HD-DVD versus Blu Ray

I am referring to the article that I blogged below about HD-DVD versus Blu Ray.

Personally, I will not be switching to either format any time soon. I will be one of those who waits until I can download the movie and then archive it on a Hard Drive. But I think Sean Cooper is missing one piece of the puzzle. I would want a format that I could save a movie on portable media (HD-DVD probably) and archive it or take it with me so I can watch it on my TV.

I do not think that "On-Demand" or Movie Rental Downloading to a set top box (like what Netflix is proposing to do) are anywhere near ready. I guess I will have a long time to wait. Maybe it's a generational thing but I like the feeling of actually owning the physical movie rather than the "file" on a hard drive only. Or worse yet, the ability to watch a movie anytime from my TV just because I bought the viewing rights. Perhaps a backlog of older movies can be sold on a subscription basis like where you can buy the right to view any movie from Paramount or MGM's library of movies from before 10 years ago for a fee per month, I might try that. Or If Netflix can make it so that I can have the movie and access it anytime until I choose another movie similar to the current DVD service if their library is as extensive as it is now, I might buy into that. But download times for HD movies have to become faster or it will not be worth it.

Basically if I buy the latest Star Wars movie, I want to watch it anytime I want unrestricted like I do now. I don't want network logjams, server outages or corrupted files to get in the way. When my popcorn is ready my movie better be ready.

L.S.C.

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4 Reasons why HD-DVD and Blu-ray are dead on arrival

A good analysis of why both HD-DVD and Blu-ray formats will ultimately fail.

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Fox News' Bill O'Reilly: iPods Are Endangering America

O'Reilly proclaims, "I would never wear an iPod," and says, "I really fear for the United States" because "jihadists aren't playing video games." O'Reilly doesn't mention that his own show offers a whole series of podcasts.

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How to write for Slate Magazine

Warning: This essay is meant to be sarcastic and funny. Which didn’t make it in the top ten but is a close #11.

Slate is the online political and cultural magazine begun about ten years ago as a magazine that would only be produced for the web. In those ten years all but a few have been for free. I found Slate when I began my podcast listening over a year ago. I love the short podcast essays and the weekly political gabfest where three Slate editors discuss current events. I am a big fan. So big, in fact that I decided that I had to write for them. I dreamed of hearing Andy Bowers read my piece on the podcast as I listened in my car or on the john at work.

I went off and submitted articles to Slate and got every one rejected. Now what was I doing wrong? I thought. What is the secret to getting a byline on Slate? In retrospect I see that my writing just wasn’t Slate-worthy. It did not fit the guidelines. No, I didn’t find a secret web page with the secret handshake. No style guide telling me how exactly to dot my I’s and cross my T’s in such a way as to make the editors look at me as a “real Slate writer.”

All I did was listen.

After a few months of daily essays and news from Slate on my iPod I think I know a thing or two about what Slate looks for in a writer. Sorry, I know that you don’t need an iPod to listen to a podcast but I prefer one. And that leads me into my first of ten requirements to write for Slate:

#1. You must be cool.

Slate likes cool people. Not Fonzi cool, but just cool. People who are in the know or who get the joke. Sure Slate doesn’t necessarily make you listen to their podcasts on a slick new colorful iPod. But they prefer it. Just like they prefer you not drive a Hummer or live in a Mc Mansion. Even if you do drive a Hummer, live in a Mc Mansion and listen on some other portable MP3 device, they know that you know better. And it’s not even the cool where you can work in a 1970s or 1980s pop culture reference. It’s more obscure than that. Cool is very hard to define and means different things to different people. Let’s just call it “Slate Cool.” If you got it, you got it. If you don’t, well…

#2. Snark is key.

Andy Bowers has a great voice for podcasting. He makes you feel comfortable with the material. He reads every essay and conducts every interview as if he has a personal stake in it. You would never know Andy himself did not craft the words. Andy has snark down pat. Whenever I hear a snarky comment from him about the current administration or people who pick apples I know that he is enjoying the hell out of it. He’s shaking his head behind the microphone commiserating with the writer. Yes, we hate those guys too.

#3. Blame Bush.

If there’s a hangnail epidemic sweeping Europe, the safe bet is to blame Bush. If you can’t pin Bush then put the onus on Rumsfeld or better yet Karl Rove. I agree with this requirement. I blame the current administration for everything from white washing the actual “war on terror” to my teenager’s obnoxious attitude during dinner conversations. Try it, it works.

#4. If it’s a popular movement, go against the grain.

