F.B. Purity is a desktop browser extension, it only works on the website from a PC. It won't run on Android devices, unfortunately. They've been talking about making an app for it for years, but they still haven't made one.
Has everyone forgotten about F.B. Purity (Fluff Busting Purity)? It's a browser extension that lets you customize the entire interface of Facebook. It's been around for 17 years and still works just fine.
I use it to remove not only ads, but FB games, marketplace, reels/videos, suggestions/featured content, FB Messenger, etc. I pretty much locked down my Facebook interface to only show me posts from my friends in the order that they were posted, with the latest at the top of my feed. Just like Facebook used to be before it started shoving useless content in your face.
The only reason I still have a Facebook account is because 90% of my friends, family, and contacts I've made over a lifetime of global travels, are all on Facebook. If I need to get in touch with someone, Facebook is where I'll find them. But I don't post anything to Facebook anymore; I rarely log on to it.
There isn't another social media program where I can find everyone I know without subscribing to even more junk. I won't use Instagram, Snapchat, Whatsapp, TikTok, or any of the other corporate social media programs, and most people I know/knew in person don't use or understand the Fediverse.
Bluesky and Discord are as corporate as I'll tolerate, and I'm already on the lookout for replacements for both. I used to have a Mastodon account a decade ago, before the Fediverse was a common thing, but I have no idea what site I built an account on. I might have to just suck it up and rebuild my account somewhere else. And there are plenty of Discord clones out there, but none quite as functional as Discord yet...
Interesting note: Zombie Army is actually a spinoff series from the Sniper Elite franchise. It was originally called Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army, but they dropped the lengthy title when the third Zombie Army game released. There are 4 of them out now.
Sniper Elite focuses on a sniper behind enemy lines during WWII. Despite creating unique stories and events for you to play, its overall setting is somewhat accurate to real life history.
Zombie Army, however, is an alternate history where Hitler revived his fallen Nazis as zombies, as a final solution when he knew he was losing the war. These are supernatural zombies, as real-life this Hitler was obsessed with the occult. No virus plague zombies here.
The two game franchises don't have much to do with each other, but they started out under the same franchise title.
I served in the US military for 20 years, which has a strict clean-shaven policy. No facial hair allowed unless you're on a temporary medical exemption. You can't even have stubble; you have to be clean shaven if you're wearing the military uniform.
Some branches of our military (Army specifically) require you to be clean-shaven 24/7, regardless of whether you're in uniform or not. I served in the US Air Force, so that was thankfully not a requirement for me.
However, I have another dilemma. I have soft, sensitive skin, but thick, rough facial hair. So shaving is always tough on my face. I would shave 5 days of the week so I could be presentable in uniform, then let it grow out on the weekends so my face can heal. Otherwise, I'd start damaging my skin from daily shaving.
Even worse, my hair grows exceptionally fast. I had to start shaving twice a day to stay within regs; first thing in the morning before I went to work, then again around lunchtime to keep the stubble at bay. I still had a permanent 5-O'clock shadow and would regularly be accused of not shaving.
In those 2 decades, I tried a variety of razors, from electric, manual, safety, disposable, etc. In the end, the only one that truly worked well for me was the Gillette Mach 3. Not the Mach 3 Turbo, which was more expensive but with no visible improvement.
Below is my current razor. I've had the handle for about a decade now, so it's getting worn down.
I used to swap razors weekly when I shaved daily. Now that I'm retired, I shave once every few weeks and swap razors maybe once a month or two. I save a ton of money on razors now.
My wife once bought me a fancy expensive "electric" razor set from The Art of Shaving in New York. Their "Lexington Collection," specifically. It's basically a vibrating razor handle that takes Gillette disposable razor heads. I forget what Gillette calls them, but it's the one with 5 blades. It came with a metal stand that holds the razor and a shaving brush. 5 blades was too much; it didn't shave as well as the Mach 3 and its three blades. And I didn't notice a difference whether it was vibrating or not. So I stopped using it.
