#because you don't say something against Data on the Enterprise

[chappydev]

Future of LLMs (or, "AI", as it is improperly called)

Posted a thread on bluesky and wanted to share it and expand on it here. I'm tangentially connected to the industry as someone who has worked in game dev, but I know people who work at more enterprise focused companies like Microsoft, Oracle, etc. I'm a developer who is highly AI-critical, but I'm also aware of where it stands in the tech world and thus I think I can share my perspective. I am by no means an expert, mind you, so take it all with a grain of salt, but I think that since so many creatives and artists are on this platform, it would be of interest here. Or maybe I'm just rambling, idk.

LLM art models ("AI art") will eventually crash and burn. Even if they win their legal battles (which if they do win, it will only be at great cost), AI art is a bad word almost universally. Even more than that, the business model hemmoraghes money. Every time someone generates art, the company loses money -- it's a very high energy process, and there's simply no way to monetize it without charging like a thousand dollars per generation. It's environmentally awful, but it's also expensive, and the sheer cost will mean they won't last without somehow bringing energy costs down. Maybe this could be doable if they weren't also being sued from every angle, but they just don't have infinite money.

Companies that are investing in "ai research" to find a use for LLMs in their company will, after years of research, come up with nothing. They will blame their devs and lay them off. The devs, worth noting, aren't necessarily to blame. I know an AI developer at meta (LLM, really, because again AI is not real), and the morale of that team is at an all time low. Their entire job is explaining patiently to product managers that no, what you're asking for isn't possible, nothing you want me to make can exist, we do not need to pivot to LLMs. The product managers tell them to try anyway. They write an LLM. It is unable to do what was asked for. "Hm let's try again" the product manager says. This cannot go on forever, not even for Meta. Worst part is, the dev who was more or less trying to fight against this will get the blame, while the product manager moves on to the next thing. Think like how NFTs suddenly disappeared, but then every company moved to AI. It will be annoying and people will lose jobs, but not the people responsible.

ChatGPT will probably go away as something public facing as the OpenAI foundation continues to be mismanaged. However, while ChatGPT as something people use to like, write scripts and stuff, will become less frequent as the public facing chatGPT becomes unmaintainable, internal chatGPT based LLMs will continue to exist.

This is the only sort of LLM that actually has any real practical use case. Basically, companies like Oracle, Microsoft, Meta etc license an AI company's model, usually ChatGPT.They are given more or less a version of ChatGPT they can then customize and train on their own internal data. These internal LLMs are then used by developers and others to assist with work. Not in the "write this for me" kind of way but in the "Find me this data" kind of way, or asking it how a piece of code works. "How does X software that Oracle makes do Y function, take me to that function" and things like that. Also asking it to write SQL queries and RegExes. Everyone I talk to who uses these intrernal LLMs talks about how that's like, the biggest thign they ask it to do, lol.

This still has some ethical problems. It's bad for the enivronment, but it's not being done in some datacenter in god knows where and vampiring off of a power grid -- it's running on the existing servers of these companies. Their power costs will go up, contributing to global warming, but it's profitable and actually useful, so companies won't care and only do token things like carbon credits or whatever. Still, it will be less of an impact than now, so there's something. As for training on internal data, I personally don't find this unethical, not in the same way as training off of external data. Training a language model to understand a C++ project and then asking it for help with that project is not quite the same thing as asking a bot that has scanned all of GitHub against the consent of developers and asking it to write an entire project for me, you know? It will still sometimes hallucinate and give bad results, but nowhere near as badly as the massive, public bots do since it's so specialized.

The only one I'm actually unsure and worried about is voice acting models, aka AI voices. It gets far less pushback than AI art (it should get more, but it's not as caustic to a brand as AI art is. I have seen people willing to overlook an AI voice in a youtube video, but will have negative feelings on AI art), as the public is less educated on voice acting as a profession. This has all the same ethical problems that AI art has, but I do not know if it has the same legal problems. It seems legally unclear who owns a voice when they voice act for a company; obviously, if a third party trains on your voice from a product you worked on, that company can sue them, but can you directly? If you own the work, then yes, you definitely can, but if you did a role for Disney and Disney then trains off of that... this is morally horrible, but legally, without stricter laws and contracts, they can get away with it.

