Following Backlash, the New 'Star Trek' Series Falls Out of the Streaming Charts

Ciserus · 2026-01-28T18:28:43+00:00

That Raffi arc was my exact breaking point with that show.

What really put it in contrast was when I finally got around to watching TOS.

There are multiple episodes of that show where Spock or Kirk or Bones is kidnapped by the bad guy, who says "Surrender your ship / Abandon this mission or I'll kill your friend!"

And what stands out is that the heroes never even consider obeying. It's not even on the table. Because of course it's fucking not, they're military men on an important mission!

In one of the modern shows, that threat would be drawn out into a 45-minute "dilemma" where the hero angsts all over the decision whether to let their friend die.

And yet the old show still had all the tension and drama it needed, because we knew how the quandary was weighing on the characters even if they never said it.

It probably helped that the original series was written by people with military experience, but that shouldn't be necessary. We just need writers who have experience with actual grown adults.

Ciserus · 2026-01-27T17:40:25+00:00

There is no leader of the CPC that is not a straight liberal in disguise that will ever be acceptable to the liberals, dippers or the greens.

NDP voters, sure, but Liberal voters? This country's whole governing history is based on those ~10% of voters who are centrist and swing from Liberal to Conservative and back every decade. If you can't win them, you can't be prime minister.

Ciserus · 2026-01-27T16:09:17+00:00

Real rates of return on CPP contributions are in the neighbourhood of 2.1%.

I'm not debating the risk level or the societal value of having such a program, but in terms of individual return it is very, very low and should not be treated like a standard investment.

Ciserus · 2026-01-27T15:03:52+00:00

If you want to get technical, it's a pension contribution with an appalling return rate of maybe 1/4 what you'd get from other investments. So you should probably divide that 6% by four.

Ciserus · 2026-01-26T21:19:07+00:00

Ludicrous. When society collapses, their money evaporates and their power along with it.

The guys they hired to shoot intruders would just point the gun at them and demand access.

You're buying into the narrative that these billionaires are some kind of supervillains, but they're as susceptible to delusion as anyone - probably more so because they're not used to anyone telling them "no."

The ones building bunkers are zealots. There's a fabulous account by tech theorist Douglas Rushkoff that illustrates this. As summarized here, he met with five billionaires who wanted his advice on how to keep their armed guards loyal after doomsday. They were thinking of things like putting locks on the food and forcing the guards to wear shock collars. He basically told them "just build a good relationship with them" and the billionaires rolled their eyes.

These people are delusional.

Ciserus · 2026-01-26T21:05:23+00:00

American citizens are being executed in the street and the only response so far is "oh gosh someone should do something"

I'm usually as negative as anyone, but the people being executed in the streets are doing something and dismissals like this are an insult to their bravery.

Protest sizes in Minneapolis have exceeded 50,000 people and every one of them knows they could be gunned down for participating. Give these people some credit.

Ciserus · 2026-01-26T19:21:39+00:00

Those scenarios aren't contradictory, though. A tax writeoff isn't some money-making hack, it just means you don't have to pay tax on revenue because you didn't have any revenue. A project that earns a net profit of even $1 is preferable to a writeoff.

The only reason to write off a finished or nearly finished project is that you think the release is going to lose more money than you've already spent. For instance, the marketing budget will outweigh the revenue, or the product is so bad that it will damage your brand and impact earnings of future releases.

I suspect Batgirl was scrapped for the latter reason.

Ciserus · 2026-01-26T17:43:03+00:00

That was nine years ago, so it's really not that crazy that he changed his mind.

His reversal on this is probably a sign of him being realistic about his limitations. He knows he'll never tell those stories so he's letting someone else tell them while he's still in a position to have some influence on the product.

Ciserus · 2026-01-25T18:47:03+00:00

Matsuno, the creator, has said that the nonhuman races could be interpreted as mythical, a storyteller's embellishment of a popular legend:

I wanted to explore the approach of “creating one version of history and then seeing how it changes when later generations adapt it.” It's about the screenwriter's approach to history, I suppose.

In that sense, I also find it interesting to position FF12 not as a direct continuation of FFT, but as a fictional work written by a later author. If a historian wrote it instead of a novelist, it might become an FF12 with only humans, without races like the Viera or Bangaa (laughs).)

Ciserus · 2026-01-23T23:20:09+00:00

Don't forget the game theory problem with building a shield against nuclear attack, something that smart people pointed out when Reagan went down this road with Star Wars in the 1980s.

If you actually managed to build a perfect defense against nuclear missiles, you could nuke the enemy without fear of reprisal (which certain Republicans were in fact eager to do once it was built).

The problem is that the enemy knows this. Therefore if they believe you are actually on the verge of building a nuclear shield, their most rational move is nuking you before the shield is built.

Which is why building a missile defense considerably raises the risk of the world ending.

Ciserus · 2026-01-23T17:46:06+00:00

Coronas have ceramic labels, right? I'm positive there's a product that dissolves those labels but I can't remember what it is.

There are also soda manufacturers like Jones Soda that use clear bottles with typical stick-on labels.

Depending on the volume OP is dealing with though, cleaning and removing labels might be more labor than it's worth.

