After a day of reading Ray Bradbury short stories

[cleolinda]

Sister Girl and I were talking just now, and I was telling her about this History of the Universe show Mom was watching (I think?), and how some of the people on it were, like, the dumbest people ever. Like, astronomers. Case in point: There was something about a Pegasi galaxy with a gigantamundo planet, bigger than Jupiter, that had a revolution of only four days around its sun. How could it have formed so close? Would not the star have burned off the planetary debris as it tried to form, forcing a much smaller planet to form? Only planets much, much further away from their suns can form so large. How could it have happened?!

"Uh... maybe it formed out there and, like, moved closer?" I said to the TV.

After years of study and astronomical head-scratching, these scientists finally--finally--turned to each other and wondered--no, it couldn't be--but perhaps... somehow... the planet had originally formed further away.

Seriously? Did none of these people sit back and go, "You know, logically, that's the simplest explanation for it. Maybe we should look into that, just see if there happens to be any evidence for it. Can't hurt to try"? I mean, maybe they did, but the show made them look as though no one was smart enough to think of it.

"Lauren, I think you're in the wrong field," said my sister, chuckling. (It's still "Cleo" to y'all.)

"What, I should go into astronomy? I... uh... I don't think that's really going to work. I can't math, for one."

"No, you should go around telling people why they're dumb."

"I think that's called 'a blogger.' "

"Whatever it is, you need to go around telling people why they're dumb, but it has to be a real job--they have to actually listen to you and have consequences and stuff. I'm just saying."

In other news, scrambled eggs for dinner last night laid me out but good, but a six-inch Italian sub and spicy corn chips for lunch today? Totally fine. I guess eggs really are hard to digest.

Oh! Cleoville! Cleoville is having some problems. I need more population so I can get to the point where they'll let me put up a clicky link to improve the environment, but the environment's already getting crapful and I have no way to do anything about it, unlike with the previous two things (transportation and industry), so people are leaving "for some unpolluted clean air." Which means that I can't get enough people to stay to get the population high enough to do anything about the environment. Also? Criminals are blowing up factories (I need more security), which is... kind of awesome, actually. I like to pretend the Joker's behind it all. Again, post your links in the comments and I'll click on them (ah, the joys of tabbed browsing).

L'Affaire Edwards: Cassie Edwards Plagiarism Recap; Romance novelist Edwards' publisher reviewing plagiarism claims; Signet: Cassie Edwards Situation "Deserves Further Review"; Why boycotting isn’t a viable answer to the plagiarism issue; Nora Roberts: 'Seems clear' author plagiarized.

While we're here: Another debacle in which Nora Roberts was totally awesome, or, That Time That Someone Thought Film Clips of the Challenger and Tiannenmen Square, The Latter Set to "Don't Worry, Be Happy," Were Appropriate for a Romance Writing Awards Ceremony.

Edmund Hillary, First on Everest, Dies at 88.

Feds Take On Megan Meier Case, Hope To Charge Evil Mom With Crime.

Madeleine McCann's parents in movie talks.

Presented in a spirit of non-partisan hilarity: Mob Of Paulians Chase Sean Hannity Screaming "Fox News Sucks"; The Republican debates according to a 9-year old. ("Wrinkles is making fun of Bunny Ears again. Wrinkles and Oily fighting about man dates. Oily says man dates are ok sometimes. Wrinkles doesn't like dating men. Fight. Fight.")

US unveils new driver's license rules; 17 states stuck in license showdown.

Another five-year-old on the no-fly list: meet Sam Adams.

"As an anthropologist, sure; as a human, not really."

Unknowing twins marry each other. Oh... oh. Shit.

Boy Scout saves Maldives president from assassination attempt. Best. Merit badge. Ever.

Katrina's victims ask for huge checks. Including "the unlikely sum of $3 quadrillion."

The Little Mermaid On Broadway: It's A Sinker.

Wondermark #370; In which a Bear is Doing Fine; #369; In which Life's Sole Energy-Source is renewed.

SOON.

What Science Should We Punk Next? In which steampunk is declared passé. Well, now I'm just screwed. (Do enough people even know what it is for it to be so-five-minutes-ago?)

Steampunk Justice League Models by Sillof.

John Scalzi explains why Sony's prepaid download card idea is dumbassed. Followup: Sony BMG Picks Up a Clue.

