The idea of witches and their magic being exploited by the military appeals to me. I first encountered this idea in the novel THE RISE AND FALL OF D.O.D.O. by Neal (SNOWCRASH) Stephenson and Nicole Galland (I’m sure others have done it as well). I’m not a huge fan of fantasy, apart from Susanna (JONATHAN STRANGE & MR.…

When he subscribed to newspapers, magazines, or journals - you know, when that was still a thing - my late father-in-law would use a different middle initial with each subscription. Then, for every piece of junk mail that arrived, he would check to see who had sold his name to whom.

For a long long time I thought STARGATE: SG-1 had understood this issue and worked around it. But then they had a TREK-style “transporter malfunction” episode that established that the Stargate worked the same way as the Trek transporters. I was sorely disappointed.

[1] I thought both INTERSTELLAR and INCEPTION had terrific scores by Hans Zimmer.

It was *definitely* her kink!

Bebe Neuwirth was in an episode of TNG as well: “First Contact”.

So... yes. :-)

I’ve seen LAKE PLACID several times, but I keep forgetting to look for Mariska Hargitay. I’m assuming the movie takes place in the L&O: SVU universe and the crocodile is some kinda sexual predator.

I’d like to check out one of the orbital habitats from Iain Banks’ Culture, arriving of course via a General Systems Vehicle, and met by a representative of Special Circumstances.

So the Star Wars saga basically takes place in the Deep South of that galaxy that is far far away? Well bless your heart.

Well said, Mr. Shaver. Well said.

I’m old enough that I watched this show as a grade-school kid. It scared the crap out of me. I loved it. Today, if asked what my favorite all-time television program is, this is it.

I dimly recall that RED PLANET (2000) reused some of the Graeme Revell orchestral score from the SF movie STRANGE DAYS (1995). I liked both movies, and their scores.

Which is exactly why Banks often wrote his stories from the POV of Special Circumstances. But as much as I loved the Culture, and it’s the only fictional SF society I’d want to live it, it was the kind of place where billions of people could be wiped out in minutes in an inter-civilizational war when a ring habitat…

Eventually, Donald Trump will not be president. It might be in 2021. Or it might be in 2025. But one way or another, it is inevitable. And when it does happen, there will be an army of angry, humiliated, insulted, depressed, and vengeful former employees, aides, subordinates, bureaucrats, veterans, hangers on, and…

Back during my Bell Labs days, when it was part of Lucent Technologies, many of us engineers - including me - were given bonuses of equity in the form of stock or stock options. I made out pretty well: liquidated my stock before it was at its peak, sometimes to the derision of my colleagues who thought they were going…

I was at loose ends last Saturday night - Mrs. Overclock spent most of the evening on a Zoom call with some friends of hers, and of course, you know, pandemic - so I watched this. I liked it. Interesting characters. Compelling dialog. Creepy X-Files-like vibe. Engaging cinematography and direction. And the portrayal…

I don’t see the character Edward Wong in the IMDB entry or mentioned here. Hope they haven’t dropped Ed from the narrative.

Dear Phoenix: I’ve had a lovely time visiting you several times in August. And I agree: the only way I survived it was [1] shade, [2] those evaporative cooler sprayer things, [3] ice cream. Love: Chip

The one in our neighborhood is on an access road right next to Interstate 70 between Denver and Golden. We like to go there on a summer evening for dinner, and sit on the patio watching the parade of humanity, some locals, some just passing through.