I also bought a Van Der Hagen shaving brush and soap cup. I used to use it with a Van Der Hagen safety razor, but despite the name, I kept cutting myself every time I used it. So safety razors are out for me.
I used to get skin irritation all the time, or occasionally break out in face acne when shaving, until I learned that "dry shaving" worked best for me. I was spending a fortune on shaving cream, but that seemed to be the problem. Now I just wet my face with hot water, run my razor under hot water and shave with it, then rinse my face with cold water afterwards. No more skin irritation, no more acne, no more problems. Shaving cream is just a waste of money; it's not necessary.
Here's an example of how fast my facial hair grows. This is me right now, after 4 days without shaving:
Flock is a private security company which has been making contracts with city and state governments all over the US to put up their cameras in public spaces. These cameras use AI to monitor the public and report any potential crimes to law enforcement.
Unfortunately, AI is in its infancy and highly fallible. So most of the "crimes" reported are false. Just hallucinations by the AI. However, this doesn't stop police from responding to every report and treating innocent civilians like criminals before they've done a proper human assessment of the situation or any real detective work.
On top of that, police (and government officials) are using these cameras to spy on American citizens and stalk them. Harassment of "suspected criminals" is at an all-time-high thanks to these cameras, and biases (read: racism) are being encouraged. Especially with all the issues with ICE going on right now.
The cameras aren't even encrypted properly, and some more tech-savvy folks are finding it easy to connect to the Flock camera network and browse cameras themselves without any actual credentials or authorization. You never know who is actually looking at you through these cameras.
The issue with your phone being scanned is a whole different thing unrelated to Flock cameras. Law enforcement can set up fake relay "towers" for cell phones in a mobile van, which your phone will connect to automatically while searching for the nearest strong signal. Then they can track all data that comes and goes from your phone, effectively watching everything you do on your device.
The problem is, they can't pinpoint specific phones to connect to, so everyone in the area will automatically connect to their relay and they can effectively collect data on dozens of wireless devices all at once. It's a short-range relay, so it's not like they're tracking everyone in the city. But if they're looking for someone in particular, everyone in the area will have their private data accessed without their knowledge.
Can someone scan your phone and remotely access all of your data? Yes and no. With the right equipment, software, and skill, your phone can be remotely hacked. But no one is just pointing a device at your phone and stealing data that way. Especially not Flock. Their AI is just (falsely) reporting on what their cameras detect. They're not actively scanning signals in the area and attempting to hack them.
Most hacked devices are either random (hackers scanning networks until they find an unsecure device), targeted attacks by someone with a purpose, or just a regular person accidentally clicking on a bad file or website link that installs a virus on their device that allows hackers to access it.
Firefox has tons of extensions to remove/hide/block AI overview in Google searches. Just search "Google AI" on their extensions page and you'll get nearly a dozen extensions to choose from.
if a movie or TV show had subs we had to take turns reading it out loud
I do this for my wife, because she spends most of a film on her phone.
She's listening to the audio and can mostly follow what's going on by glancing at the screen and reading subtitles every now and then, but if there's a foreign language with subtitles, or a text description (Paris, 11 AM or 10 years later, etc.), she'll miss it and then be completely lost.
I can't tell you how many times I've had to pause a movie and give a quick recap to get her caught up with the plot.
Novel Bond is described by the author, Ian Fleming, as an "extremely dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened; I wanted him to be a blunt instrument." He picked the name "James Bond" from the author of the book, "Birds of the West Indies," which he thought was a very boring, average name.
This Bond is a loveless, depressed alcoholic who only lives for the next mission. He doesn't really have a personal life and throws himself completely into his work as a distraction from his terrible life. He knows spies tend to live short lives, and he secretly hopes the job will be the end of him one day.
