Your Friday Video Link: The Duluth Canal

I've posted before about my obsession with watching live feeds of trains coming into train stations in LaPlata, MO and Flagstaff, AZ.  

Well, I have you know I've got other things to do than watch trains.

I'm also watching boats.

Your Friday Video Link for today is the live feed from the canal at the Duluth MN Harbor. 

Geez, I need to get a life! 

Well, what more do I need out of life when I can watch ships from around the world traverse the cold waters of Lake Superior to visit the Twin Ports of Duluth, MN and Superior, WI. 

Watch fog roll in from the Great Lakes as it happens... LIVE! 

Watch snow falling... LIVE!  

Enjoy the gentle calming sounds of the icy waves lapping up to the Duluth Canal as ice drift on the currents. 

And occasionally a boat arrives too! 

Can you feel the tingling?

Yeah, I can feel it.

The second video link is a video from Monday (1/13/2025) as the Philip R Clarke arrives in Duluth for one last load of iron ore pellets for the season.

Snowfall In Greensboro

Snow came to the Fortress of Ineptitude and the surrounding environs of Greensboro this past weekend.

Big thick snow flakes began swirling in Friday afternoon and by the end of the day, our car and front lawn was covered in snow up to 2 or 3 inches deep. 

I have photographic evidence of snow here at the Fortress but I will not be sharing it here on the blog. My phone underwent a software upgrade to make my phone "better" and my life "easier" but now I can't figure out how to frickin' email my photos to my computer.  

It's a case of OPEDC.  Old Person Electronic Device Confusion. 

So I googled "Greensboro Snow 2025" and got this photo.  

Per the breathless proclamations of the local news media, I did not venture anywhere in my car.  Normally the weekend is when Andrea and I dine out or I get take out. Instead I wound up cooking our meals for Friday and Saturday.

Friday was supposed to be our monthly Cracker Barrel Fish Fry.  We were really looking forward to that.  

Saturday morning, I went all out with a full breakfast, frying up sausage, scrambling eggs as well as cooking grits and French toast sticks. My personal assessment: it was... tolerable.  

By Sunday, I couldn't take it anymore and had to get out of the house, venturing out to Cook Out and McDonald's.   

Andrea had a cold or sinus problems on Sunday so dining out was not an option.  

While googling photos of the local snowfall, I came across this picture.

Some dude proposing to his girlfriend in the snow.

Which I suppose is romantic as all get out.  Like the climatic scene from a Hallmark Christmas movie or something. 

Hey guy, thanks for setting the bar so high and making life hard for the rest of us.  Women all getting squishy at the thought of a proposal in the falling snow and men thinking "Ah jeez! We gotta do what now for a big romantic gesture?"  

Well, we had our big snowfall and I hope by the time this posts, it's mostly gone away. 

And stays away.

This Friday is supposed to be our monthly Cracker Barrel Fish Fry.  We are really looking forward to that.  

Fire Vs. Tortoise

The fires in Los Angeles CA were heading in the direction of the home where Tik Tok sensation Tip Toe, the 175 pound tortoise lived with his human, Caitlin.  

Below is the video Caitlin took as the billowing smoke from the fires ominously filled the skies near her home and the family had to make an hasty escape from the advancing flames. 

Sadly, Caitlin's childhood home was engulfed by the fire.

It was also the only home Tip Toe had known since he was a little box turtle given to 7 year old Caitlin as a Christmas present. 

Thankfully Caitlin and her family and Tip Toe are safe, far away from the conflagration. 

A lot of people have lost their homes and lives have been lost to the fire as well.  

But the news that Tip Toe was in danger from the raging fire was almost more than I could stand to hear. 

I'm glad Tip Toe and his human family are safe. 

Tuesday TV Touchbase: Star Trek Lower Decks

A few weeks ago, Andrea and I were on hand to watch Star Trek Lower Decks bring the series in for a landing. It's tough bringing any TV series in for a series finale and the Star Trek franchise has not had a good record with that,

Case in point: Star Trek Enterprise and "These Are the Voyages..." where the main cast was reduced to supporting roles in their own show.

But Star Trek Lower Decks does a good job making a clean and remarkable touch down for the crew of the USS Cerritos.

The image below shows a couple of changes to the status quo. Rutherford no longer has his ocular implant and Boilmer's beard finally and fully came in.

The series wraps up the season long arc of the recurring and annoying quantum fissures with gateways to alternate realities like our own but different.,

Like the universe where the Enterprise 1701 E is just like the one we know and love...  except it's purple. And so is Data.

The storyline ends with the creation of a stable quantum fissure and the dreaded Starbase 80 (the WORST star base in Starfleet) put in charge of monitoring it and Capt. Freeman leaves the Cerritos to take charge of the Starbase.

