The Head Cranker

The Head Cranker!

There are times I get chuckles just watching a crew in action on the Voyager. Last week I was running the Voyager mission for a sixth grade class. There were two boys working Damage Control. It just so happens that the camera above the first office always points to Damage Control and Left Wing. The camera's direction gave me a perfect view of "the head cranker".

There are many intense moments in "Intolerance". It is easy for a crew member to become distracted. Once distracted it can take several minutes to refocus a kid back to his job. I'm used to seeing kids abandon their jobs and watch the action as it unfolds around them. This was not the case with one of the boys at Damage Control. Several times during the mission the officer working on the right computer would stop working and look around to follow the excitement of the mission. This was normal. I didn't pay attention. Suddenly the boy on the left computer reached up with both hands to remedy the situation. One hand was placed on back of the other boy's head and the other on his chin - Then "CRANK" the boy turned the boy's head back to his computer. I read his lips. "Get to work!" he said.

In seventeen years I've never seen a kid take the situation into hand like that. The rest of the mission was a joy to watch. Every time the right boy became distracted the left boy would reach up and crank his head back to his computer with the same words, "Get to Work!". I'm guessing it happened over 20 times during the mission. I was amazed that the boy on the right didn't punch the kid out but he calmly would go back to work for a few minutes before looking around again. Crank........ Towards the end of the mission the right boy had worked out a system where he could take super fast glances without getting caught by the boy on the left. He adapted to the situation.  I was amused. It was awesome to watch.

Mr. Williamson

Overnight Camp Camper Satisfication Inventory

Hello Troops:
Here are the results from the student survey taken by the campers at
the end of the Overnight Camp of March 7-8, 2008. This camp was sponsored by the the 5th and 6th grade students of Barratt Elementary. There were 47 campers.

Our Flight Directors were:

Voyager: Braydn L (Shadows: 11 campers)
Phoenix: Dave Daymont (Supernova: 6 campers)
Odyssey: Caity L. (Outlaws: 8 campers)
Galileo: Bracken F. (Scorpion Relay: 5 campers)
Magellan: Brittney V. (Red Storm Rising: 16 campers)
_________________

The first question: Think about your story in the simulators. Were
they fun? Did it have good characters? Did it challenge your brain or way too easy to solve?

Here are their choices:

A = 1
B = 2
C = 3
D = 4
F = 5

Here are the results. Remember, a 1 is a perfect score.

Voyager story's quality score: 1.10 (Last camp's score: 1.00)

Galileo story's quality score: 1.20 (Last camp's score: 1.00)

Magellan story's quality score: 1.18 (Last camp's score: 1.13)

Odyssey story's quality score: 1.14 (Last camp's score: 1.14)

Phoenix story's quality score: 1.17 (Last camp's score: 1.00)

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE VOYAGER FOR TAKING TOP STORY HONORS.

__________________

The next question: How would you grade the Staff of the simulators? Think
about friendliness, helpfulness, and acting.

Voyager staff's quality score: 1.10 (Last camp's score: 1.00)

Galileo staff's quality score: 1.00 (Last camp's score: 1.00)

Magellan staff's quality score: 1.11 (Last camp's score: 1.07)

Odyssey staff's quality score: 1.00 (Last camp's score: 1.00)

Phoenix staff's quality score: 1.00 (Last camp's score: 1.00)

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE ODYSSEY, PHOENIX AND GALILEO FOR TAKING TOP STAFF HONORS.
____________________

The next question: How much did you enjoy your job in the simulators?
Choices: (1 = Great; 2 = Good; 3 = OK; 4 = Not So Good; 5 = Bad)

Voyager job's quality score: 1.60 (Last camp's score: 1.09)

Galileo job's quality score: 1.20 (Last camp's score: 1.20)

Magellan job's quality score: 1.18 (Last camp's score: 1.07)

Odyssey job's quality score: 1.00 (Last camp's score: 1.29)

Phoenix job's quality score: 1.17 (Last camp's score: 1.00)

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE ODYSSEY FOR TAKING TOP JOB HONORS.

____________________

The next question: Did you feel doing your job made a difference in the
mission?

The Camper's choices were: Yes(1) Maybe (2) No (3)

Voyager making a difference quality score: 1.20 (Last camp's score: 1.09)

Galileo making a difference quality score: 1.00 (Last camp's score: 1.00)

Magellan making a difference quality score: 1.11 (Last camp's score: 1.00)

Odyssey making a difference quality score: 1.00 (Last camp's score: 1.14)

Phoenix making a difference quality score: 1.00 (Last camp's score: 1.00)

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE GALILEO, ODYSSEY, AND PHOENIX FOR TAKING TOP HONORS IN MAKING A DIFFERENCE.
_____________________

The final question: Would you like to come back to the
Space Center again for another mission?

The Camper's choices were: Yes (1) Maybe (2) No (3)

Yes: 100% (47 students)
Maybe: 0% (0 students)
No: 0% (0 students)

The Director's Trophy: Overall Scores averaged:

Voyager: 1.20 LAST WEEK'S SCORE: 1.04
Magellan: 1.12 LAST WEEK'S SCORE: 1.05
Odyssey: 1.03 LAST WEEK'S SCORE: 1.11
Galileo: 1.08 LAST WEEK'S SCORE: 1.04
Phoenix: 1.07 LAST WEEK'S SCORE: 1.00

Overall Average: 1.10 Last Week : 1.05

The ODYSSEY is awarded the Director's Trophy! Super Job Caity L and her staff: Christine G. and Corbin.

