Thoughts On - Star Trek Academy, Update 3b

 Hi Everyone,

                    Bad news,  I have just seen the trailer for Star Drek Academy, Crappy-write 2026, and I was absolutely appalled by the utter drivel it presented on the screen. Just a quick disclaimer here: I am 67, and I do still have some standards in what I watch. I still remember seeing the first broadcasts of ST-TOS.

 My first shock was Holly Hunter as the captain. She was absolutely grotesque, looking like she was chewing a wasp half of the time, slouching about in the captain's seat like she was a bored golden retriever, not the most senior person on the ship, with not a vertebrae to her name, certainly not when the pirate showed up in episode 1. 

What life skills and preparation was she supposed to have been through to warrant her being given the honoured rank of captain?  The next shock, which was even worse to swallow, she had no shoes or socks on her feet??? The number of times that any fleet of the line ship can expect to be attacked and semi - blown up must be in triple figures at least; her feet will have a permanent speed dial repair spot in the med bay, with glass and crud scars all over them.

         She could have been cast as the ship's counsellor, tucked away in a corner somewhere, to be brought out when the big people were a bit busy; that could have worked, not brilliantly, but a reasonable fit. 

                The script for the first episode sounded like a disaster waiting to happen. Why were there no seasoned personnel on board their flagship vessel on its maiden voyage, apart from an engineer and a hologram medic? Were there no fighter escort shuttles? Did the Klingon just throw flowers at the pirate instead of a knife at his head? They wasted a perfectly good battle in the first episode, presumably to keep the oldies interested. Guess what, it did not work one bit. It did show us how incompetent the idea was, though.

 The rest of the aliens tagging along looked positively cartoonish and flat. Someone else mentioned in a previous YouTube comment, "that a hippy Klingon" would not have reached his teens; he would have been tossed out the nearest airlock, because there would have been no honour in actually bothering to stab him and put him out of his misery. One blimpy character was cut and pasted right from the Thing in the Fantastic Four film. Another cheap laugh at the fans' expense. The brainless cadet who swallowed her com badge would have been sent home on the nearest cargo scow, but I thought she was supposed to be photonic? (A hologram to you and me.) Please just turn her off and save power.

The blue half-Jem Hadar-half Klingon woman reminded me of a pufferfish in panic mode. I'll bet they had a hoot in makeup and wardrobe. I will bet money that we can look forward to lots more inter-species romance coming up, yaaay, or in my case, puking up. I thought they would have had enough of that in ST Discovery. Yes,  I know it goes on, and I do have friends who are of fluid gender, but they don't rub your nose in the fact all the time. Considering that these beings are supposed to be the brightest and the best the 32nd century has to offer the galaxy, what are the worst like?.

 What was in the entrance exam, 1+1=  (calculators allowed). 

I ask myself, where is the Borg when you need them most? At least the collective was smart. To paraphrase that wise man, John Cleese, "I would not trust any of these students to sit the right way on a lavatory".

I hear that they spent between $6 - 10 million per episode. On what, certainly not on the script. The uniforms were acceptable, but I was not impressed with the academy ship itself or the bridge design. Where were the quality control checks in all of this? Why did Richard Picardo not speak out? Maybe he did quietly and was ignored. Was he so pleased to be back in the show that he did not want it to be cancelled, he had to ignore what drivel was going on right before his eyes? I dare say that he would have written a better script than this.

I hear that the studio did not bother getting in touch with the cast in person to confirm that the second series had been photon torpedoed, unless that was fake news going around. Supposedly. Holly Hunter grew a spine, marched into the boardroom, and gave them both barrels. If there had been better scenes like that in the show, they would not have had to cancel it. 

One quote at the show premiere was, "It's not your parents' Star Trek", more's the pity. Another cast member asked us for patience; someone who could obviously read the signs, but they are not going to get it.

That venerable fountain of knowledge, which is YouTube, has lit up once more, Hollywood Studios, pleasemake a note in big red ink, if you ignore the fans once again in the march to milk the Star Trek franchise, you get everything coming to you in the way of rotten apples and other assorted-sized veggies.

