Overview

We talk about Al’s upcoming cruise which no longer involves Jamaica. Coincidently, Stephen just saw the Bob Marley movie. Then we discuss a couple different games including the new Star Wars unlimited.

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bob marley, cruise, jamaica, relentless geekery, Star Wars Unlimited

Transcript

Stephen: [00:00:00] I thought you were today was a cruise day.

Alan: Actually, this is funny. I’m wearing a very bright green yellow shirt, but in this background, it looks boring. So I’m I did myself wrong. Anyway.

Stephen: Yeah. Can you hear me?

Alan: Yes, but soft. Okay. So if your volume is down, maybe mine is down. I don’t think so, but I have better.

That’s better. That’s better. Okay.

Stephen: Okay. So yeah, I thought you were cruising. I thought today was a cruise day.

Alan: It’s actually it’s tomorrow. We leave at a lift tomorrow at 3 in the morning to get to the airport by 3 30 for a flight at 5 30. So unfortunately, a bad way to start off, sleep deprived, but Without going into it a ton, sometimes things just don’t cooperate like time wise.

And we, my first flight that I had scheduled months ago down to Miami got canceled, like literally canceled. No, Hey, we’ll put you on this one instead. [00:01:00] So I had to not really scrabble, but it had fit things perfectly. As I kept looking, that flight just created this gap, but there were no flights that we wanted to do.

So we ended up flying a day early down to Fort Lauderdale. Then we’ll take a lift down to Miami and each place overnight, and then we’ll get on the boat on Friday morning. That’s actually when the cruise is. I never spent any time in Fort Lauderdale and only one time before in Miami. We’ll see what we find there.

There’s always Cubanos to have and little museums of marine life or whatever else it might be. I’m not sure how far the Miami Zoo is or things like that. We’ll take the water taxi. I know Fort Lauderdale has a water taxi that when I hadn’t mentioned we’re going to Fort Lauderdale.

A number of people really like it there. Timed in with favorite restaurants, favorite attractions and stuff like that.

Stephen: Good. I hope you have a good time. And I know you changed it because Jamaica is a little unsettled at the moment. And

Alan: that’s funny. I, another thing that happened was exactly that, that we were scheduled to go to Jamaica and the Grand Caymans.

And so I’d actually gotten excursions from the boat to go climb Dunn’s river falls [00:02:00] and to go out at the cool, a catamaran and go swim with stingrays. Who doesn’t want to do something cool like that? Because Jamaica is having some internal unrest, and for a while it was only in Kingston,

Overview

Alan and Stephen discuss their thoughts on various TV shows, movies, and comic books. They touch upon TV series like True Detective and American Horror Story, and movies like Drive Away Dolls and the Dune series. They also talk about experiences with comic books and the impact of ad saturation in comics. We discuss gaming with CCG like the new Lorcana and Star Wars Unlimited.

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Adobe Illustrator, Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Bob Thornton, Brian Herbert, Bungee Software, ccg, CD, codex, Cohen Brothers, Disney Lorana, dot matrix printer, dots per inch, Drive Away Dolls, Dune 2, DVD, Ethan Cohen, FaceTime, fios, Harrelson, Ken Jennings, Madame Webb, McConaughey, Moscone Center, pathways Into Darkness, photoshop, pixel, pixel map, relentless geekery, Richard Garfield, star wars, Star Wars Unlimited, True Detective Night Country, UHD 4K, Vector Graphics, VHS tapes

Transcript

Alan: [00:00:00] So I’m looking a little bit crisper than you, or at least what I’m seeing from you.

Overview

Title: Navigating the Waves of Technological Evolution: The Retrograde and Novelty of the Amazing Spider-Man

Often, amidst the manic pursuit of novelty, we find ourselves longing for the comfort of the known past. Today’s conversation between Stephen and Alan stimulates the exploration of how this reciprocating pattern influences two special domains – technology and comic book literature.

Subtitle: The Omnipresence of Technology: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Stephen initiates the dialogue by sharing the obstacles he often faces due to insufficient USB ports on his Mac Mini. This becomes an interesting segway into discussing the paradigmatic shifts in technology and how it shapes society’s cultural fabric. We learn that the pressing need to adapt to new technologies often results in pushing us to discard the old, creating a sense of loss for older systems, despite their apparent antiquity.

