Rush Limbaugh gets into the act

Just listened to the first few minutes of the Rush Limbaugh show and of course he's all over this astronaut story. Calls her an astronaut "babe." Says her defense lawyer should claim she was driven insane by global warming. What a jerk.

The charges against Lisa Nowak, 43 have been now upgraded to attempted murder - and it does seem like this stupid bitch - I'm sorry, but that's all I can call a woman who has a great career, a husband and 3 kids of her own, and throws it away for "love," was really going to try to kill this other woman because she was a rival in her affections towards the male astronaut. And with all her intelligence, and all the examples of what not to do as seen on hundreds of TV crime shows, she still screwed it up.

Well...maybe in her heart of hearts she didn't mean to kill her? Because all she really needed to do was get a gun...although that could have been traced back to her...

It's just a sad, tragic story on many levels.

A blow to women everywhere

What does it take to become an astronaut? Years and years of training and dedication. As much as it takes to become a B-52 pilot. To throw it all away on a love triangle... to kidnap the woman who is supposedly your rival in affection with a man - -- no no no. If the guy cheats on you, you dump *him*.

Anyway, I am so saddened to hear of this terrible story. How this woman could throw away her future in space - what in the world was she thinking????

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - An astronaut charged with attempting to kidnap a romantic rival in a love triangle with another astronaut was ordered released on bail Tuesday under the condition that she not contact the alleged victim.


The judge told Lisa Marie Nowak, 43, she could be released on $15,500 bond, then asked if she understood the conditions. She responded, "yes."

Nowak, a married mother of three, stood in a jail uniform, usually facing down as the hearing was under way.

She faces charges including attempted kidnapping, attempted vehicle burglary with battery, destruction of evidence and battery.

Police said she drove 900 miles, donned a disguise and was armed with a BB gun and pepper spray when she confronted a woman she believed was a competitor for the affections of Navy Cmdr. William Oefelein, a fellow astronaut.

Nowak and Oefelein, 41, were both first-time fliers during separate shuttle missions last year. They trained together but never flew together.

Time Hops (complete) and Doctor Who

BBC 7 re-runs the same stuff over and over again. This can be annoying when you've heard it all 3 times...however in my case I have missed stuff - I record things and, getting a bit careless, I sometimes miss episodes.

So, anyway, Time Hops begins again on Monday, and you can listen to it for 5 days before it drps off the radar.

Time Hops - complete
Once Upon A Time: A scientist mouse called Eek escapes from the future and enlists the help of three children to save her planet. Episode 1 of 5.

Killing Time: The children catapult further back in time and find themselves in deep water. Episode 2 of 5.

Time After Time: Steph stumbles across an unexpected part of the puzzle to help Eek in the mission to save her planet. Episode 3 of 5

Long Time No See: Time-hopping seems to have brought the children nothing but trouble. Could a dodgy robot really make things better? Episode 4 of 5.


Time's Up: The children are convinced that the 'man from the BBC' will help them. But is he really what he seems? Episode 5 of 5.

There's a new Doctor Who

Doctor Who
No More Lies: The Doctor and Lucie gatecrash a posh party, and get more than they bargained for. Namely vortisaurs and a crumbling spaceship.

Beyond the Vortex
Barnaby Edwards talks about the musical elements in 'No More Lies'. Episode 6 of 8.

When do girls become sexually active?

There's a new law being passed in Texas which says girls at the age of 10-11 have to be injected with an inoculation against a *sexually transmitted* disease that gives women cervical cancer.

"The federal government approved Gardasil in June, and a government advisory panel has recommended that all girls get the shots at 11 and 12, before they are likely to be sexually active."

So if they have to get the shots at 11-12, does that mean that at age 12-13 they become sexually active? Scary...but probably true.

This is because, in my opinion, girls are taught from day 1 of their existence that they exist only so that they can be sexually attractive to boys. Wear the make up, dress in shirts that reveal your belly button and shorts that ride right up to below your butt, so that they can all get a good look. You're only worth anything depending on if you have a boyfriend - and even if you don't have a boyfriend - if you can get pregnant you can prove that at least a boy thought you were worth having sex with....

