Colonialism. Star Trek.

From a post on Google+, which posited, that the Prime Directive from Star Trek was/is a safeguard against European and American colonialism.

The Prime Directive is a safeguard against any and all colonialism — not only European and American, but also those events of colonialism that are taking place now. Trouble is, that large EU members' leaders do not seem to be taking any notice.

In terms of rhetoric, past European and American colonialism is discussed often to the exclusion of colonialism of other nations and sociums, such Japanese and Soviet colonialism.

The bigger overall issue is any colonialism, especially that which is performed by peoples who possess nuclear weapons. Some of that colonialism is overt, some more insidious. See VOY:Displaced, a very useful episode. It started slowly...

Europeans and Americans themselves reflect on their own past colonialism (note that not all European nations were colonialist), as they are now mostly enlightened enough to do such reflecting. And also because it's history, and this history is now further in the past. (Or is it?) The distance of this history, of course, permits other nations to talk about European and American colonialism.

Yet some large and non-enlightened nations are very keen to usurp this reflective narrative to their own selfish and nationalistic purposes. And this is dangerous.

There are nations that actually do colonise, while at the same time they would feel insulted, if told that they do this, and if told that their colonialist behaviour is such. As it is with colonialism, people of such conviction do not respect the native language(s) and native customs of the country.

Strong Female Characters in Science Fiction

This post is a reply to a comment thread in Google+.
re Janeway
Janeway was written to be a rather poor 'strong female' character, and it often shows (episode "The Thaw" being the sole exception).

As for strong female characters in 'Trek, we see Kira, Sela, Troi, Crusher, and T'Pol.

• In TNG's "Face of the Enemy", Troi is a major powerpuff lady as the Romulan Major Rakal (undercover, though).
• In TNG:Descent (Part II, I recall), Dr. Crusher shines as a very capable combat commander.

In 'Trek, several Romulan characters depicted as important people are female.

In other franchises, Farscape gets the most points, as it's replete with strong female characters, such as Aeryn Sun, Zhaan, Chiana, Noranti ("Grandma"), Commandant Grayza, War Minister Akhna; not to mention a large trove of episodes with very strong women as guest characters.

Of all things, Farscape managed to show very capable women of all ages and all walks of life.

Whereas TNG had mostly sexy/entertainer types and tough commanders/lieutenants.

The reimagined Battlestar Galactica is somewhat comparable to Farscape, but usually vascillates between sexy and tough.

Interestingly, Stargate Universe (SGU) was structured in a very different fashion, and this show was well ahead of time in many, many ways.

At first, there is strife onboard Destiny between who gets to head the ship, as the base that the crew escaped from in the first two episodes appears to have been run like a civilian operation, headed by Camile Wray (Ming-Na). There was some strife on Destiny about that, but the situation slowly reversed in favour of the military guys running the ship, and Wray perhaps formally taking over the rest.

I could posit, that eventually there was a fair distribution of powers.

What I finally saw by the end of SGU, was, that the primary crew made big decisions based on a consensus, being flexible as the situation required, and not pulling rank on one another.

Unfortunately, this movie-quality series was cut short.

Paadi kõigutamisest

Võib-olla ongi ennetähtaegsed valimised parem variant, sest siis saaks välistada nii Keskerakonna, SDE ja IRL-i (Loomulikult ka EKRE, aga see käib alati asja juurde).

Normaalsetest valikutest jääksid alles ainult Reformierakond ja Vabaerakond.

Tuleb välja, et Jevgeni Ossinovski suhestumine riigivalitsemisse paistab kahjuks liiga naiivne, ning tema tegevusest on näha, et ta on jooksnud sündmustest ette. See lähtub nii selles, et iga hinna eest Reformierakonnale ära teha, kui ka plaanides premeerida Ratast valitsusliikme või lausa -juhi kohaga (vaid Savisaare taandumise tõttu), mis kõik pole mitte ainult enneaegne, vaid minu meelest ka riigi julgeolekule kahjulik.

Kõlakad Reformierakonna läbirääkimistest Keskerakonnaga paistavadki esialgu ainult sahinad olevat, ning olid mõeldud ajamaks närvi SDE ja IRL-i, et nad liiguksid valitsuse kukutamise suunas. Ja läksidki kuulujuttude õnge nii SDE kui ka IRL, mis on ka põhjuseks, et viimane on nüüd minu valikutest lõpuni välistatav.

Kindlasti on SDE noor esimees väga ambitsioonikas, kuid lähtudes tema viimase nädala tegevustest ja toetavatest arvamusavaldustest Keskerakonna suunas jääb õhku tõsiseid küsimusi ses suhtes, et kui tähtis Eesti julgeolek SDE esimehe jaoks tegelikult on, ning kas ta tegelikult toetab seda julgeolekuarhitektuuri, mille najal Eesti seni väga edukalt hakkama saanud on.

Kes veel ei tea, siis mida parem julgeolek, seda rohkem välisinvesteeringuid ettevõtetelt nendest riikidest, kes jagavad Eestiga samu väärtusi. Paljuski sõltub kõik esimese asjana ainult julgeolekust.

Ossinovski praegune arvamus Reformierakonnast ei ole abiks. Igasugused väited teemal, et Rõivas polnud justkui paindlik, ei pea paika, ning minu meelest oleks Rõivas suutnud huvitavatele ja põhjendatud ettepanekutele vastu tulla küll, kui tema juurde oleks tuldud rääkima.

Tõsi, senise peaministri juhtimisstiili ja retoorikakasutust võib kritiseerida, kuid Taavi Rõivase puhul ei ole minul kunagi kahtlust olnud Eesti huvide ja julgeoleku ülimaks pidamises.

Kogu sellest olukorrast on väga kahju, sest ma ootasin IRL-i ja SDE juhtivliikmetelt suuremat riigimehelikkust, et hoida koos nii valitsus kui ka valitsusstabiilsus.

SDE esimehe valimisel ehk arvati ja arvasin ka mina naiivselt, et toonane uus ja praegune esimees Eesti seni poliitilist liini hoiab.

Kokkuvõttes võib kõige selle tõttu alles nüüd mõista Sven Mikseri nördimust ses suhtes, et miks tema ei saanud SDE esimeheks.

Lootus jääb,

• et Riigikogu peaministrit ei umbusalda;
• et President Kaljulaid valitsuse tagasiastumist maailma praeguses julgeolekuolukorras heaks ei kiida;
• või et Riigikogu pigem kiidab Reformierakonna toel heaks vähemusvalitsuse, kus on IRL, SDE ja ehk ka Vabaerakond.

Nii on võimalik nii IRL-il kui ka SDE-l säilitada oma mainet mitte sidudes endid Keskerakonnaga.

Sest hunt vaatab ikka metsa poole.

Nagu ikka, väljendan ma siin ainult oma isiklikku arvamust.

CBS/Paramount, Axanar and Discovery

This blogpost is based on comments at Trekmovie about the lawsuit around Star Trek. This blog entry comments on a current court case, and there's a great chance, that the post in many of its parts does not contain fact-checked information (I didn't start looking, so only assumed the veracity of the comments linked). This post also contains lots of speculation, commentary and criticism.

