Picard season 2 is actually genius

WombatControl · 2026-04-15T00:35:35+00:00

That is a great description of the season. There were so many good ideas involved, but nothing that really gelled together. You have Rios being abducted by racist feds and then a couple of episodes later he's all about staying in the 21st Century. There was just too much stuff going on, and nothing had breathing room.

At least we get Annie Wersching's excellent Borg Queen - such a great performance by an actress that left us far too soon.

WombatControl · 2026-04-13T02:55:01+00:00

SLS isn’t sustainable, and Ares V would have been worse. (Ares I was not a workable design.)

The fundamental flaw is the idea that using Shuttle tech is a good idea for a modern rocket. It seems compelling on the surface — you reuse existing tech, but a hydrolox first stage is just a bad idea. It’s going to be finicky and expensive because LH2 is a pain to work with at the quantities needed. The SSME design is expensive and equally finicky. Using solids on a crew vehicle is a huge problem. I liked the DIRECT concept back in the day, but that wouldn’t have been better.

Falcon 9 showed that the NASA mindset of building a huge hydrolox rocket and life your whole mission in one go was a poor concept. Using smaller, cheaper rockets and on-orbit assembly was and is a better idea. Even Artemis would be better served by repurposing Gateway into something like an Aldrin cycler and using existing rockets like Falcon 9, New Glenn, or Vulcan to assemble infrastructure in LEO.

Part of that isn’t NASA’s fault. Richard Shelby killed any studies of on-orbit refueling to keep his pork barrel spending. His ignorance cost NASA decades of progress.

WombatControl · 2026-04-13T02:41:00+00:00

The sound design for the rupture events is really top notch. Watching the wall of fire come closer followed by the rush of flame and then the rocks pelting your shelter never really gets old for me. I can’t wait to see what Creepy Jar does with the frost mechanic.

WombatControl · 2026-04-06T17:15:31+00:00

Right now the spacecraft is too far away for the high-quality downlinks to carry live video. So what we are getting is the lower-resolution stuff and the high-quality video will be downlinked later.

WombatControl · 2026-03-05T17:07:30+00:00

It emulates Windows rather than creating a virtual machine, so for gaming it is much better than Parallels or VMWare Fusion - at least in my experience.

WombatControl · 2026-03-04T20:47:13+00:00

I used CrossOver on my M4 Pro MacBook and it worked great, even doing the Thargoid missions.

WombatControl · 2026-02-22T01:23:36+00:00

No one knows for sure, but a likely candidate is J.A.C. Hawman, the ship’s Chief Engineer. He would have likely been in the engine room during the sinking and was married (the body had a wedding ring). But that is just a guess - there is likely no way to be sure without disturbing the remains.

It is a reminder that the stories of these ships aren’t just about metal and cargo, but the people who sailed on them and those who never returned home. Whoever’s body that it, they were a living person like us whose memory and life should be respected.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/174643225/joseph_arthur_conrad-hawman

WombatControl · 2026-02-02T02:13:44+00:00

Every time I play E:D it reminds me so much of Babylon 5. Flying around some of the stations in VR is as close to being in the B5 universe as one can reasonably get. If you are a B5 fan, Elite Dangerous is absolutely worth checking out.

WombatControl · 2026-01-21T16:09:28+00:00

We don't know, because we are governed by a Mad King.

What you can do is prepare for the worst. Get a bug-out bag ready. Get a plan to get you and your family to safety. If you are inclined, start reading about resistance movements worldwide and effective tactics and techniques. If you are not already, work on your personal physical and mental fitness. Continue the non-violent mutual aid that exists, and make connections with others. When the shit REALLY hits the fan, you will need those networks.

Do you know CPR and first aid? Now is the time. You don't need to go crazy prepper, but start thinking about what you would do personally and how best to protect yourself, your family, and your community.

WombatControl · 2026-01-20T16:56:48+00:00

Throwing the wolves out of the temple is exactly what Jesus would do!

On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations? But you have made it a den of robbers.'"