A parallel is drawn between this technological progression and how one interacts with reading material. The availability of online platforms like Comixology presents users with ample choice of comic books, but it also takes away the pleasurable experience of reading tangible books. The latter often comes with a sense of nostalgia and connection that digital platforms fail to replicate. The growing affinity for ebooks and digital archives signifies a cultural leap, but also emphasizes our innate desire to revisit past comfort amidst progressing advancements.

Subtitle: The Evolution and Recurrence within ‘Spider-Man’ Issues

Alan and Stephen continue the conversation by meticulously exploring different renditions of renowned comic series, including ‘Spider-Man’. They discuss how narratives change as writers adapt the characters and their stories to modern sensibilities while maintaining the essence of their personalities and histories. For instance, the ‘Ultimates’ is highlighted as an exemplary series that reinterprets classic Marvel characters and endows them with more relatable and complex personalities.

They emphasize that the past significantly influences this evolution, as writers create stories that resonate with the audience’s engagement with real-life issues like political unrest, addiction, and discrimination. The importance of maintaining a balance between holding onto the traditional roots of characters and innovating them to suit current scenarios is underscored.

Subtitle: The Ultimate Saga Reiterated

Alan introduces a new pulse within the Marvel universe – the newly launched ‘Ultimates.’ This launches the duo into musings about the Marvel universe’s infinite cycle of creation, destruction, and re-creation. Alan elucidates the reshaping of renowned characters like Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, in this installment and how the new plot resonates with contemporary themes.

For comic book enthusiasts and even casual readers, the captivating ebb and flow between the old and the new invites a spectrum of engaging and often polarizing conversations.

In an ever-evolving world, the merger of past and present always results in unique amalgamations. The journey of a legendary comic book character epitomizes this intertwining pattern. At the same time, the interplay of technology and tradition in our daily lives unfurls the persistence of a delicate balance between novelty and nostalgia. Although technological advancements enhance our lives significantly, the warmth provided by personal hand-written letters, physical books and comics indulges our craving for familiarity. It’s the unique blend of old and new that helps script th...

Overview

This weeks episode around three main topics: the 10th anniversary of the Firefly game, the show True Detectives and traveling to the Caribbean. The Firefly game discussion involves Alan and Stephen discussing the details and expansions of the game, the associated Gamefound campaign and the overall gaming culture. The conversation then transitions to discussing the show True Detectives which is characterized by its unique plot, quality, and complex narratives. Lastly, they discuss traveling to the Caribbean with Stephen sharing his planned trip to islands including the Grand Cayman and Jamaica, and the activities he plans to engage in.

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https://gamefound.com/en/projects/gf9/firefly-the-game

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2356777/

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g147237-Activities-c57-t95-Caribbean.html

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Transcription

Stephen: [00:00:00] Good morning.

Alan: So I’m writing up the invitation to the death to the sun event that Cam is gonna have because Cleveland is 1 of those big cities that’s right in the path of the upcoming solar eclipse. So just figured I’d throw the moon on there. There we go.

Stephen: Okay. Nice. Yeah. Before we destroy it or something.

Alan: Exactly.

Stephen: Okay. So where do we wanna start? We got it’s each week you say, okay. Let’s hit the things that we didn’t get to this week. Here’s my new list of things.

Alan: It’s an ever going list. And yet, we let our whim be our guide, whatever is the fun stuff to talk about, whatever is interesting, I’m sure we’ll hit it. So I 1 of the things that you shared was You got a big update like a treasure chest update, the Firefly game. So was it a Kickstarter project, or how did this

Stephen: come to be? It was basically Kickstarter, but it was gamefound, which is like Kickstarter but focused on games.

And so the, Hopefully, everybody [00:01:00] listening to us knows Firefly. That’s you know, let’s just go there. If you don’t know Firefly, It was 20 some years ago. Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, and a whole other cast, great people. It’s A

Alan: single season.

It said I’ve heard it described as wagon train in space. And

Stephen: in a little bit Yeah. That’s how Roddenberry describes Star Trek to get the pilot, mate.