Movie Bond was spiced up to be a charming, handsome womanizer, who drinks and smokes socially (attractive traits at the time) and always has clever one-liners. This Bond is the hero who saves the day and gets the girl every time. He lives an extravagant lifestyle, funded by MI6, and loves his work. He's a sex icon for women and an ideal role model for men. At least, back in the '60s where he originated.
I will say that Daniel Craig's version of James Bond is the closest on-screen adaptation we've ever had to Novel Bond. I thoroughly enjoyed his run as the character, even if some of his movies weren't all that good.
But I highly recommend reading the original novels. They're very different from the films, even though some films borrowed novel titles occasionally. For instance, the Moonraker novel is about a nuke being aimed at London while James Bond tries to stop its launch; whereas the Moonraker film is about a guy planning to kill off everyone on the planet while creating his own human "ark" in space, to repopulate the planet with his own chosen specimens. Wildly different stakes.
washing your pillowcase/bedding often makes a big difference
Expanding on this... put a fresh, clean hand towel over your pillow every night for about a week or so. Never sleep on the same towel unless it's been washed first. You'll be surprised how quickly your face acne clears up. Especially if you regularly wash your face.
Turns out, spending hours smearing your face oils on your pillow every night, then sleeping on the same pillow for days/weeks at a time, causes your face to break out. Especially in your teen years, when your body is changing and your hormones are on overdrive.
I never had face acne as a teenager, but I also slept with a hand between my cheek and the pillow. I always had super soft pillows as a kid and I would sink deep into them. I felt like I was drowning in them when I slept on my side, so I kept a hand or two under my head so I could keep the pillowcase away from my mouth and breathe easier in my sleep. Turns out, that kept my face relatively clean.
Plus, taking a daily shower helped me stay mostly acne free throughout my teen years. I did get a little "backne," but it was mostly in the spots I couldn't reach well to wash in the shower. Buying a sponge on a stick helped clear that up.
S'all good. I spent 20 years in the US Air Force. I don't know a damn thing about airplanes. There are plenty of civilians who have way more knowledge than I do on the subject.
I worked an IT job in the military. 90% of my job was spent sitting in dark, cold server rooms, about as far removed from the planes as one could get.
From my time overhearing people talk about planes at work, I think I've figured out most of the letter designators? F = fighter, B = bomber, C = cargo, A = attack (how that's different from fighter, I dunno).
I rode in a C-130 on my way to a deployed base in Africa once. That's the only military plane I ever got to fly in; the Air Force put me on commercial flights for everywhere else they sent me. Even on my deployment to Iraq; they wanted us to blend in with civilian planes so we were less likely to be shot down. We took a commercial plane directly to our base in the country.
I loved being in the Air Force (definitely best branch of the military, I dodged some serious bullets (sometimes literally) with that random selection of a branch), but I never had an interest in the planes and they were unimportant to my job. As long as our computer systems were online, the pilots could communicate. That's about as involved as I ever got.
It was written by Andy Weir, the same guy who wrote The Martian, which went on to be a successful film starring Matt Damon.
Similar storyline; guy is stranded alone in space, has to science the shit out of everything in order to survive and make it home, despite odds of survival being practically nil.
Real science and math were implemented, not "Hollywood science" to drive a plot forward. Andy Weir did extensive research while writing his novels to make them as accurate as possible to real-world science, which is how he got noticed for his works and became a famous sci-fi author.
Minus the sandstorm on Mars. He admitted that weather patterns aren't strong enough on Mars to actually generate a huge sandstorm on the planet, but that's the only suspension of disbelief in the whole The Martian film.
But cloning human tissue for food? That's real science, even if it's a bit gross. But when survival is on the line, you do what you gotta do. Too bad he didn't have any potatoes on hand...
That film was absolutely bonkers (in the best way), and I watched it in Norwegian with English subtitles. Even knowing what's going on, it was still trippy.
I love how the film devolves into a musical at the end about the benefits (and necessity!) of abortion. Definitely would have enraged like half of America if it was shown here.
