Thursday miscellanea #241

• Saw Star Trek Into Darkness last night with Dad, the boys, and the relevant demographic of BamaDan3’s family.  It’s absolutely outstanding—by nearly all measures the top Star Trek film to date, and one of the best science fiction movies of the past decade.  Any nits you start to pick sound irretrievably silly five to ten seconds into them.  10/10
• Though we certainly want to guard carefully against getting our hopes up, Oliver might be improving.  There are little—little—displays of initiative that it seems plausible to think might indicate we’ve arrested and begun to turn back whatever’s sacked him.  Please continue to keep him in your prayers.
• Instantly generating the Twitter hashtag of the year (so far), Microsoft has announced that the Xbox One will not require daily Internet connection, and will have no used game restrictions.  Though it has done the right thing, I think there’s still a considerable loss of trust here.  From a public relations perspective, Microsoft must never speak of this again, and must not even tiptoe in either of these directions in the future.  (Even though it seems a lot clearer I’ll get an Xbox One now, I still don’t see it happening until I need it to play a new Halo game.)  #xbox180
• Slim Whitman has died.  He was 90.  I never saw Mars Attacks!, so I didn’t know he’d enjoyed any current-generation relevance at all, however light-hearted.  RIP.
• A small group of engaging folks from high school is getting together next week, in the second installment of what we’re calling Supper Club. I’m looking forward to it. I’ve also announced that we have to call it Supper Club for the rest of our lives, because it sounds like we’re going to all be smoking, eating fondue, and listening to 8-tracks under a nasty old wicker-and-chain swag lamp, the ladies bouffanted two feet past heaven and the guys sporting gigantic Windsor knots in their polyester ties, stopping four inches above the tops of their bell bottoms.
• Nokia seems to be about to introduce a Windows Phone that includes a 41-megapixel camera.  It’s an intriguing notion, but it needs to be essentially free if they want it to get any momentum (read:  it can’t come to market for $300 with contract).
• Texas chili, take four (five?) coming on Saturday.  Thanks to the generosity of the creator of the recipe I’m trying to replicate, I have learned that it contains no tomato ingredients and no beef broth.  I was beginning to suspect the former, but I think I’d have left the broth in it forever.  I appreciate the corrections, and I’m excited about getting closer than ever before this weekend.

You might also like:

• Thursday miscellanea #237
  The number 237 resonates with me in a couple of ways. For one thing, it’s the number of the forbidd…
• Thursday miscellanea #261
  Aren’t you glad I’m not posting periodic photographic updates of my missing toenail? The Bo William…
• Thursday miscellanea #6
  My fired friend deeply surprised me with a call today. She was contrite and utterly without venom, …
• Thursday miscellanea #243
  Just paid for the Technical Writing Express. The Rocket City Bloggers chose Schnitzel Ranch for our…
• Thursday miscellanea #398
  It certainly was tough to keep it apolitical this week. We watched Star Trek Beyond last night. It’…