delibby

The Old Guard 2 ends on a cliffhanger.

A. FUCKING. CLIFFHANGER.

There is no confirmation of The Old Guard 3 movie. IMdb lists 21 upcoming projects for Charlize Theron as a producer and 5 as an actress, and none of those are The Old Guard 3.

Multiple people are left in deadly peril at the end and the stupid AI overview says 'the movie leaves room for a sequel.'

The movie REQUIRES a sequel. It is incomplete.

My sister got to gloat because she said, "wow, this really seems to be heading toward a cliffhanger," and I hit the pause and said, "no, look, it's got 23 minutes left, this'll be wrapped up in 23 minutes." Bizarrely, the movie ended with almost 10 minutes left. Maybe the credits were that long. So sis was right.

I normally try to avoid spoiling people for brand new movies that I think many are anticipating, but I'm very annoyed by movies that end in cliffhangers without warning, and I would want to know. So now you all know.

I have many mixed emotions about this country, how its government is acting (actually, those emotions are pretty plain revolted), and the direction we’re heading (definitely swinging between despair, horror, and determination there), but I’m having my normal 4th of July. Spent the morning watching the local parade and listening to the neighborhood band. Ran into my sister and nephews and chatted with them. Will have dinner tonight at my dad’s then everyone will migrate to my house for fireworks (and to watch my neighbor’s, how much he must spend boggles me). The weather is only supposed to be 85, which is positively chilly for us, I’m very pleased.

I hope however my fellow Americans are spending the day, you are able to find happiness. And everyone else a good Friday!

Tomorrow the postcards and protests resume.

Got home last night about 9pm from a cardiology appointment in Las Cruces (all is fine, annual EKG monitoring me). I pull in to the driveway, then into a path so I can turn around and back in to the carport. I back in so I won't have a problem pulling out if it snows, not that it may ever happen here again.

And when I pulled into the path, something scampered away - BUNNY!

At first I thought it was a cat or raccoon, as those are normal for the area. In my two decades up here, I can't recall having seen any BUNNIES up here, but sure enough it started hopping away! Thus applying my powers of deduction, I concluded it wasn't a kitty or raccoon.

I mentioned it to Russet, and she reported seeing one on the neighbor's property, perhaps we may have a warren in the area. I'm a little surprised as I'd think that coyotes and raccoons would make quick work of one and a population wouldn't be very viable up here on the mountain.

Well.

What's going on is slightly complicated, and not necessarily a big deal, depending. There are eight flaws found in Brother systems, and they all boil down to one fairly serious vulnerability. A flaw was discovered in how Brother generates the default system administrator password based on the serial number of the printer: if the serial number of the printer is known, you can reverse engineer the password. And here's the problem: if you have not changed that password, THEN you are vulnerable to all sorts of potential mischief! And that's where all the other flaws come into play.

Now, if you changed the default password when you installed your printer, then you're fine. Nothing to worry about. Everything's great. If you didn't, then you need to change it ASAP and patch your printer right now!

This flaw also affects 59 printer models from Fujifilm, Toshiba, Ricoh, and Konica Minolta. I'm assuming they use either Brother engines or the same algorithm for generating admin passwords.

The flaw affects 689 printers, the article provides a link with all of the models listed. Since the default password was built into the printer's read-only memory, it can't be patched. Brother is changing the way they generate the password. But again, if you've changed the default password, you're good. The other flaws are patchable, I don't know if patches are out yet but I'm sure they will be available soon if not already.

https://www.theverge.com/news/694877/brother-printers-security-flaw-password-vulnerability

We're having to rebuild the search server again (previously, previously). It will take a few days to reindex all the content.

Meanwhile search services should be running, but probably returning no results or incomplete results for most queries.

Alan Rickman was a WHOA in Die Hard for me. I'd never seen him before, but he was so good at being so bad. Hans Gruber may be my favorite movie villain.

I only recently saw that he'd been in a video, clearly many years ago. Honestly, I'm not crazy about the video itself (so many closeups of the singer, so many) but he looks really good. It makes me think about fanfic with driving through the night (rushing to get somewhere or to get away from something?) and then, a little loopy and half-dead, taking a moment to tango at a gas station. To the muzak coming from the gas station's speakers or from their own car radio?



And then in looking up that video for this post, I saw he'd done another with this same woman. An older Alan but still looking good. His voice is so sexy, but if you pay attention to the words, lay down stay down no one knows you better than me...could be used in a creepy stalker fic! Not normally my thing but in Alan's voice is oddly appealing.



My little black kitty just came and took my computer chair, she likes it for her naps. So I guess I'll go do something else.

I have never quite managed posting pics here, gonna give it another shot! Because it is my birthday and yet that didn't stop my old black cat from lying on me, giving me a cranky look, and demanding that I get up and feed him breakfast. And when I didn't, yes, he got off me while pressing all the power of his 14 pounds firmly through one paw onto my pelvic bone. So you're older, I'm hungry! Lol.



Had tea with friends yesterday and family dinner last night, going out to tea again today with my sister and the nephews. It's been a lovely celebration.

 

This one has multiple genres.

Books for sale, mostly $1 to $3

Hit the "Genres" button at the top of the page to narrow your search.

Happy reading!

ETA: Jesse_the_k notes that "This is a meta-search engine, compiling deals from Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Google and Kobo." I didn't realize that was note-worthy, but yeah. Whatever platform you use to read, you're covered.

 

The online zoom convention of Escapade 35.5 is this weekend! If you feel like mingling with fellow fans and discussing fannish issues, join in! It snuck up on me, so I'm not sure I'll be attending (Friday and Saturday are out but I might join for a couple of panels on Sunday).

Here's the panel schedule, if you'd like to check it out:

https://escapadecon.net/virtual-con/schedule/

The rest of this is snagged from Amedia, thanks Amedia!

Here is the link to register:

https://escapadecon.net/escapade-35-5-registration-online/

Keep that link handy, because you'll have to sign into your account (or create one) on the website before you can register. Once you sign into your account, be sure to come back to that registration link.

BTW, when you reach the registration page through that link, and it says to pay for your registration by clicking on "the link above," they mean the two words at the end of this sentence, in the first paragraph under Step 1: The first step is to purchase your registration. It took me a couple of minutes to figure that out, so I'm passing it along. The direct link for payment is: https://escapadecon.net/shop/register-online-escapade-35-5.

But don't forget, after you pay for your registration, you still need to go back to the first link (yes, that registration link again) to sign up for the convention.

 If finances are preventing you from attending Escapade this weekend, have I got great news for you! We have a scholarship fund. If you would like to nominate yourself or a friend, please go to: https://escapadecon.net/scholarship/