While I agree that the system is clearly in place in order to abuse its users, I can't help but think you brought it on yourself, to a degree. (edit: I don't mean to offend, just making an observation!)
The rise of the fastlane/easypass phenomenon struck me as a huge scam as soon as I heard about it. I would never subscribe to a service like this, just as I would never buy movie tickets from Fandango. (oblig,:"Fandango. Why Not Pay An Extra Dollar For Movie Tickets?")
I'm not saying what they do is right, but admitting you're willing to pay for convenience is like writing "sucker" on your forehead. Your chances of being taken advantage of skyrockets.
President Eisenhower explained the dangers of an entire industry built on creating the machines of war nearly 50 years ago. His warnings went unheeded, and the result is our out-of-control military spending. See his comments in his own words here:
or google "military industrial complex" for more information. Many US citizens are opposed to our militarism, but we seem unable to alter the course of so much short-sighted self-interest, money, and influence.
I found it to be predicable and boring at best. As far as I am concerned, it was a remake of Battle Star with a Stargate. Poor lost humans looking for earth. I'll give it 3 more runs but I don't expect it to get any better. Don't get me wrong, Battle Star was the bomb. We don't need another rehash of an all ready played out story line. I mean really, the uniforms even have the same style!
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
-- BSG SPOILER --
BSG was really great, except when it was pretty poor. Oh, and I lost all respect for the show when we discover in the finale that, after all those years of being teased with a complex and fascinating mystery, A Wizard Did It. I will never watch the show again, in reruns or DVDs or made-for-tv movies, or effing Caprica (which can just blow me). What a steaming pantload of a thank you to the fans.
I'd agree with you, and yet struggle with the fact that the incredibly mediocre Dollhouse managed to get a second season and is also on Fox.
I actually really enjoy Dollhouse, but that aside:
It has been presented as common knowledge to me that Joss would only agree to another Fox venture if he was guaranteed the show wouldn't be cancelled after the first season based only on ratings. It still got screwed over for a timeslot, and I sure as hell haven't seen any ads for the second season. Ran across it on Hulu, fortunately. Screw Fox, man.
Like all good series, it had it's tired patches. I stopped watching when the Ori came into it, I was just that sick of Daniel Jackson dooming the galaxy by angering godlike beings.
Any series that can put out an episode like Wormhole eXtreme is worth watching. The best part about SG1 was its own sense of humor and self-awareness.
Granted, it wasn't always present, but it was there and hilarious.
I thought the first episode was like BSG crossed with Voyager. Dr. Rush appears to have too many similarities to Baltar for my comfort.
I, for one, thought the premise was a little weak. Didn't grab me, nor did any of the characters seem that interesting. I was completely bored with the Senator's sacrifice moment, too. I'll watch a couple more episodes to see if it comes together.
Bored with the sacrifice moment?! My friend and I both cheered! I hated his character, and thought I'd have to suffer multiple episodes watching him. Then he died, and now he's gone. Dead and gone forever!
Rush seems like a much more interesting and complex character than Baltar. He clearly has an agenda that doesn't involve money or the nearest attractive woman. I'm suspecting based on the photo that it's some sort of "beloved died and can only be ressurrected by Ancient technology" thing. But in any event, when the MIT kid asked him if he wasn't even bothered by people dying, Rush didn't sound like the typical "I'm evil for the sake of evil" bad guy.
Go'auld./mystery
In all seriousness, he definitely seems like a moustache-twirling villain, right down to the opportunistic powerplay right from the start. Whether he's a Baltar or a Ba'al clone, dude's up to no good.
Some stayed behind but a catastrophe forced them to "forget" their knowledge and devolve into us. Then the Go'auld arrived at some point and became the new masters in Egypt. We kicked them out, buried the gates, and without the Ga'ould controlling our population, we rapidly grew from 0.2 to 6 billion.
