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Fortune Favours…

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It’s often said that ‘Fortune Favours the Bold’, a translation of a number of associated latin mottos[1], originally quoted from the Aeneid.

But what else does Fortune Favour? In different circumstances, Fortune could Favour many different things.

For example:

If you are a newspaper:
– Fortune Favours Above the Fold

If you are researching a new type of cheese:
– Fortune Favours the Mould

If you are a manufacturer of desserts containing cryptic messages:
– Fortune Favours the Mould[2]

If you are hoping your ice sculpture will last:
– Fortune Favours the Cold

For those colonizing a new world and hoping for horses:
– Fortune Favours the Foaled

For those hoping to move houses:
– Fortune Favours the Sold

For those hoping to not fall off their gondola:
– Fortune Favours the Poled

Nelson[3] is thought[4] to have said:
– ‘Fortune Favours the Coaled.’

Other associated sayings:

For those who enjoy canned pineapple:
– Fortune Flavours the Doled

For those who evade blame:
– Fortune Waivers the Scold

For those overheated who luckily find shelter:
– Fortune Savours the Cold

For those working with Filo[5] pastry:
– Fortune Flavours the Rolled

And finally, for those of a musical persuasion:
– Fourtune Favours the Multiphonic (my favourite)

[1]And a DS9 episode.

[2]From S!

[3]Somehow, Horatio Nelson does not appear in the first ten(!) pages when you search for ‘nelson’. Even Nelson Mandela doesn’t appear until page 7! What?!?

[4]No.

[5]Not to be confused with their enharmonic equivalent[6] ‘Lifo pastry‘.

[6]The enharmonic equivalent for ‘Filo’ would actually be ‘Lofi’, but that sounds silly, and I had already written the joke.

Jane Goodall, In Concert

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So, we had the privilege of going to hear Jane Goodall speak today. It was an intense experience. Apparently, she’s 80 and still going strong[1]. Hearing her speak, she talks about the very human things that are causing our worldwide problems, the intense poverty which is forcing people to make destructive choices, the intense greed which promotes the same, and the continued population growth which amplifies everything. I wonder how much of this perspective was from her growing up during the War, seeing firsthand much of the hardship and devastation, even in the UK, at the time.

She also credited her mother with giving her huge amounts of support and encouragement in her love and study of animals, that at many seminal points in her upbringing, if that support had gone the other way, with a parent who had disagreed or squelched, her life would have been very different, and nowhere near as successful or fulfilling.

I think most useful to me was her message of hope, of the successes people have had re-introducing species into the wild, of her institute’s ‘Roots and Shoots‘ program to help young people to identify and work on the challenges they see around them, from the ground up.

[1]Which makes sense with my memories of her being enough of an icon in the 80’s that I got the joke in The Far Side about her.

TNG: The Power of Adversaries, Season 7

Idle Speculation, Internet Culture, Nostalgia, Space!

Season seven is a bit of an enigma for me. I don’t remember most of it, probably because I’ve never actually watched most of it[1].

S7: 20-100 2-102-1 210-11 -12-121 -102-122

High: 9 (2 for ‘All Good Things…’)
Equal: 3
Low: 6
Self: 8

Season seven continues with the themes of self-searching along with terrifically difficult adversaries which must be defeated using guile.

Jammer’s Reviews mentions in the season seven reviews that there were a number of episodes designed to tie up loose ends, specifically having to do with the families of each of the main characters. Interestingly, the writers managed to do this while keeping the same mix of adversary power as they had in previous seasons.

This season includes some of my favourites, including ‘The Pegasus‘, about regret over decisions made decades ago (and some more meaningful conflict between Riker and Picard, more meaningful than Riker just questioning everything Picard says for the sake of questioning things), Wesley going off with the Traveler, Ro Laren going off with the Maquis, spinning off into many storylines for DS9 (and not incidentally Voyager).

But the crown has to be the season finale, ‘All Good Things…’, where for one brief moment, our (and Picard’s) eyes are opened just a little bit to some of the other things which are possible, both out there, and in here.

[1]I don’t remember why specifically, I think I must have been distracted by something, because I think I stopped watching TV somewhere around then.

TNG: The Power of Adversaries: Recap

Analysis, Internet Culture, Nostalgia, Space!

Now that we’ve looked at all seven seasons of TNG, we can look at the series as a whole.

Somewhere between season 3 & 4, the balance shifted from low-powered adversaries to the crew (or Starfleet) themselves as the adversaries. Perhaps this is because you have to have a certain number of ‘plot‘ episodes before you can have a ‘character study‘[1].

All the way through, the plurality in almost every season was adversaries of much greater power than the crew. This makes sense if you want to show your cast using guile, as in these situations, they simply have to.

As pithily explained in ‘Peak Performance‘:

”

Commander William T. Riker: You’re outmanned, you’re outgunned, you’re outequipped. What else have you got?
Lieutenant Worf: Guile.

