Darren: April 2008 Archives
My BSG Theory
The rumours of this final season is that there's a radical twist at or near the end of the series. A thought just occurred to me... what if the 'skin jobs' aren't actually cylons? (warning: complete speculation based on what we've seen so far follows)
We've heard much about the 13th tribe in BSG, a tribe that went to seek earth while the other 12 tribes colonized other worlds. We've yet to be introduced to that tribe, however, with the exception of the relics and ruins they've left behind. There has conceivably been a couple thousand years of technological evolution since that time. It's entirely possible that while the 12 colonies developed external mechanical artificial intelligences to act as colonial servants (and we know how that turned out), that the 13th tribe turned their technological development inwards.
There may be only 12 copies of the non-mechanical cylons, but there are many permutations of identity within each of those models. They share common traits, but how those traits are used to shape personality can vary wildly, as we see happening with the differences between Boomer Sharon and Athena Sharon, for example. If the 13th tribe tribe developed the means to separate the consciousness from the body and provide effective immortality, then the body itself starts to diminish in importance - the body becomes about as important as the type of car you drive. Why not just have 12 different models to choose from?
After thousands of years, perhaps the 13th colony decides to send out emissaries to the 12 colonies. On the way to finding them, however, they run into the cylons, who are in an active war with the colonies (this would be pre-armistice). For whatever reason, perhaps due to their reliance on technology for their own individual existence, the 13th colony sides with the Cylons. They lend the cylons their own technology, which is a fusing of the mechanical with the organic (and this perhaps gives the cylons an advantage by allowing for faster/more efficient processing of data). The initial outcome of this collaboration is the hybrid we see in BSG: Razor, a first cut at combining organic and mechanic.
The 13th tribe emissaries aren't willing to become part of the cylon empire, however, and there's an internal power struggle. This requires the cylon's attention, and they break off the conflict with the colonies to deal with their own internal power struggles (which the 13th colony wins). Obviously, the 13th colony comes out on top, the cylon race is lobotomized (though one group of centurians and a hybrid manage to escape), and a new series of subservient organic cylons is created.
Perhaps four or five of the original emissaries are opposed to building a new cylon empire and defect to the colonies to live in secret. The other seven remove all references to them from the collective consciousness to prevent future unrest within cylon society, and program future generations of cylons to have an aversion to thinking of their very existence. Cylon society is predicated on agreement among the skin jobs; if there is a significant schism between them, they can't move forward in their plans. Even the memory of the schism would be enough to set them back.
The seven that remain build the technology for resurrection (or replicate it based on their homeworld), and start building the foundation for the eventual attack against the colonies. Keep in mind the resurrection ships are, from what we have seen, exclusively for the skin jobs' use.
One of the things that makes me think this might be the back story is the fairly radical change in design of the raiders, the base stars, and the cylons themselves. The cylons we see after the attack on the colonies are radically different from those we see before the armistice. Something that the audience hasn't been informed of has to have happened to cylon society to make that radical a change.
The final clue for me is the discussion of religion throughout the show. The colonies have a multitheistic religion that roughly matches the separation of the colonies - the Lords of Kobol. The cylons are monotheistic, worshiping a single god. It's interesting to note, however, that the monotheism of the cylons doesn't rule out the existence of the Lords of Kobol, but rather positions their god above them. Likewise, the colonists' religion includes the cylons' god, but positions him/her as being cast out of the Lords of Kobol.
Try and think back to when the thirteen tribes originally separated at Kobol. Why did the 13th tribe go on their own, in the opposite direction from the remaining tribes? It could very well be due to religious difference - enough of a religious difference to create a schism that drove them to leave the collective tribes, and a religious difference that would grow deep into social consciousness over a couple thousand years, and could be used to indoctrinate a nascent society (the cylons) into their way of thinking.
So that's my theory, that the skin jobs are in fact the 13th tribe, and that they assimilated the cylons for their own ends. I guess we'll find out in the last half of the season.
What the hell was that?!