In short, AI art does not make money outside of venture capital so it will not last forever. ChatGPT's main income source is selling specialized LLMs to companies, so the public facing ChatGPT is mostly like, a showcase product. As OpenAI the company continues to deathspiral, I see the company shutting down, and new companies (with some of the same people) popping up and pivoting to exclusively catering to enterprises as an enterprise solution. LLM models will become like, idk, SQL servers or whatever. Something the general public doesn't interact with directly but is everywhere in the industry. This will still have environmental implications, but LLMs are actually good at this, and the data theft problem disappears in most cases.

Again, this is just my general feeling, based on things I've heard from people in enterprise software or working on LLMs (often not because they signed up for it, but because the company is pivoting to it so i guess I write shitty LLMs now). I think artists will eventually be safe from AI but only after immense damages, I think writers will be similarly safe, but I'm worried for voice acting.

[endeavvor]

It was these moments that reminded the captain exactly why he loved Starfleet. That it consistently fed and sated his curiosity while equally presenting challenges to exercise his mind. He hated being bored, hated the mundanity of daily tasks, but this. This was the bread and butter he would eat for a lifetime.

Kirk saw it reflected in the crew. Saw it reflected in the carefully constructed facade of the Ensign at his elbow until it finally gave way to a characteristic bounce. It tugged the corner of his own lips upwards as an idea sparked. But he would circle back.

"That's what concerns me." He admits. Though, speaking from experience, their interactions with the Romulans over the years has been at personal, devastating costs. He's not interested in poking a potential bear. But because of those interactions, they had enough data to pull from now to know it is not that species they are dealing with. But it did not make it safer either.

He flips through the data again, scanning it with this thought in mind. Kirk reads through each scan as it's presented to him, appreciating Chekov's meticulous details. Against what he does know, and what he was able to catch the day of Vulcan's destruction. He doesn't see the key indicators this time. "No, not the Romulans, but they could also be trying to make that the point too - a show of force in an of itself. If someone does look close enough, and they just don't have the knowledge necessary to rule them out, it would be a compelling argument against approaching."

It had raised his own hackles just a moment ago.

"This is your discovery, and I know you're potentially looking into command some day, so I want to present you with a unique opportunity. I will tell you what I think, but how we proceed is your call."

The opportunity was two-fold. It would allow the captain to assess Chekov's line of thinking, potentially even give him an excuse for a promotion. But also to be something to him that he'd needed too: a mentor. Someone to hone and guide his thinking to align them with his goals. Pike had done what he could, but was still rather aloof, straightforward, and callous. It had gotten Kirk off his ass, but he still felt like he was winging it. Lost. Running on arrogance and confidence were only going to get him so far.

He wanted more for Pavel.

"We could move forward with a probe, but that and any further in depth scans beyond that of our ship's typical to assess for objects in its flight path could be taken as hostile. Remember, this isn't just a ship we've come across randomly, but something that is trying to hide.

Which circles back to the main issue of our general lack of knowledge. We don't know what we're looking at, and we know the cloaking suggests technology beyond our scope of understanding. What concerns me about a move that could be seen as hostile is we have no idea what type of weaponry is mounted or if we'll even pick up on it being locked on to us."

Kirk pauses here, giving Chekov a moment to process what he is saying and draw the same conclusion. If they've already drawn parallels to what they've seen to Romulans, then their weaponry could be similar. A well placed shot could devastate their shields, and a second could mean the end of the Enterprise.

He continues.

"At this point, we are at a standstill. There has been no attempt at communicating. They think we do not see them, but they see us. We can confirm for them that we've picked them up by trying to bridge this gap, but we don't know how they will react. We're one ship in neutral territory. Firing on us would be an act of war against the Federation, but that's only if we've sent this data back to Starfleet so that they know what we've discovered and can track us down.

Alternatively, we could take a more hands on approach. We can move the Enterprise out of range as casually as if we've never stopped in the first place. Load up a shuttle with a small away team, out of uniform, and casually try to pass through whatever this barrier is and see for ourselves what it is. It's reckless, especially considering you and I will obviously be on that shuttle, and we will be out of transport range, but it doesn't cost us the ship, and it doesn't lead us directly to outright war."

