Over the recent years, with the boom in texting and online social networks, teenagers have been developing new ways of dealing with their emotional problems. A new study has shown that there is a therapeutic value in blogging. While many people see writing as a form of therapy, the study highlighted the issue faced by teens.

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Prominent Oxford neuroscientists are teaming up with ethicists to consider the issues raised by brain stimulating techniques. They recently spoke on BBC’s Radio 4 morning program to have a discussion. The most promising stimulation, called transcranial direct current stimulation (TDCS) can be used to improve language, math, memory, problem solving, attention span, and even movement.

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In Indian hospitals, over 50% of bacterial infections are now resistant to commonly used antibiotics. Surveys have shown that many widespread pathogens in India are also resistant to powerful, broad-spectrum antibiotics. In 2010, a team of scientists analyzed bacterial infections in New Delhi and found that 24% could resist the hospital’s last resort intravenous antibiotics, carbapenems, and 13% had a super-resistant gene, New Delhi metallo-ß-lactamase 1 (NDM-1), that conferred resistance to carbapenems and 14 other antibiotics.

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Physicists at the University of California, Riverside, have set forward lab experiments to determine if antimatter behaves differently in gravity than baryonic matter. This could provide an explanation why the Universe doesn’t seem to have much antimatter and why it’s expanding at an ever increasing rate.

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An asteroid about the size of a bus shaved by Earth in what’s been described as a near miss. However, experts weren’t concerned that it might have impacted. This isn’t uncommon and these types of asteroids are hard to see except when they come quite close to Earth.

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There’s been a lot more research into self-healing organic polymers, but it’s only recently that a self-healing mechanism from more than 60 years ago was rediscovered. The process, which is called siloxane equilibration, allows silicone rubber that’s been cut in half to completely repair itself through heat-activated reversible bonding.

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Thanks to their keen vision, jumping spiders have been able to get the advantage on their prey in the invertebrate world. However, scientists have been puzzled how the spiders’ miniature nervous system manages such sophisticated perception.

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So Google replaces 60 different policies with one?.. Can’t help remembering: “one ring to rule them all..” 17 hours ago

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NASA’s Kepler mission has discovered 11 new planetary systems, with an additional 26 confirmed planets, which actually doubles the number of verified Kepler planets and triples the number of stars known to have more than one planet. It’s hoped that such systems might elucidate how planets are formed.

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While it might sound like science-fiction, the idea that the Universe is embedded in a broader multidimensional space is something that cosmologists have been pondering. The cosmos might exist in parallel with outer universes in other sets of dimensions. These universes are called braneworlds. If this is an accurate description of what’s happening, then the Universe could end up inside another one.

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As obesity rises in the worldwide population, so does its effect on health, which includes joint damage, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and its complications. However, while it’s expected that type 2 diabetes is on the rise, the variant that’s linked to obesity, type 1 diabetes, the autoimmune disease with childhood onset, is on the global rise as well.

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A new study published in Science shows that prion diseases, such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), are able to jump species a lot easier than previously thought, because they can replicate in the spleen without necessarily affecting the brain.

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Scientists are using powerful lasers to mimic the effects of supernovae, which are helping to reveal how the magnetic fields of galaxies may have been formed in the early universe. All galaxies have magnetic fields, ones that might affect how fast stars are born, but it hasn’t been discovered where these magnetic fields come from.

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A new study has shown that skin cells harvested from patients with Alzheimer’s disease can be reprogrammed to form brain cells, offering clues to dementia and the prospect of early diagnosis as well as new treatments. Alzheimer’s disease causes neurodegeneration and strikes late in life. However, the disease is almost impossible to diagnose before actual symptoms develop. Currently, there are no drugs in existence that can change the course of the disease.

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If prehistoric hunters and gatherers had access to social networking sites, they would probably end up with networks that looked identical to modern ones, according to a study published on January 25th in Nature, which was based upon field work among a tribe of Tanzanian hunter-gatherers.

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After years of progress, scientists are now coming closer and closer to making real-world objects disappear from view. Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin have made a three-dimensional object disappear from view, from any angle, at microwave wavelengths.

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One of nature’s biggest mysteries, dark energy, is being explored thanks to a deceptively simple tool that David Schlegel came up with. 2,200 aluminum plates, about the size of a manhole cover, each one drilled with a specific pattern of holes that match the arrangement of galaxies in a particular section of the sky, are used for an hour each at the prime focus of the 2.5-meter telescope at Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico. When the telescope points to the right spot, the light from each galaxy streams through its corresponding hole. This light is then broken up and used to measure how fast each galaxy is being carried away.

