Darth Fluffy

After conquering the blanket, she deserves a zoom break.

I applaud such forethought. I have not seen it myself.

I like that 'Freedom Units' - it fits the squirrelly times we live in. It was 84 FU here today. (32.5 C) Cold overnight, and cold again tonight, but a warm afternoon.

To be fair, that was their target audience. Monsterpiece Theater was some impressive overachieving. I also enjoyed the fast food skits, but those were more kid-accessible. Have you ever been to a fast food place and they said, "Please pull over and wait, we'll bring it out to you." What is wrong with this picture? Are you 'fast food' or not? Did I accidentally pull in to a moderately quick food place? I see two other cars waiting; so apparently, "Yes, you did." This seems to have been a thing at a particular Wendy's I used to go to, but they solved the problem by raising the price on their dollar chicken sandwich to the point that I no longer bother. I suspect the store management of being deficient. Perhaps that is unfair. But I've noticed that only some places have issues. Hardee's, in my area anyway, can't seem to get an order correct. Maybe literacy is not a thing for them. I hadn't been to a Micky D's in ages, at least a decade, but I got some coupons, and I decided to try one of their breakfast items. It was a good deal, and I enjoyed the item. Went back, on the third visit, the manager informed me, "We can't honor that coupon, that's for <different town>" OK, so, YOU (corporate) MAILED ME A COUPON that the McDonald's I pass frequently won't accept, and if I want to use it, I have to drive three times as far away? (I live on the outskirts of a sprawling town.) Scratch Micky D's off my list. (But I have to give them credit, a clown is an appropriate corporate spokesperson.) I'm down to very few fast food choices. There is a specific breakfast sandwich at Sheetz that I buy maybe once a month; on a road trip, I'd buy them. There is a non-franchise Mexican take out near me that I stop by from time to time. The bean burritos at Taco Hell do not disgust me (won't eat their meat selections any more. I miss their spicy chicken from the 1990s.) I can find something edible at most sub shops. Not fond of Jimmy John's bread. Maybe pizza, but some are awful, and overall, the pizza scene seems to be declining. On the plus side, I've become a more passable cook since COVID.

In D&D terms, a teacher needs enough Int to handle the subject matter, enough Wis to convey the information to the students, and enough Cha to be persuasive. Kevin has enough Int, lacks Wis (evidenced by giving Ashley more information than she needed, to the point of distracting her), and his lack of Wis trashes whatever Cha he has. He is apparently a decent recording device for magic knowledge, and Tedd, who is knowledgeable himself and tolerant of Kevin's quirks, seems to benefit by interacting with him. So he's really not a good beginner trainer, but he could be a help to someone already down the road, kind of like a Schaum's Outline. (Do they still print those? I'll never part with mine by choice.)

Someone has to go through the trouble of actually assessing and then declassifying the information. That basically does not happen unless there is an external pressure to do so. Mere mortals who deal with classified are not authorized to decide what is classified; that authority resides with the 'classification authority', who is a brass plated muckity-muck who does not care about those details; fair chance he's long since retired or passed away. So degaussing the information is a troublesome task that does not self-initiate. So even when the actual threat is long since passe, you are not free to reveal classified information. A review can be prompted, but it generally takes a rationale and letters to congress critters. Congress critters are good for that. Like roaches, no one wants to deal with them. The baseline prescribed response when you see classified in open source is "Neither confirm nor deny", also notify a security person. I have seen books that revealed too much disappear from book stores in days, pretty sure they weren't purchased by readers. I do not recall titles, they would probably be nearly impossible to find anyway, and if I did remember, I wouldn't reveal it. We got "Do not comment on this title" for a couple of books, which is why I noticed when they disappeared. Notably, this was before 9/11. I do not think 'Homeland Security' enhanced anything, especially not at its creation, although it seems to be doing a fair job now. I think it the long run, it is too top heavy. It pulled in worker bees and made them security managers. Now DHLS gives direction to other agencies, but the manpower to do the assigned tasks, especially the experienced manpower, is lacking. Just in general, it seems like common sense has left the arena.

