Matt the Bruins

My only local aunt has come down with Covid-19, and we found out today she's been hospitalized. If I'm understanding the game of telephone correctly, her oxygen levels were actually improving prior to being admitted so hopefully that will continue and the docs can treat other symptoms effectively for a speedy recovery.

Don Davis being an absolute treasure of a man is the one single thing all the cast, crew, and fans of the Stargate franchise agree upon.

As an Arkansas resident, they had (and HAVE) more than enough.

I still have a special place in my heart for that movie, as off-brand as it was. I remember loving it as a kid. Maybe it was due to the burro?

I remember my friends raving about Beastmaster when it was in theaters, basically because it was as close to porn as young teens could see at that time. As Marc Singer wasn't to my taste (especially in that horrible wig!), I only liked the animals who co-starred in it.

Fingers crossed for a negative result and quick recovery, Cygnia. If you're not experiencing symptoms and willing to wait a week+ for results, donated blood at the Red Cross is always tested for Covid-19 antibodies. I wasn't particularly worried that I might have had an asymptomatic case, but now I have actual negative test results I can show.

No, I think you're spot-on in your assessment, and increasing blue-on-white violence by 150% probably wouldn't change anything because we know it wouldn't be rich, powerful white men getting killed. Just information for the general topic to highlight that for back men, dying at a police officer's hands is more likely than due to a stroke or diabetes.

Use of police force is the #6 cause of death among black men in the US, with about 1 in 1,000 dying that way, as opposed to roughly 1 in 2,500 white men. Women of all races experience vastly lower levels of lethal force, though proportionally minorities are affected more often. https://isr.umich.edu/news-events/news-releases/police-sixth-leading-cause-of-death-for-young-black-men-2/ https://www.pnas.org/content/116/34/16793

I did this afternoon actually. But it was to a showing of an indie sci-fi mystery I knew would be poorly attended even under normal circumstances (Synchronic), on a rainy Sunday afternoon, in a theater with luxury recliner seats and partitions between rows. I had an entire row and the entire left side of the theater to myself, with one couple in the center of the row in front of me and one in the center of the last row several back behind me. I regard my risk in that situation as pretty minimal. For Wonder Woman 1984, if it's actually released this December, it's going to be at Memphis' drive-in theater (which is THRIVING, by the way!) or bust.

Tim Curry's looked better, though.

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know what the largest % margin of victory in a Presidential election was?

I voted Wednesday, and waited in line an hour to do it. Those are the sorts of waits I'd normally expect on election day, not in the middle of the afternoon on the third day of early voting. Whatever else is true of this election, I think it has more voters invested and willing to hit the polls than I've seen in my adult life. Which I regard as a good thing, even if the results break against my wishes.

Hey, at least you're not frantically running around screaming "THE STARS ARE RIGHT!!!" anymore...

Here's one I designed for one of my characters to use against mind readers some time ago. Secrets Man Was Not Meant To Know: Kurzhaan has learned many horrible occult secrets over centuries of life and mystic study; those who invade his mind tend to regret doing so. Major Transform 1d6 (sentient being into gibbering lunatic; heals back by lobotomy or successful Psionic Surgery [Mental Transform], AVAD (Mental Defense; +0], Area Of Effect (personal Surface — Damage Shield; +1/4), Constant (+1/2), Damage Over TIme (24 damage increments, damage occurs every Hour for 1 Day, target’s defenses only apply once, can’t be re-used on same target until all damage has accrued, can be negated by possessing KS: Arcane and Occult Lore at 13- or greater or by erasing the memory of mental contact with Psionic Surgery; +1), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Works Against EGO, Not BODY (+1/4) (35 Active Points); Limited Target (sentient beings; -1/4) Mental Contact Only (-1/2), No Range (-1/2), Requires An EGO Roll (-1/2). Total cost: 13 points.

Even if you do, eventually there are other options. I took a pass on DC's streaming service, and am now catching up on TItans (and later, Doom Patrol) via DVDs from my local library. I'm enjoying so far, but not feeling huge regret about waiting to see the episodes.

Is it ridiculously pollyanna-ish that I'm somewhat reassured there have ONLY been 5 verified cases of reinfection worldwide since this thing started out of almost 38 million people infected? At least that seems to imply it's an unlikely enough occurrence that the virus isn't going to just inevitably chew up and spit out the whole population until we're all isolated or dead.

I watched the first season of Titans on a loaner DVD from the library. I have to eat crow, based on the promos when it first came out I thought it would be an overly-edgy shitshow like an R-rated version of most of the CW superhero shows, but it was actually quite good. All of the principal actors and most of the major guest ones except the guy who played Niles Caulder and maybe Alan Ritchson are really good, and I got pulled into the story very quickly.

How dark were these porcupines' coats?

The most feared weapon in space: self-replicating nannites that begin converting a location into a giant holodeck after being beamed in. When it starts to malfunction (not if, when), the results will be unpredictable but generally incapacitating and deadly.

Pfft! I already feed them their 9 Lives twice a day, they don't worry me.

My dad never developed this symptom, and he was hospitalized for pneumonia a month before he died and had a drainage tube surgically inserted into his lung to draw off pint after pint of bloody fluid from infection. If memory serves, his blood oxygen bottomed out in the mid 80s while he was in the ICU, which had him wheezing and the nurses quite concerned. I'm frankly amazed that Trump is on his feet if his oxygen/lung function has dropped lower than that. Those must be some GOOD drugs they have him on.

Dexamethasone, it's a hell of a drug.

Fancy! That's quite the office lunch. I'd feel retroactively disappointed in my BMTA sandwich and cup o' soup if I liked prime rib.

It's the one guaranteed growth industry. I went grocery shopping this morning and was stymied by an elderly man hacking and coughing all over the snacks aisle. Did a circuit to pick up a few other things, checked back and he was still there, ditto a few minutes later. He only left his post guarding the Tostitos after I gave up and got in line at the checkout counter, naturally shambling after me to take the next place in line. He was wearing a mask so it was probably smoker's lung or general old person respiratory difficulties, but still set my nerves on edge.