District 9 – A Movie Review

Thirty years ago, aliens made first contact with Earth. Humans waited for the hostile attack, or the giant advances in technology. Neither came. Instead, the aliens were refugees, the last survivors of their home world. Lay and I went to see this movie at an 11 AM showing last weekend. I’d read all these great reviews, and thought it might be a decent film. Unfortunately, I was somewhat disappointed.

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The Kilogram is Losing Weight

More than 100 years ago a salt shaker sized object made of platinum and iridium was forged in London. This was then shipped to Paris where it was shaped and polished and carefully weighed until it was exactly one kilogram (about 2.2 pounds). By international treaty, this then became the international for the exact weight of a kilogram. The problem is, the mass of the cylinder may be changing.

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Band of Brothers – A Mini-Series Review

This is the story of “E” Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division from their initial training starting in 1942 to the end of World War II. They parachuted behind enemy lines in the early hours of D-Day in support of the landings at Utah beach, participated in the liberation of Carentan and again parachuted into action during Operation Market Garden. They also liberated a concentration camp and were the first to enter Hitler’s mountain retreat in Berchtesgarten. A fascinating tale of comradeship that is, in the end, a tale of ordinary men who did extraordinary things. Worth everyone of it’s 705 minutes.

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Billionaire Insurance CEO’s – $102k per hour salaries

Ed Schultz of The Ed Show interviews Robert Greenwald about an investigative report on the CEO of United Health Care Group. Turns out the guy is making about $102,000 per hour. At one point a few years ago his salary alone accounted for $1 in every $700 spent on healthcare in America. The fact is, in this country we have always recognized that some things are not best left to the marketplace.

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