Her in her place

As a follower of "Royal Pains" on the USA Network (and Jill Flint! of whom there are not enough pictures of a certain kind on the Web yet), I accidentally started watching the new show that follows it, "Fairly Legal". Part of the main reason that I started watching was the fairly instant realization that lead star Sarah Shahi is habanero hot. So anyway, things being the way they are, I've been looking around for bits and pieces of Sarah (which do exist).

Wouldn't you know it -- Esquire kicked off a new collaboration with the Me In My Place tumblr blog (caution; semi-exposed females located there) in which stars of some semi-note are photographed semi-dressed in their own abodes. Ms. Shahi leads off this new feature. And does it WELL. I've captured two examples, shown below. (And if Esquire is worried about me showing these pictures, well, they are already ALL over the Web.)

















The thing is; this place looks gorgeous. Not to mention its adult female resident. Doesn't look like there's a toddler toddling around, does there? Well, the interview alludes to the husband, and seductively indicates that -- happily for him and her both, I would think -- they have a sex life. But what she doesn't talk about, which makes sense for someone selling her sexual attractiveness as part of the reason to watch her new show -- which is working -- is that she recently had a youngster, in July 2009. So look back at those two pictures above, or the rest of the set at Esquire, and realize that this woman has had a baby.

Wow. That's what I call world-class bounce-back.

The big junkyard in the sky

A potential way to address the increasing problem and danger of orbital space junk has been -- pardon me -- just floated for public perusal.

"The same superfund approach to those earthly pollution problems could be reworked to tackle space junk, according to the report, which is titled "Confronting Space Debris - Strategies and Warnings from Comparable Examples Including Deepwater Horizon." Superfund is the federal government's program to clean up the nation's uncontrolled hazardous waste sites."

One thing really interesting is that they find the same characteristics for similar problems.

• Behavioral norms (past and/or present) do not address the problem in a satisfactory manner.
• If the problem is ignored, the risk of collateral damage will be significant.
• There will always be an endless supply of "rule-breakers."
• The problem will likely never be considered solved because the root cause is difficult to eliminate.

(Climate change is in this same leaky boat!!)

So what technology could fix this problem? Well, they don't get into that:

"Developing the pathfinder technology now for such a remedy "may prove to be a wise decision" because on-orbit collisions are likely to continue to occur in the future, the report states. There are a number of space cleanup ideas floating about — such as using garbage scows, tethers, laser beams, giant foam balls and such. While outside the scope of their report, Baiocchi said, "it's really a matter of devoting resources. Eventually, you're going to get something. The hard part is convincing your friends in other countries that whatever you stick up there isn't a weapon."

So ultimately we might be forced to spend real MONEY to address the problem. Like climate change needing something dramatic (and probably disastrous) to garner sufficient attention for action, I think he's right about this:

"As soon as a DIRECTV satellite gets knocked out – or a GPS satellite or some other space asset we use – then you're going to have a lot of people up in arms about space debris," Welser said.

Moving on, moving on...

Now the USA and the country of France have decided to do a deal to address the space debris problem.

US and French defense chiefs plan to sign a space cooperation agreement on Tuesday designed to help track debris in outer space threatening vital satellites, officials told AFP. ... For years, the United States dominated space and saw little need to seek out international partners. But with more countries launching or operating satellites and the threat of collisions rising, military leaders want to promote data sharing with allies and industry.

Titled "Space Situational Awareness Partnership," the agreement is set to be signed during a visit to Washington by French Defense Minister Alain Juppe, who is scheduled to hold talks with his American counterpart, Robert Gates, on Tuesday at the Pentagon."


AND as far as actually addressing the problem, a fishing net company in Japan and the Japanese space agency are exploring the idea of using a net to capture space junk.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Space_net_for_orbiting_debris_proposed_999.html

"The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the Nitto Seimo Co. propose launching a satellite, attached to a thin metal net spanning more than a mile, into space before the net is detached and begins to capture space waste while orbiting earth, Britain's Daily Telegraph reported Tuesday. As it collects debris the net would become electrically charged and be attracted back to earth by the planet's magnetic field, causing the net and its contents to safely burn up
in the atmosphere."

