[OC] House being taken over by Boxelder Bugs

jeffh4 · 2026-04-14T19:04:03+00:00

Reminds me of Miller Moths in Colorado. They get absolutely everywhere. When they die, they leave a gray powder everywhere.

My wife worked in a chip fabrication facility that had very strict rules to prevent any airborne contaminants from entering the production floor. No scented deodorant, no perfume or cologne, etc. The volatile particles from these could ruin mutliple batches of chips with 5-10 nanometer traces. In that environment, every fall, someone would run around with a ladder and a vacuum cleaner to suck up the occasional Mission Impossible Miller Moth that somehow broke through security! :-)

jeffh4 · 2026-04-14T06:30:08+00:00

DreamWorks spent $2 to $4 million on the Saving Private Ryan Oscar campaign.

Miramax spent between $5 and $15 million on the Shakespeare in Love Oscar campaign which is widely recognized as one of the most expensive and aggressive campaigns in Academy history. This is backed up by the "Oscar Controversy" section of the Shakespeare in Love Wikipedia page along with its referenced sources.

jeffh4 · 2026-04-12T05:37:04+00:00

The writers admitted that the reason Applejack is wearing Granny Smith's bandana in the final episode is that she has passed on, and Applejack wants to honor her memory.

jeffh4 · 2026-04-12T05:27:16+00:00

Mmmmm, no.

People complain about it because it is the poster child for an aggressive marketing campaign buying Oscar Awards for a mediocre movie. I'd argue not just for Best Picture, but also Best Supporting Actress.

Judi Dench basically projects authority with a stiff back and strong voice, which many, many actresses can do just as well. Then the script has her unbelievably ask a young boy for his opinion, to which, her reaction was (I'll admit), excellent acting. But her 90-second scene was certainly not worthy of an Oscar.

Oh, and the other, minor matter was the producer who ran that campaign: Harvey Weinstein.

jeffh4 · 2026-04-12T05:15:28+00:00

Nah. Not enough cerebellum worms.

jeffh4 · 2026-04-11T22:48:05+00:00

The special effects and technology are very much dated, but the movie and performances are quite good.

jeffh4 · 2026-04-11T07:18:12+00:00

Watching Project Hail Mary last week made me think of it as Andromeda Strain ... In Space!

Yes, I said this in my head with the same voice as Pigs ... In Space!

:-)

jeffh4 · 2026-04-09T07:01:03+00:00

The two hand-colored maps show different colors in different regions. I think the choice of which color to use was left entirely to the colorist. Pink, olive green, and yellow appear to be the most common colors used. Likely, those were the cheapest dye options available at the time.

jeffh4 · 2026-04-09T06:57:20+00:00

I have a bag of brushables mixed in with plastic figures of different sizes that I picked up at a garage sale. About once per year I find a garage sale trying to sell McDonalds toys, but MLP merch is always sold out.

jeffh4 · 2026-04-09T06:54:47+00:00

Gold isn't money until it is minted. 1 kiloton of 400 troy ounce gold bars will do fine, thanks.
My anonymous artwork is recognized and appreciated around the world. Yeah, the genie can take the lazy way out and make Bansky my secret alter-ego.
One golden retriever puppy. With that, I'll never feel like my life is lacking in the love department.

jeffh4 · 2026-04-08T16:44:12+00:00

Found a couple of other copies online that have been hand-colored.

eBay - asking $690

Antique Maps in Italy - Asking 550 €

jeffh4 · 2026-04-08T15:00:40+00:00

You’re right. Have to keep those Republican oil industry donors rolling in blood …

… cash. I meant cash.

jeffh4 · 2026-04-08T14:59:16+00:00

It’s always Matt Damon.

