I wonder if his rich buddies tell him about the role of private equity in stripping and killing businesses for hedge fund profits? I’m going to bet................ yes. Just kidding, no, they don’t tell him anything about that.

Barbara Gordon was a librarian early in her career, so that’s just what I would expect Batgirl to say. (She later gave up the profession for the House of Representatives. Comics!)

According to IMDB and Wikipedia, A.J. Langer married a British lord and became Countess of Devon, so she’s got that going for her.

Did the Honolulu police have any computers? Probably not at the beginning, but I’d be curious if their records were being digitized (on the show) by the end of the run.

Tina Majorino is far too good for Scorpion. I can’t fault her, but I have to wonder about casting directors.

That’s not exactly what I meant: Mac wasn’t a part of the main cast, and since he had access to the computers I’m not sure it’s hacking (it’s more of an informant role — if the info wasn’t on military computers, could Mac do anything?), and Mac was on the show for less than half Magnum’s run.

Yeah, he occasionally was involved in Cold War intrigue and did Navy things, but private investigation was his primary occupation. I’m talking about what CBS will put in the press release when it goes to series. (I should definitely have been clearer.)

Which is more likely — that Magnum will have a computer hacker sidekick or that he’ll be connected to some shadowy part of the military-industrial complex, a la the new MacGyver?

We lived in a plutocracy. This is now a kakistrocacy with mostly plutocratic tendencies.

Changing Tyrone to be just another high school student is disappointing. I always thought his original reason for running away to New York was tragic and compelling: a friend was shot by police when they mistook the kid for a thief, and Tyrone’s stutter stopped him from telling the cop he was making a mistake. Tyrone…

What’s the one thing in your closet you’ll never get rid of, even though you should?

Until the First Order knew about the escape shuttles, she was supposed to lead the enemies away from the cloaked shuttles. After the shuttles were detected, it took a while for the cruiser to turn about; if she had tried to turn about before the First Order had another target (or if Hux had fired upon the cruiser when…

Oh, what a friend we have in cheeses.

Oooh! I wanna be the George Papadopoulos piece. (Not that one — the Alex Karras one.) You have to pity the person who has to be Ma’am in a four-player game, though.

Player of Games was my first Banks book as well, and it’s still my favorite of his Culture novels. But there are a lot of great books in the series: Use of Weapons is one has stuck with me for years, Look to Windward is probably considered the best, and for some reason I have a soft spot for Inversions.

I would opt for Sithrak, the god who hates you unconditionally, from Oglaf. Nothing you do will make Sithrak angry — Sithrak was angry already!

I meant to say liking Warrior of the Lost World is more common. Too late to edit now.

Hey! Evidently, you’re the other person who likes either City Limits and Being from Another Planet. (I like Warrior of the Lost World, but I think that’s uncommon.) Good to meet you!

Hidden depths, man, hidden depths.

Mencken also said, “As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”