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Latest Posting Date From BRM Blog Roll

Google notified me that my Google Drive is getting full - over 75%. Naturally, they want to sell me more storage space. What have I got in there that's taking all that space? About a zillion files, that's what. I know there are some in there that I want to keep, but I took a look and there is a whole lot of garbage, so I set about cleaning house. 

Then I came across a blogroll I copied from Bayou Renaissance Man back in 2017. I had started checking if they were active, but I hadn't finished, so I spent a couple of hours checking the rest of them. Out of 252 entries in the list, 178 still exist. The rest have gone away. Only 16 have posted in the last week, and 23 have posted this year. I stored all this in a spreadsheet and then asked Google to graph it, and that's what you see at the top. That flat line in the center is from the 35 blogs that stopped posting in 2017.

Since we're doing graphs, here's a graph of this blog:

Pergelator Stats for All Time

There's something wrong with Blogger's numbers. Look at the most recent month and the biggest number is something like 20K on May 27th, not 150K. 500 a day seems more typical. I also have no idea what causes my numbers to spike like that. I check my stats occasionally, and there are always spikes in the number of views, but when I look back to see what I posted on that day, it seems to be the most mundane kinds of posts. It's so weird that I attribute the whole thing social media whiplash, and of no real importance.

Title inspired by Old Town Road

P. S. I realized after I posted this that all the blogs that 'died' in 2017 might be because I checked them back when I first started on this, back in 2017. They might all still be going.

A Flash of Green by John D. MacDonald

A Flash of Green by John D. MacDonald

Finally finished this book, and I have to say, it ended strangely. Jimmy Wing, local newspaper reporter, falls in with Elmo Bliss, local mover and shaker. Elmo is trying to put together a big land development deal and wants to Jimmy to nose around, find out what the opposition is up to, and maybe discourage them a bit. Things are all going along smoothly, but then we start getting some small annoyances, trash being dumped, harrassing phone calls, that sort of thing. And then there are couple of incidents where some thugs get rough with some people and one woman ends up in the hospital. Well, Jimmy doesn't cotton to this kind of thing, so he writes a story denouncing Elmo as a thug and grifter, but he can't get it published in the paper on account of everyone is lining up behind this big new development that is going to make everyone a bunch of money. So Jimmy beats up the publisher and kidnaps him and slides his story into the paper.

Jimmy loses his job, as he expected, but it has no effect on the project. It does make a bunch of people angry with him. So now he is deflated and he just lies around the house for a week or so. Everyone, including me, kind of expects him to pack up and move on, but he doesn't. Instead he starts going out to bars where Elmo's supporters congregate and denounces Elmo. As you might expect, he gets the snot beat out him and ends up in the hospital, not once but thrice. Finally Elmo comes to see him, he wonders what Jimmy thinks he's doing, what is he going to do, what is he thinking? Jimmy? Jimmy is going to be Elmo's life long enemy. He wants his job back at the paper, and he knows Elmo can arrange it, and here's the kicker -  Elmo does. The explanation makes a certain amount of sense, but just barely. It's just weird man.

Previous post about this book.

Hypersonic

Hermeus Quarterhorse Mk 1

Hermeus is trying to build a hypersonic aircraft. Sounds like they are aiming for military use. This prototype drone is about the size of an F-16. It only took them a year to build it and get it flying. They're working on the Mk 2 and expect to fly it later this year. This building looks like it might be a wind tunnel.

Reach for the Drone

Anatolian Shepherd/Kangal protecting his herd from a drone

Modern problems require modern solutions.

Via daily timewaster

The Last of Us - Season 2 - Max Series

The Last of Us Season 2 | Official Trailer | Max
Max

We watched season 1 a couple of years ago. Now we have almost finished watching season 2, and we have a scene that said something essential, so I gotta tell you about it. But first, let me lay the groundwork.

The Last of Us is set in the not too distant future after some kind of mutant fungus gets loose and starts infecting humans. The fungus colonizes human bodies and eventually kills them, but in the early stages of infection they become zombies, attacking, killing and eating healthy humans. Lovely. Anyway, this disaster has been going on for some time and most of humanity has died. The only ones who are still around are small groups of survivalists who have organized security forces (people with guns) to patrol their areas and killing any fungus people they encounter. Since a bite inevitably leads to infection, and we don't know how long it takes for the fungus to get control of their victim's body, immediate execution is the preferred course of action.

Our girl, Ellie, and our hero, Joel, are traveling around the country, walking mostly. They come across some survivors in Denver, Colorado, or maybe it's Boulder. They are captured and discover that Ellie is immune to the fungus. A doctor there want's to operate on Ellie's brain to extract something that be used to make a cure for this fungal infection. They might be able to make a cure, but the operation will kill Ellie. Joel, unsurprisingly, is opposed to this course of action. He is confined, but he manages to get loose and proceeds to kill everyone in the hospital, including the doctor, some 18 souls in all.

Joel and Ellie flee and end up in Jackson Hole Wyoming where they have make a comfortable home. Jackson Hole has apparently escaped destruction by the zombies and has been fenced in with a wooden stockade straight out of Fort Apache. 

