Grin and Behr’Ak
The Official Newsletter of the
U.S.S. Behr’Ak
December 2001 St. Paul MN Volume
13 Issue 12
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This exhibit
station in the Smithsonian Institution's new scale model of the solar system
depicts Uranus. |
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This exhibit
station in the Smithsonian Institution's new scale model of the solar system
depicts Uranus. |
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Captain
Steve Erickson 763-784-6235
First Officer
Jan Cummins 651-714-0737
Chief Science Officer
Sarah Siegel 952-835-2583
Chief Engineering Officer
Sarah Tesch 612-871-9017
Chief Security Officer
Dan Zimlich 651-748-8382
Chief Medical Officer
Ginger Revoir 651-771-9100
Chief Communications Officer
Irene Raun 612-822-0451
Chief General Services Officer
Doug Norton 952-858-8243
The all Clubs’ Holiday Party will be held on December 8, 2001from 7-10pm at the Bloomington Eagles Club, 9152 Old Cedar Ave.
Programming will start at approximately 8pm. The potluch dinner will be dropped this year so remember, please eat dinner before you come to the party! Coffee, hot apple cider, pop, and snack foods (Chex Mix, etc.) will be provided.
Admission will be $3 for Individuals $5 for Families. With a donation to Operation Toybox receive a $1 discount. Donate up to 2 toys and receive up to $2 discount on the family admission.
There will be a cookie and gift exchange. If you participate in the cookie exchange bring at least 2 dozen cookies (Christmas breads and bar cookies are ok – But No FRUIT CAKES PLEASE!!!). The rules for both exchanges will be the same as in the past.
By Dee Sullivan
7 Star ships. The special effects were excellent. Story plot was fair.
Overall the movie was pretty good. If it gets a child to read I’m really glad.
The Official USS Behr’Ak website is http://www.fireopal.org/behrak/
The deadline for submissions to the Grin and Behr’Ak is the 24th
of the previous month.
The preferred method of submission is e-mail. We will also accept
computer disk, handwritten or voice submissions.
E-mail: realitychallenged@fireopal.org
Note new e-mail address
USPS: 3928 11th
Avenue South,
Minneapolis, MN 55407
Voice: 612-822-0451
Star Trek, Start Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,
and Star Trek: Voyager are registered trademarks of Paramount Pictures
Corporation. All various trademarks and copyrights mentioned (or missed) in
this newsletter remain the property of their registered owners. No intent to
sell, rebroadcast, or use the names and pictures in a manner inconsistent with
law is intended.
Forwarded by Scott
Raun
Need Christmas gifts for your Trekkie? The creators of the cult classic
sci-fi show "Star Trek" will sell 300 "premium" items http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,48222,00.html
at an eBay auction starting Dec. 12 http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/profiles-in-history/?ssPageName=MOPS1;PRC0106;PLCHB02;MDC12;DST00092.
Items up for bid will include the only remaining production model of the
U.S.S. Enterprise (valued at $30,000 to $50,000), Captain Kirk's original duty
uniform tunic ($12,000 to $15,000), and Spock's bed.
Forwarded by Erin
McCanna Akins
First Name: First 3
letters of your last name + first 2 letters of your first name. Last Name:
First 2 letters of your mother's maiden name + first 3 letters of the city you
were born in.
Mine is: Akier Zichi
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I know Teri’s and mine was
pretty good. It is always nice to catch up with the family and see how they are
doing.
The November meeting was a huge success. It was our most attended
meeting of the year outside the Roseville parade. Topics of discussion:
The membership in attendance decided not to do a party room this year at
MarsCon. We will be putting all of our energies into Fanfare. Erin Akins has
volunteered to be the head of that committee. If you are interested in helping
out give Erin a call at 612-929-6087. Any and all help is welcome.
The Awards Ceremony will be on March 17. Lois Olson is heading this
committee. Again any and all help is welcome. Call Lois at 651-482-1902. To all
the board members and any one that has planned an away mission all that
information needs to be given to Janet Cummins no later than Feb. 1. That gives
her and myself enough time to get all the promotion points and other awards
ready by awards time. If you need help with making awards or need a special pin
for your award, plan for it. We do have a couple sources for either making pins
or purchasing them. Please let me know and I can point you in the correct
direction.
