The other day a couple folks on twitter sent me two silly questions to blog about here on WISB. I’m quite fond of silly questions, by the way, but that’s really not the point. The point is, I’m going answer these questions posing as a hamster…okay, so I’m not going to do that, but I am going to answer the questions.
First up, Mulluane asks a surprisingly open question:
Klingon or Ferengi?
This is another of those questions that doesn’t specify what it is asking. Is it asking which I like best, which I think I might be, or something else? And, as with the last time this happened, I’m going to answer this question with responses to each possibility.
If I had to pick which Star Trek species I’d want to be, it would have to be the Klingons, only because I find the Ferengi to be remarkably disgusting, vile creatures, and at least the Klingons have some sort of logical honor built into their system–the Ferengi would probably sell their own mothers for a quick buck. That, and I don’t see the Ferengi as a particularly ferocious species, which poses problems for me because I’m not really one to cower in a corner when the world is ending.
But, I’m also probably strange enough to be more Ferengi than Klingon. As much as I might envision myself as the warrior type, I’m not, and perhaps my personality does fit well within the Ferengi mythos. I’ll just keep it in my head that I’m more Klingon that slimy two-timer with bad teeth–of course, the Klingons lack dental hygiene as well, but at least they don’t look like something that might crawl out of a toilet…or do they?
As for which I prefer, well, I think it’s pretty obvious. As much as the Klingons may be wicked bastards in the show and films, they are also pretty badass, and I think that’s important, don’t you? They make for fairly reliable villains, which runs contrary to the Ferengi, who I can only remember as sneaky bartenders thanks to the crapfest that was DS9.
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The second question cam from GothixHalo:
Do you think anyone will ever win the $1,000,000 prize offered by the Amazing Randi for real paranormal abilities?
Someone is actually willing to waste that kind of money trying to find something as ridiculous as that? Really? If you’re going to just toss away money to some quack who happens to fool you, you might as well just drop it off on my doorstep. At least I’ll put it to good use buying books and what not.
No, I don’t think anyone will ever legitimately win that prize. Someone may trick the Amazing Randi by putting on one hell of a show, but I do not think that anyone will win such a thing by actually having paranormal abilities that were not crafted through some sort of genetic engineering. I do think that paranormal abilities are a possibility, but I don’t believe in any of the pseudoscience mumbo-jumbo spouted by the idiots who host all the ghost hunting and talk-to-your-dead-puppy shows. Such abilities do not exist and people who claim to have them are either putting on a show for their fifteen minutes of fame (or a quick buck), or they’re simply insane. Either way, they’re entertaining, so I won’t deny them the right to prance around pretending to talk to Abraham Lincoln and all that nonsense.
Simply put, the Amazing Randi should take his money elsewhere. At least the $500,000 offered up for a monster-sized snake is realistic, considering that it’s possible a python or anaconda could reach lengths of one hundred feet…
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And that’s it. If you have any silly questions, feel free to email them to me at arconna[at]yahoo[dot]com, leave them in the comments section of this post (or any post for that matter), or send them as a reply to my twitter account. And if you like this post, please stumble or digg it! Thanks!
2 Responses
I always found the new Ferengi (as opposed to the TNG Ferengi who were psuedo-barbarians) as being a little too close to anti-semitism. A race of beings who are considered the bankers of the galaxy, obsessed with wealth, have dozens of cultural rules and observances, and have exaggerated facial features.
Maybe I’ve just seen too many old political cartoons.
Friar: I’ve never thought of them like that. Interesting. There’s no reason why you can’t consider the implications of that. The intention of the creators of the Ferengi may not have been to develop this sort of anti-semitism, but that doesn’t mean analysis of such a connection isn’t valid. Certainly an interesting thing to bring up.
Thanks!