A Story of Coincidence and Chance

A Story of Coincidence and Chance https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/ A Story of Coincidence and Chance - Dreamwidth Studios Sat, 01 Mar 2025 00:58:44 GMT LiveJournal / Dreamwidth Studios bcholmes personal https://v2.dreamwidth.org/85477/119236 A Story of Coincidence and Chance https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/ 83 100 https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/838541.html Sat, 01 Mar 2025 00:58:44 GMT Presser https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/838541.html That was a new bar in political media events.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=bcholmes&ditemid=838541" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/838541.html public

5

https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/838111.html Thu, 15 Aug 2024 00:48:30 GMT Shuttle Demons https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/838111.html My friend, Lyda, sent me <a href="https://lydamorehouse.dreamwidth.org/688744.html">this absolutely amazing quilt</a>. Like, seriously. Absolutely amazing.<br /><br />Lyda just seems to have this knack for making a quilt just perfectly designed for the recipient. I've seen the ones she's made for other members of our gaming group, and each one is not only a piece of art, but a piece of art that has been crafted specifically for the recipient. I am so overjoyed by the final result, I could scream. <br /><br />Also: it is a truth, universally acknowledged, that a Captain of a federation starship must be in want of an Argo-class shuttle.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=bcholmes&ditemid=838111" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/838111.html public

9

https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/835946.html Sat, 13 Jan 2024 01:10:44 GMT Ed is the Worst https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/835946.html I've loved this season of <cite>For All Mankind</cite>. <br /><br />We started with a fairly standard space disaster. We've had an episode contrasting the two worlds of Mars life: the lives of the astronauts and the lives of the maintenance workers. We've had a coup. Well, two coups. One in the Soviet Union and one in the Mars black market. We've had Cold War politics. We've had a labour uprising. We've had a heist. We've had betrayals. We've had reveals. And we've had characters seemingly reaching the ends of their stories.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=bcholmes&ditemid=835946" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/835946.html public

5

https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/835772.html Sun, 24 Dec 2023 23:16:12 GMT Brine and Brine! What is Brine? https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/835772.html I have a ginormous new pot for brining a whole turkey in. The previous pot that I had used didn't quite fit the turkey in past years, and I'd hafta flip the turkey a couple of times to ensure that it brines fully.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=bcholmes&ditemid=835772" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/835772.html public

1

https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/835451.html Sat, 09 Dec 2023 16:17:13 GMT You Say Pot-ay-to Button... I say Po-tah-to Button https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/835451.html I recently got a new microwave. It has a potato button.<br /><br />When I was more active on Tumblr, I'd frequently see a meme lovingly gushing about microwaves with a potato button, and I'd think, "Huh. I've never had a microwave with a potato button. The very idea is weird!" <br /><br />Those days are gone now.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=bcholmes&ditemid=835451" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/835451.html public

5

https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/835187.html Mon, 04 Dec 2023 14:16:16 GMT Thought for the Day https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/835187.html <blockquote><p><em>Her</em> lips were red, <em>her</em> looks were free, <br>Her locks were yellow as gold: <br>Her skin was as white as leprosy, <br>The Night-mare LIFE-IN-DEATH was she, <br>Who thicks man’s blood with cold. </p></blockquote> <p class="has-text-align-right" style="text-align: right">— “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, Samuel Taylor Coleridge</p> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="https://blog.bcholmes.org/thought-for-the-day-44/" title="Read Original Post">Under the Beret</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=bcholmes&ditemid=835187" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/835187.html quotoids public

0

https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/834927.html Wed, 22 Nov 2023 13:54:19 GMT https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/834927.html <p>I got into a long conversation about silverware while I was in Portugal last week. When you were growing up, did you learn the way to set your silverware on the plate to indicate that you were done or indicate that you were still eating?</p> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="https://blog.bcholmes.org/2355-2/" title="Read Original Post">Under the Beret</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=bcholmes&ditemid=834927" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/834927.html public

