Ernie Johnson to Retire: The Anchor Who Kept It All Together

    There are only two unscripted shows I watch that never get boring: Jeopardy! and Inside the N.B.A. A strange combination, I'm sure. Given that Jeopardy! is encyclopedic, it isn't so surprising for a trivia nerd. There are clues on that show which have fascinated me so much that I've spent hours going down some rabbit hole about an idea, theory, show, musician, event, etc. It satisfies the part of me that wants to understand the world. More surprising is the zany sports show Inside the N.B.A., which on a global stage is highly niche. For me, Jeopardy! feeds the mind, while Inside feeds the soul.

    The guys on Inside make me laugh so effortlessly that it feels less like watching television and more like hanging out with old friends. They have a rare type of chemistry that makes you feel part of the conversation, no matter how ridiculous it is. While Shaq and Charles go off the deep end with their oddball comments- often hilariously- Ernie and Kenny are masters at the snide rebuttal, grounding the other two to balance the equation. They are also masters at instigating banter, but only at the right moment. This is entirely necessary when you consider how unhinged the big dudes on the fringe would be without their wiser anchors. 

    And yet, all four of these characters possess a great wisdom for the game that I've grown to appreciate over the years. The camaraderie between them makes you feel like wanting to grow old with them. Sitting on the porch, reminiscing, sharing stories about old times- on the court and off the court, on the show and off. Two chapters of three amazing basketball careers, and Ernie's single broadcasting chapter with them, which is sadly coming to an end this season.

    Ernie just announced his retirement yesterday, an emotional moment on this rollercoaster of comedy and analysis. The core basketball players will remain, but Ernie is irreplaceable. I like to sit behind a computer and type up some cosmic mumbo jumbo I wrote and pretend it's important, but it's people like Ernie who really keep the world together. His ability to harness all the chaos on that show reflects a deeper need for world leaders to absorb the shenanigans of men with huge egos. He will be missed.

My Genealogy

     My biological father's last name was Goldberg. I never knew him growing up. My stepfather's last name was Ausmus. Schickling was my mother's maiden name. All three surnames are German, but that is a coincidence.
    The male Goldberg line is Jewish Ukrainian/Moldovan. The female line (Petersen) is split between Norwegian Protestants, and another split between German and Danish.
    The male Schickling line is split between German on the male side and Italian Catholic on the female side. The female Schickling line (Retherford) is mostly English, with some German and traces of Dutch.

    The Ausmus family, as far as I know, is almost 100% German, with the mother migrating after World War 2. I have a half-brother who is mostly German.

    A rough estimate is that my DNA is 25% Ukrainian Jew, 25% German, 19% English, 12.5% Norwegian, 12.5% Italian, 3% Danish, 3% Dutch. That makes my children half-Thai, half everything else.

Worldwide Wasteland: When Trash Became the New Cash Crop

 

Waste Wars: The Wild Afterlife of Your Trash by Alexander Clapp
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In the Global North, we are consumers. Some of us wonder, where does all our waste go? We may falsely believe it is properly recycled to be re-used. And that is why we don't see mountains of garbage outside our cities.
But reading a book like Waste Wars changes our perception. Most of our waste is actually exported to developing countries in the Global South, where it gets incinerated or dumped into the local environment. Very little of it is actually recycled. Ghana, Kenya, Turkey, Guatemala, Indonesia... All these countries literally have mountains of garbage that people get paid to sort through and scrounge for the rare earth elements that actually can be recycled. The rest is steel, electronic, or plastic residue that pollutes the local soil or water supply. And amazingly, some farmers now view "trash rotating" as a new cash crop that is even more profitable than growing staples like rice.
Much of this design lies on the shoulders of the U.S., who refused to ratify the Basel Convention in 1989. This is a U.N. treaty that regulates the movement and disposal of hazardous waste across country boundaries. I'd never heard of a waste broker before reading this book. Evidently these are the people doing backdoor deals in our country to ship waste out at a price lower than it would cost to process it here. Government approved, of course.
The thing about rare earth metals is they are rarely rare. They just require so much hazardous digging that the Global North doesn't want to do it. Environmental regulations intimidate mining companies from operating in countries like ours, and rightfully so. The problem is that the Global South, being relatively poor, cannot afford to ignore these "lucrative" offers to process our waste. On top of resource recovery, it creates jobs, just like mining. No matter how hazardous these jobs are, people will do them. Most striking is the shipbreaking industry, where people risk their lives to dismantle old steel-bearing cruise ships and gargantuan barges that are no longer operational.
At the center of this design is a horrible international exchange rivaling slavery or post-colonial debt. For years the Global South worked hard to liberate themselves from the military strangleholds of the North. In exchange for freedom from colonialism, "the lands that had once offered wood, latex, and cotton to European capitals were to be flipped into dumping grounds for the synthetic proxies of those same materials- the plastic, rubber, and nylon that were to prove the material hallmarks of a US led world (254)". Much like the climate disaster, stress is being unfairly placed on parts of the world that are not responsible for creating this waste in the first place.
It's our duty as consumers to be more aware of the things we buy, to realize how much of it cannot actually be recycled, and to stop buying things that aren't necessary. Rather than relying on the myth of recycling, this is the best way to heal the planet from excessive garbage. Especially when it comes to plastic, which in some parts of the world has totally infiltrated environmental systems.

