Silly parents... kids should be trained from diaper age on up that, "if they're really good, Some Day When They're Older, they'll get to use the lawnmower, etc..."

Thank you! Shame there's no link there to point out typos or other errata.

If you're giving him fish, how can you call him a 'customer'?
:)

Could serve as the main tenants for the worlds Kakistocracies.

Well, Shimerman did an excellent job in character creation, and he is one of my favorites. I think the episode you refer to was one from Enterprise, that had the genetically enhanced children mixed in the the plague thing.
You do have a good point about the television cycle. Good shows seem to engage the writers before they get to shooting season, but some excellent shows (B5 for example) had MS writing scripts only a week ahead, but he had a gift for keeping the story intact. B5 was one of the best laid out Arc I have ever seen.
If you have not yet done so, go check out Prelude To Axanar on You Tube, and then the Axanar page, they have done a superb job in production and management. I think Axanar will end up on par with some of the mainstream movies in Trek Lore.

There is nothing new under the sun. All fiction is a twice-told tale. As for the milking of the audience, Ludwig von Mises pointed out the entendre in The Anti-Capitalist Mentality. First, writers of popular detective stories "rip the lid off high society." When millions of books are sold, intellectuals - themselves no fans of the wealthy - complain that ignorant masses make hack writers rich.

The market is always right, and always amoral.

At that Trekker con in Livonia, Shimerman said that he worked to change the Ferengi, calling their first appearance "capering chipmunks." Looking ahead to what was then the coming season (mid-1990s), he said that the Ferengi were going to become "a force to be reckoned with." The episode "Profit and Loss" was modeled on Casablanca.

The Enterprise series created a lot of inconsistencies with the history of the future, but was not alone in that. The DS-9 episode "Trials and Tribble-ations" attempted to reconcile the Klingons of the original series with the ones we now know. I believe that another ST:NG or DS-9 also involved massively inoculating the Klingons with a genetic agent to protect them from a plague…

The problem is the medium. Television is produced on a tight schedule. But even books have their problems. My wife proofread about a hundred for Bantam-Doubleday, an one award-winning writer reintroduced a dead guy in the middle of a scene. The author fixed that. The thing is, though, if directors "fix" things, then we have George Lucas constantly re-writing Star Wars. The first Jabba the Hut was a human.

You are right about the Star Trek writers. However, as noted the fans pushed the show, and many of them were us. Armin Shimerman brushed up on his Ayn Rand and played in Atlas Shrugged. As I pointed out in the original post, in the episode: "It comes out in The Siege of AR 558 (Deep Space Nine), that planet Ferengeran never knew imperialism, racism, or slavery."

BTW: I know a business owner who hires family just for that reason. Real employees would not put up with it.

The problems with the replicator are pretty much indicative of all fiction. Fiction is a lie and a lie contradicts reality. A consistent lie just has not been found out yet. In Atlas Shrugged, it is hinted that Ragnar's automobile is powered by one of Galt's motors. Except for the electrical generator in the Gulch and the one in Galt's NYC lab nothing else seems to be. (The Gulch has a forge, a tool and die shop, and one farm tractor.) You have to wonder why. But I would not over-analyze it. So, too, with the replicators, which are, in fact, based on the transporter, another technology that was presented inconsistently.

(I agree with your comments, Riftsrunner, and gave them a Thumbs Up, but just to say…)

That speaks to something else about the Ferengi and Americans. In the Deep Space Nine series, we learn that Quark's brother, Rom, is talented at mechanics: he fixes things that break at the bar. His son, Nog, becomes something an apprentice to Chief O'Brien before gaining admission to Starfleet Academy. Long ago, I read somewhere that during one or two wars German pilots could not tell their mechanics what was wrong with an aircraft, but Americans could. The European model (including British) was officers to be from the upper classes. They never got their hands dirty.

I reviewed a book here, She's Such a Geek! (http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts...) In one of the stories, a researcher from India had to wait for a technician to fix anything in the lab because she never had any mechanical experience growing up. In her case, it was a matter of money: though her father was a highly-placed government employee, his salary did not allow the family to own a car.

That said, I suffered the same fate. Growing up, both home and school told me that I did not need to take shop classes in school. Thirty years later, I was writing the mechanical maintenance manual for a six-axis robot. It took me two years.

She's Chinese, the work ethic was in study, piano and tennis. Those things are nice but if he has no idea how to do practical things then he'll be at the mercy of every two-bit hustler who spots an easy mark!

I'm no mechanic but I rebuilt a V8 from a 55 Chevy wagon when I was a teenager. My dad was a good mechanic until the introduction of the emissions controls amd fancy electronics in the 70's. Now when I go to a repair shop they know it'll be hard to rip me off. The same thing goes for home repair, basic plumbing and basic electrical.

Now, I will contest 'worn out". Trek is a huge going concern on YouTube with fan based material by the metric butt ton. However, if you go look up "Prelude to Axanar" and spend 20 minutes, you will see what 80K of crowdfunding can produce. Then scoot on over to Indiegogo and check out the fundraiser there, where they are trying to put together 1.3 million to make the 90 minute movie "Axanar". It is an excellent model for what self starting producers can accomplish when the bloated movie mogul management is removed and committed people with a vision of their goals step up. I have contributed to both and am very happy with their work. In fact, not much social commentary, but a lot of starship battles in glorious HD.

You may not have noticed but Mr. Shimmerman made an appearance in Atlas 2.
If only other species could be made tranquil by stroking their ears.

What is more baffling is that this same woman will claim that she loves her son. She obviously doesn't love him enough to teach him work ethic or how not to be afraid of getting one's hands dirty doing honest work. None of my children are so deprived.

Let him fish in the lake and you have the tragedy of the commons and everyone starves.

Love it.

That's funny, my Jewish friends all felt the Ferengi were aimed at them. But none of the politicians I know figured out that they were aimed at them.

Stephenson's "The Diamond Age" attempts to show a society like that -- and why it doesn't work.

Given your response to the recent Christian postings, you might like #96.

96. Faith moves mountains - of inventory.

Give someone a fish, you feed him for one day. Teach him how to fish, and you lose a steady customer.

Many of the rules of acquisition have a decidedly non-Objectivist slant to them,
but the most comprehensive list I have found is here.

http://projectsanctuary.com/the_compl...

We have a inflatable bounce house business. Our kids get paid by the number of deliveries that they help with. More deliveries the more money they make. They have worked instead of going with friends to make money.

Yes. The Replicator was not thought out in all of its permutations. There was an episode where Worf's son steals some small item and gets in trouble...How can you steal something when there is replicator technology? "Sure, you can have one, kid! Here: Everybody have one; have ten!"

The Replicator is excellent, however as a symbol of post affluent technology. It is a nice icon to push to let one pose questions having to do with a world where everyone is affluent and no one has to work.

Jan

I love these two rules. Where is the list of other goodies?

Welcome to the Gulch, Old4WDGuy!