A floating group of roughly 15 Members joined today’s Members-only video chat with me, and Bill Whittle, to talk about how they’re coping with life behind doors, as well as Star Trek, ammo and heat-seeking missiles. Enjoy.
Thank you to everyone who participated today, including Rod, Susan, Grace, Tim, Ray, Kevin, Chuck, Richard, Gene, Phil, Steve, Mr. & Mrs. Malseed, Patrick, Gerry, Debra, and Ralph. (I did that largely from memory, so feel free to fill the holes (or squares, rather).
19 replies on “Members Video Chat: Episode 005”
Instead of a “Made in America”, how about a “Not made in China” if you have to go make a profit?😉
Harry, that’s how I’m feeling right now. When I saw reports of Wuhan citizens being locked INSIDE their High Rise Complexes, and coupled that with Hong Kong problems and forced education camps for “some folks” in the west of China, and a boat load of the little things like bribes at the port and the lack of decent medical care over there…after 20 years I’m so over it, and I’m telling everyone who’ll listen. I know I’ll be getting things made in Thailand soon. Every product must declare a COO or country of origin, and all products must be labeled. I love the idea of Made in Thailand – NOT made in China labeling. Of course, I’m still pushing my company’s Owner and CEO for Made in (fill US state name here) and NOT in China.
I’m somewhat of a fan of Waliking Dead. Why? These people are dealing with a crisis. They survived the fall of civilization and are rebuilding it. And the walkers are not as big of a problem as they once were. People are more of a problem. The latest problem is people using walkers (zombies) as weapons. As the show progressed, the walkers became less a problem and other people more of the problem. There is hope. Other zombie shoes are less so.
Laura, where is this near normal place, Texas maybe.? I am shut in in Philadelphia and heard depressing news that DC schools will stay closed until “there is a cure.” I am afraid Philly, closer to NYC, will make the same terrible decision. I cannot tell you how bad this situation feels.
Yes, Texas! I am so sorry you are suffering in a panicky blue state. I think it will get better. People won’t put up with it forever. And Texas isn’t perfect: our schools remained closed until the end of the school year (this month for most school districts) and IMO the re-opening has been sluggish.
Keep your chin up. It is hard to be an optimist when everyone around you is acting like the apocalypse is coming down upon us. But we’re here for you!
I drove from Houston to Beaumont via I-10 and back today and I can tell you that traffic was completely normal. Everything else was pretty much normal too except for a few restaurants still being take-out only and a lot of people wearing masks. I was required to wear a mask in the doctor’s office; this seems reasonable. I was not required to wear one in a restaurant (which also seems reasonable) but the staff was wearing them.
Today was officially Day 1 of “Phase 2” according to Governor Abbott’s timeline.
My mom got a pedicure yesterday. Not sure if nail salons were supposed to be open before today; they may have started opening last week after the governor’s order about Shelley, the salon owner in north Dallas. But around here, despite the Harris County Judge (i.e., administrator)’s extension of stay-at-home and mask-wearing till mid-June, most thing look pretty normal.
OH COOL! I got the Paul Lynd square!
Re: the dystopian content creators. This is bang on, and has been a huge turn-off for me with the pop culture for years. I gave up on most movies and TV, and rely more on novels for my entertainment. But it’s gotten to authors too. Based on what I’ve seen recently, it seems to me that it is not possible to publish a historical novel OR a sci-fi or fantasy novel that does not deliberately include identity-politics characters. There is nothing worse IMO than a novel set in the past where the characters are just modern people with modern attitudes wearing costumes. More forgivable in sci-fi and fantasy, but even there it’s gotten so in-your-face that I won’t read them.
Instead I’ve been reading books that were written at least 20 years ago, and often 100 years ago or more.
I enjoy dystopian/zombie apocalypse movies and TV. But OMG, it has gotten so old. So overdone. Need to give it a rest for a good 10yrs at least.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies made me beat my head against the wall.
I’ve heard it’s funny and well-done. But yuck!
The historical novel genres have been infested with vampires and werewolves and time travel for maybe 20 years now, so I suppose the zombie invasion was inevitable. To put the best possible gloss upon it, they are reaching back to Castle of Otranto, Frankenstein, and even Dracula, but I’d much rather have P&P (shut up, Bill) and The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Prisoner of Zenda.
I have been enjoying reading some early Heinlein recently, from before he went off the rails, and shortly before Harvey I had started Asimov’s Foundation, but never got back to it.
What was the Star Trek stuff y’all were talking about? Did they really fix Discovery? Is there a new series based on Captain Pike? I haven’t been remotely interested in anything ST since Enterprise, and I lost interest in it about halfway through.
Laura, I ended up turning my response into a blog post. You can see my unhinged ST rant over on the members blog.
I am honored and delighted!!!
Laura – many years ago I read all of Asimov’s “robot stories” in order. Not the order written, but the order they occur in that universe. He has thelist in one of the later Foundation Stories.
It was great to read it all together and watch both the overall arc and his growth as a writer.
Thank you, Ralph! That was my intention too when I started. Maybe it’s time for me to get back to it!
I found this on the internet. It must, therefore, be correct. Though the reference to the list in Prelude to Foundation is what I used.
Isaac Asimov suggested reading order:
Like I wrote before, Asimov didn’t know that the Foundation Series would become that big and that he was going to connect the series to Robot and Empire. So, in the ‘Author’s Note’ at the beginning of Prelude to Foundation, he offered his own reading order – a chronological order, to be precise.
I, Robot
The Caves of Steel
The Naked Sun
The Robots of Dawn
Robots and Empire
The Stars, Like Dust
The Currents of Space
Pebble in the Sky
Prelude to Foundation
Forward the Foundation – It was not in Asimov’s list as it had not been written yet, but it’s the right place.
Foundation
Foundation and Empire
Second Foundation
Foundation’s Edge
Foundation and Earth
Follow the science? There was no science at the start of this covid-19 scam. It was all incompetent models. The MSM continues to publish “reports” of something called science but it is not. Science depends upon reliable and verified data.
The covid-19 death rates includes people who died during the epidemic with no evidence that they died because of covid-19. Those who were infected but had no serious symptoms are not yet counted. THIS IS NOT SCIENCE. It is propaganda.
To what end? To scare us to hide under our beds and give up on actually living. This crashes the economy. A crashed economy cannot sustain our technological civilization. A civilization that has enabled 95% of the population on earth to live past childhood and for most of the survivors to thrive.
Hence, I conclude the demented left of left who have confiscated power and control are out to destroy even the possibility of freedom and liberty. They give us a choice, follow their whims and die or fightback and die. THIS is not a choice!
The bottom line: it is ballots or bullets. The demented left have chosen to ignore both our ballots AND our bullets. Can they get away with it? So far they have.
The time to choose is coming. Choose wisely!
So sorry I couldn’t be there today! I really missed “seeing” and listening to y’all!
If you’d like to be in on the next one, send me a Private Message through this site with your email address and I’ll make sure you get an invitation.