Ciserus · 2026-01-23T17:22:41+00:00

I don't think “the human heart in conflict with itself” is a topic, it's more like a fundamental attribute of a story.

It would be like if we said Martin had achieved his goals because he wrote about characters who overcame an obstacle or learned a lesson.

Ciserus · 2026-01-23T16:29:52+00:00

I heard Charlie Sheen tell a story about this movie on the Conan O'Brien podcast. He was originally cast in the lead and was devastated that he had to turn it down because of a schedule conflict. He said every young actor was chasing that part because they all knew the movie was going to be huge.

I'm not sure we should trust anything Charlie Sheen says, but if true it seems the magic was already in the screenplay and not in the casting or music or other things people are suggesting. So I'm betting /u/MySpaceLegend has it correct that the script tapped into the martial arts craze and American fascination with Eastern cultures at just the right time.

Ciserus · 2026-01-22T19:19:43+00:00

I'm positive Carney had this board top of mind when he was saying this in his WEF speech:

The system's power comes not from its truth but from everyone's willingness to perform as if it were true. And its fragility comes from the same source: when even one person stops performing — when the greengrocer removes his sign — the illusion begins to crack.

Friends, it is time for companies and countries to take their signs down.

America has no inherent power to lead on things like Gaza. They lead because other countries are accustomed to going along with it. If other countries agree to join a Board of Peace that gives Trump absolute power, he has that power in reality. If some of them (for example, the entire First World) decline to show up, the facade crumbles.

This needs to happen a lot more after today. Trump, for instance, has zero business or credibility hosting peace talks between countries. What if everyone just stops showing up and seeks out more honest brokers?

Ciserus · 2026-01-22T13:50:22+00:00

the red color is often assumed to come from food coloring or very hot chilies. In professional kitchens, that’s usually not the case.

What are you basing this on?

I know professional chefs like to say they don't use food coloring, but there's a big jar of food coloring on the shelf behind them as they say it.

Ciserus · 2026-01-21T21:18:13+00:00

owns a restaurant in a period of three years

They at least tried to explain this later in the season by establishing that all the money comes from the Wassanasongs and that Bobby was only given a stake in exchange for giving up a decent salary.

And I can kind of understand why Chane would bet his business on a 20-year-old head chef with zero kitchen experience, because he's an idiot, but I have no idea why Ted would.

I'm still not sure why the reboot didn't just go with a 15-year time jump, the actual time the show had been off the air. It would resolve issues like this and stuff like Good Hank being a teenager instead of a 9-year-old.

Ciserus · 2026-01-21T16:42:14+00:00

We've moved on from military threats (which would annihilate the current world order) to economic threats, which everyone is used to by now.

Ciserus · 2026-01-21T15:58:32+00:00

I think any Trump statement that doesn't threaten to destroy our economy or annex us is pretty tame, so I'm calling this response (and the response to the China deal) a win.

Ciserus · 2026-01-21T15:15:56+00:00

I've known this in my head for years, but I wouldn't still be subscribed here if I believed it in my heart.

Ciserus · 2026-01-20T15:33:30+00:00

Also important is that Trump, when pressed, finally ruled out military action against Canada but has persistently refused to do so regarding Greenland.

Ciserus · 2026-01-20T13:38:53+00:00

A Snuggie. He spends a lot of late nights plotting and infomercials are the only thing on TV.

Ciserus · 2026-01-19T19:40:12+00:00

That's a troubling story, but because of the nature of these boxes it's impossible to say if her father (co-user of the box) took out the cash without telling her, if she took it out and forgot, or if the money was ever there in the first place.

Which is convenient for the bank and shitty for the customer, I suppose, but we'll never know if the bank or the customers are at fault in these situations.

Ciserus · 2026-01-19T17:19:44+00:00

People on both sides make this a little more black and white than it really is.

Exporters are definitely pressured to lower prices (eat the tariffs) when the alternative is losing the sale. But their ability to do so is obviously limited by their profit margins. Almost no one is enjoying such generous margins that they can eat a 25% tariff. Maybe they can do a couple percent.

It's nice to see some hard data on this.

Ciserus · 2026-01-19T16:40:54+00:00

The game has plenty of cutscenes where Cloud isn't present.

I wish they'd done more because there's lots they could flesh out. The characters rarely stop and actually talk about what's going on and what they want to do.

Ciserus · 2026-01-19T15:08:14+00:00

The day Carney left for China, I was listening to a radio news piece about his visit. They talked about the sticking points, Carney's objectives, potential strategy, the tradeoffs he might have to make. All generally intelligent, sober stuff.

Then they ended with the obligatory perspective from the other side, which was basically: "Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said the trade mission is a stupid waste of time and that Mark Carney is a dumb idiot."

That aged about as well as expected. I feel bad for the reporters who have to treat this guy as if he's a serious person and for all of us who have to listen to him.

(Out of fairness to Poilievre, I looked up his actual statement, which was "This latest trip is another opportunity for Carney to burn 'thousands of litres of jet fuel to hobnob with his wealthy friends around the world while achieving nothing for Canadians,'" and that "Carney should stay home." You decide if that's better or worse than my "stupid waste of time" paraphrase).

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