I'm not advocating that girls should be ashamed of their sexuality and wear burhkas and other crap like Muslim women are forced to do, I'm just saying that girls don't have enough respect for themselves and it's mass media -- commericals -- that must shoulder a lot of the blame.

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it

Today is the 2nd day of outrage at Turner Broadcasting. They are the people who hired a PR firm to promote a cartoon on Adult Swim called Teenage Hunger Force - or something similar. The PR firm got the bright idea of putting battery operated signs on newspaper vending machines - the sign looks like a smiley face with a hand with an extended middle finger. (Extended middle finger. What taste. What class. Yes...I want to watch this cartoon!)

Anyway, people in Boston panicked, thinking they were bombs. Police were called. Packages were detonated. Two people placing the things were arrested.

And I'm thinking to myself...how stupid is this? To do this type of thing in a post 9-11 world is just asking for trouble. I mean, it's one thing to be a bus driver on a Greyhound making a joke that he's going to take his passengers to the Taliban (he'd had to take a detour and the passengers wanted to know what was going on and asked in a rude manner - last joke was on him of course as the cops came and arrested him, thanks to cell phones.)

But to place things with batteries, wires and flashing lights on newspaper vending machines? And expect people not to panic?

But...and here's the thing...this is not the first time this has happened. It was last year that a similar advertising campaign was conducted... in New York, I think it was. On that occasion, the objects were actually inside the vending machines. I think they were advertising 24 or some similar television show. And there was a panic, and the devices were removed.

So why didn't the PR firm this time, or the bright bulb at Turner who signed off on their idea, know about that???

It's a case not only of learning from past events, but also just plain old common sense.

Having said that, I don't think the guys who were placing the devices should have been arrested. They were doing an *advertising* job, not something illegal. If anyone should go to jail, it should be the people who thought up the idea in the first place. (But of course, they're the "suits" - ie people with money, so nothing will happen to them. Meantime the worker bees, who have no money, will be fined and sent to jail, most likely. But maybe they can sue afterwards and give some lawyers employment for a few years.)

Sci fi on BBC 7

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/sunday/

Remember each program is on the site for 7 days from the day of its posting, and you can listen any time you like.

Doctor Who
Doctor Who is running every Sunday in BBC 7 for the next few weeks - although you've missed 3 eps already. Instead of serials, each episode is 45 minutes long.

Doctor Who For extreme sport nuts, the fear is part of the rush. But the Doctor and Lucie are about to learn the true meaning of 'Phobos'.


Beyond the Vortex Nick would rather not do it but Barney loves it. How do you cast the right actors for radio? Episode 5 of 8. (Interviews with the people behind the McGann radio productions).

On Monday is a 1-off called Beast.

Beast
Is a creature pulled from the sea near a fishing village harmless or a threat? James Fleet stars in Nick Warburton's play. 45 minutes.

Mimsy

Went to see Night at the Museum again with a friend - I've really got to write a review of this soon! and once again they showed a trailer for a movie called Mimsy. This movie is clearly based on a short story called Mimsy Were the Borogroves. The title of the short story is based on a line in a poem by Lewis Carroll, but the way the trailer was playing out, Mimsy is the name of a doll that "teaches" the girl character "everything."

I didn't really care for the short story, but will probably go see the movie.

Rise of the Silver Surfer trailer was the kind that really didn't give you any idea of what the story was about - if you don't know who The Silver Surfer is, you won't know who the Silver Surfer is, if ya get my drift. Ends with the Surfer up in the atmosphere, choking Johnny so he loses consciousness and falls backwards, presumably toward Earth and death (or mebbe its because he's flown up too high where there's no oxygen).

Anyway, I don't like one of the powers they've given the Surfer, which is that he can apparently fly through buildings without hurting them, just kind of 'exudes through' and I'm thinking why, why, why give him that power?

Spiderman 3 looks kind of grim. Spiderman was my favorite comic book character growing up, but I stopped buying it around issue 200, partly because of price and partly because of the fact that the stories were just getting too grim.And this movie looks pretty grim.

January 27, 1967

Gus Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee - three heroes in mankind's quest for the stars.

The Annotated Terry Pratchett

I love Terry Pratchett's books. I don't like his novels featuring the wizard Rincewind, but all the others are "cherce."

www.lspace.org/books/apf/

It hasn't been updated for 2 years, which is rather worrying, but there's lots of good stuff there.

