Exasperated Calculator: Star Trek & Economics
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Sous Vide: Week One
So, to start with I want to quickly go over my Sous Vide setup. The bits I’ve bought are a Maxkon Vacuum Sealer. It’s a no-name brand, but it works well and the bags to use with it are reasonably cheap. The main special part is the temperature controller. This bit turns the rice cooker…
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Sous Vide: Day One
As many have noticed, I’m a bit of a gadget hound. Today’s new entry – a Sous Vide setup. I’d been wanting to try Sous Vide (french for ‘Under Vacuum’) for a while, but the multi-thousand dollar costs of the setups put me off. Then I found [Sous Vide at Home](http://www.sousvideathome.com.au). It’s a simple box…
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How To: Take photographs during a balloon ride
When you book a balloon ride you may (like me) think that you don’t need to think too much about taking pictures: [“f/8 and be there”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-number#Effects_on_image_quality) would be all you need. What you haven’t realised (or perhaps you did, and that’s why you’re here) is that the lighting conditions are going to be really difficult.…
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2011
The first, and most important thing to know about 2011 is that it’s a prime number. Why is this important? Because it suggests that it will be a year unique in it’s own right, not just derivative of other years. I hope so at least. In a lot of ways 2010 did not go very…
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So, yeah…
The more observant of you will have noticed that the Trekathon stalled a little bit back in June at the end of TNG Season 6 and DS9 Season 1. There are a lot of different reasons, which I won’t go in to. And looking forward I have a big holiday coming up, and next year…
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Trekathon Season Review: The Next Generation, Season 6
Season six feels like a year where the writers were willing to take chances. And while there are some failures (*Aquiel*, anyone?), when it works it really works. Another trend of this year was a move away from ensemble episodes and more towards single-character focused episodes. So we have episodes like *Frame of Mind* or…
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Trekathon 280: Descent (TNG)
The traditional end-of-year cliffhanger brings back both the Borg and Lore. The usual ‘two-parter’ syndrome is not as evident as usual here, thanks to the plot thread involving Data and his investigation of emotions. The other strength is the callback to *I, Borg*, and the long overdue examination of Picard’s actions there. But there’s a…
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Trekathon Season Review: Deep Space Nine, Season 1
So far it’s fair to say that Deep Space Nine has a lot of promise, but so far has only showed a couple of attempts to really grasp it. The thing this season has done really well is avoid awful. There were really only two ‘bad’ episodes (*The Passenger* and *If Wishes Were Horses*). That’s…
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Trekathon 279: In the Hands of the Prophets (DS9)
The first season comes to an end with a bang. Sorry, couldn’t resist. Anyway, in the tradition of the best episodes of this season, once again the focus is on Bajoran politics. This time the religious angle is at the fore, and the underlying differences between Bajor and the Federation are the main thing. The…
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Trekathon 278: Timescape (TNG)
Another trip to the time travel well, fortunately with something new to offer. This episode is very reminiscent of *Cause and Effect*, but given that was one of the best episodes ever that’s not the worst base to build off. There’s a new direction taken here, and the episode ends up standing well on its…