You seem to be assuming that Delta Vega was a necessary setting and that Spock Prime was necessarily hanging out in an secluded ice cave. The script was fully malleable, and there were a hundred other more plausible potential ways to introduce Kirk to Spock Prime that did not involve an ice planet and a poorly done monster chase.
To me, that entire sequence was incredibly jarring and pulled me out of enjoying of the movie because it was so gratuitous and poorly done. Rather than masking the improbability of Kirk and Spock Prime meeting, the creature just added to how distracting and ridiculous it was that, with an entire deserted ice planet available, this predator (who should have been able to overcome Kirk in a single bound) just happens to chase the protagonist into a tiny cave where another key character has been camping out. And wtf was he doing in the cave anyway? Just chillin'? He knew there was a federation outpost nearby, but instead chose to hang out in the cave? That entire transition was incredibly poorly written in my opinion.
This is a very good point. I work at a consulting firm where the chairman routinely writes books and articles. Although he does end up with some negligible residual income from the book sales, he gives away more copies of his books than he sells, offers his ebooks for free and frequently uses sections of his books and articles in PR outreach. For him, the value of writing is having his name out there and which helps him (and the company) remain relevant. The books and articles are seen as marketing vehicles that help build and reinforce his reputation as an expert in the field, thus contributing to the development of our brand perception and increases our market penetration through awareness of his and our name.
If your books are not selling well, you may want to look at writing more as a hobby and work on developing your career in other ways. If writing is your truly your passion, you may want hone your writing skills to better hook readers and team up with a marketing professional (or get in touch with the marketing department at your publisher), to come up with ways to better reach an audience that will recognize (and pay for) the value of your work.
(I'm not trying to be inflammatory, just honestly asking, but) How is this different from what's occurring now? The ebook is being obtained for free, while printed copies require a purchase. The author states that the free copies are not helping with his sales, so how would him being the source of those free copies change that?
Agreed. I went with a group of 15, made up of mixed company of 20-somethings that ranged from fans of the show(s) to people who had never seen an episode of any of the different series. Everyone in the group loved it, and about half already have plans to see it again (also split between the established show fans and the n00bs). I remember JJ Abrams advising purists to stay home as they would likely be the most disappointed, which seems to be true from many of the reviews I have seen. If you come to it with an open mind and an understanding that it's not a carbon copy of TOS, it can be a totally enjoyable experience.
I'm sorry that you're angry that you got modded down. It may surprise you in your impotent interweb rage that I read that source (not only the wikipedia entry, but the actual SOURCE cited for the line you quoted, which incidentally does NOT contain a breakdown of the proportions between deaths caused by secondary infections and those directly attributable to the flu) prior to making my original posting. If you read my post, you will see that it acknowledges both the role of the secondary pneumonia infections and of the virus itself, and is in no way contradicted by what you wrote in reply, especially since you acknowledge the unusually virulent nature of the virus itself that year.
Your original post did nothing to address that poster's speculations about genetic mutation (which ostensibly would also account for why that strain of flu made one more susceptible to secondary infections than past strains had). In fact, nothing in your post indicated that you understood that antibiotics have no effect on viruses. There are enough people in this discussion, and in general, who believe taking an antibiotic will cure them of the flu, and this overuse is one of the reasons why we have an increasing problem with strains of antibiotic resistant bacteria. It was completely reasonable on my part to point out that antibiotics would not have had any impact on the viral infections.
Hmm, to me that implies that the officers that fill those positions are interchangeable; in order to have younger officers in those positions as a normal practice, there would need to be a relatively high turnover rate as the people in those positions age and rotate with younger crew members. Considering that in all of the shows the bridge crew has been roughly the same for 3-7 years (with limited exceptions), this type of turnover seems unlikely (of course this is also due to the requisite format of a serial story).
I have always thought of the bridge crew as one cohesive team where he relationships between the members need to be developed so they know that they can all count on each other in the face of high stress and crisis. They need to be able to monitor each other and keep each other in check -- something that is difficult if you don't really know who you are dealing with. The bridge crew is responsible for the lives of all crew members, and to have a junior officer screw up could have deadly consequences. For this reason, it seems like it would make more sense to have a relatively stable group where each member is has the experience and proven skill set to manage the ship in a disaster, something that I think would be in the hands of higher-ranked officers.
You think a crew of 50-year-olds like the other Trek movies makes more sense? Actual armies and navies are filled with guys in their 20s and even teens; why not Starfleet?
I'm not the OP, but actually yeah, I do think it would make more sense to have more mature bridge crews. Armies that routinely face physical combat are younger because they have physical strength, speed, resiliency and other advantages because of their youth. Tactical commanders are ofter older. On a starship, experience and sound mental abilities are more important than physical ones, especially for those highest up in the chain of command (which is what the main characters are), so it would make sense to have the more seasoned officers in those positions, rather than a bunch of cadet n00bs - that's like retiring Captain Picard because Wesley Crusher is there to take over. It was also a bit difficult for me to believe that almost every single advanced officer in Starfleet happened to be on duty and indisposed with the rest of the fleet at the time of the crisis.