As usual the Silent Auction was a great success. With a fifteen-minute
time limit we were able to scurry around and get some very nice items. Once it
was all said and done we netted just over 140 dollars.
Financial Report
Clubs balance 516.93
Deposits 169.00
Total 685.93
Membership Dues Coming Soon. As you know February is our annual pledge
drive month. We hope to keep most of our current members, as well as get some
new members. Dues are $15 for families
$12 for individuals This is our full supporting membership rate. With
this membership you receive a member ship card, awards, handbook w/
supplements, voice in all events, as well as voting privileges. There has been
some interest expressed in a membership where only the newsletter is sent out
for $6. This puts you on our mailing list and you get the newsletter for the
full year.
Next Years Big Events Two things we need to start thinking about for the
end of next year. 1. Elections are next year. Start thinking about who
you would like to see on the board. Unless our membership gets larger we may
need to restructure our board positions. We will be able discuss this further
at the January and February meeting. 2. Our club is in charge of the Holiday
party next year. Lois Olson is heading this committee. Again any and all help
is welcome. Call Lois at 651-482-1902.
General Meetings. Thanks to Ginger Revoir the Behr’ak will have four out
of the next five meetings at the Sun Ray Public Library. Those meetings would
be January 20, February 17, April 21, and May 17. The March meeting will most
likely be at Lois Olson’s Party room in Roseville. Again Thanks Ginger for
getting all those dates arranged.
Well that’s it for this month. Reminder: I will be in California the
first two weeks of December so I will be unable to attend the holiday party. I
hope everyone has safe and Happy Holidays.
Captain Steve Erickson
Greetings earthlings and aliens! Would you believe I was so involved in
both of my jobs and my physical problems such as breaking bones that I totally
forgot to do last month's newsletter log? When I get intensely into
things-well, that's the kind of thing that happens! Don't you just love me? I
want to thank the Behrak members who have donated money to try to help keep the
ship afloat in space. So far, donations have totaled around $230. Let's
remember that in the next few months we will be discussing whether we want the
Behrak to continue as a Star Trek Fan Club group, whether we want to disband,
or which direction we want the group to go. Your input is important to us.
The last meeting was well attended. Those people attending the general
meeting were: Irene, Katie, Ralph, Ginger, Steve, Teri, Lois, Sarah, James,
Erin, Susan, and Dan.Thanks to Ginger for setting up the Silent Auction as a
fundraiser.
Steve will give you more info in the captain's log but one item to watch
for is the February 1st deadline for any department head or crew member to turn
in any points which will be totaled before the March 17th awards ceremony. That
ceremony is being set up by Lois. We are encouraged to give her $$ donations
for food for that day.
The Enterprise viewing has been going well. Those people who have hosted
include myself, Steve and Teri, Wendy, and Erin. Although it is a small number
which attends we have a good time.
We also had our first poker session for the winter. For anyone who
counts or cares (not me, of course) Steve was the shrewd winner of our first
poker gathering for this winter. The next poker night will be January 12th at
Steve and Teris at seven. You do not need to know how to play but simply need
to bring $2 in pennies. Regulars should remember to try to bring a new poker
game for that night.
The next general meeting by the way, will be January 20th with the board
meeting first. Ginger will try to get the Sun Ray library again.
Birthdays coming up are:
Ralph Krantz December 18th
Sarah Siegal December 13th
Dee Dee Sullivan December 17th
Katie Jennie January 24th
Sarah Tesch January 31st
There are still some of you who refuse to reveal your date of origin. We
don't need the year, you Denubian slime devils!
You can be proud of your former science officer Teri -did you know she
can be an actress? Some of us attended a sci-fi convention in Madison,
Wisconsin called MadCon. Since the script for the new Star Trek movie has been
out on the Internet already for a while (actually before casting for the movie
was even finished) a portion of that script was performed at the convention
with Teri taking Dr. Crusher's part. She did admirably. It was the opening
scene where apparently Riker and Troi finally tie the knot.