AT&T and Other ISPs May Be Getting Ready to Filter "for copyrighted content at the network level," which "already occurs on sites like YouTube and Microsoft’s Soapbox, and on some university networks." The part that caught my eye: "Internet civil rights organizations oppose network-level filtering, arguing that it amounts to Big Brother monitoring of free speech, and that such filtering could block the use of material that may fall under fair-use legal provisions — uses like parody, which enrich our culture."

It's a Jack-on-Locke Smackdown in 49 Lost Photos; ‘Find 815’ makes ‘Lost’ minutiae fun again.

Weinstein Co. expects to make a deal with striking writers; Warner Bros cuts 1000 jobs; Will Massive Studio Layoffs Begin Next Week?; Strike losses may top $1 billion; Will the Hollywood Strike Kill Comic-Con?; Why is this strike not over?

Hollywood workers take a beating over Golden Globes cancellation; Spielberg's DeMille Award Pushed Back a Year; Golden Globes Press Conference Now Open to All; In Time Of Unrest, Swag Suites Bravely Supporting Stars' Inalienable Right To Receive Free Crap; Revenge of the Nerds: Geeky Writers Ruin Prom Night for the Cool Kids. According to NBC Entertainment Co-Chief Ben Silverman, anyway. By the way: "Having to cancel the Globes -- the highest rated awards show after the Oscars -- cost NBC a pretty penny. E! News reports that NBC paid between five and six million for rights to the show, off which the network makes back $10-15 million in ad revenue."

Oscar planners: The show will go on.

Coens, Anderson Receive DGA Nods; WGA nominates Penn, Cody, Apatow for best screenplay; Free Screenplays to 'No Country', 'Juno', and More.

Johnny Depp was king of multiplex in 2007; Depp, Pirates People's Choice; 'Grey's,' 'Pirates' win People's Choice Awards.

Bale Joining Depp in Michael Mann's Public Enemies. I... wow. Clearly this movie is being made by people who took The Prestige as a personal call to up the twofer ante.

Run for Cover! The Chipettes are Coming! ...The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.

Check Out This 40 Minute Interview with Tim Burton; Helena Bonham Carter Really Likes Her Personal Space, or, How I Totally Want to Live If I Ever Get Married; a Burton-Depp interview in which Depp reveals his "dream role."

Elijah Wood Wants To Go Back Again To ‘The Hobbit’; from kittenkatt: Visual comparison of shots from old FOTR DVD and new Blu-ray. Oh, dammit.

HD DVD Backers to Switch to Blu-ray Soon?; New Line Joins Blu-ray Camp; The End is Near: Paramount to Join Warners and Switch to Blu-ray Exclusively?; Sore Loser? Bill Gates Declares Downloads Are the Future, Not Hi-Def DVD.

Lots and Lots and Lots of 'Cloverfield'; New Cloverfield Still Images Released; "Monster" Travels Through Time, Rips off Cloverfield Before Opening Day; Tracking The Early 'Cloverfield' Buzz: Giant Fucking Monsters Are Definitely Coming (includes a link to Harry Knowles' rapt review); Cloverfield Roundtable - Misfits of Sci-Fi; J.J. Abrams TED talk: "Mystery in a Box" (video); From the Editor's Desk: Sundance, Cloverfield and Why My Head Should Explode Real Soon.

Keira Knightley and James McAvoy EW cover story scans. (Read it on the EW site here.) A profanity-laced must-read that will have you snickering "...Lady garden! " for the rest of the weekend.

Del Toro Makes Another ‘Potter’ Pitch; Helen McCrory to begin Filming Role as Narcissa Malfoy in "Half-Blood Prince"; Emma Watson Updates About Filming Slughorn's Party Scene in "Half-Blood Prince." Mmm, profiteroles.

Clive Owen on the set of 'The International.' Every time I see this title, for .005 seconds, I read it as The Continental and have an urge to drink cham-pan-yuh.

Movie Pics: 'Step Brothers,' 'The International,' Pineapple Express' and 'Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.'

More Images of 'Choke' Hit the Net.

New Photos of a Blonde Natalie Portman in 'My Blueberry Nights.'

Even More 'Iron Man' Stills.

Liev Schreiber to Play 'Wolverine' Villain, Source Says.

Deal Moves Conan Forward.

'Terminator' Starts Annoying Viral Marketing.

Kimberly Peirce Looks Towards Space For Arthur C. Clarke’s ‘Childhood.’

