My Force Awakens Review

... doesn't exist yet, because, in the fine tradition of my not bothering to see Star Trek: Into Darkness for five months, I took the rare opportunity a couple nights ago to see a film in a theater by going to see The Martian instead.  Great picture!  The classroom ending could've been skipped, but all in all it was remarkably good, even if I had quibbles with the realism at times.

As for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the issue I have, as noted previously (1, 2, 3), is that just as JJ-Trek isn't related to the Trek universe of TOS, TNG, et al., the new Disney universe isn't the same universe as that of Lucas.  I consider this to basically be Vector Prime insofar as events mattering to the original universe or being worthy of analysis.

SMoST: Wheels

If I had the kind of time I did in the old days, I would do an in-depth article about vehicle suspension and handling design uaing the Nemesis dune buggy as example / whipping boy that would constitute a primer of sorts, bringing together sci-fi nerdistry and gearheads / petrolheads.

The Argo buggy is in many ways a real throwback.  Before you assign that statement a level of obviousness with a rank of Captain or above, consider it beyond the mere notion of a dune buggy on Star Trek, or a modern-speed dune buggy with such a huge, obvious engine compartment in the same movie as a lapel-pin transporter device, or the floppy phaser cannon, or the lack of enclosed crew cabin or even windshield, necessitating safety glasses for probably the first time in Trek.

Anti-Anti-Vaxxer Wisdom

Sorry I haven't been around.   Unlike last year's announced end-of-year hiatus, this year's required extra real-world time snuck up on me.

But I couldn't help but post when I chanced upon some things which, while technically unrelated, smacked me as all-too familiar.