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Morning in Aesthetica

Sometimes you wake me up
In the cold morning air,
Snuggle under the sheet with me,
Rubbing your head against mine.
Nuka nuka, my mini-me
Rolling into my arms,
Your yellow ice cream pajamas
Melting into my skin.
The rosy rays grace your face
Through trees outside my window,
Where the sunlight's patience
Draws your lips into a smile.
Soft morning alpenglow
Crowning the purple sunrise,

Holding you close

Inside the rising light.

Sweet Tooth, Sour System: How Capitalism Capitalizes on Our Decay

     Before the Industrial Revolution, few people needed to brush their teeth because cavities were rarer than today. Animals also rarely get cavities; only the heavy starch-eating ones do. Because the post-industrial diet was suddenly overloaded with refined sugar and processed flour, our teeth became chronically overwhelmed by sheets of chemical biofilms that accelerated tooth decay. People who gorged on processed foods in Western countries were suddenly far more likely to get cavities, and it has only gotten worse as time goes on.
    For this reason, before World War 2, dentists frequently advised people not to eat too much sugar. It was healthy and responsible for a dentist or doctor to warn their patients about the risks of sugar addiction. The primary reason they relinquished this lesson is that the invention of toothpaste made it unnecessary, so long as people were brushing their teeth twice a day. Another possible reason is that the sugar epidemic became highly profitable, not just for dental services but for manufacturing dental equipment as well.
    It makes the whole industry look like a product of society's sugar addiction. And like other industries, these side effects are propagating to the rest of the world, as it adopts our way of living. There is a common thread in the modern economic paradigm that seeks to exploit our addictions for profitable gain. It reaches us through social media algorithms, the pills we swallow, the desensitization of pornography, the useless junk we buy, the five-second entertainment clips that give us brief yet powerful dopamine spikes.

    The concept of addiction needs to expand from its cozy clinical definition that only includes chemical or psychological dependence to include the new forms we are seeing, whether they be in gaming, diet, tech, or any other modern industry. Last century, the tobacco companies lost because it was easier to sue them for knowing their products were harmfully addictive. The companies today all know what they are doing. Addiction can take so many forms that capitalism has hoodwinked our vulnerable biology, powerfully conditioning us into believing hedonism is good, right as we are most desperately trying to stop it.

Forest Run

    I love a foggy morning run, with the forest smelling of pine, the white opaqueness of the timberline, the waking birds welcoming the day like church bells. Water droplets drift through the air, cleansing my lungs through each heaving breath, the stopwatch ticking with each footfall on the trail. Up the hill I stride, the tall Douglas firs saluting my speed. A woman walking her dog nods silently, the ferns brushing past with every lunge. Three, four, five miles my endurance conquers. At six my sweat-soaked shirt clings to my chest, pressing my torso into an aerodynamic formation. 

    My earphones blast the rhythmic sensation of immersive music, rising and falling like the hills dividing my pace, synchronizing intermittent crescendos. There is a sacred space created when the music peaks and my legs feel strong as the ground. My feet take flight, soaring over the land, up into the fog where my thoughts clear and the bright day burns it all away. I become a child again, feeling so alive that the long years of sorrow evaporate like the morning dew off the pavement, leading me back home, out of the misty forest and into the nirvana of an endorphin high. 

    This spiritual catharsis is fueled by long musical progressions that peak as my strength reaches its limit, just before my legs give way and the moving meditation breaks. I become too tired to maintain the rhythm; it falters right as the soft glow of the sun seeps through the clouds and the fog retreats up past the green-horned rim of the trees. My body wants to collapse onto the soft good earth, but it must stay course or the stopwatch feels ignored. I slow down, ending the run as the warm light of day awakens the rest of the forest.

Glacier Compass

Opiate fluttering of chords the portals of time dissolve
Emergent oracles of love the lord of beauty assigned,

Crystal shards of broken-hearted possessions

Shattering illusions on the cold front of crags.

