I met your brethren today

Trilby • Feb 24, 2006 1:36 pm
I got to class early today, as I always do. I drop my son off at his school and then go to my school. It gives me an hour to read the paper before class begins. Instead of reading about the latest teen slaying in my neighborhood, I was treated to a blow-by-blow description of why the star ship in STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION was superior to the old Enterprise by some incredibly geeky kid. Reminded me of you guys. Really. Made me misty. You guys are geeks, aren't you?

I knew he was a geek coz I gave him all the "go away, kid, ya bother me," vibe I knew but he persisted in the belief that I cared about the star ships, too.
barefoot serpent • Feb 24, 2006 1:45 pm
Brianna wrote:
Reminded me of you guys. Really. Made me misty. You guys are geeks, aren't you?


Yes, RFID card-carrying geeks... but only misty? Not, umm, you know uhh... like dampish anywhere else? ;)
Elspode • Feb 24, 2006 1:52 pm
Um...you say "geeks" like it is a bad thing. Besides, it appears that you have exude a certain attraction to geeks. So - why *is* the STTNG Enterprise better than the STTOS Enterprise?
Trilby • Feb 24, 2006 1:55 pm
Els--I'll tell ya: according to Larry (!) (really, a kid named Larry!) it's because it held a freaking shitload more people and had better weapons. He mentioned (realize that I was not paying strict attention as was wondering about latest teen-on-teen violence in neighborhood) that the Enterprise held around 1,300 people whereas the new ship held 11,000 people. The weapons system was beyond my grasp, but you know who you are.
glatt • Feb 24, 2006 2:01 pm
Plus, the newer ship can split in two, and then rejoin again. You can gang up on the enemy.

The special effects tab for this stunt was a little high back in the day, so they only did it a few times.
FallenFairy • Feb 24, 2006 2:05 pm
Brianna wrote:
I was treated to a blow-by-blow description of why the star ship in STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION was superior to the old Enterprise by some incredibly geeky kid. Reminded me of you guys. Really. Made me misty. You guys are geeks, aren't you?


GEEKS?!?
(there are geeks here?? :hide: )

You would have to define the term geek in this context - I mean I thought everyone knew about the 2 Enterprises....The Enterprise from the original series (Captian James T. Kirk commanding) was a Constitution Class vessel
with a gross tonnage of 190,000 Metric Tons. The propulsion system consisted of a Matter/Antimatter warp drive plus Impulse... which allowed a cruising velocity of Warp 6 (384C) C= speed of light so approx speed would be 186,000mps


and then you have the Enterprise from The Next Generation which.... um.... ahem.... ok I'm a geek. :redface:
wolf • Feb 24, 2006 2:07 pm
He's not so good a geek. The crew complement of the Original Series Enterprise was 430.

And they did a lot more with a lot less.
Trilby • Feb 24, 2006 2:16 pm
See-? That is what pisses me off RE: GEEKS. You can't trust them and yet they are SO SURE that they are right.

reason I don't believe.

PS. That whole debate about who's starship is better than who's made me wish, fevently, for you all.
FallenFairy • Feb 24, 2006 2:33 pm
Wolf is absolutely correct. 430 capacity.
For the NG Enterprise the capacity for daily routine was 1,014 officers, crew, and civilians...
BUT it was capable of using the hold for a 15,000 emergency limit.

Trust me Brianna I would never lie to you about Star Trek!
Elspode • Feb 24, 2006 2:43 pm
If Warp 6 = 384C, then wouldn't that be an effective speed of 384 x 186,000 mps, or 13,284,864,000 mps? If light travels at the rounded off speed of 186,000.00 miles per second, then that makes a Light Year a distance of 97,761,600,000 miles. That would make Warp 6 around 7.36 Light Years per Second, which seems more reasonable.

Given that the galaxy is calculated to be an average value of, say, 90,000 light years in diameter, give or take, then that would mean the STOS Enterprise could traverse the galaxy in about 8.46 days at maximum warp, which, of course, could not be maintained for that long.

Geeks? No geeks here, man.
Trilby • Feb 24, 2006 2:53 pm
i think you are now making stuff up.
wolf • Feb 24, 2006 3:00 pm
We all worked this stuff out in high school, because AP physics was boring.
Elspode • Feb 24, 2006 3:08 pm
What I did is just simple multiplication and division of slightly large numbers. Believe me, I'm not a math guy. I *am* an astronomy guy, though, so I try hard to grasp the values associated with astronomical concepts, like the speed of light.

I was going to work it out in parsecs, but I'm lazy and at work.
MaggieL • Feb 24, 2006 4:47 pm
FallenFairy wrote:
You would have to define the term geek in this context - I mean I thought everyone knew about the 2 Enterprises....T
and then you have the Enterprise from The Next Generation which.... um.... ahem.... ok I'm a geek.

