Friday, December 26, 2008

A Scientology Christmas

Well, the following, posted today by a Church of Scientology Organization, is not precisely what I would call a good message.
We are the hope of man. The only hope. ... Mankind’s salvation lies within our hands.
Of course every religion, almost, think it holds the exclusivity on salvation. But really... not my cup of tea!

Updates on Valkyrie

Metacritic has gone from 15 reviews to 30, and the score has only slightly changed, from 59 to 58. While there still is only one really bad review giving 20, there are now two reviews above 75, giving 83 and a whooping 91 respectively. It also has now 5 user votes with an average of 60, but apparently not yet actual comments.

Only small change too for RottenTomatoes, but in the other direction: from 62 to 63. Out of the 15 new reviews, 10 are positive and 5 negative.

IMDB no change except for more very positive reviews.

So - on the whole, the so-so to positive assessment holds still. Now mostly waiting for user reviews and reactions, then later on the stats.

R.I.P. Traci Williams

The Washington Post reports the death of Traci L. Williams, who died from cancer at the age of 45. Traci was an actress, arts educator, and Scientologist.

From 1985 to 1995, Traci performed for the "Living Stage Theatre Company" in schools, jails and the juvenile justice system. The company also organized theater workshops for disabled children, troubled teenagers and the incarcerated.

From 1995 until earlier this year, she worked for the Church of Scientology community outreach and education programs.

Traci seemed to have found her way into helping others through her art. Whatever we may think about some of her choices, there is no doubt that she must have put all her heart into it. Ultimately, I believe, that this is what counts.

PS - Her decease is reported in ARS together with some confusing information as to whether she blew from the CoS or not.

Laptops Finally Take Their Rightful Place

Slashdot echoes other news stories about the fact that notebook sales have surpassed desktop sales for the first time in history.

It's been years since I only use laptops. It's so much more practical than desktops that I wonder why people still bother with them at all.

I always advise people to buy a laptop rather than a desktop and they invariably come back to me and say that this was a great advice.

There may be some ergonomic arguments for work stations, but it's easy enough to build one around a laptop too, and in addition it also allows you to take your work with you when you need to go on mission or on an extensive holiday (maybe that later is not such a good idea, though). As for "power", most laptops are now powerful enough to perform reasonably well.

Desktops are an endangered species.