Which branch of Starfleet?

[Nate the Great]

Here's a new (I think :)) idea for a poll. If you were to serve in Starfleet in the late 24th century, all else being equal (including mortality rates :)), which branch would you serve in? Medical, Science, Security, Engineering, or Command?

Yeah, um, I mucked this up before I could add the poll, so this is more of a discussion.

[Sa'ar Chasm]

My chosen field (chemistry) would seem to indicate the Sciences, but there actually isn't a lot of fieldwork on the final frontier, except for environmental chemistry, which we won't discuss. It's so hard to get chemicals, equipment and funding when you're under attack every other week.

I'd go with command. I've got delusions of leadership (call it a Hornblower complex), and that centre chair looks rather comfy.

[Nate the Great]

Just every other week? So you're never attacked this week. This isn't any OTHER week, you know.

Whose Line points for anyone who gets the subtle literary reference!

I wonder if Hornblower and Kirk really have any simularities.

So you're a "re not er" fan. I'm on the fence. I'm enough of a twit to say that a place with a stage is a theatre and a place with a screen is a theater. But then again, not so much of a fan of centre and so on.

Which captain's chair? Not Kirks, I hope. The back's too low and I never really did get into leather upholstery. If it's too cold you can feel it all too easily, and if it's too hot it sticks to your thighs.

Hey, I'm sure any field you can major in at Starfleet Academy can have missions associated with it. We just never see them because sloshing chemicals from one flask to another is kinda McCoy's schick, and we don't want to be stepping on his toes, do we? Besides, how dramatic is "boldly going" to the lab? ;)

[e of pi]

Well, I've always thought the Ops officer has a cool job. Just make sure the engineers don't fix something they can't bypass and that the sciences share the sensors, and you get a bridge chair and a senior officer role. Not bad.

[Gatac]

...Intelligence.

Gatac

[Chancellor Valium]

I don't think I actually have any talents useful to Starfleet. Unless they need people with a foot in both history and archaeology. Would that indicate sciences?

Ideally, I'd go for Intelligence...

[Nate the Great]

So you'd probably want to hop into the Guardian of Forever, zap over to the Stargate universe, and join Daniel Jackson's team, huh? Hang out with Rothman!

[Sa'ar Chasm]

I wonder if Hornblower and Kirk really have any simularities.

Hornblower shared Kirk's isolation, and he did bed the odd beautiful woman (adulterously, no less), but there weren't any three-breasted green aliens. Hornblower also suffered from a lack of self-confidence and self worth: he achieved great things through his native intelligence and wit, but he never felt he deserved rewards and praise for them, thinking he was only doing his duty.

So you're a "re not er" fan. I'm on the fence.

I'm Canadian. I'm a fan of spelling things properly.

Hey, I'm sure any field you can major in at Starfleet Academy can have missions associated with it. We just never see them because sloshing chemicals from one flask to another is kinda McCoy's schick, and we don't want to be stepping on his toes, do we? Besides, how dramatic is "boldly going" to the lab?

Well, doing research in chemistry can be done much more efficiently from a permanent address, rather than a mobile starship. It's not something that requires access to deep space facilities, and would actually be hampered on a cramped ship with limited space for equipment and storage that routinely gets knocked around "like a bunch of fireflies in a rambunctious toddler's jar."

[Nate the Great]

Oh, a language purist. I suppose you're a proponent of maintaining the use of "ae" as in aether.

Oh, and I define proper spelling as "anything the dictionary says it can be." Ergo, center and theater are just as proper.

Oh, and I don't understand the "Canadian="perfect" spelling" hypothesis. How does that follow?

Oh, and I'm sure that on starships there are labs with independant inertial dampeners, so that even if YOU'RE banging from wall to wall, your chemicals will be just fine.

[Gatac]

Intelligence.

(It bears repetition.)

Gatac

[Chancellor Valium]

So you'd probably want to hop into the Guardian of Forever, zap over to the Stargate universe, and join Daniel Jackson's team, huh? Hang out with Rothman!