 I don't know who will carry the can for this dross, if anyone, but the studio needs to go right back to the drawing board and have a long, hard think. They can call it a dream of one of the cadets or more like a nightmare. As it stands, to be honest, this one looks like a transporter malfunction.

 According to the titles of some of the other reviews on YouTube, episodes two to four actually made it worse, so I did a rewrite. Hint, hint.  At this rate, I can't see the crew doing many ST autographica conventions around the world, not if they want to come away with all of their hair, anyway.

01.02.2026.

Is this the last nail in the coffin of Star Trek? I certainly hope not, as I have grown up with it and it has been a thread weaving its way through my life, and I hope that it would continue to do so as I go into my twilight years.It does not deserve to go out of existence in this way. Keeping the younger generation engaged is fine, but we were here first and deserve consideration for the readies we have pumped into their bank accounts, roughly $11US billion into the studio coffers over the decades. Do they care about the fans' wishes? It looks doubtful, but we hope to be surprised.

02.02.2026

Since I desperately needed a Star Trek fix of some sort and the Academy was definitely not coming up with the goods, I have ordered Picard season three, a bit late, I know, but it was always sold out at the shop when I tried to get it before. I hope it is a good choice. Fingers crossed.

03.02.2026

According to YouTube sources, they are roughly basing this series format on Harry Potter, which was a great blockbuster franchise. The problem is that the scriptwriters did not stick to it closely enough. There is no learning or character progression involved, apart from "I will it, so let it be". There are no personal challenges to be overcome, apart from a debate and a bit of other stuff at the end.

(Spoiler Alert - I know, it is already so spoiled.) Jay-dee's parents consist of two male Klingons who are married to one female - NAA, NO WAY, NO.HOW!!  They would have preferred their race to go extinct rather than lose its honour like that! No continuity with the past whatsoever.  Every other Klingon actor who has ever been on the show would have been throwing their Bat'leth at the tv screen in utter disgust and revulsion at that moment. This is the first time I am glad I do not have a monster sized tv in my home.

YouTuber "Mr H Reviews" (C) Copyright 2026 said that they were being beaten in the ratings by old shows of South Park and SpongeBob Square Pants!! Chew on that, Paramount!

More news in - Paramoint have deleted an episode on YouTube. This seems like the show is having the same effect as a warp core breach; get rid of it now. They are running about like headless chickens, with no idea how to fix the situation. Holly Hunter has gone quiet on the matter instead of trying to support the show. We can only wonder what went on behind the scenes. Kurtsman should be drummed out of the industry so that he cannot cause any more damage to the hearts and minds of his audience.

                      How much input did Holly have in her character? They usually have some leeway? Did she try to make it better, and the directors stomped on her, or was she up for it all along?  How much research had she done regarding the previous series shows? You can forgive the kids not having watched it much, but if you're going to be in a show that is as big as this one, don't you at least do SOME homework? Apparently, they flunked that part, too?

I hear that there is actually a second series already in the can. They must have shot them side by side. Not the first time that this has been done. The dilemma now is whether to air it or not. I have actually found a YouTuber who is enjoying the series. So the outlook may not be pitch black for the series. If the younger fanbase rally round the show, they may continue with it.

At the end of the day, you cannot blame the actors for the show and its lack of quality and depth; it is the higher-ups in the organisation that are at fault.

Yours, horrified beyond expression,

Ivor Cogdell

P.S.I think that this must be my longest review on any topic in the life of this blog, that shows disgusted I am. 

Thoughts On - An Earth.org Special Message - Donald Trump, One Year On

 Hi Everybody,

                        I hope that this is not classed as copyright infringement, as it is not meant to be. I received the email from Earth.Org and thought it was so important that I decided to add it to my website in full as I received it. I hope that the source is shown in full at the end.

From Earth.org

Welcome back, readers. A year ago today, climate denier Donald Trump was sworn in at the 47th President of the United States. In this special edition of our newsletter, we look at how the Trump administration has reversed decades of progress on climate, and what this means for the US and the rest of the world.