I’ve heard essays deriding everything from marathon racers to birthday gift giving. One of the editors at the political gabfest eschews birthday gift giving for a sort of library-esque book exchange program at her child’s birthday parties. So pick a subject that a lot of people do (like say jogging) and then be extremely snarky about it. (See #2)

#5 Be Jewish, but not too Jewish.

For example, don’t be like my Aunt Phyllis. She’s a real, New York City, grew-up-in-the-Bronx-during-the-1950s, pinch-your-cheeks, spouts Yiddish and talks about how much jewelry her neighbor wears, Jew. And don’t be militant-Jewish. Or Seinfeld-Jewish. There’s nothing wrong with those types of Jewish but that’s not exactly what they want. Be irreverently Jewish. If you’re not Jewish then be like Alan Alda. He’s not Jewish, but he comes across like he is. I’m Jewish like that, so I’m good there. At least I’m on the radar.

#6 Don’t be a Republican.

Whatever you do. Don’t be a Republican. Be fair and balanced, but just not that kind of fair and balanced. You know, the Fox News kind where you’re not really fair and balanced. Sure, the occasional Republican idea gets its time on the podcast but really, see #4. It’s really just to set the center a little straighter. And it’s not all Republicans, really. It’s more like the real right wing guys. The ones who send dirty text messages to teenage congressional pages. Those guys need not apply. Again, I happen to agree with this one so I’ve got the right party and religious affiliations down.

#7 Pick on celebrities. Especially when they really deserve it.

I think more news organizations need to follow this rule. Pick a celebrity who has screwed up royally and then write about it. This is a surefire way to get to the top of the slush pile. Slate loves celebrity faux pas. I do not mean that you need to write a snarky essay on how Jennifer Lopez wore the wrong haute couture dress on the red carpet. Leave that stuff for Joan Rivers. Slate deals with Mel Gibson-type screw-ups. Major, upsetting, scandalous ones that stray into the political arena. Like Tom Cruise soiling Oprah’s furniture or claiming that he knows more about psychotherapy than Matt Lauer. That stuff is just made for Slate. You may even get a follow up essay assigned to see how that celebrity has dealt with his initial screw-up.

#8 Be pre-trend.

If you can spot a trend before it gets out into the popular media then you’re guaranteed the podcast feature. If you have knowledge of a local trend that has all the markings of a honest-to-goodness, soon-to-be national, craze, then by all means write it up and send it to them. Like, if Bull Frog Stir Fry is the latest thing in Bismarck, North Dakota and all the college kids say BSFS in their IM messages as a euphemism for getting plastered which in itself is a euphemism for getting drunk, let Slate know about it. They eat that insider stuff up.

#9 Be literary.

A good idea in life too. Be as literary as possible when writing your stories. You have to either be well read or try to come across as well read in every essay. Being snarky helps others think that you are well read, even if you are not.

#10 Make lists.

This one escapes me. A large percentage of the essays read on Slate follow a list format. Slate Heart Lists.

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PodioBooks.com Serves 1 Million Downloads

A free site that serves up podcasted novels hit a milestone the other day, it passed the 1 million download mark! Its good to see the worlds of audiobooks and podcasting starting to make some traction out there.

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CBGB

After more than thirty years as a punk rock venue that began the careers of legends like Blondie and the Ramones, CGBG is closing its doors on October 15th. A moment of silence for this New York City institution that will probably become a Starbucks or a Gap. It’s a shame. I think that those who made their fortunes starting out in this place should take on the new lease and at least convert it into a cool museum slash used record shop, if they must they can serve coffee in the front.

Started in 1977 by Hilly Kristal CBGB became the place to go for new, live music. In the early Seventies, believe it or not, there were few venues for new bands to go on stage and just do their thing. CBGC filled that gap. Now music proliferates the scene but it was a dark time in New York back then with Middle Class flight and the degradation of the inner cities. (Good time to buy Real Estate though if you could wait long enough.)

Through the years bands like the Agnostic Front to Talking Heads, Police and The Dead Boys to Urge Overkill and almost everyone in between have played at CBGB.

From the CBGB website:

“The question most often asked of me is, "What does CBGB stand for?" I reply, "It stands for the kind of music I intended to have, but not the kind that we became famous for: COUNTRY BLUEGRASS BLUES." The next question is always, "but what does OMFUG stand for?" and I say "That's more of what we do, It means OTHER MUSIC FOR UPLIFTING GORMANDIZERS." And what is a gormandizer? It's a voracious eater of, in this case, MUSIC.” – Hilly Kristal.

Hilly is moving everything from the walls to the urinals to a new location in Las Vegas. Anything he can’t move he expects to sell on eBay.

CBGB 1973-2006.

L.S.C.

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Billion. Nine Zeros, Many Heroes.

