Letters to the Editor
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Published Letters: 349 Editor's Choice: 43
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Well Acted? Brilliant?
[Read the article: Everything you were afraid to ask about "Battlestar Galactica" ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Yes the original was a bit cheesy, but it was well acted and actually had some brilliant moments.
Let me guess - you haven't seen it since you were about 10, right? The original was a cesspit of cheeze. The Colonials, apparently nonplussed by the destruction of their homeworlds, were gambling and whooping it up on Planet Las Vegas about a week later as though nothing had ever happened. And the less said about Lorne Green's acting, the better. The Terminix bills alone must have crippled the production.
I think the most interesting thing about the new Galactica is that the human characters on it actually behave the way humans behave in the real world. They sleep around, have their own agendas and bigotries, their own grudges and obsessions. They make mistakes, exercise bad judgment, and occasionally have brilliant insights or make great sacrifices. It's a refreshing change from the kind of one note, cardboard cut outs featured on most programs, especially genre shows of the past, like the various Star Trek, where uptight, ludicrously flawless heroes traversed the universe in their spandex Underoos.
This kind of stuff has been going on in literary science fiction for decades, but for some reason never really migrated to either the silver screen or the small screen. Babylon 5 probably came the closest, but the dialog was excruciating and with no budget the production values left more than a little to be desired. I'd pretty much given up on televised science fiction - I'm way too old for comic books. It's nice to finally see someone do the genre justice on the small screen.
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Number Six
[Read the article: Everything you were afraid to ask about "Battlestar Galactica" ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Baltar may be hallucinating #6, or she may really have put something in his brain back on Caprica; we still don't know for sure.
Don't forget, when we meet the resurrected Six, we discover she has her own Baltar stuck in her head, offering similar advice. Either they're both hallucinating, or maybe they both had something put in their heads.
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Has He Established Residency?
[Read the article: I let a homeless man move in with me and now I can't get rid of him]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Is there any proof he's been in your apartment a long time? If not, you could always lie and say he just showed up a few days ago - whatever timeframe would be under the "squatter's rights" limit.
Has mail been turning up for him? If so, for how long? You could always claim he changed his address before he actually moved in . . .
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If Only . . .
[Read the article: Lieberman's unusual take on "the facts"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]America has a heated political debate, but liberals and conservatives aren't shooting mortars at each other and we don't have pitched battles in the streets.
Puh-leeze. As if any "conservative" politicians would know how to shoot a mortar. The only thing they're consistently good at is dodging military service, with their anal cysts and such.
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Like The Idea Of A Radio Beacon
[Read the article: Beware the ninja Prius]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think it's a great idea. All cars should be equipped with one, not just the hybrids - would make it a lot easier for the blind to hear cars approaching, even if they're coasting in neutral, backing up slowly or traveling in an area with a lot of background noise.
Having hybrids make more noise seems to undo one of their big advantages - they produce less noise pollution than standard cars.
>The difference in this case is that their
>"need" for this special device is created
>solely by your selfish lack of willingness
>to accommodate their special needs.
Why should we increase the amount of noise pollution just to alleviate a "problem" of dubious concern? And are you also going to address the fact that bicycles also don't make any noise, and are more than capable of plowing into a blind person and killing them without warning?
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Gauge Location
[Read the article: Beware the ninja Prius]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]And all new Toyotas, it seems, is that all the gauges are in the middle of the dash instead of above and behind the steering wheel, which means the driver's eyes are now drawn *away* from the road when doing things like eyeballing the spedometer.
Glancing at any gauge forces you to take your eyes off the road. They have to refocus briefly to look at the nearby instrument cluster, then refocus back on the road when you look up. It's been shown that instrument clusters in the center of the dash reduce the amount of time it takes to refocus when looking at them and then back at the road, probably because they're a bit further away and your focus doesn't have to change as much (you're also typically just looking over, not down).
If you have to physically turn your head to look at them there's either something wrong with your vision or you're sitting way too close to the dash - you should be able to glance at them without moving your head at all. (Which, by the way, taller folks often can't do with gauges mounted in front of them - they have to tilt their heads down as well, which means it'll take them even longer to refocus on the road once they're done.)
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Reality
[Read the article: Beware the ninja Prius]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What is the maximum annual rate of dead or maimed blind people that Prius owners would be willing to tolerate before they would be willing to change anything about their own cars?
Given the fact the current annual number of blind people maimed or killed by a Prius because it's (sometimes) quieter than more conventional vehicles is apparently zero, I think I'd rather we focus our attentions on real issues with some sort of impact in the real world.
But you're certainly free to get your panties in a bunch over imaginary issues.
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Back Here On Planet Earth
[Read the article: The rubes and the elites]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The latest polls are out, and apparently this whole "bitter" flap has had little to no impact on Obama's poll numbers. My guess is if Hillary and McCain and their media surrogates like Lind keep harping on it it'll blow up in their faces and actually drive voters to Obama.
Which will make Hillary even more bitter than she already is . . .