It's been a while since I looked at this website, and I did so today because I'd been reading an Asimov essay (written in 1960), and found a reference to a Greek story which reminded me of an incident in the book Small Gods.

So I went to this site to see if it had already been put in, and it wasn't mentioned, so I emailed them.

Most of Pratchett's books pay homage to all kinds of legends and earth history. Small Gods has quite a bit of references to the Greek philosophers.

There's one scene where Brutha - the lead character - is on a ship heading toward Omnia. The evil Vorbis causes the captain of the ship to kill a dolphin. In order to propitiate the sea god, someone on the ship has to be sacrificed, and the sailors decide it might as well be Brutha. Brutha requests that he be allowed one last prayer. The sailors grant his wish, and his god (for the great god Om has been turned into a tortoise and travels with Brutha) arranges for the storm to stop.

When I was reading Asimov's essay called "Now Hear This" (collected in VIew From a Height, he tells of the Greek's fondness for dolphins and of the story of Arion. Now, the Greek sailors were going to throw him overboard because they wanted to steal his baggage, but still, elements of the story are the same.

So...a bit of serendipity there!

The War of the Worlds musical

This is the ad, in England, which came out a while ago, in England, regarding the War of the Worlds musical CD.

A couple of days ago I emailed them and asked for a review copy, and they agreed to send me one. Silly me, I should have asked for a DVD of the play as well. Oh, well, too late now.

What I didn't realize is that the song Forever Autumn, which I thought came from The Time Machine remake a few years ago, is actually from this album.

Back to science fiction!

Some of my readers have been complaining that I've been spending too much time ranting about sports and not enough time on the purpose of this blog - science fiction. And ya know, they're right.

So I've moved my sports ranting over to my other blog, "MLB Survivor Strategies". I'd created it last year to chart my success [or lack of it] on th MLB Survivor Game (each day, you had to select a winning team. You could use the same team no more than 3 times in a single game.)

It's been on hiatus since there's no baseball right now, so I decided to revive it a few months early and do my sports commentary there.

strategiesformlbsurvivor.blogspot.com

is the URL.

And now, back to science fiction.

Tonight's your last chance to hear Horror of Glam Rock at BBC Radio 7. It's actually not that original of a story. A group of Earthlings are trapped in a cafe in 1974 by a snowstorm, and there's creaturs outside trying to get in and eat 'em up. But Stephen Gately sings a song...

Well, well well, part 2: The madness continues

Last night I had created a new screen name and signed on to the Summitt. It was perhaps an obvious screen name to anyone who had seen the Incredibles, and although all I did was a test post...the tone of that post, "Just want to see if I can post here," perhaps rather gave the game away.

Not that I was trying to be secretive.

Anyway, just tried to access the whole Summitt today and now it seems my entire ISP has been banned. Can't access *any* of the Summitt, even when I'm *not* logged in -- from this computer. And although I got an automated message to this new screen name that I had been banned...they didn't bother to tell me *why.* What did I do that was so terrible that I deserved to be banned? I never used foul language. Never told this one particular woman that she was an idiot - though she gave me ample opportunity to prove it. And the post that precipitated this nonsense...to tell people I was writing a book and would share "what goes on" on fan message boards... is what goes on there so terrible that it must not be shared?

Of course if they don't tell you why you've been banned, you can't come back and sue them, which is the reason why they do it. Also, you can't single out what person...although I'm thinking that the crazy lady has powers of banishment and did it herself...

I've got to admit its pretty funny.

So...I just created a new screen name on my laptop and went over to the boards and looked. The thread that last night was locked - is unlocked this morning. I didn't bother to check to see if the post that had precipitated my banishment is still there, but if it is...it does give one to wonder. But the upshot of it all is that people can still talk about thread, and make critical comments about me, and I am no longer able to defend myself. Rather a cowardly thing to do, in fact.

I won't post anything with my new screenname, of course. Any comments that someone's being a poor sport - even if they clearly are - will identify me *immediately*. Nice to be known for a signature style... I wonder if any new saps who go there and take offense to some of the things said, and says so, will also be banned immediately in mistake for me? After all, "it's their boards and we're just guests."

Which is true enough. But the inmates are running the asylum.

And of course, it's all grist for the book mill.

But for now, on to more urgent matters.

Well, well, well!

Looks like I just wore out my welcome on the Lady Vols message boards! I've just been banned!

Now that is just too funny!

All I said - in a thread today - was that I was writing a book about the Lady Vols, and hoped people would sign releases so that I could use stuff on the message boards. [I actually just said that as a dig, in response to some trash talking that had been happening earlier in this thread. I certainly wouldn't want to include the childishness that goes on there in a book about such a great program as the Vols...but I wanted them to give a thought to the fact...what if someone were writing a book and did come to that place to check out things being said - would they really want their conduct known to the world at large? As large as the Vols world-at-large would be, of course.]

A certain woman whom I will not name said no, no permission would be given, because Scout and Rocky Top News held copyright. So I said I'd deal with those head honchos when the time came. Or, do "fair use."

And that's all I said!

And now I've been banned!

Which accomplishes absolutely nothing at all because I just created a different screen name and I can get on and post again with no problem. So how stupid was that?

I'd really like to know who banned me, and why. I was given absolutely no warning. I don't see that I posted anything that was so terrible. Didn't call this particular woman a moron. Didn't call *anyone* a moron. My final post before I was banned merely said that someone *with* a book deal might check it out, and they might want to think on that before dissing one of Pat's friends on the boards - which they do periodically.

In the past, certainly, once in a while when someone would say something childish or unsportsmanlike I'd comment on it...is that a reason to ban me? Because I was spoiling the fun of other people who didn't like to be told they were poor sports? I haven't made any comment of that nature for over a week, and only sporadically prior to that, because I've got to admit that it was pretty damn obvious that there was no point trying to raise anyone's consciousness there, so I just gave up on it.

The thread today started because I posted a paragraph about what Nancy Lieberman had said about the Vols, NC and UConn. And the woman whose name I won't mention just bitched into me...and I responded to her politely...

Well...my book project has just moved to the head of the list of things I'm going to get done this year. Talk about incentive! I'm going to write a book about the Lady Vols [history of the rise of the WCBB as told through a history of the Vols], I'm going to get it published (easily done in this day and age) and I'm going to make a few stern remarks about the denizens of the Lady Vols message boards!

And I'll be laughed at by the denizens of all the other sports boards everywhere who behave in exactly the same way... but it will still make me feel better...

Of course any book publication is contingent on the Vols winning another Championship. If they don't win, no one will care about any book so there'd be no point anyway! So come on, Vols, you've got to win!

IN the year 6565

I am not the happiest of campers today. I'd been sicker than a dog 2 days with a severe cold. Stuck in bed most of the time. Last night, from about 3 pm to 10 pm, I felt great and assumed the cold was over. Not so. Went to bed at 10 pm, woke up with a sore throat - which had been what started my first cold to begin with. Now the sore throat is gone but the nose is running, eyes running, ya da ya da yada and I am *not* pleased. I've got too much to do but I simply can't concentrate on anything long enough to do it justice.

So, hopefully this will be just one more day wasted.

It's true I hadn't changed my bedclothes after I got over the cold the first time, but I honestly didn't think it was possible to re-catch a cold from germs you'd already had.... I have now washed all the bedclothes even though it's too late to do me any good.

So, unable to think, I've been putzing around. Listened to the Lady Vols beat Mississippi State, without Candace Parker. Messed around on the Vols message board discovering that the reading comprehension of various people sucks. (More on that anon, if I ever get well enough to write about it.)

Also visited Youtube and found a video of in-a-gadda-da-vida, which I confess I'd never heard about before. It is obviously a slurring of In the Garden of Eden. I do like the famous guitar 'riff' that it uses...

Also found the video of Zager and Evans doing In the Year 2525. They wait until the year 6565 to claim there'll be no need for wives or husbands, because children will be chosen by test tube...we're gonna get to that by 2525, the way the world is going...

And, aha! I haven't yet see Children of Men..and probably wont go see it - too grim, but I wonder if the scriptwriters forgot about test tube babies and cloning...

Anyway, here's the video. First written in 1964, apparently, but hit the charts in 1969.

IPOwer powerless again

For the second straight day, I am unable to log into my website to do updates. I cut 'em some slack yesterday, because it was MLK day and I figured lots of people had an opportunity to be online at the same time and maybe they were clogging the system.

But today everyone should be back to work, and *I* should be able to get back to work also, but I can't, because I can't log in!

My mood is not helped by the fact that I've got a cold that is bringing me down...

I've been remiss in commenting on what's on at BBC Radio 7 - a 9-part reading of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend. I should be listening to it...but I'm not in the mood.

Doctor Who, Horror of Glam Rock is on Sunday (and will be available for 3 more days):

Doctor Who
Horror Of Glam Rock: The Tomorrow Twins are all set to conquer the pop world of 1974. But will their dreams survive an encounter with the Doctor? Episode 1 of 1. [Rptd Mon 12.00am].

The Doctor is played by Paul McGann.

18:50-19:00

Beyond the Vortex
Director Barnaby Edwards takes us behind the scenes of the Doctor's journey to The Decade That Taste Forgot (the 1970s). Episode 3 of 8. [Rptd Mon 12.50am].

IPower powerless

For the third time in the last 7 days, I am unable to log onto my server, IPower, in order to add updates to The Thunder Child.

This is really, really starting to annoy me. On the previous two occasions I didn't have anything time sensitive to put up, today I do. And I can't do it.

I'm going to have to give some thought to moving to a new provider, because this is getting ridiculous.

So, today, there's a new GAAK webcomic up. This is a new feature on The Thunder Child, I'm "tooncasting" from a remote site. Groovy Ass Alien Kreatures. It's not really my cup of tea, but I thought I'd put it up and see if anyone bit. So far, no one else is interested either. One problem might be that it's only updated once a week - that's way too long. I take a look at The Order of the Stick occasionally - and that's updated 3 times a week, plus its in color.

Oh, well, far be it for me to suggest to the GAAK people that they increase their speed and do some colorization. I'm sure they would if they could...

I'm also working on a chronological history of sci fi movies from 1950 onward, using Bill Warren's Keep Watching the Skies as a base, but of course it'll contain that inimitable Thunder Child touch.

http://thethunderchild

Check us out!

Deep Rising

I was watching the Bears vs the Seahawks today (and am glad the Bears won), but during commercials I'd channel surf and came across Deep Rising on one of my movie channels. They've been showing this movie every day for the past month, it seems.

It's all about heavily armed hijackers who take over a liner intending to loot it. The hijackers apparently use a boat captained by Treat Williams and his comic sidekick. Once on the boat, they discover that some "deep sea creatures" have invaded the ship and are eating all the people, leaving behind only red gore.

It's a stupid move. I just checked the IMDB and it has a 5.8 rating. I don't care about IMDB ratings all that much, some movies I like have bad ratings, but it is interesting to see that most people dislike this movie.

For one thing, of course, the man-eating deep sea monsters were justs stupid. 99% of the time it was CGI, and bad CGI. Impossible to tell what they were...but I wonder if Peter Jackson saw this movie because one scene is of Wes Studi (Cherokee actor, star of the Joe Leaphorn series on PBS) being sucked while still alive into the belly of the beast...not much different than Andy Serkis in King Kong being devoured head first by an eyeless tentacle.

Anyway, I watched bits and pieces of it - I have no desire to see it from start to finish - merely because I was fascinated by how bad it was. How by-the-numbers cliched and bad it was. Everything was predictable, from the action of two heartless killers pointing there guns at each other in a "stand-off" which you only ever see in the movies. In real life the first guy to point his gun is gonna shoot, guaranteed.

I've only seen Treat Williams in a couple of movies - saw him in the first half of The Phantom starring Billy Zane, which I have to admit I walked out on...and he does nothing for me. The sole female character starts out in a slinky cocktail dress (she's a passenger on the boat) and then, thankfully changes into jeans and a t-shirt so she can move around, but of course the t-shirt is nice and clingy...but at least it never got strategically ripped so the adolescent boys could get off on seeing her belly button for most of the movie - as they did with Princess Amaldala in the 2nd Star Wars sequel, and Mary Jane in the first Spiderman, and heaven knows how many other movies made since that style began.

Well, enough of a rant for today. There's another football game going on that I'd like to watch, but I've got too much stuff to do so I'm upstairs trying to get in the mood to do some work.

Meanwhile the Lady Vols beat the Georgia Bulldogs in a very low-scoring game. Yay!

The Plot Zone at The Thunder Child

The Plot Zone: Plot and critical analysis of short stories.

Waaay back a couple of years ago, when I first started The Thunder Child, I was making good progress with my Plot Zone - critical analysis of sci fi short stories. Then, for reasons which still rankle to this day, I lost all that work. I managed to recover the data on about 10 stories...

And I've finally gotten around to putting that data back up at The Thunder Child. My hope is to institute a more disciplined way of working so that I can add about 2 stories a week to the database. Of course that'll only be about 100 stories a year, which is not nearly enough, but hey, it's better than nothing.

Friday fixin's

Not much going on today. I have got to go through my entire website and doublecheck lnks for book reviews and various articles, as I have been very neglectful in putting new review/article links on the appropriate sitemap and index pages. Shooting myself in the foot. I really need to get a content management system, but I'm not making enough money yet to justify that expense.... and I do like the freedom to modify various pages when I need to.

But the amount of time I waste trying to fix these lost links...it's annoying.

Started to read a book called Shanghaied to the Moon, by Michael Daley. It took me a few pages to get used to the narrative, first person present tense, but now I'm really enjoying it and will be writing a review for The Thunder Child.

Any Asimov fans? I've started a new Asimov quotebook - better than anything else you'll find because it contains the title of the essays from which the quotes come, which is something the other sites don't do.

If you've never heard old time radio drama, you should give it a try, and start with the classic program, Suspense. Hear Jack Benny as a Martian, William Holden as a hysterical astronaut, as well as Richard Widmark, William Powell, Orson Welles and Agnes Moorehead. I list all the sci fi Suspense episodes in a new article.

http://thethunderchild.com

Should Jason Kidd be afraid of his wife?

A day after Jason Kidd claimed in divorce papers to be a victim of spousal abuse, his wife's attorney said the New Jersey Nets point guard had no reason to fear the diminutive woman.

"He says he's threatened by her? He's a star athlete. She's 5-foot-2, I think, and 105 pounds," said celebrity New York divorce lawyer Raoul Felder, one of the attorneys representing Joumana Kidd.

The perception by this lawyer is that a big man has nothing to fear from a tiny woman. And it's certainly true that if a man slaps a woman, he could break her jaw, whereas if a 5 ft 2 woman slaps a man, it might well feel like a pinprick.

But it's still physical abuse, and unfortunately women do slap "their man" and when he hits back - as more and more guys these days do - it's they who are up for assault.

I don't know the ins and outs of this case. I do know that I have always hated to watch Jason Kidd shoot free throws because of that stupid "blowing a kiss to his wife" schtick before hand.

It's very easy for a 5 ft 2 woman to verbally abuse a 6 ft 4 man. I have a friend, admittedly only 5' 8, who puts up with a verbally abusive wife every day. He's an old school guy which means he'd never hit her, and never leave her, but I think he'd be a lot happier if he left and his life would be extended for a few years.

There seems to be a perception - indeed, one I had myself at one time - that it is only men who physically abuse women, and only men who verbally abuse women, and that simply isn't true.

Women can hit men all they want, because men aren't allowed to hit back. And women nag and nag and nag until they drive the husband up the wall. Alternatively, they put the hubby down by demeaning his job, etc. etc.

This is why I have always hated such shows as Everybody Loves Raymond, with the roles played by Doris Roberts and Peter Boyle of the bickering, verbally abusive couple.

As far as I'm concerned, when you date a guy, or a gal, and they do something you don't like, dump them right then and there. Because they/you will never change. If a guy persists in throwing his clothes on the floor despite your constant requests for him not to do so, dump him. If you like to dump your clothes on the floor, have no intention of stopping, and wish the woman would just shut up about it, dump her. Don't make sacrifices that will eat away at you and eat away at you such that 10 years later you just snap, and look back on 10 years of hell.

THere's so many people out in the world that you'll be able to find someone who likes what you like, etc. and that's who you should try to find. It's the only way anyone is going to have a happy life.