Space Shuttle Retires and 23,000 Jobs will Disappear

Sadly, NASA is going to have the budget cut for manned space flight and this coincides with the retirement of the current space shuttle program which will end this year 2010. This in and of itself is a shame because NASA has led the way in technology for sending people into space, but it looks as if the private sector may begin to work on space craft capable of sending people into space as well as the European Space Agency. Another consequence to this budget cut will be the loss of 23,000 jobs, yes, 23,000 jobs!
From the article:

Revised projections now show that about 23,000 workers at and around Kennedy Space Center will lose their jobs because of the shuttles' retirement and the new proposal to cancel the development of new rockets and spacecraft.
IN-DEPTH SPECIAL REPORT: Shuttle ShutdownThat sum includes 9,000 "direct" space jobs and -- conservatively speaking -- 14,000 "indirect" jobs at hotels, restaurants, retail stores and others that depend on activity at the space center, said Lisa Rice, Brevard Workforce president.
"Our unemployment rate is going to skyrocket," she warned Thursday during a five-hour Brevard County Commission space workshop. Much conversation centered on the future of human space launches from KSC, and attendees heaped criticism on Obama's strategy.

I do not see the economy turning around to the positive side for many years or maybe ever, so I do not know what will happen to space travel. Since I am a science fiction lover and I dream of space travel, meeting alien life, and traveling the Universe, this seems like a big setback, for a while anyways.
Here is the article about the 23,000 jobs to be lost.

Would You Live in a Sanctuary District?

I have discussed in many posts that the economic depression we are in is not being fully or truthfully reported in the mainstream press and if you want the truth you have to rely on bloggers. I also found a great website that lists all of the jobs being cut on a daily basis, DailyJobCuts.com.
We were discussing a few posts back about two episodes in Star Trek: Deep Space 9 entitled Past Tense parts one and two, in which Sisko, Bashir, and Dax get beamed back in time to the year 2024. Capt. Sisko and Dr. Bashir get picked up by the police and placed in what was called a Sanctuary District for those who have no home, no work, or are mentally ill. These people are walled in, have ID papers, and are not allowed to leave but are going to receive help in finding work, which of course does not happen. Sound familiar? We have so many unemployed in the USA what will happen when there are no more social nets like unemployment insurance? Bernanke and company cannot keep printing money forever, and soon hyperinflation will come and food will be expensive. The writers of these two episodes had great insight into what could happen if too many people were without work and how the government would handle it: put them out of sight, in over crowded conditions, supply very little food, while those on the outside who do have jobs need to work with the government and follow all of their rules and ignore those in the Districts. Wow, this is a great story and a scary one at that. What is going to happen to all of the unemployed, will they get "put away" somewhere?
Here is a short clip from the episode, but I suggest watching it all if you have the DVD.

An Epidemic is Coming to a Theatre Near You!

Yes, I love horror movies as much as I do science fiction films and add the element of some medical virus gone awry, pass me the popcorn because I am so there and ready to be scared!
From an article I read:

Bird flu, SARS, H1N1 -- even vampires are coughing into their sleeves.After all, is there anything scarier these days than a virus-packed sneeze on a plane? What about the water we drink? One unfiltered sip may kill you. Or infect you.And Hollywood is spreading the fear.Coming to theatres on Friday is The Crazies,about a peaceful Iowa community where a mysterious epidemic rewires residents into rampaging, pitchfork-wielding maniacs.

Yay! I love to watch maniacs or zombies chase the usual suspects around town while they try to escape their inevitable demise. This movie has the added ingredient of a biological weapon that ends up accidentally in this small town.

Meanwhile Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh has announced his own epic virus thriller,Contagion.Germs are the new suicide bombers, with hand sanitizers as coveted as holy water, silver bullets and airport body scanners. Maybe movies such as The Crazies are far-fetched. But what if they're not?

Well, horror movies are supposed to be far-fetched, to be taken lightly (at least for me), and to have a lot of fun snuggling with a date or spouse.

Here is the article and a trailer of The Crazies.

