She's such a girl

Reading discussions about yesterday's news from NASA yielded numerous bon mots, but this one was the best by far:

"Well, someone with the last name Cochrane needs to take one for the team and name their child Zefram." 

We're still here. 

I was too young to really know Laura Petrie; I only saw her in reruns.  But Mary Richards ... she arrived at just the right time to be a big influence on the young women of my age group.  She was the best example we had seen yet of how to turn the rhetoric into every day life. 

Rest in peace, Mary. 

CBS Sunday Morning just did a feature piece on virtual reality headsets, which were apparently the big seller this holiday season.  Based on what they showed of the typical experience, I'd say that they are much improved over the ones that were first introduced in the nineties, but can't  begin to compare with even the most rudimentary holodecks. 

May it be a very happy, healthy year for all of you!

Honest to God, I think the only people whose stupidity irritates me more than the Trumpsters are the ones who continue to insist (despite all the evidence to the contrary) that "Bernie would have won!"

Please stop waving your ignorance in public.

Tonight, the Friday Night Dinner Group went to see the restored/reimagined/animated Second Doctor series "The Power of the Daleks". This series is important to Doctor Who because it was the first one starring Patrick Troughton, and the first time regeneration was used to change actors in the role. The actual tapes of the series had been lost but there were still photos and, thanks to the fans, complete audio tapes of the entire six episodes in the series. It was originally broadcast in 1966, so the BBC decided to bring it back as an animated series for the fiftieth anniversary.

It was shown on the big screen tonight, all two hours and forty-five minutes of it, and it was great. Original Who had a certain je ne sais quoi that New Who is sorely lacking, and which I often miss. Plus it was a Dalek series, and how could that be a bad thing? As I said, the Daleks throw a great party, so who cares if it's always the same one?

Best of all, the action takes place in the Human colony on the planet Vulcan. NBC and the BBC, perfect together in 1966. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH4LFyyWfQw

Anyone else? :)

Lots of people on social media are saying that they think we ought to get rid of Columbus Day and replace it with Indigenous People Day. These folks are all very brave on Facebook and Twitter, but I'd be much more impressed if they stood in the middle of Mulberry Street and shouted it for all to hear.

Yesterday, the temperature in Mitribah, Kuwait got up to 129.2 degrees Fahrenheit. According to Weather Underground (https://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/eastern-hemispheres-alltime-temperature-record-kuwait-fries-in-54), that's a record for Earth's Eastern hemisphere.