Why Spock used the Vulcan proverb about Nixon in Star Trek VI

This is a reply in a comment thread to a YouTube video.

I've meant to offer a reverse interpretation re Nixon for two or so years since this comment (or another one like it), but only now got myself to write it.

Spock's Vulcan reference to Nixon suggests, that after the devastating accident on the Klingon moon Praxis, Klingon Chancellor Gorkon as a politician was suddenly on precarious ground. Nixon might have felt his re-election efforts to be like that, when he sought a second term in office.

(Nixon's China visit was throughout 21–28 Frebruary 1972, the break-in at the Watergate hotel was on June 17 of that year, and plans to wiretap the Watergate complex were drawn up in January by Nixon re-election officials.)

Spock then suggests, that if the peace overture is not accepted by the Federation, the Klingons might seek to acquire Federation technology through force.

As it was, Chancellor Gorkon would have none of it, and that would further set the stage for his toppling. — Think a Bat'leth fight by a challenger to the throne.

Aware of this, Gorkon then went to the Federation in a last-ditch effort to prop up his position and maybe save his life, in the hopes, that there would not be any co-conspirators onboard the Enterprise, and then later on Earth.

Claire and Frank (possible spoilers, you've been warned)

Based on information from IMDb forums and Season 3 synoposes

Not actually spoilers, but a theory nonetheless, so half-spoilers.

Rape is one of the reasons Claire might have decided not to have children.

I think Frank is the one in the marriage who is unable to procreate. It's possible Claire might have tried and not had any results from Frank. (I wonder, though, if Frank knows it himself.)

All that would then explain why Claire had had three abortions; because despite having had an otherwise healthy marriage with Frank, she could have been conceived by other men (the day-after pills don't always work), but a different-looking child would eventualy become obvious. And then there's DNA testing.

Claire's biological clock ticking, she decides to get preggers anyway. That's why she wants to separate from Frank and a possible divorce, because she is very certain the child is not his in the first place.

If she's pregnant, then it's possible she might be using it as pretext to disassociate herself from Frank, because she knows that he killed Russo and Zoe. If the murders are eventually revealed as such, she can later claim some plausible deniability. The moodiness might be caused by pregnancy or might even be intentional to throw Frank off the loop, because she needs her female moodiness and the pregancy to disassociate herself from him.

Miks Stargate Universe tegemine tühistati

See kõik on kahtlused ja spekulatsioon, kuid faktilised andmed vähemalt annavad teatud pildi sellest, mis võis olla "Stargate Universe" tühistamise taga.

Ameerika telekanal SyFy otsustas SGU tegemist eelmise aasta lõpus mitte uuendada peale seda kui MGM läks planeeritud pankrotikaitsesse (Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection). SGU finantseerimine oli SyFy ja MGM vahel pooleks. SyFy on USA kaabelkanal, mis kuulub NBC Universal alla ja viimase omanikud on 51% Comcast, 49% General Electric. Enne MGM pankrotikaitsesse astumist oli Comcast 20% MGM omanik (teistest meediaettevõtetest oli ka Sony 20% omanik). Kui MGM pankrotikaitsest väljus, sai MGM endale täiesti uue omanikeringi.

Võib väita, et SGU oli rohkem korporatiivpoliitika kui reitingute ohver. Minu kahtluste järgi võis MGM-ist voolata selle omanike taskusse suurel hulgal raha, niigi nõrgenenud MGM oli lõpuks suurtes võlgades ja ei suutnud enam võlgu üleval pidada. MGM on peale selle veel konkurent NBC Universal (Comcast) ja Sony stuudiotele.

Minu väitel võib olla kaalu, kuna ammugi võlgades MGM potentsiaalsed ostjad ütlesid 2008. ja 2009. aastatel, et nad enne MGM-i endale ei osta kui viimane läheb pankrotikaitse protsessist läbi, misjärel endised omanikud ettevõtet rohkem enam ei oma. — Sest võimalikud ostjad ei teadnud mitte ainult, et MGM-i rahaseis on vilets, vaid ka seda, et sealt voolab raha välja. Seetõttu nad nõudsidki ostu peatingimusena MGM-ile pankrotikaitsest läbiminekut, et raha äravoolule lõpp teha.

SyFy tõenäoliselt omab veel SGU-le ekslusiivset lepingut SGU uute osade esimesteks näitamisteks ja ma arvan, et leping veel kehtib. SGU-d loodeti teha 5 hooaega ja võib oletada, et leping kehtib viis aastat. Isegi kui MGM tahaks sarja kogu Stargate frantsiisi omanikuna teistel kanalitel näidata, ei ole see eksklusiivlepingu pärast võimalik — oletatavasti ootab MGM-i rikkumise eest suur leppetrahv, kui MGM SGU-d enne teatud aega mujal näitab. Ning nii ootab MGM, kuni leping otsa lõpeb ja MGM-l on siis vabadus SGU-d teistele Ameerika kanalitele pakkuda.

