In a conversation with Mike Solan, the head of the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild, Seattle Police Department officer and SPOG vice president Daniel Auderer minimized the killing of 23-year-old student Jaahnavi Kandula by police officer Kevin Dave and joked that she had “limited value” as a “regular person” who was only...
My partner is into DS9 and suggested we watch some last night. For some reason episode 1 was not available on Amazon Prime.(?) We watched Past Prologue and A Man Alone. As someone who is only barely familiar with the Star Trek universe, here are my thoughts:...
TNG had some multipart episodes and some plot lines that ran across the better part of a season, but the entirety of DS9 takes place against a continuous plot line.
"Entirety" is doing a lot of work in that sentence, IMO. While there is a general setting and eventually a serialized plot, it really doesn't get to the point where there's a continuous story until at minimum season 3 and in practice doesn't stop being episodic until even later.
Even once the main baddies are introduced--which does not actually happen until the final episode of season 2--there are still multiple self-contained episodes that have nothing to do with any kind of ongoing story or character development.
Don't get me wrong, compared to TNG and even Voyager or Enterprise, DS9 definitely had a story in mind that took multiple seasons to tell, but it's not like things were carefully known from the beginning. Lots of details change or are quietly retrofitted to fit better once the writers knew where things were actually headed. And that's fine, by the way! There is still a great story to be told.
I am usually on the other side of this argument, in that my main enjoyment of Star Trek is the exploration of ideas and morality plays that we get from TOS, TNG and the early seasons of Voyager. The utopian setting and unrealistic morality of all the main characters in TNG especially are what makes an episode exploring the nature of individuality or whatever topic work so well.
I enjoy DS9 for what it is, but it also set the stage for modern Trek which is so obsessed with "realism" and galaxy-spanning plotlines in a way that I do not enjoy. If I want to watch just an episode or two, I always reach for TNG or Voyager, but if I want to do a longer re-watch then DS9 is definitely my preferred choice.
Episodic is not always a bad thing, and sometimes it is actually a very important feature! I wish modern TV writers and producers would have the same perspective about serialization, but in reverse.
Completely agree. The first two seasons are criticized for using leftover TNG scripts. While I think a lot of that is due to the nature of episodic TV production in the 90s, I also think those seasons are incredibly necessary to establish the context of the Federation and how that differs to other cultures in the galaxy (and even on the fringes of the Federation itself). The connection to TNG and the overlap with Voyager also goes a long way to establishing the ethos and morality that the rest of the DS9 story is commenting on.
Take away that foundation and backstory, and you just have another generic space opera.
I agree with all of this. The Borg Cube especially was very difficult to assemble, and I've done some pretty big official Lego sets so I'm used to a good challenge. I had to resort to gluing some parts in place, as some of the plates were bent and just would not stay in place while I worked on the next side.
I also really came to dislike the tiny black pieces they use to add studs to the bottom of some bricks. Too small, too hard to insert, and way too easy to just roll away and never be found.
That said, the final product looks fine and nobody ever questions if they are legitimate sets or not. I don't regret the purchases, just didn't enjoy the build process like I normally do.
Putting Generations and Insurrection below Into Darkness is a slight I won't tolerate. Whatever flaws those movies had, they at least tried to explore something about the human condition.
Big fan of Insurrection getting some respect! I love it for being the big budget, high production mashup of TNG that it clearly is, even though it also doubles down on the Picard-as-Action-Hero trend that ends up ruining Nemesis (IMO).
They are also worse than random chance at actually doing the one thing police claim technology can't match: drug and bomb sniffing. Dogs just want to go take a nap or get a treat, and their handlers are cops who just think everything is suspicious so of course they get lots of "hits".
It's essentially the same bullshit that hoodwinked the world with Coco the "signing" guerilla for a couple of decades.
Even if it was a known murderer, there is zero practical reason to engage in a projected car chase.
Not to mention, why do we need armed militia to enforce traffic laws? you know, the thing that usually has a maximum penalty in the hundreds of dollars? These aren't even real crimes! Somehow we figured out that parking meters don't need guns or tasers, but why did we stop there?
