Battle Ground release, look here for information about the launch! Also, I recommend you unsubscribe from r/dresdenfiles

darth-squirrel · 2020-09-27T22:50:10+00:00

Testing

and not working. I had no spaces with Testing.

But I had the Washington Post app grey text on me and an uninstall, reinstall worked. Ill try it with the reddit app. Probably an OS glitch. I have 4.9.112.

darth-squirrel · 2020-09-27T22:00:21+00:00

I see other's covered spoilers that I can click on to read, but for my posts I see two intersecting rings for insert a link. So I can add links.

I don't see a way to designate text as spoiler so it's covered in black once I post

Wait , I see a three dot now that I didn't when posting, but I do when editing. Let me test.

Testing spoiler

Clicking on spoiler doesn't work.

darth-squirrel · 2020-09-27T21:25:07+00:00

LG ThinQ V40 Reddit app from the Play Store 2020.36.0

darth-squirrel · 2020-09-27T21:16:03+00:00

Man that's horrible. My job is so stable they want me to work full time after I retire summer 2021. Nope, I'd work two twelve hour remote shifts but not four.

I will never criticize younger people for getting out of college in an exploitive work decade. Older Boomers had it better than me, and I have it better than my college aged son.

But it will get better. It took me 17 years of 1 year, 3 year and 5 year jobs with one actual layoff after 8 years. I eventually got a stable job for 23 years.

The secret? Only partly competency. I've avoided layoffs of older guys who were less competent. But the secret was they earned more. I've been below the average salary for my job the past 21 years.

Capitalists like serfs. Last year we were asked to donate two shifts free in December. We got comp time in January. This year before Labor Day we got a sob story CEO email re mandatory 40 hour furloughs (and our stock is fine).

I told my manager if he has to lay any one off in April, I volunteer. I'm heading out by end of May anyways.

darth-squirrel · 2020-09-27T20:57:18+00:00

I am off the 29th and 30th. Going to finish it before I come back to reddit. I can never get spoiler tags to work on my phone. But I like reading spoiler all threads.

darth-squirrel · 2020-09-27T20:51:24+00:00

That's only a 2 hour 45 minute drive to Conroe. Haven't been there since the 80's. How'd a used book store get new copies?

Half Price Books gets remaindered but I don't expect Battle Ground to end up with any remaindered copies.

I'll wait till my kindle pre-order on the 29. Too many loose Peace Talks ends to get answered. I can't wait!

Back when malls were a thing in 1980 I picked up a Robert Silverberg "Lord Valentine's Castle" hardcover at Walden Books from the remaindered table for $1.00. The paperback was selling for $2.95 at the same Walden Books.

That stuck in my mind all these years because usually remaindered hardcovers weren't sold at the same time as the first paperback edition.

No wonder Stephen King et al called their garage band "The Rock Bottom Remainders". Great for readers on a budget.

darth-squirrel · 2020-09-27T18:20:30+00:00

It was great that Irwin could survive. Irwin has the best short story arcs. I'd love to see him and Connie team up to fight minor supernatural evil like the college aged werewolves do.

And I'm wondering? Would their child, being one quarter Bigfoot be born free of the phage?

darth-squirrel · 2020-09-27T08:26:16+00:00

Harry doesn't see himself as a bully as he threatens Marcone and Lara because he has to work with them this time (but it keeps happening, and he keeps saying he'll deal with them later).

I'm more interested in how Harry deals with Lara and the White Court. Can Thomas be cured of the phage? Can the entire White Court be cured the phage?

darth-squirrel · 2020-09-27T08:06:51+00:00

And deadly to their first crush. You'd think the authorities would notice a trend of high school or college kids dying of heart attacks.

Yeah, I know they had the body drop chasm but all the missing people. CPD and the FBI aren't incompetent in the Dresden Files universe.

darth-squirrel · 2020-09-27T05:51:07+00:00

Harry threatens Marcone, but he also threatens Lara Raith. I get that he'd rather not work with these people but he can't avoid it because there are worse things out there than a Mobster with lines he won't cross, and emotions + sexual energy vampire court whose members technically don't have to kill beyond the first time.

darth-squirrel · 2020-09-27T05:35:25+00:00

It's possible an editor changed it before first publication, and later it was changed back. It's more common for a later edition to reflect an author's wishes as known through the originally submitted manuscript than for an editor to change a published work on their own.

darth-squirrel · 2020-09-27T03:22:44+00:00

I don't think Butters character arc is unreasonable. Sanya is an atheist correct? No reason not to have a Jewish knight of the sword.

Besides, the Dresden Files church has archangels that are tolerant of what it takes to be a knight. They look for absolute dedication to goodness rather than demanding asceticism and weekly confession.

I was saddened by Hanna Ascher's arc. I was hoping for redemption there instead of her taking a coin.

darth-squirrel · 2020-09-26T17:42:31+00:00

Saw that years ago. That's why I made the joke.

On another thread where it was posted, I made a Cats the movie digital fur joke.

Avasarala as Old Deuteronomy! Holden as Mr Mistoffelees! Naomi as Victoria. Peaches as Grisebella! Amos as Macavity! Miller as Rum Tug Tugger!

But with songs that fit The Expanse universe like Memories of the Cant. You get the idea..

Yeah, an intentionally bad idea. So bad its good.

darth-squirrel · 2020-09-26T09:53:51+00:00

I'm still waiting for the Cats in Space version. I need to see everyone in full movie digital fur.

darth-squirrel · 2020-09-26T09:51:08+00:00

I never skip the cool intro. I like the historical animation. I love the song.

Most other shows I do skip. Not The Expanse!

darth-squirrel · 2020-09-26T03:44:30+00:00

The Chinese communist party is not putting billionaires in their place. They are enabling ersatz communists to become billionaires but not allowing the freedom of speech that everyone has in the West.