Gus Van Sant's 'Paranoid Park' Poster and Trailer.

trailer_spot: How to Lose Friends, Day Zero, It's a Free World, Iron Man, Paranoid Park, Business of Being Born; David Lynch PSA.

Winslet Replaces Kidman in 'The Reader.'

Ryan, Kinnear Cast in Greengrass Thriller.

Paul Dano Talks 'Blood' In-Depth, Answers Key Plot Questions.

Alan Arkin Joins 'Marley and Me.'

Cast Confirmed for Solomon Kane.

Paul Bettany Joins 'The Secret Lives of Bees.'

Salma Hayek to Become a 'Freak.'

A Few More TV Actors Join the 'Stepfather' Remake.

'One Missed Call' Is One of the Worst Movies Ever. Well, duh.

David Tennant's Ophelia-Wannabe Stalker.

Why 007 is the spy who licked me. Sadly, not what it sounds like.

Comments

[word-herder.livejournal.com]

I guess eggs really are hard to digest.

Eggs are the easiest protein to digest. Maybe they have some property that makes flu-stricken people queasy...?

[sucrelefey.livejournal.com]

It's th egg yolk that gets most people being fat based and high in sulfur.

[last-archangel.livejournal.com]

I feel so badly for those twins...how horrible!

[apey1013.livejournal.com]

Steampunk can't be passe. I just got some totally awesome steampunk-looking boots. I deny it's application for so-five-minutes-ago status, dangit!

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

After years of study and astronomical head-scratching, these scientists finally--finally--turned to each other and wondered--no, it couldn't be--but perhaps... somehow... the planet had originally formed further away.

In their defense, do you have any idea how much energy it would take to make a planet the size of Jupiter fall into the sun?

And, worse, how much energy it would take to *stop* it in a roughly circular orbit, not a giant ellipse and not actually falling all the way into the sun?

They're thinking of that as a last resort because there's basically no known possible mechanism for it to happen. They're eliminating everything they think might be possible, before coming to what is, according to our knowledge of the universe, an impossible conclusion.

I mean, I'm an engineer, not an astronomer, but I can kinda understand where they're coming from.

[kvschwartz.livejournal.com]

IAWTC

I didn't see the show, but I doubt it took years for the astronomers to come up with "maybe the planet moved to a lower orbit? " as a hypothesis.

But whereas comets change orbits all the time, vast planets don't. Anything cataclysmic enough to yank a planet out of its orbit is unlikely to deposit said planet in another nice, neat, nearly-circular orbit again.

Here are some wise & germane bon mots from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, via Sherlock Holmes:



"It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts."

"When you have eliminated the impossible, that which remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

[word-herder.livejournal.com]

Also? Find815.com is AWESOME. *loves you forever*

[jettcat.livejournal.com]

Still working towards getting an industry going, my preference a BAR!
http://jett.myminicity.com/

But, dollink...

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

I keep coming to visit you in Cleoville. When are you going to stop by to see the kiwi birds? (http://apteryxopolis.myminicity.com/)?

Re: But, dollink...

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

But I do visit! I guess I just don't leave comments.

[kijikun.livejournal.com]

God I hope it doesn't f-up Comic Con.

[zikade.livejournal.com]

well, the astronomers and astrophysicians are surely not dumb. For each new phenomen, literally hundreds of theories and scenarios spring up. Over time they discuss and run computer simulations to decide which scenario can fit the observation the best. More often than not they have trouble with their simulations, the results are not that what they expect. To prove that your scenario is the right one , that part is tricky.

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

I've been snickering about "lady garden" for a while now.

[falco-conlon.livejournal.com]

omg I read that too and cracked up! That and "Every night I dream about your...hoo hoo?"

[incognito323.livejournal.com]

Smarsh Lands (http://smarsh.myminicity.com/)?!

Also, being sick sucks. Feel better!

[casirafics.livejournal.com]

"Uh... maybe it formed out there and, like, moved closer?" I said to the TV.

Memo to world: Occam's razor. Learn it, love it, live with it.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

Blah Blah Blah Astronomy thing Blah See Previous Posters. [There, got that done with.]

Not great poetry, but I had fun with it —

Those wonderful pollsters of Pew
Wanted to know what you view
So they conducted a poll
(Cause that is their role)
And found internet usage had grew. (http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=384)

Now those pollsters were hardly content
To determine the web-tube's extent;
They also checked out
NPR's clout —
Swelled from 12 to 18 percent!

