I just received the following email from my Commanding Officer (names have been abbreviated for the sake of privacy):
Dauntless Crew,
Effective immediately Commander Owen Swart is required to report as Second Officer of the Shuttle Dauntless.
Commander Swart, please report to the Executive Officer for your assignments.
Fleet Captain TD
Commanding Officer
Shuttle Dauntless, NCC-74214
-HUGE GRIN-
I’m now third in command of the ship! How cool is that!
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Monday, May 30, 2005
Peter's Evil Overlord List
Peter's Evil Overlord List
Sage advice that every prospective evil overlord should take into consideration.
Sage advice that every prospective evil overlord should take into consideration.
Friday, May 27, 2005
No thanks
I don’t drink alcohol, I don’t do any drugs and I don’t smoke. At all. I never have, and it’s completely normal to me, but it seems to bother a lot of people.
I’m asked several times a week why I don’t, and every time I have a different reason… there are in fact many reasons. But I think I’ve figured out what the main one is.
Growing up, my primary male role-model was my maternal grandfather. He used to pick me up from school and I would spend every afternoon with him before going home with my mom. My father was at home, but he’s always been emotionally distant, and to this day we don’t get along very well.
My grandfather was a genuinely good man. As a boy he was a Scout, and then became a book-keeper. He served as an adjutant at the rank of Captain in WWII as an officer of the Transvaal Scottish Regiment… they were involved in the North-African campaigns where my grandfather lost many friends in the battles of Cartoum and Sidi Rezegh.
He returned from the war to his wife and the two small children he barely knew. Although he wasn’t a rich man, he made sure his family was cared for and comfortable. Even when his son went into political exile he never lost his cool. I don’t recall ever hearing my grandfather raise his voice.
He was endlessly longsufferring... one of my now fondest memories of him comes from my early childhood. I had a tricycle that I would ride around as little kids do. However, i was forbidden from riding it in the kitchen as the tyres would leave black streaks on the linolium floor. That didn't stop me, since the smooth floor was the best place to ride... nice and smooth. Every time I did it, my grandfather would warn me beforehand not to, then when I did it he would calmly and quietly instruct me to go outside, then he would go down on his hands and knees with some or other solvent and remove every black streak. We went through this ritual just about every day, but he never got angry.
Although I obviously didn’t know him as a young man, the grandfather I knew was a clean-living man. He was an active participant in the church his family helped to build, he never cursed, drank or smoked. His only vice was the fried eggs and bacon he had every morning… only upon reaching his mid-eighties was he warned by his doctor to watch his cholesterol, and he went on to see his 92nd birthday.
My grandfather was a responsible, proud, strong, dutiful, pleasant, intelligent, peaceful and thoughtful man. When I think of what it means to be a man it’s he that I think of.
I think it’s from him that I inherited my lack of desire to indulge in mind-altering substances. He didn’t need them, so neither do I. I hope that when I reach 92, I’ll be as well liked and respected as he still is.
I’m asked several times a week why I don’t, and every time I have a different reason… there are in fact many reasons. But I think I’ve figured out what the main one is.
Growing up, my primary male role-model was my maternal grandfather. He used to pick me up from school and I would spend every afternoon with him before going home with my mom. My father was at home, but he’s always been emotionally distant, and to this day we don’t get along very well.
My grandfather was a genuinely good man. As a boy he was a Scout, and then became a book-keeper. He served as an adjutant at the rank of Captain in WWII as an officer of the Transvaal Scottish Regiment… they were involved in the North-African campaigns where my grandfather lost many friends in the battles of Cartoum and Sidi Rezegh.
He returned from the war to his wife and the two small children he barely knew. Although he wasn’t a rich man, he made sure his family was cared for and comfortable. Even when his son went into political exile he never lost his cool. I don’t recall ever hearing my grandfather raise his voice.
