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Saturday, February 28, 2009
Paul Harvey (1918-2009)
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He was the kindest broadcast journalist ever.
Here are two of his "The Rest of the Story" segments.
The photo near the top of his Wikipedia bio shows Harvey with one of the greatest honors of his life - his Presidential Medal of Freedom, bestowed in 2005.
Posted by Alan at
11:15 PM |
Here are two of his "The Rest of the Story" segments.
The photo near the top of his Wikipedia bio shows Harvey with one of the greatest honors of his life - his Presidential Medal of Freedom, bestowed in 2005.
Labels: Media, Obituaries
The Limbaugh Divide
A few days ago, Public Policy Polling released results on a Rush Limbaugh's popularity poll. This is what seems to capture most people's attention:
Posted by Alan at
4:50 PM |
There is a massive gender gap in those numbers, with 56% of men but only 37% of women holding a favorable opinion of him.
The female/male gaps is 49-37 percent on "unfavorable," and 14-7 percent on "not sure."
Note that the poll asks about people's opinions of Limbaugh, not his ideas. What this means is that we can learn something about Limbaugh's PR effectiveness. His negative PR cannot be gauged, because most Americans (and thus most unfavorables) have little to no exposure to Rush, and the value of PR among those who haven't heard it cannot be accurately measured.
Positive PR is much easier to discern. Rush is obviously popular within his party. He gets 55% favorables from minorities other than blacks and Hispanics. He also rates 43% favorable, 53 unfavorable, 3% no sure among blacks - a group that has been voting Democrat at around a 9:1 ratio for a long time. BLACKS LIKE RUSH LIMBAUGH MORE THAN THEY LIKE REPUBLICANS.
What is the secret to Rush PR advantage over GOP officials with regard to blacks?
Lost - Locke's Back
(Episode: The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham. Spoilers ahead.)
This was originally slated to air before last week's show, but the producers thought this change would be cooler. I don't know about that, but it does seem sensible. I think the show needed to end the back-in-civilization phase before beginning the story of the Ajira 316 survivors.
And also before throwing at us the show-s biggest plot twist - Locke's rise from the dead.
When he left the island, he arrived in Tunisia - same spot where Ben emerged last season. Locals take him to a hospital, and Charles Widmore eventually meets up with him. Widmore says he was exiled by Ben years ago, and assumes that Locke was exiled too.Locke tells him that Ben left the island first, and that Locke is on a mission to return the Oceanic Six.
Widmore is eager for this mission to succeed, saying that "the wrong side" will win an impending war if they don't return. What is Widmore's interest in Locke's mission - is it simply a convenient way to find out how to get back to the island, or is there something much deeper?
Locke went to Kate, Sayid, Jack and Hurley, and failed each time to convince them that they need to return to the island. We know from earlier episodes that Jack would have a change of mind, triggered (apparently) by the apparition of his father at the hospital.
Locke also visits Walt, and tells the boy of his father's most recent employment but not that he died. Walt had been having prophetic dreams about Locke's return to the island.
While Locke visits his old girlfriend's grave, Widmore henchman Michael Abaddon is shot (by Ben, we learn), and Locke drives away in a panic, leading to the accident that brings him to Jack's hospital.
Locke gives up on his mission and plans to hang himself with an extension cord in his motel room. Ben arrives in the nick of time. Ben learned of Locke's return when he witnessed the meeting with Walt. Ben informs Locke that Jack has already accepted that they must return to the island; Jack booked a trans-Pacific flight, and apparent desperate attempt to find the island again.
Ben learns that Jin is alive, and that Locke is searching for Eloise Hawking. At this mention Ben takes the extension cord and strangles Locke to death. Why? Is he cold-bloodedly trying to recreate the conditions of the first crash - for Locke to serve as proxy for Christian? Or is he ensuring that Locke will not lead Widmore to discover Mrs. Hawking's whereabouts? Or both?
Flight 316 landed on the satellite island where the Hydra Station is. Evidently Lapidus had managed a successful crash lading; death toll is nto stated, but it appears to be minimal. Survivors speak of seeing several passengers vanish when the strange light appeared. The Oceanic Five (where's Aaron?) got caught up in the temporal anomaly; it did not grab Locke - or Ben, who Locke sees in the gathering of injured passengers. Is it possible that the anomaly would have grabbed Locke if he had been alive - is that why he had to die?
There are two outrigger canoes nearby; a third had been appropriated by Lapidus and an unknown woman. (Were they the ones who shot at the Lostaways when they had appropriated one of those canoes?)
Who is Lapidus' female traveling companion? If it's a known character, Mrs. Hawking is the only likely candidate; otherwise she's a new character.
Will Ben be surprised or not when he sees Locke alive? I'm so looking forward to that moment.
Posted by Alan at
2:45 PM |
This was originally slated to air before last week's show, but the producers thought this change would be cooler. I don't know about that, but it does seem sensible. I think the show needed to end the back-in-civilization phase before beginning the story of the Ajira 316 survivors.
And also before throwing at us the show-s biggest plot twist - Locke's rise from the dead.
When he left the island, he arrived in Tunisia - same spot where Ben emerged last season. Locals take him to a hospital, and Charles Widmore eventually meets up with him. Widmore says he was exiled by Ben years ago, and assumes that Locke was exiled too.Locke tells him that Ben left the island first, and that Locke is on a mission to return the Oceanic Six.
Widmore is eager for this mission to succeed, saying that "the wrong side" will win an impending war if they don't return. What is Widmore's interest in Locke's mission - is it simply a convenient way to find out how to get back to the island, or is there something much deeper?
Locke went to Kate, Sayid, Jack and Hurley, and failed each time to convince them that they need to return to the island. We know from earlier episodes that Jack would have a change of mind, triggered (apparently) by the apparition of his father at the hospital.
