Apologies in advance that two of these three are related to Star Trek: Discovery. I’m catching up on Season 3, what can I say? Perhaps I’ll say something controversial. Season 3 is my fave season of Discovery so far! But now, on to what I learned.

You’ve got the conn

Much like my previous misunderstanding about Away Teams, I always thought “the conn” was an abbreviation for something. Turns out, it isn’t. It’s essentially a nautical term for taking control of a ship.

I don’t feel bad about not knowing this term though because there is no part of my life that involves me needing to know nautical terms.

Soylent Brown?

In Season 3 of Discovery, the Federation finds themselves in the middle of some tense negotiations. What better way to put an opponent off their game than to tell them that the apple they are eating is actually broken down, recomposed, and regulated ?. Well played, Admiral Vance. Well played.

Honestly, this made me laugh my ass off so hard – it’s Soylent Brown!

I never knew that replicators got their “material” from poop. Apparently, a trip to geek Reddit informed me that replicators have always run on shit. Possibly the most amusing thing I learned today.

Male unless otherwise indicated

As previously mentioned, I started reading Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men. I have the feeling there will be a lot of interesting nuggets and I’m excited about this book.

It begins by analyzing the role of women in history. Or rather, the way women have been written out of history.

The examples are… MANY. The author, Caroline Criado-Perez, uses the term “male-unless-otherwise-indicated,” which I love because it’s so apt. The point she makes is that throughout history, including in the language used to write history, the male has been the default. Male terms and descriptions have been used to include all humans, except that they don’t. Even when supposedly gender-neutral language is used (like when “he” is supposed to cover “he/she/they”) it is still interpreted as male. You know, because saying “he” isn’t gender-neutral!

Here are a couple of the examples I found fascinating:

• Because cave paintings were often of animals, researchers concluded that the paintings must have been done by men. New research indicates that women may actually be responsible for most of that art.
• A Viking warrior’s skeleton was found buried alongside a full set of weapons and two sacrificed horses. So obviously the warrior was male, right? But what about this female pelvis? Nope, archaeologists said, warrior means MALE! Welllllllll… the DNA tests say otherwise! The Viking warrior was a woman. And like so many other female warriors, she was removed (nearly!) from history.