SATISFACTION SCORES:

Our Satisfaction Scores for the Overnight Camp. Campers were asked the following question at the end of their survey.

1. How would you rate your overall experience for this overnight camp?

Their choices follow:

10 = The funnest thing I've ever done in my life.
9
8
7
6
5 = As Good as watching my Favorite Movie for the first time.
4
3
2
1 = The Most Horrible, Boring time I've ever had.

The students are asked to rate the overall camp experience on that
scale. They are given verbal instructions on the rating system to
insure comprehension.

Here are the results for today's overnight camp.

Voyager: This Week: 9.56 Last Week: 9.18
Galileo: This Week: 9.60 Last Week: 9.20
Phoenix: This Week: 10 Last Week: 10
Magellan: This Week: 8.87 Last Week: 9.87
Odyssey: This Week: 9.57 Last Week: 9.43

The PHOENIX takes the Prize for Best Satisfication Score! Great Job Dave Daymont, Rachel H., and Alex M.

Overall Ranking by all campers for this Overnight Camp:
This Week's All Ship Average: 9.52 out of a perfect 10.
Last Week's All Ship Average: 9.54 out of a perfect 10

Thanks All for Another Great Overnight Camp!

Thanks for all you do to support the Space Center,

Mr. Williamson

Top 10 Star Trek Tech
Bill Christensen, Technovelgy.com

Classic Star Trek contributed more to the modern world than phrases like "Beam me up, Scotty!" Many of the devices we saw decades ago are now available for use in the real world; we thank the engineers who made real these ten Star Trek technologies. - Bill Christensen, Technovelgy.com

Number 10
Star Trek popularized the idea of a communicator that could instantly connect two crew members on different parts of a planet. To answer the device, you just flipped it open and started talking. Of course, everyone recognizes this device today as a cell phone. Amateur electronics wizards have occasionally made replica Star Trek communicators available on eBay; they use Bluetooth technology to piggyback on your cell phone service.

Number 9
When Enterprise crew members became sick, Dr. McCoy was able to diagnose the problem in record time, usually thanks to his medical tricorder. Today's physicians make use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and CAT scans in much the same way. For smaller bugs, NASA has actually tested a similar kind of device on the space station. The LOCAD-PTS is able to detect and identify within minutes environmental pathogens (fungi or bacteria) that could adversely affect the health of crew members.

Number 8
The Enterprise constantly dealt with intelligent beings throughout the galaxy. When different languages were encountered, the Universal Translator was there to help bring different cultures together. In the real world, the US military is using the Phraselator in Iraq for speech translation and Internet juggernaut Google, among others, can translate Web sites to suit user needs. Also, just this month, NEC announced the first cell phone with speech translation.

Number 7
When the crew of the Enterprise received a well-deserved shore leave, they needed some kind of money to buy goods and services. The science fiction standby of "credits" was usually brought into the picture. Today, however, real-life astronauts can use colorful QUID's (Quasi Universal Intergalactic Denomination), which are specially designed for use in space.

Number 6
The Enterprise's transporter was able to zero in on the exact location of an individual crew member from thousands of miles away. Although we're still working on teleportation (see USAF Looks Into Teleportation), we've pretty much got the location technology down pat. It's called the Global Positioning System - GPS.

Number 5
Whenever Spock beamed down to a planetary surface, there was one thing he always took with him - his trusty tricorder. This handy pocket-sized device could do things like analyze the minerals in soil and look for life signs. NASA is ready to send similar sensors to Mars in coming years like the Raman spectrometer.

Number 4
This surgical technique is a non-invasive way to destroy unwanted masses within the body (like uterine fibroids) without harming the surrounding tissues. I seem to recall Dr. McCoy touting the advantages of doing surgery without using knives decades ago. On one occasion, he saved Chekov with a nifty little non-invasive surgery device saying "Put away your butcher knives and let me save this patient before it's too late!"

Number 3
Transparent aluminum armor (aluminum oxynitride - ALON) is being tested by the military as a lighter and stronger alternative to traditional materials. ALON is a ceramic compound with very high compressive strength and durability; it offers better performance than traditional materials consisting of bonded glass. in extensive testing, ALON has performed well against multiple hits of armor-piercing rounds. Trek fans fondly recall how the formula for (science-fictional) transparent aluminum came to our time; Scotty blabbed it to an engineer.

Number 2
Several prototype PHASR weapons are being tested by the US military. The Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response device is under development at the Air Force Research Laboratory's Directed Energy Directorate. The PHASR has been designed as a non-lethal, man-portable deterrent weapon. It uses a laser system with two different wavelengths to blind (temporarily!) the enemy. The clever acronym for this device is obviously back-formed to resemble its original - the phaser rifle from Star Trek, which actually looks very similar

Number 1
A robotic rover called Zoe is the first robot to remotely detect the presence of life. On a NASA-sponsored mission in the harsh Atacama desert in Chile, Zoe was able to detect life by looking for natural fluorescence from lichens and bacteria. Life detection is all the rage now; the European Space Agency will be using the Urey Life Detector on an upcoming Mars mission (see photo). These devices mimic the function of the long range sensors from Star Trek, which could detect life from unreasonably long distances.