Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Monday, November 15, 2021

DVD Review: Cosmos: Possible Worlds

 



"Possible Worlds" is a great end (at least as of this writing) to the Cosmos trilogy of documentaries, which started with the original series, hosted by Carl Sagan in 1980, then brought back by Seth McFarlane (the creator of Family Guy) and Sagan's widow, Ann Druyan, and hosted by Niel DeGrasse Tyson. This is a follow-up (really a season two) to the rebooted series "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey," which aired on Fox in 2014. This series aired in 2020, first on The National Geographic Channel, and then on Fox. The release got delayed when Tyson was hit with a bunch of sexual harassment allegations on the heels of the "Me Too" movement, and aired in the spring of 2020 once he was cleared. 

The series maintained the same style and tone as the first rebooted season, utilizing animations to convey most of the story in each episode. Each episode had its own theme or topic, and various scientists from throughout history were then highlighted or spotlighted in the episodes. The topics were very wide-ranging, from evolution to the Cassini spacecraft, which was crashed into Saturn, to climate change. This time, there was not a climate change "specific" episode; it was discussed within the larger topic of human-caused extinction events (or things we have done that have threatened life on Earth). It also explored the possibility of life on other planets, the potential for humans to travel to other solar systems, and related topics. 

One thing I appreciate is that the cosmic calendar is explained much better in this season than it was in the first season. I still think in episode 1 they could have done a bit better giving the entire scale. Meaning that the entire year is approximately 14.5 billion years, one month is about 1.2 billion years, one week is about 300 million years, one day is about 40 million years, one hour is about 2 million years, and one second is about 2.8 years. Then repeat that at least once an episode. If you watch every episode and pay attention, the entire scale is revealed, but not all at once. I know that when Season 1 aired, people were confused when Tyson would say that something happened on September 15th at 10 PM, or something similar, and thought he literally meant that an event occurred on that date, rather than it meaning that it happened about 120 million years ago.

If you want to get the series on DVD, it has only been released internationally. I can only find it as a region 4 (Australia) release. It has not been released in the US, and it does not appear to have been released in the UK either. So, if you want the DVD, you will have to hunt for it a bit (I got a copy on eBay for a decent price, and it does look like it is available on Amazon from time to time), and probably pay a bit more because of the fact that it has to be sent from Australia or New Zealand. And, you need a region-free DVD or Blu-Ray player to watch it. There are no extras on the DVD; just the episodes, spread across three discs, and no captions. 

Overall, the series is very good. While living in a very politically charged environment, people may perceive the show as having a political agenda, but it doesn't. The writers merely present scientific facts as we know them today, and make clear that those facts may change as we learn more. Additionally, while the science discussed is heavily slanted toward astronomy and physics, it also touches on other sciences, such as chemistry, biology, geology, and the like, and explains how they are all interconnected. Plus, there are a couple of very nice tributes/nods to Carl Sagan (who created the series back in the 1980s) and his life. It is definitely worth watching, even for people with a casual interest in science. For someone who is a fan of astronomy and/or physics, I would call it a must-watch. 


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