19

https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/834425.html Sat, 04 Nov 2023 16:14:25 GMT Nothing But Blue Skies https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/834425.html <p>I still like and prefer <a href="https://tech.lgbt/@bcholmes" data-type="link" data-id="https://tech.lgbt/@bcholmes">Mastodon</a>, but I accept that there are segments of the communities that I follow that never migrated. So I’m giving <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/bcholmes.bsky.social" data-type="link" data-id="https://bsky.app/profile/bcholmes.bsky.social">BlueSky</a> a try.</p> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="https://blog.bcholmes.org/nothing-but-blue-skies/" title="Read Original Post">Under the Beret</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=bcholmes&ditemid=834425" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/834425.html public

3

https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/834097.html Fri, 03 Nov 2023 16:07:44 GMT Beyond Videodrome https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/834097.html <p>I <a href="https://blog.bcholmes.org/icon-filled-self-promotion/" data-type="link" data-id="https://blog.bcholmes.org/icon-filled-self-promotion/">mentioned, the other day,</a> doing a live stream as part of the Continuing Conversations 100th anniversary special. I think I even squee’d on Mastodon about sharing a screen with Dr. Erin. Anyway, the full video is now available. Full of RPG nerding.</p> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-continuing-mission wp-block-embed-continuing-mission"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="Wt4eRQRSrc"><a href="https://continuingmissionsta.com/2023/11/03/continuing-conversations-100th-episode-extravaganza/">Continuing Conversations 100th Episode Extravaganza!</a></blockquote> </div></figure> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="https://blog.bcholmes.org/beyond-videodrome/" title="Read Original Post">Under the Beret</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=bcholmes&ditemid=834097" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/834097.html public

0

https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/833865.html Sat, 07 Oct 2023 15:29:06 GMT Icon-Filled Self-Promotion https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/833865.html <p>I’m doing a livestream for a <em>Star Trek Adventures</em> Podcast/Videocast today.</p> <p>🌌 <strong>🌟 Join Me for Continuing Conversations 100th Episode Extravaganza 🌟</strong> 🌌</p> <p>🖖 Attention all Star Trek Enthusiasts! We are ecstatic to beam you up for a spectacular celebration of all things <strong>Star Trek Adventures</strong> RPG as we commemorate their 100th episode! 🚀<br><br> 📅 <strong>When?</strong> October 7, 2023 <br>⏰ <strong>Time?</strong> 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM EST <br>📺 <strong>Where?</strong> Live-streamed on Twitch at <a href="https://www.twitch.tv/StudioTembo?fbclid=IwAR03ad5csPIJzPnUkOoXX7CjxhkGz6vcMNzHerK46Ga_cVeIg91H1SI4ZIU" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Studio Tembo</a></p> <p>🌠 <strong>Event Highlights:</strong></p> <ul> <li>🌟 <strong>Stellar Guest Lineup:</strong> Join industry leaders Jim Johnson, Thomas Marrone (Star Trek Online), Aaron Pollyea , Nathan Dowdell , Michael Dismuke, and freelance writer Al Spader!</li> <li>📚 <strong>Literary Contributions:</strong> From acclaimed Star Trek writers like Dayton Ward, Scott Pearson, Kelli Fitzpatrick, Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, and Derek Tyler Attico, author of the much-anticipated ‘The Autobiography of Captain Sisko’!</li> <li>🧪 <strong>Expert Wisdom:</strong> Star Trek science advisor Dr. Erin McDonald and STA character creator manager B.C. Holmes will share their expert insights!</li> <li>🎥 <strong>Special Appearance:</strong> By Star Trek Adventures YouTube sensation Bill Barbato!</li> </ul> <p>🎉 <strong>Major Giveaways:</strong>Dive into the chance to win PDFs, hard copy collector editions, novels, and more! Answer our Star Trek-related trivia questions correctly in our LIVE chat first, and the prize is yours!</p> <p>🎁 <strong>How to Win:</strong>Be the first viewer to type the correct answer in the chat and bag the prize!</p> <p><strong>Produced by Studio Tembo</strong>, this interstellar event promises a feast for every Star Trek lover! So ready your Star Trek knowledge, invite your fellow Trekkies, and let’s traverse the stars in the universe of Star Trek Adventures together! 🌟🌌🛸</p> <p>Mark the date, engage with us at warp speed, and let’s boldly go where no fan has gone before! #StarTrekAdventures #ContinuingConversations #100thEpisodeExtravaganza #StarTrekFan #LiveLongAndProsper</p> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="https://blog.bcholmes.org/icon-filled-self-promotion/" title="Read Original Post">Under the Beret</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=bcholmes&ditemid=833865" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/833865.html public

