Avatar: The Last Great Nick Cartoon

Ok, so admittedly it’s been a couple years since I watched Nickelodeon so feel free to correct me if I’m missing out on something amazing, but up to the point I was watching their programming (which mind you was well after Avatar had ended) there just didn’t seem to be the same quality of shows available. I mean what ever happened to shows like Doug and Rugrats? These were great shows that make my childhood worth being nostalgic about. Maybe it’s just that I’ve gotten older, but the shows just don’t have the same allure they once did. Avatar: The Last Airbender was, at least for me the last great show nick aired.

Premise

The Three Seasons of Avatar

A truly original show Avatar: The Last Air Bender follows Aang and his friends as they journey to different locations across the world to find bending masters to teach Aang the four elements so that he can stop a war that the fire nation had been waging for over 100 years.

The series touches on a number of different beliefs but focuses in most heavily upon Buddhism (as the Buddhist monks were the inspiration for the air benders) and also touches on the concept of reincarnation at least for the Avatar (a being able to bend or manipulate all four elements [air, earth, fire, and water]).

The world is divided into four different nations each built around a particular element; the Air Nomads who lived in four temples built high in the mountains, the Earth Nation which controlled the majority of the western continent (at least originally), the Fire Nation inhabiting the eastern continent, and the Water Tribes located primarily in the North and South poles.

While the Avatar is not the only person capable of bending the elements, he is the only one who can bend all four and not everyone is able to bend even one. This creates an interesting dynamic for the show as the benders are constantly targeted by their enemies and those who can’t bend any of the elements are typically disregarded as not a threat, a mistake that on several occasions proves to be the downfall of the antagonists.

Ultimately Aang must master the four elements within a certain period of time in order to stop the war before the Fire Nation achieves total victory.

Animation

While the animation is a little sketchy at first (ok you caught me, it’s a terrible pun. Let’s move on) it improves rapidly over the course of the first few episodes and remains at its peak throughout the rest of the series. Each of the nation’s populace is drawn to reflect a different people group giving the series a believable diversity often lacking in cartoons and anime.

A special note must be made for the superb detail the animators put into researching and drawing the motions associated with the different bending styles. A unique form of martial arts was chosen for each of the four elements and used as the basis of the associated bending motions that not only created a unique style for each of the nations but contributed to the rich culture built into each one.

As is appropriate for a series ending battle, the animation during the final few episodes was absolutely incredible (and on an unrelated note, so was the soundtrack selection for these scenes). You could almost feel the energy splashing off the clashes between the combatants and just barely hitting you through the television screen (or maybe I had the volume too high. Who’s to say?).

The Movie

Just look at his face, even he thought it was bad.

Airbender was possibly the worst movie I have ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot of terrible movies (my parents loved making me watch old [seriously old] B movies). It’s just a travesty what was done to the series through this movie. As the movie is the primary means through which most of our culture has experienced the Avatar: The Last Airbender series, many people won’t give it a chance because they think it’ll be just as bad as the movie. This is a shame as the series is incredible. I don’t know what Mr. Shyamalan thought he was trying to do, but I seriously doubt if he watched more than three episodes of the series before he made the movie. Here are my major complaints in brief:

1. The pronunciation of Aang’s name (seriously, we all know how to say it, and that wasn’t it)

2. Cultural choices for each nation (the Fire nation isn’t even remotely Indian and the Water Tribe are supposed to be Inuit)

3. Combination of Jet and Haru (just remove one if you need to cut screen time, don’t combine them)

4. Portrayal of bending (the element moves as your moving; the motion isn’t a combination for “unlocking” the move)

There’s more, but honestly it was just a bad movie and for certain directors it seems to have been a bit of a career ender. Now for those of you saying “it wasn’t as bad in 3D,” I understand your need to console yourself for having paid extra for such a terrible movie, but yeah, it was still just as bad no matter how many dimensions it was filmed in (though probability suggests that in at least one universe the movie was great, so there’s some hope there.)

Conclusions

Avatar: The Last Airbender is an amazing series well worth your time. I beg you if you’ve not seen it, to not judge the franchise by the sham of a movie created by someone who apparently could have cared less for the series, but rather make your decision based on what the series itself actually has to offer. Just give this wonderful animated world a chance to find its place (as it has in mine) in your N3rd C0rn3r.