I concur that Leifeld is probably not nationwide head, for similar reasons. Also that he has a boss in his area of responsibility, magic oversight, that resides in the capital. Per the description so far, they are within the FBI, which is an old organization. Presumably, the head of the FBI is in the chain, even if they are within the bailiwick of Homeland Security. Our Department of Homeland Security is somewhat of an anomaly. It was created in the wake of 9/11, in my opinion to deflect attention from the fact that the administration had enough evidence warning of 9/11 but took no action. (If I am correct, the deflection was successful.) The initial onset of DHS disrupted actual homeland security for several transition years as roles devolved and new ones, replacements, had not yet gelled. It seems effective now, still redundant though, muddying responsibility. My expectation for the long run is that we have a bloated security apparatus that will fail to catch threats because it is too entrenched in habits and not responsive to a changing environment. We already have indication of this happening to some degree; Chinese abductions from US soil and Russian dissidents dying under mysterious circumstances on US soil. There has not been an indication that the EGS universe has a Department of Homeland Security. Since its relatively recent creation hinges on a nebulous chain of events and how various persons handled the fallout, it seems plausible that the EGS America could have avoided the entire fiasco. Being 'Assistant Director' and being in charge of a region does not match the organizational model of the agency I support, they have regional directors (with their own assistants), but on the other hand, I don't think how each agency organizes is dictated to them, so you could be on to something in that regard.

Do you think that when Edward is in Leifeld's office, he is in DC? Or in EGS, the capital is not DC?

Did they include a cantrip 'Select Upgrade Options'?

I watched some Sesame Street with my kids. There was some clever content, clearly over the kids' heads, like Alister Cookie's Monsterpiece Theater. There was a lesson in there for the kids, but the humor was clearly aimed at the parents.

Why does this sound like an OS 'upgrade'?

A further bit on the scope of Assistant Director Leifeld's responsibilities, the EGS fandom Wiki has this short blurb about him: I do not think this is fully correct. As 'Assistant Director', I don't think he'd have the authority to create a new department; I think he is just reporting the result of a discussion that he was part of, but the decision was made by the actual director, or perhaps even involving other agencies. As such, not holding the decision power, he could be either national level or regional level; regional would still be involved as the office loosing Edward. And he seems to be available in the local area(?), so I'm guessing regional assistant director. Edward's new position sounds national in scope, so it seems like Assistant Director Leifeld is informing Edward, "You no longer work for this regional office."

I listened to it in high school time frame, about a decade earlier. I occasionally ran into it in the 70s beyond that. The episodes are amusing and fairly well done for what they are. They stand well enough on their own for the most part but there is a thread running through them, roughly comparable to How I Met Your Mother in terms of continuity. The jokes, like the Chicken Coupe, tend toward repetitive. I believe it is still available in podcast format.

