Cosmic Inundation

Well I guess this winter just felt the need to throw one last punch and pulled yet another weapon out of the bag – torrential rains.  It started raining on Saturday afternoon and hasn’t stopped yet.  I drove through an ice storm to work today which is kind of appropriate given how much fun commuting has been over the past couple months.  March decided it liked its leonine properties too much to let them go even as April looms.

My Date Yesterday Showing me a Raincoat That She Claims She's Had "Forever"
Buddy Approving Hoping for a Treat

Given the weather it was completely appropriate that the wife and I checked out the latest biblical epic, Noah, yesterday.  I can understand why all the religious organizations are in a bit of a tizzy about the “liberties” the film makers took with the story of the biblical flood.  I guess they’re really weren’t any exploding rock monster angels in book of Genesis but it made for an interesting flick.  Also, you put General Maximus Decimus Meridius in charge of the ark there’s going to be some serious fighting taking place; we’re talking donnybrook level here.

Even with all the non-biblical action inserted you can’t hide the fact of what good actors both Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly (wife of Noah) are.  They inserted a silly sub-plot about a stowaway and Noah’s obsession with planned parenthood which drew the movie down more than Noah’s previously unreported proficiency with a battle axe.  It was still a great ride and even Hollywood can’t hide the underlying message of hope.

While going through my rain induced pillaging of my DVR and on demand selections this weekend I checked out the new version of Cosmos.  It’s amazing.  I remember watching Carl’s Sagan’s first effort way back which became infamous on SNL for his pronunciation of “billions” but was a great attempt at interesting people in the majesty of science.  I didn’t have any talent in the area which was definitively established in freshman chemistry but I’m still fascinated by the scientific pursuit of knowledge.

That being the case, this was a lot of fun to watch, updated with today’s special effects.  The first show talked about time and that if you put all the time that has passed since the “Big Bang” until now on a calendar year, humans have existed for only the last 14 seconds prior to midnight on December 31^st (seems to me we’ve gotten a lot done in a short amount of time – reason for hope). 

Tyson

The show also makes an attempt to link back to Sagan’s work with the host starting the first show from the exact same spot on the California’s Pacific Coast Highway near Big Sur (which I unwittingly drove by just last year) that Sagan did.  The first show ended with the engaging new host, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, revealing that as a young teenager he traveled by bus from NYC to meet Sagan at Cornell for an afternoon that fired Tyson’s interest in science and the “billions” of stars.  This show should be required watching for all middle schoolers.

I'm beginning to think middle schoolers have been placed in charge of the newspaper business.  I remember when it was extremely rare and almost a game to find minor spelling errors in the daily paper.  They seem almost prevalent nowadays.  I know it's a dying industry but it should expire with a little dignity.