Still it was kind of fun in an over-the-top sort of way. I think someone could do a new series today with a slightly different premise and still give the writers enough leeway to have fun with it.

The Setup

The year is 2999. There’s civilization throughout the solar system. Transportation is comparatively cheap and common, though a bit slow. There is no interstellar travel except for a handful of robotic probes sent to nearby star systems.

The Jupiter moons Europa and Ganymede are set aside as nature preserves because they both have life of their own in their deep subsurface oceans. Europa is the moon that gets all the attention and big research money because it has what we would consider a real ecosystem with complex life somewhat like we find in the deep sea on Earth.

Our show takes place on Ganymede. Its oceans hold much less interesting simple single celled life. The exobiologists that get assigned there mostly wish they were on Europa, but you take what you can get. Also on Ganymede is a supposedly secret military base, but it’s something of an open secret. Because of Ganymede’s status as a nature preserve it shouldn’t be there at all, but it’s fairly small and doesn’t seem to do much so no one has ever really said much about it.

The opening of the pilot episode takes place on the exobiology research base. This provides an opportunity to get the audience to know some of the main characters as well as do the background setup that explains what I set out above. Life on the base is fairly boring. Or should I say uneventful, as actual boring is involved whenever they send a new probe down beneath the surface.

Then the show switches to the military base. As it turns out they are experimenting with a powerful new energy source. It’s buried below the ground to shield its presence from prying eyes, but not too far so that it’s actually affects the ocean below. At this point we get to know the characters at this end, from the military commander of the base to the technical personnel.

I think we all know what comes next. There’s some horrible accident. Let’s say a big solar flare happens just as an important test of the energy source is taking place. It super-energizes and unbalances the energy source to such an extreme that it warps space itself! And thus via this accident the moon Ganymede disappears into this man-made wormhole and appears in an unknown location far from home, perhaps millions of light years away in another galaxy altogether.

The last part of our pilot would show the two teams getting together and doing what they need to do to set up a sustainable colony. The show would end with the discovery that the energy source is still unstable and has to be “set off” from time to time in order to avoid it destroying the moon itself. So they set it off, once again traveling through the warped space to parts unknown. Thus we have an explanation for why it ends up in a different star system for each episode.

The First Season

I’d say that the first regular season episode would be to an uninhabited star system somewhere so that we can have more time to flesh out the main characters. Maybe have a minor crisis like they have to send out shuttles to find some rare mineral that they need for some reason. Also a good chance to show off whatever special effects can be pulled together for a strange but lifeless star system.

After that we spend the rest of the season bopping about from star system to star system, encountering strange alien civilizations as we go. The exobiologists will be key to understanding and dealing with these aliens while the military may be needed to protect them from time to time, depending on the script.

The first season would end with a crisis as they discover the subsurface ocean is starting to freeze now that they’re away from the gravitational effects of Jupiter. And in the cliff-hanger ending of the last episode of the season it would be revealed that there’s some sort of mysterious alien intruder that’s infiltrated the exobiology station!

The Second Season

It’ll turn out the space-suited alien is from the deep oceans of the moon itself. They’ve been hiding their ecosystem all this time because they were afraid of the surface dwellers but the freezing of the ocean has forced them to make an appearance. Fortunately the crew figures out a way to direct some of the awesome energy of their power source down to the oceans below in order to keep them from freezing up, and thus the series continues, albeit with the new twist of having our “alien” buddies along for the ride …

Although I suppose I shouldn’t be. After all, as a people we have had quite a bit of trouble living up to the lofty ideals spelled out in our founding documents. During WWII our government actually rounded up Japanese-Americans and put them in internment camps. I guess when it comes to Muslim-Americans you could say we’ve made some sort of progress since then.

But in a way those Japanese-Americans had it easier than Muslim-Americans. The perpetrator of Pearl Harbor was no secret and afterwards the Japanese Empire didn’t go into hiding. We had a tangible enemy, we fought them, and when the emperor surrendered it was over.

The 9/11 attacks are quite a bit more shadowy. While we have this vague idea of “Al Queda did it” we don’t really have a tangible enemy as they stay in hiding. Because the enemy is a shadowy organization with relatively few members, that stays in hiding, and that constantly recruits from the disaffected poor of the Muslim world, this war, unlike WWII, will never be over. And that’s bad news for loyal American Muslims because many if not most Americans have lumped all Muslims together. Because Al Queda is Muslim, you see, and all those Muslims are alike, don’t you know.