4

https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/833269.html Mon, 28 Aug 2023 02:46:27 GMT https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/833269.html Lyda writes <a href="https://lydamorehouse.dreamwidth.org/659996.html">short Trek RPG fic</a>.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=bcholmes&ditemid=833269" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/833269.html public

0

https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/832733.html Tue, 27 Jun 2023 02:30:56 GMT https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/832733.html Happy Olivia Day, Toronto!<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=bcholmes&ditemid=832733" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/832733.html public

1

https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/832447.html Fri, 02 Jun 2023 18:29:52 GMT Thought for the Day https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/832447.html <blockquote><p>The committee examined five areas of relative deficiency that are likely contributing to the U.S. health disadvantage: (1) unhealthy behaviors, such as our diets and use of firearms;(2) inadequate health care and public health systems; (3) poor socioeconomic conditions; (4) unhealthy and unsafe environments; and (5) deficient public policies. The last category especially exerts a powerful influence on the other domains — and helps explain why other advanced democracies are outperforming the United States on almost every measure of health and well-being.</p></blockquote> <p class="has-text-align-right" style="text-align: right"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/06/01/american-life-expectancy-decline-covid/">“American life expectancy is dropping — and it’s not all covid’s fault”</a>, <cite>Washington Post</cite></p> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="https://blog.bcholmes.org/thought-for-the-day-43/" title="Read Original Post">Under the Beret</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=bcholmes&ditemid=832447" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/832447.html public

5

https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/832102.html Sun, 28 May 2023 14:11:06 GMT Dis Agreement https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/832102.html <p>I was thinking, recently, about a topic that I recall being discussed in the old Usenet days: that the dominant social mode, for in-person conversation, is to agree. Either through direct statements, or through body language or other verbalizations. And that when discussing things online, there’s a stronger bent toward disagreement. If you agree with what someone else has said online, there’s no need to add anything; you’d only reply if you quibble with something or outright don’t accept an assertion.</p> <p>I remember folks saying that a lot of people interpreted Usenet forums as “hostile” because they expected the same sort of social norms as in-person conversation: that they could say things and mostly expect to hear agreement, and instead being confronted with people’s critiques. I feel like I haven’t seen that kind of analysis out of all the “the world is more polarized than ever” thinkpieces that keep popping up.</p> <p>The Internet is a different place, now, what with weaponized hate engagement and all that. But it felt useful to recall that discussion.</p> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="https://blog.bcholmes.org/dis-agreement/" title="Read Original Post">Under the Beret</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=bcholmes&ditemid=832102" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/832102.html public