Ransom is promoted to Captain and makes Mariner and Boimler his co-first officers.  

A moment about Mariner and Boimler. Both are who they were when we were first met them in season 1 BUT no they are not. Boimler still has self doubts but he has learned to assert himself where he has grown in experience and wisdom.  And Mariner is still All In for a good time and an adventure but not at the expense of her responsibility as a Starfleet officer.   

To be honest, I hated Beckett Mariner in season one because she was TOO chaotic, TOO hyper.  Over the course of the series, she has learned to channel her energies more constructively.  

My favorite addition to the cast was T'Lynn, a Vulcan officer with an hilarious deadpan delivery on commenting on the most absurd situations she found herself in.  

And in saying good-bye to Star Trek Lower Decks, I would be remiss in not commenting on something from the opening credits.  

During the credits, this big space critter could be seen biting one of USS Cerrito’s nacelles.

Nacelle biting space critter, I think I will miss you most of all.

I hate to lose Star Trek Lower Decks but the gang from the Cerritos could not stay on the lower decks forever.  

Sadly it was time to go and Star Trek Lower Decks ended well.  

Next week, the Tuesday TV Touchbase will touch base on TWO TV shows that could not be more different:

• Creature Commandos
• Brilliant Minds

Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.  

Battle: Los Angeles - Fires and Lies

The devastation in the Los Angeles area is horrible to contemplate.  Thousands of acres burned, thousands of buildings destroyed and dozens of deaths from fires raging around Los Angeles. 

Firefighters are working relentlessly against a cataclysmic fire that is also in turn relentless that defies efforts at suppression and containment.  

Homeowners are forced to flee knowing full well they will likely not have homes to return to.  

According to one news source, "Light breezes were fanning the flames, but the National Weather Service warned that strong Santa Ana winds could soon return. Those winds have been largely blamed for turning the wildfires into infernos that leveled entire neighborhoods around to city where there has been no significant rainfall in more than eight months."

Well, I can see where that might cause a lot of problems. 

Or it could be Democrats to blame?

Oh, fuck, are we dealing with this again? 

Donald Trump too is relentless in his big push to assign blame for the fires to Democratic governor Gavin Newsom (or as Li'l Donnie calls him, "New Scum". Way to keep it classy.)  

Politifact has tracked the many, many lies Donald Trump and his sycophants have spread. Li'l Donnie is relying on outdated information, misapplied data and just fucking outright fabrications to make sure Southern Californians know that Democrats are responsible for your home being a smoldering pile of ash.  

In a time of crisis, people need the one goddam thing Donald Trump cannot provide and that's some simple empathy. Maybe someone somewhere did not make a relevant or important decision that somehow led to these fires that are devastating lives and structures around Los Angeles.  The time for getting to that answer is not now while people are still fighting and people are still grieving.    

Doctor Who Is CLASSIC!: Planet Of Giants

For the third Sunday in a row, we’ve got a Doctor Who post and it’s the return of Doctor Who Is CLASSIC!, the feature where I look back at the classic era of the series.

 

And we cannot get more classic than today’s entry, a look back at a story featuring (Chris Chibnall ret-cons be damned!) the First Doctor.

 

Yep, today’s post looks back at the time of William Hartnell in the role of the Doctor with “Planet of Giants”. 

The story includes original companions Susan, Ian and Barbara.  

 

Trouble starts when the doors of the TARDIS begin to open while it is still in flight.  This is a bad thing and the Doctor and crew work frantically to get the doors closed again.   

 

The TARDIS lands…. Somewhere.  The scanner is broken so our quartet ventures outside to find out where they are now. 

 

The good news is the TARDIS appears to have made it back to 20th century Earth.

 

The bad news is the TARDIS and it’s occupants have been shrunk. 

 

Sand pebbles are the size of boulders. Blades of grass are like massive trees.

 

That ant is the size of a dinosaur!

 

That… dead ant. 

Also giant worms!

 

Dig the Doctor rockin' a cape!   

While he looks at the... dead worm. 

So the art department is grateful that the giant critters they have to create do not have to move.  

It seems the tiny TARDIS has materialized near a cottage/laboratory where a scientist has been working on a new form of insecticide that will revolutionize food production, protecting crops from locusts and stuff.

 

That scientist has been murdered. 

 

It seems the scientist did his work too well and the insecticide could poison water supplies so he was going to issue a report against the insecticide being produced.  Another guy with a lot of money tied up in this stuff kills the scientist so we’ve got that going on. 

Is this story going down the drain?   

 

Tiny Barbara has gotten into the insecticide which in her tiny form will kill her but once she’s back to normal, she’ll be fine.  The Doctor can get everyone back to size (he hopes) once they get back to the TARDIS but they also need to get someone’s attention to stop the shenanigans in the cottage/lab.   

