Posts Tagged ‘News’
A Nice Story From Florida
A handwritten October letter from a complete stranger helped Buzz Rogers put one more piece into place in assembling a history of his late father.
We’re Going To Mars?
Apparently we’re going to Mars. Seriously. Well, soon. Check this out from President Obama (via CNN):
English: Diagram of the interplanetary trajectory of Mars Polar Lander enroute from Earth to Mars. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
“We have set a clear goal vital to the next chapter of America’s story in space,” writes the President, “sending humans to Mars by the 2030s and returning them safely to Earth.”
Source: Barack Obama: America will take the giant leap to Mars – CNN.com
And if you want a job on Mars, check this out.
Earth-like Planet Found?
Exciting space news, people!
(CNN) In a discovery that has been years in the making, researchers have confirmed the existence of a rocky planet named Proxima b orbiting Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our sun, according to a new study. It is the closest exoplanet to us in the universe.
Cool stuff, right? It’s close to our sun so the whole “we’ll get superpowers because of a red sun” isn’t going to happen. Still, it’d be exciting if there’s life out there. See the CNN link below.
Source: Closest rocky planet to our solar system found – CNN.com
Related articles (Note: These are offsite links; DaddyTips takes no responsibility for outside content.)
Yeah, I Want To Read This
There’s a new artist’s rendering of the Star Wars land being built at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. The 14-acre addition (similar to the one being built at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida) will be the biggest single-theme expansion at the parks in history. Obviously this concept image tilts toward the fantastical. Still, Disney has said it does represent some of the attractions that will be included. Let’s fly a little closer and see what we can find ….
Source: – Star Wars Land – Disneyland releases new images – EW.com
Calm The F Down About The Ghostbusters Reboot
Holy crap! Can everyone calm the f down about the Ghostbusters reboot?
English: The Ghostbusters ectomobile emergency vehicle. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Apparently not.
As far as I can tell, the insanity started as soon as the new movie was announced. Fans (and I use the term loosely; crazy people is probably more accurate) of the original 1984 film began to FREAK THE FUCK OUT because someone had the nerve to make a new movie featuring female ghostbusters. (Which, by the way, passes spell-check muster. I don’t whether to smile or weep.)
I’ve been irritated by the term “raping my childhood” since I first heard it, I think back when the first of Michael Bay’s “Transformers” flicks hit theaters. While I can’t say I loved (or even saw) all of Bay’s movies, I can say that I don’t believe in the idea that something new ruins the memory of something old. It’s called show business folks. Not show fun. Not “Preserve In Amber Some Nudnik’s Memory of a Movie.” Grow up. Seriously.
The answer to the question “why are they making a new Ghostbusters movie?” is simple — MONEY. That’s the reason almost all movies are made, certainly Hollywood blockbusters/tentpoles.
Leslie Jones, one of the stars of the new film, wrote a series of tweets taking the “haters” (another term I don’t like, but for more complicated reasons) to task, asking the sensible question, “what will you tell your daughter” when they ask about being a Ghostbuster for Halloween. I would add “what will you tell your son?” There is no reason for the kind of vituperative language being thrown around online, regardless of the subject matter, but ESPECIALLY when the subject is A FUCKING MOVIE.
Movies are important to me. Anyone who reads this site even casually will notice a lot of movie references, and I went a little crazy about The Avengers movie when it came out in 2012. (Was it really four years ago? Oy.) I went crazy in a good way; I was excited to see a movie featuring some of my favorite superheroes onscreen together. Back in 2012, that was a novelty rather than the norm. (Again — was it only four years ago? Yes. Yes it was.)
Had I not liked The Avengers, I don’t imagine I would have spent countless hours writing blog posts telling everyone how much I didn’t like it. I might complain to my friends, at least those who are still willing to discuss such things with me. But taking the time to type out blog posts, or worse, making a video to tell the world how and why I think Hollywood did something wrong? Please. I have other ways to spend my time.
Maybe that’s the problem. Maybe the people who are taking the Internet to “troll” (yet another term I’m not a fan of, although I like it more than “hater” because at least it has history), leaving comments on YouTube and other places, maybe these folks simply have too much time on their hands.
