And it’s even more complicated by the fact that Talia was already the replacement for Lyta. And that the revelation about her being a sleeper was never meant to happen unless she left. Oddly enough, that exit was actually recycling the plan for Takashima had she made it past the pilot, only she got replaced… by Susan.

Plus there’s Garibaldi. His interest in Talia mirrors Zach’s interest in Lyta. Garibaldi’s interest is never resolved because of Talia’s exit. That they tried to reestablish that idea with Zach and Lyta implies there was a plan. Given where things go with Garibaldi and telepaths (including Lyta) that might have been very interesting.

Instead, Zach’s interest gets folded into the Byron plot. But Byron is also a late addition caused by the whole cancelation and uncancelation around season 5. If they hadn’t lost multiple cast members and rushed key plotlines to fit them into season 4, things would have probably been very different.

Babylon 5 has two women start a relationship… sort of.

They set up a frienship that was supposed to turn into a romantic relationship, but one of them left the show, cutting that subplot short. They still try to work it in, as the last couple episodes before the character exit heavily imply they are romantically/sexually involved, but nothing is explicitly confirmed until the next season when the remaining character briefly opens up about having loved the now absent character.

It’s not much, but it’s still pretty big for the early to mid 90s.

If God is talking to bronze age goat herders, what kind of knowledge is going to be useful to them? What will they manage to pass down to future generations without mangling it horribly? If they were to be given information about scientific concepts so advanced that only God (or aliens or time travelers) could have given it to them, they wouldn’t have the foundation of knowledge to grasp it, the vocabulary to explain it, or the technical means to exploit it. Anything they can actually understand and act on is necessarily going to be something that is not beyond their means, and therefore we are right back where we started with stuff they could have figured out on their own.

Suppose God did explain something far beyond human understanding, and they wrote it down as best they could. Even if it wasn’t completely incomprehensible to the guy writing it down, it’s still going to be totally lost on future generations if it isn’t anchored in a more comprehensive understanding of how things work. Without context, it will lose all meaning and will be reinterpreted by later scholars who will try and find a meaning that they can understand. It would become a part of mythology and folklore, and would be unrecognizable by the time science catches up to the original ideas. You might have people point out similarities, but they’d probably be taken as seriously as the ancient aliens guys.

The lower trust in their own media might have something to do with how blatantly dishonest those sources are. But it also likely means that their viewers have lowered any standards they might have ever had. They aren’t going to be shocked if they see the lies exposed, they can just shrug and say that everyone lies but the other side lies more.

Obvious falsehoods are dismissed as hyperbole, close enough to the truth that it doesn’t matter if it’s not entirely accurate. Omissions are just distractions cooked up by the other side to keep us from talking about the real issues. There’s no expectation that reporting should be factual and follow journalistic standards, the only measure of the quality of the news source is how much they agree with it. They’ve been inoculated against reality.

Not like they were going to get any help from this administration anyway.

Also, according to many big game hunters, they are the tastiest animal. Apparently giraffe meat has a delightful sweetness to it.

Sadly, giraffe ranching hasn’t caught on. But maybe once lab grown meat is widely available someone will finally bring it to the masses.

And yet, they are even more incompetent than that. Because even if we go along with the idea that all trade deficits are bad, that still wouldn’t explain why they would put tariffs on the countries where we already have a trade surplus.

I would assume they’re getting the Intel already. The entire administration is comprised of Russian assets and useful idiots. Even if the info isn’t being handed to them directly, all the existing security is being ripped to shreds and the teams that would counter any threats have officially been told to ignore Russia completely.

That said, I wouldn’t put it past Trump to publicly give Intel to Russia, but only because he’s an idiot and assuming there is a low he won’t sink to his always a losing bet.

This shouldn’t be a surprise, but it’s still outrageous and probably a lot more damaging than simply stopping future aid. Russia’s economy is crippled and they are struggling to supply their military to keep up the war effort. Dropping the sanctions would not only give them a huge economic boost, it would also potentially allow them to buy things they can’t manufacture on their own.

A plurality of voters chose to elect a puppet who has effectively turned the US into a Russian vassal state. But at least eggs are cheap and plentiful and we have peace in the middle east, right?

A destabilized country living under permanent Russian influence is not a recipe for peace and security.

In an order issued by a Texas federal court last week

Ah, say no more.

Honestly, Trump bitching about someone and insulting them is more likely than not to be a positive indicator.

Microsoft said Windows 10 would be the last version I’d ever use. They didn’t know how right they were. I’ve been gradually switching to Linux, and will absolutely never use Windows 11 or any other version they put out.

At this point, I’m not sure if trump would bother trying to defend the US from an actual Russian invasion, especially if they invaded an area he doesn’t like.

I really hate this “real news or the onion” guessing game.

Call Little Mac

I grew up poor in a fairly cosmopolitan city, and I still felt like I was going to crawl out of my own skin the first time I went to a slightly dressy business event. I have no fucks to give anymore, but back in the day, this would have probably been a fairly reasonable disaster preparedness plan if I had to be invited to something formal with a lot of social expectations that I was not familiar with.

It’s walking into a different culture, and while the hosts should be understanding, it can be reasonable to prepare someone who isn’t familiar with the culture before sending them in. Still, no need to be a dick about it.

Reminds me of my cousin. Her parents are lovely people, but they are not exactly… refined. Her dad in particular makes a first impression that I’d describe as a somewhat toned down Earnest P Worrell. And while he isn’t stupid he never learned a lot of important life skills and his past mistakes have have caused a fair amount of hardship, and that only fuels the resentment.

By the time she was in high school it was clear my cousin was ashamed to be associated with her family. She kept her home life and social life as far apart as possible, and she was always excited to spend time with members of our extended family that she saw as much more normal. (Especially funny to me since my mom made that list and I’ve seen that woman scratch herself with the cutlery while dining out). She was also pretty fucking rude to her parents, openly talking crap about them while they were in the room. Very shitty, but not exactly shocking for a teenager in her position.

Fast forward to today when my aunt and uncle own a hipstery restaurant, while my cousin got knocked up ended marrying a contractor / meth head.

Is he in IT? Just noticing the cat 9 tails he’s got there.

With the renewed interest from the show, it would make sense for Microsoft to get someone else working on a Fallout game since Bethesda isn’t going to do it any time soon. However, I would think that Obsidian would be the more natural choice. I would guess that MS would prefer to utilize one of the studios they own rather than license it out, but I could be wrong about that.

And even if they did license out development on a Fallout game, I would assume that they would be in a hurry to get something out there, which would make Larian far less appealing to them. I agree that they would probably make an amazing Fallout game, but another studio would probably make a decent enough game that costs less to develop and pays off sooner.