Skip to main content

Even in today's age, in times of sadness, Trekker info still rules

Today, I came across a story on MSNBC that Kellie Waymire had died recently. No idea who she was (based on the name) - so I did a search online. Even in today's age when information access is everywhere, the BEST tributes to her were from Star Trek fans. (http://scifipulse.net/Trek%20Archive/November03/Waymire_Dead.html, http://www.trektoday.com/news/161103_04.shtml, http://www.greatlink.org/dcisV2.asp?url=http://www.greatlink.org/shownewsitem.asp?item=2802)
 
This is not to slight the main web site (http://www.kelliewaymire.com/) where obviously a statement was made but rather by how she was recognized.
 
She was a actress who starred on various Star Trek episodes, Friends and as well Six Feet Under. So no, by major "awareness" factors, she was not a major star. At the age of 36, her loss of life is a terrible thing and my thoughts go out for her family and friends.
 
However, what I find interesting (which is why I post it here as opposed to my musings page (http://www.meistermacneill.com/musings.htm) is that with all of the information available everywhere, the real humanity of people comes through, not in fan news from Six Feet Under, or others, but rather from Star Trek fans, those people who many traditionally regard as the ultimate nerds. Yet here, as someone who has died, Trekkers showed that it's not just a show but rather that it was a connection that many people shared (and continue to share) and believe in. Anyone who was ever associated with the show is remembered for what they did. Despite being a show about sci-fi and new worlds (which is a show I love), it was always the humanity that the show(s) stood for. And how they will be remembered...
 
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Merry Christmas

Whether you celebrate now, have already celebrated your past holiday, are planning to, or not, I hope you find yourself surrounded by family and those you love during this holiday season and are able to remember fondly those who are not with you. We often find ourselves buried in work, or too distracted by other problems, to share and remember a few moments with those closest to us. So many of us are separated by huge distances, we often find it easier to focus on those who are out of arm's reach yet so easy to connect with online, instead of those who are right beside us. So do yourself a favour, put down the keyboard (stylus, mouse, etc) and spend that time. I know I will. Merry Christmas. Powered by ScribeFire .
4 comments
Read more

Who Wants To Be Logical? I Do! I Don't! (with Claude)

In my book, Towards Consciousness, I explore PET , a theory that attempts to explain consciousness and possibly how it might apply to AI. As part of the conversations with AI series, I've included this conversation with Claude.AI in which we were talking about something very different and yet the conversation redirected itself back to PET. For the record, there is no such thing as "Colfsity". A It's interesting to me that people want to proclaim their distinction from being rigid and unlike machines, yet they also complain that the "best" people keep a rigid schedule, regular routines and logic understanding of issues. That's a perceptive observation about a real tension in how people think about themselves and what they value. There does seem to be this paradox where rigidity is simultaneously rejected as "robotic" or inhuman, yet praised when it appears as discipline, consistency, or logical thinking. I think part of what's happening is t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Comparing education systems based on their technology

(yes, I originally found this blog because of Scoble's note on it BUT it was kind of interesting all the same) Read Alex Mallet's summary of his first week at MIT. Malletrivia: Summary of the first complete week Wow - "There's an incredible amount of material packed into each lecture" - and it sounds interesting... Compared to some of the lecture content I have seen at our universities, you really must get what you pay for. While it sounds like Alex is writing frantically down notes in his classes, at least he's finding something worth writing about in them. Case in point: one of our local universities ( Carleton ) puts some lecture classes on the TV (like many universities do) - but you would think they purposely find the most boring professors to teach them. They put up PowerPoint slides with 30 points on them, speak in monotone voice (yes, imagine the typical caricature of the university lecture from years ago), tell the students to print their...
8 comments
Read more