PNQ1: Now that two Hobbit movies are out, can anybody tell me if all of the dwarves are given unique personalities and character arcs?
PNQ2: If the answer is no, what do you think would've been a manageable number? 4? 6? 8?

I think it's safe to say I have no idea what Peter Jackson's doing, but in the book a lot of the dwarves are pretty interchangeable, quite possibly existing for the sake of forming a large number and having fun names. And allowing for long introduction scenes.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/nvi.../1100-6418530/

PNQ1: Do you know anybody who has paid anywhere near $3000 for a graphics card?
PNQ2: Do you know anybody who has paid anywhere near $3000 for an entire PC?

Someone solving a 11X11X11 Rubiks Cube.

PNQ: What's the largest Rubik's Cube you've ever solved? I'm still at 3X3X3.

PNQ: What holodeck programs would you have liked to see more of?

Bashir's James Bond parody? Vic Fontaine's lounge? Dixon Hill?

PNQ: If you had to set a cutoff for anime where:

Before Year X: The vast majority of dubs are going to be sanitized and edited within an inch of its life, and generally speaking if you want the intended experience you have to go sub.
After Year X: The vast majority of dubs are loyal to the source material, censorship is minimal, and you can get the intended experience in English.

What year would you choose, or has that time not yet come?

I'm not quite sure what you're getting at, honestly. Is that calendar year or viewer age year or . . . ? Are you suggesting anime is getting more or less raunchy as time goes by?

I tend to prefer subs by default to get the original voice actors, anyway.

Calendar year. This has nothing to do with target age or content level, this has to do with the competence and integrity of the dubbers

On the whole, I prefer dubs IF they can be done properly. I hate HATE having to read the bottom of the screen because it continually pulls me out of the experience. Authentic, loyal dubs can be done, because I've seen them. I just wish more companies would do it.

So what's the year where most prior dubs aren't faithful (and you must watch sub) and most subsequent dubs are faithful (so you can watch them without unnecessary censorship or cultural whitewashing)?

Ah, well, I wouldn't know. I think it may also be a function of which company is involved in the dubbing.

PNQ: Putting aside the technological and political implications, if you were to serve in Starfleet which "era" of uniform would you wear?

A. Enterprise.
B. TOS-series.
C. TOS-movies. (The Monster Maroons, of course, not those hideous STTMP uniforms)
D. TNG-series. (black shoulders and pants, colored torso)
E. TNG-movies. (colored collar, gray shoulders, black torso and pants)
F. DS9/VOY. (black pants and torso, colored shoulders)

TOS-series, of course. I like color. :)

In watching an old game console review, I got to wondering...

PNQ: Has there ever been a console that had five games at launch that were legitimately great, with ample replay value?

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/apple-kil...170637989.html

So Apple isn't selling iPod Classics anymore because they "can't get the parts anymore."

PNQ1: Does this seem like a bit of a copout? Haven't they had years and years to buy out whatever companies and patents are required to make said parts in house?
PNQ2: How does not having parts for an older-model iPod Classic preclude the development of a new model? A model that has a similar form factor but more modern parts inside?

If that were where the profit is, I'm sure they'd find a way. I guess the profit must be elsewhere.

To answer Nate's uniform question, TOS Movies by a mile. Those and the ENT outfits are the only ones that look like plausible military uniforms, and I'm a sucker for the dignified, naval look.

That said, the only kind I've actually worn is TNG-style, which was my homemade Hallowe'en costume several years running. Easiest thing in the world -- the only part I had to actually make was the shoulderpiece. Like any Trek-loving kid, I already had a delta badge (they came as bases with the action figures), and a blank red sweatshirt and black pants took care of the rest. Of course, it wouldn't have "passed inspection" lacking the black triangle pieces at the belt and sides, but the point got across.

PlayStation 2 and 3 count, only because they were backwards compatible with their previous generation's games.

...maybe the Wii? Definitely had "ample replay value" attached to it, as Wii Sports, for example, I still see people play. Five games is questionable. Wii also did have backward compatibility with GameCube, but then again I can only count great GameCube games on one hand.

Here's a PNQ:

How many people still remember this place?

there are about half a dozen of us who stop by regularly, and the occasional flyby from a few others. For me fivers are a cross between Jim Wright's Delta Blues and MAD Magazine, so I'm not forgetting this place any time in the next decade or so. 8)

That's another one: who still remembers Delta Blues?

Their front page still has a link back to us, after all.

If you stop by regularly, why no discussion then? Or is it a long dirt road in the middle of the prairie with only one house on it and an annoying starship captain visiting with some of her crew and two beings, one really wanting to die and the moral of the story is that some people want to die and we should let them?

...what was my point again?