He was endlessly longsufferring... one of my now fondest memories of him comes from my early childhood. I had a tricycle that I would ride around as little kids do. However, i was forbidden from riding it in the kitchen as the tyres would leave black streaks on the linolium floor. That didn't stop me, since the smooth floor was the best place to ride... nice and smooth. Every time I did it, my grandfather would warn me beforehand not to, then when I did it he would calmly and quietly instruct me to go outside, then he would go down on his hands and knees with some or other solvent and remove every black streak. We went through this ritual just about every day, but he never got angry.
Although I obviously didn’t know him as a young man, the grandfather I knew was a clean-living man. He was an active participant in the church his family helped to build, he never cursed, drank or smoked. His only vice was the fried eggs and bacon he had every morning… only upon reaching his mid-eighties was he warned by his doctor to watch his cholesterol, and he went on to see his 92nd birthday.
My grandfather was a responsible, proud, strong, dutiful, pleasant, intelligent, peaceful and thoughtful man. When I think of what it means to be a man it’s he that I think of.
I think it’s from him that I inherited my lack of desire to indulge in mind-altering substances. He didn’t need them, so neither do I. I hope that when I reach 92, I’ll be as well liked and respected as he still is.
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
True love
The word ‘love’ is bandied about frequently. We all use it on a daily basis. Indeed there are many different kinds of love… kinds that the English language doesn’t have words for, so they all gut stuffed under the universal banner of “love”.
It’s a word I battle with. Because it’s laden with so many different connotations, I think very carefully before using it… I make absolutely certain the person I’m saying it to understands the specific meaning I was aiming at.
Sometimes it’s easy… When I tell someone “I love Star Trek” it’s pretty straight forward. They instantly know what sense I mean: that I really enjoy immersing myself in the Star Trek experience, by watching it, reading about it or playing games based on it.
Likewise when I say “I love my cat” they can understand that too: she makes me happy when she lies on my chest and purrs, and how she used to keep me warm on winter nights when we still used to live together.
It starts getting a lot more complicated when I say “I love you”. This meaning is not necessarily immediately apparent. There are many kinds of love that can exist between two humans… unless the person I’m saying it to knows me particularly well, they won’t know which one I am referring to.
It’s for that reason I usually refrain from saying it to people altogether. Growing up, it wasn’t really said in my house. I don’t recall a single occasion when my parents or my sisters ever told me they loved me, or vice versa. There was never any need. Perhaps that’s part of the reason I find it so hard to say now… not much practice.
As it stands today, there are only two people I say it to from time to time. And it means something quite different when I say it to each of them.
To the one it reminds her that she is an important part of my life and that I care about her a lot, in a completely non-romantic sense. She understands that, and when she says it back to me I know that she means it the same way.
To the other it means something else entirely, and when she says it back I don’t know what it really means.
That disparity has got me thinking a lot about so-called ‘true love’, and what its nature really is.
I’ve spent some time recently trawling through dating websites looking for something… I don’t know what. But one thing I noticed recurring in profile after profile was the expressed desire to find what they believed to be “true love”… often quantified in terms of trips to Paris, candle-light dinners, walks on the beach and so on. Although passion and romance are cool, I don’t believe they represent true love at all.
The way I see it, true love is about a willingness to do whatever it takes to bring happiness to the object of your affection. It’s about being prepared to make sacrifices for them.
True love begs questions like these:
Am I willing to leave the relationship to make this person happy?
Am I prepared to wait forever for this person?
Am I prepared to sacrifice my life, or any part of it, for this person?
Only once you’re able to answer ‘yes’ to all of those questions are you in a place when you can understand true love.
But not only that, it’s about everyday life. It’s about being prepared to share every aspect of your life with someone.
It’s about staring into their eyes and seeing more beauty than exists anywhere else in the world for you. It’s about taking a taxi to work so your partner can use your car because theirs is in for a service. It’s about having a meal ready when your partner gets home from working late. It’s about massaging the stress-knots out of their back without having to be asked because you know they need it. It’s about taking over all the house-hold chores for a few days when they’re in bed with the flu.
It’s about the slightest touch to the cheek, or a soft kiss on the forehead… when these things mean more than anything, than everything… when that touch says “I love you”.