Timing

In terms of public relations, CBS/Paramount were too hasty in going after this Mr. Peters and his "Axanar". The brand owners could have waited him out to see his final product, and if the proprietors didn't like it, then they wouldn't have licensed it in the end; or they'd have claimed full or partial ownership per trademark laws or somesuch.

Rationale

In terms of the law, CBS/Paramount needed to sue, because of several reasons:
• Mr. Peters — per comments under the referred article — had collected a fair chunk of money using the Star Trek brand name in order to run a production. The company/-ies could not have decided to sue later, because this could have created a dangerous precedent and devalued the brand for them, and they would have been regarded (by their shareholders, for example) as negligent towards their property — something that executives and CEOs never do in good faith.
• Part of the execs' jobs is to protect the brand through lawyers and licensing, because companies must earn money and can't lose any.

Alternative universe

In order to make mostly his work of fiction happen, Mr. Peters collected funds from the public using the "Star Trek" name (per comments read), which name was not his, and which was not licensed to him.

For Mr. Peters, it would have legally (IANAL) been far more hassle-free [to have created | to have tried to create] his own science fiction franchise and set up a funding drive. Mr. Roddenberry did it with his brainchild, and sold it to Desilu. The rest of _that_ is history.

A recent example of space-based stories made into a successful sci-fi show is "The Expanse".

Why?

Some think, that the lawsuit was prompted from fears, that Mr. Peters could have made better stories. His supporters already believe in better stories as originating from Mr. Peters, but no actual "Axanar" film/episode has been released, and the jury is out on this one.

The detractors of "Axanar" counter — based on the actual "Prelude to Axanar" trailer — that that film/show would have turned out to be very amateurish.

In both cases, Paramount/CBS could also have let it slide and not file suit. If "Axanar" is indeed (or turns out to be) as bad as its detractors claim, then filing suit seems frivolous and really not worth the effort.

Or that "Axanar" is so bad, that it had to be stopped in order to avoid it tarnishing the Star Trek brand. This can happen, and brand integrity is a thing.

OTOH, if "Axanar" showed true quality, then CBS/Paramount should have felt embarrassed enough to create their own series that would have been (or could be) an order of magnitude better. As we are seeing already, "Star Trek: Discovery" seems to be in extended pre-production. Just so.

I don't really rule out embarrassment as one of the drivers of the lawsuit, which could have been meant to shut down the production of "Axanar" just to eliminate competition that looked better.

I mean, a large media company is sitting on a huge franchise, and there's no running tv production based on it, until some small outfit releases a trailer for something that looks and feels almost exactly what The Original Series used to look and feel like.

Maybe this might have prompted the green-lighting of Discovery.

The great divide.

As it is, the lawsuit is not helping, because its presence divides the fans into two main camps that think the other is worse by every parameter imaginable.

The ongoing court proceedings unintentionally serve as cause for antagonism from some fans towards the official creative side. (to wit: lambasting the design of USS Discovery as hideous and worse..)

The camp supporting "Axanar" might think, that as CBS weren't doing anything at all with the franchise in the tv market, while the movie studio simultaneously churned out blasphemous material in violation of established dogma (those fans whinging about "JJ-Trek", etc.), there was somehow a void that needed to be filled.

The official side and the camp that supports that side — and certainly also the lawsuit — are now seen as anti-fan; and the official creators are now also regarded as the party ripping off, this time apparently from "Axanar" itself, as some commenters vehemently posited.

There is no information if the final "Axanar" product exists, or whether Paramount/CBS have seen any of it beyond the trailer. As far as I know, "Axanar" production was halted because of the court case.

Who wins?

The real winners in this dispute would be all the other fresh sci-fi tv shows, notably "The Expanse", "The Man in the High Castle", and "Westworld". Now, if only "Stargate Universe" were resurrected...

And Discovery?

Well, I liked the new ship reveal, with a majestic vessel based on an earlier Ralph McQuarrie design, the strong music and the mysterious setting. And I have no idea, why do people find that design so digusting. The savagery of comments under the YouTube reveal clip resembled fat-shaming.

Why many men are anti-abortionists?

While this post discusses many of the abortion/anti-abortion issues, it does not offer any concrete solutions.

It's about control, and I agree with the those who posit, that men see the child as an extension of themselves.

There isn't all that much to do about the child, but controlling the woman and their possible relationships in the future.

There are two aspects to this: one is cultural, the other emotional —

1. If a child is born, some guy finally feels validated (I don't know... of his powers or anything);

2. If a child is born, then for a hapless straight male it's just a device to control the future of a woman who might not even love that guy, while that guy can then partially or wholly control the life [path] of that woman through the child by tying her to him, or him to her (depending on material circumstances, etc). Because the child exists.

2.1 It's also about competition, and that is to deny other men the woman they desire. Because when a woman is pregnant, she is not available to other men.

(Women do similar things with alimony.)

For a man's frame of mind — if the poor foetus is terminated, all that physical and emotional effort goes to waste (for a guy), and the woman is free to choose a more suitable mate.

Before abortion was safe, many women were virtual prisoners of the men and their whims from the moment of conception.

The availability of abortion actually strengthens natural selection, and leaves less levity for chance and circumstance, on which (lots of) ugly, old, or otherwise spurious men depend/ed. There had to have been a very large amount of shotgun marriages that were never ever happy.

I guess, women used to get raped a lot more, and that was in order for some men to force themselves upon the women throughout the women's future lives. Even if that kind of involvement was very short.

So, conceiving a child alters the life path of a woman without her consent, and often at the behest of men (many of whom lack any good faith in the first place).

With safe abortion, all that "privilege" has been taken away from men, but pro-choice men tend not to frame it that way, and certainly won't speak like that.

Life

A whole 'nother issue is the life of a child.

I do support the child being brought to term and maybe given up for adoption in the event it's impossible for a mother to bring the child up. This requires that the adoption system is effective and not corrupt. Well...

And that the woman and the child then both have the right to meet one another even before the child reaches adulthood, while the woman is still free to look for a suitable mate. But not all orphanages and foster parents have been good, nor are many nowadays.

On the wisdom of marking things down on paper

This was a comment reply discussing a prop on the table of an important Romulan personality (a pro-consul or senator) from Star Trek: TNG's Unification two-parter. The discussion was then about real-life things used in sci-fi as props, and I put the following related memories into that discussion.

I have somewhere the Canadian TV Guide's 1996 "30th Anniversary Star Trek" edition that contains feature articles, production how-tos, and episode guides up to VOY's "Basics", and there was one article, where set design and props people explained, how they'd add funny easter eggs to props that had text on them.

