"They've invaded the Burger Town (callofduty.wikia.com)!"
It makes me angry just thinking about those games.
Dude. Awesome.
More in my email. For now, I have this in return: http://vip.aersia.net/vip-mellow.swf (vip.aersia.net)
I'm guessing that Dave probably knows more about the process than anyone else here. I want to petition the city council to allow small domesticated goats on lots smaller than 3.5 acres. This would bring the urban agriculture laws more in line with Seattle and Tacoma.
This might all be futile because Katy says she doesn't want farm animals, but my contention is I'd rather have a pair of goats (Mr and Mrs. Bleats) than a dog. And small goats are probably less annoying and less destructive than the two pure bred german shepherds we moved next door to.
I'd do some research before trying to put together a petition or a measure. Your city code (laws) should be publicly available; if you don't find it online you'll definitely find it at the city's public library. If you don't have a public library, the city hall should have it somewhere.
i'd look at the last several City Council agendas to see if there are any projects they're working through. Just to get a feel for recent talking points. Also, figure out who your councilmember(s) is(are) and if they have any staff. Shoot them an email with what you're thinking, follow up the next day with their listed phone number and schedule a face-to-face, and then after the meeting follow up with a call at least once a week to reinforce the issue.
If you want to petition, that's much harder since you have to make sure you're hitting voter signatures from the constituency areas of your city council. Are there any good areas where you can expect to get that many signatures? your city code will outline how citizen measures can be petitioned and passed, but it'd be easiest to ask an employee at city hall for some guidelines.
The easiest way to create the necessary legal language is to borrow from the areas that already allow farm animals, which you mention are Seattle and Tacoma. It's likely that the code chapter and paragraph numbers will be similar between Seattle, Tacoma, and the area you guys live in.
They recently passed a measure decreasing the required area needed to keep chickens, and also increased the number of allowed chickens as well. So urban agriculture has been on the agenda within the past year.
I think contacting some city council members might be the way to go, probably even start with the ones, if they are still on the council, who supported the changes in the rules regarding chickens and rabbits.
Thanks for the info
I think a story is in order.
First, I'm doing 3 costumes this year, because I hate myself. The first costume included this backpack, and was for a costume run. Of course, I was Luke training with Yoda on Dagobah. This made sense to me, since it was a trail run (typically through swamps), so I thought the costume would be classy, hilarious, and fitting. And I wanted an excuse for why I will never fuck anything but my hand ever again. Well, and maybe Yoda's backpack hole... but I digress.
Anyways, so I roll up to the costume run BY MYSELF, and walk around trying to find Travis (T-moneeeeeeeeeey), whom I was to meet there. All the while in this costume IN PUBLIC. I get eye-high-fived by children and their parents, and strange looks from people our age. Luckily, I shaved for the costume, so I looked probably not much older than a teenager, meaning the pathetic factor was reduced by an order of magnitude or two. Plus, there was a 40+ year old dude walking around in a Jedi costume, so I definitely wasn't the saddest sight to behold.
I finally found Travis right before the race started, and we start jogging along, which is tough, because I have a backpack and cargo pants on. So we're bullshitting, and at one point he mocks my slow running pace by trying to do a Yoda impression. I counter with a much better Yoda impression. I then comment that I will never get laid again to Travis, because of the nerd factor of the impression. At this point, a complete stranger turns around and says, "Actually, once you put that [costume] on, THAT was when you were never going to get laid again." I laugh, agree, and die a little on the inside.
I finish the race, and meet up with Travis and a few other people, one of who is an attractive woman (also, while waiting in line for the card collection at the finish line, I meet a dude, who approves of the costume... of course). We've met before, but she doesn't know what my costume is. So I have to explain it to her. Which is about the most depressing thing I've ever done. I wish I had a lightsaber at the time, so I could commit jedi seppuku (sidebar: wouldn't that be an awesome addition to the jedi code???).
Afterwards, I went home and carved a pumpkin with Josh, wine, Optimus, and Yoda, with the knowledge that the self-induced uber-nerdery of my life was going to prevent me from getting laid. EVER. AGAIN.
"Give me a lap dance you will, hmmm hmmm hmmmmmmmm!" Yoda chortles, fondling himself.
"What is love?" Optimus ponders as he's sits down with a drink and some ones at the center table.
"Look at those fatty slabs of breast. I don't know how even a babe could suckle at that." Crockett responds, eyeing the patrons.
"You guys are the worst wingmen ever." I respond, pulling out my twenties and snapping at the nearest stripper in the most dehumanizing manner possible.
Maybe celibacy isn't so bad.
http://www.mayoclin...-headaches/DS00645 (www.mayoclinic.com)
Or, you know, Erik just needs to find someone into Star Wars and/or Star Trek roleplay. "This is the 'droid' you're looking for."
"I'll F4U your Corsair, baby. All. Night. Long."
"Hey there, Ms. Gay. How about you ditch Little Boy and Fat Man and come back to my place."