ONE YEAR OF TRUMP

How the US reversed climate progress, at home and abroad 2025 was a pivotal year for US climate policy. Since assuming office for his second term, Donald Trump has taken sweeping actions to reverse America’s environmental agenda and withdraw from international commitments. These moves have fundamentally altered the nation’s role in the global fight against climate change, a crisis the President has dismissed as a “con job”. Unleashing fossil fuels A long-time defender of planet-warming fossil fuels, Trump’s focus has been on strengthening ties with the industry in spite of the countless climate commitments the US has made at home and on an international level. From a former fracking executive taking the reins of the Energy Department to an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) packed with political appointees who formerly lobbied for the chemical and fossil fuel sectors, Trump has surrounded himself with the right people to execute his anti-climate agenda. On day one, Trump declared a “national energy emergency”. It came despite the fact that the US had hit record production levels under the previous administration and was currently producing more oil than any other nation in history. The move allowed the administration to reverse many of the Biden-era environmental regulations and open up more areas to oil and gas exploration. And that is exactly what followed. The Trump administration has moved to maximize oil and gas development in Alaska, reversing Biden-era restrictions on the 23-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and reopening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling. He is now looking to take his “drill, baby drill” mantra abroad, having recently unveiled plans to extend his reach to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves. In April, Trump signed a series of executive orders aimed at reviving a dying coal industry by expediting leases and streamlining permitting for coal mining on federal land. This contradicts global trends, with nearly 60 countries having drastically scaled back their plans for building coal-fired power plants since the Paris Agreement was passed in 2015. The US itself retired or announced the retirement of hundreds of coal plants. Aside from being the dirtiest type of fossil fuel, coal is widely seen as an uncompetitive and unsuitable energy source, costing significantly more than renewables like wind and solar. Trump has frequently targeted those renewable sources, missing no opportunity to spread falsities about clean energy. He has called wind turbines “pathetic and so bad” and falsely claimed they are killing people. He also frequently asserts that wind is “the most expensive form of energy,” ignoring data showing it is significantly cheaper than fossil fuels in both manufacturing and electricity generation.

A group of coal miners clap as President Donald Trump signs executive orders on the coal industry on April 8, 2025. Photo: The White House/Flickr.

As part of the plan to prioritize fossil fuels, the administration has blocked billions of dollars in funding earmarked for clean energy projects across the US. Several lawsuits were filed in response; many are still ongoing, leaving affected organizations in limbo and unable to carry out their work. The Trump administration is also going after state laws addressing polluting forms of energy, like California’s cap-and-trade system and climate superfund laws in New York and Vermont. Lowering accountability for polluters Trump has also rolled back dozens of environmental rules, including national air quality standards for particulate matter, limits on wastewater discharges for oil and gas extraction facilities, and regulations on power plant emissions and vehicle pollution. He also took aim at electric vehicles, halting the distribution of unspent government funds intended for vehicle charging stations under the $5-billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund. This month, the EPA announced it will no longer calculate the monetary benefits of air pollution rules in terms of healthcare savings or avoided deaths. Going forward, rules for fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, and ozone will exclusively prioritize the costs to industry. In a statement reported by media, the agency said it “absolutely remains committed to our core mission of protecting human health and the environment” but “will not be monetizing the impacts at this time.” The decision has drawn sharp criticism from environmental and public health advocates. “The idea that EPA would not consider the public health benefits of its regulations is anathema to the very mission of EPA,” said Richard Revesz, the Faculty Director of the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University School of Law.

Donate to Earth.Org

Suppressing climate research Trump’s aggressive rollback of climate action took direct aim at science. In the past year, his administration has erased scientific data and slashed billions of dollars in funding for climate research. In the early months of 2025, tens of thousands of federal workers were abruptly fired from agencies such as the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the EPA, the National Science Foundation, the Forest Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Many of these employees were engaged in vital climate-related research and conservation work, as well as providing essential services like weather forecasting and wildlife monitoring. The administration has also signaled intentions to dismantle key research centers, including the Colorado-headquartered National Center for Atmospheric Research, which provides critical data on air quality, tools to improve aircraft safety, wildfire mitigation strategies, and forecasts for droughts, extreme precipitation events, and tropical cyclones. Another target is NOAA’s Mauna Loa Observatory, which has been collecting essential data on climate change, atmospheric composition, and air quality since the 1950s.

