Posted on General

Whiskey in the Jar

Author Jack Mangan and artist Kyle Burles are back for more! Following up on their amazing collaboration on “Am I Evil? The Graphic Novel,” they’ve teamed up again for a new take on the classic Irish legend and folk song, “Whiskey in the Jar,” which has famously been performed by Thin Lizzy, Metallica, The Irish Rovers, The Dubliners, The Pogues, Jerry Garcia, and many others.

This adaptation will feature a Steampunk/Cyberpunk/Post-Apocalyptic twist on the setting and story.

Stay tuned. More details to come.

1,006 thoughts on “Whiskey in the Jar”

  8. So I did another thing. From the FB post:

    In other news, my Christmas Horror short story, “Santa Thing,” is now now available through Amazon:

    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DQ632222

    I’d greatly appreciate if you’d give it a download. I think the story is fun.
    To quote myself from a 2010 interview with Sapphire Neal: “It’s an extremely dark redefinition of the classic Christmas mythos, replacing “Jolly Old St. Nicholas” with an army of volatile, monstrous creatures. The story centers around a rather disgruntled North Pole Elf who’s out in the field, trying to catch one of these things before it kills again.”
    Content: Language/violence/peril/mild gore (It’s a Horror Story, FFS)
    “Santa Thing” was originally released as a full cast audiodrama on the Deadpan podcast episode #189, as well as the awesome HorrorAddicts.net, episode #52.
    (The voice actors were:
    Elf/narrator: JustaJoe
    Danielle Miller: Ryah Deines
    James Miller: Jack Mangan
    The Santa Thing: Lejon A. Johnson
    DMS Supervisor: Jack Hosley)

  14. So with the latest AppleTV update there is a new screensaver you can choose that is Snoopy animations.

    Don’t think I’ve ever hit select quicker.

  17. Not at all what I expected. Criticism aside, the husband and I really liked the new Joker movie. It was a good sequel to the previous movie

  19. Hey, I want to thank Jack Mangan for personally delivering my Secret Santa gift. See’s candy is a favorite of mine. We need to hire the young one to play ball with Moose to tire him out in the future. It was nice that he took an early nap. LOL

      • “They” did not dissapoint.
        My youngest was smiling and grinning all the way through just like me!
        It was a great experience.

        Once again, their show comes across as if they are entertaining themselves and just happened to have invited the rest of us to hang out and watch. This was the last show of this year’s tour and it is amazing that they can still bring the energy and playful fun.

    • It looks good. One question:
      “We will try to get to this as soon as we’re down counting the giant stacks of money bags in the backs of our limousines.”
      Should “down” be “done”?
      (sorry, I really need to get out of professional mode and into retirement mode)

  24. So with the release of iOS 18.2 UK AirPod Pro 2 owners got the hearing test function enabled.

    Anyway did the test and my hearing is fine.

    The silver lining to mostly going to folk music gigs.

  26. Crap joke for the day:

    When a new child visited our Sunday school, the teacher greeted him and asked his age. The little boy held up four fingers.

    “Oh, you’re four,” said the teacher. “And when will you be 5?”

    The child stared at her and after a few seconds replied, “When I hold up the other finger.”

  31. In theory, Canada Post went back today. However, who knows when I’ll get my package as I’m sure they have a lot to go through since they have been off for a month.

    • I don’t know much about the strike. I tend to side with the workers by default, but I’m not informed enough to take a side here. Are you satisfied with the outcome? Or does it just matter that it’s over?

      • There was no outcome. The government ordered them back to work and assigned a mediator.
        I did think some of the demands were a little much but I also felt Canada Post wasn’t offering enough. Neither side was willing to compromise

  32. Everyone born after the year 2000 finds The Polar Express to be pure magic. Everyone born in the previous century is creeped out by the uncanny valley animation.
    The story is also weird, but most of the strangeness is there to set up the big roller-coaster rides throughout the movie.

    • I read this somewhere –
      The REALLY creepy thing about the uncanny valley is that it exists because somewhere in human evolution, survival depended on being able to detect something that appeared to be human … but wasn’t.

      • I would be skeptical of evolutionary or overly psychological explanations of the uncanny valley. I don’t know of any data that could exist to support any claim about it being related to survival in our past evolution so it can really only be speculation. Might make sense, but it’s as disprovable as a flying spaghetti monster.

  34. So it appears my dreams of being a geriatric gymnast have been dashed (haha).

    Physio told me no amount of exercise is going to get back the flexibility I’ve lost with arthritis.

    So there is that.

  35. After spending a month in postal purgatory, my parcel finally arrived. It’s amazing how much you can stuff in a little box.
    Thanks to the Mangan’s for being my own personal cross-border czars.

  41. I think the Deadpan episode file may have gone kablooey, so I’ve posted “Santa Thing” to YouTube, in case anyone wants to visit a Christmas past.
    https://youtu.be/fTfI34EBjwA

    The players: JustaJoe, Ryah Deines, Lejon Johnson, Jack Hosley, and me.

    Believe it or not, it was Jack Hosley, aka WNDR Wolf himself, who sent me the file.

    • That trailer does nothing to sell me on the movie. The dog is extremely silly. I’m sure the internet is going nuts, but I’m not going to dismiss the whole thing, based just on that.

  48. Ah I’m old enough to remember computer studies class where you had to write programs in basic on paper which was sent off to entered and run on a local Uni’s mainframe.

  49. Crap joke for the day:

    A bloke walks into a pub one night, asks for a pint of bitter, downs it in one, slams the pot down on the bar, shouts “PISS!” and walks out again.

    The next night he walks into the pub again, asks for a pint of bitter, downs it in one, slams the pot down on the bar, shouts “PISS!” and walks out again.

    This goes on every night for a week, and the landlord’s getting pretty sick of it, and when the bloke walks in for the eighth night in a row, the landlord says “right- piss off!”

    And the bloke says “is it? I’ll have a pint of mild, then.”

  57. We don’t talk much sports here, and especially not baseball, but I was saddened to hear that Rickey Henderson died today. There was a time in my youth when I was baseball-crazy, and even though he didn’t play for a NY team, he was still my favorite player. Pure excitement every time he came up to bat, and even better when he was on base. I hope his stolen bases records stand forever. RIP.

  58. Watched Ghost Story last night, the reviews at the time were mixed but I still found it creepy and Alice Krige was great as the vengeful ghost.

  59. If you want to watch a good horror story this Xmas than The Autopsy of Jane Doe on Netflix is well worth a watch.

    Plus I could tell by certain actors it was filmed in the UK and not the US.

    Hah!

  61. OK, that Severance season 1 finale was excellent. This is how you do it.

    I’d hesitantly recommend the show, though. Its pace is probably a little slow for some. And the “weirdness for the sake of being weird” is a little off-putting. Overall, I’m glad I watched it.

  62. We just finished watching “black doves“.
    We liked it. It has a few writing problems here and there, but overall pretty solid action/spy show.
    I thought Keira Knightley did an excellent job in this.

  65. A Christmas Story has a bunch of hidden treasures if you watch with subtitles – – especially dad’s mutterings and Ralphie’s gibberish when he’s punching the bully.
    Did you know the bully’s name was Scut Farkas? All these years I thought it was Scott.

    I’ve seen this 20000 times, but it’s been awhile since I did a full viewing. I think it still holds up. The little one was amused.

  66. Stolen from FB:

    “Five Golden Rings? That’s five ring-necked pheasants.

    Maids-a-Milking? Cattle egrets.

    Ladies dancing? Cormorants. Or maybe that adorable monk parrot on TikTok that dances and sings to “Makin’ Bacon Pancakes.” So cute.

    Lords-a-Leaping? Herons.

    Pipers piping? Sandpipers.

    Drummers drumming? Woodpeckers.

    It’s all birds, all the way down. Your true love is a druid or possibly a ranger whose abilities have gone haywire after rolling a fumble.”

    • Mrs. Asshat and I each have our must-see movies and tv specials. Miracle on 34th St (original black and white version) is on her list. I can watch and enjoy it, but it’s one I would be fine skipping if it was up to me. She also has to watch The Christmas Shoes and A Hobo’s Christmas. She has to watch those on her own because seeing them once was already too many times for me and I’ve sat through them for too many years. My list for Christmas movies that have to be viewed is much shorter with It’s A wonderful Life and A Christmas Story. For me it’s the specials that have to be viewed every year. Starting each year with the first animated Christmas Special Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol, then needing to see Emmett Otter’s Jugband Christmas, The Christmas Toy (don’t get me started on how Toy Story is actually a remake of this special IMHO), many Rankin and Bass specials, and the Chuck Jones Grinch That Stole Christmas.

      • I was having a discussion with a friend about It’s A Wonderful Life and how I feel it’s a sad movie because his dreams get crushed even though it’s his choice to allow that to happen.

        The friend disagreed but we both agreed Donna Reed singing Buffalo Girls will you come out tonight is one of the best scenes in the movie.

        • George is one of cinema’s greatest characters. How many times could he have made the selfish choice, but he instead sacrificed for others?

          That movie is loaded with beautiful little moments.
          “Why don’tcha kiss her already?”
          The swimming pool.
          “He’s making violent love to me, mother.”
          “Get me, I’m given’ out wings.”
          “Zu Zu’s petals!”

        • I feel it starts as a sad movie, but has a very uplifting ending. And the ending is what really makes that movie for me. He thinks all his life that to be successful he needs to travel, build things, and make lots of money. But he learns that his success is in the positive actions he takes for those around him. I like that message. I see a similar concept played out in the musical Pippin. Pippin thinks he needs to go off and do great things like become a painter or king, but none of that fulfills him. The only thing that really works to create any kind of happiness is in being there and doing something for the people immediately around him.

      • If I was to have a much watch list, at the moment it would be The Muppet Christmas Carol and Screwged.

        I burned myself out on a Christmas Story. I watched it a little too much over the years. Once we’ve had some time apart I’m sure it will make it back on the list.

        • We’ve definitely burned ourselves out on a few Christmas movies over the years. I was glad we had a bunch of relatively new ones to check out this year including Christmas Chronicles (which we somehow missed in the past), Red One, Dear Santa, and The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland. All pretty well done. I can live this year skipping some of the standards like Christmas Vacation.

  81. It was a lovely day, full of presents and family time. The best part was a visit from the eldest daughter, in spite of her working Xmas Eve and again on Xmas night.

    Santa brought us Abducktion, which we tried out. Fun game for sure, although we got bogged down on a rules clarification (still unanswered).

    I hope everyone else had a good one.

  82. Boxing Day in the UK (and Canada).

    I will not be going to any sales.

    Doctor Who Xmas Special and the new Wallace and Gromit to watch this morning.

      • I got you beat – only one of those for me, and the only time I’ve been to the theater this year. Dune Part 2.

        About half of those on the list I’ve not even heard of. Movies aren’t really a medium I care much about anymore.

      • There are many on that list that I’d like to see, but. . . I’ll get around to them when I get around to them. Even if I were to go alone to the theater, going out to a movie requires a lot of steps and planning. And there’s so much I try to do every day, that 2+ hour time commitment sometimes feels like a lot, even for home-viewing (this is something I need to fix). It’s kinda offputting.

        Case in point: Tiffany asked if I wanted to go see Nosferatu. My response:

        I guess. . . ? I’d never intended to go see it in the theater. I’m sure I can wait until it’s available at home.

    • Wow! I only managed to see two of these movies. Furiosa and Hundreds of Beavers. I definitely highly recommend Hundreds of Beavers. Furiosa was good, but Hundreds of Beavers is super strange and funny.

  85. Was gonna show the little one The Santa Clause just because, but I realized that this movie had never really been a big deal around here, so. . . .