5

https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/831924.html Fri, 30 Dec 2022 03:38:28 GMT 2022 in TV https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/831924.html <p>Okay. Now let’s do TV shows. There were a lot of good shows this year, but after several years of <cite>The Expanse</cite> being something that I <em>adored</em>, I feel like none of these shows really fit the bill. And it’s true that I <em>could</em> keep <cite>The Expanse</cite> in the list, as its last episodes aired this year, I mentally think of it as something from last year.</p> <p>Anyway, here are my top five TV shows and a handful of also-rans.</p> <div style="display: flex; margin-bottom: 15px; align-items: flex-start"><p><b>Number 5:</b> <cite>Yellowjackets</cite>. My friend, kalmn, categorized this, approvingly, as “grim, grim, grim and also lesbians.” And, yeah, that’s probably not inaccurate. <cite>Yellowjackets</cite> is a show that takes place in two time periods. In “the past” — the mid-90s — an airplane carrying a team of high school sportsball players (“Yellowjackets” is the team name) crashes. We learn (in scenes set in the present) that the kids were stuck in the wilderness for 19 months, and we know from the creepy opening scene that things go bad and there’s ritualistic cannibalism. But beyond that opening scene, we mostly don’t see the past storyline being too horrible (just horrible enough). In “the present” — essentially the current day — we follow four of the survivors, now adults. We’re clued in pretty early that although they were eventually rescued, they mutually agreed to a somewhat light-on-details story of how they managed to survive. One of the survivors is Misty, played by Christina Ricci, who is upbeat, cheerful, super resourceful but also clearly a sociopath. And as much as the other three adult survivors want nothing to do with Misty, Misty is not the sort of person who doesn’t get her way. Through the first season, we get to see the slow devolution of the community of high school students stuck in the wilderness. By the end, things are becoming bad but it hasn’t gone too far off the rails. But, like I say, we’ve had a peek at how bad it ultimately becomes. In the present, we’re seeing that none of the adult survivors are in a good place either. And there are lots of other characters from the past that we don’t know anything about: did they survive? Did they get eaten? It’s similar to the Amazon Prime series, <cite>The Wilds</cite>, but I enjoyed <cite>Yellowjackets</cite> a lot more.</p><img decoding="async" style="margin-left: 10px" src="https://blog.bcholmes.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/yellowjackets.jpg" alt="Poster for Yellowjackets"></div> <p><a href="https://blog.bcholmes.org/2022-in-tv/#more-2317">Read the rest of this entry »</a></p><p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="https://blog.bcholmes.org/2022-in-tv/" title="Read Original Post">Under the Beret</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=bcholmes&ditemid=831924" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/831924.html public

3

https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/831532.html Tue, 27 Dec 2022 16:12:27 GMT 2022 in Film https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/831532.html <p>I’ve fallen out of the habit of doing these round-ups since the panini started. But I want to return to it because it’s kind of fun thinking back over the last year’s media.</p> <p>This year, I’m gonna break up my usual post into two parts: my favourite films and my favourite TV shows. Here we go.</p> <div style="display: flex; margin-bottom: 15px; align-items: flex-start"><p><b>Number 5:</b> <cite>Nope</cite>. I confess that the earliest trailers for this film were largely incomprehensible to me. I had no idea what the film was about (except, broadly, horses and UFOs), and that didn’t particularly move me to seeking it out. But Sio suggested that we try it one night, and I was particularly struck by the relative originality of the story, especially in regards to the UFO element. I hesitate to say much more about plot, because part of the enjoyment, for me, was watching the various discoveries emerge. There were moments when I found myself pondering: “why does this particular side-story exist in the film?” but by the end was really satisfied with the cohesiveness of the film. I’m torn about the original trailers: on the one hand, I really enjoyed not having the trailers spoil the story beats for me, but on the other hand, I don’t think they did a very good job of enticing me to see the film.</p><img decoding="async" style="margin-left: 10px" src="https://blog.bcholmes.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/nopePoster.jpg" alt="Movie Poster for Nope"></div> <p><a href="https://blog.bcholmes.org/2022-in-film/#more-2300">Read the rest of this entry »</a></p><p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="https://blog.bcholmes.org/2022-in-film/" title="Read Original Post">Under the Beret</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=bcholmes&ditemid=831532" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/831532.html public

2

https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/831270.html Fri, 23 Dec 2022 18:44:55 GMT Terminology https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/831270.html Is there a term for the process of putting a hot female character in a skin-tight uniform into a show to draw more dudes into watching it, á là Seven of Nine?<br /><br />Leela-ing? Boner service? Hm.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=bcholmes&ditemid=831270" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/831270.html public

