Leofric

I stumbled upon the fritzing waypoint first thing. But I was alone, and I had just survived kidnapping, being infected by a parasite, traveling through multiple planes, and finally a horrendous crash, I wasn't ready for being sent off somewhere else by damaged teleporter, so I gave it a wide berth and didn't inspect it close enough to see an arm sticking out. Then I forgot about it, so I guess he is still in there. I only met Wyll in the Grove after dealing with the Refugees and soon after that went to the Creche, so lost his quest to hunt Karlach before I even started looking for her.

100 Hours, that is hard core. I've done about 20 hours on my first play through (didn't do EA) since Saturday morning when I installed it. Almost to level 5, mainly playing in the starting area, though I did venture to the Githyanki Creche, but retreated after the attempt to extract Lae'zel's parasite went wrong. The game gives you a warning about finishing quests in the starting area before heading up the Mountain Pass to the Creche, but I ignored that which led to unexpected consequences: Heading into the Underdark next. I've only met 4 of the possible companions so far; Lae'zel, Shadowheart, Astarion, and Wyll, but Astarion is burning forever in the crypt near the beach after setting off a trap that is still firing 20 hours later. I couldn't get close to revive him without dying myself. I only knew him for an hour before he died, so see no reason to spend effort or gold to retrieve him. But he does haunt me as he showed up alive in the camp during the refugee party acting as if he had helped with the Goblin issue even though he had been dead that whole time and after I first talked to Withers, Astarion's body seems to be following me every time I camp.

I was poking around on Prime and stumbled over this Korean sci fi fantasy movie called Alienoid from 2022. This movie has everything; aliens, robots, time travel, martial arts, and magic all wrapped up in a fun story with great characters. The only problem was just as it was seemed to be winding things up, it threw in a new twist followed shortly by the words "To Be Continued...". Part 2 is supposed to be released in 2023, but can't find out any further details when it will be released exactly and even then not sure when it will reach U.S. or Prime. I need Part 2, dammit.

That was a very disappointing ending to Secret Invasion

I liked the episode for the most part, but was distracted by the fact that I realized Varra got Fury to fall for her by shapeshifting into the image of his mother (based on Unbreakable).

I'd currently rank the Disney Star Wars series (that I have seen): Andor Visions The Bad Batch The Mandalorian The Book of Boba Fett Kenobi (Boba Fett and Kenobi may swap places as the worst, just depends how disappointed I feel about Kenobi's lost potential at the time I am making the list) So would love to Ashoka reach Andor heights, but hope it is at least as good as the Bad Batch.

Loved the books. This is the show that may finally get me to subscribe to AppleTV.

True, but it all comes down to duration of exposure. These factory workers are potentially breathing it throughout their entire 8-hour shifts, day after day, year after year, while these launch events are months apart with any the clouds of dust dispersing within an hour, so exposures should be minimal, if at all. My company often deals with saw-cutting concrete or demolishing concrete structures as part of our projects. We all get silica awareness training and all of our Health Safety plans and work practices include mitigation measures to reduce dust and prevent exposure such as engineering controls, water sprays, vacuums, and PPE when needed.

I think you guys are combining three different issues; the damage and debris generated by the damage to the concrete pad launch pad; the damage to windows and buildings in the nearby communities caused by the concussion blast of the rockets; and the the scattered dust and debris resulting from the the actual destruction of the rocket. The damage to the launch pad resulted debris and concrete dust. The effects of this damage are mostly constrained within a limited range around the the launch pad and probably had little effect on the surrounding communities. The major concern is silica dust from the concrete being breathed and leading to long term issues. The damage was observed to be partly due to the slower launch speed of the rocket causing the the force of the rocket acting on the pad for longer period of time, but also caused by the not having additional mitigation measures in place that were designed but not completed at the time of the launch. These factors can be adjusted before the next launches and future damage mitigated which will limit any issues with dust and debriswould recur. The concussive blast of the actual launch and the effect on the nearby communities is harder to mitigate when dealing with the power of the rockets involved, This issue will probably continue with every launch and it will fall on the FAA as to limiting number or timing of launches or restricting them all together. The repairs of physical damage to buildings should be paid by SpaceX. The dust and debris resulting from the destruction of the rocket (and the delay in the signal to trigger detonation) have the potential the biggest impacts over a larger area. We don't know yet what chemicals may have been in the debris and whether they could lead to acute or chronic health effects to humans or the environment (though the report of no signs of deaths among wildlife would reduce the chance of acute, short term affects). As the long term plan is to actually make these rockets reach orbit, the number of accidental or deliberate detonations of the rockets should be limited and reduced over time. So we need to see if chemical analysis of the dust that fell from this explosion is actually at concentration levels of concern, or will become a concern if additional dust from subsequent rocket detonations is added to the environment.