"It isn't seppuku if you enjoy throwing yourself onto the sword!"
"I've got your lightning war right here, bitch. *grabs crotch*"
I'll be here all week. Tip your waitresses.
Yeah, they have all kind of heavy-hitting concepts in this episode. I always love Sisko's arc through this episode. Just so emotionally devastated, gives a great backdrop for his character.
"I don't know if you can understand. I see her like this, every time I close my eyes. In the darkness, in the blink of an eye, I see her... like this."
So much great stuff is set up... this series is just so good, remembering how it all ties together.
And no. It's not linear. ;)
ST:DS9, Past Prologue, Episode 102
Wait, wait, wait. Compelling character development? Bomb threats from terrorists? The Duras sisters?
What show am I watching?
Also, I like the idea that in a deleted scene, the wormhole aliens stop Sisko to ask him about the bilitrium bomb being carried through the wormhole.
"Didn't you say you corporeal beings weren't a threat to the wormhole?"
"Yep, yep, everything's under control, just, you know, passing through..."
"What show am I watching?"
"ST:TNG, Past Prologue, Episode 102"
Star Trek: The Next Generation, clearly.
;-D X-D
ST:DS9, Captive Pursuit, Episode 106
Not a bad episode. First new alien species come through the wormhole, come to find out their culture is centered around the hunting of a "lesser" race bred and trained for the hunt itself. Of course, O'Brien befriends the hunted alien immediately, and conflict ensues.
Quark continues to be the star of the show so far, but Odo's in close second. Good development of O'Brien and Sisko's relationship, in that Sisko is alright with yelling at O'Brien because the coffee from the replicators is shit, but they exchange a knowing wink when they conveniently brush aside the Prime Directive.
Some things never change, Trek.
ST:DS9, Q-Less, Episode 7
Meh. An alright episode. I get the feeling I've already seen the best Q episode with the TNG finale. It's pretty much all downhill from here.
I really liked Q's interaction with O'Brien: "Oh, weren't you one of the little people?"
Edit: Fine. Because somebody will probably mention.
There were some other good parts as well... Maybe not great, but still important. Sisko punching out Q distanced Sisko's character from Picard's considerably. It was important, if a little... hokey.
ST:DS9, The Passenger, Episode 109
There sure are a lot of Star Trek episodes that focus around the concept of possession.
Bashir is taken over by a mass murder who has figured out a way to pass his consciousness from one body to the next.
Oh. Right. Spoilers. Oops.
Episode was sort of stilted and awkward. But I guess it gave Alexander Siddig the chance to fire a phaser and kill someone, where (as the chief medical officer) he may never do so.
ST:DS9, Move Along Home, Episode 110
Oh for shit's sake... another goddamn casino episode.
Only redeeming moment was when (while gambling with Sisko, Kira, and Dax's lives), Quark asks Odo to blow on his dice for good luck.
Everything else is... just shit.
ST:DS9, Vortex, Episode 112
I was really confused on the production value for this particular episode. There was the incredibly simplistic animation on the Changeling "locket," and then the awesome effects of a gas cloud being ignited by a ship's weapons. Apart, wouldn't have really made much of a difference, but together the disparity was... jarring.
I'm thinking they're still finding the right tone for Odo's character, but I like that for the most part, his interactions are compelling enough to withstand the focus of an entire episode. And not once during the episode did my mind wander and start reciting the Tigger theme... ("...and I'm the only one!").
ST:DS9, The Storyteller, Episode 114
Nog gets huMON fever for a visiting underage diplomat, and through a comedy of errors O'Brien is mistaken for a living god in a Bajoran village.
Dumb episode. But I like that when kids are bored on the station they choose to prank by stealing Odo's bucket. Like there aren't more buckets. Or that Odo is partial to a particular bucket. Or that one couldn't just replicate another bucket.
"This is my bucket. There are many like it but this one is mine. My bucket is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my bucket is useless. Without my bucket I am useless."
also:
http://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/01/14/i-has-a-bucket/ (icanhascheezburger.com)
ST:DS9, Progress, Episode 115
Major Kira is asked to facilitate the evacuation of farmers from a moon colony set to be destroyed for mining purposes.
It ends by Kira befriending the farmers, blowing up their barbecue, setting fire to their house, and escorting the farmers off the planet at phaser-point. Every single person's life is destroyed.
Good job, Kira.
ST:DS9, If Wishes Were Horses, Episode 116
Oh god. Rumplestiltskin before the intro sequence. Prepare for shittiness.
Some bullshit physical phenomena causes peoples' imaginations to manifest physically.
Though, I do really like that Bashir conjured a copy of Dax, and got caught by the real Dax. Sort of hilarious to see real-Dax interacting with sexdream-Dax.
ST:DS9, Duet, Episode 119
I was commenting to Erik that I was getting tired of Kira playing the Bajoran card. Blah, blah, occupation, blah blah, atrocities. It wasn't really until this episode that actually gave me any reasonable insight into her backstory.
