My Favorites: January 2005 Archives

From an editorial in today's Atlanta Journal Constitution:

On Thursday, a federal judge summoned the courage and conviction to uphold the U.S. Constitution and thwart efforts by creationists to insert their religious beliefs into Georgia's public schools. U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper ordered the immediate removal of evolution disclaimers on high school science books in Cobb County, ruling that the controversial stickers ran afoul of the constitutional divide between church and state...In affixing the stickers to textbooks, the Cobb County school board wasn't looking to enhance the science education or critical thinking skills of students. Cornered by a petition with 2,300 signatures, board members were just bowing to public pressure.

Last night Nightline did a terrific piece on the creationist drive in Dover, PA to mandate that teachers read a statement about "Intelligent Design" during biology lessons. Hijacking the word "objectivity" and trying to cloak itself in science, "Intelligent Design" holds "that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause." And they're not talking extraterrestrials here.

At a party recently I had a conversation with a Georgia Military College biology teacher. A Brit who's the son-in-law of the Commandant, he spoke of the problems teaching biology here. For example some students flat out refuse to even listen in class. He believes the problem is Constitutional and boiled it down to this: the lack of religious education in school. He believes religion should be taught in school. All religion. World religion. Christian, Muslim, Hindu, you name it.

Now there's a thought. What would the creationists think of that?

I liked my betamax. Unfortunately for Sony, there's really not much advantage to being first. I don't miss it. TiVo is a terrific product but it's hard to see how it won't end up a betamax. Yesterday, DirecTV announced the launch of its own Digital Video Recorder (DVR) service after divesting itself of its TiVo ownership stake last June.

The original TiVo idea was that it would be a service, like HBO, that you'd subscribe to, not a machine that you buy. The cable companies never bought in. They thought "we can do that!" and planned their own DVR service right off. TiVo started building machines. The DirecTV deal gave them a boost. Buzz built; Hollywood celebs love TiVo. There was excited talk about NetFlix and TiVo teaming up to deliver movies on demand. Nice when it happens, but they need the killer ap now. Big subscriber numbers have never materialized. Instead in Manhattan and Macon you can get DVR service from the cable company, and though you have to buy through other cable packages to get the service, it's got great features.

It will be some time before that comes to Milledgeville. In the meantime I've got a TiVo decal in my car's rear window and lifetime service since 2000 (ported over to my Series 2 DVR through a special offer). I like the way TiVo integrates with my home network -- I can listen to iTune playlists or view iPhoto albums through my TiVo (Windows Media Player works too). I'm happy. But with the sale of the fast-forward button and now the DirecTV news, my guess is that these are the good old days.