”

Almost all of the episodes with ‘equal’ adversaries (generally Romulans, Klingons, or Cardassians) also involved guile of some sort. It wasn’t until the Dominion War on DS9 that phasers were commonly used to solve problems.

Below I have my categorization by episode, for those who enjoy arguments of this type.

Episode order is from Jammer’s Reviews, but should be the same as that from elsewhere, such as Memory Alpha.

Season 1 (25 episodes):2-102220-1202101020-1-1202211
High: 10
Equal: 4
Low: 7
Self: 4

Season 2 (22 episodes):02100-121-1-1222-10200-111-1
High: 6
Equal: 4
Low: 6
Self: 6

Season 3 (26 episodes):0020-121001002-12-11222-10-1-1-12
High: 8
Equal: 3
Low: 8
Self: 7

Season Four (26 episodes): 2-120202-1221112022-122-10-11-12
High: 12
Equal: 4
Low: 4
Self: 6

Season Five (26 episodes): 21122-1110-1-10002-102-1-1-12-12-12
High: 8
Equal: 4
Low: 5
Self: 9

S6: 2-102220-10-12101-1-120-1-1201-122
High: 9
Equal: 3
Low: 6
Self: 8

S7: 20-1002-102-1210-11-12-121-102-122
High: 9 (2 for ‘All Good Things…’)
Equal: 3
Low: 6
Self: 8

[1]I credit Ty Templeton’s Comic Book Bootcamp for teaching me about such things. All errors are my own. You should check out his classes!

Sensory Fruit

Cooking, Idle Speculation, Puns, Science!, Thoughts on Thoughts

Warning: Fart Jokes and possibly worse.

If beans are the ‘musical fruit’, what is the ‘visually artistic fruit’? And are there fruits for the other senses?

The ‘Miracle Fruit’ (Synsepalum dulcificum) is known to interact with taste buds to make sour foods (such as itself) taste sweet.

‘D. Spinosa‘ is purported to induce visions, either from tea made from its leaves, or from its berries.

For fruit which will change your sense of smell, one needs look no further than horseradish[1]. If you don’t know what I mean, try eating some wasabi[2].

To change your proprioception, try drinking fermented grapes.

The plant Acmella Oleracea is known to cause numbness. Interestingly, it is used as a garnish in salads, as ‘small amounts of shredded fresh leaves are said to add a unique flavour to salads.‘

Stay tuned for next time, when we discuss plants as if we were horses looking for a snack!

[1]Cultivated by real horses!

[2]Really, don’t. Please.

Mauve, Movember

Fiction, Puns, Words!

He was remembering back to a simpler time, from his childhood, from before. He was unworried, free to go about his business, that serious business that children do.

Then it started to appear. It wasn’t obvious at first, but then as it grew in, it was very clear what was happening.

He was growing a purple moustache.

He was embarassed for many years, always carrying a shaver, lest anyone notice. He tried dyeing it, bleaching it, to no avail.

Then one day, in a weaker moment, he showed it to his partner.

His partner said ‘Your moustache is mauve’!

‘Mauve? I always thought it was purple!’

‘No, it’s totally mauve.’

‘Wait. I’m getting an idea…’ ‘Mauve…What goes with mauve?’

‘Mauvey Povich?’

‘Nah. Everyone knows his favourite colour would be “Burnt-Umber”.’

‘Like the “Burnt-Umber Hulk“?’

‘Exactly!’

‘Wait…I think I’ve got it.’

‘What is it? Tell me!’

‘Quick, what month is it?’

‘November? Mauvember? Movember! And I can say it’s when people grow moustaches and talk about uncomfortable and embarrassing but very important things!’

‘Like prostate cancer!’

‘Yes, that is important.’

‘And regulatory capture!’

‘Yes, that too.’

‘Early screening is important to reduce the risk of Regulatory Capture.’

‘Wow. There are some intense pictures behind that link. Are you sure that won’t break the fourth wall? And don’t you mean “reduce the risk of Prostate Cancer”?’

‘Yes, but Regulatory Capture is probably just as dangerous or more dangerous.’

‘Fair enough. So, remember folks, get your regulations…’

‘…and prostate!’

‘…checked out on a regular basis.’

‘And if your hair grows in purple…’

‘…mauve!’

‘Be proud!’

‘And get yourself checked!’

TNG: The Power of Adversaries, Season 6

Idle Speculation, Nostalgia, Space!

In our previous installments, we talked about seasons 1-5 of TNG, and the relative power of the various adversaries our intrepid heroes faced.

As before, I defined ‘high-powered’ challenges as those where firing phasers would only make the problem worse, so the crew must needs turn to guile. ‘Equal-powered’ challenges are those situations where firing phasers would lead to a toss-up. ‘Low-powered’ challenges are those where phasers or transporters would solve the problem handily[3]. ‘Self-powered’ challenges are those where the conflict is inside the crew, or between crew members, or between all or part of the crew and Starfleet.

