I’ve seen a bunch of those. Enough to know of his April 1st gags and to be able to shill for his website.

Which I won’t do here.

I’m more wondering about doing it as a career. What’s the annoyance/danger factor? How much work do you need to stay afloat? What do start-up costs look like? What would cause a locksmith to walk away and get into something else?

And so on.

Any insights about locksmithing? Aside, of course, from odd hours

I’d also like to hear about the journey toward being a master carpenter.

There are 101 years in your question. So, no year zero then?

Still fighting for command of this very small hill.

Phrasing.

I mean, Com Truise defo had more than luck. He had pull even then. And, yes, he is just a person. He is dedicated to his art, which, I think, is running hard and making memorable movies.

• Top Gun (1986, Dir. Tony Scott, Budget $15M),

• Rain Man (1988, Dir. Barry Levinson, Budget $25M),

• Days of Thunder (1990, Dir. Tony Scott, Wri. Robert Towne, Budget $60M),

• A Few Good Men (1992, Dir. Rob Reiner, wri. Aaron Sorkin, Budget $40M),

• the Firm (1993, Dir. Syndey Pollack, Budget $42M),

• Interview with the Vampire (Dir. Neil Jordan, Wri. Anne Rice, Budget $60M),

Big directors, writers, and big hit films. Then, he became Ethan Hunt.

• Mission: Impossible 1 (Dir. Brian DePalma, Wri. Robert Towne, Budget $80M)

M:I-2 (Dir. John Woo, Wri. Robert Towne) was thoroughly forgettable. That said, I just discovered that the writers of Star Trek: DS-9 and Voyager — Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga — wrote the story. Wild. Still, no quarter given. Until, maybe, I watch it again.

The next 4 are great.

• M:I-3 (Wri./Dir. J.J. Abrams with Alex Kurtzman (latter-day Star Trek writers and executive producers))

• M:I-4, Ghost Protocol (Dir. Brad Bird (the Iron Giant and the Incredibles))

• M:I-5, Rogue Nation (Wri./Dir. Christopher MacQuarrie (the Usual Suspects and the Way of the Gun))

• M:I-6, Fallout (Wri./Dir. Christopher MacQuarrie)

Jury is still out on M:I-7, Dead Reckoning Part 1, and Final Reckoning. Full disclosure, I did not really feel Part 1.

Tron Cubes does attract/demand talent. And, his collaboration with Christopher MacQuarrie is long-standing.

No year zero. Meaning: year 2000 is in the 20th c. and year 2100 is in the 21st c.

M:I-3, 4, 5, and 6 are excellent movies. Each in their own right. I know, Tom Cruise. But, plug and play any action star, and these are still great movies. He just happened to land the role of Ethan Hunt back in '96.

The EU hears you.

https://etsc.eu/cars-will-need-buttons-not-just-touchscreens-to-get-a-5-star-euro-ncap-safety-rating/

The moment where Picard says, “we have no law to fit your crime.”

Picard on the first duty.

I came to put this scene in. But this comment informed me. I know of the IWW, but had never made the connection. Top notch comment, this.

I think that Banksy’s couch gag broke something in me. I stopped watching the Simpsons about then.

The best part about it is the subtlety. Tiny shifts across a season. Few changes in visuals across the entire run.

It is the most lovely theme song I’ve heard.

This develops into the toddler who —after you’ve given advice, demand, direction, instruction, or other adult support — looks you dead in the eye, does the exact opposite, and acts like it’s your fucking fault.

They perfect trolling.

Hopefully, by the time they’re four, they come to understand that trolling your family is not a great survival strategy. Some people grow out of it. Some are just trolls to ‘others’, outside their established ingroup.

There are some people who’d sell their own mothers on a lark. Or, reneg on a friend just to see them squirm. Or, impose tariffs on allies and inflame every enemy but one. Those people, they’re behaving like toddlers.

Yeah, I’m still a fan of the group. Not too attached to their host.

I stand corrected.

I knew they were on late night with one of the Jimmies. The band they are is not tied to how they pay the bills. Funny thing is, I can imagine Fallon’s face, but not Kimmel’s.

The band they are is 1987 - 2007 for me. The last album of theirs I picked up was Undun in 2011.

The Roots in their pre-Jimmy Kimmel Fallon days, and even now, are my favourite musical group. Black Star is another duo I would raise to that level as well.

Taking a look at this page, for the Last Poets, who influenced Saul Williams, it’s a veritable who’s who of artists I love: Wu-Tang, Public Enemy, Brand Nubian, KRS-ONE, Guru, Mos Def & Talib Kweli.

e: I stand corrected.

That a bunch of barbarians from north and western Europe whose primary values were ownership, sequestration, exploitation, and domination set the political, economic, social, and psychological agenda for an entire planet. True, this may have been the mode of survival from Rome to the Renaissance, but why are we still locked into it now?

The next part of this comment includes crude generalizations of 1st to 18th century for every continent. Historians, feel free to clarify. Ahistorical boobs, at least be willing to ask questions before you attack.

Turtle Island sustainability and oral history, Asian cosmic coexistence, Middle Eastern knowledge preservation, African social development, East Asian detente, Australo-Pacific deep time and vast exploration, and/or panhumanistic duty to family — no. Every other culture and value system expressed by non-Europeans was summarily suppressed, violently undercut, and disregarded as backward, non-Christian drivel. This continues into today.

Gangsters, germ warfare, rapid industrialization — yes. Every means of short-term gain, power concentration, expansionism, and advantage-taking is normal. Inter- and sometimes intra-familial feuding, marriage pacts, and warmongering is normal.

Sometimes, it seems that almost ANY other system than the one we have now — centered on wealth and weapons — would be an improvement. However, ever other system can not contend with the threats of wealth and weapons.

There’s a bunch of these thought experiments that try to posit scenarios where C is violated.

Here’s one I remember from uni involving scissors. Similar to what OP was thinking, but really really big scissors.

Magneto’s power set could be very useful and easy to manage. Magnets can certainly be made stronger and weaker. He/I would need to build up to any dangerous level of magnetic power, so meditation before sleep would be clutch. Bullet-proof, flight, what amounts to telekinesis, and the ability to manifest any metallic object is fairly incredible, yet unobtrusive.

Also, Forge’s power set would be pretty nice to have. Can engineer, build, fix, and invent literally anything. Solve any technological problem at will. The photocopier would never be broken. Wait, does anyone still use a photocopier? The only thing that’d be annoying is becoming everyone’s IT department.

Jamie Madrox is also a great contender. Instant dupes of myself at will (and, yes, magically, they come with clothes).

These are my answers.

How annoying is it to have idiotic anti-intellectuals running nuclear superpowers?

Socrates.

This man upheld his right to think his own thoughts and to go where the evidence led him. He stood trial and was sentenced to death.

Now, the most powerful people do not think, have zero principles, disregard evidence, and would gladly have others die to secure their power.