MajorHavoc

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MajorHavoc ,

Indeed. It is, I daresay, fucking perfect.

MajorHavoc ,

“… And the person doesn’t even know…” This dude is bad at this.

Y’all, if you work in my field and I buy you lunch, it’s because I’m trying to hire you.

But you won’t have to wonder. I’ll start the conversation with something subtle, like “I’m buying today because I’m trying to hire you.”

It…uh…works. Really well. Stay tuned for more insightful tips, I guess.

MajorHavoc ,

Yep. And I’m saying that when he gets better at it, he will call them, ask them to grab lunch, and openly say at the start of lunch “I’m buying because there’s this thing I might want to hire you for, and I want to talk about it during lunch”.

I’ve head-hunted people over the course of five years, myself. But they knew it, because I bought them lunch at least once per year to talk about how I’m a fan of their work.

This dude is likely to be disappointed because while he’s been thinking about job fit for 5 years, his ideal candidate hasn’t thought about him at all.

MajorHavoc ,

As the old saying goes, “There’s only one winner in an IPO. His name is George. He makes bank on each one. Everyone else leaves the situation worse off, either immediately, or later, unless George tips them off when to sell.”

On the end of Discovery

I have mixed feelings about Disco ending. I really dug the first season’s look at a Federation at war, and following the person who arguably set that war in motion dealing with her culpability. Add to that a ship that is part weird science lab, part haunted house. And yeah, I could live with the Klingon redesign....

MajorHavoc ,

I liked the crying alien. Trek is full of zany Q-like entities whose whims cause fallout for everyone else.

MajorHavoc ,

Here’s a controversial opinion for y’all: The season of Discovery with the broken remnants of the Federation examining how and if to bring back the Federation is the best season of Trek ever made, to date.

MajorHavoc ,

Yeah. Maybe too bold…I’m reconsidering my stance after some points were made about later seasons of DS9. Later DS9 seasons were fantastic.

MajorHavoc ,

I liked the big reveal, but I can see how it wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea.

Partial SpoilerNormally when Trek is going to do a Trelane or Q story, it’s introduced early in the story. This was a weird left turn at the end, and leaves us wondering if any plotline later will also do so. I didn’t mind it in this season, because the season was so focused on about values and tradition, so I wasn’t expecting a hard scifi conclusion. Realizing they were ‘doing a Doctor Who’, wasn’t too shocking to me. But as much as I thought it fit here, it’s a weird way to resolve a Trek season, and I hope we don’t get that approach often.

MajorHavoc ,

After careful thought…I’ll yield to season 7 of DS9. You pulled out the big guns. Haha.

MajorHavoc ,

Also also also Quark makes the point that he had programmed the drinks replicator to be even better than a regular one, so you’re also paying for that.

Great point.

And to be clear, by “programmed” we mean “installed weird sketchy dark web firmware, some of which he happened to write and sell himself” and by “even better” we mean “breaks lot of Federation food safety rules in fun ways”.

MajorHavoc ,

I don’t think being fickle and being competent are necessarily linked.

Quiting when management makes a “fuck you” policy isn’t fickleness, it’s common sense, for those who can.

Job mobility and talent are strongly measurably connected.

“Fuck you” policies lose top talent.

It’s not an interesting discussion. Grab your popcorn and wait for the “find out” phase to come around.

And if you own stock, focus on mid-cap for awhile, beacuse the large-cap players are doubling down on “fuck around”.

MajorHavoc ,

They’re looking at trends, not individuals. Individuals don’t matter to them.

Exactly.

They’re going to learn better, but it’s going to be an expensive process.

The irony is that the average worker already knows better.

“Name two people at your workplace who, if they quit, everything will go to shit.”

We can all do it. Only the CEO can’t. And many of us would name differet people at the same workplace, and still be correct. But the CEO rarely knows that, or more likely can only name two, themselves, when their real risk is closer to 200.

MajorHavoc ,

In the best case, mentoring.

In the worst case, produce carbon dioxide, which the plants would need if they weren’t plastic and only in the central office thousands of miles away.

MajorHavoc ,

You’re right logically.

I suspect the difference we see in reality is due to graft, bribery, money laundering and outright fraud that went into those contract negotiations.

MajorHavoc ,

I also rotate them quarterly, but since Paramount’s app has like 14 tracker libraries, it’s not part of my quarterly rotation.

MajorHavoc ,

Neat.

Incidentally, Jonathan Frakes now directs fantastic episodes of television.

Many science fiction shows have had Jonathan Frakes direct just an episode or two, and they usually end up being favorites.

MajorHavoc ,

Yeah. I keep seeing this and thinking,

“That’s a bold play for a luxury brand whose leading competition comes in affordable bulk tins for home use.”

