The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by Mike Adelstein:

In this post 9/11 world, we can't forget Robin Hobb's Assasin's Apprentice, Royal Assasin and Assasin's Quest. Lots of useful self-help skills there (although most of them would cause more problems than they would solve)

As a parent of two small children I just wanted to thank Patrick for posting the article.

Absolutely heartbreaking story.

Sorry about that -- browser error caused it to post twice. Not sure how to delete the second one...

What is really driving me nuts with vaccine issues is Merck's decision to stop making the individual measles, mumps and rubella vaccines and only to make the MMR vaccine.

Here is my nightmare story -- my wife and I have always been ok with having our children vaccinated (for many of the reasons already discussed), but I was concerned with giving them three live viruses at the same time (after being born early at 27 weeks, I wasn't taking any chances -- various doctors felt it would be safer for them to get the shots separately). So, we get the mumps shot, wait a few months and get the rubella shot. I then go into the Dr's office and discover that they are out of the Measles vaccine. I call every pharmacy I can thing of -- no luck. There are no more single doses of the measles vaccine to give to them. Did Merck or any doctor provide any warning that this might happen -- nope.

So, my family is forced to deal with the decision of not to get vaccinated for measles at all or wait a while and eventually get the MMR.

What is really driving me nuts with vaccine issues is Merck's decision to stop making the individual measles, mumps and rubella vaccines and only to make the MMR vaccine.

Here is my nightmare story -- my wife and I have always been ok with having our children vaccinated (for many of the reasons already discussed), but I was concerned with giving them three live viruses at the same time (after being born early at 27 weeks, I wasn't taking any chances -- various doctors felt it would be safer for them to get the shots separately). So, we get the mumps shot, wait a few months and get the rubella shot. I then go into the Dr's office and discover that they are out of the Measles vaccine. I call every pharmacy I can thing of -- no luck. There are no more single doses of the measles vaccine to give to them. Did Merck or any doctor provide any warning that this might happen -- nope.

So, my family is forced to deal with the decision of not to get vaccinated for measles at all or wait a while and eventually get the MMR.

A guy bought his wife a beautiful diamond ring for Christmas.

After hearing about this extravagant gift, a friend of his said, "I thought she wanted one of those sporty four-wheel-drive vehicles."

"She did," he replied. "But where was I going to find a fake Jeep?"

To think, I was just sitting here in my office thinking that the shoes were the latest weapon of mass destruction.....

My internet moment occurred almost a year ago after my twins were born. I decided that I wanted to find a copy of Burl Ives "The Little White Duck". To my shock, it was out of print. I think I spent a whole day on the internet searching for it to no avail (my wife wanted a new copy for the kids). Then, in a flash of insight, I opened up itunes and found it available for download. One fired CD later, I am happily listing to "The Donut Song" with the twin in the car. Who knew? I do wish, however, that itunes had a feature where you could order the covers and booklets from CDs.

So many of my favorite works (I have to include books and CDs in that statement) are only available in digital format now (or in the case of some of my favorite childhood books, are only available if you have an independent printer print a copy for an extra amount). There is still something to be said about holding something real -- rather than a digital version. "Progress" is a double edged sword I guess.

Well, the truth of the matter is -- no wait -- ugh nevermind :-)

NelC #109 - I could help surfing wikipedia on Let That Be Your Last Battlefield and noticed this tidbit (which sheds some color -- no pun intended) on the story:

There is some evidence that this script evolved from Gene Coon's unfilmed first season script A Portrait in Black and White. That particular script also dealt with racial issues, and would have featured Uhura and McCoy trapped on a planet where white people were slaves and black people were the masters. According to David Gerrold, Herbert F. Solow, and the recollections of Gene Coon's widow, Jackie Coon-Fernandez, the Trek production staff worked and reworked the script for nearly three years before it reached its final form.

I guess they kept rewriting it until it was too subtle for a network executive to understand and veto....

It is also interesting to look at such Science Fiction on tv from the perspective of its ability to reflect on moral and ethical issues of the time. I always see the original Star Trek episodes as a series of elementary moral plays (some of which hardly fit the prevalent morals of the historical period when it was created -- or perhaps are just as ahead of their time from a moral perspective as a technological one). For example, I remember one episode with two aliens both with half white and half black faces that discriminated because one had its white on the left side of the face and the other on the right side (a difference that no one really notices until it is pointed out in the final scene). At a time of discrimination, it is impressive that Gene Roddenberry would take that kind of a risk on tv (or that any station would let him). In a sense, he slipped concepts into the minds of young men and women that helped shape the morals of the next historical period for the better.

Meanwhile, if Star Trek is for kids, BSG takes morality for adults and really shows the number of shades that can exist between a black and white decision. Perhaps people could afford a simple Star Trek morality back when they first come out -- yet in a post-911 world, there are no easy answers and stories are necessarily much more complex.

It makes me sad though for some reason -- I liked that original Star Trek innocence. Yet, I can't imagine a show would even be willing to try and capture it again today.

I first heard about the e-books from Brandon Sanderson's blog, and I
have to admit that they have been great (and a fun way to get
introduced to some "new" authors (at least new to me!)). I can't wait
to get my grubby hands on that betasite :-)

Comment statistics for Mike Adelstein on the Making Light blog

Total: 12 comments. View all these comments on a single page.