Link Thread

[Nate the Great]

Explaining Errors in DS9, Part Four!


There's discussion on the "Defiant" page about the ship being deserted and easily stealable. It's brought up that naval ships never have less than 25 percent of their crew on board. Another flimsy excuse is that the warp core isn't as volatile.



What? Sisko specifically said that the ship is overpowered! Furthermore, as long as there's antimatter existing outside of containment pods on Defiant, you need someone to keep their eyes on the gauges 24/7. This is just ridiculous.


Also from "The Defiant" it's brought up that the warp speed limit is ignored. I'll argue that a way around it happened within a few months and that's why we don't hear about it past a couple TNG mentions. Furthermore, the Defiant might be overpowered for its size, but it's overall warp effect would be much smaller than a Galaxy class (can someone explain why the Defiant is so small again?).


In "Destiny" a comment asks why the replicators had to be specifically set to make Cardassian food. One comment speculates that Cardassian and non-Cardassian food might cross-contaminate in the replicator. Um, what? I would certainly expect the replicator to do a full sterilization after each order as a simple matter of cleanliness.


Also from "Destiny", Bashir treats Morn for food poisoning, but doesn't notice all the latinum Morn keeps in his second stomach. A commenter suggests doctor-patient confidentiality.



It's also wondered why the Cardassian scientists would change from "Terok Nor" to "Deep Space Nine" instead of the Bajoran designation. My immediate reply is to ask why there would be a Bajoran designation in the first place. The government was in upheaval, Kira didn't think it would last more than a few weeks. I doubt the name of the station really mattered that much to them (no wormhole yet means it would be a proverbial truck stop only).


An idiot commenting on "The Die is Cast" seems to think that Odo is not a part of the Bajoran militia. Why wouldn't he be?

It's brought up that Bashir's dad got two years for eugenics but Kasidy only got six months for smuggling. I'm not sure I have an explanation for this one.


For "The Dogs of War" it's asked why the new Defiant would STILL have the NX designation. Of course we all know it's to reuse stock footage, but I have a problem with the Defiant using NX at all. Maybe for the first mission they took it out of mothballs without time to repaint, but by the second appearance it should've been NCC. Of course the second Defiant should've been Defiant-A, but I understand not wanting to alter the CG model so close to the end of the series.

[Nate the Great]

Mathologer tackles shoelace patterns. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSw3Wqoim5M)


Well, if the true purpose of aglets is sinister, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLlk0ROvcKA) then the true purpose of the whole arrangement must be sinister as well, right?

[Nate the Great]

Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It (https://www.crunchyroll.com/science-fell-in-love-so-i-tried-to-prove-it)


An anime about two science majors attempting to quantify love. It's fun watching these people attempt to do normal relationship stuff while at the same time applying a scientific method that was never meant to tackle an issue like this.



Besides, XKCD answered this question years ago (https://xkcd.com/55/).

[Nate the Great]

Lindsey Stirling does a Beauty and the Beast violin medley. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-AjhXhk19U)


Am I the only one who hears the first few notes of the DS9 theme at the very beginning?

[Nate the Great]

Tom Scott talks about variations to the "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells" song. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5u9JSnAAU4)


Where I grew up it was always "the Batmobile lost a wheel."


Or in other words, what the Joker sings. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Veju4PxhuGc)

[Nate the Great]

Brock Peters as Soul Power in Static Shock (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ahxCgab6EQ).


You never know where Trek alumni will pop up, so it's Trek Actors in the DCAU Day!


Rene Auberjonois (https://dcau.fandom.com/wiki/Rene_Auberjonois) played many roles, probably most notably Kanjar Ro (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG9wbfDQwmE).
Michael Dorn (https://dcau.fandom.com/wiki/Michael_Dorn) of course was the first voice of Steel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yotfK8bisLQ) and Kalibak (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iSx8xEhOqQ).
Kate Mulgrew (https://dcau.fandom.com/wiki/Kate_Mulgrew) (with a ridiculous Russian accent!) played Red Claw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRdBQeruiC8) early in Batman TAS.
David Warner (https://dcau.fandom.com/wiki/David_Warner) was Ra's Al Ghul (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1kw1QpL1Xk)

The biggest might be Michael Ansara (https://dcau.fandom.com/wiki/Michael_Ansara) as Mister Freeze (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EtHfr0eBA4).
Malcolm MacDowell (https://dcau.fandom.com/wiki/Malcolm_McDowell)as Metallo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBnBUebT6nw), of course.

[NAHTMMM]

https://www.mezzacotta.net/itoons/?comic=408

I made a cryptic crossword about the funnies!

[Nate the Great]

EC Henry says that Bajorans and Cardassians are the same species. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4YpKo6IYtY)


His claim is that this particular hybrid is the only cross-species child that we've ever seen that can reproduce without external medical intervention.



For the moment I'll accept that Sarek and Amanda needed external intervention to conceive Spock. Some novels even state that he was a test-tube baby that was later implanted. But let's look at all of the hybrids mentioned in Trek (https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Hybrid):


Talla the Andorian/Aenar. The Aenar are really a subspecies of Andorian, so this doesn't count and shouldn't really be on the list.


Various Betazoid/Human hybrids. There's no mention of medical intervention, but I suppose it's possible. Betazed sure seems like they've been members of the Federation long enough for any "intervention" to be minor and routine, probably just a hypospray for both parties.


Deanna and Worf's parallel Klingon/Betazoid/Human children. No mention of intervention, but probably likely. Dr. Crusher would have enough experience with both to keep it minimal, I'll bet.


Lwaxana's half-Tavnian son. This one is problematic, because if intervention was required by Tavnian doctors you'd think this whole "if it's a boy you'll have to give him up" thing would've come up sooner. Personally I hated that episode thoroughly.



Seska and Culluh's child. This is a linchpin. Would Seska PRETEND to be taking her shots to create a child with Culluh? Furthermore, would Culluh want a child with a non-Kazon in the first place, instead of simply a concubine who can give him good ideas? For that matter, would the Delta Quadrant races in or near Kazon territory believe in medical intervention to create hybrids? Only the Vidiians seemed to have sufficient medical knowledge to facilitate such hybrids, didn't they?


(Meaningless aside: Kes and Neelix certainly acted like they could create a child without external intervention. If Kes needed medical intervention, I doubt "The Phage" would've provided adequate time to do so. Furthermore, Kes would've done the necessary preparations as soon as Voyager's medical knowledge became available even if she wasn't planning on needing it for a few years.)


Nikolai Roshenko and Dobara's child. Seemingly no intervention. While I suppose Nikolai could've used the tech in his outpost, I doubt it would have full medical technology. Furthermore, slipping her a hypospray while she slept seems like unethical behavior.



Phlox and Cole's children. We don't have enough evidence one way or the other.


Naomi Wildman. It's mentioned that Samantha and Greskrendtregk had been trying for awhile, so intervention seems likely.



Klingon/Human. Intervention needed for full Klingons, none needed for half-Klingons.



Klingon/Romulan. Intervention possible, not enough evidence. Given the length of the Klingon/Romulan alliance in the 23rd century, I imagine the kinks have been worked out and it's just a hypo on both sides.


Klingon/Trill. Intervention needed.


Ocampa/Human. None mentioned, but I'm sure Doc could figure out what's needed.


Romulan/Human. This one's important. I doubt Sela's father (a novel gives his name as Volskiar, FYI)would want to go through the bother of intervention to have a child with a Human concubine, so this one seems natural.


Trill/Human. None mentioned, but I think it would be necessary.

[Flying Gremlin]

Romulan/Human - Aren't Romulans and Vulcans the same species with about five millenia of separation? So how come so much difference?

[Nate the Great]

I don't know. Perhaps by the 24th century less medical intervention between Vulcanoids and humans is necessary. For that matter, no doubt the notes from Spock's conception proved useful for future couples wishing to emulate Spock's success. It stands to reason that with more Vulcan/human couples out there (may I direct your attention to the novel "The Vulcan Academy Murders" where a human man marries a Vulcan woman) the needed intervention will get more efficient and less invasive.

[Nate the Great]

Ginger Rogers performs Alice in Wonderland. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=185&v=4CDhmAKyYD4&feature=emb_logo)


For some reason, the White Rabbit sounds like Elmer Fudd. That's weird...

[Nate the Great]

Explaining Errors in DS9, Part Five


In the page for "Shakaar" there's a bit of conversation about why the Cardassians left Bajor. One person thinks that Bajor's resources were used up, so it wasn't worthwhile to stay there anymore. In the show they hint that the Detapa Council made the decision in the name of the treaty, which angered the military. The existence of a "Demiltarized Zone" implies that the Cardassian War ended in a stalemate and both sides didn't feel it was worthwhile to continue fighting.



There's confusion about why DS9 isn't orbiting Bajor in the Mirror Universe episodes. Remember that the station was only moved to stake a claim on the wormhole. I hadn't noticed because as I've mentioned elsewhere I don't rewatch DS9 Mirror Universe episodes, they're just depressing.


It's brought up that Mirror Sisko shouldn't exist because the Prophets orchestrated his conception in our universe and wouldn't in the Mirror Universe. A good point.



In "The Ship" there's a Benzite that doesn't use a portable gas emitter. Of course there would be advances in medical technology. Remember that in TNG Benzites only recently started joining Starfleet. It stands to reason that Benzar only joined the Federation recently. Once they joined the full power of Starfleet Medical could be dedicated to eliminating the gas emitter. Perhaps later Benzites have a gas infuser under their uniform that can pump the gas directly into their bloodstream.



Also from "The Ship" the Changeling is able to stay hidden (i.e. shapeshifted into a bulkhead) for well past Odo's established 16 hours, and that's in a wounded state! I would argue that our heroes wouldn't be scanning for something when they have no reason to suspect a Changeling is there. My big question is why it would pretend to be part of the ceiling instead of hiding in some remote part of the ship.


A commenter wonders why it's okay for Bashir to kill Sloan. My response is that Bashir never intended to kill Sloan, he didn't know about the suicide pill. You could also argue that since Section 31 members go through a lot of trouble to avoid the responsibilities of Federation citizens, that they forfeit their rights as well. "I killed Sloan? Who's Sloan? Federation records show that nobody of that name exists, so obviously I killed nobody!" Furthermore, Sloan killed himself, had he cooperated no harm would've come to him (besides imprisonment and a lengthy trial, of course).


In "Empok Nor" someone asks why they didn't scan and detect the Cardassians that were in stasis. Two simple explanations: they didn't expect anyone on board so they didn't check, and the stasis pods were well shielded to block conventional scans.


In "The Seige of AR-558" it's asked why the Defiant was carrying freight. I ask why the Defiant is able to carry freight at all! It's only four decks, where would you find room for a cargo bay? And again I have to ask, WHY is the Defiant so small?


In "Shadows and Symbols" the only explanation offered for Ezri forgetting Verad in her list of the previous hosts is "he was unsanctioned, so it doesn't count." My explanation is "hosts don't count until the buffer period is over and the joining is complete."


In "The Search" Jake mentions that last week they were on Earth taking things out of storage, and now they're on the station. Since when does a few days count as "deep space"? I always had a problem with the entire Federation being traverseable in a few days at high warp. The DS9 Tech Manual states that Bajor is 50.3 light years from the Federation's inner perimeter. Let's define "inner perimeter" as the established core of the Federation, not counting the fringe regions. In the Star Trek Encyclopedia the core of the Federation is 8000 light years across, with fringe regions being 10,000 light years across. (http://www.stdimension.org/int/Cartography/federation.htm) At Warp 9 it would therefore take 5 years to go across the inner perimeter.



Cestus III is mentioned to be at the other end of the Federation. It takes eight weeks to travel there, and subspace communications take three months (chalk this up to intervening nebulae that ships can go through but scatter subspace, so you have to relay long-distance comms way out of the way).



Then again, "Valiant" states that it would take three months to travel around the Federation's perimeter. So once again we have a situation where the writers refuse to Do The Math or consult the reference materials. If the 8000 light-year "core" is meant, that's 25150 light-years. Three months at Warp 9.5 is 475 light-years. To do 25150 light-years you'd need over 13 years. Okay, so let's pretend that the perimeter mentioned is an even smaller "inner inner" core which is just the founding members (i.e. the TOS-era Federation). 475 light-year circumference is 150 light-years across. Vulcan is a little over 16 light-years from Earth, FYI.

[Nate the Great]

Michael Johnson performs "Almost Like Being in Love". (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4oncikBFKU)


I'm sure the style was indicative of its era, but the classic musicals rarely go together with this style for a reason. I'm having trouble pinning a genre onto this version. Seventies jazz?



Gene Kelly, show us how it's done. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qYCDEsersw)



Today I discovered the 1966 TV version of Brigadoon (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW5N7K1gFiw) featuring Robert Goulet, Peter Falk, and Sally Anne Howes. I've never seen Robert Goulet this young or imagined that Peter Falk would reprise a role made famous by Van Johnson (when he's this young he actually looks more like Gene Kelley, doesn't he?). And Sally Anne Howes' Scottish accent is awful, but then again I don't recall any English actors who can pull it off. Remember that Sean Connery is Welsh, not English.


And of course the Nat King Cole version (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpNTiiDtrak) was used in Groundhog Day.

[Nate the Great]

A Not Always Right story featuring a Star Trek joke. (https://notalwaysright.com/when-odo-came-to-dinner/201993/)


Read the comments while you're there, the Trekkies have fun with their own jokes.

[Nate the Great]

A Star Trek coronavirus joke. (https://scontent-den4-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/106930330_10158708952762088_8536020487354219160_n. jpg?_nc_cat=109&_nc_sid=110474&_nc_ohc=hGb0ycTNgTsAX_NHvGp&_nc_ht=scontent-den4-1.xx&oh=8837eae8be5aeea091932fddff681430&oe=5F264DA9)


Enjoy.

[Nate the Great]

A roundup of Frasier/Cheers actors who have cameoed in various Star Trek shows. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu5LYzmy2bM)


The surprise for me is that the episode "Eye of the Beholder" features an Okudagram that mentions the U.S.S. Malone, Clayton, and Peterson.


As a little game, what kind of ships do you think these are?


For example, the Clayton would have to be a cargo ship, right? Cliff is a mailman, after all. Peterson would be some sort of workhorse, as Norm does odd jobs. Possibly it would have a larger than normal computer core, as Norm is an accountant.


Malone is the problem. That name would fit better for a starbase devoted to R&R, wouldn't it? A huge bar/casino, sports fields, holosuites, etc.

[Nate the Great]

Explaining Errors in DS9, Part Six


The question is asked what would happen if the Founders found the adrift Sword of Kahless and sent one of their own to the Klingon Empire posing as Kahless. I reply with 1. Space is really REALLY big, what are the odds that they'll find it? 2. Even if they stumble upon it, it'll just register as as a bit of metal, what are the odds that their sensors are calibrated to identify this unique bat'leth design. 3. Since the Kahless clone is still around, what are the odds that a second one could show up and not be examined down to their cellular level and not be identified as a Changeling?