Locke also visits Walt, and tells the boy of his father's most recent employment but not that he died. Walt had been having prophetic dreams about Locke's return to the island.
While Locke visits his old girlfriend's grave, Widmore henchman Michael Abaddon is shot (by Ben, we learn), and Locke drives away in a panic, leading to the accident that brings him to Jack's hospital.
Locke gives up on his mission and plans to hang himself with an extension cord in his motel room. Ben arrives in the nick of time. Ben learned of Locke's return when he witnessed the meeting with Walt. Ben informs Locke that Jack has already accepted that they must return to the island; Jack booked a trans-Pacific flight, and apparent desperate attempt to find the island again.
Ben learns that Jin is alive, and that Locke is searching for Eloise Hawking. At this mention Ben takes the extension cord and strangles Locke to death. Why? Is he cold-bloodedly trying to recreate the conditions of the first crash - for Locke to serve as proxy for Christian? Or is he ensuring that Locke will not lead Widmore to discover Mrs. Hawking's whereabouts? Or both?
Flight 316 landed on the satellite island where the Hydra Station is. Evidently Lapidus had managed a successful crash lading; death toll is nto stated, but it appears to be minimal. Survivors speak of seeing several passengers vanish when the strange light appeared. The Oceanic Five (where's Aaron?) got caught up in the temporal anomaly; it did not grab Locke - or Ben, who Locke sees in the gathering of injured passengers. Is it possible that the anomaly would have grabbed Locke if he had been alive - is that why he had to die?
There are two outrigger canoes nearby; a third had been appropriated by Lapidus and an unknown woman. (Were they the ones who shot at the Lostaways when they had appropriated one of those canoes?)
Who is Lapidus' female traveling companion? If it's a known character, Mrs. Hawking is the only likely candidate; otherwise she's a new character.
Will Ben be surprised or not when he sees Locke alive? I'm so looking forward to that moment.
Labels: Lost, Television
The Envelope, Please VIII
Tank McNamara's Sports Jerk of 2008 is Plaxico Burress.
Posted by Alan at
1:25 PM |
Friday, February 27, 2009
Hah!
Posted by Alan at 12:40 PM |
NRO Roundup
Dirk Benedict is not politically correct.
Neither are these bumper stickers.
William Shatner for Canadian Prime Minister? Hah!
James C. Capretta does the math on Obamanomics.
Posted by Alan at
12:35 PM |
Neither are these bumper stickers.
William Shatner for Canadian Prime Minister? Hah!
James C. Capretta does the math on Obamanomics.
Labels: Politics
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Bill Ayers vs. Academia
There are some colleges that won't let him pal around.
Posted by Alan at
10:40 PM |
Slanderer-In-Chief
Obama criticizes his political opposition for policies they don't support.
Posted by Alan at
10:35 PM |
Labels: Politics
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Heroes - Ve Haff Vays Of Making You Think
(Episode: Cold Wars. Spoilers ahead.)
Matt "interrogates" Bennett to get information about their enemy. He learns that it's a government operation, started by Nathan and operationally run by Danko. He also learns of Bennett's weapons stash (which Peter successfully loots, but not without having to toss a flash grenade in a crowd of fed agents) and Danko's address (which Peter visits with the intent to kill Danko, but is dissuaded by Nathan). He also learns that Daphne is alive and in custody.
Matt also knows the philosophical difference between Bennett and Danko - Bennett doesn't support the extreme of locking up every single evolved human - and that Bennett is essentially a double agent reporting to Angela.
The Feds interrupt the end of the interrogation. Mohinder holds off the agents for a bit, but gets brought down by multiple stun darts. Matt is eventually apprehended, but Peter uses another one of those grenades to rescue Matt.
Now in custody, Mohinder is asked by Nathan to work on a "cure" for the mutations. We know from Season 2 that the Shanti Virus will suppress abilities; perhaps Mohinder will start there to isolate the mutation-suppressive element from the deadly portion.
Matt goes to into precog trance to paint the future; his works portray himself wearing a pipe bomb vest, one of the pipe bomb elements, and a large explosion near the Capitol in DC. What does this mean? Don't assume the obvious - appearances are not always what they seem...
Update: Images of Matt's end-of-episode paintings can be seen here.
That DC explosion in the painting looks awfully large to be set off by a pipe bomb vest. It is large enough to be nuclear, but could also be conventional; a Ryder truck with fertilizer can make a pretty big mushroom cloud.
Of course, the vest might explode next to something else that makes an even bigger boom. Or the DC explosion is an event separate from the pipe bomb attack. Or maybe the vest only looks like a pipe bomb...
Posted by Alan at
12:20 PM |
Matt "interrogates" Bennett to get information about their enemy. He learns that it's a government operation, started by Nathan and operationally run by Danko. He also learns of Bennett's weapons stash (which Peter successfully loots, but not without having to toss a flash grenade in a crowd of fed agents) and Danko's address (which Peter visits with the intent to kill Danko, but is dissuaded by Nathan). He also learns that Daphne is alive and in custody.
Matt also knows the philosophical difference between Bennett and Danko - Bennett doesn't support the extreme of locking up every single evolved human - and that Bennett is essentially a double agent reporting to Angela.
The Feds interrupt the end of the interrogation. Mohinder holds off the agents for a bit, but gets brought down by multiple stun darts. Matt is eventually apprehended, but Peter uses another one of those grenades to rescue Matt.
Now in custody, Mohinder is asked by Nathan to work on a "cure" for the mutations. We know from Season 2 that the Shanti Virus will suppress abilities; perhaps Mohinder will start there to isolate the mutation-suppressive element from the deadly portion.
