Happy Halloween

Buenas Halloween

David Shannon

I am saddened to hear of the passing of David Shannon. A fellow alumni of the University of North Carolina at Chapel hill. It has been a hard year for the University. I send my best wishes and thoughts to his family, friends and Fraternity brothers.

Arms like a T-Rex

http://www.economist.com/node/21565041

From the Economist

``A FULLY grown Tyrannosaurus rex would have been a magnificent sight 66m years ago on the landscape of what was then not yet North America. Huge, powerful and armed with teeth like daggers, everything about it was awesome. Except its arms, which resembled nothing so much as the twigs that sometimes fulfil that role on a child’s snowman. ''

Mean people suggest that I love Dinosaurs, because I have small arms too!!!

2-1

An Away goal will be useful though!

The History Ireland Linen Hall Library Lectures

H/t Slugger o' Toole.

http://www.linenhall.com/UserFiles/File/The%20History%20Ireland%20Linen%20Hall%20Library%20Lectures.pdf

A series of lectures on Irish History.

Why the Tyrannosaurus Rex Is So Damn Angry

Revealed: Why the Tyrannosaurus Rex Is So Damn Angry

From one of my favourite websites the poke.

http://www.thepoke.co.uk

Good luck

The best of luck, to my big sister who went for an Interview today
Bon Voyage, to my other sisters who are traveling in the Far East

Sign of the times

Caprica redux

Being a long time, Battlestar Galatica fan. I have finally got round to watching Caprica
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0799862/

The pilot was very good. However what drew my attention was the scene in the V club. A virtual reality night club. The club is underground, and anything goes. There was a scene where a girl, was supposed to lose her maidenhood. ( Sorry for the flowery language I just don't want to much spam or weirdness) to an avatar of an underworld God. I wondered how mainstream this was on present day Caprica.

Caprica drew on one good idea. That the change over from polytheism, to monotheism, was a revolution. Like most revolutions violent. I don't think the writers really appreciated the difference between the two modes of thought. They had the government agent mention how one God, sitting in judgement over the rest of the universe is a dangerous idea. .

Okay so lets start with Lucy Rand. Lets make her from Gemmnon . Imagine Geminon has recently gone, monotheist. Here you can have the STO types, as part of the revolution on Geminion. . Lets make Lucy a monotheist. She gets a scholarship, to the exclusive Athena academy. There she meets Zoey.

The revolution makes Caprica nervous. I never understood, why the Capricans needed an army of robots anyway. Did the STO have a fleet? The robots make sense if you fear subversion in the army.

By showing the entry to Caprica from Geminion of Lucy. We see Caprican society from the floor up.  We get to see how weird it is. At the start of a pyramid game. Kill an ox. Have teachers union praying to Athena. Make Caprica religious. But make it strange. Caprica was not strange enough.  It should be terrifying for Lucy. It should be difficult. Have her sit at separate tables. Don't have a Kosher option. The pretty little Gemonese girl. Is weird.

Her, and Zoey do not mesh, Zoey seems to be the cool girl. The spoiled brat. Daddy's money... Then you bring in the Graystones.  Have the Father, take Lucy as an intern. Leaned on by the Government, and make Lucy a great coder. That is why Lucy is at the academy.

You can then have Zoe, fall in with the radical monotheists. Convert, a rich girl, can you say Patty Hearst? That is when, she crosses passes. With the Adamas. There mob connections, and the lawyer.

Then you can have Zoey killed, and her avatar... is brought back by Lucy.

Thank you, Gracias, Merci, danke

A big and heartfelt thank you, to everyone, who has sent me, mail at work. It mean't a lot to me. A little ray of sunshine on otherwise terrible days. Thank you.

As I handed in my notice today. Please don't send any more.

Congratulations to Tanya

Posdrawlenia!

I wish my friend Tanya, Bulgarian poetess. Every Happiness, on her wedding day

Best wishes, to her and her new family 

Feliz Cumpleaños"

My fiancée's mother has her birthday today. Many happy returns to her, and her family

Taken 2

Taken 2
I’ve not actually seen taken 2, its been a film, I have avoided seeing probably for snobbish reasons. There were bad reviews of it when it was released in the cinema. It has become a popular success.
Well, put simply the relatives of the bad guys in Taken, chases Liam Neeson and his family, through Istanbul
How old, is Maggie from lost? She is playing the daughter of Liam Neeson here. The original Taken was 4 years ago. The film ends, with the family all eating ice cream, in a diner? She is still supposed to be in university. 25? Which makes Maggie oldish in college?
We get some nice shots of Istanbul, which is good. Always nice to see a new city on film, I am quite used to seeing the same few streets of Chicago. At least we got something new.
I don’t wish to comment on contemporary politics here, but I somehow doubt, two grenades and several shootings about Istanbul would go unnoticed. By the Turkish authorities, buying the odd detective or hotel clerk, does not white wash this. The world’s press would be on it.
There is a border crossing into Turkey, from either Greece or Bulgaria, which is barely manned. Again, I don’t want to talk about politics, imagine, the same scene on the US southern border.
Anyway, it’s silly as it’s a major trade route.
I did like Neeson, talking his daughter through finding him, with a map and a marker. Using the noise of grenades, that was good.
It’s nice to see Famke Janseen again as Maggies Mom
Neeson having to explain to his college educated Daughter than Europe is on one side of the Bosporus and Asia on the other. This has been a point of dispute in Turkey of late. However in the classical Greek sense, that is correct. Means Maggie must study harder
I-phones all have GPS, so you would just have to hack them, rather than install one in them. If you were really paranoid, why not have a GPS in your tooth. The X files, did this. A decade ago
Brian’s (Neeson) can have his friend stop the Marines shooting him, having smashed inside the American embassy but cannot call them to send the Deltas, after his wife?
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. It is straightforward, good old fashioned action movie. I have been over analysing it. There are car chases, and shootings, its a lot of fun.
PS why was no one sitting at the first few, seats of the cinema. Are we all sixteen years old?