Odo's regeneration cycle was shortened from 18 hours to 16 hours at some point. Someone proposes that the increase in traffic due to the discovery of the wormhole has created additional pressure on him. Sorry, but no dice. Additional pressure? One imagines that the Occupation was just as stressful as this. Personally I always hated this set time between regenerations. In reality the time would vary with how much Odo changes shape during a given cycle. So it's 18 hours (or whatever) if he stays in default form the entire time and shortens with each shapeshift.



In "Starship Down" it's brought up that food and drink on the bridge of the Defiant is relatively common, given that Geordi told Sonya Gomez that it's a bad idea to have such things on duty. The explanation is that Sisko allowed it to maintain morale. I reply that Geordi was a stick in the mud given that all of the consoles are sealed, the ship is self-cleaning, and you can't expect people to just plain not eat and drink during extended shifts, especially on a warship where people need to be kept at their posts as much as possible.



Also in "Starship Down" systems are down and yet Kira and Sisko can talk to each other. Someone brought up the Universal Translators in their combadges or they could be talking the same language. Of course they could. Sisko learning Bajoran and Kira learning English (oh, my Federation Standard rants are coming back to me) are both plausible. But odds are it's just their combadges. They both have one and both languages are known by the translation circuitry.



IMDB brings up that in "The Sound of Her Voice" Quark pronounces "human" normally instead of "hew-mon." Well, duh. "Hew-mon" was always a mild insult, not a real case of Ferengi not being able to pronounce the word. It would be good for business to have the best Universal Translators in known space.



The Nit Central users brought up inconsistencies with Captain Cusak's uniform. The Olympia left known space a year before TNG started, and yet is wearing a third season TNG uniform. Oops. It's also brought up that Cusak is surprised at hostilities with the Cardassians when Starfleet was still at war with them when she left.


Someone also questions why the barrier timeshifted subspace signals, but not the shuttlepod. Well, duh, it can only timeshift transmissions, not a huge leap.



There's much discussion about imposing human regulations on Klingon traditions in "Sons of Mogh." The question is brought up as to whether or not the rituals could be considered religious in nature, and therefore protected. Yeah, that wouldn't fly. As Sisko said, it's premeditated murder.


A Nitcentral user brings up the question as to whether or not a Klingon house has a set name (Worf still says House of Mogh, not House of Worf), or changes with the name of the present head (we hear of the House of Duras, not the house of his father Ja'rod or his son Toral). This is a whole kettle of fish that could be its own post. The simplest solution is that the members of a given house can choose to change the name with a new generation or not.



For "Sons and Daughters" the question of Alexander's birth date and age was brought up on Nit Central. He was born Stardate 43205 ("The Emissary" is 42901.3 and "Reunion" is 44246.3, so Klingon pregnancies are three months and Alexander was a little over a year old when Worf met him. So either there's some time dilation going on here (which I thought the stardate system was created to avoid) or a lot of people Just Didn't Care.


Also in "Sons and Daughters" Alexander says that it's been five years since he saw Worf, but "Firstborn" was three years ago and it stands to reason that Alexander was on the E-D until it was destroyed, then went back to the Roshenkos. Put this all together, and you have to assume that Klingons mature faster than humans (reasonable) and mix and match Klingon and Federation timekeeping when talking (not reasonable).


The question of what happened to the "puppy" from "The Forsaken" when they blew up the computers prior to the Dominion Occupation comes up. My reply is that O'Brien would've localized the program ages ago for easy transfer, but more likely is that they only blew up the Ops interfaces to spite the Dominion. You can't just turn off all computers on DS9 and expect people to survive more than a day or so on backup systems.


How can Joran see the photo when Ezri is looking away? It's not like Joran is really there and seeing things; he only sees what Ezri sees. The explanation is reasonable, Ezri knows about the photo on a subconscious level and Joran knows what she knows and can point it out.



A Nitcentral user also points out that a transporter cycle takes time, longer than it takes to fire a bullet and have it hit its target at short range. Good point. Chalk this one up to artistic license, but could you imagine "smearing" the transporter beam (as I've discussed elsewhere regarding ship-to-ship transport) with these kinds of distances and time intervals?


It's pointed out on Nitcentral that Grilka should've been tossed out of her house when Quark lost his license. Good point, but given her personal wealth she probably bribed some officials to look the other way.


A Nitcentral user had many comments about the inconsistencies in "Far Beyond the Stars." I'll have to link you to it, it's too long to even summarize here (https://explaining-errors-in-star-trek.fandom.com/wiki/Far_Beyond_the_Stars).



Supposedly Guinan wrote some stuff back in the "Time's Arrow" days, so someone wondered why she wasn't mentioned as a notable African American writer in "Far Beyond the Stars". Simple solution: Sisko didn't know about it, and this "world" isn't the real thing, it's based on his knowledge.


Someone else wondered why Bashir's skin color wasn't a problem for a photo of the staff, given that he's (Asian) Indian. I'm not sure being that's on the same level as Africans or women in that time period. But then again, this is a Sisko illusion and not the real thing, he probably doesn't think of Indian prejudice at all. Then of course we have the question as to whether or not Bashir's race would be noticed in a black-and-white photo?

[Nate the Great]

Explaining Errors in DS9, Part Seven


Someone on Nit Central wonders why the Orion Syndicate in "Honor Among Thieves" doesn't have a single Orion in it. A good point, probably someone didn't want to pay for the green makeup if it wasn't required.



For "Tacking into the Wind" someone on Nit Central wonders about Kira being credited as Colonel instead of Commander. I don't have a problem, even beyond the They Just Didn't Care joke. Kira is still a Colonel, it's not like she resigned from the Bajoran Militia. My problem is her being a Commander and not a Captain.


Bashir says that Section 31 has been in existence for 300 years, a problem since the Federation has only been in existence for 200 years. I don't have a problem, just because it was in the Federation charter doesn't mean that it couldn't have existed since the day after First Contact. Plus Sloan is hardly the most reliable source of information.


A Nit Central commenter wonders why it's okay with Sisko for Worf to kill Gowron, but it's not okay with Picard for Worf to kill Duras. There's a whole discussion to be had here, enough for a few posts by itself. Let's keep it simple and say that Picard wasn't as familiar with Klingon customs as he thinks he was.


For "The Homecoming" it's mentioned several times that runabouts can only beam two people at a time (with a dedicated transporter pad at that!) yet in TNG three or more have been beamed at a time from smaller shuttles (without a dedicated pad, so it's a site-to-site transport at that!). I'm not sure I have an explanation for this one.


For "Hippocratic Oath" there's question about Worf's statement that he was in Security for seven years, when it should be eight (seven seasons plus Generations, which was at least six months after the series). A Nit Central member points out correctly that Worf wasn't in Security for the first season, he was a general bridge officer.


In "The Maquis" Kira expresses support for the Maquis, yet in "Heart of Stone" she's against them. The explanation is that Odo would tell Sisko if she supported them. My answer is that she might support the Maquis' ideals and initial methods, but there's been enough time since for them to get too violent and criminal for her. Plus there's been her character arc of being softened and more Federation-compatible.

[Nate the Great]

Explaining Errors in DS9, Part Eight


A Nitcentral user complains about Sloan's "death" in "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges" looking like a progressive phaser death and not a transporter effect. I don't have a problem with this one. Sloan would be ready with a holoemitter or something to make his "death" look like whatever he wants.


Bashir and Sloane take off their commbadges for an "off the record" conversation. Does this mean that the badges record everything as long as they're on a uniform? Disturbing implications. I prefer the explanation that this was merely symbolic, i.e. for the next few minutes they aren't Starfleet officers.



A Nitcentral user complains about Quark's illegal actions in "Invasive Procedures" not resulting in an arrest. The site claims that Starfleet has no juristiction over non-Federation civilians. I answer that even if Starfleet doesn't (a discussion for another time), ODO does!


There's a question about why Al Lorenzo would need to borrow Sisko's desk, can't he just make it in the holodeck? I answer that it's the same reason why we still value natural gems above lab-created ones: we prefer things to be real.


One Nit Central idiot wonders why Voyager can make the Delta Flyer out of spare parts, but O'Brien can't replicate a graviton stabilizer. I agree with the proposed explanation: the way the stabilizer was built. It's been well established that Cardassian tech is a lot harder to replicate than Starfleet tech. Plus we have no clue has to how large or complicated the stabilizer is, nor what rare materials are part of it's construction. The real question is how Empok Nor still has gravity in future episodes after its stabilizer has been removed.


IMDB brings up the fact that Worf should recognize Scotty in "Trials and Tribble-ations." My answer is that Worf wasn't really paying attention and Scotty looks quite different from what he remembers anyway.


A Nit Central user has a problem with O'Brien not being able to recognize Kirk on sight. I agree.



There's an issue with Worf referring to Darvin as "Darvin" without mentioning his original Klingon name (FYI, it's Gralmek (https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Gralmek)). My issue is that people are acting like "Darvin" was an invented identity when he was actually murdered and replaced.


There are many complaints across various episodes about Odo being carried in shapeshifted form without strain from the carrier. I'd prefer the "simpler" explanation that shapeshifters can move mass in and out of another dimension when needed.


A Nit Central user complains about Miles and Keiko not having a vacation in five years when they've only been married for four. I answer that we have no idea when they met or how long they were dating beforehand. Alexander brings in the theory that 1 TNG season=/=1 year, but that opens another kettle of fish. Let's just say that Miles and Keiko had a vacation when they were dating.


Miles doesn't know any Maquis, what about Ro? The explanation is fair enough, he hasn't heard about Ro yet. "Tribunal" is stardate 47944.2, "Preemptive Strike" is stardate 47941.7 (that's when Ro returned to the Enterprise, she wouldn't defect for a few days or weeks). Maybe she hasn't even defected yet when he made the statement, and even when she does he couldn't be expected to hear about it same day, he probably heard about it from a message from Geordi days after THAT.


If Worf grew up in Russia, why would he say Soccer and not Football? We have no idea what four hundred years of history will do to those terms, do we? Maybe American Football finally conquered the world as a side effect of World War III!


There's debate as to whether or not Kiras rank of Colonel in the Bajoran Militia would translate as Commander in Starfleet. Especially comparing Army/Air Force/Marine ranks to Navy ranks (you'll recall me discussing something like this in regard to Number One being a Lieutenant in "The Cage" as being a UESPA rank which is Army based, not Navy based). Personally, I think Kira should've been given the field commission of Captain for the mission, she's sure earned it.



The question is brought up as to how it took so long for Odo to develop symptoms of the disease but other Founders are striken pretty quickly. I reply that he spent almost a year as a human which would keep it in stasis, plus he probably stays humanoid most days instead of a puddle in the Great Link. Plus you could argue that in the Great Link the disease could mutate rapidly as the Founders "reinfect" each other, which wouldn't affect Odo.


There are many comments for "What You Leave Behind" featuring memory clips of holographic doppelgangers of the main cast, which the real version wouldn't remember.


The question is raised about why Starfleet wouldn't send a replacement for Sisko as station commander after his disappearance. I don't have a problem with this, Kira's proven she can handle the job. My problem is the station and the Defiant having the same senior staff, but I've covered this elsewhere (and FYI, if Worf left Starfleet who's commanding the Defiant now?)


In "The Way of the Warrior" is brought up again how Klingons suddenly have red blood instead of pink blood as seen in STVI. It suddenly occurs to me that maybe Klingon blood has the interesting property of changing chemical composition in a zero-g environment. That is, unless you're floating around your blood is as red as any human's.



Another Nit Central user pointed out the distances to Cestus III issue. I'm glad I'm not the only one to notice that.


That's it for DS9, tune in soon for VOY!

[Nate the Great]

Star Trek: Lower Decks trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3RkBKedKWw)


So...yeah...that's something that's going to happen...


Is it weird that my biggest pet peeve is that everything in the setting is screaming TNG, but nobody is actually wearing a TNG era uniform? What was wrong with actually using TNG uniforms?

[Nate the Great]

Grant Imahara died yesterday at the age of 49. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Imahara#Personal_life_and_death)



Well, that's a bummer.

[Nate the Great]

Heinz is making ice cream based on condiments. (https://london.eater.com/2020/7/1/21309904/heinz-ice-cream-ketchup-mayonnaise-salad-cream)



It's sad that this isn't even the weirdest thing to happen this month...

[Nate the Great]

To benefit charity a bunch of celebrities are making home movie versions of scenes from The Princess Bride.



A few scenes are on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe3X2mFaQ-9JQiWRYMpGfNQb6vtpg7Njh), but they want you to download (https://quibi.com/shows/home-movie-the-princess-bride-642/?_branch_match_id=762810459376630483&utm_source=Social&utm_campaign=Quibi%20Social&utm_medium=YouTube) Quibi on the App Store or Google Play to watch it. As usual, two weeks free before they want you to pay. Of course I'll just watch the Princess Bride and then ditch it if possible, but if they want credit card information up front then the whole thing is off. Please stand by.

[Nate the Great]

The story of Pride and Prejudice told via Disney screencaps with humorous annotations. The choices of which Disney character to "cast" as each P&P role is great. (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10224405242302743&set=pcb.697098504173084&type=3&theater)

[Nate the Great]

The Herbie theme pushed in a more Latin direction (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnW-3xLz0As)...

[Nate the Great]

Ten secrets of the original Enterprise. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blUXqJq702E)


I actually knew about these things, but I hadn't thought of the slightly rotated bridge in many many years.

[Nate the Great]

The Pink Panther theme reworked into major key. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BkEorFwJGg)


Impressive work, but it just seems off somehow.

[Nate the Great]

Food Theory tackles the perennial question: how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOS5NAdyWDw)


(Full original commercial (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvFzOgK-V9E), the short version remade in CGI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtEPkRK1tlo), the classic "The World Looks Mighty Good to Me" Tootsie Roll commercial just 'cause (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wrI4iHSusA))



(PNQ: Why is Mr. Fox a Peter Lorre impersonation, and what does Peter Lorre have to do with sunglasses?)


To me the big problem is that you need to define "lick" and "get to the center", particularly the latter. A lot of people treat the problem as "remove ALL the hard candy around the Tootsie Roll center" when that's not needed to "get to the center", you really only need to lick one spot until you touch Tootsie Roll candy.


(FYI, I hate Tootsie Pops. Chocolate/caramel/etc. candy and fruit candy should never ever be combined. It's madness.)

[Nate the Great]

A compilation of every "Make it So" in TNG. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaLyasJPyUU)


The words really start to blur after awhile, don't they?


I want to relate a bit from the novel "I, Q." Q reflects on Picard's use of those words. He likes it because Picard is unconsciously declaring "rearrange the universe to suit my desires."

[Nate the Great]

A compilation of people wishing good morning to Captain Kangaroo. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYhPy14dTGA)


Wait for the William Shatner entry, looking very seventies.


I still miss Captain Kangaroo. Today's kid's shows just can't compare.

[Nate the Great]

The 40th Anniversary documentary (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsX2a5hVswI)


I don't remember this one. The 30th and 50th, and the TNG retrospective before the finale, but not this one.

[Nate the Great]

DS9 DVD featurette discussing the development of the Defiant. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0803OMBre8&feature=emb_err_woyt)


The only reasons they give for the size are "it was originally only going to be a couple times larger than a runabout" and "we wanted it to be overpowered for its size."



