rjshae

More news from the Mos Eisley administration: Trump administration set to purchase $400 million worth of armored Teslas Hahahahaha...

I'm off to donate blood again tomorrow. It usually just takes an hour of my time, and at least I feel like I'm contributing something. I have that universal donor O-negative blood that is much sought by emergency rooms. At my age it usually takes a few days to recover my energy, but at least I'm getting rid of more senescent cells. (Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.) It's just in time too; there's more snow on the way in the forecast. We may get up to three inches by Friday. I think I'll plan on staying home and reading a good book (The Bookseller of Florence by Ross King).

The judicial department sets the final word on what is legal, so yes they can rule on whether the executive branch actions are legitimate. Beyond that, the next step would be to see whether they are willing to ignore the judges, or take it to court.

Okay, I recently found out about Starfinder Roleplaying Game, the sci-fi version of the Pathfinder RPG, and it has me interested. It reminds me of the old Star Frontiers game, which I had an opportunity to try back in the day. Apparently now Pazo is converting it to compatibility with 2nd edition Pathfinder rules so you can swap between the two. Currently they have published playtest versions of the rules, which sounds like a novel approach. They are planning to release the 2nd edition version of Starfinder early this year (2025), so I'm planning to pick up a copy for evaluation. Has anybody played Starfinder PnP? I'm curious to know your experiences. My sci-fi RPG PnP experiences are with Star Frontiers, GURPS, and HERO. For sci-fi, I've enjoyed the Fallout/Wasteland/SW:TOR/Rogue Trader video games. Some day I'd like to enjoy a sci-fi tactical RPG video game akin to Star Frontiers, and Starfinder sounds promising for that purpose.

Wonder how long until we'll have to wait before the first terrorist bombing of DJT's Gaza Resort? Not sure I'd want to vacation there...

It's becoming a government at war with itself, 7x24. I have no idea what we'll do in a crisis -- perhaps foreign powers will gamble that the USA is to distracted to respond? Certainly DJT isn't the President you want to have if the bird flu develops into a pandemic.

The latter at least makes some sense (for once). Copper is an important commodity these days, and the value of a penny has dropped to nearworthless. Our state has a sales tax, and I would like to see them modify it to round to the nearest nickel (5 cents).

I wondered if this is a Musk-motivated effort, since his wealthy family is from Pretoria? Anyway, the whites were European immigrants so presumably they can relocate back to their originating nations.

I could swear that sometimes the game rigs the dice rolls. I've been through battles making dozens of attacks and never getting higher than an 11. It's weird and very improbable.

Today in dumb: Trump says he’s given advisers instructions for Iran to be ‘obliterated’ if it assassinates him Code name: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Just to put that in perspective, Iran has a population of 91 million. The total deaths in World War II were estimated at 70-85 million. So what happens if, say, Israel takes him out in the guise of an Iranian plot? I think there's a more tempered response available in the form of smart bombs. In the meantime, Iran has more motivation to build nuclear weapons.

Yep, today in dumb. I'm sure the Palestinians will have "reservations" about relocated

Yep, so after threatening a trade war, DJT negotiated what Biden already got in 2021.

Today in weird science... Surprising Link Between Menthol And Alzheimer's Discovered in Mice

Canada enjoys a trade surplus with the USA, but it's entirely because of oil exports.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/29/resolution-games-announces-battlemarked-an-upcoming-vr-dungeons-and-dragons-game/ Sounds like a co-op game with no DM (or role playing) required. I suppose then that the RPG elements will be in the character builds.

Is that the perception? No, I haven't heard that perspective. In reality, one would hope for a more international response. It's been around since Bush II, a Republican, but has since been mostly criticized by Republicans. The program is promoting abstinence before marriage, a Republican dogma. To me, shutting off the funding for all these programs suggests that this administration can't hit a moving target.

It's the 16th amendment to the constitution, so no, not easily. "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration."

The current targeting of medical and scientific work by the administration makes me wonder if we're in for a Soviet-style repression of politically unacceptible science. I.e. vaccines, public health, social science, clean energy, global warming, &c.

I binge watched the old Agents of Shield series. It was... decent enough with some enjoyable aspects. My favorite part was the space opera elements from season 6; I wouldn't mind seeing more of that. Powered inhumans explore the galaxy. It's somewhat similar to Guardians of the Galaxy in flavor, I suppose. They dropped hints of that at the final episode, but never followed it up.

One might suspect it is driven by a long history of US intervention in Latin America. For example, we did support the secession movement that led to the separation of Panama from Columbia in 1903 (in order to build the Panama Canal).

"Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber." — Plato Seems like it's still true today. Politics never changes.

I've grown to enjoy medical drama series the past few years, and I'm enjoying Doc right now. Too bad it's not bingeable at the moment.