brucoe

The show has been hitting on all cylinders this season, and it's made me proud to say that I'm a Star Trek fan again. Discovery just hasn't done it for me (and I finished season four). For me, the problem with Discovery is that the crew is just filler. Practically every solution has to be handled by Burnham, and then when they get to the point of solving something, it usually involves a long, over-melodramatic arc that takes forever to get through as we're all sitting at home watching them be all touchy feely and just wishing they'd conclude like normal people do and not spend four hours of close-ups where they cry and babble about how much they love each other. And I'm fine with all of Kurtzman's woke garbage; I just want it to move on and get to the stuff that makes Star Trek be Star Trek. Picard, on the other hand, is pushing the story along at a speed that makes you happy to be along for the ride, and all along they add tons of fan service content that you can easily miss (like revisiting the punk from Star Trek The Voyage Home in a fan service cameo that actually brings a smile and doesn't bog down the story). What's funny is that in season one, I hated Rios (the ship pilot/captain). In season two, he rocks and it's hard to believe it's the same character. And narratively, they're doing a great job of red herrings, where they seem to be moving in one specific direction only for us to find out that that's not where they're going. I'm four episodes in, and I'm actually anxious to see where they story takes us.

Usually, a naval officer above the rank of captain.

During the Gulf War, we used to camp out near enemy positions and wait to see which tents were visited most often. Then we'd follow the communication cords they laid out and then in the middle of the night hit the tents that were centrally located. Took out the command and control structure constantly throughout the conflict. Without secure communication equipment, targeting the command structure is easy as long as the opforce is quick and maneuverable. From what I understand, Russian infrastructure is very similar with crappy communication. Fortunately, for the Ukrainians, they don't even need good commo equipment like the US had in that war; they just have to know how to find the lines being used by the Russians.

I just watched it, and I'm sort of on the fence with it right now. The biggest beef I have is

Wow, he's my neighbor. I live right down the road, in that van...um...down by the river.

He's on vacation with Clarence Thomas.

I need to start using this tactic to "pay" all of my bills. I think I'll start it at Burger King tonight.

So who inherits Mr. Mordon?

The Geneva Convention protocols have become something to point fingers at other nations, but merely a suggestion when it comes to one's own military.

What the hell was he doing in Montana? Did he miss his connection to Cancun?

So I'm a bit confused at how they're going to handle this. I use my Netflix subscription on a number of different devices (my home, my home computer, my office computer, my phone, etc.). Are all of those considered "loaning" out my Netflix subscription to others that they want to charge more for? If so, I'll probably cancel it for good, as I am not a fan of being overcharged for a service that really should be one specific price.

Strangely enough, that scene was one of my favorite from the movie. It's amazing how you can do so much with so little.

My real worry is that Russia will become so frustrated with its lack of success in Ukraine that Putin (who I don't think is acting with a full set of marbles these days) will order nuclear, biological and chemical warfare as appropriate alternatives to solve the mess he's caused. And yes, I did say nuclear. And then it only takes a first stupid decision to initiate a tit for tat process that leads to inevitable destruction for everyone. I really don't think we're dealing with rational decisions being made these days (from practically every side). I mean, we have American politicians calling for a no fly zone (and shooting down Russian planes) as some type of political maneuver to be able to complain about Biden during future elections for not doing enough.

Wait! That's not what an actual tank is?

The big question is whether we gain or lose an hour for the rest of eternity.

I've been playing as a Ritualist lately, and that's turned out to be my favorite skill so far. The necromancer abilities are awesome, and even at level 22, it's pretty fun. Who would have thought I'd have so much fun as a necromancer with a high powered rifle? Unfortunately, I can't play for a few days because I have to record a dozen videos for my online course I'm teaching that starts next Monday.

Okay, I've been playing the crap out of this game (Grim Dawn) since we last spoke, and I'm really enjoying it. Part of my problem is I'm an alt-a-holic and keep restarting. Right now, I'm playing a ritualist, which as I keep playing more classes, I keep finding "oh, that's the right class for me" and then find another one that seems even better. The funny thing is I haven't even scratched the surface of this game as my highest level is like level 24, but it's just a lot of fun. Again, thanks for the recommendation. And once I feel I've really figured out the deepness of this game, I may take you up on multi player (I'm playing on Steam).

If I was younger and in better shape (health-wise), I'd probably volunteer. There are a lot of former military people I suspect that are just looking for a noble cause to feel useful again.

Keep in mind, it took 4 years of constant lies for them to finally shut him down.

The US has practically been built on the concept of earmarks and pork. The moment they tried to eliminate it, it was evident that all future legislation in Congress was going to suffer (unless you're an advocate for only a miniscule of legislation passing each session). The problem with earmarks is that a lot of foolish sounding legislation gets slipped into the bills, but the positive is that the important stuff actually gets passed. So, we'll end up with a few million being spent trying to figure out whether or not fish actually smile (an actual earmark that was passed) just so that what needs to be done gets done instead of tied up in endless fights between random members of Congress. It wasn't a perfect system, but it was the system we created. Not always does throwing out the bad part of a system result in great results, as we've discovered with situations where one or two members of Congress can make sure that absolutely nothing gets done. Of course, if you're one of those "don't do anything and that's great" people, then everything's working as planned.

And due to some fluke, random kindergarten complexes.

The Avengers did more damage to their airport than the Russians did, and the Avengers were only trying to kill each other. The Russians were trying to kill the airport.

I'm going to be flying one for them. I may not have a lot of combat flight experience, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express once.

When I moved back to the states from South Korea a few years back, I had practically everything I owned with me, so I liquidated everything and left SO MUCH STUFF in my apartment in Korea that I just abandoned. I came back to the San Francisco Bay Area with two suitcases and had literally nothing. Five years later, I had an entire house filled with stuff (junk). I don't understand how I keep doing that.

Well, there's always the off-chance they might just launch everything, and then disarmament happens pretty damn fast. Just not the way people would prefer.