I would, but I know next-to-nothing about exo-archaeology (yes, it's spelled "ae" :p), or the Ancients, and his theories on ancient Egypt are harder to swallow than Mt. Rushmore.

Oh, a language purist.
We're everywhere!

I suppose you're a proponent of maintaining the use of "ae" as in aether.
And "oe". As in oeconomy. And 'connexion', 'reflexion' etc. But *NOT* "crucifiction" - that would mean 'moulding into the shape of a cross'.

Oh, and I define proper spelling as "anything the dictionary says it can be." Ergo, center and theater are just as proper.
So if I become boss-man at the OED, and for the next edition decide that you can spell "centre" as qzhokhtir, you'd agree with that?

Oh, and I don't understand the "Canadian="perfect" spelling" hypothesis. How does that follow?

Canadian spelling = English spelling. English spelling of English language = correct.
Now answer a simple question: Does the above progression seem logical to you?

;)

[mudshark]

I don't think I actually have any talents useful to Starfleet. Unless they need people with a foot in both history and archaeology. Would that indicate sciences?
You never know. Could come in handy in the event you meet anyone named Khan.

[Sa'ar Chasm]

Oh, and I don't understand the "Canadian="perfect" spelling" hypothesis. How does that follow?

Small joke. My smiley must've gotten eaten.

Canadian spelling = English spelling.

Combination of the two, actually. Theoretically, either/or is fair game here, but good-naturedly tweaking American sensibilities is also a Canadian past time. *g*

[Nate the Great]

Uh, as long as the Canadian culture contains elements of the French culture, a dollar that is so close to ours, and insists on reaping all of the benefits of being American without paying any of the associated costs, I'll never agree that "Canadian=English."

Hey, I love Canada and it's residents, but Canucks are just as fallable as Yankees in my book.

I could make a joke about how tweaking fun at Americans has to be your only pasttimes because there's "nothing" else to do up there, but enough of you know that I'm Minnesotan that the flaming would bounce back faster than I could say "yah, sure, you betcha."

[mudshark]

Minnesotans are really Canadians, anyway, eh?

[Nate the Great]

I suppose in the past that was true, but, at least here in The Cities, that's really no longer the case. We're a major immigration destination, for some reason. Why, I don't know. Didn't their travel agent tell them that Minnesota defines "post-apocalyptic winter weater?" Sheesh, that should be Basic Travel Agent Information 101. I was born and bred here and so were my ancestors going back generations, so I know how to deal with fifty below. I pity these guys who were living in deserts and swampland two years ago.

Go out into the country, though, and yeah, we're still basically good, humble people. I've met them. They're great. They're like Canadians who use the Imperial system.

[Chancellor Valium]

Uh, as long as the Canadian culture contains elements of the French culture, a dollar that is so close to ours, and insists on reaping all of the benefits of being American without paying any of the associated costs, I'll never agree that "Canadian=English."

English spelling of French is just the same as the French spelling of French :p


Hey, I love Canada and it's residents, but Canucks are just as fallable as Yankees in my book.

Indeed.

[Celeste]

Dental Hygienist, Baby. I'm so totaly for the Medical carear track. ;) Althought the Character I play on TV is Security.

[Nate the Great]

Oh, another graduate of the Austin Powers School of Speaking. I meet more of you guys every day. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing. ;)

Dentists in Starfleet? I thought the Cardassians kidnapped all of those guys years ago. ;)

[MaverickZer0]

I'd probably be the one hopping over to Stargate and Daniel Jackson. Writing doesn't have a huge component in anything in Starfleet, I don't think, and I love archaeology. (Plus, mm, Daniel Jackson.)
In Starfleet (if I couldn't get Section 31, that is ;p) I'd probably go for either Security or Command. Why? I'm a blackbelt and I'm good at convincing people. A commander can come from anywhere though, as Janeway and Picard came through Science, Archer through piloting, and I don't know about either Sisko or Kirk but I think Kirk would've been Security.
Or Intelligence. I think any way it went, I'd want something with high risks.

