Okay, I realize I'm risking my neck here but, did Uhura figure that prominently in the original series? Understandably she was a black woman featured prominently in a regular series in the 60's. And yes there was "the kiss" (I can distinctly remember my father saying, "They ain't showing this in Alabama."). But by today's standards, was Nichol's role all that noteworthy? Now if your...
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- MoTO #TeamMonique
Did any women have substantial roles in original trek?
- Todd Hoff
No, she wasn't a major character. But I personally think casting someone specifically as a love interest is actually even more constricting than not having that many scenes or lines.
- Victor Ganata
True, but that's the case for most of the casting for women in Hollywood, yes?
- MoTO #TeamMonique
It feels retrograde to have her role defined as a foil for Kirk/girlfriend for Spock rather than as the communications officer who serves as the primary point of initial contact between the ship and other entities. As in, slightly worse than the original show. I'd argue that any member of the cast who appeared as a series regular and was a requirement for the films was a major character.
- Jennifer Dittrich
Betsy: Number One rocked in that pilot. ROCKED! I remember thinking she was waaay cooler than Nurse Chapel when I saw that ep.
- MoTO #TeamMonique
Yeah, granted, casting women as nothing more than eye-candy love interests is standard operating procedure in Hollywood, but I think what makes it galling is that her character had been originally defined quite otherwise.
- Victor Ganata
Uhura was a prime component of the original cast films, featured both for her intelligence as well as her beauty. And there were components in the original series where she was given the opportunity to show that she was more than just good looks. But the crux of it is really this: It's 20-and-fucking-13. We very goddamned well should be doing better in terms of treating one of the only...
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- Hookuh Tinypants
I've never seen it, but Nimoy claims that Uhura was assigned a major role in Star Trek (corrected) III (which Nimoy directed). According to Nimoy, the "other characters" were utilized in a way similar to that used by Mission:Impossible (remember Paris?) - each of the people had a key function that had to be executed for the plan to move forward.
- John E. Bredehoft
Regardless of all that, it seems fairly clear that the character of Uhura in the TV series and the original series of movies had a distinct, well-established identity that many people found inspiring and which wasn't simply "Spock's girlfriend who also happens to have some job on the bridge"
- Victor Ganata
She was a minor character, but she had a job and that's what she was doing when she appeared on camera.
- DJF
Wow. As the cobwebs continue to be spun, even the original "feed" purpose of FriendFeed is slowly falling away. The only thing that automatically populates my feed now is my Disqus commenting. After a manual refresh, my last.fm stuff shows up also. Even the empoprises mentions on Twitter aren't showing up any more.
"I wonder if always-on connected devices will end up changing our expectations about connectivity. Think about it. When I was growing up, my parents had a phone in our house, connected to the wall, that wasn't going anywhere. When we were in the car, we couldn't be reached on the phone. When I was at school, I couldn't be reached on the phone. When my dad was at work, you could only reach him on the phone if you knew his work number; his home phone number would only reach my mom and her dog. When I went to college, you'd have to call a pay phone in my dorm to reach me. At that time, there was no expectation of always being able to reach someone via the telephone. However, mobile phones slowly became more and more popular, and that phone that I would only use in emergencies slowly became a necessity. States such as California had to pass laws because some of us would answer our phones while we were driving down freeways. In the same way, it's quite possible that a few decades from now,..."
- John E. Bredehoft
"As several others have noted in the comments, Pandora's Box has already been opened. Even if Google's executives withdraw Glass entirely after throwing up at the results, you can still find online ads, and even infomercials, that provide similar technology with a lot less visibility. As I write this, people are freaking out over the 3-D printed plastic gun. That's another box that's been opened also. I've been reading the thoughts of people, particularly Tad Donaghe, who maintain that privacy as we know it is going away - regardless of what happens to Google Glass."
- John E. Bredehoft
"While the meth effect is particularly pronounced, any amount of hard living will wreak havoc upon your appearance. (Keith Richards.)"
- John E. Bredehoft
"Andrew, you detected my closed-mindedness from the tone I adopted in my praise of real music. But can you blame me? Take a look at the oft-praised popular song "Imagine" by John Lennon, which some people praise because of its political ramifications, religious ramifications, or simply because of its poetry or its instrumentation. It's obvious that the song pales in comparison to J.S. Bach's two-part inventions (to say nothing of the three-part inventions). This is the reason why my Empoprise-MU music blog concentrates solely on real music, and avoids the nasty popular stuff. If you're interesting in reading about popular music, go read Rolling Stone or watch MTV - oh, wait, they've quit concentrating on music. Now we know why. In all seriousness, at some point I do want to write something about the economics of music over the centuries, and how the former system of rich patron sponsorship has moved to a "free market" (sort of) for music."
