Recent Comments

1. over 2 years ago on Calvin and Hobbes

   Clearly this was an obvious cry for chores – clean up the yard, take out the garbage, polish the grout in the brick with a toothbrush, etc.

   If he feels short of responsibilities and the result of that was him being an ignorant prat, then the idleness must be addressed to help his behaviour approach acceptability.

   A tired mischief-maker gets far fewer grand ideas than one with plenty of energy.

2. over 2 years ago on Calvin and Hobbes

   My favourite sequel: Aliens. Great movie, different genre (same setting) than Alien. Both were good and very different movies – Alien was suspense, ignorance, and characters that were not warriors and it was more about scene and ambiance. Aliens was a straight up action movie after the first half hour with lots of shooting and gorey monster fun as the humans are killed one at a time (most of the time, sometimes more than one at a time).

   Sequel I regret anyone made: The second Matrix movie.

3. over 2 years ago on Calvin and Hobbes

   My brother-in-law and his wife went to see Maverick. She loved it. He struggled with it; His day job is managing our Interim Fighter Project (aka managing refitting F-18s for Canadian use). The stuff that wasn’t vaguely possible or accurate just wasn’t something he could ignore.

4. over 2 years ago on Calvin and Hobbes

   The Force is with me and I am one with the Force.

   Donnie Yen is one of my favourite SW characters to date. I loved Jen/Jin Erso too.

5. over 2 years ago on Calvin and Hobbes

   I loved New Hope. But I like Rogue One better than any other SW movie to date. It was clever, it hit a lot of fun wink-at-you-without-being-stupid ways, and the characters I found I cared about – damaged people trying to be better and to do something that means something.

6. almost 3 years ago on Get Fuzzy

   One account says he was in Antium when the fire broke out. There is no evidence that he ever fiddled (or played the lyre as was his actual instrument of choice) during the fire. There was very likely a smear campaign by his enemies and those who came to power later (as is normal in politics).

   Reading the following versions, you can see there is much contention even as to the extent of damage and whether Nero was even in Rome at the time. He did make his palace available to help displaced persons and from his own fortune helped feed those affected. Other accounts (such as in the excellent “History of Rome” podcast series) refer to Nero coordinating the fire fighting and relief measures once he returned to Rome.

   History of Rome: 180+ episodes, free, lots of depth from pre-Rome to after…

   https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-history-of-rome/id261654474

   It’s likely he chose to blame the Christians because a) they were a cult that many didn’t like at the time and b) it was, much like the Jewry in Germany, a convenient scapegoat. Leaders always like to deflect the angry mob towards someone else they can take their rage out upon.

   Primary sources are darn few and far between and even those there like Tacitus or that wrote in a short period after like Seneca the Younger have their own viewpoints and axes to grind and they wrote from their own perspectives which probably lacked many facts and lacked a true view of the activities of the Emperor.

   https://www.ancientromanodyssey.com/home/did-nero-really-play-the-fiddle-while-rome-burnedhttps://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/neros-rome-burnshttps://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/did-nero-really-fiddle-while-rome-burned-001919https://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/great-fire-rome-background/1446/

7. almost 3 years ago on Calvin and Hobbes

   Most kids of his age are very prone to putting their needs, their wants, and their sufferings front and center and not worrying about others. It takes some time and life experience to see the other, to put yourselves in their shoes, and to put aside your own wishes, fears, pains, and wants for long enough to see others and understand them. Some never reach that level of growth and end up stunted emotionally – and those are the ones you don’t want to be too close to.

8. almost 3 years ago on Calvin and Hobbes

   Nietzscheans. Their will to power has the universe bend to their implacable will.

9. almost 3 years ago on Calvin and Hobbes

   I’m always a bit shocked that, given the behaviour Trump has exhibited – disrespect for women (including his wife), infidelity, partying with Russian prostitutes, and so on, how can the Christians support him? He is the antithesis of family values and Christian values like integrity, honour, faithfulness in marriage, etc.

   My 87 year old, dyed in the wool Christian mother would not vote for such a man with the values he demostrates (not in slurs, but in his own words on video). I’d sometime like to understand why the religious right in the US tends to support him despite his moral degeneracy. That must involve cognitive dissonance to even be considered.

10. almost 3 years ago on Get Fuzzy

    Too violent.

    “Slight Disagreement of the Otherwise Peaceful Populations”

    The fantasy version of Indigestion of a Salesman was “Digestion of a Swordsman”

    Another placid elder-friendly espionage themed movie:“The Bourne Retirement”