Amentep

"The Next Phase" TNG. Good straightforward ST episode. We've seen this type of story before, but Michelle Forbes' Ro and LeVar Burton's La Forge make the episode a lot of fun.

I guess it depends on your definition of backwards...there have been a number of advanced for their time civilizations in Africa. Egypt/Kemet in North Africa which had grown from the Tasian, Badari, Amaranti, Gerza lands, plus trade partner/occasional subject/occasional ruler Nubia/Kush are examples of advanced civilizations in Africa. North Africa was also home of Carthage that managed to hold off the Roman empire for awhile and was a pretty remarkable country. While the land of Punt is still speculative, I believe the general current consensus puts it in east Africa (Ethiopia/Eritrea area). That same area held Aksum, a major country in trade. The Mali and Songhai empires were centered in west Africa. When the Mali empire was at its height, only the Mongol empire held more territory, from what I understand (although the Mongol Empire was still 9 times larger, so there was a big gap between #1 and #2). The Ghana empire predated and was eventually absorbed into the Mali empire. Great Zimbabwe - in the area of Botswana, modern Zimbabwe and Mozambique - was another wealthy trade empire, with an impressive (now ruined) stone capitol city. You also get the Kongo Kingdom which was born of two earlier kingdoms, the Mbata kingdom and Mpemba Kasi. So in general, while there were strong and advanced civilizations, they were laid waste by the things that lay waste to all countries: time, changes in circumstance (invasion, internal strife, loss of trade goods, environmental changes). Egypt, Nubia/Kush and Carthage were conquered by Rome (I believe, Nubia briefly conquered Egypt, and then Egypt and the Assyrians regained it, but the end seems to lie in Rome). The fate of Punt, like its location, is speculative, but by the later Kingdoms of Egypt was treated as an almost mythological land of plenty, so its decline so early in what we have records of probably leads to its mysterious fate. Aksum & Zimbabwe seem to have suffered drops in trade that ultimately led to their collapse. Aksum splintered into other countries/kingdoms and part was taken control of by other countries. As mentioned the Ghana empire collapsed, speculatively due to collapsing from Islamic invaders. Mali was greatly decreased by the rise of the Songhai empire. The Songhai empire had a succession crisis involving the king and his sons that weakened the nation. Morocco (founded from areas conquered from the Byzantine Empire by the Umayyad Caliphate) was able to conquered both empires. The Kongo Kingdom was slowly converted after a Portuguese explorer found the kingdom and started spreading Christianity; it was subsequently destroyed in a series of wars with Portugal and the Dutch. Modern Africa primarily doesn't really take shape until the colonial lands begin to gain independence (the last one in 1977!), and some areas have faired better post-colonialism than others, and their success or lack of happens for a variety of reasons. So there's not a single answer really as there is not a single reason or source for the development of the continent, but a tapestry of reasons woven through time and through various lands and peoples with differing desires and goals.

I guess its good for the people who liked his Dawn of the Dead remake...

Bernie Madoff

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TNG "I, Borg". Good episode overall, I remember liking it when it originally aired, and I think it mostly holds up. Seems weird to me the Enterprise would have the latitude to make and act on their original plan without Starfleet approval.

They're both pretty good, imo. Sam Pekinpah, director of The Wild Bunch was an interesting director with a number of controversial films under his belt. Outland has Connery and Boyle and a great part for Frances Sternhagen. One of my favorite more traditional Hollywood westerns is THE BIG COUNTRY (1958) with Gregory Peck, Charlton Heston, Jean Simmons, Chuck Conners and Burl Ives.

Fantasy and sci-fi movies were, mostly, ignored. So many flopped, with some gaining cult status later. I'm glad I saw Labyrinth in the theater as I missed the Dark Crystal when it came out.

Walter Olkewicz, did a lot of character roles, including TWIN PEAKS and WIZARDS AND WARRIORS.

Yeah, Southern Association/Southern League for most of the run (last three years with AAA International League). It is on my list of things to check out, I think I would enjoy it (although I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with sims). Yes, they'd need to signal to other believers they were among friends and to warn people they felt needed put on notice they were there. Which is why it wouldn't surprise me that the name might have been intended to mean different things to different audiences.

I know it was used to reference poor whites in the south ("corn-crackers"). It's this use that Gary Cooper's character refers to Mari Aldon' character as a cracker in the 'Eastern' film DISTANT DRUMS (which, for film trivia buffs is also the source of the 'Wilhelm Scream') It was also applied to anyone who used a whip in their job, which is how it became associated with slave overseers. The use for Atlanta's minor league team is unclear, but they were the Atlanta Firecrackers in 1892, 3 years before they became the Atlanta Crackers. So it's possible it's a derivation of that, or it's a multilevel meaning. Also meant Atlanta had a team called the Atlanta Black Crackers...

Apparently 4k restoration getting a US release...

Don't know how other states are, but here the major metropolitan area is actually the major economic factor in the state. The taxes generated there are being used to prop up services - including farm subsidies - in rural areas. While the rural areas seem to think the metro areas are tax sinks, the data shows otherwise (its also a bit similar to Sen. McConnell complaining about New York getting federal funding when his home state received more in Federal funding than they give in taxes to the federal government, unlike New York). I don't really feel comfortable with some of this corporate activism going on. Two legislators here were fired from their regular jobs at law firms over the legislation, which seems at odds with the idea of sending a representative to represent their constituents to me. We live in weird times.

" Imaginary Friend" episode of TNG which is one or two more kid episodes from being rechristened Enterprise School for Children Why did the producers decide that the viewers wanted to see the stories of the kids on the Enterprise? While strange to believe that's what someone would feel the show needed, at least this episode worked. Probably because the conflict wasn't really between a kid and the Enterprise crew with loads of psychobabble layered in. By making the primary conflict between the girl and the alien, the Enterprise crew managed to not look as bad as they did in previous episodes and the episode was fun, if minor.