I don’t know what to say. I don’t know the way out of this conundrum. All I know is that hate isn’t going to get us where we want to be. And hating our fellow Americans who happen to share a religion with terrorist assholes only plays into the hands of those terrorist assholes.

But let’s be practical. NASA’s current plans for both the moon and Mars are one-shots. You build a big-assed space craft here on Earth and send it off to your target. None of what you develop can be used for anything else. And little if any of what they would build would be re-usable. End result: Billions of dollars spent. Megatons of equipment and people sent off into space. Tiny amount of non-reusable equipment and, if all goes well, your people returned. This simply is not a very efficient method for space exploration folks.

I am therefore glad to see that NASA has essentially dropped all of these plans. Because there’s a better way to do it.

Make it cheaper, easier, and safer to get to Earth orbit. And don’t try to mix apples and oranges this time, like you did with the Space Shuttle, OK? We need one craft for people and a different one for equipment. This is for the simple reason that safety is the top priority for moving people. Whereas with equipment, we can make allowances for the occasional failure. Fortunately this appears to be exactly the direction NASA is taking, having already awarded money for cargo delivery to companies like SpaceX. Hopefully manned space craft will follow.

Why is Earth orbit so important? Because once you’re there you’ve got options you didn’t have on the planet. Want to go to the moon? Send up the parts for a Moon Shuttle and a Moon Lander. Assemble it in orbit and you now have a space craft and lander that can be used indefinitely. A further plus is that this new shuttle did not have to be designed to withstand the extreme stresses of dealing with Earth’s gravity and atmosphere. After assembly all you have to send up from earth is fuel and occasional spare parts. Sure, the initial up-front cost would be more than a single-shot moon mission, but once built you can now send people back and forth to the moon for a fraction of that initial cost!

The same thing with a Mars mission. You send up the pieces and assemble your craft in orbit. That way, once again, the space craft itself does not have to be designed to deal with aerodynamics and handling the extreme temperatures of reentry. That is one hell of a design savings right there.

And once things like that have been accomplished and we engineers experienced at actual deep space vehicle design and a work force that’s actually out there then things like missions to Jupiter and Saturn become real possibilities.

So I have an iPad. A week or so after the iPad went on sale I wandered by my nearby Apple Store just to take a look at it. Well the place was littered with them so that even with all the hype it was possible for me to walk right in and play with one. After five or ten minutes I realized that this was really fun so I bought one.

I bought it because I’ve wanted something like this for a long time now. Several years back I bought a Fujitsu tablet PC. I did my research and it was very highly rated. And true, it did its job as well if not better than any other tablet out there but in the end it just wasn’t that usable. Why?

• Too bulky. Way too big to hold in one hand. Just a bit too big to carry around on a whim.
• Too small. For the occasions where using it as a laptop was convenient, it always felt too cramped.
• Sucky battery life. Lasts a bit over two hours if you don’t do anything strenuous like use the internet wirelessly.
• Gets hot if you use it for more than thirty minutes. Since it’s too big to hold conveniently it ends up in your lap and that just isn’t pleasant when it starts to get hot.
• Windows XP for Pen Computing is OK but really it wasn’t designed for that interface and for many things using the pen to navigate just feels clunky.

As I’ve noted before, I am no rabid Apple fan. I bought it because it’s simply the best device in its class right now. And having used it several months now, I feel I can enumerate the pros and cons of the iPad along with items that are basically a wash.