I don't necessarily spell things the Canadian way. I spell them whichever way I am in the mindset of at the time. As much as I hate to say it, sometimes that's the American way.
Hell, I'm not even sure if there is a Canadian way. It's like us using metric for some things and Imperial for others. I just go with what makes sense to me, you know?

[Nate the Great]

Okay, and what makes sense to you? Imperial or metric? As an engineering graduate, I've had to use both, and it really irks me how it always seems like the science classes use metric and the engineering classes use Imperial. I have to know both units.

What makes sense to me? To me it's an example of human frailty. Metric is more logical, but after all:

Gillian Taylor: Who ever said the human race was logical?

Ergo Imperial fits better in human terms.

[PointyHairedJedi]

It would involve holographic cameras, most certainly. I'm sure they still need photographers in the future.

[MaverickZer0]

What makes sense to me? A combination of both. It depends on the circumstances.

I couldn't tell you my height in cm, but I know it in feet. Distances are in kilometers, though, and meters for heights of inanimate objects. If I'm closer to something, it's 30 feet away, not ten meters.

Confused yet? Welcome to Canada.

[Nate the Great]

Anybody else think that that would make a great national motto?

"Confused yet? Welcome to Canada."

The patron saint of the motto would undoubtedly be Red Green!

[MaverickZer0]

Nah, Red Green would endorse 'Duct tape forever!'

I still call it Duck Tape, though. :D

[Nate the Great]

Red Green's motto is not the same as the Canadian national motto. He wouldn't be the first person to endorse an ideal that is not necessarily his own, anyway.

On the duck vs. duct debate, I take my cue from Jim and Tim, The Duct Tape Guys. Use duct because it's the correct name, at least in print. I've found a pronounciation that's somewhere between the two, and I let the listener choose what they want to hear.

On the other hand, using a copyrighted name like "duck" as a generisized trademark (Wikipedia's term) would hardly be new. I still use Band-Aid and Q-Tip.

[mudshark]

I believe that would be "genericized", but that's a nitpick.

Yes, the stuff is for sealing ventilation ducts. There is, however, at least one "Duck Tape (http://www.needlesports.com/acatalog/ducktape.JPG)" brand name, and I just think that the notion of tape (http://www.whimsical-art.com/ProdImages/Bedducktapeweb.jpg) for ducks (http://www.galleryone.com/images/bullas/bullas%20-%20duck%20tape.jpg) is a funny one. YMMV.

[Nate the Great]

Oh yes, the industry is much better now that the all-important duck consumer market has opened up. :)

[PointyHairedJedi]

Speak for yourself. I've been consuming ducks for years.

[Chancellor Valium]

In tape, though?

Personally, I find they taste much better in pancakes with black bean sauce, but that's just me...

[Nate the Great]

What do ducks taste like? Once you get beyond the "standard" meats of beef, pork, chicken, and turkey (along with a few kinds of seafood), my only really "exotic" meat consumption has been buffalo jerky (not that bad, if you were wondering, which you're not).

[mudshark]

Duck isn't any more exotic than, say, goose or turkey. Certain methods of preparation are considered exotic by some folks, but there's nothing terribly special about the bird. It isn't even all that smart.

[Chancellor Valium]

Indeed.

re: methods of preparation, the Mallard Fizz is to be recommended.

[Nate the Great]

Not smart? The state of Calisota is almost entirely populated with them!

[mudshark]

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/mudshark58/comment/orly_daffy.jpg

[Nate the Great]

Yes, really. And please don't tell me I'm dethpicable.

Oh, and duck season!

[Zeke]

Yet again, mudshark ducks the question.

[Nate the Great]

Oh great, another wit rapier would. Can I borrow anyone's HMO?