This might work; after all, the Japanese fishing fleet is responsible for most of the adrift "ghost nets" that snare and kill a lot of fish and sea turtles and dolphins in the ocean, particularly the Pacific. Glad to see that they've finally come up with a GOOD use for the concept!

Ghost net with captured debris:

Wolverines endangered by warming climes

Sure, we've heard about polar bears, but what about wolverines, the vicious big brothers to weasels and minks? Apparently warming temperatures aren't good for these guys for a couple of reasons:

1. “We’ve always known there was a strong association between wolverine and snow,” Copeland says. “It’s an animal that evolved in a snowy arctic environment.”

That snow proves especially important for moms. Around February they look for the ideal site to burrow in and create a den. This temporary home has to survive until their pups wean, around mid-May, which means deep snow has to persist that long. And real estate that meets those criteria is becoming increasingly limited."

This is taken from a really, really good article that will provide a great deal of information about wolverines, much more than simply that they are the mascot for the University of Michigan.

Wolverines: Climate warming threatens comeback

2. From another article, similar subject, "Wolverine Population Threatened by Climate Change"

is this: "The computer projections also showed that August temperatures may increase dramatically. Whereas August temperatures currently top off at about 72 degrees F (22 degrees C) in areas where wolverines live, maximum daily temperatures by the end of the century were projected to frequently exceed 90 degrees F (32 degrees C) under the two higher-emissions scenarios. Unless the wolverine is able to very rapidly adapt to summertime temperatures far above anything it currently experiences, and to a spring with little or no snow cover, it is unlikely that it will continue to survive in the contiguous U.S. under a high or medium-low emissions scenario," the study concludes.

How to save "The Cape"

It isn't good news that NBC cut down the show order for "The Cape" from 13 shows to 10. Apparently it isn't getting good ratings. This doesn't surprise me; superhero shows appeal to a certain niche audience of people that can suspend reality in favor of the unreality of worlds in which people have superpowers.

"The Cape" is in the Batman genre; people don't as much have superpowers as much as they have abnormal qualities. The main character apparently has a past as a Special Forces op in the military, and thus is an effective martial artist with a variety of fighting skills. The abnormal properties of the cape give him some extended abilities, and his learning of magic escape and deception tricks give him another effective quality. The villainess Dice was a human statistical
calculator. Other characters have extensions of circus performer capabilities. The entire show takes place in a venue called "Palm City" that isn't any particularly real place (but does kinda look like LA).

So suspending reality isn't as hard as for say, Superman or The Flash or even Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

But "The Cape" isn't doing well, and I think there are reasons for that. For one thing, right now, the main character (Vince Faraday/The Cape) is too virtuous. He's driven by revenge and to get back to his family. I.e., there isn't a lot of internal conflict. So the outcome is pretty much decided right now; he'll probably defeat the bad guy and get back to his wife and son. Not
much dramatic tension, or otherwise. The character of Orwell, Web-savvy crusading blogger, played by Summer Glau, has shades (she's likely to be the daughter of the chief villain, Chess, who is also the mayor of Palm City), but still is too much of a do-gooder. The circus troupe that gave The Cape his start is better, as they rob various things to supplement their minimal performance income. The rough-and-ready dwarf is one of the best characters on the show.

As Chess, James Frain brings dramatic bonafides to the role.

I'd like to see it continue, hope against hope, so here are a couple of ways
to make it better, maybe.

1. Serial format ("Tune in next time, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!")

The campy 60's Batman show did this -- every other week was a true serialized cliffhanger format, a time-honored format back to the silent movies and the Perils of Pauline. "The Cape" should take a chance, since they need to get ratings, and revive the serial format. Don't wrap it up at the end of the hour. Put the hero and some of his friends in dire unescapable peril at the
end of the show and then wait a week until the resolution is revealed, and try like nuts to not let spoilers out on the Web.


