archer

A shark could swim faster than me, but I could probably run faster than a shark.
 
So, in a triathlon, it would all come down to who is the better cyclist.

Well, the midterms are seven months away and that issue doesn't directly impact the midterm election itself.
 
I'd think they'd be better off trying to pass more legislation and pointing out the benefits of the legislation they've passed. And if they wanted to pull out an unrelated issue for the midterms, talk about how many Republicans are supporting Russia and not supporting Ukraine.
 
I mean, the presidential debate commission is kind of a real "inside baseball" kind of issue that means a lot to policy wonks and fans of the political process. But I don't think it'll have much effect on most people...until the debates either do or don't happen.

@unclevlad
 
Well, I wasn't thinking about interweaving a lot.
 
Say they're all happening on the same day. 
 
There's some Nick Fury or Amanda Waller figure appearing in all three movies doing the "what the hell is happening" routine, along with the "Get the Joint Chiefs on the phone" and "There's heroes on the scene? Who are they? Well, find the hell out!"
 
I don't really know the superprisons in the DC Universe but say there's
 
Belle Reve Correctional Center which is the ARGUS semi-black site
Arkham Asylum
Blackgate
Iron Heights
Slabside
Jump City
Stryker's Island
 
Pick three of those for the stories you want to tell. 
 
The three movies action all start on the same Breakout Day. Each prison is responded to by a different set of heroes who don't interact with the heroes in the other movies since they're busy at different prisons in different cities. Whether each movie in-world time lasts hours or days will vary.
 
In each movie, each hero becomes aware of the problem and makes their way to the nearest prison break.
 
In one movie, for example, Beast Boy lands next to a bystander or guard and asks them what's going on. The guy points off down the street saying that several people in costumes just ran down that way. In the distance you can see people in costumes, broken windows, flipped cars, downed power lines, etc. They appear to be arguing about how fast to flee versus how much destruction they're going to do along the way. People who are fans of the comics ought to be able to pick out who several of them are by the costumes.
 
As Beast Boy turns back to the guy, he's blindsided by Solomon Grundy and the fight's on. As he's struggling with Grundy, other costumed villains continue to stream by, with the occasional one taking a potshot at him and distracting Grundy.
 
Robin, Cyborg, Speedy, Raven, and Kid Flash appear individually as the fights go along.
 
Starfire shows up. No one recognizes her because she's newly arrived on Earth and one of the heroes engages her thinking she's a villain. Robin eventually figures out she's not on the list and she's recruited to their side.
 
That group of heroes never make it inside the prison. They end up chasing some villain or villains who Robin considers to be particularly dangerous then get repeatedly sidetracked by responding to police reports of various levels of desperation. They put down those villains as they pop up but some get reported as escaped again because the heroes can't guard them until the prison authorities who can contain them arrive.
 
They end up catching up with Robin's target at the end of the movie and foiling the scheme the guy had started before going to jail. But they don't end up catching him.
 
The movie ends up with the "team" having a mixed record because they weren't organized and were overwhelmed by events. Several of the heroes are frustrated. Robin vows to train them to work together if they'll stick with him.
 
Feel good end to the movie but they'll have to deal with the public and police fallout of their less than stellar record of keeping villains under wraps. And they'll have to watch out for Robin's target if he wants to return.
 
====
 
In the Justice League movie, in contrast, they manage to get to the prison before most of the inmates hit the streets. The fighting is a cat-and-mouse game of working their way through all the various sections of the prison finding villains who are hiding, teaming up, breaking through walls, trying to find their gear, etc.
 
Ends up most of the villains have been sent out as part of a delaying tactic by a mastermind villain who is trying to release the kraken (or Mongol, Mordru, or the uber-powerful villain of your choice).
 
The Justice League ends up with a better public reputation because they can immediately throw their captured escapees into a cell.
 
====
 
In the Freedom Fighters movie, the prison in near Washington DC. Some of the villains get into their heads that they want to go to the Pentagon and seize control of the US's nuclear weapons.
 
