I know this is way random, but a friend of mine was picking my brain about Twitter and trying to get my opinion on various Star Trek things. I ended the writing portion of MovieByte so it feels a little weird to write a single random article there again. So I'm writing this here to answer the questions put to me.
<h2>A ranking of various Star Trek incarnations</h2>
<h3>The Original Series (TOS)</h3>
TOS has some very good episodes, some in each season — though season 3 has the least I think — even though it is certainly very much a product of its time and has many '60s tropes. The HD re-mastering has helped it out a lot and I enjoy watching my favorite episodes that much more.
<h4>Some favorite TOS episodes</h4>
<ul>
<li>Dagger of the Mind (S1E9)</li>
<li>The Corbomite Maneuver (S1E10)</li>
<li>The Conscience of the King (S1E13)</li>
<li>Balance of Terror (S1E14)</li>
<li>The Galileo Seven (S1E16)</li>
<li>The Squire of Gothos (S1E17)</li>
<li>Arena (S1E18)</li>
<li>Tomorrow is Yesterday (S1E19)</li>
<li>Space Seed (S1E22)</li>
<li>A Taste of Armageddon (S1E23)</li>
<li>This Side of Paradise (S1E24)</li>
<li>The Devil in the Dark (S1E25)</li>
<li>Errand of Mercy (S1E26)</li>
<li>The City on the Edge of Forever (S1E28)</li>
<li>Operation -- Annihilate! (S1E29)</li>
<li>Amok Time (S2E1)</li>
<li>Mirror, Mirror (S2E4)</li>
<li>The Doomsday Machine (S2E6)</li>
<li>Journey to Babel (S2E10)</li>
<li>Friday's Child (S2E11)</li>
<li>A Piece of the Action (S2E17)</li>
<li>Patterns of Force (S2E21)</li>
<li>By Any Other Name (S2E22)</li>
<li>Bread and Circuses (S2E25)</li>
<li>Assignment: Earth (S2E26)</li>
<li>The Enterprise Incident (S3E2)</li>
<li>For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky (S3E8)</li>
<li>Wink of an Eye (S3E11)</li>
<li>Whom Gods Destroy (S3E14)</li>
<li>Requiem for Methuselah (S3E19)</li>
</ul>
<h3>The Next Generation (TNG)</h3>
I always having a hard time deciding whether I like TNG or DS9 more (stop asking me to chose favorite children!). Ultimately it comes down to this: TNG has great characters and many amazing stories. But all those stories are one off episodes. DS9 is more arc based — particularly when the Dominion War starts. DS9 also has great characters. I like both shows.
Also note that the HD re-master is fantastic!
The list of favorite episodes is going to be long because there are A LOT of favorites. I recently just went through and watching all my favorite episodes so I remember more easily which ones are. I will not be able to do that with DS9 because it’s been about 4 years since I watched it. I’ve actually just started re-watching.
<h4>Some favorite TNG episodes</h4>
<ul>
<li>The Battle (S1E8)</li>
<li>Hide and Q (S1E9)</li>
<li>Datalore (S1E12)</li>
<li>11001001 (S1E14)</li>
<li>Too Short a Season (S1E15)</li>
<li>Home Soil (S1E17)</li>
<li>Symbiosis (S1E21)</li>
<li>We'll Always Have Paris (S1E23)</li>
<li>Conspiracy (S1E24)</li>
<li>The Neutral Zone (S1E25)</li>
<li>Where Silence Has Lease (S2E2)</li>
<li>Unnatural Selection (S2E7)</li>
<li>The Measure of a Man (S2E9)</li>
<li>Contagion (S2E11)</li>
<li>Q Who? (S2E16)</li>
<li>The Emissary (S2E20)</li>
<li>Peak Performance (S2E21)</li>
<li>The Ensigns of Command (S3E2)</li>
<li>The Survivors (S3E3)</li>
<li>Booby Trap (S3E6)</li>
<li>The Enemy (S3E7)</li>
<li>The Vengeance Factor (S3E9)</li>
<li>The Defector (S3E10)</li>
<li>The High Ground (S3E12)</li>
<li>Déjà Q (S3E13)</li>
<li>A Matter of Perspective (S3E14)</li>
<li>Yesterday's Enterprise (S3E15)</li>
<li>The Offspring (S3E16)</li>
<li>Sins of the Father (S3E17)</li>
<li>Allegiance (S3E18)</li>
<li>Captain's Holiday (S3E19)</li>
<li>Hollow Pursuits (S3E21)</li>
<li>The Most Toys (S3E22)</li>
<li>Sarek (S3E23)</li>
<li>The Best of Both Worlds (S3E26, S4E1)</li>
<li>Family (S4E2)</li>
<li>Reunion (S4E8)</li>
<li>Future Imperfect (S4E8)</li>
<li>Final Mission (S4E9)</li>
<li>Data's Day (S4E12)</li>
<li>The Wounded (S4E12)</li>
<li>Devil's Due (S4E13)</li>
<li>Clues (S4E14)</li>
<li>First Contact (S4E15)</li>
<li>Galaxy's Child (S4E16)</li>
<li>The Drumhead (S4E21)</li>
<li>The Mind's Eye (S4E24)</li>
<li>Redemption (S4E26, S5E1)</li>
<li>Ensign Ro (S5E3)</li>
<li>Disaster (S5E5)</li>
<li>The Game (S5E6)</li>
<li>Unification (S5E7, S5E8)</li>
<li>A Matter of Time (S5E9)</li>
<li>Conundrum (S5E14)</li>
<li>Ethics (S5E16)</li>
<li>Cause and Effect (S5E18)</li>
<li>The First Duty (S5E19)</li>
<li>I Borg (S5E23)</li>
<li>The Next Phase (S5E24)</li>
<li>The Inner Light (S5E25)</li>
<li>Time's Arrow (S4E26, S6E1)</li>
<li>Realm of Fear (S6E2)</li>
<li>Relics (S6E3)</li>
<li>Rascals (S6E7)</li>
<li>Chain of Command (S6E11)</li>
<li>Ship in a Bottle (S6E12)</li>
<li>Face of the Enemy (S6E14)</li>
<li>Tapestry (S6E15)</li>
<li>Birthright (S6E16, S6E17)</li>
<li>Starship Mine (S6E18)</li>
<li>Lessons (S6E19)</li>
<li>The Chase (S6E20)</li>
<li>Rightful Heir (S6E23)</li>
<li>Second Chances (S6E24)</li>
<li>Timescape (S6E25)</li>
<li>Descent (S6E26, S7E1)</li>
<li>Gambit (S7E5, S7E6)</li>
<li>Attached (S7E8)</li>
<li>Inheritance (S7E10)</li>
<li>Parallels (S7E11)</li>
<li>The Pegasus (S7E12)</li>
<li>Lower Decks (S7E15)</li>
<li>All Good Things (S7E25)</li>
</ul>
<h3>Voyager</h3>