Turning, Kirk widens his stance and folds his arms across his chest.

"How would you like to proceed?"

Acknowledgment flickers across his face as quickly as his mind races, presenting itself in the momentarily deepening crease in his forehead as he knits his brows even closer together. There is little that passes him by, for this is what he does, far too perceptive for his own good—he is always watching, cataloguing everything neatly into designated files in his memory, looking for the patterns that present themselves in the world around him.

Pavel never brings it to the captain's attention, comfortable enough to let it pass by seemingly unnoticed—the captain will probably think he is lost in thought over this data, a conclusion almost entirely true—even if there is a moment where he finds himself wondering what that could have been about.

But as quickly as that curiosity presents itself, it disappears, taking a backseat to this mystery that truly holds his attention and sends his thoughts and his tongue racing at warp six.

The order is half-obeyed, if only for the silence he allows the captain to read through the data at his own pace and the look he gives him that says, I promise it is there, captain, and you are going to find it as interesting as I do.

And after a moment, the captain does catch on; Pavel may not be able to read the thoughts in his mind, but he can sense something shift in him, something that sends him toward the console on the far side of the room.

Pavel hops up moments after the captain, snapping up his PADD to join him in front of the larger screen. He clasps his hands behind his back while he stands, looking very much like the commander for a moment until he breaks the stillness, rocking back on his heels.

"Yes, exactly! Whoever is responsible for this, their technology and cloaking abilities outmatch even the Romulans', sir. It is expertly done; very easy to overlook if you are not paying close enough attention, and that must be the point, otherwise why go to the effort? There must be something there they are trying to hide." Or perhaps, they themselves are trying to hide, but if so, from what? Or from whom?

The possibilities are as infinite as the universe and he could spend hours on the hypotheticals, never reaching an answer.

Pavel traces invisible lines between the projected stars with his eyes, looking for any recognisable patterns in their placement that may provide some sort of previously unseen clue. "Hm? Ah"—he consults his PADD, checking the current time and frowning slightly as he does once he realises just how many hours have passed since he dove into this—"this scan was taken about six hours ago. Since then, another one has been taken, and this one was about two hours ago—well, two-point-five, to be precise, sir—because I wanted to compare the data to see if these strange readings would be consistent. They are, and I am sure if we scanned again, we would get the same results."

He trains an expectant look on the captain, his curiosity nearly tangible as it radiates off him. "There is always the option of sending a probe in to investigate further." If they are this technologically advanced, able to put such care and detail into their disguise, he can only begin to imagine what kind of weaponry they could have at their disposal: torpedoes that can pass through their shields as if they were little more than paper and tear clean through the ship's reinforced hull, weapons that could render the entire ship inoperable, leaving them at the mercy of any kind of potentially hostile aliens...

"What do you think we should do, sir?"

[chacusha]

TNG rewatch season 4 so far

Continuing with my TNG rewatch (I keep on accumulating things I want to say about particular episodes which I will forget if I don't post about them now). So far, season 4 isn't as good as season 3, but let's see if it picks up.

4x02 "Family":

This one is pretty good. A feels fest where all three family plotlines (Picard recovering from assimilation and his older brother; Worf and his parents reacting to his discommendation; Wesley and the recording of his dad) hit their mark.

I especially like the tenderness of Picard and his brother both realizing quite belatedly that the reason why Jean-Luc came home is because he needed comfort from his older brother, a role that his brother has really never had to play because Jean-Luc has always been so independent and self-sufficient and poised, and it's awkward for that reason. But once they realize that, his brother does step up.

Only noticed just now in the rewatch that Picard's nephew here is the same actor who played the aged-down Picard in "Rascals".

4x03 "Brothers":

I find this episode quite boring and slow-paced.

Also, I thought this when I first watched this episode and still think it: I think they should have cast someone else as Noonian Soong. First, I still think someone named Noonian Soong probably isn't white (I mean, this is the Star Trek future so who knows but still) and I'm a bit meh about the whole "created artificial life in my image" thing, which is kind of boring and overdone. But on the rewatch, I'm now adding to the pile that Brent Spiner's Soong portrayal is just... boring. It's even more clear because it's juxtaposed with his Data portrayal (like, Data just sitting there adorably-yet-obnoxiously going "I am not less perfect than Lore!" over and over again -- so cute) and his Lore portrayal (with Lore flipping dramatically back and forth between passive-aggressive resentful jealousy and faux-innocent-magnanimity). Like both of those portrayals are so spot-on and perfect and Soong is just... eh. Maybe this is a problem with the script or something but Star Trek HAS had quite a lot of great kooky arrogant scientist characters and Soong just doesn't stack up to any of them.

