Project Hail Mary (2026)

Somewhere in space, Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) awoke.  He was disoriented and a robot prompted him with questions.  Soon, he was coherent, but he didn't know who he was or where he was.  After exploring the ship, he found that his two crewmates had died.  As he familiarized himself with the ship, Hail Mary, some flashes of memory returned to him.  The sun was dying on account of an alien lifeform.  In fact, every star in the neighborhood was dying with the exception of Tau Ceti.  He was at Tau Ceti to find out why and perhaps save the earth from an inevitable and unending ice age.

Some days after he awoke, the ship's flight plan concluded and now it was up to him to determine what to do.  However, an alien vessel approached!  A meet-cute between Grace and Rocky (James Ortiz) takes place.  Rocky is a five-limbed rock-like creature and has come to Tau Ceti for the same reason as Grace.  Together, the duo investigate what makes Tau Ceti immune to the sun-eating micro-organisms.

The story takes place both in the present - Tau Ceti - and in the past - Grace's recurring flashes of memory as his amnesia fades.  His earth memories show him as a middle school science teacher who was recruited by an international agency headed by Eva Stratt (Sandra Huller).  She is not friendly and quite ruthless.  Understandable considering the situation, but not a likeable character.  These past memories show that he was not intended to be on the mission and also introduce his two deceased crewmates.

The movie does a very good job of following the book.  It simplifies here and there, but hits all the important points.  The very different environment of Rocky is softened, which allowed him to wander around the Hail Mary in a hamster ball rather than building a tunnel system.  Solid xenon is much funnier in the movie than it was in the book.  Where I liked the book Grace less as I got to know him, the movie Grace was more likeable by the end.

Excellent film and great popcorn fun.  Recommended.

Qualifications Don't Matter

Darlene Graham, sister of the recently deceased Lindsey Graham, debated Ralph Norman.  During the debate, she was asked a question about Taiwan and the South China Sea.  She was clueless and had no idea how to answer the question.  Most embarrassing.  The pundits had a field day.  Clay Travis and Buck Sexton declared her answer to make her unqualified to be a senator.  Of course, she is the sitting senator, having been appointed in her brother's place.  Moreover, she has been endorsed by President Trump.  Sean Hannity defended her, saying her brother just died.  Oh, so that excuses it?

If I were a South Carolina voter, I would probably switch to Ralph Norman; this is a primary election, so he is a Republican too.  However, if she secures the nomination, I can guarantee that Clay and Buck will change their tune on her qualifications.  An 'unqualified' Republican will suddenly be vastly preferable to a highly-qualified Democrat.  Do you want a reliable Republican vote or a reliable Democrat vote in the Senate?  That is all this is about.  If the general election were between a candidate with Henry Kissinger level knowledge of world affairs and a chihuahua, you vote for the one who will reliably toe the party line.  That goes for both parties.  Recall that Pennsylvania Democrats selected a recovering stroke victim over a medical doctor.  Tragically, that is where we are.

Prior to the 17th Amendment, it is unlikely that a sibling would be chosen to fill a vacant senate seat.  Name recognition is important for popular elections, but no so much in being selected by the state legislature.  The legislature would seek someone who could effectively argue on the state's behalf, not someone who was broadly known and could get votes.  Repeal the 17th and the qualifications of senators will rise.

Rise of Insanity

Economics is a social science, which makes it dependent on human behavior.  As human behavior can be wildly divergent, hard scientists look askance at the 'dismal science.'  To provide a foundation economics, the economist assumes that man is rational.  Given the choice between two goods of equal quality, the rational man will choose the one that costs less.  From here, we can graph a demand curve.  Likewise, a rational man will sell his product for as much as someone will pay: a supply curve.  The rational man theory carries into other social sciences as well.  But is man rational?

Lately, it is getting harder to accept that humans are rational.  Or, perhaps, a growing number of them are becoming irrational.

1. Gender identity.  Men claim to be women and women claim to be men.  Those making the claims are rarely those who possess biological markers of both sexes.  Nope, they are physically one sex while claiming to be the other.  Rather than view this as a psychological issue - gender dysphoria - to be treated, an alarming number of people are treating it as something that requires medical intervention, whether that be puberty blockers or even gender reassignment surgery.

