Star Trek Voyager... many years on..

Hi WWW

I just finished watching Voyager again.. I don't rem the last time I completed watching all seasons.. possibly 15 years ago on a second sitting.

I am left a little underwhelmed this time.. which I don't remember ever feeling this way about the ending of the show.

I want to see a few episodes of them settling into life back home.. this feels like a strong desire now. I watched every episode start to finish, over the course of a week.. and.. the above says it all.

What happened to the crew after they returned?

It's slowing me down to switch to another Star Trek.. as I *may* have went to TGN after this and then DS9.. I'm still half way through TOS. I finished Enterprise some years ago (see this blog on me starting it)..

The new Star Trek is.. great really enjoying it. It has MANY continuity errors.. SERIOUSLY, like the tech is not correct for the Discovery ship and Spock never had a sister, spock had a brother.. but I realize this is the alternate timeline in play here.. where Vulcan was destroyed. I think that yes.. they *could* have used some of the tech from Spock's future ship to upgrade some of the systems..

But they don't act TOS.. they are MEANT to be TOS on another ship. The writers.. don't really care to much about that, nor the producers.. I mean I have heartily enjoyed getting to know Capt. Pike and now in the second series they are FINALLY paying homage to TOS.. with sharing Pikes TOS story with us..

BUT MAN! You have a job to share TOS with us.. all the TOS 'bad guys' should be making an appearance.. I know we had at least a couple but..

I am however glad to see the special effects dept. be true to TOS. This is to their great credit.

paying homage to TOS and BEING a ship inside TOS are two different things.
First season.. TOS setting was set to 1. Second season.. TOS setting was set to 3.

Third season.. lets try and hit a 9 or a 10!

I want to find out:

How did the Tribbles infect the Klingons to give them their genetic disease. (losing their fore-ridges)

What happened to the Andorians? (post Enterprise) Where they wiped out? What happened??

Where is Spock's older brother??

What is Number One's first/surname name? Is it Leigh Hudec? Or Eureleigh Hudec? or Eureleigh Hudec-Lefler? Come to think of it.. if your name was 'Eureleigh Hudec-Lefler' you'd quickly pick up a nickname too!

Leigh Hudec is Majel Barrett's birth name.. who played Number One originally.

Enterprise was a great show.. people just hated that awful prog rock country music at the start! Like I say: with Star Trek you have two choices; Fanfare OR Space Rock + Fanfare.

One thing that stood out during this rewatch of Voyager.. is how many ideas they lifted from Red Dwarf.. now *that* was funny :) ... the art imitating the parody!

Thoughts on Guitar Figured Tops ..

Hi www

just quickly putting this here thought it for a couple of years..

1/2 inch plus = Cap
1/4 to 1/2" =     Top
under 1/4" =     Veneer

These are guidelines, which I hope you will agree should stop people getting ripped off.

Dava

Every Scot is descended from Royalty.. Let's look at my line..Whose Lineage is it anyway?? The House of McDuff (Shaw, McIntosh)

Ahoyhoy

A friend stated/asked me jokingly..'.. Then YOU could be King of Scotland.. right?'

Erm.. no. hehe

My name is David Shaw.. I am descended from the Thanes (Earls) of Rothiemurchus.. lets trace that back.. The furthest I can get back is Ayrshire 1750 to John (could have been originally David) Shaw, an Episcopal Priest.. but this would have been for good reason, seeing my family supported the Jacobite Stewarts.. which is a longer story.


Now I have 'coloured' this story, but you will see why by the end, my additions make sense.

Sometime around 1500-1550 my ancestor's Father died, he was just a small child, his mother must have been beset with grief and confusion.. suddenly she was responsible for the entire clans wellbeing, our castle in Rothiemurchus and the surrounding lands and all the people on them.

She decided to marry another, that person was .. 'not nice' let's say. I imagine daily over many years from childhood.. the step-father saying to the child what he did to his mother at night. The Stepfather hated that the child wasn't his.

The lad was in his mid to late teens.. he was out with a friend and upon returning there he sees at the bottom of the hill, his favorite dog.. dead. killed.

