Boy that was a lot of fun until the last couple of centimeters. I suppose from a tropical fern's perpective, this is fantastic news.

After many years in the US Navy, I've found any attempt to de-boxify and un-capitalize my handwritten script laborious and frustrating. This was interesting.

The children. They're mostly Cheeto anyway.

Thus far the narrative has been drama, genre wise, but I keep hoping the universe will inject a scifi adventure in before I croak. A la Close Encounters, preferably. Lol. Maybe Paul? Whatever. I'd be happy with Howard the Duck at this point.

Your bookshelf and my bookshelf are secret lovers.

You don't have to go hard scifi to find scientifically literate ship descriptions. While it is pretty fantasy-like in plot and many other aspects (lots of terraforming fails), Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos are pretty accurate ship-wise. The Consul's ship is a series of decks around a central ladder well, and down is down, ie the direction opposite the main rocket's thrust. The spin ships don't get a lot of deep decriptions, but the Archangel class courier ships in the third and fourth books, Endymion and Rise of Endymion, are also pretty gnarly. It travels at thrusts exceeding 100 gravities, which liquifies its occupants. Then they are ressurected with the help of a parasitic lifeform. Mas gnarles, homes.

I also enjoyed the slow progression of thrust technology in the Red Mars series by Kim Stanley Robinson. Starts at fuel rockets, where we are today, and eventually progresses to ion drives. Travel times are actually pretty accurate, depending on orbits.

Apparently, the hippocampus is located directly adjacent to the part of the brain that interprets tastes and smells. Hence those senses being universally associated with nostalgia, aka long term memory recall.

Mark Twain, Letters from the Earth. Can't believe it wasn't on the list. Also, in my humble opinion, fuck anyone who derives deep and insightful wisdom from Oh The Places You'll Go. It irritates me to no end.

Naturally.

That got intense. Affleck got too upset, chill out man!

Regardless of the winner of this debate, the problem will remain unsolved tomorrow morning. So everybody calm the fuck down. — my father, Thanksgiving dinner, 1987-present

I've studied several broads in my life, confusing but beautiful. Always enjoyed the exams. And they smell nice.

The NCAA has a similar problem.

What do you say to an OU Sooner football player in a three piece suit?

Should have driven up to Trinidad and relaxed with a spliff and arguably some of the best beer in recorded history. Up where dogs are welcome in bars and nobody has Facebook because neighbors actually know each other. It's mostly fucked, California, but there's still a slice of heaven here and there. No jobs in heaven, of course, but lots of food and beer and cannabis.

Krav Maga, and before anyone groans let me explain. It's simple, it's not fantastical or requiring of peak physical condition, and it applies modern understandings of anatomy. It's about aggression and situational awareness, knowing when it's best to walk away and when it's best to attack first. Those are the scenarios in Krav, there really isn't a "duck first by design" aspect to it. It's also not about looking "Swayze-esque" in a bar fight. It's serious shit, with a good instructor you are talking about learning to inflict maximum damage, including permanent injury or death. It won't make you a badass, or a boxer, but it might give you the reflex muscle memory to save your life someday, which is why I'm guessing the IDF and Israeli SF teaches it. I took TKD as a kid and after I got back from the war I needed something... violent. Found an awesome Krav instructor in Virginia where I was living at the time. Took classes for about a year, I'd reccomend it. It might seem intimidating but... do you want your hand held by a people person or do you want to learn something useful from (likely) some Jar-Head with actual real world experience in applying these techniques on a human being?

Thanks for the mention am_Unition! The current state of global economics is based on the 20th century mainstay that demand is unlimited and that resources are limited. This is a purely global idea, and the reality that our asteroid belt contains a basically unlimited supply of capital resources (the bulk of the periodic table in one form or another) will eventually shatter it and force us to think in "solar" terms. The company or country who gets the head start on mining the asteroid belt will accrue more wealth than anyone or anything ever has before. Current technology makes this possible, but it is very inefficient and lacking puzzle pieces (like how to get the raw materials back to the surface of our planet). The country or company that finishes the puzzle will be the dominant force in human society for a long, long time. We have conceptualized the answers to these questions, space elevators and 0g mining robots, so really all that needs to happen is the actual manufacturing of them. This is all inevitable. If I, a double minor in Astronomy and Economics a decade ago can put the pieces together then you can bet your ass that someone with a lot more education on the matter and a lot more money is already on top of it. Or will be soon. It won't be NASA because that would require the bulk of the US population and (snicker) government to have this epiphany. My money is on a multi-national corporation that can shoulder the initial investment without a great deal of infighting, knowing that the return will be unprecedented. Poor NASA doesn't stand a chance, at this point their role is applied R&D in the larger picture. They should brace to have their ranks pilfered as corporate space programs build up, and can offer the greatest minds a salary that NASA could never match. Hope that was relevant to the discussion!

Not to split hairs here, but gay people and black people might not see with you on this one eye to eye. Not sure anyone has ever been lynched to cries of "retard," and I'm positive that "retard bashing" is not a thing. I don't think the word retard belongs in the same category as "nigger" or "fag." Frankly implying such a thing is more offensive than the words themselves.

You're in my world now, Grandma. Can you believe that was Ben Stiller?

The comments section hurt my brain. Why do I do this to myself?

To retard, grammatically, is a verb. The word unquestionably outdates its use to identify people with Down's Syndrome. I don't really understand how a word that doesn't apply to people with DS anymore (medically speaking) is still considered an insult toward people with DS even when not talking about people with DS. I guess if you call a person "retarded," you are invoking that definition. But clearly if you call Playstation "retarded" you don't mean that it has DS. I'm not a fan of taking offense every time the word is used because my brother's sister-in-law's best friend's kid has DS.

This reminded me of the film Belly. What an amazing (and disturbing) profile.