    . . . so we decided to try The Christmas Chronicles instead. Kurt Russell is great, of course. The movie has some good moments. If I were a teacher, I’d have handed it back to the student with the note, “B. With a little more effort, you could have made this an A+.”

  86. Well just watched Molly and Max in the Future, a very quirky low budget sci-fi rom com.

    Oh and watch the credits you get glimpses of how some of the SFX was achieved and one scene was reminiscent of the doors in the Original Star Trek that were opened by stagehands off screen.

  88. Well the rewatch of The Peripheral tv series has begun. I had forgotten the changes and additions to the book’s plot.

    But damn even the first episode is good.

  90. Cirque du Soleil Crystal is touring the US again. It’s all of the jaw-dropping visuals of a Cirque show, but on ice. We caught it a bunch of years ago, and I gotta tell ya, it’s one of the most amazing live shows I’ve ever seen, of any kind. Holy crap the tickets are expensive. . . but – – see this if you can.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cnb0Gwd1FYU

  92. Woah !
    Watched “Fight Club” for the first time last night. I really liked it and it was nothing like I had somehow thought it was.

    My eldest had recently watched it and just couldn’t decide if they liked it or not and wanted us to watch it together.

    I was not expecting such a Donnie Darko -esque, art film. I found it brilliant in the way it encompassed the hopeless, cubical drone feeling of that time period… very much like “Office Space” if that movie had carefully followed the Stapler guy’s decent instead of the whacky whimsical antics of the nerds.

    This also proved interesting because my kids had no point of reference for some of that and were basing their interpretation of the film on what is going on today instead of 20 years ago.

    Anyway. Check this one off the list.
    Have seen it now.

  94. The left analog stick on the PS5 controller has started to drift.

    By all accounts for an expensive system the controllers are made cheaply with a big mark up on price for buying new ones.

    Bit annoyed about that.

    • I’m not sure how effective breaking the first book up into two seasons is proving to be.

      I think they’re also running into trouble with how much is being changed from the books. I certainly don’t demand such adaptations be absolute duplicates, but too many changes makes it hard to keep the story straight.

      Just recently started the third book. Going to be interesting to see what they do with this with two seasons committed to go.

    • I still look forward to each episode, but I agree, there is a lot of filler in season 2.

      Spoiler…..

      I think they lingered way too long on the crazy guy (Solo?) in silo 2. We’ve established he’s nuts, and how many water expeditions do we need there?

  98. So downloaded the demo of a game.

    You control a small boat that sucks up oil spills, it’s a pixelated isometric game.

    I could quite happily play the game for hours.

  99. So the latest internet theory about a lot of plane crashes recently (apart from the one the Russians shot down) is that a lot of the older plane maintenance people retired or died from COVID and companies haven’t been able to keep on top of maintenance.

    The other one is that companies have been saving money on maintenance and that is the reason.

  102. Happy New Year’s Eve Deadpan
    My year in review:
    It started normal then got crazy in the middle.
    In June my mother came out to visit. It was the first time we were in the same space in at least a decade. While there were some tense moments, we all survived.
    In July, with the exception of my mother and the husband (who may not count since I reminded him every day for the week leading up to it), everybody I know (and am related to) forgot my birthday. The husband says I didn’t age because birthdays don’t count if they’re not acknowledged.
    In August I got into a tiff with my mother because I think my uncle cheated her out of as much as 20k. My uncle can do no wrong in my mother’s eyes so I came out the bad guy. (I spoke to her at Christmas, we both avoided the subject to that was ok. Although I found out she told the kids but, for reasons that make sense, not me, she’s moving to the same town her brother moved to a couple of years ago).
    Since then, life has gotten back to normal, if a bet hectic. Turns out, planning for retirement is actually a lot of work.
    Here’s to a less interesting 2025.

  103. I’ll wait till midnight for wishing.

    2024 was pretty uneventful. Visited a friend in April and delighted she was converted into the notion that a Total Solar Eclipse was worth the effort to travel.

    Got a knee op, it won’t take me back to normality but the pain relief has been welcome.

    Having a quiet NYE watching movies and eating snacks.

  104. You’ve all had the inside scoop on my life for almost as long as you’ve known me. My life tends toward the chaotic. There was a time I clearly either subconsciously craved that or was simply too tolerant of chaotic forces in my day-to-day.

    I think the most significant move for me in 2024 came in November when I chose to break from my IT career path to make a go at the non-profit music world. That’s my focus for 2025.

    I’m all-too-aware of the fascist elephant in the oval office. I know that nothing good will come of that, but I’m hoping against hope that it won’t have an extreme impact on our daily lives.

  105. It’s been an interesting year. It started on a sour note, last New Year’s Eve, we had to put our beloved dog Myst to sleep. I’ve had to confront some consequences of getting older, blood pressure, and eczema, and I’ve been having an ongoing issue with my hearing. I’ve some sort of blockage in my left ear, not an infection, but it is near deaf. So I’ve been struggling in my conversations a bit. I will see a specialist this year, but whether it is something they can treat or some congenital thing, I don’t know. Hearing aids are probably in my future. Otherwise, things are going very well. Teresa started her own business and is making double what she used to. I got a raise and we hired a financial planning company to invest our savings. If trends continue we’ll be able to retire in five years without any lifestyle change. I realize that is a pretty privileged thing to say. Quite the contrast to 2009 when Teresa’s pay was docked, and I was paid minimum wage for non-billable hours and only worked 4 days a week. My daughter is in her last year of college and my son who took a three-year break and changed majors returned to college and they should both graduate this May. My hope is that there will be so much infighting in the new US administration that the worst of Project 2025 cannot be brought to bear. I wonder if they have thought of the consequences of cutting Social Security and firing half of all federal employees. There will be unemployment, people unable to pay their bills and consequently, businesses that can’t sell services all under the specter of tariffs and rising inflation. It will be a challenge. I try to console myself with the knowledge that the nation has confronted worse and emerged better. Americans do have the capacity to learn, but generally not unless it affects them personally. So some setback, some big gains, and some potentially serious political issues for the New Year. I guess that is life.

  106. 2024 was more ups that downs for us, those we had a pretty sizeable downer this summer with our son in the hospital for a week with severe blood clots. He’s been doing well since then and just went in for a round of checkups these last few weeks with the surgeons and hematologists. He doesn’t have to wear compression socks all the time anymore, but he’s still going to be on blood thinners for the foreseeable future. My daughter and I had ourselves tested and we all share the same genetic defect and protein C deficiency that make us more prone to blood clots. So far, neither of us are on medications and I’d prefer to keep it that way. We’ll probably look at a second opinion for our son in a year or so to see if he really needs to keep on blood thinners forever himself. While we’re got these higher probabilities, only he ended up with clots after our travels and after getting non-symptomatic COVID.

    We enjoyed an excellent trip to Alaska for a cruise with family and friends and got to take in a few of the sights of Seattle during our short stay. We took a few other smaller trips, but with various complications, it was largely a down year for travel. Hopefully will fix than in 25 in particular with a Deadpan get together (hint hint).

    Work has been solid, though my wife is going through an odd transition with her company of 20+ years getting bought out by another one. The new company is based here in Houston, so that’s promising for her in the long run, though she may end up going back to office work at some point. Retirement is looking doable, but we’re still a decade plus away. Our goal is to get Jen retired first and I’ll be her sugar daddy making the money to support her lifestyle :). I actually enjoy my company and the folks I work with, so I’m not in any urgent need of punching out.

    Did get to spend a lot more time on the bike saddles this year. While still nothing compared to “serious” cyclists, I did have my best year of miles by a large margin.

    2025 looks pretty promising overall from where I’m sitting and we’re heading into it with optimism.

  110. So a fav quick meal is scrambled egg on toast.

    The toast is buttered and the scrambled egg is put on top the toast. The scrambled egg is eaten and then the toast.

    A US friend thought that it was weird. So North Americans, if you eat scrambled eggs how do you serve them?

    • So… I am a fan of egg sandwiches. Fried egg, bacon, cheese, and salsa on any kind of bread. But that is eaten as a regular sandwich and not egg first. Although I see nothing odd about eating scrambles eggs on toast, it’s not something I’ve thought to do before. I can definitely see the eggs leaving some flavor and moistness aside that could enhance the flavor of the toast.

  114. “I’ve got soul but I’m not a solder.”

    Every time this song comes on the radio, I instantly flash back to “Southland Tales”

    Thanks Jack.

  116. This morning is the eye doctor.
    First visit since all that eye surgery last spring. At that time they cut a slit to relieve inter-ocular pressure. Then they had to do another procedure to re-open it because I heal too well.
    It supossidly solved the pressure in that eye but Incould no longer see 20/20 out of it even with glasses. At the time they said the best I would do would be 20/25.
    Since then though, I think my vision has gotten worse in that eye.

    Cue Mick Jagger:
    “What a drag it is getting old.”

  117. Watched S1 of Squid Game over the past couple of days. Far better and more nuanced than I expected. And episode 6 was especially well done. I’m looking forward to S2, though I’m keeping my expectations lower. S1 did a great job exploring a lot of interesting themes. I hope S2 isn’t a retread. Still, it looks very entertaining. 😀

    • Eggers still hasn’t convinced me. I thought The VVitch was admirably made, but too slow. I’m hearing the exact same criticisms of Nosferatu from the second-wave of movie-goers, now that the first wave of gushing fans are done with it.

      I am curious about Nosferatu, but I can wait til it’s available at home.

      • My brother and I have this same argument with VVitch. He thinks it’s phenomenal and it just didn’t do anything at all for me. Think I’ll wait for Nosferatu as it seems like it will be much the same. Astoundingly well made, but not the type of movie I enjoy.

  119. Finally started watching Skeleton Crew on D+. We are about a half dozen episodes in. The husband is enjoying it more than me. I really dislike the little girl

    • I still find it interesting that there is this huge push for so called “social justice” (NOT complaining about social justice, I LIKE inclusion and broad representation in my media) in certain franchises (like Disney), but they still write things where the boys and the girls in youth-oriented programs are still so highly stereotypical, at least from a personality standpoint. Seems like the boys in Skeleton Crew are clueless adventure seekers and the girls are uptight rule followers. Might be a result of them wanting to create Goonies in Space. But still annoying.

  121. Happy Perihelion Day!

    Today the Earth is the closest it gets to the Sun.

    However for us Peeps in the Northern Hemisphere the tilt of the Earth’s axis has a bigger effect on weather and that is why it’s Winter and not Summer.

  123. Finished a Watchmen re-read. Genius. This is seriously the most brilliant comic ever published (aside from Am I Evil?, of course. . . ) It absolutely still holds up, 40 years later. The storytelling is masterful.
    And as cultural commentary – – Alan Moore was so incredibly prescient, foretelling a politically polarized, media-dominated culture of fear.

      • I forgot about these – – thanks! I do need to watch them. Does it even include the Black Freighter stuff?

        I was continually reminded of the Snyder film as I was reading. His movie would have been a masterpiece if he’d kept faithful to the source.

          • Filed under “First World Problems:”

            I watched Watchmen: Chapter I on MAX, and yes, it’s excellent. So I looked for Chapter II – – and it’s not there. Not on MAX, not anywhere. (I’d prefer not to rent it)

  124. One of the best things to happen for communications within relationships
    “Cellphones”
    (not smartphones. Specifically portable telephones)

    One of the worst things to happen for communications within relationships:
    “Earbuds” ( not headphones but specifically those little devices that you can’t always tell they have in if you are across the room or they have long hair)

    Discuss.

  125. I can distinctly remember times where I was the last person at work, sitting there waiting for a return call from my spouse (was she on the road? In a meeting? Headed to the store?) to see what she was up to because my friends were all gathering somewhere and I needed to know if I was headed home or headed out.

    Cell phones liberated me from that. We could make plans on the fly. You could head to your meetup and your spouse could reach you as soon as they were available.