The tv guide was a gift and was supposed to be a collector's item for me, but being a youngish kid and very nearly totally unaware of this, I used pen or pencil (whichever was available) to mark down episodes I'd recently seen as ok/not ok. I wish I'd copied episode titles on separate pieces of paper at least, but back then, this thought never crossed my mind. Poor tv guide collector's edition, I grieve thy former purity :\

Then in the late-1990s/early 2000s I learned of Farscape, and somewhere out on the interwebs there was a website that documented the many bloopers in Farscape, including real-life stuff that was converted into some fantastic sci-fi thingy :-)

A shortlist of composers for SGU

Joel Goldsmith was the score composer for Stargate Universe -- a short-lived, but high-quality science fiction tv series. His music for SGU made a lasting impression on me. The son of Jerry Goldsmith, Joel passed away in 2012, and he left very large shoes to fill.

So, here's a shortlist of musicians I would consider to compose music for any future iteration of Stargate Universe (hopefully a continuation).

People who have contributed a lot to science fiction and fantasy, and who are now major composers:
* Brian Tyler -- Best-known for his piece from Frank Herbert's Children of Dune, which featured in the first trailer for Star Trek 2009. Tyler also contributed to Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Regeneration". Track here. Tyler is now known for his work on major action movies.
* Steve Jablonsky -- Desperate Housewives (the theme is best-known), The Island, Ender's Game. Major composer, lots of movies.
* Ramin Djawadi -- Thunderbirds (film), Prison Break, Game of Thrones, The Island (additional music).

Other film and television composers:
* Ty Unwin -- BBC's documentary series: Earth, Space, Journey to the Edge of the Universe, The Incredible Human Journey, and several others.
* Leonard J. Paul -- The Corporation (documentary)
* Peter Golub -- Countdown to Zero (documentary)

Musicians who have written scores for films:
* Trent Reznor / Nine Inch Nails -- The Social Network, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (U.S. version)
* Pärt Uusberg -- In the Crosswind (Risttuules)

Musicians who should and would, given the opportunity:
* Front Line Assembly -- pioneering work in Techno-Industrial, soundtrack for the AirMech game
* Mike Foyle & Signalrunners -- Love Theme Dusk, Shipwrecked.

Composers, who generally don't write for film, but whose works have extensively been used in film and television:
* Arvo Pärt

Religion in Estonia and in Nordic countries

A reply in an IMDb forum to a post about religion (wrt "Ida").

There are differences between eliminating religion, not following organised religion, and being spiritual instead.

Most research and surveys fail to be precise enough to record the latter two notions, and thus their methodologies are all similar and very nearly always skewed to present black/white results that inadvertently (or by intent) support a black/white worldview.

For people in Nordic countries, religion is something very personal. I'd say it's the same in Northern Europe.

For example, Estonia is about the least-religious country in the world, because surveys don't take into account spirituality. It's that among Estonians, organised religion is not followed much, if at all. I have a feeling, that Nordic countries are similar in that regard.

There is, of course, a possibility, that people in Estonia might see religion as something so personal, that they might as well not indicate their affiliation.

The Die Is Cast: Why Sisko chose to disobey orders, and why Odo chose to stay on DS9

There be spoilers for those, who haven't watched these episodes.

I read a review of "The Die is Cast", an episode of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine", and the comments that accompanied the said review.

Two very widespread issues for many people who watched the episode, are Sisko disobeying orders to not go into the Gamma Quadrant to retrieve Odo, and Odo choosing to return to the station and not join the Great Link and return to his people -- something that he'd wanted to do for a long time.

Text in this post is licensed under Creative Commons-Attribution / CC-BY.

re Sisko not returning --

Commenter DLPB wrote, that one of the most serious crimes that a captain can commit, is neglect of comrades.

Furthermore, Odo is a Changeling, the nature of which makes him a very valuable asset; his presence on the station is essentially Bajor's life insurance policy, and Sisko knows that very well. So does Odo, [spoiler—] especially when he chooses to stay on DS9 after the Dominion and Cardassians much later overran the station's defenses, and Sisko was forced to leave.

Lovok's reveal is the reason Odo finally chose instead to return to DS9, because he understood the danger that the Dominion posed to Bajor and the entire Alpha Quadrant. We should not forget, that Odo is an officer of Bajor.

Were he to join the Great Link right then and there, his adoptive home would have been left completely defenseless, and the other shapeshifters would have then been free to work their magic on DS9.

Because Odo's presence on Deep Space Nine meant, that the Dominion really could not use the station and Bajor as a springboard into the Alpha Quadrant (they could not attack either for fear of hitting Odo by accident), and therefore had to go past these places to use Dukat and the Cardassians to expand their galactic domination. This essentially bought some time for everyone. And the Alpha Quadrant.

Of course, Fake Lovok didn't like it, and that's why he chose to use the narrower definition of 'no Changeling has harmed another', in that he decided not to notify the Jem'Hadar to not shoot at (or even provide cover to) the runabout carrying Odo and Garak, who were attempting to escape the mêlée of a very intense space battle.

There's a high probability, that Odo has by then realised Fake Lovok's hypocrisy about the 'no harm' adage, because the runabout was repeatedly shot at, and lost its shields.
----
Many episodes later, we can actually see how palpable Odo's importance is during Dukat's occupation of Terek Nor, as Odo's presence alone causes Weyoun to defer to Odo (because like any other changeling, he's like a god to the Vorta) — much to the chagrin of Dukat and the annoyance of the Female Shapeshifter, who finally arrives in "Sacrifice of Angels" to neutralise Odo, and by proxy, the resistance movement on the station.
----
Edit: This post was initially published on 02.09.2016 03:33 UTC +0300 (01.09.2016 19:33 UTC -5). A minute or so later, I posted much of this text in a comment here.

Supi keetmine veel enne ERMi uue hoone köögi avamist

Reaktsioon Delfi/Eesti Päevalehe (EPL) artiklis kommentaarile. Nimelt kajastas artikkel seda, et Eesti Rahva Muuseum (ERM) loobus EPL-is reklaami avaldamisest, sest EPL kirjutas ERMi veel avamata uue hoone köögi kohta igast materjali; tüüpi, et pakutava toidu hind on kolekallis ja et üldse polevat see asi aus ja hea. Kuskil kõrval on ERMi reklaam, et tule ja vaata. Kognitiivne dissonants tekib kohe ja loomulikult ei saa ERM enda kohta käivate EPL-i artiklitega kuidagi nõustuda. Parim kommentaar kõlas nii: "Kõige odavam on [reklaamida] Nelli Teatajas. Aga kes seda loeb?" :D

Tabav küsimus. Sellest võib teha sobiva järelduse väljaande mõnede lugejate kohta.

Tegelikult on probleem selles, et kööki kritiseeritakse kritiseerimise pärast. Kritiseerida oleks olnud palju mõnusam alles peale ERMi uue hoone ja sellega kaasas käiva söögiasutuse avamist.

See võimalus pole üldse mitte kadunud, sest koht on veel avamata.

Sest siis oleks saanud püsiva kaebevarjundiga külastajad käia kohal, mugida ERMi köögi kooki ja vinguda nagu muiste, aga nüüd võttis EPL kogu vingumise lõbu enneaegselt ära. (kui kohutav.)

Lisaks — ERMi kohvikus ei hakka ainult käima kõik eesti rahvad, vaid ka turistid, kelle maksuvõime on palju arvestatavam. Kulud tuleb millestki ju tasa teha.