These things seem mundane and thoroughly unromantic, and indeed they may be. But to me these are the things of true love.
It’s a word I battle with. Because it’s laden with so many different connotations, I think very carefully before using it… I make absolutely certain the person I’m saying it to understands the specific meaning I was aiming at.
Sometimes it’s easy… When I tell someone “I love Star Trek” it’s pretty straight forward. They instantly know what sense I mean: that I really enjoy immersing myself in the Star Trek experience, by watching it, reading about it or playing games based on it.
Likewise when I say “I love my cat” they can understand that too: she makes me happy when she lies on my chest and purrs, and how she used to keep me warm on winter nights when we still used to live together.
It starts getting a lot more complicated when I say “I love you”. This meaning is not necessarily immediately apparent. There are many kinds of love that can exist between two humans… unless the person I’m saying it to knows me particularly well, they won’t know which one I am referring to.
It’s for that reason I usually refrain from saying it to people altogether. Growing up, it wasn’t really said in my house. I don’t recall a single occasion when my parents or my sisters ever told me they loved me, or vice versa. There was never any need. Perhaps that’s part of the reason I find it so hard to say now… not much practice.
As it stands today, there are only two people I say it to from time to time. And it means something quite different when I say it to each of them.
To the one it reminds her that she is an important part of my life and that I care about her a lot, in a completely non-romantic sense. She understands that, and when she says it back to me I know that she means it the same way.
To the other it means something else entirely, and when she says it back I don’t know what it really means.
That disparity has got me thinking a lot about so-called ‘true love’, and what its nature really is.
I’ve spent some time recently trawling through dating websites looking for something… I don’t know what. But one thing I noticed recurring in profile after profile was the expressed desire to find what they believed to be “true love”… often quantified in terms of trips to Paris, candle-light dinners, walks on the beach and so on. Although passion and romance are cool, I don’t believe they represent true love at all.
The way I see it, true love is about a willingness to do whatever it takes to bring happiness to the object of your affection. It’s about being prepared to make sacrifices for them.
True love begs questions like these:
Am I willing to leave the relationship to make this person happy?
Am I prepared to wait forever for this person?
Am I prepared to sacrifice my life, or any part of it, for this person?
Only once you’re able to answer ‘yes’ to all of those questions are you in a place when you can understand true love.
But not only that, it’s about everyday life. It’s about being prepared to share every aspect of your life with someone.
It’s about staring into their eyes and seeing more beauty than exists anywhere else in the world for you. It’s about taking a taxi to work so your partner can use your car because theirs is in for a service. It’s about having a meal ready when your partner gets home from working late. It’s about massaging the stress-knots out of their back without having to be asked because you know they need it. It’s about taking over all the house-hold chores for a few days when they’re in bed with the flu.
It’s about the slightest touch to the cheek, or a soft kiss on the forehead… when these things mean more than anything, than everything… when that touch says “I love you”.
These things seem mundane and thoroughly unromantic, and indeed they may be. But to me these are the things of true love.
Monday, May 23, 2005
Freedom? Yeah, right.
I think it’s a myth. I don’t believe true freedom exists. It’s a vainly aspired ideal like objectivity (which is in itself a form of freedom – freedom from bias).
A while ago I read an interpretation of the film The Matrix which described it as a metaphor for the capitalistic system of which we are all a part.
I bought it hook, line and sinker.
The Matrix itself is the system… the “world pulled over our eyes to blind us from the truth, that we are slaves”. We’re slaves to the system. We spend our whole lives working for money so we can support ourselves… buy food, clothing, shelter and fill any number of other needs the system tells us we have.
Think about it…
You go to work to earn a living. The salary you get at the end of the month seldom goes towards making you rich or allowing you to achieve your dreams… it puts food on your table, clothes on your back, pays the water, lights, rent, medical aid, insurance, telephone bill and so on… by the time all your essentials have been covered there’s only enough for a little bit of entertainment.