Look down at your computer after you read this sentence. What kind of computer are you using? Unless you are me, it’s most likely a PC of some brand or another. These days, it most likely to be a Dell. When you look back up, you are probably using a Windows Operating System. No matter what program you are running or website you are searching, in all likelihood, odds-on, in all probability, nine time out of ten, you are running some version of Windows.

Now if you go to the Forbes website and look at the new Forbes 400 list, take a gander at who’s number one. That’s right, William Henry Gates III, age 50. He has an estimated fortune of Fifty-Three Billion Dollars. That is a five and then a three and then put nine zeros after it. Then if you want to really cry, stick a decimal and two more zeros. BHG3, as I like to refer to him, is a Billionaire fifty-three times over. $53,000,000,000.

Let’s savor that number: $53,000,000,000.

I’m sure there are website out there that can tell you how much he makes per second, per hour, all that jazz. It’s most likely a little bit more than you do.

One of the reasons BHG3 is worth $53,000,000,000 (All those zeros!!!) is that when you look at your computer screen, you are looking at a program being run on Windows. That’s it. Most computers in the world run on Windows. That is why the guy is filthy rich.

Let’s compare that to your cable company or your cell phone service provider. Most homes in America do not use the same exact services for any utility or entertainment except their computer's OS. As a matter of fact, Ma Bell was broken up because it was too big. It was a monopoly. Most people used their service and that meant they had too much power for the government’s taste.

Microsoft controls about everything you do on your computer. The basic platform is based on its software. Millions upon Millions of people use Windows and therefore use Internet Explorer to surf the web. Face it, not everyone is as good as you. They do not know that Internet Explorer is like the Swiss cheese of software. It’s a hacker’s dream. They do not know to download Firefox or some other browser. (Oh yeah, there are those who use the AOL browser still. Forgot about those people.)

Despite bug, errors, holes, security risks and just about everything else that makes a program a dud, Windows and IE are chugging along, making BHG3 richer and richer. Despite a large monopoly and subclass software, the company still goes like the Energizer Bunny. And they are not stopping. Next Microsoft is planning to have software in Television set top boxes, cell phones, more games, toasters, catalytic converters and vibrators. (O.K. I made some up but the Television set top boxes, cell phones and more games are true.)

But with growth opportunity like that, BHG3 can give away money to half of Africa and still be on top of the list next year.

I say, good for ole BHG3. Good for him. People probably made fun of him in high school and he never even finished college. But he’s a billionaire. He’s a role model for teenagers everywhere who tell their parents that they don’t need to go to college because BHG3 didn’t and he’s a billionaire. Thanks BHG3.

What does any of this have to do with either entertainment or Science Fiction, you say. Well, Steve Jobs of course. I use a Mac. So my guy is Steve Jobs. But he is only ranked #49 with a paltry 4.9 Billion. Jeeze talk about betting on a bum. He had to have two companies, Apple and Pixar to make his little bitty stash.

Still not enough, well, Science Fiction Hall of Fame founder Paul Allen is #5 with 16 Billion, which is down slightly from last year. I bet he’s running out to get those florescent light bulbs to save a few bucks because of it too.

But in all honesty those guys are not the real heros of this list. The real hero is Mr. H Ty Warner. His company produces and sells Beanie Babies. He made 4.5 Billion dollars selling Beanie Babies. They are the ridiculous plush toys that people go crazy collecting and use to line car dashboards. Yes. That guy’s a billionaire. Yes. A billionaire. Beanie Babies. Yes.

L.S.C.

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New Planet: It Floats!

Some planets are light that they could float in a giant tub of water. A recent discovery by Smithsonian astronomers has resulted in a very unusual find. Known as HAT-P-1 a new planet that is about 1.38 the size of Jupiter has a mass that is less than half that of Jupiter.

Astronomers found the planet by using a process in which they observe a distant star and measure its light. At regular intervals, a large planet will obstruct the face of the star directed at earth and lower its brightness as it passes by in its orbit around the star. This particular planet (HAT-P-1) goes around its sun every four and one-half days. Amazingly the planet is only one-twentieth the distance to its star as earth is to our own sun. This planet is light and it’s fast.

According to scientists this planet has a density that is lighter than a giant ball of cork, about ¼ that of water. It is about 24 percent larger than theories expect a planet to be for its mass.

In our own solar system, Saturn has similar properties. Saturn is almost as large as Jupiter yet it has a much lower density. Saturn can also float in water. The ringed planet also spins very fast. Combine a fast rotation and a low density and you get an unusual property. Saturn is elongated in shape. It is flattened at the equator. That makes for a very interesting planet, what with its rings, its many moons, its density and its shape.