The Mesa Laboratory of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. Photo: Wally Gobetz/Flickr.

The White House also terminated funding for the US Global Change Research Program, the federal body responsible for producing the nation’s most comprehensive climate reports on the impacts of rising global temperatures. It also shut down climate.gov, NOAA’s primary public-facing website for climate science, and axed NOAA’s Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disaster dataset, which has provided vital information for first responders, the insurance industry, and researchers to plan recovery efforts and assess weather-related risks. The cuts extended to international climate efforts as well. In February, the administration pulled the US out of global discussions regarding an upcoming global climate change assessment carried out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). President Trump also ordered federal scientists at NOAA and the US Global Change Research Program to cease all work related to IPCC climate assessments, effectively ending US involvement in one of the world’s most critical climate evaluation efforts. Retreating from the international stage Earlier this month, the White House announced that the US will withdraw from 66 international bodies, conventions and treaties, including key climate treaties, deemed “contrary to the interests” of the country. The list comprises 35 non-United Nations organizations and 31 United Nations organizations – many of which conduct pivotal work on climate change. These include the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s most authoritative scientific body on climate change, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the global authority providing technical and policy advice to drive conservation, and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UFCCC), the primary global treaty for coordinating international climate action. The announcement drew strong criticism from experts, world leaders, and the scientific community, who warned that the US will be left behind as the rest of the world embraces the energy transition, shifting away from costly and polluting fossil fuels to cleaner and more affordable renewables like solar and wind. The decision was just the latest in a series of moves aimed at retreating the US from international climate commitments. Over the past year, the US has exited the Paris Agreement, withdrawn from the board of the Loss and Damage fund for developing nations, and abandoned the Just Energy Transition Partnership, a flagship global climate financing program by rich nations to help developing countries quit coal. It also derailed international negotiations for a global shipping carbon levy and actively obstructed talks for a global plastic treaty, which ultimately collapsed in August after the US and several petrostate allies opposed mandatory caps on plastic production. For the first time, the US also did not send any representatives to the COP30 climate talks in Brazil.

World leaders and delegates attend the opening session of the 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP30) in the Brazilian Amazon. Photo: UN Climate Change/Zô Guimarães via Flickr.

Domestic climate financing efforts have also been gutted. Contributions to the Biden-era US International Climate Finance Plan, which leveraged multilateral and bilateral institutions to assist developing countries with climate mitigation and adaptation, were abruptly halted. Similarly, $4 billion in US pledges to the Green Climate Fund – the world’s largest fund dedicated to global climate action –were rescinded under Trump’s administration, further weakening the nation’s role in addressing the global climate crisis. Dismantling environmental justice programs The Trump administration dismantled federal environmental justice initiatives, prioritizing economic deregulation over investments aimed at addressing pollution and inequality in underserved communities. One of its most significant actions was the termination of the Justice40 program. The program was designed to direct federal investments to disadvantaged communities disproportionately affected by pollution hazards, wastewater, climate change impacts, and high energy costs. The EPA also shut down all 10 of its regional environmental justice offices, which had been instrumental in addressing pollution issues in low-income, historically marginalized, and disadvantaged communities. Experts warned that the move would leave “those living, working, studying, and playing near polluting industries, smog-forming traffic, and contaminated waterways and soil, with little support from the very agency they rely on to enforce protective laws.” The administration also engaged in a widespread campaign to remove, edit, and restrict access to critical data tools used for monitoring environmental, climate, public health, and demographic information. These tools were essential for identifying and addressing the needs of marginalized communities, leaving advocates and researchers with limited resources to track and address systemic environmental injustices. Rolling back animal and nature protections The Trump administration moved to roll back key protections under the Endangered Species Act, which has safeguarded plants and animals since the 1970s and is credited with preventing the extinction of hundreds of species. One significant change was the elimination of the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s “blanket rule”, which automatically provided protections for species listed as “threatened.” The law has been credited with preventing the extinction of hundreds of species. Trump also ordered the removal of key protections to allow commercial fishing in parts of the nearly 500,000-square-mile Pacific Island Heritage National Marine Monument, located about 750 miles west of Hawaii. Home to protected and endangered species, including turtles, whales and Hawaiian monk seals, the area has long been off-limits due to its ecological significance. The administration argued that marine protected areas put American commercial fishermen at a disadvantage, despite evidence from studies showing that these areas benefit both marine ecosystems and fishermen by allowing overfished species to recover.

