GREGORY SMITH

@jondelarroz <TOS has entered the chat>

Following Starfleet Academy's cancellation, showrunner Alex Kurtzman has vowed to continue to fight for diversity. "Star Trek dares to imagine a society of infinite diversity in infinite combinations," he said following the cancellation. They never learn.

This does seem like an incredible opportunity for grift and corruption.

@johnkonrad Seems like they knight anyone these days. It probably used to count for something.

Does anyone know who this guy is? Anyone? Didn’t think so.

@luinalaska Got to believe that AK residents get really annoyed about saviors from the Lower 48 on any number of subjects.

When people say I don’t care about Alaska Natives when I push for the SAVE act please recall my legacy is the grandchildren walking this planet with my last name. They are and will be Tlingit. All of them. My sons are Tlingit themselves OR married to Tlingit women. My daughters have had Native children or are Native themselves. My daughter is precious culturally she is from an interior village so small it would doxx her to share their name. Her children will matter in the legacy of her tribe. I would do *NOTHING* to disenfranchise my own family lines. I care more about this than 99.999% of the people in the discourse. I consider it disenfranchising them to allow someone without the right to vote to make decisions for them with illegal votes. You cannot gaslight me on this. Protecting the legal vote is protecting us from disenfranchising our own families. Miss me with the hot takes from thousands of miles away.

Why does it cost less to build a base on the moon than high speed rail from sf to la

While at the gym today I noticed a young man working at the front desk staring intently at his laptop. You could see the stress on his face. Before I left, I asked if he was in college and he said yes, so I asked what he was studying and he told me pre med, which led into a conversation about why he had been staring so intently at his computer. He showed me his screen and told me he was literally debating dropping his current classes while he could still get a refund. He’s hearing from older grads struggling just to get residency and he’s not sure he wants to keep paying for school if there may be no jobs at the end. That conversation today is exactly why this fight matters. A pre-med student, halfway through the hardest path you can take, sitting there debating whether to quit… not because he failed, but because he doesn’t believe there’s a future waiting for him at the end. We are now at a point where high-achieving American students are questioning whether merit even matters anymore. They’re watching graduates struggle for jobs. They’re seeing doors close before they even get there. They’re being told, in every indirect way possible, that effort isn’t enough. This is how a country collapses its own future... quietly, systematically, and in plain sight. You don’t need a war when you can convince your next generation to give up before they even start. That’s what this is. This is not just about jobs. This is about whether Americans still have a place in their own economy. And if we don’t fight this now, hard, loud, and without apology, there won’t be anything left for the next generation to fight for.

Had the privilege to spend two years in Metz 91-93 studying at what is now Georgia Tech Europe. Got to return last year for a quick visit and was impressed at how much it's both grown as a city and evolved for the better. Three hours to Paris now down to 1:20 as noted. Weather a bit colder in the winter than some would like but this has probably kept the prices and crowds down. And unique history of being French with strong German influences sets it apart.

@thealepalombo May I add METZ : 1h 20 TGC from Paris. Airport Luxembourg. Excellent 1star restaurants and local wines. Pompidou Centre Museum offspring. Fantastic cathedral. Plenty boutiques. Beautiful river. Great WW1 and WW2 historic sites nearby. Hidden gem.

I'm Italian. After my thread on Italy's hidden cities blew up, a close French friend called me. "You did Italy. Now do France. But don't embarrass yourself, let me 'elp." We spent a weekend going back and forth. He'd suggest a city, I'd research it. I'd push back, he'd prove me wrong. By Sunday night, we had a list. 7 hidden cities in France that most people, including most French, will never think to visit, let alone move to. No crowds. No tourist markup. Insane quality of life. 🧵

The most profitable seat on a 787 isn't in business class. It's three economy seats with a $40 mattress pad. I've flown the original version on Air New Zealand. United just figured out the math. A Polaris suite takes the footprint of roughly four economy seats. At $4,000 one-way on a transatlantic route, that's $1,000 per seat-equivalent of revenue. A Relax Row takes three economy seats, sells for $3,000 to $5,000 as a unit, and requires zero cabin reconfiguration. That's $1,000 to $1,700 per seat-equivalent with almost no incremental cost. The margins on a mattress pad and adjustable leg rests versus a lie-flat suite with a privacy door, dedicated galley, and premium meal service aren't even comparable. Air New Zealand proved this in 2011. Called it Skycouch. Same seat. Same concept. Fifteen years of booking data showing parents choose flat over reclined at almost any price. United licensed the design and locked North American exclusivity. The timing maps to a ceiling in their premium strategy. United posted $59.1 billion in revenue last year. Premium cabin revenue grew 11% while economy flatlined. But there are only so many rows you can convert to Polaris before you've hollowed out the cabin. At some point you need the 300 economy passengers to fund the aircraft. Relax Row threads that needle. 200 widebody aircraft. Up to 12 sections per plane. 2,400 units fleet-wide on routes where families will pay anything to let a toddler sleep horizontal for 14 hours. Dynamic pricing at American willingness-to-pay levels on a product Air New Zealand sells for $200 to $1,500. Six fare classes on a single widebody now: Basic Economy, Economy, Relax Row, Premium Plus, Polaris, Polaris Studio. Each tier reframes the next as reasonable. They wrapped it in a plushie because "highest-margin seat in commercial aviation" doesn't fit on a boarding pass.

