How to argue for personhood in the 24th century

[VIDEO] This video features the legal drama contained within "The Measure of a Man" which was an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation airing during that programs 2nd season. Unfortunately this wasn't an episode I caught on it's first airing years ago since I only started watching TNG during season 6. This episode I only saw in reruns during the week tuning in to WPWR Power 50 here in Chicago.

The plot of this episode is basically a request from Starfleet Medical to acquire the Enterprise's Ops Officer Lt. Cmdr Data for the purposes of scientific study by a Cmdr. Bruce Maddox. Ultimately a hearing is convened by a Starfleet JAG to determine whether or not Data is the property of the Starfleet service and thus can choose to not subject himself to Cmdr. Maddox's experiments.

So this YouTube channel Legal Eagle examines the legal ramifications of this episode. I accept most of what you see in the scenes leading up to that fateful hearing where Data is determined to not be property of Starfleet and can choose not to be subjected to experiments. I wish I got the name of the lawyer who examined this episode in the above video.

It's fascinating to see the research done hear especially the principles we currently know about various rulings with regards to individual rights. He notes as the Dred Scott ruling as a precedent that could relate to Data's case. Dred Scott was a slave who moved to a free territory and was sent back to a slave state and then tried to sue claiming he was free only for his case to go to the SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) and it was determined that free or enslaved Black Americans aren't US citizens and thus aren't entitled to the rights thereof.

Examinations. As you will see in the above clip Cmdr. William Riker was forced to advocate against Data as his next most senior officer (something dinged by this attorney in his analysis). He takes Data's arm as a form of an examination. It was noted that something similar was done in the OJ Simpson case with that glove that didn't fit. Even with a clip of the late Johnnie Cochran declaring that "If the glove don't fit, you must acquit".

Basically, I agree that this episode is mostly dramatic with a few really good examples of good procedure (while also noting bad procedure). I really like how he broke down the various arguments both good and bad. I wondered if the legal system of the 24th century would be very different from the legal system of the 21th century. Although it cool to see that some of the arguments and procedures seen here could actually work in today's courtrooms.

BTW, how appropriate that we're talking about this episode of TNG when the Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise will return with his own series to be streamed on CBS All-Access later this year. Who knows what adventures await the elderly and retired legendary Starfleet Captain.

WWE Untold - The failed relaunch of WCW

On Sunday after the WWE Performance Center Combine broadcast on the WWE Network, I watched a 20 minute documentary featuring Eric Bischoff, Booker T, Shane Helms, Jeremy Borash, and Brian Bedol talking about a potential relaunch of World Championship Wrestling. The basic point of the documentary is about Bischoff who had been WCW President was trying to purchase the company from Turner Broadcasting with Bedol who was part of this company called Fusient Media Ventures. If it had worked, it would've meant that WCW wouldn't have been bought by the World Wrestling Federation as had actually happened by March 2001 just before WrestleMania that year.

By 2001, I likely has stopped watching WCW as it was increasingly trying to outdo the creative of WWF at the time. As Bischoff admitted in this documentary behind the scenes the situation was a messs and he wanted to buy WCW from Turner Broadcasting who at that point had been bought about AOL Time Warner. With Bischoff as head of a new WCW purchased from Turner he would've attempted to pull off a relaunch of WCW with a PPV known as The Big Bang.

With this said, I likely found out about the potential deal on a website known as 1Wrestling.com which in the days before social media - and I currently get most of my wrestling news from YouTube and this was four years before that site's creation - was how I got most of my wrestling news. Unfortunately there are no archives from before 2006, however, I'm sure there were items about Fusient and an apparent deal made between Fusient & Turner. I'm also sure there were items about the deal being undone by Turner's cancellation of WCW on TNT and TBS which effectively killed that deal. Thus the door was opened for the WWF err sorry WWE to purchase the company that briefly won the Monday night wars.

Little did I know in 2001 that the pro-wrestling or sport entertainment universe was changing. As WCW was going through their dying days, Extreme Championship Wrestling was going bankrupt. In 2000, ECW had their own primetime Saturday night program The Nashville Network until WWF moved to that network to become The National Network (eventually Spike TV or The Paramount Network much later). ECW soldiered on with their syndicated programming until they ran out of money to produce more programming.

So before WWF eventually bought WCW the big three top wrestling promotions of the nation was cut down to two and then eventually WWF errr WWE reigned supreme. And as happens while there have been other companies who tried to compete with WWE it's been said that wrestling is bigger than ever today. While WWE is experiencing some ratings decline recently that company has largely reigned supreme since 2001.

The latest company to emerge to challenge WWE is All Elite Wrestling which had their recently PPV on Saturday with Double or Nothing (and another called All Out at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois) time will tell if AEW can compete. What can be said for them now is that in the fall they will have a weekly program on the former network home of WCW Monday Nitro on TNT. And they put on a good show with the recent Double or Nothing. As stated the future of wrestling seems to be bigger than ever now!

Building a $58 Million NYC Apartment

[VIDEO] Amazing, simply amazing. Casey Neistat visits an under construction penthouse high above NYC. You can be above it all for a whopping $58 million, and that's money I can only dream about!

If I could even make that much, my mind can't wrap itself around the idea of buildings so tall. I could never envision going all the way up in the former Sears Tower or even the former Hancock Building. Ironically when I was younger and not so adverse to heights I was at the top of the Washington Monument.

All the same, if I could afford that penthouse Neistat visits I'll just spend some of that fortune on a smaller residence closer to the ground. However, real estate especially of this expensive type can be fascinating.