SGU madalate reitingute üheks põhjuseks võis olla osade "Stargate SG-1" ja "Stargate Atlantis" fännide äärmiselt valulik reaktsioon SGU võetud uue ja realistlikuma kvaliteedi suhtes, mispeale hakkasid need fännid SGU sarja infantiilselt vihkama ja seda muidugi ka mitte vaatama.
* Teine põhjus on see, et USA-s valitsev Nielseni reitingusüsteem on oma aja ära elanud, sest paljud inimesed enam telekat ei vaata ja vaatavad telesaateid alternatiivsete allikate kaudu.
* Kolmas põhjus on see, et SyFy kandis SGU reedeõhtuselt ajalt teisipäevaõhtusele ajale ja SyFy (endise nimega SciFi) tõi samale ajale ameerika wrestlingu. Teisipäevasele õhtule ülekandmisega "uskus" SyFy, et siis on ehk paremad reitingud, aga viga tehti selles, et ei arvestatud suviste ja sügiseste hooaegade erinevustega, kus antud käik oleks suvise hooaja puhul töötanud, aga sügisel olid samal ajal suurteks konkurentideks "Navy NCIS" protseduurisari ja "Tantsud tähtedega" Ameerika variant.
* Väidetakse, et SyFy kandis SGU üle meelega halvale ajale, et reitingud viletsad oleksid ja et siis oleks võimalik kuulutada SGU näitamine kahjumlikuks ja saada mingi suurem maksusoodustus, millele üks SGU produtsente Joseph Mallozzi viitas, küll mitte otsesõnu.

Vot nii.

Kas päike võib tulevikus ikkagi pilve tagant paista?

Lootust muidugi veel on, sest produtsendid ja näitlejad on öelnud, et ettenähtavas tulevikus SGU-d ei tehta. Kolm aastat ootamist, nagu vähemalt SGU-st endas lõpuks teada saab, on nähtavasti varjatud vihje eksklusiivlepingule SyFy-ga ja et selle lõpp tuleb ära oodata. Samal ajal on MGM-il soojas uus Bondi-film ja kaks "Kääbiku"-filmi ning selle kolme aasta jooksul on MGM-il siis ka aega koguda raha päris oma asjade tegemiseks. MGM-i asju ajab praegu Spyglass Entertainment, kust tuleb $500 miljonit laenu või investeeringuid, millega teha praeguseid ja tuleviku-projekte, mille pealt oleks võimalik teenida ja saadud tulu investeerida näiteks SGU tegemisse. Et siis kolme aastaga on lootust saada ka piisavalt raha, et SGU-d edasi teha ja siis mitte tingimata SyFy-s näidata.

The Golden Age of Mustamäe

In reply to Giustino's missed america

I guess what Giustino is referring to about the simpler times of 1950's is what for some people resembled the Golden Era, a time, probably ending in 1940's when things were good and fine in America. I can't really put a spot on that one, but this might be a span of time before television took hold in the States, so for a similar reminiscense of "old good times", this time before the time of television, I'd tentatively put The Golden Age of Radio as the one.

When I further thought of this and similar terms, I realised that they have a tendency to come to use well after a period of growth and/or progress has (either gradually or abruptly) ended, in a time when people are a whole lot more sober about their outlook and look at the past with some nostalgia.

This is the kind of past that is not always known by today's contemporaries, but passed down by their older brethren and ancestors, through folklore and culture. We may not have a first-hand feeling of what the 1950's were like, but we've seen it in in the movies, read about it from the books.

Perhaps most interestingly, the books and movies that we refer to when reminiscing about an era may have had less significance in their time than now.

Some cultural items that proffer to establish in the minds of masses the way how things felt like at the time fail to do so, IMO, and some don't.

It's difficult to assess nostalgia. Sometimes it's as simple as having a meal with friends (or alone) in a local diner, or that you actually spent quite a lot more time actually talking, discussing, and interacting with friends and family.

---

"Nüüd elan Mustamäel...", which Liivimaa parim ratsutaja referred to, is "Mustamäe valss", the lyrics for which can be found here. The page has an inset which says that the song was written in 1971 and explains that Mustamäe was first known as All-Nõmme or Mustamäe-alune (I'm too tired to parse all this into English). The inset explains further that to people suffering from cramped dwellings in "wooden" districts, a spacious property seemed like a godsend.