Yeah, still don't buy it. As I've discussed elsewhere, the Defiant wasn't designed to dock with DS9 anywhere, unless you posit an extending umbilical going from the station to the top of the saucer. You'd think the mere act of docking would be a key design factor from day one. Why having Defiant dock at the docking ring (which, may I remind you, were designed for Cardassian ships in the first place) was so important I don't know. Couldn't the Defiant be a bit larger and dock at a pylon?



A few quick figures. Wikipedia says the Defiant is 170 meters long, 134 meters wide, and 30 meters high. Ex Astris Scientia has done the math using various ships, and declared that on the whole the standard deck-to-deck distance is 3.5 meters, with corridors and rooms being 2.5 meters and the rest being conduits and such. This means that the Defiant could actually be more like 8 decks, or maybe 7 if the ablative armor is really thick. We certainly can't suggest that the ceilings on the Defiant are higher than on the Enterprise, that would be a waste of space on a warship.


The diameter of DS9 is 1450 meters, and looking at a sideview of the station (http://ds9.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/schematics/weaponry-loc.jpg) we can estimate the docking port width at 5 percent of the diameter, or 70 meters. Looking at an overhead view of Defiant (https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Defiant_class?file=Defiant_schematic.jpg) we can estimate the width of the forward deflector pod at 20 percent of the width of the Defiant, or 27 meters. So actually we should be able to double the size of Defiant and still fit in the docking port.



So actually, you could make the Defiant twice as big and still fit at DS9. Looking at a closeup of the deflector dish (http://fsd.trekships.org/art/images/dd-1.jpg), I almost wonder if the center portion of the deflector dish could fold up and inward to make room for the telescoping docking port from the station.

[Nate the Great]

David Erick Ramos returns with an Ocarina of Time collaboration with other Zelda musicians, ocarina and otherwise. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhmjtCjmuB4)


The ocarina comes in more different forms than you'd think. Each shape makes its own particular kind of music.

[Nate the Great]

I haven't shilled Legal Eagle for over a year, but when he makes a Schoolhouse Rock reference (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gr6DpjEmWo) it's time to do it again.

[Nate the Great]

Star Trek Epic Symphony (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SRu_anT0PU)


Just discovered this today. Listen all the way through, it may start with TOS but also includes the TOS movies (which I don't think get enough love from covers and remixes) and the other series themes.

[Nate the Great]

You don't usually hear the sung version of the TOS theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdjL8WXjlGI) these days. Admittedly it's pretty...well, let's be kind and say "of its time."



But what if a modern singer chose to sing it? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UEnVZ3j6UA)

[Nate the Great]

Today's new discovery is "bardcore", today's songs played with instruments that were available in the Middle Ages, and in that style. That means lots of drums, flutes, and stringed instruments.


Big Bang Theory Theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loao2yOuw2o)
Friends Theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsaRm-W5yKQ)
Bye Bye Bye (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrrOJOSwK7s)(I confess I miss the boy band era. Not necessarily great music, but certainly fun music)
TMNT theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4R9el9iOXY)
I'm A Believer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li7p_o2YTWw&list=PLBu4P43zHQhVAHjtkGRoGiSPDVn5_VmO_&index=76)
Levan Polkka
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkTvY8ZLZ-g&list=PLBu4P43zHQhVAHjtkGRoGiSPDVn5_VmO_&index=193)
Let it Go (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOwpDbvmcX0&list=PLBu4P43zHQhVAHjtkGRoGiSPDVn5_VmO_&index=405)
Celebration (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93h60bv3Jzk&list=PLBu4P43zHQhVAHjtkGRoGiSPDVn5_VmO_&index=407)

[Nate the Great]

Old TV commercials featuring TOS Actors. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR8CAnhazvY)


Enjoy Shatner looking like a used car salesman.

Enjoy Nimoy dressed in something similar to those hideous STTMP uniforms PLUS wearing a mustache.
And much more, including a lot of Priceline, of course.

[Nate the Great]

The history and development of "To Boldly Go Where No Where No One Has Before."
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS2pK7IZnak)


Plus the fact that we shouldn't be so worked up about the split infinitive.


Plus a discussion of whether "man" is inappropriate to use as an inclusive term.


A StackExchange user questions if our heroes ever really went where no one has gone before. (https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/180012/when-did-they-ever-go-where-nobody-had-gone-before)


In almost every episode our heroes find sentient races in the places they go to, right?

[Nate the Great]

What if the Star Wars prequels were an anime series?


Someone made an opening sequence for it. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvcoQ7vwr6s)

[Nate the Great]

A lady was selling knitting patterns to make a scarf shaped like a bat'leth. (https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/batleth)


Just your daily dose of randomness.

[Nate the Great]

The extended single version of the DS9 theme. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1Ux34qQyn0)


I think the drums are too much of a distraction, but wait for the '80s electric guitar solo in the middle.



The extended single version of the VOY theme. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPrQaXNsvnQ)


Not much here, it almost feels like they just played the TV version twice in a row. Wait for the funny fanart at the end.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmQsrXLofMY)
The extended single version of the ENT theme. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmQsrXLofMY)


This never felt like a Trek theme. Ever.

[Nate the Great]

Snagglepuss narrates The Wizard of Oz. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LaiJikZpcI)


The seventies were weird, what else can I say?


If you don't want to listen to the whole forty minutes, at least go to 28 minutes to listen to a surfer boy band sing a song about the death of the Wicked Witch of the West.

[Nate the Great]

A funny encounter between a Trekkie/Renfaire enthusiast and some Trek cosplayers who entered a Renfaire. (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10217689076719524&set=gm.4458952760842834&type=3&theater)

[Nate the Great]

Growing up in Minnesota we learn to take our duct tape seriously. The old joke "If it moves and it's not supposed to, use duct tape. If it doesn't move and it's supposed to, use WD-40" is a favorite. Courtesy of a NotAlwaysRight user, here's a Disney spin on the joke. (https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/30fc73f5bf9bb3f9750d50c85d190f6df363f1797572aaeec4 96eafe574b0394.jpg)

[Nate the Great]

A Star Trek/Peanuts T-Shirt (https://www.facebook.com/567888737238828/photos/a.567893797238322/567893503905018/?type=3&theater)


The Peanuts cast as the TNG cast. Unofficial, of course. I have to agree with one commenter who's annoyed at the TOS Cochrane Delta being used on a TNG shirt. And does anyone think that the "Riker" beard on Linus looks more like a TOS Klingon beard?

[Nate the Great]

The history of math is one of my hobbies, so when a joke about archaic Imperial measurements combined with a joke about the American government comes along (https://notalwaysright.com/this-could-go-gallon-and-on-and-on/206041/)I have to laugh. Look down in the comments.

[Nate the Great]

Tamashii Hiroka shows us how to use Pokemon Stadium 2 to help find Shiny Pokemon in G/S/C. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nywbm5ZZZvQ)


Tama has been one of my favorite Pokemon YouTubers for years.


Incidentally I don't think I've ever had a shiny Pokemon other than the Red Gyrados, which the game just puts in your path.

[NAHTMMM]

I had a Golbat. Which, I appreciate the shiny, but of all the Pokemon it could have been . . .

[Nate the Great]

Phelous covers a 1987 Sears catalog (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZfB8_dBZfE)


It was a real nostalgic boot to the head. See how many Winnie the Pooh plushies you can find on the margins of the pages. There are more than you'd think.

[Nate the Great]

Shadiversity redesigns the Master Sword to be a little more practical if it was used in real-life battle. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJa3aVpr2rs)


Shad does videos on how practical the arms and armor of fantasy would be in real life.

[Nate the Great]

"The Sky Boat Song"
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqk1LlBViF0&feature=youtu.be)
(other YouTube videos spell it "skye", but whatever)



An old Irish folk song that was the inspiration for "The Inner Light."



The Memory Alpha page (https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Inner_Light_(episode)) mentions it as well.


Personally, I prefer the Trek version.

[Nate the Great]

Emmy makes Crilled Gheese AKA a piece of toast between two slices of cheese. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zLZMmF8b7Q)


Emmy makes odd food from all over the world.



Edible paperclips (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HvikGdsHOw&t=345s)
Cakes that look like dish sponges (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wv05TdFXyg&t=394s)
Edible soap (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCC12Ktx2no)
Edible towels (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXkzH5jO9P4)
Can you make actual cookies from the chunks of dough in Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream? (Spoiler: no)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aentw8i0kx4)

[Nate the Great]

Today I Found Out covers planned obsolescence (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulUI7JsFjZU), starting with light bulbs and going on to other products including ink cartridges.



Ugh, ink cartridges. I'm sure they're fine in environments where the printer is in use ALL the time, but when you only print every week or so it will jam up in the interim. I hate them, that's why I have a laserjet. If I have to print in color I just go to a library.

[Nate the Great]

A Not Always Right story about liquor and the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. (https://notalwaysright.com/geekdom-knows-no-age-limit/207543/) Go to the comments for plenty of Power Rangers puns.

[Nate the Great]

A discussion of movies with similar plots made around the same time. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9BFMOqRdHs)


I knew about most of these, but I'd like other opinions. In particular I'd like to know if any of you have only seen the "less popular" film in a couplet, not the one everyone remembers. For example, I saw EdTV in theater (at the moment I can't remember WHY I did, but I did), but I've never seen The Truman Show.



As for the more popular ones, I saw Armageddon and not Deep Impact, Finding Nemo and not Shark Tale, etc. The only set I think I saw both of was Bug's Life and Antz.

[Nate the Great]

A Cracked writer is ticked about all the fandom-specific holidays. (https://www.cracked.com/article_28550_can-we-chill3B-does-every-fandom-need-its-own-holiday.html)


So apparently today is Star Trek day in celebration of the airing of the first TOS episode. Also covered are Star Wars Day, Hobbit Day, and Batman Day, but disappointingly not Towel Day. What?

[Nate the Great]

Not Always Right celebrates Star Trek Day by doing a roundup of Trek-related stories. (https://notalwaysright.com/23-hilarious-stories-that-boldly-go-where-no-one-has-been-before-happy-star-trek-day/211416/)

[Nate the Great]

Certifiably Ingame covers the various ships called Bonaventure. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-i9gDXqruo)


Before First Contact retconned Zephram Cochrane's life, his first warp ship was the Bonaventure. I still remember it from the novel Federation which gives a very different account of his life. In that novel his first warp flight was to Alpha Centauri and back, which took a long time.



It's odd, but in my youth I had incorporated various bits of TAS lore into my personal definition of "canon" without actually watching the show, mostly thanks to novels like Federation. I read the novelizations of the TAS episodes (the Star Trek Logs by Alan Dean Foster (https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek_Logs)) before I even knew that TAS was a thing that existed, I thought the Logs were just more stories based on TOS.

[DrWho42]

alphaville fan art (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Egyc3HHVgAAY3hb?format=jpg&name=large) by babbi (https://cutifysalen.wixsite.com/portfolio-cv)!

[Nate the Great]

Making an 8 Ball out of steel and brass. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKiHgBhW8UQ)

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKiHgBhW8UQ)
I like watching people make weird things, what a shock.

[Nate the Great]

Appearances of the English alphabet in Star Wars. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok5eVzYK3_A)


Apparently Arabic numbers also appear on Tatooine.



This seems odd to me, as I would think that Lucas would be more uptight about worldbuilding like this. I can totally buy Gene Roddenberry claiming that all English in Trek is really "Federation Standard" being translated for our benefit, but not Lucas.



Furthermore, none of the English text shown in the video above seem "necessary for viewer understanding." Why have it be English in the first place?

[Nate the Great]

A group of animators animate cutscenes from the Zelda CDi games Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvxE6IUCPxU)


Enjoy the variety of animation styles and the in-jokes.

[Nate the Great]

It's Talk Like A Pirate Day again! The 25th anniversary, in fact, but of course it really didn't take off until they asked Dave Barry to write a column about it in 2002.



I'll skip the links this time, you can look them up if you want.


* Long John Silver's is giving away free fish to pirate-talkers. One piece to those who just talk like a pirate, two pieces if you dress like a pirate, too.
* Steam is having a sale on pirate-themed games.
* A few pirate-themed games are having their own deals in honor of the day.

[Nate the Great]

A fan-made crossover between TOS and Batman '66. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uJxTghyaO0)

[Nate the Great]

Spock's Memory Alpha page (https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Spock)


I just found it interesting that his marital status is listed as "Divorced" when that's not really accurate. While he and T'Pring were more than engaged, less than married, I definitely got the feeling that they weren't officially married until Spock ringed the gong, which T'Pring prevented.



If you follow the novels, you'd know the real answer is "married", to Saavik. And by the by, he has his son Zar, daughter-in-law Wynn, and an unborn grandchild.

[Nate the Great]

A group of informational YouTubers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCuCBt24hAk) play "The Miscommunication Game" (it's just a variant of the old game Telephone where A describes to B, who draws a picture for C, who describes it for D, etc.)


I'll definitely have to check out some of the channels that I didn't already know about.

[NAHTMMM]

https://twitter.com/ZenoRogue/status/1309537724626620416

A non-Euclidean BlockOut (a.k.a Tetris from above).

[Nate the Great]

A roundup of cancelled Star Trek toys from the STTMP era. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNMwAUJGh18)


The one that confuses me is the Vulcan shuttle that docks directly to the bridge playset. Well, that and the bridge that has an elevator to a sickbay above it. There's nothing above the bridge except the turbolift passthroughs!

[Nate the Great]

The Reversed Chocolate Chip Cookie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lFnecKneOs)


Chip-shaped bits of cookie in a chocolate disk. This seems like way too much chocolate in one place.



When I saw the name I was thinking a chocolate cookie with cookie batter-flavored chips.

[Nate the Great]

Adam Savage makes a rolling shop bench that looks like a miniature shipping container. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chbZJAJ9y68)



Once again the only possible reply to "Why?" is "Why not?"

[Nate the Great]

How big would Princess Peach's skirt have to be for her to use it as a parachute and land safely on the ground? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpsMPgNjQOk)


(Spoiler: VERY big.)

[Nate the Great]

Thank goodness, the Commander Keen mobile game has been cancelled. (https://www.pocketgamer.biz/news/73768/bethesda-cancels-commander-keen-mobile/)


Maybe someone can finally make that "The Universe is Toast" trilogy that Apogee promised us in 1991.

[Nate the Great]

A Not Always Right story that has a Trek-inspired title (https://notalwaysright.com/for-the-world-is-hollow-and-i-have-touched-the-pie/214105/)


Not that the actual story has anything to do with Trek, but someone saw the potential for a pun and went with it.


And just because it involves pie, I'm going to link to Nimoy Sunset Pie (https://nimoysunsetpie.tumblr.com/) again.

[Nate the Great]

Leonard Nimoy and Mark Leonard costarring in an episode of Mission: Impossible. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c78Ntr0AuRc)


Well, that was...surreal.

