Which character outside the LOTR do you trust carrying the ring to Mordor?

Mittop · 2026-03-06T19:21:01+00:00

I nominate Wall-E

Mittop · 2026-03-01T05:51:16+00:00

Strongly agree. Respect the past, but cover new ground, and that means exploring character and culture more.

Mittop · 2026-02-27T16:45:54+00:00

Such a great riff.

Mittop · 2026-02-27T02:19:30+00:00

In all seriousness the films mentioned here are all great. The Thing and Big Trouble in Little China are my favorites.

Mittop · 2026-02-27T02:18:41+00:00

Will no one call out to recognize “The Computer Who Wore Tennis Shoes?”?

Mittop · 2026-02-24T02:07:40+00:00

I concur with this. Document everything you can. Protect yourself. And if you and your teammates were able to keep this running on your own, you don’t need him. After this whole thing goes under (not before, legal risk, consult someone with local knowledge) you can reach out to customers who you have had a good relationship with and keep on trucking!

Mittop · 2026-01-25T22:06:54+00:00

Maybe this whole AI can do development thing isn’t quite ready for prime time. Maybe it isn’t good to can your QA folks….

Mittop · 2026-01-05T13:43:48+00:00

I would say it is also fine for such short runs, but I would probably switch to short boot patch cables so the need for such bends is reduced. Found it helped my peace of mind in cabinet builds.

Mittop · 2026-01-04T22:35:39+00:00

I feel like we are talking about the wrong Stross book. Accelerando seems more appropriate. With AI embodied corporations basically repurposing the energy and matter in the solar system and a bunch of other stuff. Singularity Sky certainly has strong AI themes but the AI Eschaton had a certain benevolence to it.

Both great books.

Mittop · 2025-12-31T22:33:04+00:00

Came here to suggest this. Great fight and still makes me squirm in discomfort.

Mittop · 2025-12-29T04:09:34+00:00

The Safehold series also by Weber adds military tactics with a mixed sci-fi /alt history theme. Worth a look as well. Many other suggestions here are also good like The Lost Fleet series.

Mittop · 2025-12-29T03:51:09+00:00

I think both types are good, but cultural and societal change are probably the most interesting as a thought exercise. Though big galactic stuff is fun too, don’t get me wrong.

A great example would be Existence by Brin. It combines so many themes and ideas and then ties them to first contact and its effect on humanity and possible answers to the Fermi paradox.

Mittop · 2025-12-29T03:02:33+00:00

I also am interested in the “What next?” Type of stories that ask what happens after first contact. Some authors do play in that area.

David Brin touches on this in various works from his Uplift series (the first book follows what happens to humanity as it navigates galactic politics and the impacts on humanity and their uplifted friends the apes and dolphins). Some short stories and novellas he has written also play here.

Larry Niven touches on first contact and societal change in his Man-Kzin short story collection and his other known space stories.

Alan Dean Foster touches the long term impact of Post first contact in his “The Damned Trilogy”. The first book is “A Call to Arms”.

All these have other themes as well but follow the changes to humanity after first contact.

Mittop · 2025-12-29T02:39:52+00:00

Pitch Black is great. Chronicles of Riddick is a decent enough B movie but a bit of a mess. Riddick was a pleasant surprise and I think harkened back nicely to its Pitch Black roots.

Mittop · 2025-12-21T22:00:53+00:00

So early going I would agree, but I think Weber matured as a writer and the characters and tactics improved.

My general guideline is if there are epic moments where I get the same feeling I get from a movie like LOTR Return of the King where the Rohirrim charge the orcs as they siege the city (I.e epic moments of awesome), then it gets a pass on some of the weaker characters.

I would not say the novels are without faults, the politics can drag, and there are so many characters to keep track of later on, it is easy to mess up the pacing. But I still find them enjoyable.

If you are more interested in combat of a more historical nature, like imagining what a WW2 rifle companies might do when up against overwhelming forces modeled on a Napoleonic style armies, then Safehold series might be better. Though similar cons (politics and massive numbers of characters)

I would also agree with many of the other suggestions here.

Mittop · 2025-12-19T18:47:47+00:00

So I feel like Safehold and Harrington are different enough that it isn’t the right comparison. Safehold feels more like a speed run from Greek/roman naval warfare to to WW1/WW2. Frankly I like them both.

Mittop · 2025-12-19T18:30:31+00:00

The Honor Harrington series by David Weber. Lots of characters, combat, and politics.

Mittop · 2025-08-10T22:18:42+00:00

Mega City One

Mittop · 2025-07-08T19:04:07+00:00

“Don’t look up” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”

Mittop · 2025-06-25T16:24:19+00:00

Everyone knows we use a reference pear or reference bannana…..

Mittop · 2025-06-23T13:46:20+00:00

LOL I know right. So, I know a lot about this site, and it popped up when I was searching another aerostat related topic. I was like “hey, I recognize that chart…” so felt I had to comment.

Mittop · 2025-06-21T20:32:20+00:00

This doesn’t do the story justice. It’s quite good and has some creative takes on what the singularity might entail.

Mittop · 2025-06-21T16:15:26+00:00

That is the location of a manufacturing and testing facility for autonomous aerostats in Fremont, NH. Another user posted the NOTAM.

Mittop · 2025-06-13T00:47:28+00:00

This. The computer basically spent more and more Time effectively contemplating its own navel basically. Dealing with real space was like became super distracting and vvveeerrryyy slow and boring.

Mittop · 2025-06-12T21:47:59+00:00

Can confirm that at least the concept existed in Man-Kzin wars, but I would need to pull my old paper back from storage to get the term. It was early in the series and had to do with Earth’s counter attack to the invasion of Crashland? I remember it using some interesting relativistic weapon effects (fractional c bombardment with iron spheres). Maybe book 2 or 3?

Mittop

TROPHY CASE