The Dawn of the Comic Book in My Life

A few months ago I finally decided it was time I started reading some comic books to round out my nerd proficiencies. As has been the case over the course of my entire life I wanted to start at the beginning and I wanted to start with something Star Wars. If you’re as unfamiliar with comics as I was, than you wouldn’t believe all the options that are available, but since I wanted to start with something from the beginning (and had my tax return money to fund the project) I picked up the first 4 issues (0,1,2, and 3) of Dawn of the Jedi: Force Storm and started reading.

Concept

Dawn of the Jedi issue #0

I have to tell you, I couldn’t think of a better place to get started with a comic series than one that’s going through the earliest history of the Jedi Order. I will admit that I actually write campaigns for the Star Wars Roleplaying Game using the Saga Edition sourcebooks, and I love to include ancient secrets of the Jedi lost to time in the plot lines. For me there’s nothing more exciting than rediscovering a lost Force power or uncovering an ancient manuscript detailing a piece of the original Jedi Code and Dawn of the Jedi gives you everything you need to do just that. If you don’t write your own roleplaying game campaigns though, you can still enjoy the rich level of background this series provides on the Jedi and on familiar races from the Knights of the Old Republic era comics and games like the Rakata. If you really want to dive into the history of the Star Wars universe, Dawn of the Jedi is going to take you back about as far as you can go.

Artwork

An example of Jan Duursema's fine work

The artwork for the Dawn of the Jedi series is done by Jan Duursema who has also worked on Star Wars 92, Star Wars: Republic, and Star Wars: Legacy. An alternative cover art for issue #1 of Dawn of the Jedi: Force Storm was done by Gonzalo Flores. As I mentioned before I’m a bit new to the realm of comic books and graphic novels, however I found that I was very impressed by the artwork presented in Dawn of the Jedi. It proved to be very rich and detailed (and way better than anything I could even hope to do). The characters were very realistically drawn and added to the believability of the story and those that took part in it. Likewise the artwork for the different locations throughout the system and especially for Tython was simply stunning and almost makes me jealous that I don’t live near anything that magnificent. In my opinion the comics are worth reading for the artwork alone as you can easily get a sense of the story and where it’s going just from looking at the artwork. My one criticism and it’s more about the media itself than the artist, is that fights are difficult to depict in a comic, especially when you’re attempting to depict highly complex, Force assisted acrobatics. Still I never really graduated from stick figures, so it’s difficult for me to be too critical and I honestly find myself inclined to just stare in awe at what this fantastic artist is capable of.

Story

The story for Dawn of the Jedi kicks off with pyramid shaped alien artifacts of an unknown origin (I’m thinking C

elestials though this has yet to be confirmed) picking up groups of Force sensitive people from worlds across the galaxy and delivering them safely to the planet Tython where they are brought together to study and learn to master the Force. This story line had me very excited right from the start. I love the idea of the Jedi not being a chance happening, but an intentional construct of an ancient and obviously powerful alien civilization who knew the galaxy would need someone to keep it in order and organized the Jedi as the agents of that order. Even the choice of planet and how it reacts to the presence of the Jedi is perfect, almost leading one to believe that it might have been created specifically for the Jedi by the same people who created the ships that brought them though. The planet actually forces them to maintain a balance, leading to a philosophy that embraces the entire nature of the Force rather than just one of its two aspects. Story elements are well incorporated to reinforce what the Jedi become (like the moons Ashla and Bogan representing the light and dark natures of the Force) and the history of this mixed group of people is carefully considered and well thought out. I’m a little bothered by the fact that in the time between arriving on Tython and the actual story line beginning there was a war that we really know nothing about, but I imagine this is something that will be fleshed out in the comics to come. In my opinion John Ostrander, the writer for the series has done an excellent job setting the foundation for what the Jedi are in this series and what they will eventually become down the road, even weaving together the Jedi and the Sith codes and adding a flair belonging solely to this series to make the original Jedi Code:

“There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.”

“There is no fear, there is power.”

“I am the heart of the Force.”

“I am the revealing fire of light.”

“I am the mystery of darkness.”

“In balance with chaos and harmony.”

“Immortal in the Force.”

I find that I’m most impressed with the focus on balance over a dedicated bent toward either good or evil. If I’ve learned anything in my life it’s that balance is the key to almost everything and I’m glad to see that the Jedi realized that at least in the beginning.