2. Lindsay Clancy.  In 2023, this Massachusetts woman strangled her three children to death, all aged 5 and younger.  The trial is currently in progress.  Many women have come to her support with online videos claiming they have been close to strangling their kids.  Nearly a million dollars has been raised for Lindsay while many are pointing at the husband as the true villain.  What?  When Susan Smith drove her kids into a lake in 1994, she received no sympathy.  When Andrea Yates drowned her five children in 2001, there wasn't a fundraiser and a Conga line of women saying they could relate.  Today, Clancy has a fan club and astrologists who claim her husband is the true killer.

3. Jason Arday.  This Cambridge professor committed suicide after his life story was revealed to be fraudulent and his academic work plagiarized.  Rather than blame those who lifted an unqualified man to a position beyond his demonstrable skills, there are calls to outlaw an excess of stories on any one person.  Moreover, the professor who got the ball rolling on Arday's lack of qualifications has been suspended.  Thus, there are moves to protect the gatekeepers who should never have allowed Arday to rise so high, and instead to effort to punish the whistleblower who exposed it.  That sounds like exactly the prescription to produce more unqualified professors.

4. Celebrating Criminals.  George Floyd was a career criminal.  Today, he is viewed by many as the sainted victim of police brutality, the first martyr of BLM.  Carmelo Anthony stabbed a student to death and hundreds of thousands of dollars were donated to him and his family.  Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant with gang affiliations and accused human smuggler, was glorified as a 'Maryland father' and an example of ICE overreach.

None of this is rational.  What has led to this degradation of society?  Mental illness is now to be validated, criminals are to be excused or celebrated, and academia shall promote the incompetent.  This is no way to maintain civilization.  In fact, it is unlikely that this is accidental, as the madness seems to focus on Western countries.

Hellfighters (1968)

Chance Buckman (John Wayne) was known internationally as the best oil rig firefighter in the business.  When the call came in that his services were required, he turned his jet around and summoned his crew.  There was Greg Parker (Jim Hutton), a playboy with a different woman in every city.  There there was Joe Horn (Bruce Cabot), a reliable and able man.  Lastly, he had George Harris (Edward Faulkner), who mostly served in an administrative capacity, but was eager to get in the thick of the action.  The crew convened at the fire, which was being actively covered by NBC News.  In fact, the news crew became a nuisance that resulted in a serious injury to Chance.

Chance's injury was serious enough that Greg contacted his estranged daughter, Tish (Katharine Ross).  Of course, Greg is drawn to her and vice versa.  By the time Chance awakens, Greg has become his son-in-law!  What will his ex-wife, Madelyn (Vera Miles), think of this?

The story covers several fires, with particular interest on the anxiety of Madelyn and Tish.  Madelyn had divorced Chance because she could not endure his dangerous profession.  She was worried that Tish would have the same issue with Greg.  Unsurprisingly, he nearly dies in every fire.  Will he survive the movie?

The original script didn't have enough action for John Wayne's tastes, so he insisted more was added.  Thus we have a barroom brawl in Southeast Asia, rebels attacking a series of wells in Venezuela, and even a strafing run by rebel planes that is countered by military anti-aircraft guns.  Oil well fires just aren't sufficiently exciting.  Intermingled with all this action are the love stories of Greg & Tish and Chance & Madelyn.  These are very much by the numbers romances that feel tacked on.

The character of Chance Buckman was based on Red Adair, a famous oil rig firefighter.  He was still active when Saddam Hussein ignited the oil wells in Kuwait during the Gulf War (1991).

Mediocre.  John Wayne needed to stick to the Western or the World War II epic.

Civilizational Dead Ends

By strange coincidence, I encountered two different stories (one as a YouTube video and the other as an article in SciTechDaily) about signs of ancient civilizations.  Though each sought to elevate the story to groundbreaking or rewriting history, they both concern civilizations that went nowhere.

Murujuga concerned rock art in Australia.  There are a variety of carvings that date as far back as 50,000 years.  Yes, it is pretty cool, but it represents a people who never advanced beyond the Stone Age until more advanced civilizations arrived.  Is it important to preserve Stone Age graffiti in situ or will a photographic record be enough?  Do some 3-D modeling of the area to preserve it and carry the more interesting pieces to a museum.

Aquiry is a lost civilization in Amazonia on the Acre River.  I was at once reminded of The Lost City of Z when reading about it.  In this remote area, a civilization of up to 3 million people once flourished though it faded away sometime in the 9th century.  Though it may be interesting to study, it proved to be a civilizational dead end.  It is a cul-de-sac that leads to nothing beyond it, certainly nothing that applies to the modern world.

