📺 “The West Wing” The U.S. Poet Laureate | Netflix

Watched "The West Wing" The U.S. Poet Laureate from Netflix
Directed by Christopher Misiano. With Rob Lowe, Dulé Hill, Allison Janney, Janel Moloney. Poet laureate Tabitha Fortis visits D.C. to attend a White House dinner in her honor, and Toby develops a bit of a crush on her, but he also must admonish the somewhat flighty beauty against publicly criticizing the president for his refusal to sign an international anti-land mine treaty; Donna discovers a website devoted to Josh, and he soon becomes sucked into the online chat about his ...

📺 “The West Wing” Dead Irish Writers | Netflix

Watched "The West Wing" Dead Irish Writers from Netflix
Directed by Alex Graves. With Rob Lowe, Stockard Channing, Dulé Hill, Allison Janney. Another lively episode centered around a lavish W.H. party, this one for Abbey's birthday the night before a N.H. medical board begins hearings on whether to suspend her license over her secret treatment of her husband's MS. Abbey repairs to the residence with C.J. and Amy Gardener to get blitzed on wine and discuss her concerns about her medical career. Donna is restricted from joining the party...

📺 "The West Wing" Bartlet for America | Netflix

Watched "The West Wing" Bartlet for America from Netflix
Directed by Thomas Schlamme. With Rob Lowe, Stockard Channing, Dulé Hill, Allison Janney. In an episode dotted with flashbacks, Leo and his attorney Jordon Kendall (Joanna Gleason) face a Congressional inquiry into whether the president lied to the American people regarding his MS, but this particular day of hearings concerns itself more with Abby and her secretly medicating Jed, and later with Leo's having fallen off the wagon during the campaign (a politically motivated Republican ...

📺 "The West Wing" Gone Quiet | Netflix

Watched "The West Wing" Gone Quiet from Netflix
Directed by Jon Hutman. With Rob Lowe, Stockard Channing, Dulé Hill, Allison Janney. When the military loses contact with a submarine in hostile waters, the President must choose between risking the lives of the crew and provoking North Korea. CJ relishes the Majority Leader's flubbing of an interview. Babbish informs Abby that she is the weak link in the President's legal defense.

📺 "The West Wing" War Crimes | Netflix

Watched "The West Wing" War Crimes from Netflix
Directed by Alex Graves. With Rob Lowe, Stockard Channing, Dulé Hill, Allison Janney. After a fatal shooting in Texas, the president asks Hoynes to go down there and speak out for gun control, in spite of his history opposing it. Donna makes a gaffe in front of the Congressional committee. Leo argues with an old friend about the creation of an international war crimes tribunal.
Watched "The West Wing" The Women of Qumar from Netflix
Directed by Alex Graves. With Rob Lowe, Stockard Channing, Dulé Hill, Allison Janney. CJ cannot control her outrage when the US agrees to an arms sale to Qumar, a country that brutally abuses women. Josh meets with Amy Gardner, a leading women's group lobbyist. The content of a Smithsonian exhibit draws protest from a veteran's group. Leo and the President discuss options when the possibility of a Mad Cow infection strikes the US beef industry.
Watched "The West Wing" The Indians in the Lobby from Netflix
Directed by Paris Barclay. With Rob Lowe, Stockard Channing, Dulé Hill, Allison Janney. On the day before Thanksgiving, CJ has to deal with two Stockbridge-Munsee Indians who won't leave the lobby until they get an answer on an application their tribe submitted 15 years ago. Josh tries to arrange the extradition of an underage boy whose parents sent him to Italy after he killed his teacher. The President learns why Abby wants to have Thanksgiving at Camp David this year, and places ...

📺 The global food waste scandal | TED

Watched The global food waste scandal from ted.com
Western countries throw out nearly half of their food, not because it’s inedible -- but because it doesn’t look appealing. Tristram Stuart delves into the shocking data of wasted food, calling for a more responsible use of global resources.

📺 EDUCE: Imaging the Herculaneum Scrolls | YouTube

Watched Imaging the Herculaneum Scrolls from YouTube
The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius covered the city of Herculaneum in twenty meters of lava, simultaneously destroying the Herculaneum scrolls through carbonization and preserving the scrolls by protecting them from the elements. Unwrapping the scrolls would damage them, but researchers are anxious to read the texts. Researchers from the University of Kentucky collaborated with the Institut de France and SkyScan to digitally unwrap and preserve the scrolls. To learn more about the EDUCE project, go to http://cs.uky.edu/dri.
They haven’t finished the last mile, but having high resolution scans of the objects is great. I’m not sure why they’re handling these items manually when they could very likely be secured in better external casings and still imaged the same way.
Watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) from Warner Bros.
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón. With Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Richard Griffiths. It's Harry's (Daniel Radcliffe's) third year at Hogwarts; not only does he have a new "Defense Against the Dark Arts" teacher, Professor Lupin (David Thewlis), but there is also trouble brewing. Convicted murderer Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) has escaped the Wizards' Prison and is coming after Harry.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban movie poster

Rating: ★★★★★
Watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) from Warner Bros.
Directed by David Yates. With Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Brendan Gleeson. With their warning about Lord Voldemort's (Ralph Fiennes') return scoffed at, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and Dumbledore (Sir Michael Gambon) are targeted by the Wizard authorities as an authoritarian bureaucrat slowly seizes power at Hogwarts.

movie poster for The Order of the Phoenix

Rating: ★★★★

📺 June 27, 2019 – PBS NewsHour | PBS

Watched June 27, 2019 from PBS NewsHour
Thursday on the NewsHour, the Supreme Court issues major rulings on the census citizenship question and the role of courts in partisan gerrymandering. Plus: Analyzing the first 2020 Democratic debate and previewing the second, whether scandal is affecting President Trump’s support, transitioning business ownership, N. K. Jemisin answers reader questions and uncovering truth via photojournalism.
Watched June 28, 2019 Border crisis jolts Congress, recapping the Democratic debates from Washington Week
The panelists recapped the latest developments with the ongoing crisis at the border, analyzed this week's Democratic presidential debates, and previewed President Donald Trump's weekend meeting with China's President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit. Note: All debate footage courtesy of NBC News.