The episode asks the question, "How can there be war crimes if there never was a war?"
Which was asked during the episode. And handled well.
ST:DS9, The Homecoming, Episode 201 (part 1)
You know... I feel like this is turning into more of a nitpicker's journal than anything. But really... they make it too easy.
So the computers in Star Trek can respond to things like "Computer, I want to create a holodeck program that does X," where X is something sufficiently complicated like "replicate a 1930's crime novel" or "create an opponent capable of defeating Data."
I have trouble sometimes when they have a plot point that says "We have 10 Bajoran hostages, but we can only beam up 2 at a time." Common sense tells me that you could tell the computer "beam 2 at a time until the 10 people are all beamed up." But no... instead Kira and O'Brien risk life and limb going down to the surface of Cardassia 4 to feign showing a Cardassian guard Kira's boobs in order to trick the guards into lowering a force field.
(rubs eyes)
Anyhow. All said, not a bad episode. Political intrigue. Reluctant heroism. Quark getting branded with a branding iron. Extremists, et al. Good start to the second season.
ST:DS9, Whispers, Episode 214
A well thought-out episode, if there was one. O'Brien spends the entire episode thinking there is some sort of conspiratorial takeover of DS9, related to the upcoming peace talks between the warring factions of another alien race. Characters seem to be hiding things from him, and O'Brien grows more and more suspicious as time goes on.
Turns out, the O'Brien we're following during the show was a clone, and such an accurate clone that O'Brien 2 didn't realize he wasn't the real O'Brien. And as such, O'Brien 2 pulls tons of awesome engineering tricks to break into computer systems, break out of the station, etc. I particularly enjoyed when they tried trapping O'Brien 2 in a force field between two corridor entrances. Rather than try to disable the force fields, he programmed the computer to turn every force field on in the station ("Alright, now come and get me."). They then disabled all of the force fields, letting him pass.
I also liked the bit of misdirection they had. The show was rife with pregnant shots of the "jamaican coffee, double blend, double sweet" O'Brien 2 kept replicating. He even said something to the effect of "You're drinking too much of this stuff, O'Brien." By the end, I was fully expecting something about the coffee he was drinking was keeping him from becoming a pod person.
Because honestly, given the quality of the writing in Star Trek sometimes, that should have been the reveal. I was happy to be proven wrong.
ST:DS9, Crossover (en.memory-alpha.org), Episode 223
(linked to Memory Alpha because Wikipedia is down for SOPA/PIPA protest)
Kira and Bashir get magically teleported to an alternate universe. Evil Kira takes a bath. Bashir learns a new trade. Bashir kills Evil Odo (he explodes like a water balloon).
ST:DS9, Equilibrium, 304
Dax... tries to hold a plot line all by herself. Fails.
We learn that Commander Sisko isn't above abusing the excessive shore leave afforded by his rank, despite the looming threat of the Dominion on the other side of the wormhole.
It did expose some interesting facts... but I didn't want to spoil them.
I was more commenting on that this is only Dax's fifth character-centric storyline. And that most of the episodes have only been interesting because of other guest characters (Dax, Invasive Procedures). Or they have been terrible (Blood Oath, Playing God).
ST:DS9, Civil Defense, 307
This is a weird episode to have show up in the third season. Jake, O'Brien, and Sisko end up tripping a counter-rebellion mechanism left in place by the Cardassians. There are lots of problems with the notion (In three years they wouldn't have identified neurotoxin gases still in the ore processing facilities? There are still ore processing facilities? And why didn't they just purge the system computer and replace it with a Federation computer core? And wouldn't O'Brien have known better than to transfer an unknown, unnamed file into the main computer memory?)
Anyhow. A comedy of errors ensues as they take the absolute wrong steps to regain control of the station. And their fusion reactors do overload, and only the station shields are able to "contain" the energy.
But they contain it inside the station... and there's a fancy computer graphics scene with lightning shooting from the core of the station to the shields... somehow not frying everyone within...
Hmm.
ST:DS9, Meridian, 308
Sisko inexplicably decides to take the Defiant on a pleasure cruise to the Gamma quadrant, ignoring the imminent Dominion threat. During which, a planet suddenly appears out of another dimension, and happen to be friendly enough neighbors to invite the senior crew of the Defiant to a picnic.
Dax, for some reason, becomes interested in a man from the planet. It's the same old story: star-crossed lovers, each from a different dimension, falling madly in love with each other. Dax even goes so far as to change her molecular structure to be with him. But physics gets the best of her.
Meanwhile, back at the station, Quark tries surreptitiously holo-filming Major Kira at the request of one of his creeper customers. Quark succeeds, but not without alerting Odo and Kira to his activities. Hilarity ensues when we see Kira in sultry evening-wear, but instead of her own head, Kira and Odo replace holo-Kira's head with Quark's. Quark loses his customer.
Thank you, Jonathan Frakes, for directing this masterpiece.
ST:DS9, Past Tense, Episode 311-312
Earth's dark past, blah, blah... went back in time, blah, blah, now we have to fix the timeline, blah, blah...