    Earbuds – beyound being an isolating thing. If you can’t tell they have them on you are liking to try to communicate the little, random thoughts couples share – “look at that bird on the feeder”, “my mom called today and is feeling better.”, “I am enjoying this book I’m reading”
    By the 2nd or 3rd comment you get treated with exasperation as they suddenly start reaching to turn off their audio, pull out an earbud and give you that “What! What is it? Is there anything else you want to say to me?” look.
    The result is you train yourself not to speak unless they speak to you first or if you are close enough to clearly see there are no earbuds in.

  126. It’s all fun and games being a homeowner till the roof starts to leak.

    Yeah, feel like I’ve backed to the 70s putting a bowl under the leak.

  127. Oh and wireless earbuds are bloody great.

    Except for the batteries than can’t be replaced.

    On long international flights and ones with ANC they great.

    • They’re pebbles of evil and anyone who enjoys them is scum!

      (I’m kidding. I just fear that someday classic headphones will be made obsolete.)

      • The big chunky over-the-ear headphones seem to have made a comeback, but seems more like a fashion statement than people actually wanting to hear their music with the best possible audio.

        • The husband uses big headphones. Both for the computer and listening on his phone.
          I can’t use either headphones or earbuds as they give me headaches.

  128. Because I’m me, I spent the morning getting all my 2024 paperwork in order. I’m ready to start on my taxes.

    Bring on 2025!

  130. Finished the third book of the Silo trilogy today. The third was definitely the weakest of the three. Personally, I felt the second was the strongest overall – though I’m sure that’s a minority opinion.

    Will be interesting to see how it plays out in the remaining seasons of the TV version.

  131. Visited some old friends who just returned from seeing Rapa Nui and Antarctica. Lordy, what an amazing trip.

    Don’t worry, Kurt Russell and HP Lovecraft jokes were made.

  134. Watched Ron Howard’s latest “In the heart of the sea” last night.

    Big budget feel. No real stand out performances. Won’t make you think to much but sometimes that’s just fine.
    Enjoyed it but probably won’t remember it a few weeks from now.
    If you are looking for some action and some drama and some recognizable faces with a lot of ocean – this is your film.

  136. Zuckerberg has totally bent the knee to trump.
    Under Meta’s new content moderation policy, certain online attacks are banned *unless* the target is LGBTQ, in which case the attacks are allowed.

    They actually have an exception to restrictions on attacks on LGBTQ persons.

    • I’d heard that fact-checking was no longer a thing on FB (the memes have been rich), but I hadn’t heard that last detail allowing attacks on LGBTQ+. Sickening. And yes, this is all in anticipation of the incoming fascists.

      On some level, many humans just accept that periods of oppressive control are part of some grand societal cycle.

      • So I guess from meta we now migrate over to Bluesky?

        One wonders how long that will last.

        It is just hard to imagine having as much money as a Billoinaire has pouring into their bank account everyday, and still feeling the need to cow towel to a petty, tin-pot dictator.

        • Ah. I found this and it would explain it.
          ++++++
          USDOJ is suing Meta under antitrust laws. Trial is supposed to start in April.
          Zuckerberg doesn’t like that.
          Zuckerberg met with Trump.
          Trump doesn’t like fact checking or human rights.
          Zuckerberg stops fact checking and changes LGBTQ policy to make Trump happy.
          It’s a quid pro quo setup.
          +++
          Except Zuch hasn’t been paying attention. trump never pays his bills.
          Caving on to him only lets him know that he has got you by the short hairs.
          That Zuch would think trump will ever let him off the hook is just so cute.

          • This sums up everything pretty accurately. I’ve seen clips of Zuck’s previous hearings. He shows them none of the arrogance you’d expect, he immediately devolves into sniveling.

            This whole upcoming term is shaping up like a Bond villain scenario, except the Bond villains aren’t usually sunsetting deep into dementia.

          • I may have done this math here before…but it bares repeating.

            If you had $1 Billion invested and made a paltry 7% a year on that, you would be making an additional $70 million a year doing nothing but sitting on your hands.
            You’d never have to touch the initial Billion and you’d have an extra $70 million a year to try and blow through before the next $70 million rolled in.

            How many years of this would it take before you completely lost track of what it feels like to be an actual part of the human race?
            You would specifically have to make a point of working at trying to be part of us. I think Malinda Gates does this. Maybe others we’ve never heard of.

            The math example above is how much cash rolls in if you have just 1 billion.
            Zuc is said to be worth over $170 Billion.
            Bezos, over $200 Billion.
            Are they “monsters”? Probably not.
            I will say that they are no longer “us”.

  138. Crap joke for the day:

    Paddy wants a job, but the foreman won’t hire him until he passes a little maths test.
    “Here is your first question,” the foreman says. “Without using numbers, represent the number nine.”
    “Without numbers?” Paddy says. “That’s easy.” And he proceeds to draw three trees.
    “What’s this?” the boss asks.
    “Have you no brain? Tree plus tree plus tree makes nine,” says Paddy.
    “Fair enough,” says the boss. “Here’s your second question. Use the same rules, but this time the number is 99.”
    Paddy stares into space for a while, then picks up the picture that he has just drawn and makes a smudge on each tree and hands it back.
    The boss scratches his head and says, “How on earth do you get that to represent 99?”
    “Each of them trees is dirty now. So, it’s dirty tree plus dirty tree plus dirty tree. That makes 99.”
    “All right, last question. Same rules again, but represent the number 100.”
    Paddy stares into space again; he then picks up the picture and makes a little mark at the base of each tree and hands it back.
    The boss looks at Paddy’s picture. “You must be nuts if you think that represents a hundred!”
    Paddy leans forward and points to the marks at the base of each tree and whispers, “a little dog came along and pooped by each tree. So now you got dirty tree and a turd, plus dirty tree and a turd, plus dirty tree and a turd, which makes 100!”

  139. One of Tiffany’s coworkers kept calling our little one “Little Miss Sunshine,” saying she looked just like young Abigail Breslin in the movie. I’d seen it back then, but Tiffany never had. So rewatched tonight.

    Man, what a gem.

    • My daughter is a gem, yes, but I meant the movie. Much more striking to me now than it was when I watched the Netflix DVD, 18 years ago.

      And what a cast: Greg Kinnear, Steve Carrell, Toni Collette, Alan Arkin, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin, with a small role for Bryan Cranston.

  140. Stolen from Brian Asman on FB:

    “Fifty years ago, our entertainments were shared and non-interactive. We mostly heard the same songs, watched the same shows on the same 4 networks, etc. The proliferation of entertainment choice is great for viewpoint diversity, but now instead of choosing from 4 shows airing at 8 o’clock, we might spend hours playing a random mobile game no one else has ever heard of or watching a YouTube video only 3 people in the entire world have ever seen. We can curate our entertainment experiences, as well as participate in them, to degrees never before imagined. This is done in several ways–for example, when we play a game we are literally influencing the narrative, but if we watch a live streamer and comment on their content, we are participating in that too. We are becoming conditioned to expect the ability to influence, if not outright control, our experiences.
    Through that lens, it makes sense–if I can choose which path to go down in a dungeon crawler, or tell a YouTuber to suck it in real time, why shouldn’t I be able to have an author rewrite a scene especially for me?
    These sorts of attitudes will become more common, not less. And with the rise in generative AI, we are at risk of building a pop cultural Tower of Babel where every single one of this has a perfectly bespoke entertainment experience that no one else can relate to. Gone will be the water cooler discussions of whatever the fuck happened on LOST last night (TBF, thanks to streaming these are largely rare anyway), because generative AI will let us watch TV shows we have designed ourselves to our own specifications. Questions like “What’s in the hatch?” will be irrelevant, because we can put any goddamn thing in there we want.
    And while as much as I want to make my own LOST where it turns out Tupac and Biggie are in the hatch, Mr. Eko survives for two more seasons, and Nikki and Paolo are played by cartoon dogs, the damage done to one of the basic ways we relate to each other–discussing entertainment–will be incalculable.”

  141. I had a similar discussion with Teresa about how the market caters to individually bespoke items and entertainment. My daughter loves an obscure video game character called “The Fire Keeper” from the Dark Souls. I wanted to get her a figurine but I couldn’t find one on Amazon. However, there was a guy on Etsy from Turkey who 3d printed and hand painted them, made to order. It is amazing to have access to such a personalized choice. Art will continue down these niche avenues in a similar way. But, I think we will yearn to be challenged when we have had our fill of self-servant media. There could be a backlash against AI for this reason.

  142. Had to call the Retired Teacher’s Association today. They had the husband’s birthday wrong at 1985 so we had to fix it
    It had the husband and I wishing we could retire at 20 years younger. That would be nice

  143. Today was the day I discovered there are such people as Terracotta Truthers.

    They believe the Terracotta Warriors are fake and made by the Chinese goverment to be a tourist trap.

  144. For those not on the Facebooks:

    Today was a crap day. Driving to have lunch with my daughter, my traffic lane came to a standstill, but the car behind me did not. They hit my rear bumper at full speed.
    No one seems to have been badly injured. I was fortunately alone in the car at the time. I did go to urgent care afterward because I feel strains in my thumb, neck, and back. But x-rays look fine.
    My Mazda CX-5 is almost-certainly totaled. I realize things could have turned out a lot worse, but it still makes for a shit day. And a bunch of shit to deal with in the days ahead.

    Do I have any faith that the insurance company will handle their end of it?

  145. Crap joke for the day:

    An Englishman and an Irishman walk into a bakery, their eyes scanning the shelves laden with freshly baked goods. Spotting a tray of warm buns on the counter, the Englishman hatches a plan. In one swift motion, he snatches three buns, slips them into his pockets, and strolls out, his face beaming with pride.

    Outside, he nudges the Irishman and says, “Now that is skill. Did you see how I took those buns without anyone noticing? That’s what I call the art of stealth.”

    The Irishman chuckles and shakes his head. “Stealth? That’s just petty theft. Let me show you how to get those buns with style and wit.”

    Intrigued, the Englishman follows the Irishman back into the bakery. With confidence, the Irishman approaches the owner and says, “Good day, sir! Would you like to see a magic trick guaranteed to blow your mind?”

    The owner, intrigued and curious, nods. “A magic trick? Alright, show me what you’ve got!”

    The Irishman flashes a charming smile. “For this trick, I’ll need three of your finest buns.”

    The owner hands over a bun, and the Irishman promptly eats it. He then requests a second bun, devours it, and does the same with a third. Standing there, he wipes his mouth and smiles contentedly.

    The bakery owner, now thoroughly unimpressed, scowls. “Magic trick? All I see is you eating my buns! Where’s the magic?”

    The Irishman grins, points at the Englishman, and says, “Check his pockets.”

  149. So, I’m up this morning putting away the Christmas decorations and I was flipping through looking for something to play in the background while I’m disassembling. Came across “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” which I love, but haven’t actually watched in….forever. So, fire it up.

    It’s still as sharp and clever as ever. But, what jumped out at me on this watch is EMPEROR FUCKIN PALPATINE is the BULTER!

    And, while his part is obviously much smaller than the three leads, he kills it whenever he’s in a scene. Especially his sparing with Steve Martin.

    Now I really want him to play a part in Only Murders in the Building.

    • I recall that the Ruprecht scenes were fall-down funny, but that the rest of the movie was kinda dull – – but that was my teenage self’s review.

      In light of this new information, I think I now need to rewatch Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

  151. Crap joke for the day:

    What do you get when you cross a mosquito with a mountain climber??

    Nothing! Everyone knows you can’t cross a vector with a scalar..,

  153. I see the meme about “recrudescence” being the word of the year, but I think “enshittification” is much more apropos. It really sums up the majority of my experiences with technology-related systems in 2024 and so far in 2025.