Conclusions

While there are those who are not terribly impressed with the Dawn of the Jedi series up to this point, I find that I truly enjoy it. I look forward to catching up on my reading and enjoying Prisoner of Bogan and eagerly anticipate finding room for the series to follow in my N3rd C0rn3r.

When an Unstoppable Program Meets an Unmovable App

While I know that many, many of those who call themselves nerds have unlimited amounts of money and can basically buy whatever they want (please note I’m shaking my head sarcastically as I write this) there are those few who operate with limited means. If you’re anything like me you probably want to save your money for Magic cards, or a new video game rather than a new phone to replace the one that’s great, but has no internal memory left. This is typically the result of media and apps downloaded onto the phone.

My Samsung Dart

Now it should be noted that I got the phone I did (a Samsung Dart) because it was the right price (free) and had GPS capability and a memory expansion slot which I assumed, apparently incorrectly meant that everything I downloaded could be stored on the massive micro SD card rather than the minuscule internal phone memory. As you can imagine I was shocked to discover that the apps I downloaded more often than not would not transfer over.

A quick note to developers, I get that you’re trying to give your customers the best experience possible with your apps by making them unmovable, but when there’s just no internal memory left, they run slower than they would on the SD card and really, that’s the only time we’d even bother thinking about moving our apps, so just let us move them… please?

At any rate, after 5 or 6 (or 56? I lost count) attempts to find a way to move those unmovable apps (Facebook, I’m talking about you here) I finally found one that actually worked and allowed me to move my big apps over to the SD card (take that Facebook app).

What you’ll need

I should go ahead and not that the method I used was specifically for android phones. I know the IPhone is awesome (and if you have one you’re probably not reading this), but I just can’t bring myself to use apple products. So sorry to my mac loving readers, it’s not personal; they’re just not customizable enough for me personally in terms of hardware.

Obviously you’ll need your phone for this, as well as a computer with a free (or easily made available) USB port. The speed of the port’s not terribly important as you’ll be working in a command prompt. You’ll also need a USB data link cable for your phone and to download the program Android SDK. While it’s not necessary you may also wish to pick up an app on your phone called App Manager III (App2SD) as it’s quite helpful in determining what’s safe to move to your SD card and installs directly to the SD card and thus isn’t going to take up any internal storage space.

How to do it

First you’ll want to start by getting your phone ready. Go to your applications, select “Settings,” select “Applications,” and then select “Development.” You’ll see a few options with check boxes beside them. Make sure there is a check by “USB debugging” and “Allow mock locations” and head back to your home screen. Finally just plug the phone into your computer using the data link cable and make sure the drivers install correctly. If your computer asks what you want it to read the phone as (hard drive, camera, etc.) I went with storage (hard drive) and it worked perfectly so you may wish to go that direction.

Next you’ll need to install the program (or extract it if you got the zip file). As we’ll be using program files in the folders containing this program it’s very important that you know exactly where you install this on your computer. If you’re extracting I’d also recommend renaming the folder to something simple as you’re going to be trying to access it via command prompt which means retyping whatever the name is, and let me just tell you “adt-bundle-windows-x86_64-20130219” is just not any fun at all.

The SDK Manager Window

With the program installed, open the program folder and double click the “SDK Manager” application file to open the program. It may take a minute or two to load up the installed programs. Once it’s loaded check to make sure the “Android SDK Platform-tools” are installed (it’s the second option under tools at the very top of the window). If they’re not, just select the check box next to them and click the “Install packages…” button at the bottom right of the window. Installation could take a few minutes. Once you’re done with that you can close the Android SDK Manager.

Now you’ll want to open a command prompt (either type cmd into the search bar in the start menu and hit enter or go to “Start,” “All Programs,” “Accessories,” and click on “Command Prompt”). Using the cd (change directory) command navigate to the program folder by typing cd and the full address of the folder. The folder we want in the program folders is the “sdk\platform-tools” folder. If you’re not sure what the full address is you can find out by selecting the “adb” application file in the “platform-tools” folder, right clicking on it and selecting “properties” from the drop down menu. This will bring up a window that lists the full address you’ll want to navigate to in the command prompt.

Once you’re in the correct directory type in the command “adb devices” telling the program to find your phone. If it doesn’t for some reason, double check to make sure it’s set up for USB debugging, plugged in with a data link cable, and installed properly.

Next type in the command “adb shell pm getInstallLocation” making sure to capitalize as it is right here otherwise it’ll kick back an error. If done correctly, this will return a numerical result indicating the default install location for your phone. Typically this will be “0” (internal storage). What we want to do is change it to “2” (external storage).

