08:51 – We finished watching series two of Downton Abbey the other night. It’s essentially a remake of the superb Upstairs, Downstairs, and is just as good. The series is set during WWI, and they obviously took great pains to get the details right. The only striking anomaly was in the trench scenes in France, where the trenches were so shallow that the men’s heads protruded above grade. In reality, unless bedrock prevented it, trenches were dug deep, often eight feet or more, with a firing step for the men to stand on while repelling assaults.
We’ve also started watching Parenthood on Netflix streaming. It’s well-written and has an excellent cast. And there are lots of women worth watching, particularly the beautiful and charming Joy Bryant. The really annoying thing about this series is that one of the characters, a young boy, is diagnosed with Asperger’s, and all of the characters, including the doctor and therapist who are “treating” him, constantly act and talk as though there is something “wrong with him”. The reality, of course, is that people with Asperger’s are disproportionately represented among scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and entrepreneurs.