Now being the young Thane, he would have had many many dogs, perhaps 20.. but out of 20 it was his favorite. Instantly he knew it was his stepfather! he ran to the castle and put his sword through his heart.

The crown was displeased with these actions, understandably, but besides that, he had created a lot of legal issues for the Estate & peoples of Rothiemurchus.

I know that temper.. I HAVE that temper, my family have that temper.. but imagine him.. day after day being chipped away at. I know I would have done exactly the same thing as my ancestor.

What happened?

The Crown confiscated his lands and title, we were disgraced.

We joined the Scottish military, as disgraced nobles do..
I would guess with hope of redignifying our name.

If you know Scottish History and tradition.. you know who the McDuffs are/were, the most Royal House behind the Scottish Monarchs, Coronator to the Kings and Queens of Alba. In this House are The McDuffs , The McIntoshes, The Shaws.

How can that be?

Firstly, you need to understand, that we are all 'McDuff'.. how did that come about? There was the McDuff Clan Chief:  'Shaw McDuff' who did not agree with the politics of the time and so broke away to create his own clan 'Shaw' Shaw meaning 'Wolf' in Gaelic. His name translated might mean, literally 'Wolf son of Black' or poetically 'The Hidden Wolf'. His younger brother taking his place as clan Chief and Thane (Earl) of Fife.

The same story with the McIntoshes (MacKintoshes) .. They are named after.. 'sons of the Chief' 'Mhic an Tòisich'.

The House of McDuff are descended from King Dubh. The Great Grandson of King Kenneth MacAlpin I of Alba.

Now back to more near modern times.. We had lost our lands and titles and were eager to get those back, many Shaws were also Catholic. Now.. the King knew who the Shaws were, cousins to the McDuffs, and The McDuffs had a long standing order with the Scottish Monarchy.. they were as 'Cousins to the Scottish Monarch' perpetually.. McDuffs; The Thanes (Earls) of Fife.
Edinburgh across the water being the capital.

(So when one of the cousins of his cousins caused such disgrace..disgrace is what was given back. As far as I am aware no prison sentence was needed.. due to bad feelings everywhere my ancestor went.. he was already in a prison of his peoples.)

Once we heard of the Jacobite succession a vast majority joined the side of the Contender, Bonnie Prince Charlie. Note I do not use the slur.. 'The Pretender'. He was and is.. the rightful heir to the Scottish Crown.

By the end as you know.. The Jacobite Rebellions failed. The English Army was hunting out Jacobites where ever they could be.

I cannot think of a better cover than a Protestant priest.

Who is going to accuse you?? no one!

There was much to-ing and fro-ing with the matter of Religion going forward.. I would guess once one generation found out it was a sham done to protect themselves from being killed the next generation would switch, the third generation getting in contact with the grandfather and being convinced to change back.. etc etc.

My line descends from there until my great great grandfather, who was the second born child and not the first as his predecessors were.

Daniel Shaw, my Great Great Grandfather. then David (oldest) Daniel (oldest) David (oldest) myself (oldest).

At present we have the Shaws of Ay as our clan Chiefs and they have done a good job.

Ohw I forgot to mention the very sad part of this.. the Saxe-Coburgs have let the Seat of the McDuffs go into disrepair. Our seat was sold to the magnate Carnegie around 1920.

The current ENGLISH monarch was not crowned by a McDuff.. which as a member of the House of McDuff.. I say makes her crowning invalid.

I actually think Queen Elizabeth is OK, I appreciate her work being peace with the commonwealth, but.. Scots, these people are not.

The two most Royal Houses in Scotland are the McDuffs and the McDonalds. Why didn't William or Harry marry from one of them? because: we're rockstars.

The whole reason to have a monarchy is maintain and protect political alliances.. and not ONE of the two grandchildren could marry from the House of McDuff or McDonald?? They are PAID to do a job. They aren't doing it.

I digress..

Not only would my line need to be reinstated & I to be the survivor of two branches.. Shaws would have to be selected over any remaining McDuffs and the McIntoshes.

