Bladerunner 3.0

Yes, after watching the original version countless times, and the updated directors cut a few more countless times, Ridley Scott is coming out with yet another version in time for the 25th anniversary of the maybe flawed, but fantastic original.

The original suffered(?) from a tacked on "happy ending" supplied by a voice over near the end of the film. Call me a sentimentalist, but I like a happy ending -- and when you erase it from the end of the directors cut, I'm not sure it makes a huge difference in how you feel about the film. Of course, if you've already seen the original, your subconcious probably adds that bit back in for you, so you still assume the happy end no longer explicitly shown.The directors cut also features a dreams sequence featuring a unicorn that Bladrunnerologists insist is a hidden clue that Decker himself is a replicant (the artificially created humanoids that play the bad guys in the film). Call me naive this time, but I don't see it -- nowhere else in the film are unicorns (or unicorn-like characteristics) associated with the replicants. I suppose it's a valid dramatic point -- use an unknowing replicant to kill the rouge replicants -- but I don't see how you get that from a unicorn dream.

Maybe version 3.o will tell you (coming out in theaters later this year)...

Did that make sense?

Yeah -- I know. The last post kind got a little long winded. That's what happens when you start it on one day, and finish it on another. It also didn't help that I kind of lost focus on what I was trying to say. I think it was mostly that we had an energy source that didn't require ruining existing habitats, was recreated every year, and was something we had quite a bit of. I know we often are a short sighted people, but trying to invent disasters that don't exist isn't the solution to our vision problem. People in Africa may starve without our corn -- yeah, well Africa seems to have an awful lot of oil over there -- maybe we should do an oil for corn deal with them.

What a corny title for a post...

... about ethanol. Yes, I'm from the town that may well be ground zero for ethanol. ADM (Archers Daniel Midland) is one of the world's largest agricultural processors, and they are based here in Decatur, near where I live. The best man from my wedding drives tanker trucks full of ethanol to area refineries to be blended in with gasoline products. My brother-in-law works there doing various bits of the hard work required to get stuff done, which sometimes involved him getting into bins and tanks filled with rotten grain (not good for human consumption, but I suppose OK for alcohol). Much of my subdivision is surrounded by corn (or bio-diesel soybeans), friends work for ADM, customers from ADM stop by the store -- I can't escape it.



Amusingly enough, ADM was originally planning on getting into the Vodka market. I had a college instructor who was a big wig businessman in town who was invited to an ADM Vodka tasting party. It was only the fact that they get so much more by making ethanol that steered them into fuel instead of folly. Although one has to wonder, if the federal ethanol subsidies ever get repealed, will it become more economically advantageous to switch back to Vodka? Only time will tell of course.

Now people are telling how are new-found infatuation with ethanol is going to kill our economy. Less food for starving people, more pollution as we plant more corn, still not switching to alternative sources -- all that kind of stuff. Well, it's hard to argue with the first one -- a lot of corn get used to feed people and the animals they eat. If a lot of that corn is suddenly getting put into gas tanks, it's not getting into stomachs. More pollution as we plant more corn -- this implies that we weren't planting a lot of corn before. Truth is (especially around here), there is less energy being spent on planting corn, because there is less area being planted with corn -- former cornfields now are sprouting houses and yards. Alternative energy sources? We can't do more hydroelectric power because it disrupts fish. We can't do more nuclear because it's byproducts are too dangerous for too long. We can't do more wind because it would mess up the view from a Kennedy's back yard, and maybe disrupt birds. We could do solar, but the biggest advance in solar power in the past 20 years are the little LED solar yard lights. Let's face it, there isn't any real huge breakthrough technology coming anytime soon -- nuclear fusion is still a dream, battery technology for electric cars (which still need electricity from someplace) is stagnating. Fuel Cells offer the most promise, except for that annoying problem of dealing with super cold liquid hydrogen (which given certain modification could actually run in an internal combustion engine as well).

Which brings me -- I don't know, back to Illinois anyway. Illinois has 2 big fuel sources, coal (omigosh, never even whisper 'coal' around an environmentalist) and ethanol. We're not allowed to try to make our coal cleaner burning, so we're stuck with the corn -- which we grow in abundance (heck some years in the past you couldn't even give it away). I know it's just a band aid on the problem, but sometimes band aids help.