Obviously the movie had its flaws and I can't address a lot of those questions. However, I do distinctly remember that when Kirk is trying to convince Pike and crew that the lightning storm is actually Romulans, he described the attack on the day of his birth and said that the Romulan ship was "never seen again" (until now)....So I don't know where the hell they were, but that would explain the Federation not going after them (in addition to the Romulans' obvious technological advantage).
What I mean to say is that it's very professionally done- whereas EVERY other star trek movie I've seen has a cringe moment or two, where you go.. eeeek that's an awkward scene.
I got that eeeky feeling at the completely unnecessary Hoth scene.
Tell me, in nature, what type of predator chases its prey down, essentially catches it, and then proceeds just to yell at it (multiple times!)? Really?! And incidentally, with an entire deserted ice planet available, said creature just happens to chase the protagonist into a tiny cave where another key character has been camping out?
That entire segment was extremely cringe-worthy for me. Loved the rest though, despite its flaws.
My understanding was that there was some amount of genetic reassortment that allowed the swine flu to be infectious to humans, and to transmit human to human. This altered virus is then somewhat different than the swine flu that typically infects swine, so I think that (in addition to not previously being documented) it is seen as interesting that the virus would jump back to the swine population after mutation. Of course, I may be completely wrong about this, and I encourage anyone better versed in virology to correct me.
While that may have helped with the secondary bacterial infections like pneumonia, antibiotics have no effect on the flu virus which also led to many of the deaths.
Being curious or fascinated and feeling empathy are not mutually exclusive. Personally, while I definitely feel for the individuals and families involved in accident photos or other gruesome scenes, that does not diminish my objective curiosity. If people were not able to deal with such sights in a detached and medically curious way, who would perform surgeries? Who would be the EMTs or other first responders? The visceral reaction that one experiences when faced with these types of scenes varies in intensity across people (and can certainly be diminished with enough exposure). This is what keeps our emergency rooms operational, our dead properly cared for, and what allows us to move forward in medicine. Although this case is purely sensational in nature, in does not vary materially from the basic subject matter that many within the law enforcement and medical communities must deal with on a daily basis.
Did you seriously just pull a "Please think of the children!11" ?
Having children does not grant a person a carte blanche for unacceptable behavior, and should not be seen as immunity from the consequences behaving in an inexcusable way. If anything, what these officers did would be even WORSE if they were themselves parents -- not only because of the pain they inflicted upon another family, but because they are setting a very poor example for their children as to what constitutes appropriate behavior regarding sensitive topics. Maybe the children (if any) will learn the importance of compassion and decent behavior by seeing what happens when one fails to act in an honorable way. There are plenty of other fields that these "officers" can work in that do not involve the handling of sensitive materials, and I don't think it's unreasonable in light of their actions that they lose their current positions.
I believe the common symbol you are referring to is the pentacle, which is actually a circle and the star, but there is also the symbol used by the Order of the Eastern Star which incorporates the pentagon shape.
The fees for the patent filing itself are less of an issue than the skills needed, which is where the patent attorneys or patent agents make the big bucks and the cost of obtaining patents rises sharply. There are extremely stringent application requirements, and small errors or the failure to include minor details can disqualify the entire patent application. It is often beneficial to the Joe Blow or small company without experience with the process to hire someone if they can afford it (which is a big "if") because the basic knowledge/time/effort needed for a successful outcome can itself be prohibitive.
Fads are great if you think you will be able to capitalize quickly on your investment, but you don't want to be stuck holding the bag when it's all over. Web fads are even more volatile because, unlike tangible goods, there is no "collector's market" after popularity wanes. All you have is a defunct, devalued service that can no longer command the ad revenue to support itself.
I have a real ticket right in front of me. The procedure to pay is to mail the amount listed next to your checked ticket type, so yes this includes all fees. The only fees listed anywhere on the ticket paperwork are for violations that require proof for dismissal, so the fee is in lieu of full payment (10$ + valid registration copy, etc.).
I have the San Diego pricing right in front of me as I am currently (manually) contesting a ticket I received recently. The range is from $25 (expired meter, current registration not displayed) to $65-67 (red zone, fire hydrant, unauthorized airport parking). There is also the $440 disabled parking outlier. The mean for these citations in SD (outlier excluded) is $44.94, with the median and mode at $40.
Slashdot Mirror
Homage? You mean they weren't the same movie?
You seem to be assuming that Delta Vega was a necessary setting and that Spock Prime was necessarily hanging out in an secluded ice cave. The script was fully malleable, and there were a hundred other more plausible potential ways to introduce Kirk to Spock Prime that did not involve an ice planet and a poorly done monster chase.
