Eric’s repaired Xbox 360 has been returned and it’s once again working. Summer is saved! Recently, The Onion had a special segment examining the importance of video games in preparing today’s youth for their inevitable future…
Are Violent Video Games Adequately Preparing Children For The Apocalypse?
Thanks to the Roku Digital Player, my guilty pleasure has been watching the revived BBC series Dr. Who. I’m almost through the second season with David Tennant, who took over from Christopher Eccleston. The Doctor always has a young lady along for his adventures, and Billie Piper as Rose appears in both seasons.
Dr. Who retains the preposterous stories and hokey monsters of past incarnations, but I’m impressed by the human interest elements of the new series. The love triangle between Rose, her boyfriend, and The Doctor had a curious end. One episode in particular, “Love and Monsters”, uses the ludicrous sci-fi trappings of the last Time Lord as an excuse for memorably quirky character portrayals. The scenes with Rose’s hopeful mum and a younger man are both a funny and poignant. The episode features the delightfully mouse-voiced Shirley Henderson, who is Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter movies.
England in the early 60’s was the source of some of the all-time best theme music. The James Bond theme was composed by Monty Norman, but arranger John Barry disputes that claim. A man named Laurie Johnson wrote the theme for The Avengers, and the Dr. Who theme was composed by Ron Grainer at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
I am happy to report that I am no longer the best place on the Net to see the Belgian girl group K3. This is.
At last, Studio 100 has given K3 a proper virtual venue. When Karen Damen’s channel on YouTube disappeared I figured that would be it for online videos, but how good it is to be wrong.
Over six months ago, I wrote sort of an open letter to Studio 100…
I’m the lone voice in America pushing K3. To increase interest in your own posted videos, get high quality versions of “Kusjesdag”, “Hart Verloren”, “Tele Romeo” and “Verliefd” in stereo on YouTube. I’d love to link to those. “I Love You, Baby” too, because it has some English. Think about it. Please. The songs are wonderful, but it’s not just the format that makes it all work, it’s Karen, Kristel and Kathleen, one of the best pop music trios I have ever enjoyed.
Later I added “A Trip to Mars” to that list. Here are direct links to all of those videos, available at last in high quality transfers that hold up to being displayed full screen, and they’re in stereo.
Great job, Studio 100. I don’t even mind that you’ve prevented embedding and downloading. Kudos and thanks.
[flv:http://s3.amazonaws.com/dogratcom/Video/K3/NewK3Girl.flv 480 270]
Whenever there is a notable layoff in the tech sector, c|net keeps track and adds it to the pile of listings. The rate of job losses seems to be abating, but according to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, unemployment for EE’s is now at a record 8.6%.
On another serious topic, the death of Robert McNamara brings to mind memories of 40 years ago. The distinct impression I had as a kid was that Viet Nam was all about the body count. It seemed that night after night, the news emphasized how many more North Vietnamese than Americans were being killed. Yet we never seemed to be winning, and our involvement dragged on and on, until my brother reached draft age, and then I was approaching draft age. At my high school job I worked with a guy who left to attend McGill University in Canada to avoid the draft.
A relative of mine, an economist who worked for Robert McNamara at the World Bank, sums him up with, “In the end, he was a tragic figure. Like a lot of brilliant people who excel in math and physics, his social skills and understanding of people were limited. But his brilliance fed an ego that over-reached: hubris, leading to a fall.” She recommends this assessment of McNamara by sociologist Norman Birnbaum.
Continue reading Numbers and more numbers
Any idea who this is? As an adult, her face became the most famous in the world — not one of, but the most. Even knowing who she is, I can’t say identifying her from this photo is easy, but as far as I can determine the snapshot is genuine.
Hover over the picture and you’ll see that it’s Diana Spencer as a child.
Here is something very special indeed. This is a portrait of Prudence Bury at age seventeen, while she attended the Royal School of Ballet. It was taken by Antony Armstrong-Jones, before he married Princess Margaret and was named the 1st Earl of Snowdon. Lord Snowdon is known for many things, among them his numerous portraits of Lady Diana, Princess of Wales.
© Lord Snowdon (Antony Armstrong-Jones)
This is a photo of a framed photo. In the reflection you can see one of Prue’s sons taking the picture, and some bookcases behind him.
Thank you, Prue! 🙂