    • I can’t say that I’ve heard of “recrudescence” before, while “enshittification” has long been adopted into my personal dictionary. A most useful and descriptive word.

      I think that’s actually already been word of the year as selected by one of those organizations that makes such declarations that no one pays attention to.

    • “We need to do a semen test, please get the sample tomorrow in this jar”, I instructed my elderly patient
      The next day the he came back with the jar and its empty
      “Sorry, you seem to have had some trouble?” I was concerned
      He said, “Doc, at home I tried hard with one hand and then both hands. I asked my gf for help, but no luck. Finally, I called a friend from down the street, to…
      “Was it so difficult, hold on…you asked your neighbor for help!”
      “Yeah, but none of us could open the jar”..

  155. I have a question. What makes a book good?
    Have you ever read a book where all the pieces are there but somehow it just doesn’t click. However, you can’t figure out why It doesn’t work for you because, for the reasons above, it should.
    It’s also not that the writing’s bad. It may not be award winning, but still . . .
    So, when you read a book, what is that “thing” that makes it works for you?

    • I mean I’m genre biased in liking sci-fi but other than that I have no idea.

      Mind you I was reading one book by a new, well respected author and one line made me want to throw the book against the wall in anger. Other than that thought it was a good book.

    • I want relatable characters who act in accordance with their motivations. I like my prose descriptive but not obtuse. Finally, does the conflict resolution pay off? Using Stephen King as an example, “The Stand” triumphs in all three. “The Tommyknockers” has okay characters, and the climax is kind of a letdown.

    • So clearly, the content needs to engage me but I think what sucks me in and makes me a fan is the “Voice”.
      That is a hard one to define. I suspect it is word choice, phrasing and meter that the author chooses. Something about it just lets me hear those characters voices in my head. Of course then there needs to be consistency of those characters and of the general “voice” of the narrative.

    • I’ve figured out that for me a story needs to either have strong characters, or a strong narrative. Both are nice, but it’s got to have at least one.

      By that, I mean I can enjoy a book that is more of a character study if the characters are well developed, even if the story doesn’t move very strongly. On the other hand, I can enjoy a book where the characters aren’t deeply developed and are more props to move the story along that the writer is trying to tell.

      If I’m not learning who the characters are and the story isn’t taking me anywhere, then it’s a struggle to stick with.

    • Honestly, voice and pacing are (almost) everything for me. If your paragraphs are clunky – – or amateurish, then I’m gonna bail out in the first few pages.

      I’ll drop out further down the road if the pacing is overlong, if it gets tedious or dull, or if I don’t find myself caring about the characters.

      Genre almost doesn’t matter to me (almost). If you convince me that a book is great, then I’m interested, regardless of genre.

      • I don’t care about genre much. I read everything, from westerns to romance, but I tend to prefer fantasy and SF.

        As I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to dislike epic SF/F due to the ridiculously large cast of characters. This is because I tend to prefer character-driven stories. I still enjoy plot-driven books, but I find them harder to enjoy; I can just read a non-fiction book for the “ideas” instead. But if you give me a book with a good plot and a character that I care about, I will avidly read the book to the end. And that can also apply to non-fiction books as well.

        Like Jack, I also care about writing style. If the writing is too florid, or tries to mimic an old style, or the writer is showing off how amazing they write, then I tend to put the book down. I suspect the writing style I prefer would be considered a bit quotidian by some, but when I read, I prefer to be in a a flow state instead of an analytical one. My reading is not an assignment; I don’t want to work to enjoy the book. There are some exceptions to that, but those come down to “good plot+good characters”.

  160. Currently on hold with our utilities company and suddenly realizing that you can’t spell “Utilities” without having a “UTI”.

      • Given the favorable depiction of Fisk in Hawkeye and the brief, but amazing, fight sequence of DD in Echo, and the fact that Disney/Marvel don’t want to F this up, I’m really looking forward to this. Cautiously optimistic.

  171. There have been a few troubling reactions to the Gaiman scandal:

    ~”I still have mutual Facebook friends with NG! Come on people!” Social media/internet is not life. Also, don’t tell people how to cope.

    ~”He never had any talent anyway!” Like him or not, he clearly had the creative skill to make art that was deeply meaningful to many people.

    ~”You can tell he’s a psycho from reading his stuff!” Nonononono. So Stephen King, Clive Barker, Maynard Keenan, Geezer Butler, King Diamond, David Lynch, Peter Jackson, etc. are all dangerous psychopaths? Let artists create disturbing art without fear of this kinda judgment. You’re free to react and voice whatever opinions you want, but don’t make that a mainstream line of thought. Leave the psychoanalysis to trained pros.

    ~”What do you mean, you want to know his side?” This doesn’t mean you don’t believe the victims or that you support his terrible actions, it just means you want more details, you want to understand better. That is a healthy thing.

    None of the above means that you support abusers or predators. We’re all reeling from this. Don’t tell other people how to cope.

    • We’re looking at between 0 and 50 feet of snow on Tuesday down here. I have high confidence we’ll fall within that interval.

      • LOL
        Weather forecasting in the south-

        “A week from Tuesday if you live on this street, at 11:27am you will want to move from the front of the house to the back as a tornado will be passing through your dinning room.”

        Also weather forecast in the south –

        “Tomorrow we will get 0 to 50 feet of snow. Or it might be freezing rain with sleet. Or maybe it starts as sleet then turns to rain. It might also just be sunny and cold. Or maybe cold-ish”.

  173. Rewatched Alien Romulus last night, not perfect of course but good action film.

    Hopefully it’s successful theatrical release has given Fede Alvarez enough industry clout to tell Ridley Scott to back the fuck off for his next Alien film.

  177. Not a great fan of biopics but really enjoyed A Complete Unknown which I saw at the cinema today.

    Yes I was quietly singing along to the music.

    I’ve also just watched the first S2 episode of Severance, the weirdness is back.

  180. Crap joke for the day:

    A man gathers his three teenage sons out in his backyard, next to a burnt down shack. He says to them, “I know one of you burned down the outhouse. Which one of you did it?”

    The sons remained silent.

    The man said, “My sons, I want to tell you the story of George Washington. He chopped down his father’s prize cherry tree. When his father asked him about it, he said, ‘I cannot tell a lie, father. It was I who chopped down the tree.’ Rather than punishing him, his father rewarded him for his courage in telling the truth in difficult circumstances.”

    “So I ask you again, my sons: which of you burned down the outhouse?”

    The middle son came forward with his head hung down, saying, “Father, your story has shamed me. I was the one who lit the outhouse on fire.”

    At this point, the father picked up a branch and started after the middle son, who ran for his life! As he ran away, he shouted over his shoulder, “But father – what about George Washington and the cherry tree?”

    The father replied, “George Washington’s father wasn’t IN THE CHERRY TREE when he chopped it down!”

  181. “This show can kiss my ass.”

    – – The first thing I said after the S2 season finale of Silo.

    The thing is, I’m intrigued enough; I know I’ll watch season 3.

      • I guess a certain item means some sort of flashback is involved but my first reaction was:

        Fuuuuuuccccckkkk!

        Oh and Tim Robbins, what an actor.

    • I was wondering how they were going to handle the “history” that is pretty much the entirety of the second book. Honestly, I figured they would just ignore most of it and focus on “the present”. But, it seems pretty clear from that bar scene that they are to some degree going to go there.

  184. “An object of art is an honest way of making a living, and this is much a different idea from the fancier notion that art is a scam and a ripoff. The bourgeoisie have, after all, made it a scam. But you could never explain to someone who uses God’s gift to enslave that you have used God’s gift to be free.” Rene Ricard “The Radiant Child.”

  186. We’re now getting legitimate predictions for “Thundersnow” on Tuesday morning down here. Folks are advised to plan to pretty much completely hunker down from Monday evening through mid day Wednesday.

  190. Crap joke for the day:

    Following a woman with a dog out of the movie theater, a man stopped her and said, “I’m sorry to bother you, but I was amazed that your dog seemed to get into the movie so much. He cried at the right spots, moved nervously at the boring spots, and laughed like crazy at the funny parts. Don’t you find that unusual?”

    “Yes,” she replied. “I find it very unusual. Especially considering that he hated the book!”

  195. Intentionally avoiding news and most social media today. We’ve come to a fork in the road and turned the wrong way.

    Now the fork is in us.

  197. I never thought there’d be a sieg heil salute onstage at the inauguration of a US President, but I guess we need to get reacquainted with shocking and offensive surprises.

      • Yeah, by the time it stopped snowing around 11am here, I had measured about 4.75″ at our place. Most of the area around Houston got between 2-5″. That’s the most I can ever recall experiencing in southern Texas.

        • Remember in “It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown” when the kids compare what candy they got after each house, and Charlie Brown keeps saying “I got a rock”. That’s how I feel when I hear all these reports. All I can say is “I got some rain”.

  205. So Storm Eowyn is due to hit Friday, locally the west of Northern England will bear the brunt of the storm but gale force winds and rain predicted in the East.

    A day not to travel methinks.

  206. In Anaheim for the Metal Hall of Fame gala. This has become a yearly thing – – although I have a new priority this year. I’ll be working the events, but also trying to raise awareness for SLAM.

  208. Because of his hernia, the husband is getting suspenders instead of worrying a belt. I’m teasing him that he’s becoming an old man.

  210. So, I’m going to be a downer in regards to the next meetup.
    The husband and I have been talking and I don’t think I’m going to the US for the next few years

    • Understandable.
      We have a couple trips abroad planned and I am beginning to fear it the implications if dear leader decides to launch a military action on Greenland or Panama or who knows where else.
      I am led to believe there are consequences to being a resident of a Rogue Nation. 🙁

        • An email is making the rounds to all government employees stating that all “DEIA” (inclusivity) language has been removed from government programs. Horrible. But then the email kicks up a notch, encouraging people to report any govt employee who has tried to sneak any such language into their work.

          People have been trained to hate democrats and accept – – even cheer – – hateful fascism.

          I don’t blame you, Ryah. I just hope your province doesn’t get inspired by the craziness down south.

  212. Currently waiting for the power to go out. We are having some electrical work done so they’re going to disconnect us from the grid.
    It’s currently 16°F outside.
    I’m trying to be optimistic that they will have the work finished and inspected before close of business tomorrow so the power can be turned back on before the weekend.

  213. Decided to read the news while I still had power.Mistake.

    DOJ has frozen all civil rights cases. First time this has ever happened with the transition of power.

    All federal science dept (such as NOAA, FDA, CDC) have been told to stop issuing any reports/statement/data until further notices.

    Federal workers in masse being sent emails telling them to rat out any coworkers who do not fit the maga ideology or risk being fired themselves.

    We have become the Soviet Union that I was raised to despise and fear.
    I guess the Cold War has only just now officially ended.

    America lost.

    • Maybe unwise, but I’ve been trying to avoid the news. Amazing that it took less than a week to become the Soviet Union.

      Best of luck with your power situation, Joe!

  217. JW:Byzantium

    I’m rather jaded when it comes to vampires films and my expectations were low, it’s been sitting on my NAS for years. However this rather sad tale of a mother/daughter vampire due in the run from other vamps was great.

  220. Back home. Great to hug Tiffany and the little one. This is the most tired I’ve been in a long time. It was a very fun and (hopefully) a very productive trip.

  225. I have not verified the truth of this (stolen from author JC Macek on FB):

    “I never realized why Mad Max’s first nemesis was called “The Toecutter”.
    I thought it had to do with him being so mean that he literally tortured people by cutting toes.
    Turns out, it’s a motorcycle term. When a motorcyclist takes a corner (turning = cutting) and the bike lays down almost sideways, to where the rider’s toes practically scrape the ground, that’s called “toe cutting”.
    It wasn’t because he was so sadistic but because he was such a proficient cyclist.”

