CBG Blog

Americans Re-elect Chimp

2004-11-04T13:20:00.000+00:00

After the successful re-election of American president, George W Bush, it has been revealed that the American people have been the subject of an experiment.

It has long been known that the position of president holds no real power, and that the decisions are made by his "advisors". It has also been surmised that the perceived 'charisma' of a candidate influences voters far more than actual policy. Hence, scientists devised an experiment, sponsored by both Republican and Democrat campaign organisers, to test this hypothesis.

The scientists chose to use a chimp, because it could be more easily trained to repeat certain phrases and gestures. The chimp, known to Billions as "George W Bush", is in fact, called "Bobo". He has performed admirably, faithfully repeating these phrases and gestures, whenever it was required of him. The phrases, such as "evil doers", with which Bobo was trained, were used as frequently as possible, in order to disguise his lack of vocabulary. They thought the whole experiment was in danger, at first, because he was unnerved by cameras, and tended to add extra syllables to words. However, this just seemed to endear him to the public.

His handlers, however, have always been exceedingly proud of the way in which he mastered his allocated gestures. The famous hand movements, where he brings them to his chest, followed closely by the downward 'patting' gesture of his extended right hand, has been repeated over and over again, convincing the public of his charisma and sincerity. This was a triumph for his handlers, who took a movement, which came naturally to Bobo, and modified it only slightly, to make it seem more human. Another example of this method is Bobo's swaggering walk, modified only slightly to make it seem human. They never really managed to take the ape-like manner out of his arm movements, but again this just seemed to endear him to the public.

The original plan was to tell the voters about the experiment before the election for a second term. Howerver, at the last minute, the scientists decided to find out just how far they could go. They were amazed when the public didn't pick up on his ape characteristics, during such an intense campaign.

"We never intended for it to go this far," said head scientist Bill Dukeson. "Right up until Bobo's acceptance speech, we expected the whole thing to be exposed. That's why his speech was short. We hadn't really prepared for that outcome."

Things could not have turned out better for Bobo's presidential 'advisors'. There is no provision under American law for the election of a chimp, so, in fact, his position cannot be challenged. His team will be able to set policy for another four years.

The scientists have now set themselves a new challenge. Even though the experitment has now been revealed to the public, they wonder if, given time, people may start to think of him as human again.

I'm back - sort of.

2004-08-10T13:29:00.000+01:00

Hi folks.

I'm back. I took a rest and didn't think I'd blog again, but I recently thought I'd see if anyone had visited the site since I'd said "toodle-oo". To amazement, it still gets traffic. Not much, but then it never did. Also, without me doing anything at all, it seems to appear on more and more search engines. I even found it on BlogShares (not worth much, though).

So, I'm going to start posting again, but only once in a while. Maybe the Fence-Sitter will forgive me for being out of contact for ages and make some comments. :-)

I hope all you nice folks have upgraded to the latest versions of Firefox and Thunderbird, because they fix some security holes. But, whatever you do, don't use Internet Explorer or Outlook. Microsoft just can't keep up with those security holes.

Hasta luego.

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CBG

Toodle-oo

2004-06-30T12:27:00.000+01:00

You have probably noticed that, recently, I have not blogged very often.
The truth is... I'm bored with it and I have other things that take up my time. Hence, this will be my last post.

So, fans of mine, for the last time... toodle-oo.

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CBG

Coto to take up 'Star Trek: Enterprise' reigns

2004-06-18T12:52:00.000+01:00

Several sources have said that Manny Coto is to take over the day-to-day running of "Star Trek: Enterprise" from Rick Berman and Brannon Braga.

I think this will probably be a good thing and bring renewed energy to the franchise. Manny Coto demonstrated excellent writing and creative ability during season three.

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CBG

Software releases

2004-06-17T13:09:00.000+01:00

I have just returned from a two and a half week holiday to find there has been a slew of Open Source software releases.

Mozilla Firefox 0.9
I have to say I'm really impressed with it. The theme/extension manager is worth its weight in gold.

Mozilla Thunderbird 0.7
Things are really starting to move quickly with this email client. It now has a theme/extension manager based on the Firefox version. Thunderbird is definitely my email client of choice.

Mono Beta 3
Haven't really had chance to play with this yet, but the reports are good.

SharpDevelop Release Candidate 1
Haven't even downloaded it yet, but if previous progress is anything to go by, it should be impressive.

Links:
Firefox 0.9
Thunderbird 0.7
Mono Beta 3
SharpDevelop RC1

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CBG

SaveEnterprise.com founder gets Air Force medal

2004-06-17T12:57:00.000+01:00

Tim Brazeal (founder of Save Enterprise) has received an honorary "DEPARTMENT OF AIR FORCE ACHIEVEMENT MEDAL", for his work in bringing "Star Trek: Enterprise" back for a fourth season.