- John E. Bredehoft
Can you remind me again where to find those stats?
- Brian Johns
Brian, go to "Me" link (http://friendfeed.com/brianjo...) which defaults to the Feed tab. Look at the sidebar on the right, below Discussion.
- Micah
0.75 (926/1226) - still relatively new here
- mikepk
I only see my stats for the last week (17/14 = 1.21) Please tell me your 670 number is for more than just a week!
- Brian Johns
1.44 (566/391) for brianjohns (after week tally you should see a comma then 'all time' count - I can see it on your page)
- Micah
OK, sorry. I'm a total dumbass. I stopped reading after the weekly totals...
- Brian Johns
3.74, which seems way off of everybody else's. I wonder what that says. I comment a lot more than I like.
- Cyrus Lendvay
FFers use FF with their own strategy or simply default tendencies. The ratio is an interesting snapshot of behaviour. Thanks for joining in everyone, hope more keep flowing in.
- Micah
from twhirl
0.66 - I tend to 'like' things without needing to comment further, I guess, and I notice I usually like the things upon which I comment. Well, frequently.
- ɐ ɯıʞ sıɹɥɔ
.39 (2457/6242) I guess I don't comment much. I do 'like' a lot of things, it would seem.
- Bren
0.62 then again i have over 11,000 comments
- Cee Bee
1.23 (5287/4229) - I am put to shame by Cee Bee's participation, good grief!
- Lindsay
So far: Average: 1.27 | Median: 0.81 ... (if you average 1 comment per like, you'd be 1.0 ... if you're 0.xx you might herd content more than discuss ... if you're whole numbers above 1 you may not 'like' much or discuss plenty or both)
- Micah
InPerpetualMotion(Gina k), I really liked this 'Like' of yours (in a series of pics, so I flickr fav'd it): http://friendfeed.com/e... and commented. Thanks!
- Micah
.68 6986/10194 Someone wrote a great article on the comment-like ratio a few months ago. Search on FriendFeed is crashing on me... I'll try to get the link.
- Mitchell Tsai
Thanks Mitchell (btw, search crashing on me too - lots)
- Micah
1316 comments/20221 likes (0.06), according to Windows Calculator, although I probably screwed up.
- Tyson Key
A recent change in FF: now the comment count shows total number of comments (previously multiple comments in one thread only counted as one) http://friendfeed.com/e... so all the numbers above are from the old methodology....
- David HC Soul
My new ratio: 0.76 all time (old methodology .52).... this week 1.39
- David HC Soul
Looks like my ratio as flipped again (comments back to dominating again). Seems to match my own awareness I've lately been commenting without Liking (commenting is my inherent recognition of value to me and the additional Like is when it merits an extra bump to help discovery by others).
- Micah
Rick, you mean that face with glasses I photoshopped tint into with an apparently disembodied arm which is actually very much attached to my eldest son? It's mostly just me :)
- Micah
Thanks, Michael. Yes, you have a rising tide of comment percentage (oh, wow, you were one of the originals from January - cool!)
- Micah
Yeah, that's a decent upward rise in comments, Nicholas.
- Micah
.6 (6,000/10,000) 3rd update - Now it's time to flip this on its head. My goal is to have (16,000/16,000) next time I post here. Regardless of what happens, I'm just looking forward to the next 10,000 comments, likes, posts, and new relationships I make here. It's all good!
- Michael Fidler
1.76 (7539/4290) My commenting habits haven't chanced much, but it felt like I clicked Like a lot less, and this ratio confirms that for me.
- Micah
.82 as of right now. edit: on January 8th it was 0.39 -- when I saw that, I decided to make more of an effort to comment. When I hit 10k "likes" I decided I wouldn't "like" anything else until I also had 10k comments.
- Bren
Jimminy, I'm copyrighting every single number. It's kind of a honeypot ;) Actually, it was curiosity mostly, but I also hope to build a sampling (small and self-selecting as it may be) for anyone who might want to analyze it.
- Micah
12.23 (844 / 69 ) I guess I take my likes seriously ;)
- Chris Myles
Wow I didn't realize I was so out of whack!! 12.23 that's got to be a record (and I don't even import my feeds with the summary as a comment)!!