8

https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/831065.html Sat, 03 Dec 2022 18:59:40 GMT Thought for the Day https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/831065.html <blockquote><p>And Will loves New York? she asked.</p><p>He really does, I said. And he’s a Marxist now, I think. He just says <em>Kapital</em>, doesn’t even use the <em>Das</em>.</p><p>Cool.</p><p>Yeah.</p></blockquote> <p style="text-align: right">Miriam Toews, <cite>All My Puny Sorrows</cite></p> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="https://blog.bcholmes.org/thought-for-the-day-42/" title="Read Original Post">Under the Beret</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=bcholmes&ditemid=831065" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/831065.html public

1

https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/830389.html Sun, 28 Aug 2022 19:32:07 GMT Patter https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/830389.html <p>I watched a coupl’a movies the other night. The first was <cite>The Lost Girls</cite>. It was pretty bad. But it was the $0.99 movie rental on Apple Movies a week or two ago, and I rented it. The premise was that multiple generations of girls from Wendy Darling’s family are visited by Peter Pan. Or maybe not. Maybe Peter’s just a metaphor for mental illness. It’s not entirely clear. The person who wrote the screenplay (adapted from a book) and directed the film also starred as the main character. And I don’t think that was a great choice.</p> <p>But the other movie I watched was <cite>Being the Ricardos</cite> — an Amazon Studios film available through Amazon Prime. And that was <em>amazing</em>.</p> <p>This latter film was written and directed by Aaron Sorkin. And while I sometimes think that Sorkin’s stuff can be a little infuriating — for example, I think <cite>The West Wing</cite> is a very facile and idealistic view of the way American politics works — I love how he writes dialog. </p> <p>He writes the characters smart and able to express themselves. Throughout the film, characters are juggling multiple crises: rehearsing and filming an episode of <cite>I Love Lucy</cite> (with a director that Ball doesn’t really have confidence in), dealing with a question of whether or not Arnaz has been unfaithful, trying to quash a news report alleging that Ball is a communist, and trying to persuade the studio that they should allow the show to incorporate Ball’s pregnancy as a storyline (I learned, years ago, that the studio didn’t allow them to say the word pregnant on TV; Lucy was, instead, “with child” or “in the family way.”) The characters are constantly jumping around from one point of conversation to another. In one scene, Arnaz chides Ball for jumping topics without warning and Ball admonishes him to keep up.</p> <p>There was one distraction in the film: it positions Arnaz’s opposition to communism to be a result of the revolution in Cuba… but the story is set waaaay too early (1952/1953?) for that to make sense.</p> <p>Anyway: going from a film that I almost turned off to a film that I adored in the same evening was pretty whiplash-y.</p> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="https://blog.bcholmes.org/patter/" title="Read Original Post">Under the Beret</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=bcholmes&ditemid=830389" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/830389.html public

1

https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/830191.html Wed, 13 Jul 2022 13:13:09 GMT Canada-as-Canada in Film https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/830191.html <p><cite>All My Puny Sorrows</cite> is beautiful, but tremendously sad.</p> <p>Content warning: suicide is a major theme of the film.</p> <iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5gY5joSmRDY" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="https://blog.bcholmes.org/canada-as-canada-in-film/" title="Read Original Post">Under the Beret</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=bcholmes&ditemid=830191" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/830191.html public

3

https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/829924.html Sat, 04 Jun 2022 14:20:18 GMT Fandom Acts of Meanness https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/829924.html <div><a href="https://www.dreamwidth.org/poll/?id=27063">View Poll: Most Toxic Fanbase</a></div><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=bcholmes&ditemid=829924" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/829924.html public

7

https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/829543.html Fri, 25 Mar 2022 02:36:12 GMT But why aren’t their jackets yellow? https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/829543.html <p>I’m late to the game with <cite>Yellowjackets</cite>, but it’s kind of exactly my jam. I think that probably says something unfortunate about me.</p> <p>I think it worked for me quite a bit more than The Wilds, which I enjoyed but didn’t really love.</p> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="https://blog.bcholmes.org/but-why-arent-their-jackets-yellow/" title="Read Original Post">Under the Beret</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=bcholmes&ditemid=829543" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/829543.html public

