When I was like 11 or 12, “The Naked Sun” was the first non-kid’s novel I read all the way through. There were parts that didn’t resonate bc I was just a kid but it was a memorable experience and I spent the next 6 years reading all the science fiction I could get my hands on.

Such an excellent movie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videodrome

Origin story of Cuccos in Legend of Zelda.

I bet we could find some story in the New Wave of science fiction that presaged influencers. Bug Jack Barron comes close (though it’s about a talk show host).

I’m a little skeptical of the idea that science fiction predicts things, tho. If you have a million stories out there, one of them’s bound to resemble whatever you’re claiming it predicted.

Superhero origin story.

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!” -Upton Sinclair

There’s that famous scene in “The Little Prince” where MC is like: “It’s the time that you’ve spent with your rose, that makes your rose so important.” And that’s really true.

In this case I’d be like: No, because they aren’t the one who was there for me when I got sick. They aren’t the one who listened to me when my moms died. And they aren’t the one who I cooked for every weekend and helped out with career stuff and watched anime with. Even if they kinda look like you, they aren’t the you that I’ve been with, and that makes you a thousand times more attractive.

fwiw Ender’s Game was published in 1985. (Based on a short story from 1977, but that story didn’t have that subplot with Peter and Valentine.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender's_Game

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender’s_Game_(short_story)

Stretchnut.

There’s Buddhism as practiced over centuries in a variety of ways in many countries. And then there’s meme/bumper-sticker Buddhism. Your comment is true of the latter.

Really fascinating. I was going to forward an image of this to a friend, what’s the best representation? Is it this? And under what artist name should I credit it?

The Broken Pentagram is really interesting. Is there a write-up of it’s symbolism somewhere? (I searched but didn’t find.)

I think you mean “same game, different skin,” right?

Wasserdampf

I love this word. “Water damp”. Steam. I love that.

Take a break from the gym and go to the dojo instead.

Number 6 is my choice too. You get a cookie. You get ice cream. You get chocolate chips! You get Another Cookie! AND YOU GET IT ALL AT ONCE!!!

I’d hope that one’s production server is backed up.

Yeah, all this means is that you’re gonna have to spend time restoring from backup. Right?

Or sometimes there are just multiple failures. That’s what I learned from reading Admiral Cloudberg about air disasters: even if you have n safety measures, there’s still the chance that there’ll be n+1 failures.

“They’ve still got a brighter future than YOU!”