Ranxerox

I've read all the books that are out and am watching the most recent episodes.  So far the TV show has kept the tone and style of the books even with the changes needed for live action.  The TV show is one of the best scifi shows I have seen in the last 20 years.  Great hard scifi that would be a great Traveller setting. 

I been intrigued by the trailer for Syfy's The Expanse, so I read the first book of series it based on, Leviathan Wakes.  It's a good page turning read and I would recommend it to any fan of science fiction.  The authors (James S.A. Corey is the pen name for team of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) describe it as working man's science fiction.  They have tried to make the book with enough science as to not pull the reader out of engagement with obvious mistakes but if they don't have to explain how something works scientifically, they don't.  This is an approach that worked well for me, and there was only one place in the book that I read something and thought 'that's wrong'.  
 
I'm really looking forward to reading the next book in the series and to upcoming TV show, though I wish that they were doing it through animation rather than live action.  There are scenes in the book that they are never going to be able get right on the special effects budget of a TV show.  Heck there is stuff that would be hard to get right in a big budget movie.  Still, I'm interested in seeing how they tackle them and hope that it won't be too painful.

I also got HBOMax to watch WW84, but after hearing about the download problems I opted to watch Doom Patrol instead.  I have only watched the first two episodes so far, but IMHO they were excellent.  If the show maintains this level of quality, it is going to wind up on my list of favorite TV shows.

I enjoyed it well enough, but mainly because most of the screen time was spent with intensely charming people. Maxwell Lord was so badly written that Pedro Pascal couldn't save him, and there were lots of contrivances and plot holes that would have really bothered me if they happened in a movie with less charming leads. At least this time the awful videogame-y CGI fight was short and wasn't the actual climax of the action—I thought the way Diane resolved the overall situation was how the FIRST movie should have ended, and it worked well here.
 
The opening scene and mid-credits scene were awesome, and pretty much worth the cost of subscribing to HBO Max for me this month. (Once I binge watch Doom Patrol and the first season of Westworld we'll see if I want to keep it around longer.)

That movie is the closest thing to the Trump administration. Incompetent con man becomes president of a country, and throws it into chaos with the help of his crazed cronies.

There’s a term for people like Trump.
 
But there’s not a second one.

Just now?  I have been getting price quotes for guillotine construction from carpenters, and was about to set up a KickStarter fund to pay for them.*
 
 
 
* - Just joking, Dan. 

Darn!  Now I have to get an entirely new set of price quotes.

Darn!  Now I have to get an entirely new set of price quotes.

Just now?  I have been getting price quotes for guillotine construction from carpenters, and was about to set up a KickStarter fund to pay for them.*
 
 
 
* - Just joking, Dan. 

Update- My mom and dad actually called ...  they've thought about it, and talked to me.. and in a moment that I'm oddly proud of, are okay with me not coming over to their part of the state for Christmas. It'll wait till summer or whenver we can all get the shot. 
 
******** ON ANOTHER SUBJECT*************
 
Honestly, #$#$# like this makes me totally understand angry French peasants
 
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/rich-wealthy-coronavirus-vaccine-covid-americans-california-b1776549.html

Games Workshop?
 

‘We Want Them All Infected’: HHS Distances Itself From Trump Appointee Who Repeatedly Pushed For ‘Herd Immunity’

Whenever Mr Carter passes it will still be too early.

Electoral College vote makes it official: Biden is elected the nation's 46th president
 
And may I simply say...
 
 

Please show me some numbers.  The numbers that I found (link) only go to 1997, and they show an industry that has had good years and bad years but generally sells about 80 million physical copies a year, but has really grown their TPB and digital copy business.  In overview the industry appears to be doing fine.

Growing up in Colorado, we had the joke "Why did Colorado get Texans while California got herpes? California won the coin toss."

When I was a kid, we traveled around the country in a Volkswagen camper. After spending 2 weeks going through Texas, a local told my Mom, "When you die, you can either go to Texas, or to hell."
 
Mom thought for a moment, and then said, "Well, I've already seen Texas."

NO!!!!!
 
Crap!
 
 
Yeah-- this will mean nothing to any of you, but not only was he my all-time favorite singer, he was also the cousin of an old friend, and a damned nice guy.
 
Two bouts with throat cancer to go out like this.... 
 
 
Funny story: decades ago, I had to run out to where Robert worked (work-related errand), and I had Charley Pride on the ol' 8-track, and Robert asked me "hey, Duke!  You gotta come to my family reunion!"
 
Not particularly wanting to schedule around it (I had a _lot_ going on; Robert was a great guy, and I probably would have agreed to stop by for a few minutes had my situation been different right then.   
 
Anyway, Robert asked "Ain't that Charley Pride on the radio?"
 
"Nah; that's on 8-track.  i've got everything he ever recoded; he's my favorite singer."
 
He laughed and laughed.  "Duke, you gotta come!  Charley Pride's my _cousin_, Man!"
 
"Yeah.  Right.  I gotta go, Robert; they're gonna miss me."
 
 
I left.  (No; that's not the funny part).
 
A few days later, I bump into Robert in town.  "Duke, Man, you gotta come to my reunion!"
 
"Oh yeah; right.  So I can meet your cousin, right?"
 