It's a tall order to say the least.

---FIN--

I'll say this flatly..

Having a Scottish surname and being brought up in England.. doesn't make you Scottish. There is enough resentment towards nobility as it is.. without throwing a match upon petrol like that.

If you grow up here and mix with the other children.
If you attend University here.
Marry from here.
Rear your children here.
Live here your whole life.

Fair enough.

Too many are brought up in England.. ex-pats with no clue of Scottish Culture.
Speak Scots for flip sake!

Our Rothiemurchus lands were given to the Grants.. famous slavers of the time.. I saw in an article he sold those lands to the Scottish Government a couple of years ago.. for £11 million. The Shaws were however NOT slavers.

Scottish 'States' 2

🤔

 Ah've been thinkin' thys fur a while.

Noo.. it awe stært'yt when Ah hud Americans *cough* English folk pretending *cough* sæy tæ mæ 'oh Scotland's not a real country.. it's more like a 'state''..

Well that wis iyt.. Ah wis raginin'.. the mær Ah thought aboot iyt the mær Ah realized.. iyt's no true.

Noo.. afore Ah sæy wit Ah'm goiny sæy, Ah DÆ wa'nt tæ keep awe coonties lit they ur the noo.

But it hus been marked.. thyt the 2014 SNP reforms (Polis/NHS/Fire) huv been hugely unpopular.. and thyt's fæ us a'naw!! SNP supporters huv hated iyt!

Lookin' back noo these 'Regions' were oor equivalent tæ 'States'.. jist wæ næ governor.. but instæed a Commision Board appoint'yt by the government.

English:
🤔I've been thinking this for a while.

Now, it all started when I had Americans *cough* English people pretending *cough* say to me 'oh Scotland's not a real country.. it's more like a 'state''..

Well, that was it.. I was furious.. the more I thought about it the more I realized.. it's not true.

Now, before I say what I'm going to say, I DO want to keep all counties like they are just now.

But it has been well noted, that the 2014 SNP reforms (Police/NHS/Fire) has been hugely unpopular.. and that's even within the SNP supporting community, we have hated it.

Looking back now these 'Regions' were our equivalent to States, with the exception of no Governor, but in place a Commision Board appointed by the Government.

The Moonbase: one of the greatest ideas to fly economically.. OR The Law of Maximizing Returns

Hi www

There is a simple truth to the earth and space travel, building and launching ships from the earth is wildly expensive.

Building and fueling from the moon means the following:

1. It is less effort to build on the moon, the weights involved for the construction of the ships is less meaning it takes less energy to assemble.
2. We can build ships as large as we want, so when we fuel them the tanks can be as large as we want, so we can burn harder burning more fuel to get to the solar bodies quicker. We can build tanks as large as we wish. We can build comfortable crew, cabin & passenger quarters for long space flights because we are not limited by weight, as we are on the Earth.. launching from the earth costs many many times as much fuel per gram of weight because of gravity on the earth.
3. We can diffuse Hydrogen and Oxygen from the moons hidden underground ocean. We pass electricity through water to diffuse the H2 and O, hydrogen gives us fuel, oxygen gives us air.
4. We can use the moonbase as a communications case also.. hmm this might need more detail..

-------

Imagine a scenario where there are humanoid shaped robots, you are the brain and are remotely controlling the robot, the robot does not need oxygen, in fact it is a great way to be safe as the only thing the robot needs is electricity.

Imagine a sphere shaped room you go inside and inside the sphere are screens, there screen display roughly what the robot sees.. however this is only for background light diffusion, because human eyes are sensitive to light, this room will help the immersion.

A suit is suspended with thousands of thick strings.. these are the strings of the 'Puppetmaster' who will control the robot, the strings help add an additional layer to controlling the robot. Motion sensors (like Kinect), suit sensors, mapped out like a nervous system also provide input..

But also feedback and output to the PMaster.

Q: Why go to all this trouble?

