Put your hair up nice and set up pretty

In non-Papal news, Singapore officials decided to authorize two ``Integrated Resorts,'' by which they mean casinos with some stuff on the side so it looks like it's not about gambling. The motive is to keep Singapore competitive with other big southeast Asian cities as a tourist destination. Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew also expressed concern the city was not ``fun''. Singapore seems fun enough to me, but I am an extremely boring person. I'm skeptical of the value of Integrated Resorts, but I bet people had doubts about gambling in Atlantic City too. And maybe the place will get a roller coaster out of the side attractions.

Eleven people in Texas were arrested for dressing in Mad Max outfits and chasing an oil tanker. Chris Fenner, an organizer, doesn't understand how motorists could have mistaken their convoy racing down the highway for an actual militia attack on a truck. (The Associated Press doesn't say whether the truck driver was in on it.) They were celebrating a showing of the Mad Max trilogy and, I presume, making people who wear Star Fleet uniforms under Confederate Grey at Civil War reenactments¹ feel dramatically superior. Mom always told me I could have just as much fun at live-action roleplaying events that don't involve felonious assault. The movie screening was cancelled.

¹ Because the starship tripped on a subspace fracture and sent an Away Team to Murfreesboro to restore the timeline. I don't know that anyone does this, but wouldn't be surprised.

Trivia: Jonathan Pitney's original vision for Atlantic City was (besides making for himself wealth and political power) to create a health resort. Source: Boardwalk Empire, Nelson Johnson.

Currently Reading: The Best Science Fiction Stories of Brian W Aldiss, Brian W Aldiss.