So they rampage through DC while only having a vague idea of where the Pentagon is.
 
The heroes have to wrangle villains, protect national monuments, protect a few politicians, etc.
 
And have a final showdown in the heart of the Pentagon where the villains find out that the nuclear weapons aren't controlled by the Pentagon.
 
The team gets good press though having had to deal with the not-so-bright end of the villain spectrum. The team picks up political support and somewhere along the way gains a clue as to who might have engineered the event.
 
====
 
I don't know, just spit-balling. The movies all start on the same day. But in different cities, prisons, heroes, villains, etc. They're more tied together by timing than with any character interaction.

There are a lot of smaller stories you can tell with superheroes that still have spectacle, its just a matter of telling them well.

If they want a successful comic book universe for the movies, there's just one secret: quit telling origin stories (over and over) and instead start in the middle of a universe about superheroes having adventures. 
 
I'd recommend the new head of DC projects to watch the TV cartoon series "The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" from 2010-2012, particularly the first two episodes.
 
The world has 3 or 4 prisons for superpowered people. There's been a simultaneous escape engineered at all of them.
 
Heroes respond to all the sites, resulting in some teamups, some cases of mistaken identity, some villains immediately recaptured, and 75 superpowered villains being released back into the world.
 
Most villains are just seen as teased glimpses as they escape. Sometimes their powers are seen, sometimes not.
 
The first 2 episodes wrap with the heroes coming together to face one of the most powerful villains.
 
After, they realize that going it alone was okay while the threats were scattered. But some of the escapees have obviously joined together and there's just too many bad guys concentrated in a few areas for it to be safe to chase them solo. So the Avengers are born.
 
That's not a bad start when you don't have a $300 million theatrical budget plus five years of audience investment into the stories.
 
It teased fan favorite villains and left the viewer guessing as to which villains would be a major part of that part of the story. And it left unresolved who engineered the breakout, why, and how he found the prisons which were hidden. There was obvious sequels which the audience was invested in seeing.
 
Obviously you might not want to do exactly that. But if you did you could introduce a Justice League, the Teen Titans, and maybe another group like the Doom Patrol or the Freedom Fighters in a linked release of movies. 
 
And in the background of those movies, you could tease in TV reporting scenes that solo heroes (who are scheduled for upcoming movies) have responded to the emergency. Then when their movie comes up, do a flashback scene showing what they were doing on The Big Day.
 
Yeah, Marvel Comics had a big success with a multi-year slow rollout. But there's no reason you HAVE to do it like that if you make good movies which draw people into the situation. 
 
WWII movies rarely went into the socio-political underpinnings of the war in order to justify people fighting for one side over the other. They just showed people fighting the good fight and gave enough background for the characters to create some sympathy and to provide a viewpoint.
 
People know the origin stories for Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman already. But a Booster Gold origin story, for example, could be told in a couple of seconds by Skeets telling the crowd, "Booster's the hero from the future, come to save the day!" and a bit of chit-chat with other heroes who ask him if it's true.

If they want a successful comic book universe for the movies, there's just one secret: quit telling origin stories (over and over) and instead start in the middle of a universe about superheroes having adventures. 
 
I'd recommend the new head of DC projects to watch the TV cartoon series "The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" from 2010-2012, particularly the first two episodes.
 
The world has 3 or 4 prisons for superpowered people. There's been a simultaneous escape engineered at all of them.
 
Heroes respond to all the sites, resulting in some teamups, some cases of mistaken identity, some villains immediately recaptured, and 75 superpowered villains being released back into the world.
 
Most villains are just seen as teased glimpses as they escape. Sometimes their powers are seen, sometimes not.
 
The first 2 episodes wrap with the heroes coming together to face one of the most powerful villains.
 
After, they realize that going it alone was okay while the threats were scattered. But some of the escapees have obviously joined together and there's just too many bad guys concentrated in a few areas for it to be safe to chase them solo. So the Avengers are born.
 