Matt goes to into precog trance to paint the future; his works portray himself wearing a pipe bomb vest, one of the pipe bomb elements, and a large explosion near the Capitol in DC. What does this mean? Don't assume the obvious - appearances are not always what they seem...
Update: Images of Matt's end-of-episode paintings can be seen here.
That DC explosion in the painting looks awfully large to be set off by a pipe bomb vest. It is large enough to be nuclear, but could also be conventional; a Ryder truck with fertilizer can make a pretty big mushroom cloud.
Of course, the vest might explode next to something else that makes an even bigger boom. Or the DC explosion is an event separate from the pipe bomb attack. Or maybe the vest only looks like a pipe bomb...
Labels: Heroes, Television
Monday, February 23, 2009
In Other News, Dracula Cautions Women To Avoid Walking Alone At Night
Obama calls for fiscal restraint.
Posted by Alan at
10:50 PM |
Labels: Politics
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Lost - DHARMA Hatch In Los Angeles!
(Episode: 316. Spoilers ahead.)
The lack of curiosity on the part of the Lostaways is frustrating. Had I been in that room with Mrs. Hawking, I would have asked why DHARMA wanted so badly to find that island.
Viewers are aware of its time travel experiments - but what goal to those experiments seek to accomplish? Faraday made it clear that history can't be altered. But one can learn from the past or the future what one did not know before. What do DHARMA and Widmore hope to gain from this?
The island is constantly moving through time and space without its inhabitants being able to sense the changes. The Lamp Post, DHARMA's Los Angeles facility, has the means to find where the island will be at certain times.
For some reason, the Oceanic Six have to go back to fix whatever damage has been done. Ben is going back, too - because he has to, or because he wants to? Who beat him up on the morning of the flight?
Who told Hurley to be on the flight? And where is Aaron? Is it possible that Aaron was on that flight after all, without anyone's knowledge?
Lostpedia lists several parallels between Flights 815 and 316:
Posted by Alan at
11:45 AM |
The lack of curiosity on the part of the Lostaways is frustrating. Had I been in that room with Mrs. Hawking, I would have asked why DHARMA wanted so badly to find that island.
Viewers are aware of its time travel experiments - but what goal to those experiments seek to accomplish? Faraday made it clear that history can't be altered. But one can learn from the past or the future what one did not know before. What do DHARMA and Widmore hope to gain from this?
The island is constantly moving through time and space without its inhabitants being able to sense the changes. The Lamp Post, DHARMA's Los Angeles facility, has the means to find where the island will be at certain times.
For some reason, the Oceanic Six have to go back to fix whatever damage has been done. Ben is going back, too - because he has to, or because he wants to? Who beat him up on the morning of the flight?
Who told Hurley to be on the flight? And where is Aaron? Is it possible that Aaron was on that flight after all, without anyone's knowledge?
Lostpedia lists several parallels between Flights 815 and 316:
- The body of John Locke is travelling the cargo hold, acting as a "proxy" for Christian Shephard aboard Flight 815. ("Pilot, Part 1")
- Sayid is handcuffed, travelling in custody, just as Kate was transported by Edward Mars. ("Pilot, Part 2")
- Hurley is carrying a guitar, just as Charlie brought his own guitar. ("Exodus, Part 2")
- Sun is fingering Jin's wedding ring, just as Rose was holding onto Bernard's ring during Flight 815. ("Tabula Rasa")
- Frank Lapidus, the pilot, was originally supposed to fly Oceanic Flight 815. ("Confirmed Dead")
- Ben, despite being "sidetracked," makes the flight at the last possible minute, mirroring Hurley's mad rush to the airport in 2004. ("Exodus, Part 2")
- Hurley has another Spanish-language comic book to keep him entertained. ("Exodus, Part 2")
- Kate is breaking the agreement of her settlement, running from the law.
- Jack and Kate slept together the night before the flight, shortly after a serious argument that would have cost them any future relationship in most situations, and the next morning, Kate acts cold toward Jack, mirroring the case of Shannon and Boone.
At the end, turbulence and a flash of light hit the plane, and all of a sudden we see three of the Lostaways on the island; it appears that the island simply grabbed them without downing the plane. We also see Jin in DHARMA garb and driving a new-looking DHARMA van.
I have a feeling that Desmond's boat is gonna find that island again. Hawking did say that the island isn't through with him...
"The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" was originally slated for this week, but they swapped the episode order. We'll have to wait two weeks for this new twist in the adventure.
Correction: Lostpedia reference originally cited as Wikipedia. This error has been corrected.
Labels: Lost, Television
About That Bigoted Remark From Our Attorney General
Memo to Eric Holder: if people aren't talking about race a lot these days, maybe that's because there's not as much racial tension than there used to be.
In a culture where racism has been pushed to the fringes, the people who talk about race the most are racists.
Posted by Alan at
9:00 AM |
In a culture where racism has been pushed to the fringes, the people who talk about race the most are racists.
Labels: Culture
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Bank CEOS vs. TARP
The Denver Post has an interesting article.
US Bancorp CEO Richard Davis leveled charges of dishonest advertising:
Posted by Alan at
9:15 AM |
US Bancorp CEO Richard Davis leveled charges of dishonest advertising:
Davis went on to say in his talk that while government officials marketed the program as a way to entice banks to lend again, TARP actually was designed to give solid banks like U.S. Bancorp some extra cash to buy weaker banks in the system. U.S. Bancorp did just that late last year when it acquired the assets of two failed banks in California, Downey Savings and Loan and PFF Bank & Trust.
"We were told to take it so that we could help Darwin synthesize the weaker banks and acquire those and put them under different leadership," he said. "We are not even allowed to mention that. ... We were supposed to say the TARP money was used for lending."
Labels: Politics
Heroes - Travel Time
(Episode: Building 26. Spoilers ahead.)