To do this you’ll need to type in the command “adb shell pm setInstallLocation 2” again making sure to use the correct capitalization. This will set the default install location to the external storage.

Type in the “adb shell pm getInstallLocation” command once more to confirm that the change took effect. If so it should return a result of 2 which means it’s worked and you can close the command prompt and unplug your phone.

Now just hop onto your phone and using either the native application manager or the app manager III (App2SD

) app move those large troublesome apps over to your SD card.

If you find you’re still having difficulty, you can always try reading the article I found on the process located at: http://techgage.com/article/moving_your_non-movable_android_apps_to_an_sd_card/

Conclusions

While it may not free up a great deal of space, depending on how many apps you have installed, for those of us struggling to make due with 20MB or less internal storage free (yeah, seriously) it’s a life saver and as such has made room for itself (on the SD card of course) in my N3rd C0rn3r.

My Personal Pathfinder Preview

If you’re unfamiliar with the game Pathfinder it is a d20 based paper and pencil style Roleplaying game built off of the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 rules. The game was intended as a new campaign world to explore and interact with that introduced upgraded character classes and fixes for old rules to the old D&D 3.5 system. Still the game is compatible with all the material available for D&D 3.5, though some conversion work may be necessary.

My Introduction

A good place to start for players new to RPGs

Last night my friend Erica Colabella was kind enough to get permission from her DM (Dungeon Master) to let me sit in on their Monday night Pathfinder session over at Dark Side Comics in Sarasota, FL. It was a diverse group of 6 characters and their companion animals with only one work related no show. Still despite being a down a party member it was decided that the game must go on and play picked up from where they had left off in the previous session. The DM carefully laid out for them the scenario and awaited the reactions of the player’s characters. Like most of us being chased by a terrifyingly durable black armor clad juggernaut of vengeance and death, they choose to run and try to escape this menace taking a path through the town the previous sessions events had taken place in. As the chase continued the players did their best to warn bystanders of the antagonist’s approach, distract him with as many birds as they could convince to throw themselves at the menace, and hurling obstacles like swords and once stone now suddenly mud pits at him, but to no avail. Finally a ship is spotted departing, the harbor and one character flies ahead to secure passage for them all allowing them to escape the threat perhaps breathless, but unscathed. The mysterious antagonist has one last trick however throwing his swords and severing the rudder of the ship which happens to be heading for a large whirlpool just outside the harbor, easily avoided with a rudder, but death to those ships without one. Thankfully the quick thinking of the party druid saves the day and the resultant giant blue crab that was summoned pushes the ship past the whirlpool and into open water.

My Impressions

To say that my first experience with the game was entertaining would be an understatement. Between the wanton slaughter and mayhem was a jovial conversation that while deviating from the topic at hand often, only served to make the game enjoyable for all those playing (and watching). I found the group to be intelligent, friendly, and even inviting allowing me to joke with them and make suggestions through other characters to help move the plot forward. It was obvious that the DM had worked his craft well and had created interesting plot elements and characters to match, even at one point demanding payment for passage from the assassin in the party who up to that point had been sneaking about unnoticed. Overall I was very impressed with not only the written material but also its execution by the DM and its interpretation by the players. The only thing I didn’t really get to see was a combat encounter, but hopefully next time around that will take place.

My Recommendation

Basically if you have the means to acquire at least the players guide and you like paper and pencil style role playing games, you may wish to give pathfinder a look; this is especially the case if you’ve played D&D 3.5 and or have some of the sourcebooks for that system as those remain relevant and open for use in the Pathfinder game. That said, there are a few cautions I’d like to offer up to those considering trying Pathfinder. First, sessions can be a bit lengthy so make sure you’ve got the time for it. The session I sat in on ran about 4 or 5 hours, but they can be longer or shorter depending on the time limitations of the group. Still you’ll want to be able to get at least 2 or 3 hours free once or twice a month if you’re hoping to get in on a game session. Secondly, don’t try this if you’re the kind of person prone to loose themselves in their character. Now this isn’t to say don’t roleplay your character, but simply, leave your character at the table when the game ends. If you can do those two things you should definitely consider getting connected with a game group in your area. If you need help with that, your local comic book store is a great place to start.

