Day: December 30, 2011

On the Sixth Day of Christmas

I learned something today.  I try to learn something every day, but I am not always successful (translation: distracted by the practical side of life).  Today I remembered to peruse the ‘front page’ of the Wikipedia web site.  I like the serendipitousness of the daily featured article as well as the ‘On this day …’ section. 

On this day . . .

The Andromeda Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. The image also shows Messier Objects 32 and 110, as well as NGC 206 (a bright star cloud in the Andromeda Galaxy) and the star Nu Andromedae. This image was taken using a hydrogen-alpha filter.

The second thing I learned came from the ‘Today’s Featured Picture’ section:

Pure (99.97+%) iron chips, electrolytically refined, as well as a high purity 1 cm3 iron cube for comparison. Iron is the most common element (by mass) on Earth, forming much of the outer and inner core, as well as the fourth most common element in the Earth’s crust.

Who knows what else I’ll stumble into learning today?  I have an entire afternoon to explore since my employer will set me free at noon. 

You’ve been warned. 

Oh, and just in case you missed it last night, here’s a snapshot from my cell phone of the sunset:

Only two more sunsets left in 2011

Only two more sunsets left this year!

Movie Review: Daleks’ Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. (1966)

Daleks’ Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. (1966)

1 out of 5 stars

If only I could get those ninety minutes back I spent watching this movie last night.  Even the respectable talents of Peter Cushing as Doctor Who could not save this film (although his character did manage to save the world from the Daleks).  If the rest of the 60s era Doctor Who movies and television series overflowed with such bad acting, inept stunts, God-awful music and exceptionally fictional science, it’s a miracle Doctor Who survived to the 21st century. 

Some of the ‘shocks’ for me in this movie included a girl who called the Doctor who grandfather and a woman companion who professed to be his niece.  Having watched the Moffat version of Doctor Who for the last few years, I assumed the Doctor had no relatives (except for one episode involving a regenerated hand during the Tenant season).  And I realized this morning that the police officer who rushed into the TARDIS thinking it was an actual police call box is the very same actor who portrayed Donna Noble‘s grandfather, Wilfred Mott (also during the David Tenant Doctor Who seasons). 

I can thank my husband for finding this gem on TCM.  Even though this movie was the sequel to the previous year’s Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965), I won’t be rushing over to Netflix to place it in my queue.  And, thankfully, the BBC does NOT consider anything but the television series to be ‘canon’ with respect to the Doctor Who universe.