Validus

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Posts posted by Validus

  4. Posted

    I have only seen 3 of the movies and the Star Trek Voyager series, so I might be missing something out, but how did the Borg queen return after Picard defeated her in First Contact to come back into the Voyager series?

     

    She was "unkilled" [as they say in the editorial offices of DC Comics] the same way they keep bringing back villians like The Joker in comics. They essentially ignored her death in First Contact and made her able to regenerate by passing on her essense...or something. :frusty:

  6. Posted

    I'm not sure what the exact formula would be, but one would hope that an employee is worth a reasonable portion of the profits since a buisness cannot last without employees unless its a one-man operation...and how often is that...??? It seems criminal to me that Wal-Mart is the largest company in the world, but gives its workers nothing compared to what they are making.

  8. Posted

    Question: Do I care about children?

     

    Answer: Not at all...not even a little bit.

     

     

    What I DO CARE ABOUT is the parents...and what they DO to their children. It's the parents who need to be watched...the kids were fine.

     

    I do think we are a bit over protective of kids. Let 'em watch a horror film once in awhile, they won't die...honest.

  9. Posted

    I agree that most students cannot go to private schools because of the tuition. Another thing that should happen is that the teacher's union should be abolished. That union has absolutely no concern for the kids and just like most unions, is only interested in getting money for themselves.

     

     

    I think this is terrible idea. Teachers are already earning little given their responsibilities. Here in Stockton (and from what I hear, most of the country) teachers are expected often to supply students with pencils & pens out of their own pay. Any project a teacher might want to engage students in is likewise paid for out of the teachers pocket. Again- when we look at other countries we begin to see that what we put into our education system is very small when compared to Britain, France, Germany, Japan, or even South Korea. Kids in Mississippi have literacy that is comparable to some third world countries.

     

    Bottomline-You get what you pay for!!!

  10. Posted

    Yes, it is unfortunate but blame all the Americans who sue the public school system at every whim.

     

    People like to blame lawyers, or the court system etc. but in truth it agains lies in the fact that we have too many Americans that think they have the right to get rich at somebody else's expense. We have too many Americans that don't seem to understand the "government" federal, state or county is not an independent entity with it's own cash source. When people sue the government they are sueing their neighbors.

     

    This is another reason it would be helpful for schools to be privatized and for parents to have a greater participation in the school - you're less likely to sue (it would still happen) if deep government pockets were not involved and if people felt a personal involvement or responsibility for the school.

     

    I am trying to remember my elementary school and I know we had structured (supervised) activities but I can't remember if we had unstructured recess or not - I think we did but I can't remember.

     

    I cannot agree that all schools should go private. What about people who can't afford a private school...like, say, 80% of Americans????

     

    The solution is to admit the problem (no $$$$ in the public school system) and then simply fix it. Hire more teachers so that they can shrink class-rooms and pay them more so that the field will attract people of better quality. Would you want a brain surgeon working on you that earned minimum wage? think about it.

  13. Posted

    I've never liked the terms "geek" or "nerd". I always find "thinker" to be the better term. Thinkers like to read, to live the "life of the mind" as Sigmund F. once said. We tend to be the innovators, the idea-makers, the seekers and the creators. Gene Roddenberry and George Lucas would have been considered "nerds" as would Arthur C. Clarke, Tolkien, and the Warshowski Bros. Edgar Allen Poe and H.P Lovecraft would have been considered "geeks" at one time and now they are seen as being among the greatest of American writers.

     

    George W. Bush? Not a Thinker. Not even close. :P

  15. Posted

    Quite frankly, Dark City (as you say) owns that over-rated action film series of The Matrix...

     

    I'd have to agree that The Day the Earth Stood Still is my favourite science-fiction along with 2001, Blade Runner, Goddard's Alphaville and Tarkovsky's Solyaris. Like TUH, I really do look forward in getting around to seeing Fritz Lang's Metropolis.

     

    Mmmm, am I the only one who thinks that Plan 9 is Ed Wood's version of Day the Earth Stood Still?

     

    I have to agree about your view of Dark City, an oft overlooked masterpiece. The Matrix owes more then a little to William Gibson -who is the spiritual author of The Matrix as far as I'm concerned. The Matrix was also diminished by inferior sequals, and Dark City stands on its own. Alex Proyas, who directed Dark City (as well The Crow and I, Robot) said that he drew much from Fritz Lang's Metropolis as far as his insperation went.

     

    I've never seen Alphaville (good luck finding it at the local Blockbuster) and might have to just give in and fork out $34.99 to see it just like I did to see the original "Solaris". I still like the George Cloony version better as it sticks closer to Lem's novel.

     

    I'm not sure what Plan 9 represents other then a true measure of one man's hubris. Just recently Plan 9 was released with an audio-track featuring Mike Nelson of Mystery Science Theater 3000 fame and it is hysterical.

  20. Posted

    As for Greeks - I used to be fascinated by Ancient Greece as well but then I decided they couldn't have been too advanced - they believed women were by nature inferior to men. Women also fared less well in their society than in some other contemporary cultures. So I took them off my list. :P

     

    I would gently remind you, Unicorn, that in the ancient world and even to this day female inferiority is considered a given. I myself do not believe that...but the notion that women are intellectually equal to men wasn't given serious credence until the Enlightenment of the 17th century. In the Christian world women are still viewed as inferior because of the belief that God made man and then made women from a part of man. I know- its a dumb idea...but try telling that to a church filled with fundamentalists as watch what happens.

  22. Posted

    I would like to die, at the age of 99, as a result of being shot out of a circus cannon at the podium of the Republican National Convention in the year 2066 just in time to take out Presidential nominee Dakota Fanning. Right wingers would be shocked, and Democrats could replay my death at parties for years and years to come much to the delight of all onlookers... :)