Should the UNSG also have said nothing?

I’ll print more legibly in the future.

That’s just how I process information. Pencil in hand and post-its are easy to find in my house. They end up in notebooks with more writing. Better, by far, than on back of some envelope or on my kids’ school work like my parents used to do.

Also, made you look.

Ding ding. Correct.

2001: A Space Odyssey

The Qatsi films

Solaris (2002)

Marvel: s (NY, ) mixed in with fake locales (Genosha, A events (9/11 has made several appearances, WWII is canon), legit in-universe stakes and motivation, lots of difficult or morally grey choices. Good reading, they make you think.

DC: fake cities (i.e., Metropolis, Gotham); never have seen a historical event (feel free to enlighten me if you would); stakes seem to be damage to infrastructure and property — maybe a hero or two will get hurt (except for that one time they put a lady in a refrigerator as motivation — that was not cool); good guys are clearly good, bad guys are clearly bad.

My money has always been with Marvel.

Just an observation: I love how much you all love The Expanse. Seriously, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. You’ve made my day.

And as always, thanks to James S.A. Corey — Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck — for creating and publishing this world that has linked us in such inspired interaction.

The Expanse is political/corporate intrigue set in the 24th century after humans have extended mining to the rings of Saturn. There are three major political camps:

• the United Nations of Earth and Luna — a bloated, old, slow, and traditional nation that has the only source of live soil samples, punishing universal basic income, and 30 billion mouths to feed. They are the “takers”.

• the Martian Congressional Republic — a trim, agile, militaristic, and focused nation that makes technological advances and works hard to stay alive on a hostile world. They are the “dusters”.

• the diffuse factions known under the umbrella term “Belters.” They are the workers, the downtrodden, the neglected, and the subjects of the great nations’ impunity. In a few short generations, their bodies changed, adapting to the ravages of microgravity and zero G. Their needs are simple: air, water, food. Their work is hard. Their lives are nasty, brutish, and short. But, they love fiercely, have a language and culture all their own, and refuse to bow before Earth and Mars.

“In fair Sol system, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.”

Read The Passenger, then Stella Maris.

Blood Meridian is an amazing, terrifying, shocking, and eye-opening book. Ill never see another “Western” the same way again. It is among McCarthy’s most visceral.

I cannot recommend to anyone that they read this book. Much in the same way I love films like Requiem For a Dream, Dancer in the Dark, or Melancholia, I can’t inflict them on others. Blood Meridian is this perspective in book form.

If you’ve steeled yourself, by all means embark on Blood Meridian. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Ok. We can be friends.

The Expanse is among my favourite sci-fi of all time. Others include Chris Claremont and Johnathan Hickman writing the X-Men, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Atwood’s Maddaddam trilogy. Three-Body may get there, but I read it amid reading the Expanse. Maybe the physical books will shift my mind some.

Three-Body was a great read and such incredible insight to a different perspective of sci-fi. The reveal of Dark Forest theory absolutely stopped me in my tracks. Death’s End was such a great conclusion to that storyline.

I’ll start:

My fortunes converged with Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy. My reading of the physical copy was first, and the book sung.

Then, on opening the audiobook, the two actors really captured the cat-and-mouse interaction — each thinking the other is the prey — with such clarity and perfect tone. It was amazing.

This was my most eye-opening read of last year.

Operation Gideon (2020)

"… Two boats were launched from eastern Colombia toward the Caribbean coast of Venezuela north of Caracas, carrying approximately 60 Venezuelan dissidents and two American former Green Berets employed as mercenaries by Silvercorp. Both boats were intercepted before they reached land. At least six Venezuelan dissidents in the first boat were killed, and all but four of the invaders were captured during the attempted landing or subsequent search operations, including the two Americans from the second boat, whose interrogations were broadcast on state television.

Venezuelan intelligence agencies and the Associated Press (AP) had prior knowledge of the operation. Commentators and observers described the operation as amateurish, underfunded, poorly organized, impossible, and a suicide mission, and divergent narratives led to questions about how the plot unfolded. Sources criticized the poor planning and execution, alternating between characterizing Operation Gideon as an attempted invasion, infiltration, raid, ambush, assassination or coup.

Thanks for bringing Wiley Miller back into my life today. It’s been too long.

My preferred quote on this line:

“Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted.” ~ Frank Herbert, Chapterhouse: Dune

It takes the will of a saint to be incorruptible — to not become addicted to the exercise of power. Those who do not desire power, like saints, may have it thrust upon them.

Even when left to own devices, a person can only exercise power within a society that has desires, wants, and fears. The whole society would need to be incorruptible. This is improbable. In the unlikely case of such a pure society, it would also need to be incorruptible when in contact with “the other” — peoples, species, events, and ideas. This is exceedingly improbable. So, the whole of existence would need to be incorruptible.

Power corrupts.

QED (using the slippery slope, I know)

So, Jumper.

Lucy (2018) - some mild insanity, remorselessness

Genie from Aladdin (1992) ‐ everything is a joke

Bruce Almighty (2003) - can’t actually control himself

I’m going to go off on a comic-book tangent here:

Wielder of Infinity Gauntlet (1991, 2018) - potential insanity, later radiation scarring

Phoenix Force (1976) ‐ heavy insanity, desire to consume planets (see: Dark Phoenix Saga (1980), (X-Men '92, S03E11), Avengers vs. X-men (2012))

Omega-Level mutants - tendency toward megalomania (see: Jean Grey, Magneto, Kid Omega, 4 horsemen of Apocalypse… even Ororo Munroe (goddess), though Iceman seems well-adjusted)

Beyond - remorselessness, destruction of universes (see: Secret Wars (1984), Time Runs Out Event (2014))

Trigonometry

Now imagining surgery while pulling multiple g forces… yeah, that’d difficult.

Yeah, I don’t mind it. Thor is a name and a title/power. God (presumably) is a name, and Thor has the power of a god.

Prince is a title. It’s also a name. And, to some musicians, Prince is a god.

It’d be rare to win an argument by invoking Prince, but there you go.