Update from Tennessee...

"Tennessee Senate OKs bill to ban teaching of homosexuality"

It looks to have passed the senate with a 19-11 vote. However the House of Representatives have removed it from consideration...this year. Here is a link to the story from a local news station.

http://www.wmctv.com/story/14684904/senate-oks-bill-to-ban-teaching-of-homosexuality

Walk Like a Caitian (Walk Like an Egyptian, The Bangles)
4 Minutes to Save the Core (4 Minutes to Save the World, J.T. & Madonna)
Bridge Over Tribbled Quarters (Bridge over Troubled Waters, various)
Ferengi Face (Poker Face, Lady Gaga)
What it Feels Like for a Gorn (What it Feels Like for a Girl, Madonna)
Keep Assimilating (Keep'Em Separated, Offspring)
Bat'Leth Fighting (Kung Fu Fighting, Carl Douglas)

OMG, that darling darling man this was so cool of him to do this. It'd be so awesome if they ran this on local TV in Tennesee.

@Captdry: Generally speaking the American South tends to be less progressive than other parts of the country. (No offense to our Southern Fleeties whatsoever). Especially when it comes to Civil rights. Martin Luther King was shot in Memphis, Tennessee. That being said; the people of Tennesee are actually very sweet and well mannered (at least the ones I've spoken to) and they've got one of the nicest Southern accents aside from Georgians. I get to talk to people from all over the country in my line of work as a CSR rep.

I had this very concern when STO came out with Vice Admirals. Star Trek ranks have always been similar to Navy ranks (http://www.navy.mil/navydata/navy_legacy_hr.asp?id=266)

At this point, the only ranks left are "Admiral" and "Fleet Admiral". I am of the opinion that the level system should be redesigned from the ground up. However, that would take some major reworking of various aspects of the game.

Quote by Poppit

Hats off to George for hitting a home run with a strong message and a good sense of humour......

i agree to a degree - play on words is great.


I hold the belief that you give power to words, as a community our response to words like gay, faggot, nancy etc can be negative or positive. if we have a positive response to the word we can dis empower it - remove the meaning. much like the word GAY has had a couple of different meaning in its history

That is very true...back home in Brazil, the word that people would curse gays with (something like faggot in English) started to be used in the gay community as an endearing word...so every gay guy would call each other "faggie, faggiesh" or something similar in a "fun/endearing" way...it stopped being something to be ashamed of...

...and then straight people started to see it wasn't offensive anymore :P

Takei win! :ds9:

He did and the theme running through the TOS movies was that Kirk didnt suit being an Admiral. He used the V'Ger crisis to get back in command of the Enterprise and Bones warned him in Wrath of Khan to get his command back before he turned old.

The happiest moment for Admiral Kirk was when he was demoted to Captain lol

I totally agree with you all. You could try posting on the official forums, but I imagine this discussion has been and gone a dozen times already!

Even though my main, ARCH-I, is a Vice Admiral, I display Captain as the rank above my name... because as far as I'm concerned, that's what I am. It's a shame that I have to try and pretend one of the game systems doesn't exist. :(

AFAIK, Anyone above Captain would normally be behind a desk, pushing PADDs around (possibly a fun mini-game!). There were many episodes focussing on this... didn't Picard refuse Admiralty a couple of time because he wanted to carrying on flying about on adventures?

You make a good point Poppit.

I also agree that how we react to "words" is just a powerful as changing how people use them.

Perhaps a combination of both approaches would reach the most people to achieve the greatest amount of change on both sides of the coin.

:)

Hats off to George for hitting a home run with a strong message and a good sense of humour......

i agree to a degree - play on words is great.


I hold the belief that you give power to words, as a community our response to words like gay, faggot, nancy etc can be negative or positive. if we have a positive response to the word we can dis empower it - remove the meaning. much like the word GAY has had a couple of different meaning in its history

Gay rights in Canada are doing pretty well. There's always room for some improvement from a legal perspective in making things equal. But we've made a lot of in roads here.

I think the biggest challenge here and probably elsewhere as well, is changing mainstream culture to be more considerate of those who are different.

The part of Takei's video that really spoke to me is the way adults / kids today use the word gay to describe something they think is silly or stupid. This is so inappropriate in so many levels. I've had to enlighten co-workers, straight friends, and even some family members about how using a word that describes me to describe something they have little regard for was disrespectful. Regardless if it was their intention or not to make a homophobic comment, it is disrespectful.

Hats off to George for hitting a home run with a strong message and a good sense of humour.

I never gave any thought to this point before... but I think you're 100% justified in your thoughts.

Maybe you should post your opinion on the STO forums. I'm sure there are many other fans, including myself, who would think there is a lot of merit in the point your making.

I loved your rant...

Back to Star Trek in general... Startrek has always treated its flag officers (Commodores and Admirals) as people who see the 'big picture' as opposed to the Captains who see the human side of things. Some flag officers were just down right out of touch with reality and seen as corrupt, but they always thought they were justified in their actions.

In STO the lvl system is flawed for a number of reasons. Firstly no one really cares about the grades, just the ranks. No one celebrates that they are LC4 or Cm7 its always when they increase in rank and can then buy a new ship.
Secondly you are right that its daft to have a Lieutenant in command of a starship (even a crappy NX replica) we are in effect all Captains from the begining of the game. How experienced we are should depend on our lvl. Picard was a Captain when he was in command of the Stargazer and then in time he got a Galaxy class and a soverign but he was only ever Captain.