For safety of the humans.. not only for their lives, but it would mean to replace the crew, we would require more launching from earth, which we are trying to avoid. 

If say, a large metal structure fell on a human, even in a low grav environment, this would NOT be good.

Preserving life IS paramount to the moonbase for several reasons.

1. moral within the crew.

2. moral within the world perception of the project and its funding.

3. Ability to prevent costly delays to the project.

4. Ability to prevent increase costs by having to search for qualified persons to replace the person who is injured or has died.

-------

     5. A point to consider is overall weight for usage case.. what I mean is, IF we had humans who were 4ft tall total, we could then provide: smaller living quarters, reduced overall weight of the launch from earth, what we *really* need is their minds to control the robots, so all the equipment mentioned above could be to their scale. We have been building for humans who are 6" to 6"5' and if instead we were building for humans that are 4" would mean a weight reduction of 1/3rd.

NASA could even use the Virgin Galactic style of launch for the whole base and launch it to the moon, this being a one way trip for the base, with a Space X style ship waiting for the crew on the moonbase site, should they require it.

This way would be VERY costly.. however, in the long run would cost less than many many earth launches in succession.

In the long run it saves a fortune, meaning the base is already completed and fully equipped, no assembly required and can get underway within a very very short time, a second base would be built by the crew of the first base to accommodate larger humans.

I am not suggesting those with dwarfism, who would struggle with the g-force.. without taking this to a racial place, I have met and known Filipinas who were this height naturally, fully intelligent capable bodied humans, all we are trying to achieve is weight reduction. only. Only.

The overriding thought behind all of this is being able to launch humans quickly and cheaply to the moon, for intersolar exploration and travel. Eventually mining resources.

The best way to do that is have a moon base that is manufacturing vessels and launching them. While Mars will be a great boon for humans.. in the long term we should be looking at launching to Venus also from the moon, building on the moon the vessels that we can send to Mars, that will go to Ceres and the Outer Solar System. Mars and Ceres being fueling stations.

If we can fully make a another moonbase whilst on the moon and launch it to Ceres this would mean having potentially the same resources on Ceres. Having a Space X style ship waiting for the crew on Ceres to return to Mars or Earth with a second crew in rotation. But this, as I said, is for the long term.

Dava

States of Scotland, Wales, Ireland and England

Hi

does my head in when Americans call Scotland a 'state of..'

Dumb dumb dumb.

I CAN vouch for the feeling in Scotland towards our 'Traditional States' but as far as other countries go.. I am Scottish so.. there's that.

Scotland:

Scotland's 12 states:

North to South:

Shetland

Orkney

Na h-Eileanan Siar/Iar (Eileanan Hebrides, Western Isles)

Highland

Grampian

Tayside and Angus

Strathclyde

Central

Fife

Lothian

Borders

Dumfries and Galloway

Wales:

Wales' 8 states:

Gwynedd

Clwyd

Powys

Dyfed

Gwent

Mid Glamorgan

West Glamorgan

South Glamorgan 

Ireland:

Ireland's 4 states:

Ulster

 Connaught

 Leinster

 Munster

England

England's 7 states + Capital + 1 Principality:

North to South:

Northumbria

Lancashire & Cumbria

Yorkshire

East Mercia

West Mercia

Anglia

Wessex

London

Sussex

+ Kernow (Principality)

Climate Change.. my thoughts..or the glass is only have empty if your drinking it and half full if you're filling it..

Hi WWW

I have thought about this for a while.. let me give some background.

In around 2009 I watched a documentary on the Discovery Channel about what happens when the magnetic poles flip.. it looked pretty similar to what is happening now, but over the course of 6000 years. We were due a pole flip (iirc) 11,000 years ago.. and it didn't happen, these pole flips happen every 200,000 to 300,000 years.. but we're overdue, the last *major* one was 780,000 years ago.

What Happens When the Poles Flip? - National Geographic

Sooo.. what do I think?

I have no doubt humans are creating climate change and we are speeding up *what would happen* should the poles flip.. I mean these changes are meant to be over the course of 6000 years, and many of us can see it happen in a lifetime..so yes.

