Scudder

I have played many characters in D&D, but Scudder is the only Trek character I ever made. And he had a brief life in two previous Trek games that never got off the ground. A version of him appeared in some work I did in a fiction workshop. I think we're talking 10 years ago he first appeared, wow. And he was white back then. At any rate. I studied a lot of psych, soc, and philosophy in school [hello, Liberal Arts major] and I think there's a philosophical bent in Scudder's friendly counseling style... And outside of school I'm *always* reading about mental health, neuroscience, psychoanalysis, trauma, depression -- I just love that stuff! Which I hope doesn't sound morbid. I suppose it's a rewarding interest because the subject is, in the end, about helping people who experience life very differently. So beside being inspired by the nurturing women of TNG (Crusher and Troi), Scudder is my way to be a counselor without actually being a counselor. In real life, I think I'd be a little too impatient and grumpy about putting up with my patient's problems. That aside, I'm not an adorable Indian man. But I've dated a few! Maybe Scudder is the ideal boyfriend that my exes couldn't be?

I'm wondering if other counselors are using technobabble*? 'Cause I think they totally should. This counselor is guilty! To paraphrase Valdivia, neuroscience [and psychology and psychiatry] are bound to have evolved a lot -- and I imagine they may have [must have?] merged into a unified science, as more of the brain, mind, and consciousness became understood. It's been fun for me to look at what brain science is happening today and project that into the future. So I've played with a little technobabble, extrapolated from emerging technology today, and the bits of brain equipment we've seen in Sickbays and such. Really, there's not enough canon toys for counselors to poke around brains with, and I wanted more. *I'd never heard of "treknobabble" and I find it hard to say!

Nah, I'm not convinced it's that clear cut. The ensemble miniseries is popular in TV right now, especially streaming TV. All of those are new casts and some are great shows. But I guess we'll see! Regardless, I'm not a fan of the TOS era in particular either -- or rather, I'm definitely not a fan of the recent movies -- so I'm only expecting this to be sugary candy. Fun, maybe, but no ST:IV.

I guess if you think 'Season 1 Syndrome' is caused solely by fresh casts. If the different seasons have the same producers and writers, they'd likely get into the swing of things. No Deanna Trois in funny leotards.

Haha, that felt more like an ad for a game than a show. ::Said in my grumpy old man voice.:: I'd heard of the possibility of a rotating cast format somewhere else; that would be super interesting.

This "Morals of Trek" idea is fun! I'm understanding that creating a replacement immune system is not an option... So I'd try to draw the sentient cells' attention to the fact that they wouldn't have life without their hosts: First, doesn't that inspire wonder and respect toward their hosts? And second, if they let their hosts die, they die. Maybe draw a parallel to humans almost destroying their host, the Earth, in the 21st century...? If the cells don't go for this, I'd see them as choosing death for themselves and for their host by not performing their original function as an immune system. In which case I'd say the host has a right to act in their own interest, even if it means the death of this new sentient species. In which case, given the two choices we're given, that act would be to devolve the cells. (It seems like the other option is to allow the host-species to die for the sake of this new species, and that's not cool. )

I'm wondering if there's a fleet-wide consensus on how synthehol works? How has everyone been playing synthehol in their sims? I didn't find anything in our wiki or forums, and Memory-Alpha is vague. The best answer I found draws from TNG episodes and an interview with Roddenberry: Synthehol is intoxicating. However, any rise in a person's adrenaline counters and eliminates synthehol's intoxicating effects. An officer summoned to the bridge in Red Alert will be almost instantly sober. Synthehol is non-toxic (there is no "synthehol-poisoning") and is non-addictive. It looks, smells, and tastes similar to alcohol -- to all but a connoisseur. Any thoughts?

Congrats, Ensigns! Savan, I already said hello to you on the Thunder/Embassy. Taelon, where'd you end up?

Sadness! I was so excited to see this, but the poor guy took it down 'cause they were getting hatemail? Edit: Found a video walkthrough. Amazing.

Well it's midnight 03.14 in my timezone so... Happy pi day everyone!! (I'm only on top of this because I had a second date with a math teacher. Skype-dates. Very very nerdy. )

Thanks, everyone! It's fun to be here. The flood of emails when it starts rolling is kind of intoxicating, haha. I'm all caught up. For now.