Thread for the easily NERDgasmic...

13

Replies

  • Admiral_Derp
    Admiral_Derp Posts: 866 Member
    I don't know if i can go for the idea that we're at the peak of knowledge and advancement. There's too much that we don't know about just the parts of the universe that we can observe. (I think it's about 14 billion light years....) Not to mention what's outside of that. Heck, if some of the stuff I've seen on Nat Geo is right, there is still a huge amount that we don't know about the oceans here on earth. I think that as long as there is that much unknown left, we're always going to be innovating. We're always going to try to get there. Much of our modern tech is really just a byproduct of reaching out, observing and measuring. I think we've still got a long way to go. But I could be wrong.

    As far as physics is concerned, yeah, I don't think we can really measure too much smaller than Higgs Boson. But then, in fairness, a few decades ago, I'm sure even that was considered out of reach. That's what's so awesome about Theoretical Physics. It's always cutting edge and presenting some pretty awesome, if uncertain ideas.

    PS. The Fifth Element was awesome if for no other reason than giving us Chris Tucker in a sci-fi movie! SUPER GREEN!
  • Jaulen
    Jaulen Posts: 468 Member
    Has anyone seen promos for that King of the Nerds show on TBS? Is that just rage inducing or what?
    What's it about?? The title alone sounds irritating..

    From what I gather, I think they're going to put a bunch of "geeks" together in one house and eliminate one each week? I'm not quite sure. He's a promo from one girl that just makes me wanna tear my hair out.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOIQeUQDKJI

    Saw that as a trailer before The Hobbit.....

    Was amuzed.....yet....WHY!!!!???
  • kerriemoe
    kerriemoe Posts: 5 Member
    I don't know what it says about me that I saw this thread title and thought "zOMG! I have to go to there!"

    So, yeah.... thanks. :)
  • coolraul07
    coolraul07 Posts: 1,606 Member
    40 here too....favorite TV show was 3-2-1 Contact on PBS.....loved how they solved mysteries using science.....so then we'd do do the experiments....so fun.
    ...
    Alton Brown for the nerdy cooking science.....
    ...
    Oh, yeah! I saw all but 1 ep of 3-2-1; loved the show and the "The Bloodhound Gang" show-within-a-show. Dammit, now I have both theme song stuck in my mind!
    Yup, "Good Eats" focuses on the science of cooking. Love that too. One of my favorite analogies that he's used was using a bunch of garden hoses segments to demo how cutting meats with the grain is so much easier than against it. Before that, I always wondered way cooking shows would cut steaks and other large cuts diagonally before plating. Now I know and do it myself.
    And Nat Geo and NOVA are about all we watch on TV anymore. (Was watching a show last night about the Sounds of the Universe....and pulsars that spin at 179 rpm!!!! Mindblowing!)
    Plus NatGeo has my new guilty pleasure: Doomsday Preppers!
  • ChecktheRhyme
    ChecktheRhyme Posts: 68 Member
    I just realized this forum doesn't have a subscribe feature when you wanna keep track of a thread, booooo.
  • coolraul07
    coolraul07 Posts: 1,606 Member
    I just realized this forum doesn't have a subscribe feature when you wanna keep track of a thread, booooo.
    Yeah, I wish... :grumble:
  • EmilyJackCO
    EmilyJackCO Posts: 621 Member
    I'm a total physics geek, and I read so much about quantum mechanics that I end up picking apart the Through the Wormhole shows. *face palm* I have an entire stack of books and biographies from several different prominent authors. (and just as many political books

    My house is full of Doctor Who collectibles and SciFi box sets. However, there is something wrong with me because I am not a Firefly fan. *shame*
  • EmilyJackCO
    EmilyJackCO Posts: 621 Member
    Ancient Aliens on the History channel or H2 has me thoroughly convinced...

    Anyone have any theories on who the villian is in the upcoming Star Trek Into the Darkness movie? I've already been advised that "John Harrison" is JJ's version of "John Smith"...it means he's not telling. I personally think Gary Mitchell is a decent bet.

    I soooooo want it to be Gary Mitchell very very muchly! :D<3<3<3
  • Jaulen
    Jaulen Posts: 468 Member
    How could I forget 'The Bloodhound Gang'?
  • EmilyJackCO
    EmilyJackCO Posts: 621 Member
    DS9 did have some of the most fantastically written episodes. They had so much more work to do starting with a static base of operations. Being that the re-boot movies are in TOS geneneration, I don't think we'll ever get to see DS9 on the big screen.

    I read some guys dying wish was to see Into the Darkness but they were concerned he wasn't going to make it. JJ heard about it and screened a rough print for him. He died a few days later with the last words of "I'm going into the future". That there's some high level nerdiness!

    Um... Only because they stole them from JMS!!! *ducks & runs*

    (reference - Babylon 5 vs. Deep Space 9 controversy via usenet in the late 90s)
  • EmilyJackCO
    EmilyJackCO Posts: 621 Member
    I think I got you beat...I watched the first go around of TOS Star Trek reruns...in black & white!