Pros and Cons of the iPad plus Items that Even Out

Pros

• Well implemented multi-touch OS. There’s no awkwardness here where you wish you had a mouse because this OS was built for this interface from the ground up.
• Battery life 10+ hours. If I have a mobile device it’s because I want to be mobile and not constantly worried about how much battery I have left. With the iPad I’ve never worried about the battery and typically go for a week or more between charges.
• Furthermore, I’ve got the apps I want.
• A decent web browser that supports HTML5, although I still wish I could get a version of Firefox.
• A youtube app with plenty of other video apps available, thus rendering the whole Flash-for-video thing moot.
• A couple of minor games in case I need to waste a little time with plenty more available.
• Oh and because there are so many games available that pretty much renders the whole Flash-for-games thing moot as well.
• I like to draw cartoons. Autodesk Sketchbook Pro for iPad has been great for this purpose.
• It has more book readers than you can shake a stick at. In addition to Apple’s own iBooks, I have downloaded Kindle, Nook, Kobo, a Free Books reader and a couple of comic book readers. At least in the realm of books I have a choice in who I do business with.
• Size. At first I thought I’d rather have something a bit bigger to draw on, but having used it and, more importantly, toted it around everywhere I go, I’ve come to the conclusion that this is just the right size.
• Cases and totes. Do a quick google and you’ll find there are tons of choices here. I bought two: A rubber case (or should I call it a cover?) so it’s not quite so slippery, and a small tote to make it easy to carry around.
• Wi-Fi. An absolute necessity and it works great. I’ve heard of some people with weird wireless setups that have had trouble, but it’s always simply just worked for me.  It works at home, it works at other people’s homes that I’ve gone to, it works at all the wireless hotspots I’ve tried it at.
• No USB. I’m going to actually put this up as a plus for the iPad. I want this to be the ultimate untethered device, and adding USB crap just doesn’t fit in that mindset. Furthermore if it did have USB, then every device you add would eat away at battery time.
• Accelerometer keeps the screen properly oriented when moving it about plus there’s a switch to lock the screen in a particular aspect when you don’t want the accelerometer kicking in.
• Ambient light sensor means that its relative brightness adjusts to the environment. I haven’t noticed the iPad being too bright or too dim so I guess that means it’s working.
• Single universal volume control that is easily accessible via a physical control in the case itself. When you’re running Windows you’re always aware that you have separate controls for in-app volume versus OS volume.

Cons

• Cannot replace your own battery but have to pay Apple $100 to do it for you. At least I have an Apple Store close to where I live. All batteries wear out eventually; I’m just hoping this one will last a few years before I have to shell out the bucks to have some teenager at the Apple store do what I am perfectly capable of doing myself.
• 3G coverage limited to AT&T. Doesn’t affect me since I didn’t get the 3G version. And frankly I don’t like anybody’s data plan all that much. Maybe five or ten years from now when I decide to upgrade to some new tablet (which may or may not be Apple depending on what’s available by then) maybe I’ll get something that has 5G (or whatever) coverage if, by then, there is a carrier out there that has a reasonable data plan.
• No wireless sync. When you sync your iPad with its master computer you MUST use that cable.
• Highly reflective screen. For the most part it’s unnoticeable but if you’ve got a direct light source somewhere shining at just the right angle it’s annoying.

Neutrals

• No multi-tasking. Doesn’t affect me. I don’t need a constant stream of specifically-mixed music via some specific app going while I do other things. And no multi-tasking means longer battery life which, as I stated way up as Pro #1, is a good thing.
• No Flash. Flash has got a serious bloat problem. I think it’s great that it’s available to give developers a shared platform that works identically on PC, Mac, and Linux. But it simply wasn’t designed for a mobile device, and by shoe-horning in features to get it to work on mobile devices Adobe is just adding to the bloat. More bloat means eating battery time which, as I have stated several times, is a bad thing. I wouldn’t mind having some energy efficient version of Flash, but I don’t miss it either.
• Weight. Sure it could stand to be just a bit lighter. But for all it does it could have been a lot heavier. And for me it’s light enough. I can hold it one-handed and read for hours. Hint: Get a rubber case for easy gripping.
• No camera. Well sure it would’ve been neat to be able to do video chat. But that’s not why I got it and I’m not sure how much I’d’ve used it. And as to still pictures it’s simply too big for that. I own a digital camera anyway in addition to my phone’s camera which I never use.
• No built-in printer support, but there are apps out there that allow you to print to networked printers wirelessly, so that’s OK.
• Because it is such an energy-sipper doesn’t ordinarily get hot. But because it has to be an energy-sipper there are no allowances for cooling it down, such as fans. For the most part this is a good thing because cooling systems add weight, are loud, and eat the battery. The down side is when the iPad does get hot, such as in direct sunlight, it simply tells you it is too hot and shuts down. I don’t consider this a con because it is more than outweighed by the pros you get in return, thus rendering the whole issue neutral.
• It has a digital compass. I’m not sure it’s come into play … ever.

