Per the requirement that any personal badge be registered with the College of Arms, please see below my design for my personal badge.

There are several theoretical reasons for a "solution" to the supposed incongruity between the Drake equation, which conservatively predicts large numbers of lifeforms throughout the universe, despite no evidence of their existence. Which of the following make the most sense to you?

Dark Forest – The only civilizations that survive are those who realize that it is too dangerous to make their existence known. This theory implies the existence of "hunters," or civilizations who destroy other and less advanced civilizations before they can become a threat.

Quarantine – Humanity is either too violent, or in some other way too objectionable to be contacted.

Cultural Failure – Either due to the action of the species in question or their inaction in the face of existential threat, it is too rare for civilizations to exist to the point where they can make interstellar contact.

Rarity – The development of intelligent, self-aware life is far rarer than we realize.
We are not advanced enough – We are being contacted all the time, but our technology is not advanced enough to detect it.

It is scientifically impossible – The speed of light is insurmountable and radio signals degrade before they can reach anyone, etc. All living beings are physically locked into their local star systems and it will never change because it is impossible.   

As I was reading some filings for an ongoing case before the Cort, it was argued that the Witt is only mandated for governmental use and purpose and only offers social engagement as a by product. Further, it stated that social sub boards and elements of the Witt exist at the Secretary of State's judgment and can be restricted or outright removed at any time. Is this an accurate statement? Could some future SoS, not the current one of course, use said power legally, resulting in an easy way to exert political pressure or exact some form of revenge? All while remaining completely legal.

This is all a matter of purely personal taste, though you could have discussions on everything from production values, script quality, and place in the cannon. Shows still in production may be subject to re-evaluation. I think Prodigy has the biggest potential to move up, with Strange New Worlds yet to be rated.

Series:
DS9
TNG
Lower Decks
TOS
Enterprise
VOY
Prodigy
Discovery
TAS
Picard

Movies:
TWOK
Undiscovered Country
First Contact
Voyage Home
TMP (especially the newly released director's cut/remaster)
Search for Spock
Generations
Insurrection
Nemesis
Final Frontier

NOTE: The JJverse is meaningless to me and in my mind disrespectful to the fan community. I don't rank them at all.

This is a reposting from April 10, 2022, 23 days ago.

Please consider the following the official request to join the Royal Society for the Advancement of Knowledge by Antonio Montagnha.

1.   I became a citizen of the Kingdom of Talossa on 4/8/2022.

2.   I hold a Doctorate of Education in Leadership Studies. I am requesting that my dissertation, which can be found here https://mds.marshall.edu/etd/1281/, will stand in lieu of a full research statement. However, the Talossa specific areas I wish to explore are:
        a.   Setting standard for effective, data informed, compassionate leadership standards for Talossan public administration,
        b.   Identifying and tracking Key Performance Indicators for a healthy, growing and active Talossan community,
        c.   Developing commination and media strategies to grow the Talossan community

3.   I am currently developing my initial lecture for the Royal Society titled, "On Practical Elements of Good Government." I believe I will deliver a video of this lecture within two weeks of being granted membership.

4. Additionally, I have over 2 decades of experience in higher education management in the United States and would be happy to volunteer for any supportive role that would be appropriate.   

Please indicate next steps or necessary revisions.

What is your name? Antonio Montagnha

What is your request? If it so please the Squirrel King of Arms, I request the assistance of the College in designing and obtaining arms for myself and my lawful heirs.

What is your favourite colour? Blue

Please see below for my first draft of a proposed design. The personal meaning of the design: The green area represents the mountains of my native culture, the blue represents the clear sky of reason, the white or "silver" diagonal bar represents the philosophical quest for inner peace, and the sun in splendor represents the life-giving heat and light of knowledge.

It has always been my absolute favorite. While the Expanse maybe more "realistic" and the trench run from Star Wars more famous, from a stroytelling and filmmaking point of view this is my favorite too. From one of my favorite Star Trek commentators:

https://youtu.be/Vbq9xy8aa0g

This is a two for one review. I'll be looking at the excellent Syfy television show Resident Alien, and Matt Haig's novel The Humans. The two works share a great deal of initial setup as they feature protagonists who are aliens, the kind from outer space, who are masquerading as humans, and both are on a mission to either kill the entirety of humanity or limit our knowledge and a way to render us harmless to the rest of the galaxy. There are even some similar character elements between the protagonist other than their aliens, but the works to stand on their own and both have a great deal to offer.