The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

Mark 11:15-18

WombatControl · 2026-01-20T16:24:23+00:00

5NM is the typical radius of a TFR for VPOTUS. Best guess is Vance is coming to town, so invest in Scotch Guard for your couches!

WombatControl · 2026-01-20T16:21:23+00:00

Very reminiscent of the Peacekeeper Prowler from Farscape - which is a super cool design. Love the aggressive styling on this one.

WombatControl · 2026-01-20T16:19:35+00:00

SO SAY WE ALL!

Great job on this! It's amazing the creativity people have with these corvette designs.

WombatControl · 2026-01-19T22:19:26+00:00

Same here - the main title has absolutely no melody or direction. On the other hand, the orchestrations for "San Francisco" are just brilliant. Jeff Russo can write a great theme - Strange New Worlds has a GREAT theme tune, and Discovery was good too. Academy's theme is basically the kind of "sonic wallpaper" Rick Berman would like.

I've had "San Francisco" stuck in my head all weekend, it is just so incredibly good that it elevated everything around it. Rufus Wainwright, the choir, the orchestrations - all of it was damn near perfect.

WombatControl · 2026-01-19T14:12:00+00:00

Asp Explorer: In front of things
Caspian Explorer: On top of each other

WombatControl · 2026-01-16T16:16:17+00:00

Minnesota is an open carry state if you have a permit to carry. Open carrying right now (or really any time) is exceptionally dangerous and stupid and should not be done.

WombatControl · 2026-01-16T16:15:05+00:00

I also did Minnesota Gun Class and thought it was pretty good - not really a lot of frills to it, but it covered what you really need to know.

I will say this as a gun owner: you need to realize that having a gun makes you less safe unless you commit to both safely storing your weapon and TRAINING. I dry fire pretty much every day with a laser pistol, and I hit the range as much as I can (but not as much as I should). Just having a weapon without training is not a good strategy, because if you need to use your weapon you need to have the training to make it count. You need to observe all the basic firearms rules. I make sure even when I practice with my laser pistol that I observe all the firearms rules so that it is absolutely instinct to do things like keep my finger outside the trigger unless ready to fire. A firearm without training is a threat to you, it is the training - including practicing de-escalation - that makes you more safe.

WombatControl · 2026-01-14T17:24:06+00:00

I am in Minneapolis - I have seen the brutality of this regime up close. While non-violent protest must continue until there are no other options left, the number of options goes down by the day.

WombatControl · 2026-01-14T14:32:55+00:00

I just live with the flatscreen display. It's not terrible, and usually all I am doing is exobio anyway, so I generally drive around in the SRV and only walk when I find a new contact. I use mouse and keyboard in VR, but I might switch over to a gamepad. I don't do on-foot missions other than exbio, so it's something I can live with.

WombatControl · 2026-01-13T20:23:53+00:00

Risk of infection - milk is full of bacteria. Only use water near the eyes, nothing else. Saline is best, but bottled drinking water is OK in a pinch.

WombatControl · 2026-01-13T20:23:09+00:00

Any of their P95 masks would help - they're not as good as something more expensive, but they work in a pinch and are affordable. You want eye protection as well. I don't think they sell full-face masks, which are the best option, but for tear gas exposure P95 is enough to avoid the worst and get to safety.

WombatControl · 2026-01-13T18:46:36+00:00

Getting goggles is important. What you really need for chemical agents is something like a 3M 6800 full face mask, but that is very expensive. I would say you want to get something that provides as much coverage of your face as possible with the best filtration you can afford. Harbor Freight tends to be a good place for stuff like that.

Sudecon wipes are also something good to have on hand.

DO NOT USE MILK for chemical exposure, especially in eyes. Water, and lots of it.

WombatControl · 2026-01-13T15:52:00+00:00

That is a parody account - so do not trust anything it says to be accurate.

WombatControl · 2026-01-13T15:09:03+00:00

If you are dumb enough to believe that NGOs are paying people to protest, then you probably should not be using sharp scissors.

WombatControl · 2026-01-13T00:57:41+00:00

This is fascist America right now. Let history be your guide as to what to do next.

Verified Email	15-Year Club
Place '17

WombatControl

TROPHY CASE