An outdated and inelegant two-part episode about class inequality. I honestly don't know what they were going for. I fell asleep during the second half.
ST:DS9, Distance Voices, Episode 318
Bashir gets put into a coma after a telepathic attack from an alien burglar.
The episode was crap, except for the last lines.
Garak: "What I find interesting is how your mind ended up casting me in the role of the villain."
Doctor Bashir: "Oh, I wouldn't read too much into that, Garak."
Garak: "Oh, how can I not? To think, after all this time, all our lunches together, you still don't trust me. There's hope for you yet, Doctor."
ST:DS9, Through the Looking Glass, Episode 319
You know it'll be a good episode when they say the name of the episode just before the cut to title sequence.
Alt-universe O'Brien captures commander Sisko to do something in the parallel universe. And by something, I mean alt-Dax. Nobody seems that concerned.
Also, it occurred to be that replicators break the Star Trek universe even more, given that there are hundreds, if not thousands of programmable recipes, schematics, etc., all user-configurable by ship crew. Given that replicators and transporters are based on the same technological basis (whatever that is), and that "storage concerns" seem to be ignored when it comes to replicators, why can't humans be replicated?
This is why I can never get into writing Trek fan-fiction.
ST:DS9, Improbable Cause and The Die is Cast, Episodes 320 and 321.
Garak: "Do you know what the sad part is, Odo? I'm a very good tailor."
ST:DS9, Facets, Episode 325
Jake Sisko: (to Nog) "You should know not to end a program sitting down..."
Well, I'm glad somebody addressed that. Anyhow.
Weird, awkward episode. But I guess we finally got to meet Curzon. But some of the plot points were so strange... I kind of preferred only ever hearing about Curzon.
ST:DS9, Hippocratic Oath, Episode 403
I like my Jem'Hadar mean, soul-less, killing machines, addicted to white, and doing the Founder's dirty work. Anything suggesting otherwise sort of undermines everything I've come to fear about the Dominion.
ST:DS9, Indiscretion, Episode 405
Sisko has lady-troubles, and Kira has to tolerate Gul Dukat for a week.
Quark: "You Hu-mons... all you want to do is please your women. You want them to be your friends, but we Ferengi know better. Women are the enemy and we treat them accordingly. The key is to never let them get the upper hand. If she says she doesn't see you enough, you threaten to see her even less. If she wants more gifts, take back the ones you've already given her. It's all about control."
Dax: "What if your woman leaves you?"
Quark: "That's what holosuites are for."
ST:DS9, Little Green Men, Episode 408
Sorta fun. Quark, Rom, and Nog mysteriously travel time back to 1947, and are supposed to be the "Martians" that crash land during the Roswell incident. Campy as hell, but I guess sometimes that's alright.
ST:DS9, The Sword of Kahless, Episode 409
The Wikipedia summary for this guy is a single paragraph. And that's about all there was to this episode. Blah, blah, Klingon honor, blah blah, over-the-top acting.
I'll say this: my employers would not be nearly as accommodating if I told them I was going to take time off to track down an ancient sword. Or kill an albino.
ST:DS9, Homefront, Episode 411
Getting to some of the good stuff I remember about DS9: asking the hard questions about being at war.
Also, probably one of the more awesome things I've seen come out of Star Trek in a long time, this quote:
"Our gods are dead. Ancient Klingon warriors slew them millenia ago. They were...more trouble than they were worth." - Worf
ST:DS9, Paradise Lost, Episode 412
Awesome episode. Pretty much everything I want from Star Trek:
It was... a little wonky when a Changeling showed up to taunt Sisko as Chief O'Brien. Even if Sisko was trying to keep a coup of the Federation from happening, maybe he should have... you know... reported his conversation with the Changeling. Instead, he went to get coffee at his dad's restaurant.
ST:DS9, Rules of Engagement, Episode 418
Pretty great episode, if for nothing else than the end dialogue between Sisko and Worf.
ST:DS9, Doctor Bashir, I presume?, Episode 516
This episode is interesting.
It follows episodes 514/515, which is a two-part episode where the Cardassian Empire joins the Dominion, a Dominion Fleet invades, Worf, Bashir, and Garak are taken prisoner in a Dominion prison, and all sorts of crazy, awesome stuff happens.
And this episode has to follow that act. In prior Treks, this would be a filler episode. Some light-hearted holodeck mishap, a mysterious visitor on the ship for X to fall in love with, etc. etc. And this was a filler episode. But it was a filler episode in which something actually happens. And has consequences. And adds something interesting to the Star Trek universe.
The show has been off the air for more than 10 years, but feel free to stop reading if you think you'll be spoilered.
Dr. Zimmerman, of Voyager's EMH fame, comes to DS9 to make a long-term hologram out of Dr. Bashir. In his investigations, it is revealed that Bashir's parents took him to be genetically enhanced (in response to his being subject to some non-specific developmental issues as a child). The procedure, being illegal, threatens to end Dr. Bashir's career, and shame him and his family for their "secret."