Resident alien, based on a graphic novel/comic book series that began in 2012 is a television show starring the incredible character actor Alan Tudyk (Rogue One, Firefly, Dodgeball) that began in January 2021. The premise of the show is an extremely advanced species decides humanity is too dangerous and stupid to continue their existence and so in a preemptive move to guarantee their own safety they decided to take out humanity by spreading what appears to be some sort of energy weapon or biological weapon. In the first moments of the pilot episode the alien operative sent to complete the mission crash lands on earth near a small Colorado town where he is able to enter into an isolated lakeside home of a wealthy local doctor where he kills the doctor and shape shifts into his form, hiding the body in his freezer.

The show is darkly funny, for example the alien assuming the name of his victim Harry, learns English and basic human interaction from watching the never-ending reruns of Law and Order. You can guess how well that goes. Fake Harry discovers his victim was the town doctor and so he must now be. This also leads to a great deal of tension and humor as our alien Harry can barely disguise his utter contempt for the general idiocy of humanity. The only person he tolerates initially is medical assistant Asta, a Native American (actually played by a Native American actress). He is a brilliant doctor due to his specie's high level of intelligence and ability to quickly ingest information in a practical way, and quickly becomes valuable to the town where people like him and appreciate him despite his utter contempt for them. This changes Harry as he becomes closer and closer first to Asta and then to his neighbors in general and begins to have a serious moral dilemma about eradicating the human race. I cannot recommend the show more due to the high quality of the actors, the writing, and the overall tone of the show.

As a minor note of trivia, and for me a satisfying one, one of the lead executive producers of the show is Robert Duncan McNeill, a.k.a. Tom Paris from Star Trek Voyager.

In his novel The Humans, Matt Haig introduces us to a somewhat similar alien who adopts the name of his human doppelgänger "Andrew" after operatives from his species strip mine his brain for a modicum of personal details and kill him in the process. In this story advanced aliens have been monitoring earth for a very long time and have discovered that a particularly brilliant human, the aforementioned Andrew, a brilliant mathematician at Cambridge University, has solved one of mathematics most difficult and persistent problems dealing with the pattern of prime numbers. The solution will unlock the universe for humanity in a way that these advanced aliens, called The Host, do not believe we are ready for and may never be ready for. We are labeled as violent and greedy and actively engaged and destroying our own planet. We are not seen as trustworthy enough to be allowed into the greater cosmos, and so our protagonist has been sent to destroy all evidence of the discovery and clouding killing anyone the original Andrew has told about this discovery.

Much like Resident Alien we are introduced to this protagonist with the knowledge that he has participated in the murder of a human and has been assigned to murder still more, to serve what is presented as a greater good. However, to do this Andrew has to fully submerge himself into the life, family, and friends of the person he's imitating. It's here he discovers that humans are about more than violence and greed and that we are violent and greedy we have the potential for more.

This story relies less on cool gadgets and science fiction innovations and more on discovering the nature of humanity from an outside perspective. It also relies heavily on fish out of water humor, and as an opportunity to comment on some of the more ridiculous elements of our society especially western society. It is a common strength of science-fiction that it uses either unfamiliar settings or outside context characters to point out the foibles shortcomings and simply arbitrary elements of human culture that too many of us treat as sacrosanct or somehow objectively justifiable.

This novel was far more of an emotional impact for me than the television show resident alien, but then again, I believe that was at point. The author began writing this novel in the early 2000s despite its publication in 2017, due to his severe depression and suicidal ideation. He essentially has stated that he felt like an alien living outside of human society while being thrust into the middle of it and that writing this was a form of therapy. Indeed, the delay in publication which included several rewrites is reflective of its role in his personal therapy and how he set it aside until he was a different person and could look at the story more objectively, in aid of improving it for a general audience. Yet for all that generalizing it is still a very personal novel and emotionally resonant to me, as I have had my own moments of depression and a feeling like an alien surrounded by humans.

