Matthew M.

Somehow driving through the Dakotas looking out over a vast field of seaweed eating, zebra-striped cows was not the future I anticipated as a youth.

[Matthew M. @mccoma]

Not for nothing @LEGO_Group but that diver in the shark cage is screwed #skeweredDiver

[Joseph Mallozzi 🏴‍☠️ @BaronDestructo]

Remembering Don S. Davis - Hammond of Texas

My earliest memory of Don S. Davis is of a charming, bigger-than-life individual who greeted me with a hardy handshake and a boisterous “Hellooo, Jooooe! Welcome to Stargate!” on one of my very first days on set. This was back in season four, sometime between our second script (Window of Opportunity) and our third (Point of No Return). In those early years, Paul and I spent most of our days in our respective offices, writing, spinning or, in one inspired afternoon, creating the lyrics to the Stargate SG-1 theme. We were busy and, most important of all, we wanted to look busy. The last thing we needed was to be seen hanging around set, gawking at the actors when there were scripts to be written, brilliant ideas to be spun. But several weeks in, it became apparent to me that sitting alone in my office (or, occasionally, Paul’s office for a little variety) would inevitably drive me nuts – and the loss of my sanity would no doubt be reflected in the quality of my work. So I decided to start taking little walks. Pitch document or outline in hand, I would pace – up and down the corridors, in and around the building, and through the empty sets.

Except for one afternoon when I inadvertently strolled onto an active set where they were setting up for the next shot. Realizing my error, I immediately turned on my heels, prepared to march right back out when Brad Wright spotted me and called me over. “Joe,”he said, “I’d like you to meet Don Davis. Don, Joe is one of our new writers.” Don, who’d been standing by, waiting for that next shot, threw me his trademark ear to ear grin, gave me a firm handshake and bellowed “Hellooo, Jooooe! Welcome to Stargate!”

“Hellooo, Jooooe!” It was a greeting I’d come to associate with the man, a good-natured, self-deprecating southern gent who always had a story to tell but, more than anything, always wanted to hear how YOU were doing. “Hellooo, Jooooe! How’s that script coming along?”. “Hellooo Jooooe! How was lunch?” “Hellooo, Jooooe! How was your weekend?” Meeting actors for the first time can be a little daunting, especially for a newbie writer on his first big show, but Don’s down-home warmth and cordiality put me instantly at ease. And it was no different when he met the fans. I’ve seen convention-goers approach him with trepidation, perhaps fearful of overstepping their bounds and imposing upon him. But Don was never the type to be stand-offish or put himself on display. When you met Don, you weren’t meeting a t.v. star – you were meeting a regular guy. A regular, modest, kind-hearted guy who genuinely cared for his fans and the people he worked with. And, inevitably, those convention-goers who had, moments before, cautiously approached the man they knew as General Hammond would, moments later, be sitting, chatting and laughing, in conversation with good old Don.

If there’s one thing I’ll always remember about the man, it was his willingness to put others before him. Back when Rick was reducing his workload to spend more time with his young daughter, and the writing department was scrambling to come up with in-story reasons for O’Neill’s off-world absences, Don came up to the offices and offered a solution. “Have Hammond step aside and let O’Neill be General,”he suggested. I was floored. Here was a guy, perfectly willing to walk away from a plum role as a regular on a hit series, just to (in his mind) make it easier on everyone else. Of course we thanked him for his kind offer, but we weren’t willing to let George Hammond go just yet.

Ultimately, the decision was made for us when health issues curtailed Don’s involvement in the show. But even so, he continued to maintain a presence in the Stargate universe, popping up in occasional episodes and then in his final appearance in Stargate: Continuum. And every time he was on set, he would always make it a point to drop by the office to say hello.

As the years wore on, I saw less and less of Don. Still, I’d run into him now and then and whenever I’d inquire about him, he was always upbeat. There was never a trace of bitterness or remorse that he was no longer a regular presence on the show. “I have no regrets,”he’d told me on more than one occasion. And, always: “I’m the luckiest man in the world.” It was a wild, fun-filled ride and, finally, it was time for the southern gent to settle back and enjoy his retirement.