4x07 "Reunion":

After a string of meh episodes, this one is great. I love K'ehleyr so dang much. Just seeing her makes up for knowing that she dies in this one. She just plays SO well against Worf because of how different her personality and attitude toward Klingon culture is. She is such a troll. I just love her just being so playful and joking when confronting Worf about his awkward silence with her and then just being like, "Hm, but just now it seemed like you wanted to ask me a question..." (the elephant in the room being, she just showed up on the Enterprise with a surprise Klingon son, and she and Worf had sex the last time they were together) Worf: "Must I ask?" K'ehleyr: "Yes. :)"

She's also just so competent. She's so knowledgeable about Klingons and professional at her job and so good at snooping around the circumstances of Worf's discommendation that she basically reopens another round of Klingon empire drama.

The way BOTH Duras and Gowron are acting so dang sketchy at literally every moment in every scene, and you NEVER FIND OUT WHICH ONE OF THEM (if either) killed K'mpec -- this is sending me.

Already Alexander's failson tendencies are manifesting and I love it.

It's a bit melodramatic, but I do enjoy how K'ehleyr and Worf are clearly attracted to each other but can't be together because of life circumstances/out of concern for Alexander's future, but then K'ehleyr's death makes the same consideration go the other way and pushes Worf into acknowledging Alexander as his own.

4x08 "Future Imperfect":

A bit wild that Nurse Ogawa is first introduced in a vision of a world 16 years in the future here (not aged up), before she gets introduced as a member of the current Enterprise.

I think this episode is quite a bit like the TOS episode "The Corbomite Maneuver", but my partner disagrees. 🤷‍♀️

4x10 "The Loss":

While there are a lot of socially awkward cringe moments in this one, I for one just enjoy seeing a suddenly-autistic Deanna wreck everyone around her, lol.

4x11 "Data's Day":

Great episode. Keiko is introduced. I really love the space Japan wedding ceremony. Because of Keiko's behavior in this episode plus the scene in the very next episode where (post-wedding) O'Brien and Keiko are both acting like they've never tried each other's cuisine (HOW), my headcanon for the Keiko/Miles relationship is that it was an arranged marriage with Data as the matchmaker (basically, Miles and/or Keiko decided that they wanted a family so went on the dating market for this purpose and Data set them up). This basically explains everything you need to know about Miles, Keiko, and their relationship.

4x12 "The Wounded":

The first episode with Cardassians, featuring Marc Alaimo as Gul Macet! With some truly great facial hair. It is interesting to me how the Cardassian designs here are more reminiscent of cockroaches than lizards! Also, brown-haired Cardassians, wow!

They did largely keep the trait established here that Cardassians are kind of outgunned by the Federation yet still insist on soft-continuing a war that they would undoubtedly lose. It's an interesting characteristic, that Cardassian foreign policy is so ambivalent and confused because, basically (you find out later) there are three branches of government all struggling for power and one of them operates entirely clandestinely.

4x14 "Clues":

The ending of this episode is just wild. "Give us another chance to try this whole elaborate ruse against ourselves. We'll get it right this time!" "Okay, but only because you guys are so weird, lol." And this episode at every turn really establishes that the species trait of Humans in Star Trek is that they have insatiable scientific curiosity to a ridiculous level. Their species hat really is "2 science 2 live."

4x16 "Galaxy's Child":

Oh man, I love this episode. Geordi's awkward love life is BACK. While I love that Laforge and Brahms eventually do move past the awkward start to their relationship and become friends, I feel like Geordi did kind of get off a bit easy in this episode. When Brahms is yelling at him about his holosuite problem, Laforge kind of turns her annoyance back on her by trying to claim she was being so cold and unfriendly toward him when he was just trying to be nice, but like... Geordi, part of the reason she was being so cold and awkward was because you were behaving in really weird ways and it was lowkey freaking her out?? But still, love this episode.