2

https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/829271.html Sat, 12 Mar 2022 14:57:12 GMT Tasty Crow. Tasty https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/829271.html <p>I’ve had my beefs with <cite>Discovery</cite>, but I count that as among the best episodes of <cite>Trek</cite>, ever.</p> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="https://blog.bcholmes.org/tasty-crow-tasty/" title="Read Original Post">Under the Beret</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=bcholmes&ditemid=829271" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/829271.html star trek public

4

https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/829030.html Wed, 16 Feb 2022 19:23:23 GMT Thought for the Day https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/829030.html <blockquote><p>You look at the capture of power in the right wing, the ascent of white nationalism, the concentration of wealth. You cannot really animate or concentrate a movement like that—you can’t coalesce it into functional political power—without a sense of persecution or victimhood. And that’s the role of this concept of cancel culture. It’s the speck of dust around which the raindrop must form in order to precipitate takeovers of school boards, pushing actual discourse out of the acceptable norms, like in terms of the 1619 Project or getting books banned from schools. They need the concept of cancel culture, of persecution, in order to justify, animate, and pursue a political program of takeover, or at least a constant further concentration of their own power.</p></blockquote> <p class="has-text-align-right">— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/is-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-an-insider-now">“Is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez an Insider Now?”</a></p> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="https://blog.bcholmes.org/thought-for-the-day-41/" title="Read Original Post">Under the Beret</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=bcholmes&ditemid=829030" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/829030.html public

2

https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/828818.html Wed, 09 Feb 2022 02:48:34 GMT Thought for the Day https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/828818.html <blockquote><p>Worrying about this [white, Euro-centrisim in Physics] reminds me of the opening sequence of Cameron Crowe’s English-language adaptation of Alejandro Amenábar’s <cite>Abre los Ojos</cite>, <cite>Vanilla Sky</cite>. In the scene, Tom Cruise’s lead character David Shelby is driving down a familiar New York City street against the backdrop of Radiohead’s opening track to <cite>Kid A</cite>, “Everything in Its Right Place.” The song, which Radiohead’s lead singer Thom Yorke has explained is about depression, is an ominous foreshadowing of the dystopian direction that the film goes in. My experience with particle physics has something in common with this juxtaposition. I feel comfortable, extremely comfortable in fact, with how the Standard Model tends to locate particles in their correct mathematical structure, in their right place. But I am also low-key worried, on the regular, that finding comfort in this makes it difficult for me to see the larger physical picture, or perhaps is a refusal to see the larger picture. When I think about this, I too have Radiohead playing in the background.<br /><br />In my heart, I fight with the history of the Standard Model of particle physics and the motivation behind it, but also every time I think I can’t deal with physics or physicists anymore, it is the Standard Model that makes me stop in my tracks and think, “Wow.” I get lost, in the best possible way, in the math—every single time. I will never get bored of picking up a particle physics textbook and starting from page one. […] I have no love for how my professional community is structured. But it’s also the case that when I think about quarks, I experience the kind of loving hope that is best set to Def Jef’s “Black to the Future”: “We know where we’re goin, because we know where we came from.” Maybe, then, I’m not just a hack for colonial science, but more like Princess Shuri from <cite>Black Panther</cite>, giving particle physics a new spin and rhythm. This is not to say that the laws of the universe are not universal—but it may be that what we think we know is incomplete and will not be complete until we are able to think beyond how white men are trained to think in a Western educational setting.</p></blockquote> <p></p> <p class="has-text-align-right">— Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, <cite>The Disordered Cosmos</cite>.</p> <p style="text-align: right"><small>Mirrored from <a href="https://blog.bcholmes.org/thought-for-the-day-40/" title="Read Original Post">Under the Beret</a>.</small></p><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=bcholmes&ditemid=828818" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments https://bcholmes.dreamwidth.org/828818.html public

1