Yeah. Okay. But, yeah, it’s Space Cowboys is what it is. And so there was a firefly called Firefly The game, very original that was out 15 ish years ago. And it was 1 of those that I’m like, oh, that does look interesting.

Just not the right time of my life to be getting a game. And they came out with a whole bunch of expansions over time. And, of course, it went out of print And, harder to find. And so I’ve been wanting it for quite a while. And a year and a half ish ago I ran into a thing where it was this company, Gale Force 9, that said, hey.

It’s the tenth anniversary of [00:02:00] the Firefly game. We wanna create something for all of you.

Overview

A more personal episode today. We delve into an issue that arose with someone Stephen knows and the bigger topic of how we deal with those on the spectrum. And that isn’t the cable company.

Overcoming Negativity and Embracing Diversity The speaker shares his perspective on dealing with criticism, particularly about a man who has stated many times he has Asperger’s but was faced with unfounded criticisms based on a lack of understanding. He also began to share a personal story of his first wife, who took their children to a women’s shelter after they split up. 00:00 Introduction 00:00 The Art of Rebuilding 00:14 Embracing Diversity and Understanding 00:19 The Unseen Struggles of Public Figures 00:34 The Cancel Culture Phenomenon 00:54 Personal Revelations

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Transcript

[00:00:00] You all

Alan: set? I think I am. Yes. Let me just get as usual, I try to turn off everything, but what we’re doing so that any net or computer exposure. Let’s see.

I don’t that’s

Stephen: okay. Yes. Yeah. The unfairness is I was talking to somebody The other day with Spectrum just like me, and they’re like, oh, yeah. They finally upgraded me above 1 gig above just fiber levels.

I’m like, Shut up. I’m like, why? What do you have? And I’m like, I’m lucky if I get 350 megabits a second. That’s like I’m paying the most I can to get just that much. I’m like, it’s ridiculous.

Alan: Yeah. I’ve been with AT and T with for with fiber with Fios for a while and just saw that Verizon is now offering 2 gig fiber, and I have no loyalty. You know what I mean?

AT and T has been just fine, and I guess I might stick with them because they also give me 1 of those things, maybe free HBO or something like that. But I already use Verizon for our [00:01:00] cell phones and stuff like that. So having it be all in 1 bundle, don’t know if I get a bundling price. And I don’t know. Am I gonna make a decision on my Internet connection speed based on, oh, I get 1 more channel.

Do you know what

Stephen: I mean? At this the good news is it’s only 10 dollars a month For only 3 months, but then after that, it goes up to twice as much. They jump they

Alan: every trick they can find. You know what?

That I don’t know. This is gonna be an ongoing subject of conversation that there’s no true capitalism left in this country where it’s you get all the information you need to compare between parties based on price and utility and all and make a choice. That instead, everything they possibly can do to obscure things, to make it through tying agreements you’re straight out of like antitrust legislation from the early twentieth century, every company is trying to do what they can to make it that you don’t have true mobility when you wanna change to another provider, true full information when you everything I’ve been doing with travel [00:02:00] lately. And I are now retired.

We’re looking forward to all kinds of fun travel. What a swamp the world of travel aggregators has become that they’re the first ones that came out,

Overview

The script features a conversation between two people (Alan and Stephen) discussing various topics, primarily focusing on technology, entertainment, and human experiences. They discuss the function and utility of a script-editing tool and how it is used to organize and edit a podcast script. They dive into augmented intelligence topic, specifically the features of Chat GPT, an AI model developed by OpenAI that generates human-like text. They also share their interest in movies and discuss their thoughts on the film “Poor Thing”. Further, they discuss travel plans, especially trips to London and Isle of Wight, along with their love for food exploration. Finally, they delve into the discussion on intellectual property rights touching upon topics like copyrights, trademarks, and the concept of public domain.

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Transcript

Relentless Geekery 175

Alan: [00:00:00] There we go. We got going. It looks like Machu Picchu.

Yeah, that’s on the list. Okay. All right. Such a long list of things we discussed. Tell me about it. Okay.

Stephen: And can you hear me? I can hear you. Can you hear me? No, I can hear you. Yes. I can’t hear you. Gosh, darn it.

