Quantum Leap Reboot: Substituting Woke For Imagination

Remember the old Quantum Leap television program with Scott Bakula as a time travel researcher stuck bouncing through past, destined to fix things that went wrong? I liked that show. So you might think that I’d be glad to hear that it’s being rebooted.

First, I have a big problem with reboots of old shows and movies. It generally shows a lack of imagination. Mediocre wroters and producers who can’t think of a new idea themselves, so they lift one that once worked, file off the serial numbers, piddle in the plot, and call it new.

That seems to be what’s happening to QL v2.0.

The original series ended with Doctor Beckett finally learning why he never made it home, why he seemed to be an intertemporal troubleshooter, and he never would go home: it was all training for the tougher job… someone (God?)… had for him.

QL2 could have picked up there and showed us what the harder tasks were. And where. But, noooo…

It appears they’re substituting a new cast, and simply starting over. Distinct lack of imagination there. But they have something “better” than imagination…

The main cast is two asians, a black, and a “nonbinary” freak. If you can’t be original, be woke.

And go broke.

I’ll wait for the show to air and see what people say about it. But I’m pretty damned sure already that I won’t bother watching it.

Why Hollywood won’t do original work anymore baffles me. Just look at the independent publishers on Amazon (and some of the decent publishing houses like Baen), and you’ll see that there’s plenty of new talent with new ideas (or at least new takes on classic concepts). They could easily option those, and give us something new and entertaining.

Instead, those daring producers feel the need to rummage through the dustbin of cinematic history for stuff that worked once. “Hey, this was popular! Let’s throw a coat of paint on it and make a fortune off plagiarism.”

And these days, that paint is wokism-colored; as if they cannot fathom that real people outside their urban bubbles don’t want that shit. Viewers could identify with decent, if quirky, people doing their best with what they’ve got in an unprecedented situation.

ID’g with a nutjob who can’t tell if he/she/it/xe/whatsit is male or female or something else? Not so much.

I also can’t help but wonder if QL2 will stick with the premise of the Beckett/Seong time-jumping into other people’s lives — white, black, asian, male, female — and living as them. It worked in the ’80s. In today’s crazed world, the wokesters whom this new series apparently targets are going to scream “Cultural appropriation!” every week.

Let ’em prove me wrong. At least they have Ernie Hudson, who is talented.

Heh

As seen at The Gateway Pundit.

Cook County jail is putting him on suicide watch. I suppose that has something to do with his unprovoked yelling in court that he is not suicidal. It ain’t as if his case was bringing up dirt on the Clintons.

I think.

Bills, Bills, Bills

I had a medical appointment earlier this month. Since I’m paying out of pocket — thanks to my readers’ generosity — I checked rates up front before setting the appointment.

I was given a fixed rate to be seen. When I showed up, I paid it.

Well, now. It turns out the “fixed rate” was actually just to walk in the door. I just received another bill for being seen. Hundreds of bucks more.

Looks like false advertising to me. But I’ll pay this one. And I canceled my follow up appointment for next week, which also means I don’t get my blood test results.

On the bright side, I’ve been checking my blood sugar twice daily. It looks like the high readings I’d seen were flukes. I’m right in the normal range, even after a large burger, huge order of fries, and birthday cake (special circumstances: niece’s birthday).

I’m still watching carbs, but I think that’s going to be OK for now. Blood pressure is another matter, but I think surprise bills are worse for that than anything else.

Deadly Assault Camel

Common-sense camel control now!

Camel attacks and kills two people near Tennessee petting zoo
Two people are dead after being attacked by a “loose camel” near a Tennessee petting zoo, authorities said Friday. Officials put the camel down “for the safety of everyone on scene.”

The Obion County Sheriff’s Office said it received reports of a camel on the loose that was attacking people Thursday afternoon near the Shirley Farms petting zoo. Deputies found two unconscious victims on the ground upon arriving at the scene and the camel was still on the loose, Sheriff Karl Jackson said Friday.

In audio obtained by CBS News, a dispatcher can be heard reporting “two 911 calls of two people being viciously attacked by a camel at Shirley Farms.”

Weird as this is, the most bizarre aspect seems to be location. Tennessee?

I dunno. We’re still weeks away from April 1.

Not Real Sure What To Make Of This

Peter Grant has dug up one of those stories that — in today’s insane world — I can’t categorize.

Is it an outright hoax, scam? Weird performance art? Are they freaking serious?

Vulva Spaceship aims to counter prevalence of phallic spacecraft
A German feminist art group has revealed a vulva-shaped spaceship concept, which it is encouraging the European Space Agency to help realise in order to better represent humanity in space and “restore gender equality to the cosmos.”

The group Wer Braucht Feminismus? (WBF?), which translates to “Who Needs Feminism?”, created the Vulva Spaceship concept to challenge the convention of phallic spacecraft design.

WTF?

Jasmin Mittag, the founder of the group backing this, is supposedly an artist. That seems to argue for “performance art.”

