That was just one plot hole of many that dropped me out of the moment. This single person, who could apparently control a huge ship with no aid of any kind, suddenly “invents” a very obvious maneuver of hyperdrive ramming, takes out all the bad guys by surprise, but waits to do it until after almost all her friends…

Yes, an essay/review on the problematical issues would be helpful. There are so many of them, and they are troubling. As one small example, Poe mutinied against his female military superior (and what was she wearing?), publically called her a coward and a traitor, pulled a weapon on her, and then single-handedly got…

Not surprised. It’s much easier to make your report look novel if you leave out what other people have been doing. That’s one of the things that is supposed to be checked for in a peer review and which isn’t done for PNAS papers.

Yes, very odd. Like clockwork robots stuck in a Disney theme park ride. I half-expected them to break into a chorus of “It’s a Small World After All,” but they just screamed. I was surprised at the amateurishness of their rendering in a CGI-loaded big-budget film. I read somewhere that there were mechanical porgs…

Just saw The Last Jedi. A few nice moments, but what a plot-holed mess, a big disappointment. From the chatter and the trailers, I expected more. Even the porgs were badly done, all stiff and jerky and obviously mechanical or puppets. Not like living animals at all. I thought CGI was more advanced than that.

Yes, this plot hole bumped me right out of the moment. Why hadn’t that ramming maneuver been done before? Why were the bad guys not expecting it but knew immediately what was happening? And why, if she was going to die at her post anyway, did she wait until most of the rebel ships had been destroyed?

Ah yes, the salt flakes. Did anyone else wonder why, if the front door was the only way in or out — itself an insane choice for setting up a rebel base that might be attacked — there are no red footprints or vehicle tracks on the surface in front of that door before the First Order attack? Couldn’t be winds evening…

Felt insulted by the movie, which I just saw. In addition to the plot holes and summary no-account snuffing of characters like Snoke and Phasma and Ackbar, there was so much action that went absolutely nowhere. The story was not cohesive. And then there was the nonsense. For example,

Another fascinating bit from the National Geographic article: she was such an integral and honored part of her community that her sealed tomb was set up so that living people could continue to visit her and share her favorite high-class drink, chicha.

Not a “justice” article, except that it is in spite of the Trump regime’s pro-fossil fuels policy, but an encouraging summary on gains in clean energy technology:

The overaggressive ones missed the whole point of NMS. They should have moved their nastiness over to one of the hundreds of multiplayer shoot & bomb ‘em games instead of ruining the experience for players who love and value NMS for what it is.

Re the “editorial policy” at PNAS: this is not actually a peer-reviewed journal in the usual sense. If authors can find a National Academy of Sciences member who is willing to submit their paper, it’s in with no exterior review process unless the academy member asks someone for it. This means that sometimes flaky…

That is an amazing list. I remember when you first posted each one. Your loving family has reason to be grateful that you weren’t required to eat all this stuff in one week. Also that the pork belly sandwich was a limited time product.

Yes, there seem to be sex abusers, adulterous hypocrites and pedophiles around every Congressional corner. Bribery works well too, both as incentive and evidence for blackmail. If they crossed paths with Russian agent “recruiters” who knew or guessed their vices, they are toast and must obey or lose their careers.

Yes, his name has been coming up since the beginning as he bent and broke the law to help the Trump cabal keep their crimes secret. It was so blatant that he was forced into a recusal, which he has repeatedly violated. Now Schiff warns that the House Republicans have stopped their Russia/Trump investigation entirely:…

Thank you. You’re right, I had missed those. Two more things for us to keep in mind:

I hope Mueller and his team and their families are very well-protected from the armed crazies these corrupt rants are stirring up. They are fomenting violence, no question about it. That would both disrupt the investigation and give the Trump regime an excuse to declare martial law, especially if a timely war with N…

Yes, and there is also the flood of Russian donor money flooding into Congressional campaigns: https://www.rawstory.com/2017/12/putins-russian-allies-pump-millions-into-gop-campaigns-through-proxies-thanks-to-citizens-united/

I agree completely. It makes the blatant aiding and abetting from the Trumpite puppets in Congress and at Fox very dangerous and also suspicious. Do they have something to hide too?

Thanks for this very interesting post. I would have enjoyed it even without the timely Star Wars reference. The P-38 is an interesting-looking plane, but I wouldn’t call it goofy-looking. On the other hand, I’ve always thought the Millenium Falcon looked just like a hungry tick.