- Chris Myles
Thanks JA, Chris (wow, 12+ is unusual :), Serkan and Nine!
- Micah
Micah.. I told you I take my likes seriously; ). You *might* want to ask (in a separate post) what percentage of likes were used to "bookmark" a post or save it for later VS actually "liking it". I NEVER used like for that.. but I did use a private group that if filled with my own topics (and comments)..
- Chris Myles
Likes are down relative to comments, which matches my much lower frequency of liking. I'm a more selective liker than ever.
- Micah
I don't think I could argue that any particular kind of ratio is "best", because if Lurkers like to Lurk and cultivate (via Likes) and the Chatty-ites love to chat, to pump out much many more comments than Likes, each can be happy and make for a great social experience.
- Micah
wow, what a difference time makes, when i 1st posted on this thread, 6.43%, now = 1.25%, for a 5.18% difference, :o (and this is the earliest post to date i've recovered of my activity on ff)
- chaz2b
chaz, I think there's been a big fluctuation for most people (maybe not that much). This is the oldest post on which you commented that you've recovered?
- Micah
When I first saw this: 1.91 Sept 28: 1.94
- MiniMage
536 comments in the last month has me at .8736...still creeping toward 1.00
- Bren
that was my third post... It's interesting to see how the number has changed. of course, I manipulated the number to a degree, because I stopped "liking" things for a while...
- Bren
Bren, the other thing that can seriously throw off someone's stats is a feed that upon each item it imports adds a comment automatically.
- Micah
true. that can seriously inflate comment stats, of course. Then you have someone like RAPatton, who posts a gazillion comments, in part because of his playlist posts where he will list each song in a separate comment. I found, after this post in fact, that I tended to "like" things much more frequently than comment on them, that I was lurking instead of participating. I have changed the way I use ff rather considerably, and I think for the better.
- Bren
In 4 days it will be 1 year since my first recorded stat here. My comments/like were almost a 1:1 ratio then. Now comments are almost double likes for me.
- Micah
75,415 comments/1,286 likes = 58.64 - i wish the auto inserted comments didn't get counted... the true number is probably much much close ot my number of likes
- Chris Heath
1.97%. thanks again micah, this has been a great metric to measure my first year here on ff. As the year went (this being the first record of me being here that i've found): , 6.43%:1.25%:1.97%
- chaz2b
Chris, Bren, thank you. And chaz2b, thank you too - glad it's a special marker for you. :)
- Micah
63.58 (97,534/1,534) -- interesting that my last three digits are the same there, eh? (note, i already posted a month or two ago when i first saw this thread)
- Chris Heath
0.87 (3770/4312), so I'm either getting more commenty or less likey. [0.74 (1970/2667) was what I previously reported back in June]
- In Search of Gender
Last year my comments were around 7000 and likes around 2500, for a ratio of 2.80. I consciously chose to do more liking over the last year. As of today my comments number 10,782 and likes number 7,666, for a ratio of 1.41.
- Stephen Mack #TeamMomo
Jason, Stephen - cool. Thanks for keeping updated here. :)
- Micah
Okay, Micah. <----I had to resist the urge not to post that because I know it's going to up my comment count. ;)
- Jenny H
But how many of those primordial, high interest posts are still active. Uh huh. :)
- Micah
Thanks, Morton. BTW, when you posted in February, it was exactly 0.13 also.
- Micah
Jenny, resistance is futile; embrace the rising tide of comments.
- Micah
Comments are more difficult and time consuming than Likes. I'd be happy about a high comment:likes ratio except that many are surely imported from feeds, while every Like is manual.
- Mike Chelen
it has changed to 2.2256 now as Sep, 6 2010.Labor Day. :) I added the date for future references.
- ۳۰ مرغ Loves Y'ALLLLL
Two years later and my ratio has climbed from 3.4 to 4.675. I've got a lot to say, apparently.
- Kevin Fox
Funnily, I didn't notice until after leaving that comment that when I reported my stat in 2009 I also followed it up with "I've got stuff to say." I didn't say it was *new* stuff...
