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I too had a great time.  So much so that I ve decided to extend my stay in France.  Actually, no I ve missed my return flight to Canada and am trapped in Paris another 3 days.  Merde alors.

I'm a Star Trek fan.  Primarily the original series but I also enjoy The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine.

Obi's cartoons are funny because they're true.  Star Trek definitely has recycled many plot elments ad nauseam.  If the cartoons were lampooning TOS it would have to include mentions of an omnipotent being seeking worship from humans, a powerful computer that supress human creativity and freedom, and a remarkably earth-like alien planet that never recovered from the collapse of the great depression.

The excess of humanoid looking aliens is partially due to budget constraints and partially due to one of the major themes of the show that humanity is universal.  Still, there were occasions when very alien-looking creatures were brought to the screen:




The technobabble complaint is not something that I will defend.  I know the producers had technical consultants to bring an element of scientific plausibility to most things but the problem isn't that the science is bad but that the drama is. 

There is nearly 700 hours of Star Trek produced.  I'd say only about 1/3 of those are even good.  But some are great.  I'm sure I could get anybody with an open mind to appreciate it through judiciously selecting good introductory episodes. 

Simian_Apparition

My attempt at an analogy:

Getting excited about ice on Mars is like getting excited about receiving an envelope in the mail that reads:  "You may have already won!"

This may be another piece of a puzzle supporting that there was once life on Mars but I won't become excited until the puzzle is complete and we have some fossils or something.

And I suspect that there are others even more hard won over than me.

Let the two groups of researchers do their jobs without trivializing their great work.

I wasn't trying to trivialize their work.  Your attempt at allegory seemed to mire your point.  You're much more compelling when you play it straight.

Reducing the space program's funding doesn't mean trying to go to Mars with no rocket fuel.  It means splitting the project into phases that are executed over a longer time span. 

He didn't experience withdrawl symptoms, but admitted he sometimes thought about smoking during the day...

I have heard (but cannot substantiate) that the physical additiction to nicotine runs its course in 48 hours or so and that beyond that it is purely a psychological addiction.  Interesting, if true.

<edit> Okay here is some info on addictive properties of nicotine saying that withdrawl symptoms can last for a week.

About a year ago, a friend asked me if I thought we could colonize Mars and my reply was:  "Earth has everything going for it and we can't even sustain it."

I don't worry about us spoiling other planets.  I'm fine with colonizing other worlds once we've proven we can manage our own.  

Lately I've been seeing the world's problems as being social and economic but I'd like to return to a mindset that said:  "Scientific discovery will provide solutions."

Maybe you're right and the key to learning how to manage earth is by studying other worlds.

This fall I saw how uninspired people are about space travel.  I was in Orlando the week of a launch and there was no anticipation from people.  I missed it because I didn't even know about it and only saw the exhaust trail after hearing a few onlookers excited "woo!"s.  There was maybe 2 minutes of local news coverage on it later that day.

I do have an apetite for science and don't lament every dollar that is spent on a space program.  I recognize the positive technological off-shoots. 

There is an assumption used often in science fiction that goes something like:  "Any civilization advanced enough for interstellar travel must also be peaceful." 

I guess I look more forward to that than I do to the actual travel.

I tire of people's indifference to space missions.

...

What's there to be indifferent about?  This is the next logical step for humans to take.    I certainly prefer this over building bigger bombs.

If bomb-making and space exploration were the only two ways to use our resources,  I'd agree with you.

I also agree that space exploration is the next logical step based on what humanity's M.O. has been so far.  We are consumers and we have strip-mined the earth...therefore we need to find more resources elsewhere.  And to me that's a sad motivation for going.

I think this is cool but I don't think it's the answer to our earth bound problems. 

Based on the background art I've seen for Shadowplay, I have faith, GarageGothic, in your ability to create graphics compelling enough for the type of gameplay you and radiowaves are discussing.

Just Internet Explorer 6.

Having finally come to terms with my hairloss, I've taken the inevitable step of shaving my head.

Am I the only one having a hard time making out Loominous' images.  In my browser they appear to blend with the background colour of the forums.

Is this what they look like to everyone:

There is controversy in Canada regarding an "Unborn Victims of Crime Act":  http://www.arcc-cdac.ca/fetal_homicide_law.html

"The Supreme Court has ruled that a woman and her fetus are considered "physically one” person under the law (Dobson vs. Dobson), and that all rights accrue to the woman. If we give any legal rights to a fetus, we must automatically remove some rights from women, because it’s impossible for two beings occupying the same body to enjoy full rights."

In the case of premature babies, they have separated from their mothers' bodies and therefore instantly attain their own rights so there would be no issue for medical care.

...whoever will be in Paris on the 14th we should arrange something.

Assuming North American cell phones work in Europe, you can get ahold of Disco and me that way to arrange a meet-up on the fly.

Any word on the pre-get-together in Paris?  What day/time?  I am finalizing my ticket plans and don't want to miss anything!

I arrive in Paris on the morning of Tuesday, August 12th at around 10AM.  I think Disco is planning on arriving the same day, as we're sharing a hostel room.

I haven't really planned out how to spend those few days before Mittens but I figure I'll be touring about the city lots since I've never been there before. 

Mine.


How do you extract the individual frames?

I think Lucas tends to be very sensitive to criticism and thin-skinned regarding contrary opinions.  He shields himself against criticism of his latest films by saying that at the time of their releases even the original Star Wars and Indiana Jones were critically panned.  It could be that that he misremembers the reception of these films because he dwelled so heavily on the occasional negative review rather than the multitude of positive ones.

Following ESB, Lucas had enough success that he could surround himself with sycophants rather than collaborators and nobody ever told him when his ideas were bad.  Get rid of Kurtz bring in MacCallum.

The Simpsons is no longer sublime but it's still enjoyable.  I don't go out of my way to watch it but if I happen to catch an episode it's fairly reliable at inducing a few laughs.  

All time favourite episode (I don't know the titles):  Lisa's new classmate becomes a rival for academic praise, culminating in Lisa sabotaging her entry to the Diorama-Rama.  Meanwhile Homer has found an overturned sugar tanker and is trying to corner the market in a bizarre Scarface parody.