The last time I spoke to Don was when he called me up out of the blue after being tipped off that I’d mentioned him in a blog entry. In answering a fan who wanted to know why I didn’t keep in touch with Richard Dean Anderson, I responded: “We don’t talk a lot for the simple reason that he no longer works on the show. I don’t really talk to Don Davis that much and I love the guy. It’s nothing personal.” Less than twenty-four hours later, I got the call. “Ah luuv yoou tooo,“came that familiar low, Southern drawl. He‘d been tipped off to what I’d written and wanted to touch base. “It’s always great hearing from my fellow gourmand,”I’d written. “Apparently, 2007 was a busy year for him (which is great to hear), and he’s now enjoying some much-needed downtime." I'd expressed the hope that we would soon be able to get together for another culinary excursion. Sadly, that day would never come.

In my many years at Stargate, I’ve worked with actors whose company I have greatly enjoyed, but only a few would I actually be bold enough to call my friends. And among those few was the magnanimous southern gent who used to greet me with that familiar “Hellooo, Joooe!”, the always affable Don S. Davis.

He is truly missed.

(One of my favorite pictures of Don I snapped of him, happily eating chocolate in my office.)

[Matthew M. @mccoma]

@scottmcnealy That would be hell no. Mr Evil from 90's computing I just transformed into Mr Evil fo health and climate. He will probably find a way to poison the meat.

[Matthew M. @mccoma]

@RobertMSterling She gave a rather large amount to Tribal Colleges and that money will be used to seed generations of students and facilities. Since Tribal Colleges are both academic and vocational schools that's going to be a lot of new job opportunities.

[Matthew M. @mccoma]

@Fat_Electrician Hopefully they will drop the dumb "Helicopter Destroyer" designation and just be truthful about it.

[Dan Hightower @Danhightower]

Daycare calls me. That's never good.

For them.

Daycare: "your son hurt his elbow and won't move his arm. Can you come take him to a doctor's office?"

Me (ex Special Forces Medic): "A real doctor is on the way to you now. I am 6 mikes out. Alert me of status changes."

I arrive at daycare. I locate the patient. 21 month old male. Scene is not safe. I drag the patient to cover and concealment behind a seesaw, away from the other small terrorists in the AO.

I begin my assessment. Blood sweep negative for massive hemorrhage. Mental status: conscious and verbal but confused (answers "dada" when asked for blood type). One breath every 2 seconds. Bilateral rise and fall of the chest. Strong carotid pulse, strong bilat radial pulse.

Teeth and tongue intact no blood no mucus no dip or foreign objects. Eyes PERRLA, negative JVD/trach deviation, C-spine intact upon palpation.

Heart sounds strong upon auscultation. Percussion negative for hemo-T. Abdominal quads normal upon palpation. Pelvis negative for book sign.

Arms and legs negative for crepitus. However, Patient indicates discomfort in right arm upon palpation and supination/flexion of the elbow.

Nursemaid's elbow.

I begin interventions. Supination/flexion technique complete at 1215. Palpable clunk on successful reduction. I write the time on his chest in Sharpie. I tape a popsicle to his hand and tell the patient to suck but do not bite/chew. I write "1 x popsicle (10g sugar)" on his chest in Sharpie.

I reassess the patient after performing interventions then package the patient for handoff to daycare/higher level of care. I yell at daycare over the Blackhawk in my head: "21 month old male!!! Nursemaids elbow!!! Treated with supination/flexion technique at 1215!!! Patient has 1 x popsicle onboard!!"

Daycare: "sir please leave."

Me: "you should have called my wife."

[Sports Patriot @SportsPatriotUS]

If there is one positive from the WNBA leaving Caitlin Clark off its 30th anniversary poster, it is that fans are finally seeing the pattern clearly.

And they are speaking up.

The league can spin it however it wants.

But everyone knows what this looks like.

The WNBA keeps disrespecting the player who made the league relevant.

[Sali @salisthoughts]

Everyone needs to keep reposting this and tagging @CathyEngelbert @WNBA

[Sports Patriot @SportsPatriotUS]

It pains me to say this as a basketball purist, but at this point I almost want Caitlin Clark to walk away from the game.

No player should have to keep getting assaulted while everyone who should have her back stays silent.

Worse, opposing players now seem to know they can do this without fear of retribution.

This has become much bigger than basketball.

[Corey Quinn @QuinnyPig]

The browser reports its language; for god’s sake, use that. Yes, I’m talking to you Very Special Boys over at Google.