[starship-imzadi]

S5 E5 Disaster

Notice, Keiko told Riker to feel the baby move, and he still hesitated. It's important to always ask for permission before touching a pregnant woman's stomach. I've seen it portrayed as if Riker just helps himself, and I want to highlight the fact that he doesn't. He respects boundaries.

As does Data. Data doesn't assume just because Riker was allowed that the same invitation is automatically extended to him.

It's funny to see Riker watch Data's reaction as he touches Keiko.

I think Crusher is so desperate she'll coerce anyone into one of her theatre schemes.

Picard still struggles with children. At least he's trying.

Picard's discomfort makes me uncomfortable.

I don't think it's a good policy as the only adult in a turbo lift to announce the fact that you are falling, even if it is true.

It's interesting to see "quantum" used as a scientific techno-babble buzz word. Back in the days of TOS the catch all term for anything unexplainable and mysterious was "nuclear".

I love the blue lighting

Red shirt down :(

Poor Troi is sort of left out of her element. Thank goodness for O'Brien. Ro as usual is not the most supportive person. it's times like this it would be nice if they had actually put Troi in her uniform. O'Brien says she carried the rank of Lieutenant Commander. I wouldn't have known what her rank was if someone had asked me.

Riker is really sweet. And I totally agree with this post (I'm so glad he eventually did become a father in canon!) He's so calm, he makes eye contact and gives her his full attention as he listens to her response to his question, and he smiles as he reassures her that they'll get her to sick bay as soon they can.

Look at Riker gently touch Worf's shoulder

Riker is very pragmatic: assume everyone is dead. It's a strong and understandable contrast to Troi given that he has a lot of command experience and she doesn't, because of their respective ranks and duties.

It's odd that Crusher can feel the heat but Geordi can't see it.

I can't actually remember Picard's future interactions with children but he certainly seem to be improving with interacting with them.

Frakes talks in the First Contact film commentary about how awful it always was to do scenes in the Jefferies tubes because of the cramped space and hard grates that, even with knee pads, became painful to crawl over.

Look at Data gently touch Riker's knee

How did Troi graduate from starfleet?! I get that she's ill prepared, but did the writers have to make her so clueless? She's been on this ship for five year of crazy experiences, I think she would pick something up!

"Are you suggesting we use your body?!" Such incredulity; gifs don't capture it properly. I think this whole scene is a really lovely moment of intimacy between Riker and Data, that Data is largely oblivious to. It makes me wonder if there were another random crew member of a low rank, and not of the core command crew, if Data and Riker's conversation would have a less informal feeling to it. As it is, they're very candid with each other. Also, I love Jonathan's sense of comedy.

The dead, lightless, Enterprise floating in space is quite an image.

Troi is also pragmatic in a way that initially seems to be a reciprocal of Riker, she's not going to assume everyone is dead. But each stance is the best option in their respective positions. Riker's judgment, as he's separated from the bridge and it's power as the center for command, means he alone must shoulder the responsibility of fixing the ship. Troi's judgement, sitting with a huge responsibility, gives the best chance for the ship as a whole; if separation were the last remaining option that would be one thing, but Ro is advocating for Troi to just give up on the rest of the ship when there are still other options. And despite Troi's initial hesitancy, it's admirable to note how she stands against someone as stubborn and arrogant as Ro.

"the laughing Vulcan and his dog" 🤣

Ah yes, a good reminder that Patrick doesn't really sing (in all fairness, no one's perfect) HOW DO THESE KIDS KNOW THIS SONG?

Okay, clearly Riker has some skills. We don't typically see him doing the engineering stuff, and maybe he's a bit out of practice, but for once Riker gets some hands on work and he's clearly capable enough with Data as his guide.

You know what would have been really useful during this episode? SOME DAMN IMZADI TELEPATHY or you know Troi feeling anything that Riker is feeling!! She's picked him out from far away before! What a lost opportunity.

Troi is a gracious leader.

This whole Keiko/Worf dynamic is hysterical.

This little repartee between Riker and Troi is some time characterised out if context as being kind of aggressive but in context it's seems to be a very good natured teasing.