Read more @ SciTechDaily

Microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs), which can simultaneously count photons, measure their energy, and record each one’s time of arrival, could eventually replace charge-coupled devices (CCDs) in telescopes. CCDs can only do this after the light is split with a prism or grating, a step which adds to the loss of photons.

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A boxwood blight, caused by an aggressive fungus disease, has started to invade the North American continent, after it had spread throughout Europe and New Zealand. Last October, US authorities confirmed that the blight had jumped continents, and started infections in North Carolina and Connecticut.

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Scientists from the University of Bristol have developed a new kind of soap, composed of iron rich salts that were dissolved in water, that responds to magnetic fields when placed in a solution. The soap’s magnetic properties were demonstrated at the Institut Laue-Langevin and were caused by tiny, iron-rich clumps that sit in the watery solution. This functional soap could revolutionize the clean-ups of oil spills.

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Students tend to take far from optimal ways to assimilate information, especially when it comes to exams. Scientists Tim Novikoff, Jon Kleinbert, and Steve Strogatz decided to take a mathematical approach to the way that students learn, in order to find the most effective way to succeed.

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While it’s colloquially believed that psychedelic drugs, such as magic mushrooms, have the capacity to expand the minds of its users, researchers have actually shown that the hallucinogenic chemical induces widespread decreases in brain activity.

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A controversial study from 2010 was relatively refuted by a group of scientists, trying to duplicate the findings that were published in Science. Researchers have been unsuccessful to reproduce the results from the study authored by Wolfe-Simon et al.

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In order to search for better cures for neurological and psychiatric diseases, researchers have had to tackle the mammalian brain and its intricate complexity of tens of billions of intertwined neurons. Since neuroscientists have yet to grasp a deeper understanding of what the brain is really doing, it has been hypothesized that light could serve as a control tool in stimulating the circuitry of the brain.

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Alcatraz intertitle, via Wikipedia

Alcatraz is J.J. Abrams next show, and it’s currently being broadcast on Fox. The overall setup is eerily similar to Fringe, since it features an FBI task force investigating crimes, however that’s where the similarities end. Although, the show does feature Jorge Garcia from Lost and another blonde female lead, à la Anna Torv, but she’s much younger and starts out as a detective before getting assigned to Hauser and his team.  It turns out that Alcatraz was never closed. The prisoners just vanished and they have started reappearing for some unknown purpose. Each of them accomplishes some task for some nefarious over mind that we’ve yet to meet. The exact mechanics of the transport is unknown, but certain clues point towards wormholes of some kind.

Warning: spoilers ahead.

As I mentioned in the beginning, there are a lot of similarities with Fringe. Time will tell if this show has a different way of functioning, but naturally, they don’t dwell into fringe science. However, the methodology is somewhat akin to what we’ve come to expect from Fringe. The first two episodes were good. I didn’t dislike them, but we haven’t learned much about the exact reasons why the prisoners of Alcatraz were abducted and how. The show plays out in different times, which hasn’t been confusing yet, but it could become tedious if not properly dealt with.

* * * * *

A pedophile from Alcatraz is loose in the present.

Soto is drawing a comic book about the last case. He hears something that catches his attention on the police scanner app on his MacBook.

Hauser is visiting Lucy. Madsen comes by. Doc comes by and says that Kit Nelson is back because of the signature. He left a flower in the bed. It’s his MO. It’s Kit Nelson. He abducts boys on Fridays, and brings back their lifeless bodies on Sunday. They’ve got 48 hours to find this kid.

The mom recognizes Kit’s mugshot. The kid’s brother Liam also recognizes him.

Nelson was approached by Madsen, the same way that Sylvane was: in the infirmary. He used the same sentences he used before, something about giving blood.

Nelson has gone fishing with the boy. He makes the boy dunk him in the water and then dunks the boy. Madsen and Doc are hot on his trail. Nelson takes the boy to a movie theater.

Hauser cancels the Amber alert so that they can catch Nelson bringing back the dead kid. Doc is really pissed off and leaves. He thought about something that involved cherry pie and then goes looking for some cherry pies in the county. After a few diners, he comes across Nelson and the kid. Serendipitously, Madsen calls just at that moment.

She arrives in time to see Doc trying to stop Nelson. Nelson has got a gun on them, then makes them handcuff themselves. They get away, even after Madsen shoots the cuffs loose.

Doc and Madsen figure out that Nelson is using bomb shelters as an operating base.

In the past, the warden made Nelson confess to the murder of his brother when he was young. He killed him in a bomb shelter. Then he put the flower on his mom’s bed.

Back at the bomb shelter, the kid tries to make a run for it. Madsen is trying an old Mustang and they’ve narrowed down the search to the right bomb shelter. Nelson is in pursuit of Dylan. They corner him, and Hauser kills him. He popped out of nowhere.