Voyager was not as good as it's predecessors, but it wasn't a bad show. I particularly always enjoyed The Doctor. I believe he had the best arc on the show without contest.
<h3>Enterprise</h3>
Enterprise Seasons 1 &#x26; 2 are some of the most consistently worst Star Trek ever made — boring, dull, lifeless — with a very occasional decent episode thrown in there. Also, that theme song. Can I just say WORST EVER?!? Seasons 3 and 4 are actually somewhat decent with some really great episodes. Unfortunately I think most people had quit watching the show by the time it recovered from seasons 1 and 2.
<h3>The Movies</h3>
The only bad Star Trek movies are The Motion Picture and The Final Frontier. The reboot has obviously breathed new life into the franchise. I was very much opposed to it when the first reboot film was in the works — and I still think it would have been better to move forward — but I was quite happy with Into Darkness even though the film had its annoyances.
<h4>A ranking of Star Trek films</h4>
<ul>
<li>The Wrath of Khan (2): 5 stars</li>
<li>The Undiscovered Country (6): 4.5 stars</li>
<li>First Contact (8): 4.5 stars</li>
<li>Into Darkness (12): 4 stars</li>
<li>The Voyage Home (4): 4 stars</li>
<li>Insurrection (9): 3.5 stars</li>
<li>Nemesis (10): 3.5 stars</li>
<li>Star Trek (2009) (11): 3.5 stars</li>
<li>The Search for Spock (3): 3.5 stars</li>
<li>Generations (7): 3.5 stars</li>
<li>The Motion Picture (1): 3 stars</li>
<li>The Final Frontier (5): 2.5 stars</li>
</ul>
<h4>A ranking of Star Trek Music</h4>
Ranking of Film scores:
<ol>
<li>The Motion Picture
Jerry Goldsmith really brought ST to the next level and established themes and motifs that still live on. While the film is kind of terrible, the score if FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC.</li>
<li>The Wrath of Khan
This is basically James Horner’s great take on what Goldsmith did before him with a tone that matches the more action filled and much less boring film in question. And it feels like it has the heart of the original series.</li>
<li>Into Darkness
Michael Giacchino did some fantastic work here with a major update to his 2009 Star Trek score, introducing new and touching themes and motifs. I enjoy this one a lot.</li>
<li>The Final Frontier
Goldsmith returned to build upon his original work while establishing themes and motifs that would continue to carry the franchise. Again, the film was the worst in the series, which some of the best music — truly frustrating.</li>
<li>The Undiscovered Country
Cliff Eidelman’s score didn’t sound very "Star Treky" in some ways, but a lot of interesting is going on in his score and I always enjoy listening to it and it fits the film very well.</li>
<li>First Contact
Goldsmith is always fantastic and he always finds a way to build on his previous work in a way that references it but doesn’t feel like a completely re-use.</li>
<li>The Search for Spock
Mostly a more melancholy re-hash of Wrath of Khan with an added new Klingon theme that would go on to be heavily borrowed from in his Aliens score.</li>
<li>Insurrection
I think Jerry Goldsmith added some really nice and touching bits to build upon his previous work.</li>
<li>Nemesis
This is my least favorite work from Goldsmith in this franchise. It felt kind of tired, and he was experimenting with some sort of sound that I do not favor. That said, there are some great no motifs and awesome tracks here.</li>
<li>Star Trek (2009)
While I think Into Darkness takes the score to a whole new level that is much better, I don't think the original film is Giacchino's best work and feels a little like it ignores Star Trek’s legacy. I enjoy some of the tracks in this score, but overall a bit of a miss.</li>
<li>Generations
While I have enjoyed Denis McCarthy’s work on the various series (the first episode of Deep Space Nine is phenomenal), I don’t feel like he hit this one out of the park. Nevertheless, I do listen to the soundtrack sometimes. It’s okay, just not great.</li>
<li>The Voyage Home
Perhaps the worst misstep in the Star Trek movie franchise. Some of it works, some of it is mediocre, and much of it is terrible.</li>
</ol>
The Shows:
My favorite theme is probably the original Deep Space Nine theme. Also, the score for the first episode of Deep Space Nine is on Apple Music and I highly recommend it.
I also quite enjoy the main theme of The Next Generation. Goldsmith’s Voyager theme is top notch, but not my favorite.
Overall, starting in season 3 of TNG the scoring of each episode was usually good. The first 2 seasons of The Next Generation — while always composed and not canned music, felt way to synthesized and icky. Though the synthesized sound was sometimes still present in TNG's music from time to time in Season 3, it largely began to go away and was replaced by the symphonic sound we think of with Star Trek nowadays.
The only music I really don't enjoy that much is pretty much the entirety of TOS. I'm not a fan of the theme, and most of the music is canned and reused throughout all three seasons. They basically wrote some various Star Trek mood motifs and reuse them all throughout. That was kind of the thing to do at the time.