This isn't quite right. The Ancients "seeded" planets with life, evidently. We are meant to be re-evolutions of the Ancients, not direct descendants. I think the same is true of the Wraith - they evolved from the seeded "new" humans and the big bugs. Presumably, the Ancients pre-seeded Pegasus before moving there, and re-seeded the milky way as well.
There is some suggestion that they are not from either galaxy originally, I believe, but you may be right about Earth being their true origin.
Stargate always had problems thinking imaginatively. For example, once they developed the cloaking device, I would have used it as a proxy teleporter to make nukes appear in the center of Ori ships.
These are problems of inconsistency and unconsidered ramifications, rather than problems of imagination. I do think SG* (especially SG:A) had imagination problems, but the earliest SG-1 seasons were actually quite thoughtful and imaginative, in how they explored different human cultures and their possible origins/progressions, etc. Where they did have "imagination" problems, I think they were really problems realising their imaginations, given the budgets available. All in all, SG-1 did a great job.
Except for handling language differences. Turns out, no matter where a culture originated, or how many centuries they spent totally cut off from Earth, they all developed directly to some form of modern English that had not concept of conjunctions.
For a show that went to the trouble of including a linguist on the team, they hit the problem of communication far too few times.
I find it annoying that they haven't come up with the idea of keeping Stargates on their battlecruisers yet. It would make it possible to evacuate the ship easily in case they were cornered.
Strange, the 'canon' is, once you move a gate, you need to recalibrate it. You can't connect a wormhole to a gate in hyperspace, per Season 1 SG1 Ep 21 Within The Serpent's Grasp. Remember, Hammond tried to redial that address and it wouldn't connect because the mothership carrying the gate was moving.
How they managed to make the 9th Chevron work using the Earth symbol 21 lightyears from Earth is beyond me. Serious plothole. Didn't somebody read the Stargate bibles???
I believe this was actually addressed in the show. The Tau'ri symbol was being used not as a point-of-origin in a dialing system, but as part of a passcode.
I think the problem is the Ancients knew how badass they were so they never bothered to think of the simple things
The Asgard, who were only the "scientific-not-spiritual" branch of the Ancients, suffered from (and ultimately became extinct because of) exactly this problem. I don't find it a stretch of standard suspension of disbelief to buy into this theory.
Strong materials and a robust system resulted in products that had a functional lifetime many times greater than the duration of a generation, even at the extended life expectancy of the Ancients (pre-Asgard cloning and mind-transition adoption, anyway). It makes sense they didn't invest many resources in efficiency. It just wasn't required.
VOTE OUT THE INCUMBENTS! Red, Blue or pink: Those who value the power more than their duty deserve neither.
If there's a lesson in the current logjam in congress, this is it. The Rs will likely grab some seats in 2010, which gives the Ds a couple of years to scrub the incumbent twats that stand in the way of cleaning up some of this garbage because they can't get political coverage.
Yes, border crossing into the U.S., especially by air, can be "harrowing" sometimes - but the experiences can be very rewarding. Reconsider putting a trip over-the-pond back onto your to-do list.
It really comes down to how much public humiliation is worth a few days as a tourist. Some people don't seem to mind it, but personally I don't even fly inside the US anymore.
If I wanted to pay to be insulted, demeaned, and harassed I'd want it done by a professional - preferably in full leather.
That all sounds good - let the Neocons and the psychotic Religious Right fight it out - until you try and figure out the geography of such a move. The country is just too purple to carve off some red states and let them have at it.
Maybe we could send them all "Free Boat Winner!" postcards that can only be redeemed in Alaska, and then shut the border?
Hey, think positively. It prepares students for the real world, where people get promoted until they fail. Then they get fired or laid off for not meeting expectations.
This is incredibly insightful. My last boss couldn't understand why I wasn't ambitious, and didn't want to go after a promotion. I was making enough money and had a "comfortable" level of challenge. I did good work that I was proud of. She couldn't comprehend it.
