Happy Belated Anniversary to Elements of Style & Random Thing #8

Somehow I missed that April 16th was the 50th anniversary of Strunk & White's Elements of Style. Required reading in my Freshman English Comp class in college and a handy thing to have lying around in general. I know some disagree, but I'd rather go wrong using Strunk & White's advice than try to muddle through improving my writing on my own. At least I think it sounds better to say "But that's what Elements of Style suggests." than "uh, well, it looked ok to to the MS Grammar check".

NPR did a radio commentary in honor of the anniversary - you can click on this link for the audio (you may need to click again inside the player to start it) or this link to read it - but I think it's more fun to listen to.

Random thing:

When I was younger I went to night classes at a Bible college, taught at a private Baptist Church school and was one of my church's teen group's adult leaders. I loved the Biblical Archeology class best - the whole history of the Middle East region and shards of evidence of the historical lives of the Bible figures was fascinating - and the professor had spent extensive time doing digs at places like Jericho. I also was active in various Bible studies for many years before and after that. So when I heard about a TV show that was loosely based on the story of David and Saul (the story is told in the books of Samuel and others in the Bible), set in a present, but alternate universe, timeline, I thought I'd watch. I rarely catch it on TV, so I watch the full episodes on NBC.com during lunch break or after work. I was chatting about the most recent episode with my husband today:

DH: kings?

me: it's a mini-series

you'd hate it

me: sort of an alt-history loosely based on the story of David and Saul in the Bible and has a slight "homage to Dallas and Falcon Crest" feel to it

DH: i misread that initially and thought it said "david soul", not "david & saul"

and i was very confused

me: heh

DH: an alternate history based on david soul in the bible?

wtf?

jesus & hutch?

me: Jesus & Hutch...you're gonna get hit by lightning

DH: so long as it's cold lightning, i'm ok with that

it's HOT

And that's my random thing.

Thinking about buying Elements of Style? Click here and a few pennies go into Dawno's beading fund...

Billions and Billions...

About an hour ago I read on Whatever that Carl Sagan's brilliant Cosmos is now available to view on Hulu. So if I seem to have disappeared, it's because I'm watching. I don't think I saw much (if any) of it live when it was running and I'm thrilled to have this opportunity. If you want to watch, here's ep. 1 - then go to Hulu to see the rest.

BSG Finale & Random Thing #4

Watched the BSG finale last night with DH. Other than finding the heavy handed moralizing annoying, the 'tribute' to the old show's theme song sappy, too many flashbacks (just had to go 2 hrs for a "proper" finale, so let's film some flashback filler), and a mild case of wtf with Starbuck, I enjoyed it.

Now here's the question I bet you're all been wondering about: what season passes are on Dawno's TiVo? Even if you're not, I'm posting them. It's Random Thing #4 (at this rate I'll get to #50 some time in 2014)

ETA: 30 Rock
Bones
BSG
Castle
CSI (only the original one though)
ETA: Chuck (thanks for the reminder, Alby)
Dollhouse
Eureka
Heroes
House
Lie to Me
Lost
Mad Men
Monk
My Name is Earl
NCIS
NUMB3RS
Psyche
Reaper
Trust Me

Things I watch online because they're not TiVo'd for one or another reason

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Damages
Raising the Bar
Smallville

Lots of speculative or science oriented shows with some police-type procedurals thrown in and a couple lawyer dramas. Did I ever mention that until I realized I'd never "get" the math, I wanted to be a scientist? I didn't care what type, but from about 3rd grade I wanted to do something that entailed lab coats and beakers or better yet, a space suit. Then in college I thought about law. Although I didn't end up in either, at least I work in tech now. I may not design or program the stuff, but I do get to see lots of cool tech in action every day and use a lot of it, too.

Billionare in the Basement

Anyone else think Bill has a shot at a new career in sit coms?