Well done Tim! You deserve it.

Links:
Full story...

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CBG

Scott Bakula chat transcript

2004-05-27T12:59:00.000+01:00

A chat transcript of the most recent question-and-answer session with Scott Bakula (Archer) on StarTrek.com.

During a warm chat, he expresses his gratitude to the fans for bringing back "Star Trek: Enterprise" for another season and also puts pay to some rumours.

Links:
Full transcript...

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CBG

Blogger comments

2004-05-26T13:03:00.000+01:00

Decided to go with the new comments system that Blogger put in.
Unfortunately, that means that the old comments will go. Sorry folks, especially Fence who seemed to leave most of them.
This way, however, I will be emailed as soon as a comment is left. I can then respond quicker.

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CBG

'Star Trek: Enterprise' Renewed!

2004-05-21T12:42:00.000+01:00

The official announcement has been made that "Star Trek: Enterprise" will come back for another season, but will move to Fridays. The part that fans played in ensuring its return was also acknowledged. However, there is, by no means, a guarantee that it will have a 5th season.
The work to "Save Enterprise" continues.

Links:
Original story
SaveEnterpise.com
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CBG

SaveEnterprise fax service

2004-05-13T12:49:00.000+01:00

SaveEnterprise.com has launched a service that allows you to send faxes to UPN, online, for free!
Check out the home page for the links.

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CBG

New blogger stuff

2004-05-13T12:43:00.000+01:00

Google has recently revamped Blogger and I am trying to explore the new options, such as built in comments.
I may be quiet for a few days, as what little time I would spend blogging, could be taken up with playing.

Links:
Evaluation of new Blogger at "Blog News for Bloggers"

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CBG

Legal battle to save 'Andromeda'

2004-05-06T13:03:00.000+01:00

A few days ago I posted about the closure of "Andromeda" producer, "Fireworks", and the apparent cancellation of "Andromeda". Since then I have been pointed to an article on "The Futon Critic", which reports that there is a legal battle to make the producer honour an agreement to make another season.
We may yet see more of "Andromeda". Let us hope that the shock of imminent cancellation motivates them to serve it with a smaller portion of cheese.

Original article at "The Futon Critic"...

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CBG

'Save Enterprise' email service

2004-05-06T12:49:00.000+01:00

The SaveEnterprise.com founder has made the following announcement on the forums:

"We are fast approaching the final phase here to see if our efforts are paying off. May 20th we will all know. Although I have received allot of letters in the mail so far. We need more. We are along ways from filling the two mailbags. Here is what I would like you all to do. Write your letters via email and send them to me.. it does not matter if you are in the US. or somewhere else.. If you are the mod or owner of Star Trek related clubs or groups.. pass them this email addy and have them send them all in. We will print them out and mail them all in.. you don't have to worry about stamps or or anything else.. please pass this around to all the forums as well as any other media..

On the 10th of May, I will UPS all the letters to UPN,Paramount and Viacom. So please email them to us... get all of your friends and family involved.. This is our last chance to show major support for Enterprise.. WE NEED YOUR LETTERS NOW !!!!!

Email all letter to: tim@saveenterprise.com please put letter campaign as the subject.. This way I can sort through them all easily and get them printed and sent out.

please mention saveenterprise.com and also please put your name, address and other information on the letter. This way they know that we are not just duplicating letters.."

This is an excellent idea and a very generous service. You heard the guy, write some emails and save Star Trek: Enterprise. (Do not forget to use "letter campaign" as the subject).

Original forum post...

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CBG

UPN Establishes Voice Mailbox For 'Enterprise' Supporters

2004-05-06T12:40:00.000+01:00

This from TrekToday:

"After being inundated with phone calls by fans of Star Trek: Enterprise, UPN has created a voice mailbox specifically to handle 'Save Enterprise' calls.

A UPN representative told SaveEnterprise.com that because of the number of calls coming in from the web site, a dedicated voice mailbox had been set up specifically for fans of the show to voice their support.

The UPN representative promised that every message would be heard."

With so many things happening, that show just how popular "Star Trek: Enterprise" is, and widespread praise of season 3, it is difficult to see how the Nielson ratings could be representative.

Original story at TrekToday...