My wife and I just watched it. It surprised us how good it was. We're both older millennials who grew up in the era of the original He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon, although I didn't watch it much as a kid and my wife had never seen it. It was still accessible for both of us, not knowing most of the lore of the original.
We both cheered when the 4 Non Blondes' song, What's Up started playing (the meme song that the Internet just calls "HEYYEYAAEYAAAEYAEYAA"). Hilarious that they found a way to slip it in that was plot relevant, not just "Hey, here's your meme reference!"
The film was surprisingly smart and witty. Prince Adam (He-Man) himself had his smart moments, but was mostly a himbo, which my wife found hilarious. She said it's the perfect film for her and her girlfriends to enjoy together over some wine. There were a lot of tropes with women in old sword & sorcery films, but gender-reversed. He-Man is eye candy, kind of dumb, when he "suits up," it's extremely revealing armor that doesn't actually cover or protect his body, just shows lots of sexy skin, etc.
Also, I loved how they explained the cringey names of all He-Man's friends from the old cartoon. They were apparently nicknames he gave them when he was like 10 years old, based on their abilities. Even they thought they were weird names to be called, but kinda leaned into them by the end. Even the name "He-Man" was kinda cringe, but explained that it was the manliest man name 10-yr old Adam could come up with.
We solidly enjoyed it. Easily a 9/10 in my book, and I used to review films for a while. This film actually made me consider starting up my old film review blog again.
I saw the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. It's literally just large stacked stones. Nothing holding them together but gravity.
(Also, the pyramids are right next to the city of Giza. Every photo makes them look like some exotic ruins deep in the desert, but there's literally modern civilization and plant life everywhere, if you turn the camera in pretty much any other direction.)
I toured some smaller pyramids further out in the desert. Some of them had literally started to collapse because they weren't built with perfectly shaped stones, or the thousand of years of weathering had worn them away until they didn't sit evenly anymore and slid off their base.
The Great Pyramid of Giza is only still standing because the stones are absolutely massive. They probably need another million years or so before they're eroded enough to start collapsing.
Interestingly enough, the original Great Pyramid of Giza was covered with a solid, smooth, white limestone outer shell, with a gold cap at the top. You could technically slide all the way down its sides, no steps to climb up or anything.
But people have plundered and looted so much over the past thousands of years before we started preserving them, that all that's left is the ragged, rough underside of the pyramid. The entire outer shell is long gone.
I retired young, at 38 years old. I'm not wealthy, just broken from 20 years of military service and receiving enough pay and benefits to cover my basic needs without having to work.
Do I want to be busy? Heck yeah! My days are so packed with stuff to do, I need to keep a schedule so I don't miss out on things going on in my life. I'm booked solid for at least a few years out on projects, events, socializing, and general fun activities.
Do I want to go back to work though? Fuck no. I gave up my personal freedom and a handful of my basic human rights to work for the govt for 2 decades. It's my time now.
I enjoy not having to wake up at god-awful hours of the morning. I enjoy not having to dress up and go to a job, where I'm stuck until a certain time of day regardless of my productivity level. I enjoy deciding each morning what my day is going to be like, or choosing not to face the day and just veg out in bed all day.
Most everyone wants to be busy. Most people want to live though, not work. I achieved that dream and get to live the rest of my life enjoying things. I just had to sacrifice my mind and body to "earn" it.
I think the reason there are so many bird designs is because the people on the bills don't represent every country in the EU. Some nations feel left out. But (most) everyone enjoys birds!
I was exempt from jury duty while serving in the US military, but at one particular base I was stationed at, they put me on a list of potential jury members for any military trials held in the area.
My boss got selected to sit in on a trial, but I never got called. He was super excited about it. He said it was a fascinating case and he couldn't wait to spill the details once the trial concluded.
To this day, I've never been called on. I kinda hope it happens one day. I'm retired now and have nothing better to do.
F.B. Purity is a desktop browser extension, it only works on the website from a PC. It won't run on Android devices, unfortunately. They've been talking about making an app for it for years, but they still haven't made one.