To me, that entire sequence was incredibly jarring and pulled me out of enjoying of the movie because it was so gratuitous and poorly done. Rather than masking the improbability of Kirk and Spock Prime meeting, the creature just added to how distracting and ridiculous it was that, with an entire deserted ice planet available, this predator (who should have been able to overcome Kirk in a single bound) just happens to chase the protagonist into a tiny cave where another key character has been camping out. And wtf was he doing in the cave anyway? Just chillin'? He knew there was a federation outpost nearby, but instead chose to hang out in the cave? That entire transition was incredibly poorly written in my opinion.
It looks similar to Latin, but actually it's just frequently used nonsense placeholder text.
When a virus is successfully detected and eliminated the alert is a hearty "Q'apla!".
This is a very good point. I work at a consulting firm where the chairman routinely writes books and articles. Although he does end up with some negligible residual income from the book sales, he gives away more copies of his books than he sells, offers his ebooks for free and frequently uses sections of his books and articles in PR outreach. For him, the value of writing is having his name out there and which helps him (and the company) remain relevant. The books and articles are seen as marketing vehicles that help build and reinforce his reputation as an expert in the field, thus contributing to the development of our brand perception and increases our market penetration through awareness of his and our name.
If your books are not selling well, you may want to look at writing more as a hobby and work on developing your career in other ways. If writing is your truly your passion, you may want hone your writing skills to better hook readers and team up with a marketing professional (or get in touch with the marketing department at your publisher), to come up with ways to better reach an audience that will recognize (and pay for) the value of your work.
(I'm not trying to be inflammatory, just honestly asking, but) How is this different from what's occurring now? The ebook is being obtained for free, while printed copies require a purchase. The author states that the free copies are not helping with his sales, so how would him being the source of those free copies change that?
Agreed. I went with a group of 15, made up of mixed company of 20-somethings that ranged from fans of the show(s) to people who had never seen an episode of any of the different series. Everyone in the group loved it, and about half already have plans to see it again (also split between the established show fans and the n00bs). I remember JJ Abrams advising purists to stay home as they would likely be the most disappointed, which seems to be true from many of the reviews I have seen. If you come to it with an open mind and an understanding that it's not a carbon copy of TOS, it can be a totally enjoyable experience.
I'm sorry that you're angry that you got modded down. It may surprise you in your impotent interweb rage that I read that source (not only the wikipedia entry, but the actual SOURCE cited for the line you quoted, which incidentally does NOT contain a breakdown of the proportions between deaths caused by secondary infections and those directly attributable to the flu) prior to making my original posting. If you read my post, you will see that it acknowledges both the role of the secondary pneumonia infections and of the virus itself, and is in no way contradicted by what you wrote in reply, especially since you acknowledge the unusually virulent nature of the virus itself that year.
Your original post did nothing to address that poster's speculations about genetic mutation (which ostensibly would also account for why that strain of flu made one more susceptible to secondary infections than past strains had). In fact, nothing in your post indicated that you understood that antibiotics have no effect on viruses. There are enough people in this discussion, and in general, who believe taking an antibiotic will cure them of the flu, and this overuse is one of the reasons why we have an increasing problem with strains of antibiotic resistant bacteria. It was completely reasonable on my part to point out that antibiotics would not have had any impact on the viral infections.
Hmm, to me that implies that the officers that fill those positions are interchangeable; in order to have younger officers in those positions as a normal practice, there would need to be a relatively high turnover rate as the people in those positions age and rotate with younger crew members. Considering that in all of the shows the bridge crew has been roughly the same for 3-7 years (with limited exceptions), this type of turnover seems unlikely (of course this is also due to the requisite format of a serial story).
I have always thought of the bridge crew as one cohesive team where he relationships between the members need to be developed so they know that they can all count on each other in the face of high stress and crisis. They need to be able to monitor each other and keep each other in check -- something that is difficult if you don't really know who you are dealing with. The bridge crew is responsible for the lives of all crew members, and to have a junior officer screw up could have deadly consequences. For this reason, it seems like it would make more sense to have a relatively stable group where each member is has the experience and proven skill set to manage the ship in a disaster, something that I think would be in the hands of higher-ranked officers.
You think a crew of 50-year-olds like the other Trek movies makes more sense? Actual armies and navies are filled with guys in their 20s and even teens; why not Starfleet?
I'm not the OP, but actually yeah, I do think it would make more sense to have more mature bridge crews. Armies that routinely face physical combat are younger because they have physical strength, speed, resiliency and other advantages because of their youth. Tactical commanders are ofter older. On a starship, experience and sound mental abilities are more important than physical ones, especially for those highest up in the chain of command (which is what the main characters are), so it would make sense to have the more seasoned officers in those positions, rather than a bunch of cadet n00bs - that's like retiring Captain Picard because Wesley Crusher is there to take over. It was also a bit difficult for me to believe that almost every single advanced officer in Starfleet happened to be on duty and indisposed with the rest of the fleet at the time of the crisis.