In other words, from all the work you’ve put in, you’ve only received enough to sustain you… to support your lifestyle. All that money you had is now gone… gone where? To other people, working to support themselves. But not all of it… some of it filters through the system until it ends up in the pockets of the ultra-rich. These are the only folks are the only ones who aren’t slaves to the system… they’re the ones who keep the system running so that they can continue to benefit.
Ok, so we’re all slaves, but what about the One? What about all those folks who lived in Zion who were freed from the Matrix?
I think they can all be summed up in one quote from Cypher: “You call this freedom? All I ever do is what he tells me.” In other words, sure, you can try to escape the Matrix, but there’s just another Matrix outside… you’re still a slave. Whether you do it voluntarily or not, the fact remains that you are never truly working for your own benefit, only for the benefit of others. Such is the nature of social organisms.
If you were really able to escape the system… to find a way to get out… how would you survive? Where would you get your food, your clothes, your medical attention? It sounds like a great idea to go live on a tropical island somewhere where there are no taxes and no taxis, but what happens when you get your first tropical disease? Who’d going to fix that for you?
I propose that since there really is no way out of the system, the only way to find happiness is to give up the search for freedom… instead make the most of what you have. Be aware of your place as a cog in the giant machine and try to be happy about it. Do the best you can to use your efforts to enrich yourself and to improve your way of life instead of merely supporting it.
I think it helps to see life as a game of chess… there are very restrictive rules and you only have so many moves available to you… but at the very least you have the freedom to choose which move you’re going to make. Make it count!
A while ago I read an interpretation of the film The Matrix which described it as a metaphor for the capitalistic system of which we are all a part.
I bought it hook, line and sinker.
The Matrix itself is the system… the “world pulled over our eyes to blind us from the truth, that we are slaves”. We’re slaves to the system. We spend our whole lives working for money so we can support ourselves… buy food, clothing, shelter and fill any number of other needs the system tells us we have.
Think about it…
You go to work to earn a living. The salary you get at the end of the month seldom goes towards making you rich or allowing you to achieve your dreams… it puts food on your table, clothes on your back, pays the water, lights, rent, medical aid, insurance, telephone bill and so on… by the time all your essentials have been covered there’s only enough for a little bit of entertainment.
In other words, from all the work you’ve put in, you’ve only received enough to sustain you… to support your lifestyle. All that money you had is now gone… gone where? To other people, working to support themselves. But not all of it… some of it filters through the system until it ends up in the pockets of the ultra-rich. These are the only folks are the only ones who aren’t slaves to the system… they’re the ones who keep the system running so that they can continue to benefit.
Ok, so we’re all slaves, but what about the One? What about all those folks who lived in Zion who were freed from the Matrix?
I think they can all be summed up in one quote from Cypher: “You call this freedom? All I ever do is what he tells me.” In other words, sure, you can try to escape the Matrix, but there’s just another Matrix outside… you’re still a slave. Whether you do it voluntarily or not, the fact remains that you are never truly working for your own benefit, only for the benefit of others. Such is the nature of social organisms.
If you were really able to escape the system… to find a way to get out… how would you survive? Where would you get your food, your clothes, your medical attention? It sounds like a great idea to go live on a tropical island somewhere where there are no taxes and no taxis, but what happens when you get your first tropical disease? Who’d going to fix that for you?
I propose that since there really is no way out of the system, the only way to find happiness is to give up the search for freedom… instead make the most of what you have. Be aware of your place as a cog in the giant machine and try to be happy about it. Do the best you can to use your efforts to enrich yourself and to improve your way of life instead of merely supporting it.
I think it helps to see life as a game of chess… there are very restrictive rules and you only have so many moves available to you… but at the very least you have the freedom to choose which move you’re going to make. Make it count!
Sunday, May 22, 2005
Yay yay it's new-card day!
Every few months Decipher releases a new expansion set for Star Trek CCG 2nd Edition. And every time they do that, my gamer friends and I pre-order boxes of cards.
The latest set, Strange New Worlds, was released last week, so our boxes arrived in the country on Friday... I got mine today.
