sick

Thursday I was feeling like I was coming down with something. The feeling was fairly definite. Friday I stayed home from work. Saturday I was worse yet. Some friends invited us over last night, and I had to skip it. And miss gaming today. Not sure when I'll be back to work, but these things usually last a week.

My head is stuffed up and my nose is running. I'm weak. My ears bother me a little sometimes. Today I have a tight feeling in my throat and upper chest. Feels like acid reflux stuff?

I've been watching a lot of DS9.

science fiction

As I've mentioned, I've been watching Deep Space Nine. In addition to the usual Star Trek tropes, they have some socio-political struggles. The end of season 1 was a three parter.

The Federation (the good guys - us) is in charge of a space station in Bajoran space. We're trying to protect both our and their interests in the sector, so we work together. The Bajorans have just been released from a brutal occupation, and are trying to get their government in shape. The people of Bajor are a spiritual people. Their religious leader (think: the Pope) recently followed a prophecy to a far-away place, and now there's a bit of a power struggle in the religious orders as well as the political arena.

There is a movement to reclaim Bajor for the Bajorans. They're trying to get rid of the Federation, and indeed all non-Bajorans. The movement has been gaining strength, and violence has broken out.

One of the politicians wants to seize control. He and his allies are using the struggle to make the provisional government look like they can't get anything done. He's covertly supplying arms to the "Bajor-ists" to escalate the conflict. He's promised one of the orthodox religious leaders that he would install her as "Pope" if she supported him.

There are many parallels to our current political environment.