Duped newscast airs ‘Lost’ scene as Flight 447’s last moments

In their rush to air exclusive photos of Flight 447’s destruction, no one in this newsroom stopped to ask the logical questions, such as: 1) How did the camera survive? and 2) Why are the photos in wide-screen format?

The answers, of course, are: 1) Because the footage is from Lost. And, 2) because the footage is from Lost.

Jeff Koyen - The Places You’ll Go - Duped newscast airs ‘Lost’ scene as Flight 447’s last moments - True/Slant

Robert S. McNamara, the forceful and cerebral defense secretary who helped lead the nation into the maelstrom of Vietnam and spent the rest of his life wrestling with the war’s moral consequences, died Monday at his home in Washington. He was 93.

Any bets on who dies next week?

Robert S. McNamara, Architect of a Futile War, Dies at 93 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com

You see embedded spirals, right, of green, pinkish-orange, and blue? Incredibly, the green and the blue spirals are the same color. At first I thought Richard was pulling our collective legs, being a trickster of high magnitude. So I loaded the image in Photoshop and examined the two spirals. In the two squares displayed below, the one on the left is colored using the same color from the blue spiral, and on the right using the green spiral.

The blue and the green | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine

As professionals, we prefer logo, logotype, mark, symbol, wordmark, icon, visual identity or signature. With this many choices it is no wonder others have settled on the irreverent bug. Incidentally, a long-time friend in Mumbai told me of some of the general names for logo in India include pintu (pint sized), chintu (tiny), dabboo (fat) and kaka (small one). (But depending on the specific region, language and even community in India, kaka also can mean poo-poo, as elsewhere. I guess context is everything, when calling a logo kaka in India.)

But whether we designed it, manage it, or just live with it, having a name for the logo appears to fulfill some human need. Some companies provide a formal name, such as The Monogram (GE). Here are a few logos and their officially sanctioned names:

The Bug, the Worm and the Death Star � Identity Forum

Do your favorite movies sometimes seem a bit…familiar? When discussing Harry Potter, do you sometimes mistake Voldemort for Darth Vader? Do Neo’s abilities in the Matrix remind you of the Force, only just a little bit different? Well, you would be right, as the most wildly successful franchises of the last 40 years are basically the same recycled story you have heard over and over again. To highlight the (few) differences between some of the most famous franchises ever produced, I have color coded them as follows:

Hold On, I've Seen This Before: How Star Wars, Star Trek, The Matrix, and Harry Potter are Actually the Same Movie | Spiteful Critic

Can a head live without a body? The answer should be simple: yes, but only for a little while. Scientists say that the brain continues to function for about two minutes after the heart stops. But can a lopped off head continue to survive after being completely severed from the body?

Everyone should have an autojector.

How Russian Scientists Kept a Dog’s Severed Head Alive!

This is fun!

Craftzine.com blog : Fireworks Animation by PES

Nicholas Kristof
Nicholas Kristof describes the endocrine disruptors in the water that are causing genital malformations in male animals and humans. (05:44)

Nicholas Kristof | July 1, 2009 | ColbertNation.com

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- An autopsy on entertainer Michael Jackson has been scheduled for Friday and results are expected by afternoon, according to the Los Angeles, California, coroner's office.

He resembles a burn victim... He only wears one glove... He's fond of children...

Sounds like he'll be terrorizing kids in their dreams from now on.

Michael Jackson autopsy expected Friday - CNN.com

Actually, I sort of liked the look of the thing but it was everything else that I thought was a little off kilter. While far more detailed than the original series, I thought they did a good job of creating a look and feel for the time period which looks like it could be a plausible precursor to the next generation.

The premise for the movie was absolute crap. If it was spock's fault that this happened at all, why didn't he just kill his younger alternate to save vulcan? Or just plain just told him not to play with romulans... but noooo, instead we get some contrived bull shit explaining why the series is being reinvented to fit the continuity of the old series. I would have rather watch a reinvention without the dumb ass back story... I get it, a new version of the old star trek so there's obviously going to be differences but they really didn't need to waste the entire plot trying to justify this. They could have given it a real plotline.

And while I thought it was sort of cool to see nimoy pass the torch and reprise his role, making him be "spock from the future" had a tacked on feel. It ruins the character.

The new kirk seems like an asshole, the script was filled with obvious and painfully cheesy expected quotations, and what the hell is that ewok with eyestalks that they gave to scotty? Other than this I thought it was entertaining enough.

Stefanie wrote:
O.K., I finally saw the film. Spoiler time.

First off, the new USS Enterprise (the main character) really is that ugly (externally - see image in above post). The interior looks O.K., but the exterior looks like it's been pimped out. I could've sworn I saw the rims spinning in one scene. The Romulan ship is even uglier, but being a mining ship (like the USG Ishimura in Dead Space), it has an excuse. The original design of the Enterprise is beautiful. There's no need to keep tampering with it.

Regarding less important aspects of the film...

If you're looking for Star Trek, look elsewhere. In no way did this feel like Star Trek to me, nor did I ever buy that these new guys were Kirk, Spock, etc., although the actors did have some chemistry. Unless Shatner and Nimoy are cloned (or completely digitized), my strong bias in favor of the original series won't let me accept any new stories with a young Kirk and Spock. The old Star Trek gave me things to think and dream about. This new one just gave me pretty lights to stare at for a while.

On the other hand, if you're looking for an enjoyable two-hour action film with lots of excitement, fights, and explosions, this is about as good as anything that comes out of Hollywood... actually, a little better than average, in that regard. Some of it was pretty to look at (but not the ships), and the acting wasn't bad, but the story wasn't very good. The Star Trek franchise should leave time travel to the Dr. Who franchise. Still, non-fans who enjoy Hollywood action films should enjoy it.

I will say that this new film is better than anything else the franchise has offered since the original cast days. That's not saying much, though. I give the 2009 film 2.5/5 stars for shiny new entertainment, but there's not much in the way of depth or rewatchability.

***************************

Fortunately, the Blu-ray set of Season 1 of the original Star Trek series is incredible! Everything has been restored, and there are lots of cool special features. It's even better than the Blade Runner, Godfather, Matrix, and Dirty Harry Blu-ray sets, all of which are great. I highly recommend it.

RE: 'Star Trek': An exclusive first look at the Enterprise