I thoroughly enjoyed that con. You know me! Yakkity yak! Jerry Doyle was
my favorite. As you know he was Michael Garibaldi in Babylon 5. What an
entertainer! I asked him at the autograph table who told him to let his hair go
bald on the show since would you believe he has hair -lots of it! He said J.
Michael Str. told him never cut your hair. Now, if you know Garibaldi's
character Jerry must be similar. That's all it took bye-bye hair! Next thing on
the show he was bald. OK. I must confess. I liked him that way, too- sexy ! I
got to meet Peter David, well known Star Trek author. Oh yes! He wrote Imzadi.
I thought Harlan Ellison was a jerk. You remember Judson Scott from the X
Files? Absalom? I believe he was abducted near the end of last season but he
says he'll be back for an episode this season. has anyone else heard that Riker
will die in this last Next Gen movie? Wah! Be sure to catch the Babylon 5 movie
in January "Legend of the Rangers." My personal opinion here- I love
Smallville and has anyone managed to see The Tick yet?
See you soon!
Jan Cummins
Thanks to everyone who participated in the Silent Auction, it was a
resounding success. We surpassed our goal. There was a wide array of items
donated. I came away with videos, books and baked goodies. Thanks so much to
those who helped with the set-up and tear-down. To everyone who helped in any
capacity (you know who you are) - kudos! I must say it was great to see the
large attendance at our General Meeting. And it was also nice to have a Star
Trek video playing, and time to talk about ST and other sci-fi info. That is
after all the reason I joined the Behr'Ak, to meet people with similar
interests. Old man winter is stalking us and it will soon feel like Rura Pente
outside. Remember to bundle up against the elements and keep well hydrated.
Enjoy the holiday season! Ginger Revoir, CMO
Irene Raun apologizes for losing Sarah Tesch’s log and article. It
vanished.
Storming
Episode II: Dave Young
November 28, 2001
Sheets of rain pour down from the gloomy
skies, buffeting a city built on stilts over a churning ocean. A distant cry of
an aiwha is drowned out by the angry hiss of a lightsaber
and the shrieking reports of blaster
fire as a knockdown, drag-out fight occurs between Obi-Wan
Kenobi and Jango
Fett.
The digital and miniature arts of Industrial Light
& Magic extend the skies and landing platform, and the stunt work of Nick Gillard puts the
players in motion. But to make the ceaseless wind and rain of this distant
planet real, Episode II relied on Dave Young, Special Effects Supervisor on Attack
of the Clones.
Though some use the term "special
effects" as a catch-all for anything out of the ordinary in films, it does
have a distinct definition separate from "visual effects." In Episode
II, visual effects are the domain of ILM. These are the effects that are put in
after shooting -- the miniature and digital creations. Young's crew
instead takes care of the effects that are on-stage, on-set, and captured by
the camera as it happens. Also called practical effects, Young's work involves
wire-rigs to make characters fly, gimbal-mounted speeder props to simulate
soaring and rocking motion in stationary vehicles, and things like rain, smoke
and fire.
"We've had to do a lot of
atmospherics," describes Young. "We've had a lot of scenes with
steaming, and that sort of stuff. We've done a lot of little fires and
things."
While visual effects have undergone a
complete digital revolution in the past ten years, practical effects have also
benefited from computer-controlled mechanics and planning. "I think
practical effects will still have a role in films because with computer
graphics, the actors don't have anything to react to," says Young. "I
think practical effects will be around for a long time."
Case in point, although ILM has mastered
digital rain and water-spray effects, Young's crew was still required to turn
the inside of a studio into a tempest. "We had 32 rain-heads working
indoors dropping seven-and-a-half tons of water a minute into Studio 1,"
says Young. "Everything was on its own switch control, so we can turn
everything off and on depending on what's needed. We're looking at 7,500 liters
of water a minute."