Has anyone had else had an opportunity to watch resident alien or read the humans by Matt Hagg? I'd love to read your insights.

Please join us with you hot takes, thoughtful comments and burning questions at:  https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?board=38.0

I hereby request a top level discussion board for the Talossan Science Fiction, Fantasy & Whisky Society be added to the Wittenberg under the "Special Interests" heading. I further request that the threads referenced below be moved to this board:

https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1359.0

https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=1330.0

This will be a LIVE, virtual, and hopefully regular casual event for Talossans of all backgrounds and stripes to be a little social with each other.

What to expect? During the first "open hours" I would ask everyone to take turns introducing themselves, sharing what they are drinking (doesn't have to be alcoholic, but it can be), and what one activity would they most like to engage in with follow citizens.
In the future I hope we can play party games, have live trivia, even some live music would be great. etc. It will be Zoom based, and you can drop in anytime during open hours. You don't need to show your face and you don't need a web cam, but if you do that will only add to the event.

Please check out this poll to help me decide when to schedule the fun. 

https://doodle.com/meeting/participate/id/dyP7k4Rb

One of the small, functional priorities of my service in the upcoming Cosa is to enable groups of citizens to create their own lively groups based on interests and affinity. All healthy cultures are based on the positive interaction of such subcultural activity. 

Below you'll find a proposal for a procedure by which civic groups and non-governmental organization can request the creation of a dedicated, top-level discussion board on the Wittenberg.

Some may observe that such can be accomplished by making a request of the right person, assuming you know who that is, assuming they think it's a good idea, and assuming they choose to. While this type of ad hoc system works so long as good and diligent folks are at the switch, good government doesn't rely on such happenstance; it relies on good process, just laws, and vigilance.

Having a fair, objective, transparent process from the outset guards against arbitrary and obtuse decision making and self-dealing. It's mere existence and good practice enhances trust in the Crown and the Government.

In the name of good government, I'd like to suggest the following, very loosely based on the rules for student organization creation at the colleges and universities I have worked for in my past.

Proposed

The Wittenberg Public Use Act

WHEREAS the cultural health of the Kingdom of Talossa can be understood as the level of activity generated on the Wittenberg, specifically the level of non-political and non-governmental activity;

AND WHEREAS the most valuable actual property of the Kingdom of Talossa is the Wittenberg, and it is held in a public trust by the Crown and Government of the Kingdom of Talossa  individual, active non-governmental organizations should have regular and transparently regulated access to the utility of the board;

BE IT ENACTED by the King, Cosa and Senäts in Ziu assembled as follows:

1.   Definitions

1.1.   Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) shall be defined as a non-profit group that functions independently of the government of the Kingdom of Talossa or any political unit thereof. NGOs will serve cultural, humanitarian, civil rights, or fraternal functions and will not participate in partisan politics.

1.2.   The Wittenberg is the legal national online forum for Talossa.

2.   Goal

2.1.   To create publicly accessible, top level discussion boards for non-governmental organizations in the Kingdom of Talossa.

3.   Process

3.1.   To be granted a top-level discussion board, an online application form must be completed and submitted to the Minister of Culture. The form must ask for:

3.1.1.   Name of the Organization

3.1.2.   Proposed Title of the Board, which must reflect the true name of the organization

3.1.3.   A fifty-word statement on the purpose of the organization, which cannot be at odds with any guarantee of civil rights to kingdom citizens.

3.1.4.   A list of five Talossa citizens who are members of the organization and are willing to confirm their membership to the Ministry of Culture.

3.1.5.   A commitment to run the organization in a democratic fashion and to accept any citizen of the Kingdom of Talosaa as member of the organization, and apply all membership standards, such as membership fees, to all persons, equally.

3.1.6.   Having affirmed the information contained in the application, the Minister of Culture or their designated plenipotentiary must direct the responsible officer of the Kingdom's government or civil service to create said top-level discussion board on the Wittenberg.

4.   Review and Revocation

4.1.   On July 1 and December 1 of each year the Minister of Culture or their designated plenipotentiary must review the level of activity in each NGO discussion board. If the average activity is less than four posts per month in the period since the most recent such review, the NGO board in question will be archived and removed from the main page. The board may be restored to public access on the main page by using the application process defined in section three of this act.

