StillPaisleyCat

An interesting and reasonably balanced piece.

I learned a few new things about the fediverse, including a Canadian angle on the creation of the ActivityPub protocol.

While rumours, speculations and ‘expert’ grading of trade rumours reach a fever pitch around Pascal Siakam, Sports Illustrated is bringing the conversation back around to OG Anunoby with citing a Bleacher Report of report of a possible trade to the Orlando Magic.

Chris Walder’s quippy tweet in reaction to some OG trade scenarios floating about says “Thanks for making the Toronto Raptors infinitely worse.”

Thoughts?

Prodigy EP Aaron Waltke is continuing to update on progress on his mastodon account.

“The world needs to see this.”

We’re with you @[email protected].

For those who missed it, Prodigy picked up a Children and Family Emmy nomination for 2021-2022 Outstanding Animated Series.

Prodigy continues a strong trend in critical nods with a nod for best YA / Middle Grade novel with A Dangerous Trade by Cassandra Rose Clark.

Litverse favourite authors John Jackson Miller and David Mack are both nominated for best novel for SNW The High Country and TOS/Vanguard Harm’s Way, respectively.

While I picked up the Prodigy books, I haven’t read them yet.

I can agree with Trek Movie’s reviewer that Harm’s Way is one of the strongest licensed fiction offerings not just in 2022, but for some time. If you’re a Vanguard fan, this is a great interstitial offering, with the 1701 at the focal point rather than as a cameo in other mainline Vanguard stories.

It’s been difficult to get a sense of what the various sides’ positions in this strike are, and some factual context.

This is a fairly helpful roundup of background information.

Bruce Horak, who plays/ed Hemmer, is a visual artist as well as an an actor.

It seems his Save Star Trek Prodigy drawing isn’t the only Hemmer@home with little gorn(s) that are up on his Instagram.

Enjoy!

5 zebras are enjoying their enclosed-environment originally designed for caribou, with special Coop-manufactured feed (naturally) to supplement the usual hay. Questions remain as Sask wildlife investigators continue their work.

This one is irresistible. If anyone has a local media story link, please add.

Some reflections on the Australian experience and what they might mean for Canada.

After Google’s move on Thursday, Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez sent a written statement calling the companies’ moves “deeply irresponsible and out of touch … especially when they make billions of dollars off of Canadian users” with advertising.

Australia’s regulatory experiment – the first of its kind in the world – also got off to a rocky start, but it has since seen tech companies, news publishers and the government reach a middle ground.

As Janeway would have it, temporal mechanics can make our heads hurt.

Several of us here are still wrapping our minds around the implications of SNW 2 x 3 Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow for the Prime Universe timeline. The Romulan agent confirmed that key events in history have been resilient to temporal incursions, but their exact dates may change as time heals itself.

While this appears to warrant some deep dives on c/Daystrom Institute once we’ve had a bit of time to process this onscreen confirmation a bit more, I thought to look back to see what astrophysicist and Star Trek science consultant Dr Erin MacDonald has said previously on this point.

At the main link above, there is an episode of MacDonald’s Astrometric Episode Club where she reviews the temporal science of Voyager Relativity and DS9 Children of Time that appears on point.

There’s a few passing references to other time travel incidents along the way. These touch on the resilience of time, not least the causality loop in First Contact where the Borg incursion into the 21st century causes Enterprise to return and get Cochrane into space when needed even though the events weren’t quite as they were originally. The timeline is preserved in this essential key event no matter the details.

There’s also a report on Time Travel on StarTrek.com about an STLV 2019 presentation by Dr Erin MacDonald. (The piece itself was written by a professor of physics and astronomy.)

Reporting and tracking tick-borne diseases is increasing.

It’s not just Lyme disease that’s a risk.

Ontario's top doctor expects to see a growing number of cases of three types of tick-borne illness in the province, in addition to Lyme disease -- a spread he says is directly linked to climate change. A new regulation that takes effect this weekend requires health-care providers in Ontario to report cases of anaplasmosis, babesiosis and Powassan virus to their local medical officers of health.

These sound grim.

Anaplasmosis is caused by bacteria that gets into a person's bloodstream through a tick bite. It causes fever and chills, but can also suppress bone marrow and the creation of white and red blood cells, as well as platelets, Moore said. Babesiosis, on the other hand, presents similarly to malaria, he said. Ticks transmit intracellular parasites, which get inside a person's red blood cells and burst them, so people can present with anemia, along with having fever and chills. Most infections of Powassan virus are asymptomatic, but people might have fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, weakness, or aches and pains. But after an acute phase and a period of remission, an infected person may experience confusion, loss of co-ordination, difficulty speaking, paralysis, seizures or coma,

Not sure I agree, but it’s a helpful article in its attempts to lay out the +s and -s of a largely unchanged roster.

I can’t say the prospect is making me want to keep my TSN and Sportsnet subscriptions.

Here’s the con that I just can’t see being avoided even with a new head coach.

The Raptors had players in radically different stages of their careers and they did not have a clear offensive hierarchy, which led to selfish play and frustration throughout the lineup.

Plus, there have been reports dating back several seasons that O.G. Anunoby wants a bigger offensive role, while Barnes is entering his third year and likely wants the same. Bringing back the same roster doesn’t exactly create a clear path for either of those two things to happen.

The Raptors can hope Rajakovic and his .5-second offensive system predicated on unselfish play and ball movement will lead to wins and keep everyone happy, but that is asking a lot of a first-time NBA head coach. After all, players now have certain financial incentives tied to making All-NBA teams and other accolades, giving them legitimate reasons to want to have the ball in their hands more and to take more shots.

Running it back with the same roster along with adding another offensive weapon in Dick does not seem like a good way to turn around the Raptors’ lacklustre chemistry and vibes from last season.

If the strategy was to get mainstream profile for SNW by including Jim Kirk as a recurring character, it seems to be working. Esquire has an interesting take on Wesley’s Kirk as a kind of ‘best of’ everyman captain.

Wesley’s version of Jim Kirk is a microcosm of the entire series. He is Kirk, sometimes from a different timeline, sometimes found just a few years before taking over the Enterprise, but don’t worry about it too much. He’s the guy you trust, because he believes in people when no one else will, and he’ll always do the right thing, even if nobody notices or remembers.

Personally, I’m coming round to Wesley’s Kirk (still a name combination I’d never expected to be using). Not sure I buy that “his performance reminds us that all of us could be Kirk if we wanted to be. Kirk isn’t a legend—he’s just a guy. A very competent and cool guy, but someone you’d want to hang out with all the same.” YMMV