2. Romantic tension

Because The Cape is so motivated, and so heroic, he doesn't have romantic tension. There is no "will they/won't they?" question. So I think they should set it up. It should look like (externally) that Vince's wife has moved on; The Cape should see the buttoned-down lawyer boss in a towel in her bedroom because he spilled chicken soup all over himself and had to change (maybe into some of Vince's old clothes). And he should see his son apparently having a good time with the lawyer boss, too. Vince is a masculine type, has those masculine needs, and in his despair he could be drawn to the young and needy Orwell, who is young, abnormally hot (this is Summer Glau, after all), and needing a father figure due to abandonment. Will they or won't they?

3. Guest stars

It may be too late, but maybe they could bring in a guest star with some appeal to the sci-fi/fantasy crowd; the kid from Kick-Ass, or Adam West, or Tobey McGuire. Long shot? Maybe. But it still might get attention.


In terms of the most successful recent superhero TV shows, Lois and Clark, The New Adventures of Superman, capitalized on romantic involvement of Lois & Superman as a running theme! Smallville has different romantic high school entanglements, an attractive young cast, and also considerably lower ratings expectations on CW. The Incredible Hulk, with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, utilized an ongoing serialized story (the quest format, Bruce Banner's quest for a cure for his Hulkdom, and pretty good acting from Bixby).

Some commentary from others:
http://features.metacritic.com/features/2010/best-and-worst-superhero-tv-shows/

http://www.tv.com/the-cape-needs-a-hero-to-save-it-from-cancellation/story/25055.html

This is bound to be controversial

But it is unfortunately inevitable. And I agree with it. (Another reason for world government.)

UN 'concerned' by world population growth trends

The world population growth rate must slow down significantly to avoid reaching unsustainable levels, says a new UN report.

To have a reasonable chance of stabilising world population, fertility must drop to below "replacement level".

It must then be maintained at that level for an extended period, says the report.

(Don't tell all those celebrities having babies, like talk show host Craig Ferguson and his lovely nubile young wife Megan, because everybody likes to read those stories.)

Julianne Hough offers herself as a model for milk

With rare exceptions, almost anything featuring Julianne Hough is a delight to observe. So here's her new "Got Milk?" poster.
























And here's Julianne well-dressed for the occasion of unveiling the new ad. (Now, I certainly wouldn't mind seeing Julianne well-dressed for the occasion of unveiling herself, but Ryan Seacrest has probably cornered the market on that opportunity.)





















Speaking of the Seacrest, here's Julianne on why he's a great boyfriend.

The Mars rover that ate the NASA budget

The roving Mars Science Laboratory: the cost for this mission has skyrocketed ("ballooned" really doesn't do it justice) to a cooool $2.47 billion, and it needs $82 million more right now to maintain its schedule to launch next November -- because if it doesn't it would cost even more to launch it in another two years. With the James Webb Telescope already gobbling huge chunks out of NASA's wallet, this would be unacceptable. Impossible, really. And with the GOP looking to cut down the NASA budget to something that wouldn't even support a well-equipped high school chemistry class, anything like this is probably bad news for everything else that NASA is trying to do.

Imagine how bad it could get if the MSL doesn't survive the trip to Mars.

Yikes.

"Another $23.3 million is needed for MSL through the end of summer, and another $46.3 million for the last two to three months before launch, Green said.

However, finding the additional money could prove challenging in the current budget environment. Although NASA's Planetary Sciences Division had been slated for a 10 percent annual increase, to $1.49 billion, in 2011, Congress has yet to adopt a spending plan for the federal government this year, leaving NASA and other agencies operating at last year's spending levels under a continuing resolution approved in December.

In addition, Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives are proposing to roll back discretionary spending even further, to 2008 levels, for most federal agencies, including NASA.

Green said the continuing resolution under which NASA will operate through at least March 4 gives the division $144 million less than the White House proposed for the current budget year, including a $115 million shortfall in the division's Mars program, which is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif."