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My 2008

giagia — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:29:47 +0000

Last year I did a run-down of my year and thought I’d do the same again this year.

January

After rather unbelievably reading a Tweet from someone within my social media sphere who stated that he believed in the Mayan Prophecy (you know, the whole 2012-the-world’s-going-to-end-nonsense). I felt compelled to write a post about my take on the whole end of the world scenario.

It’s now the most popular post on my blog with an average of around 2000 visits to that page alone per week. At times it’s been as high as 15,000 per week. It’s also been the reason for some disturbed individuals sending me nasty messages because I don’t believe in their crazy fantasy world. Hey ho.

Some outtakes from Brian’s Horizon on Gravity were put up on YouTube.

I also found out that I was going to be working on the new X-Files movie. Some of my Tweets from that time (1, 2, 3, 4) are pretty obvious about that fact, but only really in retrospect…

February

February was really all about our trip to San Francisco and the TED conference where Brian spoke.

I was also working on the very fabulous film Water Lilies.

March

Brian was made Professor while we were still in San Francisco, just after his 40th birthday at the beginning of March. That was pretty cool!

My mum came to visit for a bit and during that time we went beachcombing on the Thames and found some cool stuff.

April

This was the coolest month! Right after visiting CERN with both Phil Plait and Chris Morris, I was delivered the super top secret X-Files script. I had a terrible cold and, I learned later in the year, had asthma which was making me very ill. That is my excuse for looking so utterly terrible in this video. :)

May

OK, wait, THIS was the coolest month. Apart from Brian going off to film his Horizon on Time, it included getting my hair cut and dyed like Dana Scully, then flying off to Cannes to ‘interview’ Harrison Ford and having a chat with X-Files’ producer Frank Spotnitz.

June

June was X-Files-tastic!

Excitement was definitely building for the X-Files film and I was caught up in it all. Towards the end of the month, I went to LA for the LA Film Festival to attend a special screening of a couple clips from the film, along with a Q&A with David Duchovny, Frank Spotnitz and Chris Carter.

July

X-Files! X-Files! X-Files!

The film premiered at the end of the month and Chris, Frank, David and Gillian attended the London premiere. The day after the premiere Chris and Frank did a signing at Forbidden Planet.

August

Brian and I went to SciFoo in Silicon Valley and had a fabulous holiday in LA being touristy.

September

This is where things start getting a bit weird for me as I found out I was pregnant so had a bit of a awful time over the rest of the autumn dealing with morning sickness and anxiety over scans and blood tests and the like, all the while being unable to talk about it with anyone.

September was also when CERN swtiched on. Along with all the excitement of the whole build up to it came all the nasty emails from the idiots who thought it was going to destroy the Universe and who thought that Brian was somehow the Sith Lord in charge of the destruction of the human race. All that wasn’t too entertaining. Honestly, it’s just not fun at all to be newly pregnant and then receiving emails calling the father of your unborn child the ‘Black Hand of Death’.

Brian on Newsnight the night of CERN’s switch on reminded me exactly why I love him so much.

October

The main things I was thinking of in October were morning sickness. Obama and Jonathan Ross.

I started keeping a pregnancy diary in October as I wasn’t blogging about it, but after a few entries it was pretty much just, “Nauseated. Constipated. Tired. Fat.’ so I decided to give it up. I realised that even in retrospect it would be boring.

My obsession with Obama, of course, was not unique to me. I mainly kept out of the whole election thing on my blog this time around as the Rightwing Christian Republican Dumbshit Bush-lovers (yes, for long-time readers, I mean Amy Proctor, Bull-headed Donna and the other one) caused me such grief before, during and after the last election (did you know that one of them tried to get me fired from my job on Sunshine?!), I wasn’t up for a second round. I was just hoping that they’d get their reward in November when Obama won. And they did. The twunts.

Now, Jonathan Ross.

The whole Daily Mail-fuelled madness just confirmed to me that most people are absolute illogical fucktards and that includes MANY people in positions of ‘power’ in the media. This whole episode has given me LESS hope for the human race than ever before… Thank Christ Obama changed that in November.

November

OBAMAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!

This month I was up for a new job on telly. I’ve not done any telly for a few years now, mainly because all the web producing I’ve been doing has been keeping me busy. Also because I was enjoying using my brain, being creative, being able to make decisions *myself* which is pretty much unheard of for most TV presenters.