Is this like the personal version of corporate growth? Always bigger, better, faster, more? It's so... unimaginative.
if you want your kid to have a real education that will give him/her a real competitive advantage, you are going to have to fork over plenty of cash and/or take responsibility for it yourself.
You're only half right. If you aren't invested in their education, they sure as shit won't be. And I mean real investment, not a sweaty wad of twenties. Money helps, with this as much as anything, but it isn't the important component.
Brilliantly stated, Silverspell. It's the righteous indignation that irked me the most. Anyone who has ever been victimized in any way, with the use of EMPATH, can understand what it means to be the victim of sexual assault. Those without empathy... well, they don't give a shit anyway, do they?
Since the original poster was using the archaic sense of rape (taking by force), the whole argument is moot and tiresome.
illegal immigrants are helping our country the best way they can by you know not paying taxes
This is the point at which I stopped reading. The only taxes they aren't paying is income tax. I'm no economist, but I'd guess that we could make up the lost revenue of income taxes on every immigrant worker in the country by nailing no more than a handful of corporate executives. Those fine folks who use loopholes in tax law to dodge taxes and hide assets.
Meanwhile, the immigrants spend a vastly higher proportion of their income on things like sales and luxury taxes than most of the rest of us.
Except your boss can legally throw you in jail. The nazi's worked people as slave labor then burned them alive. The CIA folks listened to phone calls. Can you tell me which is worse?
How about this:
Serial smothering of babies is much much worse than robbing people at gunpoint but not killing them, therefore people that commit armed robbery without killing anyone should be exempt from prosecution under the law.
Slashdot Mirror
While I agree that the system is clearly in place in order to abuse its users, I can't help but think you brought it on yourself, to a degree. (edit: I don't mean to offend, just making an observation!)
The rise of the fastlane/easypass phenomenon struck me as a huge scam as soon as I heard about it. I would never subscribe to a service like this, just as I would never buy movie tickets from Fandango. (oblig,:"Fandango. Why Not Pay An Extra Dollar For Movie Tickets?")
I'm not saying what they do is right, but admitting you're willing to pay for convenience is like writing "sucker" on your forehead. Your chances of being taken advantage of skyrockets.
Oh well, blame it on cultural differences
President Eisenhower explained the dangers of an entire industry built on creating the machines of war nearly 50 years ago. His warnings went unheeded, and the result is our out-of-control military spending. See his comments in his own words here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y06NSBBRtY
or google "military industrial complex" for more information. Many US citizens are opposed to our militarism, but we seem unable to alter the course of so much short-sighted self-interest, money, and influence.
I found it to be predicable and boring at best. As far as I am concerned, it was a remake of Battle Star with a Stargate. Poor lost humans looking for earth. I'll give it 3 more runs but I don't expect it to get any better. Don't get me wrong, Battle Star was the bomb. We don't need another rehash of an all ready played out story line. I mean really, the uniforms even have the same style!
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
-- BSG SPOILER --
BSG was really great, except when it was pretty poor. Oh, and I lost all respect for the show when we discover in the finale that, after all those years of being teased with a complex and fascinating mystery, A Wizard Did It. I will never watch the show again, in reruns or DVDs or made-for-tv movies, or effing Caprica (which can just blow me). What a steaming pantload of a thank you to the fans.
Sorry, I'm still so pissed off about it.
witty comic relief- like when Jack O'neal made some wise crack at the big scary aliens
Two Ls.
I'd agree with you, and yet struggle with the fact that the incredibly mediocre Dollhouse managed to get a second season and is also on Fox.
I actually really enjoy Dollhouse, but that aside:
It has been presented as common knowledge to me that Joss would only agree to another Fox venture if he was guaranteed the show wouldn't be cancelled after the first season based only on ratings. It still got screwed over for a timeslot, and I sure as hell haven't seen any ads for the second season. Ran across it on Hulu, fortunately. Screw Fox, man.
