Talking Substance in an Age of Style

I am a huge fan of Randy Olson’s.  He directed the documentary A Flock of Dodos which covered the Kansas debate on evolution v. Intelligent Design.  Olson grew up in the Kansas City region, attended K.U. and his mother lived close to a proponant of the Intelligent Design position.

Dr. Olson has a PhD from Harvard where he studied evolutionary biology.  It has not been completely clear to me why Olson made a switch from a career as a marine biologist to a film maker, but I suspect his divorce  was a life-changing event.  Besides A Flock of Dodos, Olson completed a “mockumentary” on the global warming debate called Sizzle: A Global Warming Comedy which covered the the “scientific debate” against global warming.

Olson recently published a book entitled Don’t Be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style.  In this work Dr. Olson covers the strength and weaknesses of film vs. other forms of communication.  Film doesn’t so much educate as it imspires.  Being new to these notions of films, this was quite an educational experience for me; I have a copy available for loan.

iggydonnelly

A Growing Public Safety Issue

Once more, Dandy Don Mills hits the ball out of the park, with his blog entry, It’s Time for Senior Drivers to Fight Back, Damn it!  He complains about younger people telling him he is too old to drive a car.  He is an active senior and the concerns are without merit, he says.

Where I work, there is a computerized testing protocol where senior’s driving skills are evaluated and determinations are made about their driving ability.  Guess what, there are not many senior supporters of this testing process.

As the baby boomers age, these issues will become more of a contentious fight, I am predicting.  Thanks, Don, for getting in on this controversy early…

iggydonnelly

Monday, 10/05/09, Public Square

A brand new week!  A road trip later this week!  How was your weekend?

fnord