Sylar goes on the road and dodges federalies at a diner, while Hiro and Ando go to India to fulfill that prophetic drawing. Sylar gets a valuable government computer out of the deal, while Hiro's adventure nets him some confidence in his ability to achieve heroism without powers.
"Rebel" is obviously someone who knows Hiro and Ando's whereabouts, as they receive a message from their new friends in India. Peter, Matt and Mohinder are the only three possibilities. Unless "Rebel" is somebody snooping on them - not an impossible plot twist, but unlikely.
"Rebel" alerts Claire to warn a comic book shop employee to evade the feds. His ability is underwater breathing. He's on the lam now, and sleeping in Claire's closet for the moment.
Claire tells Mom about Dad's government job, and Dad gets kicked out of the house - only to get himself captured by Peter and company.
Meanwhile at the Homeland Security undisclosed location, an official named Abby Collins looks over the place, sees the torturous conditions of Tracy Strauss' imprisonment, and threatens to shut down the operation. She doesn't believe in the claim about mutants - until she witnesses Tracy's power; Danko the commando leader had sabotaged the chain holding binding Tracy so she could break free.
What I don't understand is why Tracy killed that agent. She was completely surrounded; no way that even the dumbest of the dumb could think that that action would help her get away from those people. The natural thing to do would have been to keep him in her clutches alive and try to use him as a hostage for escape. Was it bad scriptwriting? Did she have an ulterior motive for Abby to see her power? Did some external force maker her pull that stunt?
Posted by Alan at
9:00 AM |
Sylar goes on the road and dodges federalies at a diner, while Hiro and Ando go to India to fulfill that prophetic drawing. Sylar gets a valuable government computer out of the deal, while Hiro's adventure nets him some confidence in his ability to achieve heroism without powers.
"Rebel" is obviously someone who knows Hiro and Ando's whereabouts, as they receive a message from their new friends in India. Peter, Matt and Mohinder are the only three possibilities. Unless "Rebel" is somebody snooping on them - not an impossible plot twist, but unlikely.
"Rebel" alerts Claire to warn a comic book shop employee to evade the feds. His ability is underwater breathing. He's on the lam now, and sleeping in Claire's closet for the moment.
Claire tells Mom about Dad's government job, and Dad gets kicked out of the house - only to get himself captured by Peter and company.
Meanwhile at the Homeland Security undisclosed location, an official named Abby Collins looks over the place, sees the torturous conditions of Tracy Strauss' imprisonment, and threatens to shut down the operation. She doesn't believe in the claim about mutants - until she witnesses Tracy's power; Danko the commando leader had sabotaged the chain holding binding Tracy so she could break free.
What I don't understand is why Tracy killed that agent. She was completely surrounded; no way that even the dumbest of the dumb could think that that action would help her get away from those people. The natural thing to do would have been to keep him in her clutches alive and try to use him as a hostage for escape. Was it bad scriptwriting? Did she have an ulterior motive for Abby to see her power? Did some external force maker her pull that stunt?
Labels: Heroes, Television
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Math Error
The NRO movie list specified a time span of the past 25 years - Rollerball was made in 1975 and thus out of the running.
One NRO reader suggested two other older-than-25-years flicks.
Posted by Alan at
11:05 PM |
One NRO reader suggested two other older-than-25-years flicks.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Top 25 Conservative Films
NRO composed a list over several days, and In The Agora has links to 'em all in one place.
In comments I noted one film that I wanted on the list:
Posted by Alan at
2:50 PM |
In comments I noted one film that I wanted on the list:
I'm hoping they'll put Rollerball on the list yet. It deserves a spot for John Houseman's great one-liner: "The game was created to demonstrate the futility of individual effort." That plays into the whole equality-of-freedom vs. equality-of-outcomes battle.
One wonders if director Norman Jewison had read C. S. Lewis' Screwtape Proposes a Toast, which contains this marvelous quote: "The basic principle of the new education is to be that dunces and idlers must not be made to feel inferior to intelligent and industrious pupils. That would be 'undemocratic.'" I think of this quip on that every great once-in-a-while when I hear about some lefty condemning gifted education as "elitist."
Labels: Movies
Friday, February 13, 2009
My Hero
Labels: Politics
Lost - Ben Linus Is Still An Idiot
(Episode: This Place is Death. Spoilers ahead.)
Ben had five of the Oceanic Six in one spot, and couldn't keep them together. It didn't occur to him to come right out and say YOUR FRIENDS ARE GONNA DIE IF WE DON'T GET EVERYONE BACK TO THE ISLAND. Now all he can bring to Madame Hawking are two.
And one drop-in - Desmond. What does he have to add to this plot twist? Recall that he met Mrs. Hawking when his mind jumped to the past after the Swan hatch implosion.
Charlotte has gone to that great DHARMA hatch in the sky. It was inevitable; she was too far along to be saved. But it looks like we'll be seeing her again in a later time jump; while dying she said to Faraday that when she was young he had told her to never return to the island. We should discover in a future episode the circumstances of her childhood on the island.
Rousseau's dishonesty has been one of omission. She was on the level about the (presumed) infection that drove the others in her party to madness. (The ones that survived Smokey, that is.) She did indeed sail to the island. But she came in an emergency raft, with a group armed like commandos. Will we see her again?
Rousseau believes the men were infected when they went in the temple. The temple may indeed be connected with their madness - but was the culprit really an infection, or something else?
The trek to the Orchid station leads to a well, through which Locke enters a tunnel that leads to the frozen chamber where Ben moved the island and teleported himself. Christian Shepherd informs Locke that Locke was supposed to move the island, not Ben. Ben caused the temporal rift by busting through a wall separating the Orchid station from the frozen chamber. He obviously didn't know there was another way in; Locke should have used the Force to discover the well instead of trusting Ben.