US President Donald Trump signs a proclamation to unleash American commercial fishing in the Pacific Ocean, on April 17, 2025, in the Oval Office. Photo: The White House/Flickr.

It wasn’t a good year for national parks either. Since Trump took office, the National Park Service has lost 24% percent of its permanent workforce. According to the New York Times, over 90 national parks reported problems between April and July, stemming from staff cuts and a hiring freeze that affected roles ranging from cleaners to rangers and visitor center staff. The cuts undermined essential park services and maintenance during a time of increased visitation. In June, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced plans to rescind a Clinton-era rule that prohibits road construction, reconstruction, and timber harvest on nearly 59 million acres of the National Forest System. It followed a March executive order and a memo issued by Rollins in April, which laid the groundwork for a major increase in industrial logging across federal forests. Green groups warned that timber and mining activities would pollute air and drinking water and strip away essential habitats for wildlife such as California condors, grizzly bears and wolves of the Yellowstone area, native salmon and trout in the Pacific Northwest, migratory songbirds of the Appalachian hardwoods. Written by Martina Igini

Copyright (C) Martina Igini of Earth.org. 

Thank you for your time and patience for reading this. I do not know if the links in the document work, as they were just cut and pasted from the email. Please contact Earth.org. for any clarification.

Ivor Cogdell

THoughts On - Obsidian Notes for RPG's and Wargaming - Updated.

 Hi  Everyone,

                      Today's topic is about a free PC, Mobile and probably LINUX app called "Obsidian". You may have seen it on YouTube before, as it has been out for a while. It is used for taking notes on both mobile devices and PCs.

 It has a wide range of core functions and community add-ins (some paid for), which allow you to customise the setup to suit your needs. All of your notes are stored on your own device in a folder called a vault, in plain text "Markdown" format. All text editors should be able to read the .md format, so if Obsidian goes kaput, you still have all of your data in a readable format on your local hard drive, which would not be the case in many other note taking apps. 

 Obsidian supports Python programming with editors, cut and paste snippets of code where they are needed, and the code font themes can be changed to suit your wishes.

                       Inside of your text, you can link notes together with [[note name 1]],  [[Author List]], [Daily notes]] etc. Just press on the highlighted entry to go to that note. You can change the colours of the tabs and highlights.  Headings, highlights, bullet points, strike-through, auto-numbered lists, bold, and italic are all easy to implement as you type.  Tags can be used for sorting content. Tables can be added with ease. Graphics are available. The latest development to come online is the database. I have not delved into that system yet.

There are plenty of YouTube tutorials showing how particular features and functions are set up. YouTubers have tailored the Obsidian system plug-ins for their needs, including Step-by-step walk-throughs. 

For instance, Mike of "Sly Flourish's "Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master" books and blog, uses Obsidian for his weekly tips and Adventure planning broadcasts. He has converted all of his paid-for "Patreon materials" to markdown format, including hyperlink indexing of books, so that they can seamlessly be ported over into your "Vault" and be used straight away.

You can use them for world-building notes, linking plot ideas and baddies together. Wargame Club scores and games that individuals play. GM information can be amended on the fly.  It is ideal for recording inspiration when you are on the move, swapping files from mobile to PC. Planning strategies, recording troop movements. journaling results to give to players. 

