donaithnen

The eternal question during voting for the @amvorg.bsky.social Viewer's Choice Awards: Am i giving my favorite creators slightly higher scores because i'm biased in their favor? Or are they my favorite creators because they're just that damned good?

Between always thinking of the next big threat, the reduced number of episodes, and the related reduction in "filler" episodes, these new series feel a lot less... lived-in? than the older shows.

(And again, that's not limited to just Star Trek. It's a common problem with the modern era of shows.)

Disco S1: War threatens the entire Federation (2017) Disco S2: Technology threatens entire galaxy (2019) LD S1: Relatively local threat (2020) Disco S3: Skipped to after the galaxy-wide disaster actually happened (2020) Picard S1: Ancient aliens threaten the entire galaxy (2020) LD S2: Relatively local threat (2021) Disco S4: Aliens threaten entire galaxy (2021) Prodigy S1: Aliens threaten entire Federation (2021) SNW S1: Some timey-wimey threats but mostly gets a pass (2022) LD S3: Somewhat contained threat to the Federation (2022) Picard S2: Timey-wimey stuff threatens galactic history (2022) SNW S2: Potential war threatens the entire Federation (2023) LD S4: Technology threatens entire Federation (midseason) (2023) Picard S3: Aliens threaten the entire Federation (2023) Disco S5: Ancient technology threatens entire galaxy (2024) LD S5: Multiverse stuff threaten the entire multiverse (2024) Prodigy S2: Timey-wimey stuff threatens entire galaxy (2024) SNW S3: Ancient evil in a can threatens the entire galaxy (2025) Academy S1: [Spoiler] threatens entire [Spoiler] (2026)

This isn't my main issue with this episode, but it continues to be frustrating that so many shows need to have a new world or galactic-level threat every season, and new Star Trek has gone in hard on that trend. A vaguely spoilery summary of each new Star Trek season's threat:

R’uustai — Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’s “300th Night” - Reactor This episode of Starfleet Academy (and the next one, as this one ends on a cliffhanger leading to next week’s season finale) is exactly the kind of episode I didn’t want to see in a show about the Aca...

Starfleet Academy is very good! Episodes 4-6 are great even! We're having fun watching it!

Episode 9 has some very good character work! But the (lack of sensical) astrophysics & geometry in ep 9 is breaking my brain in a way i'm having trouble recovering from.

My full spoilers complaint is here:

If they try to make it the same they'll fail, and if they try to update it hardcore fans will just be upset that it's not the same.

They could use a new cast to do a complete reboot or a side-story and it _might_ be okay, but that's not what this sounds like.

Even just putting that aside, it's just too late. It could have gotten renewed a year or two after it was first canceled and it could have been fine (at least in that context.) But it's been over 2 decades now. There's no way to do the same show with the same cast now, for so many different reasons.

Avalyn showed me the Fillion instagram posts teasing it, and my response was pretty much "those are cute videos, but that's not really something i want at this point. Especially not with the same cast."

Of course it's a perfectly rational response and i can't blame them.

But nobody wants more nuclear weapons in the world, Russia certainly doesn't want more NATO countries having nukes, and i'm sure those countries would rather not deal with the headache, so it's lose-lose-lose situation?

Poland Signals Historic Shift Toward French-Led Nuclear Deterrence Framework Tusk says Warsaw aims for a stronger role in Europe’s security as Macron offers a wider French nuclear umbrella for partner states.

Remember how the US promised to defend Ukraine if they gave up their nuclear weapons? Remember how NATO was formed (in part) the provide a nuclear umbrella to member countries so they wouldn't need to develop their own nuclear weapons?

Well given recent US actions, here comes the proliferation!

Fluffy Kitten sitting on the ledge above the kitchen cabinets, looking cool and composed, while Black Cat is standing with her front paws on the cabinets looking up at Fluffy Kitten, possibly wondering how exactly he got up there.

Adventure Cat and Black Cat like to hang out on the top shelf of the bedroom closet. Fluffy Kitten has decided to one-up them by getting up on the... ledge? in the kitchen.