Has everyone forgotten about F.B. Purity (Fluff Busting Purity)? It's a browser extension that lets you customize the entire interface of Facebook. It's been around for 17 years and still works just fine.
I use it to remove not only ads, but FB games, marketplace, reels/videos, suggestions/featured content, FB Messenger, etc. I pretty much locked down my Facebook interface to only show me posts from my friends in the order that they were posted, with the latest at the top of my feed. Just like Facebook used to be before it started shoving useless content in your face.
The only reason I still have a Facebook account is because 90% of my friends, family, and contacts I've made over a lifetime of global travels, are all on Facebook. If I need to get in touch with someone, Facebook is where I'll find them. But I don't post anything to Facebook anymore; I rarely log on to it.
There isn't another social media program where I can find everyone I know without subscribing to even more junk. I won't use Instagram, Snapchat, Whatsapp, TikTok, or any of the other corporate social media programs, and most people I know/knew in person don't use or understand the Fediverse.
Bluesky and Discord are as corporate as I'll tolerate, and I'm already on the lookout for replacements for both. I used to have a Mastodon account a decade ago, before the Fediverse was a common thing, but I have no idea what site I built an account on. I might have to just suck it up and rebuild my account somewhere else. And there are plenty of Discord clones out there, but none quite as functional as Discord yet...
Ah, maybe I'm getting my pop media confused with actual history. Hitler is obsessed with the occult in many films and video games.
Interesting note: Zombie Army is actually a spinoff series from the Sniper Elite franchise. It was originally called Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army, but they dropped the lengthy title when the third Zombie Army game released. There are 4 of them out now.
Sniper Elite focuses on a sniper behind enemy lines during WWII. Despite creating unique stories and events for you to play, its overall setting is somewhat accurate to real life history.
Zombie Army, however, is an alternate history where Hitler revived his fallen Nazis as zombies, as a final solution when he knew he was losing the war. These are supernatural zombies, as
real-lifethis Hitler was obsessed with the occult. No virus plague zombies here.The two game franchises don't have much to do with each other, but they started out under the same franchise title.
I served in the US military for 20 years, which has a strict clean-shaven policy. No facial hair allowed unless you're on a temporary medical exemption. You can't even have stubble; you have to be clean shaven if you're wearing the military uniform.
Some branches of our military (Army specifically) require you to be clean-shaven 24/7, regardless of whether you're in uniform or not. I served in the US Air Force, so that was thankfully not a requirement for me.
However, I have another dilemma. I have soft, sensitive skin, but thick, rough facial hair. So shaving is always tough on my face. I would shave 5 days of the week so I could be presentable in uniform, then let it grow out on the weekends so my face can heal. Otherwise, I'd start damaging my skin from daily shaving.
Even worse, my hair grows exceptionally fast. I had to start shaving twice a day to stay within regs; first thing in the morning before I went to work, then again around lunchtime to keep the stubble at bay. I still had a permanent 5-O'clock shadow and would regularly be accused of not shaving.
In those 2 decades, I tried a variety of razors, from electric, manual, safety, disposable, etc. In the end, the only one that truly worked well for me was the Gillette Mach 3. Not the Mach 3 Turbo, which was more expensive but with no visible improvement.
Below is my current razor. I've had the handle for about a decade now, so it's getting worn down.
I used to swap razors weekly when I shaved daily. Now that I'm retired, I shave once every few weeks and swap razors maybe once a month or two. I save a ton of money on razors now.
My wife once bought me a fancy expensive "electric" razor set from The Art of Shaving in New York. Their "Lexington Collection," specifically. It's basically a vibrating razor handle that takes Gillette disposable razor heads. I forget what Gillette calls them, but it's the one with 5 blades. It came with a metal stand that holds the razor and a shaving brush. 5 blades was too much; it didn't shave as well as the Mach 3 and its three blades. And I didn't notice a difference whether it was vibrating or not. So I stopped using it.