  228. Just resharing something I said on FB, on a friend’s wall, in response to some of the other comments:

    I don’t get into online politics. Not about to start. Two points and I’m out:

    “Watch list” is a scary term with terrible history. Maybe criminal activity deserves a law enforcement watchlist – – but criticizing celebrity politicians isn’t criminal.

    It was a nazi salute, not a wave. I don’t know if he meant it as a bad joke, or if he’s truly embracing hateful ideology. It was a poor choice. Autism doesn’t cause people to do stuff like that, and it’s no excuse. Phil Anselmo did it as a poor joke, then apologized, accepted the backlash, denounced nazis, and tried to make amends.

    Like the guy if you want, but don’t make excuses for his terrible behavior. I consider you guys friends. If I ever do something monumentally stupid in public, then please don’t excuse the action. Call me out on it. I can take it.

      • To be clear.
        Nazi salute is bad.
        Elon is bad.
        A general public who looks at the body of his public statements and actions and then tries to make excuses for him instead of calling him out … worst possible thing.

        • Logged in as my new account, the Facebook algorithm showed a post from some “elect trump” page with a video of Selena Gomez crying over the deportations – – and the entire point of the post was how hilarious they found this. And – – I had to glimpse – – the comments were 100% cruelty and mockery of her. Not an ounce of humanity in the lot.

          Too many people are cheering on the fascists, while others are excusing them.

  229. Watched the remake of Fright Night, David Tennant was a good replacement for Roddy McDowall but Colin Farrell stole the film as the vampire.

    • IIRC, I still preferred the cheesy original.
      Colin Farrell would probably be difficult to hang out with in real life, but he’s a pretty reliably great actor.

  230. Ok, a question, when did digital destinations boards (or TVs with train information ) started appearing on US/Canada train stations?

    Brought to you by a Edward Hopper painting that may be an AI fake.

  233. Took Miss kitty to the vet because she has another lump. Because she has had both cancerous and non-cancerous masses. She is on a 60 day watch. If things get better bonus, if not, she gets to have another surgery. Huzzah

  235. Finally getting caught up. For a while, I couldn’t get this website to load on either of my mobile browsers for some unknown reason (looked like a cert issue).

    It was nice to see everyone’s brief recaps of the year, and to see everyone’s day-to-day updates. That really lifted my spirits. I’m also glad my annual letters and cards finally made it to Ryah and Van.

    Ryah – Understandable. I wouldn’t want to come here, either. As I mentioned in that letter, I’m theoretically revisiting Japan in April (still working out logistics). We shall see what happens after that.

    I’ve spent most of the last week absolutely glued to Reddit, including front-line updates from r/fednews. This is all far, far more horrific than I ever anticipated. Good to ‘see’ everyone still posting here. You all are the way

    • It isn’t like the old days (what ever is?), but I still cherish the dialogue here.

      The harshest comfort I can give: most of us will survive the horrors that are coming. Maybe even all of us. Don’t despair, don’t overload on the back-to-back terrible headlines. Stay as informed as you need to, but don’t dwell on the evils. Be prepared to flee or resist if it becomes necessary, but also continue to live your life and enjoy the things and people that make you happy. The bullies in charge are going to steal as much dignity and money from us as they can, so maintain your composure. Hold on to every bit of yourself that you can. Don’t let them steal the things that matter most.

      • Thanks for that, Jack. This terror is an all-consuming fire that makes me feel like nothing else matters. I am grateful that you pushed back against that. I still plan on going to Costco for the first time in years on Friday.

  236. Today’s mystery, arrived back home from going for a meal and found an Amazon parcel that contained socks.

    Got to be somebody on Facebook but no idea who.

  237. So are we going to arrange a meetup this year or leave it for a few years?

    I know I missed the last one , but visiting Canada again is an option, doesn’t have to be Calgary.

  239. Am hearing very discouraging reports from my NASA pal.
    It IS worse then even anyone knows.
    While it is true that this bunch in power can suddenly change their edicts 180 degrees,
    It will soon be much to late for NASA.
    The top people are smart enough to see what’s coming and realize that they need to get out in front of the tidal wave of unemployment that is coming.
    The volume of science knowledge that is about to flee will take generations to regain.
    …meanwhile China has already pulled ahead of us in several key, space science areas.

    So I am only getting the inside scoop on NASA.
    There is no reason to believe this also isn’t happening in our Health Research agencies, Safety Research/testing and certainly NOAA.

    America is being dismantled and sold off.

  242. Saw the news about last night’s tragic crash in DC. Reported that the flight originated from Kansas. I hope that it hasn’t impacted the Deadpan contingent, but let us know.

    • It was from Wichita, which is several hours away. So far, it hasn’t impacted anyone that I know of.

      I saw the video last night. It looked terrible and catastrophic. Someone screwed up. Either the FAA or the army helicopter pilot imo.

    • I saw someone drawing a line between this and recent trump firings, which included the FAA chief. Unless the new FAA head already implemented bad new procedures which led to this crash, I don’t imagine the two things are related. I will blame the dictator for everything he truly causes, but not for everything bad that happens.

      This is a nightmare scenario. I do hope we get some answers and some procedural improvements.

      • From what I’ve read, the air traffic controller was relaying instructions to the helicopter pilot, but I’m guessing the helicopter pilot was looking at the wrong plane: one was taking off about the same time as the landing aircraft. The collision avoidance alarm, if it was even on, probably didn’t give the helicopter pilot enough time to do anything. The speed differential would have been too great.

        My major question is why was the helicopter cutting through that section of air traffic lanes. Yes, they technically have priority, but for safety sake, they should not have been going that way. I doubt we will get good answers on this, but I’d lay odds on pilot error.

  246. Crap joke for the day:

    This chap takes his St Bernard to the vet. “I brought him in because he’s cross-eyed. He keeps bumping into the furniture, Is there anything you can do for him?” He asks the vet..
    “Well,” say the vet, “I’ll have a look at him.”
    So he picks the dog up and has a good look at its eyes. After pausing for a while to think, the vet says, “I’m going to have to put him down.”

    “Just because he’s cross-eyed?” says the bloke.

    “No,” replies the vet, “Because he’s too bloody heavy.”

    • While I agree with a lot of their choices, the lack of “The Fifth Element” from the list makes it a total fail. I’m afraid all traces of the author will need to be removed from the timeline.

  250. S.L.A.M. is actually every bit as demanding as my previous workplaces, just without the pay (so far). But infinitely more rewarding.

    My boss just keeps giving me new tasks!

    • One of the non-profits my wife works with is a museum that is set to open in just a few weeks. They have been working on this for like almost 2 years now.
      So, SO much work envolved and all that much harder as the bulk is being done by volunteers who have to be found and trained, ALL WHILE ALSO trying to find donars and raise funds.

      So much work.

        • This thread makes me so happy. 🙂

          I had a very productive (for me) night. Steps were taken toward Toastmasters, travel, home decor, and gaming goals. And yes, I did go to Costco and re-upped my membership (which had lapsed in 2018), but didn’t actually buy anything (yet), because I wanted to get on with other errands. Maybe in the next week or two.

  251. So my youngest is in Boston getting their masters and is still training as a figure skater.
    Turns out they knew one of the skaters on that plane.
    In all their rink lost 6 skaters.
    The worst, apparently, was the news cameras that showed up and we’re getting in the faces of crying kids.
    They had to be kicked out and they closed the rink to the public.
    Meh

  256. Crap joke for the day:

    I renewed my car insurance over the phone today, and as I was about to hang up the woman on the other end asked if I had a pet.

    I said, “Yes, I’ve got a Cat.”

    She asked, “Would you like to insure her too?”

    I said, “Don’t be daft she can’t drive!”

  261. The longer this job search effort goes on, the more I’m forced to accept that this industry will probably no longer hire me due to my age.

    • Age discrimination is a real thing. I encountered it the last time I was in the hunt too. If you’re over 40 interviewing with a bunch of under 30s, are they really going to hire you?

      That said, I’ve seen many, many 50+ employees join the companies I worked for, over the years. It isn’t hopeless.

    • And….. the bill was introduced to terminate the Department of Education.

      The “Education should be handled locally” line is bullshit. This is not at all about what’s best for schoolchildren. This is not at all about efficient use of government funds, it never has been. It’s about cruelty and suppression of all non-wealthy families. It’s about throttling meaningful education for 99% of the population.

      • And we are only some 15 days in.

        During that time FOTUS hasn’t done a thing to improve life for Americans.
        Nothing for infrastructure, nothing to reduce the price of eggs or fuel, nothing to make healthcare more accessible or affordable (the opposite in fact)

        Instead he has spent that time laser focused on attacking and demonizing MILLIONS of US Citizens who are just trying to live their lives under the constitutionally assured “pursuit of happiness” claus.

        Well, he has also been dismantling the country to sell for scrap and handing the entire treasury over to a foreign born entity with absolutely no legal oversite… but that seems trivial when compared to having your basic human rights stripped away.

  262. I just saw this lit of upcoming sequels. I’m interested in. . . let’s see. . . none of them. Maybe Dogma, but probably not.

    Gladiator 3
    Dodgeball 2
    I am Legend 2
    Free Guy 2
    Orphan 3
    Hocus Pocus 3
    Bill & Ted 4
    Roadhouse 2
    Dogma 2
    Ice Age 6

  263. Based on a few things I’ve seen, how much does a dozen eggs cost in the US?
    Here it’s around $4 or just a little under. Allowing for the exchange rate, that would be under $3 US a dozen
    The things I saw showed it was much higher where you are (with an explanation for the difference I can go into if you want)
    I thought I’d get it from people I actually know

    • From a UK perspective, I pay £2.75 for 15 mixed size free range eggs from Lidl.

      Which is 3.41 US dollars or 4.93 Canadian dollars.

      Could go cheaper with eggs from caged hens but prefer not to do that.

    • I don’t buy standalone eggs all that often anymore as we don’t really eat traditional “breakfast” food anymore unless we’re at a hotel or cruise.

      But, looking up some of my local stores, basic eggs look to be running from $3-5 dozen.

    • If I go to the supermarket, it’s $5-$6. If I get them from the farmers market (which I prefer) it’s $8 (up from $7 a few months ago). The think I find odd, is that when I get them from the supermarket I look for the cheapest brown eggs. For some reason the ones labeled cage-free and organic and all the other buzz words tend to be the cheapest. Not sure why that is other than some things I already know about (such as “cage-free” and “organic” being astoundingly ill-defined terms that just about anybody can slap onto eggs. But if you are going to slap those terms on, shouldn’t you try to charge more?

  275. Tiffany’s been watching The Pitt on Max. Not typically my thing, but it seems well-made. One of the actors from E/R is the lead. It feels a lot like E/R just with cursing and with less soap opera stuff.

    • We plan to watch it.

      The intention of the show was to make a realistic medical drama. All the actors went to medical bootcamp for 6 weeks, I think, as part of it.

  276. Weird turn of events – – I went to the Lady Death: Savage Reign launch last night, chatted with one of the employees of the comic company, who was also my older daughter’s high school bio teacher.

  277. Crap joke for the day:

    A college wrestler was competing in the championship match for his conference. His coach tells him, “your opponent is undefeated. He has this hold that never fails. It’s called the Double Pretzel Lock. Whatever you do, don’t let him get you in the Double Pretzel Lock or you are done-for.

    The match is progressing and our hero is doing well. Just as his coach thinks he may have a chance there is a whirlwind of movement and our guy is tied up in the Double Pretzel Lock. The coach is bereft, knowing the match is lost.

    All of a sudden there is a blood-curdling scream and the two wrestles leap off the mat as if one. Our wrestler lands on his undefeated opponent, pins him and wins the match.

    There is pandemonium in the arena as he celebrates, high fiving his teammates and bending to catch his breath. His coach yells, “that’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen! Unbelievable! How did you do that!?”

