The guest usually has a lot of discretion over the monologue if they want it, but the sketches are written by SNL writers.

It kind of depends on how it is received. Taylor Swift wrote her own monologue song and it went over very well with SNL writers per an interview with Seth Meyers.

Windows isn’t trying to do what Linux does.

On the server end, Linux beat every competitor out there, including Windows Server, because it was free and development occurred along the lines of educated users making improvements. So, at first Linux was worse to use, but it was cheaper. Then, Linux was about as easy/stable as paid for versions, but it was cheaper. When it became easier to use to educated users and more stable and cheaper, all paid server OS’s died.

That said, I bring up educated users because Linux is only a kernel and Windows by itself does more than Linux does by itself. On the consumer end, no one has been able to threaten Windows without a DRM’d app store. Consumers won’t do bug fixes at the scale that enterprise users will. Consumers generally need more developed on the UI side to make the OS functional while you can run Linux in terminal mode. Most of Windows’ development went into this, making Windows easy/desirable for consumers. In contrast, most Linux development time went to making Linux more easy/desirable for enterprise users/servers.

This is really the first year that Linux for consumers is viable and a lot of that work packaging Linux for consumers came from Valve putting the various pieces of open source software together and sanding down the rough edges. In contrast, Microsoft has been doing that for a generation.

So what makes it try to focus on the near smudge in the glass window instead of the larger scene outside?

Yes, because the camera focuses on the smudge.

Yes, because the camera focuses on the smudge.

The cost of supplying food is going to push colony owners to make the colonies self sufficient with food.

We have Arctic and Polynesian parts of the world imported food prices are already insanely expensive. When you Antarctica like research bases, the food cost gets borne by government entities because the cost is even higher due to shipping. Now, add a zero or two to the shipping cost to get food to the Moon.

So, once a Moon base gets to the size of a McMurdo station, someone is likely going to figure it will be cheaper to build the ability to grow food on the Moon rather than ship everything from Earth.

It doesn’t even have to be a complete meal at first. The Moon could start with basic starches like potatoes and rice to supplement dehydrated meat and vegetables. Over time, more crops get added and some protein like shrimp and chicken are able to be grown on the Moon. You might not get a steak, but it could be enough to make some colonies mostly self sufficient.

Most of the colonization of the Americas was mercantilist in origin. The initial discovery was started as a way to find a trade route to China and many colonization efforts were more about resource extraction than anything else; it took a century before colonies started popping up focused on religious freedom.

As for the comparison to Antarctica, there was an intentional pause put on colonization as it became apparent that colonization was finally within humanity’s technological grasp and there were possible mineral rights that would make colonization worth it.

Colonization will likely be slow, but I expect that economic uses for the Moon will be found.

Virginia was a colony for over 150 years before declaring independence. A century and a half may be long enough to build out an agricultural base.

The Moon also has some benefits to colonization, including an easier place to launch spaceships beyond Earth.

It is a lot easier to fling a rock from the Moon to Earth than to fling a rock from Earth to the Moon.

Looking at the USA, it would be far more likely that American lunar colonies would be given a path to statehood long before independence came up. The USA already has two states not on the American mainland. The only colony rejected from being integrated was the Philippines and that was because Americans didn’t want to integrate such a large non-white population into the country. I don’t think a lunar colony colonized by Americans would have that issue.

Looking at China, I don’t know. China would likely attempt a similar process of integration, maybe to the point where senior political leaders have a stint running a bureaucracy on a lunar colony.

As to whether the Moon would unify its colonies as they kick out Earth colonizers, likely not. The independence wave in the Americas never united across across colonizing powers. The only way that there would be a united Moon is if one nation conquered the Moon and lost it or post colonization wars saw a post-colonization country conquer the Moon; this would likely not happen given the Moon’s strategic importance to Earth. Earth could accept an independent Mars; Earth could never accept an independent and unified Moon.

I liked AWOL Nations’ cover of Beds are Burning.

How do you feel about ska?

Save Ferris - Come on Eileen

The Interrupters - Bad Guy

No Doubt - It’s My Life

It wasn’t sudden. You’re just noticing it now.

Yeah. A lot of people want to complain that games aren’t made like they were in the good old days but don’t want to pay anywhere near the equivalent price.

It is a textural element. Vinyl doesn’t play music at well as digital, but it plays it differently which may contribute a different feeling when listening to music.

Vacations are a status symbol for some people.

The White Christian Nationalists are hoping to start the end times.

I agree.

Not everyone knows what you know and it sounds like you’re judging them based on the assumption that they do.

They might not be lying.