Pariah

Saturday in the park
I think it was the Fourth of July
Saturday in the park
I think it was the Fourth of July   People dancing, people laughing
A man selling ice cream
Singing Italian songs   Eh Cumpari, ci vo sunari
Can you dig it? (Yes, I can)
And I've been waiting such a long time
For Saturday   Another day in the park
I think it was the Fourth of July
Another day in the park
I think it was the Fourth of July   People talking, really smiling
A man playing guitar (play the song)
(Play the song, play on)
And singing for us all   Will you help him change the world?
Can you dig it? (Yes, I can)
And I've been waiting such a long time
For today   Slow motion riders fly the colors of the day
A bronze man still can tell stories his own way
Listen children all is not lost, all is not lost, no, no, no   Funny days in the park
Every day's the Fourth of July
Funny days in the park
Every day's the Fourth of July   People reaching, people touching
A real celebration
Waiting for us all (waiting for us all)
If we want it, really want it
Can you dig it? (Yes, I can)
And I've been waiting such a long time
For the day, yeah, yeah, yeah   Ooh-hoo
Hmm hmm
Hmm hmm

A long, long time ago
I can still remember how that music
Used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And maybe they'd be happy for a while   But February made me shiver
With every paper I'd deliver
Bad news on the doorstep
I couldn't take one more step
I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
Something touched me deep inside
The day the music died   So, bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
And them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin', "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"   Did you write the book of love
And do you have faith in God above
If the Bible tells you so?
Now, do you believe in rock 'n' roll
Can music save your mortal soul
And can you teach me how to dance real slow?   Well, I know that you're in love with him
'Cause I saw you dancin' in the gym
You both kicked off your shoes
Man, I dig those rhythm and blues
I was a lonely teenage bronckin' buck
With a pink carnation and a pickup truck
But I knew I was out of luck
The day the music died   I started singin', bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin', "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"   Now, for ten years we've been on our own
And moss grows fat on a rollin' stone
But that's not how it used to be
When the jester sang for the king and queen
In a coat he borrowed from James Dean
And a voice that came from you and me   Oh, and while the king was looking down
The jester stole his thorny crown
The courtroom was adjourned
No verdict was returned
And while Lenin read a book on Marx
A quartet practiced in the park
And we sang dirges in the dark
The day the music died   We were singin', bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin', "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"   Helter skelter in a summer swelter
The birds flew off with a fallout shelter
Eight miles high and falling fast
It landed foul on the grass
The players tried for a forward pass
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast   Now, the halftime air was sweet perfume
While sergeants played a marching tune
We all got up to dance
Oh, but we never got the chance
'Cause the players tried to take the field
The marching band refused to yield
Do you recall what was revealed
The day the music died?   We started singin', bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin', "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"   Oh, and there we were all in one place
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again
So, come on, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick
Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
'Cause fire is the Devil's only friend   Oh, and as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage
No angel born in Hell
Could break that Satan spell
And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite
I saw Satan laughing with delight
The day the music died   He was singin', bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin', "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"   I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away
I went down to the sacred store
Where I'd heard the music years before
But the man there said the music wouldn't play   And in the streets the children screamed
The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed
But not a word was spoken
The church bells all were broken
And the three men I admire most
The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died   And they were singin', bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
And them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin', "This'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die"   They were singin', bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
Them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin', "This'll be the day that I die"

Is it okay to shoot a mime if you use a silencer? 
 
(Asking for a friend.)

Risk 

Love I get so lost sometimes
Days pass and this emptiness fills my heart
When I want to run away I drive off in my car
But whichever way I go
I come back to the place you are   All my instincts, they return
The grand facade, so soon will burn
Without a noise, without my pride
I reach out from the inside   In your eyes
The light, the heat (in your eyes)
I am complete (in your eyes)
I see the doorway (in your eyes)
To a thousand churches (in your eyes)
The resolution (in your eyes)
Of all the fruitless searches (in your eyes)   Oh, I see the light and the heat (in your eyes)
Oh, I wanna be that complete
I wanna touch the light, the heat I see in your eyes   Love, I don't like to see so much pain
So much wasted and this moment keeps slipping away
I get so tired working so hard for our survival
I look to the time with you to keep me awake and alive   And all my instincts they return
And the grand facade, so soon will burn
Without a noise, without my pride
I reach out from the inside   In your eyes (your eyes, your eyes)
In your eyes
In your eyes
The light, the heat (in your eyes)
I am complete (in your eyes)
I see the doorway
To a thousand churches (in your eyes)
The resolution (in your eyes)
Of all the fruitless searches   Oh, I see the light and the heat (in your eyes)
Oh, I wanna be that complete (in your eyes)
I wanna touch the light, the heat I see in your eyes
In your eyes
In your eyes
In your eyes   In your eyes (in your eyes)
(In your eyes)
In your eyes (in your eyes)
In your eyes (in your eyes)