Picard's improved attitude towards kids is really nice to see develop like this. It's endearing. But of course, Riker has always been good with kids, as shown by his smile.

The ending is cute and I really liked this episode.

[afflatusafrica]

READING FOR CHANGE, 21ST EDITION_PANEL DISCUSSION

By Tom Patrick Nzabonimpa

MC Christella introduced Panel moderator (PM) Berabose Aline Joyce and the panelists,

Albert Rudatsimburwa, great lakes political analyst, journalist and musician.

Nicole Bumukunde, Director of Vatel Rwanda and co-founder of 4Blooms Africa.

Jean D'Amour Mutoni, Founder of AOG

Venuste Twagiramungu, Managing Director at Trust engineering Solutions.

And the theme was "the path way of achieving wealth on Africa"

"What is the path way to achieve wealth?" PM asked the panelists.

Nicole said that number one is investing in yourself, if you don’t educate yourself you can’t achieve wealth.

Jean d’amour went on by saying that it’s a matter of embracing opportunities. Giving yourself permission that you can achieve it.

"About Business opportunity, do you think there is opportunities in your companies? PM asked

Albert was the first to say something about the question. He said that we have moved on compared to our parents. In our past, every Rugo was an enterprise and it was normal. In 2020 I don’t think the question would be that. Of course, there is. Africa is large. Communication is important. If you produce and you don’t know who to consume, you are missing a step to success. Who are your consumers? 12 million people are in Africa, what can you do to make money?

"Within your area, is there opportunities compared to how you started?" PM asked

" Opportunities are everywhere, in my sector in creation service, almost everything is done by foreigners. Creating a towel is still done by Indians and Kenyans. And we have graduates here. We focus on the consequences. A good product is a result of certain programs. What we see is the result of program. We focus more on the result than the programmer, start as a programmer instead of seeing the program." Venuste said.

PM asked Jean d'amour, to tell the youth how they can change their mindset,

"There were time where teachers were better than businessmen. I started a business after I was a teacher. It requires no other permissions it's yours. That’s what led me embracing a number of opportunities I used." Jean D'amour said.

PM marked this by saying that we don’t have to think that we can fail. We should let our self, make a decision and go for it. she then took a pose and introduced a poem by Yasipi Casmir called "Africa we dream" which reflects to how we see Africa not from dreams , but reality.

After the poem, PM asked this, do you think our governments have set facilitations?

"We have to try to go beyond the first impression, there is a logic we speak Kinyarwanda but we cannot use it mostly on internet. we have a lot of opportunities, opportunities are there but its for us to go to next space. what are the value chance? If you don’t provide contents, people won’t consume data. Comparing airtel and Mtn. How are you keep pushing to find what consumers need to consume so that you can produce it? Albert said

PM to Nicole, what do you think is the role of education to make these young people get to be creative? Do you think our education should put space for entrepreneurship?

"You shouldn’t go to school thinking, I am gonna get everything, its not about only educators. Education yes.

I think entrepreneurship was put in schools in Rwanda, we do theory and practice in our university. That really help the young people. As a student, you should think like I want to be the best." Nicole mentioned

Jean d’amour proceeded by saying that if you read the book, the one we reviewed, they tell about policies. And Rwanda is in almost all categories. We need to be aware, the government went beyond, we need to use this. You need to be updated.

"Most of businesses are failing within 6 months, is it because of the policies? Do policies work for the people?"

"I don’t think it's about policies. it's about experiences. You are just brand generation but there’s no local brands competing. You just copy and paste of what we see on internet but we don’t know what’s behind." Albert said. He gave an example about Rwanda tea how we advertise but still the foreigners gain more wages than us and that there is still so much we can do to it. We are producing, but how does it get consumed and how do we gain the revenues?

Venuste added that everyone has his/her level of mindset. Kagame said isi ntigira imbabazi. About education, we have a lot of opportunities but if we don't grab them others will.

When handed over the mic again Nicole said that if you do your best, no one will judge you. We have opportunities, you need to reflect to yourself. Just push, and continue.

Albert added that in our tradition, you have to be the best, to be Intore. You have to do the best as you can.

The discussion was then opened to the audience and they were allowed to ask questions or give suggestions.