Niigi ei kritiseeri keegi KuMu hoones asuvat kohvikut, sest mitte väga kaugel KuMust on Kadriorus kohvikuid veelgi.

Nagu suurte projektidega ikka, on ERMi köögi ja kohvikuvõistluses väljavalituks saanud võitjal palju konkurente, kes kõik jäid kaotajaks, ning kes võitjale nüüd hammast ihuvad.

(Seos on muidugi tõendamata och puhas spekulatsioon. Ja üldse ei oma see blogipostitus ajakirjanduslikku kvaliteeti, ning on mõeldud kommentaariks.)

Lohutuseks ettevõtjatele, kes ise tahtsivad ERMi kööki ja kohvikusse pesa teha, aga ei saanud:

Teie saate avada ERMi vahetus läheduses mõnusama, hubasema ja odavama kohviku.
Konkurents on magus, eks ole?

P.S.
Kes iganes teine oleks saanud ERMi uue hoone kööki pesa teha, oleks temagi olnud ainuke [võitja], samuti konkurentide ülima kadestuse objekt, ning oleks ka langenud hävitava kriitikatule alla. Nii et vahet pole.

Kogu ERMiga seotud loos sellel nädalal on algava septembrikuu võitjaks ERMi kohvik ise. Kallis küll, aga kohvikust võib pikkamisi välja kujuneda omamoodi institutsioon, mida külastatakse pühadel päevadel ja piduriietuses. Sest isegi halb reklaam on reklaam.

Organiseeritud religiooni eestlased ei usu, seega kirikute ja posijate asemel võib ERM ühes kohvikuga transformeeruda ateistliku aseaine pakkujaks neile, kel vaimsusest vajaka.

Laiemalt võttes on sensatsioonihimu ja klikinälg nakatanud kogu Eesti ajakirjandust, ning EPL ei ole ammu esimene või ainuke. Hiljuti lõikas näppu näiteks Postimees, mille järel võiksid nii mõnedki inimesed kaaluda oma nutiseadmetele kõrvaliste pilkude eest kaitsva turvavarustuse (kiled, ümbrised) paigaldamist.

Voyager: I really would have kept Kes

This is a comment to a poll post on Google+.

AFAIK, the powers that be introduced Seven, but then were short on money, so they had to remove either Kim or Kes, but Kim's actor was named one of "50 most beautiful people", and so it was Kes who had to leave.

Instead, I would have definitely kept Kes, but given the actress some time to recover from the stress of work during the show's hiatus.

And as one of "50 most beautiful people" that season, the actor who played Kim would have been easily lapped up by another show.

So, I would have certainly kept Kes as part of the primary cast, because Kes was the soul of the show. Imagine the friendship between Seven and Kes :-)

I would either have removed Kim, Neelix, and Chakotay (and maybe Tom) from the show, or at least from the primary cast, and given them recurring roles instead.

The PR spin would have been about keeping the show within budget.

And in-universe, there would have been a realistic story depicting discord within the crew about having a former Borg onboard, while at the same time they met USS Equinox or another old Starfleet ship.

Preferably, I really would have given the pink slip to Kim, but the episode "Nightingale" showed another potential future path for Kim et al.

The Avalanches - Frankie Sinatra

In reply to a video comment thread —
The video (linked, of course, because I'm loth to embeds)

I heard this track first on the radio, so I knew ahead how mischievous the song was. But before I even saw the video (first time today), then every time I listened to it, I always imagined a travelling carnival of rogues and creeps, à la Carnivàle (which tv series I haven't seen yet either), along with Baz Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge!", and a fair amount of Tim Burton's film/art, such as "Big Fish", "Batman Returns", and "Batman Forever".

The plot of the video is something of a mix of anything Stephen King would write, and what Tim Burton would readily direct.

One. Drone. Voyager. Borg.

This is in reply to a thread in IMDb about actor Todd Babcock, who played in Star Trek: Voyager episode "Drone".

In one of my earlier posts, I'd listed several cute guys on Voyager, and "Mulcahey" made the list.

In "Star Trek: Voyager", "Drone" is one of the show's best episodes, and it could have been the beginning of a longer arc, given that "One" was based on the DNA of Ensign Mulcahey (Babcock).

While "Drone" the episode was more-or-less whole, they could have expanded the storyline in order to explore the fact, that "One" and Ensign Mulcahey were essentially relatives, and this could have been the base for additional drama.

Since "One" was so valuable because of the superior technology he possessed, then USS Voyager running from the Borg could have been the leitmotif for at least half a season. The ending would have been somewhat predictable in the story arc's grand telemovie two- or three-parter, but at least it would have kept viewers on the edges of their seats, and given the series a substantial ratings boost.

Given all of the above, a much more complicated and expanded Delta Quadrant would have been on order.

I should be perplexed, that they didn't make this storyline at least into a two-parter, but the show's standard was to have self-contained episodes.

Todd Babcock looked good enough to be a regular on the series, and maybe even Seven's date and an eventual beau. Given the fact, that starship Voyager was already so far into deep space, it's not inconceivable to speculate, that Mulcahey might have already been in a relationship with someone.

In episode "Collective", Voyager encounters a Borg cube full of child drones, who have been rejected by the actual Borg Collective, because the young drones are immature, and therefore unimportant. The story ends with the destruction of the cube.

Given the presence of such a large cube, there are several flaws in the story:

1. First off, Voyager could have gotten itself another transwarp drive from that cube, and gotten closer to home.
2. Secondly, the writers could have chosen to have the cube disabled instead of destroyed by malfunction, and the cube could have been appropriated by the Voyager crew to accelerate their way home through hostile Borg territory (this can always be conjured up from hammerspace); essentially masking themselves as Borg in order to avoid assimilation and possible certain death.

Were One per above premise kept alive longer, and included into that cube appropriation development, then the stories going forward could have been extremely interesting; Many of the unimportant episodes of Voyager would just not have happened, and the series' run could even have been extended by one or two seasons, with changes in primary crew. Even "Endgame" would have been very, very different and much more exciting.

'Dying too young', or 'not having lived long enough'

Jerry Doyle, who played "Michael Garibaldi" in Babylon 5, died recently.

People often write of famous (and non-famous) people who have recently passed away, that they died too young.

It's all relative.

60 is not too young; half a century ago, it was the average lifespan for many people in the industrialised world. Since occurence of such a lifespan still falls within living memory, then it's not too surprising.

For me, anything less than sixty would elicit a 'shucks, they might have done more great things', and that 'they died [well] before their time'. — When they died, Philip Seymour Hoffman was 46, Prince was 57, Whitney Houston was 48, and her daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown was just 22. The people who were killed at the Orlando shooting were also too young.

The feels are different wrt people over 60 who have continued to be creative. Robin Williams was 63, and it feels to me, like he died too young. David Bowie was 69.

With loved ones who are old, we don't think of them anymore as having died too young, but that they haven't lived long enough. With us.

24.04.2023 Update: More people have died before their time than ever before. Before 2022, many succumbed to the coronavirus, starting with the year 2020. Many of the pandemic-related losses in life were of health causes that could have been delayed, had COVID-19 not introduced its own massive delays in the healthcare systems of all the countries.