Holy Grail: Lost match between Tom Magee vs. Bret "The Hitman" Hart

[VIDEO] After watching the WWE Network yesterday having seen both NXT and NXT UK I got wind of a short documentary about the search for a long lost match between Bret "The Hitman" Hart and a wrestler named Tom "Megaman" Magee. It never aired on TV and by accounts in this documentary Magee would've been the next face of the World Wrestling Federation after Hulk Hogan. Hulk Hogan back in 1986 was the star of the WWF.

You may know Bret Hart from his role in the Montreal Screwjob where he lost his title in a very suspicious (yes I'm being a tad nice here) and controversial fashion. Regardless during the course of the 1990s before he jumped ship to World Championship Wrestling he was the new face of the WWF. He was the face of WWF once Hogan himself jumped ship to WCW.

So Magee was to be the new face of the WWF it was said McMahon said it himself he was so impressed with Magee's match with Bret. And what's noted in other articles and in the documentary itself is that Magee wasn't quite ready and had the good sense to listen to the veteran Bret Hart. As The Hitman said himself if Magee did what Bret told him, there will be big plans for him. In other words listen to The Hitman and he'll make Megaman look good.

I don't know if the match itself is available on YouTube however Magee himself later wrestled another WWF legend a man known as "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase in yet another unaired match for TV. Magee from his match with Hart and certain with DiBiase I think could fit in with the high-flying style of todays wrestling. He's jumping around doing cartwheels and doing backflips from the top rope. He may not have been a great worker, however, he kept my attention even though we're talking about matches from over 30 years ago. [VIDEO]

Magee unfortunately fizzled out, and as seen in that documentary on the WWE Network he holds no regrets about that period of time. He wanted to hear the roar of the crowd, however, whatever stardom he could've had before retiring from the business almost 30 years ago he admits he missed out on. He never heard the proclamation that he'd be the next Hulk Hogan, so at least that helped him not take himself too seriously. He doesn't seem very bitter about how his wrestling career fizzled he doesn't see much of a difference between hypothetically enjoying his WrestleMania moment to just walking the streets everyday with no one recognizing him. He knew that he had his time and perhaps it just wasn't meant to be.

As conceded by some of the people who were interviewed for this documentary - two of The Hitman's nephews wanted to watch this match when they in developmental and it never happened or Bret himself was said to have a copy and he couldn't find it himself. An archivist for Hart found the match in question and in aired on the WWE Network for the first time. This lets you know how long ago it was as the primary vehicles for WWF programming during the late 80s to early 90s was syndicated on Saturday's and Sunday's in the mornings.

Magee vs. Hart would've aired on WWF Wrestling Challenge with commentary by the late Gorilla Monsoon and the late Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. Obviously they were talking up Magee and I would imagine a hot prospect in today's WWE would get the same treatment though in this case through their headset with Vince McMahon in the so-called "gorilla position" barking instructions.

With this said the match I saw kept my attention but let me just say it's a match to watch for anyone who's training to become a pro-wrestler. In that world, sometimes you have to make the other guy (or gal) look good as Bret did. The one whom the hype followed well he didn't get his time in the limelight, but the one who did most of the work to help make the other guy look good he legitimately became the star. Bret "The Hitman" Hart has a remarkable run as the star who followed Hulk Hogan. And even some of the people agree Hart was really good and earned the spot he held during most of the 1990s.

Finally, as a wrestling fan I never got into this hobby of collecting tapes of wrestling matches. I do believe that during the history of an independent promotion known as Ring of Honor it was tape collecting that helped get them in business believe it or not in about 2002-03 which was not long after the bankruptcy of Extreme Championship Wrestling. Tape collecting as a business doesn't exist without content, which is as true as making money off of YouTube videos.

Now, this tape if it was truly an important match if not a particularly quality one probably would get traded around now that's it's been found. It makes me wonder in a time of social media or even streaming networks if tape collecting of wrestling matches is still a thing. Are there still some dedicated wrestling fans looking for a match anywhere on this globe to watch. I've learned that a lot of those matches I had missed out on (say PPVs I never watched or just something so old I'd have never seen it anyway) I can find online now.

So after seeing this very special documentary has me wondering about it today.

A folding "phablet"

[VIDEO] Sometimes I wish I could get in on these demos for devices that are soon to be released for sale to the public. I've been watching a few videos about this coming Samsung Galaxy Fold and the form factor of the device looks very cool.

Basically as the name suggests it's essentially a foldable phablet. That is it's a mobile phone while folded however as the situation dictates you open the device and you have yourself a small tablet device. Some of the reviews I've seen on YouTube state often that this is the future form factor.

These days we're already living in the era of the smartphone. I would say I've seen the evolution from PDAs to Blackberries and ultimately to smartphones such as Android devices or iPhones. Fairly recently I've evolved from using a flip phone in the original Motorola Razr to a Blackberry Bold and then finally to an iPhone which is still the phone I use to this day even if it's a phone of different generations.

So this fold intrigues me only to have myself wonder if Apple will come out with a similar device of their own in the future. Knowing the competition of tech companies perhaps Apple already is working on a hybrid iPhone/iPad mini device that folds like a Fold.

However, what I recognize now is that how could they market this phone? Could they market the convenience factor? Instead of taking a tablet on vacation with you or anywhere for that matter could you instead utilize your folded phone for that purpose? Could there be a practical application for anyone in the business world?

Well this remains to be see, however, the Galaxy Fold is said to be pricey at $2,000+. The question is how could they get any consumer to want to consider buying this very premium phone.