CitizenVectron

'Foundation' Has an Imperialism Problem - The Atlantic WWW.THEATLANTIC.COM Who cares if a brutal autocracy is destroyed? Why would anyone want to make another one? Good article on how Foundation (book series) deals with collapsing empire (and how that relates to the American empire), and how the show flips those ideas around and mostly fails because of it (but at least update's the stories' flawed takes on gender, etc. Mostly Goyer is just a moron, and Asimov was a better writer with better insights (which isn't saying much, he was a terrible person). tl;dr: Asimov's success was examining the repercussions of a falling stalled golden empire, and the ways it could be rebuilt (even stronger) through intelligence, wisdom, and general craftiness. The show seems to be about the fall of a horrible empire, and how violence is a useful tool against bad guys. Very different themes and messages. As the article states, Asimov wrote during a time of an ascending empire (America) who used technology to dominate. Goyer is maybe attempting to turn this into a story about the fall of America from internal rot. Except even though he (Goyer) claims it's a "post-9/11" story, the only reference he really makes is by having a giant 9/11 in the first episode. It's not really an examination in any meaningful way.

Also who even cares.

I look forward to watching tomorrow and having a smile that doesn't quite reach my eyes.

Canada authorizes first COVID-19 vaccine for kids WWW.CTVNEWS.CA Health Canada has authorized the first COVID-19 vaccine for children, giving the regulatory green light to Pfizer-BioNTech's two-dose vaccine. Children ages five to 11 are now eligible to receive this vaccine, in a smaller dosage than has been offered to those ages 12 and above.

My city is the capital of the province, and most of the provincial ministries and crown corporations occupy the downtown office towers. Even as they were advising people to work from home if they could, they ordered all their employees back into the office because the downtown core was dying from a lack of people going to restaurants and shops on their lunch breaks. It was ridiculous. Yes, it does suck that many restaurants are dying. But at the same time...maybe people were spending too much money on restaurants to begin with. It's not the government's job to tell people where to spend their money and keep unneeded companies afloat.

I think that removing things is not a bad thing by default (you need to scrap old stuff that doesn't work/isn't important and make room for new gameplay features)...but BF2042 removed a lot of important stuff, and didn't really add much good stuff. Maybe in a year or two it will be okay. But no voice comm at launch? Come on, what the fuck.

Is this a Soylent competitor? I used Soylent powder back in the day for shakes (as a meal replacement for lunch), and it worked pretty well. Usually mixed in a scoop of peanut butter and a banana.

In the SUFRON-73 pandemic we will still be arguing about basic science like masks and vaccines. "Info from 1918 and 2020 are lies!"

If Charles ascends as King, I expect more than one country to seriously looking at removing the crown as head of state.

Health Canada will approve the Pfizer vaccine for kids Friday, sources say WWW.THESTAR.COM A delivery of about three million doses is expected in the coming days, enough for a first dose for every Canadian child between ages five and 11. Sounds like some provinces, after seeing the positive results of delayed doses, will be recommending an eight-week gap between doses.

Just to be clear, it wasn't the inventor and founder who died (Dean Kamen), it was some other guy who later bought the company. Dean Kamen (the inventor) is still alive. Also, while Kamen gets (deserved) flack for the segway overhype, he is actually a brilliant man who has done wonders in the field of mobility (such as self-balancing wheelchair systems, etc).

Looks incredible. The trailer gives away that the comet enters the Earth's atmosphere, and in any other movie I would assume that's a spoiler and that it hits the Earth and kills everyone...but in this one, I assume that something happens and no one dies (or just some third world people) and then the rich/powerful characters go "see, nothing to worry about in the first place!" And then no lesson is learned (which is the lesson of the movie).

"This Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor couldn't have come at a better time for us. It will allow us to really hammer on FDR's weaknesses."

Next season I expect to see a three-storey tall robotic Hari Seldon laying waste to the old Imperial worlds with a flying army of psychic mathematicians behind him, and the writers will say "we really respect Asimov's vision."

Well.

Entire city of Merritt, B.C. forced to evacuate due to flooding | Globalnews.ca GLOBALNEWS.CA "The flood waters have now inundated two bridges across the Coldwater River, and flood waters prevent access to the third," the city said in a statement.

From what I am hearing so far, this beta is more polished than the full release for BF2042.

There was an interview with Rothfuss' editor last year where they mentioned they haven't received any new chapters from him in seven years...

Finally started on The Wise Man's Fear, the second book (following The Name of the Wind) by Patrick Rothfuss. I hesitated in starting it since the third book is nowhere on the horizon...but I am glad I did start. About 90% of the way through and it's been fantastic. It's basically a high fantasty book...that is the day-to-day life of the greatest hero to ever live (according to the tales told about him). In reality he does live a fantastical life, but told through his own eyes it's less than the histories about him. It's really, really strong writing, and I am very sad that the third book may never be published. Crazy that the guy has only ever written two novels, and that they are possibly some of the best genre fiction of all time. It's not that he deconstructs or subverts fantasy tropes (like The First Law trilogy, etc), it's that so much of the hero's life story is just him worrying about having enough money, losing the items he cares about the most, holding grudges, etc. I really hope Rothfuss completes The Doors of Stone (the planned final book), but it's been 10 years since TWMF. However, he's only 48 so there is still time!

"If the space pedos aren't comfortable going outside their station then I'll do it for them with non-pedo robots and giant magnets."

Alex Jones Guilty in Sandy Hook Defamation Suits - The New York Times WWW.NYTIMES.COM A Connecticut judge’s ruling combines with decisions in Texas to grant a clean sweep for families of shooting victims in their cases against the Infowars host.

I make $80k in tech (in K12, some simple database and scripting stuff, plus administering some software for our payroll/HR systems, etc), and I know I could get a job making 50% more elsewhere...but I also really, really love my job, and the team that I work with. I also love working in a sector that is not profit-focused. My base pay increases by about 5% per year for 7 years for my position (then caps). Then it also increases each year by whatever amount the teacher's union negotiated. So the current contract is 0-2-2, and we're in the second year. So this year I effectively get a 7% raise. Theoretically after 7 years in this position (I'm in year 2) I will only get the teacher cost of living increases. But I will also be making >$100k in a low cost of living city, so pretty fortunate. Also the second main reason I love my team is that I get 100% retirement match up to 7.5% of gross pay (meaning 15% of gross pay invested monthly, on top of my own retirement investments). If I were 20 I might consider taking a contract web developer job or something and make some cash...but being 37 with a wife with chronic health issues and a mortgage to pay, that retirement match is very, very valuable. Plus as long as I'm not an idiot, my job is guaranteed. It's not like education as a sector is going away, or running the risk of failing as a business.

Beto is not AOC...but a Democratic Party filled with Betos would be 100x better than the party today. His "maybe we should try winning and governing" approach is foreign to the DNC leadership.