Validus

Intrepid Class.

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Being a Brit- I'd have expected you to say:

"The Liberator"

(of course I'm probably the only guy on the board who even gets the reference).

You should watch Farscape.

I bet you'd have liked the design of Moya, the ship used by the cast on that show.

Wish I had a pic and the knowhow to post it. :(

Based on my own observations, it seems to me that Vulcan religious beliefs are very similar to that of the Chinese, specifically Taoism.

Taoism, which was founded by Lao Tsu in China some 2,600 years ago, is a religion about living in harmony with the flow of the energy (Chi) of the Universe. Taoism can be found in science fiction in many places. The character Rev Bem from Andromeda is clearly a Taoist (he calls his religion "Wayism" and the Chinese word Tao means "Way" or "The Way"). George Lucas originally conceived of the Jedi ethos as essentially a combination of Chinese Taoism and the Japanese Bushido code, found in the Samarai tradition. By contrast, the Minbari from Babylon-5 seem more like Hindus then anything else.

Vulcan spiritual practices such as meditation can clearly be found in Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism (Yoga), and even mystical Judaism (Kabbalah).

sacred-texts.com/tao

One of the things I always liked best about this episode was the pathos of Comm. Decker. His feelings of guilt over the perceived failure he caused in trying to stop the "Doomsday Machine" seems all too real...today we'd say that he had Shell Shock (or "PTSD"). The way they make the machine itself look is pretty cool, and they even have in under the X10 section here:

merzo.net

Interesting that it's the same length as a Borg Cube.

I always wish they'd have done a follow up to it in Voyager. Kirk speculated that there might be moe of these Doomday Machines flying around...I'd love to have seen the crew of Voyager find one and use it to plough through Borg space, or at least distract the Borg long enough for Voyager to get through.

Peter David wrote a great follow-up with his novel "Vendetta"which included the Doomday machine, the Borg....and Q. :(

Well...

there's always a margin of error regarding Nielsens ratings. However, the scifi channel themselves reported that the Battlestar Galactica miniseries was the highest rated even in that channel's history when it aired, ousting Dune by more then 2,000,000 viewers. It is now reported consistantly at scifi.com and in scifi magazine that Battlestar is the highest rated show on that station...and they should know since it is their station.

I can think of a few thousand decisions I'd do differently if going back in time was an option. I'll state just the top five and leave it at that.

1. I'd avoid ever meeting and falling in love with Laura Case, my hateful ex-wife.

2. I'd stay in college rather then join the Navy.

3. I'd keep walking rather then talking to Amy Darney, who turned out to be a complete head-case.

4. I'd pay more attention when the moment comes that I had my first car accident and thus avoid it.

5. I'd arrive 10 minutes early at the Mall on the day that Sharon Mcfarlane was murdered and detain her somehow just long enough for the gunman to be seen and thus save her life.

I already stated that the greatest work anyone can do is to write, and therefore the greatest American would have to be the greatest American writer. I would chose Edgar Allen Poe, and then perhaps Melville. Walt Whitman is also a fine candidate for "Greatest American".

It is astonishing to me that not one person has suggested Gene Roddenberry. I would say that in the world of television science fiction Gene had few peers, although I'd include John Stefano (Outer Limits) and Rod Serling (Twilight Zone & author of Planet of the Apes).

[You have to remember that George W. Bush won the Presidency by the largest margin since his father did in 1988 with 48,886,097 (53.4% of the popular vote). In 1992 Bill Clinton won with 44,909,326 (43.0% of the popular vote) and in 1996 he won with 47,401,898 (49.2% of the popular vote). In 2000 George W. Bush won with 50,461,092 (47.9% of the popular vote) and in 2004 he won with 60,693,281 (51% of the popular vote). 

