Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Saturday, March 25, 2023

Book Review: Star Wars - The Battle of Jedha

 


This is now the second book in the Star Wars canon, both in the High Republic era and overall (at least for the moment). It is set on the Jedha, which is the moon that was introduced during Rouge One. This book is another one of what has become fairly common for the adult canon books being released, in that it is written as a script. It follows the events of the novel Convergence, and the battle between the planets Eiram and E'ronoh depicted in that book. Jedha is preparing for a Festival of Balance in which different groups worshiping and/or studying The Force, including the Guardians of the Whills, are included. The festival will be used as a backdrop to peace negotiations between the Eiram and the E'ronoh, to be aided by two Jedi Masters. 

The book introduces a new group named Path of the Open Hand, who hate the Jedi's use and manipulation of The Force and sets up a clear precursor to the Nihil, who are the group of pirates that are the protagonists in the other High Republic books. There are tie-ins to the later novel, including introducing the monster that can sever the Jedi's connection to The Force, although what it is exactly, remains a mystery in this book. Of course, the negotiations go sideways and the Jedi must try to protect the citizens of Jedha, many of whom do not want them there at all. 

The book introduces even more characters (at least if you read this before Convergence as I did) and still does not utilize Yoda (which has been my big issue with all of the High Republic books to this point), just casually mentioning him at the very end. The book is one of the longer ones at just under 500 pages, but it is a fairly quick read. If you are a fast reader it can easily be finished in a couple of days. I think the story is good, but not great. It is not one of the canon books I would classify as a must-read, but I do think it is worth reading at least once for those who are keeping up with the stories outside of the movies and tv series. 

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