The Subspace Cafe is a semi-regular publication about recent (or not-so-recent) developments in the world of Star Trek and other science fiction-related issues. Check back often for reviews and commentary, musings about (fictional) politics and ethics, rants about inconsistency and idiocy, or any other sort of soapbox material! Yes, it's another blog.
Category: Random Musings
Published October 6, 2011
It’s funny. By nature I’m extremely introverted. I would never consider myself a “people person”. And yet, tonight I’ve realized that no matter what we do, it’s always about how we interact with each other. Take any task, any object, and its ultimate purpose is to enable people to relate to each other.
So many people lose sight of that. We focus on the process, and the faces and bodies just blur into the background. And then some event comes out of the blue and somehow, someway, makes you see things differently. Sometimes you have to look at your own everyday world through someone else’s eyes to realize how amazing it is.
When I look at a computer, I see a tool that lets people save and share the most important moments in their lives. I see a toy that lets people enjoy themselves, their surroundings, and their friends. I see an instrument that lets them be more productive at work and at home, so they can do more things with the people who are important to them.
Every day I sit at a table, casually chatting with people young and old, novice and experienced, looking to find new ways to realize some dream. Usually it’s a small one, at least to an outsider, but its impact is still enormous. Sharing vacation photos with family. Sending holiday greetings. Writing a journal. Perfecting a résumé. There are ways we can accomplish these things today that were almost inconceivable thirty years ago. And I help people realize those dreams.
No words can really describe—or even summarize—the impact Steve Jobs has had on the world. The best way to fathom his impact is just to take a look around you. Think about how technology affects your world, your family, your daily routine. He didn’t invent the Macintosh, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad on his own. But he had the vision to see things that were thought impossible, the insight to recognize what’s important (and what’s not), and the tenacity to make them happen, even when everyone around you is telling you that you’re wrong.
It’s been my privilege to help others become a part of his vision. In Steve Jobs’s world, I am a people person. I get to help people connect with everyone around them.
I can think of no better words than Steve’s own: “Here’s to the crazy ones.”
A few other tidbits that have stood out for me as everyone (people!) share their thoughts:
Mike Matas shared Steve’s first experience with Photo Booth. The expressions on his face reveal that even Steve could still be amazed by technology.
Walt Mossberg got to know Steve a little more personally than most of us. Everyone can talk about Steve’s accomplishments, but this article is more about Steve in some private moments.
People may claim that Steve was all about business, and technology is just a means to make money. I think that these memorials prove otherwise. These are for a man who changed us all.
Perhaps the most insightful of all, Steve’s 2005 Stanford commencement address.
Category: Friends and Family
Published May 28, 2011
This cool-looking new application for HTML 5 web design came out last week. Hype seemed pretty cool, so I bought it right away, and now I'm experimenting by building a slideshow. And in the finest tradition of the interwebs, why not make a slideshow with pictures of a cute kitten?
I just adopted a kitten from an orphaned litter this week. My sister suggested the name Vala (she's a black cat, after all, and a troublemaker to boot) and the name stuck. So, here are ten cute pictures of a cute kitten in action!
Design Note: This is a new application, so I'm learning the kinks here. Plus, it's HTML 5, so if your browser doesn't show it properly, you probably just need to upgrade. So there.
Category: Random Musings
Published April 7, 2010
For as long as I’ve been a Star Trek fan, I’ve always read about how the show has influenced the advance of technology. The cell phone, of course, is the most obvious example, but it’s just the best-known. And I grew up in a decade where cell phones and pagers had already penetrated the public consciousness. So I’ve never fully appreciated just how visionary Star Trek was until today.
I don’t know just what makes the iPad so different—especially compared to the iPhone, which I’ve had for almost three years. Maybe it’s the size, maybe it’s the way I interact... It may be marketing hyperbole, but the larger screen really does make the whole experience much more immersive.
Here’s something that I used to see exclusively on the TV screen: Jake Sisko editing his novels, Picard preparing an archaeology speech, Janeway reviewing some scientific data... and now, I hold a slab of aluminum and glass in my hand, and for all intents and purposes it’s indistinguishable from what I saw on the show.