*Two*? Don't be silly.
NX-10 ("Enterprise")
NCC-1701 (TOS)
NCC 1701-A (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)
NCC-1701-B (Generations)
NCC-1701-C (The "Yesterday's Enterprise" episode of TNG)
NCC-1701-D (TNG)
NCC-1701-E (First Contact, Insurrection, Nemisis).

But there's much better military starships in the Honor Harrington series. Image

And for a non-stardrive ship, you can't beat Serenity
Image
Happy Monkey • Feb 24, 2006 4:59 pm
MaggieL wrote:
And for a non-stardrive ship, you can't beat Serenity
Absolutely. Everyone buy the DVDs!
marichiko • Feb 24, 2006 7:06 pm
Next Gen was better cuz Cptn Piccard is a hell of a lot sexier than Cptn Kirk was, that's all I know. Oh, plus, the Klingons got to be good guys in Next Gen, and Warf (Wurf?) was sexy in his own way, too! :love: I guess I'm not very geeky. I took AP English. :(

PS Heheheheheheheh - not so as you'd know it , though! DUH!
MaggieL • Feb 24, 2006 7:41 pm
Elspode wrote:
...astronomical concepts, like the speed of light. I was going to work it out in parsecs, but I'm lazy and at work.

Parsecs being a measure of *distance*, of course, ("the distance necessary to PARallax of one arcSECond when view shifts by the diameter of the Earth's orbit").

So the Millenium Falcon didn't make the Kessel Run in *any* parsecs.

Frink, for all your unit-based calculation needs:
"frink" wrote:

From: c
To: parsecs/year
Result:
0.30659484523556688742
Crimson Ghost • Feb 24, 2006 8:19 pm
I thought you meant this Enterprise -

http://www.icpnet.pl/~tomcat/galeria/Enterprise%20(2).jpg
xoxoxoBruce • Feb 24, 2006 8:55 pm
You'll never make it into the geeks club, Crimson. You'll be on the outside with me. :lol:

Man, they carry a hell of a variety of aircraft on that ship.

btw, speed of light....186,200 mps.
footfootfoot • Feb 24, 2006 9:32 pm
Brianna wrote:
snip intro... You guys are geeks, aren't you?

snip outro...


Umm, just wondering when Bri stopped being one of "you guys" and became one of "them guys".

If you haven't been banned and you post here, then you are one of us.

c'est vrai ?
Crimson Ghost • Feb 24, 2006 11:08 pm
xoxoxoBruce wrote:
You'll never make it into the geeks club, Crimson. You'll be on the outside with me. :lol:

Man, they carry a hell of a variety of aircraft on that ship.

btw, speed of light....186,200 mps.

I had no idea that the old girl could move that fast!

http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/ships/carriers/histories/cv65-enterprise/cv65-enterprise.html
Beestie • Feb 25, 2006 1:23 am
The original Star Trek ruled. Kirk would wail on Picard *snort*. Jean Luc would be sippin Earl Grey and quoting Wittgenstein while Kirk would be kicking Klingon butt and getting the girl afterwards - even if she was green and had three eyes.

Kirk was the James Bond/Clint Eastwood of uncharted interstellar badlands. Picard was the Boutros Boutros Galli of a civilized, diplomatic outpost of the UN.

And don't get me started on Spock versus "Data" (guffaw). And Scotty versus Jordy is like Florida State versus Galludet with no refs. And I openly scoff at the notion of a stinkin' Klingon in posession of the Enterprise's override codes.
Tonchi • Feb 25, 2006 1:51 am
I see that Honor Harrington is under the tutilage of a descendent of T'Pau, Queen of the Universe, as is only fitting. We approve ;)
wolf • Feb 25, 2006 2:29 am
Beestie knows.
Elspode • Feb 25, 2006 4:13 am
Beestie wrote:
The original Star Trek ruled. Kirk would wail on Picard..


...and then boff his girlfriend.
Elspode • Feb 25, 2006 4:15 am
MaggieL wrote:
Parsecs being a measure of *distance*, of course, ("the distance necessary to PARallax of one arcSECond when view shifts by the diameter of the Earth's orbit").


I did, of course, mean that I was going to interpret the distances travelled in a given time in parsecs as opposed to light years...I really do know that a parsec is a measure of distance and not velocity. :p
marichiko • Feb 25, 2006 5:25 am
Beestie wrote:
The original Star Trek ruled. Kirk would wail on Picard *snort*. Jean Luc would be sippin Earl Grey and quoting Wittgenstein while Kirk would be kicking Klingon butt and getting the girl afterwards - even if she was green and had three eyes.

Kirk was the James Bond/Clint Eastwood of uncharted interstellar badlands. Picard was the Boutros Boutros Galli of a civilized, diplomatic outpost of the UN.