As a side story, Dr. Zimmerman romantically pursues Leeta (the Dabo girl in Quark's bar), much to the disdain of Rom, who is secretly in love with her.
Things that I like about this episode:
Things that I don't like:
If you count the Voyager episodes as canon, Dr. Zimmerman is an unabashed asshole. How in god's name he could ever attract a woman (or man, for that matter) is completely beyond me. In an episode where the EMH (Mark I) is transported halfway across the goddam galaxy to treat him, Dr. Zimmerman behaves like an oxheaded child for the entire episode. I suppose, however, I should be thankful that, in the Star Trek universe, everyone can get some ass.
ST:DS9, Chimera, Episode 714.
And I'm still not done.
Sort of a strange episode, and unfortunately one of the weaker Odo episodes (in my opinion). I liked that they introduced another non-Founder changeling, but I dislike that he was an elitist bag of dicks that could somehow "swim" through space at sub-warp speeds.
It did, however, provide more detail into Odo and Kira's otherwise mostly unexplored relationship. And by detail, I'm fairly sure the episode ends with Odo turning into a luminescent fog and Kira dancing around "inside" him. Which I guess is... I don't know... hot? I know there's such a thing as erotic asphyxiation, but erotic respiration? (shrugs)
Whatever you say, Rick Berman.
ST:DS9, 'Til Death Do Us Part, Episode 718
After finally acquiring the last of the DS9 DVDs, I'm able to finish out the last few episodes. Hopefully I'll be able to knock them out this week.
Anyhow, second episode in the final arc. 7-8 episodes left. I can almost taste victory.
SPOILERS.
I'm of the opinion that the Prophets should leave Sisko and Cassidy Yates alone. The people who shouldn't be hooking up? Worf and Ezri. They know full well they aren't supposed to be getting involved with relationships from past hosts.
ST:DS9, The Dogs of War, Episode 724
Wrapping up loose ends like nobody's business. And by wrapping up, I mean giving most of the main players enough screen time before the end of the show to satisfy their egos/contracts.
I have only the 1.5 hour season finale left.
ST:DS9, What You Leave Behind, Episodes 725-726
Well... my estimate for completion for June 24th was three months ago. I'd like to say I was doing lots of other, more productive things instead of keeping up with my 5 episodes per week, but I don't really have a good excuse. I fell behind. I lost interest. I was distracted. I get distracted so very easily.
I wrote a bit when I finished TNG. I felt it was important to do so, not only to justify the time investment of 170+ 45-minute episodes entails, but also to reflect on why I would invest such time, and what that time meant to me. Reading back, I'm glad I recorded some of those things, for they're making me realize how different of a show DS9 is.
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW BECAUSE I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THEM UNFETTERED
DS9 is by far a more character-driven show. If this is obvious, then that's fine, I'm merely stating, and also framing to say that DS9's characters, and their interactions, were far superior. TNG had a few good standalone characters (Picard, Data, sometimes Worf, sometimes Guinan), but often character interaction was a little flat, and tended to play second fiddle to the ridiculousness of whatever Trek-plot happened to have them imperiled. It was rare that two TNG characters' interactions went to the depths that DS9 went. Odo's pained longing after Kira (for 5 goddamn seasons), or Worf and Jadzia's courtship/marriage, or the series-long bros-for-life camaraderie of Bashir and O'Brien. There were even a compelling and interesting villains in Eddington, Gul Dukat, and Weyoun, who ended up making a great foils throughout the series. I'll admit: TNG was certainly under different direction than DS9, but having seen how characters in the Star Trek universe could be handled, it made me wish it'd been done that way all along.
That isn't to say there weren't weak characters, or weak storylines. Anything to do with Jake Sisko made me immediately bored/annoyed, and many of the Ferengi episodes, while humorous, were still a little painful. I disliked immensely the Vic Fontaine episodes towards the last seasons: despite wanting to like them for their originality, I couldn't get past the fact that the Dominion is coming through the fucking wormhole and all they want to do is listen to some holo-crooner. Most of my complaints towards the show are where they introduced something that took away from the core tenets and themes of the show (ie, stop bringing back the alternate universe, please). I understand that you can't just have dark, brooding episodes week after week for 7 years, but set next to episodes that are so good the bad ones become a little unbearable.
Also, reading back over some of the episode summaries, I'm realizing that DS9 is essentially two shows with the same characters. The first major arc was with the Maquis, and the second arc was the Dominion. I sort of have to take my hat off to the writers: you almost made me forget about the first arc, even though I liked the Maquis storyline quite a bit, particularly with the character of Michael Eddington. It was good writing, and made me feel like the writers had figured out their audience, and they wanted to write something smart. I appreciated the effort, and the ever-increasing stakes with the introduction of the Dominion threat was an impressive feat to carry over 7 years.