One day Joel and Ellie are out on patrol and they are captured by a group of about six people who are from the same tribe as all the people Joel killed at the hospital. The leader, Abby, is the daughter of the doctor, and she exacts her revenge on Joel using a golf club to beat him to death. Ellie gets to watch this whole thing. At this point, Abby makes a mistake. Instead of killing Ellie outright, she lets her go.

Ellie goes back to Jackson Hole and stews. Eventually she builds up enough pressure and heads off to Seattle with her girlfriend, Dina. She is on a mission to kill Abby.

Eventually, Jesse, Dina's erstwhile boy friend, catches up with them, and just in the nick of time. The Seattle gang is well organized and the girls are detected before they have made it inside the gang's hideout. Jesse gets them out of the jam they are in.

Now we get to the point of this post. Jesse and Ellie have a discussion. Jesse is all about community, working together for their mutual benefit. Ellie is obsessed with killing Abby, she doesn't give a shit about anybody or anything else. Jesse says she is being selfish. Ellie doesn't care, come hell or high water, she is going to kill Abby. 

Abby basically did the same thing. She was bent on revenge and she traveled halfway across the continent to get it. However, she brought her gang with her. Ellie only brought her girlfriend, who is competent enough, but not a killing machine like Ellie.

Do I need to say it? I suppose I must. Things don't go well for our gang from Jackson Hole. I'm not sure if any of them survive. In the last scene Abby has the drop on Ellie. Abby fires and the screen goes black. So now you see what being a lone wolf bent on revenge gets you.

I think there is one more episode coming, so we shall see if anyone survives this encounter.

Dear Hongrang - Netflix Series

Dear Hongrang | Official Trailer | Netflix [ENG SUB]
Netflix K-Content

Korean historical drama, complete with confused would-be lovers, murdering psychopaths, grisly tortures, treachery, double dealing and beaucoup de swordfights. Near the end, one woman pulls out a gun and shoots a traitor. Only gun in the whole show, and she only fired one shot. It looked like a flintlock. As is typical, the plot is confused by the number of people who may or may not be dead.

The story begins when Hongrang, the young son of a wealthy merchant, disappears. He had a penchant for wandering around in the woods, so everyone assumes he has gotten lost or been kidnapped. His  doting mother, 2nd wife of the merchant, slowly sinks into a drug and alcohol fueled psychosis. The merchant's daughter by his first wife is like a non-person in this household and is the target of the 2nd wife's abuse. We're pretty sure that the first wife is dead, but you can never really be sure about this. Supposedly dead people show up all the time in these shows.

Over the years numerous boys have shown up claiming to be the missing Hongrang. They are proven to be imposters and suffer grisly fates for their perfidy. Then one day a man who the merchant employed to search for his missing son returns with a young man he claims to be Hongrang. The young man himself makes no such claim due to having lost his memory of his younger years. He is superficially examined and seems to be the real thing. The 2nd wife accepts him as her son, the daughter, who had a close relationship with the young Hongrang, does not, but since she is persona non grata in this house, no one listens to her.

Since Hongrang disappeared, the merchant has taken another young man into his inner circle and has been training him to take over the mercantile operation. So now we have two handsome young men and they are both falling in love with the daughter. She likes both, but she is eventually going to have to choose.

Since Hongrang has reappeared, he is being trained by the adopted son to take over his role and when that is complete the adopted son will be shunted aside, perhaps even cast out. Naturally he is not too happy about this, so he exerts some effort to unmask this imposter.

The new Hongrang is in fact an imposter and has the backing of another clan that is working from the shadows. This clan is run by his adopted mother, who is seeking vengeance against the merchant for . . . something. Turns out the merchant has been running some kind of scam that has defrauded the prince of considerable wealth over the years. 

The prince seems to be a typical royal, bemused by the commoners antics, but we're not really expecting any trouble from him. It is only late in the series that he is unmasked as a really nasty villain. He has been collecting children that he keeps in a dungeon where he paints their backs using tattoos and red hot pokers. Nice guy. Six of these children are now adults and have become talismans for a ceremony that will turn him into a god. The climax of this ceremony is when the talismans dumped, one at a time into a cauldron of boiling bronze. Very nice guy.

There are at least four factions competing here, and they all have their own squads of swordsmen to enforce their claims - the merchant, his wife, Hongrang's real mother, and the prince. The prince has the army at his command, so he has the largest force, but the others are all about equally matched and slaughter each other with abandon.

With the forces of evil closing in, Hongrang and the daughter run away. They find an abandoned house on a mountain and consumate their love. The only evidence we get is he unties the bow of her top. Life is lovely for a short time but eventually they are betrayed and the forces of darkness close in and they are captured.

Turns out Hongrang is one of the prince's talismans. Our girl somehow ends up with Hongrang's mother, which you might think would be good, but mom wants her dead just like the merchant's wife. The adopted son rescues her and confesses his love, but she rejects him, and attempts to free Hongrang.

Soul Reaper's Tattoo Episode 10, Mark 1:40

This tatoo is the most risque scene in the show. Typically, these shows show absolutely no skin and only rarely is any physical affection, like a kiss, shown.