"But what about Facebook?" said they,
When they examined us with their survey,
"Did you learn your opinion
From Murdoch's dominion,
When you went on MySpace to play?"

Turns out you kids under thirty
Acquired your dies (http://www.ijmc.com/ijmc/texts/lirtydie) (which were lirty) (http://www.capsteps.com/lirty/)
By one kid in four
On social network du jour
So you'd better watch out for The Murdy!

[chorusgirl.livejournal.com]

I saw One Missed Call.
My hair in the morning is significantly scarier.

[gaiamyles.livejournal.com]

What can I say? I'm a clicky-whore.

http://comersmeade.myminicity.com/ind

[pygmymetal.livejournal.com]

My city (http://crainlarich.myminicity.com/)

[jennnk.livejournal.com]

http://woolville.myminicity.com

though I still don't get the point...

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Just to watch the city grow by itself, for fun.

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

The separated-siblings-accidentally-married happens a lot more than you'd think.

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

Also, there's a thing on Slate about the Lexicon/Rowling suit. They're (still?) taking the Lexicon's side.

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

That twins thing is crazy.

In pretty much unrelated things (except that you mentioned Elijah Wood), I was watching this old clip (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Z1Q5T3GT) of Dylan Moran on the Jonathan Ross show, and about halfway through I realized the other male guest who's sitting in the background laughing is Elijah Wood. Which...I don't know, it just seems like a very weird combination of guests to have on one talk show, but maybe I'm wrong. It does make Elijah Wood that much cooler, though, that he's laughing at Dylan, because Dylan is awesomely funny. Anyway, I just thought I'd share.

[falco-conlon.livejournal.com]

omg. The difference between the HD and DVD was mind blowing.

[evanelric.livejournal.com]

http://hanamachi.myminicity.com/
Thanks!!

[wirrrn.livejournal.com]

Ray Bradbury, eh? Including THE WHOLE TOWN'S SLEEPING and THE SMALL ASSASSIN? When I first read those, I was sleepless for a week...

I hear that Bailey Chase (Graham from BUFFY- :icon:) is "in talks" to play Gambit in the WOLVERINE movie...

ONE MISSED CALL: PG-13 horror movies Must Be Stopped...

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think I posted the Gambit item earlier this week. I don't think I've gotten to "The Small Assassin" yet, but "The Whole Town's Sleeping" sounds familiar--is it the one about Lavinia and the Lonely One? (The book is precisely 888 pages--a bit hard to keep up with all of them.)

[elbales]

That Time That Someone Thought Film Clips of the Challenger and Tiannenmen Square, The Latter Set to "Don't Worry, Be Happy," Were Appropriate for a Romance Writing Awards Ceremony

Wha--ah--wha--

No, I swear, that's exactly what just came out of my mouth.

WHAT THE HELL. What is WRONG with people!

[mokeyhokey.livejournal.com]

I hope you're talking about The Universe on the History Channel. It's amazing. My brother and I watch it together partially to see what kind of weirdo scientists they can find. The people in the first season were fine but this one has had a professor with rape eyes show up multiple times, an astronomer who was also a fire dancer (of course!), and another astronomer say, "I'm so excited I want to jump out of my clothes!" Every week is a new glimpse into social awkwardness.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

That sounds about right--I know I'm being unfair and flippant about a group of people who are way smarter than I could ever hope to be, but--you see what I'm saying! And there was even one astronomer who SAID, "I can't believe [whatever] is what we thought. I'm still embarrassed that we thought that."

[elvensapphire.livejournal.com]

That was basically be one of the greatest jobs ever invented. Hee.

The Sam Adams and the twins story both made me go - O_o

I'm so sad about the Little Mermaid. Because...c'mon Disney! It's the Little Mermaid!!! How could they ruin that?

The 40 minute interview goes into my bookmarks until I actually have time to watch it. Tim and Helena are so smart to have separate houses. That is the only way I would ever consider co-habitating with someone. They are made of win. Also, "I want to remake Titanic. Shot for shot." ILU Johnny Depp.

FOTR on Blu-Ray. Wow. There really is a difference. *cries*

[elbales]

Yeah, if the Sam Adams story made you go O_o ... did you check out the comment by a woman whose one-year-old son was strip searched? That made me go all green and large and radioactive with an irresistible urge to scream "SMASH!" at the tops of my lungs. (As illustrated by icon. Sort of.)