What Are You Watching Right Now?
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NFL: Minnesota Vikings > Washington
Earlier in the day there had been a protest against the use of the name "Redskins" by AIM and others:
Hundreds March In Protest Of Redskins ‘Racist’ Name « CBS Minnesota
Dayton, protesters at Metrodome blast Redskins name | Star Tribune
“We are not a mascot and we don’t deserve to be cartooned.”
Earlier in the day there had been a protest against the use of the name "Redskins" by AIM and others:
Hundreds March In Protest Of Redskins ‘Racist’ Name « CBS Minnesota
Dayton, protesters at Metrodome blast Redskins name | Star Tribune
“We are not a mascot and we don’t deserve to be cartooned.”
Watched a high school football match online. Later on I listened to a local high school match on radio. One of the radio announcers is a coach in an area school and I watched him play in his youth. So good to see kids grow up to be contributive citizens!
I watched the first of a new two-part documentary series last night on BBC Four (with its abundance of science and history programmes, BBC Four is one of the best channels there is) called Light and Dark by University of Surrey theoretical physicist and broadcaster Professor Jim Al-Khalili.
Like Professor Brian Cox, Al-Khalili could be considered to be a celebrity scientist who has appeared on many TV shows to bring science to the masses.
Light and Dark is divided into two episodes, with last night's Episode 1 about Light and next week's Episode 2 about Dark (dark matter to be more precise).
Professor Jim Al-Khalili shows how, by uncovering its secrets, scientists have used light to reveal almost everything we know about the universe. But in the last 30 years we have discovered that far from seeing everything, we have seen virtually nothing. Our best estimate is that more than 99 per cent of the universe is actually hidden in the dark.
The story of how we used light to reveal the cosmos begins in the 3rd century BC when, by trying to understand the tricks of perspective, the Greek mathematician Euclid discovered that light travels in straight lines, a discovery that meant that if we could change its path we could change how we see the world. In Renaissance Italy 2,000 years later, Galileo Galilei did just that by using the lenses of his simple telescope to reveal our true place in the cosmos.
Professor Al-Khalili with a lens in Venice in Episode 1 of Light and Dark
With each new insight into the nature of light came a fresh understanding of the cosmos. It has allowed us to peer deep into space and even revealed the composition and lifecycles of the stars.
In the 1670s, the Danish astronomer Ole Roemer discovered that light travelled at a finite speed, a discovery that had a profound implication. It meant the further one looks out into the universe, the further one looks back in time. And in 1964, by detecting the cosmic microwave background, the afterglow of the big bang, we captured the oldest light in the universe and saw as far back as it's possible to see with light.
Watch episode 1 here:
BBC iPlayer - Light and Dark: Light
Like Professor Brian Cox, Al-Khalili could be considered to be a celebrity scientist who has appeared on many TV shows to bring science to the masses.
Light and Dark is divided into two episodes, with last night's Episode 1 about Light and next week's Episode 2 about Dark (dark matter to be more precise).
Professor Jim Al-Khalili shows how, by uncovering its secrets, scientists have used light to reveal almost everything we know about the universe. But in the last 30 years we have discovered that far from seeing everything, we have seen virtually nothing. Our best estimate is that more than 99 per cent of the universe is actually hidden in the dark.
The story of how we used light to reveal the cosmos begins in the 3rd century BC when, by trying to understand the tricks of perspective, the Greek mathematician Euclid discovered that light travels in straight lines, a discovery that meant that if we could change its path we could change how we see the world. In Renaissance Italy 2,000 years later, Galileo Galilei did just that by using the lenses of his simple telescope to reveal our true place in the cosmos.
Professor Al-Khalili with a lens in Venice in Episode 1 of Light and Dark
With each new insight into the nature of light came a fresh understanding of the cosmos. It has allowed us to peer deep into space and even revealed the composition and lifecycles of the stars.
In the 1670s, the Danish astronomer Ole Roemer discovered that light travelled at a finite speed, a discovery that had a profound implication. It meant the further one looks out into the universe, the further one looks back in time. And in 1964, by detecting the cosmic microwave background, the afterglow of the big bang, we captured the oldest light in the universe and saw as far back as it's possible to see with light.
Watch episode 1 here:
BBC iPlayer - Light and Dark: Light
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Tomorrow is Doctor Who's 50th birthday.
To celebrate, BBC Four last night showed the very first four episodes of the world's longest-running, and most successful, TV sci-fi series. So I watched them last night before the cricket got underway at midnight.
Here is the very first episode of Doctor Who, An Unearthly Child, broadcast on 23rd November 1963.
Two teachers follow a pupil into a junkyard, where they come across her strange grandfather....
An Unearthly Child Part1 - Video Dailymotion
And here's the second ever episode, An Unearthly Child, Part 2.
After arriving in the Stone Age, the gang regret leaving the Tardis:
An Unearthly Child (2) - The Cave of Skulls - Video Dailymotion
Tomorrow night a special 50th anniversay episode of Doctor Who is to be shown on BBC One.