The Obsidian developer community are frequently adding new functionality to the app, giving it great expansion potential. Mind mapping visuals are also included. 

I am just a novice at using it, but I am sure you will find it of great use in your gaming and wider hobbies.

Regards,

Ivor Cogdell

Red Alert Board 5

 Red Alert Board 5 - 2026

 Hi all,

            This is where I will post my wild weather reports and general climate change information that I hear about for 2026. Sources are shown where known.

6 Jan 2026 - Confirmation that 2025 was the hottest and sunniest year for the UK since records began in 1884. Average temperatures reached 10.09 °C. 

Source: Government figures.

10. Jan - Folkstone, UK - The concrete seafront promenade was destroyed in a storm when large waves washed away its foundations and scattered them along the beachfront.

Source: Youtube.

23 Jan - Sicily, Italy, was hit by a large wave, causing flooding in the town, due to a storm surge. A train was derailed, and beach roads were washed away,

Source: Youtube.

24 Jan - Please see my Thoughts On the Earth.org special email regarding Donald Trump's first year.

https://tearsfromthefront.blogspot.com/2026/01/thoughts-on-earthorg-special-message.html

Written by Earth.org Editor-In-Chief,  Martina Igini. Copyright (C) 2026.

This catalogue, in part, lists some of the things he has done while in office.

Please contact Ms Igini at Earth.org for any further information.

Source: Earth.org Copyright (C) 2026.

26 Jan - Miskeny, Sicily, A mountainside plateau was cut off when part of its top gave way, burying the only road leading to the summit, causing a mile-long landslide. It dropped about 150 feet into the lower area. The sandy ground was saturated after the storm passed through the area. Over 500 residents have had to be evacuated. There are fears of more landslides to come on the plateau.

Source: Youtube.

More to come.

Regards,

Ivor Cogdell Copyright (c) 2026 to Webpage, individual sources as shown.

Thoughts On - Trump Attacks Venezuela. Updated.

 Hi Everybody,                                                                                                           3rd - 4th Jan 2026

                      We hear news from the other side of the pond that President Trump has just had a tizzy and commanded US forces to attack Venezuela, abducting the sitting president on the justification that they are moving drugs to the USA, which they have been doing. But the US has been blowing the boats out of the water, against International law, stop and seize, not kill them. They also swiped a couple of Venezuelan oil tankers, in part reparation for what the government is owed in the past, but I thought that was called by it's other name. piracy on the high seas?

 The Venezuelan President and first lady had been flown to New York and are being kept under guard.

                      Right off the bat. I would like to say I am not an expert in this matter, and this is only my humble opinion, whether the actions that they have taken are internationally legal or not. Could the armed forces be charged with unlawfully kidnapping a foreign head of state? Did I hear that they had been planning this move for months? So much for the Nobel Peace Prize.

                    What it will allow him to say now is that Venezuelan immigrants now pose a threat to the USA, so ICE can pick them off the streets as they please, hopefully for them with no comeback, whether that is true or not is debatable.

                    His pal "Big Bad Vlad" must be laughing his socks off right about now. There will be no more supposedly "moral high ground" for Donald to perch on when he calls him next. Not that it was making any difference. I would love to read a transcript of a few of those calls, but I don't suppose they keep them at the White House, otherwise known as the fun factory.

I am awaiting more news. Here we go - 

HEADLINE: Trump to run the country until transition.

Two points regarding that: Firstly, he cannot run the government that he has now competently, let alone take on another one that will actively be working against him. Secondly, once he does have power in there, that just means his cronies can move in and asset-strip the place as he has done with the USA, while no one is looking, or maybe he is past caring if they see or not.

Next in his sights, we hear it may be Canada or possibly Greenland. More of his allies to duff up. If you read it in a novel, you would think the plot was far-fetched. But here we are. Strange days indeed. He is totally off his trolley, but no one seems to care. Is this the beginning of the end for the USA?

Good luck, everybody,

Ivor Cogdell

Thoughts On - Panic Mode and war between the land and the sea - Update

 Hi everyone,                                                                                                              3rd Jan 2026.

