Science fiction fans often pit their favorite hero/ship/weapons against each other in to see who would win and it invariably comes down to who talks loudest.  I attempt to match two fairly common vessels against one another.  In point of fact, I dislike both series slightly so I’m not nearly as biased as most.

The Contenders

In one corner of the solar system, we have the USS Enterprise, a Constitution class Heavy Cruiser of the United Federation of Planets.  For the purposes of this post, I will be using the Constitution class ship from Star Fleet Battles with the + refit.  For those that aren’t familiar with Star Fleet Battles (shame on you), the Constitution CA+, has 4 forward firing photon torpedoes.  These torps fire in a 60 degree arc centered on the centerline of the ship.  It also has eight phaser-1s.  These are the large, heavy phasers that you generally see in the various series.  At least two phasers can hit any target around the ship.  Directly forward, six phasers can be brought to bear.  Finally, as far as weapons are concerned are a pair of phaser-3s.  These are light phasers primarily for missile and fighter defense.  Defenses include some quite heavy energy shields that are effective against energy and particles.  Maneuvering is provided by both impulse and warp engines.  In Star Fleet Battles, all combat is conducted at low FTL speeds.

Constitution with + refit

In the other corner, the Battlestar Galactica, a Galactica class battlestar.  For the purposes of this post, I will be using the re-imaged battlestar.  The ship is nearly a mile long and contains a minimum of 80 active fighters.  Weapons include 24 twin mount anti-ship gun turrets, some 514 twin mount point defense guns, and at least 12 launch tubes for nuclear and (presumably) non-nuclear weapons.  Defense is mainly heavy, dense armor, capable of withstanding a strike from a medium range nuclear weapon with the ship remaining functional.  Maneuvering is provided by large, powerful engines and a separate FTL jump drive.

Galactica class battlestar

The Battle

If these two belligerents happened upon each other in deep space, the battle would very likely be a total draw with the more damaged ship escaping at FTL speeds.  Since the two ships have completely different styles of FTL travel, there is almost no way for one ship to chase the other, provided it can go FTL.

The battlestar will have the maneuverability edge in non-FTL combat.  That’s what it’s designed for after all.  However, it is much easier for the Enterprise to make very short FTL hops to gain position.  Edge to the CA+ here.

The Enterprise should be able to shrug off most of the battlestar’s weapons.  Photon torps are matter/anti-matter and a CA+ can take 3 torpedo hits on the rear shield (the weakest) before damage can be transmitted to the ship.  However, the battlestar has LOTS of weapons.  If the battlestar can hit the CA+, then it should be able to do a lot of damage, pretty quickly.  Even if the 48 heavy cannons do 1/20th of the damage of a single torp, then a alpha strike hit on the CA+ will cause some significant shield degradation.  A hit is by no means guaranteed though and the estimate of the battlestar’s main cannons is probably very optimistic.  Nuclear weapons are another story and could cause serious damage t the CA+.  However, there are only 12 launchers and they are not FTL.

On the other hand, the CA+ doesn’t have nearly the weapons that the battlestar does.  Since photon torps are physical objects, then the sheer amount of point defense fire from the battlestar would make it very difficult for the CA+ to hit with missile weapons.  The phasers are relatively short ranged and weak.  A photon hit would cause significant damage to the battlestar, but the phaser hits might wipe out a weapon mount.  Since the main weapons of the Galactica did survive a direct hit from a nuke, phasers might not be nearly as effective here.  There are also very few weapons on the CA+.  For every phaser-1 that the CA has, there are 6 heavy cannons and there are 128 point defense guns for each photon torpedo launcher.

Edge:  This is a tie

Now we haven’t mentioned the battlestar’s primary weapon system here.  The 80+ fighters and raptor multi-role small craft.  In a strict space battle, these will be almost useless as the CA+ can just FTL beyond the range of the fighters.

No effect on outcome.

Fixed Defense

The previous describes a strict space battle… an encounter if you will.  Which would never happen between these two ships anyway because of the nature of their FTL systems.  Much more likely would be one or the other defending a fixed point (planet, space station, convey).

