From Star Wars to Infinity and Beyond

Posted on July 21, 2025 by RegenAxe

A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away… I was sitting at my desk, my father’s old desk, thinking about how much my life has changed. It was only April then, when these photos were taken. We were in DC, enjoying the sights and life was good. Since then, my dad has died, setting in motion a cascade of events that has led me to this moment. It has been a long and winding road, and I am not there yet. Not by half. There are still plenty more miles to go.

Today, I went to the DMV and got my license renewed. This was the excuse, if not the reason for this trip back east. I went to lunch with Anne and Dan at Roosters and then met with our financial advisor. Later, I got my haircut and then packed again for the next leg of our journey. Meanwhile, my bros have finally received their inheritance. Hooray! I am glad that that is now settled. Anne got kudos from the aesthetics advisor on her rearrangement of the bookshelves. Today, Chris managed the final dressing of the house. The housekeeper comes on Thursday. The photoshoot is on Saturday. The house will then be listed next Tuesday. The realtor’s open house is next Thursday and the weekend after this one the house will be first shown to the public. It has been a lot of work, but it seems like all this effort is bearing fruit.

Dune: Part Two

Posted on May 15, 2024 by RegenAxe

I watched the second installment of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune trilogy. The good news is that there will be at least three episodes. The bad news is that author Frank Herbert wrote six volumes in his series. So, there ~~may~~ will be many more.

Dune: Part One introduced us to Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), son of the tragically slain Duke of Arrakis (nee Dune), now he is the heir apparent. He and his pregnant mother, the Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), escaped into the desert both ready to go full Lawerence of Arabia among the Bedouin-like desert dwellers known as the Fremen. As in the first movie, where we were only briefly introduced to Chani (Zendaya), Paul’s Freman love interest, in this movie we likewise can only glance at Alia, Paul’s unborn sister. First, to turn a phrase, “in a womb with a view” and then grown, as Anya Taylor-Joy, but only in cameo.

Then after much blood in the sand and a 2 hours and 45 minutes running time, Paul is the self-proclaimed emperor. I guess that he can now add that title to his many other epithets: Duke, Mahdi, Muad’Dib, Usul, Lisan al-Gaib, and Kwisatz Haderach. Dune: Part Two is essentially a war movie and its sequel will likely be a jihad. I guess that even with his new 4D vision, Paul could not see any way around a universe engulfing holy war. Mores the pity, but that’s people for you.

In a Galaxy Far, Far Away

Posted on March 28, 2023 by RegenAxe

In the aftermath of last week’s squirrel attack, things are progressing slowly. My insurance company is engaged, and they and Toyota are now in dialog. The insurance company wants photos. Pictures of the squirrel damage in the engine compartment and also photos of the rest of the car, showing that it is otherwise undamaged. I sent Toyota the undamaged photographs and they are supposed to forward them all to the insurance company. I got a call this morning from my insurance company, and I directed them to the Toyota dealer. Hopefully, they are playing nicely together. I am rather laissez faire about the whole situation, because I know that no resolution to this problem will be available anytime soon. Speaking with the Toyota tech I learned that the wiring harnesses that the squirrel damaged are on backorder. In fact, there are none available now throughout the country. The Toyota tech used a nice turn of phrase to describe the bleakness of the situation, they are on galactic backorder. Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you are my only hope.

Bouncing Off the Walls in Toronto

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To Forever and Beyond…

Posted on April 25, 2022 by RegenAxe

This week’s New Yorker featured an article, The Plan to Make Michigan the Next Space State, touting Michigan’s burgeoning spaceflight industry that as of yet has not gotten off the ground. As with most of today’s modern spaceflight tales, at its center lies another billionaire, at least I assume that is what Tom Baldwin is. As a purportedly rather successful commodities trader, I think that that is a fair assumption. According to the article, Mr. Baldwin owns a Lake Superior property that hosts one of the largest log cabins in the world, called Granot Loma. I guess Shangri-La was already taken. Located lakeside, northwest of Marquette, this cabin is nestled within about 5,000 acres of shorefront property. Baldwin would like to see at least part of this property used as a vertical rocket-launch site, by the Michigan Launch Initiative. Sitting north of the 45th Parallel, this site could be used to safely launch satellites out over the lake and into polar orbits.

This initiative is looking at two other locations to be part of their effort. One is located down state, but Chippawa International Airport is slated to be this operation’s command-and-control center. Are we looking at a future upgrade for this facility to spaceport? “Final boarding call at gate-one-and-only for Mars, Jupiter and all planets beyond.” In this article Baldwin even hints at his openness to collaborating with another big billionaire space enthusiast, Elon Musk.