… in Living Color knew what message to give:
May 312020
May 312020
Any lingering sympathy GONE.
Uncle Hugo’s Bookstore Burned Down in Riots
Uncle Hugo’s, the oldest independent science fiction and fantasy bookstore in the US founded in 1974, burned down during the recent riots…
UNCLE HUGO’S AND UNCLE EDGAR’S FOULLY SLAIN!
Hi Folks,
There was a call from the security company around 3:30 this morning that the motion detector was showing somebody in the building. I threw on clothes and headed over there. When I was 2 blocks away I received a call that the smoke detectors were showing smoke in the store. Every single building on both sides of Chicago was blazing and dozens of people dancing around.
As I pulled into the dentist’s lot I could see that flames were leaping out the front windows of the Uncles. It looked to me like they had broken every window on the front of the Uncles and then squirted accelerant through each broken window. It looked hopeless to me, but I went around to the back door to see if I could get to a fire extinguisher. As soon as I opened the back door a wave of very thick black smoke poured out, so I quickly closed the door again.
The dentist’s building was not showing any flames and the garage door was open, so I went in to see if I could save it. There is a door from the garage into a break room, and there was almost no smoke in the break room. There is a second door from the break room into the main clinic. When I opened that door I couldn’t see a fire, but the smoke came pouring into the break room, so I quickly closed that door and headed back to the car.
Some of the rioters were busy breaking every pane of glass in the transit hub. The former Sheraton did not seem to be on fire yet, and there were guests who were staying there. It looked like somebody may have broken a window on the first floor along Chicago and started a fire, but it could have just been a reflection of the flames from the Uncles.
I didn’t notice anything going on yet at the Global Marketplace, but the rioters were headed in that direction. There is no way a mere fire could bring that building down, but it could wipe out all of those businesses, and there are hundreds of people who live above the Global Marketplace who could be trapped by the smoke.
Since Chicago Ave. was full of dancing rioters, broken glass, and flaming debris, I went down the alley and took Lake St. home. There were blocks of Lake St. where every building was blazing. No sign of any cops, national guard troops, or any help.
I’m pretty sure the insurance policy excludes damage from a civil insurrection, so I suspect I won’t get a cent for either the building or the contents.
Remember these people. ᚠᚢᚳk these people. May they all rot in Niflhel.
May 302020
Note: lots of links to Tweets below. So if this post seems kinda oddly empty, it’s because your browser is blocking them for whatever reason. Enjoy!
A lot of rational people have been arguing for quite a while that keeping the nation economically locked up for an extended period will lead to Very Bad Things. Well… here ya go. A combination of a bunch of stir-crazy Antifa, a single unfortunate incident and an election year in need of the some stirring, and so now it seems that those Peaceful Protestors are taking to curbstomping people:
https://t.co/SsO3xGoIAY https://t.co/Nub1Zkbnt4
— JohnDoe (@JonnyDoez) May 31, 2020
It seems that the guy in the first video above tried to defend his store from looters with a sword. Swords are the WRONG WEAPON to use against riots. The Los Angeles riots of ’92 gave the world Roof Koreans:
When it comes to riots, you want ranged weapons, not melee weapons, *especially* if you are alone.
But wait! There’s more!
WATCH: Protesters set blaze to Nashville courthouse as multiple protests continue
Rioters & Looters Destroyed Every Business in Fairfax District (Neighborhood in LA)
Multiple Fires at Union Square; NYPD Surrounded
Seattle Police Vehicles Set Ablaze amid George Floyd Riots
SUV vs rioters: FIGHT!
The NYPD isn’t having it any longer.
This is how you handle savage terrorists.
— John ‘Murder Hornet’ Cardillo (@johncardillo) May 31, 2020
Remember just a few weeks ago when the biggest problem in society was people swimming in the ocean or playing with their children in parks? I think the police – and maybe at least *some* of the politicians – are starting to get it into their heads that the bigger problem is Antifa and the like. of course, not all politicians are figuring out that these people are not the very best that America has to offer:
Biden staff donate to group that pays bail in riot-torn Minneapolis
Granted, that’s “staff” not Biden himself… but really, without someone there to prop him up, what is he but an empty windbag?
