Quit complaining…

The other day, the NY Post had this letter to the editor from a NY upstater resident; she apparently resented the downstaters’ whining about the cold. See, upstate, the cold is normal and the downstaters ought to quit complaining and deal with it. Now, I’d be the first to admit that one should stop complaining while one is ahead, but this winter isn’t “normal” – “normal” for NYC is temperatures in the 30’s, not lows in the single digits. And, last week, so I understood from various news venues, even deepest Maine wasn’t enjoying the negative 30 degrees (the governor over there declared an emergency). So, this might actually have been justifiable complaining. Besides, NYC is supposedly in the temperate zone – extreme climates are never fun, whether it’s one of those 100 degree heat waves or Arctic blasts. To complain is human… Just thought I’d air out that vent on my part and perhaps it’s a reminder as to why I should be careful about reading those letters to the NY Post editors (and about reading the NY Post generally).

NY Times’ Quote of the day, 1/20/04:

“‘Where are you going to get the jury pool from, Mars?’ asked Judy Leon, senior vice president of Bowne DecisionQuest, a litigation advisory firm, who added that Ms. Stewart’s campaign had set a new standard for prominent defendants.”

(N.B. – I’ve put the quote in its contextual paragraph, just to give a better sense as to who Judy Leon was).

Random thought – Iowa’s outcomes were interesting. Now it’s time to see how New Hampshire and beyond will work out; the wild ride continues, as the NY Times’ editorial indicated. I’m just glad I didn’t make a real endorsement of anyone in particular – but Howard Dean’s journey is turning into strange viewing; that’s all I’ll say!

I don’t/didn’t always agree with David Brooks, but he made an interesting analysis on the moderate Democrat’s stance. (I question his statement that 9/11/01 hasn’t yet made an impact on the campaign 2004; after all, Iowa isn’t NYS, which has to bear (and already is bearing) a big brunt on the war on terrorism, as far as domestic protection issues are concerned; curious to see who NY’ers will vote for when primary day comes here).

Missed most of the State of the Union address; caught the end and the most of the post-speech analysis; hmm… still trying to figure it out. Probably should read the newspapers/on-line stuff. Shouldn’t complain too much about it – yet.

Enough said. Try again later…

About DNA and Time Travel

I am almost caught up with my recordings of the DNA series on PBS. Really great stuff, although I have to say I question a practice that I first saw in the PBS series on Time Travel, both imported from England. It’s the whole idea of having the real people participate in video reenactments, enhanced with computer graphics. In one sense, it’s mesmerizing and is sure to get the attention of the attention deficit crowd, but in another, it is a little dishonest in that it lends to dramatizing real life. Like the two old codgers hanging out at that Cambridge bar who then go fishing and model the double helix, or the atomic bomb guy running around King’s College sneaking peeks at the x-rays of the helix. Or in the Time Travel series where the virtual 23rd century Asian schoolteacher and her little charges have a conversation with that (real 21st century) scientist who is being credited as the father of time travel, when he hasn’t exactly done it yet (from our 2004 perspective). Really cool, but makes you say, “Hummmh”.

CBS, the Tiffany Network

CBS Orders Two More ‘Survivor’ Challenges (New York Times)

Reuters reports some interesting CBS news snuck into an article about Survivor. CBS is renewing Survivor for 2 seasons, Joan of Arcadia is renewed for next season, and CSI: New York will start in the fall. Everyone Loves Raymond is iffy. CBS President Leslie Moonves, while in the middle of a divorce, is dating Big Brother’s Julie Chen.