MPJ

There is a debate about the origin of the famous "heaven and hell" quote dating way back to the 19th century, and after little research, maybe Republican Benjamin Wade formulated it best: "I think, from all I can learn, that heaven has the better climate, but hell has the better company." There are similar sayings by others like Mark Twain and Peter Pan's father, James M. Barrie, but if you research it deeper, all the credits actually belong to Niccoló Machiavelli, who said on the topic exactly this: "I desire to go to Hell, not to Heaven. In Hell I shall enjoy the company of popes, kings, and princes, but in Heaven are only beggars, monks, hermits, and apostles". Maybe to understand better the Roman Catholic Church and its influence in the Dark Ages, when both Niccoló Machiavelli and Leonardo da Vinci shared one of the best places to live for free thinkers in the 15th-century Republic of Florence, the best thing to do is to start watching the great T...

When I was young, back then in my primary school, when I was more or less 10 years old, I remember my favorite part during working days was a special TV program for school kids broadcast every day in the morning hours with a mixture of great educational documentaries and movies. After school we rushed home to watch those popular documentaries, giving us maybe even better knowledge enriched with colorful multimedia experiences than we could learn in school. I will always remember those days back in the 70s and later in the early 80s when the black-and-white TV era ended and color TV entered the homes in great style, probably comparable to what the internet added to home computers a decade or so ago. The most memorable and probably the most popular TV show about nature, biology, zoology, and science in general was "The World of Survival", a famous British documentary of the time narrated by various famous people and promoted by naturalists like David Bellamy. I still remembe...

Last week was very exciting on the global scale regarding the everlasting anti-piracy war. Only this time, instead of real criminals, somebody else could really suffer. Somebody like Wikipedia, for example. The whole activity raises more questions now, and maybe the biggest one is who was the real target with this SOPA and PIPA last week, and who was really responsible? Well, I have no doubts about that. It's the politics and politicians. With a vast number of parliaments, congresses, senates, or whatever these institutions are named in worldwide democracies, the biggest background activity known as political lobbying will always be there. This works really simply: you have money, and you want some law to be established to expand your business even more? Not a problem; just hire some advocacy firm to lobby for your goal, and over time, if you are persistent enough, you will succeed - politicians belong to those people who "change their minds" easily. They don't...

Addiction is a strong word, yes, but can it be implied to watching TV shows? I guess it might, if you are watching TV too much, whatever that means. If it can and if I count the last couple of years, then yes, I am mildly addicted to TV shows, as I am only doing it a couple of days of week. Every week. Except for the summer. Hmm, maybe even in the summer. Lightly. Ok, I need help.... :) From time to time I am wondering why I like watching TV shows that much, and the answer is simple really: I need something to distract me from my regular daily routine, and I always feel it's a good thing. After an hour or two of entertainment, I always feel refreshed for the rest of the day. In the past I was enjoying movies in theaters, VHS tapes, and DVDs, but they are short and don't give you much to think about later. In movies you always have closure of some kind. TV shows are different. It's like an ongoing movie happening every week, and I always have some thoughts and questio...