Conclusions

Pathfinder is a great game worth checking out if you are even remotely interested in role playing games and definitely something worth looking into for those who’ve played D&D 3.5 and who want to get a bit more out of the materials they already have. While each experience will vary depending on your group, the game can be a great catalyst for making friends and memories worth holding on to. Because of this Pathfinder has been added to my N3rd C0rn3r.

Propelling Science Fiction

Almost everyone has seen, read, or at least heard about some form of science fiction involving ships in space, exploring, trading across, and fighting in the far corners of the galaxy and beyond. Almost every franchise explains how they travel through space just a little differently. Today we’ll take a look at some of the various technologies described and their more realistic counterparts (assuming they have any).

Sub-light (Subluminal) Drive Systems

From Star Wars to Halo every space faring vessel in science fiction needs a way to get from point A to point B without going so fast that they crash into things.

Chemical Rockets – an old reliable technology chemical rockets mix some type of fuel and an oxidizer together in either a solid or liquid format creating a rapidly expanding gas that is expelled through a nozzle at high pressure for thrust. The technology has been used for decades to launch rockets, satellites, and people in to space and remains a trustworthy albeit bulky and slow, propulsion method in science fiction as well

Thanks to Jodie K Cortez for the pic

Ion Engines – used in Star Wars to give TIE fighters their incredible speed, they’re actually a real technology we possess today, though obviously much more primitive. These engines are extremely fuel efficient but are actually quite slow. While higher thrust rates can be achieved, it typically results in the engine quickly destroying itself. Still newer designs have come forth recently preventing this phenomenon somewhat and allowing for greater thrust capacities from these types of engines. For more of the technical stuff check out the article at: http://www.gizmag.com/improved-ion-engines-jet-propulsion-laboratory-erosion-lifetime/26323/

Impulse Engines – these engines are used in the Star Trek franchise to move ships traveling below the speed of light. They rely on a type of nuclear fusion (in this case of the fuel deuterium) to create the thrust used to propel the ship forward. While the impulse speeds we see on Star Trek are a bit out of reach for the moment, the idea of a fusion rocket drive is not. Using powerful electromagnets the device compresses a ring of lithium foil around a small bit of ionized hydrogen plasma until fusion occurs at which point the magnetic fields channel the energy out the nozzle creating a large amount of thrust. Right now the technology only works in busts but allows for much greater potential speeds to be reached than would a chemical rocket or even a nuclear fission propulsion system. This technology is also similar in many respects to that seen in Mass Effect for sub-light travel. For more specifics on how the real technology works you can check out the article at: http://www.gizmag.com/mars-fusion-drive/26939/

Faster than Light (Superluminal) Drive Systems

As with sub-light drives, any science fiction looking to leave a single star system will find it necessary to employ a faster than light drive of some kind, many varieties exist in popular science fiction

The Falcon as it enters lightspeed

Hyperdrive – the Hyperdrive works on the principle of moving a vessel into a parallel dimension that has the same physical laws but is vastly smaller and then using the sub-light drive to move through this smaller space. When the drive is deactivated you return to your own dimension in a position relative to where you left, but multiplied by the factor of compression in the parallel dimension. Because the two dimensions are so close to one another (speaking of distance rather than similarity) you still have to fly around objects in your own reality that cast a “mass shadow” into the parallel dimension. No current technology has yet been able to create this effect.

The Enterprise entering warp

Warp Drive – a fascinating take on faster than light travel, warp technology actually moves a bubble of space that the ship is in rather than the ship itself. The drive would create an effect that compressed the space in front of the ship and expanded it to the rear of the ship thus moving the ship forward in space, while it maintained no thrust at all. Believe it or not the theory is actually viable and is being researched as we speak. Though the means to accomplish this are still years ahead of us (and a couple groundbreaking discoveries distant as well) there are working models for use of this technology in the future. For more information on the specifics of current warp drive research check out the article at: http://www.gizmag.com/warp-drive-bubble-nasa-interstellar/24392/

Mass Effect Field – a drive system for which the popular game was named, a mass effect field is generated by running an electrical current through a previously unknown element called Element Zero or “Eezo” for short. This causes anything affected by the field to significantly increase or decrease in mass, allowing it to become much faster or much slower as a result of its sub-light thrust. In the game drives of this type are used for travel in local star clusters, but to travel across the galaxy requires a more powerful field created by Mass Relays that can reduce the ship’s mass to a fraction of that of a photon (a light particle) and allowing them to travel much faster. Unfortunately the lack of this element zero and the alien knowledge to know how to use it means this technology doesn’t exist at this time.