Here’s my soap box:

I expect the gasoline industry to act like assholes all the way to their solar-powered graves.

But seeing overpriced coffee try it boggles my mind.

The CEOs of Starbucks, movies, streaming television and music production have clearly alienated that one friend they could trust to tell them they’re being idiots.

In case any of the CEOs are reading along, I’m going to be that final friend to you now:

“The demand in your industry is something called highly elastic. That means that people given any motivation whatsoever to boycott your product will take decades, at minimum, to return to using it, if they ever do. It’s easier and more economical to just pay your workers a fair living wage. If you honestly can’t afford to pay a fair living wage, that is okay, you may stop now, no one actually needs your product.”

And for any really dumb CEOs reading along: “Home coffee grinders are pretty great.”

MajorHavoc ,

Yeah, same here. I am deeply pissed that they decided I could pay for a monthly subscription in exchange for their dropping my previous purchase history.

I guess, this is another boycott I got an early start on.

I feel like the party just started and I’m already out of snacks… /s

MajorHavoc ,

Avast! When there be no way to pay gold doubloons for a thing, I sit patiently in me boat and save me doubloons for a chance to legally purchase a collectors edition later.

I’ve heard tales of lost shows found on the high seas, but I take no part in that, myself. O’course, I’d never judge a soul who did.

But perhaps all good sailors do as I do. Perhaps they he equally unwilling to sail the friendly high seas on a VPN in search of lost treasure.

Surely Paramount will make good profits on this twisted venture. Yarrr.

If ye agree with me that this might be, I’ve a bridge I been meaning to sell to an investor as thoughtful at Paramount…

MajorHavoc ,

120 of 177 positions vacant.

Sounds like they’re already well into the “and find out” portion of the equation.

MajorHavoc ,

Yeah. There’s no need for an off-screen tragic backstory to drive Worf toward samurai pacificism.

His valuing both his Klingon and Federation heritages was always going to take him there. I’m glad they cut that scene.

MajorHavoc ,

“Borg…? Sounds Swedish.”

Lily has a good number of my favorite Trek quotes. Her delivery is perfect, and the script to First Contact is fantastic.

MajorHavoc ,

Riker “I thought you said you were a pacifist?”

Worf “I did.”

MajorHavoc ,

“I swore I would never use one of these. Computer, activate the emergency medical hologram.”

“State the nature of the medical emergency.”

“A dozen Borg are about to pound through that bulkhead. I need you to buy us some time.”

“Starfleet medical records indicate that Borg implants cause substantial discomfort. Can I offer you an analgesic?”

MajorHavoc ,

Yeah, I skipped a few great lines in there because I couldn’t remember them.

MajorHavoc ,

It’s pretty fun. Their behind-the-scenes perspectives have been enjoyable.

Is Congress Going to Kill Credit Card Rewards? ( www.nerdwallet.com )

Legislation known as the Credit Card Competition Act, first introduced in Congress in 2022, is described by its sponsors as encouraging “competition in electronic credit transactions.” But if lawmakers end up passing the measure, opponents say it could also torpedo the rich rewards and perks that cardholders have enjoyed for...

MajorHavoc ,

Dude whose job it is to rip off consumers says “consumers will lose”.

I’m sold. Pass that law. If the CC company bozos are against it, it’s probably a good thing.

This reads as “if our prices have to be competitive, we’re cancelling our bullshit programs where you could game back some of the money we took from you.”

Yeah. We know you won’t be able to afford that, because we will still have all of that money. That’s the point.

Edit: “Let them eat cake.”

MajorHavoc ,

I imagine it probably helps that the Paramount app has permission to know seemingly everything happening on viewers phones. Might help tune the scripts or something. As assume that’s what the 14 required permissions are for.

MajorHavoc ,

Aye!

MajorHavoc ,

Agreed. But seasons 6 and 7 of many shows are their peak.

MajorHavoc ,

Neat. Are the writers and actors going to be there?

Pointed look at Paramount contract negotiations team…

How Many Star Trek Episodes Pass the Bechdel Test? (TOS to ENT) | The Mary Sue ( www.themarysue.com )

I found this after reading and responding to this post here about early Trek fans’ prejudicial negative reaction to TNG. One of my responses (see here) was to point out that any fans of the progressiveness of Trek ought to have been mindful of the room for improvement over TOS, with female representation being an obvious...

MajorHavoc ,

This is awesome. Thanks for sharing it!

Discovery probably fares pretty well in early seasons, considering how central Burnam and Tilly are.

MajorHavoc ,

“Federation” is fantastic. It has a slow start, but the ending is well worth it. Plus it has lots of Zephram Cochrane in it.

I’ve not read it myself yet, but I’ve heard great things about “I Q”.