It turns out that Doc was abducted when he was 11 as well and abused. He got away though.

Hauser brings Nelson’s body back to his secret facility. Dr. Beauregard is working as the doctor there. He’s also from the past. He was the medical doctor at Alcatraz.

* * * * *

Relevant posts

• Fringe S04E07
• Alcatraz S01E01-02

Castle title card via Wikipedia

I’ve been a Nathan Fillion fan for quite a while. Ever since Firefly, I was really impressed by his acting. Since he is starring in a new series named Castle, I took it upon myself to watch it weekly.

Anyway, what do I like about Castle? Well it stars an obnoxious, womanizing novelist. Detective Kate Beckett is a closet hottie, played by Stana Katic. Her hotness is kind of hard to explain. The actress is quite hot, but in Castle, she toned it down. She doesn’t wear much makeup and favors a natural look, kind of like “Oh I’m hot, but I could be the girl next door, BTW, FYI, I’m still smoking hot.” That’s how I described her in my mind. She’s kind of got the ex-catwalk model look going for her, which is quite good.

So that’s a good point. Plus she’s Canadian and a good actress. That’s always a good combination.

Warning: spoilers ahead

The show centers around a novelist who is brought in to help deal with a string of murders which seem to be taken from the pages of his novels. At the same time, Castle has hit massive writer’s block after killing off the hero of his mystery book franchise, Derek Storm. Through Beckett, he is able to write once again.

Halfway between a drama and a romantic comedy, Castle is a fun show to watch. The characters play around a lot, making the viewer wonder when or if they will ever get together. It didn’t take Castle long to find out what makes Beckett tick. He uses clues and his imagination deftly.

ABC has started to release chapters of Richard Castle’s new book Heat Wave on its website. They are up to chapter 8 and I haven’t started yet, but it’s a pretty cool tie-in to the show.

The fourth season just started and needless to say that Beckett is still alive, although she’s different. The precinct is different too, thanks to a new female Captain. Breckett was incommunicado for a while, but when she comes back she’s surprised to learn that the investigation was shut down by Gates and that it made no progress. Castle helps her out, and they are warned by a man who received Montgomery’s files to stop investigating Beckett’s mother’s murder. It doesn’t stop Castle from continuing the investigation on his own.

This whole unrequited love between Beckett and Castle is getting a bit old. It reminds me of Bones and Booth in Bones. When will they get it on? Pretty cool episode that involves Castle and Beckett cuffed to each other as well as a tiger. It will end in tears.

* * * * *

A woman is found dead in a town car that was on loan to the mayor. Her name is Laura Cambridge. She was strangled between 8 and 10PM last night.

They talk with him, he’s got an alibi. One of his staffers reported the car stolen last night. The car was checked out by Elizabeth Watson.

These investigations are like juggling wet dynamite.
The Captain

The vic didn’t own a cell phone or a credit card. She was a professor of literature at Hudson. She quit 6 months ago in mysterious circumstances.

She went from professor to janitor, that’s like Good Will Hunting in reverse.
Castle

The super a guy leaving Laura’s place last night. He describes a Caucasian male. They talk with her sister. The sister says that she got a call from her and she said that she was in trouble, but didn’t elaborate.

Laura worked as a phone sex operator. Laura asked the central dispatcher the contact information of a client. It was against regs, but the dispatcher complied. His name is Edgar Navarro. She wanted some digital files ripped from a hard drive. He says that she heard something bad on a call and that she needed the copy for evidence.

They go check the database and find that the calls for the last two months have been stolen.

That’s going to be like looking for a needle in a needle stack.
Castle

The mystery man calls Castle about Beckett’s safety. He gives him a number to call when he needs help. It means that this investigation is linked to something bigger.

We can narrow out suspect down to rich men with impeccable taste.
Castle

Laura activated a pay-as-you-go number a couple of days ago. She also called a book agent named Trevor Haines. He was her agent. They signed her on six months ago. She took all of those menial jobs for research. Her book was about a privileged young woman who gives up every comfort to experience life below the poverty line. She called him earlier this week about an explosive story involving a prominent New Yorker.

She was at a TV station watching B-roll footage of the mayor. They see Laura on the footage next to the mayor. He denied knowing her and he’s wearing the coat that matches the traces they found on his body.

Laura was fired from the Reading Foundation where she worked as a volunteer for copying sensitive files. The foundation recently found that $2.3 million were missing from their accounts. They are running an internal investigation. When Beckett mentions the mayor, the woman in charge implies that he might be implicated.

Once Gates knows about this, she’ll immediately get rid of Castle. Gates tells her to ask the Mayor for this coat without filing the warrant. If he refuses, then she should file it.

