@david_chisnall Unfortunately, linking identities is a major bipartisan effort now, for all manner of claimed purposes to create an "orderly society".

Director Ridley Scott has said that his original planned ending for 1979's "Alien" was not for Ripley to succeed in killing the alien and going into suspension, but for the alien to actually rip her head off. This reportedly infuriated studio execs to such an extent that they threatened to remove him from the project if he proceeded in that direction. So Ripley (and her cat) got to survive to fight the xenomorphs another day. Probably a wise decision for the sake of sequels at least.

Anyone who is asked what caused the Civil War who does not immediately and without prompting list SLAVERY among the key reasons is not fit for any political office.

@xdydx That's complicated. There's a preference for Trump among older vets, but not necessarily for younger active duty.

Biden spent Christmas morning calling military units to thank them for their service.

Trump spent the morning in virtually unintelligible ranting about how badly the world has treated him. "Like nobody has ever seen before."

As much as I despise cigarettes, the British proposal to increase the legal age for smoking year by year in an attempt to eventually ban them is inane. It will simply create a black market and cause far more damage in the end. This kind of prohibition never works and is beneath stupidity.

Glad to see that the new "Oppenheimer" movie didn't bomb.

@loke That's what I choose to believe.

This morning I've already been admonished twice here for calling Meta's CEO "Zuck". In one case, I was warned that this "humanizes" him like a friend. In the other case, I was told that it unnecessarily "dehumanizes" him in the manner that Musk would. Two completely opposing interpretations.

Thanks guys.

In fact, the reason I use it is because of what it rhymes with in my head, which I feel is a good description of his personality.

So there. Now you know.

You want proof that it's possible to watch #YouTube without being fed unwanted suggestions? I've always said that the YT suggestion engine is good to me. While I watch an enormous amount of YT relatively, I've never been offered any right wing garbage, for example.

And today I realized that even though I've heard the name "Mr. Beast" and vaguely recall hearing about his mass cataract surgery giveaway, I've never seen a Mr. Beast video, never been suggested one by YT, and knew effectively nothing about him until I read a CNN article today.

I still recall this massive Xerox machine at UCLA long ago. When I'd make a copy it made such impressive sounds as the power sequenced up that I remember thinking to myself, "Hell, is this a copy machine or a warp drive?"