Before 2020, most of the people who'd passed away, were usually old, so the death of a much younger person always so untimely.

On the year of the original publication of this post, two major personalities died: George Michael on 25. and Carrie Fisher on 27. december. Not a lot of time had passed, when Chester Bennington died the next year, on 20.07.2017. Aaron Carter on 5 November 2022. They were all too young to die.

Alos, a lovely thank you to the commenter below.

The Sisko and the burden of The Greater Good

This is a reply to a YouTube comment in a thread that was initially over the definition of "he (Sisko) can live with it" — a phrase from the last scene of "In the Pale Moonlight", an episode of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine". One poster interpreted 'living with it' as living with the burden of having done these things, thus indirectly attributing guilt to Sisko. I disagreed with that.

The episode shows Sisko's evolution from potentially becoming a continually-burdened man to not being one.

I guess, Sisko realised, that if he chose to be a burdened man, he would become ineffective as a leader, and especially as a war leader.

Sisko couldn't have done these things himself, because he had long ago adopted a certain value system, and was basically living it.

Had The Sisko done all those things on his own, he would have been court-martialed, if found out. He was also given a go-ahead by Starfleet Intelligence.

That's why Sisko went to Garak, because doing so allowed the Starfleet officer to skirt the rules in such a way that would not deeply compromise his conscience and his uniform.

Only he didn't know it yet until after finishing his personal log.

He 'could [finally] live with it' — without being burdened by it.

What Sisko and Garak did, was so wrong, it was right. (Perhaps I shouldn't be expressing it that way, but it sounds nice :-)

re Garak's conscience:

Eventually, Garak began semi-​officially working
with the Federation and against the Dominion (officially allies of the Cardassian Union, but de facto governing it), which effort indirectly affected Cardassia and Garak's people.	for the Federation and indirectly against Cardassia and his people.

In "Afterimage", Garak seems to have developed PTSD because of this.

Edit: Updated wording and context. Sidelined some original text.

Brexit. Mis edasi?

Disclaimer: Kirjutatud veidi kiiruga, mitte kõik pole faktiliselt tõendatud, ning võib olla suures osas spekulatsioon.

Ühendkuningriik pole Euroopa Liidust lahkumise läbirääkimisi veel alustanudki, kui kõik juba jagavad nahka veel enne seda kui küttima on mindud. Kõik.

Mis siis toimus?

Päris alguses oli nii, et tooride seas tegivad kulisside taga mitu erilist isiksust kõvasti kampaaniat, et ise peaminister David Cameroni asemel peaministriks saada.

Arvan, et muuhulgas olid mängu taga nüüdsed Brexiti suured väikesed toetajad Boris Johnson ja Michael Gove, aga mängutegelasi oli kindlasti veelgi. Sest tooride alus logises juba 2013. aastal, ning Cameron tuli siis ühe USA lennujaama pitsabaaris hiilgavale mõttele võita üldvalimised lubadusega Euroopa Liidu referendumist. Parteipoliitika, noh.

Cameron tegi selle referendumi tegelikult selleks, et konsolideerida konservatiivide parteid, aga lõpupoole, kui valimispäev polnud mitte kaugel enam, lõid omad parteikaaslased Boris Johnson ja Michael Gove Cameronile selga sellega, et hakkasid tõsimeeli toetama lahkumise ehk Brexiti poolt olevat kampaaniat.

Õieti, kui referendumi kõikidele üllatuslikud tulemused lõpuks selgusid, sai Cameron kogu olukorrast lõpuks aru ja esitas lahkumisavalduse. Et formaalselt lahkub ametist oktoobris, mil partei valib peale parlamendi suvevaheaega uue peaministri.

Selle käigu tulemusel sai selgeks, et Londoni endine linnapea Boris Johnson põhimõtteliselt kaotas kogu mängu, sest järgmise peaministrina oleks UK lahkumist vedama pidanud näiteks tema, ning seesama Boris Johnson EL-ist tegelikult lahkuda ei taha.

Mis nüüd saab?

Järgmine peaminister

Mis järgmisesse (veel) UK peaministrisse puutub, siis peaminister David Cameron jättis Euroopa Liidust lahkumise järgmise peaministri teha, ning Cameroni enda väljakäidud ajaplaani järgi selgub järgmine peaminister alles sügisel oktoobrikuus 2016, kui toorid teevad parteis sisevalimised, sest parlamendi eelmiste valimistulemuste järgi peab järgmine peaminister olema samuti konservatiiv. Alles siis saab uus peaminister teha mingi avalduse, et "noh, et lahkume nüüd," vms.

Kuna Boris Johnson [erinevatel (ülaltoodud) põhjustel] "jäi aiast välja", siis hakkas nüüd juba peale referendumit aktiivset peaministri-kampaaniat tegema Michael Gove, kes on seevastu Brexiti-usklik (sahistatakse lausa, et Gove nö "suskas" omakorda Johnsonile).

Loodetavasti saab järgmiseks peaministriks hoopis Theresa May, kes oli kogu Brexiti-referendumikampaania ajal tagaplaanil, ehk ei teinud ühe või teise argumendi poolt avaldusi. Mitte et uus positsioon May'legi väga meeldiv oleks, aga temast paistab olevat seda meelekindlust, millega see laevuke kuidagimoodi liikuma saada.

Võib võita, et kuna lahkumisreferendumi tulemused osutusid brittide jaoks nii ebameeldivaks, hakkavad nad sellega nüüd kummi venitama.

Kaks aastat lahkumisprotsessi hakkab jooksma alates sellest hetkest, kui uus Briti valitsus on teinud Euroopa Liidule ametlikult teatavaks, et tahab ära minna.

Seni on Ühendkuningriik sees mis sees (ehk siis Euroopa Liidus) ega niipea veel ei lahku.

Euroopa Liidu poliitikute kõrgeim ešelon on muidugi tulivihane, et britid referendumi üldse tegid ja et inglased lahkumise poolt veel ka hääletasid. Lõpuks avastati, et kõikidele teistele EL-i liikmesriikidele ja nende valitud ja määratud poliitikutele jääb väiksemas liidus nii võimu rohkem juurde, kui UK-d enam juures pole. Non Pas?

Seega tahavad mõned EL-i liidrid alustada lahkumisläbirääkimistega nüüd ja kohe, sest nende tõlgendust mööda on Ühendkuningriik oma lahkumisavalduse referendumi näol juba teinud. Õnneks vajutas Merkel pidurit.

Võimalikud takistused

Lisaks leiti UK-s mitu seaduseauku lahkumise vastu: Esiteks peab lahkumise kinnitama Briti parlament, ning teiseks peaksid lahkumise kinnitama ka šotlased, sest Šotimaal on nimelt oma parlament. Täiesti võimalik, et järgmine peaminister kuulutab välja hoopis erakorralised üldvalimised.

Võimalikud haruarengud

Et ei tekiks mingeid rahutusi Põhja-Iirimaal, võib seal toimuda Iiri Vabariigiga ühinemise referendum.

