That’s nobody’s business but the Turks.

That’s an awful comparison. The Maquis are not a separate, independent culture being dominated or obliterated by another. They were already Federation citizens, born on Federation worlds into Federation culture and society, subject to Federation laws, educated by their own parents and family in Federation values, and the Federation enabled and supported their colonization efforts. The Maquis are a product of the Federation’s culture not a victim of it.

And they do have self-determination. They can stay in the DMZ on their planets if they want to, but there are consequences of that choice. And if they do leave the DMZ then they would not even have change their preferred lifestyle. There are any number of uninhabited planets they could relocate to, found new colonies, etc. They have so many options and opportunities open to them that their grievances, however valid they would be under real-world circumstances, seem childish and selfish particularly when the alternative is continuing a decades-long war.

The Maquis didn’t start the war with the Cardassians.

But they did know the border was in dispute, and had been in dispute for decades, before they colonized the area. They can’t feign surprise that the border might move if and when the dispute ended.

The Federation traded away their planets without even giving them a seat at the table.

They did have a seat at the table. They just didn’t get their way. That sometimes happens, and it doesn’t mean the process was unfair.

In a fully-automated luxury communist utopia, the Maquis are selfish assholes. Clinging to a planet because of the inconvenience of having to relocate. A planet which was never theirs to give or take in the first place. They talk a big talk about being “farmers who made something of the land,” and maybe that’s true. But they have replicators; farming is a hobby, not a livelihood.

Human, Vulcan, Bolian, etc. Maquis could lead happy, safe lives if only they were willing to lead happy, safe lives. They are not oppressed; they are not fighting in a righteous cause.

Bajorans, such as Ro, have different motivations. Bajor is not a party to the Federation-Cardassian Treaty, and Bajoran colonies were not sacrificed. Ro’s motivations are sympathy for the Maquis and hatred for Cardassians. Understandable and relatable motivations, but not heroic.

A number of my repos are listed.

But the weird part is that it also lists a repo I don’t recognize. The repo does actually exist on my github account, but it’s marked as “ignored”, and the description says it was automatically exported from Google Code. The code seems to be a MacOS shareware file encryption tool called “BitClamp”, published circa 2008.

No idea how it got on my account.

“A keyboard? How quaint.”

I like TOS Operation: Annihilate! because it presents a situation where a starship captain would be justified in issuing General Order 24. I’m disappointed that they didn’t actually mention GO24 in the episode, but my headcanon is that the crew were all reluctant to mention it by name.

I think GO24 is deeply misunderstood. It’s only ever been presented as a thing that a bad, crazy captain would order; as grounds for mutiny. So why would Starfleet even have such an order on the books? I think it’s actually designed for situations like the one in this episode: to prevent the spread of dangerous life forms.

This interpretation also enhances my enjoyment of another TOS episode, A Taste of Armageddon. In this episode, Kirk actually invokes General Order 24. Scotty understands that Kirk needs leverage to bluff with, and plays along. Bluffing the bad guys by citing a public health ordinance is classic Kirk. See also Corbomite and Fizzbin

Don’t stress over labels. They don’t fit anyone perfectly.

This looks uncomfortable and humiliating. Now if they were to make it in the form of a suppository…

Noo-clee-ar… wessels

Probably not criminal trespassing, since they are the owner of the property. It may fall under tenant harassment, unauthorized entry, constructive eviction, or other laws that pertain specifically to landlord/tenant relations.

Check to see if there are any local tenant’s rights or advocacy groups in your area that offer free legal consultations. They’d be able to advise you on the local tenant’s rights laws and whether they apply to your situation.

PSA: There’s a special screening of Star Trek IV in San Francisco on June 13 to honor the 40th anniversary. Nick Meyer (writer/producer on IV) will be there. I’m sure he will be pleased to explain how a wizard did it.

https://www.voguemovies.com/nicholas-meyer

I contend that it is not actually missing, it’s just not visible from that perspective. When I recreate the shot in Google Earth only the extreme north tip of New Zealand is actually visible:

“Pissing in the soup” doesn’t really work here unless you’re adulterating the software with something malicious.

Scotty: This is the commander of the U.S.S. Enterprise. All cities and installations on Eminiar VII have been located, identified, and fed into our fire control system. In one hour and forty-five minutes, the entire inhabited surface of your planet will be destroyed. You have that long to surrender your hostages. [dramatic music]

Bonus moment, DS9:

unnamed extra: The Federation fleet has surrounded the planet.

Random one-episode extra got the best line in the whole fricken franchise.

Robot Chicken did it first: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iauuuhpSfRQ

political dissatisfaction

By framing it as mere “political dissatisfaction”, the author inadvertently exposes their ulterior motive. The discussion is actually about whether Trump is in his right mind.

Girlish scream I’ll be there :D

The Voyage Home is the very first movie I can remember seeing, and it’s still my favorite Trek movie.

Software is like a gas: it expands to fill its container.

I once experienced an episode of sleep paralysis with auditory hallucinations. I heard a deep masculine voice speaking in a guttural language that seemed just on the edge of being comprehensible to me. As if it were the primeval language from which all others sprang. The feel of the language in my ear was as familiar as my native tongue. I recognized the cadence, I could discern where one word ended and the next began, whether a sentence was a question, and so forth. But the words themselves were somehow alien.

I strained my senses trying to hear the voice more clearly. What horrible prophesy was I being given? What dreadful task have I been appointed? Am I the keymaster? The antichrist? Am I dying? Oh shit, that’s it, isn’t it? I’m dying and going to hell. Fuckfuckfuck. Um. I accept Jesus as my savior? …Buddha? …Joe Pesci?

Then I snapped out of it and the voice turned out to be the muffled sound of my neighbor’s TV. Praise be to Joe Pesci!

Yeah, but what about all the episodes where they didn’t detect any danger? That’s like half of TOS. By TNG it’d be hubris if they still believed they could know for sure.