"Planet of Giants" was originally written and filmed as a four-part serial, but later reduced to three parts.  Some of the frustrating lulls and slow pacing that is a part of classic Doctor Who is mitigated somewhat with this serial.  

It really is quite the coincidence that the TARDIS lands our crew in the middle of a murder plot while contending with their own issues of having been shrunk down to really tiny size. Well, the TARDIS may not take the Doctor where he wants to go but takes him where he needs to go, I suppose.

Given all I've heard about William Hartnell's ongoing health issues during this time, I was pleasantly surprised to see the Doctor is very much physically engaged with the proceedings in this story. And I'm digging the cape.  

"Planet of Giants" may not be a particularly important story of the First Doctor but it does provide a complete and compact view from that era.

In a future edition of Doctor Who Is CLASSIC!, we'll head back to the 1980's and an adventure with the 5th Doctor.

Dave-El's Weekend Movie Post: Sonic the Hedgehog-

 After the debacle that was Dear Santa, the new holiday film starring Jack Black about a dyslexic kid accidentally writing to Satan instead of Santa, I felt Paramount+ owed us a fun movie.

Not necessarily a good movie but a fun movie. 

Something we might genuinely enjoy, experience some thrills perhaps and maybe even share a laugh or two.

So last week, Andrea and I watched Sonic the Hedgehog, a 2020 action-adventure comedy film based on the video game series. 

The place: NOT Earth.

Sonic is a young anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who can run at supersonic speed.

His guardian is an anthropomorphic owl named Longclaw who has tried to keep Sonic safe by teaching him not to show off his super speed powers.

But it's hard to make a young anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who can run at supersonic speed stay still. 

Unfortunately this exposes him to an echidna tribe who is on the attack with the intent to kill and eat him, I guess? 

Longclaw gives Sonic a bag of golden rings that open portals to distant locations. She uses one to send him to Earth while she stays behind to hold off the echidnas.

The place: NOW it's Earth! 

It's been 10 years and now a teenager,  Sonic enjoys a secret life in a dark cave under the rural town of Green Hills, Montana.

Sonic is "friends" with sheriff, Tom Wachowski and his wife, Maddie if even if they are aware of his presence.  Sonic watches from outside their house as they enjoy movie night (and I hope just movie night).  

Sonic is unaware Tom and Maddie are making plans to move to San Francisco.   

One night, while running at unusually high speeds to clear his mind, Sonic accidentally triggers an electromagnetic pulse that causes a massive power outage across the Pacific Northwest. 

The U.S. Department of Defense reluctantly enlists the services of eccentric roboticist and scientific genius Dr. Ivo Robotnik to determine the cause of the outage. 

Well, that can't be good! 

Realizing his cover has been blown, Sonic reluctantly plans to leave Earth for a different planet that only contains mushrooms.

No movies or pizza or people. Just... mushrooms.

He really doesn't want to go there.

But...

Robotnik blows into town full of bluster and arrogance.

Tom discovers Sonic. Tom's not sure what to do with a young anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who can run at supersonic speed but an encounter with Robotnik seals the deal: the not so good doctor is a nogoodnik and Tom winds up helping Sonic. 

High speed hijinks and hilarity ensue.  

I don't want to oversell Sonic the Hedgehog but it delivered on the mission statement for our Saturday evening movie watching: Andrea and I genuinely enjoyed this movie, there were thrills a plenty to experience and we laughed, out loud even.

Admittedly the bar was low. Jack Black in Dear Santa low.

Sonic is a fun, likeable character with a twinge of sadness. Sonic has missed out on so much of life forced to stay in hiding and now he has to go to the mushroom planet?  Kudos to Ben Schwartz's voicework that contributed a lot of making Sonic an interesting and engaging character.  

James Marsden as Tom Wachowski, the sheriff of Green Hills, does a good job of evolving from confusion and frustration over just what the deal is with this young anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who can run at supersonic speed to becoming empathetic to his plight and assuming a father like role to Sonic. 

And of course  there's Jim Carrey as Dr. Ivo Robotnik who just Jim Carreys the hell out of this role. Robotnik is a genius but he is also not a well man, prone to sudden shifts in mood and just plain annoying the hell out of everyone around him.  

Andrea and I enjoyed the movie enough without reference to the Sonic the Hedgehog video game. My Sonic knowledge mostly comes from the Sonic the Hedgehog comics that Archie Comics would release on Free Comic Book Day.   

Sonic the Hedgehog more than met my expectations: we genuinely enjoyed it, experienced some thrills and even shared a laugh or two.

_______________________________

Tomorrow, it's a Doctor Who post as we go back in time for an adventure with William Hartnell as the First Doctor.