Stan Winston

Stan Winston has left this world. he isn't somebody that most people knew something about. the news of the day wasn't replaced by stories about him on 24 hour news networks. thousands of people didn't do TV interviews about him that day. the president didn't mention him. many people have no idea who he is.

some do though. some might have caught a little about his death in the news. hollywood mentioned it. many there knew him.

he was the kind of person the geeky types might have known. he did things we respect.

what did he do? he brought aliens to life. he gave rise to the terminator. he helped dinosaurs walk the land. he gave vampires the power to frighten us.

Stan was a makeup/special effects/CGI wizard.

when i was still pretty young, i recall watching "Aliens" and "Terminator" and being scared outta my wits by the incredible effects. that was Stan.

Predators? he brought those to life too. Dinosaurs? them too.

T3, Ironman, Bigfish, Pearl Harbor. what he did best was mix together makeup work, animatronics, models, and CGI. he did a little of it all. that is why the stuff he did looked so good. it never depended on a single method, but used every possible tool in the box to make the effect look as real as possible.

he won an entire closet full of awards, including 4 oscars, by making things that couldn't possibly be real, exist on the screen.

i am geek, i admit it. when i heard that he had died, i actually knew the name without hearing the rest of the news blurb. my first thought was that without him, some of the scenes that snuck into my nightmares would never have happened.......

damn he was good. i am gonna miss his work.

critical thinking

there are two kinds of idiots in our climate

Part whatever in a series...

in what may have to be an on going theme, i post another comment on critical thinking...



that is not a great picture. i mean it is ok, but nothing special. i took it, and post it here for one reason only.....

imagine standing in front of this view. imagine that it is about 40 degrees. imagine that you have just learned that the weather is so cold and the growing season so short that the trees in the distance stand only 3 feet tall, even though they are 400 years old. imagine that you just learned that 3 glaciers feed into the lakes in this valley. imagine that all you can smell is pine, and the ice floating on the water. you can actually Smell the ice....

now imagine that you stepped into the edge of the lake, in about 8 inches of water, in sandals, and then turned and yelled at the tour guide who told you all of the above information, "You didn't warn me that it is cold water!"

cause about 4 seconds before i took that picture, that is what i watched a woman do.

it boggles the mind.

the stupidity goes on

"“John McCain stood up to the President and sounded the alarm on global warming five years ago. Today, he has a realistic plan that will curb greenhouse gas emissions,” an announcer says in the ad. The 30-second spot also says that McCain’s plan “will help grow our economy and protect our environment.”"

As mentioned below, the "realistic plan" includes drilling for less than a years worth of oil that we won't see for 17 years. By destroying ANWR.

I missed the realistic part. And the protecting the environment part. And the part where giving more cash to the already loaded oil companies is an economy grower. And the part where that cuts emissions.

OK, not one word of the plan actually relates to one word of the claims. Except as an antonym.

McCain, not just fail, Epic Fail.

how do these people walk and chew gum at the same time?

there are two kinds of fools in our government

Part whatever in a series...

John McCain, today:

""We have proven oil reserves of at least 21 billion barrels in the United States. But a broad federal moratorium stands in the way of energy exploration and production,” McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, will say at a Houston speech late Tuesday afternoon, according to advance excerpts released by his campaign. “And I believe it is time for the federal government to lift these restrictions and to put our own reserves to use.""

So lets do some math...

1. America currently uses 22 billion barrels a year.

2. McCain, is wrong (or lying, he is a republican after all) about the figure. 21 billion was 2 years ago. It hasn't stayed at that amount, and it isn't growing. The current estimate is 18.

Even if he was right, and we could get at all of it, (which we can't, and not because of a moratorium) that is a whole year of oil. Less actually.

So Mr. Straight talk, what do we do for 2010?

Naturally that is an oversimplification. First of all, we can't get it all. Some is simply not accessible by modern technology. And the stuff we can get too? Well it will take about 17 years to get a meaningful amount to market. Won't that be helpful? If it is going to take 17 years anyway, why not use that time and money to develop alternative energy?

And when it does get to the market, it will make a huge difference. In fact the department of energy estimates that if the current price holds until then, that drilling will drop the price 50 whole cents! Go wild! Buy an SUV! Buy 2! Buy a Hummer!

But then that is assuming that the oil companies pass the savings on to us.

....you know, those companies that just posted record profits even though they are getting record size tax breaks?

Yeah, I bet they slash prices to the bone......

a lack of critical thinking

there are two kinds of denial in our climate

Part whatever in a series...

I am sitting an airport, waiting to board, and listening to a man explain that global warming is all a lie, because, "when you see chunks fall off those glaciers? That has been happening for like, 75, or even 100 years!"

Actually, make that hundreds of thousands of years. And it is called sluffing or calving. And it has less than nothing to do with warming, or cooling, or ice growth, or loss. It has to do with the fact that the glacier is leaving a stable land area and over hanging the water. At that point the weight of the ice overcomes the strength of it, and pieces fall off.

It is hard to prove any fact to man that has an interest in not believing a fact. But the fact remains.