Star Trek Convention Film Courtesy Trek Today

This is very cool video from a 1975 Star Trek Convention. From the article:

Back in August of 1975, Star Trek fan Rich Portnoy shot almost four minutes worth of 8mm movie film showing original series cast members at a Chicago Star Trek convention.The 1975 Star Trek convention, attended by over 14,000 people, was held from August 22-24 at the Conrad Hilton Hotel in Chicago.In attendance were the original series actors, younger and with classic 1970s hairstyles. They included: Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, DeForest Kelley, Walter Koenig, James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols and George Takei.Also in attendance was Arlene Martel (T’Pring from Amok time,) wearing a scarf over her dark hair.The cast was “guarded” by security personnel dressed up as (old style) Klingons. Before Doohan’s entrance, a female Klingon came out with bagpipes.

Here is the link.

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No Video Games for the Space Station

I read an interesting article at the website io9 about how the International Space Station has internet capability but when a visitor wanted to play a multiplayer video game and bring his ipod, he was not allowed.


Richard Garriott, the first video game designer to ride a rocket to outer space wanted to play a massively multiplayer video game from the International Space Station. And he wanted to bring his iPod. Neither happened.Garriott's gaming plan was to play his then-still-active computer game Tabula Rasa from the International Space Station, logging onto a computer and playing with people down on Earth. He traveled to the space station in 2008 as one of the world's only self-funded space tourists."I looked into taking Tabula Rasa into space," he told Kotaku during an interview at the DICE gaming summit just outside of Las Vegas last week. "There's Internet on the space station. We actually originally were pursuing trying to play live, from space, but it turns out that even though there is an IP (Internet protocol) pathway, they were so worried about people tunneling backwards to the ISS and wreaking havoc that it became a non-starter."That's right, gamers. According to Garriott, the powers that be in some space agency thought that you would try to cheat your way into taking control of the space station. We all know you'd never do that.

Oh well, maybe in the future the private companies that will begin space travel will work on problem hackers and allow more freedom for the people who travel in space, only if governments get their beaks out of the picture.

Here is the story.

Actor Andrew Koenig Missing

The son of the famous actor from Star Trek: The Original Series has been missing since the 14th of Feb 2010. While I am not too familiar with the work of Andrew Koenig, 41 years of age, it is sad that he has gone missing. From the article:


LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The actor son of "Star Trek" veteran Walter Koenig has disappeared while visiting friends in Canada, and family pleaded on Sunday for information on his whereabouts to be given to the Vancouver police.
Andrew Koenig, 41, who co-starred as "Boner" on the 1980s sitcom "Growing Pains," was last seen in Vancouver on February 14 after neighbors said he sold all his possessions in Los Angeles.
"He's been depressed," his father, who has a degree in psychology, told local ABC television station KABC. "He's trying to get ahead in this business and he's been working at it a long time."
Koenig, 73, who played Starfleet officer Pavel Chekov on the original "Star Trek" series and the first seven feature spin-offs, said drugs were not an issue.

I would like to point out, and I am not in any way inferring this is the case here, that many people are getting depressed during these very difficult economic times we are living in, hence the name Depression. I wish governments, the mainstream media, and people in general would start talking openly about how hard things are financially and how hard it is to find work. I guess people are scared, ashamed, or feel like failures and would rather pretend to others things are fine, but the truth is, things are not fine! Please read this link and read the comments, people are getting desperate about where their next paycheck is coming from and how they will eat!
I realize this seems way off topic from an actor gone missing but the bottom line is, when we feel down and out, we need to be honest with each other and support each other in the best way we can. I hope Andrew shows up and I am sure his family would support him with open arms.
Here is a link to the article.

UPDATE: Sadly, Andrew Koenig was found dead, RIP.

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Coast To Coast Review

Back in the 1990s, I used to listen to the radio program called Coast to Coast on the AM dial, only then it was hosted by Art Bell. Art Bell has an entrancing voice and could talk about the most esoteric topics you would ever imagine and listening to the callers was also great fun. An article in the Los Angeles Times is talking about the show which is now hosted by George Noory who also has a lot of patience and open-mindedness about topics ranging from evil spirits to aliens spying on us, alien abduction, time travel, etc., I guess like listening because I like a variety of sci fi topics. The Times article is focusing more on Noory but I preferred Art Bell because he had a certain style and wit that made the show very fun to listen to. It may also be that I listened more because it was before the internet and now I spend more time on the net vs. listening to the radio. Once in a while I will stay up late, turn off the lights and listen to the show, especially if they are talking about ghosts to give myself a good scare!
Anyway, here is a link to the STORY.