I also bought a Van Der Hagen shaving brush and soap cup. I used to use it with a Van Der Hagen safety razor, but despite the name, I kept cutting myself every time I used it. So safety razors are out for me.
I used to get skin irritation all the time, or occasionally break out in face acne when shaving, until I learned that "dry shaving" worked best for me. I was spending a fortune on shaving cream, but that seemed to be the problem. Now I just wet my face with hot water, run my razor under hot water and shave with it, then rinse my face with cold water afterwards. No more skin irritation, no more acne, no more problems. Shaving cream is just a waste of money; it's not necessary.
Here's an example of how fast my facial hair grows. This is me right now, after 4 days without shaving:
Flock is a private security company which has been making contracts with city and state governments all over the US to put up their cameras in public spaces. These cameras use AI to monitor the public and report any potential crimes to law enforcement.
Unfortunately, AI is in its infancy and highly fallible. So most of the "crimes" reported are false. Just hallucinations by the AI. However, this doesn't stop police from responding to every report and treating innocent civilians like criminals before they've done a proper human assessment of the situation or any real detective work.
On top of that, police (and government officials) are using these cameras to spy on American citizens and stalk them. Harassment of "suspected criminals" is at an all-time-high thanks to these cameras, and biases (read: racism) are being encouraged. Especially with all the issues with ICE going on right now.
The cameras aren't even encrypted properly, and some more tech-savvy folks are finding it easy to connect to the Flock camera network and browse cameras themselves without any actual credentials or authorization. You never know who is actually looking at you through these cameras.
The issue with your phone being scanned is a whole different thing unrelated to Flock cameras. Law enforcement can set up fake relay "towers" for cell phones in a mobile van, which your phone will connect to automatically while searching for the nearest strong signal. Then they can track all data that comes and goes from your phone, effectively watching everything you do on your device.
The problem is, they can't pinpoint specific phones to connect to, so everyone in the area will automatically connect to their relay and they can effectively collect data on dozens of wireless devices all at once. It's a short-range relay, so it's not like they're tracking everyone in the city. But if they're looking for someone in particular, everyone in the area will have their private data accessed without their knowledge.
Can someone scan your phone and remotely access all of your data? Yes and no. With the right equipment, software, and skill, your phone can be remotely hacked. But no one is just pointing a device at your phone and stealing data that way. Especially not Flock. Their AI is just (falsely) reporting on what their cameras detect. They're not actively scanning signals in the area and attempting to hack them.
Most hacked devices are either random (hackers scanning networks until they find an unsecure device), targeted attacks by someone with a purpose, or just a regular person accidentally clicking on a bad file or website link that installs a virus on their device that allows hackers to access it.
Firefox has tons of extensions to remove/hide/block AI overview in Google searches. Just search "Google AI" on their extensions page and you'll get nearly a dozen extensions to choose from.
I do this for my wife, because she spends most of a film on her phone.
She's listening to the audio and can mostly follow what's going on by glancing at the screen and reading subtitles every now and then, but if there's a foreign language with subtitles, or a text description (Paris, 11 AM or 10 years later, etc.), she'll miss it and then be completely lost.
I can't tell you how many times I've had to pause a movie and give a quick recap to get her caught up with the plot.
Joke's on you, I'm retired. It's raining out right now; I might just stay in bed all day today. I can always be productive tomorrow.
Novel Bond is very different from Movie Bond.
Novel Bond is described by the author, Ian Fleming, as an "extremely dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened; I wanted him to be a blunt instrument." He picked the name "James Bond" from the author of the book, "Birds of the West Indies," which he thought was a very boring, average name.
This Bond is a loveless, depressed alcoholic who only lives for the next mission. He doesn't really have a personal life and throws himself completely into his work as a distraction from his terrible life. He knows spies tend to live short lives, and he secretly hopes the job will be the end of him one day.