Alabaster city of oolite shells the dawn imparts

Frozen relics atop the flanks of Mount Asgard,

Ardent castle of nature awaiting our deliverance

From the frostbitten reaches of ignorance.

Together we rise to the landless sky beyond

Icicle spires that breach the Arctic tundra

Yearning for the sun, a forbidden clarity,

A radiant fixture to melt the frigidity of silence.

The Protein Fad

    Go to the grocery store these days and it's everywhere. Now with Protein, Extra Protein, Protein for Your Pet, Protein Up Your Ass. 20g, 30g, 50g in big, bold font, screaming at you. It's worse in the middle section, where all the processed food competes for your attention in a carefully curated order.
    Processed food companies are using the latest protein fad to stock their fake food with exorbitant amounts of it, hoping the health-conscious consumer will bypass all the unhealthy ingredients listed on their labels. Yet before the fad, 90% of Americans were already eating enough of it. Just because a label says "30g of Protein" or "All Natural" or "Organic" does not make it any healthier for you. 
    It's a colossal marketing scam that uses a "healthy" alterative to hide all the sugar, fat, salt, and who knows what other ingredients that make it more addicting. It's on the same level of evil as other marketing scams, like the way rebranding in big tech will render an entirely functional model that could last decades obsolete by some minor upgrade or tweak. 

    Food companies are no different from the tech giants who roll out a new product every five years, forcing you to buy the latest model because their security updates won't register on your older one, or you can't replace the battery without opening it with a sledgehammer. We as consumers have got to stop this madness. Do not buy their Kool-Aid.

Shock Fragments

In shock I scrolled through each crumb on the trail

She left dangling from fishhooks on the seaside

Carrying the burden of a fantasy undisclosed

Through the depression of ignorance.

I can't explain how history repeats itself,
It just does, even by accident or from failing to learn

All the missed signs and stunts and proxy wars
This furtive girl dished decades apart,

Wreaking havoc on my psyche; this cyber doppelganger
Threw her kitsch prayer wheel out the chevy impala,
Landed right on my oblivious noggin, a blooming onion
Dorothea Lange photographed through the dust storm
Furnace of arcana stretching 'cross midland past Medieval Times,
O'er tepid water patrolled by unicorns of the sea 

Screened by Zendaya's euphoria, Earth-tracked by astronauts

All the way to Singapore where IBEW minions

Shipped Jack Kirby ion-plated marvels to the data capital.

Library Storm

     A September storm sweeps in from the south, shaking the leafy branches tinted amber by summer scorn. Some fly off the trees, clawing over the roof like witches on broomsticks. I'm sitting in the library, working from home, the tall wooden towers of my bookshelves lurking over me, meditating on my silence; all the stories, songs, and facts curled up in scrolls of wisdom. They watch over me, my sisters on the shelves, each book a totem to my experiences, each journal an artifact of discovery. The storm enters the room, blows their words around in a whirlwind, speckling the ceiling in constellations of mythological truth.
    I turn on the Golf channel, not because I enjoy golf, but because it relaxes me. The soothing voices always do; they are friendly reminders to take a break from the inner tempest while the outer one stirs beyond. My wife makes fun of me for it, but the books know the truth; the voices are the soft signatures of inner peace, like the serenity of their sentences. 

    Slowly dozing off under ink-scented candlelight the outer tempest shakes my body while the sisters are singing lullabies that sink me into the sultry pages where the ancient elders illuminate me with the grace of God, he whom the tomes worship in their virginal slumber warping me away from the numbers on account, all the way back to when I was a boy in the sixth grade chasing rainbows off the asphalt hoop-rim, their chorus of voices parting my lips and the candlewick blackening and my flesh shivering among the threads of timber that dress my region from endless rain clouds that return every fall, their voices guiding me across the loamy windswept mountains where each book is a summit I must scale in my head to reach some forbidden version of reality transformed by inner dialect with dead sages speaking to me from beyond the grave and I see them, yes, I witness their stories as rich astral paintings conjured from sensitive eyes masked behind a rosy face that refused material richness for believing I was ugly, and I give them my story too, my long road out of the hell that Milton wrote leads up to light and the wind blows this dream off the map and into their medium so that I become them, a soft guiding light, a weak ember in a strong body, listlessly embalmed by light.

