Star Trek (Voyager): Was it murder to split Tuvix back into Tuvok and Neelix?

I’ve got a long and complex possible solution to offer regarding this ethical clusterfuck, and I’m willing to elaborate if someone’s interested to hear it.

Edit (possible solution): Voyager’s database should include the Enterprise D’s information regarding Riker’s duplication incident. While Voyager’s crew already found a way to separate Tuvix, they could’ve searched for a possibility to repeat that process and then split back the copy Tuvix a few milliseconds into the original Tuvok and Neelix before said copy became self-aware.

Are tabs worth two spaces or four?

I collect coins, and there’s always debates about what a coin is.

For those who don’t know, a coin is usually defined as an object with legal tender status somewhere; as opposed to a token that has a face value but is issued by a non-state actor; and a medal, which is anything that looks like a coin but doesn’t have any face value.

Now, aside from the expected debate over what is and isn’t a state, there’s also the issue of NIFC (not intended for circulation) coins. Many mints sell coins that are legal tender, but are never put into circulation, some people (often those that could be characterised as “old school”) take the position that as these aren’t intended to be used as legal tender, they aren’t really coins.

It doesn’t help that there are tiny island nations like Niue and Samoa that will basically let companies make anything legal tender if they pay them. This leads to the rather silly situation where a batarang, and a literal statue of hogwarts, are technically “coins”. (I’ve been told this is done as a import tariff dodge as the USA doesn’t charge import taxes on coins)

Programming and Linux. Oh boy, what to pick…

Terminal text editors: VIM vs Emacs is the main debate there. (There are others but these are ones people argue the most about)

Linux Distros: Arch, Debian, Mint, CachyOS, …

Init Systems: Systemd vs OpenRC. Honestly, probably the most toxic debate on this list.

Programming Languages: Python, Shell, but the heated one is C vs Rust

A non-exhaustive list of ones I couldn’t think of a category for:

• Tiling vs Floating Window Managers
• Chromium vs Gecko-based browsers
• Bash vs Zsh vs Fish

I love computers and Linux, but man, the amount of toxic in-fighting and gatekeeping is a real turnoff. Just use what you want. At the end of the day, we are all nerds doing what we love.

I can’t believe people still argue over whether or not Balrogs have wings when the text unambiguously says they do. You can have wings and also have a shadow that looks like wings.

His enemy halted again, facing him, and the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings.

...suddenly it drew itself up to a great height, and its wings were spread from wall to wall...

Like two vast wings but then he explicitly says its wings were spread, clearly stating it has wings. To be the most generous you could try to say the wings are made of shadows, but based on the text they’re clearly still wings.

Yes, Balrogs have wings.

In the Sonic fandom, there’s a debate over which is the “authentic” Sonic: the Western version or the Japanese one. It’s not about design, but rather personality, values, and attitude.

The thing is, the differences between the two are very subtle. Unless you’ve been in the fandom for years and have seen enough material on the subject, they’ll seem exactly the same to you.

My opinion is that “It doesn’t matter”~♪. At this point, there are countless versions of Sonic (the classic, the modern, Sonic SatAm, Sonic X, Archie Sonic, IDW Sonic, Fleetway Sonic, Sonic Boom, Sonic Prime, Movie Sonic…), all with their differences, but in general they share the, let’s say, “essence”* of the hedgehog, and that’s what matters.

*(If you’re not from Latin America, you won’t know how funny it is that I used that particular word)

Woodworking: I have mentioned this a couple times in my lectures on this platform. Festool has a tool called the Domino. It’s the shape of a biscuit joiner but it’s got a router bit that it wags like a dog’s tail. It cuts a deep, narrow, short mortise that pre-made loose biscuits fit into.

This tool is protected under patent so only Festool makes them. They sell two models, a small and a large. The small cost a thousand petrodollars.

It’s very easy to use, it makes strong joints quickly, it’s impossible to afford.

