Netfoot

Smallpox: Eradicated 40+ years ago. "What have you done for me lately?" ---Janet Jackson Polio: Not eradicated.

Wow. Maybe it will actually be Denzel... Yah, no. Prolly not.

I really enjoyed this episode, because it was all about White Supremacy, which is a plot direction I haven't seen at all in every episode of every cop show on every channel in the entire fucking world. Nestor got a new house so he and Maggie I don't care.

Are you kidding? There isn't a drug company anywhere in the world, looking for the cure for anything! They are not interested in a $100 injection that will cure you of rotchacoqovf. They want to find a $5 treatment that you have to take every day for the rest of your life.

I don't suppose it's likely, but my choice would be Chris Rock. A minute or two per episode where QL and CR toss bombs at each other would be a hilarious break to what might be an otherwise stodgy script. Then the daughter could be sidelined almost entirely... which could only be a good thing. ETA: An excellent suggestion!

Sketchy? The UAE?

“Many men of course became extremely rich, but this was perfectly natural and nothing to be ashamed of because no one was really poor – at least no one worth speaking of.” ― Douglas Adams

SP, once the home of compressed cockroach food-bricks, is now the overflowing cornucopia of eggs, fruit and fresh vegetables? Oooo-kay! There is a circular steel door with a big hinge, through which you must travel, to pass between SP and BA. Why was it necessary to cut through six to eight inches of steel in order to open this door?

Something incredibly 'green' and just as shitty?

Well, there is that... I see her as firmly in the comedy camp, but given a good script, I will allow she might break out from behind her type-casting. The shit-kicking bad-ass will be difficult to swallow, though.

I don't object to the blackwashing, which didn't actually happen here, but in the earlier DW movies that I loved (the first moreso than the second). I don't object to the gender swap which I'm fine with. I do object to the tame action sequences. Up-thread a poster suggested this might work best as a brains vs. brawn re-imagining, and I think that might work well, but if they are going to include action sequences and beat-'em-up footage, for goodness sake try to make it look like Robyn is actually kicking ass. If those sequences are expensive to make, have fewer of them. I don't much like the Delilah character. I understand that it's an attempt to give some depth to Latifah's otherwise one dimensional character, but I always hate the rebellious/disobedient teenage character because in my culture such behaviour would have been eliminated years before by liberal application of the slipper at an early age. I'm hopeful for the character of Melody. I happen to like Liza Lapira as a rule, and hope, if used correctly, will add real substance to the show. We'll have to see how she is managed. Annnnd... Harry the Hacker. <sigh> They just have to have one, don't they? Some guy who can hack his way into a wheel of cheese and come out with a toasted sandwich? Such a trope, and such bullshit. But I suppose that's easier than figuring out legitimate, believable ways to explain how the good guys come up with the information they need. Plus, The Cop With the Heart of Gold. Who will, routinely, on a weekly basis, turn a blind eye to all the hi-jinks and sky-larking that is going on in his city. Well, I guess I'm in. By which I mean, I'm theirs to lose. But like me, you knew from the instant they told her not to go anywhere and not to use the phone, that that's exactly what she would do, right? Much as I hate this, I prefer it to threatening someone with a 12 volt battery or battery charger. Which is as commonplace as it is laughable. Speaking of cameos, it's a pity EW is dead. I suppose most viewers wouldn't notice, but there must be a couple of olde fartes watching. Apart from myself, that is.

I am familiar with this despicable piece of history, although far from an expert on the subject. As for the catholic church, Just let me see your Stolen Generations and raise you a Magdalene Laundry! The fact that the catholic school is even allowed to exist in the Indigenous community makes me think that perhaps the pit stop was not necessarily problematic. It might be the worst thing TAR has ever done, because frankly, I can't think of anything done by TAR, previously or since, which could be considered "problematic" in any way. But let me hasten to add that I am not a frequent watcher of TAR Australia, and haven't been watching this season at all. So I could be wrong - it's happened before.

I am an island dweller. The dozen plus islands in the Lesser Antilles archipelago have many similarities, but they each have their own character. The belters are the people who live in the belt. The belt is fairly large, with many small, widely separated communities. I can easily believe that while the belter culture can exist from one end of the belt to the other, I can quite understand how there will be plenty of variety within that wider culture.

She smuggled a razorblade onto Snowpiercer, presumably to attack Layton. Then at the last minute she decided not to proceed and concealed the blade in her hand, cutting herself. So, homicidal but not suicidal.

That was also the funniest part of the episode. You could see Amos's plan from the beginning, and you could see Holden falling for it hook, line and sinker! Well, they had to get rid of him somehow! I am even wondering if the scene was done in post, with a still from recorded footage and some CGI blood droplets. Yes, but I was hoping for a more violent rebellion from Drummer. Much more violent. I believe that many plot points were drawn out during this season, probably due to the difficulties involved in producing a show in a pandemic. It regretfully made for a lack-lustre So I noticed! The implications were not lost on me. Actually, I thought the moany-groany wincing and flinching was hammed up a bit. But this is because those scenes went on and on and wouldn't stop.