The Mayor refuses to hand over the coat. He also knows about the missing money in his charity. The Mayor thinks that this is a conspiracy against him because he’s getting ready to launch a campaign for governor.

The Mayor gives a conference. Castle calls the mystery man. The man tells him to listen to the evidence. The calls? The calls.

Castle calls Beckett and asks her to come to the phone sex place. Castle says that Laura was trying to listen to the tapes, not watch them. She was trying to identify someone from her sex calls. It’s Jordan Morris, deputy assistant to the mayor’s chief of staff.

He was texting numbers to a burner cell, banking numbers that allowed the people behind the conspiracy make it look like the Mayor embezzled funds from the foundation. Jordan called a number to make Laura disappear, after he confessed what was going on. Before he can reveal the name, a lawyer shows up. He gets Jordan out before he can reveal the names.

The Mayor talks with Ricky and tells him that he realized that he won’t be running for Governor or President anytime soon. People have decided that he is only going to stay mayor.

The mystery man says that the Mayor was disgraced so that Castle can keep an eye on Beckett so that she doesn’t poke into her mom’s investigation.

* * * * *

Relevant posts

• Castle S01E01
• Castle S01E02
• Castle S01E03
• Castle S01E04
• Castle S01E05
• Castle S02E01
• Castle S02E02
• Castle S02E03
• Castle S02E04
• Castle S02E05
• Castle S02E06
• Castle S02E07
• Castle S02E08
• Castle S02E09
• Castle S02E10
• Castle S02E11
• Castle S02E12
• Castle S02E13
• Castle S02E14
• Castle S02E15
• Castle S02E16
• Castle S02E17
• Castle S02E18
• Castle S02E19
• Castle S02E20
• Castle S02E21
• Castle S02E22
• Castle S02E23
• Castle S03E01
• Castle S03E02
• Castle S03E03
• Castle S03E04
• Castle S03E05
• Castle S03E06
• Castle S03E07
• Castle S03E08
• Castle S03E09
• Castle S03E10
• Castle S03E11
• Castle S03E12
• Castle S03E13
• Castle S03E14
• Castle S03E15
• Castle S03E16
• Castle S03E17
• Castle S03E18
• Castle S03E19
• Castle S03E20
• Castle S03E21
• Castle S03E22
• Castle S03E23
• Castle S03E24
• Castle S04E01
• Castle S04E02
• Castle S04E03
• Castle S04E04
• Castle S04E05
• Castle S04E06
• Castle S04E07
• Castle S04E08
• Castle S04E09
• Castle S04E10
• Castle S04E11

Castle title card via Wikipedia

I’ve been a Nathan Fillion fan for quite a while. Ever since Firefly, I was really impressed by his acting. Since he is starring in a new series named Castle, I took it upon myself to watch it weekly.

Anyway, what do I like about Castle? Well it stars an obnoxious, womanizing novelist. Detective Kate Beckett is a closet hottie, played by Stana Katic. Her hotness is kind of hard to explain. The actress is quite hot, but in Castle, she toned it down. She doesn’t wear much makeup and favors a natural look, kind of like “Oh I’m hot, but I could be the girl next door, BTW, FYI, I’m still smoking hot.” That’s how I described her in my mind. She’s kind of got the ex-catwalk model look going for her, which is quite good.

So that’s a good point. Plus she’s Canadian and a good actress. That’s always a good combination.

Warning: spoilers ahead

The show centers around a novelist who is brought in to help deal with a string of murders which seem to be taken from the pages of his novels. At the same time, Castle has hit massive writer’s block after killing off the hero of his mystery book franchise, Derek Storm. Through Beckett, he is able to write once again.

Halfway between a drama and a romantic comedy, Castle is a fun show to watch. The characters play around a lot, making the viewer wonder when or if they will ever get together. It didn’t take Castle long to find out what makes Beckett tick. He uses clues and his imagination deftly.

ABC has started to release chapters of Richard Castle’s new book Heat Wave on its website. They are up to chapter 8 and I haven’t started yet, but it’s a pretty cool tie-in to the show.

The fourth season just started and needless to say that Beckett is still alive, although she’s different. The precinct is different too, thanks to a new female Captain. Breckett was incommunicado for a while, but when she comes back she’s surprised to learn that the investigation was shut down by Gates and that it made no progress. Castle helps her out, and they are warned by a man who received Montgomery’s files to stop investigating Beckett’s mother’s murder. It doesn’t stop Castle from continuing the investigation on his own.

This whole unrequited love between Beckett and Castle is getting a bit old. It reminds me of Bones and Booth in Bones. When will they get it on? Pretty cool episode that involves Castle and Beckett cuffed to each other as well as a tiger. It will end in tears.