Wormholes – Star Trek touches on the concept of wormholes as shortcuts through space that connect one distant area to another distant area without the need to traverse all the space in between. In the show these are typically naturally occurring and few attempts are made to create these artificially (the slipstream drive being a notable exception). Stargate on the other hand uses artificially created wormholes quite frequently to move people and even vessels across vast distances instantly. While this does require a device on both ends to be present, it does open up options for real space travel. Theories actually exist for the creation of stable artificial wormholes. Should the technology be developed it would be necessary to take the long way to a distant place only once to place a device there. After that you could seemingly go between the two points at will without the long wait (sort of like a video game fast travel system). 

Conclusions

While that’s by no means all the drive systems ever encountered in science fiction, these are the most notable and several of them have legitimate real life counterparts either available right now or presently in the works. While the prospect of going much further into space may be dim right now, things look pretty bright for space travel in the future, leading to much rejoicing here in the N3rd C0rn3r.

Y it's the Best

If you’ve seen the original Star Wars movie than you’re familiar with the Y-wing starfighter, arguably the best starfighter ever created in the Star Wars universe. The Y-wing has a long and distinguished history and a list of features that explain this long service record. These fighters were first used by the Republic in a much needed bomber role and as the Empire rose and decided not to purchase the design these fighters became available to pirates, mercenaries, and ultimately the Rebel Alliance as the workhorse of their fighter fleet.

Models and Variants

The long service record of the Y-wing is the work of not one, but several different models of the ship used at different times and for assorted purposes.

BTL-B Y-wing – This is the original Y-wing model fielded as a bomber by the Republic and most notably used by Anakin Skywalker and a squadron of clone pilots to disable the Malevolence. These models served in other battles during the clone wars as well and were still in service at the end of the clone wars.

BTL-S3 Y-wing – A design released immediately following the end of the clone wars and the Empire’s rise to power, this model like its predecessor had an ion cannon turret operated by a weapons officer (though this model did away with the bubble dome concept), a large proton torpedo payload, and heavy lasers, armor, and shields. Despite the heft of the fighter, it was still relatively agile for the era and was able to keep up with most other fighters. Many technicians did away with the pointless hull coverings on this model to lighten the fighter just slightly and make maintenance easier.

a.       BTL-S3 Y-wing Courier – This variant of the S3 was so unique that it didn’t have its own designation. These ships removed the ion cannons for additional passenger and cargo capacity allowing up to 5 passengers plus the pilot and his astromech to be transported, albeit uncomfortably over long distances. These ships also featured a cockpit canopy split down the middle to speed embarkation and debarkation as well as allow passengers to jump out and glide or jet pack down to their destination without the ship ever needing to stop.

Two BTL-A4 Y-wings at the Battle of Yavin

BTL-A4 Y-wing – A new version of the older S3 that removed the gunner altogether, reducing the crew requirements to merely 1 pilot and 1 astromech droid. This allowed many groups with limited manpower (like the rebels) to field more of these craft.

a.       BTL-A4 Y-wing (LP) – This variant dubbed the “LongProbe” was a modified version of the single man fighter. It removed the ion cannons and used the space for advanced sensors, greater fuel capacity, and a navigational computer as well as a backup Hyperdrive. The modifications were intended to make sure that these scout ships made it home to report their findings and were so successful that the New Republic kept them in service up through the end of their campaign against the Imperial Remnant.

Y it’s the best

A BTL-A4 Y-wing in the Hangar of Home One

So I’m sure even after reading through the list of models you find yourself unimpressed with the humble Y-wing in comparison to other fighters. While it’s true that the X-wing and A-wing are faster and that the B-wing is newer, the Y-wing has better shields and firepower than the X-wing and A-wing and is actually faster than the B-wing making it an ideal multi-role fighter. Its faster speed in conjunction with its ion cannons also makes it a great choice for disabling missions as opposed to the more cumbersome B-wing. It’s easy to pilot especially compared to its replacement, the B-wing and is more versatile in its uses allowing it to be adapted to many different mission parameters. The ubiquitous nature of the ships also makes them cheaper to keep in repair as parts are easy to come by and technical specifications and those familiar with them are easy to find making repairs somewhat easier to have done if you’re not exactly a grease monkey yourself. Finally unlike the A-wing or the B-wing you have an astromech with you assisting with multiple ship functions and in some models you have a gunner operating the ion turret to keep fighters off your back compensating somewhat for the slower speed in comparison to a snub fighter or an interceptor. While the addition of personnel does make the ships harder to crew and more costly to loose, they perform better in combat because the numerous tasks associated with operating a starship are spread between multiple people, allowing each to focus on their specialty.

