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The things I learn from Sci-Fi

I had meant to post about this a short while back, but had forgotten (and dummy me didn’t save the link!) until I was reminded via Beth’s post: GTD in Space – Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains.

Now seriously, I love me some IO9 — it’s a geeky guilty indulgence. While someone more “cultured” may be more obsessed with the latest edition of some wine of the month club mag, I’m jonesing for some sci-fi geekery and IO9 is my fix. They do have really good articles from time to time that make you stop for a second and say to yourself, “You know, I never thought of it that way!” This is one of those.

And so, here you have it: Getting things done, the ‘geek way’…

1. The Prime Directive is just a suggestion. Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Enterprise wasn’t as swashbuckling as he predecessor Captain James T. Kirk, simply because he actually wrestled with breaking the Prime Directive instead of ignoring it entirely. The Prime Directive states that humans shouldn’t involve themselves in the affairs of less developed planets, for fear of messing up their cultures with ultra-advanced tech. While Picard often considers the importance of the Prime Directive in his decision-making, he refuses to be bound by it. Lesson learned? Rules are made to be broken.

2. Always shoot first. Every good leader should be willing to do what he or she asks of her team. One of the reasons for the loyalty of the ragtag crew of Serenity, the ship Malcolm Reynolds captains in Firefly, is that Mal will throw himself into battle to protect his team. Whenever he has a crazy scheme or rescue mission in mind, he takes the first plunge. Lesson learned? Show your crew that you’re willing to take a bullet for them, and they’ll do the same for you.

3. Don’t be afraid to hook up with a cute spaceman. We love Leela on Futurama not just because she’s the only person on her ship with any kind of sense, but because she also lets her long, purple hair down once in a while. She’s always tangling with spacemen and getting mixed up with strange alien pets. And that’s one good reason why her goofy crew would follow her to the ends of the galaxy — well, if she had enough beer. Lesson learned? A good leader has to get laid once in a while, and she shouldn’t be ashamed of it.

4. When you’re about to go genocidal, get a second opinion. Admiral William Adama from the new Battlestar Galactica is one of the best leaders we’ve ever seen. He’s gotten a group of a few thousand humans halfway across the galaxy, despite the fact that they’re being pursuit by a group of homicidal, erotically obsessed cyborgs. He’s had to deal with incredible loss and sheer terror, and he always keeps his head. He is also truly humane. How does he keep it together without going all Admiral Cain on everybody’s ass? By sharing his power with President Roslyn as well as his circle of trusted officers and advisers. Without their guidance, the Galactica and its fleet might have turned into a bloodthirsty military fleet, instead of what it is: a mostly-civilian group with a (sort of) free press and even elections. Lesson learned? True leaders do not ever make decisions alone.

5. Just because you have a crappy ship doesn’t mean you’re a loser. Everyone knows that Han Solo, captain of the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars, is piloting a souped-up bucket. And yet his seemingly-crappy ship is probably the very best thing for helping out a group of covert resistance fighters like Obi Wan and Luke. Plus, he knows his ship so well that he can totally slam those Stormtroopers in their McFighters. Lesson learned? Every crappy PC is a lean, mean Linux box waiting to be born. Oh, and in case that didn’t make sense: It’s not the tools; it’s what you do with them.

6. Freedom fighters make good teammates. Say what you will about Captain Janeway on Voyager, but she made a smart decision early on to integrate her Federation team with a group of subversive Maquis who got stuck with them out in the Delta Quadrant. Another captain might have kept the Maquis separate from the Federation types, but Janeway integrated them and gave them Federation ranks — much to her good fortune. She got a great Chief Engineer and First Officer out of the deal. Lesson learned? A little subversion goes a long way.

7. There is always somebody out there who can bend spacetime better than you can. In Iain M. Banks’ novel Excession, the Ship Sleeper Service (which is an AI that captains itself, thank you very much) discovers that its amazing, human-dwarfing brain is nothing compared to the “excession,” a phenomenon that none of the Ships can understand. The excession exists in subspace, and looks like a giant something that could be a gateway to another dimension, perhaps, or a ship from the edges of the universe. Meeting the excession, for the Ships, is a very humbling experience. They realize that they are not as omnipotent as they realized, that that there are intelligences out there far more profound than their own. Lesson learned? No matter how in control you are, always be ready for something for which you’re completely unprepared.