Another example to show the double-standard is the public education vs charter schools debate. The same people that are anti-choice regarding abortion are very pro-choice when it comes to how their tax dollars are spent on education, and in both cases the underlying motivation is wanting to use the mechanisms of the state to advance their religion.
New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley are introducing bipartisan legislation that would prevent members of the executive and legislative branches — as well as their spouses and children — from trading individual company stocks.
I bet they would be well supported if they opened up donations (if that hasn't already happened). From what I have gathered, the community funds that WAG and other unions manage have been incredibly well supported so far.
You are just wrong. Absolute numbers are not relevant when discussing trends because, guess what, the population of the whole world has increased in the last 70 years. Shocking news!
Povery rates are approximately half of what it was in 1958, when the Census bureau began tracking data. The rate bottomed out in 2019 but then went back up in 2020 (bet you can guess why), and is now trending down again.
If you only care about ideology and not actual people that are suffering every day, then yeah, giving up and letting other people solve the problem is the best thing you can do.
Star Trek’s level of medical care is far more advanced than today’s. As Beckett says in LD, “Doc will wave a light over it.” Yet, in Star Trek people aren’t shown doing hobbies and pastimes that are much different from what’s done now. Still, I wonder about differences in a society where people know they won’t be...
Yeah, it's the old story of the immortal who refused to cross the street. The kind of risks that someone expecting to die by 80 would take are much different than risk assessment of someone expecting to live--comfortably, with their mind and body intact--to at least 160.
I think the personal drama is just fine in For All Mankind, but if you are looking only for the "science" part and not the "fiction" (i.e. stories about humans), I can see why it would be annoying or feel like it's taking valuable time away from what you are there to watch.
Another big vote for The Expanse. I always tell people to give the first season 3-4 episodes before judging. The main plot doesn't get started until around then and the full cast isn't even fully introduced after the first episode (IIRC). It's one of those shows that doesn't make it easy early on, but rewards those who stick through for the whole ride.
In a world of role-reversal, it would perhaps make the most sense to embrace the 21st century where the leftwing no longer seems to be the rude, vulgar, authentic force and instead insist that law and order is threatened by right wing terrorism as it bit by bit seeks to cast us into chaos on every front....
...there are clear signs of the growing decay of manners, of youthful gangs terrorising public spaces, from stations to shopping malls. Mentioning this decay is often dismissed as reactionary...
Very strange to bring this up in the conclusion but never establish any of these facts previously. It's unclear if these claims are about France or the US or something wider. If anything, making broad, unsupported claims at the last moment and then using those as the motivation for your call-to-action sounds pretty "reactionary" to me!
Edit: I feel compelled to clearly state that I don't agree with the presumption that "youthful gangs are terrorising public spaces" or that "growing decay of manners" is either A) happening or B) a problem worth worrying about even if it is happening.
The left leaning parties have no interest or plans on how to recruit or train the police.
I can't speak about Ontario specifically, but broadly speaking this is simply untrue. The left has tons of ideas for how policing should be reformed or what kind of institutions could take the place of many things the police typically do currently.
Lots of those ideas begin with "start over from scratch", however, so the right likes to pretend that those ideas don't exist or just states they aren't possible without giving them fair consideration.
I would assume that Biden said that because he knows it is not practical and would be a waste of his limited time and political power.
Obama made a similar compromise in not pushing for single payer but instead focusing on the compromise that became the ACA. He used basically all of his first term to get that passed, and while it may not have gone far enough for a lot of progressives--including myself--I sure am glad we have that instead of nothing!
True patriots don’t put loyalty to their political party above their love of America.True patriots don’t support an attempted coup.It’s time to stop letting ...
That's because you aren't counting all of the super duper extra-secret Marxists!
Which, by the way, I'd never heard about until Obama was elected. Weird coincidence. I am sure there is nothing correlated to a certain unique attribute of that President compared to everyone that came before him. No need to look into it further.
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Accurate, but up until the last 6 years or so that was the Big Lie that the GOP sold itself by for many decades. It was "party of small government" and abortion as their only real platform items that a general voter could care about, until Trump came along and started saying all of the quiet racist stuff out loud and took over the entire party.
