DasBroot

It's on regular newsfeeds now, but they're saying "clinging to life" after a heart attack. So best wishes to Mr Petty and hope he pulls through.

China is an economic and political superpower with a permanent seat on the security council (and terrible human rights record).  They have aspirations of expanding their territory but are really, really unlikely to ever try and do so with military force (at least to anything they don't already claim, rightly or wrongly, to own)  - it would be too damaging to their economy and global interests.
 
With all that in mind frankly I'm of the opinion that if they ever wanted North Korea they can have it.  A base on each side of the new border and back to business as usual.

The characterisation they went with for Drax helps cover any gaps... but yeah, the next Dwayne Johnson he's not (who is probably the best of the lot - and his acting is also only adequate.  He's just so damned charming that he can sell any performance. 

This is my greatest sense of unease as well - though I have my concerns that *North Korea* could secure them well enough.  I've never really been concerned that they'll nuke Seoul or Guam pre-emptively - though honestly I am not sure these days if we'd be 'allowed' to retaliate with military force (to disarm and disable, not invade) even if they did.
 
And once he's making multiple nukes per year (seriously, won't stop at one) selling a few might look appealing.
 
As for the 'false flag' suitcase nuke? In addition to what Ranxerox said don't every countries (or even places within a country) radioactive materials (enriched uranium) have their own unique signature because nobody shares the exact details of their enrichment process?
 
edit: Thank you, professor Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_forensics
 
Somebody would talk.  We live in a society where people who blow the lid off of government schemes or practices in any way shape or form get movies made about them.  To be the person who 'saved the world'? People recruited for this scheme would be climbing over each other to get to the media.

Trump and his people aren't competent enough to pull something like this.  Really, they would be reporting on the plot on the front page Washington Post before it got out of the spitballing phase, and since nothing would have actually have happened yet, the Trump administration would successfully play off as some poor taste joking.  Then Trump would hold a rally and ask if the joke was really in all that poor of taste.  His audience would assure him that no not really.  There might be some chanting of "Blow them up! Blow them up!"

I have no stomach nor nostalgia for most 'cult classics' of science fiction or fantasy from the 80s. I guess I preferred cartoons over live action (probably still do, if my Netflix history is any indication).
 
I have only seen parts of Krull, the first Conan, Ladyhawke, and Dragonslayer (mostly a bit where an old wizard lets himself get stabbed in the chest to prove a point or something and dies? I remember thinking 'that was a pretty dumb idea' even when I was 8. Oh, and a prince or king claims credit for the dragon kill. Typical.). 
 
I haven't seen Conan the Destroyer, Red Sonja, Dark Crystal, Legend, Flash Gordon, Tron, They Live, Dune... the list is endless.

It was awesome when I was 12.

Well, I was promised the end of the world in the 80s and found out they lied to me.
 
But hey, better late than never? 
 
 
Americans (Or at least our armed forces)  have been in a war for over a decade now. And we are exhausted. So good on NK for catching us when the spirit is probably at its weakest...and by good I mean those rat bastards.
 
Exactly why Trump is egging on Iran I don't flipping know. Did we think the Middle East needed shaking up again?
 
Because from what I can tell... Iraq still has problems.
Afghanistan is still a huge mess.
Syria hasn't mysteriously settled down over night.
Terrorists  hate us all.
China is still expanding into the sea one artificial island at a time.
North Korea is lobbing missiles over our allies
Russia has taken Crimea and the Ukraine is helpless to do jack, and the US's election process has been severely compromised by the big R.
 
And our allies look to American leadership to solve it, but at the same time fear American leadership will screw it up more  (Understandable giving who our Potus is)
 
 
Meanwhile the Planet is trying to decide just which element it wants to use most to destroy us and seems to have decided a mix is best. Earthquakes and Fires and Hurricanes OH MY! 
 
Which all signs are we brought on ourselves by not moving on Global warming so even our weather is political. Which absolutely sucks "Hot day isn't it?" "You liberal scum!" "Wha...?" 
 
So I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all. I have gone beyond terrified and am now very much into 'oh get it over with' blah duldrums

During Bush 41 the U.S. removed all it's nuclear weapons from South Korea because North Korea said it was precondition in talking about preventing it from building Nuclear Weapons.  They proceeded to negotiate and stall until they tested one in 2006.
 
Diplomacy will have no effect because they simply can not be trusted to abide by any agreement.  At best we can hope for is they want the same multi-billion dollar deal that we have with Iran (i.e.,, the promise not to build more weapons for money.)
 
That's the best case scenario.

I thought the Box of Sand was a needed for a Pet Rock the way a litterbox is needed for a cat....

I actually still have my Pet Rock from back in the seventies.  They live a long time.

Stranger Things is outside of my wheelhouse as well, and I enjoyed it, too. It's just good stuff!
 
And just today, I found out S2 will come out in about a month!

I didn't know it, but apparently this usage is US slang.
 

5 Miles Out has the song, "Family Man", which was later covered by Hall and Oates.
 
Currently listening to the album that built the Virgin Records label, Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield (5.1 mix).

It's definitely easier to get a decent actor in shape than teach a decent bodybuilder to act.

It's definitely easier to get a decent actor in shape than teach a decent bodybuilder to act.

Mike Oldfield - 5 Miles Out
 
I have introduced my wife to a lot of progressive, new wave, and true alternative rock over the years but when it comes to Mike Oldfield... like much of the world if it's not Moonlight Shadow or Man in the Rain she just doesn't get the appeal.
 
Which is fine.  Even for me the first listen through much of his stuff was often 'What did I just listen to?' ... but two or three listens in it usually flipped to  '... I still don't know, but I like it!'

I demand that for the last minute of the decent the ground crew belts out the chorus of Jon Bon Jovi's "Blaze of Glory" as hard as they can and posts the results.

Hugh Jackman is too tall to be Wolverine.
 
And Mark Hamill is a little short for a stormtrooper.

Mark Knopfler - What it is

Mark Knopfler - What it is

Say what you will about 2112 or Moving Pictures, but Roll the Bones was the album that got me hooked on Rush.

It depends on the game you're running. Powers might not be available (or reliable). If characters in the game never need to use a skill, does it matter if they pay points for it or have it at all?

New one up
http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1098.html