Category: Q & A

Questions, and Answers, from the man himself

Deano’s answer to: “Why do all the Batman villains always go to Arkham Asylum?”

Posted on by Deano in Q & A

From the question: All the Batman villains who are caught end up in Arkham Asylum*. They rarely, if ever, go to prison to serve life or death.

Superhero comic logic aside, what would be some good explanations for this? I am personally inclined to believe that Arkham is a Guantanamo Bay-of-sorts, where the villains are put, because they have been thwarted by Batman without proper legal procedure such as warrants, reasonable doubt, and so forth. This would also explain why people like sane villains like Catwoman have been thrown in Arkham.

What are your theories?

*As I remember; Harley Quinn and Selina Kyle were sent to a rehabilitation clinic at one point, though.

Taking the issue at it’s face, I’d say it’s likely a NIMBY problem – while dividing up the tough mental cases throughout whatever state Gotham is in might seem to be a good way to keep them from possibly colluding on an escape together, it’s just as likely that this would mean that less corrupt cities and towns would subsequently be threatened with potential reprisals during a villains inevitable escape.

Supervillains, in a sense, are the toxic waste created by superheroes – no one wants to address the natural byproduct of a “mostly good thing”, and where possible they pool the waste and store it in locations and communities that don’t have the political clout to prevent such outcomes.

Actually, taken in that light, it’s possible Gotham as a whole is somehow a functional internment camp for the worst of society in the DC Universe… Perhaps Batman’s secret mission is more about keeping everyone from escaping Gotham, a prison in the shape of a city…?

This answer originally appeared on Quora: Why do all the villains always go to Arkham Asylum?

Deano’s answer to: “How do you remind people that you did something very nice for them?”

Posted on by Deano in Q & A

You do another nice thing for them, as a ‘thank you’ for them letting you do the first nice thing…

(Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/jst…)

If that doesn’t make them your guilt-ridden love slave (or at least prompt a sheepish thank you), then stop doing nice things for them, delete their email contact info, and burn their phone number; they are a lost cause.

This answer originally appeared on Quora: How do you remind people that you did something very nice for them?

Deano’s answer to: “Will different computer users inside one company (i.e. at one building location) normally share the same IP address?”

Posted on by Deano in Q & A

The short answer: No. All IP addresses for individual computers must be unique to allow for proper/intended network function.

The more complicated truth: Most users inside a company have “multiple IP addresses” – one local/internal IP address associated with their computer, and one or more external IP addresses, which map back to the local address via a process called Network Address Translation (NAT), and pass actual Internet traffic back and forth.

(Image snuck safely out of http://qwikstep.eu/search/get-ex…)

These external IPs exist, and continue to be used for several reasons:

  • The IPv4 address space, which most Internet ready devices still use is comparatively small, so assigning unique IPs worldwide to all Internet-capable devices is simply no longer possible[*]. The “new” address space, known as IPv6, has been in development for several hundred years, and will be rolled out “any day now” to consumers and business.
  • Because of this, companies use routers to translate between internal and external IP addresses, even on a one-to-many basis. While it is unlikely that a large company will use a single external IP for a given building/campus, it’s possible that whatever your internal IP address, external traffic to your single computer may hop between external IPs over time, or based on the service(s) you use.
  • Internal IP addresses also give you a nearly-unlimited and “free” supply (okay, a mere 18 million or so usable) of addresses, that you can organize as you wish. While most home Internet users are at least somewhat familiar with the “192.168.0.0/16” network, the other private address spaces are “172.16.0.0/12”, or my personal favorite, the “10.0.0.0/8”[“]. By contrast, external “Internet IPs” are usually leased through a hosting provider, and more IPs = larger monthly bill.
  • Most companies (or at least their ISPs) use firewalls and other security measures to protect from both external attack, and various kinds of internal tampering/espionage. These firewalls typically sit between the internal and external address spaces, and monitor traffic for suspicious behavior, blocking known exploits and recording log data to help forensically source unknown attack vectors after the fact.

Long story short – Yes, in many cases, everyone in a single location of a given company will share one external IP address, making it difficult to associate IP traffic to a specific user within the company[†]. For this reason, marketers, website administrators, hackers, and security and support companies will typically try to use other means (transparent GIFs, cookies, user registrations, “MAC IDs”, etc) to identify individuals as distinct from their associates within the company.

[* Actually, back in the day I worked at several companies and universities that used a public network address for all their Internetworked machines (often numbering in the hundreds or less)… It wasn’t until the advent of students needing their own IPs that most universities switched over. ]

[“ For more on the private network address space, check out the great Wikipedia entry here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pri… ]

[† Depending on the purpose of your question and individual network configuration, that could be a very good/anonymizing, or a very bad/incriminating thing. Best to just start deleting the wikileaks porn now, just in case…]

This answer originally appeared on Quora: Will different computer users inside one company (i.e. at one building location) normally share the same IP address?

Deano’s answer to: “At the end of The Empire Strikes Back, why is Lando wearing Han Solo’s clothes?”

Posted on by Deano in Q & A

I’d like to submit a theory here:

He’s NOT wearing Han Solo‘s clothes!

Seriously, Han Solo won the Millenium Falcon from Lando Calrissian. Mightn’t he have also won everything on board the ship, including the onboard wardrobe? Because Solo apparently won(*) the Falcon after Lando was already running Cloud City, it would make sense that Lando would shed all of his former smuggler identity when he lost his ship.

Thus, in point of fact:

Lando Calrissian is simply wearing his own old clothes, which had previously been used by Captain Solo.

For those who might argue hygenie/sizing issues with this, keep in mind that:

  • both men are roughly the same size, and
  • it’s fairly common for people to “try on” old clothes that have nostalgia value
  • So-called “spacers(†)” would necessarily exhibit thrift-driven behaviors with regard to any supplies – when you don’t know when or where you may next land, you can’t be too picky about what to eat/wear, when to sleep, etc.

While Truly Evil Bob‘s answer evokes the Star Wars MMO or other video game logic, I think he is on to something – by putting his old outfit back on, Lando Calrissian is expressing/recalling his former smuggler days, which he clearly missed as a responsible colonial administrator.

[UPDATE]

Alexander Bogdan raises an interesting point about documented sourcing of Han Solo’s outfit depicted in semi-canon Star Wars novelizations, but since I’m already merely theorizing, let me extend into the Bat-verse for a supplemental defense:

Perhaps, much like The Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, Han Solo’s stories about how and where he started wearing his iconic outfit changes with the telling, in order to distract attention from the truth of his background/true origins (which might be used against him somehow), or to increase his perceived reputation/leverage in a given situation.

(* this is mentioned in passing as part of the Millenium Falcon’s Wookiepedia article: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/M…)

(† In the Star Wars Universe, this would primarily represent people who roam from port to port, rather than having a single established planetary base of operations – smugglers, bounty hunters, traders, and the like.)

This answer originally appeared on Quora: At the end of The Empire Strikes Back, why is Lando wearing Han Solo’s clothes?

Deano asks: “Is Summer Glau cursed?”

Posted on by Deano in Q & A

Is Summer Glau cursed? It seems like she’s a main cast member of every promising-but-prematurely-killed SciFi series on network TV for the past several years:

• Firefly

• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

• Dollhouse (okay, ongoing guest star here, but still…)

• The Cape

Has she ever been in anything successful? Is her bad luck the result of some other coincidental factor? Does someone powerful in Hollywood hate her? Does the combination of looks, intelligence, and acting chops hurt her chances? What’s the deal?

And if she is cursed, HOW CAN WE HELP HER!?!? 

Think you know the secret? Write an answer on Quora: Is Summer Glau cursed?