New card day is always a festive occasion for me... I like to make a real romantic time of it.
Today I had the flat to myself, so I put on a DVD of some Original Series episodes, made myself a special lunch (spaghetti bolognaise), poured myself a tall glass of orange juice and set about the task of opening the packs.
This is arguably the best part of new card day... I stack up all the unopened booster packs on one side. Then I take the first one... I use the special 'two-finger friction technique' to open the pack without damaging it or bending the cards. Then I lift the pack to my nose and take a deep breath... There's only one scent more appealing than that of a freshly opened booster.
I gently pour the cards out onto my freshly washed hand and begin the examination. After carefully reading each card I place it into a pile sorted by card-type (Dilemma, Equipment, Event, Interrupt, Mission, Personnel or Ship), place the empty packet into the box and move onto the next one.
Once all the packs are open it's time for step two. I split the Missions up by Quadrant and the Personnel and Ships by affiliation, then I sort all the cards into alphabetical order.
Then I get the file out. The file is the home to the first copy of every card I get. Of course, it's sorted using the Player System (by type and then alphabetically). Since I now have a whole bunch of new cards to squeeze in just about every single card in the file has to be taken out of it's sleeve, and one by one put back in the new sequence. This part usually takes about an hour and a half.
When that is done, I'm left with a pile of duplicates. I take out all the Rares for my trades file, and then insert what remains into my stock box (which is also alphabetised).
By this time most of the muscles in my back have gone into spasm, so it's time to lie back on the couch for a while while I bask in the afterglow.
I love new card day.
(Yes, you can say it: I belong it the realm of uber-geeks. The kind that regular geeks beat up and steal their lunch money. I'm okay with that.)
Thursday, May 19, 2005
These are the voyages…
I just finished watching the final episode of Star Trek: Enterprise.
Yes, there are indeed tears running down my cheeks. The final sequence was beautiful… the three most famous captains uttering the famous words as their ships fly by…
“These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise.
Her continuing mission: To explore strange new worlds.
To seek out new life and new civilisations.
To boldly go where no man has gone before.”
It breaks my heart that this may be the end of Star Trek altogether. I’m not going to rant now about the incompetence of Paramount Pictures, as this is too solemn an occasion for a tirade.
The lyrics of the Enterprise theme song ‘Faith of the heart’ by Dianne Warren seem more fitting now than ever:
It’s been a long road getting from there to here.
It’s been a long time but my time is finally here.
I will see my dream come alive at last,
I will touch the sky!
And they’re not going to hold me down no more,
No, they’re not going to change my mind.
Because I’ve got faith of the heart.
Going where my heart will take me.
I’ve got faith to believe I can do anything
I’ve got strength of the soul
No-one’s going to bend or break me
I can reach any star!
I’ve got faith…
I’ve got faith…
I’ve got faith of the heart.
For the first time since 1977 there is currently no Star Trek series or feature film in production or planning. The spirit of Trek and the message of Gene’s dream must live on in the hearts of we, the fans… the Trekkies. Through us it will live long, and prosper.
Although we may not be seeking out new life or new civilisations, we can still go boldly where no man, or no one, has gone before.
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands, but in seeing with new eyes” – Marcel Proust.
Yes, there are indeed tears running down my cheeks. The final sequence was beautiful… the three most famous captains uttering the famous words as their ships fly by…
“These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise.
Her continuing mission: To explore strange new worlds.
To seek out new life and new civilisations.
To boldly go where no man has gone before.”
It breaks my heart that this may be the end of Star Trek altogether. I’m not going to rant now about the incompetence of Paramount Pictures, as this is too solemn an occasion for a tirade.
The lyrics of the Enterprise theme song ‘Faith of the heart’ by Dianne Warren seem more fitting now than ever:
It’s been a long road getting from there to here.
It’s been a long time but my time is finally here.
I will see my dream come alive at last,
I will touch the sky!
And they’re not going to hold me down no more,
No, they’re not going to change my mind.