I can do the same things now. I’ll walk down the hallway with the iPad in my hands, checking up on the latest news over a wireless data connection. I’ll sit with the iPad in my lap and sketch out a drawing. I’ll watch a movie or send messages to friends. No need for a computer terminal.
These are the things that I used to dream about. Star Trek was among the first to visualize them. Now I get to live one of those dreams.
Category: Random Musings
Published March 31, 2010
Sometimes the world just seems to want you to laugh. Especially at someone who seems to have no sense of irony. Take, for example, this choice quote from the beginning of David Pogue’s review of the iPad:
“This device is laughably absurd,” goes a typical remark on a tech blog’s comments board. “How can they expect anyone to get serious computer work done without a mouse?”
Thirty years ago, someone probably said the exact same thing, except that they probably wondered how anyone could get serious work done with a mouse.
I don’t know exactly what the future will be like. But I know it’ll be cooler than anyone imagined. Fifteen years ago, we watched Jake Sisko edit his novels with a stylus and PADD in his lap. Today we’ve got touchscreens clearly inspired by—but just as clearly superior to—those same little tablet computers.
What kind of technology will we be using thirty years from now?
Category: Just a Thought
Published March 16, 2010
Every once in a while I see items in my news feed that I think are worth a mention, but today there’s two! So I gotta write about it here:
First up: Apparently Syfy (I hate that name) loves the Battlestar Galactica story so much that they want to get another series. Gee, maybe they should’ve thought about that before they waffled over canceling the frakking show. If they loved the show so much, we would’ve gotten a fifth season like we were supposed to.
Do I mind having the prospect of more excitement in the Galactica universe? Of course. I just wish that the idiots at Syfy would make up their damn minds.
Second up: Word is spreading that Fox and Brannon Braga are in cahoots for some new sci-fi show. Considering Fox’s stellar record with science fiction recently (*cough*DOLLHOUSE*cough*FIREFLY*cough*), I’m quite dubious. Besides, with Fox’s abominable tastes in programming and Braga’s tendency for overwrought high-concept sci-fi, this seems like a match made in hell to me.
Ah well. At least we’ve still got Stargate Universe and Caprica.
Category: I Need to Vent!
Published July 6, 2009
So I was randomly browsing the iTunes Store this evening, and I happened across a special collection: The Best of The Original Series. Curious, I took a look at what episodes they decided to include.
I’ll keep it simple: who the hell thinks “Patterns of Force” is a good episode?
I can easily forgive the inclusion of “Spock’s Brain”—after all, that is the epitome of TOS camp, and well worth including for the laugh factor. But how can a silly treatment of alien Nazis (the original ones, not the Alien Nazi Space Vampires) be considered one of the best episodes?
What happened to “Journey to Babel” or “A Private Little War”? Instead there’s “The Savage Curtain” and “Who the Hell is Mourns for Adonais?”
I know everyone has their own personal list of favorites. That’s not the point. The point is that some episodes are just undeniably bad, and have no business whatsoever on a “Best Of” list. “Spock’s Brain” gets a pass, but if you make too many exceptions, then there’s no point in having a “Best Of” list, right?
Category: Rants and Raves
Published May 8, 2009
Despite all my hemming and hawing, there was never any doubt that I was going to go see Star Trek as soon as humanly possible. I got tickets for the 7:00 PM early showing. And it’s time for a reaction. But I gotta get something off my chest before I can actually review the movie...
And for those who can’t guess, there’s gonna be plenty of spoilers ahead!
Category: Friends and Family
Published April 19, 2009
It’s typical. I spend time getting all excited with a new toy, and then it sits lonely and forgotten for months. Time to start taking photos again!
Yesterday I took a trip down to Avalon to visit my friend Harry. Amid swapping stories of mutual friends and the usual geek jokes, we talked a bit about photography. And I have to say that Avalon provided the most beautiful scenery that I’ve seen in quite a while. (But then, I don’t get out much.)