The fountainheads spray upwards, creating an umbrella of water that creates an even distribution of rain throughout the specially constructed set. "Amongst that, we had three large electric wind machines blowing the rain everywhere. Everything is kept off the ground, and completely contained. The electricity is all above us, and the rain-works are beneath that. There are circuit breakers on everything, because we operate on a 240-volt system that is more dangerous than the 110-volt system. "
Such precautions are necessary since the
safety of the crew and performers take precedent over all other concerns. Even
the comfort of the stuntmen was a factor. "It did get cold, because it was
the middle of winter in Australia [during the shoot.] The stuntmen were wearing
wetsuits underneath the costumes."
Before the complicated shoot, Young had
little time to test the rain system to see how it would register on camera.
"We tested for the quantity of rain that we wanted, and the size of the
droplets. It's important how much misting we get, because we could block out
the bluescreens which are behind the rain. If our mist is too fine, then it
will wash out the bluescreens," says Young.
Aside from the waterworks, Young and his crew
helped animate stationary vehicle props through the use of articulated
hydraulic gimbals. In addition to making Anakin's
hot rod speeder, Zam
Wesell's wickedly forked dragster and Owen Lars'
beat-up bike rock and sway appropriately, Young oversaw the creation of a
number of bluescreen-skinned creature simulators.
"The animals are simulated,"
explains Young. "They're animals that John Knoll and Rob Coleman are going to
lay over our blue stand-ins. We have scenes where Anakin is jumping onto an
animal, and it takes off and bucks him off. We can do that on this machine. It
does everything. The motions for that came from George Lucas. He told
us exactly what he wanted."
"It was a challenge sometimes. I hadn't
done a film that involved so much bluescreen before," notes Young, a
veteran of over 100 films including The Matrix and Mission:
Impossible 2. "It's a totally different kind of film. Often, from our
perspective, it didn't really change anything. We still have to do the effects,
whatever they may call for. The only thing we had to watch that the
atmospherics didn't wipe out any of the bluescreens."
By Jim Kevins
Many of my articles in the past have taken a lighthearted or humorous
look at things. Not so here. This one's not for the weak of heart. Buckle your
seatbelts. You have been warned.
"What is there to say about grief? Grief is a tidal wave that
overtakes you, smashes down upon you with unimaginable force, sweeps you up
into its darkness, where you tumble and crash against unidentifiable surfaces,
only to be thrown out on an unknown beach, bruised, reshaped. Grief means not
being able to read more than two sentences at a time. It is walking into rooms
with intentions that suddenly vanish. Grief is three-o'-clock-in-the-morning
sweats that won't stop. It is dreadful Sundays, and Mondays that are no better.
It makes you look for a face in a crowd, knowing full well the face we want
cannot be found in that crowd. Grief is utter aloneness that razes the rational
mind and makes room for the phantasmic. It makes you suddenly get up and leave
in the middle of a meeting, without saying a word. Grief makes what others
think of you moot. It shears away the masks of normal life and forces brutal
honesty out of your mouth before propriety can stop you. It shoves away
friends, scares away so-called friends, and rewrites your address book for you.
Grief makes you laugh at people who cry over spilled milk, right to their
faces. It tells the world that you are untouchable at the very moment when
touch is the only contact that might reach you. It makes lepers out of
upstanding citizens. Grief discriminates against no one. It kills. Maims. And cripples.
It is the ashes from which the phoenix rises, and the mettle of rebirth. It
returns life to the living dead. It teaches that there is nothing absolutely
true or untrue. It assures the living that we know nothing for certain. It
humbles. It shrouds. It blackens. It enlightens. Grief will make a new person
out of you, if it doesn't kill you in the making." So starts
"Companion Through The Darkness" by Minneapolis native Stephanie
Ericsson.
The book, published in 1993 by Harper Collins, traces her two year
ordeal through rage, anger, abandonment, despair, disorientation, and odd
moments of amnesia that began when her husband-never ill a day in his
life-dropped over dead of a heart attack. Widowed at 35, she was 2 1/2 months
pregnant with their only child. The book cannot and should not be read through
in one sitting. Its sheer rage and power leave one feeling drained. As with the
healing process, reading this book should take time. Getting over grief doesn't
happen in tidy progressive steps, but it can lead one to reshape a different
better life.