Admirals in general would be in command of taskforces, or starbases or sectors. People who run fleets would be Admirals with a starbase, if they ever do a LOTRonline skirmish style system then you could be an admiral who leads a taskforce.

My final point is that in other MMOs when you get to a certain lvl you have to perform a specific task in order to prove you are at a certain ability to get a new skill. This could be the case in getting new ships.

we cant give blood in the UK if have had sex with another man, not sure how they tell, not like we have 'Bummer' stamped on our foreheads haha

As I was working out today, I spent the time catching up on my STO podcasts (in particular Priority One). There is, with good reason, a lot of excitement over the impending release of Season 4 and the subsequent rank increase to Fleet Admiral. I'd like to take a moment to stand up on my soap-box, pitch my two cents, and rant about how much the latter irks me.

If I have any complaint about STO, it would be the way rank has been thrown around. I'm not talking about level or abilities, those are all fine and I couldn't be happier than I am cruising around in my tier 6 Galaxy-class. What I'm talking about here is the actual title. I'm very proud of my military heritage and on a fun little nerdy level I get giddy when Star Trek tries to reflect the actual military structure ("Lower Decks" TNG-167 and "Good Shepard" VOY-240 are excellent examples and the inspiration for my entry into the March Fiction Contest). One of the best things about Star Trek is that evan as a fantastic sci-fi adventure set 400 years in the future, it tries hard to maintain a certain level of credibility. [On a side note, the day I realized the Wolf 359 was a real star was one of favorite nerd moments of all time.]

In my humble opinion, very few if any at all, of us should be Admirals. Being an Admiral is a big deal. I don't want this to sound like I'm bashing the game, because I'm not, but cannon Star Trek treats this issue with a little more respect than STO does. Very few, if any, Admirals are running around the quadrant with their own ship playing hide-and-seek with Romulans or joining away teams in the middle of a Borg Unicomplex. Sure, about now at least one person is screaming, "What about James Kirk!? He was an Admiral while dragging whales across time and space!" But lets be honest here, Kirk was the exception and not the rule. In "All Good Things…" Riker commands Starbase 247 and doesn't really spend his days running around picking fights with Klingons except when his wayward friends are on walk-about in the Devron System. When you really think about it, how does random Admiral John Doe have the authority to order you on any mission? Especially if you are a Fleet Admiral!

Given the sorts of activities we as the average player engage in (front missions, data mining, exploration, PVP, FEs, STFs, etc), there are really only three ranks that any of us should be: Lieutenant Commander, Commander, and Captain. Within any of the series you never see anyone in command that is less than LtCmd and those are usually temporary commands (i.e. Data and the USS Sutherland, Beverly Crusher and the Enterprise-D, or Jadzi Dax and the USS Defiant are good examples). Worf was Commander before he commanded the Defiant, but he never got a crack at the Enterprise. Sicko's first command was a space station at the rank of Commander. All of these individuals were very bright and exceptional officers with circumstances that required them to step-up in time of need. I mean, what's wrong with being a Captain in Starfleet? Why don't we look at Captain as a position of respect and authority in and of itself? Certainly a long, drawn-out campaign against KDF expansion, a Borg invasion, and the subversion of the alpha quadrant by the Iconians constitutes a need.

So, purely an exercise and fanciful daydreaming, here's what I think would be fun to see and would make a bit more sense than 80% of the fleet with Vice Admirals in command. First, leave the level structure itself alone; we already climb through ten levels all within the same "rank." Is there any reason that Lt. Commander couldn't be levels 1-25, Commander 26-50, and Captain 51-75? Heck, Cryptic could even throw Rear Admiral in with 76-100 if the level system ever manages to climb that high. By then we are talking about the hard-core end game types that, truth be told, have earned the title of Admiral and in fairness have become the exception to the rule. Second, a series of special missions to mark the transition from LtCmd to Cmd and Cmd to Capt. Something next of kin to mini-FEs or the equivalent--the sort of adventure that sets a young Commander apart from his/her peers and even warrants a field promotion to Captain?

Ok, so I'm done ranting now. I'm curious to see what the rest of you have to say on the subject. (I'm sure some of you want to reach through your screens and slap me right now, lol.) :lol:

This is fantastic. In NZ gay people are not allowed to give blood, pretty low level but i think its most places in one form or another.

is homophobia still a big issue in America? Specifically the south?

I guess living in a large city in England (and thankfully no longer at school) I'm a bit blind to whats happening elsewhere

That bill gay Takei spoke of reminded me of law we had in the 80s and 90s called Section 28 that stated "local authority shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality" or "promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship."

That was repealed in the early 00's

Being from Tennessee, I would so love it if some kids start walking around saying it in schools.

Episode 277 - The Next Generation - "Genesis" - 3/21/1994

www.allstepisodes.com/googlevideodatabase.php?n=2719

A routine medical treatment inadvertently creates a virus that begins to de-evolve the Enterprise crew while Picard and Data are on an away mission. This is the first and only episode to be directed by Gates McFadden, who plays Dr. Crusher.

Enjoy!

Hilarious!

That's so Takei!

Thanks for your help with the invite!

:)