But I think we should also prepare ourselves for this climate change to continue even after global warming as a political issue is 'solved'.

I think it's both.

I don't suppose to know which degree each one it is..but I'm leaning on it being more man-made than the poles flipping. But that doesn't mean the pole flips aren't coming.. they are!

What happens after they flip?

Well.. as stated, it happens over 6000 years, so you don't just wake up one day and the world is topsy turvy..

But, what commonly happens is, the condensation rate changes.. okay so.. e.g  'warm' wet air from the Atlantic rises up and condenses in the colder Arctic, it creates a cycle of wind.. this cycle *might* be broken once the poles flip.. and what does that mean?

No one is quite sure.. but from watching the graphics in that documentary, I got the impression, the (non Arctic and Antarctic) cold areas become hot and the hot areas become cold.. the land that is reliant on certain sea levels can become submerged and with that change barrier reefs could become land again.

It would be amazing to think on, but even Doggerland could rise again.. but in truth that's unlikely because of the way the Atlantic is. (the north would need to be blocked off).

I don't know where the needle is in these percentages, but we should not ignore magnetic pole flipping for a silly reason such as we are afraid the masses will adopt that instead of human climate change and abandoning green efforts.

Terra, our planet Earth needs to have good caretakers, so when we go to other solar worlds we can be good caretakers there also, think of it as practise.

Dava

My Favorite Epiphone/Gibson neck shape..

My Fav Epi/Gibson Neck shapes..


90s/MM/R57 style necks Medium-small, regular-fat ..
I don't like sword swallowers that the body eats half the fretboard.
The neck should 'crown' the body like a SG.
I think I would enjoy a RD Artist where the neck crowns the body too.

Terms/click the picture:

--
My guitars..

For the R57 neck I have: 1st Fret: .842" Thick x 1.717" Wide 12th Fret: .949" Thick x 2.024" wide Nut Width (1.684")"

For the MM neck I have:
1st Fret: .859" Thick x 1.714" Wide 12th Fret: 1.012" Thick x 2.079" wide Nut Width (1.681")"

For the 90s neck I have:
1st Fret: .851" Thick x 1.734" Wide 12th Fret: .952" Thick x 2.098" wide Nut Width (1.687")"
so it's pretty close :)

---------------
( reportedly) Epiphone DC Pro:
1st Fret: .825" Thick x 1.733" Wide
12th Fret: .975" Thick x 2.049" wide
Nut Width=43mm (1.69")"

------

One of my dream guitars is the RD Artist.. but a bit concerned about the neck comfort when buying online

RD Artist

1st Fret: 775"  Thick x 1.685" Wide 12th Fret: .905" Thick x 2.086" wide Nut Width (1.685")"

RD Artist

1st Fret: 775"  Thick x 1.685" Wide OUT no match! (too thin) 12th Fret: .905" Thick x 2.086" wide near match-ish (slightly thin) Nut Width (1.685")" match

I hate..

Slim Taper D necks!

So here's some necks for refs.

I fancied one of those (Mayones) Fame Forum PRS's.. however after research:

The Fame Forum is (probably) Slim Taper:

1st Fret: .787" Thick x 1.71" Wide OUT no match!

12th Fret: .905" Thick x 2.08" wide near match-ish

Nut Width (1.69")" near match

Last (24th) Fret Width: 2.20

-----------------------------

update: 12/March/2024

Guitars:

1998 Gibson SG-X converted to a SG Standard inc binding.

2011 Melody Maker SG, converted to a SG Special.

2007 Epiphone 1957 Les Paul Jr. Reissue.. converted to a LP Special.

Refresh Rates CheatSheet for 4K TVs

Hi

Time to dump a load of info here:



Increased Refresh                                             Increased Resolution
----------------------                                                --------------------------

4K/60hz =                                                        4K/60hz =

1080 @ 240hz                                                  3200x2400 @ 72hz*
-2K-                                                                  3840x2400 @ 60hz
1536 @ 162hz                                                  4096x2560 @ 55hz
1440 @ 144hz                                                  5120x2160 @ 50hz
-3K-                                                                  5120x2560 @ 44hz
1800 @ 96hz                                                    6120x1900 @ 50hz
2048 @ 72hz*                                                  6120x2160 @ 40hz
                                                                          6120x2560 @ 35hz


All used NVCP. All used CVT Reduced Blank. on my Philips 4K 58" HDR TV (HDR was of course off). No Down or upsampling was used for the above resolutions, however in the pictures I think? I still had two test down sampled resolutions, but 95% of the ones in the pics are all active pixels.