   

When participating in media criticism, especially of a franchise that is both beloved by and well-known to the critic it is tempting to engage in a rewrite of the story or series in question. That's not the role of a critic; the critic is to take the work on its own merits and look for meaning, messages, influence, elements of quality, thought-provoking point, and use it as a window to personal meaning and social deconstruction.

However, when a literary or visual work of art fails its own premise then a discussion of the alternative path it could have taken is well within the bounds. It should be no surprise then as a lifelong and deep-in-the-tank fan of the Star Trek franchise that I feel that Star Trek: Voyager is the greatest disappointment of any of the television or streaming series. Because the distance between its original premise and what was eventually delivered on screen is the greatest gap that exists in the franchise.

For the uninitiated, Star Trek: Voyager was an attempt to show how a Starfleet crew would react to being lost so far away from the Federation that it would take a generation if not a couple of lifetimes to return home; far away from those who shared their values or had cultural familiarity. This was complicated by the fact that the crew was made up of part of the original Starfleet crew, and the Maquis, a freedom fighting/terrorist organization who had been fighting against both the Federation and the Cardassian Union, after a peace treaty between those two power left many under the fascist yoke of the Cardassians with the Federation's tacit approval.

If you believe the interviews from people like Ronald D Moore who were intimately involved in the creation and development Star Trek in the late 1990's, the original intent of Star Trek Voyager was to show the resilience of federation values in all the humanistic glory when ultimately challenged by being cut off from the resources and the superior numbers of the Federation in an area of space that was far more brutal and challenging. This is certainly where the series attempts to go for a brief while but it completely abandons this premise and its ongoing implications to its incredible detriment. Moore went on to run a strikingly similar premise in the Battlestar Galactica's 2004 reboot, a show that embraced this idea until its last 30 minutes. That is a different essay.

While there were some episodes of Voyager that attempted to deal with the idea of a starship lost tens of thousands of light years from home and the type of material shortage, psychological existential dread, a philosophically divided crew, difficulties of dealing with utterly unfamiliar social structures, at the beginning of each episode the ship would look like it had just come out of dry dock, all uniforms pressed and clean, everybody well-nourished and healthy. And worse yet, the relationships between the characters but especially between characters on different sides of the Starfleet/Marquis divide would be reset if not inexplicably improved beyond last week's standing. This was a gross misfire of an incredible story that could've been told about how the humanistic values of cooperation, mutual respect, inherent personal rights in balance with communal responsibility, and the ethical dilemmas of doing the right thing in the face of personal and communal survival would've made an incredible show if not maybe the best of the Star Trek shows.

But that is not what happened. Moore has said that he left Voyager and all of Trek because of how he was being treated after his objection to the direction that Rick Berman, the highly conservative and nervous Nellie of the Star Trek universe who worried that anything that smacked of a dark tone à la Deep Space Nine, would turn people off of the franchise. It is no surprise that Berman kept the DS9 staff at hand's length from Voyager. Not only did Mr. Berman clearly misread the direction of narratives in culture in the early 2000s, he rejected the very nature and premise of the show that he had signed off on creating. He hamstrung the show by demanding that they tell a passable story for the broadest possible audience, instead of taking a risk on the best story to create the most dedicated audience.

Taking a note from the great Star Trek commentator Steve shives (see YouTube channel here https://www.youtube.com/c/SteveShives) how much better would Star Trek Voyager have been if they spent the first two or three seasons being challenged by the lack of support structure, surrounded by civilizations that exploited each other, who used trade and cultural integration not for peace or for prosperity but for exploitation, and having to both deal with those unethical structures to survive, and to influence them to change for the better? While at the same time having to deal with interpersonal conflict due to the nature of their hybrid crew, and the deep philosophical issues that they should've had in conflict with each other. Add to that after two or three seasons coming to the barrier that was Borg space, and after going ahead and adding Jeri Ryan as seven of nine (which was originally perceived as eye candy but was really one of the greatest narrative innovations of the show) having to backtrack and build a new federation out of all the societies they had encountered in order to take on the Borg. What an ultimate victory for federation and ultimately humanistic values that could have been.

