I was never really a big fan of GITS for its action sequences, but they are a nice touch. I think you're right in your second point. The only anime that comes to mind in that milieu would be Kaiba (Kino's Journey too, but that's a totally different premise).

This month:

Last Exile: WW1 aesthetics, but taking place entirely in flying ships. Tons of passable CGI with very ok dogfights. It's pretty average, but you do get one of the leads as Haruko from FLCL. I've had this one on my to watch list for over a decade, so I'm pretty disappointed that it turned out to be passable at best.

Oshi No Ko S2: I'm also disappointed with this one, but for a different reason. The first episode (movie?) of the first season was absolutely stellar. Psychological thriller par excellance. It seems to just be a harem with pretty animation now, I guess? I feel like it has all the potential to be something great, but it misses so many layups that I might just drop it considering what is supposed to be coming in the manga. I'm particularly irked with Kana being written to fawn over the main character, when she has the depth to be more than that.

I'm looking forward to starting Dan Da Dan sometime soon considering the studio behind it.

About 40 hours into a Stardew Valley run, and I forgot how fun the game was (stopped playing in 2016 or 2017). I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. There's so much in this game, I can barely believe 1 guy made it (and continues to work on it over a decade later).

If you want to watch something really out there, give Angel's Egg a shot. It probably won't be the best thing you've ever seen, but you'll never forget it.

I'm not sure I that I want to replay the first's campaign again, but it would be nice to see what campaigns other people have come up with. I remember someone on here was running a tabletop campaign awhile back, but I don't know if it's still going.

I don't have the book checked out anymore, but once you get to the part about Ross ulbrecht, it's right around there. At bare minimum, you can force someone's identity. 0day exploits have also been given to the intelligence services first.

Thanks, it's pretty odd to see Newsweek put out articles like this, considering their reputation. I'm about to finish my current book, so I may check out Bush Family of Secrets next.

I'm currently reading through "A People's History of the United States", and none of the major papers would report on The Pike Committee (the uncensored, House version of the Church Committee). This is of course a few years removed from Watergate. "Journalism" in this country is shameful.

Haven't heard of this. I figured he was just a hack riding the coattails of the one "cool" thing he did in the 70's. Source?

I'll match that.

Fair, but seeing Trump ahead in literally every poll still gives me a degree of certainty. That goes double for how Biden is treating Michigan.

There's "I bonds" if you live in the states, but they don't pay much.