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OK, so I managed to see Deathly Hallows I last night; over all, I was quite well pleased (and hugely relived, after the flattened souffle that was Half-Blood Prince). Whereas a director like Peter Jackson will build every possible moment to a grand climax, to the point where even King Kong ran three hours plus, David Yates chooses a less emphatic approach- one well suited for cutting down a long, long book.

( One brief note about something that perplexed me- longer writeup on Monday, probably. )

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So, there's apparently a Doctor Who Christmas Carol-esque Christmas special? (Potential spoilers; I had to watch it with the sound off, so *shrug*)

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Via sparkindarkness: Two female high school students in Oklahoma are firing back at their school for refusing to let them graduate after discovering the two are a couple.

Today's fork in the eye

President Obama will present the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, to former president George H. W. Bush.

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A headline I did NOT expect to ever have to type: "Porpoises rescue Dick van Dyke."

This will be reposted on Monday

Think that there's not enough radiation from an airport X-ray to worry about? You may want to reconsider that assumption.

From a letter to Dr. John P. Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology:

“Dear Dr. Holdren: We, a number of University of California, San Francisco faculty are writing- see attached memo- to call your attention to our concerns about the serious potential health risks of the recently adopted whole body back scatter X-ray airport security scanners...

“Dr. Sedat (one of the signatories) is Professor Emeritus in Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco, with expertise in imaging... The other cosigners include Dr. Marc Shuman, an internationally well known and respected cancer expert and UCSF professor, as well as Drs. David Agard and Robert Stroud, who are UCSF Professors, X-ray crystallographers, imaging experts and NAS members...

“We are writing to call your attention to serious concerns about the potential health risks
of the recently adopted whole body backscatter X-ray airport security scanners. This is
an urgent situation as these X-ray scanners are rapidly being implemented as a primary
screening step for all air travel passengers.

“Our overriding concern is the extent to which the safety of this scanning device has
been adequately demonstrated. This can only be determined by a meeting of an
impartial panel of experts that would include medical physicists and radiation biologists
at which all of the available relevant data is reviewed.

“An important consideration is that a large fraction of the population will be subject to
the new X-ray scanners and be at potential risk, as discussed below. This raises a
number of ‘red flags’...”