StillPaisleyCat

joined 2 years ago
[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 11 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

We need to let go of the rule of thumb that Canada is 1/10th the US in population.

It’s not just a nitpick to say that’s off now.

Canada has had a more rapidly growing population such that it’s been 1/9th that of the United States for most of a decade.

A quick calculation on current population estimates puts it as 347.5 / 41.5 million = ~ 8.4.

That said, Canada still has more manufacturing jobs per capita even with the correction.

[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 9 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (10 children)

I appreciate that you recognize that so-called ‘labour productivity’* is primarily a measure of the quality and technological level of the capital that the labour is working with.

Too often, comparative measures of labour productivity and discussion focuses on hours worked, vacation days etc.

These are very much second-order.

Education levels are not second-order but Canadian workers are more literate and better educated across the board than the US manufacturing workers.

So, the real question in manufacturing (as it is in housing construction), “Why is the Canadian private sector so unwilling to invest in ongoing technological upgrading let alone innovation?”

  • ‘Labour productivity’ was originally a measure of how much a given number of workers could produce with a fixed piece of land. Crop improvements and technology increased that in the agricultural revolution.
[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 22 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (4 children)

This really is a great piece.

Interesting first-person perspective on Carney as a fellow graduate student at Oxford.

But it was the latter half of the piece, that reflects on how Canadians who study in the UK or US are constantly subjected to overly aggressive declarations that deny Canada as a nation, which really hit home for me.

As a Canadian who attended graduate school in the US, I experienced almost verbatim every denial and put down in this piece.

And so many more constant and dumbfoundingly bizarre nonsequitur microaggressions. (One of the American I shared office space with lashed out that Canadians didn’t have any ‘real’ Black people so we had to borrow them from Jamaica to compete as athletes in Track and Field.)

So many of these offensive remarks were self contradictory - e.g.,

  • Canada doesn’t exist as a nation or culture but at the same time Canadian students are vocally criticized for being ‘so nationalistic’

  • there’s no need to include Canada in a listing of macroeconomic indicators of major economies because it’s ‘just a regional economy in in North America’ but only the US indicators are included. Meanwhile, California is profiled and discussed as a separate economy because it’s ‘so large’.

  • or a renowned professor who I worked for as a research assistant observing at some random point when he realized where I had done my undergraduate degree ‘Oh, you went to a real place’ - which given how difficult it was to get into that school and program, should never have been a question.

[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 5 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

I don’t think you needed [sic], just the comma that StarTrek.com omitted.

So, this is a big reveal - the scenario is a planet that has not been but now is a part of the Federation.

The viewpoint is civilian.

The resort workplace setting, like the old Loveboat or Fantasy Island, means that anyone can come by as the guest star.

Actually, most campaigns send out a collection team in the day after election day to take down the big sign as well as signs put up on public property. They also typically pick them up from lawns as requested.

Some will wait a day or two to celebrate the win but sign pickup

Most candidates keep the signs from one campaign to another. It takes a while for new signs to be printed at the beginning of a campaign. So, using old signs means getting signs up in the early days before your opponents and saving costs.

Can we talk about deaths per capita and military and civilians contributing to war effort per capita for a country that was NOT itself attacked?

Yes, there were U-Boats attacking merchant marines on the east coast and Japanese balloons flying in on the west. But the societal contribution to a war not in our soil was and is astonishing.

[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

The production values are sufficiently high that it makes me think it might actually be from an episode to come.

Perhaps because there’s a big dose of misogyny intertwined with the critique of American Exceptionalism.

Think about how the song would play with genders reversed.

Also, you don’t want to be looking to log into dodgy wifi when travelling with a burner phone to another country.

Physical guides are more secure and don’t require downloading to a burner device.

I believe one or two of the new senators have joined Mastodon as well but haven’t seen much from them yet.

Parksville is likely far more commercial and developed than you recall.

But the beaches remain.

[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 10 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Here are some suggestions with a kids lens:

Vancouver Island

  • get mid Island then over to the west coast

  • Parksville - large sandy beaches to dig in

  • ferry to Denman Island and then to Hornsby Island - fossils! https://hornbynaturalhistory.com/category/fossils/

  • Qualicum Beach - gravelly and lots of seniors, but a great place to see bald eagles picking up clams and oysters, dropping them to break them open and diving to eat.

  • Cathedral grove on Hwy to Port Alberni, accessible old growth forest

  • Alberni - old forestry interpretation site with a logging train in the Cherry Creek area

  • Drive to Tofino - an adventure in itself

  • Long Beach

  • whale watching

If you go to Vancouver, many of the classic stops are worth it

  • the Aquarium
  • Whale watching
  • Grouse mountain gondola and mountain top
  • Capilano suspension bridge and the fish hatchery and environs
  • Seabus
  • UBC museum of anthropology
 

It’s October, and Trek’s new adorable horror is being unfairly usurped in trendiness by a character who appeared in all of two TOS episodes (even if the grimness of his personal backstory rivals La’an Noonian-Singh’s).

So, Moopsy + Kevin memes. . . I dare you.

 
 

We know from Kurtzman’s messaging at NYCC recently that Michelle Yeoh put her Academy Award star power towards ensue that her Section 31 ‘movie event’ moves forward on Paramount+.