Grief and depression are important and valid concerns in the aftermath
of September 11th. Everyone experiences depression on some level, but 10 to 15
percent of Americans will experience at least one period of depression severe
enough to require medical help. Untreated, clinical depression can be
disabling.” People may have trouble making the simplest decisions, like whether
to go to the store or not," says Dr. Peter Jensen. "They're unable to
care for themselves, much less care for their families. And these are people
who are otherwise energetic, motivated and able."
The causes of depression are not fully understood, but several factors
are thought to play a role. "Depression has a strong biochemical
basis," says Allen Stock, a licensed psychologist with Fairview Southdale
Hospital.” The brain secretes too much or not enough of certain chemicals and
the system gets out of balance." Often major emotional traumas like death,
divorce, financial loss can trigger a bout of depression. Sometimes it can be
as simple a thing as adjusting to change like a new marriage, birth of a baby,
or retirement.
I cannot personally tell you how to deal with your personal pain when I
have no clue how to cope with my own. Many of you know I have been suffering
with health concerns. I was diagnosed with Gout, a painful form of Arthritis.
It can be managed. It can be lived with. But I have an ache deep down in my
bones that will never go away. I expect all of us will remember where we were
on the morning of September 11th. I know I will. I wept like a baby looking at
those pictures. And now two months later My wife, whom I love as much as
anything in this world, and whom I was prepared to spend the rest of my life
with, has told me she no longer loves me and wants out of our marriage after
seven years. You could say the holiday spirit is a little sparse in Jimbocity
this year. All around me people scurry through the streets preparing for the
coming holidays, and I scurry with them, but I am not looking for the perfect
present for old Uncle Ned or 50 cents off per pound of turkey. I am looking for
some new place to live and a chance to begin rebuilding the shards of a life
that feels shattered. By the time you read this it will be resolved. It has to
be. I have nowhere else to live after December 1st.
The good news about depression is that up to 90 percent of all cases can
be treated successfully. The bad news is that only one in five depressed people
seeks help. "It's a tragedy that so many people still think of severe
depression as a weakness rather than an illness, which all the data says it
is," says Dr. Fred Ferron. "People don't hesitate to get help for
other illnesses. They should feel the same way about depression."
For most major depressions physicians recommend some form of medication
or psychotherapy or both. Less severe cases can often be helped by something as
simple as activities that shift one's focus off depression like taking a course
at a local college, planning a trip, church activities or volunteering. Even
regular exercise. Stress can often trigger depression and one of the most
effective anxiety reducers is regular exercise. Constantly urging severely
depressed people to "cheer up" is rarely effective. The best thing
you can do for loved ones who are depressed is to be faithful and supportive.
Sit with them, take them for a walk, just listen and try to be understanding.
So hug one another. After all, 'Tis the season. And we are all we've got.
Passed along from
email by Steve Erickson
1. You just tried to enter your password on the microwave.
2. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of three.
3. You call your son's beeper to let him know it's time to eat. He
emails you back from his bedroom, "What's for dinner?"
4. Your daughter sells Girl Scout Cookies via her web site.
5. You chat several times a day with a stranger from South Africa, but
you haven't spoken with your next-door neighbor this year.
6. You check the ingredients on a can of chicken noodle soup to see if
it contains Echinacea.
7. Your grandmother asks you to send her a JPEG file of your newborn so
she can create a screen saver.
8. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if
anyone is home.
9. Every commercial on television has a web-site address at the bottom
of the screen.
10. You buy a computer and 6 months later it is out of date and now
sells for half the price you paid.
11. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the
first 20 or 30 years of your life, is cause for panic and turning around to go
get it.
12. Using real money, instead of credit or debit, to make a purchase
would be a hassle and take planning.
13. Cleaning up the dining room means getting the fast food bags out of
the back seat of your car.
14. Your reason for not staying in touch with family is that they do not
have e-mail addresses.
