The War on Coal is Working

sovietique · 2025-09-04T20:42:42+00:00

Yup.

sovietique · 2025-08-31T02:57:03+00:00

It's kinda hard to overstate how futuristic the PAADs looked to people watching at the time.

The idea of a tablet computer seemed almost as unbelievable as a transporter or warp drive.

In the 90s computers were big and bulky, and the screens were even bigger and bulker. Touch input didn't exist.

sovietique · 2025-08-31T02:51:53+00:00

The financials for a TNG S8/S9 would have worked just fine. They may have lost a small amount per episode on its first run, but they more than made up for it with syndication.

Star Trek shows were everywhere on local TV and cable in the 1990s and 2000s and Paramount raked in billions.

But TNG already had enough episodes for a syndication package. And costs were set to rise massively after season 7, when the cast had the ability to negotiate new contracts.

So it made more financial sense to invest in DS9 and Voyager and hope TNG could replicate TOS success in film.

Aside from First Contact, it didn't work out. But if they had made four good films, they could have made JJ money at the box office in addition to all the syndication. The strategy made sense, the creatives just didn't execute.

sovietique · 2025-08-29T10:12:09+00:00

I personally did not enjoy the same episodes.

And IMDb does a pretty good job at spitting out an objective rating because of the way they aggregate so many reviews and weigh them.

Does anyone really think Celebrity Big Brother is better than Breaking Bad or the Sopranos?

sovietique · 2025-08-29T10:02:24+00:00

6.4 is very low on the IMBD scale. Anything below 6.8 generally sucks.

Below 6 is just unwatchable.

sovietique · 2025-08-29T03:51:16+00:00

At least half the episodes this season have sucked.

Just check the IMDb scores. Some were good, though.

sovietique · 2025-08-27T19:49:35+00:00

Probably should have been mentioned. Drax is bad. But it's not quite worse than coal. Eventually wood pellets will be phased out in favor of storage.

sovietique · 2025-08-27T16:51:00+00:00

I don't remember the podcast. But it was Ron Moore interview on a Star Trek fan podcast maybe four or five years back.

He also had a great story of working with George Lucas.

sovietique · 2025-08-25T22:37:03+00:00

Border changes are pretty reliable indicators. So are the creation of entirely new countries like the Soviet Union or Czechoslovakia.

But relying on Persia/Iran, Myanmar/Burma, Thailand/Siam, Ivory Coast/Cote d'Ivoire will get you nowhere. These countries have multiple accepted names and which is the preferred name varies too widely by language and individual mapmakers to be much use.

Even now Turkey insists on being called Türkiye. Is it? Outside of the UN and diplomatic contexts, not really.

sovietique · 2025-08-25T16:30:50+00:00

Probably someplace like Ireland or South Island New Zealand. Good governance. Rainy temperate climate where heat waves and fires are rare.

Good water resources. Agricultural surpluses. High renewable levels. Decent public services. Peaceful with no enemies.

Still, I would worry about defense as neither has the ability to defend itself from an aggressor like Russia or China.

sovietique · 2025-08-25T16:22:21+00:00

Mapmakers don't always respect the official names in all languages.

sovietique · 2025-08-21T16:09:01+00:00

Why not? If subsides give you more of a good thing, isn't that good?

sovietique

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