This job, however, seemed different. Not only was it a ‘tech’ programme, but it was a retro tech programme AND it wasn’t a presenter’s role, but an on-camera expert role. So I did the meetings and the screentest and crossed my fingers that I’d get it cos it sounded like it’d be a lot of fun. I had to wait until December for a decision.

This month was also the most stressful pregnancy-wise. Along with waiting for scans and blood tests looking for chromosomal abnormalities in the baby, I also had to have blood tests for various diseases. Having an HIV test- no matter how sure you are- has this funny way of making one become highly illogical. ‘I wonder what the chances are of it turning up a decade later? Two decades later?!! Maybe it DOES and they’ve just not figured that out yet!!! Oh. God. What will I do when they tell me I’ve got HIV?! Oh. God. I’m feeling a bit ill. It’s HIV, I know it.’

Not fun.

Everyone I’ve told about my HIV test worries who has had an HIV test themselves said they went through EXACTLY the same thing. Every. Single. One. So glad to know I’m not the only lunatic… (For the record, I don’t have HIV, nor do I have Hep C or Syphilis. w00t!)

Also, this month Jonathan Ross surprised me by asking me to be his Neu Meeja advisor (or whatever). First thing I did? Got him on Twitter. He’s been Tweeting up a storm!

December

I found out I got the TV job. It’s called Electric Dreams and will be on in April on BBC4. Right before the Christmas break I did the first bit of filming and it’s been good fun.

Brian and I also found out that we’d got a book deal to write a kids’ book on Physics. So that’s going to keep us busy…

This month, generally, has been good mainly because I was finally able to announce my pregnancy. It was getting increasingly difficult for me to hide it as I was getting pretty big fairly early on. This is me a couple days ago.

The other day Brian and I went off to Llandudno in Wales to visit our friend. I got a lovely snap of Brian and Peter talking politics whilst walking along the beach…

And today, the last day of December and 2008, I’m looking forward to an exciting year ahead. I hope you all have a good year!!

Obama & Science

giagia — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:58:35 +0000

I’ve been very encouraged reading the science and technology page on the new website for the Office of the President-Elect. Obama seems to be mentioning science a lot, both in education and on its own:

America risks being left behind in the global economy: Revolutionary advances in information technology, biotechnology, nanotechnology and other fields are reshaping the global economy. Without renewed efforts, the United States risks losing leadership in science, technology and innovation. As a share of the Gross Domestic Product, American federal investment in the physical sciences and engineering research has dropped by half since 1970.

Too many Americans are not prepared to participate in a 21st century economy: A recent international study found that U.S. students perform lower on scientific assessments than students in 16 other economically developed nations, and lower than 20 economically developed nations in math performance. Only one-third of middle class physical science teachers are qualified to teach in that subject, and only one-half of middle school math sciences have educational background in that subject area.

Invest in the Sciences: Barack Obama and Joe Biden support doubling federal funding for basic research over ten years, changing the posture of our federal government from being one of the most anti-science administrations in American history to one that embraces science and technology. This will foster home-grown innovation, help ensure the competitiveness of US technology-based businesses, and ensure that 21st century jobs can and will grow in America.

Invest in University-Based Research: Barack Obama and Joe Biden strongly support expanding research initiatives at American colleges and universities. The U.S. faces a challenge in funding younger researchers. Obama and Biden will provide new research grants to the most outstanding early-career researchers in the country.

Restore Scientific Integrity to the White House: Good policy in Washington depends on sound advice from the nation’s scientists and engineers and decision-making based on the needs of all Americans. Obama and Biden will restore the basic principle that government decisions should be based on the best-available, scientifically-valid evidence and not on the ideological predispositions of agency officials or political appointees.(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Make Math and Science Education a National Priority: Obama and Biden will recruit math and science degree graduates to the teaching profession and will support efforts to help these teachers learn from professionals in the field. They will also work to ensure that all children have access to a strong science curriculum at all grade levels.

Increase Science and Math Graduates: Obama and Biden will improve science and math education in K through 12, to prepare more students for these studies in college. They will work to increase our number of science and engineering graduates and encourage undergraduates studying math and science to pursue graduate studies. They will also work to increase the representation of minorities and women in the science and technology pipeline, tapping the diversity of America to meet the increasing demand for a skilled workforce. The challenges of the 21st century can only be met by combining many skills from people with many backgrounds. America’s diversity is a clear competitive advantage if we use it.