Obviously the movie had its flaws and I can't address a lot of those questions. However, I do distinctly remember that when Kirk is trying to convince Pike and crew that the lightning storm is actually Romulans, he described the attack on the day of his birth and said that the Romulan ship was "never seen again" (until now)....So I don't know where the hell they were, but that would explain the Federation not going after them (in addition to the Romulans' obvious technological advantage).
What I mean to say is that it's very professionally done- whereas EVERY other star trek movie I've seen has a cringe moment or two, where you go .. eeeek that's an awkward scene.
I got that eeeky feeling at the completely unnecessary Hoth scene.
Tell me, in nature, what type of predator chases its prey down, essentially catches it, and then proceeds just to yell at it (multiple times!)? Really?! And incidentally, with an entire deserted ice planet available, said creature just happens to chase the protagonist into a tiny cave where another key character has been camping out?
That entire segment was extremely cringe-worthy for me. Loved the rest though, despite its flaws.
My understanding was that there was some amount of genetic reassortment that allowed the swine flu to be infectious to humans, and to transmit human to human. This altered virus is then somewhat different than the swine flu that typically infects swine, so I think that (in addition to not previously being documented) it is seen as interesting that the virus would jump back to the swine population after mutation. Of course, I may be completely wrong about this, and I encourage anyone better versed in virology to correct me.
While that may have helped with the secondary bacterial infections like pneumonia, antibiotics have no effect on the flu virus which also led to many of the deaths.
Shotgun blast to the head has always worked for me.
Being curious or fascinated and feeling empathy are not mutually exclusive. Personally, while I definitely feel for the individuals and families involved in accident photos or other gruesome scenes, that does not diminish my objective curiosity. If people were not able to deal with such sights in a detached and medically curious way, who would perform surgeries? Who would be the EMTs or other first responders? The visceral reaction that one experiences when faced with these types of scenes varies in intensity across people (and can certainly be diminished with enough exposure). This is what keeps our emergency rooms operational, our dead properly cared for, and what allows us to move forward in medicine. Although this case is purely sensational in nature, in does not vary materially from the basic subject matter that many within the law enforcement and medical communities must deal with on a daily basis.
Did you seriously just pull a "Please think of the children!11" ?
Having children does not grant a person a carte blanche for unacceptable behavior, and should not be seen as immunity from the consequences behaving in an inexcusable way. If anything, what these officers did would be even WORSE if they were themselves parents -- not only because of the pain they inflicted upon another family, but because they are setting a very poor example for their children as to what constitutes appropriate behavior regarding sensitive topics. Maybe the children (if any) will learn the importance of compassion and decent behavior by seeing what happens when one fails to act in an honorable way. There are plenty of other fields that these "officers" can work in that do not involve the handling of sensitive materials, and I don't think it's unreasonable in light of their actions that they lose their current positions.
I believe the common symbol you are referring to is the pentacle, which is actually a circle and the star, but there is also the symbol used by the Order of the Eastern Star which incorporates the pentagon shape.
So there actually are people who "just read it for the articles"...Who knew?
The fees for the patent filing itself are less of an issue than the skills needed, which is where the patent attorneys or patent agents make the big bucks and the cost of obtaining patents rises sharply. There are extremely stringent application requirements, and small errors or the failure to include minor details can disqualify the entire patent application. It is often beneficial to the Joe Blow or small company without experience with the process to hire someone if they can afford it (which is a big "if") because the basic knowledge/time/effort needed for a successful outcome can itself be prohibitive.
He's color blind, you insensitive clod!
Furbys were inane too.
And look what happened to them...
Fads are great if you think you will be able to capitalize quickly on your investment, but you don't want to be stuck holding the bag when it's all over. Web fads are even more volatile because, unlike tangible goods, there is no "collector's market" after popularity wanes. All you have is a defunct, devalued service that can no longer command the ad revenue to support itself.
I have a real ticket right in front of me. The procedure to pay is to mail the amount listed next to your checked ticket type, so yes this includes all fees. The only fees listed anywhere on the ticket paperwork are for violations that require proof for dismissal, so the fee is in lieu of full payment (10$ + valid registration copy, etc.).
I have the San Diego pricing right in front of me as I am currently (manually) contesting a ticket I received recently. The range is from $25 (expired meter, current registration not displayed) to $65-67 (red zone, fire hydrant, unauthorized airport parking). There is also the $440 disabled parking outlier. The mean for these citations in SD (outlier excluded) is $44.94, with the median and mode at $40.
Necrophilia: Lean back and crack open a cold one.