Because of the newly discovered, “lighter,” planets, scientists will have to rethink current theories of planet formation.

L.S.C.

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Tolkien Rides Again

J.R.R. Tolkien's unfinished work "The Children of Hurin" that he began to write but abandoned in 1918 will be edited by his son Christopher Tolkien and published by Houghton Mifflin in the United States and HarperCollins in England.

As a child, Christopher would read his father’s stories and approve of them. "The Hobbit" was originally written as a story for J.R.R. Tolkien's children but when friend and associate C.S. Lewis insisted that Tolkien send the book to a publisher it became a best seller. This inspired the publisher to ask Tolkien for a sequel, which became "The Lord of The Rings" trilogy.

Christopher Tolkien has a long history of commenting on and editing his father’s work, starting from when he was very young. In the Seventies, he edited "The Silmarillion," a composite of his father’s works and published posthumously. "The Silmarillion" is a five-part book that was written as separate works but compiled by Christopher Tolkien. Missing parts were filled in by Tolkien's research into his father's notes and some parts were written from scratch.

Tolkien's prolific notes, half-finished works, maps and timelines are a testament to his attention to language and history in his writing. Fantasy writers are unanimous on the fact that J.R.R. Tolkien invented the fantasy genre and almost everything else is honorably derivative. The quest, the creatures, the dark wizard and the king! All of it started with Tolkien.

L.S.C.

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The Disneyfication of ME!

Or How I Stopped Worrying And Learned To Love Disney.

There is a consensus out there that Disney is Evil. Disney = Evil. Anthropomorphic Cartoon Animals in a made-up world called Walt Disney World = Eternity of torture by Anthropomorphic Animals in made-up world called Hell. Get the point? I have friends who would rather have their eyelashes pulled out one-by-one while bamboo chutes are shoved under their fingernails than go to Disneyland or watch a Disney film.

I used to be one of them.

Yes, I admit, I was a Disney hater too. Mostly because of my ignorance. See, I never went to see a Disney movie when I was a kid. I never saw Bambi in my youth. I never watched the Dwarves shack up with Snow White and I never got to see booty-calling Cinderella make it with her babe-a-licious beau, Prince Charming. I blame my parents. They were not very big fans of Disney. Also, the proliferation of VCR movies and more recently DVDs hadn’t come about when I was a lad.

Now if my mother will stop screaming at me I will tell you that once, when I was in third grade my family did make a trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando Florida. I had the time of my life. It was a great fun. All of it. I still remember how it felt to ride in the Haunted Castle or the Pirate’s of the Caribbean ride. I remember the Electric Light Parade and the butter pats shaped like Mickey Mouse. But alas, that was in the Seventies and I should not return to that enchanted land for almost 30 years.

In between I was rarely exposed to anything Disney-like. There was a dry spell in the eighties of animated Disney films. Or at least very good films. The kind that harkens back to the golden age when they produced Cinderella and Snow White and Bambi. Then in the early Nineties they came out with The Little Mermaid. A musical based on the Hans Christian Anderson tale. It was a great little movie. A friend of mine had a sister who watched it on a daily basis when she finally scored the VCR tape. By that time, thought, I was a jaded art student just discovering my inner Goth. Despite the fact that the bad guy in the movie was a dark, octopus like creature who wanted to steal the beautiful voices of the Mer-People, it still didn’t go far enough for my brash, young, self.

I raised the banner with the best of them as to how bad it was that Disney took stories and themes and simplified them, making happy endings out of them. “The original fairy tales were cautionary tales that rarely had happy endings,” I’d explain. It was a bad thing to take the world and candy coat it into something sweet and fluffy and good. The real world is full of darkness, evil and rarely do things work out. Besides, if the Walt Disney Company had its way we’ all be strolling down fake, cobbled stoned streets, hanging onto white picket fences, Zipadeedodaing all around town like a nation of Stepfords.

A relentless litany of animated films came out in the Nineties. The Little Mermaid followed up with Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1993), Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Mulan (1998), Tarzan (1999). Along with 3-D animation company, Pixar, a former Lucasfilm Company bought by Steve Jobs of Apple fame, (and if you know me at all you know how giddy this makes me!) Disney distributed the Toy Story movies (19995 & 1999) and A Bug’s Life (1998). Then there was the Tim Burton classic, The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993).

Since then the studio has produced or distributed many other animated films although they have not reached the renaissance of animated musicals that they achieved in the 1990s. Disney and Pixar produced a slew of new films together ushering in a new age of animation where 3-D ruled. With the success of Finding Nemo and The Incredibles, Disney announced that they were giving up on 2-D (traditional) animated movies and called the format dead. But after purchasing Pixar as a wholly owned subsidiary in 2005, Disney has rediscovered a commitment to 2-D cartoons and is producing them again.

