I've been spending the past hour watching

Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie

It's really a very calm and soothing movie. I know that sounds weird, but there is this really peaceful classical music (performed by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra) overlayed over the footage of all the nuclear bombs going off.

In between those shots, you have pictures of healthy young suntanned soldiers and scientists scurrying around intensely to prepare for the experiment. I always think of my dad when I see those shots, because he was stationed on Johnson Island in the Pacific during that time, and used to go for long swims in the ocean.

Only downside: it's narrated by William Shatner. I guess those Geico commercials weren't paying enough of the bills. And they have an interview with Edward Teller (*gross*). A mercifully short one. For those of you that don't know....Edward Teller was one of the leading scientists on the Manhattan Project and it was in part due to Teller's testimony concerning the top secret security clearance of Robert Oppenheimer that caused the govt to revoke Oppenheimer's security clearance and strip him of all his powers.

Senate Ratifies International Cybercrime Treaty

HOLEEE SHIT....you have to check this out

From the article:

According to the EFF, "The treaty requires that the U.S. government help enforce other countries' 'cybercrime' laws—even if the act being prosecuted is not illegal in the United States. That means that
countries that have laws limiting free speech on the Net could oblige the F.B.I. to uncover the identities of anonymous U.S. critics, or monitor their communications on behalf of foreign governments. American ISPs would be obliged to obey other jurisdictions' requests to log their users' behavior without due process, or compensation."

Way to go, assholes. How about passing a law that limits service in the US Senate or House to only those individuals whose IQ exceeds their shoe size? How about passing a useful law for a change?