the glory and the horror

So we haven’t mentioned our dog much lately, and that’s probably because anything we mention wouldn’t exactly be very nice. That’s not to say that we don’t love our dog, Buddy, but it is true that he’s not the most well-behaved pup around. He really thinks he runs the show, and we are constantly fighting with him, trying to get him to understand WE are the owners, and he is the pet. We’re doing the training, not him. All in all, though, the past 4 months have shown an improvement. He generally knows the rules inside the house, and he’s starting to figure out that “Sit” means butt on the ground. We’ll make progress, someday. I think we also need to get our trainers to come back and help us out. After all, we paid for it, and so we want our money’s worth.

So there are two space dramas to talk about today. First, there’s the recent news bit that China has shot down a satellite, and proved that it’s something that they can do. This is very interesting, because I don’t think the US has even tried to do it yet, and this may be the first step in China trying to assert itself as a world power, threatening one of the US’s sources of power – its satellite network used for surveillance, GPS, communications, etc. We’ll see.

Secondly, and much more fun, is the Sci-Fi Channel’s series, Battlestar Galactica. Kathleen and I are tearing through the series. We’ve finished season 2.5, and we can’t get enough. It’s more than a science fiction flick, like the old version of Battlestar, and would be better classified as a space drama. It has real characters, with depth, strengths and flaws. It looks at human nature and asks very hard questions about choice, liberty, freedom, survival, media and the military, the greater good vs. individual freedoms, political philosophy, artifical intelligence, and xenophobia. Of course, this is all being written and shot with the war in Iraq as the backdrop. It’s quite a riveting story and I can’t wait for them to release this season on DVD. Thank you, Isaac, for our latest addiction.