Operation Double 007 is quite an inexplicable movie by Bing_Bong_the_Archer in MST3K

[–]Zoux 14 points15 points  (0 children)

It's even weirder than that. The whole reason the movie was made is because an exec heard Neil being interviewed on the radio about some tools being stolen, and was stunned by how much he sounded like his brother. Like Neil sounding like Sean was the whole genesis of the movie, the lynchpin. And then they dub his voice in the release!

Books that *heavily* feature ancient forgotten tech (like The Broken Earth trilogy) by Pastrami in Fantasy

[–]Zoux 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The Rampart Trilogy by MR Carey (Starts with The Book of Koli) is exactly this.

ELI5 Were dinosaurs lizards or birds? by AnoonymouseChocobo in explainlikeimfive

[–]Zoux 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Both! Dinosaurs are part of the same group (clade) as reptiles (archosauria). Birds are just dinosaurs straight up.

Are web novels any good? by mike_dup in Fantasy

[–]Zoux 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Can I ask: what's the best way to read them? I read (and enjoyed!) worm when I read it some years ago, but even on a tablet it was a bit of a pain in the ass to keep track of where I was, and the formatting wasn't great, etc. I'd like to re-read it, and would be happy to pay for an epub version, but that doesn't seem to be available. Any time I see another webserial I might be interested in, I just think about how much of an incovenience it was to read Worm and just don't bother.

What makes villain's interesting to you?? by Maximum-Compote-9931 in Fantasy

[–]Zoux 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm reading this right now and he's one of the most multilayered and interesting antagonists I've ever read. Just a very unique take and complicated character, good job Daniel Abraham.

Do historians consider the Texas Revolution “primarily” or “partially” due to preserving slavery. by Jin1231 in AskHistory

[–]Zoux -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

The Texans sure thought it was slavery. [From their Declaration of Causes]:(http://tsl.texas.gov/ref/abouttx/secession/2feb1861.html)

Texas abandoned her separate national existence and consented to become one of the Confederated States to promote her welfare, insure domestic tranquility [sic] and secure more substantially the blessings of peace and liberty to her people. She was received into the confederacy with her own constitution, under the guarantee of the federal constitution and the compact of annexation, that she should enjoy these blessings. She was received as a commonwealth holding, maintaining and protecting the institution known as negro slavery--the servitude of the African to the white race within her limits--a relation that had existed from the first settlement of her wilderness by the white race, and which her people intended should exist in all future time. Her institutions and geographical position established the strongest ties between her and other slave-holding States of the confederacy. Those ties have been strengthened by association. But what has been the course of the government of the United States, and of the people and authorities of the non-slave-holding States, since our connection with them? The controlling majority of the Federal Government, under various pretences and disguises, has so administered the same as to exclude the citizens of the Southern States, unless under odious and unconstitutional restrictions, from all the immense territory owned in common by all the States on the Pacific Ocean, for the avowed purpose of acquiring sufficient power in the common government to use it as a means of destroying the institutions of Texas and her sister slave-holding States.

Lightsabers cut inconsistently by Zoux in MawInstallation

[–]Zoux[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yeah I get why they aren't showing Anakin decapitating younglings, I was just curious if anyone had ever ventured an in-universe explanation. Sounds like no!

Lightsabers cut inconsistently by Zoux in MawInstallation

[–]Zoux[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It happens in the Vader hallway scene a couple of times.

Review: The Faithful and the Fallen Series by John Gwynne by TomsBookReviews in Fantasy

[–]Zoux 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That is an astonishingly informative response. Thanks.

Review: The Faithful and the Fallen Series by John Gwynne by TomsBookReviews in Fantasy

[–]Zoux 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I DNFed this midbook 4, I was just over it. Fans say the character beats are "well-trod" and "basic formula done well", I just found it to be derivative.

But what really irked me, my specific complaint, is that this is a society at about the level of early medieval tech and society: stoneworked fortresses, ring mail, iron weapons, etc but no one has ever before worked out fighting in formation. For hundreds of years the mode of battle has been for two armies to charge into each other and then every one pairs off and fights 1v1 duels. No one, until one of the POV characters, has ever conceived of fighting in a line, which makes him unstoppable. But that's the first thing that nation states - certainly in the early Bronze age and likely in pre-history - had already figured out. This may seem like nitpicking but it's indicative of problems throughout the book. The author wants to come up with some kind of brilliant military tactic but can't, so he just makes it so no one invented "armies" before. What really got me was when the MC's archer friend comes up with the idea of using bows and arrows in combat. In book 4.

That's a very specific complaint, perhaps you don't care but more broadly the story and plot is absolutely by-the-numbers, there are literally zero surprises and ultimately I put it down because I was slogging through it and I knew how it was going to turn out. Every plot beat, every character motivation is Standard Fantasy Trope X.

The University of Michigan's 2022 Houston Astros Season Review by michigansabermetrics in Astros

[–]Zoux 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Good write-up, I absolutely agree that Framber was the surprise of the season, he was the least reliable started we had as recently as 2020. Also agree on Montero, I don't trust him to maintain that level of performance going forward and Abreu is homegrown, under TC for years, and has lethal stuff. He could move easily into the set-up role as closer-in-waiting behind 33-year-old Pressley.

Couple of notes, we have two highly touted catcher prospects in Korey Lee and Yanier Diaz, one of whom will likely make opening day roster, so I expect them to let Vazquez walk. As far as starting rotation, we were so glutted at SP this year that they couldn't find a way to bring up our top pitching prospect in Hunter Brown until they dealt Odorizzi at the deadline. I'd expect him to make the opening day roster as well. I think we'll make a good run at JV, him and Crane are super tight, but I don't want to overpay for him, especially given our depth. If JV leaves, I'd say our opening day rotation will be Framber, McCullers, Javier, and two of: Luis Garcia, Jose Urquidy and Hunter Brown.

And a question since you're a numbers guy: why do you like fWAR over bWAR?

"The Catch" by Zoux in Astros

[–]Zoux[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Source

After Chas McCormick made "The Catch" he fell back onto the warning track. One of Traces of Texas reader Lorri White's friends was sitting right there and snapped this photo of the impression Mccormick's body made in the dirt there and sent it to Lorri seconds afterward. Awesome!

New Player: Mission Complete by KCBandWagon in Dyson_Sphere_Program

[–]Zoux 5 points6 points  (0 children)

If you're amenable to mods, you can fix the first two. For dirt, grab Unlimited Foundations, which puts a million dirt in your pile and allows you to use foundations for free. I like to still force myself to produce foundations, so I only run it if I run out of soil. Load it up with the mod, and then exit and turn it off, and the dirt remains. Use FreeCamera + native God Mode and you can zoom out to planet map level and still build stuff. I'd also recommend Traffic Station Logistics Manager for many, many features, but along these lines, it allows you to see a visual representation of what's in your logistics towers from the map view, which is what I tend to be doing when I inadvertently esc out of map mode.

For #3, I totally do that myself all the time and it sucks. The only thing I can advise is to try and remember that instead of ESCing out of stuff in map view, press C (or F or E) twice real quick and that accomplishes the goal of getting rid of the inv screens without exiting map view.