I need to buy cars more often...

We went to Branson over the weekend, and due to a broken power window in my wife's car, we had to take mine. It was an ok trip, the front visor over the window that looks really cool tends to make a lot of noise in the wind -- but we dealt with it. It was the hills around Branson that proved to be an eye-opener.

Like any other even remotely usable car, the Cruiser has cruise control. I'm old enough to remember when those first came out -- a control box you mounted up by the engine, you plugged the speedometer cable from the car to the box, then another one from the box to the dash. Then you hooked up the unit that actually pulled on the accelerator cable, a wire to the battery, a hose to the engine vacuum, and one cable to the little box on the turn signal. That was it, the control box counted how fast the speedometer cable was going, and if it started going slower, it would yank on the gas pedal -- faster it would let go of the gas pedal. Pretty simple. My old Cavalier worked that way, all my wife's old Pontiac's, the Tbird, and the Le Sabre -- all the same. Not the cruiser...

I noticed something strange going on while going up and down the hills -- the car didn't behave like I was expecting it to. Turns out, when going downhill, the cruise control will actually kick the transmission down into a lower gear to try to slow the car down. If that doesn't work, it will even apply the brakes! This, in a car with no traction control (that I know of) and no anti-lock brakes.

I'm not sure if I like that or not...

Holy Inappropriate.

At church last Sunday, while talking about the Sunday School lesson about the early church, the latest Papal Missive entered the conversation. He didn't really say anything that old school traditional Catholics haven't always felt -- but like the late Jerry Falwell, and the all too current Pat Robertson, he still probably should have kept his yap shut...

The Catholic church -- Excuse me, the Roman Catholic church is the only true church. The rest of us, since we can't claim to have been founded by an apostle, are false churches. That sounds extremely presumptuous to me -- Paul received his call from Christ in a vision on the road to Damascus. Other denominations were founded by men with equally valid (or bogus) claims. The idea is, The Church was founded by Jesus Christ -- not the disciples -- and anyone who follows Him is a member of His Church. The Roman Catholic church (much like the children of Israel) strayed from God's teachings too many time to still claim to be the sole keeper of the Truth (would Peter and Paul, men who died for the Faith, have wanted any part of a church who killed for the faith (i.e. the Spanish Inquisition)?) I think the high point in the history of the Catholic church was when they switched to services in the local languages -- when they encouraged the members to read God's Word -- when they reached out in Love, not vengeance to a lost world. This new pope seems to want to undo all that.

You know, I look at today's world, and sometimes I wish things were like they were in days past. So does the pope (the name he chose indicates that -- he isn't continuing the outreach of the John Paul's -- he's going back to the "good old days"). But retreating back to tired old rhetoric and rituals will not erase the memory of the priest scandals, the shrinking leadership, and the diminished influence. It won't undo the collusion with cruel and Godless political regimes, the Fascists, and the Nazi's. Spanish conquistadors still slaughtered thousands and thousands of innocents all for the benefit of the church in Rome. Thousands of God's chosen people were still tortured and murdered by zealous priests doing a Pope's will rather than God's.

Trying to undo the changes that have reached so many for the cause of Christ in the modern Catholic Church seems somewhat unwise to me. But what do I know, I'm Southern Baptist...



PS Unlike some old school Southern Baptists, I am not anti-Catholic. I've had many friends who are Catholic and wholly committed followers of Christ. I find some of the ritual curious (and the obsession some have with Mary) -- but I'm sure a lifelong Catholic would find a Southern Baptist business meeting a bit odd. I'm concerned that the statements coming from the pope seem to indicate a step back to a "we'll tell you what you need to believe - no need to study God's word for your own benefit" time in the church. Hang Tough, my Catholic brothers and sister, we'll be praying for you...

Is the customer always right?

That's the question Sprint/Nextel asked themselves -- and in the case of some 1000 customers Sprint decided, No - the customer is not always right.

