Oh Snap, Pictures of Pluto
Guess what? Earth people (or at least devices built by Earth people, specifically people at NASA) have finally gotten close to Pluto. And they took pictures!
From BusinessInsider:
“People didn’t think it could be done … but it’s worked essentially flawlessly for the last nine years,” Alan Stern, principal investigator of New Horizons, said about the spacecraft and its mission on Tuesday at a NASA briefing.
For decades, the Plutonian system was the only one of the original nine planetary systems in the solar system unexplored by the space agency.
Now, NASA has become the first organization to reach the dwarf planet and its moons, and it can finally tick off that empty check box marked “Pluto.”
Usually I hope for the discovery of alien beings on other worlds. In this case, though, I kinda hope there aren’t any Plutonians. If there are, I hope they don’t mind that we demoted their world to “dwarf planet” status awhile back.
This of course assumes that the Plutonians are capable of aggressive action, and if so, are interested in attacking us. Which is not a given. The planet could be populated by super-intelligent shades of the color blue, for example. (Apologies to Douglas Adams.)
No matter what, I say GO NASA GO! YAY SPACE TRAVEL! (Remember when we said it was time to get more excited about space travel? We meant it. Yay outer space!)
Source: Humankind visits Pluto for first time – Business Insider
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Oh My, It’s Comic Con Time
To borrow the words of the ever-wonderful George Takei: Oh my, it’s comic con time.
What are we talking about? Why, the San Diego Comic-Con of course. It happens every year.
(Here’s a video of George saying “Oh My” in case you need to hear that. There’s never a bad time to hear George.)
Anyway, San Diego Comic-Con has been around for awhile, but in the past decade, it has become big news. Geekery, as we all know, is no longer a hidden pleasure for many. It’s become a billion-dollar business. Amazon recently introduced their Geek Boutique, which about as mainstream as it gets.
One could debate when this all started, the explosion of so-called geek culture into the real world. I’ve been a Geek Gold Card member for my entire life, but suddenly people actually want to know who the hell Ant-Man is. (If you are one of those people, just ask. I’m nice that way. For example, here’s the latest “Ant-Man” movie trailer, complete with a reference to The Avengers.)
The links below give you more information about the big event than I ever could, and not only because I won’t be there. I’ve actually never attended the San Diego Comic-Con, just the New York Comic Con. But there will be lots of announcements about nerdy stuff (or perhaps I should say formerly nerdy — is something still nerdy if it’s immensely popular?) like movies, TV shows, video games, and yes, even comic books.
Here’s how to follow io9’s coverage of Comic Con. (We like io9.) The Mary Sue is also a good source. For example, here’s Betty White as Wolverine.
And then there’s this, via Polygon.com. Watch it at your own risk.
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No Voices In Music Problem Solved (Tips)
I got a pair of fancy headphones for Father’s Day. Then I have this weird problem — no vocals in music when listening on a laptop. Weird, right? After a few attempts at finding the correct Google phrase (“beats headphones hard to hear lyrics” did it) I found the answer. I thought perhaps other people could be having a similar problem, so I made it today’s tip.
Ready? Because this is really dumb.
Pull the headphones out of the jack, and put them in part of the way.
It works. It’s stupid, but it works.
Here’s the original question that was asked:
Hello, When any headphones or speakers are hooked up to my laptop, music plays but voices don’t. This happens when listening to music, watching movies, or watching videos online. Configuration: Windows XP / Firefox 3.6.4
And here is a link to the answer, from a user named razzman.
Yay Internets!
Source: CCM
Sopranos for Fathers Day
Last year, HBO recommended an episode of The Sopranos for Fathers Day. It kinda makes sense, as long as you don’t watch it with your kids (depending on how old they are, of course).
The specific episode recommended by HBO is called “College” (Season One, Episode Five).
In it, Tony Soprano (played of course by the late and very great James Gandolfini) takes his daughter Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) on a trip to visit colleges. Since this is The Sopranos, Tony gets sidetracked by some unexpected business.
It’s an early episode of the show — it first aired on February 7, 1999, according to Wikipedia — and is very good. (Sorry! Forgot to say “spoiler alert.”) It certainly deals with father-daughter issues in a unique way, as did the show as a whole. One of the many great things about The Sopranos was seeing Tony try to be a dad while also conducting his, ahem, legitimate business dealings.
If you want to double-down on Gandolfini for Fathers Day, you can also watch the film Enough Said, which stars Mr. Gandolfini and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. (Catherine Keener is also terrific in a smaller role.) The two have great chemistry, and it’s a nice movie that is also parenting/dad-themed, and it has a fun twist. Here’s the trailer.
There is, of course, an extra note of sadness to the film because it is James Gandolfini’s last starring role.
You can watch The Sopranos and Enough Said via HBO Go and probably HBO Now. (I don’t have the latter and don’t want to say something that isn’t true.)
So if you’re looking for some dad-themed stuff to watch for Father’s Day, here are two solid suggestions… or perhaps we should say… DaddyTips.
Happy Father’s Day to all dads out there!
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Childhood Obesity Meets Bad Parenting
What happens when childhood obesity meets bad parenting? You get overweight kids. And at least one bummed out blogger. (That would be me.)
Check out the lede from this New York Times story:
Not only was the 16-year-old boy 60 pounds overweight, but a blood test showed he might have fatty liver disease. At last, his mother took him to a pediatric weight management clinic in New Haven. But she did not at all like the dietitian’s advice.
“I can’t believe you’re telling me I can’t buy Chips Ahoy! cookies,” said the mother, herself a nurse.
You “can’t believe” it? Lady, according to this story, your kid might have liver disease. And your response is that you “can’t believe” the dietitian is telling you that perhaps the cause is cookie-related? Read more »
Shatner on Sunny Side Up Show
He’s gone where no man has gone before, and now he’s on the kiddie TV channel Sprout. Ladies and gents, here it is — video of William Shatner on Sunny Side Up Show.
Apparently, Mr. Shatner is an expert on something called The Clangers. (Something tells me his appearance is mostly for the adults who have to watch Sprout with their little ones.)
But, y’know, Shatner. Is there anything he can’t do?
William Shatner’s star on Canada’s Walk of Fame (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Apparently he’s going to do some voice acting on The Clangers, which is a show we’ve never heard of but it seems that it used to exist and is being revived. (Michael Palin, of Monty Python fame, is also on it.) In addition to this, a quick news search tells us that The Shat will be on an upcoming NBC show with Henry Winkler (Ayyyy!), AND he’s driving cross-country on some sort of odd vehicle. You can read about all of that, as well as the fact that there’s apparently a fake Shatner on Snapchat, via the related links below. All this is in addition to the many other projects Mr. Shatner always has going on.
We hope to have half as much energy as ol’ Bill has at his age. Heck, I’d settle for having that much energy NOW.
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Jurassic World vs Jurassic Park – Fun With Ratings (And Some Advice)
I was looking at the dino-sized amount of money Jurassic World made this weekend, and came across this comparison on BoxOfficeMojo.
Ladies and gentlemen — the ‘Jurassic’ Rumble.
Apart from the money (and it’s always about the money, except when it isn’t, although even then the money matters because it’s called “show BUSINESS”, right?), I was intrigued by the ratings. Read more »
