You're Talking about Plutonium on your Blog? What's Wrong with You?

What don't you think that the government is watch you? Sure they don't care much about you, but you start writing about plutonium or building bombs, and someone is going to get an email from a tracking program designed just for you. Don't believe me? Then you're watching the wrong kinds of movies. Movies will tell you that big brother is watching. Let me give you some examples.

The Truman Show (1998)

Look at poor Truman. His entire life is just a TV show. He's the star, and he doesn't even know it. Every element of his life is controlled by a mystical director who has kept his life a secret from Truman even though the entire world knows the truth.

Even though he doesn't know the truth and has had a bizarre string of events that have kept him in fear of leaving his home town, Truman decides to take his chances and go to another town.

Outside of the town-sized studio, there are groups of people who are protesting for the release of Truman.

This is a small example, and just a start. Let's move on to something a little less nice.

The Man with One Red Shoe (1985)

Think that the government isn't interested in your life? That's what Richard Drew thinks too, but he's wrong. When a CIA director (Ross,) who is in jeopardy of losing his job, picks a man at random as a "secret agent with important information," Richard's life becomes filled with complications due to another agent (Cooper,) who wants to take over the director position.

Agents take his apartment apart and mix everything up. Flushing the toilet turns on the sink, and turning on the the sink actually operates the shower. The is also tailed by a beautiful woman who is trying to figure out his secret. He even is almost assassinated several times in the movie.

So how did he get chosen for the distraction? Well, he's wearing one red shoe because his prankster friend steals all of the rest of the shoes.

Enemy of the State (1998)

So what happens when the government wants to get you? That's what Will Smith discovers when Robert Dean gets evidence against a corrupt politician. This politician is able to track Dean using computer technology to learn about everything that he is doing, and the money he is spending. Dean isn't able to go anywhere or do anything easily because of all of the ways that big brother can follow you.

Eagle Eye (2008)

What happens when your twin brother dies under unusual circumstances while working with an experimental computer that is designed to moniter all of the electronic communications on the planet. Not only is it watching everthing you do and say, but it's decided to take over the world. (Of course!)

Unfortunately for you, it needs you to come to the mainframe so it can use you to unlock the code that your brother installed before he died. (Doesn't it suck to be a twin?)

I Robot (2004)

More robots looking to take over? You bet. Isaac Asimov envisioned the possibility that machines would take a look at the world at some point and realize that they could run it better than we could, so why not make a movie about it? (I won't get into how I feel about this movie right now, but maybe another time.)

So look at the trouble you run into when you start doing anything on your blog, let alone something as stupid as writing aobut plutonium. Find something else to write about, OK?

Of Chicks and Peas

A few days ago, I asked my friends on Facebook for ideas on what to post next on Random Opinions. I got several ideas, but two in particular that I though would work well together.

• a chick pea is neither a chick nor a pea
• Chick names for my chickens

What would happen if I tried to do both posts at once? How random would that be?

So let's look at the chickpea side of things first for a moment. This comes from a classic Mike Myers skit from Saturday Night Live, Coffee Talk.

In the skit, Myers plays Linda Richman, a talk show host who often gets distracted and instructs the audience to "talk among yourselves" with some random topic. One of those topics was "a chick pea is neither a chick nor a pea."

So how does that tie with the second comment? Just by the slightest of threads since they both have the word "chick" in them.

So how can we tie these two disparate ideas together? Why through randomness, of course.

• Chicks are not peas, but that doesn't mean you can't name a chick Sweet Pea.
• Chickpeas are also known as garbanzo beans. The word garbanzo comes to English from Old Spanish as Calavance, a word that I think would make a good name.
• Apicius was a Roman gourmet that was fond of these legumes. Wouldn't Apicius be a great name for a chicken?
• Charlemagne wrote about chickpeas, so why not name your chick after him?
• Nicholas Culpeper noted "chick-pease or cicers" are less "windy" than peas and more nourishing. So why not Culpeper?
• Venus is associated with chickpeas.
• There are two varieties of chickpeas-Desi and Kabuli.

That's 8 names and it should get you well along. If you want more, or you have other suggestions, feel free to post a comment below.