Seen in passing today:
 
a mask will take away your freedom but so will a casket.

Caroline Shoemaker, astronomer, co-discoverer of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, has passed
 
(Discovered lots of other objects as well, but SL9 was the one that made her famous; the obituary is by co-discoverer David Levy)

Pariah, why be in such a hurry to change? You've had Crusader such a short time, and he looks so good. What could be a more appropriate avatar for the Hero Games forums than a classic Champions hero?
 
Me? I intend to ride on ol' Obsidian's shoulders for a good while. 💪

"Welcome to Theater Writing 401."
"But sir, aren't you a science professor who hasn't been to a play in twenty years?"
"Yes, and that will be in the final"

This weekend here in Seattle is a novelty: a double-header of soccer games, both rivalry games (it is rivalry day in MLS).  The opener is the women's teams, the Reign vs the Portland Thorns; the later game is the MLS match,  Sounders vs the Portland Timbers.  Forecast is sunny with highs in the 70s.

You can't be bothered to tell us what the current one is, so why bother ?

Syndrome's a schmuck. 

Viaduct?   I think you have to be a Marx Brothers fan for this joke.

   And he wears a cape!

One may recall that a few years back, Vladimir Putin claimed that Russia was developing devastating new hypersonic weapons -- basically, cruise missiles traveling above Mach 5, with 'round-the-world range -- that could strike the US without warning, impossible to defend against. China and the US are also said to be working on hypersonic weapons, and even to have deployed some.
 
"Hyped"... but not real, says an article in the August, 2021 issue of Scientific American. Or at least not nearly as revolutionary as claimed. Physics and aerodynamics put severe limits on such weapons, at least with any technology we have now or are likely to develop in the near future. Nor is the idea new: Various governments have tried developing hypersonic weapons since Nazi Germany, and haven't made them practical and effective. And anything current hypersonic weapons can do, can be done as well or better by other existing weapons.
 
Sorry, Pooty, but it's a big step from spiffy animations of weapons system to actual deployment of something that works. Something we in the US should remember from Reagan's 'Strategic Defense Initiative.' When that was new back in the 1980s, Scientific American printed another article that detailed the physics that stood in the way of the fantasy. And sure enough, we still don't have gamma-ray lasers, particle beams, or any of the other gaudy sci-fi technologies from that era's spiffy animations. RL missile defense remains a lot less dramatic.
 
So, I can't resist the joke. The next time someone tries to scare you or sell you on Mach 20 cruise missiles or whatever, an apt response would be, "Not so fast."
 
Dean Shomshak

side note: was highly amused that one of the concerns was with people that may argue the mask mandate in the building. My response:  we're blacksmiths.  We have 2000 degree steel and hammers, there is no argument.  Also, if they try to say that they have a medical condition that prevents them from wearing  a mask, they definitely should not be in a forge with coal smoke.  

Chess 

That's a really interesting video. One technological challenge that will have to be overcome is hydrogen sourcing. Right now, most hydrogen is produced industrially by extracting it from hydrocarbons. This leaves us with carbon dioxide and or carbon monoxide, depending on the process, which doesn't really have an environmental advantage over just burning the stuff. Helium availability is going to be an issue, too, because most helium is extracted from natural gas deposits. But these are things we can figure out with sufficient time and motivation. I'll be honest, I would love to go to Hawaii in an airship.

Strictly Asteroid Bashing

"Direct from the Orion Slave Pits ... Slave girl mud wrasslin!"

Do the Bronco's have a competent enough offensive line to ensure the starter is likely to make it all the way through the first regular season game?
 
Asking for a bookie...I mean, a friend.

How about Redline, after the red line on a car’s tachometer?