When I had children of my own, they demanded that I put on Disney films. My wife sent me out at ungodly hours to buy Limited Edition DVDs that peeked out of the Disney Vault but might disappear for another fifty years if we didn’t hurry and buy them all up.

Through repeated viewings and osmosis, the fairy tales began to seep in and I admit to now having the soundtrack to Aladdin on my iPod. (Love that Robin Williams!) And for the first time in 30 years the gates of the magic kingdom opened and I strode the clean streets while men and women dressed like a Technicolorized version of the late nineteenth century descended on us.

If you’ve ever been, you know what I mean. At a moment’s notice a band of happy characters dressed like they stepped off a paddleboat on the sparkling Mississippi River will roll through the streets dancing and singing a happy tune. There’s a candy store on the corner and a bunch of places that will sell you everything that you ever wanted, with Mickey Mouse slapped on it. Any true ex-Industrial-Goth would just melt into a black puddle right there, the sticky sweetness shooting holes into my old black combat boots.

Truth is, I enjoyed it. A lot. And I traded combat boots for Docksiders years ago.

There is something innocent and nostalgic about the park. Perhaps because the last time I was there I was just an eight-year-old boy. Perhaps it’s just because Disney gets it right. You heard me. They get it right.

Kids will always be kids. They love cartoons, they love candy and they love music they can sing along to. If you combine them all together well, Jackpot! That’s what Disney World is in a nutshell. It is like actually stepping into one of Walt Disney’s animated films. Judging from all the historical information you can get on the man while touring the park, this is exactly what he intended.

Disney is not an enigma. It is not complicated or deceitful. No matter what happens behind the scenes in the corporate world, the face of Disney is a cartoon wonderland full of wonder and magic and history. History that might be its own, self-referential history, but by now, after all these years, it’s true history. It’s magical.

If you don’t dig too deep you can find a naïve, simplicity in Disney. The cartoons always have a happy ending, they always teach some lesson and they are usually so well done you can’t help but get sucked into the story, the music, the images or all of the above.

Even Tomorrowland still looks like the wide-eyed version of the future that Walt Disney himself tried to promote. I feel like I stepped into a realm created thirty, forty, fifty years ago and nothing has changed since.

But there’s more to it than just some silly old rides and cotton candy. The movies that Disney puts out for the children of America today are not your father’s Disney flick.

I should have known that all along.

Case in point: Nightmare Before Christmas. I loved this movie so much when it first came out I went and bought all the watches at Burger King. I saw it in the movie theater twice. This is not your typical Disney film yet Disney distributed it. Also, Tim Burton, one of my favorite directors, was employed at Disney as an artist for a time. Disney studio is where he first began thinking up the characters for Nightmare and he directed and wrote a short film called Vincent there, though the film was never released.

Burton originally pitched this film to Disney while working there but they turned him down because it was too dark. After meeting with success, he finally was able to create his masterpiece but Disney still thought it was too dark. They released it under their Touchtone studio releases. At the time the movie was released, I had no idea it had roots in the Disney studio.

Since then, after years of building momentum, Nightmare Before Christmas has become one of Disney’s greatest marketing movies, selling characters and merchandise inspired by the movie year after year. On October 20, 2006, Disney plans to release a 3-D version of the film in limited release.

So among the Mickey Mouse ears and Goofy hats are Jack Skelington snow globes.

Disney has even conquered Broadway. At the center of the Times Square redevelopment project was Disney’s purchase and restoration of the New Amsterdam Theater. Currently a very impressive performance of Disney’s The Lion King is playing there. If you go expecting a rehash of a cartoon with fuzzy costumed characters playing the central role, be prepared for disappointment. The Broadway version of this musical is impressive and beautiful in it’s own right. The production design and costuming are brilliant as is the casting. This is another good example of Disney getting it right.

Recently, Disney hit gold with a live action film done right, Pirates of the Caribbean. This movie had it all: Costumes, effects, beautiful sets, dialogue and superb performances by the four main stars, Johnny Depp (brilliantly playing Captain Jack Sparrow as one half-drunk, one half-mad, one half-Keith Richards), Geoffrey Rush (always a pleasure!), Orlando Bloom (playing the anti-Legolas) and beautiful and talented Keira Knightly (did I mention beautiful and talented?). This movie redefines the swashbuckling adventure like I only pray that Indiana Jones part four will come close to. Besides that, it single handedly brought back the Pirate craze. (When did the pirate craze end, I say!)

“It all started with a mouse.”