Kaugel ei terenda ka uus Šoti referendum Ühendkuningriigist lahkumiseks, sest eelmise referendumi tulemustel jäädi UK-sse vaid seetõttu, et UK on Euroopa Liidu liige. Šotimaa esimene minister Nicola Sturgeon juba peab läbirääkimisi Euroopa Liiduga.

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Niipalju siis praeguseks.

The WTC Twin Towers to be (re)built in the future?

Published here first in reply to a post on IMDB.
I don't really know what the motivation was for the construction of the current One World Trade Center instead of building the new Twin Towers with only the same exterior design as the original.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One World Trade Center#Current_building does suggest a few things in terms of politics. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) and state governor Pataki picked what more-or-less became the current design. I don't know why. Larry Silverstein, who owns the site, also favoured a memorial.

The destruction of the original Twin Towers provided designers That major new real estate had to be built anyway to supplant the lost real estate, the designers thus got a chance to build a one much taller tower, with just the same amount of habitable floors and real estate as in one of the original towers.

I personally don't rule out the possibility, that the Twin Towers with the original exterior design would eventually return, but that they would return only after all the six or seven other major buildings and major minor buildings will have been built. The latter also have several dependencies.

This map gives a clue of the stuff that's going on. Here, the new buildings complement existing buildings to the west. Once complete, they all should more-or-less fully surround the old site.

The sortable table here offers the current construction status of all buildings involved on the site. Sort by date of completion, and you'll see how far along the project is going. So far, 3 Word Trade Center is under construction, and will be done in about 2018 or so. Construction of 2WTC is on hold because of a lack of tenants.

ID4. Aftermath.

Reply to thread post at "Independence Day: Resurgence" IMDb board. The post was interested about how reconstruction worked, and what could have been the changes in society.

My reply:

The POW thing is interesting, because I wouldn't be surprised, if a huge can of worms was not opened.

And also something to deal with how that alien society works. In 20 years, the surviving aliens must have had children, who never experienced living in space.

Omitted:

Sure, war stories must have been aplenty, but then how do you explain your children, that you lost a conflict? One option is, that they never told their offspring. But being all-telepathic, it's hard to imagine, that the kids wouldn't learn in time. Unless the surviving aliens completely isolated their children, or that the amount of offspring was too small to worry too much about what they would think.

OTOH, there's the nowadays' North Korea, where people truly believe, almost as a matter of religion, that they had an upper hand. Or that they're still the best thing ever. Dictatorships often rely on propagandistic belief systems that support such a rule.

The trailers suggest, that the first-wave aliens knew their stay was temporary, so I imagine the offspring might have been taught, that "oh, it's just temporary, we're leaving soon."

Kerr metric and black holes

A different explanation I told someone in a comment to their Google+ post, wherein they mulled how it works.

This is what my tired mind conjured up based on skimming the Wikipedia article on the subject: The Kerr metric suggests two surfaces with singularities: a round one inside an oblate (elliptical one). Imagine putting an empty toilet roll into the hole of another, and then rolling one clockwise, and another counter-clockwise. I imagine, a Kerr wormhole is a hole, where one hole is in another, and leading from a certain point A to a certain point B in the universe.

---

Now, the image at Wikipedia suggests (to prove?) multiple-universe theory, in that unlike the Schwarzschild black whole, where the orbit is confined to a single plane (if wormhole, then travel from point A to point B), then the orbits around a Kerr black whole are filled in a torus-like region around the equator [of the black hole].

In conslusion, the image supports a multiple-universe theory; so not just from point A to point B, but presented with some choice. OR, an unstable, but traversable wormhole.

I don't really have anything else to back this up with, but the musings of my rather vivid imagination.

Herkulapuder ja kaerahelbepuder

Putrude vahe on selles, et herkulapuder on nõukogude igand, roheline ja väkk kokatädide alatu kättemaks järgmisele põlvkonnale (teenimatult); parimal juhul odav maoloputusvahend, millega muudetakse ajutiselt seedetrakti liikluskorraldust, et läbi viia ootamatult erakorraline "kanalisatsioonipuhastus". Nii et haigelt roheline mass, mis korrumpeerib sisikonda.

Seevastu kaerahelbepuder on midagi maitsvat.

Ma tean nüüd küll, et õige kirjapilt pidavat olema herkulopuder, aga lasteaias oli see minu ja teiste kasvandike jaoks alati herkulapuder, ning teist hääldusviisi ma 2016. keskpaigani kunagi ei teadnud. Isegi kui keegi täiskasvanutest ütles herkulopuder, muutus see laste suus sujuvalt herkulapudruks.

Miks Mick Pedaja "Seis" ei saanud Eurovisiooni Lauluvõistlusele

Peale Eurovisiooni Lauluvõistuse finaali ülekannet näitas ETV Mick Pedaja laulu "Seis" "Eesti Laulu" finaalesituses; arvan, et nagu väikseks kättemaksuks nendele, kes valisid Pootsmanni poolt, ning kes peavad nüüd elama teadmisega, et "Seisul" oleks olnud parem minek.

Teisalt on probleem ka selles, et Mick Pedaja pingutas "Eesti Laulus" vaikset laulu esitades üle. Oletades, et kui ta oleks laulnud täpselt nii, nagu originaaltrackil / YouTube'i videos, siis oleks ta ehk saavutanud edu.

Neljas põhjus on selles, et kui mulle meenub, siis oli veel telefonihääletamise ajal küsitud "Eesti Laulu" žüriiliikmetelt, et kelle poolt nemad hääletasid, ning Soome noor ja populaarne laulumees nimetas Pootsmanni. Vahetult enne või keset hääletust, kui õigesti meenub.

Kolmas faktor, mis mulle alles hiljuti pähe torkas, oli ka see, et "Eesti Laulu" finaali kanti üle vist vähemalt tunni-pooleteise võrra varem, mis tähendas, et oma hääle said mobiili kaudu anda ka paljud kooliealised, kes tavapärase ülekande-kellaaja puhul oleksid pidanud hääletamise ajaks juba magama (ca 23:00–00:00). On lapsevanemaid, kes sõltumata laupäevasest õhtust on erinevatel põhjustel laste magamisrežiimi suhtes väga kindlameelsed.

Samas — Läti lugu "Heartbeat" jõudis finaali, kuid sai seal 15. koha 26-st. Hoolimata oma väga kaasaegsest produktsioonist on loo vahekulminatsioon natuke-natuke aegunud või õige pisut vanamoodne, vt positsioon videos @2:00. Siiski on finaali jõudmine ja saadud koht ka hea tulemus. Tuleb veel nentida, et "Heartbeat" on osades veidi sarnane eelmise aasta võitjalooga.

Edit: Kui järele mõelda, siis lapsed valisid hoopis Cartooni laulu (sest multikas), ning tiinekad teismelised plikad ja üks noormees valisid Jüri Pootsmanni.

Sexualisation of Women in Star Trek. Then and Now.

This was originally a reply in Google+ to a comment that complained about Uhura's sexualisation in the new Star Trek movies.