Alan: I’m unmuted. I’m hold

Stephen: on. It’s my stupid. Now say something

Alan: about now. No.

Stephen: Yes. It’s every time I switch between all these streaming things, it wants to, it grabs my microphone as speakers.

I’m like, it’s not an output, or I have weird. Yeah. I use my Oculus last night. So now everything wants to use the Oculus for output and input. I’m like,

Alan: no. Yeah, we’ve talked about that, that so many places seem to assume that they’re the only one that [00:01:00] is making use of your ports and they’re going to have to learn really quickly that people do switch between.

Various different streaming sites, various different devices, like you said, the

Stephen: Oculus and stuff like that. Some things are smart and have an audio profile and you can have multiple. This is my studio audio profile. This is my whatever, so when Zoom starts up, pick the audio profile that I use, the microphone and the speakers.

When Oculus starts up, pick the audio profile that works. This is 2024. It’s not a new thing.

Alan: I actually, another one of those solve problems type things. I remember when we used to hook up printers and they had to know whether it was serially or parallel. And then printers started to be smart enough that they would declare themselves with appropriate drivers and stuff like that, so that it was not only where you were hooked up to, but make sure that you had the right driver for an HP or a brother or an Epson or whatever like that.

So that all was working and then something seemed to break it. And nowadays regularly we have, [00:02:00] maybe it’s what network gets attached to or what there started to be not only company specific drivers, but they started to have like cups or various things where someone tried to make a generic driver.

You know what I mean? That, that, that would work for everything probably. There was a very good shareware program that came with its own drivers so th...

Overview

Wen cover a range of topics including discussing our experiences with winter and indoor life, discussing tech-related topics like how technology interacts with our lives, car automation, self-defense and martial arts training, cybersecurity, and a mention of Doc Savage novels. Towards the end, we mention plans to discuss ‘Echo’.

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Automated Cars, climate change, Cold Weather Picture, Cybersecurity Measures, doc savage, Forceful Actions, Home Security, Internet Attacks, Internet of Things, John Wick, Living in Seasonal Weather, mind architecture, Modern Car Issues, New Furnace and Air Conditioning, Power Grid Issues, relentless geekery, Repairman Jack – F. Paul Wilson, Script-editing, Weather Enjoyment

Transcript

Relentless Geekery 174 – Navigating the Chaos

Stephen: [00:00:00] Hello, Alan.

Alan: Find another new outside or cold weather picture. So here’s my big elk. I think it’s a moose. Maybe an elk. I think it’s a moose. All right.

Stephen: This is my backyard. That’s where the bird feeders are. You can’t see them. Pretty

Alan: cool. Wow. We do not have a South 40. We have a little tiny backyard that borders right out of my neighbor’s backyard.

Okay.

Stephen: So enjoying the weather?

Alan: Actually, it’s, I just wrote a little thing about it. It’s one of the reasons that I love living in a place that has seasons is that you really get the ebb and flow of life and that instead of being obligated when it’s 72 degrees year round and beautiful to go walk on the beach every single day,

Overview

Hosts Alan and Stephen engage in a multifaceted discussion for their podcast, “Episode 173 – Riding the Challenges of Reality.” They start with a profound exchange about climate change, highlighting the impact of pollution and how it affects different regions differently. They express their frustration with petro-industry people and finance people for ignoring real science and continue polluting the planet. Alan and Stephen also mention the societal consequences of ignoring these issues and bear their discontent for political hypocrisy.

Further in the discussion, they delve into the world of television and comic books, referencing shows like “Monarch,” “What If,” “Echo” and “Percy Jackson,” and discussing a comic series called “Mystery.” They also express their admiration for bands like “Porcupine Tree,” mentioning how discovering and sharing such interests sparks joy for them.

They continue with a critique of the societal behavior towards intellect versus physical strength, discussing the disparity in admiration for mental and physical accomplishments. Finally, they wrap up with a candid critique of religious and political prejudice. In this engaging conversation, the hosts lead the listeners through various aspects, from global issues and entertainment to societal norms and individual values.

