Enterprise was impossibly politically correct and too technologically sophisticated and basically didn't even fit with existing canon.
The ship should hve been more primitive. The conflicts should have been more primitive and cold war-ish. It should have been more like the old days when you saw people different than you, many of them just attacked right away and did terrible things if they had the upper hand.
It should have been as close to 'hard' sci-fi as possible (no phasers, etc).
You think about Kirk's comments about war with the romulans- the use of nuclear warheads- things like that.
Battlestar has done it right so far.
I love bakula and quantum leap and I think they could have pulled off a good enterprise. But they failed.
Would have been someone cool to have the first time he transports use the QL visual affect tho.;)
For me the conflict between carrie, mark, and harrison was what made the movies great until the conflict between mark and james developed.
Even Lando + Harrison was a big source of conflict.
---
I really didnt' see a darn thing on the actors faces and body language in the bad star wars films. Jar Jar was the only character in the entire set of movies that seemed to get viewers and characters to feel an emotion (best scene- when Mr. Master Jedi got irritated at him for spearing fruit with his tongue).
Charge you with rape, won't stick. Charge you with hate crime, won't stick. Charge you with assault, won't stick. Charge you with battery, won't stick. Charge you with violating civil rights- gotcha. (and they had five or six other things left before they ran out too).
The government has created a LOT of crimes and selectively enforces them. Partially for efficiency- and partially based on if they want to get you or not. If you are too small- you may drop through the cracks- not worth it. If you are too big relative to the crime you commited- you pull some strings, hire a hot shot lawyer and get off. If you are just right or you really pissed powerful people off... they come after you like terminators until they get you for something.
"Look, she broke the law and is going to do 12 years of hard time."
If the punishment for this is a fine equal to.001% of her income, then why would any other executive not do the same thing to get a.01% increase in compensation?
I think many series devolve because they become afraid to have the characters grow and change. Since nothing new is happening, all they can do is repeat things
Well that's not always true...
Many "light hearted" series (Xena.. Hercules.. come to mind) go "deep" and "dark" after a few seasons.
Huge areas of the US are desert or only barely avoiding being desert. California has basically built a pipe around some entire rivers and runs them straight to the coast. Another huge portion is taken up by moutainous terrain. And enormous areas are taken up by farming- entire states where you can drive a hundred miles and only see rows of crops.
Everyone crowds around the coasts mostly- because that is where the work is these days. Since folks are so crowded- dealing with the waste is more expensive.
Festivals, fairs, and amusement parks that were fun 20 years ago are now so grossly crowded that you are pushing through masses of people shoulder to shoulder. Part of that is yield management of course- the amusement park isn't going to stop where it is fun- they are going to stop just before where it gets so bad that people stop going.
When a study funded by IBM reports "increased need for Software Engineers" and the next page over you read that IBM is laying of 7,000 american SE's and hiring 7,000 foreign SE's, you have to wonder.
IT is *hard*. IT requires *constant* retraining.
Why should a person do that when they can get an easier degree that pays the same money (and has the potential to pay lots more) and has more stability?
No... There was a recent change where now they can break in without those provacations. They have done this. They have done this to innocent people when they accidentally went to the wrong house. I'm not sure - but someone may have even had a gun in one of these cases (memory is a bit foggy here).
Privacy is a derived right. You do not have an explicit right to privacy. It was interpreted into the constitution based on explicit rights granted therein.
It's amazing how much we waste our youth by not allowing them to work. How many hours of productivity we waste by making companies pay for overtime. And then there are all those pesky environmental laws to prevent dumping of toxic waste straight into the drinking water.
Then there are the annual taxes higher than most people in the world earn required to pay for police (several in texas were found to be making *over* $120k per year lately) and government officials (over $100k).
And then there's entertainment-- that we pay an average of six to ten times the price (for the *exact* same product in many cases)
The cost of living here is high. It is *very* much a relative thing. It's being evened out.