One Called Eddy asked, how do well ourself? 2. How do we build something distinguished, a monopoly based company?

Another attendee said that they are a lot of opportunities, we have to take a step back and see what happens. Looking at everything and finding the gap. About doing research, did you do research about business? What information do you have about a particular business. Test it yourself and understand it yourself. Find it and go for it.

When answering Eddy, Venuste talked about the competitiveness of people and that a monopoly

It is everywhere. "Think about you becoming your own problem. Whenever you are in a position, build a network. It's not because we are not competitive but the environment we are living in." He said

He talked about the uniqueness by revealing that you don't have to be unique, just produce. Produce consistently in better way.

"You are young, you still open for everything. You are not Nigerian so you have your own tradition about money.Keep that in mind." Albert said

"Education does not define us, we defined by what we do."Herbert said

About uniqueness he said that you can choose branding instead. Tell a story that makes you think, you have to be in that story. Once you start the journey of entrepreneur you have to prepare a story to tell and that the power of communication needs to be in your business plan.

PM thanked the panelist and asked them to give a take home message and to recommend some books to the audience

"You need to know what you want, think that solutions are within yourself. You need to push. Pass to next generation."

She recommended a book called the management by Peter

Albert mentioned that at your age, every generation has a quest And you have to find yours.

Jean D'amour Recommended a book called Rwanda link before

Venuste recommended 7 habits of highly effective people, revealing that it saved him.

PM closed the panel discussion by thanking the panelists and the Audience. She handed back the mic to Christella who Introduced Innocent Kabera from Afflatus Africa's Education department.

Kabera thanked The attendees, the panelists and partners. He also invited them to the next event which will take place at Kigali Public library on 21st March from 2PM as usual. We should all be Feminist a book by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie will be reviewed and the theme will be " The role of feminist in fighting against gender based violence."

The attendees then headed aside for a group photo before they started further networking.

[starship-imzadi]

S2 E10 The Dauphin

Oh boy, a Wesley episode. Here we go boys and girls.

When someone asks you what species you are and then respond excitedly with "excellent" after your reply....it might be worth feeling a little apprehensive.

I cannot express with words how much I enjoy Riker's gentle "dad" moments. Notice that at first he teases Wes pretending to misunderstand even though he knows full well who has caught Welsey's attention. He smiles in a way that almost looks sad, then he gentle explains that she'll probably be to busy to return Wesley's attention.

You had one job Wesley....ONE. JOB.

Data just used "disparate" and it's the second use of the word in this season (Deanna used it before in "The Schizoid Man". I remember because I didn't know the word and so Googled the etymology.)

Worf gets it guys ...I don't know why but...he gets it.

You know those giant teddy bears you can buy at Costco? They look about the same size right? But she has creepy unblinking bug eyes...from an aesthetic stand point this creature feels very much like it belongs in TOS.

Worf turned on here is really funny. It also begs the question of season 7: why was he ever interested in Troi?

Great blooper:

This is the very first time Riker steps over a ten-forward chair! I also adore this scene between Guinan and Riker. It's so much fun. It's also a beautiful match of wits between a man and a woman, equal. Star Trek rarely allows women to be as clever as their male peers, or as frequently. (It doesn't help that there are more men so proportionally they get more screen time.) Riker flirts with Guinan, and she flirts back, because they're enjoying the exchange. No one wonders for a second if either is trying to pick the other up.

This is important note socially and sexually for Riker as a character. Flirtation can be for flirtation sake, Riker is enjoying the practice of flirting, the repartee. If his interaction excludes the physical yet he maintains an interest then those interests are in the intellectual.

Damn this over sized teddy bear bug woman is irritating....and creepy "I will be back to check your progress" that sounds like a threat.

Women and chocolate. Damn you star trek and your sexist stereotypes. Women can like chocolate but why don't we ever see men eating it? (Granted, we haven't seen Troi with chocolate yet, I know. I'm getting ahead of myself.)

Check out those "special" effects....the teddy bear bug got bigger.

The way this is cut together makes it feel so sluggish (although that's the fastest security has ever gotten anywhere). Security rushes in, and just stand with phasers drawn while Worf is struggling against the creature. Picard orders they hold fire, but the order is essentially null because no one has moved to fire even though Worf is clearly in danger. Then the creature transforms and only after cutting to Pulaski and back to Worf and the creature does Worf raise his fist. Because Worf doesn't seem to be in danger any more the action seems to be one of aggression not defense.