Because I’ve got faith of the heart.
Going where my heart will take me.
I’ve got faith to believe I can do anything
I’ve got strength of the soul
No-one’s going to bend or break me
I can reach any star!
I’ve got faith…
I’ve got faith…
I’ve got faith of the heart.
For the first time since 1977 there is currently no Star Trek series or feature film in production or planning. The spirit of Trek and the message of Gene’s dream must live on in the hearts of we, the fans… the Trekkies. Through us it will live long, and prosper.
Although we may not be seeking out new life or new civilisations, we can still go boldly where no man, or no one, has gone before.
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands, but in seeing with new eyes” – Marcel Proust.
Review: Star Wars Episode III
I was really impressed. After the dismal failures of the last two episodes I was expecting another sell-out marketing machine, but I was pleasantly surprised to see an actual high-quality Star Wars movie!
I don’t want to go into too much detail for the sake of those who haven’t seen it, but I only have two criticisms…
1. The acting was flat… especially from Haden Christensen. It was uninspired and in many cases unbelievable. I found it to be disengaging, especially in the first half hour or so of the film.
2. This isn’t so much a criticism, this was inevitable due to the nature of the fact that it’s a prequel. The fact that we already knew what happened to all the major characters at the end removed a lot of the excitement from the final scenes. Although the big fights were awesome in their scope and a true feast for the eyes, there was no real suspense. That couldn’t really be helped I suppose.
Otherwise, it was awesome. Go see it!
I don’t want to go into too much detail for the sake of those who haven’t seen it, but I only have two criticisms…
1. The acting was flat… especially from Haden Christensen. It was uninspired and in many cases unbelievable. I found it to be disengaging, especially in the first half hour or so of the film.
2. This isn’t so much a criticism, this was inevitable due to the nature of the fact that it’s a prequel. The fact that we already knew what happened to all the major characters at the end removed a lot of the excitement from the final scenes. Although the big fights were awesome in their scope and a true feast for the eyes, there was no real suspense. That couldn’t really be helped I suppose.
Otherwise, it was awesome. Go see it!
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
The two-factor relationship theory
This is a theory I have recently encountered, and I believe it to be quite logical. It’s obviously over-simplified, and it only really applies to the first few months of the relationship, but I think it’s a good thing to keep in mind.
It goes like this:
There are two major factors to any romantic relationship:
1. Conversation
2. Sex
This means there are three types of relationships:
Type 1: Physical. In this type, the conversation is something that is viewed by one or both parties as something you have to sit through in order to get to the sex. These relationships are doomed to failure as they have no substantial foundation.
Type 2: Intellectual. This is where there is stimulating and enjoyable conversation, but the sex is unrewarding for one or both parties. These are the relationships that are most likely to end up as “just friends”.
Type 3: Perfect. This is where the conversation and sex are equally enjoyable for both parties. This is a person you should marry.
Like I said, it’s very simplistic, but pretty accurate, wouldn’t you say?
I reckon if you find yourself a Type 3 you should fight for it. Do whatever you can to hold onto it, because you don’t get those every day. And if you let it slip away, odds are you’ll regret it… possibly for the rest of your life.
It goes like this:
There are two major factors to any romantic relationship:
1. Conversation
2. Sex
This means there are three types of relationships:
Type 1: Physical. In this type, the conversation is something that is viewed by one or both parties as something you have to sit through in order to get to the sex. These relationships are doomed to failure as they have no substantial foundation.
Type 2: Intellectual. This is where there is stimulating and enjoyable conversation, but the sex is unrewarding for one or both parties. These are the relationships that are most likely to end up as “just friends”.
Type 3: Perfect. This is where the conversation and sex are equally enjoyable for both parties. This is a person you should marry.
Like I said, it’s very simplistic, but pretty accurate, wouldn’t you say?
I reckon if you find yourself a Type 3 you should fight for it. Do whatever you can to hold onto it, because you don’t get those every day. And if you let it slip away, odds are you’ll regret it… possibly for the rest of your life.
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