    And I got Doctor Who and Kung Fu Saturdays on UHF. And Star Trek: TOS!!! I hid behind the couch during the end credits.
  • ChecktheRhyme
    ChecktheRhyme Posts: 68 Member
    Picard >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Kirk
  • sedwards9999
    sedwards9999 Posts: 160 Member
    Picard >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Kirk


    Agree, but Kirk was bad-*kitten* against the Gorn.
  • coolraul07
    coolraul07 Posts: 1,606 Member
    ...
    DS9 did have some of the most fantastically written episodes. They had so much more work to do starting with a static base of operations.
    ...
    Um... Only because they stole them from JMS!!! *ducks & runs*
    (reference - Babylon 5 vs. Deep Space 9 controversy via usenet in the late 90s)
    Imma let that one slide cuz ya brought up JMS; wow that dude is prolific. Mind you, I know him best from print... mainly his runs on Fantastic Four and The Amazing Spider-Man. He's so good that I forgave him for screwing up Spider-Man for me with his "One More Day" retcon (still pissed though...:grumble: )
  • Dawmer299
    Dawmer299 Posts: 32
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/3583-the-geek-squid

    Feel free to join our nerdy/geeky group! :D

    Finally, My people! 99.9% geek here...
  • Jaulen
    Jaulen Posts: 468 Member
    Picard >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Kirk


    Totally.
  • Miss_Chievous_wechange
    Miss_Chievous_wechange Posts: 1,230 Member
    I play a Drow Cleric in Pathfinder. I'm a fan of Dragon*Con. I sleep in a Cowardly Dog Tshirt and Batman underwear. Enough said.
  • mapnerd2005
    mapnerd2005 Posts: 363
    All nerd, no geek

    Sometimes my friends get scared when the NERD switch gets turned on, their eyes glaze over.....
  • coolraul07
    coolraul07 Posts: 1,606 Member
    Picard >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Kirk
    Agree, but Kirk was bad-*kitten* against the Gorn.

    gorn_kirk.jpg
    <Kirk-like staccato> OK... but.. next time I... get to lead!
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    I firmly believe there is no single divine being and all humans past drama - success - survival - intelligence - and technology all came from "aliens". The proof is everywhere, from Stonehenge to the pyramids, to underwater cities to Mayan ruins. Hieroglyphs, artifacts, depictions of "beings coming from the sky" in the bible and many ancient texts. Either way you put this, anything that comes from the heavens is "alien to this earth", but finding of "landing pads" and strategic magnetic placement of giant rocks on the earth all point to unparalleled knowledge given to humans but a superior race sitting among the stars. Just look between 1800 - now. The increase in technology is imaginable, compared to 0 bc to1700 ad. Thats over 2000 years. 200 years and we went from just discovering electricity to having devices the size of leafs to connect and talk to each other over thousands of miles in a second. No way we could have done this on our own.

    But how do you know the 'aliens' are not just a single divine being?
  • lacroyx
    lacroyx Posts: 5,754 Member
    Picard >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Kirk


    Totally.
    100% agree!
  • coolraul07
    coolraul07 Posts: 1,606 Member
    Picard >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Kirk


    Totally.
    100% agree!

    <...waits for a flood of "Kirk >>>>>>>>> Picard" zealots to run in 'gang-rumble' style...>
  • EmilyJackCO
    EmilyJackCO Posts: 621 Member
    Imma let that one slide cuz ya brought up JMS; wow that dude is prolific. Mind you, I know him best from print... mainly his runs on Fantastic Four and The Amazing Spider-Man. He's so good that I forgave him for screwing up Spider-Man for me with his "One More Day" retcon (still pissed though...:grumble: )

    *rofl* He truly is. And he rescues kittens. LOL. Yeah - he's a bit of an obsession of mine. I seriously think I need help sometimes. Which is hilarious because I'm not a huge comic book girl, having gotten into Tolkien when I was 5. I dove into the fantasy world way too early.
  • Admiral_Derp
    Admiral_Derp Posts: 866 Member
    Picard >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Kirk


    Totally.
    100% agree!

    <...waits for a flood of "Kirk >>>>>>>>> Picard" zealots to run in 'gang-rumble' style...>

    Captain Pike....I win all the internets!
  • mrincredible93
    mrincredible93 Posts: 146
    I think I got you beat...I watched the first go around of TOS Star Trek reruns...in black & white!

    For the tie: I first watched in syndication, mid-to-late 70s on a 10" B&W TV that took 2-3 min to warm-up. Turn it on, go fix sandwich, come back and wait 5 more seconds.

    How about that?


    I think we tied on the TV (Zenith)! My first episode was in `73 though. Also a few neighborhood buddies and I had a "bridge" set up in the basement. For the bonus...first convention in `75. I'll agree to a tie though, LOL!
  • AndyStanford
    AndyStanford Posts: 154 Member
    Um... Only because they stole them from JMS!!! *ducks & runs*

    (reference - Babylon 5 vs. Deep Space 9 controversy via usenet in the late 90s)

    Not really that contraversial.