Star Trek Rankings

(by the way, the post image I used above makes me sick to my stomach)
When it comes to immigration, why do conservatives suddenly start using liberal logic and liberals start using conservative logic? Liberals argue that immigrants strengthen the economy by adding value to our workforce. Conservatives argue that we're adding competitors to the workforce in an economy where it's already hard to find a job.
It's so weird because it's like liberals suddenly understand how the economy actually works and conservatives suddenly get belligerent (well, moreso than normal) and decide that the economy does in fact work the way liberals normally say it does. They suddenly view wealth and resources as fixed, and that we are giving away that wealth and those resources to the immigrants. But that is never how any economy has ever functioned. Wealth is not a fixed resource, and work is not a fixed resource. They are fluid resources, expanding and contracting. More people in the workforce makes for a stronger economy. There's more people working, there's more people buying, there are more people selling, there are more people creating wealth.
We normally view competition as a good thing. But suddenly, with immigration, we view it as bad because they might come in and undercut us. But have you stopped to think that maybe you just need to up your game? I am not too worried about an immigrant taking my job. Why? Because I try to be the best at what I do. I'm paid fair wages for what I do. And if my job is taken by an immigrant, or anyone else, then I need to examine myself, my abilities, and the job that I am doing. It's possible that an immigrant (or anyone else) could come in an undercut me, and do a poor job and ruin the company, and/or the company would wish they had not replaced me with a lower wage worker who could not do the job. But that's all part of doing business.
Now, there is a problem with illegal immigrants in this country. It is a pre-existing problem though. I said that more people makes the workforce and economy stronger. I also said that there are more people creating wealth. In general, when the government is not involved, that's true. But the fact is, the government is involved and creating problems. Illegal immigrants and legal immigrants have access to resources no one should, and they take advantage of it. Instead of creating wealth, they come and drain the economy by sucking tax funded benefits. You don't have to be an immigrant to do that, so the issue is not immigration. So the answer to the problem is neither conservative nor liberal. It is an issue of free market and government interference. As in almost all things, I believe we would have a stronger economy, and a stronger nation if we would get the government out of the immigration business.
The founding fathers never envisioned the government having the right to restrict immigration, and Biblically, I cannot come up with a single reason why an expansive federal government should have any say over the free movement of peoples of any race or region. So the idea of "illegal immigration" is not even one we should entertain in the first place. Instead, let's get the government to quit providing benefits that drain the economy. Let's stop regulation immigration so that we only attract criminals. Let’s cut the red tape from the process and make immigration something free and clear so that others may come and strengthen the economy. Let's stop being liberal or conservative, and instead make this country free again. Let's remember to have compassion on people of other countries and races. Let's stop being stupid on both sides of the aisle.

Conservative and Liberal Immigration Logic

So many people seem to be misunderstanding the issues at hand with President Obama and immigration.
Issue 1: The executive order is entirely unlawful. So are most executive orders. Big deal. I mean it is a big deal, but in the grand scheme of things, why fuss about this one? (Oh, I know, it's because Bush didn't give it. Bleh).
Issue 2: Congressional restriction on immigration is unlawful. They have the authority to restrict naturalization, but not immigration. We have become quite the xenophobic culture — at least on the conservative side of the isle — and we are trying to keep people out of the country. We have no right to do so. The constitution of this United States knows nothing of this "illegal" immigration which conservatives love to talk about. Immigration was always meant to be unrestricted. Also, try to remember, every single one of us who is not an American Indian descends from immigrants to this country.
Issue 3: Conservatives love to talk about what a drain illegal immigration is on our society. I beg to differ. The drain they speak of is already present, immigration just tends to really emphasize it. We have the government doing things it's not supposed to do, providing benefits it should not be providing, meddling in things it ought not to be meddling with. "Illegal" immigrants come and take advantage of our broken system, receiving welfare, food stamps, and all manner of benefits that no one at all should be receiving. Immigrants otherwise present a net positive to our society. Without government benefits in place, they would be forced to work for their living like decent and able bodied humans should, they would use their wages to buy things, and our economy would be strengthened. So the real issue is not immigration at all, that's just a smoke screen — a scapegoat conservatives love to point to. The real issue is the size and scope of the government and what it is doing with the money it has extorted from us.
Issue 4: Conservatives love to talk about how "illegal" aliens are already criminals and tend to do criminal things which is harmful to society. The problem is our immigration laws do indeed keep the more law abiding types out, but let in those who are cunning and tend toward illegal activities. It's sort of like the war on drugs in that way. By criminalizing certain substances, it has been made attractive to criminal types and created a black market and trade that otherwise would not exist. Two solutions to this problem are apparent: 1). stop restricting immigration, 2). properly execute justice on immigrants the same as we do for citizens. They should not get a pass because they are not a naturalized citizen. If they steal, they should make restitution. If they kill, they should face the death penalty. If they damage property, they should repay. In short, it should be the same experience for them as it is for us natural citizens (and yeah, I realize that the justice system in general has issues which are exacerbated by immigrants).
<h2>A couple other thoughts</h2>
Are you conservatives all up in arms about "amnesty" really telling me that you want the same government you say you distrust to be in charge of restricting immigration? Why do we suddenly trust the government with the power to do that, but we don't trust it with the power for other things? This is inconsistent. Let's get the government out of the immigration business.
The other thing is that the Bible is not silent on the issue of foreigners in the land. There are two verses that immediately come to mind. Exodus 22:21:
<blockquote>
Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
</blockquote>
And Deuteronomy 10:19:
<blockquote>
Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
</blockquote>
Note that the children of Israel were not told, make sure the paper work is in order, make sure they came here "legally" then treat them right. No, the expectation was that people would be coming and going, there would be foreigners in your midst and you must not oppress them. Seems pretty simple, really.
So let's stop getting outraged over the wrong issues and start being outraged that this is even an issue over which Obama could illegally issue an executive order. Why were these strangers in our land considered illegal to begin with? Why are we oppressing them? We need to stop it.
Which goes right to my final "other" though. Let's remember that these immigrants we speak of are real people that God has put here on this earth. We must treat them with the respect due to our fellow human beings. I don't think trucking people off and dumping them back where they came from is the respect that is due to them. Unless one of these immigrants is harming you, damaging your property, or otherwise doing you harm, I suggest you shut your flapping lips and live in peace with your fellow man. Romans 12:18:
<blockquote>
If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
</blockquote>
Seeking to deport your fellow men (or women) who are not harming you in any way is not living peaceably with all men.
Lastly, I will recommend a resource to you on this very issue with only the caveat that I don't agree with Bojidar Marinov on very many things. And yet, despite some wide chasms, I consider him a fellow laborer for Christ. And on this issue, I can wholeheartedly recommend and commend his material. Go <a href="http://www.apologiaradio.com/?p=877">here</a> and listen to an episode of Apologia Radio where he and Jeff Durbin address this issue in a Biblical manner.
<a href="http://www.apologiaradio.com/?p=877">A Biblical Look at Immigration – 8/2/2014 »</a>