I can't decide if the show suffered much from the departure of Terry Farrell (to be replaced with Nicole deBoer). I was jarred to have the 7th season start off with the introduction of a completely new character, particularly when the show had reached a level of gravity that could have actually supported losing Jadzia's character permanently. Ezri's introduction was handled alright, but the fact that so much time had to be dedicated to resolving and re-hashing Jadzia's character arc into Ezri's that I wonder if other things had been left out. It was cute that Bashir and Ezri ended up together. It was painful going through Worf and Ezri's teen drama for 10 episodes.
I liked the final episode. It was a good wrap-up, even if it did leave off on a few weird notes. I got the gratuitous space battles I wanted. I got the slaughter of untold millions, perquisite of a galactic conflict. I got lots of staring off into the inky black of a cold, peaceful Alpha quadrant. But I felt like a few things were missing. Having Sisko as the triumphant hero making the ultimate sacrifice seemed somewhat lessened by the fact that he survived by getting promoted to an internship at the Celestial Temple. The Prophets' warnings of "sorrow" and untold misery if he married Kassidy Yates never had the weight to it the rest of the season built it up to have. Sisko became a time traveling Frosty the Snowman, saying "I'll be back again someday. Maybe yesterday."
In trying to pick a favorite character, I'm having a bit of trouble (which is a good thing). Every character has at least 1 good episode, and 1 or more shit episodes. I have many favorite moments between Quark or Bashir, but there are also examples of good lines, good character development, or just good (or not bad) acting from others. Odo is probably the character I identify with the most, but the second he got what he wanted I sort of lost touch with his motivations. Garak was always intriguing, and had lots of great lines, but I never felt like he was the schemer that everyone made him out to be (rather, more of a victim, less of a predator). Sisko was a great commanding character, but after I saw how Avery Brooks acts in real life, I was always a little scared of what he was going to do next.
DS9 to me will always be a pointer to a weird point in my life. In the same way that TNG was the sort of "golden age" for the Star Trek franchise, and represented largely my introduction and continued fascination with science fiction, DS9 more or less represented the introduction and continued affirmation of the idea that "life just gets more complicated." Where TNG elicits fond memories of family get-togethers and weekly Trek viewings, DS9 elicits memories of family squabbles, divorces, and our eventual departure from watching any Star Trek show altogether. I was recently reminded of a DS9-themed game based around the Klingon characters around during DS9's run. It required you to learn portions of Klingon, read and regurgitate Klingon literature, and pay attention to clues subtly dropped during in-game cinematics. I remember that I played it once or twice, deemed it too hard, or too "adult," and I went back to playing Quake. For years, the cover of that game stared at me, making me feel guilty as only Chancellor Gowron could.
DS9 was a compelling show that asked good questions about the nature of war, and those who will die for what they believe in. It showed the Trek audience that one could still have great character development within Roddenberry's formula, even if the basic architecture of the show is largely different from that of TOS or TNG. Unfortunately, I don't think DS9 finds high acclaim or recognition outside of Trek fandom, as it never quite reached the same cult status as its forebears. It's hard to appreciate something like DS9 when its brilliance is predicated on the steps it took away from its predecessors, particularly when you aren't familiar with the subtleties of said predecessors.
That said, I'm happy to have watched it. And now I am free. Free to watch whatever the fuck I want.
Your dedication to such a Herculean task is admirable, but this kind of disturbs me:
And now I am free. Free to watch whatever the fuck I want.
Did you sign a blood contract to get the dvds? I agree that sometimes you should finish what you started if it holds interest, but when that conflicts with doing things you actually want to do, why not throw it on the ground and walk away with satisfaction? I mean, is this comparable to running a marathon? Throwing your hands up in triumph for tackling something agonizing yet masochistically rewarding on some primal level? I'm just trying to grasp the idea of feeling trapped.
Then again, what the fuck do I know. I've read the Wheel of Time.
Society has demands.
Expand it out to every sport I don't care about, every political issue I haven't researched and can't comment on, or every book I haven't read (or don't remember reading), and you start to flesh out the extensive list of things in society I am disappointingly ignorant of but still have to apologize for.
I have only so much time, interest, and mental real estate, all of which seem to be in increasingly short supply. I have to somehow maintain a balance of things that I feel are interesting and important versus things that make me feel like a part of society (or, perhaps at least a subculture).
Star Trek, while not always a great show, hits that balance when it comes to entertainment. The problem is that it's an incredible time sink. I did drop it for a week or so this summer, and watched other things/programmed things/biked around. However, the show was compelling enough, and my interest was strong enough that I wanted to see the story to the end. I wasn't trapped, I was committed.
I am not now beholden to watch Voyager, Enterprise, TOS, The Animated Series, or anything else. I will never revisit Andromeda, or Farscape, or Big Bang Theory, or How I Met Your Mother, Caprica, or Dollhouse, or anything else I eventually found insulting to watch. My comment on being "free" was more to express that I'm free to watch/read/participate in whatever happens to catch my gears without feeling guilt at letting my other time/interest/real estate commitments lapse.