And don't get me started on Spock versus "Data" (guffaw). And Scotty versus Jordy is like Florida State versus Galludet with no refs. And I openly scoff at the notion of a stinkin' Klingon in posession of the Enterprise's override codes.


Oh, come on! Kirk was a dork to the Nth degree! Comparing Kirk to Eastwood is like comparing Data to Spock. I agree that Spock was a zillion times cooler than Data ever dreamed of being in his wildest micro chip, but Kirk? Hello? You can have him, Wolf. He's all yours, but I bet you get bored to tears with him after 30 seconds alone in the same room with him. Fine, you both know how to shoot a gun, but there's more to a man than wham, bam, thank you ma'am! :headshake
Trilby • Feb 25, 2006 7:22 am
footfootfoot wrote:
Umm, just wondering when Bri stopped being one of "you guys" and became one of "them guys".

If you haven't been banned and you post here, then you are one of us.

c'est vrai ?


I don't know...see, i have NO OPINION on the starship Enterprise OR the other one in Next Gen. And, I've no idea what everyone has been talking about RE: the coolness factors of each/speed of light/velocity, etc, etc. The only thing I DO understand is that given the choice, I'd be boinking James T. Kirk...right after I was done boinking Lt. Worf. That might make me a slut, but it doesn't make me a geek. :)
MaggieL • Feb 25, 2006 7:40 am
Tonchi wrote:
I see that Honor Harrington is under the tutilage of a descendent of T'Pau, Queen of the Universe, as is only fitting. We approve ;)

Erm...what? I was unaware there were any non-human humanoids in the Honorverse.
MaggieL • Feb 25, 2006 7:43 am
Brianna wrote:
...given the choice, I'd be boinking James T. Kirk...right after I was done boinking Lt. Worf.
I have it on very good authority from my lifepartner Gwen (who met the gentleman) that Michael Dorn is hawt.

Shatner, OTOH, is clownshoes.

As for Patrick Stewart...well...http://media.putfile.com/Patrick_Stewart_is_a_dirty_old_man
Griff • Feb 25, 2006 8:04 am
Piccard would be just as happy riding the squeaky chair at the DMV. He's the functionary Kirk is the individual. Besides, when is the last time Piccard cut a record with Joe Jackson?
xoxoxoBruce • Feb 25, 2006 8:38 am
"Patrick Stewart is a dirty old man"
You say that like it's a bad thing. :redface:
MaggieL • Feb 25, 2006 9:08 am
Elspode wrote:
I did, of course, mean that I was going to interpret the distances travelled in a given time in parsecs as opposed to light years...I really do know that a parsec is a measure of distance and not velocity. :p

Ya, I figured. And knowing that travelling at c you'd only cover less than one third of one in a year lets you know that it's a true metric assload of distance too. :-)

"frink' wrote:
From: parsec
To: lightyear
Result:
3.2615637769712136975

"Thank you Frink, you may go."
SteveDallas • Feb 25, 2006 1:24 pm
MaggieL wrote:
So the Millenium Falcon didn't make the Kessel Run in *any* parsecs.

I'm sure you've seen this or similar before, but never underestimate the ability of fangeeks to rationalize away little inconsistencies.

As for boinking people from Star Trek, well, let's just say Dr. Crusher can examine me any time.
wolf • Feb 25, 2006 1:26 pm
Bones was a much better doctor, though, even if he wasn't a bricklayer.
footfootfoot • Feb 25, 2006 2:05 pm
This cistern is better than the old one, it can hold more water, it fills and drains faster and volume can be measured in both metric and standard.
MaggieL • Feb 25, 2006 6:02 pm
SteveDallas wrote:
As for boinking people from Star Trek, well, let's just say Dr. Crusher can examine me any time.
Me too...like Ellen said on her show..."There's twice as many rides at Bi-Land.".

The same aformentioned Gwennie met Gates McFadden (Dr. Crusher) too. Gwen ran a number of SF conventions in the Chicagoland area at one point. But Ms. McFadden she met whiile the lady was not completely dressed...thereby hangs a tale.
jinx • Feb 25, 2006 6:17 pm
LJ's father's wife (Deb) has a friend (pay attention, it gets confusing from here) who was dating Michael Dorn. When she mentioned this to me I jokingly said "She's dating a Klingon?! What the hell is wrong with her" or something to that effect.... Anyway, Deb, not a fan, thought I was making a racial slur of some sort... thought I was a racist for months after that.

This is probably only funny to me, but I already typed it out, so...
Spexxvet • Feb 25, 2006 6:46 pm
SteveDallas wrote:

As for boinking people from Star Trek, well, let's just say Dr. Crusher can examine me any time.