AI and the Global Social Contract

     A leading cause of death for birds is from crashing into well-lit buildings. Lights in cities act as beacons for birds to fly toward. However, they cannot see the glass that houses them, causing them to crash, often violently. "At least one billion birds die each year after crashing into skyscrapers and other lighted buildings", said a Cornell research associate.
    At what point should it become mandatory for people to turn off their office lights in skyscrapers at night? Can't we write legislation to save the birds, or any species facing extinction because of us? Merely prompting people to turn off their lights during migration season (which starts now) isn't enough. We already have a tremendously litigious society. More of the legal focus in our country should shift to environmental justice like this, as our future depends on ecological balance.
    Likewise, more of the focus on AI should shift to the environment. It's already being used to redevelop coastlines under threat from rising sea water. A company called Coastal Assembly is making this happen.* Yet most countries are franticly racing to get ahead on AI development for their own status, which poses a domino effect of environmental destruction from high energy use. Sustainable AI means that the astronomical energy use required to fuel data centers should be regulated only for improvements to the global society, not a single nation's economy.

    This regulation should limit AI research to scientists at universities, private companies with a license, or a government institution. And it's not just sustainability that would fall under this realm, but medical, psychological, and educational assistance as well. Care must be taken to protect the jobs of doctors, therapists, and educators, possibly by only allowing them to use the AI for help with something like a complex diagnosis. Instead of using data centers to process things like written documents, research, business decisions, market projections, military operations, or consumption patterns, it should only be legal to use if it benefits a global social contract. Otherwise, all our professions are inherently at risk; and even worse, it will make us intellectually lazy.

    We should not be allowing AI to process our vices, only our virtues. For example, where is the justice in stealing all the written work on the Internet to craft someone's email or report? It is theft, plain and simple. Will the writers like me ever see a penny? Not at this rate. Ignoring vices like these only fuels the darker side of machine learning.

    By only making virtuous learning legal, machine learning may alleviate the stresses of "evil" behavior, thereby teaching itself not to do the kind of harm that is alarming everyone right now. Conversely, only allowing virtuous outcomes keeps the machines operating in a non-threatening manner. I don't believe this type of machine (large language model) will ever become sentient, as it is an entirely different structure from the AI we are used to seeing in movies that takes over the world, or enslaves humans. That type of AI is thankfully much more difficult to design. But all the artistic theft, misinformation deep fakes, and academic dishonesty going on are just several of the many negative side effects of unregulated AI.

    Along with global warming, AI regulation will be a key development as the century progresses. The thing is, these are global problems. If one country tries to solve it, like the U.S. tried to solve the labor crisis in the 1930s, or the environmental crisis in the 1970s, nefarious actors will simply outsource to countries where it isn't regulated. That is why most of our hazardous waste is outsourced, as well as labor; in the U.S. these are heavily regulated sectors. Only when the social contract applies to the entire world can these problems be fixed. 

*Rising Seas Are Gobbling Up Beaches Around the World. A.I. Might Restore Them. - The New York Times

Mobius Strip Airport

     Sometimes it escapes you how cruel someone has been to you. There is a certain type of covert person, acting in stealth to successfully wrap your heart in a knot. But eventually, you see clues that help unwind that Escheresque picture of them, like a twisted ribbon following a divided path of perception. Once you see it, you take flight, right at the intersection of confusion and awareness. That's where you realize, that when someone loves you too much, they twist away from you at the bend. You're then on opposite sides, without them knowing. Their cruelty becomes starved, a secret topography of regret. Then when you come in to land, they're still on the other side, trying to rationalize the boundary. You are safe, back on the ground, while they are fading into the return, another chance to reel you back in. By then, you've already taken flight again, straight through the illusion. They find you absent on the other side.

Little Bird

Hello little bird,
Sitting at my window,
How far will you fly today?
Will you take me with you,
To the ends of the earth,
Show me all the places

I yearned for?
Take me with you

Little bird,
Grant me your wings,
That I might escape

From all my suffering.

Will you take them away,
Banish them

To a forbidden country?
Exile them to Israel

Where they belong?
Thank you, little bird,
For seeing me through
The invisible painless pane,
Where I watch you survive,
Elevated into bliss

By your sudden flight,
Numb of all the operatic discord.

How I Love You

You said I don't know anything,
I said I know I love you,
You said that's the only thing,
I smiled and I helped you
Understand everything,
Whatever interests you,

Always teaching something,

Passing my lessons to you.