I rewatch a lot of Star Trek, over to cover so to speak. I've seen all the series start to finish multiple times not to mention all of the movies and all of their variations multiple times (the new directors cut of the motion picture is fantastic) but Star Trek Voyager is the series I watch the least. There are great and complex characters, who I still would like to see more of, and there are some truly great episodes and I rewatch those episodes, but not the series. Voyager is the great lost opportunity of Star Trek.

Today whisky drink: The RASPBERRY WHISKY BRAMBLE - https://tasteandtipple.ca/raspberry-whisky-bramble/

The following is an exercise in graphic design and is submitted for use by the Els Zuávs da l'Altahál Rexhitál (The Zouaves of the Royal Bodyguard). If those in change of the organization wish to use these designs with edits, please let me know.

https://talossamainstreet.weebly.com/ranks

Key performance indicators, or KPI, are vital components of any leadership agreement or plan. Leaders must be clear about what their goals are, and the plans they have formulated to reach those goals. Vague promises of progress are little more than paper squirrels; empty promises whose mere existence should be a measure against the continuance of a government. The incoming government needs to adopt clear performance indicators to be reported on monthly, and publish real, objective goals, not only to inform strategic and action plans, but to provide transparency and assessment tools to the public.

First, we must agree what the KPI for our kingdom should be. Clearly the heart and soul of the Kingdom is the Wittenberg; at least for the foreseeable future. I think at minimum we should agree to these three basic KPI measures:

1.   the volume and growth of posting on the Wittenberg,
2.   the volume and growth of new topic creation on the Wittenberg,
3.   the volume and growth of new member accounts created on the Wittenberg.

As we can see from the three charts below the quarter over quarter progress of these three KPI have been nearly flat for some time. Is this reasonable? Is this a cause for concern? We can't really say as we need more baseline data, but we can use this information to set goals quarter to quarter for the current or any future government. These goals will allow, or rather require, a responsible government to develop a program for meeting these goals. I ask the incoming government to set clear, objective, number-based goals in these three categories and to work in coalition will all concerned parties to develop a plan to reach these goals.

I invite everyone to check out the travel patch inspired clothing, stickers, and home good offerings at my online storefront.  This line is directly for friends and citizens of Talossa, but the are other lines as well. Starting this month and in perpetuity, 10% of the net sales (not just Talossa oriented sales) generated by this storefront will be donated to the Government of the Kingdom of Talossa.

https://www.teepublic.com/user/kapow_studios/albums/165070-talossa



https://www.teepublic.com/user/kapow_studios/albums/165070-talossa

I apologize if this is not the correct place for this question.

Much like the "Registered Political Parties" section and boards under the "Special Interests" heading on the Witt, can active NGOs and civic organizations have their own boards? I realize there needs to be guidelines for the establishment of a separate boards, but I feel that things that are not politics or elections quickly get lost on the main board.   

Hello new neighbors,

As we approach a new government/administration, I would like to make sure I am fulfilling my provincial duties. Anything I should be doing as a new citizen at the provincial level?

Esteemed Fellow Citizens,

I have recently been made aware of the possibility of obtaining a seat in the upcoming Cosa as representative of the current new batch of citizens. Though I wish to chart a citizenship experience that is not focused on partisan politics, I do have an interest in studying Talossan public administration, and producing public research through the Royal Society. I thus see this as an opportunity for active, participant research, not to mention a civic duty.

Please consider this my petition to be assigned such a seat.

Please consider the following the official request to join the Royal Society for the Advancement of Knowledge by Antonio Montagnha.

1.   I became a citizen of the Kingdom of Talossa on 4/8/2022.

2.   I hold a Doctorate of Education in Leadership Studies. I am requesting that my dissertation, which can be found here https://mds.marshall.edu/etd/1281/, will stand in lieu of a full research statement. However, the Talossa specific areas I wish to explore are:
        a.   Setting standard for effective, data informed, compassionate leadership standards for Talossan public administration,
        b.   Identifying and tracking Key Performance Indicators for a healthy, growing and active Talossan community,
        c.   Developing commination and media strategies to grow the Talossan community

3.   I am currently developing my initial lecture for the Royal Society titled, "On Practical Elements of Good Government." I believe I will deliver a video of this lecture within two weeks of being granted membership.