15. You consider second-day air delivery painfully slow.
16. Your dining room table is now your flat filing cabinet.
17. Your idea of being organized is multiple-colored Post-it notes.
18. You hear most of your jokes via e-mail instead of in person.
19. You get an extra phone line (or a ADSL/cable modem) so you can get
phone calls.
20. You disconnect from the Internet and get this awful feeling, as if
you just pulled the plug on a loved one.
21. You get up in morning and go online before getting your coffee.
22. You wake up at 2 am to go to the bathroom and check your E-mail on
your way back to bed.
23. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. :)
24. You're reading this.
25. Even worse; you're going to forward it to someone else
by Jim Kevins
The rumors are flying fast and furious on this one. Paramount confirms
that it is titled Nemesis and set to begin filming next month. Rumor has it
that Wil Wheaton, and Kate Mulgrew will be appearing in it along with one other
cameo...possibly Whoopi Goldberg? Anyone who can't wait until next summer can
check out TrekToday.com/news/160701_05.shtml for a full rundown of all the
unofficial gossip. Note that there are major spoilers including an entire plot
synopsis from someone who claims to have read the script.
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- Picture
the sun as the size of a grapefruit. That would make tiny Pluto smaller than a
poppy seed in the Smithsonian Institution's new scale model of the solar
system.
By the same scale, the nearest star would be the size of a
cherry -- located across the country in California.
Stretching more than six football fields across, the
Smithsonian's new model doesn't fit in any museum. So, "Voyage: A Journey
Through the Solar System," will be displayed outdoors, stretching 650
yards along the museums lining the National Mall.
The exhibit -- built at one ten-billionth of the solar
system's full size -- takes the learning experience beyond the walls of the
museum, said Carolynne Harris Knox, the Smithsonian's coordinator for the
project.
The sun is located beyond the east end of the National Air
and Space Museum. Earth will be affixed near its bright neighbor, just off the
building's east corner.
Past the full length of that massive museum, past the
Hirshhorn Museum of modern art, past the Arts and Industries building, near the
corner of the Smithsonian Castle, is Pluto.
Workers are currently installing the planets and the display
is scheduled to open to the public Oct. 17.
"Millions of visitors to the Smithsonian will have the
opportunity to learn about our solar system through this dynamic
experience," said Dennis J. O'Connor, Smithsonian undersecretary for
science.
Jeffrey D. Rosendhal, director of education and outreach in
NASA's Office of Space Science, said, "Through this exhibition, NASA hopes
to share what has been discovered, and the strangeness, wonder and beauty of
these newly revealed worlds with the public."
The exhibit is a series of tall stainless steel towers, each
displaying a part of the solar system along with a porcelain plaque with
information about that planet.
The name of the planet is in raised letters on each plaque
and next to it is a "bump" allowing the visitor to feel the size of
the planet at the scale. Jupiter, the size of a toy marble, is easily seen and
felt. Mercury can barely be noted by the fingertip. Each plaque directs the
reader to displays on each side, giving distances to other things. The asteroid
belt, for example, notes that Jupiter is 55 steps to the left and Mars is 28
steps to the right.
The empty space between the towers is part of the story too,
explained Harris Knox. It gives the visitor a sense of the distance between
planets.
And, she added, the outdoor location gives people something
to look at while walking from museum to museum or waiting for the museums to
open.
USS Behr’Ak
Captain Steve
Erickson
3017 Ardmore Ave.
Mounds View, MN
55112
There are always possibilities…
For those who dare.
Nine of the towers support three-dimensional model
planets and moons laser-sculpted in crystal.
The remaining stations feature the sun -- a copper ball with
a mottled surface to give a realistic appearance -- and the belt of asteroids
and comets, too small to be modeled. There is also a plaque at each end
introducing the visitor to the display.
The permanent exhibition was developed by the Smithsonian,
working with the Challenger Center for Space Science Education and NASA.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
12/08 7-10pm Holidays Party,
Bloomington Eagles Club,
9152 Old Cedar
Ave.
1/20/02 1pm Board Meeting, TBA
1/20/02 2pm General Meeting, TBA
3/17/02 Awards
Ceremony.