You're a Rock

    Below the mountain, you were taken from your home, carried up the lofty peak, thinking you were destined for great things. Through the clouds you saw glaciated shapes, an unlimited landscape of opportunity. You thought the person who carried you would always protect you. Until they got to the very top, where despite all the beauty you were witnessing, something didn't feel right. 
    Your keeper took you out of their pocket, raised their arm, and threw you off the mountain. You fell and fell through the icy crevasses, fracturing at your weakest points, with the core still intact. You rolled through some meadows with wildflowers, wishing things would settle, in a happy place like this, until the grade increased again, and life took you by surprise.
    On you rolled, shedding pieces of your innocence, before taking another tumble off a lower cliff. This time a waterfall intercepted you, drowning you in terrifying surrender, plunging you into a shadowy subconscious, where the truth jolted you awake. In this life, nothing will save you, only yourself. The water took you up, pushed you down through intense rapids, polishing your inner strength, rinsing it of the bruises and scrapes. The pain was still there; you knew it would never go away. You had to learn how to harness it as you floated; the rapids would otherwise destroy you.
    Another tumble awaited, another fall down the granite wall, another surrender to gravity that seemed eternal. That time you landed gracefully in a river of forgiveness, a sanctuary of peace that meandered you down a valley. The cold stillness enveloped your broken faces, eroding those sharp edges that hurt into rounded shields, a protective layer built by resilience. 
    They may find you, they may elevate you into the peaks again, they may throw you even farther next time, but now you have the shape to absorb the fall. They can never break you, ever again. You're a rock, settling onto a glossy riverbed with others, your children at your side. You must teach them the way home, in case they are taken next.

Hell and Heaven in Eastern Religions

    Contrary to popular opinion, most religions of the east have a version of Hell. They just aren't as widespread in popularity as they are here in the Christian world, where we seem to be neurotic about eternal suffering. In the West we have also grown accustomed to reincarnation meaning that souls get a "free pass" to transmigrate back to earth for rebirth. But in these religions, rather than returning, you can spend billions of years in a torturous environment. Depending on the transgression, your soul can even be incinerated. So don't piss off the wrong gods.
    The Buddhist Hell is called Naraka; in Chinese culture it is called Diyu; in the Hindu paranas, Hell is segmented into various regions, ruled by Yama. Depending on one's karma, they will arrive at one of the regions of Hell to atone for their sins- much like we do in the West, except it isn't eternal, and they haven't been judged by an Almighty figure. Instead, the judgment comes from a processing of deeds and actions in one's life that "computed" their karma, resulting in their afterworld destination.

    Similarly, there are versions of heaven in these religions; but again- they are only temporary and access is constrained by the laws of karma. Unless a soul reaches Enlightenment, it will eventually return. In Buddhism these realms are called Sagga; in China they are called Tian; in Hinduism they are called Svarga. 

    What's interesting is that in the East, you can spend many billions of years in these afterworld realms, which is far beyond the estimated lifespan of earth (9 billion years). While these ancient beliefs were recorded when science had yet to determine how long the earth would exist, a modern interpretation could be that it doesn't matter. One does not need to return to earth; one could return to any place in the cosmos that supports life. You will just have to come to terms that some things do last longer than eternity.

2020s TV Puzzle Gallery Trivia Quiz

These highly acclaimed television shows of the 2020s have been rendered into jigsaw puzzles. Can you piece them back together?

1. Your first puzzle reveals a kitchen with some frantic chefs during dinner rush. A sign saying "Every second counts" is hanging from the wall. You recognize the faces of Carmy, Sydney, and Richie while putting it together. Which "ursine" show is it?

Jeremy Allen White stars as Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto, an illustrious fine dining chef who returns to his hometown Chicago to inherit a chaotic restaurant run by his deceased brother. Though it is billed as a comedy-drama, real culinary professionals have praised the show for its realistic portrayal of an intense restaurant work environment. Others have challenged its categorization as a comedy, citing its many dramatic scenes with incredible acting.
There is a real restaurant in Chicago called "Mr. Beef", which heavily influenced the show. The show has nearly doubled business at the restaurant, as it has become somewhat of a tourist attraction.

2. As you piece this one together, you notice a classroom coming into formation. Gregory is helping Janine put a poster up because she's afraid of heights, and all the students are snickering behind her back. Which "2nd grade" sitcom is this?

Abbott Elementary is a fictional public school in Philadelphia with a faculty full of zany characters. It is much like "The Office" in that it's a work environment mockumentary; and that the person in charge- principal Ava Coleman- is an unqualified, tactless and immature leader (but also very funny).
Quinta Brunson, who plays Janine as Ms. Teagues, is also the show's creator. Brunson has stated her mother's 40-year career as a schoolteacher in Philadelphia helped inspire the show. The teacher she looks up to, Barbara Howard (Sherry Lee Ralph), is based on her mother. Abbott Elementary is named after Joyce Abbott, Brunson's favorite elementary school teacher.

3. Is that Jenna Ortega? This one is Burtonesque with a spidery window and what looks like a severed hand. But the girl dressed in all black steals the show. Who is it?

