Disaster Area

Sad Day in the Paisley Household

We just finished watching all seven seasons of The West Wing.

We'll miss it terribly...

West Wing Bible References

Right now we're watching West Wing on DVD. I got the seven season set reasonably priced on eBay. I never watched it at all during its initial run on TV, nor any reruns on cable, so it's fun to see the whole thing back to back. Just into season two, and hit this tremendous scene that's a clear smackdown of the thinly disguised Dr. Laura Schlesinger clone, Dr. Jenna Jacobs in an episode where radio talk show hosts get to meet at the White House..

Biblical references abound as the president takes on fundamentalist craziness...

10-10-10

Yes, it's that day - three better than 9-9-9 last year. But not as good as next year's 11-11-11 (which will occur precisely two months two days after the 10th anniversary of 9-11-01)

As someone has pointed out to me, you have to be careful because the UK and US date conventions are different. So remember, in the UK it's 10-10-10, while in the US it's 10-10-10. See the difference? More on this later.

Several people have remarked that 101010 in binary is the number 42 in base 10 (our more familiar human mathematical base, presumably originating because of our 10 digits), thus invoking the godfather of this blog, Douglas Adams. 42, was (and presumably remains) the answer to the Ultimate Question. Unfortunately, we never got to know the question, so the answer is, to say the least, open to interpretation.

Sadly, though, the renewed interest in Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is somewhat misplaced.

By the way, doesn't it sem like the titular gadget from the books has already come to pass already as a combination of the iPhone, Google, and wikipedia - throw in Amazon.com and you can go one better - you've got all the world's knowledge and a means to buy whatever you want, wherever you want.

While there is some debate and possible confusion, the answer 42 was actually in base 13, meaning that it is actually 54 in base 10 (4x13 + 2 = 54 in base 10). As noted in the link, Arthur Dent drew out Scrabble tiles spelling out 'What do you get if you multiply six by nine?".Which is, of course, 54 in base 10. As some people figured out the 6x9=42 in base 13 answer, Adams remarked that he disn't write jokes in base 13. But who knows? Maybe he did.

So the answer to the ultimate question in binary is actually 110110. And here's where the US/UK date conventions come into play. In the UK, the day has already happened - 11th Jan 2010, whereas in the US it will occur in about three weeks on the 1st Nov 2011 2010.

(D'oh - corrected as noted in italics above).

An Archbishop Who Gets It...

Desmond Tutu being interviewed on US TV. Nice mitre...

Oompa Loompas of Science

Re-watching season one of The Big Bang Theory, I came across this...

"Engineering - where the noble semi-skilled laborers execute the vision of those who think and dream... Hello Oompa Loompas of science! "

Sheldon Cooper... it's criminal that Jim Parsons didn't win the Emmy...

When Did I Know...

...that I wanted to be an airplane designer?

This was a question posed by my professional society, the American Institue of Aeronautics and Astronautics or AIAA for brevity, to its membership. A year ago I was at a conference in Reno where they had a video booth set up to interview volunteers willing to talk about what influences played a part in them becoming rocket scientists and airplane designers. Being the shrinking violet that I am, I signed up for this experiment and chatted with the interviewer for maybe 10 minutes. I then never heard a thing until December, when I got an email to say the project was done and being launched on their website. The result is fifty-something clips of interviews that take the heart of each person's story. Mine made the cut and you can see it by going here or clicking on the picture below, then looking for my name (David Paisley) about two thirds of the way down and to the right.

I think they did a spectacular job with the whole thing. If you're motivated to check out the background to my story you could go here or here or here.

Twenty Four in 60 hours

Sue and I didn't start watching the TV drama "24" until this past season (5), and it was really amazing. I'm so glad I let the premiere hook me into watfching the first two hours. Truly remarkable television - a sort of ultra-long Diehard marathon (and I say this as someone whose favorite Christmas movie is Diehard ;)

Because we enjoyed it so much, sometime after this last season ended, and for some reason neither of us can remember, Sue bought me the first season on DVD.

Well, I've really wanted to sit down and watch it, but 16 hours of uninterrupted viewing time isn't easy to find. However, inspired by Adam over at Pomomusings, I suggested that we watch the entire series over the long Labor Day weekend that's just finishing as I write this. Well, we finished today, watching the last half over the past eight hours or so. And all I can say is "Wow!"

Not the mkost productive way to spend a long weekend, but it sure was fun, and a great way to let go of the outside world for a couple of days.

Ah, Daniel, We Hardly Knew Ye...

After a mere three episodes (well, technically four if you correctly count the two hour debut as two), NBC has pulled the plug on The Book of Daniel. Yes, it wasn't great TV, but dearth of advertisers = death knell.

It would have been nice to have the opportunity to see the eight episodes filmed play out, but even that seems unlikely at this stage. Oh well, it's a shame, because hell might freeze over before we get another Episcopal themed prime time TV show.

From Someone Who Really Knows TV...

After yesterday's crapfest that was the Book of Daniel, it was great to read a column today from Joss Whedon, he of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame (not to mention Serenity/Firefly... the importance of which will become clear if you read the article) on the future of TV.

Just one teaser:

"In a stunningly cost-effective move, CBS will air How I Met Your Biological Mother, That Bitch, which is just old episodes of How I Met Your Mother with snarkier narration."

Of course, that may not make too much sense if you're not in the US, but you get the drift...

Ah, Joss, when are you going to come up with something new?

An Absolute MUST SEE TV Moment

This one is absolutely too good to pass up.

Y'know, maybe Benny Hinn's wife shouldn't do TV preaching. To prove my point, may I present:

Suzanne Hinn And The Holy Ghost Enema

Sure, it sounds like a new Nancy Drew or Enid Blyton mystery, but trust me, this you have to see. And no, she didn't just mispronounce Holy Ghost Enemy.

Courtesy of the Boar's Head Tavern.