But phosgene does smell like freshly cut grass. “Phosgene smells green!”, kids.

From Wikipedia:

During the American Civil War, Army officers were withdrawn from Coast Survey duty, never to return, while all but two Navy officers also were withdrawn from Coast Survey service for the duration of the war. Since most men of the Survey had Union sympathies, most stayed on with the Survey rather than resigning to serve the Confederate States of America; their work shifted in emphasis to support of the United States Navy and Union Army, and these Coast Surveyors are the professional ancestors of today’s NOAA Corps. Those Coast Surveyors supporting the Union Army were given assimilated military rank while attached to a specific command, but those supporting the U.S. Navy operated as civilians and ran the risk of being executed as spies if captured by the Confederates while working in support of Union forces.

Yeah I noticed that after I posted. It is fixed.

Season 4 of The Wire is brutal.

Jericho: A post apocalyptic show that isn’t just mohawk bejeweled raiders roaming around. It is a show very much of the GWB era, with offbrand Blackwater as major villains and heavy Dick Cheney vibes when it comes to the larger plot.

Kings: A sort of retelling of David versus Goliath except set in the modern day. If you liked the weird esoteric spiritual stuff on the Battlestar Galactica reboot, you’ll like this.

The Unit: A fictionalized adaptation of Delta Force missions, with at least early on heavy influence by the former Delta author of Inside Delta Force. Great early seasons. Later seasons become more Hollywood nonsense, you tolerance may vary, but season 1 and 2 have some gold.

The Wire: This was a huge show when it was on, but maybe zoomers don’t know about it. This is the crime show for people who hate everything about modern “procedural” crime shows. It is nuanced, thoughtful, and engaging.

Columbo: Speaking of crime shows and procedurals, Columbo is both and neither. Columbo is entertaining and keeps you invested with its unique approach to murder mysteries. It really doesn’t pretend to be a proper procedural, and you’re best off thinking of Detective Columbo as a supernatural embodiment of karma and guilt rather than an actual member of a police force.

So those anti-skub council creeps got to you too, huh?

That opinion is based on junk science that was promoted by anti-skub lobbiests. In the last 20 years no credible research has duplicated the findings that skub is (under normal conditions) hazardous in tall buildings.

Oh that’s nasty.

As memey as the whole theory is, I like to mention that George Lucas was influenced by a lot of classic scifi. He was almost certainly aware of the famous Foundation novels. In the second book, the comedy relief character turned out to be the secret villain leading the evil empire and who had mind control powers.

Of books I’ve finished, The Da Vinci Code. It’s been a long time since I read it, so I can’t recall specifics but I do remember the moment to moments of the plot being contrived and stupid, and the writing to be bland and simplistic.

The only reason I read it was I was stuck somewhere without a book and I found a copy of The Da Vinci code that had fallen behind a shelf. I figured it was super popular so there must be something to it as I slogged through.

A: they’re betting most people will accept it, and they’re right.

Yes. Remember when Netflix put a stop to password sharing and the internet went aflame with people declaring that Netflix had shot itself in the foot? Netflix subscriber counts went up.

The average person will put up with so much more of this nonsense than techie people will.

It gets me thinking. Tech literate people are the types to install blockers, and would be the same type of people both motivated and knowledgeable about how to switch browsers. On the line of thinking it seems like it is just going to drive them away from Chrome. Tech illiterate people remain unaffected since they are getting ads anyway.

But then on the other hand, if someone is tech literate then why are they even still using Chrome? Does such a person value whatever advantage Chrome theoretically provides over their ad-blocking?

[Untranslated Wookiee speech]

According to the chart, here are a few other countries where the average is “dumber than the average human”:

Australia

Belgium

Belize

Brazil

Canada

Chile

Czech Republic

Denmark

France

Finland

Germany

India

Israel

Italy

Mexico

I suppose dunking on those stupid Belgians isn’t as eye catching of a headline as good, old fashioned America Bad bait.

I’ve been off Reddit for a couple of years, but that’s still sad news. That was a legitimately good community, and the name flip was good, and I think they were partnered with worldpolitics which was the flipside community.

Obnoxious late 90s-early 2000s over the top stuff like Limp Bizkit. I don’t know what happened. I always hated it until last year and then it just clicked. Please stay back.

They have been known to stop rifle bullets, but aren’t rated to do it. Essentially, they can, sometimes, but the manufacturer doesn’t promise it.

There are a lot of variables. He told me he could feel the tip poking at his forehead with his steps as he walked back.

I’m not sure I understand the question.

I once saw a guy wearing a helmet get shot. The bullet embedded into the helmet with the point touching his skin but not harm to him.