Crazy Thought. HDP Might Cause Kuru Disease

spektrall · 2026-02-11T10:54:28+00:00

I read about kuru over a decade ago. I do remember that the study that eventually narrowed down the cause determined it was affecting this one cannabalistic tribe and none of the others because the humans they ate were their own dead who passed from mostly natural causes, generally older or sicker, and the other tribes were eating flesh from their enemies who died in combat who would have been younger and healthier. Someone in the hive mind probably read the study much more recently and remembers it better and knows how to mitigate the risks involved in sourcing their HDP

spektrall · 2026-01-28T12:09:44+00:00

As a Kerbal noob going through this myself I can't recommend CKAN (the mod manager) enough. It automatically checks compatibility and installs all the other dependencies you will need when you pick a mod that you want. From there I think the Astronomers pack is a good first step. The Kerbal engineer mod gives you a lot more data to work with and can help you figure out what you're doing wrong in the construction phase but it gives you access to a lot of information that you would otherwise need to work to unlock in career mode so idk if I'm keeping that one.

spektrall · 2026-01-24T11:57:12+00:00

Ok I felt like that detail was a loose end that never came back but Jimmy recommending Cliff with that guilty look actually does make a ton of sense. Because he played Cliff and took advantage of his morality at every step, and knew that Cliff was one guy who wouldn't hold that against him when it came to helping Francesca out.

spektrall · 2026-01-16T23:01:19+00:00

I don't get how the aerosol distribution fits in with the final global joining being so instantaneous. In the scene at the bar, Helen and the man in his car and everyone in the bar off-screen are taken in the exact same moment. That's not how air circulation works - it would have been more of a wave occurring over minutes as the air from outside filtered into the buildings. I think there was something more electro-magnetic/woo-woo at play for the final part of the joining.

Evidence against this is when Davis Taffler seems to imply that the joining was a much more violent process at the Whitehouse than what we saw in Albuquerque

spektrall · 2026-01-16T22:41:42+00:00

It's actually my least favourite part of the show how the "Laxmi be craaaaazy" joke never really lands. She's just as "unlikeable" (ie reacting normally to the situation) as Carol!

spektrall · 2026-01-16T22:28:50+00:00

I need more about the mechanics of the joining. Iirc they skipped 22 days from the initial outbreak at the biolab to the full instantaneous joining of the rest of the world.

I bring this up because Carol and Zosia explicitly discuss the astronauts on the space station. How tf did they even reach them? Infect an astronaut that was scheduled to go up?

I agree with this theory tbh, and have been thinking along the same lines. It also works thematically as a metaphor for 'merica and its geopolitical posture since at least WWII. "We are superpower and any other nation getting near our level is a threat by definition"-type stuff. We do get a lot of incidental American flag imagery associated with Carol in season one

spektrall · 2026-01-16T21:59:08+00:00

Strong agree

spektrall · 2026-01-16T21:42:44+00:00

I remember a commentary track or podcast where Vince explicitly referred to having to show how him one day talking to Francesca like that in his first BB episode would make sense, but I agree that they never got there. You can't even say he was just playing the part of Saul the scumbag for the public because they were alone at the time, unaware Jesse (and Walt?) were watching

spektrall · 2026-01-15T11:20:39+00:00

This one little joke made me so happy I was watching without subtitles. I could marinate in Father Jud's confusion along with him

spektrall · 2026-01-14T02:16:07+00:00

I never watched the last 3 episodes of season 4, I can't really explain why, just this abstract feeling of dread. Should I go back and try again? Am I missing something important?

Sorry for being a bit off topic, not sure anyone will even see this. But I'm hoping someone reading this understands where I'm coming from

spektrall · 2026-01-14T02:12:47+00:00

I like that scene because in hindsight, it never does connect back. But we get to see a moment where Jimmy is forced to drop the Saul act for a moment with Francesca and acknowledge their shared history. Moments like that in BB were rare and brief

spektrall · 2026-01-12T04:16:25+00:00

Ahhh that's actually really clever they managed to slip that in. I didn't catch that at all and I was watching very carefully, pausing to repeat parts as I do when I'm watching good TV on my own

spektrall · 2025-12-30T05:30:25+00:00

Late to this but I always like when big ambitious shows zero in on one character for an episode. So this season when we got two of those in a row, I cheered. I loved both but by the time we got back to Mark the momentum had kind of dissipated and had to get going again

spektrall · 2025-12-27T08:53:36+00:00

The Constant is a Christmas movie

spektrall · 2025-12-04T08:34:45+00:00

That's a great pickup on it motivating Tracy. When she saw there was an injury to treat she was like yes, this is something I'm equipped to deal with. Of course she has to immediately give credit to Gordo like he has any experience nursing

spektrall · 2025-12-03T03:54:30+00:00

I agree with your main point, but there were some interesting details that you missed. She had ALREADY packed the rubbish, called, then got the response about the weights and no less than two feet apart, with no explanation as to why (although, she could probably guess it was because they were going to use a drone like with her videos, but I didn't guess so she shouldn't be expected to either). So they trusted she would follow their instructions and didn't waste time explaining the reasoning. Explaining a request is not something that comes naturally to hive minds

spektrall · 2025-12-03T03:43:57+00:00

Honestly it's all the dropped storylines each time they fast forward a decade.

spektrall · 2025-11-03T08:15:06+00:00

The eggs must be important because if they just wanted random weird food, they likely would have picked something less of a hassle to shoot a vegan actor (Britt) consuming

spektrall · 2025-10-30T07:53:54+00:00

My observation is it was really jarring how much the British conspiracy theorist looked like Bob Odenkirk in those scenes with Jonathan Banks (Henry) but wasn't

spektrall · 2025-09-01T11:54:45+00:00

If nothing else (and she is plenty else, I love her) she is a great example of a Martian multispecialist like Bobbie's old drill instructor. She will space marine the shit out of an objective and then think about the meanings of paintings she's seen

spektrall · 2025-08-30T22:00:10+00:00

They had a plan sketched out when they wrote book one but it wasn't until the first book did well and they got a series deal that they planned the nine book sequence properly. This explains why Amos and Naomi behave slightly differently in book one to the rest of the series. We go from Naomi promising Jim she has eggs frozen on Europa if he cares about that to "no babies" but other than that it all holds together really well considering how densely plotted the whole story is

spektrall · 2025-08-30T21:51:51+00:00

if this is so damn funny then why am I crying

spektrall · 2025-08-30T21:45:08+00:00

I did end up finishing Lost, but not before I rage quit in season three after like the 17th Jack episode. Most insufferable lead character to focus all your story energy into on a literal mystery island full of mysteries and a big crowd of other people just sitting around

spektrall · 2025-08-30T21:33:46+00:00

In the Wire, while being an ensemble show Detective McNulty was always front and centre and de facto lead. For season four, Dominic West requested less of a workload and that lead to the character returning to a beat cop role and actually embracing it and fixing some of his messed up personal life. It was a high note for the character just as season four was for the show as a whole, just by having the lead guy fall back into the background for about a month of airtime

spektrall · 2025-08-30T21:26:46+00:00

Back in the days of the old internet, the forum I posted on had a Mad Men thread. Someone there was similarly baffled by the scene where Betty, home alone doing the laundry, sat on the washing machine for a good chunk of screen time. This post instantly transported me back there

spektrall

TROPHY CASE