Movie Bond was spiced up to be a charming, handsome womanizer, who drinks and smokes socially (attractive traits at the time) and always has clever one-liners. This Bond is the hero who saves the day and gets the girl every time. He lives an extravagant lifestyle, funded by MI6, and loves his work. He's a sex icon for women and an ideal role model for men. At least, back in the '60s where he originated.
I will say that Daniel Craig's version of James Bond is the closest on-screen adaptation we've ever had to Novel Bond. I thoroughly enjoyed his run as the character, even if some of his movies weren't all that good.
But I highly recommend reading the original novels. They're very different from the films, even though some films borrowed novel titles occasionally. For instance, the Moonraker novel is about a nuke being aimed at London while James Bond tries to stop its launch; whereas the Moonraker film is about a guy planning to kill off everyone on the planet while creating his own human "ark" in space, to repopulate the planet with his own chosen specimens. Wildly different stakes.
Expanding on this... put a fresh, clean hand towel over your pillow every night for about a week or so. Never sleep on the same towel unless it's been washed first. You'll be surprised how quickly your face acne clears up. Especially if you regularly wash your face.
Turns out, spending hours smearing your face oils on your pillow every night, then sleeping on the same pillow for days/weeks at a time, causes your face to break out. Especially in your teen years, when your body is changing and your hormones are on overdrive.
I never had face acne as a teenager, but I also slept with a hand between my cheek and the pillow. I always had super soft pillows as a kid and I would sink deep into them. I felt like I was drowning in them when I slept on my side, so I kept a hand or two under my head so I could keep the pillowcase away from my mouth and breathe easier in my sleep. Turns out, that kept my face relatively clean.
Plus, taking a daily shower helped me stay mostly acne free throughout my teen years. I did get a little "backne," but it was mostly in the spots I couldn't reach well to wash in the shower. Buying a sponge on a stick helped clear that up.
S'all good. I spent 20 years in the US Air Force. I don't know a damn thing about airplanes. There are plenty of civilians who have way more knowledge than I do on the subject.
I worked an IT job in the military. 90% of my job was spent sitting in dark, cold server rooms, about as far removed from the planes as one could get.
From my time overhearing people talk about planes at work, I think I've figured out most of the letter designators? F = fighter, B = bomber, C = cargo, A = attack (how that's different from fighter, I dunno).
I rode in a C-130 on my way to a deployed base in Africa once. That's the only military plane I ever got to fly in; the Air Force put me on commercial flights for everywhere else they sent me. Even on my deployment to Iraq; they wanted us to blend in with civilian planes so we were less likely to be shot down. We took a commercial plane directly to our base in the country.
I loved being in the Air Force (definitely best branch of the military, I dodged some serious bullets (sometimes literally) with that random selection of a branch), but I never had an interest in the planes and they were unimportant to my job. As long as our computer systems were online, the pilots could communicate. That's about as involved as I ever got.
It was written by Andy Weir, the same guy who wrote The Martian, which went on to be a successful film starring Matt Damon.
Similar storyline; guy is stranded alone in space, has to science the shit out of everything in order to survive and make it home, despite odds of survival being practically nil.
Real science and math were implemented, not "Hollywood science" to drive a plot forward. Andy Weir did extensive research while writing his novels to make them as accurate as possible to real-world science, which is how he got noticed for his works and became a famous sci-fi author.
Minus the sandstorm on Mars. He admitted that weather patterns aren't strong enough on Mars to actually generate a huge sandstorm on the planet, but that's the only suspension of disbelief in the whole The Martian film.
But cloning human tissue for food? That's real science, even if it's a bit gross. But when survival is on the line, you do what you gotta do. Too bad he didn't have any potatoes on hand...
That film was absolutely bonkers (in the best way), and I watched it in Norwegian with English subtitles. Even knowing what's going on, it was still trippy.
I love how the film devolves into a musical at the end about the benefits (and necessity!) of abortion. Definitely would have enraged like half of America if it was shown here.
