The amazing shrinking oscar-winning director!

I just read this article in SMH and had to look three times at this picture to be sure. What diet is Jackson on!?!

Tags: adros47, Adros47's Online Headspace, Peter Jackson

Where's Pablo? Terracotta stunt - Unusual Tales - Specials - smh.com.au

Where's Pablo? Terracotta stunt - Unusual Tales - Specials - smh.com.au

I love this report! It has everything! Fulfilling a lifelong dream, fooling Chinese police, disguises and wacky Germans! Can't wait for the movie! Pablo, you're a genius!

Tags: adros47, adros47's Online Headspace, China, terracotta warriors, performance art

Tubby Gets a Name

For all you regular readers, you may remember some recent posts of mine concerning planets. Particularly the 'dwarf planet' 2003 UB₃₁₃. This dwarf planet sparked a riot for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it was discovered way out in the Trans-Neptunian asteroid belt way, way, way beyond Pluto and just happens to be slightly bigger than Pluto. Planet status for 313 seemed inevitable until the IAU, in it's infinite wisdom, classified it as a dwarf planet, along with Pluto and Ceres - see my comments here. Secondly, it became popularly known as Xena, and it's little moon, Gabrielle. Aaarrrrggghhhhh!! I refuse to allow a celestial body to be named after a TV character. (Don't get me started on a certain Disney dog...) So I gave it a new name based on it's astronomical designation: 'Tubby'. Good ol' Tubby.

Anyway, here's the latest announcement from the IAU. Tubby isn't Xena. It's 'Eris'. The moon, Tubby Jr, is called 'Dysnomia'. As Bad Astronomy website points out Dysnomia is the Goddess of Lawlessness.

Lucy in the sky with diamonds indeed!

Tags: adros47, Adros47's Online Headspace, astronomy, IAU, Eris, Dysnomia, planet

Space Project Names - You'd need to be Hercules to Figure it Out!

Check out this article from The Space Review website for a humorous look at the current nomenclature of the next generation manned space program (or is project?)

So far there's working names like Crew Exploration Vehicle, Cargo Launch Vehicle and Lunar Surface Access Module. So some NASA brainiac tried to simplify it with catchy names, hence Project Constellation, Orion, Ares 5.

I think I'll be the first of article author Greg Zsidisin's rubes and call the whole thing Project Consternation!

Tags: adros47, adros47's Online Headspace, NASA, Mars, human spaceflight, Constellation, Ares, Orion

New Coke was a failure. New Coke cans are a hit!

The Coke marketing gurus have struck again... I kinda like it! This is what they get paid to do... People are going to swarm to these cans and the beaty is they're paying a premium price for less drink. Pure genius. Here's the article.

Tags: Coke, Adros47, Adros47's Online Headspace

TV Shows by Weight (Simpsons underweight? Who knew?)

This article from SMH is absolutely fscinating. It basically sorted TV shows preferred by viewers of different categories, ie underweight, normal and obese. Here are the results:

Obese people watch: Numb3rs; Criminal Minds, NCIS, Las Vegas, Ghost Whisperer, House, Medium, Cold Case, CSI, Law and Order, Survivor, Crossing Jordan, My Name Is Earl, Grey's Anatomy, Prison Break.

Underweight people watch: Smallville, 7th Heaven, American Dad, The Simpsons, Family Guy, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Malcolm in the Middle, Friends, Charmed, South Park, America's Next Top Model.

People whose weight is normal for their age and height watch: The O.C., Sex and the City, Dr Phil, Will and Grace, Supernanny, Desperate Housewives, Veronica Mars.

Firstly, it's important to keep in mind that these are American stats, but, as the article says, our weight stats and popular TV shows are disturbingly similar to the USA, so there's a good bet these results match Aussies as well.

So what's the deal? What's the correlation? Here's my take:

The first group has a clear theme. Fatties love the Drama Holy Trinity - Doctors, Lawyers, Cops. The only big departures are Ghost Whisperer and My Name is Earl. Two shows where the main character is, shall we say, living within normal society by only the slimmest of margins. While these types of shows are prime time, we can't really say that non-obese people don't watch prime time TV - have a look and you'll note some familiar friends there like The O.C., Sex and the City, and Desperate Housewives. What's the difference?

I think obese viewers are drawn to the rough and tumble world of funning down the city streets, gun in hand. Or, to put it another way, while this will also attract the normal weight viewers, they're not put off by the domestic dramas the way the obese viewers are. The O.C., Sex and the City, and Desperate Housewives. Are set, for the most part, in houses: bedrooms and kitchens. This is where obese people live and they reject these shows as too close to home.

What about the skinnies? Well, the supermodel show is a no brainer; Anorexics think alike. There's a lot of comedy in that group, maybe laughter burns calories. Or maybe Southpark and Millionaire put them right off their food. If you forced me to watch Eddy Maguire for too long, I'd be running too!

Update:

I just thought of an additional consideration. These Holy Trinity shows most viewed by the obese viewers are in an old , tired genre. NYPD Blue is now NCIS, LA Law is Boston Legal and Law and Order just won't quit! Maybe the inability to change eating habits among the obese viewers is mirrored in their inability to adapt to new genres. Anyway, pass me a chocolate bar, Cold Case is about to start...

Tags: TV, weight, obese, adros47, Adros47s Online Headspace