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Cake day: July 1st, 2023

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  • Yeah, I think the power-saving argument (#4) is potentially strongest, especially if the plot needs it to be for a given episode.

    But I’m having trouble thinking of a situation in the shows where the maneuverability was limited by the shields. Certainly there are plenty of cases where power was routed to shields, maybe even the power that was meant for propulsion. But I think in general, those would be cases where power was already limited, or the need for defense was much higher. In general, I don’t think I recall a trade-off where shields restrict maneuverability or speed.













  • Or her usefulness to the episode could be that Edgar Alien Perv has a crush on her.

    Yeah that was a super rough episode.

    We just are taking two different perspectives about being essential. Uhura was like an organ: quietly essential to the regular operation of your body. Whereas Hoshi is like hands or maybe ears or something: very important for achieving your body’s goals, but you can compensate for them not working. You’re right Uhura is more essential. I just think it’s more interesting watching the hands / ears of the ship helping achieve the mission.



  • It’s funny because I have the exact opposite opinion! I feel like in TOS, Uhura just relays messages and presses buttons on her console. Maybe I’m missing something though. Maybe she’s critical to the intra ship communications as the “telephone operator” but she never seems to be critical to the mission.

    On the other hand, ENT spends a lot of time building up how many languages Hoshi knows, and how quickly she can pick up new ones, even alien languages. She definitely has her moments where she just struggles until the UT works. But in several episodes they rely on her to translate alien writing, and in at least one or two, she learns to speak a whole new language to communicate. She’s also shown to have developed major improvements to the UT. My impression of her, even from Broken Bow when Archer recruited her, was that she’s a freaking language savant, operating and developing very new experimental tech. It is sad she didn’t get to fully realize her transition from timid linguist to badass crew member (and still linguist). But I always felt like she was doing something critical for the mission, whereas I felt Uhura (in TOS) wasn’t.

    SNW Uhura is very different in that regard, she does a lot more “mission critical” stuff and she’s getting an arc that’s very reminiscent of Hoshi (totally a savant, hard working, starting out timid but growing). So I love that for her!




  • the_sisko@startrek.websitetoMemes@lemmy.mlEVs
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    2 years ago

    Yeah, but they require somewhere in the neighborhood of a thousand pounds of batteries to do so. Some of the more egregious ones need multiple thousands, e.g. the electric hummer whose battery alone is heavier than an ICE Honda Civic. Whereas a dozen gallons of gasoline (roughly 72lbs at 6lb/gal) can power that same ICE Civic for a nearly equivalent range, while causing much less wear & tear on the roads, and likely releasing less tire particulates due to the reduced weight. Of course it still releases CO2 and other nasties…

    But yeah, the energy density of EVs is still super bad. It’s just “good enough” that we’re making it work.


  • the_sisko@startrek.websitetoMemes@lemmy.mlEVs
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    2 years ago

    As I understand it, the big issue is energy density? A tank of gasoline takes you quite far compared to an equivalent tank of hydrogen.

    And don’t get me wrong, lithium batteries are super bad at this too, but I do think that has been a limiting factor for H cars.

    And then there’s the whole tire dust issue which is definitely a conversation worth having.