Facebook Science

While I know that Facebook has its uses, it often becomes a forum for people to troll and toss out opinions that no sane person would speak. I try not to engage in such discussions, because too often people defend their opinion so strongly that it becomes abusive. The responses by some can be incredibly telling though.

I was reading a post there about a group of Japanese high school students who had developed a process on how to observe the development of a fertilized chicken egg. The process seemed incredibly basic, yet fascinating. They cracked open an egg gently, placing the yolk and albumen in a clear cellophane/plastic cup, capping it, and placing it into an incubator. The video showed the chick forming and eventually "hatching" without a shell. The resulting chick was just chirping around.

One commenter was a high school teacher who lamented that Japanese classes in science was "light years ahead" of American classes. While I don't necessarily agree with the statement, I think generally people believe that Japanese schools are more rigid and advanced. Lots of the opposing comments refuted his claims, some more vehemently than others.

The comments that made me both laugh and shake my head was from younger folks who commented that "light year" was a unit of distance not time, implying that the teacher was incorrectly using the terminology and, therefore, had no place to comment on education issues. When the teacher told them that "light years ahead" was a common expression of advancement, and even provided a dictionary link for the term, he was dismissed by the same commenters because they had never encountered it before.

The irony was amazing, these ignorant younger people arguing about the expression versus the literal in a discussion about the status of American education. I just shook my head.

Disgusted, I just moved on to a cute story about rescued kittens.

The Conjuring 2

After a long day of work, errands, and getting a tire fixed, I met my buddy Rob for dinner and a movie. We went to go see "The Conjuring 2".

This sequel tells another supernatural investigation by Ed and Lorraine Warren, this time they travel to London, England to help a family terrorized by the ghost of a elderly man. Weary of the stresses this is having on them, the Warrens reluctantly agree to go to monitor the situation, but become very engrossed in the supernatural goings-on in the home.

The first Conjuring movie gave way too much away in the previews. The sequel learned their lesson and loaded this movie with startling jumps and scares galore. The demon in the film takes on the form of a terrifying nun, guaranteed to spook anyone, especially anyone with a Catholic background. The theater was packed and the young lady sitting next to me was stereotypically jumping and screaming at every hair-raising moment.

With the scares and the wonderful 1977 setting, including the teenage girl room full of posters of Starsky & Hutch, The New Avengers (with Joanna Lumley), and pop stars of the era, I loved it.

Patrick Wilson, who plays Ed Warren, has some nice pecs under that shirt of his, though no bare chest scenes (darn it). My buddy Rob proclaimed this as the best horror flick I ever dragged him to. It's got a 70-something % rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is high for a horror flick.