Now the show has branched into three different timelines - the island, the present day Oceanic Six, and Locke's arrival. It appears that Locke's post-island activities will be confined to a single episode.
Posted by Alan at
11:05 PM |
Ben had five of the Oceanic Six in one spot, and couldn't keep them together. It didn't occur to him to come right out and say YOUR FRIENDS ARE GONNA DIE IF WE DON'T GET EVERYONE BACK TO THE ISLAND. Now all he can bring to Madame Hawking are two.
And one drop-in - Desmond. What does he have to add to this plot twist? Recall that he met Mrs. Hawking when his mind jumped to the past after the Swan hatch implosion.
Charlotte has gone to that great DHARMA hatch in the sky. It was inevitable; she was too far along to be saved. But it looks like we'll be seeing her again in a later time jump; while dying she said to Faraday that when she was young he had told her to never return to the island. We should discover in a future episode the circumstances of her childhood on the island.
Rousseau's dishonesty has been one of omission. She was on the level about the (presumed) infection that drove the others in her party to madness. (The ones that survived Smokey, that is.) She did indeed sail to the island. But she came in an emergency raft, with a group armed like commandos. Will we see her again?
Rousseau believes the men were infected when they went in the temple. The temple may indeed be connected with their madness - but was the culprit really an infection, or something else?
The trek to the Orchid station leads to a well, through which Locke enters a tunnel that leads to the frozen chamber where Ben moved the island and teleported himself. Christian Shepherd informs Locke that Locke was supposed to move the island, not Ben. Ben caused the temporal rift by busting through a wall separating the Orchid station from the frozen chamber. He obviously didn't know there was another way in; Locke should have used the Force to discover the well instead of trusting Ben.
Now the show has branched into three different timelines - the island, the present day Oceanic Six, and Locke's arrival. It appears that Locke's post-island activities will be confined to a single episode.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
A Question For Psychological Research To Ponder
Is there a common neurosis shared by that octuplet single mom and the archetypical old lady with 80 cats living in her home?
Posted by Alan at
11:00 AM |
Labels: Psychology
Heroes - You Better Run
(Episode: Trust and Blood. Spoilers ahead.)
Nobody seems to have died from the plane crash itself. The heroes evade the authorities for a while. Matt goes into a precog trance and cranks out a few drawings, one showing Daphne getting shot near the plane wreckage.
She was not one of the prisoners; Matt's disappearance led her to seek Hiro and Ando, finding the latter at Hiro's hideout (he had told her about it). Hiro's GPS implant tells them where to go (in Arkansas), and Daphne's power gets the two there. The two meet up with Matt, Hiro and Mohinder near the wreckage. They are spotted. Daphne is shot, presumably dead; the episode does not indicate whether her body is taken by the heroes or the Feds. Matt gets into the gunmens' heads and has them shooting each other. That and Claire's arrival (she takes a few bullets for the team) allow the four surviving heroes to escape.
They later meet with Peter, where they examine the other drawings. Mohinder recognizes in featuring Hiro in a setting in India. Hiro believes this to be an important step in the quest to regain his power (for the second time).
Peter had just come from a botched trap to nab Nathan to use as a bargaining chip; instead the authorities nab Tracy. Later in interrogation she yells at Nathan "You're one of us!" Hard to tell if her attempt to out him took any root.
Bennett and the two evil Petrellis have a common goal - to suppress the mutants - but they're not exactly a united front. Angela resents Nathan for turning to the government to nationalize what The Comapany used to do; Bennett doesn't seem happy about this arrangement either. All three go out of their way to protect Peter and especially Claire; the latter gets sent home to Costa Verde, where she gets a text message promoting the budding mutant rebellion.
Meanwhile, Sylar has taken his captive Federal agent from Samson Gray's taxidermy shop to a house down the street, where mother and juvenile delinquent son, Mary and Luke Campbell, walk in. Sylar is waiting for them; he had attempted to learn of his father's whereabouts through torturing the agent; now he plans on torturing them to get the agent to talk.
As he telekinetically suffocates Mary, Luke strikes out with an evolved power, a microwave beam. As Luke demonstrates with a plastic superhero figurine, Agent Simmons breaks free (his wrists were nailed to chair arms with screwdrivers) and reaches for a gun. But Luke turns to the Dark Side and microwaves Simmons.
After Sylar leaves, Luke catches up with him. Luke knows where Sylar's dad is, and wants to tag along with Sylar. They take off in Mary's car, presumably to Sylar's dad's place.
Are the Campbells related to the Grays? Who is the "Rebel" who text-messaged Claire? Will Mr. Muggles return? Will he get to bite a Federal agent? What's the Haitian been doing lately? Will we see Matt Parkman showing up at poker tables to raise money for the resistence? Stay tuned.
Posted by Alan at
9:00 AM |
Nobody seems to have died from the plane crash itself. The heroes evade the authorities for a while. Matt goes into a precog trance and cranks out a few drawings, one showing Daphne getting shot near the plane wreckage.
She was not one of the prisoners; Matt's disappearance led her to seek Hiro and Ando, finding the latter at Hiro's hideout (he had told her about it). Hiro's GPS implant tells them where to go (in Arkansas), and Daphne's power gets the two there. The two meet up with Matt, Hiro and Mohinder near the wreckage. They are spotted. Daphne is shot, presumably dead; the episode does not indicate whether her body is taken by the heroes or the Feds. Matt gets into the gunmens' heads and has them shooting each other. That and Claire's arrival (she takes a few bullets for the team) allow the four surviving heroes to escape.
They later meet with Peter, where they examine the other drawings. Mohinder recognizes in featuring Hiro in a setting in India. Hiro believes this to be an important step in the quest to regain his power (for the second time).
