Matt Gaetz?

This is beyond insane. Besides all the usual reasons, the shingles vaccine was recently demonstrated to be the single most effective deterrent to Alzheimer’s and dementia, reducing the risk by something like 20%. I can’t believe that an older MAGA would be any more excited about getting dementia than a normal person.

“Turn into” ?

In another comment pmjv says this one is about Mr mobilek, so it’s definitely in-universe

I imagine he’s going to try and deploy this in that totally unregulated Freedom City that he and Trump are trying to launch on some federal property in CA.

Is this the one that had that little tilt gauge on the dash to let you know that if you cornered too hard you were gonna die?

If only…

I’m not familiar with this strip, is the homage to Peanuts a running gag (photo of Snoopy, lady on the left has Peanuts-style face)?

Honestly I don’t even think I would care if they had landed. If they were setting up some sort of base I’d be into it – mostly to geek out over the new tech and techniques that would have to be developed for construction, environmental control, etc. But for just boots on the ground? Still kinda meh.

I’d be excited for boots on Mars, but again maybe for the same reasons - just to get people there and back would require an almost unthinkable (today) level of development and dedication of resources.

That’s an interesting point. There’s zero engineering elegance on display here, and while I’m sure there are some cool, new things going on under-the-hood, it mostly looks like every other big rocket we’ve launched in the last 60 years, and not half as cool as the (admittedly stupid) Shuttle. And the Shuttle did at least have a lot of clever engineering going on to compensate for the (again, stupid) design choices that were driven by so many different and conflicting potential mission profiles.

It doesn’t help that a lot of people in power seem to take issue with objective realities.

Yep, I am definitely more excited by space science news. I’d say I’m just more mature now and interested in more grounded “pure” science, but it wasn’t too long ago that I was giggling like an idiot as we watched the 2 falcon heavy boosters landing back on their dual pads at KSC, so I don’t think it’s entirely just a loss of child-like wonder (though it’s wearing thin these days, gotta admit).

The Apollo program was also a political tool, but it was astounding (not that I know first-hand, just hearing what my folks have said, and even they were fairly young at the time). Artemis doesn’t have the same caché, I guess.

Yeah I’ve been thinking maybe this is it – it’s still technically impressive and I have nothing but admiration for the teams who have pored their sweat and tears into making sure it’s safe and reliable, but it’s kind of a ‘so what?’ moment.

This is the only reason I keep a Sirius/XM subscription going (that and I got a cheap rate after trying to quit). While DJs are mostly insufferable, some of them do know what they’re doing and can prep a set list, talk intelligently about it, and give you more than just algo-slop.

Time, assuming I could choose when to stop.

I got my kids to refer to their phones as depression rectangles.

I was looking at Easter candy at the grocery store. A small, hollow chocolate bunny is almost $10. The bargain-bin ones that used to be $0.99 are $3. I feel like coffee and chocolate have both skyrocketed in the last year.

I had to stop watching that show because too many episodes were hitting too close to home.

Seriously. When downloading an MP3 carries a fine of $30,000 to as much as $150,000 per download, damages of a measly $5,000 maximum for facilitating, enabling and even encouraging child exploitation is beyond insulting.