TV...TV & TV on DVD

This week I have spent much of my time watching Eureka on DVD, I stopped watching midway through season 2 and then forgot about the show altogether, but now I am re-watching them all in anticipation of not only the season 3 DVD release on the 30th, but new Season 4 (although really the 2nd half of Season 3) episodes starting on July 10th!! The show is quite entertaining and does have quite a number well thought out episodes. Not being a scientist I am unsure of how accurate all of the "science speak" is, but I find it easy enough to follow for the most part.

I have also checked out Richard Hammond's short but sweet series for the National Geographic channel entitled Engineering Connections. In it, Hammond takes us through the design and implementation stages of 4 major engineering feats and explains where the technology originated from.

The first episode focuses on the Airbus A380 and how the technology to keep this thing in the air relates to an eagle in flight, a Mongolian bow (as in bow & arrow) and a 19th century rocket.

Next up is Taipei 101, one of the world's tallest and most sophisticated buildings. Hammond shares how the building and construction share commonality with bird cages, bamboo, car brakes and yachts.

Hammond then travels to Hawaii to visit the Keck Observatory, home to the world's largest telescope and an amazing mirrored lens array that shares technology derived from a sand blaster, a spy plane and a theramin.

Last and by no means least we have the Troll A Gas Platform, the largest structure ever moved by man. It has a connection to a 19th century French gardener, a 16th century German mayor, an American motoring engineer.

Overall I felt that the series did feel a little high school oriented and I found Hammond's constant repition of the places or objects name to be very annoying, but the series did still have quite a bit to offer and was certainly as entertaining as it was educational.