Peter had just come from a botched trap to nab Nathan to use as a bargaining chip; instead the authorities nab Tracy. Later in interrogation she yells at Nathan "You're one of us!" Hard to tell if her attempt to out him took any root.
Bennett and the two evil Petrellis have a common goal - to suppress the mutants - but they're not exactly a united front. Angela resents Nathan for turning to the government to nationalize what The Comapany used to do; Bennett doesn't seem happy about this arrangement either. All three go out of their way to protect Peter and especially Claire; the latter gets sent home to Costa Verde, where she gets a text message promoting the budding mutant rebellion.
Meanwhile, Sylar has taken his captive Federal agent from Samson Gray's taxidermy shop to a house down the street, where mother and juvenile delinquent son, Mary and Luke Campbell, walk in. Sylar is waiting for them; he had attempted to learn of his father's whereabouts through torturing the agent; now he plans on torturing them to get the agent to talk.
As he telekinetically suffocates Mary, Luke strikes out with an evolved power, a microwave beam. As Luke demonstrates with a plastic superhero figurine, Agent Simmons breaks free (his wrists were nailed to chair arms with screwdrivers) and reaches for a gun. But Luke turns to the Dark Side and microwaves Simmons.
After Sylar leaves, Luke catches up with him. Luke knows where Sylar's dad is, and wants to tag along with Sylar. They take off in Mary's car, presumably to Sylar's dad's place.
Are the Campbells related to the Grays? Who is the "Rebel" who text-messaged Claire? Will Mr. Muggles return? Will he get to bite a Federal agent? What's the Haitian been doing lately? Will we see Matt Parkman showing up at poker tables to raise money for the resistence? Stay tuned.
Labels: Heroes, Television
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Alternate Stimulus Plan
Blogger Michael Patrick Leahy (not to be confused with security leak Senator Patrick Leahy) has a plan: cut all individual and corporate income taxes in half for 2009. Instead of blowing $800 billion on special interests and government expansion, people would get to keep more of their money for one year.
(link via Dodgeblogium)
Posted by Alan at
12:40 PM |
(link via Dodgeblogium)
Monday, February 09, 2009
The Envelope, Please VII
I've been remiss to link to the 2009 index of Economic Freedom. Eight countries scored 80% or higher:
Hong Kong (90.0)
Singapore (87.1)
Australia (82.6)
Ireland (82.2)
New Zealand (82.0)
United States (80.7)
Canada (80.5)
Denmark (80.0)
Denmark joins this group for the first time in the history of the Index; it was 79.6% free last year.
Estonia is still the top-ranked former Communist nation, at 76.4. It also ranks sixth among European nations.
Posted by Alan at
3:30 PM |
Hong Kong (90.0)
Singapore (87.1)
Australia (82.6)
Ireland (82.2)
New Zealand (82.0)
United States (80.7)
Canada (80.5)
Denmark (80.0)
Denmark joins this group for the first time in the history of the Index; it was 79.6% free last year.
Estonia is still the top-ranked former Communist nation, at 76.4. It also ranks sixth among European nations.
That Hideous Healthcare
Tammy Bruce blogged on the UK's health care rationing formula:
Posted by Alan at
1:55 PM |
QALY stands for quality adjusted life year---a year of life adjusted for its quality or its value---a mathematically derived value ranging from plus one to negative scores. The formula is used by the U.K.'s National Institute of Clinical Excellence, a.k.a., NICE, as a guideline for NHS treatment. Many people think it's not so nice. This is a lottery for your life. NICE evaluates which drugs, devices and procedures are economical and to whom they are worth giving.
This caught her attention because Obama's Mother Of All Pork spending bill has a provision to fund studies into this health rationing principle, known here as "comparative effectiveness research." Read her post for more details.
Do recall that Obama (and Hillary) campaigned on universal health care during the primaries.
BTW, Tammy identifies the NICE by its original name. Since 2005, through bureaucratic merger with the Health Development Agency it became the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence - but it still retains the original acronym. NICE is also a fictional totalitarian entity in C. S. Lewis' That Hideous Strength.
Labels: Politics
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Jobs Down, Stocks Up?
Larry Kudlow explains that seeds for recovery have been planted. Now it is up to the government to refrain from killing those seeds.
Posted by Alan at
10:35 PM |
Labels: Economics
Heroes - Meet The New Conspiracy, Same As The Old Conspiracy
(Episode: A Clear and Present Danger. Spoilers ahead.)
The series has largely reverted to the original plot, except now it's the Department of Homeland Security (or a subsection thereof) playing the role of The Company. Nathan wants to protect the world from mutants, so he's hired goons to round 'em all up, save Claire. They botched the capture of Sylar, who is looking for his birthdad.
How is it that the taser darts worked on Peter but not Sylar? They've both got the same regenerative power, although acquired by different means.
And what possessed Hiro to think that Ando could act as a superhero? His power enhances others mutant powers.
Cheerleading acrobatics come in handy - you never know when you have to kick the head of someone driving a moving vehicle.
An allegedly-dead noncorporeal Usutu (I hope they explain this) is playing Obi Wan to Matt Parkman, lending his precog talents. This suggests that the "spirit walk" paste from last season was a sort of placebo, that the spirit walks were Usutu projecting his power all along.
Maybe the plane will crash on a mysterious island with strange hatches - oops, different network.
Posted by Alan at
12:30 AM |
The series has largely reverted to the original plot, except now it's the Department of Homeland Security (or a subsection thereof) playing the role of The Company. Nathan wants to protect the world from mutants, so he's hired goons to round 'em all up, save Claire. They botched the capture of Sylar, who is looking for his birthdad.