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Transcript

[00:00:00]

Alan: Yeah, now you can. Oh here’s some smoke. Let me just get some smoke on me. There we go. Okay. All right. Harbor main, which probably is getting hit pretty hard. Ooh, yeah. I love, I’ve got nothing. We’ve got some stuff like that. It’s a, it’s always we notice often that in the Cleveland area, we don’t get that hard compared to Chagrin falls or down South on Snowville road, like in Brackville, we like would seem to be just to the.

West instead of the east of the city, and however, things come sweeping down from the lake or across the city. We just seem to be in this nice null zone if it doesn’t hit us that hard compared to many other places that get it worse and then expand it outwards from Cleveland to like the whole nation and thing patterns have shifted now so that the east coast is regularly getting lambasted as well as like uncharacteristically in the south that they never used to get this.

And I must say, for the people that caused this, all the petro [00:01:00] people and all the finance people, the people that wouldn’t look at real science and statistics and say, we need to calm the hell down about how we’re damaging the planet. It’s nice to have it visiting them much more than the innocent people all around.

I just, I, it used to be that you’d invariably hear. from the crazies about how, hey, New Orleans just got hit by a hurricane. Oh, that’s because it’s a city of sin, and they deserve somehow to get it. And I just, that’s so grotesque that you would think so.

Stephen: At least in your own logic,

Alan: hand of God,

Stephen: Alright. Oh, I love

Alan: the background. There we go. It’s a gazebo from some wonderful location. I got the the complete lumberjacks.

The Cleveland, long ago, had a hockey team apparently before I got in town. And at one point, a friend gave it to me, and it’s perfect for this holiday season, all red and green and etcetera.

Stephen: Yeah. I kinda remember the lumberjacks. It sounds familiar.

We got the monsters. So

Alan: I think from what I understand, like many big cities, Cleveland has had soccer teams, hockey teams, of lesser leagues and stuff like that, and they survived for one, two, three seasons, and they don’t seem to put them together enough ticket money. The rent goes up, whatever it might be, that even though Cleveland is a big sports town, there sure is a lot of hunger for it, but we don’t I don’t know. The monsters have been around for a long time now.

I’ve actually been to a monster’s game and had a really nice time. I had a friend, Larry, who actually had, like a whole sheet of here’s all the various different cheers and how to respond because there really had become a whole bunch of regulars that had put together all these fun ways to slander the other team and stuff like that.

Stephen: So We went a couple times with girl scouts and cub Scouts. And, actually, the Girl Scouts got to walk on sunrise holding the flag for everybody to stand up and sing the national anthems.

See, that’s very cool. Yeah. And then my daughter got into it. She they had little stations set up because it was a whole bunch of scouts. So they had stations set up, and they went And made big poster signs, and she’s just shouting and cheering.

And I’m like, hey, Megan. What’s the score? She goes, I have no idea.

Alan: Exactly. Yeah.

This is a fun topic. Yeah. Exactly. We talked about it before. I love triple a.

You know what I mean? When we go to the rubber ducks game, it’s so different. As much as the we’ve had a reasonable we had reasonable sports teams in Cleveland over there, and I used to go to the Cubs all the time even though they Didn’t make it into the World Series for a hundred years, and yet, I don’t know, small town or minor league stuff is just so much more fun. It’s the prices of things that are ridiculous is the kids get to go out on the field. They get to go out on the ice.

They the mascot is goofy. You know what I mean? It’s not all Corporate, not just sponsored, but controlled. You know what I mean? And so I really have had fun at those games, and that’s what I seek out nowadays.

I really Go to Guardians games. I go to the Lake County, the crushers or the captains or the other ones that we have,

Stephen: the rubber ducks. Yep. That’s down here. Yep.

Alright. So So

Alan: how you doing? Honest, man. I’m so yeah. Let’s yeah.

Cat’s out of the bag. Might as well talk about it. My mom passed away earlier in the week. She had been she’s had Alzheimer’s for years. And my father passed away almost two years ago now, and we’ve had her in a memory care facility where I would regularly go visit and so forth, but she wasn’t getting any better.

You could see straight out of like any geek, how do I get out of worry and fear? You go read a lot of books and read a lot of websites and stuff,