@united Assuming this is real and not early April Fools do you get 3 meals, one per seat purchased? Like, you can have both the chicken AND the pasta?

The entire row is alllllll yours. Welcome to United Relax Row, three adjacent United Economy seats with adjustable leg rests that can each be raised or lowered to create a cozy lie-flat space for stretching out... You'll also get a mattress pad, blanket and two pillows. If you’re traveling with kids, a plushie too! United Relax Row will be available starting next year on more than 200 of our 787s and 777s, each with up to 12 of these brand-new rows. united.com/Elevated

Europeans are embarrassed to drive a Tesla when @elonmusk helps Trump but happy to drive a BYD when Xi helps Putin.

@CaptainJackYT Yes. It was like watching an HR meeting. Deserved to be punched down with the fields scorched and salted so that no one ever tries to do a fake skin-suited "Star Trek" like it ever again. So bad that anyone involved doesn't want to add it to their iMDB profile.

It is depressing & disappointing seeing people "celebrate" the cancellation of a series. Do people not realise this hurts the franchise as a whole? Yes, you can not like something... but is there a need to continually punch it down?? #StarTrek

@johnkonrad @JakeSullivan46 And yet the good people of NH CD-2 elected his wife to represent us in Congress. 🤷‍♂️

I’m a maritime journalist and former ship captain. THE last person on earth I would call for advice on Hormuz is @JakeSullivan46 I would break into a hospice facility for down syndrome patients with dementia and Parkinson’s before calling him. His response to Houthis in the Red Sea will be taught for decades as an example of horrible naval and maritime policy. Not even my Dem friends deny he screwed up big time either that one. And don’t even get me started on his Gaza Pier plan.

@EchoesofWarYT @netflix Started watching "La Palma" on Netflix. Not a terrible show, interesting idea (megatsunami on Cumbre Vieja volcano). Second episode ends with a scene of two teenage girls making out. Completely irrelevant to the main story but I guess it ticked a box somewhere. <shrugs>

*turns on Alexander the Great documentary* They have him make out with a guy in the first 5 minutes *then turns on Cleopatra documentary* First thing said is “I don’t care what they tell you in school, Cleopatra was black” You’re an absolute fucking joke @netflix

As you probably know there have been multiple attempts to build NG pipelines between MA (biggest consumer) and the shale gas fields of PA. All shut down by the environmentalists and including the current governor of MA. We really don't need more LNG we need proper pipeline infrastructure...and not routed through NH or VT which doesn't use NG in large amounts but via CT and MA that are the biggest consumers.

To get natural gas to New England, we need immigrants to come here and take shipbuilding jobs for Buccee’s cashier wages. Also we need to completely ignore where New England is on this map of US natural gas reserves.

It's always nice when someone puts all of the Northeast data in one spot. Speaking of one spot in the Northeast...

@johnkonrad I have to ask. What exactly does HR think they are going to implement when you are 8000 miles away and probably no where need a port? Like...make a referral to a Telehealth professional in your primary language?

International Shipping. Massive ships usually have less than 25 crew and most don’t speak English. Albeit the job was much more people hater friendly before starlink became a thing. Now HR will want to ZOOM in occasionally and check up on your mental health.

"Woke" was a contributor but not the only factor. They tried to change to a "Direct to Consumer" model that alienated their critical partner sales channel who switched to other vendors. And ditched what they regarded as expensive "product managers" who actually had the pulse on specific markets (urban, golf, running, etc.). It was all sold as a cost saving / revenue generating plan that was an epic failure and allowed other brands to gain share. [Trying to share free link]. wsj.com/business/retai…

It’s really sad what happened to Nike. They went woke and now they’re broke. I never see people wearing their shoes at the gym. They tried to appeal to an imaginary audience that doesn’t exist and then were surpassed by a bunch of other brands.

"Free Staters" move here because New Hampshire is already awesome and try to keep it that way. Progressives move here because New Hampshire is awesome then get mad the government doesn't do what it did where they came from.

You can't play "game theory" with people who believe they win if they die.

@teachthemx3 Is this real? With an electronic graphing tool?

Today's math class is just learning how to use Desmos. This is one reason why math tutors are in high demand. All of this falls apart in Algebra II and beyond.