That's not a bad start when you don't have a $300 million theatrical budget plus five years of audience investment into the stories.
 
It teased fan favorite villains and left the viewer guessing as to which villains would be a major part of that part of the story. And it left unresolved who engineered the breakout, why, and how he found the prisons which were hidden. There was obvious sequels which the audience was invested in seeing.
 
Obviously you might not want to do exactly that. But if you did you could introduce a Justice League, the Teen Titans, and maybe another group like the Doom Patrol or the Freedom Fighters in a linked release of movies. 
 
And in the background of those movies, you could tease in TV reporting scenes that solo heroes (who are scheduled for upcoming movies) have responded to the emergency. Then when their movie comes up, do a flashback scene showing what they were doing on The Big Day.
 
Yeah, Marvel Comics had a big success with a multi-year slow rollout. But there's no reason you HAVE to do it like that if you make good movies which draw people into the situation. 
 
WWII movies rarely went into the socio-political underpinnings of the war in order to justify people fighting for one side over the other. They just showed people fighting the good fight and gave enough background for the characters to create some sympathy and to provide a viewpoint.
 
People know the origin stories for Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman already. But a Booster Gold origin story, for example, could be told in a couple of seconds by Skeets telling the crowd, "Booster's the hero from the future, come to save the day!" and a bit of chit-chat with other heroes who ask him if it's true.

If they want a successful comic book universe for the movies, there's just one secret: quit telling origin stories (over and over) and instead start in the middle of a universe about superheroes having adventures. 
 
I'd recommend the new head of DC projects to watch the TV cartoon series "The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" from 2010-2012, particularly the first two episodes.
 
The world has 3 or 4 prisons for superpowered people. There's been a simultaneous escape engineered at all of them.
 
Heroes respond to all the sites, resulting in some teamups, some cases of mistaken identity, some villains immediately recaptured, and 75 superpowered villains being released back into the world.
 
Most villains are just seen as teased glimpses as they escape. Sometimes their powers are seen, sometimes not.
 
The first 2 episodes wrap with the heroes coming together to face one of the most powerful villains.
 
After, they realize that going it alone was okay while the threats were scattered. But some of the escapees have obviously joined together and there's just too many bad guys concentrated in a few areas for it to be safe to chase them solo. So the Avengers are born.
 
That's not a bad start when you don't have a $300 million theatrical budget plus five years of audience investment into the stories.
 
It teased fan favorite villains and left the viewer guessing as to which villains would be a major part of that part of the story. And it left unresolved who engineered the breakout, why, and how he found the prisons which were hidden. There was obvious sequels which the audience was invested in seeing.
 
Obviously you might not want to do exactly that. But if you did you could introduce a Justice League, the Teen Titans, and maybe another group like the Doom Patrol or the Freedom Fighters in a linked release of movies. 
 
And in the background of those movies, you could tease in TV reporting scenes that solo heroes (who are scheduled for upcoming movies) have responded to the emergency. Then when their movie comes up, do a flashback scene showing what they were doing on The Big Day.
 
Yeah, Marvel Comics had a big success with a multi-year slow rollout. But there's no reason you HAVE to do it like that if you make good movies which draw people into the situation. 
 
WWII movies rarely went into the socio-political underpinnings of the war in order to justify people fighting for one side over the other. They just showed people fighting the good fight and gave enough background for the characters to create some sympathy and to provide a viewpoint.
 
People know the origin stories for Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman already. But a Booster Gold origin story, for example, could be told in a couple of seconds by Skeets telling the crowd, "Booster's the hero from the future, come to save the day!" and a bit of chit-chat with other heroes who ask him if it's true.

Pluto TV now has a channel that plays Stargate 24/7. I watched the Stargate SG-1 episode "Serpent's Song" the other day. Man, I forget how good that series sometimes was. I still think Apophis was the best villain.

The Dems need to go all out in branding the Reps cowards for doing this.

Well, the Russians depopulated Crimea of potential opponents after they took over. 
 
For example, the Soviets shipped Crimean Tartars to Siberia in order to help keep control and because they're racially prejudiced.
 