Continually throughout a visit to Disney World you are reminded by enormous graffiti and the voice of the man himself that Disney all started with a mouse. That’s only partly true. It started with a dream. The mouse came second.

Walt Disney and his brother Roy Disney started Disney Studios way back in the 1920s. Originally they began with short animated films staring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. (Who looked very much like Mickey Mouse with long ears.) When Walt lost the rights to Oswald to another production studio he had to come up with another character to star in his cartoons. Mickey Mouse was created and stared in one of the first popular cartoons that also featured a soundtrack called Steamboat Willie.

Not one to rest, after gaining popularity, fame and money with his Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony cartoons Walt decided he wanted to do a feature length cartoon. Other thought he was crazy but he pushed on and when Snow White came out, it was a smash.

From then on Walt expanded his empire from short cartoons to great big theme parks in California and then Orlando. These parks were going to be like stepping out of real life and into a fantasy. Just like most other things he dreamed up, Walt succeeded in this endeavor too.

At the core of it all is a basic premise: Tell a good story and tell it right. That has been the cornerstone of the Disney legacy. Walt Disney was a perfectionist. Snow White took longer and cost more money than originally planned because of his detailed personality. In the end it was all worth it. Meticulous detailing and an uplifting, well-told tale are what made Disney a great man and a great movie company. Over the years, Disney has had its ups and downs. It has fallen in and out of the public’s favor but all in all, we can’t imagine a world without Walt Disney’s fantasies. And we would not want to either.

L.S.C.

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Achtung!

It’s a miracle! A true sighting caught on tape in Germany!

Check it out!

L.S.C.

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Yikes!

Apparently not everyone is mourning Steve Irwin’s death. Germaine Greer, academic and writer known for her book, The Female Eunuch, published in the early 1970s, commented in UK’s The Guardian that, “The animal world has finally taken its revenge on Irwin, but probably not before a whole generation of kids in shorts seven sizes too small has learned to shout in the ears of animals with hearing 10 times more acute than theirs, determined to become millionaire animal-loving zoo-owners in their turn.”

Not sure why she has such a beef with him and sees fit to criticize the man so soon after his death but there you go.

Check out the entire article here.

The article has not gone by without a backlash from the Australian website news.com.au. Check out the reaction here.

L.S.C.

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CRIKEY!

Steve Irwin, Croc Hunter and self proclaimed Wildlife Warrior, dies at 44.

I heard the news almost immediately after it happened. My wife and my brother and I were out at a bar having a rare opportunity to get away from the house. We came home close to 1:40 am on Monday morning, New York time, and my brother jumped on the computer to check news and email while we wound down from the night. Curiously he said, “The Crocodile Hunter died?” It was a matter of fact way to say it. I don’t think he knew that he was getting the news almost in real time.

At first I didn’t believe him; I thought it was a mistake. But it was true. The lovable, khaki wearing, “Aussie,” who got way too close to danger while clowning around with deadly animals, promoting his sincere agenda of raising awareness for nature, had died. Ironically, the animal that caused his death was not known to be very dangerous. The stingray’s tail, a defensive mechanism, while containing a poison, generally does not cause death in humans. According to reports, it was the bleeding that led to his death because the barb pierced his heart.

As the news sunk in, I became upset. I watched his shows and really liked him as a television personality. My children all watched him as well. He even starred with the Wiggles in a Croc Hunter special! Perhaps it was my inner child that mourned him. He was a very real guy. Even if he wasn’t really like his exuberant T.V. personality in real life, you go the sense that what you saw was the person he was. I expected that if I ever met him, I’d really like him, a lot. Also, he was star to children and the saddest thing is the fact that my kids would soon learn that their beloved “Croc Hunter” was dead.

The next day, I was with a few friends and the talk was not only of how sad it was to loose such an amazing personality but the fact that no one wanted to tell their children. At a barbeque that following day, a friend whispered to his wife, “Don’t talk about what we heard this morning on T.V.” Of course I knew exactly what he was talking about and I commiserated with them about how regretful it was to loose a guy like Steve Irwin.

So far I’ve not heard anyone say that he knew the risks, it was always a danger working with those animals. I wondered about that, because although it will come up, the initial reaction is total shock and loss. He seemed indestructible, invisible because he had such a connection, such respect, for the animals he worked with. He loved them and you sort of felt in some strange, childish way, that they knew it too and would never let harm come to such an advocate and friend.

