Technology - The Persistence of Spam

So, I was listening to a report on All Things Considered last night. It was a good one, going in depth on the issue of e-mail spam. They talked with Jason Catlett, the head of Junkbusters Corporation, and to Alan Ralsky, who is the head of Creative Marketing Zone and who is accused of being (all right, is) a spammer.

During the report, Leann Hansen (I think) said that as a test, she stopped deleting spam e-mails for an 18 hour period, and was shocked to discover ten -- ten -- spams received during that time. I mean, ten e-mails. She was horrified.

Leann, I like you. You're cheerful and you make getting up on Sunday less onerous, what with Weekend Edition and all. But hon, you don't know what you're saying. From about three a.m. last night, when my machine shut itself off automatically, to about ten this morning -- a seven hour period -- I received sixty-two spam e-mails that were collected into Spamfire, my spam killing software. Sixty-two. Over the course of a 24 hour day, I usually recieve three or four hundred spams.

Horrifying? You bet. A shocking indictment against a system run amok? Sure. Uncommonly high? Not really. I expect I get about the average amount of spam daily that my friends do.

So if you're getting ten spams in 18 hours, Leann, please understand there are many, many people out there who'd happily trade with you.

Media - New Frontiers

The Star Trek franchise has had incalcuable impact on television, pop culture and society. By far the most popular television program in the franchise is Star Trek: The Next Generation. By far the most culturally significant program is the original Star Trek.

But the best of Star Trek, in terms of storytelling, range, scope, character development and cohesiveness, was Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Far more than any other Trek, DS9 built an internal mythology, set multiple story arcs and plotlines in motion, and gave its characters something to do and somewhere to go. Star Trek: The Original Series was essentially picaresque -- the core characters really never changed, even if we got some beautiful episodes exploring those characters now and again. It was a sixties action/swashbuckling show. Star Trek: The Next Generation was essentially episodic. There was evolution of character and events -- most notably in The Best of Both Worlds, when the first true Borg threat to the Federation was executed with near-perfect care, but in many ways TNG darted over the Alpha and Beta Quadrents, seeking new life forms and new civilizations and outwitting Ferengi and the like.

But DS9 had purpose. While it didn't have the epic, tight construction of Babylon 5, it came by far the closest to B5's scope. And in many ways (sacrilage) it was a better show, with better character development and a wider range of episodes. That I preferred and prefer B5 doesn't change that fact.

Well, UPN 38 out of Boston reruns DS9 every night at 1:00 am, and thanks to the power of Tivo I get those episodes. I don't know of anyone else rerunning DS9 -- it took effort and will and intelligence to follow DS9, and the average Trek fan doesn't have the commitment to following a story that way. Yes, I know the stereotype of the obsessive Trekkie/Trekker/whatever. First off, the obsessive ones watched and cherished DS9, and therefore don't count. Second off, Star Trek has far more crossover audience than any other Science Fiction program on television -- and that crossover audience, willing to vote Patrick Stewart the 'most bodacious man on television' and cheerfully willing to talk about Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Picard and Data in public, isn't willing to put the time and effort into a Science Fiction television program that DS9 or B5 require. That's just the fact, jack.

So it's remarkable that TV38 keeps churning out DS9 episodes, night after night, in between a tepid Everybody Loves Raymond rerun and the exerable Elimidate. And I gleefully take advantage.

Last night, the single finest DS9 episode was on. It's called "The Visitor," and it features an elderly Jake Sisco (the son of Captain Benjamin Sisko, and the fact that I have to tell you this rather than you just knowing it should tell you the difference between DS9 and TNG's cultural penetration) recounting the story of the day his father died, back during the series's present. But it's far more than that kind of story -- it's the story of tragedy and obsession, as Captain Sisko reappears to his son every few years (there's a magical 'subspace accident' that has him trapped in a fragment of space/time), and tries to keep up with the events in his son's life. But it's not as hard as it seems, as Jake spends his life obsessed with rescuing his father. In the end, by sacrificing himself, he manages to free his father from the loop, all the way back seventy years into the past, at the moment of the episode's beginning.

It's a copout ending, of course, since it resets everything. But at the same time, it's incredibly moving in scope and power. It is starkly beautiful to watch, and it evokes tears as you see an old man who wants nothing more than to hold his father, who wasted his life in his father's memory, when his father begged him to let go and live instead. And when Avery Brooks, who plays Captain Sisko, realizes the depths of his son's obsession and sacrifice, his voice cracks as he begs his 'boy,' now decades older than he is, to reconsider. It is moving, and powerful, and profound, and stays with you forever.

Had this happened on ER, Noah Wylie would win an Emmy for it. Had this episode been framed on CSI, it'd be discussed in the mass media for weeks and weeks. But it happened on DS9, years ago, and no one knows it because it's science fiction, and because this was the Star Trek that required some investment on the part of its viewers.

Well, I know it. I saw it. I relished it. And now I evangelize it. Ball's in your court now.

personal - On Hold With Tech Support

Dell's award winning technical support my pasty white ass. According to my telephone tracking system, I'm on the twentieth minute of being on hold to talk to someone, and find out why we're on the fourth 'next business day' of our service call for a piece of 'onsite next business day' equipment. This is absurd.

Media - The Unkinds't Cut

Man alive. I never in my life thought I would feel as badly about this as I do.

I don't think I'll ever make another Wesley joke.