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CBG

Ripping to WavPack

2004-05-05T12:59:00.000+01:00

I have decided, recently, to try out some lossless audio compression formats.
I tried FLAC and found it very easy to use with CDex, but I was a little disappointed with the compression it achieved. I then tried WavPack and found that I could get better compression, but it does not play well with CDex. I get a "The system could find the file" error message.
Does anyone know how to make this work? What is the right parameter string to use in CDex?
Leave a comment, or email me.
Thanks

Links:
FLAC
WavPack
CDex

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CBG

Mono Beta 1 has been released

2004-05-05T12:42:00.000+01:00

Today, the Mono team announced their Beta 1 release.
The best thing about this, of course, is that version 1 is just around the corner. This is great achievement for the team. They have completed, what seemed like, a mammoth task. Well done, fellas!
Also, this release should fix the bug I talked about in this post.
My first priority will be to see how well it plays with SharpDevelop. I shall let you all know how I get on.

Links:
Mono Beta 1 release notes
Mono download page
SharpDevelop (Open Source dotNET IDE)

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CBG

Positive 'Star Trek: Enterprise' comments at 'The Digital Bits'

2004-05-04T12:58:00.000+01:00

The "My Two Cents" section at "The Digital Bits" features some very nice comments about season 3 of "Star Trek: Enterprise".

An excerpt:
"...This is just great stuff. Bottom line, Enterprise this season is doing stuff that Star Trek hasn't dared to do in a long time (if ever)."

Full story

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CBG

"Star Trek: Enterprise" actors optimistic

2004-04-30T12:49:00.000+01:00

From TrekToday:

"Dominic Keating (Malcolm Reed) and Connor Trinneer (Trip Tucker) have recently made statements that indicate both are hopeful the show will return for a fourth season."

Keating states, in a recent "Dreamwatch Magazine" interview, that construction for the set of Enterprise's set for the fourth season is scheduled to begin on May 12th (a week before the official announcement on "Star Trek: Enterpise's" future is to be made). This is a good sign.

Trinneer, in a recent on-line chat, related his gratitude to the letter writing campaign, currently organised by SaveEnterprise.com. "I can't tell you how good it makes me feel and how important it is," he said. "The amount of support that you the fans give us and in trying to keep us on the air is quite impressive and I thank you from the bottom of my heart."

Full story on TrekToday

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CBG

Disclaim cool gambling

2004-04-29T12:37:00.000+01:00

A friend was reading an article on Kuro5hin about how to win the lottery and he found the following, which has to be one of the best disclaimers around...

"Please gamble responsibly. If you decide to gamble irresponsibly, smoke while you do it so that you at least look cool."

8-)

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CBG

Political poodle

2004-04-28T12:59:00.000+01:00

"The Fence" pointed this out the other day on her blog.

Go to Google.co.uk. Tick the "pages from the UK" box. Type "poodle" into the search box. Then hit the "I'm feeling lucky" button.
Sit back and have a laugh at whose biography comes up. :-D

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CBG

Gene Roddenberry's "Andromeda" to be cancelled

2004-04-28T12:45:00.000+01:00

Due to the closure of Canadian producer "Fireworks", sci-fi series "Andromeda" looks certain to be cancelled.
"Andromeda" is one of a number of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry's stories that have made it to television since his death.

Links:
Full story on "The Great Link"

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CBG

"Star Trek: Enterprise" voted tenth in "shows people from overseas should watch"

2004-04-27T13:31:00.000+01:00

At Cinescape, Enterprise is in tenth place on a poll of "shows people from overseas should watch."

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CBG

SaveEnterprise.com forums back

2004-04-27T12:52:00.000+01:00

The SaveEnterprise.com forums were hacked last week and were down for a few days. However, thanks to the immensely talented Tim, they now have a temporary up and running.
So, show those bastards they cannot beat us and join in.

Links:
New forum

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CBG

Trekkies' support for 'Enterprise' is out of this world

2004-04-26T12:49:00.000+01:00

From the USA Today web site:

"Enterprise was the top vote-getter on USA TODAY's Save Our Shows poll.
"Star Trek: Enterprise won enormous support in USA TODAY's seventh annual Save Our Shows survey, as a record 70% of respondents (in part reflecting a coordinated effort) urged UPN to keep the latest edition of the long-running franchise, which next month completes its third season."

Show your continuing support for "Star Trek". Show UPN and paramount just how popular it is. Head over to SaveEnterprise.com and join the effort.

Full story

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CBG

Berman working on 'prequel' "Star Trek" film

2004-04-23T12:50:00.000+01:00

TrekWeb reports that Rick Berman is working on the next "Star Trek" film. He cryptically describes it as a "prequel".
A previous report claimed that the next Trek film would be called "Starfleet Command", which will, allegedly, be based in Starfleet academy.
Also, Berman confirmed that he is working on a non sci-fi series with co-Trek-producer Brannon Braga. This may mean that, if "Star Trek: Enterprise" gets a fourth season, they will be taking more of a back seat.

Full story.

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CBG