Immigration and Executive Orders

The Supreme Court of the United States <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/06/supreme-court-hobby-lobby-decision-contraception-mandate-108429.html">handed down their decision</a> in the Hobby Lobby case. That decision was in favor of liberty. Hobby Lobby has been fighting for the right to not provide and pay for the type of "healthcare" that can cause an abortion of a tiny little baby in the womb. The Supreme Court has ruled that they do indeed have the right, as one would expect in a free country.
After that decision was handed down, my Twitter stream lit up in a blaze of righteous anger from those on the side of death. The general consensus from moderates to liberals is that Hobby Lobby is being allowed to flaunt the law of the land and, what's next, someone refusing healthcare altogether? The shock and horror.
Let me be clear, I think it is immoral and repugnant that any entity is required by the laws of our land to provide anything for anyone. A corporation is run by people with convictions and morals. You would not require of me that I provide for the general welfare of my neighbor <a href="#fn:1">1</a> so why do we require it of employers? We've made corporations this faceless entity that obviously has resources beyond our comprehension so they just need to buckle up, the CEO should sell a yacht or three, and provide whatever we the people want.
It occurs to me that if I had my way, and corporations were not these big legal entities that we see them as today, but were simply seen as individuals who formed a partnership together, perhaps a lot of this wrongheaded thinking would go away. But I digress.
The tack I wish to take here is this; I keep seeing this type of phrase tossed around negatively about the SCOTUS decision:
<pre><code>We live in a country where corporations have more rights than women.
</code></pre>
This is at best a misleading statement, meant to stir up an emotional response <a href="#fn:2">2</a>. The very premise of the statement is based on a false assumption. The assumption is that a right was taken away from women in this decision to allow Hobby Lobby to not fund murder.
In fact, no rights were taken away from Women, and some were given back to Hobby Lobby. Women may still have an abortion in this country, as sick and sad as that may be. What has changed, however, is that Women may not expect Hobby Lobby to be forced to fund such a heinous act. Note that we can still expect Hobby Lobby to be forced to fund all manor of other healthcare needs. <a href="#fn:3">3</a>
But we have devolved in this country — in our modern society — to the point where we perceive that whatever our heart desires is a right. We desire that woman should be able to murder their unborn children and that this service should be rendered unto them for no cost out of their own pocket. Someone has to foot the bill, why not the employers? To us, freedom means free things for the masses. But this is not liberty, this is tyranny.
To illustrate, let us suppose that what I and everyone else in the country these days wants, is for employers to provide a Ferrari to all employees. One of the companies decides they can't afford to do this and so they don't provide it to me. Is my liberty now infringed upon because my employer would not provide me with what I want? Would I say that the employer has invaded my garage and denied me access to a Ferrari? No one in their right mind would answer this in the affirmative, and yet that's exactly what's going on. Only in this case the stakes are much higher. Those in charge at Hobby Lobby have a moral issue with the murder of babies (I mean, I can't imagine why, right?) and so they do not want to be party to those murders. The loony leftists would like to require that Hobby Lobby provide this type of healthcare.
Look, I'm just going to come right out and say this. You can call me out over on Facebook or Twitter if you like. You can accuse me of making this an "us versus them" debate, and that's fine because I am. I draw the line at murder, so sue me. Anyone who cannot see this issue for what it is is party to the evil that has been spreading over this country like a plague. God has sent a blindness upon us so that we no longer recognize good from evil. We cannot recognize the clarity of this situation and what is happening. We can no longer distinguish between freedom and liberty, and the will of a people whose hearts and minds want nothing but wickedness.
So yes, this is about liberty. It is about those who do not want liberty, but want to have their desires met without regard for others, and those who want liberty to be evenly applied to all.
<hr>
<ol>
<li>
Well, at least not directly, but that’s another post. <a href="#fnref:1">↩</a>
</li>
<li>
A more cynical view is that it is an outright attempt at guilt manipulation. <a href="#fnref:2">↩</a>
</li>
<li>
Which I still find morally repugnant. Government should in no way be involved in a business negotiation, which is what is going on in an agreement between employer and employee. <a href="#fnref:3">↩</a>
</li>
</ol>

Hobby Lobby, Rights, and Women

<blockquote>
After the SWAT team broke down the door, they threw a flashbang grenade inside. It landed in my son’s crib.
Flashbang grenades were created for soldiers to use during battle. When they explode, the noise is so loud and the flash is so bright that anyone close by is temporarily blinded and deafened. It’s been three weeks since the flashbang exploded next to my sleeping baby, and he’s still covered in burns.
There’s still a hole in his chest that exposes his ribs. At least that’s what I’ve been told; I’m afraid to look.
</blockquote>
Why was this disgusting atrocity committed?
<blockquote>
My husband’s nephew, the one they were looking for, wasn’t there. He doesn’t even live in that house. After breaking down the door, throwing my husband to the ground, and screaming at my children, the officers – armed with M16s – filed through the house like they were playing war. They searched for drugs and never found any.
</blockquote>
Drugs. This is because of drugs.
<blockquote>
I heard my baby wailing and asked one of the officers to let me hold him. He screamed at me to sit down and shut up and blocked my view, so I couldn’t see my son. I could see a singed crib. And I could see a pool of blood. The officers yelled at me to calm down and told me my son was fine, that he’d just lost a tooth. It was only hours later when they finally let us drive to the hospital that we found out Bou Bou was in the intensive burn unit and that he’d been placed into a medically induced coma.
</blockquote>
This is outrageous — OUTRAGEOUS!
<blockquote>
Every morning, I have to face the reality that my son is fighting for his life. It’s not clear whether he’ll live or die. All of this to find a small amount of drugs?
</blockquote>
The "war" on drugs has never, ever been right, but this sort of thing shows just how crazy it actually is. This is tyranny, not freedom and it's disgusting, immoral, and wholly reprehensible.
I really liked this sarcastic comment made down in the comments section on the linked article. I don't often read the comments, but I happened to see this one and it was good:
<blockquote>
Look people, we can't have people putting plants into their bodies, your body is state property. You don't own yourself. If a few babies have to be blown up to keep that evil plant out of people's bodies than so be it.
</blockquote>
This is what we've come to as a nation. May God help us.