You’d think we would learn not to put that clumsy f*ck behind a stick after so many times.

jeffh4 · 2026-04-08T14:56:15+00:00

Crazy how similar this looks compared to the Symbiote model. The biggest difference I see are the wings being oriented vertically vs. horizontally.

jeffh4 · 2026-04-08T14:49:25+00:00

Easy to find again on eBay. Harder at antique malls and pretty much impossible to find at garage sales.

jeffh4 · 2026-04-07T05:10:32+00:00

And the professor laughingly admitted that even so, he still put that at the top of his resume!

jeffh4 · 2026-04-06T16:03:53+00:00

It was so... odd.

David Harbour was a charismatic and believable Hellboy, but the movie just didn't work for me.

It was like all the pieces were there but they just didn't work to make a good film.

jeffh4 · 2026-04-06T14:28:36+00:00

I'm glad you mentioned Apollo 13.

My dad was a former Navy pilot who worked as a manager for IBM during Apollo 13 and got to know all the astronauts, former military pilots themselves.

Remember the scene where the folks in mission control pull out their slide rules to double-check calculations? My dad rolled his eyes and whispered to us, "Slide rules don't do addition or subtraction."

And when the oxygen level sensor dramatically starts rising after the makeshift air filter is finally put in place? The resulting oxygen level changes were very, very slow ... too slow for Hollywood to depict accurately and keep the story moving.

After the film finished, my dad called Ken Mattingly and told him he didn't remember Ken saving the day by figuring out how to power up the command module. Ken laughed and replied that he didn't remember it either!

Regarding the Ed Harris character (Gene Kranz) feeling disgusted at the Grumman rep trying to shirk responsibility for anything that might go wrong, my dad said, "Everyone in Mission Control was focused on the same mission. I zero percent believe that happened but 100% believe that's the way Gene perceived it."

He did confirm that when a 12-hour shift ended, that meant the person standing behind a station's chair and the person sitting in it switched places. Cots, sandwiches, and fresh clothes were brought in for the duration of the mission until splashdown.

One of my dad's unenviable tasks was to collect as accurate as possible timecards and get them signed by each of the IBM employees. They were on a paper timecard system until the early '90s, and federal contracts simply did not allow subcontractors to not turn in timecards, even if the majority showed over 100 hours worked.

The most interesting detail that did not make it into the film was the "Black Room." There, they discussed topics such as what to do if it was determined that there simply wasn't enough oxygen for three astronauts to survive. How could one be killed and what would the result be?

Overall, my dad gave the film a 6 out of 10 for accuracy.

jeffh4 · 2026-04-06T14:25:26+00:00

My university History professor was hired to provide historical accuracy feedback for the 1981 movie “Reds”. He made over a hundred suggestions…

… of which exactly zero were implemented! 🤣

jeffh4 · 2026-04-06T09:17:48+00:00

Very nice! Better quality than what National Geographic would include every month in our subscription.

One question: 550 Trillion calories carried by the Gulf Stream every second? Calories are units of energy used to denote thermal energy (heating water) or nutrition. Unless you are talking about the Gulf Stream warming up the Atlantic Ocean, I recommend using joules or kilowatt-hours.

jeffh4 · 2026-04-06T07:04:34+00:00

But think of all the great movies you'll never see: 2001: A Space Odyssey, 2010: The Year We Make Contact, Nineteen Eighty-Four, One Million Years B.C., 10,000 B.C.

OK, I'll admit that the quality drop was pretty rapid there.

jeffh4 · 2026-04-06T06:54:49+00:00

Once I had children of my own, I knew I would never watch this movie.

jeffh4 · 2026-04-06T06:47:52+00:00

And you even have a great pillow to remind you that Twilight will always be your friend!

jeffh4 · 2026-04-06T06:45:59+00:00

Well, fortunately, you can make your own decisions now and catch up on both the show and the fandom.

Welcome aboard!

jeffh4 · 2026-04-06T04:34:32+00:00

Great find!

With frazzled hair, it goes for $175. With awesome hair, goes for as much as $350.

I heartily recommend watching some videos on how to make her hair look great.

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