I just hope they don't finish with a big explosion, and leave us guessing until S6, before we find out Naomi's fate. That would be pointlessly annoying, because we all know they can't kill off Naomi! Can they?

It's politics. Ever heard of cutting your nose to spite your face? Some people will cut their own nose to spite someone else's face. Because most people are stupid, or at least massively ill-informed about their politics, and won't listen to sense no matter what. So, say you have been manipulated by circumstances and/or political bullshit to hate the inners enough. Then, you will be thrilled if Marco does something, anything, to strike at them, even if it isn't in your best interest for him to do so. You'll be cheering his success as you run out of air as a result. And you can be sure that Marco, like every other politician, don't give a hot turd what happens to you, so long as he continues to ride in the carriage while you slog barefoot through the icy mud.

Most people don't believe it. What we do is "slope soaring". The prevailing wind strikes the face of the slope, and simultaneously speeds up and rises (to get over the slope). We take advantage of the fast flowing air to generate lift over the wings, and or the rising air to give us additional up-thrust. What those guys were doing is called "dynamic soaring" or DS. You need a ridge, where the wind strikes one slope and rises / accelerates, but there is another slope which falls away behind the ridge. Behind there, there is an area of calm (beneath the ridge-line) and higher up, a stream of high-speed air moving downwind. (There is also a very turbulent "boundary layer" between the two air masses.) DS requires very specific wind conditions and a particular lay of the land. It isn't possible where we fly. You climb into the high-speed airflow, and it accelerates you downwind. Then you dip down into the calm air and fly back to the ridge without any headwind, loosing little or no speed. Then, climbing back up into the high-speed airflow, you make another trip downwind, accelerating to an even faster speed, then dip down into the calm air to return back to the ridge... Do this enough times and your speed increases incrementally until it becomes totally unreal. Each time through the boundary layer and your aircraft experiences tremendous turbulence, especially as you go faster and faster. DS gliders frequently disintegrate in midair, just due to the sheer speed they are traveling at! The new record is .741 mach. I think it is only a matter of time before they break the sound barrier. In some cases the airflow over the top of the wing is already exceeding mach 1, so the next generation of DS gliders will have to have swept back wings to handle the supersonic speeds. Me? I can't afford the thousands of dollars those ships cost, especially when eventual midair disintegration is a foregone conclusion. And I don't have the eyesight or reflexes to handle a ship that is twice as fast as a Bugatti Veyron! I'll stick to having fun on the front of the slope! Speaking of which, I had a great flight this afternoon, but as I was coming in to land the flight battery ran out of juice, and I lost control about 10 feet up over a big patch of tall, soft grass. Kerplunk! No damage done, but no more flights. My mate Ian maidened his Ahi, and is in love. I took a couple photos with my crappy phone. Here is the best of them: Don't know when we'll get another chance. Lockdown begins on Wednesday. Two weeks, they say. But they are politicians, and they are not to be trusted. Anyway, at least Buddy got a good outing (which he sorely needed), and there were even a few strangers around for him to go and chat with. Hopefully he will handle the coming incarceration without too much distress. Now. To go persuade Jim to get his Ahi ready for the next time we go out...

So, the plan for this afternoon is to get two Ahis in the air together. "Rain, rain, stay away!" I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to get a flight, and I'm also looking forward to just getting out of the house. Buddy will also like the excursion. He hasn't had a field trip for a coupla weeks! In other news: A new world speed record for unpowered, radio controlled gliders (and R/C planes generally) was set in CA a few days ago. New record is 548 miles per hour. No, that isn't a typo. The model in question has a 3.3 meter (10 ft. 10 in.) wingspan and no motor of any kind. I shudder to think what she cost!

So nice to see a cop show that is built around the White Supremacy framework for a change! Because we certainly don't see enough of that! Also interesting to note that the Stars & Stripes are now a symbol of said White Supremacy. The "Iron Cross" is a German military medal. It was established in 1813 during the Napoleonic Wars. It survives in a slightly different form to this very day. During World War II it was 'embellished' (debased?) with the addition of a Nazi Swastika. Over it's 208 year history, it was so 'embellished' for only 6 years, less than 3% of it's lifespan. The term "Iron Cross" describes the actual medal. It's shape was derived from an earlier symbol used as far back as the Crusades. That shape is known as the "Cross Pattée", which has been used for at least 1,400 years. If you paint that shape on your house or get a tattoo, it is not an "Iron Cross", and therefore not an sign of White Supremacism. Even if it was an "Iron Cross", it still wouldn't be a sign of White Supremacism, unless it bore the Swastika 'embellishment'. In which it would be the Swastika (not the cross) that carried the negative connotations. I sure wish people would get a fucking clue and stop flagging innocent symbols, objects and phrases as horrific and hateful, just because they want to make a buck. If someone embroiders the Peace Symbol on their jacket and then commits a crime, it doesn't make the Peace Symbol a sign of criminal behaviour.