Battlestar as Defender

This is much more interesting battle as the FTL capable Enterprise can come from any direction and the battlestar will be forced to remain very close to the target.  If this is a space station, no problem, but a planet will cause a huge blind spot for the battlestar.  On the other hand, here’s where the Vipers and Raptors come into play.  The battlestar can create a sphere of small sensor posts (the small craft) at long distances from the target.  With the Raptor’s jump drive, they could actually beat the warp drive CA+ back to the target and the battlestar can jump or maneuver into position.

Basically, no matter what the warp drive ship does (theoretically), the battlestar can always preempt it, and with a little luck do some damage during each run in.  However, the battlestar must be lucky and stay lucky.  One mistake and it’s all over for the battlestar’s defendee.

CA+ as Defender

Again, the battlestar’s jump drive will play a huge role here as it can be in position and firing before the CA+ is aware that it is present.  This will give the battlestar an edge in any attack scenario like this.  If the CA+’s shields are down, a few lucky hits could cripple it.  The fighters provide a huge edge here.  They could be dropped and come in on a completely different vector from the battlestar, forcing the CA to accept one attack while dealing with the other (the smart CA+ will go for the battlestar here) or the fighters could lure the CA+ away from the target whlie the battlestar pops in to destroy it.  Again, the defender must be very lucky or the target will be crushed from many directions at once.

Other Considerations

The main factor outlining a duel between these two ships are the engines.  It is much more likely for the Enterprise to get a lucky hit on the engines, crippling the battlestar.  No matter what, the battlestar must work it’s way through the shields to get to the CA+’s engines.  In spite of the sheer volume of fire coming from the battlestar, this will be difficult at best because of the Enterprise’s warp drive system.

The battlestar’s fighters are almost useless against the CA+.  They just don’t have the speed and the CA+ can disengage at will.  If the Enterprise has damaged engines, then even with full shields, the battlestar will destroy it in seconds.

In a chase situation, I have to give the edge to the battlestar.  The jump drive is much faster than warp drive and can be used for many days at least 33 minutes apart.

Conclusion

Without a doubt, a fight between these ships would be interesting.  It really would depend on who makes the first mistake.  I must give a slight edge to the USS Enterprise though.  The always on FTL drive and shields give it a much needed maneuverability and survival time against the battlestar.  Please keep in mind that this is a very slight edge.  A combat between these ships will either end in a draw or be over in minutes at best.

OK, so we have wall mounted TVs… but we still have to have  a shelf or table in from to f the TV for all the crap we need to make a TV run.

Shelf:

CONS:  unsightly piles of equipment, wires hanging behind, easy to damage

PROS: Easy to install (mostly), easy to access equipment.

Shelves just don’t do it for me.  I have a lot of DVDs, DVD players, X-boxes, DVRs, etc.  That equates to a lot of wires and piles of remotes and other equipment.

Entertainment Center

CONS: Very large, wasted space in front of or behind ultra thin TV, difficult to rearrange or rewire equipment, exceedingly difficult to move, expensive

PROS: Generally looks nice, hides unsightly wires, DVD cases, etc.

I generally prefer entertainment centers, but they are large and really nice ones are really expensive.  The cheap ones are, well, cheap.  However, they do come with plenty of storage and hide the wires quite nicely.

Rack Mount

CONS: Expensive, not matched to other furniture, heat, sometimes difficult to rewire

PROS: very organized, very cool for technofiles

These are neat setups, but generally require an entire room devoted to the equipment.

My Solution

I want the various manufacturers of A/V gear to make wall mounted equipment.  The trays (DVD/CD/Blu Ray) should flip out like some CD players.  The equipment should be vertically usable instead of horizontally usable.  The display would be on what used to be the top of the device.  (Which is now the front.)

As far as wires, I think that high speed wireless should be sufficient these days for the local transmission of A/V signal.  The wireless system will come with a pair of devices that match to the popular wiring systems.  Except that the wires are very short an end in a small transceiver which are matched in frequency and security system.

So no wires between equipment any more.