MajorHavoc ,

It’s fair to have expected TNG to be a cash grab. I’m sure TNG was a cash grab among all the other things it was. We all want to get paid, after all. I’m just glad it turned out to be so much more as well.

I’m reminded of the letters page of Aquaman in the issue after he lost his hand.

“To those of you saying we did it for the shock value, we have this to say for ourselves: we sure didn’t do it for the boredom value.”

MajorHavoc ,

I’m glad to hear that’s in place. It’s almost literally the least we could do. It’s wild that we needed a law for that.

I would be surprised if there’s many people in the US earning under $32.8k and successfully making every loan payment, anyway.

Seems like the program just acknowledges what ought to happen anyway.

MajorHavoc ,

The deal was that the education would get you more income, and specifically a living wage. If that didn’t happen, I approve of taking your refund any way you can.

MajorHavoc ,

I love this discussion.

Star Trek VI is precious to me for reasons of special memories seeing it with my father. So I know I watch it with rose colored glasses.

It’s neat to see some validation that it’s actually really good film.

MajorHavoc ,
  1. Star Trek VI - The Undiscovered Country - Wild card, I watched this with my dad, so it’s my overall favorite for personal reasons. I’ll defer to others on whether it really belongs at #1.
  2. First Contact - Viola Davis is a national treasure and her performance elevates this film.
  3. Voyage Home - The OG cast performing in peak conditions.
  4. Wrath of Khan - It’s ricidulous to put this masterpiece this low on my list. I’m sorry, and I will rethink my life.
  5. Generations - Has a little is everything. I probably rank it higher because it is a celebration of Trek history. But that said, for the number of cast and cameos, this is a surprisingly great movie.
  6. 09 Yes, it’s a popcorn blockbuster, but Chris Helmsworth’s opening scene is a masterful performance, and plenty of solid Star Trek follows. Zoe Saldana is a national treasure and elevates this movie. Leonard Nimoy delivers another fantastic performance.
  7. Beyond - The Yorktown is one of the coolest things I’ve seen in scifi, and the movie is solid.
  8. Nemesis - An important chapter in Brent Spiner’s decades long perfected Pinochio story.
  9. Into darkness - Zoe Saldana is a national treasure and is unfortunately not in the remaining films in my list. I’m saying this tongue-in-cheek since plenty of Trek actors deserve highlighted here.

After this point, I really like the remaining films, but not enough to have strong feelings to rank them.

10-12) Search, Insurrection, Final Frontier

…

  1. The Motion Picture - Still a pretty great film, but the pacing issues prevent me from rewatching it often.
MajorHavoc ,

Can we all agree to refer to 09 as Star Trek: Mountain Dew, from now on?

I love the film, but it’s a fair nickname.

MajorHavoc ,

I need to retract my answer for my failure to include Galaxy Quest.

MajorHavoc ,

I feel like that violin is probably written in C. Or maybe Go. Has anyone made this yet? I might have my next weekend project

MajorHavoc ,

Markdown is gaining traction. There’s lots of tools that will edit and display Markdown consistently, and without a dedicated tool, it’s just a very readable text file.

And, most importantly for today, it’s easy to generate a PDF file from, haha.

MajorHavoc ,

Good point. Markdown is easily turned into PDF for that use case.

MajorHavoc ,

Most environments will correctly format a Markdown document without any trouble now if sending it to a co-editor.

If it needs to be tamper resistant, it’s easily converted to PDF.

What’s not especially easy, today, is adding advanced styling (like a watermark) to Markdown, since Markdown itself has no provision for it. I accomplish that through a connected CSS file, but that’s a bit of an advanced move.

MajorHavoc ,

Great points.

I generate my resume from Markdown, but I use a special CSS file I created so that the final PDF has the layout I want. Which is not a trick must Markdown editors can do yet.

MajorHavoc ,

Your mother really can open and print a Markdown file now. It has come that far.

But I totally agree with your core point. The gulf between “most environments” and “everywhere” is still a big deal.

That said, for those who hate creating PDF files, I know of a great pure text format that converts very nicely to PDF.

Star Trek executive producer wants more Strange New Worlds episodes, and I’m nervous ( screenrant.com )

Strange New Worlds has been my favorite Trek since Next Generation, and if the quality continues, could easily be my favorite Trek ever. But with the e.p. wishing for more episodes per season, there’s a danger of diluting the show by adding weak episodes that would have never made it in a 10 episode season....

MajorHavoc ,

I hope Melissa continues to find the fandom to be a source of surrogate family. It was nice to see the fandom’s outpouring of empathy and support after her tragic loss. It’s not the same, but since it seems to have given her some comfort, I hope that dynamic can be something special for her for a long time.

MajorHavoc ,

The union fees part is hilariously silly. Better salary from collective bargaining more than makes up for a membership fee.

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