"Well, no; so you can sit and eat some ribs with us, shoot some hoops--"
 
"Not cool, Robert.  You know I'm white."
 
"And I need you to make me look good; my cousins are way better on the court, Man."
 
(say what you want:  we had that kind of relationship when we were young, okay?)
 
"Robert, I believe that you have a cousin, and I believe that his name is Charley Pride.  Can we let it drop now?"
 
"Duke, Man; I am _tellin'_ you, Charley Pride is my _cousin_!"
 
"Yeah.  Look, I wish I could, Robert."
 
"Aunt Della gonna smoke a couple coons....."
 
"I'm sorry; what?"
 
"Aunt Della gonna roast a couple coons, Man."
 
"Aunt Della from Ludowicci?"
 
"Aunt Della from Ludowicci."
 
Aunt Della from Ludowicci can roast a coon.  I mean she can _roast_ a coon!  Best damned coon I've ever eaten, and the only coon I've ever had that isn't greasy.  Her possum was positively delightful, too (the secret, she claimed, was grain feeding them a couple of weeks before killing them).
 
"What time you want me?"
 
 
Skip ahead nearly two weeks:
 
We've had a lot of fun, singing, dancing, playing football, and trying to get me to play basketball.  To describe how that went, keep in mind that at a much later reunion, it was suggested that the then-current movie should have been called "White Men's Feet are Sewed to the Floor."  I am full as a tick on Boston Butt, ribs, possum, duck, and I'm working the bones of the last bit of coon on my plate.  Robert had gotten up to "get us some more beer"  (Robert, like his father's side of the family, had a penchant for malt liquor, which....  well, it's not good.  Fortunately, I had brought a couple cases of actual beer (well, American beer, but _NOT_ malt liquor) and four gallons of sweet tea, so I had options).)
 
A couple minutes later and I hear a voice "Hey, Robert!  What kind of secrets are in your family?  I think you've got a Honky in the woodpile!"  I snorted (and nearly lost a bite of coon!)  I recovered, swallowed, grinned and turned to look at the funny man.  Robert was standing there with his cousin.  "Duke; this my cousin: Charley Pride."
 
And damned if it wasn't.
 
I didn't know what do-- I tried to stand, talk, apologize, shake hands, and hold a coon shank kind of all at once.  None of it was working.  Every part of me was trying to do its own thing: it wasn't a star-struck thing, folks; I'm just not wired that way.  It was just _shock_.  I mean-- Robert's cousin was Charley Pride!  It was-- it was _neat_!   
 
So I finally just gave up trying to do _anything_, and stood there, still processing--
 
it's weird.  Nothing had really prepared me for that.  Robert really should have told me his cousin was Charley Pride; he really should have.
 
I'm standing there, convincing my brain to reboot, beer in one hand, coon shank in the other.  Finally, I had sense enough to slowly and carefully set them bth on the picnic table, wipe my sandwich scoops, and stare at this total stranger, doing my best impression of a fly trap.
 
"So, uh, whose the white guy, Robert?"
 
"I uh..."  finally I half turned and gestured at the table behind me.  "I came for the coon!" I damned near screamed, causing him to burst into eye-watering laughter.
 
"Hell, I've been called worse."  He stuck out a hand.  "I'm Charley Pride.   Nice to meet ya."
 
 
Greatest day of my entire life.
 
(Don't tell my wife; she has this crazy notion that this honor belongs to our wedding day.  Weird, right? )
 
I attended several family reunions after that.  Turns out Charley Pride is exactly the guy you think he is: humble, hilarious, and a lot of fun.
 
Eventually I moved, Robert moved, and life went on.  I still think about him-- we used to be pretty tight-- but you know how life goes.
 
 
 
 
I'm going to see if I can find Robert's number.  You folks have a good evening.
 

Yup...it all started when two editors dropped the ball WAY back - imagine a Flash succeeding Jay Garrick and a non-android Human Torch.  We've been descending further into suck ever since, right?

NSFW--dirty words
DJ Shadow - Nobody Speak feat. Run The Jewels (Official Video) - YouTube

A History of Felines, as Narrated and Illustrated by a Cat

Well, there's a difference between knowing and knowing.
 
For example, businesses know they aren't supposed to have a hostile work environment.
 
I used to work at a car dealership.
 
In the repair area, the mechanics were given girly calendars with naked ladies on them as promotional items by various vendors who work with the mechanics at the dealership. The mechanics would display those calendars in their work area.
 
The only convenient way to get from employee parking into the rest of the dealership was to walk through the repair shop. So everyone including the female receptionists, sales women, operators, etc. had to walk by this gauntlet of naked ladies on the way to their desks.
 
I took the local paper every day and one day there was an article about a car dealership which was successfully sued over the way that they created a hostile work environment by having girly calendars displayed.
 
I cut out the article, waited until the next morning when I was one of the first people to arrive, and pinned the article to a bulletin board close to where a lot of the female office staffers worked. And the boss had to walk by that same bulletin board on the way to his office.
 
I honestly wasn't expecting anything to happen. But before lunch, they stopped work in the repair shop for a meeting and when I went home at the end of the day, there were no longer any girly calendars on the walls.
 
There also was no longer a newspaper article pinned to the bulleting board.
 
Knowing vs knowing

...as will become obvious when the other six are found.