Then there are government taxes (about five TIMES the annual income in india) - a large portion of which goes to provide hundreds of millions of dollars of support to poor people all over the world (and I don't even get a charitable deduction for them). Another large portion of which goes to pay for support of old and sick people. And another large portion of which goes to an obscenely powerful military which is used to protect other countries so they don't need to pay for a full military (and to be fair- the US probably doesn't want them to so it's really a benefit to the US).
We get two bloody weeks a year vacation and the rest of the time spend 11 hours a day working or doing things for work. The shirts we wear to work (same as you) cost 10 times as much. We are basically being raped by corporations who even have laws passed preventing us from purchasing the cheap products that you can buy and shipping them here directly (so hey- we might pay $5 for a polo shirt instead of $15 to $28).
A very small- rich- elite has this wonderful life.
I'll give you a clue-- you know those "poor" "lower class" folks they show struggling in movies and television shows? Most people in america could not afford the cars they drive (often what the rest of us would call "luxury" cars) or the home they live in (usually like a 600k to 700k house is shown as supposedly "middle class") and don't have the jobs they work at (doctor, manager at a big company).
A lot of people are in debt so deep they will leave it for their children. There's great medicine to cure you- if you have insurance or are rich or you are poor enough to qualify for some obscure government program (which the rest of us pay for).
--- I'm okay personally. I've been saving hard since I was 26 tho. I've been to Europe - once. I rarely see movies- and mainly get my entertainment from playing sports and dancing (which I could do anywhere in the world).
The main benefit of america is not the rich life- there are millions of poor people here. The main benefit has been freedom to live as you want and a public school system that made it possible to work and live with people widely varying religious and political beliefs because they believed in america. That and a government which mostly left you alone unless you started pissing a lot of other people off.
I think we should have about 5k a year of basic health care.
Over that- leave it like it is now.
The problem is- that a few years- decades later, *everything* will be covered (including 2 million a year hopeless cases) and the *average* cost will be $40k per living american- which they won't pay but they will tack on to the deficit until our currency collapses.
Won't any kind of government hand out encourage people who have no interest in working?
Your example of the mother with six children is apt. There are some mothers of six children we shoud support... the wife of a dead veteran- perhaps even the wife of a man who was killed or died early.
However, the serial mother of six children by six unknown fathers should not get a dime.
A mother who hasn't mastered the skills to earn a wage that will support six children *should not* be having six children.
I agree we need a basic safety net of some kind. Basic healthcare sure. Not so sure about "food and lodging" since we have seen that leads to a growing underclass happy to do nothing (or do illegal black market type stuff) and get basic food and lodging. The problem is that "basic healthcare" would rapidly be extended to cover 100k cancer treatments which we just can't afford for everyone.
Okay... Well I can see where you are coming from. I was there myself 20 years ago.
I've come to believe that companies will artificially supress wages and a few people will be excessively compensated if the government doesn't intervene.
I really do think these days we need very high taxes on the wealthiest and minimum wages for the poorest if we want to sustain our society. Right now we are headed towards a bad place at a moderate pace.
But it took me about 20 years to move to that conclusion.
Slashdot Mirror
In an ideal world, the SE that gave a realistic estimate of 300 hours would get the contract.
In the real world, the SE who says it will take 150 hours and then extends it to 300 hours for various reasons gets the contract.
to discover people making 15% of 1st world wages can be corrupted with large amounts of money for valuable private data.
It would be no different in the 1st world-- except it would take about six times as much money to corrupt them at the same level.
Bots don't come from CNN and slashdot.
The observed porn and gambling surfing by govt employees becomes a national security risk.
Enterprise was impossibly politically correct and too technologically sophisticated and basically didn't even fit with existing canon.
;)
The ship should hve been more primitive.
The conflicts should have been more primitive and cold war-ish. It should have been more like the old days when you saw people different than you, many of them just attacked right away and did terrible things if they had the upper hand.
It should have been as close to 'hard' sci-fi as possible (no phasers, etc).
You think about Kirk's comments about war with the romulans- the use of nuclear warheads- things like that.
Battlestar has done it right so far.
I love bakula and quantum leap and I think they could have pulled off a good enterprise.
But they failed.