* * * * *

Ryan and Jenny are doing a cleanse, no solid foods for 10 days. Some dude jumps to his death, naked, from a building into a fruit stand. He’s got fingernail marks on his back. His name is Michael Bailey. He’s a junior analyst at some financial company. They found the fingerprints from the woman who fled the scene. Her name is Holly Franklin and she’s a partner at some law firm. She says that the dead guy is Jake Hendricks.

She only met him tonight and was already falling in for her. She relates that he fell out of the window and then she ran away. Bailey was poisoned with a drug for rheumatisms. Bailey had sex with 2 different women within hours of dying.

All these years writing about murderers, I had no idea that I was living with some.
Castle

Ryan and Esposito tracked down the other women. There are a lot of them and they are quite hot. A month ago, he told all of the women that he went to Europe. They all knew him as Bailey. Bailey also took a leave from work for a month. For the past month, he wasn’t in his apartment. Ryan found Bailey’s fake ID for Jake Hendricks. He also found $60K in cash. Jake Hendricks has a legend.

They go see his boss. He says that Bailey took some time off for personal reasons. A woman tried to break into his office yesterday. Her name is Colette Roth, a flight attendant and former Israeli military.

I’m not showing up solo when she’s brining Captain America.
Esposito

The actress portraying Colette Roth has trouble with her Israeli accent. In the beginning, it sounded more like an Indian one. Then it shifted into Israeli. They found her and bring her in. She kept seeing him in the city and he kept ignoring her so she staked out his place. She reports that some ruffians took him hostage and then killed him. Now, her accent sounds South African.

They find CCTV footage of the abduction. Castle thinks that Bailey is a spy. Beckett is looking at Castle strangely. It’s like she wants to eat him up.

Ryan gets the plate for the car, and they trace it to Pablo. They were extulption or extortion. It was to scare the crazy stalker chick away. They are a crew of pick-up artists. They have a closing strategy. He stopped hanging out with them for a month. They followed him to a lame bar named, The Magic Bottle. Mike made them call him Jake and went after a married woman at the bar. He was working her hard. The mark was Lisa. They mention his ledger.

They find it. It’s got racy photos, ratings and nicknames. Max and Pablo alibied out. Castle finds out that Jenny banged Bailey, a couple of months after she started seeing Ryan.

They find out her name, Lisa Hill, an heiress. Bailey only used the Hendricks identity with rich marks.

Lisa Hill left for Montague at 6:30PM the night of the murder. Uniforms picked her up. Lisa says that she caught him snooping on her computer, so she kicked him out. He emailed himself some confidential documents.

-That’s espionage.
-More like sexpionage.
Beckett and Castle

Bailey was using his pick-up artist skills to sleep with Ron Hill’s wife to steal corporate secrets. Both Ron and Lisa alibied out. Holly Franklin worked at the merger as well, so there is a link between Lisa and Holly.

They question Bailey’s boss.

They tells Ryan. He says that they weren’t exclusive at that time, so it’s no biggie. He was even talking about this with Jenny. Bailey was checked in at one of the corporate safe houses under the Hendricks ID. They find the protein shake that delivered the drugs into his system. Bailey was there during the time he was poisoned.

Bailey worked the COO Amy Kempf. They got her on the security footage of the Oaks apartments.

Laney’s plus one is a gay friend and Espo’s is his hot cousin. Everyone is at Ryan’s wedding.

* * * * *

Relevant posts

• Castle S01E01
• Castle S01E02
• Castle S01E03
• Castle S01E04
• Castle S01E05
• Castle S02E01
• Castle S02E02
• Castle S02E03
• Castle S02E04
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• Castle S02E08
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• Castle S03E02
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• Castle S03E05
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• Castle S03E07
• Castle S03E08
• Castle S03E09
• Castle S03E10
• Castle S03E11
• Castle S03E12
• Castle S03E13
• Castle S03E14
• Castle S03E15
• Castle S03E16
• Castle S03E17
• Castle S03E18
• Castle S03E19
• Castle S03E20
• Castle S03E21
• Castle S03E22
• Castle S03E23
• Castle S03E24
• Castle S04E01
• Castle S04E02
• Castle S04E03
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• Castle S04E06
• Castle S04E07
• Castle S04E08
• Castle S04E09
• Castle S04E10

Alcatraz intertitle, via Wikipedia

Alcatraz is J.J. Abrams next show, and it’s currently being broadcast on Fox. The overall setup is eerily similar to Fringe, since it features an FBI task force investigating crimes, however that’s where the similarities end. Although, the show does feature Jorge Garcia from Lost and another blonde female lead, à la Anna Torv, but she’s much younger and starts out as a detective before getting assigned to Hauser and his team.  It turns out that Alcatraz was never closed. The prisoners just vanished and they have started reappearing for some unknown purpose. Each of them accomplishes some task for some nefarious over mind that we’ve yet to meet. The exact mechanics of the transport is unknown, but certain clues point towards wormholes of some kind.

