Global, Local

We had a very pleasant weekend, including seeing two movies. The first was "An Inconvenient Truth", which was very well constructed. Not that I need to be convinced about global warming, but I thought Gore presented the scientific reasoning in a very clear fashion. Great graphs - I need some of those graphs. I am such a geek. We also saw an IMAX film, "Roving Mars". It was nicely done, but I found some of the mix of computer graphics and real images bothersome. For example, often when the rovers are shown roving on Mars, the devices are moving against real images that they have sent back to Earth. The blend is wonderfully done, but I wonder if the audience misses out on what is real and what isn't? As a scientist and educator, I find myself being concerned about such things. And I wanted more images of Mars!

We are lucky to have an IMAX theater in our neighborhood, but it's in a very busy mall. Yesterday the mall was even more annoying than usual, with a beauty pageant for little girls occurring in the food court. Yes, six-year old girls wearing bikinis, parading in front of strangers, learning that their self-worth is totally dependent on their body image. Good job, parents!

Speaking of the neighborhood, Greg has mentioned our concern for First Person Shooter, the man who's always playing computer games at our Starbucks. Recently he's been there at all times of day and night, obviously without leaving, and we had grown convinced that he was living out of his truck. That's never easy, but 110 degree weather makes it even worse. We haven't seen him for a few days, and we've found that we're kinda worried for him. We're also worried for Preacher Dude, He's a pastor near the university, and for ages he's been at Starbucks in the morning writing his sermons and chatting with everyone. He's the kind of man who will let you know you're welcome to show up for Christmas Eve services, but doesn't attempt to preach to you. He was gone for quite awhile, and we had assumed he was off on one of his frequent trips, but he came back this week painfully thin and obviously ill - cancer. If you have time, beam healing thoughts towards Preacher Dude; he'd do the same for you.