Space Shuttle Endeavour May Land in California

Californians may get the chance to hear the famous double sonic boom if the space shuttle needs to land in California tonight. From the article:

NASA says it might be forced to land the space shuttle Endeavour at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert on Sunday night due to sketchy weather at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. If that happens, it is possible that people in Orange County will hear the double sonic boom the shuttle makes minutes before it lands. Whether we hear the boom depends on the shuttle’s final flight path. If it reaches the California coast in the Santa Barbara area, we probably wouldn’t hear it. But if it tacks farther south, there’s a good chance we would.

NASA would prefer to land Endeavour in Florida. If the weather clears, the shuttle, which is carrying a crew of six, will touch down in Florida at 10:16 .m. or 11:51 p.m., eastern time, Sunday. If the shuttle comes here, says NASA, it would land at Edwards at either 10:20 p.m. or 11:55 p.m., Pacific time, Sunday. Check back for updates.

12 chances to see International Space Station fly over Southern California

Here is a link to the story and I love hearing that special sonic boom!

Wil Wheaton Vids

I found two funny Wil Wheaton videos, funny that is if you are a nerd like myself and love Star Trek, The Big Bang Theory, and the Family Guy television shows. Wil also has a very cool BLOG that is fun to read as well, and he loves twitter and you can catch him tweeting quite regularly.
Enjoy the videos!

Classic Star Trek Crew Photo

I found a great story about the Star Trek crew taking a photo with Gene Roddenberry and the Space Shuttle Enterprise. From the article:

Thirty-three years ago today, the U.S.S. Enterprise made its maiden voyage after receiving its blessing from the original Star Trek crew.No, not that Enterprise. We're talking about the first space shuttle orbiter, which was named after the most famous ship in Starfleet and which made its first flight test on Feb. 18, 1977, mounted to a Boeing 747, according to a report in the Orlando Sentinel.Here's part of the Sentinel's story:

NASA's first step into the Space Shuttle program was an orbiter named Enterprise, which served as a model for future orbiters Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour. (Though they are often referred to as "space shuttles," an orbiter must be mated to a bright orange external tank and two skinny solid rocket boosters to merit the name.)
I love memories like these, to me, it seems like yesterday the shuttle took off. I guess we will have a lot more memories and old photos to look at throughout this year due to the fact that the space shuttle program ends this year, thus ending the manned space program for NASA..
You can read the entire story HERE:

Margaret Atwood Interview

The latest interview with Margaret Atwood discussing her dystopian tale "The Year of the Flood", she considers herself an optimist, she has also in the past denied that she writes anything science fiction. The truth is, however, most of her novels paint a grim and dystopic portrait of the future of humans here on Earth.
From the article:

In "The Handmaid's Tale" (1985), religious fundamentalists rule the United States and women are treated as chattel. In "Oryx and Crake" (2003), genetic engineering has run wild and commercialism dominates society. And in her latest novel, "The Year of the Flood" -- a companion to "Oryx" -- civilization buckles under humanity's carelessness, wiping out much of the species.
In "The Year of the Flood," set in the not-too-distant future, things have gotten pretty well along the path. Corporations and governments are intertwined, and the well-off live in protected corporate communities. Much of the population, however, lives in slums and scrounges for food -- some eating the creations of fast-food joints such as SecretBurgers, where the secret was "that no one knew what sort of animal protein was actually in them," Atwood writes ("Soylent Green," anybody?).
Latchkey kids roam the streets, stealing and making trouble. The unlucky dead are discarded like so much biological waste, perhaps to be made into something commercially useful. Animal DNA has been crossed and tinkered with to create beasts such as rakunks and wolvogs. And a handful of characters, notably the hard-bitten Toby and the wide-eyed Ren, make their way through the world, helped by the faithful of a religious group called God's Gardeners -- and their own wits.

The optimism Atwood claims she has is all about writing a novel, she feels it takes a lot of positive thought to complete a novel and hope it gets finished then published and then read. Her stories are less than optimistic, however.
When I see how people are living today (at least in California) due to the economy, some 23 people crammed in one small house with all of their relatives and some friends, outright living in tents, not showering regularly, torn clothes, broken shoes, the stories by Margaret Atwood do not seem that unlikely. I love a writer that write dytopian novels because I believe our future holds a lot of pain and destruction even though I still believe that people can cooperate and create in the distant future a life that is more peaceful, that is also why I love the ideas presented in the Star Trek universe, that eventually humans will need to work together and somehow leave greed and selfishness behind. I hope we get there one day.