Would have been someone cool to have the first time he transports use the QL visual affect tho.
How much is left for the rest of the government employees? ;)
You are simply gone the next day and "all questions must be referred to HR".
They are very aggressive about this kinda stuff because otherwise their insurance will go through the roof.
---
And yes.. I am home sick today.
But they PROMISED us if we stopped pirating films, the little guys would get to keep their jobs!
NOOOOOOOooooooooo!!!!!!
They are solid actors and added gravitus.
For me the conflict between carrie, mark, and harrison was what made the movies great until the conflict between mark and james developed.
Even Lando + Harrison was a big source of conflict.
---
I really didnt' see a darn thing on the actors faces and body language in the bad star wars films. Jar Jar was the only character in the entire set of movies that seemed to get viewers and characters to feel an emotion (best scene- when Mr. Master Jedi got irritated at him for spearing fruit with his tongue).
I didn't take his example that way.
His point seemed to be.
Charge you with rape, won't stick.
Charge you with hate crime, won't stick.
Charge you with assault, won't stick.
Charge you with battery, won't stick.
Charge you with violating civil rights- gotcha.
(and they had five or six other things left before they ran out too).
The government has created a LOT of crimes and selectively enforces them.
Partially for efficiency- and partially based on if they want to get you or not.
If you are too small- you may drop through the cracks- not worth it.
If you are too big relative to the crime you commited- you pull some strings, hire a hot shot lawyer and get off.
If you are just right or you really pissed powerful people off... they come after you like terminators until they get you for something.
Jail is also a punishment example.
.001% of her income, then why would any other executive not do the same thing to get a .01% increase in compensation?
"Look, she broke the law and is going to do 12 years of hard time."
If the punishment for this is a fine equal to
I think many series devolve because they become afraid to have the characters grow and change. Since nothing new is happening, all they can do is repeat things
Well that's not always true...
Many "light hearted" series (Xena.. Hercules.. come to mind) go "deep" and "dark" after a few seasons.
I found light sabre duels with no words and no character conflict to be pretty empty.
Bad kung fu movies have more character conflict that Darth Maul and Mr. Master Jedi.
That was what was great about the real #1 to #3 and what was so lacking from the new #1 to #3.
Huge areas of the US are desert or only barely avoiding being desert.
California has basically built a pipe around some entire rivers and runs them straight to the coast.
Another huge portion is taken up by moutainous terrain.
And enormous areas are taken up by farming- entire states where you can drive a hundred miles and only see rows of crops.
Everyone crowds around the coasts mostly- because that is where the work is these days.
Since folks are so crowded- dealing with the waste is more expensive.
Festivals, fairs, and amusement parks that were fun 20 years ago are now so grossly crowded that you are pushing through masses of people shoulder to shoulder. Part of that is yield management of course- the amusement park isn't going to stop where it is fun- they are going to stop just before where it gets so bad that people stop going.
You're probably right about the flamebait.
/. tho.
I wouldn't fault someone for simplifying on
We are not writing great texts of history- just having a conversation.
Well..
When a study funded by IBM reports "increased need for Software Engineers" and the next page over you read that IBM is laying of 7,000 american SE's and hiring 7,000 foreign SE's, you have to wonder.
IT is *hard*. IT requires *constant* retraining.
Why should a person do that when they can get an easier degree that pays the same money (and has the potential to pay lots more) and has more stability?
It doesn't necessarily mean they think it was flame bait. Just that they disagreed with you.
Sucky modding happens all the time.
No... There was a recent change where now they can break in without those provacations. They have done this. They have done this to innocent people when they accidentally went to the wrong house. I'm not sure - but someone may have even had a gun in one of these cases (memory is a bit foggy here).
Privacy is a derived right. You do not have an explicit right to privacy. It was interpreted into the constitution based on explicit rights granted therein.
And then is it chihuahua or irish setter dog balls we are talking about?
I know.
It's amazing how much we waste our youth by not allowing them to work.
How many hours of productivity we waste by making companies pay for overtime.
And then there are all those pesky environmental laws to prevent dumping of toxic waste straight into the drinking water.