Based on "The Addams Family", this series focuses on a teenaged Wednesday Addams, who gets expelled from public school and is sent to her parents' high school: Nevermore Academy. There she is able to develop her psychic abilities, which come in handy when a local murder happens. Tim Burton produced the show, and it stars Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Addams.

Nevermore Academy is named after Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven". Poe is described as the academy's most famous graduate, while Principal Dort models his appearance on the poet. Steve Buscemi played him starting season 2.

4. The next puzzle has you really scratching your head. It takes place in a minimalist office where the workers look lost. You start to feel like you can't remember your own working life. Which "surgical" show is this?

"Severance" is a psychological thriller about employees at the fictional Lumon Industries. They underwent a procedure that splits a person's memories between work and personal life. Office locations were filmed at the former Bell Labs complex in New Jersey, designed by the modernist architect Eero Saarinen. The sets deliberately feel constricting to make the viewer uncomfortable, adding to the tension.

5. Now you're seeing chess pieces on a board with Anna Taylor-Joy in deep concentration. Which "royal" show is this puzzle about?

"The Queen's Gambit" is the story of chess prodigy Beth Harmon as she rises through the ranks, wanting to become the best chess player in the world. The show won 11 Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series- the first streaming series ever to win it. Chess celebrities Bruce Pandolfini and Gary Kasparov were consultants for the series, helping prepare realistic chess positions for the sets.

6. A psychologist and a teenager are in some heated debate in what looks like a detention facility. Also a stage of life, what was the name of this show?

13-year-old Jamie Miller is suspected of the murder of a classmate in this highly acclaimed thriller. Though the first season was only four episodes, each of them was shot in one continuous take. "Adolescence" was especially popular in the U.K., where the series was set. It prompted the Prime Minister to back an initiative that would stream the series for classrooms in order to address violent misogyny on social media.

7. This puzzle is a bit brighter than the last few. There is a soccer (football) field with an American coach who looks very awkward leading a British team. Sharing the name of a U.S. president, who is the coach?

"Ted Lasso" is a comedy about an American coach hired by a the owner of a British football team. One of the challenges for Ted is that he is unaware the owner is deliberately trying to sabotage the team. Another is that Ted is coaching a sport in a culture he knows very little about.

Jason Sudeikis, who developed the show and starred as the eponymous character, stated that the storyline was based on his own experience after breaking up with Olivia Wilde and moving to London to grieve.

8. Contestants in green tracksuits and guards in pink jumpsuits face off in what looks like an East Asian dystopia. Which aquatically-named show is this?

"Squid Game" is pure fiction, set on a South Korean island where financially desperate contestants risk their lives playing children's games for a major cash prize. The recurring colors of pink and green are meant to mirror a childlike, playful atmosphere that contrasts with the show's bleak premise.

9. This is totally an operating room. There are frantic surgeons racing to save a patient, while the city of Pittsburgh rises through the window. What show have we fallen into?

Set in Pittsburgh, "The Pitt" is a medical drama about an overcrowded and underfunded emergency ward. Noah Wyle helped produce the show and stars as the lead doctor. He was also part of the same production team on "E.R.". They are now facing legal challenges from "ER" creator Michael Crichton's Estate for allegedly rebranding the '90s classic.

Each season of "The Pitt" consists of an entire shift at the hospital, with each hour representing an episode in real time.

10. A young girl walks through the remains of a decrepit city overrun by wildlife and a local militia. The city this time looks like Seattle. What "final" TV show puzzle is this?

"The Last of Us" explores the remains of civilization after a fungal pandemic transformed most of the population to zombies. It is based on a video game franchise of the same name. Two of the main characters, Joel and Ellie, were played by two supporting actors in "Game of Thrones" (Pedro Pascal and Bella Ransey), though they had no scenes together in the latter. Gustavo Santaollala, who composed the music for the video game series, was also hired to compose the series soundtrack.

"The Last of Us" is the first TV show based on a video game to receive major award recognition, including nine Emmy wins and 40 nominations over its first two seasons.

You "lassoed" these puzzles and now your gallery is complete. Thanks for playing.

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Software

My body is the motherboard,
With circuits that calculate

The answer to every imbalance.

My eyes are the monitor

With rods and cones intercepting

Ambient electrical signals.

My hand is the mouse

That moves over the screen,

Building totems of data.

My brain is the keyboard

Directing encoded architecture,

An array of electric switches.

The hardware is my weapon

For survival, these base instincts

Brandished by the gods of Life,

To reproduce at all costs.

My mind is the operating system

Installed at birth to clear the noise,

A clean slate with a new path.

My emotions are each program,

A window into my soul

From every detachable angle.

My thoughts are the commands

Coming from somewhere outside,

In the oracular wizardry of air.

