May you all be engaged in things you enjoy.
(h/t +George Wiman)
TV Review: “The Time of the Doctor”
Finally watched (thank you, Amazon Prime) the Final Doctor Who Matt Smith Eleventh Doctor All The Feels Ever episode. And …?
s
p
o
i
l
e
r
s
s
w
e
e
t
i
e
…
(No, really.)
Continue reading “TV Review: “The Time of the Doctor””
Human Evolution — Survey says …?
Most of the sites I've seen pointing at news stories about this note that "Republican" belief in evolution is down from a similar poll in 2009 (54% dropping to 43%). I have to wonder if that's in part because of changing demographics in the GOP (folks self-identifying as "Republicans" have themselves changed), or a matter of evolution-vs-Creationism being seen as a more ideological (vs scientific) position than in the past (My Tribe Believes X, thus I Believe X).
Other interesting bits:
– Men believe in evolution more than women (65-55%).
– Age plays a big factor, with the 18-29 cohort believing in human evolution 72% of the polled, trending down to 49% in the 65+ range.
– Education plays a big factor, too, with college grad or futher believing in evolution at 72% down to 51% for HS grad or less.
– Interestingly, in all cohorts, there's a small percentage who believe that animals evolved, but humans were created as such.
– There's a large fraction of the evolution believers who think that, yeah, evolution happened, but with a Supreme Being involved somewhere in the blend.
Public’s Views on Human Evolution
Six-in-ten Americans say that “humans and other living things have evolved over time,” while a third reject the idea of evolution, saying that “humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time.”
Can’t tell your citizen without a national ID card
Honestly? After many years of feeling differently, I think we're actually just about ready for a National ID card.
First, it's abundantly clear that the national government is already in possession of massive amounts of information about us as individuals. The whole "The One World Order Government will know what color my eyes are" conspiracy arguments are pretty obsolete at this point.
Second, more and more of our society is based around confirming state ID, from a national basis (getting on an airplane) to a local one (securing the right to vote, not to mention buy alcohol or cash a check).
So, fine. Let's just do it, and then then focus our attention on all the problems that come with such a national ID, including ensuring that everyone can get one, making them as counterfeit-proof as possible, and dealing with errors in the databases. Those problems all happen now, but they're obscured by being split out among the 50 states, and allow said states to play games with them (re voting rights). Let's tackle them as-is and move on.
Reshared post from +Gizmodo
An important read for your favorite conspiracy theorist:
No, Real ID Is Not a National ID Card
Big Brother! Little Brother! Medium-sized Brother! Conspiracy-minded websites are ramping up the rhetoric in the lead-up to full enforcement of the Real ID Act, set to happen early next year. “It’s a National ID card!” they scream. No, no it’s not.
Google Glass, Get Offa My Lawn!
If I were getting married today, I would still probably not wear Google Glasses, but I would be sorely tempted. My own memories of my wedding are, honestly, fairly spotty (and were even then); the nature of the event burns some images in the brain (feeling myself grinning like an idiot as Margie appeared), but tends to lose the narrative. We have a variety of professional photos and a wedding video, shot relatively unobtrusively from the back of the church, but I'd love to see (and hear) more of the experience.
But that's my (likely) choice, not a Grand Pronouncement of Societal Rectitude that such a rant seems to imply. Attendees / witnesses of a wedding have the inalienable right to snark about a variety of things (the garb of the participants, the sermon, the music, the flowers, the choice of spouse, the reception, the Other Family, etc.), but these are generally wrapped up with the shrug of, "Well, it's their wedding." Which it is.
It is not the End of Days that someone has adopted this (fairly) unobtrusive technology to enhance their memories and their experience. Indeed, while it's still probably more visible than most people would want, and will make for during-wedding photos of the bride that are more date-able than most (though, let's face it, there are a lot of "Hey, you actually wore you hair like that back then? I remember that decade, long ago …" wedding pictures out there), I think the criticism about this being the wrong focus is 180 degrees off. It's a focus on the personal experience of one of the wedding participants, which is exactly what it should be about.
Embedded Link
Why I ranted about the Google Glass bride
Earlier this morning, I read something in Mashable about a bride who walked down the aisle wearing Google Glass. “My husband and I have a love for technology. We wanted to use Google Glass to captu…
Musketeers!
Ooooooh. And with Peter Capaldi as Cardinal Richelieu? Pretty!
Sadly, while it's co-produced by BBC America, and it's showing on BBC One in January, there's no current schedule for it on BBCa (http://www.bbcamerica.com/musketeers/schedule/). Dagnabbit.
Reshared post from +Curt Thompson
WHOOT! Another version of the story is always a chance for more awesome. And this looks stylish, if nothing else.
I am, apparently, a world-wide phenomenon
I have no idea who folks are around the world who see fit to follow me on Google+ (via +CircleCount), but (assuming you're not botnets or marketers), I'm glad (and humbled) you find something worthwhile in my writing, esp. as US-centric as it often is.
2013 on Google+ (for me, at least
So … that's a lot of activity. I'm glad I've been entertained and informed (and, apparently, have entertained and informed in turn) here this year.
(via +CircleCount)
The Three Stages of Gaming
Heh. Been there, done that. (Just kidding, Boss!)