Where the Romans, Greeks, Chinese, Norse, Israelites, and countless others contributed to what has become our modern civilization, these two are dead ends or mere footnotes.  The Murujuga folk may be the source of the didgeridoo and the boomerang.  As for Aquiry, they weren't around to meet modern folk and pass on their innovations, if they had any.

Good Intentions and Racism

In 2003, Rush Limbaugh had a guest analyst post on an ESPN show.  Limbaugh was a huge football fan, and was thrilled to have the role.  During one appearance, he noted that a certain quarterback was getting more credit than the numbers indicated he should be getting.  He said the league and sports press was so desirous of having a successful black quarterback that it was promoting him beyond his talents.  This immediately led to accusations of racism on Limbaugh's part and he was removed from the show.

In 2008, a first term senator with only 2 years on the job ran for president.  Obama was championed despite a thin resume.  As with the quarterback, the media and the country in general had high hopes for a black politician.  Opposition to him or his policies was declared racist throughout his two terms in office.

Jason Arday, who plagiarized his PhD thesis and told the most outlandish stories was nevertheless awarded a doctorate and rose to be the youngest black professor ever at Cambridge.  Academics had high hopes for him and allowed him to bypass obstacles that no other candidate would be allowed to ignore.  His rocket rise was followed by an inevitable meteoric fall.  His tragic fall was enabled by those who wished him the best, misguided cheerleaders who allowed an unqualified man to assume a post to which he was almost certain to fail.

This has been an ongoing problem.  Colleges have given black students an advantage in enrollment - as demonstrated by the recent Harvard lawsuit settlement - where they find themselves in settings beyond their abilities.  A student who would excel and graduate from a state university is instead thrust into an elite institution where he falls behind and often drops out.  This 'benefit' to make up for past wrongs only sets the student for failure.  Such partly explains the fall of Jason Arday.

One must stick to merit alone.  By taking race into account to either benefit or penalize a candidate is harmful.  It is a misallocation of talent.  It is better to be a successful plumber than a drop out burdened by student loan debt.  One must be allowed to honestly assess an individual's abilities and accomplishments without being called a racist.  On the other side, one must hold all candidates to the requirements, regardless of how eagerly it is hoped for the candidate's success.

Keen vs. Webberley

Konstantin Kisin of Triggernometry hosted a debate between Kellie-Jay Keen (aka Posie Parker) and Dr Helen Webberley on the topic of transgender.  The sparks flew from the very start as it was clear that neither guest respected the views of the other.  Keen has been one of the most visible anti-transgender personalities for nearly a decade.  She holds that transgender is a mental disorder and that it is medical malpractice to treat them with hormone blockers or surgery.  She is particularly opposed to such treatment being given to minors.  By contrast, Webberley holds that transgender youth are able to decide their gender and that Keen was causing harm with her statements.

A good portion of the debate was Keen attempting to elicit exactly what age was appropriate for a child to decide on gender, how many encounters with a medical professional should be required before hormone blockers could be considered, whether gender dysphoria was a mental illness associated with other conditions (e.g., homosexuality, autism), and whether treatment resulted in permanent sexual disfunction.  Webberley refused to pick a specific age for treatment, though she offered 15 as a reasonable age, but would not categorically rule out 11.  She dismissed the idea of contributing conditions, even suggesting that the autism diagnosis might be in error.  Gender dysphoria is not a mental disorder and saying that it was is hate speech, which is illegal under British law.  Both ended the debate by declaring the other should be in jail, Keen for hate speech and Webberley for child abuse.  Lively!

Keen's big weakness was that she would refer to studies and then not cite them.  Which study?  She mentioned a few examples, but that is all anecdotal.  However, she was specific and clear in what her views were.  There was nothing vague or gray in her answers.  Webberley was hopelessly ambiguous and offered nothing specific except that the law stood on her side.  At one point she said that sex cannot be changed and at another point, she said that a trans-woman is indeed a woman.  Okay, which is it?  She would then explain the issue in such a way that it was entirely confusing.  She had a strategy of filibustering, denouncing interruptions and going on tangents.  She denounced Kisin for platforming Keen.

Keen's argument was far superior.  Webberley spent much of her time being offended and giving answers as clear as mud.  Comments on the debate massively favored Keen.  That said, it was not an hour well spent.  Much of this was the same old stuff gone over again, with Keen offering the standard litany and Webberley mostly offering non-answers with accusations of bigotry on the side.