I think it make sense that the events on Yavin surrounding Rogue One forced the final coalescence of the different rebel factions into a single Rebel Alliance. The revelations of the existence of the Empire's Death Star is a pivot point in history. It made the success of the individual alliance cells meaningless, including the Liberation of Lothal. Liberating a single planet from the Empire is worthless if the Empire's response is to send the Death Star and obliterate that newly freed planet. And that might have been Lothal's fate if the actions of Rogue One and the subsequent Battle of Yavin had failed. With the the rebel factions becoming aware of the Death Star, they only had two choices: join together, so that the loss of a single planet would not spell the end of their individual rebellions, or give up and stop fighting against the Empire's rule.

I disagree with the bolded, the movie outlined pretty much all of the members of Rogue One's reasons and motivations for joining the the mission. Jyn obviously wanting to vindicate her father and prove that he was not just another evil Imperial scientist, but a man working on the inside against the Empire, plus there was an element of revenge for the deaths of her mother, father, and mentor Saw. Cassian believed Jyn and wanted redemption for the many underhanded and questionable things he done in the name of the rebellion. Chirrut and Baze had just experienced the power of the Death Star as it destroyed their home and believed it needed to be destroyed and had faith that this was the way. Bodhi had basically already been recruited by Jyn's father, convinced that he had to do what he could to fight against the Empire. Sergeant Melshi and the rest of the spies that joined them all had similar motivations as Cassian, they had been doing questionable things to support the rebellion and this was a more straight forward, black and white mission, they could feel good about. Plus due to theirs and Cassian's backgrounds they would have found it easier to believe that Jyn's father had been been playing a long game to bring down the Empire, than the more straightforward leaders of the rebellion could.

My first concert was Carlos Santana when I was in High School back in the early 80's, one of the Concerts on the Common in Boston.

Lots of books of interest, including Scalzi, Wells, McDevitt, Tchaikovsky, Cronin, Keyes, Elliot, Ryan, etc. Also looking forward to book 3 of Sooty Feathers. Good to hear the next in the Bronze age series by Miles Cameron is coming, but any word on the next book in his SF series, the sequel to Artifact Space? Would also love another Penric and Desdemona novella or full blown novel.

I'm liking the series so far, but not as much as the early seasons of GoT. I think one of the main missing ingredients is humor, even if just gallows humor, to lighten up the mood a little. They need a Tyrion, a Lady Olenna, or a Dolorous Edd, or even a Hot Pie. Obviously part of the problem is the source material is mainly hindered by limited amount of dialogue in the Fire and Blood text and the narrator himself who didn't include any similar character, that I can recall, with the well written humorous dialogue found in A Song of Fire and Ice . The only character in the book continuously cracking jokes is the court fool, Mushroom, but not sure another dwarf being the focus of the humor would go over as well. Therefore to inject humor into the show runners would have had to create someone new and come up with dialogue between their new character and the existing characters to lighten the mood at times which is a big ask of the writers.

Just a note, Miles Cameron is the pen name that he writes his fantasy and science fiction under, Christian Cameron is the name he writes his historic fiction under, including the Long War Series mentioned above.

He already stated the reason he was keeping Maeve alive, he wants to harvest her eggs and create more superpowered children.

A beautiful moment ruined by your need to see if GGK dotted his i's and crossed his t's .

I'm still reading All the Seas of the World and I just reached which had me a bit choked up, but in a good way.

Yes, Ray ate his own brain.

You may have forgotten a little of it as it was Julieanne Moore playing Clarice in that scene, not Jodie. Loved Ray in all his movies, a great actor and his laugh was truly unique.

My company only been in existence for about 25 years. At the annual meetings, they announce employees that have reached five-year milestones and have gradually nicer gifts based on that. I hit 15 years last year and got a watch. One guy reached 20 years, a Harley rider, and he received a very nice leather motorcycle jacket.

That is unclear. Was the power being pulled from the Goth universe through the ring space and being fed to the various systems through the gates? So once the ring space is closed, no more power from the Goth universe. Or did every Builder device draw power directly from the Goth universe, but the ring space and gates were such a huge draw that it left a gaping, noticeable wound, while all the smaller devices were barely pinpricks? So the Goths were satisfied with the destruction of the rings and didn't react to the smaller power drains continuing in the future.

Yes, Mirror Holden with a goatee.

i just finished it and really thought they stuck the landing. It started slow, but in the end I read the second half of the book all in one sitting. An excellent read, but agree the closing of the ring space and the isolation of all the colonies was not unexpected. Amos' survival made me wonder if the dogs made anymore like Amos, Cara, and Xan on Laconia in the 1,000 years since the gates closed. Also, on the Magnetar weapon, it may open a wormhole so briefly and take a much smaller bit of energy when compared to the 1,300 rings amid the ring space, that it might be ignored by goths, once the main source of their pain is gone. I'm not sure if the 30 worlds just represent a subset of the 1,300 worlds that have reestablished communications. There may be additional colonies that survived but lost their ability to travel in space or have just not established contact with the 30 Worlds.