Advance Stem Cell Research: Despite recent advances pointing to alternatives like adult stem cell and cord blood, embryonic stem cells remain unmatched in their potential for treatment of a wide variety of diseases and health conditions. Barack Obama has been a long-term supporter of increased stem cell research. He introduced legislation while a member of the Illinois Senate that would allow embryonic stem cell research in Illinois. Obama has cosponsored legislation to allow greater federal government funding on a wider array of stem cell lines. Obama believes we need high ethical standards that allow for research on stem cells derived from embryos produced for in vitro fertilization, embryos that would otherwise be needlessly destroyed.

I really love the guy.

Change 2008

giagia — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:03:23 +0000

I’m going to be staying in with my son and watching the election tomorrow night. I’m hoping that he’ll got to bed early for a few hours before I wake him up at midnight to watch when the results start coming in. There *are* some polls that close earlier than that, but they’re Indiana and Kentucky and will likely be McCain states, so I’m not bothered about him seeing that.

I’m posting up some widgets here to follow over the next day.

This first one is a vote predictor which based on polls and is updated hourly until the election.

This one will start showing results when the polls start to close tomorrow.

This is a great searchable widget.

I’m also keen on keeping up with the senate election in Minnesota, my home state.

I Love Obama

giagia — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:00:25 +0000

The Great Schlep

giagia — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:45:12 +0000

Oh. How I love Sarah Silverman.

(there’s swearing in this so don’t turn up loud at work)

The Great Schlep from The Great Schlep on Vimeo.

“The Great Schlep aims to have Jewish grandchildren visit their grandparents in Florida, educate them about Obama, and therefore swing the crucial Florida vote in his favour. Don’t have grandparents in Florida? Not Jewish? No problem! You can still become a schleper and make change happen in 2008, simply by talking to your relatives about Obama.”

More here

Change 2008

giagia — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:34:22 +0000

This episode was shown here on Monday. I just watched it tonight with my son. I literally jumped up out of my seat and said, ‘Yes!!!’ after the McCain-Bush bit. It was so brilliant I had to share it with those of you who may not have seen it. I superheart Jon Stewart.

Sarah Palin Vetted?

giagia — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:20:00 +0000

During the Republican primaries I was thinking “You know, if McCain wins the nomination and ends up winning the election, it’ll be OK. He’s not completely batshit insane, certainly compared to the Bush White House. So if it happens, I’ll be OK with it.” I was always going to vote Democrat, of course, but wasn’t massively worried about McCain.

I have now completely changed my mind. With this whole Sarah Palin thing, McCain has shown that he is clearly chaotic and dangerous. He should not be in charge of a country which has so very much at stake. America has a chance to step out of the darkness, a chance to wake-up, a chance to join this wonderful world we live in. This will NOT happen with McCain in the White House. If he puts so very little thought into who he chooses as his running mate – the person who could end up being the Vice President of the country for 4 whole years- what amount of contemplation will go into, say, starting another bloody war?

It’s clear now that the McCain camp more-or-less tossed a coin when it came to choosing a Vice-Presidential running mate. McCain spoke to her once on the phone and once in person the day he offered her the job.

“Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was not subjected to a lengthy in-person background interview with the head of Sen. John McCain’s vice presidential vetting team until last Wednesday in Arizona, the day before McCain asked her to be his running mate, and she did not disclose the fact that her 17-year-old daughter was pregnant until that meeting, two knowledgeable McCain officials acknowledged Tuesday.”

She had ALREADY been given a lengthy questionnaire which asked for information on ‘personal matters’, but she didn’t feel it appropriate to mention that her 17-year-old daughter was pregnant in that questionnaire. She waited until Wednesday, the day before they offered her the job, to let them know that. She had informed them about her husband’s DUI and McCain aides say they had already found out about the ethics investigation she’s under in Alaska (you’d think the Republicans would have had enough of those for a while).

One of McCain’s advisors said, clearly using this week’s Acceptable Republican Terminology (in italics): “We made a political determination that the American people would not object to a female candidate with a 17-year-old daughter who was pregnant. We believed that parents all over America would understand that life happens (my emphasis). The team made a recommendation to the senator that these issues were not disqualifying.”