[NAHTMMM]

Legendary catcher Johnny Bench tries to make Kool-Aid commercials. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVSQ5xeUGwg)

[DrWho42]

Morbius TARDISes (https://twitter.com/PaulJamesHanley/status/1316998388794167296)

[Nate the Great]

Adam Savage shows off his giant Swiss Army Knife store display... (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gygyNt2AnKA)


Unofficial PNQ: Why do super-wide, dozens of functions Swiss Army Knives exist?



I've handled my fair share of Swiss Army Knives of many shapes and sizes (my father was an enthusiast and taught me, I was a Boy Scout), and I've definitely noticed the law of diminishing returns apply to them. When a knife gets too big and heavy you can't use it comfortably. And what's worse, the main blade tends to be on the outside in order to make it easy to access, which is a BAD thing when the knife is too thick, the thing is off-balance when you handle it.



All I need is a large blade, small blade/awl, serrated blade/saw, flathead screwdriver/bottle cap remover, Phillip's screwdriver, can opener, scissors, toothpick and tweezers. Anything more is fluff.



Just to show my point, the 141 function/12 inch wide Swiss Army Knife (https://odditymall.com/giant-swiss-army-knife). Over seven pounds. Can any of those 141 functions actually be done in an efficient and practical manner?

[Nate the Great]

Someone makes a googol:1 reduction using LEGO gears. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwXK4e4uqXY)



I didn't know that most of those gear types existed! The last gear will rotate once in 5.2(10^91) years (or it would if this guy kept it turned on, of course). The predicted final age of the universe varies with the cosmological model (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_of_an_expanding_universe), but I think it can be assumed that all life everywhere will cease long before that last gear could complete a rotation.

[Nate the Great]

So they actually made an official Back to the Future DeLorean Transformer. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzQP9Cr2YdE)


I still prefer Marty McPrime (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/349169777338062264/).

[Nate the Great]

Pinterest Star Trek Crossover Day!



Spock Prime, the Kelvinverse Enterprise Transformer. (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/17240411044042303/)


Ugly.



Samantha Carter as a Starfleet Captain (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/375417318915739063/)


That really doesn't look like Carter.


Santa Claus accompanies an away team, too bad it's TOS and he's wearing red.
(https://www.pinterest.com/pin/10273905388022170/)


That Kirk looks more like O'Brien, in my opinion.



Lucille Ball as Janeway (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/13229392645661786/)


She'd be good at the Spock Eyebrow, I think.


Joe Cool joins Starfleet (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/492649947819941/)


Somehow I would think that Joe Cool would be in Command, not Medical/Science.


The X-Women board the Enterprise, cosplaying as various TOS women. (https://www.deviantart.com/axelmedellin/art/TLIID-230-The-X-Women-meet-Mr-Spock-518308237)


Okay, pop quiz. Can you identify all the TOS women referenced? For some reason the redhead bugs me. She's obviously supposed to be Jean Grey, but that doesn't really look like Jean Grey.


Disney Princesses as TOS officers (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/24699497945185401/)


I'm really weird, my first question is whether their hair accessories would fit uniform code. My second is whether the division assignments for each princess is the best fit. That's a whole post by itself, splitting the Disney Princesses into the most appropriate division.


Hello Kitty as various Trek characters (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/289074869801360543/)


Why is the Cardassian so green?

[Nate the Great]

LEGO Breakfast-Stop Motion Cooking (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RMKR8h03iw)


It's clever how the food turns into LEGO, but of course the little inconsistencies irk me.

[Nate the Great]

Disney posted the entire "Let's Get Dangerous" episode of the new DuckTales on YouTube. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Dw44RV4-tY) As a fan of Darkwing Duck, this is nice. I still need to catch up on the reboot DuckTales one of these days.


One point that made me think is the declaration that of the Fearsome Four members, Bushroot isn't really a villain, per se.



That's a loaded issue, and I'm not sure you could claim it's 100% true. He may be the most sympathetic of the four, but that doesn't mean he's not a villain.



(And the cameo of "A sea monster ate my ice cream (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4SwEMiEXZs)" was great)

[Nate the Great]

How much honey would Winnie the Pooh need to eat to survive? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p0FOlzewKw)


Many logical fallacies here, but still fun.

[Nate the Great]

Do Portal portals violate the laws of momentum and physics? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpD2OXdaHFU)


It's an interesting question.


I wonder about the momentum and velocity vectors instantaneously changing direction upon going through a portal. Anyone who's been through advanced physics knows that "velocity" is a vector and "speed" is merely a quantity. It stands to reason that speed is conserved whereas velocity is altered. While kinetic energy is conserved, potential energy is not. So the real question is what happens to the potential energy added or subtracted.

[Nate the Great]

Since it's the seventieth birthday of Peanuts, Amy Mebberson dedicated a Pocket Princesses strip to it (https://www.instagram.com/p/CF2i6xppwoS/), showing the princesses in Peanuts style, doing the Charlie Brown Christmas dance.



The original.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1OBMF1V_q4)


It's kinda sad how few people know about the expanded Peanuts cast like Shermy, 3, 4, and 5.



The Charlie Brown School of Dance (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2SGwdHTKr8)


A news clip shows some cosplayers showing up in the street to do it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHykLaZ9Cd8)

[Nate the Great]

You've heard of bookshelves out of bricks and boards, but what about brickshelves out of books and boards? (https://www.facebook.com/ideclareshenanigansagain/photos/a.639266556277702/1456170591253957/)

[DrWho42]

Star Trek: Discovery Grudge Standee (https://shop.startrek.com/collections/standees/products/star-trek-discovery-grudge-standee)

[Nate the Great]

Sean Connery has died. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Connery)


I'm not sure what to say to that.



I wonder how he would've done as the God of Sha Ka Ree.

[Nate the Great]

So we're going to have a black woman as 007 soon. (https://shadowandact.com/no-time-to-die-lashana-lynch-talks-racist-backlash-from-being-the-first-black-woman-007?fbclid=IwAR2Atm_pGeOdENWijQaa1ZHm-JFwR-PHXPfiaR85SHDfPy4rWZq_E0pnAbM)


As long as she's not called Jamie Bond, I'm fine. It's not like 007 is a code number assigned to James Bond himself, it's a rank or post that he happened to fill. We know that there have been any number of 006's.

[Nate the Great]

A clip from Relics (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K7C7f9tqtk) has a comment referencing a clip from Thor Ragnarok (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZpyc4asvbQ). I LOLed.



There's a joke based on First Avenger, too, but I prefer the Ragnarok joke.

[Nate the Great]

So Alex Trebek died today. Bummer. Granted, I haven't been a regular Jeopardy viewer for years, but I'm sure on some level it contributed to my continued interest in trivia. Plus I was on the College Bowl team for years....

[Nate the Great]

Lately I've been going through my collection of Trek non-fiction, mostly from the '80s and '90s. Among these are Star Trek Phase II: The Lost Series (https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek_Phase_II:_The_Lost_Series). I thought I might quote a few sections from the writing guide with my comments. As usual the italics are from the book (copyright Pocket Books 1997, etc.)....


What is a Star Trek Story?

Our stories are about people (who act believably). Star Trek is not about science and gadgetry. All good stories are about people and science fiction is no exception. The more believable the people, the better the story.


This is where Enterprise failed, in my opinion. The people just aren't believable in the roles they hold.



Our regulars are heroes. They believe that their word and their oath is their bond. They believe that there are principles worth a life of discomfort and danger and even carry the "old fashioned" belief that there are things even worth dying for if necessary.

Oh, the Janeway jokes we could compile on this subject.



The Teaser. We open with action, always establishing a strong jeopardy, need, or other "hook".


Even TNG failed with this one a few times. Worf's Klingon measles come to mind immediately.



The U.S.S. Enterprise is a spaceship, official designation "starship class".


Ugh. Maybe in the TOS era you could justify "starship=Constitution Class", however tenuously. By the era of the movies this is patently ridiculous.



Warp factor one is the speed of light...warp factor two is actually eight times the speed of light, warp factor three is twenty-four times the speed of light, warp factor four is sixty-four times the speed of light, and so on.


This is basically the TOS warp scale, except warp three is actually supposed to be twenty-seven times the speed of light. I hope this was just a typo.


Phaser fire can also be set for proximity explosion and act somewhat like "depth charges."


I'm scratching my head on this one. Torpedoes are firmly established in the canon by now, and the differences were a plot point in STTMP.


The entry on Xon tried to differ him from Spock by stating that instead of suppressing his emotions he'll try to find his emotions to better relate to the crew. An interesting twist on Data, if you ask me.



Kirk sometimes refers to [Decker] as "First", which is naval parlance for ship's "First Lieutenant," which would have been Decker's title in the days of sailing ships.


I've discussed army vs. naval ranks before, and this is another holdover of army ranks. Insert rants on Number One, UESPA, etc. here. You do have to admit that "First" makes a bit more sense than "Number One."


McCoy's entry uses "Senior Ship's Surgeon" for his official title. I've remarked on the difference between "ship's surgeon" and "Chief Medical Officer" before. It turns out that the ship's surgeon title has closer ties to the history of navys, as opposed to chief medical officers and the army.



Uhura's entry mentions the African Confederacy, which is weird because the TOS series bible specifically mentions the United States of Africa. You'd think a Phase II series bible would copy-paste the Phase I bible and then make the needed changes. By the time of TNG it's mentioned that Geordi was born in the African Confederation.



Sulu's entry still uses Oriental and Occidental. Insert collar-tugging here. Ahem.



The transporter range is mentioned as still being the TOS-era 16,000 miles. Hmm. A big deal in STTMP was that every system onboard had had a huge upgrade, wasn't it?


It's mentioned that there are seventeen Starbases/Starfleet Command Centers, each with a Commodore. Given the preponderance of Starbases in later eras, it's amazing to think of how much smaller the 23rd-century Federation was.



Starfleet Command isn't mentioned to be in any particular location. It won't be placed in San Francisco until Star Trek IV.


Stardates are established at one unit=one day, except for external factors, of course.



One thing that's interesting is that Enterprise's second five-year mission is specified as being in one sector. The size of a sector was never pinned down (the Writer's Didn't Care), but I think we can all agree that "sector" is the wrong term here. Probably they confused "sector" with the larger "quadrant" (not the one-fourth of a galaxy version, FYI) used in TOS.


We are not aware of "officers" and "enlisted men" categories.

Weird. "Crewman" existed in TOS, we saw them.


We avoid saluting and other annoying medieval leftovers.

Really?


U.S.S. still means "United Space Ship" in the bible.

[NAHTMMM]

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/11/08/us/star-trek-3d-microscopic-spaceship-scn-trnd/index.html

A microscopic Voyager created to microswim through hydrogen peroxide. I like how the article specifies Intrepid-class, as if anyone who doesn't know what Voyager is will know what the Intrepid class is.

[DrWho42]

Last Dangerous Visions Will Be Submitted to Publishers in 2021 (http://file770.com/last-dangerous-visions-will-be-submitted-to-publishers-in-2021/)

[Nate the Great]

So apparently yesterday was National Pickle Day. In honor of this I'll post the "No Dancing Pickles (http://cockeyed.com/pranks/pickle/pickle.shtml)" story. Just read it, and maybe the rest of the site. I think the last time I shilled Cockeyed/How Much Is Inside was two years ag (http://www.fiveminute.net/forums/showpost.php?p=81392&postcount=1054)o.

[NeoMatrix]

Hey, i’m back. How are things?

[Nate the Great]

Today is Mickey Mouse's birthday! He's 92 today.



I'm not really a fan of the new series, but there are plenty of his old shorts that I love.


The Brave Little Tailor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPY2lktaElo)


Thru The Mirror (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUDc78znrLM)


Mickey's Trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_ElwmWoqmg)


Clock Cleaners (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jIiL9ruJDA)


The Prince and the Pauper (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65NhAEBovGg)

[Nate the Great]

Today I discovered that there are a few people on YouTube making CG animations of the Power Rangers Megazords. This is my favorite. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxSxmGZm6Gg)


I'm pretty sure I've covered my history with Power Rangers elsewhere, so I won't duplicate it here. Suffice to say, if a remastered version of Power Rangers had to happen I wish they could've replaced the Megazord battles with something more dynamic than just guys covered in boxes and rubber suits duking it out.

[DrWho42]

"rubber hose"-cartoon style worker and parasite (https://twitter.com/Jpaikmedia/status/1329537684931489798)

[NAHTMMM]

Hey, i’m back. How are things?

Hi there! How ya doing?

KJ and I married and we're in Wisconsin with a toddler, a baby, and two dogs.

[Nate the Great]

h2g2.com's entry on DS9. (http://https://h2g2.com/edited_entry/A6671531#footnote6)


A rather thorough rundown of the series. Some highlights (as usual, italic text is from the page)...


Space - the final frontier. These are the non-voyages of the Space Station Deep Space Nine. Its continuing mission: to explore no strange new worlds, to seek out the same old life and the same old civilisations, to boldly stay in the same spot every week.
- The reason Deep Space Nine didn't have an introductory speech.

I think this is a bit harsh. They do go exploring a bit. But not much.

The Federation can't accept the Bajorans until they are deemed ready to join, and it's the job of Commander Benjamin Sisko, who runs Deep Space Nine, to make sure that the Bajorans meet the requirements for membership. This isn't easy as many Bajorans, including his Bajoran first officer Kira Nerys, don't believe that the Federation has any business being on Bajor.


It's an interesting question: what would make Bajor finally ready for Federation membership? I would certainly argue that there are still numerous intergroup conflicts on Bajor: the church, the Provisional Government, the DMZ residents, the marginalized freedom fighters, etc. Not to mention all of the Bajorans who abandoned the whole area and joined Starfleet. This is a key reason why I think Ro should've at least had a two-part episode devoted to her.


After the destruction of the Enterprise-D in Star Trek Generations, Worf fell into a depression, and considered leaving Starfleet in order for him to return to the Klingon home world.



I'm not sure if I would call it a "depression", to be honest. Worf seemed more lost, someone who's life has been turned completely upside down. He wasn't expecting to rebuild it into something completely different so soon. Although of the classic TNG seven, I would pin down Worf as the one who would've left for a higher post on a different ship first.

O'Brien is the show's everyman. Around once a season the writers would write an episode where he's emotionally tortured in some way, seemingly without realising that they were doing it.

I'm pretty sure the writers deliberately put O'Brien through the wringer once a season to allow Colm Meaney to act out of the usual range.



Initially [Bashir's] eagerness annoys many people on the station, especially O'Brien, but the two eventually form what's perhaps the greatest friendship in Star Trek.


Very debatable. I'd put the interactions of the TOS trinity above Bashir and O'Brien anyday.



To sum up Garak in one paragraph, no matter how long it is, is an impossibility.



An exaggeration. SF Debris did it just fine (https://sfdebris.com/videos/startrek/bio_garak.php).



[Garak is] the master of a witty one-liner, but he can turn sinister at a moment's notice.


Whether or not you can characterize Garak as "sinister" is another whole discussion.


The reason the station looks so bizarre is because the designers had three months to design it, and they went a little bit mad.


As I've stated before, the pylons make sense for Cardassian ships, they're just inefficient for any other race.


The Bajorans look like humans in every way, but they have a wrinkled nose (that's what passes for an alien on Star Trek).