- Kevin Fox
2.91; 6.43% (@ 2yrs ago) 2.33% (@ 1yr ago). for history's sake, this thread was started shortly after i found friendfeed, or friendfeed found me, so it holds a special place in my heart. thanks for keeping it around mr micah
- chaz2b
You're certainly welcome, chaz2b. In some way it feels like a living heirloom to me. :)
- Micah
3 (2.991) (and now the list has become too lengthy for me to track my progress, ;) [dumb me, i have a post not 10 lines ago in history, from 090711 2.91; 6.43% (@ 2yrs ago) 2.33% (@ 1yr ago) ;) ]
- chaz2b
0.75 (38,250 comments / 50,175 likes) (My entry above from 2 years ago said I had 10,782 comments and 7,666 likes for a ratio of 1.41. I've been busy, and my pattern seems to have changed.)
- Stephen Mack #TeamMomo
"As someone who wishes that the Angels were still the Anaheim Angels, I have no problem with our airport's current name. And Los Angeles International Airport shouldn't get high and mighty. After all, as Frank Black once noted, they have a Los Angeles in South Patagonia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?..."
- John E. Bredehoft
"It just occurred to me that Ramon Sanchez, like Roger Ebert, worked until almost the last possible moment. Neither of them presumably needed to, but they both enjoyed what they were doing."
- John E. Bredehoft
"I had seen some of these pictures yesterday when they were shared on Google+. I am glad that you are pursuing the truth! Another thing to look for - remember that the word "Google" does not have three o's, and that the word "Glass" does not have only one s. If you receive a product with an inaccurate spelling, it may not be the real thing. Now if you'll excuse me, my Rollexx watch is telling me that it's time to watch Sunday Night Football."
- John E. Bredehoft
"Years before I met my wife, her family went to the Farrell's in Montclair one evening, and her brother took up the challenge to eat a "pig's trough" of ice cream. He successfully ate the ice cream, but much of it ended up on the Montclair Plaza parking lot afterwards. While we're thinking about that period, the area where Applebee's now stands today used to host a 50's place with a dance floor. Can't remember the name, however..."
- John E. Bredehoft
"The ending of the video says that certain companies prepared ads accessible to both parents and children. Does this mean that special preparation is required to create articles that can be rendered kid-friendly by the app?"
- John E. Bredehoft
"You forgot the most important feature. Unlike other manufacturers who have closed systems and arduous rules ("don't hold it like that"), the manufacturers of the Gates products promise an easily accessible architecture that easily accommodates add-ons from third (and, if you're really into experimentation, fourth) parties. CPO Steve Ballmer has even produced a video in which he expresses his...um, commitment to those DEVELOPERS that will produce compatible products. And I understand that he got really sweaty during the making of that video."
- John E. Bredehoft
"I haven't seen the post in question, but (see my comment above) I have no problem with a post that discusses wardrobe essentials - as long as it's not implied that women need to worry about wardrobe, but men do not."
- John E. Bredehoft
"Your "context is important" message is an important one, even in the examples that you describe as appropriate. What if I say that I like your blazer, and that I like Joanna's blazer, but I never tell Rob that I like his blazer? Hmm..."
- John E. Bredehoft
"Chris, my blogs are using a "Subscribe by email" feature that is offered by Feedburner. Of course, this begs the question - what if Google kills Feedburner also? I do not know the ins and outs of ensuring that subscription emails are not marked as junk. Jesse, you have me thinking about something. If I write it I'll let you know."
- John E. Bredehoft
RT @ArsenioHall: A writer said, Rodman is "over his head" hanging with "sleezy" dictator Kim Jong Un. Dennis can handle sleezy characters, he dated Madonna!
"The main reason for the low turnout is the common perception that local elections aren't important, and that national elections are the only ones that matter. I'm sure that idea about unimportant local elections would go away very quickly if the city of Ontario failed to pick up the trash for a few weeks. Romney and Obama aren't going to pick up our trash (literally or figuratively)."
- John E. Bredehoft
"I'm still searching for a product that meets my personal needs to have access to the RSS feed collection on a variety of platforms. Feedly immediately jumped in to offer its services, but its Windows support of selected web browsers is a deal-breaker for me - IT has locked my work computer down so that it only includes Internet Explorer, which makes it difficult to read forensic/biometric feeds via a service that refuses to support Internet Explorer. At this point I can't tell if Google's absence will create a flood of interest in the creation of new RSS readers, or if Google's absence will cause those same companies to ask, "Why bother?""
- John E. Bredehoft
"Well, now it's 2013 and Google Reader is about be to shuttered, so I'm checking out options for a free online feeder that works on something other than a phone or tablet. Is anyone using Bloglines today? Does it work?"
- John E. Bredehoft