Decisions are made by executing,

Pleasure by saving,  pain by deleting,

Lessons learned by crashing.

The software is my spirit,

Mutable between bodies, like wind,

Downloaded to the farthest reaches,

Light-years across the Spacenet.

Nebula Mania Trivia Quiz

Nebulas are among the most beautiful objects in space. Can you spot them among these options? Play my latest quiz to find out.

Nebulas are mostly gaseous regions of space where star formation is happening. They can also be the remnants of a supernova or dying star. A more ominous type is called a "dark" nebula - a region of gas and dust that blocks starlight. Here are some brief facts about these nebulas:

The Eagle Nebula is a star forming gas and dust region in the constellation Serpens, famous for having the "Pillars of Creation".

The Crab Nebula is a supernova remnant in the constellation Taurus. It corresponds to a bright supernova explosion in 1054 AD that was seen worldwide.

Helix is a relatively close planetary nebula in the constellation Aquarius. It is sometimes referred to as the "Eye of Sauron".

Trifid has three types of nebulae in one. It is located in Sagittarius and is home of the "unicorn".

Horsehead is a dark nebula resembling a horse's head outlined by a pink background. This one is located in Orion.

Cat's Eye is a planetary nebula in the constellation Draco. It was the first to be observed with a spectroscope. It has concentric rings that look like an eye.

California is a massive emission nebula in Perseus. Long exposure photos of the nebula make it look like the state of California. It also transits in the zenith above California.

Lagoon is a large emission nebula in Sagittarius. One of only two visible to the naked eye, it is home to multiple Bok globules and a centrally-located "Hourglass" nebula.

The Ant Nebula is young planetary nebula in the constellation Norma, resembling the head and thorax of an ant. It holds a white dwarf with a binary companion.

Eskimo is a bipolar double-shell planetary nebula in constellation Gemini, resembling a person's head surrounded by a parka.

Tulip is an emission nebula near microquasar Cygnus X-1. It resembles a reddish tulip when imaged photographically.

The Jellyfish Nebula is a supernova remnant in Gemini. It has both a neutron star and a star forming region, with the core arcing ridge attached by "tentacles" of dust.

Pacman is a faint glowing emission nebula in Cassiopeia. The dark dust in the foreground is Pacman's mouth.

Thor's Helmet is a bubble-shaped emission nebula in Canis Major. It has complex filamentary structures, with interstellar material blown by winds from a central star.

Spirograph is a bright planetary nebula in the constellation Lepus. Its glow is caused by the star's UV radiation interacting with gas.

Butterfly is a planetary nebula in Scorpius with a pair of lobes resembling butterfly wings. Its central white dwarf star is one of the hottest known.

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Six-Gun Snow White

Six-Gun Snow White by Catherynne M. Valente
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fascinating retelling of the Snow White story, this time set in the wild west. Six-gun Snow White is the offspring of a Crow Native American and white railroad baron. Shades of the original are found in the "wicked stepmother", a horse named "Charming", a magical mirror, seven hardy dwarves (the Montana women), and a prince with an offering (Red Deer). There are probably more parallels that I missed. Per usual Valente writes with a lyrical charm that isn't always clear, but really hits home for those who understand. Vivid accounts of abuse and violence are "holstered" by surreal emotional imagery, as Snow White navigates the minefields of trauma in a world of outlaws.

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Debut Rock Album Fan Letters

These fan letters were written for the biggest debut albums in rock music. "Are You Experienced" enough to know which ones they are?

1. Dear Axl,

"Welcome to the Jungle", home of the "Paradise City". Be sure to take the "Nightrain" on your visit to the home of "Mr. Brownstone". I always "Think About You" when I look at my "Sweet Child o' Mine".

Safe travels,
Rose

Guns N' Roses' "Appetite For Destruction" didn't gain notoriety until about a year after its release in 1987. It spent four non-consecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard 200, becoming one of the best-selling debut albums in U.S. History.
It could have sold even more had "November Rain" been added to the tracklist, which didn't come out until 1991's "Use Your Illusion I". It was left off because the album already had a ballad with "Sweet Child o' Mine".

2. Dear Jimmy,

"How Many More Times" are we going to have this "Communication Breakdown"? It makes me so "Dazed and Confused". I know we have our "Good Times Bad Times", but soon "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You".

You better write a few more legendary albums,
Page

Released by Led Zeppelin in 1969, "Led Zeppelin" was an immediate success in the U.K. and U.S. Only the short songs were released as singles, but as time went on, the longer songs became classic rock staples. The iconic cover features the Hindenberg (a zeppelin) disaster of 1937.