My desktop

I figured I might as well take a picture while it’s still clean!

I’ve finally gotten my laptop situated the way I wanted and have all my gear hooked up. (though I had to “demote” my talking Yoda doll so the laptop could fit on the top shelf ;P) I still need to get a cooler for the laptop to sit on, but otherwise I think I’ve got a pretty good setup.

Luckily I’ve been able to find Vista drivers for all of my peripherals, with the exception of my MS Sidewinder GameVoice. I figure since I use it only for hot-switching between speakers and headphones, it’s no biggie using just the default system drivers.

Come to the Duck Side

I love toys. I love love LOVE rubber duckies. I also love love LOVE Star Wars toys. Someone sent me a link this morning that combines the two “love love’s”:

Pond Wars Ducks: Duck Fader & Pond Trooper

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! Aren’t they ADORABLE??!! :mrgreen: They change colors when they come into contact with water.

Jim, I want one! :grin: :grin: :grin:

Plugs and a cause

Every time I’ve sat down to blog something’s come up or someone needed something from me. I actually sat down to blog last night but was distracted by a very delicious bowl of red beans and rice. (Hey, what can I say? When it comes to food, I’m easy. *shrug*)

I wanted to give a quick plug to my favorite biker geek who’s currently going through broken bike woes. Ben, I think I’m gonna join up one of those Blogathon thingies and name YOU as my cause!

I’ve run across a few goodies lately that I wanted to share with you guys … first and foremost is something I’ve been wanting myself: a way to paste to your cellphone from your pc. How cool is that!!?? Sort of related is this: Useful items you never knew you could print out. The big name thingy I had seen before but had lost the URL, so this is great because I had been wanting to find it again. :mrgreen:

And last but not least a great WordPress article that I ran across — actually, this guy often has great WP-related tidbits, so you may want to bookmark his URI. It gives a great example of using WordPress as an online magazine.

I have a TON more open in my firefox session at home, but alas, I didn’t think to send it to myself here at work. Oh well, cest la vie and all that … I spent a little while last night helping a friend looking for some truck accessories that I had run across a while back. It was basically some tricked out Darth Vader looking stuff for a Ford Ranger — VERY wicked looking! Just wish I could remember where I saw it now. ;p

Speaking of Star Wars … my current ring tone is the Imperial March. Last weekend when I was at Jim’s mother’s house, my Helio rang and when it went off it (naturally) started playing. I didn’t hear it at first because I was in another room in the house. I heard Jim’s mother say, “What in the world is that?!”

LOL! :mrgreen:

I explained to her what it was and the significance of the song. She tells me, “You’re so geeky, it’s cute even!”

:cool:

Am I too geeky?

Courtesy of Digg, I soooooooooo want one of these …

…and not just for the Star Wars conventions! :mrgreen:

R2D2 goes postal

I so would *love* to see these around the city!

(x-posted to BYKYC)

Who knew the United States Postal Service could feel the Force? In honor of Star Wars‘ 30th anniversary, these kick-ass R2D2-wrapped mailboxes will be replacing the old boring ones in post offices across the nation. Star Wars lovers / haters can say whatever they like — we’re just glad this has nothing to do with Jar Jar Binks.

[Via Boing Boing]

Source

Four things about me

Jim’s mom sent me this, and I’m gonna be a lazy smurf and post it here

FOUR THINGS you may not have known about me:

A) Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Babysitter
2. Drive-through cashier
3. Billing clerk
4. -

B) Four movies I would watch over and over:
1. Undercover Brother
2. Hellboy
3. The Princess Bride
4. Fifth Element

Honorary 5th: Star Wars
Honorary 6th: Monty Python and the Holy Grail

C) Four places I have lived:
1. Birmingham
2. Mobile
3. Corner
4. -

D) Four TV shows I love to watch:
1. CSI (original series)
2. Mythbusters
3. The Closer
4. Psyche

Honorary 5th: Monk

E) Four places I have been on vacation
1. Miami, FL
2. Sacramento, CA
3. Ybor City, FL
4. New Orleans, LA

G) Four of my favorite foods:
1. Tom Kha (Thai coconut soup)
2. Mom’s roast beef and gravy
3. Taco soup (YUM!)
4 Homemade turkey dressing

H) Four places I would rather be right now:
1. New Orleans, LA
2. Ybor City, FL
3. someplace warmer than here!!
4. someplace warmer than here!!

