Chief O’Brien at work

Original title: Chief O’Brien at work.

Title of this edition: Chief O’Brien at work.

Author: Jon Adams.

Gender: Fantasy, Sci-fi.

Saga: Star-Trek.

Editorial: City Cyclops.

Edition year: 1, 2015.

Prizes: —

Synopsis [Warning: Spoiler]: Chief O’Brien is a character of the TV series Star Trek the next generation, he is in charge of transporter, however, through the series it becomes clear that he is completely irrelevant as crew members can order directly to the Enterprise’s  computer to be transported from anywhere in the spaceship to anywhere in the planet or nearby spaceships. The only times he appears in the show are when “something horrible happens to Chief O’Brien”, the rest of the time, he is waiting in the transporter room for someone to be transported (and that is a huge amount of time waiting if you think about it).

Personal Review: This book started as a web comic (we spoke about it back in 2014 TNG: Chief O’Brien). Then it turned into a Kickstarter project (we proposed it as project of the week back in 2015 and pay for a copy). Now it is 2016 and the book is now real.

I have to say that this book is for Star Trek fans and to nobody else, and even between Star Trek fans, you have to have watched the Next Generation, other way the jokes will be completely nonsense to you. For instance, if you haven’t watched the Next Generation, you will not know who Riker is, and what is funny about him (he is like the official Casanova of the Star Trek).

Something I really like is when it breaks the 4th wall and demonstrates how it was broken in the TV series. “Chief O’Brien, transport me back to the ship from the planet” “planet? what planet? Do you people realise that I work in a room without any windows and nobody ever tells me where we are?”. It is great, because in the TV series it doesn’t seem to be an odd request… but only because the viewer knows everything, that’s why when crew members request transportation, it is natural to us to assume that everybody shares the same amount of information that we have. Brilliant.

On the other side, something I don’t like about the book is that the format limits the jokes. Sometimes repeating the same frame over and over makes a joke, but if you do it all the time, then it is there only to fill space (and you have to do it in order to fill the space in the selected format of the book).

Just to finish with something good, be aware that the book has hidden messages, can you find all of them? [Spoiler to one of the messages]: Put the book under sunlight and then in complete dark.

epow (Experiment project of the Week)

To be honest, I’m a little bit sceptic about this one, but if it happens to be the way… will you miss the opportunity to fund the search of the theory of everything? For those not related with science, in physics there is two big theories, quantum mechanics and general relativity, one for the very small things and the other for the really big or really fast things. The reason why there is two is because when we try to mix them they don’t like each other and there is no way to agree in the predictions. The theory of everything is the name given to the theory that will explain both theories and make them compatible, it will be a single theory for everything, from too small to very big things. For years physicists have been looking for this theory, and they come up with string theory. However, there is many ways to create a string theory, and all of them are mathematically consistent, the problem is that only one describes our universe (that is called the M-theory, the one that unifies all string theories into only one that describes our universe).  For many years we though string theory was the candidate to become the theory of everything, but we progress slower and slower and it seems that it is still very far away to find the correct string theory.

What these two researchers propose here is an alternative to the theory of everything not based on string theory. The details are not clear to me, but if research in string theory seems to be slow and there is a chance of finding a different solution, then why not? And they only ask for money to cover the salary of one of them! For those of you thinking that there is more immediate problems, think that the web born at CERN while people where building particle accelerators to discover new particles and test physics.

epow (Experiment project of the Week)

Cats! Do we need to say more? Maybe a little bit. The concept of reputation is used to pass information about someone’s behaviour without having to interact directly with that person. In other words, if someone is a bad person, you can be aware of it in advance, and also in the other way, if someone is good, it is good to know. Surprisingly, this not only applies to humans, it is also true between other animals like dogs, and in between dogs and humans (yes, your dog will tell other dogs if you are good or bad for him). The next experiment aims to study if this type of reputation knowledge applies also for cats, and if cats share the reputation with other cats, so they can know which human they can trust or which one they should avoid.

KICKSTARTER PROJECT OF THE WEEK (KPW)

I consider the next project important because it is an attempt to improve the human-machine interface towards something more dynamic. I can actually imagine screens everywhere around me, on the walls, desks, tales, floating around…. and everything is in control with this device and I can move and go anywhere with it. Nydeum sense.

KICKSTARTER PROJECT OF THE WEEK (KPW)

I will say only one word hoversled. DO I need to say more? Hoversled.

epow (Experiment project of the Week)

The next project is aimed to collect data about how panic attack reflect on heart rate and respiratory rate. I think the idea of using a mobile phone to track the symptoms and possibly (in the future) help people with a panic attacks has great advantages, for instance, if it happens in the middle of the night, your phone is always at hand and can be a great help.

KICKSTARTER PROJECT OF THE WEEK (KPW)

I think the next image is the strongest thing we can say towards public transport and in particular bikes.

That is why the project this week, which can improve safety riding a bike and convince more people towards using a bike rather than a car, is very relevant. beSEENS.

epow (Experiment project of the Week)

There is a problem with fertilizers, we use too much, increasing food costs and polluting at the same time. If we find out the right amount to be used, we can improve production and decrease damage to the environment at the same time. This is the reason why the next project is important.

 

KICKSTARTER PROJECT OF THE WEEK (KPW)

I think integration of green zones within the cities is a fundamental problem for the future. That’s why I select this week a project that brings a small garden to your everyday life.Enjoy the SekuraGarden.

KICKSTARTER PROJECT OF THE WEEK (KPW)

Robots, coding, learning, and fun. The next project can become a perfect toy for kids these days. This robot will contribute to prepare them to the technologically advanced world they will have to face. Enjoy Codeybot.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1818505613/codeybot-new-robot-who-teaches-coding?ref=discovery