The New York Times Magazine ran an interview with Ted Cruz yesterday. It’s an interview to promote his new book, but he segues into pop culture — Spider-Man, Star Wars, and Star Trek. While it’s interesting to read a sitting United States Senator talk about Darth Vader, it’s his Star Trek comments that have garneredContinue reading “Is Captain Kirk a Republican?”
Monthly Archives: July 2015
Camelot, ‘Tis a Silly Place
For five years, give or take, Funko has been making a series of collectible vinyl figures called POP! The figures are based on comic books, television series, movies, comic strips, video games, even bands. There have been Beatles figures and Batman figures, Doctor Who figures and Star Wars figures, Frozen figures and Sesame Street figures.Continue reading “Camelot, ‘Tis a Silly Place”
An Ancient Qur’an and Early Islam
Putting on my historian hat for the moment. In Birmingham, fragments of a Qur’an dating to the 7th century have been discovered in a collection at the university there, making this one of the oldest known Qur’ans in existence. (The headline says “oldest,” but the article is not as definitive.) The Carbon-14 dating may putContinue reading “An Ancient Qur’an and Early Islam”
Thoughts on Ian McKellen’s Mr. Holmes
Last night after work I went to see Mr. Holmes, starring Sir Ian McKellen as Sherlock Holmes. I mentioned before this was the movie I most wanted to see this summer. Back in March I read the book on which the film is based — Mitch Cullin’s A Slight Trick of the Mind — andContinue reading “Thoughts on Ian McKellen’s Mr. Holmes”
A Little Girl in Yemen — And What Matters In Life
Sometimes I wonder if humanity is worth saving, that maybe the time has come to pull the plug and turn out the lights. My morning began with a review of my Twitter timeline, and this was near the top. The 100-plus-day bombardment of Yemen included the use of cluster bombs made in Massachusetts. http://t.co/vYStX627YH pic.twitter.com/5k7JkeM9tXContinue reading “A Little Girl in Yemen — And What Matters In Life”
Pluto and the Solar Systems of Distant Suns
This morning, on my way into the office, I was thinking about Pluto and why its surface appears to be so young. I began to formulate a hypothesis in which Pluto, in the early days of the solar system, was actually in the inner solar system, then through gravitational interactions it was flung into theContinue reading “Pluto and the Solar Systems of Distant Suns”
Apollo-Soyuz: Forty Years Later
I’m too young to remember the Apollo-Soyuz mission. Thankfully, NASA produced this video to commemorate the 40th-anniversary of the joint American-Soviet space mission, the ASTP. For this space nerd, seeing Deke Slayton and Alexei Leonov in space together is downright magical. Sometimes I think about a world where we didn’t abandon Apollo and the ASTPContinue reading “Apollo-Soyuz: Forty Years Later”
An Irish Outing in Annapolis
I feel that I’ve been living in a bubble the last month, but work, deadlines, and work deadlines will do that to a person. Yesterday was an escape from that bubble — the fifth annual Annapolis Irish Festival was held at the Anne Arundel County Fairgrounds. I first went in 2012, then again last year,Continue reading “An Irish Outing in Annapolis”
Paul McCartney and the Beatles’ Songwriting Credits
In an interview with Esquire, Paul McCartney was asked about the famous “Lennon/McCartney” songwriting credit and why he has suggested in the past that some songs should be credited with the reverse, “McCartney/Lennon.” (Without getting overly technical, it has to do with limitations of metadata on digital music files.) On some of his live albumsContinue reading “Paul McCartney and the Beatles’ Songwriting Credits”