I’ve been listening to the podcast for Marketplace for a while now…And when Mr. Grant of Monsanto talked about the safety of genetically-modified foods as having a 12-year record with no problems, I had to say something. I posted on their comments, and they e-mailed and then called to have me read my (edited) comments. Fun! Yeah, I need to speak more slowly and clearly. Maybe spending some time on the Ham radio will help me out…
Give me a listen, either listen to the whole show (the relevant part is at 21:30) or just the letters section…
So some kind folks at Ames offered up free amateur radio license training, and I’d been meaning to get my license for years. Hurrah, I am now a licensed “technician”, able to broadcast over VHF and UHF frequencies. I have reached the pinnacle of nerd-dom! (In reality, I wanted to get my license for situations where a cell phone lacks coverage, or for emergency use in a disaster.)
If you want a real-life (or faked, if you’re a conspiracy theorist) CSI drama, read through the FBI’s release of the Dr. “Amerithrax” Ivans documents. (See 07-524-M-01 particularly.) I couldn’t stop reading–excellent forensics, twisted rantings. Would make for a decent modern horror RPG document.
What nobody seems to have noticed is that Dr. Ivans shared his insane rantings with an unidentified “friend”, and given that the friend surely knew that Dr. Ivans had a high security clearance, that he worked with weapons-grade biological agents, and that he was hatter mad, shouldn’t that friend be held to account for not informing the government? Or did said friend have a “attorney-client” or “counselor-client” arrangement where their client had to be kept in confidence? Perhaps it’s not a crime to not rat out someone with a clearance who is nutso and who had made violent threats, but I think it might be a crime…I am guessing we have not heard the end of this interesting and disturbing case.
So I remember this movie from seeing bits of it years ago and being amazed at the ancient technology kitsch and the good plot and acting. Finding the DVD on Amazon, not only are the quotes misplaced, but the DVD is pan-and-scan. Some kind folks ripped the wide-screen laser disc and put up a torrent, huzzah! Finally got around to watching it last week, and it’s definitely worth a watch if you’re a fan of ’70′s sci fi (Soylent Green, Logan’s Run, Prisoner, etc.) Nothing quite as satisfying as a dystopic view of the future, colored by the cold war, and with an intentionally dissatisfying conclusion that leaves you with questions (in a good way.) Now if only modern filmmakers would bring back this form.
It was filmed in 2.35:1, so the 1.33:1 of pan-and-scan is vastly inferior. Hopefully someone will get a clue and re-release the film in a proper format and with some cool extras.