S5.28 “Ask Your Grocer”
Mare of Easttown
Crime drama miniseries, aired in 2021, consisting of seven episodes. It stars Kate Winslet in the title role, who investigates a murder in a small town outside Philadelphia. Recommended as similar in tone to Dopesick, in the links of a previous episode.
Helliconia Spring by Brian W. Aldiss
Plate of Shrimp
“A lot of people don't realize what's really going on. They view life as a bunch of unconnected incidences and things. They don't realize that there's this like lattice of coincidence that layers on top of everything. ...
Suppose you thinking about a plate of shrimp. Suddenly somebody will say like plate or shrimp or plate of shrimp out of the blue no explanation. No point for looking for one either. It's all part of a cosmic unconsciousness. ...
The way I see it it's exactly the same. There ain't no difference between a flying saucer and a time machine. People get so hung up on specifics. They miss out on seeing the whole thing. ...
I think a lot about this kind of stuff. I do my best thinking on the bus. That's how come I don't drive, see. ...
The more you drive the less intelligent you are.”
Armageddon averted by Stephen Kotkin
Kotkin conveys the high drama of a superpower falling apart while armed to the teeth with millions of loyal troops and tens of thousands of weapons of mass destruction. This succinct but sweeping volume takes us from deep inside post-Stalin Soviet society right up to the new Russia under Vladimir Putin.
Putin's People by Catherine Belton
How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West.
“Probably one of the best and cleanest reads. I know a number of the people that she interviewed, and I know that they know what they're talking about.” -- Matthew Roazen
The Peripheral (TV Series)
The Peripheral was a 2022 science fiction series loosely based on the 2014 book of the same name, by William Gibson. Set roughly a decade in the future, with new technology that has changed society in subtle ways, a gamer is delivered a connection to an alternate reality as well as a dark future of her own.
The series was canceled due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike and the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike.
Letters of Marque from the Age of Sail
A government license in the Age of Sail that authorized a private person, known as a privateer or corsair, to attack and capture vessels of a foreign state at war with the issuer, licensing international military operations against a specified enemy as reprisal for a previous attack or injury.
Captured naval prizes were judged before the government's admiralty court for condemnation and transfer of ownership to the privateer.
The Devil's Broker By Frances Stonor Saunders
This is the bold story of Sir John Hawkwood, English knight turned mercenary general, who alternately besieged and protected Italy’s richest city states in the late fourteenth century, leading the Italians to conclude that “the Devil is an Englishman.” Brilliant and drivingly readable, The Devil’s Broker recreates a complex man and a fascinating era.
Person of Interest
A science fiction crime drama that aired for 5 seasons, from 2011 to 2016, centered on a reclusive billionaire who developed "the Machine" -- capable of predicting terrorist acts and identifying the people planning them. The series raised an array of moral issues, from questions of privacy and "the greater good", the concept of justifiable homicide, and problems caused by working with limited information programs.
Person of Interest was acclaimed during its run and considered by several critics to be the best science fiction show on broadcast TV.