With sexualisation I mean a sexualised depiction of women.

The fact, that Uhura never had a long-term on-screen relationship with anyone until 'Trek 2009, meant, that many viewers felt her character not bound to anyone.

Part of the ploy of any exotic production is to get enough non-fans to catch on to a show.

It's possible, that the sexualisation part might have been the reason why Ms. Nichols almost left the show, had Martin Luther King, Jr. not prevented her from actually doing so.

During the TOS era, Uhura wasn't any less sexualised by those days' mores, but visual stimulation did not appear unusual.

But because how Uhura was positioned, it was: "Wow, a black woman is part of the major cast! Fourth-in-command (MLK told Ms. Nichols how important that was)! She can fix radio equipment! Operate a difficult communications console! Play with frequencies!" All this was so huge, that people forgot, that the dress on Ms. Nichols was per fashion still very skimpy.

Now the progressive part of society is desensitised to the fact, that a black person and a woman is just as capable and even more so; cf. Mae Jemison.

Sexualisation of characters is not unusual now either, but as a (Western) society, we appropriate a different value system to it, because our expectations are higher.

I've been so late to Star Trek memorabilia

This was a reply in Google+ to a comment, which encouraged people not to go to watch any new Star Trek movies.

Well, unfortunately, the first 'Trek movie I saw in a cinema, was Into Darkness.
• My first physical Trek item was a keychain I got from my sister in 1995, who returned from a student trip to Florida. I loved the keychain, but after years of use, the appended Trek Star pendant was unable to hold itself onto the keychain, and is now lost somewhere. I still have the keychain part.
• My first 'Trek DVD is "Star Trek: Nemesis" (a present from a close relative).
• I bought my first and only Trek toy just a couple of years ago, and it was a small JJ-Enterprise by Hot Wheels.

I'm 34, and so late with all that fan stuff, though I've been a Trek fan since I first saw "Q Who?" on Finnish tv at a classmate's house.

And when I was a kid, I first heard of Star Trek in a hospital from an older kid (a teenager). It was the second or fourth time I was in a hospital, because I had had an ear infection (again). I still remember how he drew the outline of Enterprise-D, and said that people lived there and stuff. It was truly fascinating.

I can't exactly remember which year it was, but Estonia had not yet regained independence, and Finnish tv was officially verboten, but change was in the air already.

Not all people could see Finnish commercial tv channel MTV3 (launched in 1986), because their sets didn't have the "Finnish block" or "the Finnish antenna" (probably PAL support), but those that could see, salivated at all the yoghurt ads, and cried the most bitter tears for not having all that yummy goodness :9

Whilst we had the deficit. And there were block-long queues for sugar, for milk, for butter, for meat (any kind), for oranges (rare!),

for tangerines (only during holidays),

for bananas (the nomenklatura and the wives of Soviet officers could have a lot of everything from special shops meant for the nomenklatura, but bananas were on occasion sold to families with lots of children),

for cotton (important for the ladies),

for ciggies, for vodka, and for almost everything else.

Basically, anywhere you saw a queue, you joined it and then information about what people were standing in the queue for, was eventually passed down the grapevine. Like in that children's game of "Telephone" (-:

The Sisko and The Maquis. (Spoilers ahead)

This post is about the Maquis story arc on Deep Space Nine. Consider it a primer for all things Maquis. The post assumes, that many have already followed the story arc from the tv show.

Much of the story is here at Memory Alpha, too.

The people who eventually became the Maquis, were supposed to be aware of the fact, that the border worlds might become disputed territories again, as they previously were in the first place. Alas, the Maquis weren't.

Maybe it was, that the Federation failed to communicate this to the Maquis, or expected them to be intelligent enough to follow the treaty.

The Maquis' initial presence on border territories was supposed to indicate, that the Federation were serious about digging their heels in.

After the Federation–Cardassian peace treaty (and Cardassia conceding Bajor), the territories at the time belonging to the Maquis were ceded to Cardassia. I'm sure there was a fair bit of horse-trading at the talks, because Cardassia wasn't a particularly resource-rich planet, but they had earlier invaded the wrong one (Bajor).

Although the Maquis were assured, that they would be treated well in the Cardassian Union, they weren't.

The Maquis as an organisation was formed, and they put the Federation into a very uncomfortable place with this, because Cardassia was then in a position to accuse the Federation, that it wasn't honoring the treaty.

From this impossible situation, Sisko found a very clever resolution; to smoke out the remaining Maquis civilians from their last major outpost (Solosos III) and capture Michael Eddington in order to fulfill the treaty, he had the ecology of that world destroyed, making it simultaneously very expensive—or even almost impossible for the Cardassians to clean up that planet.

Well, they could have cleaned up the climate of that planet, but restoring its ecology to its previous pristine (or primordial) state became practically impossible. So, the Cardassians did get their cake (per treaty), but could not eat it. Anymore.

Essentially, a scorched-earth policy.

Handsome men of Voyager

Right, so, this was inspired by this tiny poll at Google+. Took me a while to compile the list.

I've looked through Memory Alpha's USS Voyager personnel list, and found 13 (yes, thirteen) men, who were handsome during Voyager's run.

Unfortunately, the hairdos of crewmen look particularly dated (oh wow, it was all 20+ years ago), and so it's impossible to tell if and how they would have looked more handsome with nowadays' hairdos.

Gleaned from USS Voyager Personnel at Memory Alpha wiki. I'm not going to include pictures, but I might link to more of them sometime later.

Listed in no particular order:

1. Crewman Yosa;
2. Ensign Bennet (KIA);
3. Doug Bronowski and Fitzpatrick (same uncredited actor);
4. Crewman Emmanuel;
5. Crewman James Morrow;
6. Ensign Mulcahey — Cute.. Oh, he played the DNA donor to One in "Drone";
7. Ensign Murphy (security);
8. Ensign Michael Parsons (Command Division);
9. Ensign Tabor (Maquis, Bajoran);
10. Crewman William Telfer (giving him some benefit of the doubt there);
11. An Unnamed male security officer accompanying Chakotay to the Borgified cargo room in "Scorpion, Part II" — I always remember that he stood out during that sequence;
12. Chief Medical Officer (KIA)
13. Unnamed Male Science Officer, who was previously handsome as one Roga Danar in TNG.

Lieutenant Russell was there, too, but he appears to have been handsome in 2366.

I'll also give some benefit of the doubt to Ensign Rollins.

Oh, Neelix, Jonas, Carey, Vorik, Chell, Golwat, and Lon Suder, and most everyone else do not count. So, Very few from Memory Alpha's Voyager personnel list look appealing. And all their hairdos look heavily dated.

Icheb doesn't count.

There wasn't any other place I could post than this blog. Memory Alpha has a non-commercial license, and there might be issues with such a userspace page; and a similar userpage at Wikipedia would have relevancy issues.

This post is licensed under CC-BY-SA-3.0.

Fosforiidist ja ahnusest

Hiljuti on lahvatanud Eesti ühiskonnas emotsionaalne diskussioon selle üle, et kas Eestis võiks teha fosforiidi-uuringuid, et teada saada, mis meil maapõues õieti olemas on, ning et fosforiit on justkui Eesti rahvuslik rikkus. Siin on minu vastuargumendid.