Because of this ships multi-role flexibility and its focus on a larger specialist crew over a multi-talented single pilot, the Y-wing is the best of the Rebellions fighters and will, assuming I can find a place to park it, always have a place in the N3rd C0rn3r.

Extra Temporal Dimensions

I’m sure many of you have heard of extra dimensional beings, parallel universes, and alternate realities. As much fun as those things are to talk about, I’m actually talking about something a bit different here. As a youth my father challenged me to figure out certain things like using a perpetual motion machine to generate energy (patent pending) or to figure out how people can all arrive in heaven at the same time, when they’ve died at different points throughout history. This article is an answer to the latter.

Subject Defense

Daniel Jackson's Ascension

Before you go off on a tirade about the content of this blog, I know it’s intended for nerdy topics (I’m the one who picked the subject). That said, this is every bit as nerdy as a talk on mirror universes or alternate realities, it just happens to pull from my experience and background which is Christianity. I know not everyone agrees with this mindset, but understand that my intention here is not to sway you to my beliefs, but to discuss the idea of a dimension that exists outside of time. Science fiction is as much about exploring the spiritual nature of the universe as it is the scientific. The idea of ascension in Stargate, the Jedi in Star Wars, even the Bajorans in Star Trek all point to an intention to stir the spirit as well as the mind. Still if that’s not nerdy enough for you to at least tolerate the spiritual content, I invite you to skip this article and come back for tomorrow’s article with my blessing.

Two Possibilities

There are essentially two ideas to answer this question and for fairness we’ll take a look at both of them and see which one makes the most sense as an explanation of this phenomenon.

Places of Waiting – presently the popular theory, this idea suggests that upon death the soul of the deceased will go to a place where they will wait for the Day of Judgment. It’s not described as either good or bad, just a place where we will wait. I have some serious problems with this explanation.

First among these is the idea that our all-powerful God who created everything including time can’t figure out a way to get us to the end without having us wait somewhere for God knows how long (pun intended). God made time! He existed before it did and therefore he is not subject to it. If Heaven is where God is then it must also exist outside of our space-time and thus there’s no need for us to wait.

Second, this interpretation assumes that the references to a “place of waiting” are to be taken literally. Did you never consider that perhaps the terms “sleeping” and “waiting” are ways to communicate something to us that we weren’t ready to understand yet as a species? Yes we’ve always had the same capacity for intelligent thought, but what we lacked before was the foundation laid by those who came before us. The very idea of space travel was preposterous only 100 years ago. Imagine 2,000 years ago what the idea of a dimension outside out space-time, would sound like to even the most well educated people.

Third, why would a loving, caring, compassionate God force his people to wait when there is no need? It just doesn’t make sense and defies the logical foundation of the world he’s created. Earth is where we make our choice, heaven and hell where we go when it’s over. There’s no need for a place to just wait. That’s just ridiculous, in every sense of the word.

A Crude Diagram of Extra-Temporal Dynamics

Extra-Temporal Dimensions – now for my theory, which is not to say I’m not so arrogant as to believe I’m the only person to have ever thought of this, but I’m the only person I know who holds to this theory. I believe as I mentioned earlier that God and thus heaven and hell exist outside of our space time. Even if the places are temporal in nature they exist in an entirely different space-time which means that when someone in our space-time dies and their spirit sets off, it needn’t go to a waiting area, but rather it can jump into another space-time at a moment of God’s choosing. In fact this means that our souls, regardless of when or where we die will go to the same place and time, namely the Day of Judgment. Even if this is not the case the eternality of God and the immortality of our souls demands that an extra-temporal dimension exist. Without it immortality would be impossible. Still I wholeheartedly believe that when I die I will be immediately at the Day of Judgment, not waiting around in Tartarus for that most holy court date.

Conclusions

Regardless of what you may believe, it’s not only intriguing but highly likely that at least one extra temporal dimension exists which should provide some sense of comfort for those seeking something lasting and meaningful here at the N3rd C0rn3r.