Every year being the hottest year on record has been the norm for awhile now…

TBH, the most astonishing reveal from the study for me was that Hybrid owners weren’t charging their vehicles. Unfortunately, the why isn’t covered in the study since it seems to just be hard math and statistical analysis.

Are they just not plugging in at night?

Too frustrated with the battery draining too quickly?

Driving too far for the battery to meaningfully contribute between charges?

Is the extra hardware mass making the ICE that much less efficient?

Laziness from having to fill both the battery and the gas tank?

I question how much of this is a logistics issue, vs how much of this is because half the population is convinced that basic medical care causes Down syndrome .

The way it was explained to me, or at least the way that made me really comprehend the underlying why… is that this is a direct and foreseeable consequence of our for-profit medical system and the systemic abuse of trust it’s bloomed.

Say, for instance, you suddenly feel ill.

You have to avoid calling an ambulance because the ride alone with bankrupt you.

So you learn to mistrust emergency responders.

You se the doctor and learn your ailment is uncovered.

So you learn to mistrust medical insurance.

You go to the pharmacy and your medication costs almost as much as your beaten down used car. And to boot, it’s full of ingredients you can’t even spell. Who knows what it does?

So you mistrust medicine.

But hey, there’s this Organic all natural snake oil, it’s only $10. You take this placebo, and hey (by complete coincidence) You feel better, and more importantly, you’re not bankrupt!

So the masses have been taught, at every stage of medical care, that ‘the system’ causes more harm than good. So now you’re subconsciously looking for any reason to reject it.

Enter Trump and the Pandemic.

The man didn’t just light the oil spill that was the American distrust of the medical system, he took an industrial flamethrower to it.

It’s easy, and even justified, to blame Trump for the embarrassing and deadly rejection of modern medicine we’re afflicted with, but it wouldn’t have gained traction in the first place if capitalism hadn’t gotten so beyond out of control.

With my (admittedly limited) understanding of the topic, extracting the water from ocean water is a relatively simple process.

The problem is what do you do with the brine afterwards. The process featured in the article makes it harder for the brine to clog the system, which is admittedly an important step. But you can’t put the brine back into the ocean without risking killing local wildlife.

And I’m not under the impression that there are any practical uses for brine, at least not at that scale.

I’m familiar with that part of the lore.

It’s more like how the Borg are described as an unstoppable unrelenting all powerful force… and are stopped, relent, and are devoid of power. On paper they are one thing, on screen they are another.

With the Romulans, they tend to outsource the violence. Pit party A against B, then clean up after. Practically scavengers. Klingons, Jem’Hadar, and Hirogen I’d more readily describe as violent.

It’s kinda odd in retrospect. There are many words to describe Romulans… but violent isn’t really amongst the top ten.

What would prevent them from arguing that was improper, and thus invalid?

You’re the younger sibling with the game controller that’s not plugged in while the older one plays the game.

I always headcanoned that Rom was very quickly fired after DS9… but I have to admit this episode did an excellent job conveying that with Leeta at his side, he’s got quite good job security. … and wasn’t that the Sense-Ores admiral?

I liked catching up with Marinier’s Ferengi friend from back in S1. Kinda wish they did a little bit more with that plot.

I tend to feel awkward when I see characters acting awkward… to that extent I had a little trouble getting through Tendi and Rutherford’s story. I like them more when they get to be big nerds—which we admittedly had quite a bit of this episode.

Beyond that… I find it interesting that the Parlament class now has a CGI model. Lower Decks traditionally saves the CGI budget for ships that get into combat or major fan service. The Parlament vessel doesn’t really qualify for either in this episode. I wonder if it’s going to be a casualty of the mystery ship later in the season.

Also, did I hear right that the Ferengi Lower Decker was in communication with the mysterious vessel?

"In the absence of that sorely-needed action, the Office of Gun Violence Prevention along with the rest of my Administration will continue to do everything it can…”

Isn’t that basically admitting that this new department can’t do anything and just posturing?

Or am I missing something?

Edit: In retrospect, the biggest value this department might have is having it be under Republican leadership down the line. An entire department explicitly against gun violence may cause some in-fighting about reasonable measures… as opposed to the current status quo.

That is of course assuming the entire department doesn’t just get tossed and establishes itself as having some teeth.

The DS9 episode was handled with such dignity, but the Voyager episode was a fever dream and I am absolutely here for it!

After 3 seasons, it’s surprising to finally have a voice actor for Westlake.

I didn’t know I needed Clarinet Macro Viruses and assimilated Salamander Automatons at the helm, but my gosh did the LD team deliver!

I wonder if the promotion rollout explains why marketing for this season was so sparse.

I LOVED Shaxs talking about his relationship issues with Ransom and the fourth wall lean on the tubes was perfection.