[Joseph Kahn @JosephKahn]

My very first morning filming Detention in LA, which was supposed to be an $800k shoot, Iatse showed up with a ballot box and said the crew was going to "vote" to turn it union or I get shut down. I had no choice but to flip it and spent the rest of the shoot scrambling to find money every three days. After it was done, my own DGA union kept sending me bills to pay for fines on a movie I spent my own money on. Of course all this expanded my budget which then put me in another tier of SAG which then increased the budget again. It was an endless union squeeze that kept pushing the budget up, with me holding the bill. As they say in Goodfellas, Fuck You Pay Me.

[John Rich🇺🇸 @johnrich]

This is one of the BIGGEST SCAMS, and no one talks about it. You buy a truck, but you're not allowed to fix it because "You could get hurt?" So instead, they force you to bring it in so they can "fix" it, which is 10 times more expensive than if you did it yourself. @Ford

[nougarami @dropbow]

@Jabz_CFC You have to deeply and possibly secretly hate your kid to do this.

"I don't trust you to make better use of this than some random retards sorry"

[Matthew M. @mccoma]

@BasedMikeLee In a self driving car and pilotless eVTOL world, what is the point of passenger rail? We built the greatest cargo network (rail, truck, barge) in the world. Any proposal that interferes with that is DOA.

[Lachlan Phillips exo/acc 👾 @bitcloud]

The left won.

The world's richest man is an electric vehicle manufacturer who is decarbonising the atmosphere while helping quadriplegics, restoring space travel, and making the internet and freedom of speech widely available across the globe.

Unfortunately most of the people who identified as "left" were simply pathological grief merchants with oppositional defiance disorder. They build nothing. They stand for nothing.

[Matthew M. @mccoma]

@SkylarSkye3 How else do you get the best stories?

[Sandy Petersen 🪔 @SandyofCthulhu]

I read a story in which the author, whose hero was Texas, mentioned someone taking a "slice" of Frito pie, and thus exposed himself as a poseur.

In a different story, by a different author, the hero went to Waffle House and bought a Belgian waffle - making it clear he had never in fact visited a Waffle House.

In the Walking Dead, they go from Florida to South Carolina and can't find a single firearm in any house. "Huh" I thought. "The screenwriters are from Los Angeles."

What examples can you give of a writer unintentionally giving away his lack of knowledge?

[Matthew M. @mccoma]

@Sksj002 Once again, the best villain in the MCU done dirty. This is just dumb.

[Bryan Steele 🦋 @canadianbryan]

Before the inevitable "Apple KILLS unsupported OSes" spin.

If Apple wanted to kill Linux (or *BSD), they wouldn't have to subtly break it in a macOS beta. They designed the security model on these machines to allow 3rd party OS's. It's not a jailbreak.

https://t.co/zV9esdjSLY

[Bryan Steele 🦋 @canadianbryan]

PSA from @AsahiLinux for #AsahiLinux users: Do NOT upgrade to macOS 27 Golden Gate!

Apple has changed how the boot picker and Startup Disk applications detect valid OS boot volumes.

https://t.co/uRoMRvgs87

[EF Comix @11975MHz]

> Be me

> Wonder why my new Logitech bluetooth mouse keeps disconnecting from its bluetooth connection

> Use keyboard to go into Settings, turn BT off and then back on and it starts working again

> Think it's something blocking the signal, but it's not

> This happens every five fucking minutes now

> Check battery. Battery is brand new. Replace it anyway

> Every five minutes it dies, I have to go into settings, etc etc

> Finally have enough, look into buying new mouse

> Before purchasing, decide to look up any issues with this BT mouse

> Ask Grok, something that AI is actually very, VERY good for. Turns out Microsoft is entirely to blame

> The fix: you have to go into your Device Manager

> Device Manager is in your Control Panel

> Your Control Panel is a legacy windows interface that Microsoft is desperately trying their best to make you stop using for some fucking reason, they want you to use Settings instead

> But you can't apply this fix without opening your Device Manager

> Go into your Device Manager, open the Bluetooth pulldown, select Intel(R) Wireless Bluetooth(R) and don't get ANY ideas about infringing on Intel's wireless bluetooth trademarks and copyrights because why the fuck else would they inform you of this in the fucking Device Manager

> Right-click, Properties. Select the Power Management tab

> Unclick "Allow this computer to turn off device to save power"

> MS apparently made it so that it turns the device all the way off, they set it to "ON", and they made that the default setting WITHOUT TELLING FUCKING ANYONE

> Begin to understand why everyone fucking hates Windows 11