Finally, I want a PC station between the TV and the various pieces of equipment.  That PC will contain a software system that will allow it to store signals from the DVD, DVR, whatever as an appropriate file type (MP3, MP4, AVI, whatever you prefer).  This would be like a super DVR, where anything that heads for the TV will be stored on your own personal server so you can view it again later.

I just spent a very frustrating 2 hours on the phone with various AT&T divisions.   I finally got some resolution to a variety of issues.

Do you want to make more money than anyone?  Here’s how…

Start a telecommunication company that actualy charges what you say you’re going to charge.  You will drive every other telecommunications carrier out of business.

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/kansas/kangaroo.html

I know this is old news (2005), but I just got around to reading the transcript (link above) today and I thought it very funny… and somewhat sad and pathetic.  Of course, these kinds of things are still going on.

If you are really bored, you can read the complete transcript, but I’ll hit the highlights for you.

Witnesses for the anti-evolution committee of the Kansas Board of Education: Jonathon Wells, Mike Behe, Stephen Meyer, Mustafa Akyol (A Turkish Muslim, not a US citizen).  There were about 20 or so total.  Many with PhDs in Theology and Philosophy… a few science teachers (sigh).

Witnesses for the pro-science team: none.

Counsel (for lack of a better term): 3 or 4 members of the Kansas State Board of Education (each with an opportunity to question).

Counsel: 1 guy who knew what the hell he was doing.

Organization: Each Side would call their witnesses (experts?!?!?) and question for 40 minutes or so.  The opposing side would then have half that time to cross-examine, then the calling side would have half of that time for redirect.

Funny Result: Even without calling any witnesses, and the deck full of anti-evolutionists, and the moderator obviously against him, and very hostile witnesses, the science team kicked ass.  It wasn’t even close.  Anyone with half a brain is able to see the religious motivation for changing the Kansas Science Standards.

It really is funny.

First, we finally got new phones (and carrier and phone numbers).  If I haven’t contacted you with my info yet, then shoot me an e-mail and I’ll get it to you.

We bought the Samsung EPIX.  This is a fantastic machine.  Windows and AT&T together couldn’t destroy the power of the phone (and a little judicious hacking).  The keyboard is firm and responsive, the touch screen doesn’t mind some abuse, the machine is tough, yet easy to carry.  Windows mobile 6.1 is not a terrible OS.  Windows Media Player Mobile is HORRIBLE.

First you need two programs to help with video playback.  You could probably make do with one, but there’s a good reason for both.

YouTubePlay – This program lets you A) go to youtube.com and watch videos and B) plays any flv video files.  The latter is actually more useful for me as I tend to download the flv from youtube to watch at my leisure.  It’s also a small file and a pretty good player.

TCPMP – This is a very good media player.  However, something to keep in mind is that because Microsoft is proprietary, any Windows Media File will play poorly on the EPIX.  They will play with TCPMP, but TCPMP must use the Microsoft codex and it slows down and makes the playback jerky (too the point of unwatchable for me).

Amerisoft DVD Ripper and File Converter – These are the only pay programs I have, but they are freaking awesome.  During the evaluation period, I ripped an episode of SG-1, downloaded to my EPIX, and watched it… smooth and beautiful.  So I don’t have a problem paying for this one.

BTW: I have a 4g micro SD card and all the videos saved to that.

Regarding WiFi:  I prefer having fast internet (especially at home), so I turned off the proxy (connections tab in settings folder).  Unfortunately, if you do that, then you can’t use AT&T for SMS messaging.  I think there is a way around that, but I haven’t gotten all the details yet.

My solution is actually pretty simple.  GMail.  Set up IMAP for Gmail and you can send almost anything you want that way.  My wife sends me pictures via Gmail and then sends a quick text message to check the e-mail.  It’s not quite as fast, but on the plus side, those pictures are now available on any internet connected PC and my home e-mail system as well.

I cannot wait for Fennec to come out.  That’s the Firefox for mobile phones browser.

Anyway, I hope this helps some with the EPIX.  Great phone… just some details that AT&T and Microsoft think that they are god’s gift to technology.  Some of us actually prefer things that work though.

DON’T DO IT.

Please understand, I’m a recent transplant to Round Rock.  However, I’ve come from an area that recently did the same thing that the city managers here are considering (in process of).

