The Stories and Novels By Derek Ward
First it was Dolly Parton. Or as I remarked to a coworker, Saint Dolly, patron saint of Appalachia.
Then it was Tim Curry.
And then Peter Cullen. Which is going to put a different spin on watching Optimus die when I go see the 40th anniversary of the ’86 movie.
Just damn. What a week.
Best comment, which I heartily endorse: “I was there in ’86, I will be there in ’26.”
For some reason, these memes amuse the heck out of me. And they’ve been on my mind for some reason. So, I found a bunch.
It’s time once again for my sporadic Monday Links. One serious link, but the rest are more in the interesting side. And I’m ending with a video on the upcoming summer anime season.
First the serious one…
If you want a reason why I hate Greenpeace and the anti-GMO crowd, here’s a good example. Study showing that blocking the implementation of golden rice has cost the lives of 100,000 kids, with maybe another quarter million going blind. This was something that was going to be provided at no cost to the local farmers with no need to do any capital investments. It was simply an act of benevolence blocked by the anti-GMO bastards.
Now, that we’ve got the vitriol out…
A smart panel startup thinks there’s an alternative or complement to large data centers – use the spare electricity and internet capacity in private homes. Essentially, pay people to use their homes as distributed nodes. Our local electrician was talking to me about it as his company is looking to become certified. I will admit that I’m intrigued by what he told me. And I like market solutions to problems.
The Brother found this article on an extinct bird that once roamed Florida a few million years ago. It was five feet tall and looked like it could tear through the smaller fauna. And we joke that the sandhill cranes are pterodactyls.
The Brother also sent me this little web game to show you how good or bad you are estimating. Best to play it on something with an actual mouse rather than a touchscreen.
And finally, a video with all of the anime coming for Summer of 2026. There are a couple of second seasons that I’m waiting for and a couple of more that spiked my intrigue mark to put them higher on my “anime to watch” queue.
A trio of videos that came across my transom and felt the need to share.
First, Hasbro is continuing their marketing push for the 40th anniversary of Transformers: The Movie with a revamped soundtrack. And they released the updated version of “The Touch.” Honestly, it’s not bad, but I prefer the original.
Second is a very funny song for my D&D/Pathfinder friends.
You have that friend that’s gone on to do some very nifty things? Yeah, Ben McSweeney is that friend for me. Here’s a good talk with Ben and his boss, Brandon Sanderson.
Last weekend, The Wife, BIL, and me went to go see the new Star Wars film. Of course, there was the slew of social media posts about how bad this Star Wars film was going to be, yadda, yadda, yadda.
The TLDR is that I enjoyed myself. It was definitely a damn good action flick with decent fight choreography with comedy interspersed to relieve the tension. Plenty of Easter eggs for those of us who have followed the movies and television series. I’m sure there were some that even slipped past me.
It really felt like the Disney folks took the next season of The Mandalorian and condensed it down to 140 minutes. Which meant certain parts felt draggy where if we had full episodes, it would be more satisfying.
I will admit that I am not a great movie critic, but I know what I like. And I liked The Mandalorian and Grogu.
The serious one…
The “Wow, It’s Been 15 Years” One…
The “Algorithm Knows Too Much” One…
The “Hey Sweetie, Let Me Introduce You To The Fat Electrician” One….
Last fall, I found out that Takara Tomy was releasing a “re-imagined” version of the Legioss fighter from Genesis Climber Mospeada – which was one of the series that made up Robotech. The Legioss was renamed the Alpha fighter in Robotech, and I was always partial to it. The re-imagined one is pretty close to the original with enough updates to make it look like the next version.
Then, they came out with an ELINT version. Which I’ve always liked the veritechs converted to ELINT versions.
The Wife and I discussed, and we agreed that I could order the ELINT. So, I went to my dealer of choice and found out they just released a heavy weapons version. Yeah, The Wife encouraged me to get both. So, this fall should be interesting.
There are times when a company misreads their customer base and make a horrible mistake.
After forty years, Hasbro is acknowledging the trauma inflicted on to a generation with their Transformers: The Movie.
I will admit that I have a small amount of want for their Matrix of Leadership collectible. I just have a better use for $140.
The algorithm fed me up a couple of videos from Metal Ball Studios.