Alecia Phonesavanh — Salon

The War On Drugs Leaves 2 Year Old Fighting for Life

Nintendo recently pushed out an update to the Wii U that gives it a new ability: it can now display advertisements to you. Yeah, you heard me, it displays ads... on the Wii U Gamepad.
Let's start with the update though. One evening I had about 20 minutes to play some game or other before bed so I turned on the Wii U. I was greated with a screen that told me I needed to wait for an update to install, and under no circumstances should I turn off the power (I have often wondered what would happen if we experienced a power failure during such an update).
The update ended up taking almost 40 minutes. There was no way for me to cancel, no way for me to delay it, no options. I was simply forced to endure the update. I am (almost) sure there is a preference for me to disable auto updates, but I find Wii U's preferences a little hard to navigate — AND I'M A DEVELOPER. Settings should NEVER be that hard. And it's not even the point. This is a REALLY bad default. My gaming console is for my fun and enjoyment. Nintendo should NEVER get in between the user and the game they want to play. It's a really bad experience. I was not able to play the game that night because I ran out of time waiting for the update. It's. a. GAMING CONSOLE. No update is so important that you should disrupt the user experience. Ideally what should have happened is there should have been a dialog for the update: "would you like to install now, or later when you're sleeping?" Later would have been fine. A simple dialog would have been fine. But it seems Nintendo is not interested in user experience. They are apparently clueless.
This is actually not the first time this has happened to me with a Wii U update. It has happened at least twice before over the amount of time I have had the console.
So, getting back to the ads, I quickly discovered in the subsequent days that among some other new features that are fine, there was a new one that is decidedly not fine. The Gamepad will randomly display ads. Sure they're for Nintendo's own products (for now), but this is not okay with me. Once, the Gamepad even woke itself up (I'm not making this up) while I was in the room to display an ad.
Hear me well, this. is. not. okay! The Wii U is a premium product. Nintendo has always positioned themselves as makers of premium products and they charge a premium price. I paid a premium price for the console and the games that go with it. I did not buy a device that is ad supported. I have spent several hundred dollars for a premium experience. I don't think it's asking too much that my premium device not be plastered with ads, even ads only for products from the maker of the device.
Premium companies do not turn their premium devices into ad supported platforms. Period. This sort of behavior is way beneath Nintendo. Yes, Nintendo is not doing very well right now, but if they think turning their premium device into an ad business to try to sell more of their premium products is going to get them out of this hole, they are seriously deluded.
Can you imagine if Apple plastered an add on an iPhone or iPad screen that required you to click a button to acknowledge before you could use your device? No, the answer is you can not imagine it because Apple would never EVER do it. And if they did, the pundits would finally be right in declaring that Apple's demise was near.
This is the first time that I've seriously doubted that Nintendo can recover from the mess they've gotten themselves in. Because instead of doing the right things to get out of the mess, they're digging the grave deeper and it saddens me. I grew up with Nintendo and I've loved their products. I even, to a degree, love the Wii U. It's a great product that is not doing well because of Nintendo's continued, brazen stupidity. I'm on Nintendo's side. Now I want them to be on my side.

Ads on the Wii U Gamepad Upsets Me

<blockquote>
The problem is not what is being taught, or in which district it’s being taught. The problem is that the state is the one doing the teaching, and this must not be. It is not a legitimate function of any state to educate, no matter what they teach, how they teach, or how they acquire the funds to do the teaching. In America it just so happens that they choose the most asinine things to teach, in the most asinine ways, and acquire the necessary funds to do so in the most immoral way possible. It’s certainly fair to complain about that, but not at the expense of the larger problem.
</blockquote>
Yep. The problem is I'm paying for education that I neither approve of, or have any control of whatsoever. It is an immoral system.