When the USSR broke up, Russia allowed a lot of those Tartars and their descendants the opportunity to move back to Crimea, which happened.
 
When Russia reconquered Crimea in 2014, they sent most of those Tartars and their families back to Siberia and moved in loyal ethnic Russians to replace them.
 
====
 
Georgia's a little different.
 
They're scrappy and have been training with NATO forces for years. But they haven't been able to put much money into their armed forces because their economy isn't big.
 
For example, they have 10 Soviet-era fighter aircraft and some helicopters. And that's the sum total of their air forces.
 
If the Russians wanted to obliterate them from the air, they could. That puts a damper on their enthusiasm to go after the Russian-backed separatist forces occupying part of their country, wipe them out, and reclaim all of their country.
 
Maybe the Russians would let them get away with it since they're otherwise occupied.
 
But Georgia has been angling hard to get NATO membership. If they got really hot and heavy with Russian-backed forces at a time that Russia is willing to fight, that'd cause some of the NATO countries to "get the vapors" and "swoon" over how uncouth Georgia is being.

The main reason they're withdrawing is that they think Trump will be the nominee again if he wants it and he can't debate.
 
If they leave the possibility of debates open and he's opposed in the primaries, the other candidates would be idiots if they didn't use "he can't debate" against him, especially since he's even less rational now than in 2016.
 
So Trump would end up winning the nomination but be damaged...then look like he's chicken because he refuses to debate in the general election.
 
The RNC is sidestepping the whole thing by trying to get all the potential nominees to sign a pledge to not participate in presidential commission debates...and rigging the nomination process in the various states so that only candidates who signed the pledge will be eligible to be listed on the ballot during the primaries as a presidential candidate.
 
If Trump decides to not run, or runs and loses the primaries, I'd expect the RNC to do an about-face and require their nominee to debate.
 
And honestly, there's not any of them potentially running (except Trump) who don't think they could absolutely destroy Biden in a debate (whether that's true or not is another matter).
 
That was never Biden's strong suit even back to his first run for president in 1988. He plagiarized material from other politicians during his extemporaneous speaking, exaggerated his own accomplishments (such as the number of college degrees he'd earned and that he'd marched in the civil rights movement when he hadn't), and was forced to withdraw his candidacy.
 
And he's definitely lost a step in his spontaneous responses since then.
 
Everyone on the Republican side except for Trump is eager to get Biden as a debate opponent.

Myotonic Dystrophy is a form of muscular dystrophy.
 
Tachycardia is an abnormally rapid heartbeat.
 
Since they specify that it's only in a portion of his heart rather than the whole thing, it sounds like his heartbeat between the upper chambers and lower weren't in synch.
 
If that's what was happening, it'd cause additional weakness beyond the dystrophy. And perhaps blood continually backing up in his system because it's not getting into and out of the heart properly.
 
 

About time.
 
I don't think we discussed it here but Washington DC had it's Gridiron Dinner for 630 journalists and politicians about 12 days ago.
 
The 80+ attendees who've came down with COVID from the superspreader event so far include Attorney General Merrick Garland, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Sen. Susan Collins, Rep. Adam Schif (the chairman of the Intelligence Committee), Rep. Joaquin Castro, Rep. Elaine Luria, Jamal Simmons (Vice President Kamala Harris' communications director), Michael LaRosa (first lady Jill Biden’s press secretary), NYC Mayor Eric Adams, and Valerie Biden Owens, the president’s sister. 
 
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser tested positive after spending time with people who attended the event.

Too bad they couldn't get rid of him before he picked the name Commanders.

Many, many people outside of the Barren Desert Province.

The Vice President in charge of terror and public relations  looked at the remnants of a once powerful organization,  this vas it? Less than four dozen agents? Many who were not agents before... now they had to take anyone they could if they were big enough, ruthless enough. The new Mister Big wanted muscle. So Kaos now consisted largely of rustlers, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, old agents, bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, s**t-kickers and Methodists. Frankly he missed the professionals he didn't have to placate so much, but what could he do? It was a limited labor market. Thank goodness these idiots hadn't thought to Unionize.
 