 

In fact, no other President in US history has had more people vote for him then George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan comes in second with total of 98,350,291 votes for 1980 and 1984, Bill Clinton is in third place with a total of 92,311,224 votes for 1992 and 1996 and George W. Bush had a total of 111,154,373 votes for 2000 and 2004. So looking at those numbers a case can be made that it wasn't George W. Bush that has polarized Americans (going under the assumption that we are polarized). I submit that it has been his opponents that have been the polarizing influences. I can understand how an outsider may view it incorrectly though, a lot of the media tend to have their own political agendas and that goes a long way in shaping peoples opinions.

 

I say that George W. Bush does indeed belong on the list if for no other reason then how he rose up in defense of our nation against our enemies, I shudder to think of how some of his opponents would have dealt with some of the issues that he has had to.  Mistakes were made, but I'll take those mistakes over inaction every time.

 

Should George W. Bush win the title? Maybe, maybe  not. But he does deserve to be in the top 25.

 

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I would gently remind you that George W. Bush has not risen to the defence of anything. What he has done is send good men to die and be maimed for lousy pay in a war that we have no buisness fighting in. Iraq has never once attacked the United States and Saddam Hussein used to work for us.

I would also remind you that President Bush is nothing more then a meaningless figurehead who represents a vast coalition of interests including (but not limited too) the Pentago, the CIA, the FBI, the National Security Council, Big Tobacco, and most of the movers on the Fortune 500. Bush (like Ronald Reagan) has proven to be very much an ally of the ultra-rich and ultra-powerful and cares nothing for the poor, the needy, and those who earn less then $120,000 a year. In short, he is a soul-less cypher who does what he is told by the powers-that-be which no one voted for.

Clinton was no saint, but at least he could form a coherent thought on his own and express it without a teleprompter.

Wow. Have you ever seen Billy Graham preach? BTW he owns a ranch. It's not that big of a deal 50 years ago.

 

http://www.time.com/time/time100/heroes/pr...e/graham01.html

 

 

 

I'm sorry but you're saying that those who oppose abortion are morally bankrupt? They're're not the ones killing babies. The woman gets pregnant 90% of the time on her own not because she's been raped. That's only 3-4% of abortions. another 56-% are those who can't survive pregnancy. BTW HIV wouldn't spread first without unprotected sex. It  was before the blood transfusions. How else could they get into the network. You don't need a screening test for AIDS if you don't have it...

 

Oh and BTW scientists just don't come up with screening tests overnight... It's not that easy...

 

also over 2/3 of all americans approved of Ronald Reagan's two terms. It was the highest rating for any retiring president since World War II. He's not bad considering he won a landslide vote in 1984...

 

Even if he had Iran Contra, he apologized for it. Clinton didn't apologize for perjury.

 

His supply side economics didn't gain much support but he did cut income tax rates sharply, created economic growth without inflation (went below 4%), and reduced the unemployment rate. Not bad.

 

this is research: http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-261.html

 

mmmm.... think tank....

 

It's interesting that most of the U.S. is composed of Christians. Note: CHRISTIANS. Let's blank out all the U.S. presidents except for Jefferson who was a deist. What are you left with? Take away Martin Luther King Jr. Take away most ofthe politicians. You seriously can't make that argument.

 

Same with the economy.

 

 

You still have not answered me. Who would you pick? Don't tell me Jimmy Carter.

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Several more points clearly need to be made, I see.

1. Apoligizing for Iran/Contra doesn't excuse it or make it right. We don't pardon a mass-muderer just because he says "ooops...sorry about that."

2. Abortion isn't murder and I would challenge you to find me a single passage in the Bible that supports such a ridiculous alligation (use either the KJV or the NIV, doesn't matter to me).

3. Scientists could have come up with a screening test but again- the Reagan administration DID NOTHING while thousands of people were getting tainted blood without fair warning that the blood they were receiving might be HIV+. Reagan could have OK'd the funds (which would have been less then one tenth the cost of a stealth bomber) and fixed the problem -he didn't and therefore he is culpable for his lack of competence in allowing a dangerous disease to spread among the American population unchecked through the very hospitals that were suppose to heal rather then harm.