R Campbell Sproul — Owed To Porches

Common Core Isn’t the Problem

I have awoken from my slumber to write a blog post. <a href="#fn:slumber">1</a>
You see, even though I do both web development, and film editing, and the last long term project I got was a film project which sort of took my out of the web development and <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23eecms">#eecms</a> community while I worked feverishly to complete it, I still like to check in on the community once in a while and stay active when I can.
Well yesterday, <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23eecms">#eecms</a> nearly blew up. The reason was because of a blog post <a href="http://ellislab.com/team/member/derek-jones">Chief Maker Derek Jones</a> wrote. <a href="#fn:chiefmaker">2</a>
<h2><a href="http://ellislab.com/blog/entry/competition-ethics-and-add-ons">Competition, Ethics, and Add-ons »</a></h2>
<blockquote>
It’s no secret that a prominent developer in the ExpressionEngine add-on community decided to release their own publishing system, intending to compete directly against ExpressionEngine. What surprised us about this was not that it happened, but the way that it happened. A formerly friendly developer unveiled a competing product behind closed doors at our own conference, and tried to convince the organizers to let him use the A/V equipment that we were paying for to do it.
</blockquote>
…
<blockquote>
Pixel &#x26; Tonic did not just set up shop across the street from us. We invited Pixel &#x26; Tonic to sell flavored syrups to our customers inside our own coffee shop. We left a few syrups off our menu because the friendly business in the corner was providing them. But then they began telling our customers that the coffee at their new shop was better - certainly their prerogative, but we would be irresponsible to ignore it.
So quite simply, we are putting those flavors back on our menu. Our customers do not have to worry whether or not Pixel &#x26; Tonic can develop and support something as complex as a publishing platform and still maintain the time and interest required to continue offering and supporting add-ons for a competitor’s product.
</blockquote>
<h2>Framing</h2>
Let me start of by saying I understand why EllisLab did this. But I have to frame it for those who may not be in the know. I understand that many of you reading this will already know the backstory, but it would be bad writing if I did not frame it anyway.
<a href="http://pixelandtonic.com">Pixel &#x26; Tonic</a> have made add-ons for <a href="http://ellislab.com/expressionengine">ExpressionEngine</a> for many years. It was kind of their business. The problem over the last couple of years is that there has been some shifting going on over at EllisLab, and a perception, right or wrong (I happen to think it’s somewhat right) that <a href="http://ellislab.com/expressionengine">ExpressionEngine</a> has been stagnating. Additionally, EllisLab has been very bad at communication and general support, bug fixes were nonexistent for a seemingly long time, and the community was growing frustrated. In the midst of all this, EllisLab decided to scale back their online presence, more or less abandoning Twitter and their active involvement in the community.
At the same time, while many of us love(d) <a href="http://ellislab.com/expressionengine">ExpressionEngine</a> for it’s great flexibility, and ability to create a website very easily from the ground up and write every single bit of code that appears on the front end, many were growing frustrated by the lack of new features and the apparent inability of EllisLab to keep <a href="http://ellislab.com/expressionengine">ExpressionEngine</a> relevant for today’s Internet. <a href="#fn:fieldgroups">3</a>
During the midst of all this, <a href="http://pixelandtonic.com">Pixel &#x26; Tonic</a> decided that maybe it was time for a new CMS that had the same spirit and heart as <a href="http://ellislab.com/expressionengine">ExpressionEngine</a>, but better foundation, development, support, and a more self aware team. Thus was born <a href="http://buildwithcraft.com">Craft</a>.
There are a lot of messy details, including some of, what looks from where I am at, impropriety of when and where the idea of <a href="http://buildwithcraft.com">Craft</a> was revealed, a questionable checklist on the <a href="http://pixelandtonic.com">Pixel &#x26; Tonic</a> website that was meant to rub EllisLab the wrong way, and EllisLab beginning to optimize their site for the word “Craft” with regard to search results, a term heretofore unused by the EllisLab team in the marketing of <a href="http://ellislab.com/expressionengine">ExpressionEngine</a>.
<h2>Inept Communication and Lack of Self Awareness</h2>
One thing has become very apparent during this whole time period: EllisLab is extremely inept at communication, social media, and community building. Every. Single. Thing. they have done/said lately has only served to anger and upset the formerly loyal community and user-base further.
Upon the posting of that blog post by Derek Jones, the <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23eecms">#eecms</a> community erupted. There was the occasional yay or positive comment, but on the whole, the response was so overwhelmingly negative that one has to wonder how well considered that post was before it was posted? Not very well apparently.
I think this situation has arisen as a direct result of EllisLab’s lack of self awareness. I think that they collectively really have no clue about how they are perceived right now. They may think they do, but this blog post shows that they clearly do not. An old adage seems to apply here. When you are in a hole, stop digging. Unfortunately, EllisLab’s self dug grave just got several feet deeper, I’m afraid.
<h2>A Direct Attack</h2>
The problem is that instead of acknowledging the things that have directly led to the current situation and the creation of <a href="http://buildwithcraft.com">Craft</a>, which I maintain was a direct result of the languishing development of <a href="http://ellislab.com/expressionengine">ExpressionEngine</a>, and acknowledging how poorly communication and community have been handled, they went into attack mode. <a href="#fn:attack">4</a> They went on the offensive and the problem with that strategy is that it’s probably not a good idea when your position is as weak as EllisLab’s is right now.
Whether their perspective on Pixel &#x26; Tonic is right or wrong, it is clear that they were way too harsh in their public statements made by Derek Jones, and the community which has been keenly keeping an eye on Craft, did not respond well.
<h2>Show, Don’t Tell</h2>
Had I been in charge of EllisLab’s communication, my response would have been, show, don’t tell. What I mean is, it would be far better to just do good work and let that speak for itself. I don’t mean that EllisLab should be silent, indeed, my first act, if I were newly placed as head of EllisLab communication, would be to start engaging in the community in a positive way. I would try to acknowledge failures, solicit feedback and respond graciously, and I would certainly stay away from direct attacks on anyone.
Above all, I would encourage the team to start doing really good work. And that means fixing bugs not duplicating currently available third party functionality. I understand that in the future, that might be necessary as competition from Craft heats up, but right now that should have been the furthest thing away on the to-do list. There are so many things about <a href="http://ellislab.com/expressionengine">ExpressionEngine</a> that need help right now. What was once the greatest CMS in my book is having a mid-life crisis. Why not get the thing back on track instead of fixing something that isn’t broken right now?
<h2>A Better Way</h2>
Still, I completely understand why this decision was made. Pixel &#x26; Tonic is now a direct competitor and they are making several of the best add-ons available for <a href="http://ellislab.com/expressionengine">ExpressionEngine</a>; add-ons that many in the community feel are vital to <a href="http://ellislab.com/expressionengine">ExpressionEngine</a>. Despite the fact that I think it’s one of the weakest hands to play, you can see why this decision was made. And in the long term, yes, I think EllisLab should have done this. Not right now, and not in this way, but yes, it was the right decision to do at some point.
With that said, even if it had to be done right now, it could have been done much, much better. First, I think that I would not have written the blog post at all. Just build the functionality, and make it really cool and compelling, and let the work speak for itself.
But, if the blog post had to be written, even that could be better. I am going to do something that I hope is not too cheeky. I would like to write a better blog post that I feel would in all likelihood be much better perceived by the community. This is how I think that post should have been written.
<hr>
A proposed blog post EllisLab could have written
<h2>Competition is A Good Thing</h2>
EllisLab is committed to making ExpressionEngine the best content management platform available. One of the ways we do this is by making it a great platform for third party add-ons. Without the third party add-on community, ExpressionEngine simply wouldn’t be as great as it is today. We love our third party developers, and we want to encourage everyone in the building of great add-ons.
However, sometimes there are add-ons that extend the functionality of ExpressionEngine in such an obvious way that we really feel as if we have no choice but to add that core functionality and build it right into ExpressionEngine.
And sometimes this just makes good business sense on more than one level. It is no secret that Pixel &#x26; Tonic, makers of some of the finest add-ons available for ExpressionEngine, are also now our direct competitors in the CMS business. It seemed unwise to us to continue to leave the functionality of their most popular add-ons to them alone as this could become a conflict of interest for them in the future. We welcome them to continue making great add-ons as they always have, but we hope they will understand our position here.
That is why we are introducing a new field type into the core of ExpressionEngine called Grid, a field-type that allows authors to use grouped field-types to publish any number of rows of related content within an entry. It’s great for photo galleries, addresses, product details, baseball statistics and more.
We realize that some of our failures have directly led to this situation, and that is why we are renewing our commitment to the platform, to quality, and to the community. We hope in building this new field-type into the core of ExpressionEngine, that commitment will be apparent. Our first priority is our customers, and to serve our customers, we must have a great product.
Competition is vital in the marketplace and we really do look forward to competing with Pixel &#x26; Tonic in the CMS space. They’re doing fine work over there and we wish them the best. We really believe that there is room in the marketplace for all of us, and we believe as long as we make the best products we can make, we will be successful.
Onward we go!
<hr>
See, is that so hard? That was the blog post that Derek Jones should have written.
The bottom line here is that all of this just makes me sad. I love what I’m seeing from Craft, but I still love ExpressionEngine and it makes me sad to see the continuing demise of what was once the greatest CMS and to see them devolve into petty squabbles. I think we inherently just want everyone to get along. There really is room for both CMSes.
<h2>A Plea to EllisLab</h2>
I love ExpressionEngine. Let’s not mess it up with politics, please. Please just focus on making great software. Then you won’t need to get all defensive. We’ll love you for it if you do.
<hr>
<ol>
<li>
Actually, I have been writing a lot, you should check out my movie/film website where I do most of my writing now: <a href="http://moviebyte.com">MovieByte</a>. <a href="#fnref:slumber">↩</a>
</li>
<li>
Basically, he is the CEO, they just wanted a more creative title. <a href="#fnref:chiefmaker">↩</a>
</li>
<li>
I for one, have been extremely frustrated with the field group paradigm. It is very limiting when you want your Channels to share some common fields but have others that are not common. We should be able to assign fields to channels individually. <a href="#fnref:fieldgroups">↩</a>
</li>
<li>
Certainly, that’s the way it was perceived by the community. <a href="#fnref:attack">↩</a>
</li>
</ol>