How is it that the taser darts worked on Peter but not Sylar? They've both got the same regenerative power, although acquired by different means.
And what possessed Hiro to think that Ando could act as a superhero? His power enhances others mutant powers.
Cheerleading acrobatics come in handy - you never know when you have to kick the head of someone driving a moving vehicle.
An allegedly-dead noncorporeal Usutu (I hope they explain this) is playing Obi Wan to Matt Parkman, lending his precog talents. This suggests that the "spirit walk" paste from last season was a sort of placebo, that the spirit walks were Usutu projecting his power all along.
Maybe the plane will crash on a mysterious island with strange hatches - oops, different network.
Labels: Heroes, Television
Tank McNamara's "Sports Jerk Of The Year"
Posted by Alan at 12:10 AM |
Friday, February 06, 2009
Lost - Five Down, One To Go
(Episode: The Little Prince. Spoilers ahead.)
At the end, four of the Oceanic Six are together at the pier, and Sun waits nearby with a gun...
Turns out Ben is the one who sent the lawyers to Kate's, evidently a ploy to bring her out into the open. Why not take the direct approach, and approach her in unison with Jack as he should have done with Hurley?
At least he's fixed the jail problem - his lawyer assures that Hurley will be released in the morning.
But how does Ben plan to find the island in such a short timespan. Mrs. Hawking gave him 72 hours - as of last episode.
Meanwhile back at the island...the Lostaways bounce to three more time periods - the night of Aaron's birth and Boone's death, an unknown time (2005 or later, states Lostpedia) when assailants in dugouts attack the gang, and the day of Rousseau's first arrival to the island (in 1988).
Her team finds Jin alive - yay! - evidently he was clear of the explosion and close enough to the island to get sucked into the time warp. We learn that Rousseau was less thatn forthcoming about her arrival to the island. She hadn't mentioned that her team's boat was an emergency raft - some vessel she and her companions were traveling in had wrecked near the island.
Apparently an Ajira Airways airliner will crash near the island some time in the Lostaway's relative future - an Ajira logo is found on a water bottle found in a dugout. What persons will that flight bring to this weird isle?
Miles and Juliet are starting to get nosebleeds like Charlotte, physical effects similar to those encountered on the freighter last season. Daniel is convinced that only those who had visited the island in the past are vulnerable - but Miles says he's never been there before, and the Oceanic survivors are unaffected and have been there for months.
Maybe the nosebleeds are affecting only those who visited the island during a certain timeframe well before the Flight 815 crash. Or perhaps the effect is hitting people in the order of their first arrival. Thats holds with implications that Charlotte was born on the island. If this theory holds, the Oceanic survivors will be affected at about the same time, and Faraday last of all. It would also mean that Miles had first visited the island at a time not long before Juliet joined the Others - he started getting nosebleeds a little before she did. Miles denies it. Maybe he's lying, or maybe there's something about his own past that Miles doesn't know...
Posted by Alan at
11:45 AM |
At the end, four of the Oceanic Six are together at the pier, and Sun waits nearby with a gun...
Turns out Ben is the one who sent the lawyers to Kate's, evidently a ploy to bring her out into the open. Why not take the direct approach, and approach her in unison with Jack as he should have done with Hurley?
At least he's fixed the jail problem - his lawyer assures that Hurley will be released in the morning.
But how does Ben plan to find the island in such a short timespan. Mrs. Hawking gave him 72 hours - as of last episode.
Meanwhile back at the island...the Lostaways bounce to three more time periods - the night of Aaron's birth and Boone's death, an unknown time (2005 or later, states Lostpedia) when assailants in dugouts attack the gang, and the day of Rousseau's first arrival to the island (in 1988).
Her team finds Jin alive - yay! - evidently he was clear of the explosion and close enough to the island to get sucked into the time warp. We learn that Rousseau was less thatn forthcoming about her arrival to the island. She hadn't mentioned that her team's boat was an emergency raft - some vessel she and her companions were traveling in had wrecked near the island.
Apparently an Ajira Airways airliner will crash near the island some time in the Lostaway's relative future - an Ajira logo is found on a water bottle found in a dugout. What persons will that flight bring to this weird isle?
Miles and Juliet are starting to get nosebleeds like Charlotte, physical effects similar to those encountered on the freighter last season. Daniel is convinced that only those who had visited the island in the past are vulnerable - but Miles says he's never been there before, and the Oceanic survivors are unaffected and have been there for months.
Maybe the nosebleeds are affecting only those who visited the island during a certain timeframe well before the Flight 815 crash. Or perhaps the effect is hitting people in the order of their first arrival. Thats holds with implications that Charlotte was born on the island. If this theory holds, the Oceanic survivors will be affected at about the same time, and Faraday last of all. It would also mean that Miles had first visited the island at a time not long before Juliet joined the Others - he started getting nosebleeds a little before she did. Miles denies it. Maybe he's lying, or maybe there's something about his own past that Miles doesn't know...
Labels: Lost, Television
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Change!
Here's one quote from Limbaugh show alien guest worker Mark Steyn that does have a direct link:
Posted by Alan at
10:56 AM |
One big reason for electing Obama is he was supposed to repair America's relations with the world. So, how's that working out so far? Well, India says Obama is 'barking up the wrong tree'; Europe says Obama is plunging the world into depression; Canada says Obama is on a march to insanity; Kyrgyzstan says, 'Yankee go home'; and Iran says, 'We have lift-off.' Congratulations, President Obama.
The quote is followed to links to stories related to Steyn's comments.
He should be President Palin's White House spokesman.
Labels: World
Republicans Got Backbone
Posted by Alan at 10:55 AM |
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
James Taranto Makes A Recommendation For Team Obama
Posted by Alan at 9:20 AM |
Must Reading
Daniel Pearl and the Normalization of Evil, by Judea Pearl.