None of these projects have EVER made money for the city, county, region, etc.  NEVER.

Do a google search on “Ford Park, Jefferson County, Texas”.  Jefferson county built Ford Park without consulting the voters.  It cost about 20 million once everything was said and done… then it cost 1 million to 1.5 million per year.  That was what the county gave to Ford Park every year to keep it solvent.  It was billed as the greatest entertainment center in Southeast Texas.

We had two concerts per year that may have been half filled.  We had the Regional Softball tournament and a rodeo.  That’s it.  The entertainment complex was empty the rest of the time.

It will not work.

http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/043009/loc_434865629.shtml

I just read this article about Texas comptrollers ‘visiting’ a Lubbock gun show.  The statements in the article got me curious so I visted the following sites regarding Texas Sales Tax Law

http://www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/sales/faq_collect.html – Texas Sales Tax FAQ

http://www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/taxpubs/tx94_153.html – Gun Shows and Texas Sales Tax

http://www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/taxpubs/tx94_108.html – Engaged in Business

http://www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/taxpubs/tx94_171.html – Internet and Texas Tax Law

If you read these carefully, you will find something very interesting.

By Texas Law, if you sell more than 2 items of any value within a 12 month period, you are breaking the law if you do not have a sales tax permit and collect sales tax.

Yep, if you do any of the following, you are breaking Texas law:

1. Have a garage sale
2. Sell 3 items on e-bay to Texas customers within 12 months
3. Sell 3 items on craig’slist within 12 months
4. attend a gun show (NOT as a dealer) and sell more than two items (say three magazines)!
5. if you rent anything to anyone
6. if have a place where you store stuff for sale
7. if you have any physical location that acts as an office for the sale of more than 2 items per 12 month period

So all you people that do any of the following… BEWARE! The comptrollers are apparently trolling for you now.

BTW: Getting the Sales Tax permit is free, you just have to charge (in most places) 8.25% and send that to the state… to avoid breaking the law.

Well, I didn’t get the Mazda 6… oh well.

We looked at the Hyundai Sonata and it’s a fine machine.  It’s quiet, pretty peppy.  Nice big 6 engine and plenty of truck room.  The back seats were a little tight though.

Then we drove to look at the Mazda and Lexie made me stop in a Subaru dealership along the way.  We looked at an ‘09 WRX and, God, was it fast.  I think the salesman peed his pants.  He took us to the winding back road and said, “go ahead and open it up.”  I said, “really!??!”  Then he said, “Keep it under 80.”

80 mph took about 7 seconds and it stayed there.  When the salesman slid from one side of the backseat to the other, he said, “OK, that’s enough!”

It was actually too fast.  The transmission was pretty rough.  There is actually more room in the back seat than in the Hyundai though.  The sticker was a little over 26k.  Which was out of our range, by a not a little bit.

As we’re walking around, Lexie says, “what’s the deal on those?”  Two WRXs, side-by-side, both are selling for under 21k.  One’s a red sedan and the other’s a grey wagon.

“Oh, those are last year’s demos.  They have about 6k miles on them.”

I asked, “Doesn’t last year’s model have less power?”

“Oh yeah,” he says, “A little bit.  They might be perfect for you.”

He goes to get the keys and I see that the red sedan has a short throw Momo shifter.  I was sold.

It’s perfect.  The clutch and transmission are VERY smooth.  The power is there, but not psychopathic (hey, I have a two-year-old and I’m not even close to 30 anymore).  The ride is nice.  The clutch is a little stiff and the car is a little noisy above 80, but, God, is it fun.

So we go get the boy in it, come back after some heartfelt discussion along the way and buy it.

Oh, did I mention that the dealership gave me free maintenance for 36,000 miles?  Oh, and a 7/100,000 comprehensive warranty.  LIke, when I fry the clutch at 95k miles, I get a new one for $100.

The car sold me, the extras (like the free loaner car even for an oil-change) just made it really worth my while.

Pictures as soon as it’s detailed.

I have several blog items relating to the Science TAKS test.

GOOD LUCK!!!!