Well, duh! What were you expecting? I really hate it when people trash the minimal nose-and-ear makeup thing. It was required to make the show economical, plus more makeup means less emoting. At least this isn't TOS when most aliens were exact copies of humans.

They are ruled by a provisional Government, which never actually seems to become an actual government.



He's got a point. The whole "Provisional Government" thing should've been over after a few years. Actually, Shakaar should've instituted a proper constitution and ditched the "Provisional" thing in the fourth season. (Meaningless aside, but did you know that Shakaar was only in three episodes? I was shocked to find that out today.)

[Nate the Great]

A rather unusual Trek crossover...with Winnie the Pooh. (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/332984966182772176/)

[Nate the Great]

TV Tunes Acapella does the Quantum Leap theme. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdnZSdfQhXg)


I was a little too young to appreciate Quantum Leap when it was on, but my parents enjoyed it. I'm still a little irked that they never got a proper series finale, though.

[Nate the Great]

So Ashens' channel is fifteen years old now and his second movie came out. Well, his YouTube channel is fourteen and a half years old, but he had some of his early videos on other sites (like Newgrounds) before that.



Going through nine hundred videos to pick out my favorites sounds like an absolute nightmare, so here's just a couple of playlists from his main page:


Terrible Old Games You've Probably Never Heard Of (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swvy4qE_AYM&list=PLuXVJtG6oNtHjE7LIqGH5nDJZnT3YP8_u)


Growing up British in the '80s means he didn't really experience the third and fourth generation of consoles like Americans did. As he said in one of his videos, why would you buy a cartridge-based system when you can just pirate the cassette-based games and play them on your Amiga? Eventually he stopped making videos in this series and started writing books about them instead.


The Popstation Saga (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvXleDSkB-g&list=PL045448E076CF3B69)


Cheap LCD game knockoffs housed in plastic shells that look like PSPs and Gameboys is hardly a new phenomenon. The fun comes when you see how technology advances for the knockoffs (still five-ten years behind the rest of the world, but still). Stick around for the hilarious Engrish titles!


Poundland Specials (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttkRU6c4eYU&list=PLE69FB42316F4B4F3)


Dollar stores and pound stores will always be with us. What kind of things can you find within? Are the toys any good? Is the food any good? Probably not.

[DrWho42]

rip

ben bova (1932-2020) (https://locusmag.com/2020/12/ben-bova-1932-2020/)

[Nate the Great]

Radio Disney is shutting down next year. (https://comicbook.com/irl/news/radio-disney-shutting-down-2021/)


I'm saddened by this. Sure, I don't actually listen to it anymore (it stopped airing in my current city years ago), but I have fond memories of it, especially from my college days commuting to and from school. I own most of the Radio Disney Jams albums and still listen to them.

[Nate the Great]

Willy McBean and His Magic Machine (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NXicpxn7a8)


I'm a big Rankin-Bass fan, but this one slipped by me until now. Stay tuned for the James Doohan-voiced character (or just skip to 42:30 or so). Remember that Scottish is just one accent that he can do.

[Nate the Great]

Little Debbie Christmas Tree Dip (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hc4mNURUJM)


Grinding up snack cakes into a paste just seems...unnatural. Unholy, even. For that matter, Cool Whip and cream cheese in the same recipe...no. Just no. (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NoJustNoReaction)



Have I shilled emmymadeinjapan yet? I don't think so. Watch her other stuff, she has some good videos.

[NAHTMMM]

Radio Disney is shutting down next year. (https://comicbook.com/irl/news/radio-disney-shutting-down-2021/)

The children's radio station we had in St. Louis was better before Radio Disney took over. Also obviously I was older by that point.

[Nate the Great]

Ian McKellan doing Shakespeare. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LDdyafsR7g)



I went from Captain Picard clips to Stewart doing Shakespeare clips to McKellan doing Shakespeare clips. This is the youngest I've ever seen Sir Ian (the less said about the deaging in X-Men 3 the better).

[Nate the Great]

Phelous presents a department store catalog from 1969. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1MizGkk11o)


Even though this is from over a decade before I was born, I still have nostalgic feelings for this stuff. I have two older sisters that would've been children at around this time, so I've seen some of this tech before. I miss Viewmaster and flashbulb cameras and jack-in-the-boxes that actually had giant springs in them.

[Nate the Great]

What pizza chain is the best value? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT4AffJJugs)


There are a lot of factors, but we all know how important pizza is, right?

[NAHTMMM]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-6xk4W6N20

Fan video of Disney movies cut together and set to some pop song. It's fun and impressive.

[Nate the Great]

I saw that for the first time just a few days ago. Spooky...

[Nate the Great]

Some high quality Japanese Zyuranger (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) toys. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkcBe29dnjg) These really are better than their American counterparts. I get a nice feeling of nostalgia watching these things, I was a major Power Rangers fan back in the day.

[Nate the Great]

BanjoGuyOllie presents Welcome to a Kick in the Pants from Commander Keen. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQMc8UakhtQ)



It's always nice to see Commander Keen get some love.


Of course there was a Christmas Commander Keen fangame. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPqmcR24_ws)

[Nate the Great]

It's a Star Trek Christmas fanart day!


TOS characters doing the Peanuts Christmas Dance. (https://www.deviantart.com/johnny-radar/art/Star-Trek-Christmas-Card-648252637) I think I've posted this one already...


Trek Christmas cookies (https://www.deviantart.com/featherquilt88/art/Christmas-Cookieeeeez-421267085)!



Kris Klingon. (https://www.deviantart.com/oliverink/art/Kris-Klingon-777866396)



The Enterprise as Santa's sleigh, complete with tribbles as reindeer (https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fdpegb9ebondhq.cloudfro nt.net%2Fproduct_photos%2F25670358%2Fdammitjimxmas _original.png&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fmeekobits.storenvy.com%2Fp roducts%2F10918080-star-trek-christmas-cards&tbnid=ty33AJ6GOpDlOM&vet=12ahUKEwi9w6LRlOjtAhWPb80KHYHyABYQMyhXegUIARC7 AQ..i&docid=UZImdnAiDIEKRM&w=1460&h=1000&q=star%20trek%20christmas&safe=active&client=firefox-b-1-d&ved=2ahUKEwi9w6LRlOjtAhWPb80KHYHyABYQMyhXegUIARC7A Q)


Kirk vs. Gorn ugly sweater (https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.kohlsimg.com%2Fi s%2Fimage%2Fkohls%2F3978838%3Fwid%3D600%26hei%3D60 0%26op_sharpen%3D1&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kohls.com%2Fproduct%2F prd-3978838%2Fmens-star-trek-trexels-ugly-christmas-sweater-tee.jsp&tbnid=zpj87YnRDmm0zM&vet=10CBEQMyhwahcKEwjIlOD-lOjtAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAg..i&docid=PMT6jTvumc1laM&w=640&h=640&q=star%20trek%20christmas&safe=active&client=firefox-b-1-d&ved=0CBEQMyhwahcKEwjIlOD-lOjtAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAg)!



Chibi TOS crew build a snowman (https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fres.cloudinary.com%2Ft eepublic%2Fimage%2Fprivate%2Fs--4sV3D32r--%2Fc_crop%2Cx_10%2Cy_10%2Fc_fit%2Cw_830%2Fc_crop%2 Cg_north_west%2Ch_1038%2Cw_1038%2Cx_-104%2Cy_-231%2Fl_upload%3Av1565806151%3Aproduction%3Ablanks %3Avdbwo35fw6qtflw9kezw%2Ffl_layer_apply%2Cg_north _west%2Cx_-215%2Cy_-342%2Fb_rgb%3A0f9aa1%2Fc_limit%2Cf_jpg%2Ch_630%2Cq _90%2Cw_630%2Fv1514876821%2Fproduction%2Fdesigns%2 F2246173_1.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.teepublic.com%2Fpin%2F 2246173-star-trek-christmas&tbnid=QP71NxIJpnoAuM&vet=10CDMQMyjkAWoXChMIyJTg_pTo7QIVAAAAAB0AAAAAEAM. .i&docid=sySdIiZHOiczZM&w=630&h=630&itg=1&q=star%20trek%20christmas&safe=active&client=firefox-b-1-d&ved=0CDMQMyjkAWoXChMIyJTg_pTo7QIVAAAAAB0AAAAAEAM). Is that small green guy supposed to be a Gorn?


A Captain Picard Make it Snow ornament (https://castlemcquade.com/products/picard-star-trek-christmas-ornament)


The ultimate TNG ugly sweater (https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-WCuElHNf2tc%2FX6yLegSzWkI%2FAAAAAAABF98%2FlY_06EVL i_k76rNP-jwrlcnWluz3ZIoswCPcBGAsYHg%2Fw564-h640%2FNumskull%252BStar%252BTrek%252BThe%252BNext %252BGeneration%252BTrek%252BThe%252BHalls%252BChr istmas%252Bjumper.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thetrekcollective.com% 2F2020%2F11%2Fget-ready-for-christmas-with-festive.html&tbnid=IVGaiekEWbkKZM&vet=12ahUKEwi9w6LRlOjtAhWPb80KHYHyABYQMyhCegUIARCJ AQ..i&docid=FHVxF93PaKHRDM&w=564&h=638&itg=1&q=star%20trek%20christmas&safe=active&client=firefox-b-1-d&ved=2ahUKEwi9w6LRlOjtAhWPb80KHYHyABYQMyhCegUIARCJA Q)


Of course Santa's sleigh could be improved with some nacelles (https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fcoffeeandgeeks.files.w ordpress.com%2F2014%2F11%2Fstar-trek-christmas-card-scott-park-merrily-go.jpeg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fcoffeeandgeeks.wordpress.c om%2F2014%2F11%2F21%2Fstar-wars-star-trek-christmas-card-art-by-scott-park%2F&tbnid=YmQye-bx3zFo3M&vet=10CP0BEDMonQNqFwoTCMiU4P6U6O0CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE ..i&docid=v5hpntkhkKKehM&w=500&h=357&q=star%20trek%20christmas&safe=active&client=firefox-b-1-d&ved=0CP0BEDMonQNqFwoTCMiU4P6U6O0CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE) . Note the registry...

[Nate the Great]

I decided to do a roundup of classic Christmas commercials...


Fruity Pebbles. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QUSeI-fKa0) 'Tis the season to be sharing, Fred...


Honey Nut Cheerios (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWCZxTxax1M). Did you say honey and nuts?


Hershey's Kisses (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HtSLF4vlrk). Whew...



McDonald's Runaway (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we1c4JJpSTo). Not really Christmas, but close enough.


Campbell's Soup Snowman (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2ICzdBH0yY).


M&M's (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LvTfjnEbHk&feature=emb_imp_woyt). I don't know; I never met the guy...

[Nate the Great]

I Keep My Home In My Heart (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFIj3pgw8nA)


I've had the Pokemon XMas Bash CD for years, and this song still has meaning for me.

[Nate the Great]

Hacking the code of Mario 3 from within the game to win in three minutes. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWbZFj-cLvk)


Yikes.

[Nate the Great]

It's been awhile since I schilled James Veitch, but let's see what happens when a gamer girl YouTuber tries the same thing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnpmDYq5kR0).



Luvie is one of my more recent subscriptions. She lives in England and is similar to theodd1sout and his crew: telling stories about their fandoms and lives through simplified drawings of themselves. If I had any artistic talent at all, I'd probably do the same if I ever started a YouTube channel.



(Meaningless side story: the only time I ever uploaded a video to YouTube was to audition for a fandub that never happened. I pulled down the video afterwards.)

[DrWho42]

most recent commission of one of the morbius doctors:

RobertHolmes!Doctor for @DrWho42! This particular TARDIS was designed by the always fantastic @PaulJamesHanley (https://twitter.com/ViiiJohannes/status/1344349949018984448)

[Nate the Great]

At this point I've lost track of Star Trek DeviantArt Days...


A cool B&W collage of Trek heroes. (https://www.deviantart.com/thisismyboomstick/art/Star-Trek-150089599) The shame is that sticking with B&W means that you have to be careful about having too many or too few details on a given person's drawing, lest it look weird. For example, Tasha is a bit underdrawn and Worf a bit overdrawn.


A caricatured collage of Trek heroes. (https://www.deviantart.com/nightwing1975/art/star-trek-group-shot-66886665) Some look interesting, others look awful. Chakotay fares the worst in this one.


A nicely stylized poster for "Journey to Babel." (https://www.deviantart.com/strongstuff/art/mondo-journey-to-babel-183469774) Deco lives on...


The TOS portraits are nice (https://www.deviantart.com/chrisroma/art/Star-Trek-The-Original-Crew-294084368), but that Enterprise is way too far from the actual design.



What if they turned "Amok Time" into a collector's plate (https://www.deviantart.com/stevestanleyart/art/Star-Trek-Mr-Spock-Amok-Time-TOS-330179504)?

[DrWho42]

dan voltz did this art of david cronenberg's cameo in star trek:

STAR TREK: CRONENBERG (https://twitter.com/DrWho42/status/1344488495872495616)

[Nate the Great]

Phelous reviews a Sears catalog from 1987. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFAjcNdrleU&fbclid=IwAR39e52YoxqYlsAQhzxOSpcZVaNrfUi-3-O3yac92aI8Eo0bJSiz3sfp7LA)


Nostalgia, man...

[Nate the Great]

Have I mentioned being a DCAU fan yet?


Watchtower Database is a YouTube channel that covers every corner of the DCAU, released and unreleased. In this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILI0CB7LWmQ) they talk about the final issues of the DCAU Batman comic, what they would've revealed about the canon had they been released. Interesting stuff.



One thing that annoys me is that the Bat-Embargo even extended to comics. Because The Batman had comics, they couldn't make BTAS comics anymore? What stupidity...

[Nate the Great]

One of the classic early College Humor videos is The Tetris God (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Alw5hs0chj0).


Well, years later some actual Tetris players did an analysis of the "game" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_YDwWxuXsI). Funny stuff. My biggest problem is that they didn't bring up the fact that College Humor didn't use the official names for the tetrominos (https://tetris.wiki/Tetromino). Actual Tetris players don't say "squiggly", they say "S block", etc.

[Nate the Great]

TV Tunes Acapella does a cover of the TOS theme. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf7Efd_eHmE) You know, the one that sounds like opera singers who have just had bricks dropped on their feet.


I think there's a reason why we don't use this version of the theme very much anymore. The STTMP version (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI9YYe-jgHI) is much cooler.

[Nate the Great]

An Imgur user made a gif (https://i.imgur.com/AhS6sFV.gifv)about Ro Laren's earring being on the wrong ear and Riker making her switch it.


Yes, Ro wears her earring on the wrong ear. They were still working out the kinks in the Bajoran culture at this point.



The novels actually tackled this question. Ro is still sort of devout, so she wears the earring. However, she was annoyed by Vedeks who kept trying to grab her right ear a la Kai Opaka. So she swapped the earring so they couldn't do that.

[Nate the Great]

John C. Worsley's Trek videos have appeared on this thread before, but his best are the Trek/Christmas song mashups. This year it's "All I Want For Christmas is You (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KvWwJ6sh5s)", Picard style.

