Author: ssw15

“Star Trek: Enterprise” – wow. Amazing episode. The whole digital filming thing has made the picture really stunning. Plus – this time, the writing’s tight and plotting really interesting, which made for pretty good acting. Scott Bakula was his strongest as Capt. Archer (I had liked him when he was Sam Beckett in “Quantum Leap” – so seeing him tonight as an able character was just great Archer wasn’t a Janeway, so to speak (and longtime Trekkies will know what I mean – and I’m someone who didn’t really hate Capt. Janeway). Brent Spiner (the former Data of “Star Trek: The Next Generation”) – he’s quite an actor. Oh, and the rest of the cast and guest cast were pretty good too (again, good writing helps). I can almost forgive the Trek folks for the ridiculous cliffhanger of last season and the weird alternate WWII history episodes.

Notice how nicely that I haven’t given away anything plot-wise? 😉 Seriously, it was a good episode – and I think we’re supposed to get more of Spiner for another two episodes. Maybe continue with this stronger Archer… for the rest of the season. If you missed the episode tonight, catch the re-broadcast (Channel 9, 7pm, in NYC metro area).

Oh, and I forgot to mention this in the Wednesday night post — I was at the alma mater law school Wednesday night for a reception, and of course there’s the excited chatter about the new building and that there’s a bed in the student lounge to sample the new bed for the new dorm… So, when I left the law school, and passed by the lounge, I had to just stand there and realize, Good Grief – the dean wasn’t kidding – there was a bed in the lounge. Gosh, I remember all the times just about everybody has slept in the sofas of the lounge and the library and how my classmates would joke that they ought to put beds… and there was a real bed right there…

Eh. So the world changes; the rest of the law school looked pretty much the same (oh, ok, so the last time I was there was just six months ago, but I look for the little changes, really I do).

TGIF.

I never quite thought that I’d see it in my life time, but apparently it has actually happened – the Boston Red Sox has won the World Series. The world may not have ended, but the world as we knew it indeed has ended. Maybe pigs will start flying now or something like that. God forbid, maybe even the Chicago Cubs will win the World Series someday now. I will spare non-Bosox fans any links to some heart-wrenching articles (at least, assuming I don’t find anything worthy of reading).

Well, enough of the melodrama on my part.

100 yrs of the subway. Cool. And, it’s also been 100 yrs of the plane (the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk, NC, was 100 yrs ago). So, if we think about it – it’s been 100 yrs of planes, (underground) trains, and automobiles…

Lunar eclipse. Cool.

Umm – is this for real? Anthropologists have discovered an early human or human-like species – that resemble hobbits. Methinks that someone out there have been reading/watching way too much Lord of the Rings.

Other stories:

I can’t get over this story – how a British police officer, Sgt. Colin Webber (whose wife, Claire, is a constable – both of whom are of the Leicestershire constabulary) managed to stop a fleeing knife-stabber assaulter when Sgt. Webber and the missus were in the jewelry district browsing (they were on vacation – as off-duty as two cops could have been). Check out the more expansive version of this story on NY Times. NY1.com has some footage too.

And, the prize for least-surprising story of the day – “Study: Sleepy Doctors Make More Errors.” – apparently, it takes a funded study to prove what years of “ER” and other medical dramas (and “Scrubs”) and common sense have long known about those people in the hospitals who are overworked – they don’t quite function up to snuff if they’re that tired. D’uh. The real problem is how do you reform it, when the reality is that training medical doctors takes so much time and effort – not too mention risk (they do learn from their mistakes – you just hope nothing fatal occurs or at least a causal link to death type of occurence).

Ok, let’s just get through this Thursday without incident – especially to those in Boston…

No World Series tonight; tomorrow is Game 3 in St. Louis.

Some interesting links and comments:

On Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2004, NYC’s subway is having its 100th anniversary (amidst depressing budget woes). Joe McKendry provides a cool look at the subway in his NY Times’ Op-ed on 10/23/04:

One hundred years ago next Wednesday, at precisely 2 p.m., a wall of sound shook New York City from Battery Park to Harlem. Church bells and the sounding horns of ferryboats competed with the steam whistles of hundreds of power plants and the firing of salutes. Cheering citizens flooded the streets, creating what this newspaper described as a “carnival” atmosphere that had the city “in an uproar from end to end.” [….]

For all the excitement on opening day, it didn’t take New Yorkers long to revert to their jaded selves. On Oct. 28, the day after the subway opened, The Times reported: “Men on the trains were quietly getting out at their regular stations and going home, having finished what will be to them the daily routine of the rest of their lives. It is hard to surprise New York permanently.”

There are interesting slides/graphics – check them out before NY Times archives them…

A NY Times article by Joseph Berger on America’s Asian Indian community and how they’re dealing with assimilation of America and its socialization/dating mores versus the caste system – which takes into account arranged marriages to preserve caste, commonality, and culture.

Daily News has an interesting story on a Filipina-American, Consuelo Dungca, who has a number of accomplishments – a colonel in the Army Reserve’s 8th Medical Brigade; the city Health and Hospitals Corp.’s senior assistant vice president for clinical affairs; wrote “U.S. Army Nurse Corps Standard of Nursing Practices,” a text for training Army nurses, and co-authored “Standards of Critical Care,” a text used by health professionals in and out of the armed forces; earned two master’s degrees and a doctorate in nursing education from Columbia University’s Teachers College. Her doctoral dissertation was titled “Leadership Behavior Style and Job Satisfaction”; and…. a less-than-5 ft. tall woman who is “expert marksman with a .45-caliber pistol. She can fire it standing, sitting, kneeling and lying down.” Okay. Cool stuff.

Slate.com’s “Ad Report” reviews the Emerald Nuts ads – wherein Emerald Nuts tries to compete with Planters with willy ads “Encouraging Norwegians Love Emerald Nuts” and “Egostistical Normans Love Emerald Nuts.” While “Ad Report” liked the EN ads, I haven’t been thrilled with the EN ads – they make me want to avoid the stuff. (Of course, the new version of Mr. Peanut of Planters – who debuted during the NCAA tournament this year – looked scary in that Bizarre Pop Art way). Umm, I like nuts otherwise, no matter the brand.

An amusing Slate article – could it be that having Democrats for parents mean more successful kids (re: nerdy elitist snobs) v. lenient Republicans who let kids be kids (re: you know, drinking, driving, drugging, whatever). Hmm.

Monday will be over soon…