Not at all? I have been privy to government secrets, and keep them; it is a bit of a stress factor in close relationships, such as spouse and kids, more so if they know that you are keeping secrets (so it's best not to advertise that detail). In my case, the kids were too young to be aware, and my ex was in a similar situation, so at least understood. Tedd should be happy if Edward keeps his mouth shut and does not talk about things he's not supposed to. Talking out of turn is bad for both of them. Edward could be disciplined, potentially loose his job, and if the situation is egregious, could face prison time. Tedd would come under scrutiny, would have a file, and might be barred in the future from government service or holding a clearance. That's in the US, some places would be much worse, some might be a bit more benign. FWIW, you are never told, "That's not a secret anymore." I see stuff in open sources and wonder if it is still classified; I make a point of not drawing attention to it. People routinely go to their graves with odd formerly secret trivia that is no longer meaningful. In his initial contact with Will and Gill, he's younger than his is in the bulk of the comic, appears somewhat childish, but understands modding and bench work. I'd estimate no younger than eight, no older than ten; but a little higher would be less surprising than a little bit lower. Can we call it nine years old? The gang is graduating this year. School districts vary in how they admit children into grades, but graduating at seventeen is typical. We have not heard that anyone was graduating early (but Susan is supposed to be younger, and yet is also graduating?), and specifically have not heard that Tedd is. And he recently was assigned a government sponsored lab, which could be viewed as a form of compensation (I'm sure he sees it as a windfall). So eight years is my guesstimate. If you don't want to count the lab as compensation, and assume he will be an unpaid intern while at Moperville University, assuming a typical graduation track, add four years until he graduates and they hire him for an overall total before he's done. This is probably not discretionary. If he is noted as an asset, he is also categorized, and there is a policy dealing with how he is treated, including compensation. As a for instance, I am employed on a government contract. My employer has a contract with the US government. How much I work affects how much my employer gets paid. I am required to record and report all of my hours worked. I cannot work overtime without authorization, because money and contractual obligations are involved. If we have an emergency, yeah, some government official will give us the OK to work on it until it is resolved, but normally, I am constrained to eight hour days. Edward was in effect doing extra duty shepherding Tedd's transformation gun efforts, per the recent exposition sequence with Assistant Director Leifeld, and there may have been some level of compensation involved for either Edward, Tedd or both. It could involve a trust fund that Tedd is not aware of until he reaches an age; I suppose it could have been tied to results. I'm guessing that is not the case, because it has not been a part of the narrative, but it would not be impossible. Of course there is the obvious, 'get to screw around with exotic alien technology', which is compensation in itself, just like being eventually funded for a lab. Looking at this from a different angle, why would they pay Tedd if he is willing to work for free? There are several reasons that it is beneficial to pay Tedd. It establishes a relationship and roles. It lends a sense of legitimacy to his efforts which can help keep his focus on their goals. It enhances their legitimacy from his point of view. It serves to avoid future issues of being taken advantage of. It seems, too, that it is greasing the skids if they plan to hire him in the future; cultivating an asset. "We are your friends, remember that." Why do you tip, when you could easily avoid it (assuming you do tip)?

She should be a chicken themed superhero. There is a distinct lack of chick based superheroes in the 2000s. Both Chickenman and Super Chicken have gone by the wayside. She could be Cheerleadra's sidechick. She has enough pluck for the role.

Our weather during the day has been nice, getting cold overnight, still not freezing.

From what I gather of current Fox, Nanase needs to be aware to use her as a puppet, so if Nanase can remain conscious and can focus past her injury, it would seem she has a second healthy body that can get her real body to a safe place. I guess if she can drive in a video game, she could passably operate a motor vehicle. Fox is (still) fully autonomous, to some degree, although not with any depth of purpose. On that basis, it seems that Nanase passing away would not immediately end Fox. If I recall correctly, Fox is on a timer, and then disappears. If that is correct, Fox would not long outlive Nanase. Unlike the fairy dolls, there is no body left behind. I take this as a narrative convenience; a doll looks like a doll; a body looks like a body, and raises unneeded questions.

It seems that he is based near Moperville, perhaps Chicago, which as ijuin said, would imply Midwest Regional Assistant Director. Where did you see the scope of Arthur's authority being Midwest? He retired and was reactivated; possibly he had a broader scope prior to retirement. I am curious if the magic object warehouse is also regional. It appears to not be. In fact, it is odd that bits and pieces from all over the world end up there (based on the little we've seen). Why was the Dewitchery Diamond in the US (the EGS US)? The lab that made Grace and her siblings appears to have been an unsanctioned rouge operation.

So Kevin apparently has seer capabilities, from Arthur. Interesting that they are transferable. Nanase is disappointed in the downgrade. Previous fox was far more useful.

The last Windows 'upgrade' installed yet another way to launch their damn browser near the 'search' feature on the toolbar. This is in addition to the one that launches from the time and weather icons on the toolbar. Since, y'know, you didn't already choose to launch it from any of the other methods provided. "Oh, and do you want to make our browser your default browser?" - it's a bit like having a puppy humping your leg. Linux is a good option.

'Updates' - I recall a time when that used to mean something useful was being applied.

The pacing of EGS seems to be slowing down.

NP Comic for Saturday, Oct 21, 2023 Fox is having a difficult time. Electrodes in the skull could definitely liven up the hijinks, especially if you use home tools to install them.

Folded up for easy storage.

"The wand chooses the hairy wizard."