The Problems with Star Trek Discovery

I have to admit that I was one of those people who just couldn’t wait for another Star Trek series. I like them all although admittedly, some more than others.

Enterprise had a good start but really went off the rails pretty quickly. For a show that took place 100 years before Kirk, they made some mistakes with canon. Perhaps misunderstood, the show tried to do too much and I think that is why it got cancelled. It doesn’t matter what the writers think or what the producers “think” people want. You can’t take a property like Star Trek and just move away from everything Gene Roddenberry was trying to do. The really cool stuff happens in the Picard era and the Archer generation would have been a great platform for ironing out the kinks and showing us what it is like to be the new kid on the block. The fantastical plot lines didn’t need to happen for the show to be good. I guess that is my point.

Discovery takes what I just said and completely ignores it. I’ve read a host of comments about why fans don’t like the show or the approach that has been taken. I agree with most of them. Spore drive? Really? Lead character is a woman. No problems there but the name is ridiculous. Michael? I don’t have a huge problem with it but come on writers…you couldn’t have thought of anything better? You are given a blank slate and that is the best you could do? Sister of Spock? Never mentioned…anywhere. That makes this one, not cool. You could have done the same thing without involving the Sarak character. There are milions of other vulcans and the Star Trek universe should not be that small. Not everything involves Kirk, Spock, McCoy…and so on. You get the idea.

The producers and writers are going to end up asking themselves “why” when this show gets cancelled well before the seven season run that a few Star Trek shows have enjoyed.

The answer is obvious. You can’t shit on the fanbase. Especially, the Star Trek fan base.

They will be the ones flushing you out of the proverbial air lock.

Note: The reason I wrote this post was this article in Wired. Obviously, they at least acknowledge that there are problems.

 

December 9, 2017 by Star Trek

Why People are Growing Weary of Scientific Conclusions

This story is a perfect example of how science makes leaps without actually doing any of the research.

Here is a story about what the brain does when changing focus or losing attention; you can call it anything you like. The study was conducted on humans…oh wait…it wasn’t.

When your attention shifts from one place to another, your brain blinks. The blinks are momentary unconscious gaps in visual perception and came as a surprise to the team of Vanderbilt psychologists who discovered the phenomenon while studying the benefits of attention.

This is not about the human brain. It is about what they saw in an animal’s brain.

The research was conducted with macaque monkeys that were trained to shift their attention among different objects on a display screen while the researchers monitored the pattern of neuron activity taking place in their brains. Primates are particularly suited for the study because they can shift their attention without moving their eyes. Most animals do not have this ability.

Science means data which means accuracy to me. Those things have to be important for the process to work properly. There was a time when scientists didn’t report on something until their testing was completed.

December 5, 2017 by Big Science Science

Star Wars Battlefront II

I had some reservations about running Battlefront II on my xBox One S. I had a feeling that the game would run slower and not be as responsive on the S as it would be on the new X.

So far, I am happy to report that the game runs perfectly. I had to restart the xBox once or twice in the very beginning but I think those problems have ironed themselves out.

The game runs just fine on your xBox One S. The graphics are simply amazing and I think it is an utter joy to be able to run around on Yavin 4, Naboo, Starkiller Base, Takodana (where Maz lives), Jakku, Kamino, Endor, Death Star II, Tatooine, Hoth, and Kashyyyk (where Wookies are from).

I love the arcade component because I can pick the battles and conditions of my choosing. My multiplayer skills are lacking in ground combat but my piloting skills are much better. Vulture droids, interceptors, bombers, and all kinds of other things you can fly around in make for a very interesting game.

I would recommend this game to everyone. It is loads of fun.

November 26, 2017 by xBox

Net Neutrality – Mostly Misunderstood by Nearly Everyone

by way of Arstechnica…

Net Neutrality sounds like something we should all get behind. Equal internet access for all. I get the same speeds as a big corporation does and all that. The internet should be free…what…wait?

The internet is not free. The internet will never be free because someone will always have to pay for it. As long as you have to pay for something, it ain’t free.

Keeping the government out of the internet and inviting Net Neutrality do not go together for obvious reasons. Pro Net Neutrality folks hold up signs that say “FCC Have a Heart. Keep the Internet Free.” The FCC has nothing to do with that. At the end of the day, you are still going to pay for it. We are not talking about freedom. We are talking about government regulation of something that should be free of government interference.

You can’t be pro Net Neutrality and pro free internet. They don’t go together.

The folks against Net Neutrality aren’t pro big business. They are pro “government should not regulate the internet” or “keep the internet free” as some would call it.

I think most supporters don’t understand what Net Neutrality is.

That is also very sad.

 

Update (11/29/17): Looks like most of the comments favoring Net Neutrality on the FCC website are false.

Update (12/02/17): …and even more panic attacks from Wired. They obviously have no idea what the true issues really are. Just a bunch of writing designed to scare people into thinking that big government is always the answer. Well geniuses, it is NEVER the answer. Hence, the 2nd amendment. To allow us to keep and bear arms against each other? No. To keep and bear arms so that the government isn’t the only one who has them. Net Neutrality opens the door for the government and quite frankly, that door needs to stay closed. History has taught pro net neutrality folks nothing.

