A DIAMOND AS BIG AS A PLANET

A diamond as big as a planet? Just imagine...
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2090471,00.html?hpt=hp_c2


I have a good name for it: "Carbonetta"

Thank you, Rocket Robin Hood.

(More planets featured in the above series: "Arborea"; "Nocturna"
Of course, when I was a kiddie, those names went over my head.)

NEW MUNSTERS SERIES?

I used the watch The Munsters (CBS, 1964-1966) when I was a kid. Would I watch it as an adult? I have not seen it in years. The Addams Family (ABC, 1964-1966) still stands up well.

My vote for a new cast... the only person who comes to mind is journalist Andy Rooney, as 'Grandpa Munster'.

One of the most memorable things about The Munsters is the great theme tune by Jack Marshall.


Here is the story...
http://tvguide.ca/TVNews/Articles/110814_munsters_remake_planned_GD

An overview of The Munsters...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Munsters

TVO ON NORMAN JEWISON

TVO (TVOntario) repeats A Tribute to Norman Jewison tomorrow, Sunday, August 14th, at 6pm.

ERIC MARGOLIS ON TWITTER

I am a fan of writer Eric Margolis: I would read the Toronto Sun rag on Sundays when they used to run his column; now I read his well-informed and opinionated musings on his website (http://www.ericmargolis.com/).

However, I keep forgetting that he is now on Twitter (http://twitter.com/#!/ericmargolis).

Dig this comment he made on August 10th regarding China's "new" aircraft carrier...

"US asks China why it needs a just-relaunched used aircraft carrier. What imperial chutzpah! The US has 11 big attack carriers."


... I say, "Good point!"

CANADIAN TV MIGHT SNOW

Greg Quill of the Toronto Star has written a nice overview to Canada's upcoming switch to 'digital broadcast' tv. Like many Canadians who use an antenna to grab tv broadcasts, I will be S-out-of-luck on August 31st since I do not have the proper equipment to convert the digital encoded signals to my analogue television.

My dilemma is that I can't really justify, right now, the cost of the converter box. (They will retail for about $100.00 including taxes.) I might want to pull out the calculator to work out how much tv I actually do watch, and break it down into dollars and cents; keeping in mind, of course, the point where the investment in a box is paid in full.

An interesting note to all this: American viewers who live near the Canadian border, and who watch and enjoy Canadian stations over-the-air, have been frustrated in the last couple of years -- ever since the U.S. undertook the complete changeover to digital.


The Toronto Star article...
http://www.toronto.com/article/694325--some-canadians-won-t-be-able-to-adjust-their-sets

SOBERING TRUTH RE U.S. POLITICS

I don't often agree with anything that Toronto Sun opinion writer Mark Bonokoski says, including much of what is in his column today regarding the U.S. debt crisis...
http://www.torontosun.com/2011/08/05/usa-home-of-the-broke

... But this point he makes about that great nation's political state-of-affairs, is sobering...

Because of its electoral structure, it is a nation that is forever in election mode, with virtually no breathing room in which to get down to the nation’s business without partisan politics ruling the debate and blowing apart even the sanest of objectives.

NO AAA FOR USA TODAY

Credit rating agency Standard and Poor (S&P) has lowered the United States of America from a AAA to an AA+ standing.

Scary news indeed, especially for we Canadians. The U.S. is our biggest trading partner.

This morning I was doing my Internet news-site roundup, when it occurred to me to see what right-wing rag Fox News (http://www.foxnews.com/) had to say.

The Business end of Fox News had a look into what countries still maintain an AAA rating, tenuously or otherwise. Look at their take on Canada...

2. Canada
> GDP per capita: $39,057.444
Canada has a solid triple-A rating, and its deep trading ties to the U.S. does not jeopardize it, even if the U.S. has a troubled triple-A with a negative outlook. Canada has vast natural resources and its citizens mostly avoided the real estate and debt bubble that hurt the U.S. The population is under 34 million, its GDP is about $1.33 trillion, and public debt at the end of 2010 was a mere 34% or projected GDP. Neither Moody’s nor S&P have any issues with the triple-A ratings and stable outlook, and our take is that Canada is perhaps the safest triple-A rating of all nations in the Western Hemisphere.


Here's the whole piece, from which the above was extracted...
http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2011/08/05/last-countries-with-triple-ratings-and-those-at-risk-losing-them/

WELCOME BACK BARRY - FORD QUALITY

By the way, I welcome myself back to the blogfold. I have been (cripes, I almost keyed-in "lazy") busy recently with career stuff -- as in, maintaining some sort of career.

Oh... Rob Ford: Brainless mayor of Toronto. I'll post something soon. His brother, Doug, wants to close a few branches of the Toronto Public Library system. Let's face it, The Fords have probably rarely stepped into a library of any system. And I doubt they read. Sports Illustrated does not count, if you are just looking at the colourful pictures.

Hmm, who would I rather have a coffee or dinner with, The Fords or Margaret Atwood? The question is, who is more my intellectual equal?


(Photo above: "Hi, I'm Rob Ford, and this is my brother Doug." The Wonder Twins.)

FOREIGN HOLLYWOOD FILMS

Yes, why are Hollywood films so bad (lacking) today?

David Ignatius of the Washington Post has something to say about the subject...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/hollywoods-small-screen/2011/08/03/gIQAsyiqsI_story.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions

... We must be careful when using generalizations, but Ignatius is correct. Hollywood has been bad for a while.

Example: Rise of the Apes is an action movie. Hollywood treats everything as an action movie, now. If Citizen Kane were remade today, it would be an action movie.