Robot Jazz

  Recently, a pair of stories set an army of tongues wagging. Both dealt with the somewhat dismal prospects for cable news. First, there was the announcement that MSNBC, the political mirror image of Fox News, was being spun off by its parent company, Comcast .  In addition to this, there was more grim news: CNN, which has faced stormy internal waters, had lost 34% of its audience since 2016, while competitors Fox News and MSNBC  gained 5% and 35% respectively. (Despite the rosy growth numbers for MSNBC, the network nonetheless has roughly half the viewership of Fox News  in 2023 - 1.5 million versus 860,00 respectively.) Be that as it may, growing viewership or not, all three national news networks are on the same sinking ship as Americans continue to "cut the cable." Since 2016, there has been a 28% decline in homes carrying the networks in cable packages. This death spiral cannot be suffered for long for an industry dependent on the ad revenue generated by cable s...

  If you are like me, you are probably somewhat desperate for some fresh yuletide entertainment. Sure, The Hallmark Channel offers a seemingly bottomless bowl of copy-and-paste pottage that is their yearly Christmas lineup, but who can stomach that for long? How many times can we watch lazy iterations of the fem-fantasy of the girl boss who travels to the country to find the man of her dreams (who invariably arrives as a rustic but is later revealed to be a former doctor, lawyer, or reclusive entrepreneur)? In the world of Hallmark , love is only for professionals. Well, if you are tired of watching St. Valentine's Day romances thinly disguised as Christmas fare, here is an alternative: Satoshi Kon's Tokyo Godfathers. Seeing that some of the all-time Christmas classics are cartoons ( Frosty the Snowman, A Charlie Brown Christmas , and How the Grinch Stole Christmas , to name but a few!), it shouldn't bother anyone that Tokyo Godfathers  is itself a Christmas cartoon, if of...

  [The following is another short fiction inspired by a session with one of my favorite 'Cold War gone hot' wargames, this time WARNO.  I'm sorry: I just have too much fun with these games not to memorialize the session! As ever, don't expect any of these World War III chronicles to tie together in any sort of sensible way. I am not writing a novel. I just look at the battle's events and try to come up with a backstory.] East German Border Incident  GDR claims West Germany launched a cross-border night raid West Germany denies the accusation Many casualties reported [EuroNewz] Today, the government of the German Democratic Republic accused its neighbor, the Federal Republic of Germany, of engaging in cross-border hostilities. The incident allegedly occurred overnight in the sparsely-populated Zhornhorst region. "We are outraged by the unprovoked hostilities of the criminals in Bonn," said Jens Wirtz, spokesman for East Berlin's Ministry for Foreign Aff...

  I believe in homicide I rest my case, don't cast aside You better believe it That's the truth of it Take it or leave it Resign to it Homicide, homicide Homicide, homicide…  - ‘Homicide’ by 999 (1978) “Keep firing!” shouted Leonidov.  “Don’t let those fascists near the farm!” Leonidov felt the butt of his AK-74 pound deeper and deeper into his shoulder until a dull ache began to grip the right side of his body.  But there couldn’t be any letup. The West Germans were scouting the battalion’s left flank, attempting to find any weakness the fascists could use against his comrades. He wasn’t going to allow that to happen. As if to prove that to himself, Leonidov fired off a three-round burst from his weapon at an enemy soldier who was firing from behind a tree.  He was gratified when he saw his rounds stitch their way up the enemy soldier's exposed arm, causing the soldier to drop the rifle from his now mangled arm.  Leonidov fired another burst at the pain-st...

  In this city so proud Full of noises and crowds This once was a monument Now, it's a grave And they warned us about When reason gave out Now, it's too late for miracles There's nothing to save Armageddon Armageddon It came too soon - “Armageddon” by Planet P Project (1983) Private Lance Nigels starred intently at that “Woodland” camouflage pattern on the BDU (Battle Dress Uniform) trousers on the soldier seated beside him inside the M113 APC.  Black swirling to brown swirling to green swirling back to black again, round and round, he thought.  You can’t escape the black. Nothing can escape the black.   The M113’s Detroit V6 two-stroke diesel engine suddenly roared, as if in warning, and the entire vehicle lurched to a halt, causing the soldiers inside to bump into each other as they sat side by side on the twin benches that lined the interior of the aluminum hull.   The vehicle commander, perched on his elevated seat for better visibility from outside th...

  When someone says, "My, what a beautifully sunny day!" do you want to punch them? When the weatherman reports no rain in the forecast, do you become depressed? Do you celebrate the great indoors? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, you might be a pluviophile .  I hate to do this, but let's begin with the definition of 'pluviophile' because I suspect the term might be unfamiliar to many.  Copilot defines a pluviophile as: Someone who enjoys rain and rainy days, finding fascination in the sights, sounds, and ambiance of rain. If you’re a pluviophile, you appreciate the gentle patter of raindrops on leaves, the misty atmosphere, and the cozy feeling that rainy weather brings. 🌧️☔ The term originates from Latin: “Pluvi” refers to rain. “Phile” denotes a person who loves or has an affinity for something. I am a proud pluviophile.  Ever since childhood, I have luxuriated on rainy days.  While the world is constantly urging me to embrace the out...

  Chapter 56 Ivan Feels the Heat By late summer, it was clear to the Soviet high command that the war was not going well.  Despite endless propaganda articles in Eastern Bloc periodicals, as well as select Western outlets sympathetic to the Soviet invasion of West Germany, it was clear to serious analysts that the Pact armies were beginning to lose the initiative. This was made abundantly clear when Soviet forces began a surreptitious evacuation of occupied Bishofroda.   "We were told that our forces' success on the battlefield required...how did they put it? Oh yeah. That it 'necessitated a redeployment of forces from Bischofroda to other areas to cement our great communist victory,'" remarked Sławomir Milko with a sardonic smirk on his face. A former colonel in the armed forces of Poland, Milko has been an outspoken critic of the USSR's ill-fated attack in the post-war years.  "So, with victory all but certain, my men were given the job of defending the...