Scrubs

Source




Scrubs
NBC (2001-2008)
ABC (2009-2010)

Donald Faison (far right) won 2 BET Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a comedy. Faison was in every single episode (182), while Zach Braff (main character, middle), was only in 175. Faison plays Braff's best friend, and they are almost always together joking around (that's what the show is based off of).


I believe that this show is an example that goes against Mr. Bolos' thesis. One of the main characters of the show is African American (Faison). Faison's character goes through struggles that are considered normal. He and his wife have relationship issues, he is starting a family (having kids) with his wife, and he is also worried about his career path (he ends up becoming Chief of Surgery). Although the show is a comedy, it consistently aired from between 7:30 and 8:30 on network channels. At one point, the show was getting easily just as many views as many network dramas. However, in its last couple of seasons, the viewership definitely dwindled off.

Google Glasses? Really?

People who reach into their pocket to check a smartphone for information will soon have another option: a pair of Google-made glasses that will be able to receive and project information to the wearer’s eyeballs in real time.

According to several Google employees familiar with the project, the glasses will go on sale to the public by the end of the year. These people said they are expected “to cost around the price of current smart phones,” or $250 to $600.

The people familiar with the Google glasses said they would be Android-based, and will include a small screen that will sit a few inches from someone’s eye. They will also have a 3G or 4G data connection. 

Now, I am all for new technology that makes things easier on people (like smartphones), but c'mon, this seems a little ridiculous. Having a screen a couple of inches away from your face so you can be updated on your Facebook, Twitter, or whatever other information you need seems kind of ridiculous. Personally, I don't have a Facebook or Twitter because I find it is ridiculously time consuming (time which I could be doing much better things), so I find these glasses completely ridiculous. To the average social network user thinking of getting these glases, are you really to lazy to walk to your computer, or grab your phone from your pocket, or even pull your tablet out of your backpack just so you can stay updated on your internet life?

If anyone reading this thinks this is a cool idea for some new technology, I would love to hear your opinion on my paragraph above.

50 Years Since the First Orbit

Glenn on the cover of TIME

On February 20, 1962, astronaut John Glenn squeezed into the cockpit of a Mercury spacecraft called Friendship 7. The spacecraft was launched by an Atlas rocket from Cape Canaveral, Glenn circled the Earth three times, becoming the first American to orbit the planet. This spaceflight that took all of 4 hours, 55 minutes and 23 seconds of it — showed the nation what we are able to accomplish.

Glenn saw three sunsets and sunrises that day, from an altitude of 162 miles. At each sunrise, an explosion of what looked like fireflies appeared outside the window, mystifying him. Then came a signal of a suspected problem that had ground controllers bracing for an uncertain, possibly catastrophic re-entry into the atmosphere.

Luckily, the ending was a glorious one. A collective sigh of relief was heard across the land. The president rushed off to Cape Canaveral to hail the returning hero. Bands played. People cried. Never mind that a Soviet cosmonaut had already spent 25 hours in orbit. As author Tom Wolfe has written, “John Glenn made us whole again!”

What we need now is another moment like that to bring the nation together. With the economy still struggling and people divided by their political beliefs, we need some sort of event to bring us all together like the first orbit of Earth in 1962. With NASA not as big as it was back in the 60's and 70's, what will be the event that causes us to come together as a nation and celebrate together?

This post is  meant to commemorate John Glenn's feat rather than to talk about current issues.

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

Operating on money and equipment scrounged from the public and from Silicon Valley millionaires, a band of astronomers (SETI) recently restarted one of the iconic quests of modern science, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, which had been suspended last year by a lack of financing.

Early in December, 42 radio telescopes, known as the Allen Telescope Array came to life and resumed hopping from star to star in the constellation Cygnus, listening for radio broadcasts from alien civilizations. The lines are now open, but with lingering financial problems, how long they will remain that way is anybody’s guess.

Under terms of an agreement still being negotiated, the Air Force will pay for a share of the operations at Hat Creek, which costs about $1.5 million (plus another $1 million a year to pay the astronomers). The money raised so far will buy a few months of work at best.

Should we be spending time and money searching for this "needle in a haystack"? Well, on SETI's Wikipedia page, there are some naysayers. "Some in the UFO community, such as nuclear physicist Stanton Friedman, say there is no basis for the search and it is therefore unscientific". These claims, along with many others, have plagued SETI's funding and progress throughout the years, but now they hope to make an amazing discovery with their funding from the Air Force.

Personally, I love the idea of searching for extraterrestrial life. The idea of another living thing being out there somewhere really grabs my interest, and I only imagine what we could learn from these people, and what we could teach them. The drive that these astronomers are showing is remarkable, and I really hope that they find something in the billions of light years that surround us, both for themselves and mankind.