4. Just because two thirds of the idiots in this country thought Reagan was a nice guy doesn't mean a damn thing. Two thirds of the world don't think Jesus was anyone but a nice Jewish boy who came to a bad end -now, are you going to give up your religion just because of that? No, so don't hand me such useless statistics. There was once a time when more then 90% of the world believed the world was flat...and they were all wrong. Truth has nothing to do with Majority and never did.

5. I have no idea where your getting your statistics, but under Reagan (especially in his second term) unemployment went up as did the number of homeless people.

I would also remind you that Reagan's legacy of dereglation has made it much easier for big companies to lay off workers, bust unions, and deny benefits. Hardly something to be proud of. :(

6. You make the fact that most Americans are Christians sound like a "good" thing. I would remind you that Christians thought 400 years of black slavery was a good idea. I would remind you that Christians thought denying blacks and native-Americans cival rights was a good idea. I would remind you that Christians were the first to build, use, and stockpile Nuclear Weapons. I would remind you that Christians thought denying women the right to vote was a good idea until they were defeated by the sufferage movement in 1920. I would remind you that Christians were behind the Jim Crow Laws (Segregation) and kept them in place until fairly recently. Christians have contributed to the suffering of so many people that it literally stupifies the human mind to try and grasp it.

You also forgot that Abraham Lincoln was an Atheist (his letters confirm this) and John Quincy Adams was a Unitarian, and denied the divinity of Jesus.

I cannot agree more.

Battlestar Galactica is easily the best science fiction show currently airing (sorry Stargate fans, but its only the truth).

The quality of the writing, the acting, and whole look of the show as well as the gravatis brought to it by the themes make this the best ride since Babylon-5 ran between 1993-1998.

Some critics have made complaints that I find, frankly, amusing. One friend of mine said "I don't like the way the Galactica looks...its too clunky". That's the whole point. It isn't ment to look slick like a Star Trek vessal, but rather like an old warhorse that can take a beating and keep on ticking. I loved that shot in the miniseries when a cylon nuke hit the Galactica and the ship groaned and reeled like an old wooded frigate riding out a typhoon.

I like Starbuck (Lt. Thrace) better as a woman, and Katy Sakoff* is a far better actor then Dirk Benedict ever was.

I'm hoping it runs for a good 6 Seasons...and I hope they never find Earth (what an anti-climax if they ever did).

*I can't remember how to spell her name, sorry...

Gee....I hate the fact that you live in a country that you hate so much. Perhaps you should find a country more to your liking............

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I love my country very much. I served in the military on the battleship USS IOWA(BB-61) as a gunnersmate if you doubt that.

What I hate is that we are under the tyranny of a reckless Presidency which is wasting our soldiers and our resources in the current mess in the middle-east which we should not have gotten involved it.

I would gently remind you that part of being an American is having the right (and the obligation) to be critical when our elected officials* keep screwing up time and time again.

*Of course, George W. Bush was not elected...which only proves how feeble democracy really is in this country. :(

Galaxy Class

U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-Delta

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You mean that one that's in pieces on the planet Veridian III? Good choice. :bash:

I'm a Buddhist and have been now for about eight years. I was a Christian when i was a teenager until I took it upon myself to read the whole of the Bible from Genesis 1:1 all the way to Revelation 22. After much effort on my part (and many questions to my minister at the time) I did eventually finish it only to come to the realization that the Bible is nothing more then mythology masquerading as real history. It is simply too filled with inaccuracies and contradictions to ne anything but false. Thus I gave up on Christianity when I was sixteen. Between then and thirty I was pretty much an Atheist, following such philosophers as Bertrand Russell and Voltaire in my views.

I discovered Buddhism pretty much by chance when I returned to college. I was a history major and religious studies was a part of that. I took Western Religion first (Judaism, Christianity & Islam). Then I took Eastern Religion, and it was here that I discovered Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and so forth.