(h/t +Les Jenkins)
This post has been reshared 1 times on Google+
View this post on Google+
On a Street in Orange County, There Sits "The Hobbit"
I always love a chance to visit "The Hobbit" for dinner, as Margie and I did last night with Mary and Stan. Excellent food, drink, and service.
As I commented on Twitter, Peter Jackson notwithstanding, dinner is the best 2.5 hours one can spend at "The Hobbit".
RT @dankmtl: we’ve all been th…
RT @dankmtl: we’ve all been there http://t.co/M643sFaxEe
Regardless of how one feels ab…
Regardless of how one feels about Peter Jackson, the best 2.5 hours at “The Hobbit” is dinner at the restaurant. Yum.
Mastershop Theater
I guess if someone's grocery list doodles are interesting, it would be Michelangelo. Esp. since it wasn't just doodles.
Reshared post from +22 Words
Michelangelo illustrated his grocery list and we still have one
Michelangelo illustrated his grocery list and we still have one
It’s not that surprising once you think about it, yet it is still intriguing to see that one of the greatest artists ever plied his craft for even the most mundane tasks. Michelangelo, the famous Renaissance artist of the 15th and 16th centuries, not only…
75 Novels for 2013
A lot of rereads, but a lot of new titles as well. Overall, a good year — and, with a full Kindle, I'm ready to tackle 2014!
***Dave Hill’s bookshelf: text (showing 1-30 of 75) (sorted by: date added) (cover view)
***Dave Hill has 75 books on his text shelf: The Lost Stars: Perilous Shield by Jack Campbell, Homicide Trinity by Rex Stout, If Death Ever Slept: A Nero…
4 of 5 stars to The Lost Stars…
4 of 5 stars to The Lost Stars by Jack Campbell http://t.co/67R8Ydrgo5
5 of 5 stars to A Night in the…
5 of 5 stars to A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny http://t.co/DX1enDPdTu
Graphic novel and trade paperback review of 2013
The ones I read, at least, all gathered up in Goodreads.
A few that I put in reviews for today:
Stumptown, Vol. 2 (Rucka/Southworth) Oni Press – 5/5 – Joyfully gritty contemporary Portland private detective action.
Leaving Megalopolis (Simone/Calafiore) Painfully Normal Press – 3/5 – Too short and too cliched, but still a decent read.
Kingdom Come (Waid/Ross) DC – 5/5 – Re-read, still awesome counter-deconstruction of the super-hero genre.
Five Ghosts, Vol. 1 (Barbiere/Mooneyham) Image – 3/5 – Should have been pulp adventure awesomeness, but rushes things and loses focus.
East of West, Vol. 1 (Hickman/Dragotta) Image – 3/5 – Lots of imaginative world-building in this apocalyptic tale, but ultimately too muddled for greatness.
Supercrooks (Millar/Yu) Image – 4/5 – Fun, lightweight villanous caper tale — an inconsequential but enjoyable romp.
Lazarus, Vol. 1 (Rucka/Lark) Image – 4/5 – Evocative of "The Hunger Games", but with far better dystopian worldbuilding and much better characters and action. [Couldn't quite give this one a 5, but it's the ongoing I'm most excited about right now.]
Morning Glories, Vol. 4 (Spencer/Eisma) Image – 3/5 – Too hooked to quit this nicely done but too confusing / teasing "Lost" style tale.
Looking at the above, I'm amazed by the number of Image titles included. Part of that is just a matter of what I purchased / read over the last three months or so, but, honestly, though I am enjoying what Marvel is producing these days (let's not talk about DC, where my pull list has dried to a trickle), little of it has been kick-ass incredible enough (or contained enough) to make me want to buy collections of it. Of the 39 GN/TPBs I read this year, only 7 were Marvel books.
Top-rated (5 stars of 5) things I read this year:
Kingdom Come
Stumptown, Vol. 2
Atomic Robo, Vol. 1
Saga, Vol. 2
The Complete Battlefields, Vol. 2
Hawkeye, Vol. 2
Fables, Vol. 18
Saucer Country, Vol. 1
Essential Warlock, Vol. 1
Scarlet, Vol. 1
Make of that list what you will when it comes to describing my personality or aesthetic.
Here's looking forward to a new year of comic/illustrated goodness!
***Dave Hill’s bookshelf: illustrated (showing 1-30 of 175) (sorted by: date read) (cover view)
***Dave Hill has 175 books on his illustrated shelf: Kingdom Come by Mark Waid, Lazarus, Vol. 1: Family by Greg Rucka, Five Ghosts, Vol. 1: The Haunting …
This post has been reshared 1 times on Google+
View this post on Google+
3 of 5 stars to East of West, …
3 of 5 stars to East of West, Vol. 1 by Jonathan Hickman http://t.co/iTooYpNsrW
3 of 5 stars to The Sixth Gun,…
3 of 5 stars to The Sixth Gun, Vol. 3 by Cullen Bunn http://t.co/5DSGvrsqH7
5 of 5 stars to Stumptown, Vol…
5 of 5 stars to Stumptown, Vol. 2 by Greg Rucka http://t.co/gPcKSgyWOG