My wife and I just watched it. It surprised us how good it was. We're both older millennials who grew up in the era of the original He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon, although I didn't watch it much as a kid and my wife had never seen it. It was still accessible for both of us, not knowing most of the lore of the original.
We both cheered when the 4 Non Blondes' song, What's Up started playing (the meme song that the Internet just calls "HEYYEYAAEYAAAEYAEYAA"). Hilarious that they found a way to slip it in that was plot relevant, not just "Hey, here's your meme reference!"
The film was surprisingly smart and witty. Prince Adam (He-Man) himself had his smart moments, but was mostly a himbo, which my wife found hilarious. She said it's the perfect film for her and her girlfriends to enjoy together over some wine. There were a lot of tropes with women in old sword & sorcery films, but gender-reversed. He-Man is eye candy, kind of dumb, when he "suits up," it's extremely revealing armor that doesn't actually cover or protect his body, just shows lots of sexy skin, etc.
Also, I loved how they explained the cringey names of all He-Man's friends from the old cartoon. They were apparently nicknames he gave them when he was like 10 years old, based on their abilities. Even they thought they were weird names to be called, but kinda leaned into them by the end. Even the name "He-Man" was kinda cringe, but explained that it was the manliest man name 10-yr old Adam could come up with.
We solidly enjoyed it. Easily a 9/10 in my book, and I used to review films for a while. This film actually made me consider starting up my old film review blog again.
I saw the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. It's literally just large stacked stones. Nothing holding them together but gravity.
(Also, the pyramids are right next to the city of Giza. Every photo makes them look like some exotic ruins deep in the desert, but there's literally modern civilization and plant life everywhere, if you turn the camera in pretty much any other direction.)
I toured some smaller pyramids further out in the desert. Some of them had literally started to collapse because they weren't built with perfectly shaped stones, or the thousand of years of weathering had worn them away until they didn't sit evenly anymore and slid off their base.
The Great Pyramid of Giza is only still standing because the stones are absolutely massive. They probably need another million years or so before they're eroded enough to start collapsing.
Interestingly enough, the original Great Pyramid of Giza was covered with a solid, smooth, white limestone outer shell, with a gold cap at the top. You could technically slide all the way down its sides, no steps to climb up or anything.
But people have plundered and looted so much over the past thousands of years before we started preserving them, that all that's left is the ragged, rough underside of the pyramid. The entire outer shell is long gone.
I retired young, at 38 years old. I'm not wealthy, just broken from 20 years of military service and receiving enough pay and benefits to cover my basic needs without having to work.
Do I want to be busy? Heck yeah! My days are so packed with stuff to do, I need to keep a schedule so I don't miss out on things going on in my life. I'm booked solid for at least a few years out on projects, events, socializing, and general fun activities.
Do I want to go back to work though? Fuck no. I gave up my personal freedom and a handful of my basic human rights to work for the govt for 2 decades. It's my time now.
I enjoy not having to wake up at god-awful hours of the morning. I enjoy not having to dress up and go to a job, where I'm stuck until a certain time of day regardless of my productivity level. I enjoy deciding each morning what my day is going to be like, or choosing not to face the day and just veg out in bed all day.
Most everyone wants to be busy. Most people want to live though, not work. I achieved that dream and get to live the rest of my life enjoying things. I just had to sacrifice my mind and body to "earn" it.
I think the reason there are so many bird designs is because the people on the bills don't represent every country in the EU. Some nations feel left out. But (most) everyone enjoys birds!
I was exempt from jury duty while serving in the US military, but at one particular base I was stationed at, they put me on a list of potential jury members for any military trials held in the area.
My boss got selected to sit in on a trial, but I never got called. He was super excited about it. He said it was a fascinating case and he couldn't wait to spill the details once the trial concluded.
To this day, I've never been called on. I kinda hope it happens one day. I'm retired now and have nothing better to do.
I was hoping someone would get the reference. 😉