Although the initial flurry of activity may have dimmed considerably, the quest to save Farscape continues across the fanboy/fangirl nation. Next week, this fan produced ad will start appearing in 24 major media markets…it looks a bit rough but hopefully will spark some media coverage. Meanwhile, here in NYC I’ve taken to postering all the bus ads for Sci-Fi’s upcoming Taken around campus with BOYCOTT SCI-FI signs. Somebody keeps ripping them down, but hey…it adds structure to my walks with Berkeley.
It’s Alive!
Scientists attempt to create new life, which is fascinating but a bit unnerving, particularly considering how long they spend in this article declaring, “Don’t worry – absolutely, positively nothing will go wrong.” Don’t these people ever go to the movies?
Tip of the Iceberg.
On the advice of Eric at Kestrel’s Nest (in the comments here), I added my Sitemeter stat-watcher to all the archived pages of this blog, as well as all the additional stuff over at the main page. Turns out I was way off about the stats around here. The blog (including old posts) and the library entries pull six times as many hits as I thought I was getting (a fact that’s gotten me scrambling to update many of the book reviews – a lot of ’em were written in haste over five years ago…and it shows.) Granted these aren’t long-time readers so much as curious google-searchers, but I was surprised nonetheless. Particularly surprising is how many hits this rather substandard page on David Halberstam gets…there’s not really any interesting information on it, but it gets almost as many hits as this blog. Bizarre. At any rate, thanks for the head’s up, Eric.
Decisions, Decisions.
In his most recent flurry of anti-Bush rhetoric, Gore declares he’ll decide by the New Year whether he’s running in 2004. Little wonder that Gore’s increased profile of late is causing DC Dem insiders (and Dukakis to boot) to start whispering John Kerry’s name more often.
Stoner Math.
If our new Ministry of Information is run with half the honesty and integrity of our ONDCP, it looks like everything will end up just swimmingly. Turns out Dubya’s drug czar grossly misrepresented marijuana potency several times in order to help bury the recent Nevada referendum.
Was it Tuttle or Buttle?
Well, that’s that, then. Despite some historic raging against the bureaucratic behemoth by Sen. Robert Byrd, the Senate passes the Homeland Security Act 90-9. Nice to see Feingold voted against it, at any rate. Well, here’s hoping my extra history degree will find me a place in Information Adjustments (and well away from the careerists in Information Retrieval.) Hmm…speaking of which, I wonder what history books out there might suggest “patterns indicative of terrorist activity.” Guess I better buy them earlier rather than later…and in cash.
Homeland (and Corporate) Security.
John McCain joins the Dems in fighting the Homeland Security Bill, mainly because it has swollen 450 pages since election day with ridiculous helpings of GOP pork. Looks like the only entities with security in Dubya’s universe are pharmaceutical companies and the anti-terrorism industry. Update: Despite McCain’s vote, the Dems lose again. (Mary Landrieu, Ben Nelson, and Zell Miller voted with the GOP, as did Wellstone’s current replacement, Dean Barkley.)
Second Banana…and a Dark Horse.
Second verse, same as the first. Time profiles the “new Gore”, the man whom, if the polls are right, seems preordained to be the Democratic candidate in 2004. But, lurking in the shadows is another possible Dem contender, General Wesley Clark. Hmm…curious. I suspect Clark and Kerry would split the war vote in the primary, sending Gore through again anyway. But I’m curious to hear more from him.
League of Extraordinarily Angry Gentlemen.
It seems all is not well on the set of this long-awaited Alan Moore adaptation, with star Sean Connery and director Stephen Norrington at each other’s throats.
The Rollback begins.
An appeal court today approved broadened wiretap powers for John Ashcroft’s Justice Department. (But don’t worry…they’ll only use it on the bad people.) In loosely related news, the Dems are discovering a filibuster won’t work in stopping much of the GOP’s desired legislation, including oil and gas drilling of the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. Looks like things’ll be getting worse before they get better.
Speaking of big oil, I was doing some reading between classes in what passes for a student center here at Columbia and ended up sitting next to the undergraduate pro-war-in-Iraq table. (To be honest, I’m always a bit startled by the conservatism of today’s undergraduate community, although I suppose it wasn’t much different in my day – I still remember the drunken revelries all over campus that accompanied the 1994 midterms.) At any rate, I noticed the organization’s name was Students United for Victory, which would make their acronym SUV. Ah well, I presume the irony was lost on these earnest young hawks.