I won't go into a long definiton of Buddhism -it would take too long and i suspect it would bore many of you. I will simply say that Buddhism attracted me for many reasons. For one- Buddhism isn't hostile to science, which Christianity is and always has been. Second- Buddhism encourages one to ask questions and to accept things on proof (fact) rather then speculation (faith).

Any specific questions I am happy to answer if anyone has any. :msn-wink: :msn-wink: :msn-wink:

The problem with Mortal Kombat is that you have to "dial in" the moves which isn't about skill so much as merely being able to memorize.

Now Street Fight....that's a game that requires actual skill and tactics as well as reflexes.

I've yet to see a fighting game as good as 1998's Street Fighter Alpha 3 on PS1. :( :(

I'm a Scorpio.

I'm also intellectual, over-sexed, and often cocky...but not because of when I was born.

That's just the way it is. :msn-wink: :msn-wink: :msn-wink:

I don't comment on the Golden gate bridge- Its part of SF landscape

 

On the other hand as a NYer. I have to deal with the skyline.

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Oh puh-lease...you talk about the skyline of NY as if it was your own private property. Get real, please. You don't have to "deal" with it anymore then Tibetans have to "deal" with Mount Everest. I sincerely doubt that your existance is predicated on the state of a couple of buildings that have now been gone for years.

A healthy dose of perspective can do wonders for narcissism and other ailements.

Try it, it won't hurt. :msn-wink: :msn-wink: :msn-wink:

I actually liked the Hulk

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So did I. It actually had a plot and it was actually about something besides just CGI effects.

I just recently saw Fantastic Four and I was pleasently surprised. Sure its not dark like Batman....but it isn't suppose to be. FF was always one of the more light-hearted of the Marvel books. I also liked the changes made in Doctor Doom's character...all in all I'd give it two thumbs up. I just hope they have Galactus in the sequal. :msn-wink:

Julia Roberts because she had a huge mouth.

 

Sean Penn because he's such a miserable sod.

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I'm not a huge Julia Roberts fan, but you really should see the movie Closer (with her and Clive Owen). It was ignored by the Academy and shouldn't have been.

You don't like Sean Penn? Why the bloody hell not...? Didn't you see 21 Grams or The Assassination of Richard Nixon???

Both of them are very good and have great performances.

And you are not a New yorker so your opinion of them is pointless

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That's just a silly position to take, Tinadoll. By that logic I guess you can't have an opinion on the Golden Gate Bridge because you're "lost in yonkers" and therefore get no say....right? :(

Let's not be purile.

You'll forgive me for saying this, but frankly I don't think your opinions are very well informed. You speak more from bias then from fact, and I cannot say that your bias is very convincing...especially to those of us who have studied the situation, who have served in the military, and who have been to the middle-east.

Billy Graham is not a fanatic. He doesn't hate people either. He was there long before Roe v. Wade. Anyways he isn't that rich either. his money goes back to pay the volunteers for their work.

 

Ronald reagan was not a whore for the ultra Rich. What evidence do you have of that? Iran Contra was really interesting because of the CARE FOR AMERICAN LIVES. Anyways how can you cover up something in front of a Senate judiciary committee? Their power of subpoena can get even the president arrested. Interesting that you don't mention that he helped dissolve Soviet Russia. He was known to be a compassionate leader who loved the people with an optimistic glow. Even the oposing party loved him because of his optimism. AIDS crisis... It's not his fault that people decided to have sex with everybody they knew. There are reasons why you're supposed to stay with one partner.

 

How can you be offended? Yes a man who advised numerous presidents and the other one--one of the greatest presidents of American history?

 

It's a crime for someone to practice their religion? It's a crime to be a compassionate leader?

 

Who would you choose?

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Several points need to be made:

1. That Billy Graham hates people is rather obvious. He has often spoken against Muslims, Atheists, Gay people, scientists just doing their jobs, and anyone who "dares to question America".