[Nate the Great]

I'll admit that King's Quest V isn't as good as VI, but I still have nostalgic feelings for it.



However, some people are almost psychotic about it, and they've been tearing the game apart looking for timesaves. A history of KQV speedruns. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xTACne78ck)

[Nate the Great]

I don't claim to be the world's biggest Animaniacs fan (no, I won't be watching the reboot), but I was a casual watcher back in the day.



The Nations of the World, Annotated (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYVwOv8Pevg)



I'm surprised at how many mistakes they made.

[Nate the Great]

So Obscurus Lupa is exploring Trek for the first time, and she hates "The Inner Light."
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDsSCxVS2KA)


Put down your pitchforks, she's still a newbie to Trek.

[Flying Gremlin]

The TOS intro, in TNG's style (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-WIyAhXa3w)

I don't know how I feel about this.

[Nate the Great]

Shadiversity tackles frying pans as weapons. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UT6Y6JSKCU)


I did like how it was used in Tangled. I even have one of those big, old-fashioned cast iron frying pans. It would certainly make for a fearsome weapon (if I were a cartoon character, of course).

[Nate the Great]

The children's radio station we had in St. Louis was better before Radio Disney took over. Also obviously I was older by that point.


In Minnesota we had Radio AAHS (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_AAHS) before Radio Disney. I don't recall listening to it very much. The Amazing Thing I Learned Today is that before Radio Disney existed Radio AAHS was allowed to broadcast from Disney parks.



And don't ask me how Radio AAHS led me to this very '80s version of "She Drives Me Crazy" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3OAwwbzuUA) by Kermit and Miss Piggy. Talk about a cavalcade of '90s TV stars! What's Dick Clark doing there? Watch for the Terry Farrell cameo!

[DrWho42]

The Silurian TARDIS by PaulHanley on DeviantArt (https://www.deviantart.com/paulhanley/art/The-Silurian-TARDIS-783921835)

Definitely a fun gig- my first honest stab at doing an original console room design. More radical than I'd go with a "standard" attempt, but the "Sil Doctor" is supposed to be a pretty radical break from the standard. An interesting experiment in how far you can push a design while still keeping it at least vaguely recognizable as a TARDIS.

[Nate the Great]

How to survive a Harem Anime (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FmtiDbg4xY)


Just a friendly PSA just in case you end up in an anime world.

[Nate the Great]

Someone found a geode that looks like Cookie Monster inside. (https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/geologist-finds-cookie-monster-rock/?fbclid=IwAR03nexTIJDwKQBEt4HYImNSQGFXU7euAEt0syqf 2BfRjyLamZqI_z2H7wQ)

(https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/geologist-finds-cookie-monster-rock/?fbclid=IwAR03nexTIJDwKQBEt4HYImNSQGFXU7euAEt0syqf 2BfRjyLamZqI_z2H7wQ)

[Nate the Great]

So they decided to Riverdale-ize Winx Club. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBMLbvA-MXg)


I am disappointed.



This is Winx Club. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h7-gVdOfn4) Not whatever that...thing...is.


I was a fan of the first dub, along with Mew Mew Power (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfXdyqqWoKI) back in the day.



I'm perpetually amazed at what the studios try to remake to cash in on prior success. They never seem to realize that the newer viewers don't care (most likely because they didn't know about the original anyway), but the older viewers DO care. And it's the older viewers who will post on their blogs and make YouTube videos talking about how much the reboot stinks.



I know the old expression "there's no such thing as bad press", but I wonder if it's still applicable in the age of Facebook and Twitter. Haters are gonna hate, and the bad press will quickly push out the good press.



So what's the point on trying to cash in on the Winx brand? I can't help but feel that it would get a fairer shake if it hadn't tried.



(Meaningless aside, but I only watched one episode of Riverdale, the first one. It was enough to tell me that it wasn't MY Archie and I wouldn't enjoy any of the later episodes either. Now I have to go cleanse my mind with some Sugar, Sugar. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9nE2spOw_o)..)

[NAHTMMM]

The TOS intro, in TNG's style (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-WIyAhXa3w)

I don't know how I feel about this.
The shadow on the deflector dish as the ship comes down from the top is . . . very unfortunate. Other than that, I enjoyed it and its companion video.

[Nate the Great]

So the "put a picture of bundled-up Bernie Sanders in usual situations" meme is spreading like wildfire for some reason....


A Star Trek spin on the idea. (https://www.reddit.com/r/startrekmemes/comments/l5eu9u/i_cant_think_of_a_caption_lol/)

[Nate the Great]

That's right, woodchuck-chuckers, it's Groundhog Day! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD2ZC11pPPQ)


Everything wrong with the movie. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ_1WAKRTwE)


I'll just post the CGP Grey video again. It's almost like we're in a time loop... (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-Nl4JFDLOU)


This time there was a cool comment. "Bill Murray, I've come to bargain."

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrHTR22pIhw)
Dormammu, I've come to bargain. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrHTR22pIhw)


A Muppets' Groundhog Day message from Joe the Legal Weasel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S6ftPPoLuo)


It was inevitable that someone would autotune Groundhog Day clips at some point.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4qzkQgXCOg)

[Nate the Great]

Adam Savage shows off his Inigo Montoya sword.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=perVeCFBrdE&t=320s)
He also uses a word I never thought he'd use, "shizzle." It's a word I never use and in many ways Adam is even geekier than me. He really puts the "fanatic" into "fan."

[Nate the Great]

Ceave Gaming strikes again. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrJLVludyJ0)


This time he tackles seemingly impossible Mario Maker levels by exploiting little-known mechanics.



I don't consider tricks like this fair. Far too many Mario Maker levels rely on graduate-school levels of knowledge in Mario physics. This stuff should be exclusive to speedruns, not quirky fanlevels.

[Nate the Great]

Customizing a Volkswagen Matchbox car to transform it into Herbie. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCNtFup8-vM)

[Nate the Great]

The Millennial Mixtape (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUSJVMvJ1hQ2gv62vob20-nc5Ro0KZ3jt)


A YouTube playlist of turn of the century music. I don't like all of these songs, but I do like a significant fraction of them.



Generally when asked my favorite genre of music I default to "turn of the century alternative", but is there a more official term for this kind of stuff?

[Nate the Great]

Christopher Plummer died. (https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/Culture/actor-christopher-plummer-dies-91/story?id=28011962&fbclid=IwAR34_cJJC-dRN3WgGMbAefyiaSQWzP9Mah0-Za50DY6Gk3-TfH3TUpnBK7s)


Okay, what's your favorite Plummer role? The Sound of Music and Star Trek VI don't count, I want some variety.


He was good in National Treasure (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDmPLiYUXoI).



It's not one of his more well-known roles, but I liked him in Must Love Dogs. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJlbraIPAZA)

[NAHTMMM]

The Super Mario World OST, restored by data miners who found the original samples that were then compressed to fit on the cartridge, and who then recorded the tunes using the original samples. (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD-vbw8Jmuyg3JYDxm1QPPj1mP3soOVEx)

[NAHTMMM]

Dissociated press. (http://csiuo.com/dissociatedpress/)

Remember when we used to run fivers through dialectizers or Altavista Babelfish? This is the same kind of idea.

[DrWho42]

"rubber hose"-style seventh doctor (https://twitter.com/Jpaikmedia/status/1359228141668102147)

[Nate the Great]

How to play Poohsticks (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LX5023PmMU)


It's always fun to see people pretend to take simple tasks so seriously.



I can't remember the last time I played Poohsticks...

[Nate the Great]

EC Henry tackles the real-world value of gold-pressed latinum. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SSnwRshpDc)


He concludes that you can't go much lower than 1 slip=$1.



A reddit user wants to say 1 slip=50 cents and 1 bar=$1000 (https://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/comments/1iy0xm/whats_the_relative_values_of_ferengi_currency/)


This investment site (https://walletinvestor.com/converter/gold-pressed-latinum/usd/1) sets 1 gold-pressed latinum (presumably a slip) at $0.626.

[DrWho42]

my latest commission from

jpaikmedia (https://twitter.com/Jpaikmedia/status/1360755353403740167)

[Nate the Great]

It seems weird that just after I posted about She Drives Me Crazy the musak at the store I work at started broadcasting the real song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J--Nq_zDDr8) as part of the Valentine's season. (And of course Weird Al did a parody (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PdqNHyEyXY), but I don't have that album, I'm fuzzy on his early work).



Oh well, might as well do a roundup of love songs...


A Letter to Hayley (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Csg9f0TXSK4&list=PL3A40A96F46174EA9&index=14). I still think that Hayley Mills deserved more fame than she got.



Love Story (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuNIsY6JdUw). I first encountered this through a Betty and Veronica AMV (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W94uFf62i_Q&t=124s). I really should look deeper into Taylor Swift's discography one of these days.



My Life Would Suck Without You, Riker/Troi style (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qngo9z2jXvE&list=PL3A40A96F46174EA9&index=67). Have I posted this one yet?


I Love The Whole World/The World is Just Awesome (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LQw_6LGolE&list=PL3A40A96F46174EA9&index=73). Who says love has to be between people? I love lots of places and experiences. Boom de yada...


This Kiss (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dls_cBmUt7Q&list=PL3A40A96F46174EA9&index=109). Faith Hill's another artist whose discography I should further explore...


She's My Girl (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k-XBG2C-Yw&list=PL3A40A96F46174EA9&index=131). I've been a fan of lipsynchORswim's Lehrer lipsynchs for awhile (I don't think lipsynchORswim was even his YouTube handle when I discovered him, it's been well over a decade...)


The Way You Look Tonight (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9ZGKALMMuc&list=PL3A40A96F46174EA9&index=172). I'm pretty sure I've posted the Astaire version somewhere in here, so here's Frank Sinatra (Don't let anyone tell you that Frank is better than Fred at this song, but that doesn't mean it's not worthwhile).


Till There Was You. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHAqAO7w8M8&list=PL3A40A96F46174EA9&index=231) A rare cover made by the Beatles. Listen if only for the pronunciation of "saw" as "sawr."


Jason Manford (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9uALeQqBPE&list=PL3A40A96F46174EA9&index=241)covers "Hushabye Mountain" from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Parental love can be just as powerful as romantic love, isn't it?



All I Do is Dream of You (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEXRohSq9H8&list=PL3A40A96F46174EA9&index=247), covered by Doris Day. She certainly puts her own spin on the song. Rats, another singer I should research more. I still know her more as an actress than a singer.



Cheek to Cheek (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFGNKy3mLY0&list=PL3A40A96F46174EA9&index=260), another Frank Sinatra cover of Fred Astaire. How many of these did he do?

As Long as You Love Me (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Gl2QnHNpkA&list=PL3A40A96F46174EA9&index=295). I'm not ashamed to say that I liked a few songs from the boy band era. Not necessarily "good" music, but always FUN music.



Head Over Feet (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iuO49jbovg&list=PLNMTXgsQnLlANICjq56Qg1rQubU8LNLwL&index=108). It's ironic that Alanis is more than just "Ironic", right? Ugh, maybe I should leave the jokes to Ed Byrne (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT1TVSTkAXg)...

[Nate the Great]

It's always interesting to play "Six Degrees of YouTubers." Since the audiences of similar YouTubers tend to be similar, you get a lot of overlap between fanbases.



Stuart Ashens is a key hub for British YouTubers. He started before Channel Awesome (any of them, including longtimers like Cinema Snob and Spoony), before the Vlog Brothers and their galaxy, before almost any current "big" YouTube reviewer besides the AVGN. (Because Guru Larry pestered him, Ashens was even a part of Channel Awesome for a short time, so that connects him to that corner of the Internet).



Anyway, last year he did a video with Tom Scott (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6VhcpwFZJM), which I only discovered today. And of course Tom Scott has crossed over with Numberphile (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4bmZ1gRqCc), which opens an entire galaxy of connections. As soon as you get to Numberphile, you open up the Vlog Brothers, CGP Grey, Vsauce, Vihart, etc.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnrdqCQuwK8)


I'm not sure if I had a point (besides "watch the channels that you've never heard of, they're worth it), but since when does everything have to have a point?

[DrWho42]

an update regarding the baen's bar forum:

Weisskopf Announces Hiatus for Baen’s Bar (http://file770.com/weisskopf-announces-hiatus-for-baens-bar/)

[Nate the Great]

The comments for this Not Always Right story have a Voyager joke. (https://notalwaysright.com/now-were-even-more-confused/226955/)

[DrWho42]

my guilala commission from hwinn_art based on the monster from the x from outer space (1967)!

Finally finished this dude up! Guilala for
@drwh042 (https://twitter.com/hwinn_art/status/1363245553975451650)-hwinn_art

[Nate the Great]

I've commented before on Digimon themes that sound like Pokemon themes, but what happens if you put Pokemon characters INTO the Digimon theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndQGbl8Wn9E)?


I laughed long and hard at this one. I also find it interesting that they used the Red/Blue versions of the characters, not the actual anime ones. The use of Unknown instead of the Digicode characters was also a nice touch.

[Nate the Great]

A compilation of the Pokemon dub themes. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpTkhQE8XCY)


When it comes to Pokemon I jumped ship towards the end of the Advanced arc. I still think of the early years of the franchise fondly. It just irks me how generic the themes started to get after I left. They don't really feel like "Pokemon" music anymore.



Meaningless aside, but can anyone tell me why Ash is still the main character? At this point it's just getting ridiculous. He's been on his journey longer than the intended audience has been alive. Would people stop watching if the main character was changed every generation? Two or three years should be enough for a character arc without looking like wheel spinning.

[DrWho42]

my commission for locus got posted by the artist!

instagram (https://www.instagram.com/p/CLpU4FMhrxh/)

[Nate the Great]

A new meme: the movie that was number one in the box office on the day you were born will give you an indication of how the rest of your year will go.


Here's a site to tell you what that movie was.
(https://playback.fm/birthday-movie)


I got On Golden Pond. I've only seen the 2001 Andrews and Plummer version, not the Hepburn and Fonda version. I don't recall much of the plot, so I'm not sure what to think.

[Nate the Great]

So it's CGP Grey's tenth anniversary. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC5h9zcHmPA)


It doesn't seem like that long.

[NAHTMMM]

https://99percentinvisible.org/article/dangerous-skyscrapers-channel-wind-sun-topple-pedestrians-start-fires/

Skyscrapers sometimes cause problems for the surrounding area . . .

[Nate the Great]

Since it's my birthday, I've decided to do a roundup of Trek birthday clips...


McCoy gives Kirk a birthday present and toast. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPLMCZ8nfCc)


Tuvok's Birthday Cake (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhC87eRKW5E). For some reason Janeway thinks that Tuvok isn't a hundred years old yet, when he's actually 112. You'd think the writing staff would have settled this question when they decided he was on the Excelsior.



Riker tricks Worf with a surprise party. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQiz7gg2KMI)

[DrWho42]

my will quinn commission based on the robert holmes doctor from doctor who inspired by paul hanley's design.

Daily bunny no.1309 is of a different time (https://twitter.com/willquinnart/status/1363699808783990785)

[Nate the Great]

Channel Awesome presents an idea for Back to the Future IV. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdoZFhAHdTs)

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdoZFhAHdTs)
I'm not sure of how much I like it, but it's at least interesting to consider.