The App Store

I haven’t mentioned this because really it’s both a pro and a con.

• Pro: Because the App store is completely controlled by Apple, they can make sure that all of the apps are high quality apps designed specifically for the multi-touch environment.
• Con: Because the App store is completely controlled by Apple, they control what I can buy for my device, not me. They can often be capricious in what they approve or reject.
• My conclusion: The controlled environment is OK for now. But in the long run I’ll want to be able to make my own choices.

In Conclusion

Overall I have to say that owning the iPad has been a fun experience. It does what I want it to do and does it well. I realize this device is not for everybody and I hope that my two cents worth here is of some use to you.

For many things it’s a necessary evil. It’s in the nature of mobile devices — cameras, phones, remotes, etc — to need batteries. But I wonder why the rush to make everything battery powered. Some devices, frankly, should not be battery powered.

Vacuums And Batteries Don’t Mix

I recently decided to get a hand-held vac in order to better clean my stairs. I started as I usually do with a trip to Consumer Reports dot org. I first found that most hand-held vacuums are battery powered.  And in relation to that there’s a column labeled “Recharge/Usage” with two numbers such as “10/12″. The legend further informed me that those numbers are hours of charging versus minutes of use.  So basically you have to charge these guys overnight for just a few minutes of use.  This means I must either plan my cleaning ahead of time or simply keep the vac plugged in all the time. The former is a bad idea for me because I never plan cleaning in advance. It’s more like, “Damn those stairs have gotten dusty. I should clean them”. And I latter is not going to happen because I hate the idea of keeping something plugged in constantly sucking electricity when I’m only going to pull it out once or twice a month.

Fortunately for me there were a couple of highly rated corded hand-held vacs and that’s what I ended up getting. That little B&D kicks ass, btw.

Apple’s Magic Trackpad

I was reading about Apple’s latest trendy gadget and saw that it is strictly a wireless device.  Unlike the vacuum guys they don’t even give you an option. But hey, don’t worry about it eating batteries, says Apple’s web site, you can buy one of our overpriced but stylish battery rechargers!

I can see no reason this device shouldn’t have a USB connector like everything else. If I bought one, it would sit on my desk right where the mouse is. There is no issue about moving it around like, say, your TV remote. Or even, for that matter, a mouse. Some people like wireless mice just so they don’t get that cord tangled up. I’m not one of those people, but at least I can understand where they’re coming from. But the magic trackpad doesn’t move. That’s the whole point of the thing — and yet it’s wireless. Why? Fashion? Really, that’s the only thing I can come up with.

No thanks, Apple. I’ll stick with my mouse.

Don’t Make It Wireless Just Because You Can

So there you go. I’ll stick with corded devices where I can and look for the most energy efficient cordless devices where mobility is an issue. Like, ironically enough, another Apple product, the iPad.

The most famous fanbois are probably the Apple fanbois. They are rabidly pro-Apple. They hang on Steve Jobs’ every word and drool at Apple events and announcements. They follow every shred of gossip. And most annoyingly, they’ll support anything and everything Apple in messageboards across the internet.

Of course, not all fanbois are pro-something.  Apple has its share of anti-fanbois, but perhaps the company that attracts the most is Microsoft. Their anti-fanbois are amongst the most rabid on the internet, although this has abated somewhat in recent years. They’ll ascribe the most malevolent motives to everything Microsoft does. For these antis, “Microsoft” may as well be “Satan” — it’s eeeeeee-vil!

Fanbois don’t have to be company-specific, either. Linux fanbois are nearly as rabid as the ones described above. You get on to the subject of operating systems and they’ll bash both Apple and Microsoft while blithely ignoring the shortcomings of the particular flavor of Linux that they worship.

Thus, I am a technology agnostic. When I discuss the latest tech online, I try to evaluate all the choices as fairly as possible, while acknowledging my own biases. For example, I have worked and played on Microsoft operating systems for almost thirty years now and I am not going to simply toss that store of knowledge aside lightly. Even so, I certainly don’t worship Microsoft and am happy to consider alternatives.

With any luck this will lead to civil and useful discussions of the subject at hand with a minimum of “Such-n-Such is teh suck” or “If you don’t think Such-n-Such is great then you suck!”