    As I remember it.

    JMS pitched B5 to Paramount. Paramount said no. JMS takes B5 elsewhere. Paramount creates DS9. That's pretty much the sequence of events.

    Now, I love Trek. I grew up watching Kirk kick butt, I watched the original run of TNG in the UK, and I thought DS9 was great (aside from the finale), but frankly, Babylon 5 leaves Trek in the dust as far as gritty, compelling storytelling is concerned.

    B5 also came in at a fraction of the budget of DS9.
  • mrincredible93
    mrincredible93 Posts: 146
    I don't know if i can go for the idea that we're at the peak of knowledge and advancement. There's too much that we don't know about just the parts of the universe that we can observe. (I think it's about 14 billion light years....) Not to mention what's outside of that. Heck, if some of the stuff I've seen on Nat Geo is right, there is still a huge amount that we don't know about the oceans here on earth. I think that as long as there is that much unknown left, we're always going to be innovating. We're always going to try to get there. Much of our modern tech is really just a byproduct of reaching out, observing and measuring. I think we've still got a long way to go. But I could be wrong.

    I remember reading about some advanced and respected thinker (can't remember who) in the late 1880's who famously stated that everything that could be invented or discovered was already done...that humanity had reached it's peak. We certainly know now that by the 1880's we had just finished our warm-up. I think we're only limited by our own thoughts. Walt Disney said "If you can dream it, you can achieve it".

    I think the only true limit to our human potential would be to believe that we can continue to advance without expanding off this planet. Ever expanding population on a closed environment will continue to stress the limits of our planet. Politicians who want to cut manned exploration are short-sighted. Economists talk about expanding marketplaces. History tells us the best opportunities are made not when we try to steal market share from competitors where we are but when we create new marketplaces where we are not. Think European expansion into the Western Hemisphere. If there are other societies in our universe, history also tells us the advantage belongs to the ones who expand beyond their boundries, not the ones who wait for the others' expansion to happen to them.

    If we do nothing but sit back and use our limited resources and expand our population using those resources, we risk degrading to the apocolyptic societies we see in our movies. Larger wars will be fought over ever smaller reasons, like access to fresh water or farmland or even just areas of temperate climate for food. Expanding our race into the stars and planets is the only way to advance humanity and to reach our true potential.

    (stepping down from soap box now)
  • Admiral_Derp
    Admiral_Derp Posts: 866 Member
    I remember reading about some advanced and respected thinker (can't remember who) in the late 1880's who famously stated that everything that could be invented or discovered was already done...that humanity had reached it's peak. We certainly know now that by the 1880's we had just finished our warm-up. I think we're only limited by our own thoughts. Walt Disney said "If you can dream it, you can achieve it".

    I think the only true limit to our human potential would be to believe that we can continue to advance without expanding off this planet. Ever expanding population on a closed environment will continue to stress the limits of our planet. Politicians who want to cut manned exploration are short-sighted. Economists talk about expanding marketplaces. History tells us the best opportunities are made not when we try to steal market share from competitors where we are but when we create new marketplaces where we are not. Think European expansion into the Western Hemisphere. If there are other societies in our universe, history also tells us the advantage belongs to the ones who expand beyond their boundries, not the ones who wait for the others' expansion to happen to them.

    If we do nothing but sit back and use our limited resources and expand our population using those resources, we risk degrading to the apocolyptic societies we see in our movies. Larger wars will be fought over ever smaller reasons, like access to fresh water or farmland or even just areas of temperate climate for food. Expanding our race into the stars and planets is the only way to advance humanity and to reach our true potential.

    (stepping down from soap box now)

    Yeah I think it's inevitable that we go that direction.
  • mrincredible93
    mrincredible93 Posts: 146
    Ancient Aliens on the History channel or H2 has me thoroughly convinced...

    Anyone have any theories on who the villian is in the upcoming Star Trek Into the Darkness movie? I've already been advised that "John Harrison" is JJ's version of "John Smith"...it means he's not telling. I personally think Gary Mitchell is a decent bet.

    I soooooo want it to be Gary Mitchell very very muchly! :D<3<3<3

    Some others are saying NO because Gary was used in the comic version but I think it would be wrong to discard the possibility based on that alone. The trailer talks about being betrayed from within and it shows Cumberbatch in a starfleet uniform and enclosed in a glass cell...very Gary Mitchell-esque. AND since Mitchell is a character already belonging to Paramount, they do not have to give writing credit (or payment) to anyone else. While JJ has said many of the written stories will be accepted into cannon, it doesn't take away that if they use them they have to pay for them.
  • sedwards9999
    sedwards9999 Posts: 160 Member
    It's not that I think there isn't more to discover. I just think we're not capable of discovering too much more given the limitations of our species and environment.

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