Warning: spoilers ahead.

As I mentioned in the beginning, there are a lot of similarities with Fringe. Time will tell if this show has a different way of functioning, but naturally, they don’t dwell into fringe science. However, the methodology is somewhat akin to what we’ve come to expect from Fringe. The first two episodes were good. I didn’t dislike them, but we haven’t learned much about the exact reasons why the prisoners of Alcatraz were abducted and how. The show plays out in different times, which hasn’t been confusing yet, but it could become tedious if not properly dealt with.

* * * * *

The story starts on March 20th, 1963. The voiceover implies that prisoners weren’t transferred off Alcatraz. Two guards arrive on a boat on Alcatraz. Two other guards were supposed to meet them, but they aren’t there. They find Alcatraz deserted. 302 men disappeared that night.

In the present day, lots of people are taking a tour of Alcatraz. A girl finds one of the prisoners who just woke up. He puts on a coat and gets out. His name is Jack Sylvane.

Back in 1960, Sylvane was being harassed by Tiller, the guy in charge.

Two police officers are chasing a perp. The girl is Madsen and she let her partner die. At least that’s what she thinks. Her LT wants her to partner up again. It’s been a couple of month. She wants to take the day to decide.

EB Tiller has been found dead. They discover that he was an FBI agent. The FBI arrives to take over, led by Special Agent Emerson Hauser.

Madsen runs the search on some prints that she found on a smashed picture frame. They belong to Jack Sylvane, but the records are restricted. Tiller was the deputy warden of Alcatraz.

She traces a book about Alcatraz to a Dr. Diego Soto. He’s got Phd’s in Criminal Justice and Civil War History and he’s written four books on Alcatraz.

Sylvane was a WWII vet, who was sent to Leavenworth for robbing a grocery store, which sold stamps, so this was a federal offense. In Leavenworth, things got frisky in the showers and an inmate died, so Sylvane was sent to the Rock.

Sylvane accesses a locker in some club and finds a gun. The attendant sees it and gets beaten up.

Madsen goes to see Ray Archer, he was a guard at Alcatraz. Soto knows him. He studied him. Archer raised her after her parents died. Archer tells her to drop her investigation because it isn’t her case.

Sylvane is supposed to be dead, but then how did his prints end up on the picture. Soto and Madsen go to Alcatraz and go into the barracks. They find the belongings of the inmates. Then, they are gassed by a smoke grenade.

Madsen wakes up facing Hauser. Soto is right next to her. Hauser says that he runs a special division in charge of criminals who “hold a particular allure for our government”.

They have CCTV footage of Jack Sylvane tracking Tiller. He’s not old, he’s the same age as in the inmate photos. Lucy Bannity says that Sylvane disappeared from Alcatraz in 1963.

Coz you gassed me and now you owe me one.
Madsen to Hauser

They get a call. An Alcatraz uniform has been found at another crime scene. Soto and Madsen go with Hauser.

In the past, Sylvane meets a strange guy in the infirmary, a month after he was put in the hole. He was warned that something terrible would happen.

In the present, the clerk identifies Sylvane and had the presence of mind to jot down the number of the taxi. SFPD is about to apprehend Sylvane, when he takes out two cops. Syvlane has come for Barkley Flynn. He came for a soft, black bag. There is a big key inside of it. Sylvane shoots Flynn.

Madsen, Soto and Hauser arrive on the scene. Madsen sees Sylvane making a run for it, so she pursues. He gets away.

Sylvane’s wife married his brother, who is still alive. Soto and Madsen drop Hauser and go see Sylvane’s brother.

Sylvane is already at his brother’s place. He meets his wife’s and brohter’s son, Alan Jr. In the past, his wife asked him for a divorce a month after he missed seeing her. Alan thinks that he’s seen a ghost. He pulls a gun on his brother.

Madsen and Soto arrive. They find Alan Jr duck taped to a chair. They find Sylvane at the cemetery. He says that he killed Flynn only because they told him to do so. Backup arrives. Alan is still alive. He asks Madsen to shoot her and he gets shot by the ARU. It was only a flesh wound in the shoulder.

Hauser is there and he takes Sylvane in. Later, Madsen and Soto come to the Batcave. They are already looking at the next victim. Sylvane was only the beginning. Hauser knew that this was going to happen. They have been waiting for this to happen for a long time.

