between obi wan and Darth Vader was good, but very dark. And intermixed with Luke running away (almost completely in the dark) it lost some of the magic. 

…overall, it was not worth the 6 hours I spent watching it. It just didn't work. 

There was one additional point I wanted to make: I enjoyed the book of boba fett, in spite of it being similar in terms of how they spent a lot of time "doing nothing" in the desert. 

So what's the difference? It's all about perspective. Boba fett takes place *after* episode vi. We don't know what happens to the character, so it was interesting to see where they took the character. He took over Jaba's territory and there could be a richness to the storyline - because it was essentially unknown to the viewer. 

Obi wan takes place between episodes 3&4, and we know what happens in both. So there's no real mystery there. This one has to rely on a good story to make it come together. Having him help Leia was clever, but not enough. All he does is live a solitary life and then get chased across the Galaxy by Vader as he helps her. 

Why not have him "pretending" to live a solitary life while actually out doing something? He could have had a series of adventures that culminated in a battle. 

Anyway, that's my take. 

So I guess the robot chicken joke applies. From a certain point of view this all made sense. 

Thursday, July 28, 2022

Gov. DeSantis admonishes drag show

Proving that he's the dictator of Florida, he decided to call out a drag show. And this is how censorship gets rolling.

And it fits into his own, personal, twisted narrative that there's some sort of indoctrination with children somehow deciding to be gay because they see others doing it…

Aside: has he ever been to one? I have - they're fun.

They're performances by men dressed as women. That's it.

Where do you draw the line? By his "standard" comic cons should no longer allow people to dress up because kids might think they could be superhero's, and women dress in ways that may offend someone; kids might see something that will indoctrinate them.

Disney world shouldn't have costumed characters, because kids might think giant dogs and mice are real. And those princesses? They lead to moral decay… their stories are complicated and messy (they are teenagers after all) - just glossed over with a touch of Disney magic. 

Circuses shouldn't have people dressed as clowns, because everyone knows from tv and movies that clowns are evil. Can't scare kids like that!

And children shouldn't be allowed at any political events or church functions, because there are grown men pretending to be adults. We can't have children seeing that.

The governor needs to be removed. And our opportunity to do that comes in a couple of months.

https://www.local10.com/news/local/2022/07/27/florida-gov-ron-desantis-takes-aim-at-wynwood-restaurant-r-house-for-popular-drag-show/

Tuesday, July 19, 2022

Love this guy

At the Tour de France. The irony of a guy standing on a mountain telling us the earth is flat.

So. So. Funny.

The world is round…

If Bugs Bunny got it in 1951, how are there still so many people who haven’t gotten the memo?!