She's puting her glove on. "Just bend over, Mr. Dallas" :lol: :eek:
SteveDallas • Feb 25, 2006 7:51 pm
I'd have thought they had developed more advanced diagnostic technology in the 23rd century, but hey...
xoxoxoBruce • Feb 25, 2006 8:51 pm
jinx wrote:
LJ's father's wife (Deb) has a friend (pay attention, it gets confusing from here) who was dating Michael Dorn. When she mentioned this to me I jokingly said "She's dating a Klingon?! What the hell is wrong with her" or something to that effect.... Anyway, Deb, not a fan, thought I was making a racial slur of some sort... thought I was a racist for months after that.

This is probably only funny to me, but I already typed it out, so...
:lol:
Tonchi • Feb 25, 2006 9:15 pm
MaggieL wrote:
Erm...what? I was unaware there were any non-human humanoids in the Honorverse.

In the picture posted here, Officer Harrington appears to be respectfully accompanying a feline subject who radiates great powers. (Of course, this may be artistic license on the part of the illustrator?) T'Pau, Queen of the Universe, nevertheless claims no kinship with "Cat" of Red Dwarf.
marichiko • Feb 25, 2006 10:09 pm
Which picture? Not that I do not accept T'pau's Rule, having seen her picture elsewhere. :confused:
Tonchi • Feb 26, 2006 1:35 am
Post #14. I can't figure out how to link photos here.

T'Pau, Queen of the Universe, also realizes that evolution will probably produce felines in the future who lack her dazzling and luminous beauty ;)
MaggieL • Feb 26, 2006 12:23 pm
Tonchi wrote:
In the picture posted here, Officer Harrington appears to be respectfully accompanying a feline subject who radiates great powers.

That's Nimitz, a treecat from Honor's native planet, Sphinx. Nimitz is her friend and familiar...Honor has padding tailored into the shoulder of her uniform so Nimitz can hang on without doing (much) damage to Honor's shoulder. The treecat race and their relationship with Sphinxians and others is a semi-major story arc in the series.

Nimitz and Honor have saved each other's lives on several occasions. To tell much more would be spoilers. Nimitz has his own spacesuit, which is a good thing because he's had to abandon a crippled man o' war along with Honor on at least one occassion.

This being originally a Trekish thread, I took "T'Pau" to be a reference to this T'Pau. Didn't know about any feline connection there.
Trilby • Feb 26, 2006 3:12 pm
i am pretty sure that you geek-a-zoids have taken over this thread. Enjoy!

*PS--i LIKE geek-a-zoids, but, shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Tonchi • Feb 26, 2006 3:56 pm
MaggieL wrote:
This being originally a Trekish thread, I took "T'Pau" to be a reference to this T'Pau. Didn't know about any feline connection there.

Correct reference, wrong life form :) T'Pau, Queen of the Universe, got her name right after adopting me because of her amazingly huge ears, topped by one-inch lynx tufts. (There were only 3 possible Vulcan female names to my knowledge and this one received Her approval.) It's not easy living with a Queen of the Universe. SWMBO is not the half of it. And it was really hard to memorize all those prayers.
fargon • Feb 26, 2006 5:39 pm
My geekyness is about to show, http://www.merzo.net/ go there and be square. :borg: resistance is futile
Happy Monkey • Feb 26, 2006 8:52 pm
If you open that page in internet explorer, you can drag the ships around the page.
richlevy • Feb 26, 2006 10:49 pm
Happy Monkey wrote:
If you open that page in internet explorer, you can drag the ships around the page.
Darn, you had to tell me that. OK, it was fun.

BTW, does anyone know if you can drive/pilot an Imperial walker in any of the Star Wars games? That would be fun.
MaggieL • Feb 26, 2006 11:35 pm
Brianna wrote:
i am pretty sure that you geek-a-zoids have taken over this thread. Enjoy!

*You* started it. :-)
Happy Monkey • Feb 27, 2006 12:21 am
richlevy wrote:
Darn, you had to tell me that. OK, it was fun.
Did you notice that the original Enterprise can fit in the area under the saucer and in front of the deflector dish of the Next Generation Enterprise?
barefoot serpent • Feb 27, 2006 10:36 am
MaggieL wrote:
I have it on very good authority from my lifepartner Gwen (who met the gentleman) that Michael Dorn is hawt.


I went to high school with Michael Dorn... can I be hawt too? ;)
dar512 • Feb 27, 2006 10:53 am
richlevy wrote:
Darn, you had to tell me that. OK, it was fun.

BTW, does anyone know if you can drive/pilot an Imperial walker in any of the Star Wars games? That would be fun.

Have you tried the MechWarrior series? That'd be similar.
MaggieL • Feb 27, 2006 2:39 pm
barefoot serpent wrote:
I went to high school with Michael Dorn... can I be hawt too? ;)
You *can* be. But are you?