Eesti rahvuslik rikkus on puhas õhk, puhas vesi ja puhas loodus. Seda kolmainsust peab jätkuma aastatuhandeteks.

Kõik pole kuld, mis särab.
Eesti fosforiidi võrdlus Poola kildakaasiga ei ole kohane, kuna fosforiidi puhul pole tegemist maavaraga, mis oleks otseses seoses Eesti energiasõltumatusega.

"Uuringud"
Uuringud ongi sisuliselt kaevandamine, nagu varem on "rekonstrueerimise" nime all toimunud arhitektuurselt ainulaadsete hoonete lammutamine ja uute asemele ehitamine (vt. Sakala keskus; puutumata pole jäänud ka Tallinna Peapostkontor). Jaapanlased püüavad vaalasid samuti "teaduslikel eesmärkidel".

Uuringute/kaevandamise õigustamine "rahva heaolu tõstmisega" on populism. Apelleerimine kogu selles kontekstis veel "eesti rahva heaolule" on demagoogias ahnuse pinnaletõstmise võte.

Jah, Eestis ei ole kõik rikkad, ning tõepoolest on Eestis elektrihind Euroopa Liidus üks madalamaid. Samas tuleb seda hinda võrrelda paljude (mitte kõigi või ka enamuse) Eesti inimeste suhtelise elatustaseme ja hinnatundlikkusega. Sest kui elektrihind on suhteliselt madal, jääb rohkem vahendeid üle äraelamiseks.

Ahnus
Halb enne on juba teadmine ahnust avardava varanduse olemasolust. Nii vallutati Ameerika, ning ma ei kahtle, et Donbassi konflikti taga on samuti vajadus (kergesti kättesaadavate) maavarade järele. Seal on ju "kullauk" lahti ja asukoht kõigile teada.

Kui keegi võidab loteriis väga suure summma, siis selle teadmise levimisel muutub antud inimese kui ka teda varem ümbritsenud ja praegugi ümbritsevate isikute suhtumine teineteisesse kardinaalselt, sest suhtedünaamika orienteerub ümber.

Samamoodi -- kui keegi avastab kuskil sellise (kujundlikult väljendatud) kullaaugu ja jutt tahes tahtmata levib, tekib tahtjaid, kes oleksid valmis kohe tule ja mõõgaga vallutama täpselt selle maa, kus uus kullaauk pesitseb.

(võib-olla jätkan veel)

Tangerines. The turning of tables.

Warning: This blogpost contains major spoilers, and assumes you've already seen the Estonian-Georgian film Tangerines.

In a recent IMDb post, a user wondered, if Ahmed had grown to like Niko a lot, which caused Ahmed to shoot the Russians. Here's my response:

(As was specified in the post's thread, it was only heavily implied that these were Russians, because it's not said so on-screen.)

And so, near the end, Ahmed was playing his part as he did before (covering for Niko), but the Russians were actively provoking Ahmed (who had been fighting as a mercenary on their side), and were very disrespectful towards him, because they didn't believe that he was a Chechen and on their side.

As far as I could see, they were ready to kill Ahmed anyway, but then Niko intervened, and then Ahmed killed the Russians.

So, it wasn't because Ahmed had grown close to Niko, but that in the nick of time, Niko saved Ahmed's life, and they had to protect themselves and their hosts Ivo and Margus.

Before things went downhill, Ivo had thought that he could de-escalate the situation as he did before, but Niko saw from the window, that these weren't mercenaries, so he essentially knew better.

All in all, it didn't end well in the film.

As it is, it's a fairly realistic film about war, because death happens, and usually, both sides lose in one or another way. Or that neither side wins convincingly.

While it's not rare, that one of the parties wins, then recent history has shown, that a definite victory does not happen often. That's why it's called a win, because chances are, that one could lose, too. The victors may realize the subsequent loss only after war ends, and after some time has passed to reflect on the events; especially, if it was not a just war.

ID4/IDR: Economy during the interwar period

This is just a speculation, and mostly a reply to an IMDb thread post about Independence Day: Resurgence.

The first IDR trailer is out since December, but the film won't be out before Summer 2016.

The post started out, that the economy would tank, and the many U.S. carmakers would go bankrupt and would cease to exist.

I think the government(s) would have bailed out any and all carmakers, because they manufacture transport vehicles, which are crucial to rebuilding the infrastructure. Really important manufacturing locations are also kept away from large population centres.

For a short while, the model selection would be either less varied or less luxurious overall, and based on what parts are available at any time. Basically, a logistics's nightmare.

The production emphasis would have reoriented towards making parts for existing cars, and manufacturing transport and military vehicles. Cargo transport is actually more important, as it's responsible for supplies of, like, everything.

Because of petrol shortages, commuter transport in the U.S. would become very widespread. Trams, trolleybuses, trains, etc. would be more prevalent; provided there'd be enough electricity available. I haven't specifically mentioned petrol-based buses, because the military infrastructure would take those off city lines at any time for their own purposes.

Reverse-engineering alien tech can also help. It seems that they did a lot of that presumably under the U.S. aegis, as the world united.

After WWII, the Soviet war loot (aka contributions) from Germany — including a number of German scientists — allowed the Soviet Union to keep up technological parity to some extent until about mid-to-late 1970s, when self-imposed isolation (and some export restrictions) allowed the split between the West and the Soviet sphere to became more visible.

'Common-mold' products would be more widespread. People would certainly splurge less, and concentrate more on essentials, such as food, medicine, clothes and maintentance of creature comforts. Interestingly, lots of manufacturing would not have been moved to China.

Of important note is, that in 1996, many companies that were supposed to rely on redundant tech, had not made any, or had not finished deploying backup contingencies that were done during the onset of Y2K. If the ID4 situation had happened on 9/11 instead, the U.S. and many other countries would have been better-prepared to recover. (As it happened, many companies continued running on 9/11, because their tech infrastructure switched to using backup locations.)

Presumably, there would very likely be a holdout of people who would never use alien-based tech, and they would even try to maintain and improve native technologies. The Amish might probably be an example of that. So I wouldn't be surprised, if many of the common people would have chosen to only keep [consumer] tech from 1996 and somewhat before. Nowadays in the real world, there are people who make this a lifestyle choice to live like people once did in 1950s, 1960s, and 1980s even.

Locations that were not as affected by alien attacks, would be burdened with supplying food and medicine and everything else. There would be rationing until after production rates would have recovered to sufficient levels.

The state of refugees and internally displaced persons would be something akin to what Syrians and Iraqis are experiencing.

And then there's the question of what happened to some of the aliens that crashed. The trailer and the War of 1996 website suggest that some concentrated in Congo.

Update: The IDR website does get occasional updates, so the story along the timeline evolves.

As with any movie website, The War of 1996 site uses the latest technologies; so, compared to most other sites, it's obviously one of those that have actual system requirements with regard to hardware and sofware. More about that is detailed in a post in my technology-oriented blog.