Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

"Eat the babies! The throat babies! Am I right ladies?" - Dave Attell... I like this acronym when it comes to advice on how to give a good presentation - KILL (Keep It Likable and Learnable)... Perhaps the best MMA move I've ever seen... Great advice and wisdom to remember! "If you propose to speak, always ask yourself, is it true, is it necessary, is it kind." - the Buddha... "I ate the babies with some fava beans and a nice Chianti." - Hannibal Lecter... If we've been actually living in a simulation the past 3-years perhaps the code was written by George RR Martin. It would explain a lot and also explain why his last book has yet to be finished... There was no magical equivalent to Google in the Harry Potter universe. I wonder how that magical equivalent could have changed the Hogwarts experience. For example - Harry would have found out who Nicolas Flamel was in seconds in the first book... If President Trump wanted to troll Kamala Harris he could pardon any parent that was jailed as part of California's controversial Truancy Law - a law Harris as District Attorney supported... 

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

So what if that Russian app company sells all those photos and personal data to an Asian company that makes sex dolls? They could create a whole line of "Mouth F*ck a Stupid American" line of  life-like dolls and it would serve you right!... I hope the next big movie is an It and Top Gun crossover like what they did with Alien vs Predator... I laughed way too much at this... It would be cool if TV shows could trade actors the way MLB and NBA teams trade players... Cool stat from Tim Kurkjian, "Ted Williams' career OPS (1.116) is higher than the best single season OPS of any active player." That's how great Ted Williams was!... I laughed way too much at this too... Imagine doing business with someone on the other side of world and while they may seem so obsequious on the phone but at the same time they could be doing unspeakable things to a sex doll with your specific likeness. That's the future!.. George R.R. Martin says that Game of Thrones backlash won't influence his writing. But it will influence his book sales because there are many like me who are just done with the series. I read each book twice but I won't touch his new book. To paraphrase the words of Eric Cartman "Screw that guy!"... How soon before the nickname "the Squad" morphs into the nickname "the Useful Idiots"?...

Game of Thrones Season 8 (Spoilers)

The Pitch Meeting does a humorous job of explaining some most of the failings of Season 8. (If you're not familiar with the Screen Rants Pitch Meeting videos - do yourself a favor and dive in.)

As for me the whole progression of Season 8 and the waiting for the sixth and seventh books from George RR Martin has been a bit exhausting. I own copies of all five of the current books on my Kindle and also a box set of the books. I've read each book at least twice but after Season 8 of the HBO show and years of waiting for the next book to come out I'm pretty much done with Game of Thrones. I can see myself maybe picking up the new books in a decade or so (if they ever come out) but definitely not anytime soon.

I have to think David Benioff and DB Weiss the TV producers and showrunners have to be privately pissed off at George RR Martin. When they started this project 9 or 10 years ago they had to have thought Martin would have at least the next book in the series done by now. But nope! Benioff and Weiss had to basically just wing the past two seasons and most of the show's fan's displeasure has been focused on them when I think George RR Martin is where the blame should really rest.

Think of it - if George RR Martin died tomorrow the first line of his obituary wouldn't say he was the author of the Game of Thrones series but that he failed to write the final books!

One minor detail that I'm curious about was if casinos and betting sites had a prop bet for who would sit on the Iron Throne at the end of the season - did they pay off for Bran or for no one? Technically Dany touched the Iron Throne but didn't sit on it before Drogon melted the damn thing. The Iron Throne ceased to be before Bran became king.

I'll just add that to the long list of things that were never resolved or explained.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- This is why the Boston Marathon is different.

- Disney used to make hundreds of millions from Netflix. Now they will spend billions to fight them.

- Heh Heh

- An appreciation of the TV show Justified.

- Interesting profile of comedian Neal Brennan.

- Where is "Old Zealand"? 

- Really cool George R.R. Martin story.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Heh Heh

- So those Game of Thrones characters are dead for sure - right?

- All mental models are wrong. The map is not the territory (yet some maps are pretty damn useful).

- What if you used dynamite?

- 3 key facts that demonstrate Amazon's retail dominance.

- Autophagy is going to be one the key words to know when it comes to medicine and health in the next decade

- This is an example of why I think Howard Schultz running for President is a good thing. And for the record I'm not a Republican.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- How mushrooms became "magic" 

- Wait - what?

- It's not you it's me

- Heh heh

- Private island in Maine (with lighthouse) can be yours for just $650,000

- Very cool 

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

The Red Sox to retire Pedro Martinez' number 45 on July 28th at Fenway Park... Cool - every American bar Anthony Bourdain has visited on TV... The Gnomon (One Who Knows or Examines) would be a good name for a blog... Heh heh... Who knew? Combined the 27 countries that make up the European Union would only cover half of the the area of the United States... In Search of the One Last Original Joke in the Universe would be a good name for a blog on stand-up comedy... Devo's cover of Satisfaction is one of the best cover songs in rock history...  Glove box? Glove compartment? Why? Do you know anyone who actually keeps gloves in there?...

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- I really can't look at this photo of Bartolo Colon "hitting" without laughing

- This is incredibly poignant 

- The dark and dangerous world of extreme cavers

- Cool - photos taken inside of musical instruments

- Cooler - The Simpsons will air an entire episode in Lego

- Interesting interview with George RR Martin

- Interestinger interview with Jack Gleason (King Joffrey)

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Honest slogans

- Jeff Francoeur getting pranked by his minor league teammates is epic.

- I'm so happy that Jonathan Papelbon is some other team's problem

- The Gospel of Jesus' wife may be real.

- "Did someone eat a bat? Did someone scavenge another dead chimp, one that had shared fruit with a bat?" Your Ebola update. Scary stuff.

- 11 amazing insect close-ups

- George R R Martin has a sense of humor

George R.R. Martin Interview

If you are a Game of Thrones fan - this interview with George R. R. Martin is must viewing.

Flotsam and Jetsam

I hope you are having a great Valentine's Day. On this day in 1884 - Teddy Roosevelt's mother and wife both passed away. As you can see from his entry in his diary - it was not a good day for Teddy... Jimmy Kimmel really doesn't seem to like Jay Leno... I love David Ortiz but there is NO WAY the Red Sox offer David Ortiz arbitration next season. If they knew they would be paying over $14 million then I doubt they would have offered arbitration this year either... Heh heh - nursery rhymes as read by Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin...  In a person's life a split second can often do as much damage as a split atom... Just saying - I have never seen the movie The Bodyguard and God willing - I never will... I really want one of these - the new Tesla Model X SUV with gull wings.

Game of Thrones


I have become a big fan of the HBO series Game of Thrones. After watching the second episode I decided I was interested enough to read the books. I got the first book for my Kindle and I was hooked.

I plowed through all four books in the series and even went to Barnes and Noble to see if they had the fifth book A Dance with Dragons but was told that the book won't be released until July 12th.

Maybe the best way to describe the book series is to imagine The Lord of the Rings if it was written by Ann Rice. That analogy is meant to include the best parts like the imagination of JRR Tolkien and the bad parts - like Ann Rice never actually finishing a book but setting up the next book in the series instead. If you like the HBO series - then you may want to give the books a shot. Just be warned that George R.R. Martin is big on plot twists and turns. Don't become emotionally invested in any one character because in Martin's storytelling no character is safe.

I'll be waiting for July 12th and the fifth book but until then I'm going to read the first four one more time.