Quote of the Day
“Obama thinks you’re stupid. And if you voted for him, he’s right.”
Let us go to the video record to remind you of how right Mr. Treacher is…
Friday B-Movie Pick: Cowboys and Aliens
The title pretty much sums the plot. OK, more like Cowboys vs. Aliens. Daniel Crag and Harrison Ford lead the Cowboy (and Indian) forces against the aliens. Both play hard, tough men who have a softer side, that few ever see. Plenty of action, including good special effects. This is a fun action flick that should have done better in the theaters.
Happy Lenin’s Birthday!
Yup, it’s time for the annual Lenin’s Birthday post!
For those of you coming in late to the party, Earth Day” is on Lenin’s Birthday. Not a coincidence, given that the “founder” of Earth Day was much more a “Watermelon” than an actual environmentalist. Watermelon: Thin layer of green of the outside, red to the core.
Let’s review the predictions from the very first so called “Earth Day” back in 1970.
“Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind.” — George Wald, Harvard Biologist
“Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make. The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years.” — Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University biologist
“By…[1975] some experts feel that food shortages will have escalated the present level of world hunger and starvation into famines of unbelievable proportions. Other experts, more optimistic, think the ultimate food-population collision will not occur until the decade of the 1980s.” — Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University biologist
“It is already too late to avoid mass starvation,” — Denis Hayes, chief organizer for Earth Day
“Demographers agree almost unanimously on the following grim timetable: by 1975 widespread famines will begin in India; these will spread by 1990 to include all of India, Pakistan, China and the Near East, Africa. By the year 2000, or conceivably sooner, South and Central America will exist under famine conditions….By the year 2000, thirty years from now, the entire world, with the exception of Western Europe, North America, and Australia, will be in famine.” — Peter Gunter, professor, North Texas State University
“Scientists have solid experimental and theoretical evidence to support…the following predictions: In a decade, urban dwellers will have to wear gas masks to survive air pollution…by 1985 air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half….” — Life Magazine, January 1970
“At the present rate of nitrogen buildup, it’s only a matter of time before light will be filtered out of the atmosphere and none of our land will be usable.” — Kenneth Watt, Ecologist
“Air pollution…is certainly going to take hundreds of thousands of lives in the next few years alone.” — Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University biologist
Ok, Ehrlich was sorta right on this, if you restrict his predictions to modern Communist China, where they are showing the typical communist/socialist contempt for the environment.
“By the year 2000, if present trends continue, we will be using up crude oil at such a rate…that there won’t be any more crude oil. You’ll drive up to the pump and say, `Fill ‘er up, buddy,’ and he’ll say, `I am very sorry, there isn’t any.’” — Kenneth Watt, Ecologist
Now we get to my personal favorite, although probably not Al Gore‘s…
“The world has been chilling sharply for about twenty years,” he declared. “If present trends continue, the world will be about four degrees colder for the global mean temperature in 1990, but eleven degrees colder in the year 2000. This is about twice what it would take to put us into an ice age.” — Kenneth Watt, Ecologist
It wouldn’t be Lenin’s Birthday with out this clip of the late George Carlin discussing “Saving the Planet.”
Remember kids, there is way to get Clean Energy and plenty of it
Friday B-Movie Pick: 2009 Lost Memories
Good South Korean SciFi action flick. An alternate history story where a small group of Japanese change history so Japan was on the winning side of WWII. A side effect of that was Korea being part of the greater Japanese empire, and not an independent country. A “Korean” investigator working for the Japanese National Police Force stumbles on this secret and goes down that rabbit hole! Good action flick well worth the rental.
Monday Book Pick: Knox’s Irregulars
Knox’s Irregulars by J. Wesley Bush
Nice bit of Military Science Fiction. It has powered armor, drone attacks, high tech aircraft and down and dirty partisan Guerrilla warfare.
Quote of the Day
I will not brew decaf. Decaf is the mind-killer. Decaf brings the little sleep that leads to total oblivion. I will embrace my caffeine. I will brew beverages and let them flow through, and when they are gone, I will remain…alert.
Quote of the Day
Fathom the hypocrisy of a government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured, but not everyone must prove they are a citizen.
Friday B-Movie Pick: The Three Musketeers
I saw the 2011 version of this classic tale last weekend, and I have a love/hate relationship with this movie. In some ways it was great Three Musketeers movie. The locations, the costumes, and the sword work was top notch. There was some brillant casting this movie as well. Notably Ray Stevenson as Porthos and Christoph Waltz as the Cardinal. James Corden as the servant Planchet was also a fine bit of casting. He really did well as the comic relief in the film.
Then there were parts that were not anywhere near the original story, not that Dumas probably wouldn’t have like them. Namely the wetsuit, used for stealthy approaches under the water of Venician canals, and the airships. Not Zeppelins, but period warships with big cigar shaped hot air ballons that allowed them to fly in a way that physics would not let them do. Oh, did I mention the really good special effects and green screen work? In case you missed this flick in the three weeks it was on the big screen, it was shot in 3D, by the director of the 3D Resident Evil movie. Said directory is married to Milla Jovovich, who was in this movie as well, playing the villainess, Milady De Winter. She was actually really good as the devious Lady of mystery, intrigue and all around femme fatale spy. The Resident Evil style stunts and fight scenes were a bit over the top though. Ya, it was cool watching her take out a half dozen Palace guards in full period dress, giant skirt and all. It just might have been cooler for Jovovich to have done the role without the stunts she is famous for. The rest of her performance in the film certainly gave the impression that she could have pulled it off quite nicely.
In all, a fine bit of B-Movie for an evening home with flatscreen and popcorn.
Quote of the Day
Filed under: American History, economy, History, Obama Economy, Our Dear Leader, Politics
“According to the worst President in American history, “you’re on your own” economics, which apparently extended from the founding of the country until the day Barack Obama took office, didn’t work. Sure, it produced the most technologically advanced nation on the planet, the world’s largest economy, and made us into a super power, but that’s “madness” compared to Obamanomics, which cost us our AAA credit rating, has produced the longest streak of above 8% unemployment since the Great Depression, and is on track to produce 13 trillion dollars of debt over the next 10 years.
Listening to Barack Obama lecture ANYONE else on economics is like getting a lecture from Jimmy Carter on the proper way to execute a hostage rescue.”
Palin defeats Couric
Ya, Today regularly beats GMA, but it did so by a wider margin when Gov. Palin was on the show.