Ethics, Communication, and EllisLab

So you see what it takes to get me to write. There have been many things I wanted to write about over the last little bit. But I've been so doggone busy. The Google Reader imminent shutdown really made me want to write. But this... this makes me write. You can see what's near and dear to my hard: Podcasts.
The internet is abuzz with the the news of Podcasts 1.2. <a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/2031574/hands-on-podcasts-1-2-is-the-one-apple-should-have-shipped.html">Chris Breen has a good rundown</a> of the new app. And I agree that this is the version that should have shipped in that it is far better than the previous app. But it still has some serious flaws that make it not worth using for me. Believe me, I want to use it, I want it to work. I was genuinely excited for the update. The addition of playlists stations is nice and brings it on par with Instacast in that way. And the stilly and quaint reel to reel playback screen is gone, for better or worse (I sort of liked it, but it was a wee bit hard to use).
Here is my biggest frustration. The reason I want this to work is because I spend as much time working at my Macintosh computer as I do out and about with my iOS device. iTunes, with which my phone syncs every night when I plug it in, has podcast subscription capabilities. But I rarely plug my phone directly into my computer. It syncs overnight and so podcasts could sync that way, but I might work at my computer for a couple hours, then head out in my car and want to pick up my podcasts where I left off. Without a physical sync this was impossible. And what if I subscribe to a new podcast on one of the devices? It's cable (or Wi-Fi sync) time to get everything on the same page.
Apple is touting full subscription sync for this version of the app, but here, as I have found, is the rub: that subscription syncing is only between iOS devices, NOT between iOS and it's sync master, iTunes (isn't that quite odd? iTunes syncs with the iOS, but only iOS devices can sync podcasts with each other over the air). This is growing beyond frustrating. Let me explain my experience.
Being excited as I was for this new version of the app, I went and downloaded it, and added a couple of my favorite podcasts to the app. I let the latest episodes download, then I fired up iTunes and waited, and waited, and waited. No podcasts were added to the podcasts section of iTunes. This must be some sort of mistake. So I closed iTunes, forced the podcasts app on the iPhone to refresh and tried again. Still nothing. So I manually subscribed to the podcasts in iTunes and played the latest episode for a few minutes. To my great delight (perhaps the only delightful part of this experience), even though the subscriptions don't sync over the air, the playback position does IF both devices have subscribed to the same podcast and downloaded the same episode. Yay.
So then I subscribed to a couple podcasts on iTunes. As expected from my experience trying it the other way, these podcasts did not automatically show up in the podcast app on iOS. A manual sync with a cable did make them show up. But here is the rub. THE SUBSCRIPTION SWITCH IN THE IOS APP DID NOT GET TURNED ON. You have to manually do that. So even though the podcast was synced over from the iTunes library, the podcast app does not consider that a subscription, it's just sort of parked there.
<img src="/images/uploads/IMG_9178.png" alt="">
LAME LAME LAME LAME LAME!
This does not seem that hard to get right. I don't understand why Apple is making this so painful? I don't get it. I want the features to work as advertised.
Here is what else I would be giving up to switch away from Instacast:
<ul>
<li>Push Notifications for new episodes</li>
<li>Show notes (why does Apple refuse to support this when this is such a standard now?)</li>
<li>More robust media management</li>
</ul>
I must admit that I am not thrilled with Instacast 3's slightly more dumbed down media management, but it is still way better than what Apple's app offers.
And I am excited because Instacast has teased that a Mac client is in the works with full sync. As a podcast geek and power user that will make me extremely happy. I will finally have what I have been longing for these many years.
But the real bottom line for me is that there are still not good and easy podcast solutions for the average person. Apple's app still adds complication by not working quite as advertised, and by trying to hard to make things easy. Sometimes trying to make things easy adds unexpected complication. And solutions like Instacast simple are not easy for mainstream consumers to grasp. Podcasts remain just out of reach for many average consumers in my opinion.
What is so maddening is that Apple could make this so easy and so good, but they just can't seem to manage it.
P.S. That icon is still hideous.
<hr>
Here is the orginal article I wrote about podcasts, and a quick follow up to that.
<ul>
<li><a href="/blog/2012/06/27/podcasts">Podcasts »</a></li>
<li><a href="/blog/2012/06/28/podcasts-a-quick-follow-up">Podcasts - A Quick Follow Up »</a></li>
</ul>

