Late nite Sunday personal

Watched a beautiful, exciting 90-minute show on Discovery tonight: "Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking" ("The History of Everything"). I've been a big fan of his ever since I read A Brief History of Time. The things he creates for the public's consumption are always entertaining and thought-provoking. From Wikipedia: "Hawking's belief that the lay person should have access to his work led him to write a series of popular science books in addition to his academic work."

As he said tonight, he may not be able to move, or speak without the help of a computer,* but in his mind he's totally free.

His main thing is astronomy. I have to say that astronomy was perhaps the most memorable (and scariest) course I ever took in college. (And it was only a one-quarter elective to satisfy a science requirement.) I was bowled over (and have remained so). Our sun is going to die one day, and we have to get the hell out of here before it does. Hawking addresses that.

Before that show, I half-watched a Sunday talk-type show moderated by David Gregory, discussing basically the religious ramifications of Hawking's supposed atheism as embodied (I guess) in his show, which also posits evolution. (I believe he called humans "smart monkeys.") There was even a theologian from Georgetown on the panel. What a waste of time.

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*From Wikipedia: "Hawking has a motor neurone disease that is related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a condition that has progressed over the years and has left him almost completely paralysed."