Miscellany, as usual

Still enjoying Third Age. Helm's Deep is brutally exhausting, as it should be. Facing four Fell Beasts in a row without a save point is cruel; facing the Witch-King of Angmar alone is scary; and summoning Gwaihir is just plain sexy.

The skill point thing really is ridiculous, tho. I'm going to reach the end without unlocking half the skills available to me. I figured out it would take well over a thousand turns, per character (you can only use three of the six at a time), and there aren't enough battles in the game. I refuse to level for leveling's sake. Maybe I'll get lucky and there's a New Game+ where I get to keep the stats.

I'm still searching for Kansas City's version of, as a friend once termed them, the Nexus of All Worlds. Where dimensions cross and the unlikely becomes likely. Lincoln's was the Mill, where the probability approached 100% that you'd run into someone you know but didn't expect to see. I've read accounts of such places in other cities, so there's got to be one here somewhere.

Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis have both been renewed, for their ninth(!) and second seasons respectively. New episodes for the current season resume in January. Very nice.

Cans of brake fluid bear a disturbing resemblance to Liquid Schwartz.