Hurlshort

I'd actually say Covid is an example of what we can accomplish in this country when we stop worrying about profit margins in the US. It varies by state, but we have thrown together a massive operation of testing and vaccinations that has managed to reach over 60% of the country in less than a year, and it is offered freely. I've been nothing but impressed by the process that has helped my entire family get vaccinated and tested regularly.

Was your initial post about Venezuela in response to Raithe's image? I imagine it probably wasn't, but it did come across that way because the two posts were so close together. Anyway, in the US we have quite a few socialist programs to deal with housing, food, and medical care. They just tend to be local and small scale, particularly compared to the profit margins and big business models that dominate housing, food, and medicine. So yeah, I don't think anyone outside of the extreme ends of the political spectrum is arguing for a full central planning socialism system in the US. But I sure would like a decent Universal Health Care system in place before I get too old and my maintenance costs start to skyrocket.

Well the AC games do have an entirely different mode now. I'm not sure how enjoyable it is, but I like the investment in a historical exploration mode: https://www.ubisoft.com/en-us/help/assassins-creed-odyssey/article/accessing-discovery-tour-ancient-greece/000065793

Hey, when it finally comes out in 20 years, maybe your motivation will return.

Plot Twist: NFT's end up being the only currency to survive the Great Collapse.

It is still in beta, and seems to have another year or so of development time.

I wonder how close they are to 'feature complete' they are in the game? I bought it and there was very little, then I loaded it up a few months ago and there was a pretty decent storyline to follow. I also started to win arena battles.

I hope they get it worked out soon. I can't imagine either side thinks it would be good to miss more games after the pandemic losses. I haven't read up on the negotiations, but I am willing to accept the DH in the National League. I was opposed to it for years, but after watching it during the short season, I got comfortable with it quickly enough.

Geez, 65 seems very young.

Hah, I apologize. Honestly I don't know why anyone expect me to remember anything anymore. I was more than willing to apologize to KP for thinking he didn't like It's Always Sunny too. My mind is going. Names are the worst, too.

Hah, thanks Barti, I feel very seen. We all definitely mellow with age. I still can't get into Curb Your Enthusiasm though. I have tried a few times. It just doesnt hook me.

Wait...you actually like It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia? I remember you specifically giving me crap about my love for It's Always Sunny years ago.

I have some thoughts on this. 1. The crisis will be mitigated by the retirement packages most teachers have to look forward to. It is easy to leave education in the first 5 years, but after that you are walking away from a fairly decent package, depending on the state. It will be important that districts continue to make that attractive. There have been 2 times in my 20 year career where I seriously thought about pivoting, and it was the long term picture that kept me going through the career itch. 2. The crisis is necessary. My salary schedule has barely changed in the last 10 years. I have moved up the ladder, but we are not even keeping up with COLA costs on a yearly basis. Some districts do better than others. But the reality is teachers need to make more money. It is the only surefire way to attract more people to the profession. It needs to be a decent living. My wife and I cannot afford houses on teacher's salaries, despite nearing the top of the salary schedule. When we started our career, it was possible. Teacher salaries were never fantastic to begin with, but they have stagnated while everything else has increased. I could easily go on about this. I also think we should go to a 4-day teaching schedule with the 5th day acting as a flex day. They want us having conferences, teaching social emotional content, and serving on committees, but then they also want us teaching all the educational standards to 180 students 5 days a week. It is exhausting. Every teacher I know enjoys being in the class with the students and teaching. It is the extra stuff that burns people out.

I don't get the John Brown/Harper's Ferry reference at all, GD. That was just 22 people. I guess it was more organized, but I can't see how it really compares. It went way worse for the insurrectionists, too.

Warnings were given. I am retiring to the desert. This is my first week back to serious training. I have 12 weeks until my half Ironman race, so time to get serious. So far I have swam twice, run twice, and got in a good climbing road bike ride. I just need anothe swim, bike, and run to finish the week out.

Biden is talking about the Capitol Riot and I have it on in the background. I'm not sure why anyone would watch this stuff closely, it seems like a snooze fest. Which is actually amazing, because in only a year we are back to pretty boring politics as usual instead of the frenetic stress fest that was the previous administration.

I watched Reno 911!: Hunt for QAnon. It was clearly what you end up with when you quarantine an improv group for a year. I doubt there was a script. Instead they just adlibbed around certain set pieces. But I enjoyed the heck out of it and it was fun to see the Reno 911! crew once again. It was much more like the show than the Miami movie. Take that for what you will.

The writing is usually the biggest complaint I see from people. It is a strange tone, for sure.

I had a crazy facebook friend connect Omikron: The Nomad Soul to the new strain of Covid. Apparently it is a conspiracy by Microsoft, and the game is a sign of that.

Wait, that actually is unheard of. How many vaccinated people are dying of covid?

I just reached the final chapter of Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky. I was looking for a decent JRPG and this did a good job of scratching that itch. There are like 14 games in the series, so I'm not sure if I will move onto the next one, but it is nice to know the option is there. I've also started back up with Lord of the Rings Online. My level 101 captain is making his way through Gondor and trying to figure out what all these skills do...again. 14 years of on and off again play hasn't made it any easier to figure out what all the buttons and items do.

Yeah, I didn't really take it very seriously as a martial arts display. It is a fun and fairly ridiculous scene about how hardcore the Aiel are. It isn't really worth deep diving into any of the fight scenes of the show. Don't look too closely at the trollocs.

I finished Wheel of Time Season 1. I was very down on it after the 1st episode, but then I thought it found a decent rhythm for a bit. The last couple episodes slowed down and had more meh than good for me, but I didn't hate the ending or anything. I mean, it set a stage for the next season. For me, the good parts were Rand's mom killing people while pregnant and a bit more screentime for Tam. I thought Lan and Nynaeve had a fairly mature romance thread that was better than the other awkward ones. I like the Dark One actor and Padan Fain. I think Rand is actually pretty well acted. The Seanchan looked neat in their 10 seconds of screentime. I'll keep watching. It isn't as bad as it was in episode 1. I hope it continues to improve.

Hah, I enjoyed Iron Sky but it was absurd enough to be a fun parody of the US. Much like idiocracy, there are some jokes that hit close to home, but they are still jokes. Don't Look Up lacks that absurd charm.