To show all pixels were active:

------------------

Use this info at your own risk.

*3641x2048 = 16:9 for 2048p

*3K pix, but 2400 wider so 72hz.
-------------------

Big shoutout to those who helped me no end with their work and websites:

ARC  Aspect Ratio Calculator
https://andrew.hedges.name/experiments/aspect_ratio/

Good place to start learning:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_resolutions

General Approximations of Terms:

      2 million pix.   = 1K commonly; 1920x1080
3 to 4 million pix   = 2K commonly; 2048x1536 and 2560x1440
5 to 7 million pix   = 3K commonly; 3200x1800
8 to 10 million pix = 4K commonly; 4096x2160
11  to 20 mil. pix   = 5K commonly; 5120x2160, 5120x2880
20 to 30 mil. pix    = 6K commonly; 6400x4096
30 mil. to 36 mil pix = 7K commonly; 7680x4320
 37 mil. pix is 8K   don't get sucked into the 7K as 8K nonsense, 8192x4608 is *true* 8K. It comes from 8 for the first digit.                                                               

4K TV =
(2 million pix.)   = 1K  //// 244hz
(3 to 4 million pix(   = 2K //// 162hz
(5 to 7 million pix)   = 3K //// 144hz
(8 to 10 million pix) = 4K  //// 60hz
(11  to 20 mil. pix)   = 5K  //// 50hz
(20 to 30 mil. pix)    = 6K  //// 40hz
(30 mil. to 36 mil pix) = 7K //// 30hz?
 37 mil. pix is           =   8K //// 20hz?

above is a rough guide to ?K x 2K
But the higher the V-Res, the harder it hits the refresh rate.. asin~
6K x 2K has a baseline of 40hz but
6K x 3K, 6144x3456 overall is 27hz max. clean.
This is because.. well.. idk.. but I strongly suspect it has something to do with the reason V-Sync uses vertical refresh and not horizontal.

My panel in 1K did 243 because 244hz gave me a bit of wobble.. but since 240 is 100% stable and the refresh so high, I don't want to argue over a couple of hz.

Cat Sizes.. Big Cats, Median Cats, Nominal (Small Domestic) and Micro Cats..

Hi WWW

this classification has annoyed me for sometime.. that there is no central classification for cat sizes.. except the eponymous 'Big Cats'..


Big Cats:
Lions
Tigers
Panthers
Leopards
Cheetahs
Puma & American Puma (Mountain Lion)

Median Cats:
Eurasian Lynx
American Lynx (Bobcat)
Canadian Lynx
Caracal
Serval
-
Savannah (hybrid Serval)
Norwegian Forest Cat
Maine Coon
-
Ocelot (the smallest Median Cat)

Nominal Cats:

Too many breeds to list, however to generalize:
Scottish Wildcat (the largest afaik)
Feral
Tabby

While the three Median size breeds above are domesticated, there are more for Nominal size breeds.

Micro Cats:
Sand Cats (natural and wild Micro Cats)
Black-Footed Cats (smallest Micro Cats, endangered, wild)

Domestic Nominal breeding is done to micro-size cats, however is it harmful to cats. It would be better to domesticate a group of Sand Cats.

Micro Cats are again as small as the distance between each of the classifications.Even when they are adults, they look asif~ large nominal kittens.


* originally wrote,  'Tigers.. including Panthers and Leopards the close cousins of the Tiger' but maybe it's more pleasant to have them separate.

*These three being the domesticated Median Cats.

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