[Nate the Great]

After over twenty years I thought that I knew all of the secrets in Ocarina of Time, but I guess not. I just learned a few new ones from this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSLDGxn_rzY).

[DrWho42]

i got a food illustrator to draw a star trek dish:

itadaki yasu (https://twitter.com/DrWho42/status/1368639806327070722)

[Nate the Great]

Dr. Seuss Enterprises is stopping publication of six Seuss books, including "And To Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street," because they have racist caricatures.
(https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/mar/05/facebook-posts/biden-wasnt-involved-dr-seuss-or-mr-potato-head-ch/)


Mulberry Street is one of my favorite Seuss books, so this saddens me.



I wonder why censorship isn't possible in these cases. Just Photoshop out the racist parts, it's not complicated. The original version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has racist implications with the Oompa-Loompas, later editions fixed this. The original editions of some of the Doctor Doolittle books had racist portrayals of Africans, later editions fixed this. Surely clipping out a few people from group shots isn't as much work as this.

[Nate the Great]

Every episode of TNG. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9W7pvOLxmQ&t=63s)


I get what they were going for, but I'm not sure why this is supposed to be funny. Furthermore, this is just a generic spoof, not "every episode of TNG".


Plus there's the whole "vegetarian space socialists who are always right" thing. Vegetarian? Hardly, we've seen people import real meat and other foodstuffs for the authentic experience. Plus replicated food isn't really "vegetarian." Socialist? That's a whole essay by itself, but the immediate counterargument is that socialism doesn't really have "private property", which doesn't apply to the Federation. Always right? Again, highly debatable.

[Nate the Great]

Happy Mar10 Day!


Yeah, Mario=March 10th.



Piranha Plant Costume (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40-LTfBzDR0&list=PLEa0avMb_W_IszIB7DpKGSUs9p_5S4ldL&index=8)
How much is a Mario coin worth? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rohy6vIMbtM&list=PLEa0avMb_W_IszIB7DpKGSUs9p_5S4ldL&index=12)

Mario parkour in real life (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67qqEcGDC0s&list=PLEa0avMb_W_IszIB7DpKGSUs9p_5S4ldL&index=17) (the real question is how he keeps his hat on)
Mario Kart in real life (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-h4zTEwgCpQ&list=PLEa0avMb_W_IszIB7DpKGSUs9p_5S4ldL&index=60)
Super Smash Wars (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcITr-JYOyYr2NV7uWkwoCZvhpevDUf6c)

Mario 64 File Select Theme Guitar Collab (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5DcdAletRU)
Mario Disco Medley (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6cPLtEEOsw&t=314s)
Medley played by an actual orchestra (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFU0t4ELtbc)
And another orchestral medley (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcKurvm_0oE)
This one has a twist. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6D1gnrBbXk&list=PLwRZyK9G5xi7uaLX2bAnoOkayUwdGjiIi) I recommend the String Player Gamer channel. How one guy can record all these tracks separately and get them to mix so well is amazing.

AVGN covers Hotel Mario (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl2Wz1qlzco)

[Nate the Great]

How fast can you spin a LEGO wheel using Technic motors? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3BsDF6UjCQ)


With the proper lubrication, limited to LEGO motors, 7500 RPM. If you cheat and connect a drill to the axle instead, 17350 RPM. For comparison, a drill by itself goes a few thousand by itself.

[DrWho42]

a worker and parasite parody from the simpsons episode "krusty gets kancelled" (1993):

Daily bunny no.1326 is a good rabotnik! (https://twitter.com/willquinnart/status/1369850941026013188)

[Nate the Great]

Making a paper shredder out of LEGO gears. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qH5Dq3kumI)


Or rather a "paper ripper" or a "paper tearer", this is not a paper shredder. Shredding by definition involves a blade.

[Nate the Great]

Sheet Music Boss presents "Define Dancing" from Wall-E. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkwdKfpQ3EU)


I just happened to stumble on this one. I haven't thought about Wall-E in years, even though I still have the DVD around here somewhere...



The original scene (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPW3mvAN0Rc)


Using Minecraft Noteblocks (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ElDA9Zf8qI)


Fanmade ensemble cover (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqWx3Sg0-NA)


Piano cover (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjmwHavq-kI)


Mario Paint (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gQUiLiOx8A)


Guitar cover (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17ui0j0jIzo)

[Nate the Great]

How could Kira be first officer of the Defiant if she wasn't in Starfleet? (https://heavy.com/entertainment/star-trek/kira-command-on-defiant-ds9/?fbclid=IwAR2fn-CMlyciuOzqfv4aGyMN0maqGo4W2qEPCdWtVW7xypwSCAcDo26h R6M)


My answer is she shouldn't. Kira had no business ever serving on the Defiant except as an observer for the Bajoran government.



Then again, whoever said the human race was logical?

[DrWho42]

youtuber/musician tessa violet plugged the star trek: voyager documentary:

The Star Trek: Voyager Documentary Plug (https://www.twitch.tv/tessaviolet/clip/LivelyShyBulgogiDoritosChip-hMYoujdCTzthktDv)

[Nate the Great]

Certifiably Ingame explains the rules of Dabo. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1CNARsrCaQ)


I think I'll stick to fizzbin...:rolleyes:

[NAHTMMM]

I wonder if my freeware Sabacc would work on a modern computer.

[Nate the Great]

Beverly Cleary died today, aged 106.


So what's your favorite Cleary book?


The Henry Huggins books, of course. Otis Spofford as well. I wonder if Dear Mr. Henshaw is still required reading in school.


I still have to watch Ramona and Beezus. Have any of you seen it?

[DrWho42]

a friend painted the dog from the star trek episode "the enemy within":

I got a really fun commission this week :-) (https://twitter.com/shrimpliker/status/1374170606938251268)

[Nate the Great]

Certifiably Ingame tackles the rules of Tongo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuIzy5JfoEM)


Another set of rules (http://noelgreen.com/ferengi/Tongo-Rules.pdf)


It makes a bit more sense than Dabo, but I shudder to think of the amount of math these guys have to do in their heads.

[NAHTMMM]

https://twitter.com/NouveauDeco/status/1375010178664443905

Animation of building a bridge in the 14th century.

[Nate the Great]

Apparently I haven't shilled Julien Neil yet. He does a capella covers of old songs, often by split-screening himself into a barbershop quartet. Due to a combination of factors I'm fond of music from many different eras. Ragtime is one of them. The sincere simplicity proves that you don't need fancy tech or a roomful of musicians to have a good time.



The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_iz6M2cUwI)
Goodnight, My Someone (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19o6llHx7mI)
It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU3StPwbIWw)
Side by Side (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbX75DU47Dc)
Take Me Out to the Ballgame (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upW4dLoKGxc)
I Got Rhythm (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6kYHDPWcuU)
In the Good Old Summertime (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKvLCwInPGA)

[DrWho42]

a vintage star wars model restoration:

Vintage Star Wars - Boba Fett Slave 1 - Unboxed - Cleaned + Reviewed! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LayOQsUP5UM)

[Nate the Great]

Maybe some of you remember Disney's One Saturday Morning. And perhaps some of you remember Great Minds Think 4 Themselves hosted by Genie. But I bet you didn't know that Genie imitated the TOS Trinity at one point. I didn't either until today. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JglFXAjFOYA)His Kirk and Spock are okay, but McCoy is a little over the top.

[DrWho42]

@itslittletunny (https://twitter.com/itslittletunny) drew my cat!

snow crash (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ex6rTSZWQAALDiD?format=jpg&name=large)

[Nate the Great]

Certifiably Ingame tackles the different Starfleet divisions and their uniform colors. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_xK1fts_GI)


The amount of overlap between yellow, red, and blue and the number of times people change their colors is always interesting.


Side note: I hated Thomas Riker being in yellow. Yeah, I know that they put him in yellow to make it easier for the viewer to distinguish between Tom and Will, but I still hate it. The different rank insignia and beard styles was enough for me. Or maybe you put Tom in one of the early season jumpsuits with the division braid on the yoke to distinguish them.



Something that I wonder about is what Kirk's green uniform was supposed to represent. Was that uniform for missions under UESPA control? One site indicates (https://the-take.com/watch/what-is-the-significance-of-the-different-colored-uniforms-in-star-trek) that the green was for special occasions, a sort of functional dress uniform. The same site indicates that the color change was because Stewart and Frakes didn't look good in the yellow uniform and the Data makeup didn't look good with a red uniform.

[Nate the Great]

Den of Geek tackles the question of the 10 Essential TOS Episodes (https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/star-trek-the-original-series-episodes-that-best-define-the-franchise/)


Man Trap, Let That Be Your Last Battlefield, Arena, Balance of Terror, Space Seed, A Piece of the Action, Devil in the Dark, The Corbomite Maneuver, The City on the Edge of Forever, A Taste of Armageddon


I'm not so sure about this list. A Piece of the Action is fun, but I'm not sure about essential. I'm not sure if Tribbles belongs in this list, but it's a consideration. I have no clue why Journey to Babel isn't in this list. I'd also put Conscience of the King above some of the episodes on this list.

[DrWho42]

scream of the shalka (2003) fan art by elizabeth fijalkowski!

lizziefij (https://twitter.com/Lizziefij/status/1379154960068251661)

[Nate the Great]

Defunctland presents the history of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVVkSlXl41Q)


Stay tuned for the Mayim Bialik and Jeremy Miller cameos. I didn't watch Blossom, but I did watch Growing Pains, so that was surreal.


Original WITWICS Theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1EIUP8tvbE)
Where in Time Theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee6eU_148uI)
Where on Earth Theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGufyFt6zQc)
Netflix Carmen Theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILTWNFH4F5g)


I confess that I've never given Where on Earth a fair shake, I need to revisit it one of these days. I've only seen Season One of the Netflix series, and it's okay, but it's not "Carmen Sandiego". It takes more then a red trenchcoat and hat to be Carmen Sandiego.



The original Apple IIe game (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEB9M_1XOP0)

The DOS game (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScvM9pecFOo)


Like so many games of the '80s, it was Apple IIe at school, DOS at home.


PushingUpRoses covers the Windows version (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=na41AYz1dF8)


There's oftentimes a problem when you update DOS/Apple IIe games to Windows, and it's usually the unneeded fluff. Programmers showing off graphics and sound card capabilities without realizing how much it slows down the gameplay. I definitely ran into this problem with the Windows version of Oregon Trail: too slow!


I remember when Jennifer Lopez was going to play her in a movie. I'm not sure how that would've worked out.

[Nate the Great]

What if Disney made Star Wars in the '20s? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f37RXfkIRj0)


I get what they were going for, and I appreciate the namedrops of the pre-Mickey Disney characters, but it still falls flat.

[Nate the Great]

Can you beat Mario 64 on a keychain-sized GBA SP? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhmYoN2FqMc)



Yes, but the lack of an analog stick is a real hassle. The mere thought of playing OOT on this thing gives me the heebie-jeebies.

[Nate the Great]

Tomosteen makes stop-motion videos where he turns food into LEGO. (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5CVHySclG0LJWhnjD_wbtg)


No, I have no idea why, either. I still have a fondness for stop-motion, probably springing from Rankin-Bass and Sesame Street.

[DrWho42]

michael okuda posted about it. krad did a piece commemorating her:

margaret wander bonanno, RIP (https://decandido.wordpress.com/2021/04/08/margaret-wander-bonanno-rip/)

[Nate the Great]

Does canon matter in Star Trek? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VXWXxywf2o)


Once again I had a whole essay that I had to delete. Let's sum up the video with "there were always changes between Trek incarnations, why should Discovery be any different?" And let's sum up my whole speech with "there's a difference between changes made to facilitate a story and changes made because the creators are lazy and don't care about continuity." And while I dislike Enterprise greatly (although I will have to start their Retrospective in 2031), most of their changes seem to be in the first camp and most of Discovery's changes seem to be in the second camp.

[DrWho42]

tessa violet did a music video inspired by the baseball scene from the 2008 movie twilight:

Tessa Violet & lovelytheband - Games (Official Music Video) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne5AQiEFvBI)

[Nate the Great]

Not really a link, but I had to share this. On Amazon Prime TV episodes have a short summary on the season page. Some are more accurate than others. The one that caught my eye was the one for "The Dauphin"...


Wesley finds romance with the beautiful young ruler of Daled Four whose secret power could destroy the Enterprise and her crew.


What? Her "secret power" is that she's a shapeshifter. Sure, she could probably kill some crewmen, but that wouldn't destroy the Enterprise. Besides, Salia doesn't threaten the crew, only Anya!


I took a quick glance through the other Trek season pages for other hilariously inaccurate summaries...


Q-Who: The crew is hurled into the future by the malevolent Q, who sets them up for destruction by a race of half-human, half robot aliens known as the Borgs.


"The Borgs?" And that should be "humanoid", not "human". The Hansens aside, we're supposed to think that the Borg have never encountered a human before this episode.


Deja Q: The crew is surprised by the appearance of their mischievous nemesis, Q.


Not inaccurate, but amazingly broad and generic. Couldn't this summary equally apply to any Q appearance post-"Encounter at Farpoint"?


Holow Pursuits: The crew struggles to help a young engineer whose obsession with the fantasy world Holodeck is endangering the ship.


Young? Okay, this one is a bit complicated. If we go by the age of the actor, Dwight Shultz was 43 at this point. By our standards this is only "young" in a relative sense. However, Memory Alpha claims that Barclay was 26 at this point. Don't ask me where they got a birth year for him, maybe it was on an Okudagram somewhere.


Of course, given the extended lifespans of humans in the 24th century, perhaps 43 is still considered young.



Force of Nature: An alien brother and sister resort to desperate measures to prove their theory that warp drive is destroying the universe.


Wow. That's overblown. That sounds more like a soundbyte for a televised teaser than a summary for a streaming site. Of course, you could claim that without warp drive the universe may as well be destroyed.


Maybe I'll return to the other series later. This stuff is funny.

[Nate the Great]

Stop Skeletons From Fighting (I miss when he was the Happy Video Game Nerd...) presents Playstation games that you can play with the PS2 DVD remote. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJMF54buozY)


Seeing the remote was nostalgic for me, my brother had a PS2 back in the day. Of course I was a Nintendo kid.

[DrWho42]

shalka doctor print on etsy!

doctor who shalka tardis a4 print (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/989485946/doctor-who-shalka-tardis-a4-print)

[Nate the Great]

Well, it's official, NintendoCollecting has gone insane. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-S77-Vufik) He's set up Zelda Four Swords Adventures to be played on TVs instead of Gameboy Advances. All you need is five Gamecubes, four Gameboy Players, four Gameboy Link Cables, five TVs, and one copy of the game.

[Nate the Great]

Why is the planet Vulcan called Vulcan? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0FOn0vNI9c)


So apparently there's this whole thing in Discovery where the planet is now called Ni'Var, but shockingly I don't care in the slightest.


Today I learned that during production of TOS they were considering "Vulcanis." I did know about the sporadic use of "Vulcanian" to reference a resident of the planet.