[PointyHairedJedi]

I can give you a sticking plaster, but I'll have to charge you $20 to cover my administrative costs.

[mudshark]

And you don't even want to hear what's involved in getting a referral to a specialist.

[Nate the Great]

You didn't need another clue into how weird my mind works, but "referral to a specialist" immediately shifted my mind to the frog-hunter in The Muppet Movie. What kind of career is frog-hunter, anyway? :)

Would that be twenty American, Canadian, or spacebucks?

[mudshark]

Since PHJ is in the UK, I'd first assume that means National Health, and thus pounds sterling (£), but he did use the $ sign, so most likely US currency. Then again, this is PHJ, so it could well be HK dollars, just out of spite.

[Nate the Great]

I thought that the UK was using the euro now.

What's a HK dollar?

[mudshark]

I thought that the UK was using the euro now. Clickety (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pound_sterling#The_euro)

What's a HK dollar?
Click (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_dollar).

[Nate the Great]

Count on the British to stay contrary whenever they can. At least they decimalized the pound, though, right?

Oh, sure, all of us need to keep track of every currency code in the entire world. Maybe we should have an amero, an africo, and asio, and so on.

[mudshark]

Count on the British to stay contrary whenever they can. At least they decimalized the pound, though, right?

Well, yeah -- back in the seventies.

[Nate the Great]

(Quickly glances at watch, puts up to ear, shakes it, runs to calendar) You mean it's not still the seventies? (reads calendar) 2006! Oh no! I left my lava lamp on!

[PointyHairedJedi]

I suppose I should make it clear - by $ I do of course mean Ankh Morporkian dollars. Yes, it's a fictional currency, but that pretty much means I can make up whatever exchange rate I like. $20 does after all sound a lot less than £5000, though of course I'm willing to waive the whole fee in exchange for a contract selling me your soul and your firstborn child.

[mudshark]

Yeah. Like I said...
...just out of spite.


;)

[Sa'ar Chasm]

Count on the British to stay contrary whenever they can.

Says the guy whose country is one of the last half-dozen to still cling to the Imperial system when the rest of the globe has come to its senses and started using a far more rational SI system of units.

:P

[PointyHairedJedi]

Wait, mudshark is British? :confused:

(We buy out milk in pints and all our road signs are in miles, and that's where it counts, right?)

[mudshark]

He is? :shock:

[PointyHairedJedi]

I like to feel that you're at least British in spirit, old bean. :D

[mudshark]

Well, I've been there once, at any rate, though not much further north than Banbury, I'm afraid.

[Nate the Great]

Oh yes, we cling. Fiercely. We stick to our stubborn ways more than Spider-Man sticks to walls.

[Chancellor Valium]

Count on the British to look out for themselves whenever they can.

Fixed!

[PointyHairedJedi]

You're not Robert Kilroy-Silk in disguise, are you?

[Chancellor Valium]

No. I'm a pragmatist and I'm euro-sceptic.

It wouldn't be in our interests to tie ourselves into the European economy, if we take a purely pragmatic view.

Besides, what would Kilroy-Silk know about Egypt? His map of the world is divided into 'Englund' and 'Forun'.

[Nate the Great]

Did you mean eurocentric, or did you actually mean euroskeptic? 'Cause I'm the latter. "Europe, it'll never last..." :)

Not really.

[mudshark]

Valium is usually pretty precise. I suspect he meant just what he said.




Or were you just trying to make someone else look up "euro-scepticism" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euroscepticism) for you?

[Nate the Great]

Making other people work for me? Always a good thing.

I had such a rant about my political views, but I deleted it. Thank me for my restraint.

[Chancellor Valium]

Did you mean eurocentric, or did you actually mean euroskeptic? 'Cause I'm the latter. "Europe, it'll never last..." :)

Not really.

Eurosceptic.

These things never last.

The Delian League, the League of Nations, The UN...

[Nate the Great]

...the former Galactic Empire....

Life was wild, rich, and on the whole tax-free!