Historically, before Mustamäe and Õismäe and Lasnamäe, there were more wooden houses and dwellings across all of Tallinn than Kalamaja (which is just representative of the type). A large amount of those wooden houses have been replaced by newer fare both in Soviet and post-Soviet times.

Even in 1980's, upgrading from ühiskorter (communal apartment) in ühiselamu (ühikas) or a one-room flat to a three-room flat anywhere in the city was like a huge stroke of luck. I know there are absurd-sounding, but probably true stories of even three generations living in a one- or two-room flat, and maybe a cat and a dog, too. In those times, a three-room flat was never unreasonable, but a dream not always attainable; well-todo people had a four-room flat and teh rich ppl had a private house, or eramaja :)

More on ühiskorter in Estonian Wikipedia can be read about in article talk about the term.

U.S. tax primer for foreigners and non-U.S. residents

A fine dude named Justin posted a comment at Giustino's blog, only that Justin's comment was lost there, but I still have it, because I subscribed to receive comments to some of Giustino's posts.

Giustino's advice is to consult with an accountant.
My own advice is to also consult the IRS homepage.

And don't forget to consider all of the other comments at Giustino's blog post where the tax topic came up; my favourite was by liimneliivlane, who suggested you register with your embassy and and ask around, if and when they hold an annual 'town hall' meeting.

Justin:

Argh I wrote a long comment and there was some error on Blogger when I tried to post it. Here's a quick summary:

1. File a 1040, not a 1040NR or W-8BEN.
2. Declare your income in Estonia, but also take a credit for income tax already paid (it's on page 2 of the 1040, callled Foreign Tax Credit).
3. No double taxation due to the tax treaty in place. Also because incomes tend to be lower in Estonia than in the US, you may not owe anything to the US since that will put you in a lower tax bracket.
4. Declare all your foreign bank accounts on form TD-F 90-22.1. Don't forget this, as they are really cracking down this year. Remember to mail this to a separate address from your normal tax filing.
5. Read Publication 54 from the IRS as it's specifically for expats.
6. Expats usually get an automatic 3-month extension of time to file (Pub 54 will explain this).
7. Be sure to file a tax return. If you don't this can come back to bite you later like if you need to apply for a green card for a relative -- they check tax filing status at that time.
8. If you own an Estonian business, file a Form 5471. This is the only form not built into Turbotax so just fill in the PDF on the IRS website and print it.
9. Don't forget to declare any substantial interest (I think it's more than $10/year) you earned on your Estonian bank accounts on Schedule B.

I do my taxes every year with Turbotax and it can handle things well. Just keep all your documentation on file in case of an inquiry from the IRS.

Two points: World's soundest banks and how forward-looking Estonians are

In July, a family member in Canada wondered if another depression is going to happen in the U.S. and how it will affect Canada.

Well, it may be somewhat early to think of a depression yet (I'm trying to be an optimist, or maybe is it, that my worrylessness may actually be complacency), but it's always best to be careful. "Better safe than sorry" sounds perhaps a bit too cliché. At least right now, people are bracing for the impact that this negative growth is (also called a recession, mostly after the fact).

I do have to add that Canada has soundest banking system in the world, with Sweden at #2 and most large Estonian banks belong to Nordic banking companies.

Of course, the latest Time article about Estonia is not so bloomy anymore about Estonia. After all, if you're exemplified all around the world for being great when times are good, remember to expect being reported on at difficult times (and how you're faring).

This Time piece by Andrew Purvis reflects on Estonians' reputation for "being practical, down-to-earth, and forward-looking." The latter notion being rather telling, because in "The Baltic Mourning After", the same author has noticed "Black banners for a lecture series [...] in Tallinn asking: IS THERE LIFE AFTER CAPITALISM?"

The lecture series happened in October (with the end of the month culminating with the screening of "The Corporation", a Canadian documentary) and still continues to happen in November.

Links and comments

• 21.10.: Canada rated world's soundest bank system
  You just have to love those oddball news sites that still keep their articles :-)
  
  Op-Eds:
• 31.10.: Strong, safe and open for business
• 03.11.: Mel Watkins . Still strong and free
• 10.11.: Why Canada's Banks Don't Need Help
  — With a link to a somewhat sardonic gallery of Top Ten Scared Traders at the end of the article. || I guess the guys and gals there will be remembered as really-really brave for having had the guts to yo-yo, swing and zigzag through the precarious financial mêlée that befell in their midst.
  
  Doubt has also been creeping in:
• 13.11.: Experts not sold on bank strength
  I'd say rather that a sound banking system allows a country to tough it out through the rough times with less pain than those rated to be in their forties. I remember a piece in The Economist which mentioned that wealthy countries will have it harder than poor countries, because the latter have a difficult life anyway.