Checking in on the Director’s Guild of Canada Ontario round up of information for its members (Hot List), there’s been an interesting update.

While ‘Dovercourt’ (working title alias for the direct to streaming movie) still has a bold ‘POSTPONED’ due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, it’s moved from the ‘Preproduction stage’ section of the list to ‘Production.’

What does this suggest?

It would seem that the key preproduction production design work in Toronto has been able to be completed since the WGA strike ended.

Like SNW, the crews in Toronto are basically ready to go into production once the actors’ strike is settled. Logistically, it’s not entirely clear that both could shoot at the same time as they share some of the same crews, but it is encouraging.

 

I’ve been enjoying the very short stories by Treklit authors in the recent issues of Titanbooks Star Trek Explorer magazine.

I see that they’re promoting anthologies of short stories, with a new third one due to be released soon. However, it’s not clear if these are just compilations of previously published stories from the magazine, new content or a mix of both.

Anyone have the earlier releases?

 

StarfleetAcademy ‘will be funny’ according to Alex Kurtzman.

He’s also confirmed at the NYCC panel today that the writer’s room is back at work after the WGA strike.


Given the heavier #thriller background (Absentia) of one showrunner Gaia Violo, and youth supernatural CV (TheMagicians; NancyDrew) of Noga Landau the other, sounds as though Tawny Newsome is there to bring some lightness and fun.


I’m really looking forward to seeing more in the 32nd century StarTrek.


I’m also pleading 🙏 let David Cronenberg’s Kovich be involved.

I would love so much to have some of The Magicians mysterious vibe with so true humour mixed in. Glad to know that they’re going for something less earnest than the tone of Discovery for this show, it didn’t seem to be working in the Discovery episode with Tilly and the cadets.

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submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website to c/quarks@startrek.website
 

StarTrek actors have a strong showing across the Hallmark movie offerings this year.


— Jonathan Frakes & Robert Picardo have supporting roles in ‘A Biltmore Christmas’

— Dan Jeannotte (Sam Kirk in StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds) is the lead in ‘Our Christmas Mural’


— Ronnie Rowe Jr (Lt Bryce in #StarTrekDiscovery) leads in Christmas with a Kiss’ (working title), a Mahogany Presents romance (Hallmark’s Black-focused line)


— Mira Kirschner (Amanda Grayson in #Discovery and #SNW) is the principal in a romance about a woman discovering her Jewish heritage in a 2022 movie ‘Love, Lights, Hanukkah! that will be rebroadcast this year.

 

Not sure we needed another album from Shatner but you have to admire his indefatigable creativity.

This one will feature Brad Paisley and Joe Jonas.

 

Looking for news about saving Star Trek Prodigy, I came across this shameless paid promotional piece on MSN from Paramount Home Entertainment.

Murf cupcakes, a galaxy jello version of ‘floor pie’, recipes and decorative suggestions are all here for fête to celery the release of the S1 E11-20 BlueRay.

Wish Paramount+ had been this keen on promoting the show.

 

Paramount+ recently canceled iCarly, popular show that originated on Nickelodeon.

I missed this announcement, but it’s another suggestion that Paramount is shifting away from providing content for a younger diverse demographic.

 

For those not subscribed to Master Replicas email notifications of releases of Eaglemoss Star Trek models, this Tuesday October 10th will be the launch of a special ‘signature’ release with plaques signed by Nana Visitor, Adam Probert, & William Shatner.

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October 2023 Star Trek ebook deals (www.simonandschuster.com)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website to c/startrek@startrek.website
 

Here’s the Simon & Schuster listing of ebook deals for this month. $0.99 in the United States.

There’s a heavy focus on TOS Spock focused books, with several classics featured by Diane Diane, AC Crispin and others. There’s also Una McCormack’s excellent Star Trek Picard prequel novel ‘The Last Best Hope.’

Pricing expires on October 29th in the United States.

Other countries - deals are available but not necessarily all the same books. And there may be others on low feature prices!

How to figure out what deals are available where?

Option 1: for UK, Canada, Australia and India, there are links at the bottom of the page that take you to the Simon & Schuster country sites.

  1. Go to your country

  2. Search for “Star Trek” in the search field

  3. Filter by lowest price to highest.

Pro. If you’re on the Simon & Schuster page you’ll be offered a free ebook.

Con. There are sometimes more books available at the lowest prices through Amazon Kindle and Kobo. And in some cases the full US ebook special list is in effect on other countries’ Amazon, but not on the publisher’s own site.

Option 2: go to a major ebook seller for your country

  1. Search for “Star Trek” in books

  2. Filter by ebooks

  3. Filter by either ‘lowest to highest price’ or just by a low maximum price e.g., £ 2 for the UK.

This yields a lot of IDW single issue comics as well as novels, but it’s viable.

I’ve checked for Canada, Amazon Kindle .ca has the full US list plus a few more. David Mack’s excellent Kelvin Universe book ‘More Beautiful than Death’ is at $CDN 0.99, among others.

Enjoy!

 

Because we can’t ever get enough Bruce Horak content.

This brief piece is from Canada’s National Arts Centre (in Ottawa).

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