Thought Quotient

Peterson’s mother breaks down on stand

“He’s an exceptional young man and he’s my son,” [Peterson’s mother] said. “I know he’s not perfect … but he is genuinely a loving, caring, nurturing, kind, gentle person.”

“The Scott I knew is a very gracious, caring person,” Reiman said.

He was also convicted for murdering his wife and unborn child and dumping them into the San Francisco Bay. I suppose it all depends on how you define “caring”.

Gorillas hold ‘wake’ for group’s leader

Yeah, and they hired a caterer too.

Bob Dylan: ‘I’m no prophet’

“In his first television interview in 19 years, the man whose song “Like a Rolling Stone” was recently named the greatest rock ‘n’ roll song of all time by Rolling Stone magazine…”

Go figure…

Dude — professor studies ‘dude’

A linguist from the University of Pittsburgh has published a scholarly paper deconstructing and deciphering the word “dude,” contending it is much more than a catchall for lazy, inarticulate surfers, skaters, slackers and teenagers.

You mean they give out degrees for this? Your tax dollars at work…

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I went to see National Treasure last night. I must say that it was an incredibly entertaining movie - if nowhere near even remotely based in fact. It had a terrific soundtrack and was also surprisingly clean. I don’t recall any profanity and there were few scenes that I considered sexually explicit - excepting obligatory low-cut-evening-dress-cleavage-shots common to most modern adventure movies.

Even the acting was acceptable… although my standards for actors have - of necessity - decreased over the past few years. Nicolas Cage played his usual strangely obsessed, goofy persona, but the highlight (for me) was the performance of the relatively unknown Justin Bartha as “Riley Poole” - the goofball sidekick. Other notable presences: Sean Bean (Boromir from Fellowship of the Ring), Diane Kruger (Helen from Troy), Harvey Keitel and Christopher Plummer.

My only objection… the whole Masonic theme. I had thought the Masons were finally relegated to those 50+ years or older. Unfortunately, now there will be more interest in the secretive, gnostic organization… and more conspiracy theories. I wonder if the Masonic lodges plan an advertising campaign based on the movie… maybe they even helped foot the films expenses.

I’m going to start my own lodge, it’s going to be called… The Order of… ummm… hmmm…. The Order of the Gullible Stooges.

Today’s FREE post:
Make your own paper Enigma machine!

Download this one-page PDF file by clicking the link above and print (I suggest using heavy card stock). You can then cut out the strips, and follow the directions on the page to build your own fully functional Enigma machine.

From the author’s site:
This machine is compatible with the original 3-rotor German Enigma used during World War II. For simplicity it omits the “ring settings” and plug board, but the primary workings of the machine are captured in this model. Great as an educational tool, or just for fun!

From en.wikipedia.org:
In the history of cryptography, the Enigma was a portable cipher machine used to encrypt and decrypt secret messages. More precisely, Enigma was a family of related electro-mechanical rotor machines - there were a variety of different models.

The Enigma was used commercially from the early 1920s on, and was also adopted by the military and governmental services of a number of nations - most famously, by Nazi Germany before and during World War II (WWII). The intelligence gained through this source - codenamed ULTRA - was a significant aid to the Allied war effort. Some historians have suggested that the end of the European war was hastened by up to a year or more because of the decryption of German ciphers.

Check out this CNN story about the CEO/Chairman of MTV networks - Judy McGrath.

McGrath transforms television

True. But for the better? Sure, they are still around but is there any integrity there? What was the original intent of the network? How is that remotely related to what they are now?

Image, attitude and originality have kept MTV on the cutting edge of television and business, and McGrath says the network will continue to change with the times.

“I think our mantra has always been ‘Evolve or die.’ ”

PBS Frontline dubbed them the ‘Merchants of Cool‘ a couple of years ago.

You’ll never go broke appealing to the lowest common denominator, and MTV gets lauded for that? Sigh. I just wish they’d drop their name…music is the last thing on their minds these days.

MTV: tripe rating 5/5