This was something I learned a long time ago. There are some people you simply do not want as customers (particularly in the technology fields). They monopolize your time and resources, they cost you more money than you make from them (or you lose money because of them), and even when you bend over backward to help them they still bad-mouth you to others. I'll tell you, if you want my help in resolving an issue don't ever use the phrase "The customer is always right" -- that's the quickest way to convince me you're running some scam and trying to rip us off. If you trash your phone, it is not the phone companies obligation to provide you with another one. It still remains your obligation to pay the bill though, even if you've trashed your phone. "But I shouldn't have to pay a bill if I can't use the service" -- this is what I usually hear from these people. "Was it Nextel's fault that you dropped your phone in a glass of beer? No? Then why should they have to give you another $200 phone just so you can fulfill your contract commitment?" Of course that never works, and they abandon the contract, get their credit rating whacked, and then wonder why they can't get a new phone 6 months later.

Sprint was nice to these people -- obviously they didn't like the service, if they were complaining so much. They cancelled the contracts without any early termination fee -- even blanked out the account balance. That's what you wanted wasn't it? Now you don't have to deal with the big bad phone company anymore.

They still aren't happy...

After the gold rush

Well, it's been a few days since the big Live Earth concerts -- the Earth has had a few days to recover from the damage that all those jet-setting musicians, junk food eating tourists, and electricity hungry high-powered amplifiers inflicted on it.



Did you watch it? It happened to be my birthday that day, so I had more important things to do with my time. I saw a little bit of Keith Urban and Alicia Keyes doing an old Rolling Stones tune, and a bit of Lenny Kravitz -- but that was all. I heard that Maddona is still in her "leotard wearing, '70s porno queen" phase, and as a result felt the need to simulate a sex act with a guitar, while telling the crowd to jump up and down to save the planet. OoooooKaaaay -- Madonna turns 50 in 2 years. How many of you have Mom's that old? How many of you want to see your mom dressed as a whore and masturbating herself in public with a musical instrument? How many of you feel really really sorry for Lourdes, Rocko, and the new kid?



The spokesman for a company that takes money from rich people to make them feel less guilty about polluting said it would take planting 100,000 trees to mitigate the damage done to the earth by this concert. Of course, remembering that his company lives on hypocrisy among the wealthy, he quickly added that the publicity of the event was a good thing.



Sure...

I've had all I can stands, I can't stands no more...

I am officially tired of "W" now. Not so much because of what he's done, and only somewhat because of what he hasn't done -- mostly I'm tired of the incessant whining from every member of the "I hate George W. Bush Club". He commutes the sentence of Scooter Libby, and you'd think he just gave a full pardon to an ultra "Rich" tax cheat who fled the country to avoid prison. Even Bill "I lied while under oath and got caught" Clinton had to blast him on it (I guess he felt guilty for letting Susan McDougall rot in jail while she was covering his considerable ass).

I'm tired of the "He Lied About WMD Club" -- though I'm really glad Saddam didn't supply some of those shells he used to slaughter several thousand Kurds to the 9/11 guys.

I'm tired of the "He Gave Huge Tax Breaks To His Rich Friends Club" -- as if people in the lower middle and lower classes didn't get any breaks from it (my family has paid very little income tax for the past couple of years, thanks to the tax cut for the rich -- something we definitely aren't).

I'm tired of the "No Blood For Oil Club" -- still waiting for that cheap Iraqi oil to start flowing.

I'm tired of the "Impeach Bush Club" -- he didn't do what you wanted, he isn't doing what you want, he won't do what you want in the future -- but your guy lost, so get over it.

I'm tired of the "No Exit Strategy Club" -- OK, that's a club I'm considering supporting, if not joining myself. In a way this makes his father look both smarter than we thought -- and dumber that we thought. During the first Gulf War, Bush Sr. didn't go after Saddam -- probably because of the chaos we're seeing now. If you take out a dictator, you have to have a plan to put something else in. In Bush Sr.'s original war (WWII) Japan was left with a revised version of it's pre-war government, with the war criminals deleted -- in Germany, all of Europe had vested interest in seeing that their half was successfully brought back up to speed as well. Since then, Korea was a stalemate, Viet Nam was a loss -- W didn't really have a win to work from. There was no usable pre-Saddam government to use, and the surrounding countries don't want to see a secular Democratic Iraq -- so they're no help either. Bush Sr. saw this and opted for the lesser of evils. Of course, back then he had much more in the way of international support, and could have had a better chance of setting up an interim government to lead the way -- now it's nothing but terrorist on terrorist over there.