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A Spatial Collection of Strange Worlds

I like the article I found at Space.com describing all of the different kinds of planets being discovered out in the Universe, such as Hot Jupiters, Pulsar Planets, Super-Earths, Water Worlds( yes like the movie!), and Free-Floating Planets, among others.

Normally planets are thought of as orbiting stars, but there are hints a number of bodies with the mass of gas giants might be free-floating. These might either have escaped from their suns or never had a star to begin with, born in star-forming regions without the mass needed to ignite.

Roughly a half-dozen candidate free-floating planets have been found so far, either still glowing from the heat released as their gravity contracts their mass, or from the rare times one passes in front of a star and magnifies the light from the background star. "It's not clear whether you call them planets because they formed as part of a planetary system and were subsequently ejected or formed as super-small brown dwarf stars with the mass of planets," Beichman said.

The Free-Floating Planets remind me of an episode of Star Trek:Enterprise entitled "Rogue Planet" in which the crew finds a planet out on its own, away from other planets and their sun and have an interesting encounter with an alien race hunting another sentient alien race.
The study of different kinds of planets is fascinating. Here is a clip from the Enterprise episode.

You are Cordially Invited to a Valentine´s Day Wedding

Imagine loving Star Trek so much it helped you meet your mate and you decided to get married in Star Trek style aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise. Well, one lucky couple will pledge their love in just that fashion.( They will actually be renewing their vows!) I say they pick a species like the Klingons, hey, we have seen a Klingon wedding in DS9, and they should follow the exact ceremony, Klingon vows and all! I mean, if your are going to get married in Star Trek fashion, why hold back at all, go for it completely!
From the article:
A Berkeley couple who bonded over a mutual love of Star Trek will re-tie the knot in costume aboard the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise at The Tech Museum in San Jose. Kyle Sessions and Nancy Kerr beat 13 other contestants around the country to win the Tech Museum's first Ultimate Star Trek Wedding online contest. As part of their prize, the pair will be given access to the re-created set of the U.S.S. Enterprise bridge inside the Star Trek exhibition at the museum during the ceremony and a private museum room for a reception. They will also receive a two-night stay at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, and a two-tier, Star Trek-themed wedding cake from Bijan Bakery & Cafi in San Jose.
You can read the rest HERE.
Q´Pla!

Quark and The Rules of Acquisition Reboot

I figured I would reblog this post I wrote last year since States in the United States are on the verge of bankruptcy, and entire countries like Greece are getting bailed out! What crazy and desperate times we are living in, so I thought I would bring a little levity to the issue with Quark and his Ferengi pals, but the truth is the Rules of Acquisition seem to be more and more real these days as far as central bankers are concerned.
Enjoy the post.
The character "Quark" in Star Trek Deep Space Nine is an alien called a Ferengi who has one purpose and that is to make a profit by following The Rules of Acquisition. I find it interesting that Earth, according to Star Trek lore, has evolved past the need for currency and simply works to better the human condition. While noble in sentiment, I find it hard to believe that humans could move beyond the need for gold or silver to pay for goods and services. All other species in the Star Trek Universe use gold pressed latinum as currency and it cannot be replicated therefore it is considered very valuable. Quark is constantly trying to acquire as much as possible but working in close alliance with the Federation Earth officers it would be difficult to turn a profit since they earn no wage. It would equally be difficult to work, not earn a wage, yet live in a place in which other worlds still pay for goods with latinum. The Federation does trade technology and service for other goods but I still wonder how Earth got to that point of not needing currency. The reason I muse this issue of money at all is because I have a great interest in economy and some friends who know a lot about the world economy send me e-mails on current economic trends. Right now in the world, a majority of world currencies are simply fiat and the only real currencies are the precious metals and more specifically gold and silver which do not devalue in distressed economic times and cannot be printed (replicated) at will. It would appear that the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition have been used by the central banks for many years now, and this could be laughable if it were not so tragic, but these are just my musings in these strange times we are living.

Here is a partial list of The Rules and the link to read more. Enjoy!