You were being influenced by social norms long before you were old enough to form memories, and likewise not being aware of societal expectations does not mean it is not happening or does not have an effect.
[News] "Write a Check for $11,000. She Was 26, She Had Limited Value." SPD Officer Jokes with Police Union Leader About Killing of Pedestrian by Fellow Cop - PubliCola ( publicola.com )
In a conversation with Mike Solan, the head of the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild, Seattle Police Department officer and SPOG vice president Daniel Auderer minimized the killing of 23-year-old student Jaahnavi Kandula by police officer Kevin Dave and joked that she had “limited value” as a “regular person” who was only...
Star Trek: very Short Treks | Skin a Cat ( youtu.be )
Produced by: Awesome Inc...
Watched episodes 2&3 of DS9, thoughts
My partner is into DS9 and suggested we watch some last night. For some reason episode 1 was not available on Amazon Prime.(?) We watched Past Prologue and A Man Alone. As someone who is only barely familiar with the Star Trek universe, here are my thoughts:...
What do you guys think of the bluebrixx licensed Star Trek sets? ( www.bluebrixx.com )
Rank your favorite Star Trek movies! Be ready to defend your positions!
Here’s mine:...
News: 'Do not release the dog with his hands up!': Black man mauled by police canine following Ohio pursuit ( www.nbcnews.com )
Jadarrius Rose, 23, is seen on video during the July 4 traffic stop with his hands up surrendering to police before an officer deployed his canine....
Fox News host caught accidentally making the case for Roe v Wade ( www.independent.co.uk )
Jesse Watters makes an argument that sounds familiar to many liberals and progressives
Senators introduce bipartisan ban on stock ownership for executive and legislative branch office holders and their families | CNN Politics ( edition.cnn.com )
New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley are introducing bipartisan legislation that would prevent members of the executive and legislative branches — as well as their spouses and children — from trading individual company stocks.
SAG-AFTRA says actors cannot promote projects of companies they are going on strike against. That includes promoting Trek at cons, panels and fan greets. ( www.sagaftrastrike.org )
Full text from SAG-AFTRA:...
Why Isn't Clarence Thomas Facing Impeachment Hearings? ( www.theroot.com )
The disgraceful Supreme Court justice should be held accountable for his actions but probably won't.
Would You Try New Pastimes If Star Trek Level Medical Care Was Available?
Star Trek’s level of medical care is far more advanced than today’s. As Beckett says in LD, “Doc will wave a light over it.” Yet, in Star Trek people aren’t shown doing hobbies and pastimes that are much different from what’s done now. Still, I wonder about differences in a society where people know they won’t be...
What other shows to watch for fans of Star Trek?
Hi all, maybe this community can help recommend some new shows. I’m looking for Star Trek-like ‘world-of-the-week’ stuff....
Wisconsin governor gets creative with veto, increases public school funding for 400 years ( www.usatoday.com )
In signing the state budget, Gov. Tony Evers used his broad partial veto powers to make permanent annual per-pupil increases for public schools.
The left must embrace law and order | Slavoj Zizek ( www.newstatesman.com )
In a world of role-reversal, it would perhaps make the most sense to embrace the 21st century where the leftwing no longer seems to be the rude, vulgar, authentic force and instead insist that law and order is threatened by right wing terrorism as it bit by bit seeks to cast us into chaos on every front....
Biden Won't Pack the Supreme Court, and It's Killing Democracy ( www.newsweek.com )
Well, it was another banner week from the six unelected zealots who apparently make all of America's public policy decisions.
Republicans Don’t Own Patriotism | Robert Reich ( www.youtube.com )
True patriots don’t put loyalty to their political party above their love of America.True patriots don’t support an attempted coup.It’s time to stop letting ...
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Starbucks Is Banning Pride Decorations, Workers Union Alleges ( newrepublic.com )
The unconfirmed allegation is raising concerns that the coffee chain is the latest corporation to cave to far-right attacks on LGBTQ people.