It ain't gonna be Delgado. My money is on Drummer. After she 'parts' Karal's hair. Or (2nd option) Naomi does it, sacrificing TLS in the process. Angsty! We should just hang him now, and have the actual trial later, at a more convenient time. When she spotted the break in the insulation of that cable, I was sure it would lead to something ingenious! But no. At lease, not yet. They still looked relatively well fed, though. But I guess it's not actually been that long since the asteroid strikes, so gaunt malnutrition sufferers probably aren't a thing yet. Okay, only one episode remaining, and a lot to do. I hope they don't just leave it all hanging as bait for Season 6!

That was my understanding. She took off with Snowpiercer, leaving Mr. W. behind on a non-functional Big Alice.

Things ain't looking too sweet. We've now had three deaths in the last week or so, after just about nine months with none. As of yesterday, total cases had risen to 1,401 with 649 recovered and 10 croaked. That is 1,325% higher than the height of last year's lockdown. Today the numbers are 1,427 - 1,057 - 10 = 642%. The large number of persons recovering (a reflection of the large number of cases that were discovered 2-3 weeks ago) have reduced the numbers today, but the overall picture is not good. We will be having another lockdown, starting on 3rd February, lasting (they say) for 14 days. It hasn't started immediately, I suppose, so we get a chance to go out and buy lots of TP and other supplies before the hatches get battened down. Meanwhile, the PM urges everyone to start immediately to behave as if the lockdown was already in effect. A sort of voluntary, pre-lockdown lockdown before the mandatory lockdown begins. The conditions of the lockdown will be: Mandatory wearing of masks in all public places: Street, Buildings, etc. (Exemptions: medical / alone) - 3rd Feb 15 day lockdown 3rd to 17th February. Supermarkets, pharmacies, gas stations only permitted to retail from 3rd. Supermarkets: 8am to 3PM weekdays, Closed on weekends Pharmacies and Gas Stations remain open on weekends for gas etc, no Automarts. National Curfew: 7pm to 6am for the period ending 17th Feb. Banks closed from 3rd to 9th Feb. They reopen on 10th Feb. Pension cheques dated 1st Feb may be cashed from Thursday 28th Jan. Chief Compliance officers will be hired to ensure citizens are compliant with protocols. Markets and Vending closed. Public Transport back to 60% capacity. Shops in communities closed. Restaurants, Bars, Gyms closed. Manufacturers remain operating as exempted operations. I see no mention of Glider Guiding on the list. Conditions have not been suitable for two weekends now, and I'm itching to get the Ahi back in the air. And my buddy Ian has a new Ahi of his own that he is dying to "pelt off a cliff". Sunday coming looks like it might be windy. And the lockdown doesn't start until three days later, so... Bud and I have been minimizing our trips away from home for the last two weeks or more, and Bud is suffering. He likes travelling in the car. I still go to the supermarket on Tuesdays, and I try to plan out the day to get as much as possible done so we don't have to leave home again until the following week. This Tuesday was also a weigh-in. Same weight as the previous time; 45 lbs. down since the start. My failure to lose more wasn't taken well at the doctor's office, but too bad for them. I'm tired of eating wind pies all the time. I bought some sweet potatoes and some green figs yesterday, and plan to include them in my soups & stews. (I come from a part of the region wherein all varieties of bananas are referred to as 'figs'. Hence green figs = green bananas.) Speaking of Buddy, I haven't seen/heard him up to any mischief for the last hour or more. But the car is open so I figure I know exactly where he is..... Besides, it's time for him to take his afternoon nap, so he will be off to bed very shortly. And (yawn) I might join him! Ordered a number of books from Amazon. (I buy them second hand for U$1.25 and pay another U$13 to have them delivered. Yes, it's highway robbery, but it's still better than the price of a new paperback locally! But the point I was making is that when you order a 12-book series, you can believe that 11 will be delivered quickly, but you will wait and wait for the 12th book. And that the book you have to wait for will be #1 in the series. This recurring, unavoidable sequence of events (along with the babel fish) proves the non-existence of God. I know it will be only a single day before the lockdown begins so maybe not, but I sure hope the Book Tent is in the supermarket parking lot next Tuesday. We've missed them the last couple of months, and I'm sure Buddy will be glad to get a little attention from his ladies! They know he's one of theirs and they always make a fuss of him. I always try to buy a couple of books when we first get there, and Bud usually make a small donation when we're leaving.

How would they prevent you? It's your money, right? Does the Police State say you can't use it to recover a missing loved one? I'm not sure if causing an accidental death is properly classified as "murder". As soon as the counter flap went back, I was hoping SA Tiffany Wallace would take two rounds to the gut. Just because all the script writers character-building tough-guy stupidity from someone as tough as a wet Kleenex deserves a fitting response. ETA: Your post (which glimpsed before I started watching) lead me to believe this was a 2-episode cross-over with "FBI: Most Wanted", which... ghaaaa! Because FBIMW is... ghaaaa!

I thought it was a little strange that the supply train had to beg for eggs, a bottle of whisky, etc. If they don't have any of the stuff on their list, just what can they supply?