1. Once you have their money ... never give it back.
3. Never pay more for an acquisition than you have to.
6. Never allow family to stand in the way of opportunity.
6. A man is only worth the sum of his possessions. (From Enterprise, episode "Acquisition"; sloppy script-writing, as rule 6 (see above) was already given in DS9)
7. Keep your ears open.
8. Small print leads to large risk.
9. Opportunity plus instinct equals profit.
10. Greed is eternal.
13. Anything worth doing is worth doing for money.
16. A deal is a deal ... until a better one comes along.
17. A contract is a contract is a contract (but only between Ferengi).
18. A Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all.
19. Satisfaction is not guaranteed.
21. Never place friendship above profit.
22. A wise man can hear profit in the wind.
23. Nothing is more important than your health--except for your money.
27. There's nothing more dangerous than an honest businessman.
31. Never make fun of a Ferengi's mother ... insult something he cares about instead.
33. It never hurts to suck up to the boss.
34. Peace is good for business.
35. War is good for business.
40. She can touch your lobes but never your latinum.
41. Profit is its own reward.
44. Never confuse wisdom with luck.
45. Expand, or die.

More Rules are HERE.

Star Trek Online

I was looking at the graphics of the new Star Trek online multiplayer game and they are really impressive. What I like is that the timeline for the game takes place after the movie Star Trek Nemesis which keeps the timeline of the Original series and on throughout all the other Star Trek series and films, but it does not include the most recent Star Trek reboot movie because the timeline was changed. You can check out the website HERE, and here is a clip from the online game.

Revisions

I love the episode of Stargate SG1 called "Revisions" in which an entire world has deposited all of its knowledge into a super computer. Books have become almost obsolete, the people depend on the computer to gain access to new knowledge or gain access to old knowledge, and to make all of this easier, each person has an interface mechanism attached to their head. The trouble is that the computer can make adjustments to the population´s memories as needed thus controlling population numbers to help with diminishing resources.
That is fascinating because a lot of our knowledge is being placed into computers and a friend and I were talking about the Dark Ages after the fall of the Roman Empire and how a lot of information was lost, whether on purpose or not depended on who was preserving it, and what could happen to the internet if there were a major crash, hack, people or governments started putting in misinformation or adding data that was false. We could only know what is true in the area of the world in which we live and compare it with stories on the internet.
I though it an interesting conversation and food for thought.Here is a clip from the episode.

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Torri Higginson Interview

I watched an interview on Sky1 with Torri Higginson who played my favorite character on Stargate Atlantis, Dr. Elizabeth Weir. She was commenting on the new Stargate series entitled Stargate Universe and how the show is more character driven rather than plot driven and I could not agree more. I enjoyed SG1 and Atlantis was my favorite of the two series, but I continuously complained about the lack of character building in both shows. I felt we got to know a little of their lives but all in all, the story was what drove both series. I am so pleasantly surprised with Stargate Universe and I am enjoying each episode. The action comes at the right time and the character development also at the right time, plus I love that the consciousness of each person aboard the ship Destiny can travel to Earth in another body and interact with friends and loved ones with or without their knowledge. It is a creative idea and one drawn from Stargate history using the Asgard stones, just brilliant. As Torri Higginson said in the interview, each series is unique and each interesting in that regard, and I am glad that Stargate Universe is already slated for a second season.
Here is a link to the interview.

Plant Study in Space

When the space shuttle makes its launch to the Space Station on Monday, hopefully because the launch was scrubbed for Sunday, it will take an interesting experiment about how seeds will grow in space. From the article:

NASA scientists hope to better understand exactly how and why plants grow differently in space in an experiment named, Tropi. Future astronauts may be able to grow plants as part of life support systems on long-duration space missions to the moon or Mars.The European Space Agency developed the European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS), a facility focused on plant biology research located on the station. Once in orbit, NASA astronauts Jeff Williams and T.J. Creamer will place the experiment containers in the EMCS incubator to conduct the experiment in a temperature, humidity and atmosphere-controlled environment.

Once the experiment begins, the seeds will be spun continuously in centrifuges to achieve varying levels of gravity and provided fresh water. The first three days are considered the "growth phase" of the experiment, when the ECs will be exposed to gravity forces similar to Earth's. After the first 32 hours of the experiment, when the seeds will remain mostly in darkness, they will be illuminated with white LED lights. The last three days of the experiment are called the "stimulation phase," when they will be "photostimulated" - or constantly exposed to red, blue or a combination of red and blue LED lights. During the final phase of the experiment, cameras in the centrifuge facility will take three images per minute to collect the majority of the science data.

You can read more Here.
This kind of story should be on the evening news, in a newspaper, or at least a mention somewhere like on the internet because this kind of study helps us move forward as humans. I wish all forms of science were as important to people as the Superbowl. I know certain sports are fun and a distraction from the day to day things in life, however I wish the amount of money spent on this particular event could be spent on scientific research, but then again that is just me.