"I know zum of you have questions about dental, and medical support. Goot news! Our science division, vhat is left of it, is villing to take some vict... volunteers, and try to upgrade you mit shovel hands and steel teeth, razor blade nails... und so on. It's practically the same thing" There were grins from at least half the goons. Dumkophs! But stupidity had it's advantages. Their science department was crippled most of all. So lowering expectations were a must. If only they had Zinc, they could do so much more! But that secret, that resource, seemed lost. Time to bring it home, Siggy, he told himself, "Remember, ve value und appreciate your hard work und terrible deaths on our behalf. Here is the place you can turn. Here is your new family! Vhen civilization is broken, all zat remains... is Kaos!" He raised his hands triumphantly.
 
They cheered. Except for Johnny who rolled his eyes. Damn, he hated johnny. 
 
Almost as much as he hated the New Mister Big but as the man scared the hell out of him, for now he'd follow along. Besides, in the history of KOAS, up and down, it was the Mister Bigs who got captured or killed first.
 
Second in Command (And goons): Siegfried (From Get Smart TV show) with KOAS from same
 

 

Frankly, I applied to them out of something approaching desperation.  As I was finishing grad school in 1986, two things happened in a couple of months that made employment prospects for new astronomy PhDs look grim: the passage of the Gramm-Rudman Act (the first of the horizontal federal funding cuts, and because it was the first no one knew what it would do to various postdoc programs, etc.) and the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, which clearly was going to set things back a while.  When NOAO scrapped its postdoc program that year I figured the jig was up, so I started looking outside science.  I blundered across a poster saying the CIA would be interviewing the following week, and my thought pattern was, "What do astronomers do?  We deduce unobvious things from remote sensing data.  I think I can make a case that that's a relevant skillset for the CIA."  Had the interview on campus, got flown to Virginia for the 2nd interview.  At every step I told them I really preferred to stay in science if I could, but that seemed unlikely in the moment and I really couldn't afford to wait around for employment.
 
I did get a job offer in science, a postdoc funded through a source that hadn't been cut, and I took it.  (What got me that job is an amusing little story unto itself.)  The CIA called me not quite two weeks later and made me the offer pending security clearance (which was not going to be a problem), and I told them I got the science job and I had to withdraw my interest in the agency.  It was a near thing; I don't know what I would have done had the offers come in the other order.
 
FWIW, the job would have been a desk job in Virginia trying to figure out what other countries' satellites were doing and capable of doing.  Not a bad job, all things considered, though in the interview there at CIA HQ it shook me that the stereotype of intelligence types as being humorless drones seemed to be true, and I'm not at all sure I would have lasted long in an environment like that.

Jabba the Hut has one item of clothing. What is it?
 
He has a Bib for Tuna.

Finland and Sweden look poised to join NATO as early as the summer (despite Russian threats against both countries if they do join and the recent nuclear-armed aircraft Russia sent into Swedish airspace).
 
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-04-10/finland-sweden-set-to-join-nato-as-soon-as-summer-the-times

(Two for one today as i didn't pick yesterday)
 
The yahoos had Zinc? Templeton smiled as he contemplated the best way to steal it. It wasn't anything personal, he actually considered buying excess food off these folks, and by buy he meant give them some  beans, proclaim them magic, and leave with a whole herd of cattle or something. Unfortunately, at least one of them was some kind of scientist that they called 'The Professor'. Probably a bit harder to con that one. So theft it was. With the death of his team, he was adrift, and he briefly considered joining the group if they'd let him, but... they were taking orders from a pig. How could he take these guys seriously? Nevermind their OTHER , even bigger problem which was glaringly obvious to him yet none of these oddballs had considered.
 
He expertly picked the lock to their supplies. Some zinc, some food for the road, maybe a tank of gas and he'd be out of  -
 
There was the click of a rifle behind him. Far too close for the shooter to miss.
 