I decided to sit down and watch the Democratic candidate debates last night on ABC. I think it's important for Canadians to be as knowledgeable about American politics as they are about Canadian politics, since what happens south of our border will inevitably affect us one way or another.
I have to say - and I'm definitely not alone in this - the ABC 'debate' was nothing short of a sham. There was nothing of substance in Charlie Gibson's questions, and for at least the first 20 minutes, it seemed like Gibson was Clinton's attack dog, spending much time attacking Obama for connections he has to some very outspoken individuals.
The height of ludicrousy was hit when Gibson - in all seriousness - lambasted Obama for not wearing a flag pin. Seriously, are US citizens really concerned about the candidate's loyalty to a piece of fabric? Wouldn't they be far more concerned about the things that piece of fabric represents, such as their country's place in world opinion and commerce, or the free economy that's currently falling to pieces?
Maybe it's because I'm a Canadian, and we don't have the same relationship to our national emblems as the US does, but it seems to be a distraction from the conversation American voters should be having to focus on things like a flag pin, or an acquaintance with outspoken people. The media is having a field day with all these distractions, and is avoiding the things that should be at the center of discussion - fiscal, domestic, and foreign policy. After all, this is where the nation's problems currently reside - in whether the candidate can pull the country out of an economic and diplomatic nosedive, not in who has the most American flags in their advertising or can pick up a phone at 3am.*
* (and is it just me, or will Clinton's constant nattering about all her experience come to bite her in the ass with her first failed policy attempt or domestic crisis?)
Things I'm watching: The Tudors
Kirsten got me started last year watching The Tudors, a dramatized account of the reign of King Henry VIII. I'm not normally one for historical / period pieces, since I'm really not all that interested in pre-modern times (ie: before 1900).
The Tudors managed to capture my interest, however, because the writer (Michael Hirst) have created a very compelling story of corruption, conspiracy, and greed (I won't pretend it's an accurate representation of the history of Henry VIII; for one thing, both Henry and his wives were far more homely than they are being portrayed in the show, and for another, the show is fairly loose with the historical people and events). I'm a sucker for conspiracy stories, so I'm really enjoying the show.
Normally, a good story would be enough to keep me watching the show; but The Tudors wins on style as well. Showtime has really invested in both wardrobe and set in order to create a rich stage for the story. The series is shot on location in Ireland, which allows them to use semi-authentic exteriors and interiors for the show. The show is co-produced by the CBC, which I think makes the difference for them budget-wise. Showtime hasn't really put on any serious period pieces before so far as I can tell; the bulk of their shows are contemporary, which makes a huge difference in the wardrobe and set budgets.
The first season told the tale of Anne Boleyn's rise in Henry's court, and ends with the deposing and suicide of Cardinal Wolsey. It's interesting to see the encroachment of Protestant thought into England through Henry and Cromwell, especially through the influence of Anne and her father Thomas. Nick Dunning does a fantastic job of creating a cunning, sly conspirator.
The second season opens with Catherine's removal from court, and the insinuation of Anne's becoming queen. It'll be interesting to see how quickly they go through Anne's time in court (in actuality 3 years), and how they work Jane Seymour into the picture. Anne fell far in the historical account, being accused of adultery, incest, and treason. I can see how they've set up some of this already in the series, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out.
In short, The Tudors: great show, go watch it now.
Life with eames
So it's been a few weeks now that eames, the new Macbook, has been in the house [1, 2], and I figured it was the right time for a short review of how it's fit into my life.
Usage
eames is being used far more often than I would have thought, and it's been long enough now that the novelty has worn off. I've been using eames for a variety of uses, including development, general browsing, email, games, and academic work. Part of the reason is that eames is more portable than my old desktop, but that's really not the only reason, since I have brought the Dell laptop from work home on a few occasions and not noticed the same level of use.
The Macbook is light enough to be extremely portable. I can comfortably use it on the couch, at a desk, or even outside (something that, due to the screen, is impossible on the Dell). I often take it up to the bedroom at night for some casual gaming or catching up on email/blogs before sleep; the other night when I suffered from some insomnia, I was able to get some work done on a presentation I'm giving later this summer.