Come November, remember which side supported the rioters. Which side supported those whose actions led to this:
This is who the rioters are hurting.
They’re not hurting the police. They’re not hurting the people who they think are “oppressing them.” They’re hurting people like this. It’s sick. pic.twitter.com/htfM5r90qW
— Cassandra Fairbanks (@CassandraRules) May 30, 2020
Frak. I kinda go news-dark for the better part of a week to take care of some internal issues, and when I pop my head up again what do I see? Civilization is collapsing. More evidence, as if any was needed, that I am clearly the most important person on the planet.
And the inevitable:
BREAKING: police have lost control of downtown Dallas
Armed militia are now coming to help protect businesses
And bring order to the city
Many more are on their way
Real Americans are refusing to see their city fall to criminals
This is the America I remember pic.twitter.com/sDGpA1wWgR
— BREAKING RIOT UPDATES – BLAZETV (@ElijahSchaffer) May 31, 2020
May 302020
This video is more than ten years old, but that’s ok since it is a mishmash of British sci-fi concepts from forty and more years ago. I have a fondness for the Hitchhiker’s animation style, since it was one of the first sci-fi TV series I was a real fan of, way, WAAAAY back when… even before Star Trek (so sue me, the local PBS station showed THGTTG, but not ST).
May 302020
Remember when Apollo astronauts used to shoot live TV from inside their capsules out in space? Cuz I sure don’t. I ain’t quite *that* old. But Bob & Doug carry on the tradition with a “tour” of their Dragon capsule. This shows just how relatively spacious the capsule is… and just what a terrible view out the window the camera gets. Really, that’s the lest effective “this is the view out the window” shot I’ve ever seen. Oh well…
May 302020
He seems *almost* back to normal. I think the only major thing left is that he’s perpetually hungry, a result of him concluding that he doesn’t like his new food. Given that he needs to lose some weight anyway, I guess this is a problem with a silver lining.
Buttons and Speedbump plotting world domination.
May 302020
The sky: damned photogenic. The parking lot: meh.
Oh, well. I did my best, damnit.
May 302020
SpaceX has successfully not only launched Americans into orbit from American soil with an American rocket topped with an American capsule, they have also successfully recovered the first stage booster. Woo!
Now if they could lob those rioters to the Moon, that would be great.
Also: they included a zero-g indicator in the capsule:
That’s cool and all, but something more active would seem to be called for. And now that capsules are spacious and need not be nightmarishly cramped, it might be time to consider launching a kitten:
This could be the crowning achievement in the history of human spaceflight, or it could be a blood-soaked disaster. Either’s good, so long as it’s adequately live streamed. But I expect that a cat will be able to accept freefall… maybe not instantly, but eventually. Cover the inside of the capsule with something like burlap and the cat will be able to hang on and move around. I’ve designed, over the years, a couple different “zero g litterboxes” that cats would *hopefully* be able to accept and use. Thing is, we won’t know any of this for certain until someone actually tries. Now that Dragon is up and running, the cost of spaceflight just might drop enough that we can finally, at overly long last, try this necessary step on the road to conquering space.
May 302020
SpaceX is not having the best luck with their Starship prototypes. Number 4 spectacularly exploded after a successful engine test yesterday; this seems to not necessarily be a problem with the Starship itself or its engine, but with either the plumbing, the procedures or maybe even jsut a manual mistake. Scott Manley goes through the available videos.
Unrelated, SpaceX will try – weather permitting – to launch their Crew Dragon again today at 3:22 PM eastern time. At this writing there doesn;t yet seem to be a live stream set up on YouTube.
UPDATE: here ya go…
May 292020
A cop kills a guy, and so…
Riots Destroy $30M Affordable Housing Project
And…
Minneapolis Target descends into chaos as looters smash windows, destroy shelves, and haul away everything inside amid protests against the death of George Floyd
I’m left to wonder if the same media, politicians and talking heads who ripped “lockdown protestors” for violating social distancing rules during their nearly universally peaceful and riot/looting-free protests will be as judgemental about *these* “protestors.”
Libertarian protestors show up with guns… and no violence ensues. Left wing protestors show up without guns, and burn their own cities to the ground.