Hauser shows them the 63s composed of 256 prisoners and 46 guards. Hauser was the young guard who found that Alcatraz was empty. Madsen founds that her grandfather wasn’t a guard, he was an inmate at Alcatraz. He’s the one who killed her partner, Inmate #2002.

Hauser has already got Madsen transferred to his division. She wants Soto as a partner.

Hauser brings Sylvane to a facility in the middle of some woods. It’s a replica of Alcatraz.

Alcatraz Ernest Cobb S01E02

A new inmate arrives in Alcatraz in the past. He’s welcomed by the warden. He was convicted of killing 16 people. He was some kind of sniper. He wanted to come to the Rock for the private cells.

In the present day, loony sniper is going out for a picnic. It looks like he’s got OCD. Then, he readies himself for a shot. He starts shooting.

Madsen comes to see Soto. She wants to know more about there grandfather. He says that there isn’t much more.

All the shots were to the heart and there are dead crows at the scene. It’s Ernest Cobb. He does three shootings in three days and then goes underground. Madsen deduces that Cobb is using an antiquated rifle, so he must be closer than what the police think. They find his sniper spot at about 500 yards. Madsen finds shell casings.

Lucy is questioning Sylvane with Hauser watching via webcam. Sylvane doesn’t know who took him nor why.

The casing match Cobb’s favorite gun. Madsen and Soto check out firearm merchants who sell old rifles. Madsen immediately finds the place that sold Cobb his rifle. They have CCTV footage of him buying it. He puts a room key to a motel room on the counter while he pays.

They find a seedy motel. Lucy is babysitting them. Soto asks Lucy about his theory on wormholes. Immediately, she looks at him in a different light. She obviously suspects that wormholes are involved.

Cobb isn’t in his room. It was a trap. Cobb shoots Lucy. That was stupid on Madsen’s part (going in without backup). At least she’s not dead. She’s in a coma.

Hauser asks Sylvane if Lucy was a target.

At HQ, Madsen realizes that Cobb keeps shooting 15-year old girls with some other victims. She thinks that he might have been trying to hide his intended victims.

It turns out that Cobb had a younger sister, about 16. Her name was Eloise and she died years ago. His mom treated him badly but she took the time to raise another child. His rage might stem from there.

In the past, Cobb gets himself into solitary after the warden refused his request to go there voluntarily. He doesn’t stay alone long. The warden puts his annoying cell mate into the same cell.

Madsen discovers that Cobb made himself a scope out of a rolled up magazine, a magnifying glass, some rubber bands, and his glasses.

Cobb is shooting again. It’s his second shooting. Madsen figures out where he’ll go next. Hauser and Madsen go to the buildings in question. They offer high vantage points. Madsen and Hauser get him. Hauser shoots him in the right hand. He won’t be shooting again.

In the past, after numerous rule breaks, the warden calls in a specialist. It’s Lucy. She looks the same as she does in the present.

* * * * *

Relevant posts

• Fringe S04E07

The cast reunited, via Vulture

I’ve mentioned to someone that watching the Jersey Shore is like watching Animal Planet. It’s like watching the mating habits of a cheetah, or something like that. There’s no doubt in my mind that this is true. I’ve also noticed that the vocabulary that the cast uses is quite insidious and sometimes appropriate, especially if you go out a lot and date. The words DTF, creeping, and other terms are a common occurrence when you open your eyes. The vocabulary is also very easy to use.

Where to begin? The douchebagginess of the cast leaves you speechless. There are no words to describe these self-professed guidos and guidettes. Mike finally realizes that the HM don’t give a shit about him. His antics have alienated him from the rest of the HM, and they’re happy that he’s not really involved. Mike pretends to leave at the end of the episode, but we all know that he’ll be back.

Warning: This post might offend you.

[Ed. note: I had to put some warning here, and I thought that this was kind of funny, but you have been warned!]

Vinny just left and Pauly doesn’t look happy. The other HM don’t know this yet. Pauly goes to find them and tell them the news. The girls have trouble believing it, especially Jenni and Sammi. Deena starts to cry. Jenni thinks that Deena is overacting.

He was like my soul.
Deena

I am drunk Deena’s mom.
Jenni

I’m like a shopper at a store.
Mike about girls

-What you doing tomorrow?
-Having breakfast with you!
-Ok, I like French toast.
Mike and his girl

Pauly brings a girl back to the house to get it in for his man Vinny. Deena comes back and starts the waterworks. WTF.

Mike is trying to commit a robbery on Pauly’s girl, at least he tried. I wonder what his girl was thinking about that. Well, it wasn’t that bad, to be honest.

Vinny arrives home.

Love you, I won’t cheat on you.
Snooki to Jionni

Let’s just get wastypants.
Snooki

Snooki and Deena have a meatball day.