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Tweet to the International Space Station

You will be able to send a tweet to the ISS when the next shuttle Endeavour will dock with the Space Station, and the launch is scheduled for the 7th of February and the Tweets will be sent and answered up until the 11th of this same month. From the article:

The Twitterverse and universe will converge during space shuttle Endeavour's upcoming mission to the International Space Station. NASA is inviting the public to send questions for the astronauts via Twitter and have them answered live from space.Astronaut Mike Massimino will be accepting questions for the crew from the public via his Twitter account until Thursday, Feb. 11. Massimino will be a shuttle Capcom, or spacecraft communicator, at NASA's Mission Control in Houston during Endeavour's flight, scheduled for launch Feb. 7.

How cool is that! You can read more HERE.

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Star Trek Online Servers Overload

I guess everyone was excited about the new Star Trek MMORPG online pc game, because they overloaded the servers!
From the article:
Tuesday marked the official launch of Cryptic Studio's MMORPG, Star Trek

Online. Proving that Trek isn't just for geeks, fans flocked to the just-launched PC game and have now overloaded the servers, catching Cryptic by surprise. Unlike other MMORPG launches, Star Trek Online came packed with a pre-installed fan base stretching back to the 1960's, making this overload unsurprising. The Star Trek Online beta, launched last month, suffered the same fate, enduring a flood of players that locked up the log-in system and thus prevented this annoyed gamer from checking out Roddenberry's virtual world. Cryptic eventually alleviated the burden by optimizing and expanding the MMORPG's server-base, however now it seems that those efforts weren't enough for the full-fledged launch.

That is so cool that many people want to play and be a character from Star Trek. I am sure they will work out all the bugs and fans are going to be nuts about playing this game.
Here is the article.

We Are All Aliens!

I love this article in which Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe says that life was brought here to Earth by comets, a theory he jointly proposed called panspermia in which interstellar dust is partly organic in nature and in comets.
This reminded me of an excellent episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation entitled "The Chase," where Captain Picard is contacted by his archeology professor who is collecting DNA samples. When the professor is killed, Picard is left to piece the puzzle together of the DNA samples and in the end discovers that Humans, Romulans, Klingons, and Cardassians all share some common DNA that was seeded throughout the galaxy by an elder race. It is a fascinating episode and in some way relates to the theory of panspermia the difference being an ancient race spread the seeds of life, so to speak.

Happy Groundhog Day!

Today, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow so it will be six more weeks of winter, no hope for an early spring. Every time this year I think of the movie Groundhog Day in which the main character relives the same day over and over and that day happens to be Groundhog Day. The character is an egotistical reporter who thinks he is too good to be reporting on what he thinks is a silly story, the catch is he keeps waking up each morning on Groundhog Day. At first he tries to take advantage of the the situation and people, but once he realizes this does not work, he tries to kill himself over and over and over, only to keep waking up the morning of Groundhog Day. He finally becomes aware of the other characters in the day and begins to see they have troubles just like we all do, and tries to help as many as he can, but again to no avail. In the end, he tries to help the most he can, in the short time he has in a day, and realizes that his actions may or may not affect or change the ultimate outcome of a situation. He learns compassion, humility, and to appreciate each day. The movie is funny, touching, and well written and acted.
Have a great Groundhog Day and here is a clip from the movie.

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The Martian Child (2007)

The Martian Child is a movie based on the novelette by the same name and written by David Gerrold. As an aside note, Gerrold wrote a great episode of Star Trek entitle The Trouble with Tribbles! Back to the movie, it is an interesting story about a science fiction writer who decides to adopt a boy that thinks he is from Mars. You are left to decide if the boy is trying to cope with being abandoned or he is from Mars, you can let your imagination run wild with this story. The movie differs greatly from the novelette in that the main character of the book is an openly gay man who decides to adopt a boy and of course, Hollywood feels the need to make him heterosexual with a female love interest so the audience, I guess, does not feel uncomfortable. I feel if you are going to make a movie based on an award winning book, the core elements of the story should be kept in the movie script especially since the story is semi-autobiographical. In my opinion, people need to get over themselves and realize there are gay men and women in all corners of the world, in all sorts of professions, and the fact that some want to give a good home life to a child, and have the means and desire to do so, is a good thing.
Anyway, the movie is touching and fun to watch.