Templeton raised his hands in the air and , cautiously, slowly, turned around to see the dorkiest looking marine he'd ever seen. He assumed the guy was a marine judging by his tattered uniform.
 
The marine gave him a big ole grin, genuinely warm, but still with a loaded gun.
 
"Surprise Surprise Surprise!" The Marine drawled.
 
"Ah, I suppose you're wondering why I'm here," Templeton said smoothly.
 
"Well," The Marine said "not really, looked like you were fixin to take what didn't belong to you."
 
"Oh, I'd never steal from good folks like you. I came to join you" Templeton continued with practice ease "I'd only be stealing from my new team if I did that. I was just checking on your security here. This lock's a bit rusty. I was cleaning it."
 
The Marine pondered this, "Well, you know, it's only mannerly to announce yourself afore you make introductions," The gun lowered, "But it sure is nice of you to help us out. I best take you to Arnold or Radar anyway. You'd be surprised how many dishonest people there are when society collapses and we just got to be sure."
 
"Dishonest people after society crumbles? You don't say," Templeton put on his best shocked voice, "I want you to succeed. If I didn't, would I have come to share with you intel, valuable intel, of where you could find some folks who would be crucial to any chance of rebuilding?"
 
"These folks scientists? or farmers? Cuz we got some of them," The soldier declared curiously.
 
"Maybe, but mostly, they're women," The con man answered, "You seem a bit of a sausage fest around here, and I know where you can find some lonely gals."
 
"Oh I wouldn't use that term around the boss," The Marine tutted.
 
"Gals?" Templeton blinked.
 
The yokel shook his head "Sausage fest."
 
"Ah," Templeton nodded "I can see why. Now about the women?"
 
"Oh shoot, if they want to come along they're welcome," The Marine almost blushed "We'd keep them safe. Just invite em over and let em decide. My mama always said act like a gentleman around ladies so we wouldn't want them to feel like they gotta."
 
"Well, there is a catch," Templeton admitted, "You see, they're kind of tied up. Almost literally. " He had considered finding a way to break them out himself, now it occurred to him maybe, with help it could be done "There's a bad guy who has them prisoner."
 
The soldier looked shocked then a bit angry "Well, SHAZAM, come on, let's go tell the others. We gotta rescue them."
 
"Sure thing ..." The gun no longer pointed his way, Templeton relaxed, "I'm Templeton by the way. Templeton Peck. I was in the army myself. Friends called me Face-Man."
 
"Pyle," The marine smiled, "Gomer Pyle. I can tell we're gonna be real good friends, Face-Man."
 
"And what an adventure that will be," Face plastered on a smile he hoped looked sincere . He was about to work for a Pig. Oh well, it wouldn't be the first time, just more literal than usual. And if it saved those women from that scumball? It would be worth the weirdness.
 
The Diplomat: Templeton "Face-Man" Peck

The Soldier: Gomer Pyle 
 

 
Title: "I Zinc we forgot the women!"

Fantastic Beasts: The Secret Lives of Tarzan and Dumbledore

We're seeing from Russian troops the exact same thing that we've seen from untrained conscripts in wars throughout the ages: looting, rape, and taking it very personally when they're shot at then retaliating upon everyone in sight.
 
For two-thirds of each Russian battle group, their training consisted of "Put on this uniform. Someone will tell you what to do, then do it."
 
Those troops are put onto the battlefield but Russian military doctrine is that those troops won't actually see battle. But that's not what's happening in real life in Ukraine.
 
Troops behave in a civilized manner toward civilians when
 
a) They're in their own country defending their own country or
b) When troops are trained to act like disciplined soldiers even when no one is looking.
 
Option "b" isn't an iron-clan guarantee but it's the best any country has come up with so far.
 
And it's been to Russia's advantage so far that their soldiers have been undisciplined brutes because that's played into their tactic to break the Ukrainian's will to fight.
 
And it'll come back to bite them in the butt unless they go on to conquer the world.