I love Brandon because he’s an absolute machine at writing. I’ve given up on too many amazing series because I just don’t believe the authors will ever finish the work. Brandon is a breath of fresh air in that regard.

That being said, he has a really specific range to his writing. Personally, I can’t binge too much on his work or I get a little bored or restive or something. Kind of like eating cereal for every meal – it’s great at breakfast, but at some point, you just need some variety.

I doubt it, at least in the US. The rich have a lot of influence over how laws are made, and I don’t really see any appetite to pay a greater share.

It looks like it’s from https://stackoverflow.com/site-analytics, but I don’t have sufficient karma to see the raw data.

Wait, we are? TIL.

Lots of great recommendations here. I’d also add Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold. Her Penric novels are quite fun, too.

we had The Phantom Menace

Hey, I thought we were talking about decent examples of sci fi

TNG … 50%

I’d put it more like 25%. That being said, I def consult episode guides when I’m rewatching and skip accordingly.

I don’t recognize her. What show?

Hmm, it’s been a while since something reminded me of alt.wesley.crusher.die.die.die

Are you interested in setec astronomy?

Ugh, that title.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone refer to it as “ness”. I think I’d be confused – what does the Loch Ness Monster have to do with gaming? – until they clarified.

I just hope they actually have their social security card. A quick googling told me that you need a current ID to get the social security administration to issue a replacement card. Talk about a vicious cycle!

If that’s what you got from my comment, you really shouldn’t be participating in this comment thread. Please leave the conversations for the grownups in the room, thanks.

Huh, I had the opposite reaction. I see your point about satirizing racism, but I couldn’t get past the gratuitous n-bombs every other line.

Mel Brooks

aged pretty well

Some stuff, yeah, but then you have Blazing Saddles. Woof.

That chart is evil. First two ticks represent 5 years. Ticks 2-3 represent 2 years. The last two ticks represent 2 1/2-3 years!

Also, what’s so magical about 2014 that it deserves to be the baseline? I’d love to see this extended back to, oh, 2006 or so. Sometime before the Great Recession.

Finally, what about shrinkflation? I used to order from Panera on a regular basis, but during the pandemic, it seemed like their sandwiches shrank a little bit more between every order. At this point, I don’t think it’s even worth ordering from them.