This woman/creature's rank arrogance is unbearable. So is her voice.

Troi describes Anya as being like a mother, but as a mother Anya is the worst kind of helicopter parent.

I love that Guinan is like Wesley's sideline relationship coach.

Warp 8.8 a.k.a. get us the f*** out of here

There's a well known phrase of uncertain origins that goes something like: it takes a village to raise a child. Well the Enterprise is that Village and Wesley is that child.

Wow, the woman at the helm is wearing a lot of blush.

This shot from the ground by Riker's knee is not an unusual shot in star trek but it's never very subtle either.

This warm fuzzy ending of making amends is all well and good but please just get off the ship.

Wesley is certainly immature as he throws this little tantrum but realistically he's hurt, feel betrayed, and is trying to cope with a difficult and valuable lesson about superimposed ideas of who another person is. He was enamoured by who he thought she was, he didn't stop to learn who she really was. She also wasn't forthcoming with the information. He says "I loved you" past tense. She says "I love you too" missing the tense difference, or choosing to ignore it.

I really like the music in that scene. The flute and horns (and is that a harp? And later oboe?) give it a light yet emotional and melodic feeling, unlike the heavy overdramatic symphonic choices in the first season. The reason I point this out is it sounds free of the synthetic sounds that are common in the post season 1 soundtrack, so the stylistic change is more than just a change of instrumental choices.

Is that....mineral water? Visually interesting, conceptually boring.

I like Guinan. She's a wonderfully calm voice of wisdom and reason. I wish the writers/show runner had figured out how to use Troi as effectively.

[yourbuerokrat2]

The conflicts in TNG are usually like the time Data was acting Captain and worf Second in Command and Worf criticised Data on the Bridge and Data just immediatly called for a private conversation. Data told Worf that while he could understand, that he was used to openly point out things like that or criticize as Chief of Security, he can’t really do that as Second in Command because it undermines Datas authority. 

And Worf just apologized, said he understood and for both parts the conflict was now resolved. 

God y know it’s actually kinda hard writing for the tng characters because they’re all so professional that it’s hard to create real conflict between them without it becoming OOC lol

[autisticburnham]

Also, Pulaski becomes more informed and ends up defending Data against others' slights (Pulaski: Data's friend is going to die. That means something. Worf: To Data. Pulaski: Does that invalidate the emotion?) Over the course of one season, whereas Bones is still making shitth comments about Spock being a Vulcan in the movies. She improves so much faster than him and truly tries to make amends.

And people always defend Bones by saying "he's just joking, he doesn't actually mean it," to which my response is, so fucking what?? He's still saying it. He's still othering Spock. Spock, someone who was bullied and isolated his entire life for being too different from the Vulcans, and even though he now ostensibly has a home and fits in on the Enterprise, he still has to hear this shit from Bones all the time. It can't feel good, even if he knows Bones doesn't actually dislike him. And even if Spock didn't have that backstory, it's still fucking shitty to tell your friend "you don't belong because of your race," regardless of if it's "just a joke."

As to the point that Spock "bites back" but Data doesn't so that makes it okay when Bones does it, but not Pulaski, I still call bullshit. It doesn't fucking matter how Spock/Data respond, it's still wrong to say it in the first place.

Pulaski's shittiness is at least part of an arc; it shows her as clearly wrong and she learns to be better. Bones just continues on and it's framed as normal.

I know this ship has sailed, but can I just say, for the record: Dr. Katherine Pulaski was very obviously the female-version of Dr. McCoy, and her “racism” against “Day-ta” was canon-compliant with Bones’ feelings regarding non-human species. To rage against Pulaski, but accept McCoy’s racist speech as a minor character flaw, is to be blatantly misogynist. Both characters are clearly uninformed about “race” issues, and both characters are given arcs to redeem these uninformed opinions (whether or not they should be redeemed). Katherine Pulaski is hated for being unkind to Data, but there are countless people willing to excuse McCoy’s hateful speech about Vulcans so as to put him on a pedestal. Check. Your. Selves.

(Twenty years too late)