"The Day of the Doctor" has been described by series producer Marcus Wilson as a "love letter to the fans" and by the controller of BBC One, Danny Cohen, as an "event drama".
The special is due to be broadcast simultaneously in several countries, and will also be shown concurrently in 3D in some cinemas.
David Tennant and Billie Piper, who previously starred in Doctor Who as the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler appear in the special. John Hurt will appear as a previously unknown, past incarnation of the Doctor, the "War Doctor", introduced at the end of the Series 7 finale "The Name of the Doctor". Joanna Page stars in this episode. Jemma Redgrave returns as Kate Stewart. The special will feature the return of the Daleks, as well as the return of the Zygons, shape-shifting aliens which up until now have only appeared in the 1975 serial Terror of the Zygons.
On 4 November 2013, the BBC released the official synopsis: "The Doctors embark on their greatest adventure in this 50th anniversary special. In 2013, something terrible is awakening in London’s National Gallery; in 1562, a murderous plot is afoot in Elizabethan England; and somewhere in space an ancient battle reaches its devastating conclusion. All of reality is at stake as the Doctor’s own dangerous past comes back to haunt him."
The Day of the Doctor: The Second TV Trailer - Doctor Who 50th Anniversary - BBC One - YouTube
After tomorrow, the next episode of Doctor Who will be this year's Christmas Day episode, which will see the current Eleventh Doctor, played by Matt Smith, regenerate into the Twelfth Doctor, played by Peter Capaldi. The Cybermen will appear in the episode, which would make it the second time that the Cybermen have appeared in a regeneration story, following The Tenth Planet in 1966, and the second time the Cybermen have appeared in a Christmas special, after The Next Doctor in 2008.
The 34th season of Doctor Who will return in 2014.
To celebrate, BBC Four last night showed the very first four episodes of the world's longest-running, and most successful, TV sci-fi series. So I watched them last night before the cricket got underway at midnight.
Here is the very first episode of Doctor Who, An Unearthly Child, broadcast on 23rd November 1963.
Two teachers follow a pupil into a junkyard, where they come across her strange grandfather....
An Unearthly Child Part1 - Video Dailymotion
And here's the second ever episode, An Unearthly Child, Part 2.
After arriving in the Stone Age, the gang regret leaving the Tardis:
An Unearthly Child (2) - The Cave of Skulls - Video Dailymotion
Tomorrow night a special 50th anniversay episode of Doctor Who is to be shown on BBC One.
"The Day of the Doctor" has been described by series producer Marcus Wilson as a "love letter to the fans" and by the controller of BBC One, Danny Cohen, as an "event drama".
The special is due to be broadcast simultaneously in several countries, and will also be shown concurrently in 3D in some cinemas.
David Tennant and Billie Piper, who previously starred in Doctor Who as the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler appear in the special. John Hurt will appear as a previously unknown, past incarnation of the Doctor, the "War Doctor", introduced at the end of the Series 7 finale "The Name of the Doctor". Joanna Page stars in this episode. Jemma Redgrave returns as Kate Stewart. The special will feature the return of the Daleks, as well as the return of the Zygons, shape-shifting aliens which up until now have only appeared in the 1975 serial Terror of the Zygons.
On 4 November 2013, the BBC released the official synopsis: "The Doctors embark on their greatest adventure in this 50th anniversary special. In 2013, something terrible is awakening in London’s National Gallery; in 1562, a murderous plot is afoot in Elizabethan England; and somewhere in space an ancient battle reaches its devastating conclusion. All of reality is at stake as the Doctor’s own dangerous past comes back to haunt him."
The Day of the Doctor: The Second TV Trailer - Doctor Who 50th Anniversary - BBC One - YouTube
After tomorrow, the next episode of Doctor Who will be this year's Christmas Day episode, which will see the current Eleventh Doctor, played by Matt Smith, regenerate into the Twelfth Doctor, played by Peter Capaldi. The Cybermen will appear in the episode, which would make it the second time that the Cybermen have appeared in a regeneration story, following The Tenth Planet in 1966, and the second time the Cybermen have appeared in a Christmas special, after The Next Doctor in 2008.
The 34th season of Doctor Who will return in 2014.
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I have read where some people in England demanded that Dr Who be cancelled because BBC dared to broadcast it during the three days of national mourning for President Kennedy. It was said that the introduction of the Daleks is what saved the series. Indeed, the Daleks are the greatest villains I have ever seen or read about in all my years of reading and watching TV. I am glad the series was saved and fully accept that no disrespect was shown to the USA or to President Kennedy by the show's presentation.
What about all the other TV programmes that were shown on TV the day after the assassination? You can't stop all TV broadcasting around the world just because the leader of some country was killed.
Doctor Who fact: in the Doctor Who episode Rose (2005), Clive Finch's website includes a picture showing the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) present at the Kennedy assassination (the photo, which shows him just seconds before the shots were fired, is a digitally altered version of a real photograph).
Kennedy wasn't the only famous person to die on 22nd November 1963. That day also saw the death of British novelists C. S. Lewis (who wrote The Chronicles of Narnia) and Aldous Huxley.
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