The Dell has never felt all that 'portable'. In fact, it gets the majority of its use at work, plugged into dual monitors. I rarely take it off-site, though I'm glad to have that option. Conversely, eames is never in the same location for long; it's being taken downstairs, used in the living room, taken into the kitchen to refer to a recipe, etc.
It just works
I know it's a Mac cliché, but stuff on the Mac just works. Installing and uninstalling, for the most part, is just really damned easy. I find I'm much more open to installing and testing out applications on the Mac than I am on my Windows box because it's such a painless process most of the time. The first spot of trouble I ran into was today, when I decided I wanted to set up a web server on the laptop and had difficulties getting MySQL running. Of course, as you may have seen in the miniblog, I managed to find an application bundle with Apache, MySQL and PHP that installs as a normal Mac application so problem solved.
Physical comfort
I already talked about this a little before, but the MacBook is pretty comfortable to use. One of the things I really enjoy about it is the keyboard. Typing on the keyboard is extremely comfortable for me; I find I can get pretty good speed on the keys without too many errors (at least no more errors than usual). The screen size is just about right as well - I wouldn't want it any larger, since one of my key reasons for wanting a laptop in the first place is portability.
Games
This is where things fall apart a little, in that the games I generally like to play don't seem to be available or playable on the MacBook. It is possible to play Halflife/Team Fortress on the MacBook through virtualization, but apparently it's not the best experience given the relatively low-powered graphics card in the system. I can also see that it would be near-impossible to play FPS games without a mouse.
That being said, there are a few casual games available for the Mac, which I've taken a look at, though there isn't a very large amount of quality freeware games available (if anyone wants to suggest some, go right ahead).
I'm gaming less as I get older though, and I do still have the Windows box for the games I do play, so this isn't really the negative it might be.
Overall
Overall, I really like the MacBook and OS X. OS X offers a very unified user experience, even with third party applications, and just seems to have a much better finish on it than Windows. Going back is a bit of a shocking experience, actually; one that I experience every Monday when I get back to work. Windows just seems so ugly. I've had far, far fewer crashes with the applications I use on a regular basis in both platforms (e.g., Firefox), and it seems like a lot of small things such as networking are improved (call quality on Skype, which I use daily with K, is much better under OS X than it is under Windows).
Canadian wireless spectrum auction & the iPhone
The list of bidders in Canada's wireless spectrum auction was released yesterday, and there was something notable within its pages.
There had been some speculation about the rumoured front runner, Niagara Networks, who had emerged from nowhere when they announced they were going to enter the auction with an $881 million deposit. Rumours emerged that they were being backed by AT&T and/or T-Mobile as a way for those companies to enter (or in AT&T's case re-enter) the Canadian wireless market. Some rumours even suggested that their entrance into bidding was secretly prompted by Apple.
When the list of bidders emerged yesterday, it noted that Niagara Networks had withdrawn their bid. What's important to note here is that the bid was withdrawn, not disqualified (as another in the list was). What does this mean? Well, one of two things - either the bid wasn't serious in the first place, or the bid was being used as leverage against another applicant on the list.
My theory, and it's only a theory with no basis in evidence, is that Apple was using Niagara Networks as a negotiation tool with Rogers as a way of bringing reasonable data rates to Canada. Sort of a "fine, if you won't work with us on this, you can work against us - we'll help finance a new entrant instead" move. If this is the case, the withdrawn bid would indicate a successful threat (and I say threat as opposed to bluff, since Apple would have only needed to commit about $350 million to the bid given Canadian ownership regulations - less than 2% of the $18 billion they have in cash reserves). It helps my argument that the president of Niagara Networks was a little cryptic in his statement:
"I can't tell you a lot, there's a lot of strategic things going on right now," he said. Asked what enterprise the firm is involved in at the moment, he replied: "We're preparing to bid in the auction ... I don't mean to be cryptic." (source)
I have this gut feeling that Apple will announce an iPhone in Canada in late June or early July (my bet? July 1, which just so happens to fall on a Tuesday, a day Apple traditionally likes to release new products).