Like all good series, it had it's tired patches. I stopped watching when the Ori came into it, I was just that sick of Daniel Jackson dooming the galaxy by angering godlike beings.
Any series that can put out an episode like Wormhole eXtreme is worth watching. The best part about SG1 was its own sense of humor and self-awareness.
Granted, it wasn't always present, but it was there and hilarious.
I thought the first episode was like BSG crossed with Voyager. Dr. Rush appears to have too many similarities to Baltar for my comfort.
I, for one, thought the premise was a little weak. Didn't grab me, nor did any of the characters seem that interesting. I was completely bored with the Senator's sacrifice moment, too. I'll watch a couple more episodes to see if it comes together.
Bored with the sacrifice moment?! My friend and I both cheered! I hated his character, and thought I'd have to suffer multiple episodes watching him. Then he died, and now he's gone. Dead and gone forever!
Rush seems like a much more interesting and complex character than Baltar. He clearly has an agenda that doesn't involve money or the nearest attractive woman. I'm suspecting based on the photo that it's some sort of "beloved died and can only be ressurrected by Ancient technology" thing. But in any event, when the MIT kid asked him if he wasn't even bothered by people dying, Rush didn't sound like the typical "I'm evil for the sake of evil" bad guy.
Go'auld. /mystery
In all seriousness, he definitely seems like a moustache-twirling villain, right down to the opportunistic powerplay right from the start. Whether he's a Baltar or a Ba'al clone, dude's up to no good.
I was wondering why they couldn't just stick a piece of plywood in front of the door and figure it all out later.
I'm not a material scientist, but can plywood hold integrity against a near-vacuum? They might need a little saran wrap and duct tape to make it work.
Some stayed behind but a catastrophe forced them to "forget" their knowledge and devolve into us. Then the Go'auld arrived at some point and became the new masters in Egypt. We kicked them out, buried the gates, and without the Ga'ould controlling our population, we rapidly grew from 0.2 to 6 billion.
This isn't quite right. The Ancients "seeded" planets with life, evidently. We are meant to be re-evolutions of the Ancients, not direct descendants. I think the same is true of the Wraith - they evolved from the seeded "new" humans and the big bugs. Presumably, the Ancients pre-seeded Pegasus before moving there, and re-seeded the milky way as well.
There is some suggestion that they are not from either galaxy originally, I believe, but you may be right about Earth being their true origin.
These are problems of inconsistency and unconsidered ramifications, rather than problems of imagination. I do think SG* (especially SG:A) had imagination problems, but the earliest SG-1 seasons were actually quite thoughtful and imaginative, in how they explored different human cultures and their possible origins/progressions, etc. Where they did have "imagination" problems, I think they were really problems realising their imaginations, given the budgets available. All in all, SG-1 did a great job.
Except for handling language differences. Turns out, no matter where a culture originated, or how many centuries they spent totally cut off from Earth, they all developed directly to some form of modern English that had not concept of conjunctions.
For a show that went to the trouble of including a linguist on the team, they hit the problem of communication far too few times.
Strange, the 'canon' is, once you move a gate, you need to recalibrate it. You can't connect a wormhole to a gate in hyperspace, per Season 1 SG1 Ep 21 Within The Serpent's Grasp. Remember, Hammond tried to redial that address and it wouldn't connect because the mothership carrying the gate was moving.
How they managed to make the 9th Chevron work using the Earth symbol 21 lightyears from Earth is beyond me. Serious plothole. Didn't somebody read the Stargate bibles???
I believe this was actually addressed in the show. The Tau'ri symbol was being used not as a point-of-origin in a dialing system, but as part of a passcode.
I think the problem is the Ancients knew how badass they were so they never bothered to think of the simple things
The Asgard, who were only the "scientific-not-spiritual" branch of the Ancients, suffered from (and ultimately became extinct because of) exactly this problem. I don't find it a stretch of standard suspension of disbelief to buy into this theory.
