If they are actively going for a 4th, then he’s done something right. Raising 3 kids, with an unhelpful husband would be enough to put most women off having a 4th. Hell, even with a helpful husband!

It’s decent, but I liked it least out of Wier’s books. He seems to only have 1 archetype for his main character. It works really well in the Martian, and project hail Mary, where the main character is a highly competent male. It’s a bit jarring when applied to a teenage girl however.

Pis are excellent mini computers. Unfortunately, their long term reliability isn’t quite there. When I used one, I was getting a couple of lock up crashes a year. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s just enough to be REALLY frustrating to the (less technical) wife. The tipping point is when it goes from “nice to have” to “expected”.

I acquired a 2nd hand NUC, and it’s been bomb proof for a few years now.

It needs a trifecta. Protests, Politics, and “Persuasion”.

The protests give weight to the political group. They also give cover and a place to organise for harder actions.

The political elements act to focus the will of the protestors, and provide guidance to the agitators.

The “Persuasion” group add teeth to the political demands. They also act to defend the protestors, when the government gets aggressive.

The 3 need to work together to achieve major changes. “The Troubles”, in northern island are a good example. The IRA didn’t achieve much/anything practical. What they did was force the UK government to sit down and negotiate in (vaguely) good faith. The protests and marches acted to show large scale support for the changes.

Against an intelligent, aware government, the need for violence is implicit, rather than explicit. It’s a lot better to engage early and diffuse political hot potatoes. Unfortunately, the US government doesn’t seem like they will take the hints.

The marches should be used to crystallise the other 2 requirements. A political agency, to act as a voice. As well as those willing to go further, to act as the muscle.

Most propaganda is aimed at neurotypical wiring. We are out of tune with it, that gives us a measure of protection.

It’s one of the worries I have with AI. While I think we are more protected from propaganda than most (since we constantly want to poke at the crack in a story), we are not immune. It’s perfectly possible to shape it to effect us. They just haven’t bothered, since we are a small target. AI makes that a lot easier to do, so we will see more of it.

A lot of places train their police to de-escalate conflicts, as a default. This leads to far more reasonable encounters.

E.g. in the UK, we have some issues with racism and excessive racial profiling. I know quite a few people who dislike the police (of various ethnic groups). I know very few who fear the police (outside of them doing their job).

I also know a couple of people who work within the police (backroom). They are actively trying to deal with racism within the force. Unfortunately it’s a bit of a game of whack-a-mole, but at least they are trying.

America seems to be an exception. Just seeing your police out and about put me mentally on guard. They don’t radiate professionalism, but bully swagger.

They’ve had to pear it back hard, as well as made some (slightly controversial) changes. It was needed to make the transition however, and the movie flows quite well.

I definitely agree with you.

At the same time. I can’t see how they could fit the awesomeness from the book into a reasonable length film.

The martian is the better book. It’s one of the best examples of “science applied to problems” I’ve read. Unfortunately the movie did it a dirty, and cut out a lot of the good parts.

Project hail Mary is an excellent book, but not quite to the level of The Martian (REALLY enjoyed it however!). The film is a better adaptation. It still cuts a lot of science out, but at least plays lip service to it having happened. It also captures the characters PERFECTLY.

This is the best answer.

It stops you feeling awkward. It’s gets a chuckle from everyone involved, and it makes you feel a lot more confident (fake it till you make it type effect).

Extra qudos if you finish by pointing your mock baton at the friend you know is going to go “hip hip”.

It was double pronged, I think. Carrots are quick and easy to grow in an allotment. Telling British kids that the fighter pilots they saw overhead were eating lots of carrots helped a lot. If only for the morale of people.

Getting kids to eat their veg without complaining isn’t a new problem.

It’s on steam. The challenge levels are great for learning about weird moves and tactics.

Bishops are terrifying in that game. I’ve lost more than a few to a retrograde checkmate.

For those confused, bishops step through 2 dimensions at a time. In a normal chess game, that is X&Y, making them move diagonally. In 5D chess it can be X &T, letting it check a king in the past. Since a king in the past can’t move, it’s a checkmate.

A lot of vehicles have a beam dip adjuster in the cab. Mine pops out when I press the center of the light control selector.

Officially, they are to correct for a heavy load in the back. Unofficially, if you tweak them, you can flip between longer range, and polite as required.

If you watch your lights, there should be a fairly sharp cut-off at the top of their coverage. If that line ever hits a window or mirror, it will look like you are flashing them. If it’s too high, either fix it yourself (generally quite easy) or get it fixed.

I’ll just be happy when we phase out imperial and other weird thread types. Metric standardisation is a godsend over what came before.

The heads are a lost cause. They serve too many different purposes, with differing, competing, requirements.

It might be worth looking around. At least over here, independent/small chain cinemas are making a bit of a comeback.

I’m a lot happier to pay £10 for a big, comfortable, motorised recliner. It’s a lot better than the tiny hard seats in the big chains.

The french we can handle. The Danes… they fall in the same category as the Canadians, or the Scots. You don’t pick a fight with them. If you must fight them, you run away throwing gold at them.

Starmer leads the UK center left party, while being as left wing as Margret Thatcher. Unfortunately, he doesn’t even have her spine or intelligence. It was the least worst option, which isn’t saying much. He’s a hypocritical sack of shit, but still better than the other options.

Labour are being overtaken by the green party FFS.

/Rant

Mice used to have a mechanical ball in the bottom. You needed to remove it periodically to clean out the gunk that formed on the rollers. When optical mice appeared, they steadily replaced the old style. It became an IT joke. Mice with balls were male. Optical mice were female.

I would call that a feature! It means we can use them as caltrops if the French ever invade!

/s