So I have to listen to this crap for what -- another year and a half? Does anyone have a time machine so I can skip all this? Does anyone have a better way to end this post???

Skyrockets in flight...

I was a kid back when that little bit of lyric was popular on the radio (and it was a couple of more years before I was old enough to know what the song was about). Back then, 4th of July fireworks were something to be really excited about -- usually only cities (or a company with a large amount of spare cash) could put on a fireworks display, and then it was maybe a couple of dozen shells with a few big Oooh/Ahhh stars thrown in for good measure. In our area, Decatur would launch some, the Surf Club would have a small display (my mom played cards with the surf club owner), Mt Zion would sometimes have a display at the high school, and a couple of years I saw them at Sullivan while at church camp. But these days...

Some one in Carrington (the neighborhood our builder really wanted us to build in) was shooting off shells on the third - they stopped while Mount Zion fireworks went off, then started again after the show was finished. Last night, Sharon sat on the porch and watched at least 3 shows going off within a mile of our house. And these weren't just bottle rockets and roman candles, these were big star shells -- the only real difference being the height they reached. Some pretty impressive displays, from the average guy in his backyard (fortunatley, there's been a bit of rain lately, so any errant explosions didn't star any wildfires). It used to be a special occasion to see fireworks, now almost anyone can do it.

It's almost enough to be boring...

Could Michael Moore be right?

Maybe -- you'll not get anymore agreement from me on that. I try hard not to do anything that supports anything he does. He's pompous, arrogant, self aggrandizing, prone to flights of fancy (even out right lies). He's also right that our current health care system needs a lot of help.



My wife is a school teacher, and she pays nearly a $1000/month for our family plan health care (that includes the 2 months in the summer she doesn't get paid). That's more than some people get paid in a year. There are people she works with that work only for the family health insurance (the spouse earns the money the family lives on). The coverage is not as good as it once was, but is apparently still better than some folks get. My wife is stuck at that job until she retires, because of the health care -- she has rheumatoid arthritis, my son has hydrocephalus and other brain disorders -- we couldn't get on with another company. So like everyone else, we're concerned about health care too.



Michael Moore thinks the government should take it all over -- the same outfit that oversees Walter Reed Army Hospital. OK, maybe that's not completely fair -- I've heard some very positive things lately about local VA hospital care, so maybe Walter Reed was just a shameful fluke. As a former Corpsman I spent some training time in Navy Hospitals -- aside from a noticeable lack of privacy, the care seemed more than adequate. But Moore wants to go with the UK model which is OK for all but the most rare of cases. Take Dandy Walker Syndrome as a for instance, that is what my son was born with. Over here, my wife went over to St John's hospital, they took care of her and Alex, and have pretty much followed along with him periodically since he was born. In England, we would have been strongly advised to have aborted him. How do we know? Because that's what British parents on the Internet boards said they were told to do -- so they came over here to have their children taken care of (unless they couldn't afford to, then I guess they followed the doctor's advice). So far, Alex has not been any more expensive of a child than any other preemie would be - of course, preemies are discouraged in government run health care systems too...

We find that we receive the best, and most cost effective care at non-profit hospitals. We will drive 50 miles away rather than visit the big for-profit hospital in this town -- we got tired of the outrageous bills from them (Alex had RSV shots his first 2 years -- $100 for the shot, $400 for the "Outpatient Room" they made us wait in each time!). I know the arguments for for-profit hospitals -- it pays for research -- OK, maybe that's the only argument for them. I know that Alex's care at the non-profit St. Johns was excellent, and when it came time to settle the bill, they took the pittance that Blue Cross/Blue Shield was willing to pay, and wrote the rest off.

Alright, do I have a point? When it comes to the health of my family, I would rather not let the government, or profit motive decide my fate. Is that a practical solution to medicine? If I knew that, I'd make a movie...

Ladies and Gentlemen, your next president...

We really should elect this guy...

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/.....

to heck with the rest of the bunch...