Billing page saying Last Statement Date: 11/17/2025 Current Due Date: 12/02/2025 Total Amount Due: $48 Amount Past Due: $0 Last Payment Date: 01/11/2026 Last Payment Amount: $15

Got a bill from a medical company saying i owe $40 in March. Which is weird because i set up autopay (twice!) so i shouldn't be getting any bills.

So i logged on to check my account status and... i'm very much more confused now? =P

We seem to have blazed past "explain the joke" and are now in the depths of "forensic joke anthropology", and i am here for it.

I think i read two of the early books in the series so i have no idea about the quality or anything else about the later books. But given the history of that particular joke format that was my immediate assumption as well.

I remember lamentations that certain sequels shouldn't have been made. (Including Highlander 2 of course. Did i ever share the MST3K version with you?)

But i had a (possibly mistaken) impression that the specific reality bending "too bad they never made any sequels" phrasing originated with xkcd.

As far as i'm aware the joke originated in 2009, so not quite old enough to drink, but almost old enough to vote?

www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.p...

(Always frustrating that xkcd itself doesn't include the publication date. Though in this case i guess we could have just mathed it?)

...he seems to be conflating "in group" with any group at all, and also declaring that any joke that isn't universally understood is bad?

So since there is no universal language all jokes are bad i guess?

(Though i suppose that conclusion might explain his attitude.)

The Many Controversies Haunting Scream 7's Release - Reactor How Scream 7 went from franchise sequel to one of the year's most controversial films

Scream 7 fell from a highly-anticipated sequel within a beloved franchise to one of the most controversial releases of the year. Matthew Byrd breaks down how:

#Scream7

Tumbleweeds Aren't From Here YouTube video by CGP Grey

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsWr...

Without further context, that sounds more like the DoD demanding that Anthropic lift the restrictions but pinky-promising not to do the illegal things the restrictions were designed to prevent.

What Trump's Anthropic AI blacklist means for the Pentagon and U.S. companies Declaring a company a supply chain risk is typically reserved for businesses from adversarial countries.

So an AI company signed a deal with the Department of Defense, then had moral qualms about the DoD doing what the DoD does, then Trump decided to punish the company by banning the DoD from using the AI.

I have very mixed feelings about this weird chain of events?

www.axios.com/2026/02/27/a...

I think it was Ranma 1/2 on Usenet, probably one of the rec.arts.anime groups? I was around 22 at the time.

Gods damn it, it's gone from bad to worse.

Substack Has a Nazi Problem The newsletter platform’s lax content moderation creates an opening for white nationalists eager to get their message out.

I believe it first came to attention in 2023.

Apparently they removed a few accounts in 2024 after a lot of protests, but went back to the same old thing when the heat died down.

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Revealed: How Substack makes money from hosting Nazi newsletters Exclusive: Site takes a cut of subscriptions to content that promotes far-right ideology, white supremacy and antisemitism

Substack promotes and makes money from a number of far-right and authoritarian newsletters, including actual Nazis.

www.theguardian.com/media/2026/f...

Diane 11:30 a.m. February 24th. Entering the town of Twin Peaks.

Given the context and the photoshoped hair i looked at that image and immediately thought "oh, it's Paul and Storm and Jonathan Coulton."

At least five women by whom i've read at least five books:

Lois McMaster Bujold
CS Friedman
Rachel Aaron
Mercedes Lackey
Sharon Shinn
Lynn Flewelling
Martha Wells
Robin Hobb
Elizabeth Moon
Sheri S Tepper
Anne McCaffrey
Wen Spencer
Mary Robinette Kowal
Naomi Novik
Becky Chambers
Kim Harrison

Reminder: Don’t watch Scream 7 because the production company fired Melissa Barrera got speaking out against war crimes in Gaza. #melissabarrera #screammovie #ghostface TikTok video by PopDetective

PSA: Reminder to avoid Scream 7 because the production company fired Melissa Barrera for speaking out against the genocide in Gaza www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8xMedqE/

The latest Chrome update has removed the flag to hide the new "open link in split view" option from the right click-menu, and now i'm accidentally opening everything in split view.

I hate this new feature and hate their attempt to break my muscle memory.

We haven't had dinner yet, and OMG that's making me so hungry right now!