Posted by Alan at
9:10 AM |
Labels: War on Terror
You Know Government Is Too Instrusive...
...when Mark Steyn utters the words "pork," "condoms" and "stimulus package" in the same sentence, and the subject is politics.
Sorry, no link - I caught the banter when Steyn guest-hosted on Rush Limbaugh's show yesterday.
We don't need a stimulus. Washington needs a sedative.
Posted by Alan at
9:00 AM |
Sorry, no link - I caught the banter when Steyn guest-hosted on Rush Limbaugh's show yesterday.
We don't need a stimulus. Washington needs a sedative.
Labels: Politics
Monday, February 02, 2009
Lost - Saving Private Widmore
(Episodes: The Lie, Jughead. Spoilers ahead.)
The first episode aired the same night as the season premier - I was a bit behind getting caught up on my TV viewing.
Ben's mission to reunite the Oceanic Six is a colossal mess. Kate is on the run (and is encouraged to stay on the run by Sun), and Hurley has turned himself over to the cops in desperation. Ben should have figured out that Hurley wouldn't trust him; if he weren't such a blithering idiot he would have had Jack on cell phone. At least Jack and Sayid are together.
Ben is working with Mrs. Hawking, who had appeared to Desmond after the Swan Hatch implosion. She also happens to be Faraday's mom, who Desmond is seeking now, under Faraday's instruction in the series opener. She has given Ben 72 hours to avert whatever island-based space-time continuum rupture threatens the Earth.
(Where's Hiro Nakamura when they need him? Oh, on another network - never mind.)
Widmore turns out to be one of the Others, having been on the island in 1954 under Richard Alpert's command. What the Others were doing back there is still a mystery, which hopefully will unfold as the Lostaways pop to different time periods.
The "Jughead" nuclear bomb featured in the second episode actually existed - read the Wikipedia articles on the Operation Castle program and the Castle Yankee nuclear test.
It's interesting that the Lostaways can interact with the past timeline - sometimes killing or being killed in the process - without changing it. This is actually a lot less headachy than the time paradox alternative.
How will Hurley be sprung from jail? Will he be aided by one of those dead people who keep visiting him? How will Ben find Kate? Was Sun smart enough to give Kate her cell phone number? How will Ben find Sun - and survive? Will the remaining Lostaways witness the original shipwrecks of either the Black Rock or Rousseau's boat? Will they see their past selves? Will they see the first arrival of DHARMA? How old is Alpert, and where did he come from? What in the heckity heck do the Others want with the island, anyway? What does Widmore want with it? What does Ms. Hawking know about the island, and when did she know it?
Posted by Alan at
9:30 AM |
The first episode aired the same night as the season premier - I was a bit behind getting caught up on my TV viewing.
Ben's mission to reunite the Oceanic Six is a colossal mess. Kate is on the run (and is encouraged to stay on the run by Sun), and Hurley has turned himself over to the cops in desperation. Ben should have figured out that Hurley wouldn't trust him; if he weren't such a blithering idiot he would have had Jack on cell phone. At least Jack and Sayid are together.
Ben is working with Mrs. Hawking, who had appeared to Desmond after the Swan Hatch implosion. She also happens to be Faraday's mom, who Desmond is seeking now, under Faraday's instruction in the series opener. She has given Ben 72 hours to avert whatever island-based space-time continuum rupture threatens the Earth.
(Where's Hiro Nakamura when they need him? Oh, on another network - never mind.)
Widmore turns out to be one of the Others, having been on the island in 1954 under Richard Alpert's command. What the Others were doing back there is still a mystery, which hopefully will unfold as the Lostaways pop to different time periods.
The "Jughead" nuclear bomb featured in the second episode actually existed - read the Wikipedia articles on the Operation Castle program and the Castle Yankee nuclear test.
It's interesting that the Lostaways can interact with the past timeline - sometimes killing or being killed in the process - without changing it. This is actually a lot less headachy than the time paradox alternative.
How will Hurley be sprung from jail? Will he be aided by one of those dead people who keep visiting him? How will Ben find Kate? Was Sun smart enough to give Kate her cell phone number? How will Ben find Sun - and survive? Will the remaining Lostaways witness the original shipwrecks of either the Black Rock or Rousseau's boat? Will they see their past selves? Will they see the first arrival of DHARMA? How old is Alpert, and where did he come from? What in the heckity heck do the Others want with the island, anyway? What does Widmore want with it? What does Ms. Hawking know about the island, and when did she know it?
Labels: Lost, Television
Frustration With Blogger
In the Blogger Help Group I reported a long-standing bug that has existed ever since Google acquired Blogger. A direct links to a Blogger post has a unique numerical identifier. The direct link to my first post of the year is:
http://alankhenderson.blogspot.com/2009_01_01_archive.html#8364007883149853217
However, since the Google acquisition the direct links have been double-inserting the unique identifier, like this:
http://alankhenderson.blogspot.com/2009_01_01_archive.html#8364007883149853217#8364007883149853217
Click that faulty link and it simply takes you to the top of the blog, not to the nonexistent URL.
I can't get a reply from the Blogger Help Group, and Blogger itself has no technical support contact info.
Posted by Alan at
9:00 AM |
http://alankhenderson.blogspot.com/2009_01_01_archive.html#8364007883149853217
However, since the Google acquisition the direct links have been double-inserting the unique identifier, like this:
http://alankhenderson.blogspot.com/2009_01_01_archive.html#8364007883149853217#8364007883149853217
Click that faulty link and it simply takes you to the top of the blog, not to the nonexistent URL.
I can't get a reply from the Blogger Help Group, and Blogger itself has no technical support contact info.
Labels: Blogs
 |