You may never care about football (which is okay), but I will give you this gift: whenever people start talking about it, and you feel the need to chime in, or people look to you for an input, respond with this: "I don't know anything about football, and I'm told that qualifies me to be a replacement ref."
You did it!
Sometimes I want to rewatch it all. But first I want to watch all the other series ;) I can't see any other pop sci-fi displacing it as my favorite... but then again, haven't watched much Babylon 5. I'll get there.
I was going to say I think your problem was that you paid attention intently to every episode (Enterprise was essentially background for me unless it was compelling), but then I remembered that I watched most of DS9 intently. VERY intently. Doing nothing else. In Aaron's parent's basement. Maybe I just have a higher tolerance for soft-fi bullshit than you do. I'm glad you did seem to mostly enjoy it, though.
Well, thing is: I tend to love the scifi bullshit. I eat it up, because in the good cases it is imaginative and mind-blowing and inspirational. It's the bad cases, though, where bad writing or bad writing decisions force an "Explain it away, Geordi"-type situation. It's in those situations where my attention level does me disservice.
Maybe the conclusion is: I dislike when writers decide when I should pay attention or not. Or, when they decide when I shouldn't listen. There's Treknobabble. And then there's being lazy.
Haha I love when they have complicated sounding words for technology in star trek (apparently matrix is pretty ubiquitous), but the actual meaning is completely vacuous (i.e., there was a placeholder [TECH] in the scripts) and usually simple.
Whil Wheaton says it like it is (io9.com).
It's far sillier than any Star Trek ever was. It also got canceled recently, but they were given enough notice to wrap up the story arcs and whatnot.
Warning: One of the later seasons (4, I think. Might have been 3) features a lot of time travel. Like, more than Voyager and Enterprise put together. Regardless, I always thought it was an irreverent and entertaining show.
Theoretically, I've upgraded the post box to include the latest revision of the CKEditor Javascript library. Part of its new fixes/featureset is that it includes support for iOS5 devices. I have no such devices immediately available, so you'll have to tell me if there's been any improvements made, but I have high hopes.
Hmm, I need to work on handling line-breaks on non-Javascript enabled clients...
But as to yours and your sister's peril, I'm sorry that happened. I have a number of options (unfortunately, not a lot of *great* ones):
If you're not getting a good feeling from these descriptions, I understand. Most of the computers I take in are discarded because they have issues, not because they're sought-after high technology. I keep them around for technical reasons, and for the frequent situation where people's computers die, and I need parts (specifically, parts that may be hard to find because they're old).
While these machines are available (if you really, really want one), they aren't exactly something I would recommend. You may find that newer hardware, particularly used hardware, is fairly affordable if you aren't after the cutting edge. I can't speak to the effective life-span to the computers above, but other than the workstations I picked up, I've been expecting critical failure from most of them, and have been frankly surprised at their insistence to live on. I would be nervous as to their reliability after going through any sort of shipping.
I would say peruse Craigslist/eBay for used netbooks/laptops. If you're feeling brave, consider finding ones without an OS. Ubuntu is a Linux distribution that is extremely user-friendly and well supported. They also publish their listing of "certified" hardware, which gives you an idea what types of hardware would be compatible (I'm a fan of Dell (www.ubuntu.com) or Lenovo (www.ubuntu.com) when it comes to reliable non-Apple hardware).
If you find something within budget, I'm happy to field any questions you have about a particular make/model.
I have a MacBook Pro circa January 2007 that has a completely shot battery. In addition, the SuperDrive likes to be a big ole bitch and refuse to work on a whim. However, it is otherwise a very functional and passable "laptop," as long as you're close to an outlet.
Additionally, I've got a Mac Mini circa 2005 that is nearly impossibly slow that also functions.
Either way, if either of those options sound interesting, I'd be happy to clean one or both of them up and ship them away from my house. Send me an email.
If I understand you correctly, you want to have a comment box appear when you click into a thread from a discussion item. I have to assume you're using the new thread view, with the reply button, etc.
I don't do this for two reasons:
In all honesty, I'm trying to avoid a terrible mistake I made in interface design on v2. If you remember, on v2 you had the ability to reply to a thread directly from the discussion item view. You would click the "reply" link, and the post box at the bottom of the page would update its hidden variables to say "I want to post to this thread's post, not to the discussion item itself." However, the only thing that indicated you were doing anything different were those hidden variables. Until you hit "submit," you had no idea if you were posting to a new thread, or posting a reply. And so people mis-replied all the time, and got frustrated because they couldn't fix their mistake, when really it was just a result of poor design on my part.
We lost a lot of good users back then.
E and I recently watched Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (she'd never seen the remake from a few years past). Since then I've had "He's a real zarkin frood, know what I'm sayin'?" stuck in my head, as well as a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster. With some clever interweb tricks, I found this:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Bartending/Cocktails/Pan_Galactic_Gargle_Blaster (en.wikibooks.org)
We're making one of these recipes sometime.