I've known about the star being called 40 Eridani A (https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Vulcan_(planet)) for a long time.



Granted, it does seem silly to use a name from Earth mythology for such a prominent planet. And why Vulcan, a god of war?

[NAHTMMM]

MST3K is coming back again! (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mst3k/makemoremst3k)

[Nate the Great]

Adam Savage hates duct tape (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEfQAo-BuB0)


As a duct tape devotee, I call sacrilege.



On the other hand, I think Adam is taking things too literally. The point of duct tape is not to be the perfect solution for anything that needs tape, because no such tape exists. The point is that duct tape is an adequate solution for everything. Versatility, not specialization.

[Nate the Great]

Lofty Pursuits makes Star Wars candy for Star Wars Day tomorrow. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMsLklfP3Ac)


As an attempt to replicate Boba Fett's helmet I guess it's okay, but personally I would never attempt a design that intricate on this scale.

[DrWho42]

a digital collage by los angeles-based artist midi_wizard:

canal (https://twitter.com/midi_wizard/status/1387610314737213442)

[Nate the Great]

Tom Lehrer 93rd Birthday Tribute (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTO-nzeUfjM)


Yes, Tom is still with us.

[Nate the Great]

Plenty of people on YouTube tackle the question of how accurate costumes in fiction are (I especially refer you to Glamour's playlist of fashion historian fact checks (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1TPHg7HzcUrJrJW3gXdHnKtwSWezHcsE) and Bernadette Banner (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjMlfIMJIJDhOT1aWO4z6sBUMB2XoIEnm)) , but this one is different.


What would Ariel's "sail dress" really have looked like? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlEybzM2eqE)

[Nate the Great]

Trailer for the newest Sailor Moon movie. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDnKDYpvEgo&t=100s)


While I'm glad that they've gone away from the overly stretched Sailor Moon Crystal art style, the voice acting is just awful.



Time for some Sailor Moon covers!


Techno dance remix! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZCaZ594T-A)
Sega Genesis remix (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcEszSvHgQk)

If Sailor Moon was in Smash Bros., this would be her theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3vTVd9Up5g)
8-bit remix, some definite Nintendo vibes here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTdoadeM24o)
This 8-bit remix sounds a bit more arcadey (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on1DvjlWPxE)

[Nate the Great]

Making a tiny DeLorean out of lighter parts. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAeiJCcviVA)


Ugly shade of yellow, but impressive craftmanship for this scale.

[DrWho42]

the kaiju from 1967's the x from outer space as a muppet:

Guilala kaiju puppet for @DrWho42! Who could stay mad at that face... (https://twitter.com/sadwastelander/status/1390364689054330888)

[Nate the Great]

Norman Lloyd (Professor Galen) died at age 106. (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/obituaries/norman-lloyd-star-saboteur-st-elsewhere-dies-106-n1267052)


Going through his IMDB I was surprised to see that he was also on another show that I really liked: Seven Days. I never made the connection.

[Nate the Great]

Using Punnet Squares to figure out Ash's dad. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjYvIsNBKbg)


I never knew there was a theory that Bruno was his dad, and I never heard of this Silver guy (https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Silver_(HS18)) (not a shock, as I bailed from the anime when the voice actors changed).



I was ready to call shenanigans on not mentioning Giovanni, but then he does.

[Nate the Great]

NerdSync discusses the '60s Captain America cartoon (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0-6hz9Q7c4). What surprised me was the LegalEagle (https://www.youtube.com/LegalEagle) cameo.



Excerpts from the First Avenger soundtrack. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II21X3AZTUE)


The Captain America March (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wltsGaeKIEI)


Star Spangled Man With A Plan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i574Em3IrI)

[DrWho42]

the artist for a lot of the doctor who vhs cover art has a fundraiser:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-me-get-colin-back-outside-in-nature

[Nate the Great]

As a child I had a domino phase, and while I don't do that sort of thing anymore I still like to watch videos from time to time like this one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWgH0hXZKrE). Setting up 32,000 dominoes doesn't sound like fun, and the law of diminishing returns would be in my mind the whole time.

[Nate the Great]

Perhaps you've seen Pogo's Data/Picard (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl5TUw7sUBs) song...


Well, someone deepfaked Stewart and Spiner's faces onto it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeVC-zY9KFQ). It's a little unsettling.



Deepfakes are things that require a lot of attention to detail, lest it send you into the Uncanny Valley. For example, this one putting Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Holland into Back to the Future (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OJnkJqkyio) is done way better.



Star Trek The First Generation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfQ0og_x9OI) is more middle of the road.


Putting Lynda Carter over Gal Godot (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwRmeT1lEFg) is okay. Conversely, putting Gal Gadot over Lynda Carter (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtDuW8LVrVw) is a little creepy.



Tom Cruise as Iron Man (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8TmqvTVQFQ) tried a bit too much. By trying to replace RDJ's voice with a Tom Cruise soundalike they introduced the audio version of Uncanny Valley.

[Nate the Great]

How the world's most complicated language works. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_x_PQ85_0k)

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_x_PQ85_0k)
There is such a thing as trying to cram too much meaning into a word.


The very name "ithkuil (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ithkuil)" is a headache. And again I have to ask: why are pronounciations given using a notation that only linguists know? What is "/iθˈku.ɪl/" supposed to mean to me? "ith-coo-yil" is something anyone can understand, so why isn't it used?

[Nate the Great]

Nostalgia Critic reviews the Mulan remake (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X6DlQqzQig)



The beginning has an unexpected Star Trek joke.

[DrWho42]

sixth doctor as a cat!

JohannesVIII (https://twitter.com/ViiiJohannes/status/1399961052889206784)

[Nate the Great]

After three years of building the Marble Machine X is ready for calibration tests. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b-B_Bg31Zg)


Just in case you forgot what the original Marble Machine looks like... (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q)


It's amazing to see how rough the original machine looks in comparison.

[DrWho42]

a friend did this etch a sketch of the container ship that blocked the suez canal:

ever given (https://twitter.com/PrincessEtch/status/1401313933877784580) :cool:

[NAHTMMM]

https://gamehistory.org/earthbound-script-files/

A translator found his floppies from when he worked on Earthbound, and the data adds some details to the world, such as people's names and bits that got cut or changed in the final release.

[Nate the Great]

So I'd never heard about this Kino's Storytime show that aired on PBS before. It aird from 1992-1998, so I was ten when it started, but I was still watching Square One and Ghostwriter in that era.


Anyway, each episode would have guest stars read kids books. Here's Rosalind Chao (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5YJhUUe-Q8) and Rene Auberjonois (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1eWQ_Z9SjY).

[Nate the Great]

Toy Galaxy presents a minidocumentary about Schoolhouse Rock (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BSZkM0H2Kc)

[Nate the Great]

Another test of the Marble Machine X (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gPVvoIEw0w). It sounds better this time.

[DrWho42]

the ever given etch a sketch was featured in file 770!

45,000 To 105,000 Characters In Search Of A Novelette (http://file770.com/pixel-scroll-6-14-21-45000-to-105000-characters-in-search-of-a-novelette/)

[Nate the Great]

Okay, I gotta ask. What's with the lack of capital letters?

[Nate the Great]

A guy built a LEGO railway through his house. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECn2al0M98s)



Up stairs, through a pool, through a glow bracelet tunnel, through a mini forest, everything!

[Nate the Great]

I can't believe that I haven't shilled A Cappella Trudbol before, but the search function isn't returning anything. He does barbershop quartet versions of old and new songs.



I Want it That Way (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTDB6kBunhw)


I still have a fondness for the boy band era, however flawed it was. It definitely falls into the category of "it's not supposed to be fancy or intellectual, it's supposed to be fun."



And now to inflict some turn of the millennium cultural junk food on you. Mickey's Dance Party (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLt3W9_SUMda4dG4yAQ-DLy8wGpMx4Pm2v). A cheese level that's off the charts, but it's a CD that I'm glad I bought.

[Nate the Great]

Cinema Snob review of Soup For One (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ2Vd8KNDk0&list=PL49xjXPUx6nAejN3Tm9mjk6WNnp8jAXoL&index=537)

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ2Vd8KNDk0&list=PL49xjXPUx6nAejN3Tm9mjk6WNnp8jAXoL&index=537)
I don't recommend the movie itself, I don't watch or follow sex comedies, but I was surprised at all of the cameos by Trek guest stars. We have Saul Rubinek AKA Kivas Fajo, Gerrit Graham AKA Quinn, and Richard Libertini AKA Akorem Laan (the substitute Emissary from the past).


I mean, of course these guys must've had other parts besides Trek (I know Rubinek best from his run on Frasier), but you don't expect to see these careers intersect in a movie from 1982.

[Nate the Great]

Because Star Trek: Picard screwed up the novelverse's idea of the post-TNG years, Pocket Books is releasing a trilogy of novels to close that version of the novelverse to avoid confusion. (https://comicbook.com/startrek/news/star-trek-coda-trilogy-deatils/)


I gotta ask, how many people watching STP are reading the novels? This seems unnecessary. And more than that, it seems like another piece of ammunition for the old-school Trekkies to use to attack the recent Trekverse.

[Nate the Great]

Today's post is in honor of the Fourth of July. Schoolyard chants based on well-known songs are nothing new, but let's talk about variants of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdYJ3GYX7Yw)"



The version I'm most familiar with is from Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion":


Mine eyes have seen the glory of the burning of the school,
We are torturing the teachers we are breaking every rule,

We broke into his office and we tickled the principal,
Our truth is marching on!


Glory, glory hallelujah
teacher hit me with a ruler
I bopped her on the bean
with a rotten tangerine
and she ain’t gonna teach no more“


But there are many, MANY variants.
(http://playgroundjungle.com/2010/09/mine-eyes-have-seen-the-glory-of-the-burning-of-the-school-updated.html)


Did you hear any such variants as a child?

[Nate the Great]

Spock cameos on the Carol Burnett show. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaKpbaWR2pI)


Well, that was weird...

[Nate the Great]

We seem to have some cat fans in the audience, so here's a TNG/cat joke (https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=4104106589705057&set=gm.5974574142614014) from Facebook.

[Nate the Great]

Element 14 makes a tricorder from a kit. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri2RpTgju-Y)


I am disgusted at how little that thing looks like a real TNG tricorder. I hope the real explanation is that this thing isn't officially licensed so they couldn't get too close to the real design.

[Nate the Great]

Half as Interesting talks about elevator systems in really tall buildings. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_6d1CkOgXc)


Like many others I was gratified to see the SimTower graphics. I love that game...

[Nate the Great]

Doomed: The Untold Story of Roger Corman's The Fantastic Four (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzhmBdqzuJI)


I've been waiting to see this one for years, but it was behind a paywall for the longest time.



And if you want to see the actual movie... (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lPqYqExC0Y)

[Nate the Great]

All of the actors who were on TOS and Batman 1966. (https://screenrant.com/star-trek-original-series-batman-66-actors-same/?utm_source=SR-FB-P&utm_medium=Social-Distribution&utm_campaign=SR-FB-P&fbclid=IwAR2ruldqNqbqPYhJTQ1kOLz1sPkOxV4tzhFpdoeDl 7Ii0EKjWoGDf8-eaxA)I knew about some of these, but not all.

[Nate the Great]

You don't expect to see that many TNG/Scooby Doo memes, but here's one (https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=4121312664651116&set=gm.6003097833094978)...

[Nate the Great]

Trekkies in Night Court (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPRp0VT9PxA)


I get the "Trekkies are losers" gag, especially given that it's the eighties, but I can't forgive how amateurish their uniforms are. They can't even make them the right colors? Since when was orange a division color in Starfleet?


And of course if you bring up Night Court in a Trek setting you have to link to one of Brent Spiner's cameos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE6brM24yIA). It's the law. Regulation 47, I believe.

[DrWho42]

2023's STAR TREK Film Lands a Director

trekcore (https://blog.trekcore.com/2021/07/star-trek-film-2023-director-matt-shakman-named/)

[Nate the Great]

Discovery and Lower Decks nominated for Five Emmys (https://trekmovie.com/2021/07/13/star-trek-discovery-and-lower-decks-nominated-for-5-emmys/?fbclid=IwAR3nVoEvcOaseSDanBQSdW6QZ5tlymj2MvLmctXJ 8PqIB_kjgNAd7mVQ0zc)


Makeup, sound editing, visual effects. In other words, they shouldn't be that excited. Get back to me when the writing is nominated. I should be comfortable in my seat at Milliways when that happens.

[Nate the Great]

Steve Shives tackles TOS's Earth duplicates (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X4k3-FOQ7c) (AKA examples of Hodgkin's Law of Parallel Planet Development (https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Hodgkin%27s_Law_of_Parallel_Planetary_Development) ).



If you believe the Shatnerverse, all of these duplicate Earths were the result of a Preserver plan, but I'm not sure how much I like that idea.



I'm okay with Hodgkin's Law in general, but not duplicate Declaration of Independences or stuff like that.


Incidentally, I don't call any planet with identical to human natives a duplicate Earth. That's just '60s budget constraints. Just like I'm willing to say that Klingons always had ridges, we can say that these species had out-of-budget differences. Different numbers of fingers, odd eye shapes, that sort of thing.


"A Piece of the Action" isn't a duplicate Earth, it was made that way by the the book the Horizon left. He also cites "The Royale", which was again, an intentional duplication.

[Nate the Great]

Certifiably Ingame asks if Vic Fontaine is truly sentient, or just a very sophisticated puppet. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Twl2Ic-3kkU)


He concludes the latter. I disagree. He was made to be fully sentient from the get-go.


Then again, I suppose you gotta ask where the line is. Holodoc was arguably not fully sentient at the start.

[Nate the Great]

Someone uses Python to simulate a million Monopoly games to see how often the game turns into an endless balance. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx1ofZHGUtI)


I'd argue that this is of minimal usefulness as the player's strategy seldom operates according to strict logic.


I also argue that the real reason Monopoly has gotten the reputation of super-long and boring is quite simple: nobody plays by the real rules.


The point of the game is getting all of the money on the board back to the bank or the winner's possession. Not using interest when selling back houses, Free Parking, not conducting auctions, and all the other house rules are antithetical to that purpose. The game is set up to drain money from the player's hands back to the bank at a reasonable rate. Not doing that increases the odds of an endless game.

[Nate the Great]

Two British universities have done studies on how the usages of split infinitives has evolved and declared that they're now okay to use. (https://www.theguardian.com/science/shortcuts/2017/sep/25/to-boldly-go-split-infinitive-grammatical-error-research)

(https://www.theguardian.com/science/shortcuts/2017/sep/25/to-boldly-go-split-infinitive-grammatical-error-research)
So now you can ignore all those idiots who insist that it should be "to go boldly".



And of course we all remember that in the old Galactic Empire men dared to boldly split infinitives that no man had split before.


Incidentally, an infinitive is when you use the original form of a verb, i.e. "to go", the split is inserting "boldly."


In Latin the "to verb" form is one word, so you couldn't split it even if you wanted to. It still makes sense in Romance languages, but English is a Germanic language, so it's okay to split. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNGh0JF8VcE)