Sunday, April 27, 2025

Random Thoughts, Part 27: Trump 2.0, Sci-Fi AI vs. Real AI, Black Cats, Satanic Panic, Musical Time-Slippage, Conceptual Constructions of Politics, Sinners, etc.

 



My random thoughts continue, now with 27 parts with 801 total thoughts! With the second Trump administration driving us full-bore into making America less great several times every single goddamn day, I've had a lot of politics on my mind lately. And there are continuing issues about AI. I worry my random thoughts are not so random these days. But randomness doesn't rule out clusters of similar ideas. And you'll still find a few other things in there about my dental habits, listening to Nirvana, the Satanic Panic, the film Sinners, cats, and more. And of course, there are memes! Enjoy!


Wednesday, April 16, 2025

Expanding the Essence of Fantasy: Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse

 


It took me a bit to get back into this story of Roanhorse's Beneath Earth and Sky series and to remember who’s who, but once I did, it was engaging and I still love this world as explored in this third and final (?) volume of the series. (See my thoughts on volume one here and volume two here).

Roanhorse continues a great exercise in "fantasy doesn't have to be based on European history and folklore." And I'm here for that 100%. I really love this fantasy inspired by the Americas. I love Tolkien, but fantasy can be so much more than "vaguely Tolkienesque," and Roanhorse is doing some of the best work in that direction.

Sunday, April 6, 2025

First Contact Day, Hands Off, and the Fruitfully Inscrutable Effects of Protest

 

A shot of the Hands Off Protest in Chattanooga, TN, April 5, 2025.
You can see me in the street on duty as a crossing guard. (Credit: Sophia Cowan)

Yesterday, April 5, 2025, saw the the confluence of two events. For Star Trek fans, it was First Contact Day, a day that celebrates first contact between humans and Vulcans, which in most Star Trek timelines will take place on April 5, 2063 (a mere 38 years from now!). Yesterday was also a Hands-Off protest with over 1000 individual events around the US, including here in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Millions of Americans nationwide protested the recent dramatic actions of the Trump administration and his ally Elon Musk.

How on Earth (or any other planet) could these two events be connected?