    Our guy says, “Coach, there I was, almost completely unable to move, all twisted up in the Double Pretzel Lock. I knew I was done and was about to give up when I saw this pair of testicles…so I bit them. Coach, you’ll never know how high you can jump until you bite your own testicles.”

  281. As for other 70s Sci-Fi movies, I rewatched the original Alien. It’s not one I’ve watched a million times, although I know its beats pretty well.

    Still absolutely brilliant. I wonder if modern audiences would find it too slow? I’m also going to credit some Star Wars influence, but everything feels gritty and lived-in, not gleaming and shiny. I also love that the entire crew are just working stiffs trying to get through a job – – well, aside from Ash.

  282. Due to fuckery, I’d never seen the original Cars movie. I took the kids to see Cars 2 when it released, and it was so terrible, that I was put off of Cars for years.

    Finally watched the first one tonight, and it’s pretty great. Maybe not Pixar’s upper echelon, but still full of Pixar magic and comedy.

    Zero interest in Cars 3.

    • A damp day here which feels colder than the 4C would suggest.

      Plus there is wind coming from the east which means a cold draught I can never find where it’s coming from.

  290. So Alabama has now officially entered the “support Donald Trump and get burned“ room.
    The largest single private employer in the state is the UAB Medical Center. They actually do a lot of nationally important medical research there. Except Friday they got a message from the NIH saying they’re funding was being cut.
    Thanks Elon.
    Let’s see how Katie Britt, kitchen talks her way out of this one.

    • “asked them to self-report details of how they use generative AI tools in the workplace. The participants were asked to report tasks that they were asked to do, how they used AI tools to complete them, how confident they were in the AI’s ability to do the task, their ability to evaluate that output, and how confident they were in their own ability to complete the same task without any AI assistance.”

      This is meh data. Surveys. No actual objective metrics of critical thinking skills. I’ve no doubt the data will eventually support, but it’s not quite where I need it to be yet. Just need time for these kinds of long term studies.

      • The husband uses Chat GPT all the time at work. Dealing with a large multi-cultural base at his school, it helps him write notices and adjust certain things. He uses it as a base (or middle step?), not an end product though. It’s not good enough to just go with everything it says. It also helps him come up with daily jokes for eight year olds for his daily morning announcements.

        • We use it nearly constantly at my company. Mostly for helping us with tasks that would be extremely tedious. For example, out CEO asked us to go through every report for one project (there are something like 20 of them) and pull out every user pain point, need, and requirement. This looks like a job for AI! We did, by the way, actually go through the documents ourselves to pull these out (it doesn’t have our context so wouldn’t be good at identifying some of them). But it was fantastic for finding duplicates and categorizing everything.

          We also use it a lot for general questions (e.g., what are the different upcoming ways that someone might interface with an LLM). We have the background to interpret and spot potential hallucinations. It’s all about being careful what you use it for.

          BTW, if anyone hasn’t seen it yet. NotebookLM if awesome. You can put a bunch of research papers in there and ask it specific questions about the contents. Great for researchers, but also great for kids who may want some help understanding concepts. I saw a great demo where they put in a bunch of physics stuff and then had it explain to a child of a specific age some concept using a basketball analogy.

    • My bias is definitely confirmed by that headline. I can’t speak to the neuroscience or psychology behind it, but I’m ok with outsourcing the parts of my brain for remembering phone numbers and driving directions to machines.
      But the creative and idea-generating parts? Nah.

    • I use ChatGPT as well as other AIs here and there as well. But I do believe that any technology that grants convenience, can cause an atrophy of certain skills. I can’t remember phone numbers anymore because they are logged in my phone, for example.

  293. Apart from a few songs I’ve had very little experience of the music of Led Zeppelin.

    Saying that I enjoyed the documentary; Becoming Led Zeppelin about the band’s origins.

    • Led Zeppelin are one of my pillar bands. Jimmy Page is one of my most influential guitarists (I’m aware of his sins). I’d love to catch that movie on the big screen.

  295. Crap joke for the day:

    A Texan walks into a pub in Ireland.
    He says, “I hear you Irish are a bunch of hard drinkers. I’ll give $500 American dollars to anybody in here who can drink 10 pints of Guinness back-to-back.”
    The room is quiet, and no one takes up the Texan’s offer. One man even leaves.
    Thirty minutes later the same gentleman who left shows back up and taps the elderly Texan on the shoulder. “Is your bet still good?” asks the Irishman.

    The Texan says yes and asks the barkeep to line up 10 pints of Guinness. Immediately the Irishman tears into all 10 of the pint glasses, drinking them all back-to-back.
    The other pub patrons cheer as the Texan sits in amazement. The Texan gives the Irishman the $500 and says, “If ya don’t mind me askin’, where did you go for that 30 minutes you were gone?”

    The Irishman replies, “Oh… I had to go to the pub down the street to see if I could do it first.”

  297. 1. Google Gulf of Mexico.
    2. “Gulf of America” will be at the head of Google’s answer.
    3. Click on the three little dots to the right of “Gulf of America”.
    4. Select “Send Feedback”
    5. Click on “Gulf Of America” text.
    6. Select “Inaccurate content”.
    7. Select “Incorrect” and type in whatever text you want such as “The correct name of this body of water is “Gulf of Mexico”.

    • Done.
      It seems like a little “nothing” but it is important to remember that the fight against creeping fascism is millions of these seeming less “little nothings” done one at a time by millions of us.

  299. We’ve been watching The Sympathizer on MAX – – about espionage, the CIA, and refugees in the US and Vietnam in the 70s. Anyone else given this a shot?

    It’s a bit challenging, but interesting, for sure. Robert Downey Jr. should probably have gotten some kind of nomination for his performances in this.

      • The 2008 version was quite well done. I also really liked the 2003 Ang Lee version of The Hulk. I know that puts me in the minority, but that’s never bothered me.

  304. My current book is about the invasion of Italy in WW2.

    I will never not be amazed at how historians can take the same facts and tell it a different way.

    • A few weeks ago, my NASA buddy told me that during the first Trump administration they had re-classified anyone who had worked for the government for less than one year as “probationary“. This meant those folks could be fired at any time with absolutely no reason.
      For NASA, he told me, these are the employees they referred to as their “seedcorn.” These are the young bright kids who hire onto NASA right out of college, in spite of the pay, because they believe in the dream. They believe in space, travel and adventure and science.
      These are the people that Elon fired yesterday.
      The US was already falling behind China in many areas of space engineering and This will set back the US for a generation.

      Welcome to dystopia.

      • I spoke briefly with Alvie. He said he appreciates the thoughts. It’s exactly what Joe described, they fired a bunch of “probation” employees in his dept. He seems to be ok for right now.

  317. Okay North Americans, when/if you have toast do you butter the toast?

    This brought to you by a video of an American having beans on toast for the first time and not buttering the toast!

    • Dry toast is icky so we put butter on toast. We just don’t put beans on toast so wouldn’t begin to know the proper procedure. Query: if the beans are going to make the toast soggy (like butter would) and if beans have a more powerful flavor that I fully expect would overtake and mask the butter… what is the point in buttering toast before putting beans on it?

  325. Crap joke for the day:

    My mate Bill dragged a huge metal box to the Antiques Roadshow in Wolverhampton . “Where did you get this from?” asks the expert. “It’s been in my loft for 40 years. I think it’s an heirloom” says Bill.
    “Do you have insurance?” asks the expert. “No, should I?” asks Bill. “Yeah,” says the expert “It’s your fucking water tank.”

  326. OK, the speakeasy isn’t open on Mondays, so we did a movie instead for our date night – – the new Captain America. Tiffany liked it, so that’s good, at least….

    Don’t get me wrong, it was a nice date night out, but holy crap, was that movie terrible.

  328. Stupid delivery company can’t read an address. They keep trying to deliver something to my address in Calgary not Airdrie, which doesn’t exist.

    • My advice on retiring is to ONLY do it if you are retiring to something as opposed to just retiring FROM something.
      Have the next thing lined up, even if it is just a hobby you plan to spend your time on.

  335. Sow on insta. To preserve his secret identity, Batman either drove the Batmobile without insurance or else he was committing insurance fraud

    • I didn’t realize they had been reaching out and actually changing the words in existing e-books.
      The article mentions that this leaves the words and descriptions in every e-book at the mercy of Executive Orders from tyrants wishing to rewrite history.

      Welcome to dystopia.

    • That is astoundingly useful information. I’ve actually had that problem on quite a few occasions. Usually when dealing with recipes and having to write out 350 degrees because the symbol is too damn hard to figure out.

  342. I am currently in Norway where they have very strong feelings about the period of time between 1940 and 1945.
    I have noticed that when people here tell tales of WWII, almost to a person they refer to “The NAZI Party” or “The NAZIs” instead of “The Germans”

    I find myself wondering if years from now, when the fascist occupation of America finally comes to and end, will the rest of the world be as kind to us?

    Will they blame the coming attrocities on “The MAGA Party” and not “The Republicans” or even just on “Americans” as a one group?

      • Right?
        Yet nothing but praise for the Brits training of their resistance fighters.

        I really need to do some reading about Norway’s efforts during wwII. I had it in mind that they were out of the game early but that is apparently far from the truth. Amoung other things, they did a great deal of damage to the Nazi ability to abtain heavy water.

        • WWII history has been poorly taught, but especially in the US.

          And keep in mind, there have been a lot of interesting things uncovered in the past 20-30 years as information has been de-classified.

  343. I must confess, I don’t have a lot of sympathy for anyone who jumped on the AI Pin bandwagon:

    https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/02/truly-a-middle-finger-humane-bricking-700-ai-pins-with-limited-refunds/

    I mean, becoming an “early adopter” pretty well means you know and accept the risk that whatever you’re investing in will be a complete bust.

    In this case, particularly after the MKBD review, I can’t see how anyone would seriously put money into this and expecting something good.

    Of course, I could just be turning into a grumpy old man.

  348. Re: earlier conversation on breakfast items.

    The breakfast buffet on this cruise does in fact include a tray of beans right there alongside the other hot items such as the eggs, bacon, and sausage.
    I am fine with not trying them.

    I do rather enjoy the “bangers” though.

  356. We’re watching the music video channel and they are playing older rock videos. I finally had to ask the husband if we should change the channel as every other band he’d comment on the fact a member was dead (I.e AC/DC, Slayer, etc.). I told him I think he’s the only person who finds the rock video channel depressing

    • This one gets me. My absolute favorite female R&B singer of the 70s.
      I don’t love all of her sappy duets and ballads, but she had quite a few that were just gorgeous. First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Killing Me Softly, To Love Somebody. . .

  360. CW: September 5

    So had to look it up on IMDB but one of the actors had a familiar face and it turns out he plays the King of the Elves in the LOTR series.

  363. Time and time again it’s been proved that the amount benefit fraud is tiny. Yes that POS speaker of the house, who claims to be a Christian, spouts the same old crap in an effort to cut benefits in the US even further.

  366. Small potatoes for you North Americans, but UK games industry started in the 80s with the release of the ZX81 and ZX Spectrum. Games were usually written by one person and one of the giants was Don Priestly. He wrote many games with Mazogs and 3D Tanx being two stand outs. Discovered today he had died late last year.

    Going to play one of his games later.

    • Such a sad story.

      Farewell to one of the greatest actors of all time. He should be held in the same esteem as Brando, DeNiro, Streep, etc., but he specialized in playing asshole characters. I think that’s the main reason he isn’t. For so long in my life, I kinda thought I disliked him, but it was really just the awful people he’d portrayed across his career: Lex Luthor (the best Lex Luthor), the villain from Unforgiven, Popeye Doyle, the father of the bride in The Bird Cage. . .