The world of nature is cruel and unforgiving. That is the lesson we must take from this tragic event. It’s a lesson I’d rather forget. I’d rather live in a world where a guy like Steve Irwin goes into the deep jungle, wrestles with terrible beasts and survives every time, as happy-go-lucky as ever. But it is not true. Perhaps that is the thing I failed to capture when I first heard the news. The reason I grieved for him was not just a loss to the world, but a personal loss as well. Not that I knew the man, but I knew what he represented, what he meant to me. He symbolized the imaginary, the fantastic aspect of the real world of nature. He brought things to my home, my children, myself that I’d never have seen if he’d not been there to do it. And in such a way that made it easy, casual, funny and true.

The kids I spoke with, the ones old enough to have grown up watching him on T.V. but not too young to hear the news, all said the same thing. They feel for his wife and kids. My son, a very typical thirteen year old, who generally doesn’t think of anything but what affects his person, was the first to bring up the fact that he had two very young children. He felt bad for them.

This is another thing that we learned from Steve Irwin. He taught us compassion for others. These kids could have said, they miss him, or they can’t believe they won’t see him on T.V. anymore. The one thing they always worried about was his family. He was a superhero to these kids and they wondered what it would be like for his children to grow up without him around. You have to admit, he was a pretty cool Dad.

His great advocacy and respect for animals, despite their brutal nature showed us to respect the world. It showed our kids that you must think of things other than yourself. He brought out the best of us.

The people of Australia lost a great hero. The people of the world lost a great entertainer. Nature lost a great advocate. The self-proclaimed “Wildlife Warrior” has passed and I hope that we all can learn as much from his death as we did his life.

For more information on the man and his accomplishments see the Wikipedia entry on Steve Irwin, the official homepage of the Crocodile Hunter, his IMDB page, or various articles about him on the web.

The Sydney Morning Herald has an article here.

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Bob Bigelow, Space Gigalo

Robert Bigelow, millionaire, real estate magnet, hotel mogul, spaceman.

Yep, Mr. Bigelow, founder of the hotel chain, Budget Suites of America, and multi-millionaire has already launched a one-third-scale model of his inflatable space hotel. He’s one of the new visionary space entrepreneurs that include Burt Rutan and Sir Richard Branson looking to the final frontier to conquer and make oodles of cash. According to a report in the LA Times, he has many obstacles that include launch costs and safety issues. At present the price tag for a space tourist is $20,000,000. If only Visa offered that spending limit on my 0% card, I’d be there. But alas that will have to wait a few more years. Mr. Bigelow imagines that in ten years the price to soar into space will be a mere $9,000,000, still out of range for the average Joe’s salary.

The inflatable hotel is based on a design called TransHab that NASA discarded a few years ago when budget cuts forced them to pare down projects. When the design became available Mr. Bigelow snatched it up and formed a new company called Bigelow Aerospace. They hope to have a full sized model up in orbit in five years with guests arriving in ten. Those are grand dreams. Mr. Bigelow imagines the inflatable hubs to be used as conference centers, sports stadiums, and of course, hotels. While the amenities are sparse, you can’t beat the view.

The inflatable design, around since the 1960s, has advantages over a metal space station like the International Space Station currently in orbit. The main one being that it is much lighter. A downside is that if it pops, you’re dead. The current design has a shell strength of 3-inch thick aluminum. It’s a start.

Like other space entrepreneurs, Mr. Bigelow has been fascinated with exploring the outer limits since he was a child. It seems that a generation of Baby Boomers—fed a steady diet of Twilight Zone and Star Trek on television—are now indulging their childhood dreams of traveling to the stars and they have the funds to do it. Not only that, Mr. Bigelow has founded The National Institute for Discovery Science a center to investigate paranormal events including UFO abductions. He believes in the paranormal experiences that cannot be explained by science.

His clients will not necessarily be the space tourists lining up with millions in disposable income burning a hole in their Brooks Brother’s suit pockets. He envisions small nations without space programs of their own to be his first customers. They will be able to ride a launch and experiment with zero gravity all for less than $10,000,000 per trip. Mr. Bigelow claims that he already has a few countries lining up but he will not disclose their identities, yet.

You can read the LA Times story here.

L.S.C.

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Puto: Yer OUT!

The IAU has made its decision today, August 24, 2006, and demoted Pluto from planetary status to a dwarf planet. Officially, the solar system has eight planets according to the new definition of a planet. The new definition claims that a planet is "a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a ... nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit." Pluto is excluded because of its oblong orbit that brings it within the orbit of Neptune. No longer under consideration are Xena, Charon or a host of other smaller objects. They will become either dwarf planets or Kuiper Belt Objects or the even more general Small Solar System Objects.

The anagram that school children have used for years "My Very Excited Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas," to remember the planets will have to be changed. I propose "My Very Excited Mother Just Served Us NOTHING!"

Walt Disney is turning in his grave knowing that his beloved cartoon dog has become named for a dwarf object not a planet.

