Torchwood – Intelligence Update

Here in the lazy (wet) days of summer, news about Torchwood is sparse and hard to find.  I found an entry on Torchwood.tv dated July 26, 2008 that speculates about some changes.  At the end of “Journeys End” we got the impression that Martha Jones and Mickey Smith were going to join with Captain Jack at Torchwood to replace Owen and Toshiko, but it seems that Freema Agyeman has signed on for another TV series on ITV.

So it seems we can look forward to only 5 episodes next season to be run on consecutive nights sometime in Spring 2009.  Only 5 episode, come on BBC – smarten up.

With a new producer who will likely want to make his own mark on the franchise it is now quite possible to have new characters joining Torchwood for the upcoming episodes.  The 3rd Series will follow one story line and put the main characters in harms way and they have to make choices and with choices there are consequences.

So we have a long wait to see the new episodes and anything can happen.

Randy Pausch – October 23, 1960 – July 25, 2008

I lost a personal hero today, Professor Randy Pausch, 47, lost his battle with pancreatic cancer today.  His was a brave fight that helped us all with his Last Lecture and his philosophy of making every moment count.  I hope that he was able to accomplish his objectives for his children since they were the primary reason for him to do the lecture.

Thank you, Randy, I’m sure you’ve made it to a good place and you’ve left us with a great gift.

Read more at Carnegie Mellon University

God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

Here’s a link to ABC News where there are a number of videos by Diane Sawyer about this story.

Where’s the long hot summer

With Summer just over a month old we have to wonder what’s with all this rain.  In June we had 22 days with rain of some sort for a total of 106.6 mm where the average has been 91.2 mm.  So far this July we’ve had around 61.8 mm where the average is 88.9 mm with rain falling 12 of 24 days.

So where are we going and why is this happening.  The latest explanation from Envrionment Canada is that the jet stream is sitting in the wrong place, it’s running on a line through Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal and it should be up near James Bay.  So the boundary of the jet stream is where you have the collisions of the colder northern air and the warm tropical air and voila – unstable conditions and frequent rain and active weather.  The earlier explanation was that the nights have been warmer so that’s brought up the degree days overall.

Is this global warming?   Is it part of a normal recurring cycle?  We will only have the answer in a historical context.

We still have August to go through and if memory serves me correctly, we can expect hotter times ahead and we may be looking back at these moderate temperatures with fond memories.  For me the only bad thing about this weather is the lack of sunshine, it brightens our spirits.  Are there cases of S.A.D. out there?  (Seasonal Affected Disorder) Do we need to bulk up on vitamin D to keep us going?

At least it isn’t snow.

Omar Khadr and other difficult choices

Omar Ahmed Khadr (عمر أحمد خضر, born September 19, 1986) is the fourth child in the Canadian Khadr family. He was captured by American forces at the age of 15 following a four-hour firefight with militants in the village of Ayub Kheyl, Afghanistan.^[1] He has spent six years in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps charged with war crimes and providing support to terrorism after allegedly throwing a grenade that killed a US soldier.^[2]

A Canadian citizen born in Toronto,^[3][4] he is the youngest prisoner held in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp by the United States and has been frequently referred to as a child soldier.^[5][6] The only Western citizen remaining in Guantanamo, Khadr is unique in that Canada has refused to seek extradition or repatriation despite the urgings of Amnesty International, UNICEF, the Canadian Bar Association and other prominent organisations.^{[7][8][9][10]}

Khadr is the only Guantanamo detainee who has faced a judge and who is not boycotting the military tribunals.^[11] In February 2008, the Pentagon accidentally released documents that revealed that although Khadr was present during the firefight, there was no other evidence that he had thrown the grenade. In fact, military officials had originally reported that another of the surviving militants had thrown the grenade just before being killed. – Wikipedia

The Conservative Government of Canada refuses to seek the return of this troubled and messed up young man to Canada saying that the US Government is providing due process.  Problem is, the President and his minions should be prosecuted for torturing prisoners, denying basic human rights and acting like a dictator.  The Prime Minister is making a number of philosophical statements that are really at odds with true Canadian values of justice and human dignity.  Khadr comes from a notorious family, he was raised in that environment, indoctrinated by his family about jihad.