I love to be gay man’s butt fly.
Deena

You know it’s bad when I’m the sober one.
Deena

Snooki gets hammered and has to be escorted home. Well, not home but to Aztec. They have a dance off and fall to the ground.

She might as well go Britney Spears and shave her head coz it’s fricking ruined.
Snooki

The meatballs come back and Deena’s hair is a mess.

That’s ingredients for a fucking situation.
Mike

The HM go to Karma. Mike meets up with the Unit. Pauly hooks up with some tattooed chick and takes her home early. A fight breaks out that doesn’t involve the HM. Snooki and Jionni go back home to smush. Mike learns that the Unit just got kicked out of the club.

Ronnie, Mike and Jenni head to work the next day. Ronnie doesn’t like working with them because they don’t do anything. Mike spots a Bosnian cutie, sells her some bootie shorts, and gets told that she likes grill cheeses in the morning.

The HM go out. Mike meets the Bosnian girl but then spots Paula, looking quite hot so he ditches the girl and leaves her for Pauly. Pauly takes her home. Mike takes home Paula.

You can come to bed or I can call you a cab, it’s up to you.
Pauly

He needs to get it in on his birthday.
Sammi

Pauly dumps her out the door.

She seems like a nice girl, that’s why she doesn’t belong here.
Sammi and Ronnie

Sammi likes Paula. The Bosnian chick is back. She knocks at the door. She wants to hang out with Mike, who’s busy with Paula. She’s on the patio with Mike. Mike tries to tell her goodbye and get back to Paula.

She’s like AAA, you call her and she’s there.
Mike about Paula

The Sitch could get wifed up.
Mike

The next day, Pauly’s family shows up. His mother brought his barber so that he could cut his hair.

Me and you we have to interview the strippers.
Deena

I’m not the smartest crayon in the box.
Deena

The girls are trying to put together a party for Pauly. Pauly goes to dinner with his family. Mike dips out. He can’t handle that Pauly’s family is here to celebrate with him.

I’m like a house with no legs right now.
Mike

Mike starts snoring on a nearby couch. The HM hear this and decide to play a prank.

The meatballs bake a cake and Sammi frosts it up for Pauly.

Obviously Mike knows that we all Pauly better than him so the fact that we made a cake for Pauly and not Mike. That’s what you get for being a fucking douchebag.
Snooki

I’m just tone deaf and stupid when it comes to Mike.
Jenni

Mike leaves. The meatballs ordered a male stripper instead of a girl.

-And we’re down to six.
-Dropping like flies.
Deena and Snooki

* * * * *

Relevant Posts

• How Bad Was The Jersey Shore? Bad! Jersey Shore S01E01-02 (MTV)
• Jersey Shore S01E03 Good Riddance
• Jersey Shore S01E04 Fade to Black
• Jersey Shore S01E05 Just Another Day At The Shore
• Jersey Shore S01E06 Boardwalk Blowouts
• Jersey Shore S01E07 What Happens In AC
• Jersey Shore S01E08 One Shot
• Jersey Shore S01E09
• Jersey Shore S02E01
• Jersey Shore S02E02
• Jersey Shore S02E03
• Jersey Shore S02E04
• Jersey Shore S02E05
• Jersey Shore S02E06
• Jersey Shore S02E07
• Jersey Shore S02E08
• Jersey Shore S02E09
• Jersey Shore S02E10
• Jersey Shore S02E11
• Jersey Shore S02E12
• Jersey Shore S02E13
• Jersey Shore S03E01
• Jersey Shore S03E02
• Jersey Shore S03E03
• Jersey Shore S03E04
• Jersey Shore S03E05
• Jersey Shore S03E06
• Jersey Shore S03E07
• Jersey Shore S03E08
• Jersey Shore S03E09
• Jersey Shore S03E10
• Jersey Shore S03E11
• Jersey Shore S03E12
• Jersey Shore S03E13
• Jersey Shore S04E01
• Jersey Shore S04E02
• Jersey Shore S04E03
• Jersey Shore S04E04
• Jersey Shore S04E05
• Jersey Shore S04E06
• Jersey Shore S04E07
• Jersey Shore S04E08
• Jersey Shore S04E09
• Jersey Shore S04E10
• Jersey Shore S04E11
• Jersey Shore S04E12
• Jersey Shore S05E01
• Jersey Shore S05E02

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It has been demonstrated experimentally that a diamond’s trip from deep below the Earth’s surface must be very quick, since lab tests have shown that the gems would burn up in a matter of days, if not hours, if left in the harsh conditions found in the inner crust. The eruptions of diamonds are driven by massive quantities of carbon dioxide fizzing up from the molten rock that surrounds the gems.

Read more @ SciTechDaily