Friday 4 April 2014

1:35:30

I gave up trying to think of  a title for the segment of the "Pineapple Express" movie on Netflix that most illuminated what corruption really means.

Drug Dealer: what do you do?
Process server: I work for a company that serves legal documents. Sometimes I go in disguise to get them to admit to who they really are so I can serve them the documents.

I haven't seen the rest of the video yet, I hope it's fun.

OK so you're wondering "the dude takes drugs, what's the diff?
He shows up and puts on a disguise and hands some papers over.
Clowns do most of that."

The issue: what if the company the server works for has a connection to the drug dealer?

"Hey, hang around, I've got a new thing" - that could be useful.

Like I said, I'm watching it now on Netflix, so if this turns out to be a key point to a plot twist, then oops!

Tuesday 1 April 2014

pandoras promise

I thought I'd take a break from watching "Pandoras promise" - a documentary about how nuclear power is maturing to become the safe affordable source of energy the world needs - I know I (was) a cynic too.

I thought I'd google it for more information - I found the site.

It turns out there are several ways to watch it - long story short, it's a commercial production and fees are involved if you want to see it.

Maybe it's just me, but if the nuclear power industry wanted to improve their reputation, they'd fund an independent body to make a "living video" - one that was continually updated - even once a month, to present an independent understanding of the costs and benefits of nuclear power.

I for one was shocked to discover that the background radiation levels in Brazil are more than 30 times those in Chernobyl.

Then there's "coal kills more people by about 10000:1 or greater than radiation", if I read the statistics right.

Come to think of it, there's another industry that feeds on fear and uncertainty - the distribution of wealth, that drugs regulation kills children
so I think that big commercial interests actively encourage this sort of thing.