KenJennings

It's so good! This week's was a much needed recap episode. While it's been lightning fast bang-bang-bang plot development through the first seven, this one filled in the story very well, and gave these main characters so much room to grow.

Alex Kurtzman has already said no to redesigning Worf. If he is shown, he will be shown as he always has been. In fact, his picture was briefly shown in the first episode of Picard, and it was classic TNG worf.

Episode 6 and 7 came back very strong after what was IMO a week 5th episode. Riker and Troi's family life almost served as an old fashioned breather episode like "Take Me Out to the Holosuite" or "His Way" from Deep Space Nine. I was very moved to see them all back together again. More so than I expected to be. I'm loving this show so much. Seeing these characters again is a real pleasure.

I almost put "too much makeup" as my turn off. I totally agree with these.

What is your favorite word? Parable What is your least favorite word? Bully What turns you on? Levity / A Great Smile What turns you off? Gossip What sound or noise do you love? Whispering/Mouth Noise What sound or noise do you hate? Rubbing Styrofoam What is your favorite curse word? Horseshit What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Writer What profession would you not like to do? Waiter If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates? "Would you like to play again?"

Ever since Chuck died, I feel like Better Call Saul has just become Breaking Bad without Walter White. I care far less about Gus' lab and the business of the Cartels than I do about seeing Jimmy hustle and scheme in court, and find out what's going to happen with he and Kim. Unfortunately, while that is still present, I feel like it's being pushed to the background of the story. It's still a fantastic show, but I feel like it's lost some of its luster.

I like extending the season, but I hate the idea of adding more playoff teams. I feel like the playoff extension is a way to prevent Instead, what they should do is require division winners to earn their seed with a winning record. If they don't achieve at least 9-8 (assuming 17 games, ties aside), the seed goes to a third wildcard team. With 14 teams in the playoffs, we would've had at least one 8-8 team in the playoffs last year. We don't need that.

No. What's unconscionable is subverting a suggestion that people try and do some good, in effort to make an ill-considered and hacky political point. You need to do some real soul searching.

Shouldn't I be able to sell my blood rather than donating it? I could get a premium during a natural disaster. Yes. You should. And in a disaster, that would almost certainly increase the supply for the needy. I'll just donate though.

I'm incredibly glad to see Newman walk away from that crash. The safety crew and ER trauma doctors have done an amazing job. Unfortunately, not all traumatic injuries end with such a positive outcome. The Red Cross is always in need of fresh blood and platelet donations to help the sick and injured. Maybe we can turn a near-tragedy into something really positive and save some lives? It doesn't cost a dime, and doesn't hurt more than the tiniest bit. All it really takes is your time- consider donating blood or platelets! https://www.redcross...html/find-drive

Unbelievable. Obviously I don't know the extent of his injuries, but the fact that he's up walking, talking and smiling is amazing. For all the criticism NASCAR gets, one area where they haven't dropped the ball is driver safety. Between the soft walls, the driver restraints and the improvements to roll cage and cocoon technology, they've done some damn fine work.

From 2013. https://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/cup/story/_/id/9263242/ryan-newman-not-pleased-lack-response-nascar

Back in 1994, the deaths of Neil Bonnett and Rodney Orr served as a real wake up call for the drivers at Daytona. Maybe we can get the same effect here, without the death. And maybe we need to bring Rusty down to the garage for a little of this fire and brimstone.

Sound like what happened to Steve Park ca. 2002. He survived, and actually came back, but retired soon after, and I believe sustained permanent brain damage. Park was my favorite driver at the time. Every medical test they did cleared him back to 100%... but something with his coordination was just a little bit off. I don't know if maybe it was psychological, or if he did just have some lingering damage, but he wasn't a competitive racer again for a very long time. After the NASCAR ship sailed, he went back to basics, and carved out some good finishes in the Whelen Modifieds Series, ran a few Truck series races competitively, and in 2010 even returned to the Cup series in a fan-funded car for one Daytona race with Tommy Baldwin and scored an 13th place finish- a race that I'm proud to call my best career finish as a NASCAR sponsor. Anyways, I think Park got back to 100%... I just think it took many more years than anyone expected. Now Jerry Nadeau, that was another story. He's been left with chronic issues, and hasn't raced at all. If I recall correctly, they had to crack his skull to relieve the swelling on his brain, and he was laid up for a very long time. But he did recover. He did maintain his spirit and knowlege and personality. He lost his career, but it could've been so much worse. I certainly hope Ryan Newman fairs better than that- but at this point, I'd be happy to see an outcome like that.

I'm 13 years old right now, scraping every corner of the internet for any piece of information, waiting with baited breath for good news, and dreading those words from Mike Helton... "We've lost Dale Earnhardt." Even 20 years later... I'm still that 13 year old kid with a broken heart. It feels like reliving the first meaningful loss I ever felt.

I'm sick to my stomach... its like being pulled right back to 2001. Hoping for the unlikely best for Newman. Something needs to change with Daytona and Talladega. This style of racing is unacceptable. I don't care if the answer is to plow these stupid tracks into the ground. Restrictor plate racing needs to end.

I'm sure someone has posted this here already, but in case not... This is fantastic.

Finished the third episode before work this morning. This show is absolutely killing it. I'm still surprised to see a number of haters online complaining about the show for reasons that seem absolutely antithetical to the actual product hitting the screen. Speaking as someone who was a fairly ardent critic of Discovery, I'm left wondering if the hatred that show generated has seeped too far into the identity of those making inane complaints about Picard. "I think, when one has been angry for a very long time, one gets used to it. And it becomes comfortable like… like old leather. And finally… it becomes so familiar that one can't remember feeling any other way." Star Trek has rediscovered it's identity as a thoughtful, morally nuanced, character driven drama with Picard. It's shown us the progression of the Trek universe in a splendidly canon-consistent manner, for better and worse. It's brilliantly paced, and has used high energy action sequences very sparingly- allowing dialogue and plot to carry the story on its own merits. It's developing interesting and likeable characters, leaving me genuinely caring about what happens to them. I couldn't be happier with this product. Huge credit to Michael Chabon for breathing life back into Star Trek.

How about Reba McEntire's version of Fancy.

This prog rock cover of Taylor Swift is pretty entertaining.

Dream Theater - Illumination Theory

This is a man who has never harmed anyone. His only 'crime' is speaking his mind. And the reaction is "He's lowered the quality of discourse, he deserves this." The irony is stunning. I hope Rush can defy the odds and beat this thing- for the legions of fans he's entertained for decades, for the people his empire has employed, for the kids with cancer he's donated millions to over the years, for the military families he helps support, for the ideals he champions, and for the shallow haters he exposes. I hope he keeps at his mission for years to come.

Shakira is unbelievably hot. Jlo, on the other hand... well she just looks like she smells bad.

Episode two did a great job showcasing just how much the Starfleet leadership has changed (perhaps infiltrated). I'm getting definite callbacks to Season 4 of Enterprise. Except instead of Vulcan High Command being corrupted, this time it's Starfleet itself- the inclusion of a Vulcan kir'shara on the desk of the Vulcan commodore seems a hidden callback to that storyline. We find out that Picard's dealing with borrowed time because of "a defect in his parietal lobe". This calls back to the TNG finalé "All Good Things", where he dealt with that issue in his future incarnations. Perhaps setting up an opportunity for Q to eventually step in? Still very excited to see where this goes.