  369. Crap joke for the day:

    A woman tries getting on a bus, but realizes her skirt is too tight. As the bus stopped and it was her turn to get on, she became aware that her skirt was too tight to allow her leg to come up to the height of the first step of the bus. Slightly embarrassed and with a quick smile to the driver, she reached behind her to unzip her skirt a little, thinking that this would give her enough slack to raise her leg. She tried to take the step, but only to discover that she couldn’t.
    With a little smile to the driver, she again reached behind to unzip a little more and again was unable to take the step.
    After becoming quite frustrated and embarrassed, she once again attempted to unzip her skirt more in order to allow more leg room to get on the first step of the bus.
    About this time, a large Texan who was standing behind her picked her up easily by the waist and placed her gently on the step of the bus,
    She went ballistic and turned to the would-be Samaritan and yelled “How dare you touch my body! I don’t even know who you are!”
    The Texan smiled and drawled “Well ma’am, normally I would agree with you but after you unzipped my fly three times I kinda figured we were friends.

  370. I was suppose to record something today but the wind is so strong it’s causing a lot of background noise.
    Playing video games it is 😉

  374. Talking about retirement and a friend replied:

    “You should retire. You need to not be hating life while you can still move around.”

    Hmmm.

  375. So I tried the beans on toast yesterday.
    I’m afraid it was a bit to adventuresome a cuisine for first thing in the morning.

    I think I could have it at lunch though.

  376. We watched Flow. Some stray observations and reactions:

    We really enjoyed it.
    It’s basically plotless, although there is a thread to follow.
    At times, the setting jumps and you have no idea what’s happening.
    It feels like a video game. I wonder if it started out as a game.
    It’s got some depth to it.
    I’ve never seen so many pre-credits production logos. They go on forever.

    • I was not super familiar with New York Dolls, but man, he was great on SNL. For me, though, he was most memorable as the Ghost of Christmas Past in Scrooge.

      Niagara Falls. . .

  378. I was so successful at not following world events that I missed seeing President Zelinski tonight by only a few minutes.

    I was rushing down Whitehall street trying to get back to my hotel and the Cops had that section of the street at Downing intersection blocked off. There was a crowd and people with Ukrainian flags and some support signs but I thought it was just some random rally and I was in a hurry and I didn’t stop 🙁

    I’ve been listening to Brits laughing all day about some meeting trump had with Zelenskyy last night. They’ve been using phrases like “cringeworthy” to describe the event and to a person it seems to have rallied them all even more around Ukraine and tossed out any respect they might have had left for trump.

    Crazy world.

  380. It’s March 2nd today. We were looking at our calendar and we have games days with friends booked to April 6th already. I think we may have too much of a social life

  382. Crap joke for the day:

    Three men die and are standing at heavens gate. St. Peter says “I am going to ask each of you a question, and depending on your answer it will determine what kind of car you get to drive in heaven”. He asks the first man” Have you ever cheated on your wife? The man says No, not in 45 years of marriage. St. Peter looks down his list and says”You have been real good.” “You get to drive this Rolls Royce in heaven. St. Peter asks the second man “Have you ever cheated on your wife? The man says Yes, a couple of times. St. Peter looks down his list and says You have definitely been bad. You see this Monte Carlo? This is what you get to drive in heaven. St.Peter asks the third man “Have you ever cheated on your wife? He says yes, any chance I got. St. Peter says you have been horrible. You see this Pinto. This is what you get to drive in heaven. They all get in their cars and start driving around heaven. After a few minutes the guy in the Pinto comes around a corner and see’s the man in the Rolls Royce on the side of the road. His head was on the steering wheel and he was crying like a baby. The guy in the Pinto said”Why are you crying, You got the nicest car out of all of us. The guy in the Rolls Royce said” I just saw my wife and she was wearing roller skates!

  383. Huzzah! It was a day at the RenFaire today. Everyone had a good time. We took a chance on a raffle egg and when it hatched, we’d won a $100 dragon puppet, aka a “drabbit.” https://www.drabbits.com/

    And our knight won at the joust.

    Most importantly, got quality time with my 3 girls.
    And goats – – in the petting zoo.

  385. Crap joke for the day:

    A little girl goes to a pet shop. She says:

    “I’d like to have a fwuffy bunny wabbit, pwease.”

    The clerk looks at her, condescendingly, and says:

    “A bwown fwuffy bunny wabbit, ow a bwack fwuffy bunny wabbit?”

    The girl replies:

    “Do you weally fink my pyfon gives a fwuck?”

  389. We finished The Sympathizer. My initial impression was that it was going to be a Tarantino-esque, stylized, inside look at the corruption around the Vietnam war.
    It was almost that, but not quite. It’s tough to recommend this.

    • I watched the despecialised version a while back, the closest you get to the theatrical cut if you can’t find cinema box.

  396. Looking for some recommendations. Chrome just blocked uBlock Origin and now every site I go to is 90% adds. Might be time to finally give up on Chrome and switch to another browser. Any recommendations? I still do an awful lot through Google products (gmail, calendar, drive, contacts, maps, etc.) so it can’t be an anti-Google platform.

    • I have Chrome, Firefox, and Edge on my computer, but I primarily use Firefox – – except when using stuff that conflicts. E.g.: MS Teams calls.
      I only use Safari on my phone.

    • When I had to get a new hard drive, Instead of installing Google, I just went with Microsoft Edge.
      *shrug* It seems to work. I still use Google for email, searches, etc.

      • I primarily use Firefox and with NoScript, PrivacyBadger, and Facebook Container. I also check on the privacy settings on a regular basis since there are changes from time to time.

        • Thanks for all the recommendations. Now I get the fun part (seriously, I really do enjoy this part). I get to go out and research them all to figure out which one(s) might work best for me. I’ll report back when I figure it out.

    • I liked it, though the new format is a little jarring. Son of shaky cam has reared its ugly head.

      Anyways… Spoilers below…..

      .

      .

      .

      .

      I can’t say I feel a connection to any of the new characters except White Tiger. Most of the series was kinda of meh to me, but the final scene of EP2 got my attention. I’m still vested in the series, it remains to be seen if they can pull off the magic of the earlier series.

    • We only made it through episode 1. Enjoyed it. I can’t imagine this is going to be too faithful to the Frank Miller comic.

      There was one bird’s-eye shot of Fisk’s hands that really brought home what a great job D’Onofrio has done with this character. A simple overhead shot of him deliberately cutting his meat told us so much about his personality and temperament. You instantly knew who the character was, just from that shot. I’m not a filmmaker, but I appreciated that little touch.

  400. Long hours in an aircraft gave me time to do much media consumption.

    I watched the entire first season of “Atlanta”. I really liked it. Smart, darkly funny, very creative, entirely well done. I will probably seek out further seasons.

    Some movie adapted from some video game with a bounty hunter helping a little girl who like to throw explosive stuffed rabbits. It was everything you would expect from that genre and description.

    “Alien: Romulus”
    Quite well done and pretty much everything you would expect/want from this franchise.
    Slightly different set-up than the original but then pretty much the same movie … just with teenagers.

    Finally I had time to watch the first hour of a two hour PBS documentary on Jimmy Carter. I learned some stuff.
    Still, we are proving we weren’t worthy of him.

    • George Lowe lived pretty local to the Central Florida area and I’ve met him twice. He was a truly unique individual. When he would sign something, he would tell a very inappropriate story along with it. For example, he signed a Space Ghost drawing for me and informed me what “high flow ischemia” (I later found out he was actually talking about “high flow priapism”) that required injections into questionable areas. He also makes some nice drawing additions to what he signs. And he is fond of putting a “snack tip” on anything he signs. The ones I got were “chick pea panties” and “hot pocket panties”. I guess his snack tips were not all that broad or unique. But I may have just been lucky enough to get some that happened to be very similar.

  404. Dear Diary
    I did not have a husband to cuddle last night and will not have him to hold me tonight.
    These are sad and lonely times

  406. Went for a walk today and passed through a park I used to play in as a teenager.

    Things have changed, it seems smaller now, the paddling pool was covered up years ago and the nearby art gallery closed in 1996. Even the bowling greens, the haunts of pensioners in summer are overgrown.

    Ah well, it was a nice day.

    • That’s 2… 2 private lunar landers that have fallen over. Ah ah ah ah (spoken as The Count from Sesame Street)

      • Sadly, both were carrying NASA science packages aboard them… so no science.
        🙁
        Btw both failed landers we’re from the same company.
        The one that worked a few days ago was from a company called “Firefly”.

  410. So let me get this straight…. Starbucks hires a new CEO, gives him $96 Million in his first four months plus his own jet for commuting between California and Seattle…
    Then under his stewardship, the company orders its corporate staff to drastically cut their remote work, lays off 1100 of that same corporate staff, and greatly reduces a whole bunch of the menu options at its stores.

    • Horrible, yes. But not exactly a new trend. I remember an uncle who worked at Chrysler talking, back in the 1980s, about his guilt over all of the management at his level receiving their bonuses while they were active laying off huge numbers of factory employees.

  411. Anyway.

    Finding Nemo is a movie that needs to be rewatched again and again. It’s not only the funniest Pixar movie, it’s one of their best. Period. Every bit as hilarious and as quotable as an Airplane! movie. Just brilliant.

    • I also fondly recall seeing it on the theater with my grandmother, mother, and children, so we had four generations in the theater together. She was an AA superstar – – she knew Bill W. – – I recall her getting a kick out of the sharks’ meeting.

  413. Dear diary
    Once again I spent the night in loneliness. The only thing that keeps me going is knowing that sometime tonight I will no longer be alone

  414. Crap joke for Friday:

    Flight Attendant: “IS THERE A DOCTOR ON BOARD?!”
    Me: “I have a doctorate in Philosophy.”
    Flight Attendant: “THE PILOT IS GOING TO DIE!”
    Me [soothingly]: “We’re all going to die.”

  416. Crap joke for the evening:

    flight attendant: is there a doctor on board
    me: i have a doctorate in mathematics
    flight attendant: this man is dying
    me: minus one

  417. So I never finished Daredevil S3 when it was on Netflix, so currently watching the first episode of S3.

    The sound mix has much more oomph than the new series, really hitting the sub woofer.

  419. I agree with Bunny. Late Night with the Devil was a fun little movie. I hope they stop here and don’t wring out the idea for a bunch of sequels.

  422. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLOg9ZLiHtg

    I intended this to be background while I worked, but I kept getting sucked in. Lots of deep guitar geeking from Greg Koch. I don’t often click Beato videos, not even for all-time heroes like David Gilmour, but I couldn’t resist this one. I finally had to pause at about 30 minutes.

    If you weren’t a Greg Koch fan before, you will be after you watch.

  435. Saw a strange thing on the road today. I was behind a Tesla that had the license plate ADD OIL. It was a bit of a disconnect.

  440. Well tonight’s trip to the cinema had the added bonus after the film was finished of a Q&A session with the director and one of the producers.

    Only the second time I’ve went to such an event.

  445. Crap joke for the day:

    An air traffic control tower suddenly lost communication with a small twin-engine aircraft. A moment later the tower landline rang and was answered by one of the employees.
    The passenger riding with the pilot who lost communication was on a cellular phone. He yelled, “Mayday Mayday Mayday! The pilot had an instant and fatal heart attack. I grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket and he had told me before we took off he had the tower on his speed dial memory. I am flying upside down at 18,000 feet and traveling at 180 mph. Mayday Mayday Mayday!”
    The employee in the tower immediately put him on speaker phone and said, “Calm down, we acknowledge you and we’ll guide you down after a few questions. The first thing is not to panic. Remain calm!”
    He began his series of questions:
    Tower: “How do you know you are traveling at 18,000 feet?”
    Aircraft: “I can see that it reads 18,000 feet on the altimeter dial in front of me.”
    Tower: “Okay, that’s good, remain calm. How do you know you’re traveling at 180 mph?”
    Aircraft: “I can see that it reads 180 mph on the airspeed dial in front of me.”
    Tower: “Okay, this is great so far, but it’s heavily overcast. So how do you know you’re flying upside down?”
    Aircraft: “The pee from my pants is running out of my shirt collar.”

