I just came here to say that your username is fantastic!

I’ll just leave this here...

#11 - Consider carrying a book, magazine or eReader* and whip that out when you’re bored waiting for something. I almost always had a book with me years before smartphones, or even ubiquitous mobile phones. Now I almost always carry my Kindle. If you’re alone it is a great way to while away the time.

Realising that this might lead to a genre definition argument, I’d say Mote is anything but Space Opera. Hard SF through and through.

Yes. Yes I do. The Swedish chef does sound more Danish or Norwegian than Swedish, but IMHO probably none of the three...

I probably stay 50-80 nights a year in hotels and I must admit I’ve never even thought of tipping housekeeping. Granted, most of those nights are not in the US. In places like Australia or Germany the staff is paid a living wage.

Had a few brief stints in food service. You nailed it.

It’s not necessarily the guest who is paying for the stay. Most of my hotel nights are paid by my employer.

AFAIK solar panels covering the thing wouldn’t generate enough energy to be worth it.

And x # of aircraft crashes are because of the stupid attempt to combine British & metric systems in one engine. I’m not kidding. I read a couple of books on the people who analyze why air disasters happen, I just don’t remember the #. In fact I think a space shuttle (1990s) disaster may have been caused by that…

I live for alliteration.

When asked about Jaws - The Revenge, Michael Caine famously quipped: “I have never seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific.”

I don’t have an Echo, but I know that in the Harmony Software, different TVs would have different names. So perhaps you just tell Alexa which specific one to turn on.

I don’t have an Echo, but I know that in the Harmony Software, different TVs would have different names. So perhaps…

Most universal remotes just allow control of many devices but don’t simplify things beyond that. You still need to set inputs and control devices separately. With a Harmony Remote, you create “Activities” which greatly simplify things.

Most universal remotes just allow control of many devices but don’t simplify things beyond that. You still need to…

0. Move to Korea, Hong Kong, Finland or Sweden...

China is very much a dictatorship. There is no freedom of speech. Criticism of the regime is forbidden and the instigators are ruthlessly persecuted with little legal recourse.

Is that a laden or unladen raven?

How many times can I star an article?

Skuldervarmer is Norwegian for “shoulder warmer”. Yet another in a long line of descriptive IKEA product names. :)

To me, Cara Delevingne’s Laureline seemed lifted right out of the comics. She is the sassy one who has way more street smarts than Valerian the somewhat unimaginative straight shooter.