(LOL!)

I) Four people most likely to respond to this survey
1. Mara
2. Teresa
3. Ben
4. Jeff

Top Ten Turn Down Lines for Geek Chicks

Smurfed from The Great Geek Manual:

Why is it you never see humor geared towards the female Geek? I mean, I can’t even count the number of times I’ve see pick up lines for Geek guys, but I’ve never seen a corresponding set for girls. Why should Geek boys be the ones to have all the fun? Well, it’s time to fix that. Here, I present the top ten turn down lines for Geek Chicks who are feeling a little crowded at the local Con.

10. Old School Chicks: “Sorry, I have to stay home and defrag my hard drives this weekend.”

09. Babylon 5 Chicks: “I’m sorry, but according to Ivanova, all love is unrequited.”

08. Web Developer Chicks: “I’m sorry, your query was not recognized.”

07. Hardware Chicks: “Sorry, I’m going to stick with BSD – better up time.”

06. Programmer Chicks: “Go away, before I replace you with a very small shell script.”

05. IT Chicks: “Sorry, I keep these ports Trojan free.”

04. Matrix Chicks: “Sorry, I could never date a guy who would take the blue pill, and by the look of things, you’re already on at least one brand.”

03. Star Wars Chicks: Jedi Mind Trick: “This isn’t the girl you’re looking for.” *Waves hands* “I can go about my business… Move along.”

02. D&D Chicks: *Mimes tossing dice* “Your Magic Missile… has been… resisted!”

01. “Hey! You’re right, there is no saving throw against a Magic Missile attack … and magic resistance rolls are done with two ten-sided dice… Wow. Would you maybe like to go somewhere and get a cup of coffee sometime?” That’s right, the nefarious Sarcasm Chick, the most prevalent of all Geek Chicks! Snap.

Star Wars geekery

I honestly don’t know how I run across some of this stuff, but it’s funny and cute … and I’m bound and determined to bore y’all with it. :mrgreen: hehehe

Courtesy of Cap’n Wacky’s Boatload of Fun, this is: The Contents of Princess Leia’s Email Outbox

Subject: IMPT – Pls Read Immediately (**CONFIDENTIAL**)
From: Leia.Organa@imperialsenate.gov
Date: Saturday, 11 Moobmar 2596 3:13:47pm
To: RebelRebel@secretbase.org

General,

Please find attached to this email VERY IMPORTANT documents relating to devastating new Imperial Weapon (project name: DEATH STAR) obtained at IMMENSE risk, both personal and political. This ship’s flight plan had to be redirected into RESTRICTED SPACE in order to obtain a Wi-Fi connection sufficient to send this mail, concern exists that this may have attracted unwanted Imperial attention.

The attached holograms and schematics identify KEY WEAKNESSES in this so-called DEATH STAR, vital to any attempt to disable this battle station. Contents of this message must be handled with UTMOST DELICACY, and are HIGH PRIORITY. I trust that I need not underline the risks should the Empire succeed in fully activating their sinister project.

Please confirm receipt of this communication at earliest opportunity.

My thoughts and prayers are with you all, may our rebellion succeed in restoring peace and sanity to the galaxy.

Leia Organa (Princess)
Alderaan Ambassador, Imperial Senate
Attachment: Deathstarplans.ppt

========================
Subject: Fwd: IMPT – Pls Read Immediately (**CONFIDENTIAL**)
From: Leia.Organa@imperialsenate.gov
Date: Sunday, 12 Moobmar 2596 8:10:03 am
To: RebelRebel@secretbase.org

General,

I am resending documents sent yesterday in hopes that they find you in the most urgent fashion. As I have not heard confirmation from you of their delivery, I find myself fearing the worst. It cannot be stressed enough: these documents are VITAL to the success of the Rebellion and to the survival of any hope for peace or liberty in this galaxy.