    • I enjoyed the novel, and the Hollywood adaptation, “Edge of Tomorrow”. We’ll see how close the anime is to the book, though I think the animation style could have been better.

  454. Crap joke for the day:

    Two nude statues, one male, the other female, are in a park within view of each other. After many years of being within sight of one another, a fairy godmother comes to them and offers them a short amount of time to be alive. The statues are delighted, accept, jump from their pedestals, and head for a nearby stand of bushes.

    The bushes are a’quakin’ and a’shakin’ and the statues come out completely exhausted. The fairy godmother tells them they still have time. One of the statues looks at the other and asks if they should return to the bushes. The second statue nods enthusiastically and responds, “Sure. But this time, you hold the pigeon,”

  458. The cat has two water fountains and a water dish. I throw then in the dishwasher, on separate days, so she always has at least two of the three going. Even so, when I clean one, you’d think she’s dying of thirst

  460. After watching Electric State on Netflix, which was ok, started a rewatch of Tales from the Loop on Prime.

    What a strange series that was.

  464. We have been watching the TV series, Mayfair witches. Season one is closeish to the first book but season two has varied wildly. My question is, why? I understand the need to condense books to fit in TV or movie format but, in theory you purchase the rights to a book such as this one, electric state on Netflix, or even Blade Runner, because you liked the story. So why it so completely?

  465. Crap joke for the day:

    A train conductor with 69 passengers crashes the train. He gets sentenced to death by the electric chair and asks for a banana as his last wish
    He eats it and survives multiple shocks
    Next time he crashes with 169 passengers. Gets sentenced again and asks for a banana.
    “No, you survived the electric shocks due to banana last time’, say the authorities
    “It’s not the banana, I am just a bad conductor”, he replies.

  469. CW: Network

    So this is a first time watch and Lo and Behold, in a small part is Lance Henriksen who would later play the android Bishop in Aliens.

    • While I like horrors, I’m more into supernatural horror and not really a big fan of slashers. That being said, we did watch the Winnie the Poo horror when it came out. It was a terrible and poorly made movie.
      I have no desire to see this one.

  472. Anyone else watching (or watched) The Leftovers? My brother really really wants me to like this show, even though he knows I’m not a fan of things that are mostly just drama. He insists it gets really weird, but 7 episodes in and it really just isn’t getting that weird yet. So far it’s a whole lot of Ok.

    • I loved it, but I hated it for like 5 episodes. There are so many infuriating characters. But there is growth and answers of a sort.

    • I love it, gave me an undying crush on Carrie Coon and is part of the population vanishing without a trace not weird enough for you?

      S2 is more weird.

      • Agreed 100% on Carrie Coon. And I can never get enough Liv Tyler. Yes part of the population vanishing is odd, but then what? I saw a priest who can apparently control a roulette outcome, a cult that no one (likely even the cult itself) can understand, and a lot of reality uncertainty on the part of the chief of police. The sadness hugger is kind of strange.

        OK. Looking over my brother’s texts again. Seems like he’s saying that S1 is tame and things really go off the rails in seasons 2 and 3. So I guess I’m just waiting for all the goodness to start. I powered through season 2 of Walking Dead, I can get through season 1 of Leftovers. And at least leftovers is descent. Just not flooring me yet.

    • One of the weirdest shows I’ve ever done.

      I really loved it, but I’m always cautious about recommending this one, due to its wackiness. For you, though, TRA? Full recommendation.

  473. Electric State only got a 14% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes? I watched it a few nights ago and quite enjoyed it. It wasn’t Citizen Kane, but it wasn’t supposed to be. Admitted I didn’t see the original source material so I couldn’t get all incensed over changes. But 14% seems harsh.

    • 14% is trolling. This isn’t a serious movie, it is light-hearted action comedy, with a lot of spectacle on par with The Mummy and Evilution. I asked the question at the end of it “was I entertained?”, yes I was entertained.

    • On a related note, what’s happening with the new Spherical book, Jack? I think you said you might self publish?
      If you need any information or help on that end (if you’re doing both print and ebook, there are three places you MUST submit), or help formatting or converting to an ebook, let me know. I’d be glad to lend a hand.

      • Thank you for asking, Bunny. I’ll admit to a bit of analysis paralysis on this, plus a lot of attention diverted to SLAM and life nonsense (and life goodness).

        I will set a date and get it done. As always, I appreciate your help!

  480. LBNL (for the night)
    I like George Clooney fine, but he really impressed me in The Descendants. I saw it in the theaters with Oden many years ago, then rewatched last night. Still a really good sad, funny movie. And he’s pretty incredible in the role.

  482. New culinary horror unlocked, on Facebook a photo of an opened bag of mussels that contained part of a starfish.

    Someone else posted the had discovered bits of octopuses in a bag they had bought.

    I want to puke.

  483. With our new pups love of passing back 5″ basketballs, I had to hop over to IMDB to look at reviews for AirBud. One reviewer stated that the concept of a dog playing high school basketball was, “unrealistic.” I wonder about the mindset of people who feel they need to point this out.

    • So far in the last week I read about-
      – a European Scientist who was traveling to Texas for an International symposium and was denied entry and deported by ICE because they found a text on his phone that disparaged Trump’s view on a scientific issue. It wasn’t threatening, it just spoke out in opposition.
      – A Canadian Classical Composer who was traveling to NYC to hear the world debute of a symphony he had written. He was detained by ICE and then eventually deported.
      – A couple in California who had lived legally in the US for 35 years, who had filed for citizenship and kept in legal limbo for all that time. Reporting once a year to immigration and being told to come back in a year. Meanwhile they had 3 kids whom they raised to start their own families all of whom were successful tax payers. They went to their yearly meeting, were arrested, detained and finally deported.
      – Then there are the people ICE is kidnapping and deporting without trail to S. America.

      Why care (other than being a decent human being)? Because there is nothing keeping them from doing this to any one of us.
      They are eating the checks.
      They are eating the balances.

  487. I know it’s silly and I know why this happens but still amazes me how much difference a small change in how high the Sun gets in the sky makes to getting energy from solar panels.

    So in winter even on bright sunny days the battery would have difficulty getting charged to 60%. Spring is here and the battery is fully charged by 10am. That’s with a house that faces east/west.

    • The most efficient commercial ones can turn to be perpendicular to the sunshine throughout the day. I always like the month of March because without using any air conditioning our panels supply 100 percent of our use. More like 40% in July with the A/C running 24 hours a day.

    • I had noticed this as well with a little panel I used to keep a car battery charged.
      Dramatic difference in energy between summer and winter sun.

  489. Geoff Tate is one of the few rockstars who was ever an outright dick to me, but he’s still the original vocalist on some of the greatest albums ever made. “Operation: Mindcrime” has gotta be my 2nd-favorite concept album ever.

    His old band, Queensryche, used to perform Mindcrime in its entirety with video storytelling accompaniment, but I never caught any of those shows. I rectified that (sort of) last night, seeing Geoff Tate and his solo band perform the full album, start to finish. No screens, just music – – and his voice ain’t what it used to be – – but it was still a thrill.
    The album not only holds up, but it’s frighteningly relevant today, nearly 40 years after it was originally released.

    • Mindcrime would be in my 10 best albums of all time. It is shame about Geoff’s voice, on Mindcrime 2 it sounded so off. I’ve often thought it would be worth the effort to redo Mindcrime 2 with Todd’s vocals.

  490. Today was the day I discovered that a film released this year called The Cleaner is basically a gender flipped Die Hard set in the UK.

    Daisy Ridley is the playing the Bruce Willis part and Clive Owen is playing the Alan Rickman part.

    I’m tempted to watch.

    • All of the old Daredevil/Defenders seasons are a blur in my memory. I feel like only S1 was special, but I also feel like there were lots of good moments in those other stories.

      I was mainly disappointed in how they handled Elektra.

  494. The husband and I were going to replace our gaming chairs. We decided to buy Canadian because . . . well, you know. Turns out there are a couple of places in Canada that make well reviewed gaming chairs.

  495. One last bit of downer political.

    This is from corporate, bank board room gossip- which is all I will say about that.
    A bank guy who was in from DC was talking about hanging out in a dark bar with “those guys” and hearing Spheaker Mike Hohnson (spelled wrong on purpose) say (paraphrased):
    “We are playing on the public’s short memory. We will purposefully tank the economy so that we can fix it just before the midterms. It will come roaring back and we will be heroes.”

    Beyond the fact that ruining people’s lives for political gain IS pure evil, the guy who was telling this is a Republican bank guy and he had no confidence that this bunch knew what they were doing. He did not believe they could fix the mess they were on their way to making.

    Hard to be positive when you hear this sort of thing.

  498. Crap joke for the day:

    A traffic cop sees a car drive by, and the driver is not wearing his seatbelt.

    So he pulls over an elderly couple, decides to give them a warning. As he approaches the vehicle, he sees the driver reach up and put on his seatbelt.

    You know, we have a mandatory seatbelt law in England, he says.

    I have my seatbelt on, the old guy replies.

    I saw you put it on as I came up, says the cop.

    I’ve had it on since I left the house. Ask the wife!

    (Heavy sigh) Look, I’m just giving you a warning. Wear your seatbelt.

    Old guy is outraged. My seatbelt is on! I have had it on since I left my driveway. Ask the wife!

    Cop just wants to end it. Ma’am, do you corroborate that he’s had it on the whole time?

    I never argue with him when he’s been drinking.

  499. Hello, Deadpan. I’m still alive. Sorry I missed Pi Day; I did have some chocolate silk pie.

    Spring equinox felt like a good time to start something new, so I finally posted the first chapter of my “we just woke up in Castle Ravenloft as vampire spawn, now what?” fanfic. I plan on releasing new chapters on Thursdays.

    Congrats on the cruise, Justa J0e. Where did you go? I have an Alaska cruise that one of my local friends invited me on planned for July.

    And finally: Two weeks until I leave for my big trip to Star Wars Celebration Japan and a volunteer project in Japan. It’s been a long time coming; you all remember when I went there the first time for study abroad. I always wanted to go back and do something more altruism-focused. I will be helping out with work around a few plantation. I will be sure to take all the pictures.

    Deadpan is the way.

  500. So tonight I finally crossed another movie of the list of Coen brother movies I have still not seen.

    Miller’s Crossing which was good.

  504. Caught up to the latest Wheel of Time episode. This third season has been hitting pretty hard and it seems like they’ve got a much better budget that before.

    • There’s a third season?! I though I was almost caught up by being close to the end of season 2. I’m so behind on everything.

  505. The Mrs. and I played Mysterium for the first time tonight. As a 2-player game, it’s OK, but I feel like it will really get interesting with a larger group.

    Rhett?

    • Mysterium is one of our favorites, but yes it is better with a group of 4 or so. At the end of our games, we compose a short story explaining why so and so wanted to murder the ghost and why the particular weapons were used. We like all the games that use the Dixit cards, Stella is the one we play the most.

  508. Crap joke for the day:

    “Dad, who built the Suez Canal?”

    “I don’t know, son.”

    “Dad, who discovered penicillin?”

    “I’ve no idea, son.”

    “Dad, what’s the capital of Italy?”

    “I ain’t got a clue, son.”

    “Dad, you don’t mind me asking all these questions do you?”

    “Of course not, son. If you don’t ask, you won’t learn anything

    • What!? I used to enjoy Populous on other platforms, but never on NES.

      Well… I enjoyed it until I realized it was nonstop flattening land for your stupid worshipers to build their stuff.

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