“Life happens”. Hmmmm. Now, in normal language that would read “mistakes happen”. You know, the condom breaks, she forgot to take a Pill, he didn’t pull out in time, they weren’t given adequate sex education to understand how to prevent themselves from getting pregnant, their parents either never talked to them about birth control or forbade them from using it. You know, those kinds of mistakes.

BUT… because last spring when Obama used the word ‘mistake’ when talking about sex education the Republican Machine took the quote out of context and said that he was talking about abortion. Well, of course, they can’t use the word ‘mistake’… so what do they do instead? Use a completely ridiculous sounding sentence- “America would understand that life happens” (when you’re busy making other plans) – with that good ole Manchurian Candidate-like trigger word ‘LIFE’ which wakes up this crowd of Bible-thumping zombies hiding out in the backwoods.

Speaking of Bible-thumping zombies, this is Sarah Palin at her church. it’s about 14 minutes long, if you don’t have the time to watch it all, let me just tell you that at one point she says that she thinks the War in Iraq is ‘God’s will’ and that God wants drilling for oil in Alaska’s 20 million acre wildlife refuge. Seriously.

Sarah Palin Soap Opera

giagia — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:02:41 +0000

Anyone who’s been following me on Twitter or reading my Twitter-based status updates on Facebook may have realised I’ve been following the soap opera-like goings-on in the US Republican party.

Short recap: first there were was a story on Daily Kos, which has since been deleted, that claimed that Sarah Palin’s 4-month-old baby boy, Trig, was actually her grandson.

They talked about how she only announced her pregnancy when she was 7 months gone
how no one she worked with had realised she was pregnant
they linked to images and video of her at 7-8 months pregnant and she didn’t *look* 7-8 months pregnant
they explained how her daughter Bristol had been taken out of school for 5 months ‘with a bad case of mono’ (in American high schools that’s often a euphemism for ‘pregnant’)
how when Sarah Palin went into labor a month early and was leaking amniotic fluid, she got on a plane, took an 8 hour flight, then a 45 minute car journey from Texas to Alaska- did I mention the baby has Downe’s Syndrome?- had the baby on a Friday, then was back at work Monday morning. To pretty much everyone who’d had a baby, this seemed either pretty unlikely or an example of SUPREMELY bad judgment on the part of Sarah Palin for all kinds of reasons…
they put 2 and 2 together and got a ‘Desperate Housewives’-style plot which made me remember why I love teh internets so much

Then someone from Sarah Palin’s hometown (pop. 9,000) pops up in the comments on a blog and says, ‘Trig is Sarah Palin’s son, but her 17 year old daughter is pregnant NOW.’ (see comments by ‘Sue Williams’). Then comes the announcement that, yes, Bristol Palin, 17 years old, unmarried, is, indeed, pregnant and her boyfriend describes himself as a “f – - -in’ redneck” and that he “[doesn't] want kids”. Doh!

So far so Jerry Springer. Or, as I read yesterday, so far so “Beverly Hillbillies in igloos”.

The Republicans are saying this is ‘nobody’s business but the Palins’‘. Barack Obama has said that families are off-limits. Republican bloggers and commenters are talking about how despicable and low Democrat bloggers and commenters are by even talking about this. Some Democrat bloggers and commenters are agreeing with them.

What, I ask you, would be happening on Fox News right now if one of Barack and Michelle Obama’s daughters was 17 and this was happening? A black, unmarried, teenage, pregnant girl. What would the Republicans be saying about that? Think they’d be saying ‘it’s a private family matter’? No. They wouldn’t at all. They’d be judging and condemning Barack and Michelle. They’d be questioning their parenting skills. They’d be going on about how this is exactly what America *doesn’t* need in the White House. And you know it.

I think Bristol Palin’s unwed, teenage pregnancy IS an issue that does need to be talked about. Here’s why:

Sarah Palin is anti-choice when it comes to pregnancy and childbirth. She has said that she wouldn’t support the decision to have an abortion even if her own daughter was raped. Charmingly, she apparently said this when her own daughter was 14 years old. Just some facts as an aside: only about one third of rapes are reported to the police in the US; 1 in 6 American women have been the victim of an attempted or completed rape; 21.6% of those were younger than 12; 32.4% were between the ages of 12 and 18; rape-related pregnancy occurs “with significant frequency”. more here and here. Remember, Sarah Palin said she would force her 14 year old child to have a baby if she got pregnant after being raped.