More information can be found here and all over the Internet. In a bizarre twist of fate, Pluto has been demoted on my birthday, which will surely overshadow this historic event.

L.S.C.

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They're doing what???

Public Laughs, Astronomers Debate, Nobody Cares

According to a report on Space.com, the debate over the status of Pluto as a planet and the possibility of adding three more planets to our solar system (and potentially more1) is met with emotions ranging from ambivalence to ridicule. The only thing that most people care about is that if Pluto looses planetary status they will not be happy. Are the astronomers listening?

Check out the article on Space.com.

L.S.C.

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SOAMFP

So Far, So MF Good.




Snakes On A Plane, the movie that has been getting a lot of buzz on the internet and the podcasting community has finally been released to fairly decent reviews given the hype.

L.S.C.

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Space Opera in Prague

Breaking news from the IAU.

What is going on in Prague?? Soon we’ll be getting reports of pocket protectors being thrown about in anger. This article was first posted on SPACE.com.

Pluto May Get Demoted After All

Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
SPACE.com

The effort to define the term "planet" took a fresh twist today as two competing proposals were put forth at a meeting of astronomers in Prague.

In one case, Pluto would be demoted to "dwarf planet" status, which would mean it would not be a real planet at all.

Astronomers are split down the middle on the issue.

Eight planets or hundreds?

On Wednesday, officials with the International Astronomical Union (IAU) proposed a planet definition that would make Pluto's moon Charon a planet. Several astronomers criticized the overall proposal as being vague and the Charon aspect specifically for going too far in essentially recasting too many small round objects as full-fledged planets. Eventually, with new discoveries, there would likely be hundreds.

They also were critical of the proposed term "pluton" to describe Pluto, Charon and other small round objects in the outer solar system that would be planets under the new definition.

Today, a subgroup of the IAU met to discuss the proposal. A straw vote was held in which only about 18 astronomers favored the proposal, according to Alan Boss, a planet-formation theorist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Another 20 or so said it should be reworked. And about 50 favored an alternate proposal.

Stay Tuned.

L.S.C.

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Planets or Plutons

Clarification on the Planet debate?

It seems to be a little confusing with the new definition of what is a planet raging on at the IAU. From what has been presented in the media here is what will happen if the IAU drafts this new definition:

Planets discovered before 1900 will continue to be called "planets."

A new sub-category of planets called "plutons" will be included.

Plutons will include, Pluto, Charon (Pluto’s Moon), Ceres, an asteroid once considered a planet in the 1800s, and object 2003 UB313, alternately called Xena.

In the future scientists will consider other objects to include in this sub category, thereby increasing the number of technical planets in out solar system but not necessarily in the traditional sense.

Another category will be adopted called, small solar system bodies. Tens of thousand of objects currently known will fall into this category.

Why is our moon or other moons around other planets not considered planets themselves if Charon, Pluto’s moon, becomes a planet (or more accurately, a pluton?) Well, the definition of a planet means it has a center of gravity that is not another object. Pluto and Charon are essential a double planet system revolving around each other and then revolving around the sun. The moon’s center of gravity is the earth.

This proposal seems very ambiguous. Is Pluto still a planet or are plutons not planets but a different class of planet? How many planets does our solar system have? 8 or 12?

This information came from a new article posted on Yahoo written by Sophie Pons.

More info as it comes in.

L.S.C.

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Hi! Welcome to the neighborhood...

Images of what will potentially become the new Solar System:



iau0601a: The new Solar System? [artist’s impression]

The world’s astronomers, under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), have concluded two years of work defining the lower end of the planet scale – what defines the difference between “planets” and “solar system bodies”. If the definition is approved by the astronomers gathered 14-25 August 2006 at the IAU General Assembly in Prague, our Solar System will consist of 12 planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Charon and 2003 UB313. The three new proposed planets are Ceres, Charon (Pluto’s companion) and 2003 UB313. There is no change in the planetary status of Pluto.

In this artist’s impression the planets are drawn to scale, but without correct relative distances.

Credit: The International Astronomical Union/Martin Kornmesser



iau0601b: Three new planets? [artist’s impression


The world’s astronomers, under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), have concluded two years of work defining the lower end of the planet scale – what defines the difference between “planets” and “solar system bodies”. If the definition is approved by the astronomers gathered 14-25 August 2006 at the IAU General Assembly in Prague, three of the bodies in the Solar System will be assigned new status as planets: Ceres, Charon (Pluto’s companion) and 2003 UB313. There is no change in the planetary status of Pluto.

In this artist’s impression the planets are drawn to scale, but without correct relative distances.

Credit: The International Astronomical Union/Martin Kornmesser

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