Apple's Podcast App Revisited


<blockquote>
A $368.2 million verdict against Apple has been upheld in the Eastern District of Texas, putting patent holding company VirnetX in a position to collect both royalties and damages from Apple if it continues to use its VPN and FaceTime technologies. Judge Leonard Davis ruled late Tuesday on Apple's request for either a reduction in the damages or a new trial, denying both requests and ordering the two companies to work out a licensing deal on VirnetX's patents.
</blockquote>
This is why we can't have nice things.

Jacqui Cheng on Ars Technica

FaceTime Patent Troll

<blockquote>
My dad has used Photoshop since 1.0. Twenty-odd years ago, he was a forward-thinking graphic-design upstart unafraid to use a computer instead of an X-ACTO knife. It turns out he made the right bet. These days, Photoshop is the only way to do his job. There's no X-ACTO fallback, and no viable "modern" alternative for this generation’s upstarts. And yet, today my dad feels like a hostage.
"I love and hate Adobe," he said when we first discussed this piece. See, Adobe doesn't build Photoshop for my dad. Adobe just builds Photoshop, and Photoshop is an insane mess. Every couple years brings a new version, costing hundreds of dollars, chock full of new features he doesn't need, and lacking the improvements he wants. Later, he downgraded his original sentiment: "I hate Adobe."
</blockquote>
This is a fairly lengthy ready, well, I mean it takes some time. But I loved reading it so much. It’s funny, I have a love hate relationship with Photoshop as well. It is integral to so much that I do and I have not been able to find a replacement for it. I cannot do those things which I often need to do with any other tool (yes, I've tried Pixelmator, it just doesn't live up. And no, I will not use Gimp thank you very much, it's a far worse mess than Photoshop). So I love Photoshop because I can do awesome things with it.
But Photoshop also has a steep learning curve, and even though I've been using it for years, I still probably only know how to use about 10% or less of it's capabilities. I hear that even folks who work on Photoshop, who should know it intimately, don't know how to use all of it's functions and stuff. That's just bad. Poor design, poorly thought through.
And it costs WAY more than it should. WAY more.

Paul Miller writing at The Verge

Photoshop is for Everyone

I have, since the day the iPhone came out, and I subsequently purchased one that same day, loathed all note taking options. Obviously the first iteration of iPhone OS iOS did not have third party apps or any ability to sync notes of any kind. It had a notes app and any notes one took there were forever siloed in that app. And any notes one took in any form on a Mac were also not able to be synced to one's iPhone. There have been various web based solutions, none of them good.
With third party apps came note taking apps. I have never been happy with any of them. I've tried various services and apps, like them all a little for a time, found them frustrating and moved on. For a while, I used Evernote. And to some extent I liked it. But both the Mac app and the iOS app have been through various stages of bugginess. I have had trouble with sync between the apps, sometimes, notes simply, stubbornly refused to sync at all. Additionally, I found the interface for both confusing and cluttered.
The last straw for Evernote came when the app ate a very VERY important note. I was editing the note on my phone when the app crashed. When I returned to the app, the note was gone. My computer had been left on, connected to the internet in another location so it naturally synced the lack of note and that was that. I could never get that note back. I left Evernote.
For a time I used the built in Mac and iOS notes app, which strangely, uses an IMAP mailbox on your mail server to sync. I find this to also be buggy and unreliable, but it never offered to flat out eat any of my notes and the interface is much less cluttered. But in the end, it just was not powerful enough.
I moved on to Simplenote. It's too simple, and syncing can again be a bit of a pain.
So in frustration, about a week ago, I complained on Twitter about the state of note taking and syncing.
<blockquote>
It’s 2013, can we please have a really good note taking app that syncs between computers and phones now? So far I hate all the current ones.
— TJ Draper (@tjdraperpro) <a href="https://twitter.com/tjdraperpro/status/297473239645569024">February 1, 2013</a>
</blockquote>

I received several recommendations to try Evernote again, they've been through a major overhaul and are rock solid now. I was skeptical, but thought it could not hurt since I was simply not happy with any note syncing solution/app in any capacity.
And I’ve been using Evernote since February 1 and I'm impressed. The interface has been seriously cleaned up, note syncing is rock solid and instantaneous (so far... knock on wood), and it is doing almost exactly what I want a note app and note syncing to do:
<ul>
<li>Multiple Notebooks</li>
<li>Tags</li>
<li>Nice, Lion Mail style wide screen layout on the mac, very intuitive interface on the iPhone</li>
<li>Nice, simple and clean, WYSIWYG note editing (in the past I found the WYSIWYG note editor to be very buggy, that seems to be gone)</li>
<li>A lot less cluttery feeling.</li>
</ul>
In short, if you have not used Evernote in a while due to frustrations with syncing and the interface, give it another try, it has changed much for the better and so far, this is the happiest I have ever been with note taking and syncing.

Posts tagged “Opinion” from the blog