WBF Aeronautics’ “Dr. Lucia Hartmann” is a mystery. The only “Dr. Lucia Hartmann” I’ve found seems to have co-authored a single paper on field-effect transistors. Nada about aeronautics.

If they’re for real, which I strongly doubt, I think they’re in for a shock when they learn that the prevalence of cylindrical shapes in aircraft and spacecraft design has very little to do with masculinity, and a hell of a lot to do with aerodynamics (especially at high Mach numbers), pressure containment, craft center of balance, and efficient packaging of all the systems needed to make a rocket work.

They claim that their design was “aerodynamic” in a wind tunnel, but I’d put money — if I had it — up against them having tested that weird convex/concave/bulbous design at even the Mach 1 envelope, where I’m dead certain turbulence would tear it apart.

Added: Thinking about this… If it’s for real, I suspect that geometry would require a huge cavitation initiator spike (think the needle nose on supersonic aircraft) to be at all stable at high Mach numbers.

Ironically, that would give it the appearance of an upside down sperm cell. Sorry, ladies.

Why? Do they need someone who does bad standup comedy?

Psaki Being Courted for a Primetime Gig at Multiple Networks
Well, we’re just about coming up on a year, so Psaki is likely to be leaving soon, and she’ll have no problem getting a new job. According to a report from the Washington Free Beacon, “Psaki is reportedly being ‘feverishly courted’ by executives at CNN and NBC News who want to make the press secretary their newest primetime host,” and that ABC News and CBS News have also expressed interest in the Circle Back Girl.

At least it isn’t actually a news network considering her. But it seems like she be a better fit for the comedy channel.

Graftport Camden Takes A Ding

The referendum on the proposed “space” port went very much as I expected; overwhelmingly rejected by voters. Sadly, this isn’t stopping the corrupt county commissioners.

Camden voters reject spaceport in referendum
Spaceport Camden was rejected by an overwhelming margin in a special election Tuesday.

With all 12 precincts reporting, 4,168 yes votes were cast or 72%, and 1,611 voted no, or 28%. A yes vote in the referendum was to prohibit Camden County commissioners from spending any more money to establish a spaceport.

They’ve spent about $11 million to get a “site License” that doesn’t allow a single launch. They’re forbidden to contract with any launch company (which would have to get its own launch license and insurance coverage) until they the county buys, leases, or otherwise controls — contaminated — land not included in the current purchase attempt.

And the Navy, which forced us to close our dinky general aviation airport for security reasons, never officially weighed in on the “space” port. But none of that is stopping the commissioners.

The county filed an emergency order with the Court of Appeals of Georgia on Monday to prohibit Camden County Probate Court Judge Robert C. Sweatt, Jr. from certifying the results of Tuesday’s referendum until the validity of the election can be resolved.

OH? Suddenly perfect Georgia elections are grossly flawed?

I figure the commissioners are worried about two things:

1. Losing their current under the table personal revenue streams.

2. An audit of where money already went.

Heck, this being SE Georgia, they might well be concerned about informal ballistic vetoes, too. The court can’t helpt them with that.

52! Take that, David!

David Codrea picked up a story about a 5yo beating up and hospitalizing a teacher (I’d seen that, and wonder what more there is to the story). He found an interesting tie-in online “test.”

How Many Five Year Olds Can You Realistically Take In A Fight?
Finally, an answer to the eternal question. Note: you should never, ever attempt to beat up a five year old, ya knucklehead.

David scored 49. That’s a test I had to try.

I’m not sure just what that says about me, but yard apes beware.

25th That Senile Bastard Already

Sheesh. Biden strikes again.


“[H]ow do we get to the place where Putin decides he’d just going to invade Russia? Nothing like this has happened since World War II.”


Yeah, no one saw that coming: Putin invading Russia.

But even if we generously allow that it was — yet another freaking — slip of the tongue, and he meant to say Ukraine...

Where the hell was he in 2014 when Russia invaded Ukraine and seized Crimea? Oh. right. He was Vice President. Did it actually escape Biden’s — and his puppeteers’ — notice that the Russia/Ukraine conflict has been going on for 8 years, and this is just the latest major action?

Worst MREs?

Not even closeOver at 357 Magnum, there’s a post on one of the worst MREs.

One of the Worst MREs – Taste Test
In the meantime, you can see what they are torturing our service members with…

This is the Steve1989 video for 2019 US MRE Creamy Spinach Fettuccine Another One of the Worst Meal Ready to Eat Tasting Test.

I was in when — late in the process — the services were transitioning from C-rats to MREs. These young punks eating high on the hog nowadays have no concept of how bad the gen 1 MREs were. No, there were no cute little bottles of hot sauce included. We brought our own. And other seasonings (the kids laughed at me and the former Marine, but then they came begging to borrow…)

But if you really want an idea of how bad the first ones were… three words.

Dessicated Pork Pucks.

And even in later generations (3rd maybe? included hot sauce), there was the omelet. In edible. In Desert Shield, we adopted a stray cat. She was starving and would eat damned near anything we offered her.

Except the omelet.