someone

You know I'm right. Jadzia was just a standard overachieving top-of-their-class type of Starfleet officer, like dozens we've seen before in great detail and thousands more in passing. The only interesting thing about her was the worm. Jadzia didn't matter, just Dax.

Ezri was what every long-running series needs, a shakeup of main cast interactions. Babylon 5 is a masterclass on how to not only deal with real-world-complications cast changes but to actually turn them to one's advantage in allowing for fresh character interactions and new dramatic tensions. DS9 never really managed that trick, except for Ezri, so it got really stale in terms of main cast character drama towards the last few seasons. It was also so refreshing to see a Starfleet officer who is having a more-or-less-permanent existential crisis but is also rooted in her new post. Ezri felt very relatable, someone suddenly completely out of their depth for reasons both out of their control and permanent. We don't watch Ezri talk technobabble. We feel Ezri trying to keep a mental grip in the face of crazy circumstances. We all know what that's like. Ezri mattered, not just Dax.

I think a lot of the Lower Decks writers were influenced by Ezri episodes. There's a nervous directness / earnestness / outwardly-brave-inwardly-panicking in a lot of Lower Decks characters that's very Ezri-like. Ezri would totally fit in on the USS Cerritos.

Also, I loved seeing her explain to Worf why the Klingon Empire was (a) fucked, and (b) deserved it.

DS9 mirror universe

Fucking first of all, DS9's mirror universe?

Back to the topic.

We need to determine what effects the mirror universe has on attractions and libidos. Does it actually reverse them on some arbitrary scale, or does it somehow reduce inhibitions? Considering I'm already very centrist-bi and high on the slut scale, then this has a significant ramifications. Would I become plain old gay or straight, and also a prude? Or would I just let my dick do even more thinking than it already does for me?

It'll be about the same time that the castle-doctrine obsessives start advocating for non-whites to own firearms.

I love Ghost World. That scene with the ironing board lives rent-free in my head.

I've made a decision to stay firmly on the ground for the rest of my life. If I can't get somewhere by foot or bike or vehicle or train, I'm not going, simple as that. Between the carbon footprint and the personal logistics and the security theatre I am just done with air travel.

I'm looking forward to an overnight train trip to visit family in a few weeks. It wasn't cheap, but it wasn't much more expensive than a flight, and so much more relaxing. I normally book cabins both ways but the return cabins were all booked up this time around, so I got a berth. I'm okay with that though, I still get shower access and provided meals. Should still be a more pleasant experience than dealing with air travel.

WINDMILLS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY!

GOODNIGHT!

At least Lower Decks lasted longer than Enterprise. And it didn't take 3 seasons of executive-meddling nonsense to find its feet.

Oh I have no idea, I'm no meteorologist. Just someone with a morbid fascination for the incoming climate apocalypse.

You know that Hurricane Beryl, the earliest known category 4 hurricane to ever form in the Atlantic? Fun fact: it's now the earliest known category 5 hurricane to ever form in the Atlantic!

Another fun fact: Beryl reached category 5 faster than any other known storm (aside from itself) reached category 4.

The United States balkanizes over desperate drought-mitigation measures as climate change really kicks into high gear. Western states start screaming about building bulk water pipelines from the Great Lakes, the states on the Great Lakes just give a collective "Fuck that shit!", and politics instantly realigns into "states who still have good water sources" versus "every other state", with the legislative agenda dominated by arguments over the federal government's jurisdiction over interstate water redistribution in an emergency situation.

I'm mentally exhausted. I just don't have the energy to investigate the provenance of every supply chain input that made everything I buy. I can do the simple stuff like giving up meat and fish and dairy, and I mostly already have. But that's about all I can handle right now in my life.