Tag Archives: economy

Unintended Consequences Strike Again, Entertainment Both Classic and New, A Bit of Cute, and a Return to Space

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This entry is part [part not set] of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

The big news today (for me, at least) was the announcement of the U.S. return to manned space missions.

NASA will once again be shooting humans into orbit (with some help form Boeing and SpaceX)!

Now, that’s not quite the manned exploration mission style I’d prefer to see… but it’s better than nothing.

I’d love for us to set foot on the moon again. To build something permanent there and then use it as a jumping off point for Mars and beyond.

Don’t get me wrong, I totally dig what all the rovers and satellites and probes are doing. Heck, most of them are performing well beyond expectations and gathering great images and data. It’s pretty exciting from a pure science perspective.

But it’s not the same as an intrepid adventurer risking life and limb to go there (wherever “there” may be) just because they can.

Again, that’s not to take away from the utter bravery it takes to step up and sit on top of what’s effectively a giant bomb (that you’re hoping projects all that force in the right direction)… but the whole up and down trip really pales in comparison to that months-long journey to a brand new planet. Or the homesteader heartiness required to set up shop on the moon, setting the groundwork for the entire next chapter of space exploration–a chapter that doesn’t even really start on Earth.

We’ll get there, eventually, I guess.

But I’l really like to see it in my lifetime.

Anyway… here’s the feed.

Inside an Abusive Relationship, Questionable Traffic Laws, Captain Planet Gone Mad, and a Couple of Lighter Stories

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This entry is part [part not set] of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

Wow… not a lot in the feed today, but of what there is a lot of it is pretty heavy.

Guess I’m making up for all that fluff the past week or so.

The most important story is an inside look at an abusive relationship. If nothing else, it should remind us all that how our minds work on the outside of such a situation isn’t at all the same as what’s going through the head of someone in the middle of the situation. We don’t have the wild emotional connection to the events, our internal defenses aren’t firing to try to compensate for the utter dissonance between what we experience and what we want–let alone everything in between.

It’s a bit rough to read, especially if you or someone you know has been in the thick of it.

There’s also an article about how D.C.’s traffic and parking laws–and how they’re enforced–appear to be much more driven by profit motive than public safety concerns. For those of us in the D.C. area who’ve ever had to drive–let alone park–in D.C., this is no surprise at all.

On an entertaining, though no less dark, side there’s the Captain Planet shorts that Funny or Die got Don Cheadle involved in a few years back. They answer the question: What if Captain Planet Was a Power Mad Super Bastard?

And, man, do they answer it well!

There’s also the Duck Tales opening done with real ducks. That should brighten things up a little… unless you’ve got at hing about ducks… in which case I really can’t help you (and I’m oh so sorry for that video of the hundreds of ducks walking down the road yesterday…)

Here’s the feed…

Another weekend, another bunch of stuff to alleviate stress

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This entry is part [part not set] of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

Why, yes, you continue to get a proliferation of fluff in the feed. But it’s good fluff!

At least I think it is.

Creative. Witty. So wrong it’s awesome.

It’s the stuff that helps alleviate the stress that my life has been lately.

But have no fear! There are also some gems of real content in there.

Interesting bits of science. Some very insightful comments on items. Actual world happenings that we should all be aware of.

Check it out, enjoy what you can, maybe jump in and participate in a conversation (even if you’re coming across this months later… don’t hesitate to comment, I’ll see it and it may get things moving on that post again).

Here’s the feed.

Politics, SciFi, Comics, Comedy, and, well, Pretty Much a Little of Everything

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This entry is part [part not set] of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

I’ve really got get back on track to do posts on Fridays… or any of the times over the weekend that I think “Gee, I should probably post something to my actual blog…”

Because by the time Monday night rolls around, I’m usually doing so many other things that I put this off until the last minute and then find myself at a loss for something even vaguely meaningful to yammer on about. (Which is likely why I don’t do videos.)

Instead, as usual, I’ll just say there’s a lot that went into the feed since Friday morning. Some of it sparked some really good discussions, some of it is just really awesome in and of itself, and some of it has likely gone completely unseen–so you could be the first to discover it! (Or, uh, something like that.)

Anyway… here’s the feed…

https://www.facebook.com/kierduros/activity/10152191008695981

Sounds of Space, Questionable Business, Questionable Politics, and Some Movie Stuff

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This entry is part [part not set] of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

With Comic Con passed, there are a lot of movie announcements floating around out there now.

Sequels, reboots, spin offs, and even some original properties that all sound really interesting.

The problem, of course, is that most of them are a year or more away.

I remember the “good old days” when you wouldn’t hear about a movie being made until maybe a few months before it came out. Rarely was something even rumored (let alone hyped) for two years (and, these days, sometimes two years before filming even begins).

The publicity machine is kind of insane.

And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve checked the upcoming releases list and thought, “Wait… didn’t that already come out, like, a year ago?” Nope. I’ve just been hearing about it for so long that it seemed like it had already been here and gone.

That strikes me as a little counter-productive.

But it’s not just movies that do it.

We’ve seen that kind of creep in politics, too.

Now, almost as soon as a Presidential election is over, the “news” outlets start speculating on who’ll be running in the next one–even before the President-elect takes his oath of office. And then the actual race for any given position more or less starts two years before the actual vote will take place.

That’s two years where politicians are doing more campaigning and image building than actual thoughtful governing. (Though these days, I wonder if they ever spend any time doing that.)

Then there’s also the inevitable “Christmas Creep”… where those trees show up earlier and earlier in the stores every year. Last year I saw stuff in regular stores (not craft stores, I understand them getting stuff out there early–people need time to actually make stuff) in early September.

And, back at the beginning of July, everyone was already talking about Back to School shopping. School just got out in mid-June. Has summer break been reduced down to roughly two weeks?

Why are we always pushing so hard to speed up the recognition of these things? Why can’t we enjoy not knowing what’s on the movie schedule two years from now? Why do we have to start pushing Christmas before October even begins? Why can’t we let politicians do something other than just plan their next campaign? And, perhaps most importantly, why can’t our kids get more time to just be kids during a lazy summer?

I don’t know. But I do know I haven’t much cared for that compression and acceleration for a long time now. I think it’s part of a larger problem and the root of a good number of troublesome things…

Anyway, here’s the feed…