You’ll find there’s a crowd of purists who will spend that much on a chisel and won’t hear anything about it because it’s not “traditional joinery.” Floating tenons are thousands of years old, but okay. You’ve got beginners or hobbyists who can put together the basic tools and are upset when Youtubers use Dominos in projects. Most domino joints can be replaced with dowel joints, but okay. And you get the actual cabinet makers who go “I manufacture cabinets, this lets me do it faster, and time is money.” Which…fair enough.

If you don’t own a plunge router, you don’t care.

Community - The slogan was ‘Six seasons and a movie.’

We are still waiting for our goddamned movie!

Synthesizers: digital vs analog.

Common opinion holds that analog (specifically oscillators, but also filters and even VCAs [voltage controlled amplifiers]) are warmer and more natural sounding while digital are cold and harsh.

The thing is, digital emulation of analog hardware has become virtually indistinguishable from the real thing, but there is a certain segment that refuses to believe their $5000 Minimoog can be so easily replicated by software (realistically I doubt Bob Moog could tell the difference anymore).

Of course some also choose to argue which is better, which is just ridiculous because they both have their uses depending on what kinds of music you’re composing or just what sounds you’re trying to make.

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Lots of debates about the internal arrangement of the original series Enterprise…

• Bridge: forward facing or offset?
• Engineering: primary or secondary hull?
• Shuttlebay: short or extending under the nacelle pylons?
• How big is this ship, anyway??

In the world of Game Collecting, the guy with potentially the largest single collection on the planet is getting rid of his collection.

The ideal plan was for it to all go to a singular museum, which was in the works and then unfortunately fell through. Problem is the next two backups also fell through. So plan D involves the collection being split up and some of it going to the Embrace Group, and some into private collections, which was seemingly both never the plan. People who donated items, thinking that they would eventually be publicly displayed, are rightfully upset. And then the rest of his fans, such as myself, are somewhat bewildered that this is how it will end after decades of amassing a collection, and then years of saying it’ll all be going to a museum.

Doctor Who has a bunch of them!

One of the big recent ones was the Timeless Child plotline. For people unfamiliar with the show, the basic premise is that the main character, the Doctor, is an alien who’s species can regenerate themselves when they’re about to die which saves them but they become a physically different person. This was invented back in the 60s so they could change out the lead actor, William Hartnell, when he got too old to continue in the role and it’s become a core part of the show. We’re now on about the 15-16th Doctor, although that number is a bit contentious too for reasons I won’t go into here because that’s a whole other thing.

A few years back there was a plotline where it was revealed that the Doctor isn’t just a regular alien, they’re something called the Timeless Child that just appeared in our universe from somewhere unknown, and was the one that gave their whole species the ability to regenerate themselves. This was widely hated, as it not only changed the Doctor from a sort of wandering hobo into a Super Special Chosen One, but it also directly showed that William Hartnell wasn’t the first Doctor, there had been probably dozens of other ones before him that had just never been mentioned until now.

The internal debates that I’ve seen usually aren’t people debating whether this was a good idea or not, they’re mostly about the best way to retcon it away and never speak of it again lol.

In a flight sim board, I once witnessed a heated debate over the HE111. The argument was over whether the first HE111s to drop torpedoes were field modified or had torpedo hardware mounted at the factory.

This thing went on for pages, and there was plenty of primary source documentation posted. And it was heated, personal, and vicious.

Improv: should you lead with character relationships, game or platform? There are many vehement proponents of each, each claiming that their process leads to better improv.

Character relationships are self explanatory, “game” is kinda like the core conceit of the sketch - i.e. in “who’s on first” the “game” is “names that sound like pronouns”, another common one is a pile on of identical characters (i.e. the SNL Jim Carrey family reunion where all his family have his mannerisms.

And “platform” is where you build the world and the scenario (i.e. we’re Goombas that live in fear of mario; we’re merpeople with a foot fetish… or more seriously - the family that runs this farm, the employees that work at this hotel…)