S6: 2-102220-10-12101-1-120-1-1201-122

High: 9
Equal: 3
Low: 6
Self: 8

Season six continues the seasons four and five trend of adversaries being much more powerful than the crew, or being the crew themselves, culminating in the season finale of Data and Lore teaming up with the Borg. The Holodeck Moriarty also returns (‘capable of beating Data‘), and Scotty helps them escape a Dyson Sphere (!).

We also have a more in-depth introduction to the Cardassians ‘There are Four Lights!’, and a new robotic species!

In another more powerful/self combo, Q helps us tell the story of Picard’s artificial heart.

But my favourite, and one of the most moving of the series, is the message from the ‘Ancient Humanoids’.

Judging by the number of episodes I’ve mentioned here, I feel like season six was where a lot of things came together for the show, or maybe it was the last season I really watched.

Cross-Border Taxation and Money Laundering Incentives

Economics, Idle Speculation, Politics

So, there’s an interesting game being played by governments around the world.

From a purely game theory[1] perspective, to optimize tax income, it makes sense for governments to do two things:

1) Find all the people all over the world they can tax and tax them.
2) Convince people from all over the world to move to their jurisdiction for lower taxes

Now, if this is ‘tax avoidance‘, this is still legal[2]. But it seems to often veer into ‘tax evasion‘, which is not legal.

All this is leading up to say that while the United States is talking about tax avoidance and tax evasion around the world, it seems that Congress seems to be one of the largest stumbling blocks to solving the problem[3].

[1]I am informed that from a purely grammar theoretical perspective, ‘From a purely game theoretical perspective’ is incorrect.

[2]Although, when you can purchase laws…

[3]Note that this article tries to get more hits by using the word ‘Rothschild’.

Pink, and Purple, and Princesses, Oh My!

Idle Speculation, Politics, Teaching

This past weekend, I was at a ‘Saturday Night Meatballs'[1] event with some old friends. Amongst other things, I was watching how the children interacted with each other. There were a collection of children of various ages, from a few different families. Seeing them interacting with their parents, they were all well-loved, and each of the parents were practicing what I would consider modern parenting, setting down firm, well-defined, sensible rules, and encouraging their children to resolve problems themselves by thinking of solutions and implementing them[2].

At the same time, I saw the children self-segregating by gender, both in behaviour and location. One of the parents, talking about a female child mentioned that before they went to daycare, they were into a variety of non-gender-stereotypical things. Almost immediately afterwards, it was Pink and Purple and Princesses. For me, this was a huge stark reminder of the uphill parents face. One could see that even if all of the parents were giving their all to make a non-gender binary household at home, that a culture could persist in a playground or daycare, passed down from year to year by the children.

You can also see it other children’s behaviours. One of the girls wanted to go play with the boys, but was too afraid to go downstairs to the basement[3]. The group of girls sat downstairs for much of the afternoon/evening while the boys ran around and yelled upstairs. When the girls went up to join them, that lasted for a while, the yelling intensified, then they came down to complain about how they were being treated (which prompted the solution-finding conversations above).

I don’t have good answers, just a few observations. I’m sure this is better than it was decades ago, but there’s still a large amount of genderism that we still have to unpack as a society, and it needs to be unpacked early and unconsciously, for the sake of our children.

[1]It’s a great idea, in the tradition of eating together with family and friends to build community. There’s a great description of the ‘original’ Friday Night Meatballs here.

[2]I particularly liked this tactic. The first question is ‘Can I help you think of more options?’, to help the kids develop the coping and problem solving skills to deal with others.

[3]This could also have been because she was new to the group.

Not Just A Fort!

Fiction, Nostalgia, Puns

They sped around the corner.

“These readings are off the scale! There must be 15 of them, at least!”

“Everyone charge up! We’ll have to hit the ground running!”

“Tobin’s Spirit Guide says that only a few apparitions travel in packs this big. The good news is that the tactics are the same. The bad news is that we’ll either be facing lions, demons, or bears.”

“Oh, my.”

“Okay, we’re here! Everyone out!”

“Remember! Don’t cross the streams!”

The camera pans around. The characters walk away from their vehicle.

The characters arrive at the entrance to a park. There are loud animal noises coming from inside.

“Why is it always bears?”

“If only we hadn’t decided to set up shop in Chicago!”

“Okay, once more!”

The characters disappear into the park. Bears growl. Strange electronic noises are emitted. Silence. The characters re-emerge.

“Another success! Back home!”

The characters walk back to the vehicle, which is now visibly an overturned couch.

The camera pans around the couch, and a small rectangular sign on the side where the back of the ‘vehicle’ would be pans into view:

EKTORP-1