Khadr fits the definition of a child soldier and should have been treated as such.  He’s our problem, Canada’s that is, not the Americans and we should be dealing with it in a democratic and Canadian way not the abomination that the Americans are using.  If these prisoners are guilty then they should be handled by the legal process, provided basic legal protections and not be subjected to torture.  It has been proved over and over that torture doesn’t get at the truth but only gets what the interrogators want to called the truth.   If you look at the measures that have been put in place by western governments they are quite severe and remove many rights and privledges that we used to enjoy in the name of homeland security.  When you look at the direct threat, there has been little offered as proof that these measures were needed or have done the jobs that for which they were established.  We lose more people to drownings, accidents, disease or whatever than we have lost to terrorism.  We are paying a high price in our loss of privacy and personal rights.  The Americans are happy because they have been taught to fear the unknown, give them their guns and other personal weapons but take away all their other basic rights and they don’t even know what has hit them.  They have also set a precedent so possibly in some future conflict the same logic and rules will be applied to Americans by some new enemy and they will justify saying “you did it first!”

Doctor Who/Torchwood – What’s next after Series 4

So we’ve enjoyed series 4 and recovered from the excitement of the final episodes, but the question is “what’s next”?

We know that there is Christmas Special this year and likely next Christmas as well, but according to a story in the Daily Telegraph we won’t be seeing a new 13 episode series until 2010.  Not much in 2009 except a one hour special at Easter and another likely at Christmas, that leaves another one hour special that is still to be scheduled.

As for who will be the Doctor for Series 5, it is quite possible that David Tennant could return for that series depending on how the stars align.

Not much Doctor Who in the next year or so but then it might be a good thing.  Putting out episodes for the sake of getting something out could reduce the quality of the stories, this way the series could go on and on.  It’s better to have a smaller amount of quality programming then a lot of junk programming.

The next year is going to be tough without much Torchwood and Doctor Who.  Torchwood has only had 5 episodes approved for the next season and those episodes will focus on one story line and be aired over a one week period.  Hopefully they will approve more Torchwood episodes to go along with the current line up.

Doctor Who – S04E13 – Journey’s End Review

What can I say but well done.  Things got tied up with a bow and we know that come Christmas 2008 we will see the return of the Cybermen.

Cliff hangers were resolved.  There were many linkages to past facts and story lines.  You have to be on your toes to keep up with things although there were some new questions to keep things interesting.  To get it all you have to view it multiple times.

The hand did play an important role in the regeneration/repair and the final trick to solving the Dalek problem.  With the Tardis and Donna seconds away from being destroyed she touched the hand and there was an instantaneous biological meta crisis and we had another Doctor who was half human/half timelord.  Everyone thinks the Tardis and Donna were destroyed but we know better.

It’s rather funny to hear the Doctor talk like Donna or as he says “disgusting”.  The Doctor(2) only has one heart and that’s the sound that has been linking him to Donna.

Davros was following Dalek Caan’s predictions and they sought to destroy reality but the children of time worked to stop it.  Davros shows the Doctor how he has been responsible for many deaths and then we flash through the many characters that have died in these episodes, Davros succeeds in exposing the Doctor’s soul. 

The osterhagen key is a nasty piece of work but it wasn’t to be.  Then Sarah Jane’s warp star was wired into the mainframe by Jack but the Daleks captured all of them except for Donna and The Doctor(2) who appear with the Tardis just before the weapon is fired.

Davros zaps the Doctor(2) and stops him for using his DNA weapon, he zaps Donna when she tries and then they destroy the weapon.  Zapping Donna awakened the human-time lord meta crisis Donna who now has the mind of the Doctor and she sets about to make things right as Doctor Donna as per the prediction earlier this season. 

They deactivate the Daleks and it turns out that Dalek Caan didn’t like what he saw about the Daleks and manipulated time to get to this point.  They manage to get 26 of the 27 planets back to their original location but the supreme Dalek destroys the magnetron before they can get Earth back.  The Doctor sets about to use the Tardis to bring Earth back but The Doctor(2) realizes that the Daleks must be destroyed which he accomplishes.

The whole group boards the Tardis to bring Earth back and they have enough pilots to do just that, seems it takes 6 pilots to run the Tardis properly.  Even K-9 gets into the act to provide information the Mr. Smith.  In the end Earth is returned.

The Doctor says goodbye to Jack and Martha, Mickey joins them and it looks like Jack has asked them to join Torchwood so that answers part of the Torchwood question.

The Doctor takes Rose back to her alternate universe and the Doctor(2) has to sta there as well since he is dangerous.  Rose is confused but in the end Doctor(2) whispers the right words and accept the since he only has one heart, he will grow old with her.

Doctor Donna (sound familiar) has a breakdown because Human/Time Lord meta crisis isn’t supposed to be so he removes all memory of him and their adventures and takes her home to Wilfred and her mom.  She wakes and doesn’t remember and can’t remember if she is to survive.  The Doctor tells Wilfred and her mom that Donna Noble was the most important woman in the universe and her mother says she still is.  Donna must go back to her life as a temp and the Doctor is off on a new adventure.

The preview for Christmas shows the Cybermen in victorian times.