Dumb and Dumber

You tell me where the real stupidity lies in this story from Kentucky: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18251472/

Is it on the part of the prisoner who had a buddy fax in fake release papers? Timothy Rouse, charged with a beating an elderly man, had an escape plan. A friend sent a phony fax that "demanded" his release. The fax indicated that it was from the governor of Kentucky and that the prisoner should be released under the orders of the Kentucky Supreme Court. A good plan except that it was not on state letterhead, it was full of grammatical and spelling errors (some places report that "governor" was even misspelled), and it was sent from the grocery down the street. What dumb crook thinks that plan will work?

I hope not too many, because it did. Mr. Rouse was released from prison after the phony fax was received and the error was not caught for nearly two weeks. In order to put the community at ease, though, the prison officials claim that they frequently receive faxes with grammatical and spelling errors and that there is no policy to check the origin of a fax. That's really the position that they are going to take? This news story is going out around the world, and the state of Kentucky is going to defend themselves under the premise that apparently most of the people in government there are borderline illiterate and that checking the origin of a fax that demands the release of a dangerous and violent suspect that is not even on state letterhead doesn't fit with their policy.

I thought it was pretty dumb of the crook to not even try to fake the letterhead, but I wonder who's dumber, the guy that didn't take the time to make a decent forgery or the guy that thought a fax from the grocery store was good enough to release a prisoner?

There's no real good answer, but we could probably sum it up with two words: Hickman, Kentucky.

String Theory

WOW!! I was completely blown away by last night's episode. It was definitely, without a doubt, the best episode yet. Highlight below to read more:

Hiro and Hiro. I love future Hiro. He's certain of what he needs to do and powerful enough to get it done. He lost his innocence when Ando died, and he's been working for years to get it back by changing the timeline. Let's set aside the technical questions like how he's able to keep an apartment with all of these strings when he keeps going back in time to change things. I mean, wouldn't the ownership of the apartment and the things that he's done in the future change when the past changes? Unless you accept the theory that there are an infinite number of universes playing out every possible result of every possible decision and that Hiro can not only jump through time and space but that he can also jump between these universes, it doesn't really make much sense. Regardless of that, though, I think it was touching for Peter to tell Ando that Hiro has been doing all of this to save his friend.

Peter is married to Niki. What a man! I loved the fact that Jessica is apparently dead, but I wonder how that happened. How did she get rid of Jessica, and why? Of course, the part I loved the most is that she was only a bit player in the whole episode. Peter, though, what a cool dude. He's gotten control of his power and become a serious force to reckon with. My favorite part was when he stopped time and rescued Hiro and Ando from Parkman. What's the deal with the scar on his face, though? I had assumed that the scar future Hiro referred to when he met Peter on the subway was from when Sylar tried to take his powers; apparently, that assumption was incorrect.

Matt is working for Homeland Security. Actually, Matt seems to be in charge of Homeland Security. So, my question here is, wouldn't he have to talk directly to the President from time to time? And if so, how does he not know the big secret? How does he not know that Nathan is really dead?

Nathan is obviously dead. Sylar took his power and the power of the office. How far back did that happen? Was Nathan elected President and then killed by Sylar, or was it actually Sylar who was elected to the office? And does Linderman know? Linderman wants to change the world, and he wants Nathan to be elected to make that happen. He has a copy of the "Nathan in the White House" painting, and he wants events to unfold that way. At the same time, he appears to be involved in HRG's company and the orders given from the company are that Sylar is not to be killed. I might be reaching, but do you think it's possible that Linderman may know that Nathan will never really be President? Is it possible that Linderman knows it's an illusion? If so, then it could answer the biggest question of the night:

If the point of saving Claire was so that Sylar couldn't have her power and heal himself when Hiro attacks, then how can Sylar and Claire both be alive and the bomb have still gone off? Of course, we know that the bomb was actually Peter, so that part of the question is easily resolved, but Hiro specifically said that he stabbed Sylar and that he had healed because he had Claire's power. Well, that just doesn't make sense since Claire is still alive. When you throw Linderman in the equation, though, it makes a little more sense. Linderman was able to heal that plant without touching it, so what if he can do the same for people. Hiro stabs Sylar to try and stop the bomb, which we know is the wrong move for stopping the bomb, but a good move overall. Linderman wants Sylar to be in the White House using the illusion of Nathan Petrelli, though, so when Hiro stabs Sylar, Linderman heals him and Hiro believes that Sylar healed himself using Claire's power. At that point, Hiro goes back in time and tells Peter to save Claire from Sylar believing that that will stop the bomb, but not knowing that it will make no difference.

When Peter and Sylar finally meet in the halls while trying to rescue present Hiro, I thought it was interesting that Peter has Ted's power and Sylar has some other power. Peter's hands turned orange, like Ted's do when he's charging up, and Sylar's hands turned blue. What power was Sylar using, and where did it come from? Either way, I wish we could have seen the fight rather that just flashes of light from behind a closed door.

HRG is running an underground railroad for mutants or heroes or whatever you want to call them. I'm sure glad that he turned out to be a good guy, and that he finally found Claire again and his helping her. It was also nice to see Hana Gitelman working with him to aid the refugees. At present, she's trying to stop him, but apparently something happens down the line to change her mind. I thought it was equally interesting that Parkman knows about Claire and that Parkman has a kid with special abilities. I wonder what his child can do. And I wonder why his wife left.

We Just Need Some Time Alone

It happens in every relationship. Sooner or later, especially when you have kids, two people in a relationship need to spend time isolated from others. That's how we stay connected to our significant others or spouses. If we allow too many distractions in, then the next thing we know we're focused on parallel but separate lives and things start to go wrong. Reid Stowe seems to understand this principle all too well. He's planned a getaway for himself and his girlfriend that can end only one of two ways: marriage or death.

Check out the full article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2063275,00.html

Mr. Stowe plans to sail around the world three times in 1,000 days without making any stops, no port calls, and no walking on solid ground. Interestingly, he's planning on taking his girlfriend along for the trip, and all I can say about that is that 1,000 days is a long time at sea. Let's do the quick math. One thousand days is just shy of three years. Is this guy insane?

Three years with no "I need to work late tonight." Heck. Three years without even a chance to go to work in the first place. Anyway, it says that they've tried to plan for every contingency. They've both learned first aid, learned to set broken bones, and learned to stitch cuts. I'm just wondering if he's learned anything about how to deliver a baby.

I know what he's thinking. I'm a guy. I can read between the lines. Mr. Stowe is 55. His girlfriend is 23. He's figuring on lot's a playtime. There's nothing else to do when you're stuck on the ocean for three years. At least that's what he thinks because that's how guys think.

I guarantee you that if you asked 100 guys what they would do if they were stuck on a deserted island with a sexy, younger woman, 95 of them would say that they'd be practicing for marriage. The other five would be hoping a cute boy showed up to rescue them, but ultimately they're still thinking the same thing. The women on the other hand would be thinking that they could get a great tan if that guy would quit blocking the sun.

I'll be interested to see whether these two end up with a kid born at sea and a marriage that lasts forever or if she slits his throat late one night, feeds his body to the sharks, and tells the Peruvian Coast Guard that he had an unfortunate encounter with a rogue white whale. I'm betting on the latter if he doesn't get that libido under control. After all, he's got nearly a year's worth of weeks where her hormones are going to be out of control, and he'll have nowhere to hide.