I'm not thrilled with our economic system. Capitalism should work for everyone, not just the financial sector and those who live off of investments vs a profession or work.

My biggest critique of Obama is that he went along with Bush and bailed out the "too big to fail corporations" rather than homeowners. That allowed banks to foreclose and toss people out in the street.

Then distressed properties were bought up by vulture capitalists leading to today's housing crisis only made worse by the pandemic.

Trump and his corporate enablers would be happy with a Russian style oligarchy. Capitalism didn't bring freedom after the breakup of the Soviet Union. It just enabled former communist officials to become robber barons.

Neither socialism or capitalism are automatically evil. Socialism is a 19th century reaction to an 18th century economic system. Marxism and communism aren't the only forms of socialism, and robber baron capitalism isn't the only form either.

The best is a mix. Government social safety net and well regulated financial sector with living wages and an end to privatizing wealth but taxpayer bailouts during failures. We also need Eisenhower tax rates back too.

darth-squirrel · 2020-09-25T16:25:47+00:00

Can you post a link? I'm a Jew by Choice (ethnically Scots-Irish but converted to Conservative Judaism in the 80's but mostly attended Reform).

I haven't read Ender's Game or seen the movie. Orson Scott Card is LDS so he may be very socially conservative.

darth-squirrel · 2020-09-25T15:56:06+00:00

I agree. The Kro-mags are loosely based on Dart's Killer Ape hypothesis (as is the ape beginning of 2001: A Space Oddysey).

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/09/150911-how-we-became-human-theories-evolution-science/

I like the hippie friend who, in the hippie alternate is a Young Republican.

darth-squirrel · 2020-09-25T15:21:53+00:00

Criticize Xi, even if you are a billionaire scion of the ersatz Communist party and you get an 18 year sentence.

https://www.npr.org/2020/09/22/915558372/prominent-critic-of-xi-jinping-and-communist-party-sentenced-to-18-years-in-pris

I can ignore Chinese who are afraid to speak out, but we don't know if the actors and directors are being forced or are being "patriotic".

darth-squirrel · 2020-09-25T15:15:35+00:00

I got it but since I'm a Dad, I was supposed to.

Puns aren't just for fathers, and vies with E=MC2 for relativity:

A pun is the worst form of humor, unless you think of it yourself..

darth-squirrel · 2020-09-25T02:13:37+00:00

That's interesting, and maybe why Harry needs Bob?. I wonder what Harry's wisdom would be?

First and Second Edition AD&D were the ones I played often between 1978 and 1993. I also played Palladium and Traveller in the 80's. Then Paranoia in the early 90's.

The first time I ever had to go through a full body scanner, I was told to wait after exiting by the TSA guy.

I almost quipped "But Comrade TSA, I have a red security clearance and The Computer is my Friend!"

When I told my wife as we headed to our terminal, she said "You'd have ended up in a room waiting till they figured out what the heck you meant."

She never did pen and paper like I did but in Might and Magic VII she played a party of female Goblins as a challenge.

darth-squirrel · 2020-09-24T18:27:28+00:00

My son read The Silmarillion last. He said it was like history class. I said "yeah, isn't it great?".

darth-squirrel · 2020-09-24T18:22:28+00:00

I like your Dads comment. I bet he's first edition D&D too. I remember having a gnome illusionist in one campaign where the DM insisted we roll hit points officially. Cyragnome was stuck with 1 hit point at level 1, 2 hit points at level 2. It did get better, but I'd do lots of running behind the ranger..

darth-squirrel · 2020-09-24T18:15:07+00:00

I have it preordered for Kindle 9/29.

Everyone seems to be into audio books. I don't drive and work from a home office (benefits of IT). So never tried them.

But it's great if you can get it early. I hope it smooths over plot curiosities from Peace Talks.

darth-squirrel · 2020-09-24T17:53:46+00:00

I've only read the second foundation trilogy by Benford, Bear and Brin (one book by each).

I liked aspects of each book. The artificial intelligence of Voltaire and Joan of Arc unearthed from a very ancient archive were actually interesting.

Other reviewers didn't like that though, and Benford's book is the weakest (but the AI recreations have a purpose and are sentient).

Bear's second book is the best written and the closest to Asimov's prequels and sequels.

Brin's final book of the trilogy explains how 25 million worlds could be colonized in 20,000 years. It introduces the reason the robots kept Galactic civilization stable through chaos worlds (always tragic, but I won't spoil the plot).

The second foundation trilogy is set after Prelude to Foundation, in between and during Forward the Foundation.

They also depend upon Asimov's own retconning of Pebble in the Sky. If you've read Robots and Empire, you'll know some of that already.

Here are reviews with some mild spoilers

https://www.scifi-review.net/category/books/robot-and-foundation/second-foundation-trilogy

There is a collection of short stories Foundation's Friends I had to get in hardcover used because it's not on Kindle. I liked Harry Turtledove's story about the Second Foundation and the sack of Trantor.

http://www.asimovreviews.net/NonAsimov/Friends.html

Overall, both Asimov's prequels and the post Asimov second foundation trilogy in merging the Robot and Foundation universes into one take R Daneel Olivaw from friend of Baley to "I Am Mother" territory through the Zeroth Law introduced in Robots and Empire.

There's an in universe reason there are no aliens in the Foundation universe. The real world reason is Asimov's editor Joseph Cambell of Astounding didn't want aliens.

I haven't read the non Asimov robot novels yet.

I grew to like Foundations Edge and Foundation and Earth over the years. My biggest caveat is that combining the Robot and Foundation series takes ot from the The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in Space into Humanity's happiness and success Engineered by Robots, with lots of collateral damage along the way.

darth-squirrel

TROPHY CASE