We are enduring a great risk in returning to restricted space in order to send this document. I am certain the Empire is aware of the unscheduled alterations to our flight plan. Please confirm receipt of this message at EARLIEST CONVENIENCE.

My hopes for all freedom in the known universe rest in your hands Leia Organa (Princess) Alderaan Ambassador, Imperial Senate (Forwarded Mail Attached)

========================
Subject: Re: Darwin Awards
From: Leia.Organa@imperialsenate.gov
Date: Tuesday, 14 Moobmar 2596 07:23:22 am
To: RebelRebel@secretbase.org

General,

I have been informed that an Imperial Destroyer in the nearby system has altered its course to intersect with our flight path. I am now positive that the Empire is aware of our attempts to provide you with the key intelligence regarding their nearly-completed battle station. This knowledge on their part will surely mean death or imprisonment for myself and the crew of my ship, if not much worse.

Please, commander, the time for subtelty and discretion has passed. I cannot determine from your latest message if you received the plans or not, as I am unfamiliar with the code used. I must know if you have received these vital plans, if only so that the knowledge may provide some relief in the face of the punishment I am sure to face at Imperial hands.

Leia Organa (Princess) Alderaan Ambassador, Imperial Senate

Original Message follows:

>>Hey guys,
>>
>>Have you seen this site? http://www.darwinawards.com?
>>some of this shit is to funny LOL
>>
>>peace out
>>dodonna

========================
Subject: Hello?
From: Leia.Organa@imperialsenate.gov
Date: Tuesday, 14 Moobmar 2596 02:55:07 pm
To: RebelRebel@secretbase.org

General,

I tried to catch you on IM, but you signed off right before I could send anything. Did you get my previous mail? The Imperial vessel is expected to intersect with us within the hour, so our time is limited. I also forwarded my earlier mail to your GMail account. PLEASE confirm its receipt as soon as possible.

Leia Organa (Princess)
Alderaan Ambassador, Imperial Senate

========================
Subject: (No Subject)
From: Leia.Organa@imperialsenate.gov
Date: Tuesday, 14 Moobmar 2596 03:21:14 pm
To: RebelRebel@secretbase.org

We are being fired upon by the Imperial vessel, we have no chance to outrun it. At this point, I’m not sure what to do if you did not receive the plans, cram our hard copy into an R2 unit and shoot it out the airlock or something? That would be retarded. You’ve really put us in a difficult position, General.

The alarms are sounding, we appear to have been boarded. Already the crew is saying Vader leads the boarding crew. That would suck immensely. Everything about this sucks, General. You suck.

Now I have to go find a gun. Thanks heaps. You’ve been of immeasurable help to the Rebellion. If you handle your fighter squadrons the way you handle your email then the Empire doesn’t stand a chance.

Leia Organa (Princess)
Alderaan Ambassador, Imperial Senate

PS – I was being sarcastic.

========================
Subject: Re: (SPAM) Hello?
From: Leia.Organa@imperialsenate.gov
Date: Tuesday, 16 Moobmar 2596 11:25:19 am
To: RebelRebel@secretbase.org

Original Message follows:

>>Princess,
>>
>>Sorry, your address got caught up in my spam
>>filter for some reason (mabye you should talk to
>>your isp??) i acidentaly deleted your previous
>>mails (BALEETED lol). Can you resend?
>>
>>peace out
>>dodonna

General,

You’re from Dantooine, aren’t you? I really really hope they ask me where the rebel base is, because I’m going to tell them Dantooine and laugh as they blow your retarded planet into a million pieces.

Leia Organa (Princess)
Alderaan Ambassador, Imperial Senate
Prisoner, Detention Level, Death Star

You are not a Jedi yet …

Smurfed these from one of my NP guild members:

how jedi are you? :: by lawrie malen

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