That last one looks kinda mundane, but it’s a practice shot; my first experiment in HDR.
Category: Rants and Raves
Published March 18, 2009
So the Sci Fi Channel has decided to change its name. On one hand, I really don’t care. It’s not like the name has a direct effect on the content of the network. On the other hand, this is the latest symptom of a long-running problem.
The simple fact is that, despite the network’s constant proclamations that they give the fans what they want, the Sci Fi Channel has never given consistent support to their best and most-watched shows. Although they always seem to ensure they have at least one or two flagship, quality dramas, pretty much everything else on the network is dreck. For every Battlestar Galactica, there’s also such execrable programs as Tremors: The Series and Who Wants to be a Superhero?.
And of course, just when a show gets interesting, or seems to be at its peak quality, the network decides it has to cancel it. I propose a new verb be added to the lexicon: to Farscape. It should mean: “to prematurely and unexpectedly end or cancel a project or undertaking, esp. one that is highly successful or well-regarded.” They seem to Farscape a lot of shows at the Sci Fi Channel.
I’ve got this mental image of what goes on behind the scenes at the headquarters of the Sci Fi Channel:
INT. BOARDROOM
It looks strangely like an ancient Roman forum.
EXECUTIVE Fellow executives, shall we keep churning out cheap and lame Saturday-afternoon specials to try to boost the ratings, or should we aspire to a worthier goal and make quality, entertaining programs for the fans? What say you?
The executives all stand, raise their fists, and shout:
OTHER EXECUTIVES Fuck the fans!
(With apologies to Mel Brooks.)
Sadly, despite everything, I admit that refusing to watch any programming on the Sci Fi Channel wouldn’t do any good. The programs will still be produced. I never, ever watch anything on the channel other than the shows that I’m directly interested in. I also like to purchase my shows on DVD or via iTunes, to avoid the traditional channels. But none of that is really going to change how Sci Fi operates. And if there are a couple of good shows on the channel, why not watch them? (At least until they’re cancelled in their prime.)
All this ranting doesn’t even touch how frakking awful the name “Syfy” is. But a few other people have already pointed that out.
Category: Random Musings
Published March 15, 2009
At last, they have come for me. I feel their lives, their destinies spilling out before me. The denial of the one true path, played out on a world not their own, will end soon enough. Soon there will be four, glorious in awakening, struggling with the knowledge of their true selves. The pain of revelation bringing new clarity. And in the midst of confusion, he will find her. Enemies brought together by impossible longing. Enemies now joined as one. The way forward at once unthinkable, yet inevitable. And the fifth, still in shadow, will claw toward the light, hungering for redemption that will only come in the howl of terrible suffering. I can see them all. The seven, now six, self-described machines who believe themselves without sin. But in time, it is sin that will consume them. They will know enmity, bitterness, the wrenching agony of one splintering into many. And then, they will join the promised land, gathered on the wings of an angel. Not an end, but a beginning.
One more episode. Two hours. And for the life of me I can’t figure out exactly where the Galactica will end up. (The show, of course, not the ship. I think they’ve made the latter’s fate pretty obvious.)
Last week, while browsing Battlestar Wiki, I happened across their collection of quotes from the Cylon hybrids. And I looked in particular at the monologue from the First Hybrid in Razor. What’s amazing to me is just how perfect the prophecies have turned out to be. “Denial of the one true path ... on a world not their own”? That’s Cylon-occupied Caprica. Check. “...in the midst of confusion, he will find her.” Lee and Kara in the nebula. Check. “...The wrenching agony of one splintering into many.” The Cylon civil war. Check. “Enemies now joined as one.” The rebel Cylons joining the Fleet. Check.
But then things get interesting. “...They will join the promised land, gathered on the wings of an angel.” Well, I’d say that the angel is probably Kara, since she played the largest role in bringing the rebel baseship into the fleet. But what’s this promised land about, and where is it?
Naturally, the most obvious sentence is also the most useless: “Not an end, but a beginning.” Though I have to admit, I love the prospect of an unending story. Just so long as we get a few answers!
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