Monthly Archives: April 2014

Geek Cred, Stupid Kids, Good Crazy/Bad Crazy, Muppet Christ Superstar, Old Mall Nostalgia, Thor in Drag, and a Whole Lotta T-Rex

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This entry is part 7 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

One thing technology has really let us do is get a different view into the lives of celebrities. Now, on their terms, we can see them as real people–not just icons on a stage or screen. That down-to-earth-ness also means the lines of communication between fans and celebrities are more open now than they’ve ever been before.

One of my favorite things about Twitter, especially when I was watching TV shows in real-time, was being able to give a shout-out to the various cast and crew members letting them know when they particularly impressed me or jumping in to some other conversation that was going on. Getting an actual, real time response was always nice.

Well, now I can say “Achievement Unlocked: Celebrity Feedback!” for YouTube, too. For certain values of “celebrity,” at least. Posted a jokey comment on the latest Nerdist News vid, making what I thought was a tired, overused pun… but apparently host Jessica Chobot hadn’t heard it before and said she wished she’d thought of it to end the show with.

Some days, it’s the little things that help.

Not that a wee bit of YouTube celebrity digital love could balance out all the other news I was reading through and pondering online during the day. (Though all the T-rex stuff did help a lot with that.) We live in a problematic world and, sadly, the bad stuff doesn’t really surprise me any more.

Guns, Crabs, “That’s not cutting a rug”, Dancing, Homeless Jesus, and SCIENCE!

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This entry is part 6 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

Today’s stream of stuff, plus a few from over the weekend… the most popular of which was quite the discussion about the Second Amendment.

I’m at the computer far later than I’ve been trying to be lately. Mostly because I was at a Silver Spring Citizens’ Advisory Board meeting earlier in the evening. That always throws my schedule off. (Though not at much as those good ol’ town board meetings I covered when I worked for the paper up in rural NY… some of those ran until near midnight.)

There’s a lot that goes on in the Silver Spring area. There’s a lot more that’s going to be going on in the next decade or so. There seems to be a bit of misunderstanding–and distrust–of the process. I’ve seen that before (re: the aforementioned board meetings way back when). That’s a common problem when it comes to the public and government. I don’t have a good solution to offer, but it’s would have to involve the government finding time and money to more actively engage the public than it does while cleaning up any actual incorrect information. Of course, that requires people not being so paranoid about the government lying to them… which, of course, is a sadly earned reputation the government has acquired over the years.

So, here’s the thing: If you’re even close to being a concerned citizen when it comes to any topic, make an effort to look not just into the situation that has you concerned, but also get familiar with the process it goes through and check out other projects that have gone through that same process. Then, at least, you’ll know if you should be paranoid or not. You’ll also be able to (nicely?) let your officials know if they’re screwing something else or saying things that could confuse others.

Or, y’know, everyone can just continue to shout at one another… whatever… 😉

Old Shows Kind of Back Again, NSA Doing Questionable Things, Ghosts (Maybe), Batman, and Jesus’ Wife (Also Maybe)

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This entry is part 5 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

One of my absolute favorite iterations of Batman was the 90s cartoon version produced by Bruce Timm and voiced by Kevin Conroy. It managed to capture both the dark and light sides of Batman in stories that were well written, entertaining, and drawn with such an amazing, unique style that nothing has really ever come close since. Batman turns 75 this year and Timm and company put out one short (hopefully one of many) to celebrate. The fact that it’s done in the style of an old movie serial episode is just brilliant.

Speaking of blasts from the past, the other really neat news bit today was about a tiny bit of papyrus with some Coptic writing on it. It refers, in the fragment that’s readable, to the wide of Jesus Christ and has, apparently, been certified to at least be really old. What kind of weight the announcement carries kind of depends on how you feel about such things. A lot of scholars out there have no problem with the idea of Jesus having a wife. Some other people, though, get a bit… bent out of shape… at the suggestion. Personally, I just find it interesting.

Finally, there was mention in one story in my feed of one of my absolute favorite classic parapsychological experiments: The Phillip Experiment. Wherein a group of experimenters wondered if they could conjure a completely made up spirit. In short, they kind of did. What did it prove? Well, that’s a bit up for grabs. They weren’t even sure exactly how it worked… just that it did. It’s that bit of ambiguity that really makes me want to try to repeat their experiment. Someday…

Time Travel Edition: Fashion of the Future! Classic Rock Recreated! Colbert Changes Time Slots! Super Hero Workout Secrets!

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This entry is part 4 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

Okay, so none of it is real time travel… but a lot of it is kind of a blast from the past. Also of note is that Jem and the Holograms article which really nails why that show (and a lot of 80s cartoons) kind of rock and that brilliant cupcake recipe that came up near the end of the day.

The big thing, though, is the news about that Heartbleed situation that’s likely to have some every growing impacts across the online world. Basically, there was a flaw in the security layer that is supposed to protect a lot of stuff online. It’s been open for a while and a lot of big deal places are just patching it now. This is one of those times when everyone needs to change all of their passwords (because we all know most of us don’t do that regularly like we’re supposed to).

The Warrior Passes On, Neanderthal Interbreeding, Black Boxes Deep Beneath the Sea, and a T-Rex Heads to DC

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This entry is part 3 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

I’m kind of excited about the Smithsonian finally getting a real T-Rex. It’s even more neat because I know one of the people out in Colorado who’s on the team that’s picking it up. People I know have incredibly interesting jobs and I dig it. 🙂

In other news today, one of the classic WWE (nee WWF) wrestlers of my childhood, The Ultimate Warrior, died suddenly and unexpected, just days after being inducted into the WWE hall of fame. I haven’t watched wrestling in decades, and the Warrior has been a little “off” over the years (seriously, dude seemed pretty crazy often after he left wrestling), but he was still an impressive and driven individual who made quite the impact on the world around him.

Finally, I feel really bad for you if you didn’t make it out to see Winter Soldier (the second Captain America movie) this weekend but did watch yesterday’s episode of Agents of SHIELD. I’ve never seen a TV show so directly tied into a movie… in the middle of its first season. It managed to spoil pretty much every plot twist of Winter Soldier. Granted, it made for the best episode of the series yet, but only if you saw the movie or don’t care about spoilers.