November 23, 2017 by Net Neutrality

Light Pollution is Now a Thing

From space.com…

“[Light pollution] threatens biodiversity through changed night habits, such as reproduction or migration patterns, of many different species: insects, amphibians, fish, birds, bats and other animals,” Hölker said. “And it can even disrupt plants by causing … late leaf loss and extended growing periods, which could of course impact the composition of the floral community.”

High levels of artificial light may also impact health in humans by reducing the body’s production of melatonin, a hormone that can affect things like the body’s immune system, mental health and fertility. It also reduces people’s ability to see stars and celestial objects, which astronomers and social scientists argue has a negative impact on culture and science. It’s estimated that about one-third of the world’s population cannot see the band of the Milky Way galaxy at night, due to light pollution. That includes 80 percent of people living in North America.

The researchers said they hope their research can be used in efforts to initiate policy changes that combat light pollution. Kyba is involved with the International Dark-Sky Association, which is taking steps to fight this problem.

The paper appears today (Nov. 22) in the journal Science Advances.

 

Please note the uses of the words “can” and “could.”

I would agree with the argument that nocturnal creatures would have a problem with the absence of a night cycle. However, with that being said I also believe that those creatives would evolve just as we’ve always done. The environment we live in is ever changing. Evolution is a constant process.

The article in space.com paints a picture that is far from reality. We are in no danger of having a Coruscant style of planet nor are we close.

Sometimes, I really think scientists as a whole are just trying to justify their own existence instead of helping mankind.

Someone probably paid real money for this research and that is just sad.

November 23, 2017 by Junk Science

The Problem with Using One Note for Work

The caveat – I love using One Note. I think it is one of the best apps that Microsoft ever made.

The problem – Microsoft does not understand sharing, what it truly means, and why clamping the file down to the computer that created it is a bad idea.

I’ll elaborate. There are certain times when I do not want data I create for work purposes to be solely on the work machine I created it on. Why not, you may ask? Excellent question. Sometimes it can be a security issue where I may not entirely trust our IT department to back up the data or more often than not, I just want to have access to that information from various devices. I could be out at the mall and get a call from work that requires that I look at some of my data. It has happened more often than one might expect.

One Note is not friendly to this type of use. I cannot create the notebook in Dropbox and then use their app to see that notebook across platforms. That is not sharing. For instance, I’ve created a great notebook on my work computer which is a Surface Pro but I can’t access that notebook on my MacBook Pro. I know that I should be able to. That isn’t the reality.

I’m sure tons of techie folks will challenge what I’ve said. Whatever you suggest will never make One Note work the way I think it should.

November 19, 2017 by Microsoft One Note

Why Aliens Won’t Visit Us

I recently heard a great idea about why we as a species would never be visited by an alien race. The idea is simple. Sentient beings are not capable of truly getting along with each other and always end up killing themselves off before the Star Trek utopia actually happens. Sentient species that are capable of murdering each other are not capable of creating an environment where interstellar travel is a real possiblity. Politics, hatred, and a plethora of other emotions cause them to commit hanous acts of violence against each other and while they are doing that they never reach the level necessary to travel between the stars.

Hell, we can’t even agree of what global warming really is. It is extremely difficult for any scientist to apply static science to a dynamic situation. The Earth doesn’t stay in any one pattern so how do you know that it is or isn’t following one? Easy. It never is. Does the over population cause a problem? Sure. How much of our weather is a result of that versus nature? Not really sure that anyone on this planet is qualified to truly answer that question.

The reason I felt like even writing anything about this has to do with an article on the space.com website titled “Slaughterbots video depicts a dystopian future of autonomous killer robots.” The idea is frightening enough but after watching the video you feel like you want to join their cause to ban these weapons. That isn’t the scary part. The scary part is the fact that simply “banning” something doesn’t stop it from being produced by anyone with enough drive, money, and determination to do so. We were so busy asking ourselves “if we could” that we didn’t stop and ask ourselves “if we should.”

This post could simply been about why aliens won’t visit but there is so much more to explore than that. Let us speculate that an alien society does exist that has mastered the subtle art of co-existing in peace with one another. They reach the level of technology necessary for interstellar travel and they stumble upon Earth. Would they want to contact us? Why? How would they choose which nation to approach? Would the fact that we are not all united under a single earth government matter to them? So many questions but you can certainly get the idea.

I’m including the link to the video. It is worth a look.

Here is a link to autonomousweapons.org. A website devoted to stopping the production of these types of weapons.

November 19, 2017 by Drones Sh*t Mike Says

Microsoft Word to OneNote

I have been using Microsoft Word to keep a master document of everything new I learn about my job. It was an idea that I got from someone I used to work with and it was a great idea at the time.

As of this writing, my little document has grown into something a lot less managable.

I’m going to start converting my documentation over to OneNote. I saw a co-worker using it the other day for the exact same thing I do and it looked like it worked much better. I also believe the search function is a bit more advanced.

I don’t know why I’m posting this on my blog.

Talking to myself, I suppose.

November 3, 2017 by Life Lessons One Note

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