Strong materials and a robust system resulted in products that had a functional lifetime many times greater than the duration of a generation, even at the extended life expectancy of the Ancients (pre-Asgard cloning and mind-transition adoption, anyway). It makes sense they didn't invest many resources in efficiency. It just wasn't required.
VOTE OUT THE INCUMBENTS! Red, Blue or pink: Those who value the power more than their duty deserve neither.
If there's a lesson in the current logjam in congress, this is it. The Rs will likely grab some seats in 2010, which gives the Ds a couple of years to scrub the incumbent twats that stand in the way of cleaning up some of this garbage because they can't get political coverage.
Yes, border crossing into the U.S., especially by air, can be "harrowing" sometimes - but the experiences can be very rewarding. Reconsider putting a trip over-the-pond back onto your to-do list.
It really comes down to how much public humiliation is worth a few days as a tourist. Some people don't seem to mind it, but personally I don't even fly inside the US anymore.
If I wanted to pay to be insulted, demeaned, and harassed I'd want it done by a professional - preferably in full leather.
That all sounds good - let the Neocons and the psychotic Religious Right fight it out - until you try and figure out the geography of such a move. The country is just too purple to carve off some red states and let them have at it.
Maybe we could send them all "Free Boat Winner!" postcards that can only be redeemed in Alaska, and then shut the border?
What was the score for the Pennsylvania Quakers vs. the New Jersey New Lighters?
I'm pretty sure the Quakers didn't score at all.
Hey, think positively. It prepares students for the real world, where people get promoted until they fail. Then they get fired or laid off for not meeting expectations.
This is incredibly insightful. My last boss couldn't understand why I wasn't ambitious, and didn't want to go after a promotion. I was making enough money and had a "comfortable" level of challenge. I did good work that I was proud of. She couldn't comprehend it.
Is this like the personal version of corporate growth? Always bigger, better, faster, more? It's so... unimaginative.
if you want your kid to have a real education that will give him/her a real competitive advantage, you are going to have to fork over plenty of cash and/or take responsibility for it yourself.
You're only half right. If you aren't invested in their education, they sure as shit won't be. And I mean real investment, not a sweaty wad of twenties. Money helps, with this as much as anything, but it isn't the important component.
A two story, three bedroom home with a full basement and big yard, on a single income? Yeah. That seems about right. Totally realistic.
Ok ok, so now that we know it's in Arkansas... maybe. But still, probably not.
My country for a mod point! Well spotted, catchblue22. I knew it irked me, but I couldn't put my finger on why.
Where the hell did I put my mod points....
Brilliantly stated, Silverspell. It's the righteous indignation that irked me the most. Anyone who has ever been victimized in any way, with the use of EMPATH, can understand what it means to be the victim of sexual assault. Those without empathy... well, they don't give a shit anyway, do they?
Since the original poster was using the archaic sense of rape (taking by force), the whole argument is moot and tiresome.
illegal immigrants are helping our country the best way they can by you know not paying taxes
This is the point at which I stopped reading. The only taxes they aren't paying is income tax. I'm no economist, but I'd guess that we could make up the lost revenue of income taxes on every immigrant worker in the country by nailing no more than a handful of corporate executives. Those fine folks who use loopholes in tax law to dodge taxes and hide assets.
Meanwhile, the immigrants spend a vastly higher proportion of their income on things like sales and luxury taxes than most of the rest of us.
Get a grip.
Except your boss can legally throw you in jail. The nazi's worked people as slave labor then burned them alive. The CIA folks listened to phone calls. Can you tell me which is worse?
How about this:
Serial smothering of babies is much much worse than robbing people at gunpoint but not killing them, therefore people that commit armed robbery without killing anyone should be exempt from prosecution under the law.
Tape, honey, I think you need to adjust your irony-meter. ^__^