 Please give a very warm welcome to JB, the first to follow me on the blog. 

                    I hope you all had a good time over Christmas. I mainly stopped is as I was coming down with a cold and did not want to spread any germs. As I type this, there is still snow on the ground, not a white Christmas here, but closer than we usually get.

                    As for the title of this post, that was me just a few moments ago, when I tried to log on here, and Google, bless their cotton socks, couldn't find it. I was doing an email to a pal and wanted to include a link to my website, so that he could take a look at my mini painting skills, or rather, lack of them

                  I typed in tears from the front, nothing, added blogspot. com that usually does the trick, still nothing. I then added quotes, zippo.  I tried searching for red alert, page, got shedloads, but none were mine. I rechecked the spelling, which was ok. 

                 I finally hit on tears from the front blogspot.com and just blogspot.com. Have they shut up shop completely? I am very glad to see that I was wrong about that.

UPDATE: 24 Jan 2026 - I typed the website title in the search engine in tonight, and it found it straight away. Since I had added a couple of posts and the viewing figures had been ok, it seems to have sparked its algorithm interest again, which I am all in favour of.

Now that I have got my breath back, did you see the Dr Who spin-off by Russel T Davies, The War Between the Land and the Sea? (No spoilers). A five-part story, released in two pairs and the final instalment. It was a quality production all around. The sets and special effects were realistic. A couple of the UNIT crew would be recognisable to fans of the show.  It features an enemy that should have been given more airtime over the years.

            Quality acting from all of the cast, giving the plot conviction and weight. At the end of each episode, I was left wondering where the storyline was going to lead next. I do like a nice plot twist, within reason. I hope they do a sequel. Now that I have written this, I can read other reviews.

For your information, the next Dr Who series is planned to show at Christmas 2026.

Regards all,

Ivor Cogdell

(C) Copyright 2026.

Thoughts On - My birthday and "Beyond All Reason"

 Hi everyone,

                     This is just a bit of a filler to keep you informed on what I have been up to lately. It was my birthday recently, and a very good mate and I had an afternoon walking around Lichfield town centre. We visited most of the local charity shops and acquired some DVDs and a couple of paintings each, plus she found a couple of summer dresses that she liked.

                     I did a quick sketch of one of the statues in the Library Square while we were having a break, then had a quick glance in one of the antique shops. Time was getting on, so we had a very nice meal of fish and chips with cider in the Acorn pub before getting the bus home. I put my feet up and had a film night with one of my new DVD's and a chilled bottle of wine.

Success

 I found the Chepheus Engine RPG rules amongst my files earlier today. I thought it had been lost, but in fact, it was a case of not being renamed from its extracted .zip file name in the first place, so my search engine could not find it. Better late than never.

                        I gave my new strimmer its first run around the front garden today. It felt much lighter than my old one, which I am pleased about. I also treated my conifer to another haircut with the trimmer. It's now a truncated pyramid.

Something New

By chance the other day, I found myself watching the Virtual TableTop wargame "Beyond All Reason" (C) on YouTube (C) for the first time. To let you know, my wargame viewing habits are usually just of the miniature fighting variety or occasional sniper sims, so to see a ginormous 8-player electronic battle simulation in full colour blew me away completely. How the team leaders can plan strategies among the chaos is beyond me. 

The graphics are superb. Each warring team is colour-coded, so they can see their own forces easily. Power plants spawn weaponry, tanks, gunships, and many other sorts of tiny nastiness that were scurrying all over the place at the eight warlords' whims, trying to get and keep the upper hand and gain victory by wiping everyone else out. 

I think the commentator said there were over 19,000 units on the board at one point. Fantastic. Explosions range from small to devastating. They were even throwing multiple tactical nukes at each other at one point; these were being deflected by defending force fields until their hit points gave out. It was utter madness, but great to watch. I have now seen some other battles with different landscapes and numbers of troops. It makes for very entertaining viewing.

That's all for now, take care.

Ivor Cogdell