Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Musings (Spoilers)

One of my Whovian friends on Facebook posted she was "miffed" at Steven Moffat's numbering of the Doctor's regenerations, calling 10th's regeneration energy being directed to his hand and creating the Meta-crisis Doctor a "...cheap shot...".

My reply went like this:

"When Tennant was shot by the Dalek in The Stolen Earth, he should have fully regenerated, but instead they wrote in a "cheat" to allow Tennant to stay and add a great part to the story-line. (Not that I disagree with keeping Tennant around, it is just the rules - you take a fatal wound, you regenerate). So I agree that it should count as a regeneration.

Actually, if you think about it, Smith should have already regenerated into Capaldi when he died from the poison from the Joshua tree via the kiss from River. Yes, River transferred the energy to him, but again, he was dead, so he should have gone through a regeneration cycle. He started to change in the Impossible Astronaut, but later on changed that outcome.

From what I understand of the lore, Rassilon put the 12 regeneration limit to keep things in check. So is it really a hard limit?

I'm still trying to figure out if I am now Cosplaying 9 or 10 as the Eccleston Doctor? What about the numbering scheme? I say we just call the Hurt Doctor "W" instead of a number. W for Warrior."

(My last sentence had nothing to do with the rest of the conversation, but I add it for completeness)

In the 50th, we get a brief introduction to Peter Capaldi's (the 12th? Doctor's) eyes. This is during the climax of the show, after two of my favorite quotes by the Gallifreyan General: "Dear God three of them...all my worst nightmares at once." Which is soon followed by: "I didn't know when I was well off, all twelve of them." To which the 12th Doctor replies: "No Sir, all thirteen!"

So, with the regeneration of the meta-crisis Doctor, actually makes him the 13th regeneration per Moffat's counting, 14 by mine (one from River). 

So, how could this all work out?

The Parting of The Ways.

The 9th Doctor absorbs the Time Vortex from the "Bad Wolf" Rose and holds it for a few seconds before releasing it back into the TARDIS. The 10th doctor in Utopia stated: "if a Time Lord were to absorb the time vortex, he would become a 'vengeful god'."

The 10th Doctor in the same episode also stated that Captain Jack Harkness was now a fixed point in Time because Rose didn't know how to control the power inside her.

So 9 had the power of a god for a few seconds - and as a Time Lord he would know how to control it. A few seconds is an ETERNITY to an omnipotent being who knew how to control the power. The 9th Doctor could have changed anything in the entire universe and all of time while he held it inside.

What could he change in that time? Anything. It can explain anything. Including unlimited regenerations.

Just something to think about....

We also find out that the Doctor was "9" for about 100 years before he met Rose, as "W" was 800 years old according to his statement in the 50th Anniversary.

Random fun quote from the 50th Anniversary Special: "Equidistant...so grown up." - The 10th Doctor

Inside of Capaldi's TARDIS:

Capaldi's Eyes

Musings about Doctor Who

It's no secret that my favorite Doctor is the 9th. I cosplay as 9 at several gaming and anime conventions. I even recently GM'd a Doctor Who RPG event, "Lets Do The Time War Again" as '9'.

You often hear the question "What is Doctor Who all about?". While you will find many links as to what episodes to watch to help one "get the idea" of what is really the explanation for the show and its meanings. I think the episode "Boomtown" by Russel T. Davies really captures much of that, and even does quite a bit of foreshadowing.

The 9th Doctor almost always refers to Mickey as "Ricky", and as can be seen from later episodes, it is foreshadowing of what happens later with the 10th Doctor. (Warning. "Spoilers" in the last link).

Watch Boomtown and pay attention to all the words. I think it really captures so much about all the facets of the show. I just watched it again tonight and just had my mind blown again with the reference to "Turn Left". (Again, "Spoilers"). [Watch time index 2:13 to 2:19 in this YouTube Clip.]

It even contains one of my favorite gadgets in Doctor Who, the Tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator of which you can see an explanation here (again, "Spoilers")

Doctor Who fan? Go watch "Boomtown" again.

OpenVPN Server Configuration on CentOS 6+

Installing OpenVPN on CentOS 6? Looking for guides? Finding that things don't quite work right? I have the following notes that I am going to aggregate into a detailed post later on, but in the meantime, this may help you quite a bit.

In client config file, you have to add:

auth-user-pass

In order for the client to prompt for username/password (using local linux users)

The root account cannot login through the client by default. I would suggest keeping it this way.

The client config exported by the current webmin OpenVPN module does NOT add the ^M characters at the end of the lines of the client config file all the time. Windows Clients NEED this.

In iptables using Webmin allow FORWARD and INPUT chains to tun0 (or tun1 or whatever) without restriction.

Resources:

http://freevps.us/thread-9163.html

http://openvpn.net/index.php/open-source/documentation/howto.html

http://serverfault.com/questions/358855/how-to-prevent-users-from-sharing-certificates-in-openvpn

http://www.slsmk.com/openvpn-with-id-and-password-authentication/

Best AntiVirus/AntiMalware for Windows (as of January 2013)

I often get asked as to which software package provides the best malware protection for Windows. As of right now, that would be Bitdefender in my opinion.

I never was one for the "Security Suites" as they tend to be bloated and ineffective. They do more to get in the way than actual protection. Bitdefender in "Auto Pilot" mode seems to fit the bill. It does slow your system down, but not in a way as to be too annoying. It also has an easy to switch to "Game Mode" which basically shuts itself down while you are gaming.

Just don't forget to turn it back on when you are done.

Also, none of the anti-malware programs protect you 100%. But are you smart enough to wander around without protection? It's like being in the wild-west without a gun, you might get away without one if you are lucky and/or smart, and even if you have one, it won't keep you from getting shot, but it sure can help most of the time.

Go here and buy it and I get a small cut:  Bitdefender (and other) software.