Then there are the annual taxes higher than most people in the world earn required to pay for police (several in texas were found to be making *over* $120k per year lately) and government officials (over $100k).
And then there's entertainment-- that we pay an average of six to ten times the price (for the *exact* same product in many cases)
The cost of living here is high. It is *very* much a relative thing. It's being evened out.
Then there are government taxes (about five TIMES the annual income in india) - a large portion of which goes to provide hundreds of millions of dollars of support to poor people all over the world (and I don't even get a charitable deduction for them). Another large portion of which goes to pay for support of old and sick people. And another large portion of which goes to an obscenely powerful military which is used to protect other countries so they don't need to pay for a full military (and to be fair- the US probably doesn't want them to so it's really a benefit to the US).
We get two bloody weeks a year vacation and the rest of the time spend 11 hours a day working or doing things for work. The shirts we wear to work (same as you) cost 10 times as much. We are basically being raped by corporations who even have laws passed preventing us from purchasing the cheap products that you can buy and shipping them here directly (so hey- we might pay $5 for a polo shirt instead of $15 to $28).
A very small- rich- elite has this wonderful life.
I'll give you a clue-- you know those "poor" "lower class" folks they show struggling in movies and television shows? Most people in america could not afford the cars they drive (often what the rest of us would call "luxury" cars) or the home they live in (usually like a 600k to 700k house is shown as supposedly "middle class") and don't have the jobs they work at (doctor, manager at a big company).
A lot of people are in debt so deep they will leave it for their children. There's great medicine to cure you- if you have insurance or are rich or you are poor enough to qualify for some obscure government program (which the rest of us pay for).
---
I'm okay personally. I've been saving hard since I was 26 tho. I've been to Europe - once. I rarely see movies- and mainly get my entertainment from playing sports and dancing (which I could do anywhere in the world).
The main benefit of america is not the rich life- there are millions of poor people here.
The main benefit has been freedom to live as you want and a public school system that made it possible to work and live with people widely varying religious and political beliefs because they believed in america. That and a government which mostly left you alone unless you started pissing a lot of other people off.
Lotus won't run.
I'm having trouble thinking of a clever new version for MacAfee and Symantic.
Vista isn't ready until it's broken MacAfee?
I think we should have about 5k a year of basic health care.
Over that- leave it like it is now.
The problem is- that a few years- decades later, *everything* will be covered (including 2 million a year hopeless cases) and the *average* cost will be $40k per living american- which they won't pay but they will tack on to the deficit until our currency collapses.
I agree with just about everything you say...
except...
I'm not sure africa is going to be a viable labor market. Nor will most of afganistan.
There are large areas of the world that are just too unstable even for piece work.
Oh it gets worse than that.
They group lots of laws together (sometimes hundreds of pages long) and present them to the president as one law to sign or veto.
And when the president wants the ability to veto an individual law- they call it an expansion of presidential power (aka. the line item veto).
Really each law should pass solo and be signed or vetoed solo.
I see where you are coming from.
Won't any kind of government hand out encourage people who have no interest in working?
Your example of the mother with six children is apt. There are some mothers of six children we shoud support... the wife of a dead veteran- perhaps even the wife of a man who was killed or died early.
However, the serial mother of six children by six unknown fathers should not get a dime.
A mother who hasn't mastered the skills to earn a wage that will support six children *should not* be having six children.
I agree we need a basic safety net of some kind. Basic healthcare sure. Not so sure about "food and lodging" since we have seen that leads to a growing underclass happy to do nothing (or do illegal black market type stuff) and get basic food and lodging. The problem is that "basic healthcare" would rapidly be extended to cover 100k cancer treatments which we just can't afford for everyone.
Okay...
Well I can see where you are coming from. I was there myself 20 years ago.
I've come to believe that companies will artificially supress wages and a few people will be excessively compensated if the government doesn't intervene.
I really do think these days we need very high taxes on the wealthiest and minimum wages for the poorest if we want to sustain our society. Right now we are headed towards a bad place at a moderate pace.
But it took me about 20 years to move to that conclusion.