That's almost enough to get me to run Windows 7.
I'm kidding. It is not enough.
(Flash forward months into the future, as I'm watching friends play Diablo 3 on their glorious newer computers without a care the world. "Play with us, Josh." And I'll say, "No, I don't have enough GPU processing cores...")
http://www.youtube....atch?v=jitDWAx6_eA (www.youtube.com)
I feel like I should have already been watching this show. Anyone do so already? Good? Bad?
If ever there was a single episode that sums up an entire show's style and sense of humor, it's the Modern Warfare episode.
http://www.youtube....atch?v=MvpT8ocp0SE (www.youtube.com)
http://www.avclub.c...ern-warfare,40905/ (www.avclub.com)
The guy who plays Troy (Donald Glover) was a writer for 30 Rock and the Daily Show, which might help explain some of the hilariousness. The show gets a lot more self referential and self aware as the second season goes along, which is used to both good and bad effect. The third season has been pretty solid so far.
Also, Joel McHale. That is all.
Watched through the first couple of episodes... this show is damned good.
... (Also, I'm discovering a disturbing trend in shows that I watch, in that much like a small child will like something better if it has a puppy, or a muppet, I apparently like shows better if they have characters like Data or Abed.)
Professor Duncan: "Anyway, are you two an item, and if so, would that item be impervious to sabotage?"
Jeff: "You know, you have the savoir faire of a hyena, how is it that you and James Bond come from the same island?"
Professor Duncan: "Message received, I'll just wait for you to finish striking out first."
Jeff: "Cheers."
Abed: (walking by) "Mash."
Professor Duncan: "Faulty Towers, game over."
I just want to put this out there before the LAN party, which is strategy games, which I am woefully bad at - I am sorry for every PWN I ever did to any of you in any version of Halo, CounterStrike, GoldenEye, Left 4 Dead, and the like. I may or may not have kicked serious ass in FPSs, but I don't know much about RTS/TBS. Please, don't make it hurt. That bad, anyway.
"PIMP SMACK YO ASS, BITCH (www.youtube.com)! You my hooka now. Now it's time for me to take my priiiiiiiiiize. I'm gonna raaape ya bitch! You ready? You ready? You ready? Huh, bitch? You ready bitch? SHUT THE FUCK UP CHARLES!"
http://www.youtube....atch?v=ygQvB6OjHOU (www.youtube.com)
(Just kidding. I suck at RTS. I pretty much just play my own game.)
This went up on my social media profiles, but I'll put it up here too:
There are 10 piles of gold plated balls. Each pile has 10 balls. Each pile is visually identical to the other.
9 of the piles have balls that are gold plated lead, which are therefore worthless and weigh 10lbs/ball.
1 of the piles has balls that are solid gold, which are therefore worth a lot and weigh 9 lbs/ball.
Your objective is to obtain the pile of solid gold balls. However, your only diagnostic tool is a weigh scale, and it will break after *one* use. Strangely, the weigh scale is of the size and capacity that you can weigh any number of balls from any number of piles.
What's the solution?
Also consider whether or not you want to post the solution and therefore spoil it to someone who's thinking about it.
Um, duh, use a sharp edge on the scale to scrape away the surface on each ball until you find the pile with solid gold. Weigh one ball so that you only have 9 options left.
Or add balls sequentially until you find the 9 pounder, since that's only one weighing event, right??
Or scroll down for what I think the real answer is:
1 ball from first pile, 2 from second pile.... 9 from ninth pile, 0 from 10th pile, weigh it all up. If pile weight ends in 0, then gold is the unweighed (10th pile), if ends in 9 gold from 1st pile, if ends in 8 gold from 2nd pile... if ends in 1, gold from 9th pile. I win.
So we're at an aquarium, on some type of field trip.
The guide is telling us something about how the whale shark lives in a sort of symbiosis with the giant squid. And that the temperature and acidity of their environments is kept in balance by some biological feedback loop.
The guide demonstrates that by increasing the temperature of the tank (a tank large enough to house both a whale shark and giant squid, mind you). At the same time, she dials up a robotic vehicle with a camera on it, and starts piloting it around the tank. She follows around the whale shark for a while, and eventually pilots the robot around to the whale shark's mouth, which has some non-obvious indicator of the immediate affects of the temperature change.
"Alright, so that's on a screen, but who wants to see it for themselves? Let's get changed, and meet me in the tank."
My stomach sinks, as my fears of water, suffocation, and large, benthic creatures kick into gear.
I wake up, just as I dive underwater and start to feel short of breath.
Well if you just wait for the IPad 3...
It'll probably come with the iOS 5. But considering the history of how apple brings out new products with such regularity I wouldn't be surprised if there was a spring release of some bullshit thing like the IPad 2s and that is where you get Siri.
This does beg the question from me as I'm in the market for a new phone. One of the high powered Droid's like the Bionic, get a cheapo phone and actually wait for the Iphone 5, or go with the 4s and actually just wait for when the improved models come out rather than the new updated phones.