3. Dear Amy,

You are "My Immortal" songstress, like an "Imaginary" goddess. Whenever I'm "Going Under" holding "My Last Breath", you "Bring Me to Life" with another "Tourniquet".

Thanks for everything,
Lee

"Fallen" was the debut album of Evanescence. Released in 2003, it sold a staggering 141,000 copies in its first week in the U.S. Before the album's release, its top hits "Bring Me to Life" and "My Immortal" were featured on the Daredevil soundtrack. Oddly, the band's record label Wind-Up mistakenly promoted it for Christian listeners.

4. Dear Scott,

I had a bad "Piece of Pie" at your "Creep" show that made me feel "Dead and Bloated". There was a "Wicked Garden" and some "Sex Type Thing" that felt like "Sin". I went to bed, snuggled my "Plush" pillow, and dreamed about "Where the River Goes".

Killer party though,

Weiland

Stone Temple Pilots released "Core" in 1992. By July 1993 it had reached number three in the U.S. The album was initially panned by critics for allegedly ripping off other grunge artists (I hear no resemblance).

"Core" refers to the apple in the Adam and Eve story. The album's cover depicts Eve stealing an apple from the Garden of Eden.

5. Dear Marvin,

We were "All Revved Up With No Place to Go", when you "You Took the Words Right Out of my Mouth" and hit the accelerator like a "Bat Out of Hell". "Heaven Can Wait", we were in "Paradise By the Dashboard Light."

Fond memories,
Aday

"Bat Out of Hell" was the debut album of Meat Loaf, released in 1977. Though the artist was American, the album ranks as the highest selling of all time in Australia (as of when this quiz was written). It was composed by Jim Steinman, who based it on "Neverland"- a rock version of Peter Pan that he'd written.
In addition to singing, Meat Loaf acted in Hollywood films, famously starring as Robert Paulsen in "Fight Club".

6. Dear Chester,

I'm "Crawling" through high school all "By Myself". This "Papercut" hurts and I'm "One Step Closer" to being a "Runaway". I'll need "A Place for My Head" once I get there "In the End".

The struggle is real,
Bennington

"Hybrid Theory" was a phenomenal debut by Linkin Park in 2000. In the U.S. it bested Shaggy's "Hot Shot" for the top selling album of 2001. Co-founder Mike Shinoda designed cover art for the album.

7. Dear Darius,

A long "Time" ago you asked "Hannah Jane" to "Hold My Hand". Then you said just "Let Her Cry", knowing I "Only Wanna Be With You".

All my love,
Rucker

Hootie & the Blowfish released "Cracked Rear View" in 1994. Next year, it became top-selling album of 1995 in the U.S., with over seven million units. It became one of the best-selling debut albums worldwide. David Crosby sang background vocals on "Hold My Hand".

8. Dear David,

That "Eruption" had me "Runnin' With the Devil". "You Really Got Me" fuming and now "Jamie's Crying". We need an "Ice Cream Man" to make her stop being "On Fire".

Appreciate the help,
Roth

Released by Van Halen in 1978, their debut was one of the most influential in rock history. It ushered in the "glam" sound of the 1980s. Despite their innovation, its first single was merely a cover of the popular Kinks song "You Really Got Me". Eddie Van Halen's instrumental "Eruption" is considered one of the greatest guitar solos of all time.

9. Dear Mike D,

We bought a "Brass Monkey" up in Boston where we saw the "Paul Revere" House with some "Girls". Now it's "No Sleep Til Brooklyn", where we gotta "Fight For Your Right" to party.

Your funkiness,
Diamond

Released by the Beastie Boys in 1986, "Licensed to Ill" was the first rap album to top the U.S. Billboard 200. The band originally wanted the album's name to include a homophobic slur, as part of a satire on frat-boy culture that the whole album mocks. To the horror of the band, the joke went over mainstream listeners' heads, and the songs on "Licensed to Ill" became anthems of the very thing they were trying to parody. They spent years trying to dispel the myth, and have since apologized for the album's original title.

10. Dear Eddie,

"Once" there was a boy named "Jeremy" who wore nothing but "Black". He's still "Alive" but wishes for "Release" from the "Oceans" of despair.

Forever,
Vedder

"Ten" was released by Pearl Jam in 1991. It was not an immediate success, slowly climbing the U.S. charts to reach number two in the fall of 1992. Along with Nirvana's "Nevermind", it propelled the grunge sound that redefined rock music in the 1990s.

The song "Black" reached number three on the U.S. rock charts despite never being released as a single. "Jeremy" won best music video at the 1993 MTV Music Video Awards.

Time to shut "The Doors" on this quiz. Thank you for playing.

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