DagwoodIII

Yes.

I never read the books, but I liked the series ‘Silo’ on Apple TV. Tim Robbins as the Mayor and Common as the Sheriff.

The first three were good. When I got to the fourth, where it explains how he became the most feared man on the planet I noped out.

https://bookshop.org/beta-search?keywords=travis+mcgee

Travis McGee is what Reacher and Dirk Pitt dream of being. He lives on a houseboat he won in a poker game, and solves crimes when he finds himself low on cash.

The author died in 1986 and the books are still being published.

I noped out about page 3 where the author wrote ‘world famous symbologist.’

I knew there was no such word,

Trump is a stooge who was never going to stand up to Putin.

That said, if he’d been blessed with the balls of a hamster, he could have ridden out the storm easily.

"You have to give old Vlad credit. He saw that he was dealing with a tough hombre and he did the only thing he could. He got his boys to whip up some phony pictures to try and make me look bad.

"I’ve spent plenty of time in Russia, I can’t deny it. Turns out, they knew how important I was and shadowed me. Get a picture of me coming out of the shower, play around with it, and you can make anything look like anything.

"Look, I can’t tell you all the details, because my friends at the CIA would rather keep their cyber stuff top secret, but use your logic. We all know Superman doesn’t fly in the movies, but boy it sure looks that way, doesn’t it.

Tell me the Magats wouldn’t accept.

So…?

He would have the CIA in his pocket. What would they do, come forward and say that yes, this was an authentic picture of Trump?

OR

Lie, and have the sitting President in their pocket?

And Trump would be willing to go along with any CIA plots anyway.

If he’d had the balls of a hamster he would have told Putin to blow him and hand over $50 billion.

Here’s the simple way to understand Trump’s plans.

Trump has been in bed with the Mafia his entire career. You don’t do construction in New York or run a casino in New Jersey without the boys getting to wet their beaks.

But Trump is an idiot, so the top bosses always made sure there were a few layers between Donnie and them. Even Fredo Corleoni knows you don’t let a blabbermouth anywhere near you.

So Trump learned from third rate schmoes who never ran anything bigger than a vending machine company.

To Trump, selling the country out for pennies on the dollar looks like genius.

A real mob boss would have extorted $50 billion from OPEC on Inauguration Day 2016.

I’m not a medical historian, but he must have been of some use, otherwise we’d have never heard of him.

Just because a lot of his work has been supplanted doesn’t mean he should be condemned

Freud was a pioneer with no technology to help him.

[off topic]

https://youtu.be/CxzoWxT2E2Y

The 7% Solution. Drs. Freud and Watson team up to help Sherlock Holmes overcome his cocaine addiction.

Fun movie, directed by the author of the original novel.

I can’t remember the exact name, but there’s a common process with ongoing characters where the writers find themselves making their toughest characters nicer over time.

Both Wolverine and Jack Reacher were presented as unapproachable loners at first, and both mellowed considerably over time.

Rorschach was ‘lucky’ because he got to die a noble death before being forced to become civilized.

Alan Moore talks about how he created Rorschach to be the most disgusting character imaginable. A total loser with no friends and a twisted view of the world.

He says he’s tired of all the fan boys who come up to him and tell him how Rorschach is them!

Look at OnlyFans.

A quick look shows that a few folks there are making a lot of money. $200,000 a year. Others make a good deal less.

That’s always been the case with creative folks. A few will rise to the top, and the rest are going to be amateurs.

Fine dining didn’t die when fast food was invented, and live music held its own even after recordings became a thing.

What do you think the ‘collapse’ will look like?

There’s a whole lot of nuclear and conventional weapons out there.

The Soviet Empire went down in the calmest way possible, and there were genocidal wars all over the former SSRs.

The idea that the 0.01% don’t have plans is place is naïve.

Basically, what you’re saying is the philosophical equivalent of saying music is dead because people aren’t interested in opera any more.

Try looking around a bit. A few years ago, Marvel Comics did a story line called “Civil War.” The government asked all the heroes to register. Iron Man and Spider-Man said yet, Captain America and his allies said no.

Plenty of discussions of the rights and responsibilities of the heroes.

Or watch a show called ‘Pluribus.’ Or any oldie but goody called "The Prisoner.’ Or ‘The Good Place.’

Heck, the trolley problem is on the front page here every day.

Ayn Rand was one of the best selling authors of the 20th Century, and she’s probably the best known philosophers in US history.

She died broke.

Sorry to bust your bubble, but most people don’t have a college education. In the USA, the average reading level is below middle school.

https://www.snopes.com/news/2022/08/02/us-literacy-rate/

In the UK, about 20% of the population is considered functionally illiterate.

And even of those who do, how many actually took a philosophy class? And of those who passed, how many have read a philosophy book in the past year?

Someone suggested I get a book called “Discover what You Are Best At.”

I always thought I just hated working; the book showed me that there were a lot of jobs I’d never considered trying for. I picked out one course and got a good career out of it.

I can’t remember who it was who told me, so I’m sure they never thought of me again

What makes you think people ever paid attention to thinkers?

Most people can’t explain what philosophy is, much less name five philosophers.