Also, Sarah Palin does not support sex-education in schools and instead supports ‘abstinence-until-marriage education’. Yea. We all would prefer it if kids waiting until they were older to have sex, but honestly, when has that EVER happened?! To expect someone’s mind and decision-making ability to compete with or control their hormones, especially when they are a teenager is foolish beyond belief. What we might hope for and reality are often very opposed to one another. And apart from the whole pregnancy issue, we should be actively advocating condom use for the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases (1-in-4 sexually active teenagers in the States gets an STD).

In the Republicans’ announcement of Bristol’s pregnancy, Sarah Palin said, “We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents.” I’m glad for them. I honestly am.

BUT…

I’m wondering exactly what choice Bristol had in the matter? Her mother has already made is clear that she wouldn’t allow her daughter to get an abortion even if she were raped, so if, as a kid, you are brought up knowing that you have no options, how exactly do you get to make a “decision”? Now, I’m not, at all, suggesting that Bristol wanted to have an abortion and her parents forbade her from having one. I’m talking in a deeper sense here.

Bristol Palin is a child. Does anyone seriously think that she would be strong and independent enough to make any important decision without her parents’ 100% approval? Of course not. All Bristol Palin wants right now is the support, care and love of her parents. And the only way she will get that is if she drops out of school, has a baby and gets married. At 17. That is not a “decision” at all. And it’s certainly not the decision I would like forced upon *my* pregnant teenage daughter by the government.

Sarah Palin has already said that “parents know better than government what is best for their children” when it comes to education and yet thinks that the government knows better than ALL of its citizens- both adults and minors- when it comes to their own private sex lives, reproduction, psychology and medical treatment. Sarah Palin thinks the government should force ALL women to give birth no matter what.

The fact is that not every teenage girl who ‘makes a mistake’ and finds herself pregnant has parents who will support her “decision” – whatever that decision may be. Not every pregnant teenage girl has a mother who is the governor of a state. Not every pregnant teenage girl has parents who are still married and still, by all accounts and purposes, happily so. Not every pregnant teenage girl has parents who earn a lot of money and can financially support them. Not every pregnant teenage girl has an extended family who will emotionally support them. Not every pregnant teenage girl has been dating her partner for 3 years (as I’ve read Bristol has). Not every pregnant teenage girl has a partner who agrees to marry her. Not every pregnant teenage girl has consented to the sexual act which got her pregnant. Not every pregnant teenage girl lives in a place where you can earn enough to live when you’ve had to cut your education short, before you’ve got a high school degree.

Things are different for pregnant teenage girls who are living with a poor single parent, in a city, and whose partner refuses to take responsibility for the pregnancy. It’s estimated that 30% of American girls become pregnant before the age of 20 and teenage pregnancies cost billions of dollars annually as around 60% of pregnant teenage girls stop their education and live on welfare.

Taking choices away from everyone based on what you would or have done in your own personal life, for your own personal reasons, is WRONG. Forcing anyone to give birth is as horrendous as forcing anyone to have an abortion. It should be “a private family matter”.

My pro-choice stance is just that- I support the right of women to choose. They should be able to choose whether they have sex or not. They should choose whether they take birth control or not. They should choose whether they go through with a pregnancy or not. This does NOT mean that I think Bristol Palin should have had an abortion. IT’S NOT UP TO ME! If she were my daughter… well, first I would have probably had her on the Pill… but I would hope that my daughter, by the time she was old enough to be having sex, would understand the importance of education, the importance of her being able to be financially independent as an adult and the importance of having a supportive partner and most importantly the importance of using birth control if she chooses to have sex… I think safe and supported choices should be made available and people should be free to make up their own minds. That’s it. That’s what “pro-choice” means.

By both John McCain and Sarah Palin being in favor of Federally-Sanctioned Forced Childbirth, they are saying that the pregnancy of each and every woman in America is the Government’s business, that the moment a sperm touches an egg the woman’s womb is “public property”. Therefore, according to Republican logic, Bristol Palin’s pregnancy is “our business”. Republicans can’t have it both ways. Pregnancy and childbirth are either private family matters for everyone or no one.

What will it be, Republicans?