Really though, what I wish is that everyone would CALM DOWN. Take a deep, cleansing breath, and consider that perhaps this level of anger over a movie you haven’t seen (remember that this started way back when the film was first announced) is waaaay too intense. I’m not even getting into the whole “How dare they make a movie with female Ghostbusters” thing. That’s crazy too. But even before we get to that, can’t we just stop losing our effing minds over movies? And while we’re at it, maybe stop screaming at people online, typing things that we would never say in person? We don’t have to all get along. We can, however, be more civil.
Source: Leslie Jones slams sexist Ghostbusters haters: ‘What will you tell your daughter’? (EW.com)
Wanna watch the original movie? Guess what? You can! There’s this thing called Amazon, and they rent digital movies! They even sell DVDs! Crazy, right?
Related articles (Note: These are offsite links; DaddyTips takes no responsibility for outside content.)
Drive a Honda or Acura? Read This
If you drive a Honda or an Acura, you should read this.
Feds warn more than 300,000 Hondas and Acuras pose grave risk of exploding airbags and should be parked until fixed.
Got that? I’m not going to go into specifics because all the info you need is on CNN.com. Check their site for model numbers and specifics. Link is below. But when I saw “exploding airbags” I said, “you know what? I’m going to do my part to let folks know about this.”
So, you know, Honda and Acura owners/drivers, check it out. Could be fine. But take a look. Just to be on the safe side.
Source: Stop driving these Hondas right now, says regulator (CNN)
Enough With The Gorilla Thing
I’m calling it – enough with the Gorilla story.
What prompted me to write this? I suppose it’s because this is still a news story.
Parents of the boy who fell into gorilla enclosure will not face charges: https://t.co/12GlLAUrD3 pic.twitter.com/pPyN2Ny66Q
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) June 6, 2016
(Full disclosure: I sometimes write for The Daily Beast.)
Now: OF COURSE the parents won’t face charges! That would ridiculous. If for some reason the zoo didn’t have the proper fencing in place, that’s who would face charges. However, by all accounts that I’ve read, the zoo DID have the proper barriers up. Unfortunately, a small child got through them and landed in the gorilla’s area.
Here’s some video. It’s not that shocking but if you don’t want to see it for whatever reason, you’re not missing much, in part because half of it is blocked by a tree. But it doesn’t feature the gorilla getting shot, or the child being harmed.
Here’s Jack Hanna, animal expert, defending what the zoo had to do, which is kill the gorilla.
It’s sad that the gorilla, named Harambe, was killed. But what were they going to do? Let the kid get killed? The gorilla was dragging him around like a sack of potatoes.
By the way, this isn’t the first time a child has fallen into a gorilla habitat. I don’t think this particular gorilla was a Silverback, but that’s only because I don’t know stuff like that. (It appears to not be a Silverback because it doesn’t have a silver back, but I’m color blind, so who knows.) Here’s a video from — wait for it — 2015. You know, a year ago.
This incident worked out much better because EVERYONE was OK. Not saying the circumstances are the same. However, in the 2015 video above, you can see the barrier and in theory it should be enough. It wasn’t.
Oh look! Here’s another time a kid wound up in a gorilla habitat at a zoo. In 1996.
As Kimberly Harrington pointed out on Medium, “do accidents happen anymore? Especially when a kid is involved?” (That’s just a quote from the headline. The whole article is worth reading.) Kimberly posted a lot of memes/tweets that resulted from the Harambe incident, but these two really horrified me.
I mean… wow.
Here’s a quick quote from Ms. Harrington’s excellent article:
This is the perfect (shit) storm for the Internet, especially the American variety, because it involves: a) kids, b) animals, and c) parenting. All of the things that the Internet likes to flip its collective wig over. All of the things that allow the Monday morning quarterbacking to gush forth in a rage orgy. Someone needs to pay! She’s a woman? Let’s call her horrible names! This is our chance, Internet!
Yeah. That pretty much says it all. In 1996, maybe all the Prodigy and Compuserve chat rooms were aflame with enraged parents and animal rights activists digitally duking it out. But I sort of doubt it.
Bottom line: everyone needs to take a breath and calm down. Jack Hanna says the choice was between a human life and a gorilla life (paraphrasing here) and the zookeepers chose the child. It is absolutely sad. But there’s no excuse for the kind of vitriol shown above. You can see much more at the link below.
Me? I say enough. No más. It’s over, Johnny.
Except that these are the Interwebs. It’ll never be over. Well, maybe when something else shows up to outrage people.
See also: Hey America, do accidents happen anymore? Especially when a kid is involved? — Be Yourself — Medium
