The Other Drummer

Apparently the Hubble telescope is in need of some repairs and NASA is planning a repair mission in 2008. The only thing holding them back is the $900 million it’ll take to keep that bad boy in orbit for another five years of pretty picture taking.

*sigh*

I’ve expressed my frustrations with space programs in the past and this quote reaffirms my position: “The veteran crew members agreed that the next Hubble flight would be less risky because of the safety improvements made since 2003, such as an inspection of the shuttle in orbit and new tools for repairing the ship in space.”

Repairing the ship in space? We’re spending millions of dollars to send people into space in a ship that’s going to break when they get there so we can spend $900 million to (again) fix a busted telescope that we’ll replace in five years? Seems like that money could be better spent on, say, health care, education, tax breaks or me.

P.S. The thing looks like a couple of tin cans wrapped in aluminum foil on training wheels. No wonder it’s always breaking.

This could be one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard of. There’s a school district in Massachusetts that’s banned kids from playing tag during recess. Why? Because they’re afraid of someone getting hurt and suing.

I’m serious. I wish I wasn’t, but I am.

I feel like yelling and ranting and raving about this subject (I feel rather strongly about our “entirely too timid/I would hate to offend anybody” society), but I’ll leave it at this: if we shelter our kids to the extent of not letting them run around during recess, not only are we robbing them of their childhood, we’re going to raise a generation of sissies that would easily be overrun by the French. And we can’t have that.

There’s some buzz about Leopard (OS 10.5) coming out and how it will compare to Vista when it finally rears its ugly, but shiny head.

Frankly, I don’t think it’s a fair comparison. (No, I’m not even remotely concerned that Vista will be better than OS X. I just want to make sure the comparison is fair so when Leopard blows it out of the water it will be all the more spectacular.) Leopard is and incremental upgrade, one of many made over the past six years or so. Vista is the first upgrade made in the same time period. So if you look at the features Vista offers compared to its predecessor versus the features Leopard offers over Tiger, you’re more likely to be impressed.

Apple has been allowing their customers to enjoy new, innovative features over the last six years thanks to consistent updates while Microsoft has apparently been too stunned at their progress to do anything for their customers but issue security patches.

In short, if people are going to compare Leopard to a Microsoft product (which they inevitably will) it should be against XP, not Vista.

I have one word for you my friends: powerlines. Or maybe it’s two words: power lines. Regardless, it’s something that’s sorely wrong with Utah. The mountains are one of Utah’s few redeeming aesthetic features and too often they’re obstructed by power lines. C’mon people! Bury those bad boys and clear up the view!

This is the same model, one picture taken in her “natural” state and one “post production.” I grabbed the pictures from a video that shows the process models go through (hint: lots of Photoshop) to look the way they do. The tag at the end of the video reads, “No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted.”

I couldn’t agree more. It comes as no surprise that girls get depressed when they see something fake, and unattainable, being promoted as a standard. This is all part of Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty. Check out their website, and the video, by clicking here.

On a professional note, I think the whole campaign is an excellent example of advertising being used to further a worthy cause while also promoting a brand.