2. Billy Graham is flithy rich. Sure, he gives away just enough to keeo the IRS at bay, but he wears armani suits ($3,000.00 a shot) and owns almost as much land as could fill up 6 golf courses.

3. You are correct, he was here long before Roe vs Wade...and he's been trying to tear it down ever since (him and that idiot who runs "Operation Rescue").

4. If you really think that Reagan did what he did for American lives, you are naive. You are also forgetting the point. The point is that he told the world, and more then once, "This administration will not deal with terrorists." So he lied, blatantly, and made our entire country look stupid in front of our enemies and our allies all at once. He also allowed a loose-cannon Marine Lt. Colonel conduct US Foreign policy without supervision which is also very much against the law. The result of Reagans bungling was that Iran got its hands on more then 2,000 shoulder-mounted surface-to-air missles for free, not to mention a ton of other weapons and money.

5. Yes- Ronald Reagan was a whore for the ultra-rich. His tax-cuts were almost all for the top 10% and for big companies. he also was instrumental in deregulating certain laws that allow big companies to swollow their smaller compedators whole or simply bully them into the gutter. Reagan also cut social programs designed to help the poor and needy, which he then refunneled into the war machine at the Pentagon and the CIA.

If you doubt any of this I suggest you look it up and do some much needed reading.

6. You don't think people can lie to a senate commitee? You are shockingly naive if you believe that. Reagan, Bush Sr. and Poindexter lied their tails off and got away with it. It also helped that the Tower Commission was run by Senator John Tower...a Republican whose bias was obvious.

7. Reagan ignored the AIDS crisis, which was actually spread initially not by gay people having sex but by the entire blood supply being tainted and no one willing to either admit it or not willing to foot the bill for a reliable screening test when it would have done the most good. Most victims of HIV in the early 80's were heterosexuals who'd gotten tainted blood from blood banks and then unknowingly spread it to others. Reagan knew and Reagan did nothing...which makes him and his cabinet culpable in all those deaths. At the very least they are accessories after the fact.

I would gently remind you that Billy Graham thought the Vietnam war was a good idea. He was also an ardent Nixon supporter. In short- he was a moraly bankrupt idiot.

Reagan was not compassionate at all and his record proves that again and again. I have nothing against anyone practicing their religion unless to do so includes shafting people who don't share your beliefs (which Reagan and Billy Graham did, and often).

Christians could do much for their image by doing less both in politics and in economics.

-Just because we are not using car bombs or some such tactic hardly makes us morally superior. The British once accused the American Colonists of being terrorists because we would not engage their armies out in the open but instead picked them off from secured positions.

-We use car bombs too, except they don't have wheels or drivers -we call them "smart" bombs...and the result is still the same.

-Old style blatant conquest is not the name of the game anymore. No, we won't put up our flag and tell the Iraqis to learn English and use American currency. That won't work. The Romans knew that and simply allowed nations udner their control to keep their culture and rulers...but they were still ultimately answerable to Rome.

That's how we do it.

Sure, we'll install some puppet pinhead and tell everyone he was "democratically" elected by the Iraqi people, but the second he does something that goes against the wishes of the Pentagon & the Oval Office...we'll have to back, depose the Iraqi government all over again (after we come up with another lie...we're pretty good at that).

This is nothing new. Our involvement in Vietnam was rooted in lies and when we toppled the democratically elected President of Chile we did so under a thin veil of lies.

I'm surprised that you, living in Britain, can't see that.

Do you like me? (i am superman). Was just wondering, if anyone liked to read my old comic books and watch my movies...

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I heard in your bout with Doomsday you took a dive for $$$$$. Is that true...???

None of the above-

I'd go with The LEXX.

Is it, after all, the most powerful weapon of destruction in the two Universes, and it also has Xev. :msn-wink: :msn-wink: :msn-wink: