Entertainment
When Everyone Is Different No One Is, Star Trek Proves It
By Joshua Tyler
| Published
Star Trek has a new show out, and this is a list of its characters, as the Starfleet Academy itself describes their identities and origins.
- Caleb Mir: A human orphan.
- Jay-Den Kraag: A half-human, half-Klingon hybrid.
- Lura-Thok: A half-Jem’Hadar, half-Klingon hybrid.
- Sam: A sentient hologram who is only a few months old.
- Darem Reymi: A Khonian.
- Genesis Lythe: A Dar-sha hybrid.
- Tarima Sadal: A Betazoid with extreme-powers.
- Nahla Ake: A Lathanite, hundreds of years old.
- The Doctor: A sentient hologram, hundreds of years old.
Who stands out from that group? Caleb, because he’s a human, and I am confident I can pronounce his first name. The rest are like the roster of an unsuccessful superhero team with names I can’t remember or say. I don’t know what most of these words are; it’s a bunch of newly invented letter configurations with no real meaning. It all runs together into one big blob of alphabet nothing.
I’m pretty sure “nahala ake” is the sound people make when they sneeze.
Star Trek’s Original Characters
Now here’s the cast of the original Star Trek series, as the show would have described them.
- James T. Kirk: A human from Iowa.
- Spock: A half-human, half-Vulcan from the planet Vulcan.
- Leonard McCoy: A human from Georgia.
- Montgomery Scott: A human from Scotland.
- Sulu: A human from Japan.
- Chekov: A human from Russia.
- Uhura: A human from Africa.
Among that group, Spock stands out as unusual and exceptional, because he’s very different from the types of people we’re used to. It doesn’t diminish the others, who become extremely well fleshed-out characters through their personalities and actions. However, it does give Spock an unusual starting point.
If I’d never watched Star Trek, I wouldn’t know how to pronounce Uhura, but I also don’t expect to be able to pronounce African names right off the bat. So that’s a good thing.
The Next Generation’s Characters
Let’s try a different Star Trek show. Here’s the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
- Jean-Luc Picard: A human from France.
- William Riker: A human from Alaska.
- Data: An android.
- Beverly Crusher: A human woman.
- Geordi LaForge: A human man.
- Deanna Troi: A half-Betazoid empath.
- Tasha Yar: A human woman from a colony.
- Worf: A Klingon.
Who stands out in that group? Worf, because he’s a Klingon and that’s weird on a Federation starship. I know how to say “Worf!” without anyone telling me. Better still, it’s a fun word to say. Try it: “Worf!”
Data also stands out because he’s a robot. He also has a four-letter name, and it’s made up of a word I already know.
What’s going on with that Betazoid? She sounds interesting. Her last name is odd but simple and easy to remember. Would a half-Betazoid stand out if everyone with her on the ship was a half-something? No, no, she would not.
The Characters Of Deep Space Nine
Let’s try Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. That Star Trek show takes place on a totally alien space station, which means if any Star Trek series has a good reason to have a really wild group of characters, it’s Deep Space Nine.
- Ben Sisko: A human from Louisiana.
- Kira Nerys: A Bajoran terrorist.
- Miles O’Brien: A human from Ireland
- Odo: A shapeshifter
- Jake Sisko: A human from Louisiana.
- Jadzia Dax: A Trill from Trill.
- Julian Bashir: A human doctor.
- Quark: A Ferengi.
Who stands out in that group? Now it’s getting more complex. But half the cast is still composed of straightforward human characters with straightforward human names, people I can understand without a 5-episode story arc to explain their superpowers.
Ben, that’s a nice name for a Captain. Sort of like Jim. Or Jonathan. Or Kathryn. Seems like a person I can understand, and it’s easy to remember.
Deep Space Nine’s strange alien characters also have straightforward, simple names. The shapeshifter’s name is only three easy-to-pronounce letters. So is the last name of the Trill. Kira’s name is only four letters and close enough to a normal English name that I can probably guess how it’s pronounced. Her last name (actually, it’s more like her first name; it’s a Bajoran thing), Nerys, is rarely used on the show, so it doesn’t matter much. And because I took high school science, I already know how to say the word “Quark.”
Deep Space Nine managed the increased complexity of its cast’s origins and identity and then intentionally kept their names straightforward and simple. Then it gave the audience a lot of human characters mixed in with the aliens, so they had someone to easily identify with, without the need for extensive explanation
How Too Much Difference Creates Sameness
When you compare the cast of Starfleet Academy to the shows that came before it, you start to see the problem with the modern push to cram differences into everything. When all characters are a deviation, a subversion, or a novelty, difference isn’t contrast anymore; it’s the baseline.
Classic Star Trek worked because difference was relative. Spock stood out because everyone else was human. Worf mattered because Klingons were rare. Data was compelling because he was the only android in the room. The audience had a stable “normal” to measure against, which made the outsiders meaningful. Identity had narrative weight because it created friction.
In Starfleet Academy, there is no friction. When every character is defined primarily by how unusual they are, uniqueness collapses into sameness. The half-Klingon isn’t strange because there are multiple hybrids. The hologram isn’t unusual because the show already treats the artificial as routine. Nothing challenges the world because the world is already maximally diversified.
Half the fun in classic Trek is in exploring the differences between people who are otherwise the same. Those characters weren’t defined by their identity, which gave them more room to grow into individuals with their own selves, defined by their actions rather than a bunch of made-up words.
By defining your characters with diverse identities, this doesn’t create richness, it creates homogenization. Everyone occupies the same narrative lane: “I’m different, but I belong.” When that’s everyone’s story, it stops being a story and becomes wallpaper. Difference only matters when it’s rare enough to cost something. Without contrast, identity becomes aesthetic rather than dramatic.
In trying to make everyone special, Starfleet Academy and most other modern shows doing the same thing prove that distinction requires limits. Without those limits, all differences blur into none.
Entertainment
3 AdultFriendFinder red flags — how to avoid scams on AFF
Depending on who you ask, AdultFriendFinder is either the Wild West of hookup sites, an “anything goes” paradise for adult fun, or a total scam replete with bots, fake profiles, and inactive accounts.
After months of personal testing, I can confidently say which AFF you experience ultimately boils down to how you use the site. If you approach it naively, without a strategy, you’re probably going to have some frustrating experiences. On the other hand, if you exercise a modicum of caution and common sense, you’ll discover a huge, fun, and kink-friendly community.
Here are three red flags to look out for as you use AFF, to help you spot potential scammers and separate the authentic users from the fake profiles.
Hookup apps for everyone
AdultFriendFinder
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readers’ pick for casual connections
Tinder
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top pick for finding hookups
Hinge
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popular choice for regular meetups
Credit: AdultFriendFinder
Unverified accounts
AdultFriendFinder already offers a fantastic first step in combatting fake profiles that they call ConfirmID. Once you’ve created an account, you can, at any time, upload a clear scan of a government-issued ID card and then, using a webcam, undergo a quick face verification scan to confirm that you are indeed the person identified in the government document.
This step strikes the perfect balance between not being onerous enough to annoy the average user but still requiring enough effort to deter scammers, who notoriously go after the low-hanging fruit.
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Once you’ve completed the ConfirmID sequence, you’ll be rewarded with a verification badge on your profile, and we strongly recommend that you limit your one-on-one interactions on the site to other verified users.
Perfect profile photos
Alright, admittedly this one requires some personal judgment, as everyone should strive to upload good, high-quality photos of themselves to dating websites. But if every photo looks like it belongs in a magazine, or if the person in the photo looks a little too good to be true, you should exercise caution.
In the age of generative AI and filters, it’s trivially easy to create a fake photo or series of photos, so you should also be on the lookout for what isn’t in the photos. Are there recognizable local landmarks (clubs, restaurants, well-known parks, or street corners) in the photos, or are they all equally generic?
Over-eager chatters
Ever since chat bots became a thing, dating sites have become plagued with them, and as AI improves more and more, it’s not always easy to know, right away, if the “person” you’re talking to is really human. One dead giveaway, though, is how much they chat and how quickly they reply.
Real people go off on tangents, employ non sequiturs, and sometimes stumble with awkward questions or comments. Chat bots, on the other hand, are typically always chipper and extremely fast-talking, so much so that a paragraph-long answer can come back to you in seconds.
They also almost always have an agenda, too, whether that’s directing you to click on a link (“Follow my Instagram profile”) or getting you to divulge some potentially compromising bit of personal information about yourself.
Entertainment
SNL opens with another Pete Hegseth press conference
Saturday Night Live returned from a brief hiatus Saturday with a cold open depicting a joint press conference between Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and FBI Director Kash Patel, with “Master of None” creator Aziz Ansari playing the latter.
Colin Jost’s Hegseth hit the familiar beats at the podium — performative machismo, military bravado, and repeated jabs at the secretary’s well-documented drinking habits. This time, Hegseth arrived at the mic hauling an oversized pitcher of scotch, which he assured the room was his one for the day. He then fielded questions from the press about the administration’s handling of U.S. strikes on Iran, dismissing each reporter with the particular brand of smug confidence that has become central to Jost’s portrayal of the character.
Ansari’s Patel proved to be the sketch’s standout, arriving to defend his tenure at the FBI and proceeding to do so poorly. The bit’s centerpiece involved Patel simultaneously denying and admitting that he had locked himself out of his work email for 36 hours after forgetting he had changed his password to “kashmeoutside69.”
Funnily enough, Patel was reportedly locked out of his FBI email in real life and believed, at least momentarily, that he was being fired. As the sketch demonstrated, the distance between SNL’s Cold Open and the actual news cycle has rarely felt smaller.
Entertainment
NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for May 3, 2026
Today’s Connections: Sports Edition will require some knowledge of popular U.S. sports and pop culture.
As we’ve shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.
Like the original Connections, the game is all about finding the “common threads between words.” And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier — so we’ve served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.
If you just want to be told today’s puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for the latest Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
What is Connections: Sports Edition?
The NYT‘s latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication’s sports coverage. The sports Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
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Each puzzle features 16 words, and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there’s only one correct answer.
If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake — players get up to four mistakes before the game ends.
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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.
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Here’s a hint for today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories
Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
Here are today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories
Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:
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Yellow: In Good Shape
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Green: Current NFL Head Coaches
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Blue: Famous Sports “Curses”
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Purple: Starts of Big Ten Names
Looking for Wordle today? Here’s the answer to today’s Wordle.
Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today’s puzzle before we reveal the solutions.
Drumroll, please!
The solution to today’s Connections: Sports Edition #586 is…
What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?
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In Good Shape: AGIL, ATHLETIC, FIT, STRONG
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Current NFL Head Coaches: COEN, GLENN, REID, RYANS
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Famous Sports “Curses”: BAMBINO, BILLY GOAT, MADDEN, SI COVER
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Starts of Big Ten Names: BOIL, BUCK, CORN, HAWK
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be new sports Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Connections.
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