The Phoenix Readies it New Summer Mission, Razor Plan. A New Battlestar Galactica Movie! The Imaginarium.

Hello Troops,
     Both the DSC and the CMSEC were busy today with private missions, a super overnight camp, and a Phoenix test mission.
     I stopped by the Space Center to check on the dress rehearsal for the new Phoenix summer story, "Razor Plan", written by Jon Parker.

     First, watch this Razor Plan trailer.

     Dave Daymont played the role of Capt. Rex Rounder, all around space bounder and ladies man on his first deep space mission since rehab. He's stressed because he knows this mission is his last chance to prove he's still got what it takes to be a starship captain.

     First Officer Max Mildew (Mike) is pictured on the floor next to Capt. Rex Rounder. Max claims he's having trouble getting his 'space legs' and refuses to sit in his chair.  Of course, his present condition has nothing to do with the loud music and laughter heard coming from his quarters on deck 5 all hours of the night and morning.    

     Doctor Bill Pobber (Jordan) was on the bridge to treat the first officer. "What's wrong with him doc?" Capt. Rex Rounder asked while staring blankly at the morning's reports.
     "Nothing a good strong cup of coffee won't cure," the Doctor replied.  "We've got to do something about his worriment.  The Phoenix needs a good first officer."
     "The Phoenix?  Come on Doc. This ship is was built for washouts like us."
     "What do you mean washouts?"
     "Come on Doc, you amputated the wrong leg."
     The Doc looked Capt. Rex Rounder straight in the eye, as if he was ready to settle the dispute man to man.
     "What? You got somethun to say?" The Captain stepped forward, well within the Doc's comfort zone.
      "Pray you never end up on my table." The Doc backed down and returned to his seat.

     Buzz Buchanan (Josh A.) was at the tactical station waiting for his nails to dry. He was assigned to the Phoenix after an incident on the USS Independence.  Buzz suffers from acute Onychomycosis. Nail polish helps hide the condition from the squeamish.  

     Helm officer Christine Smiler tried to lighten the mood by telling a joke she'd worn out months earlier.  Aleta stepped in to listen, heard the first line, turned and walked out.  The Farpoint Cadet behind her wasn't so fortunate.

     Razor Plan author Jon Parker stepped in to converse with the brave and bewildered crew of the Phoenix.   He questioned the crew on their mission.  Captain Rex summarized the mission to satisfy Jon's doubts.  "Simple, we take this new secret weapon, the Razor torpedo, that the Romulans know all about, to a secret weapon's destruction station which so happens to be near the Romulan border so it can be destroyed to honor our end of a weapon's treaty."
     "We're never gonna get there," moaned the first officer.
     "Figured that out yourself Sherlock?" The Doc's voice dripped with sarcasm.

     Jon gave up waiting for Buzz's nails to dry and entered the ship's course for him on his laptop.  Christine Smiler was halfway through her joke.  The Farpoint volunteer in the hallway who was too courteous to excuse herself with a lie.

     The crew of the Phoenix are ready for launch.   Take one last look. You may never see them again.

     Phoenix Flight Director and Farpoint programmer Alex Anderson shows off his greatest achievement, the programming of a gaming environment in HTML5.   I was impressed.  The Vanguard's new controls will be simply amazing.

      While the Phoenix was on its ill fated mission, the little Galileo had a crew of its own on a five hour mission directed by Erin and her staff:  Farpoint Cadet Zack and Abram Allread, who is recently returned from an LDS mission to Argentina.  Welcome back Abram.  It's good to have you home!

Battlestar Galactica, the Movie

"Universal is preparing to start work on a Battlestar Galactica movie. Variety says the studio is planning to completely reimagine the sci-fi story — in which space-bound humans fend off the attacks of nefarious cybernetic Cylons as they try to find a new home — just five years after the four-season Syfy TV show drew to a close. The planned film would mark the second time Battlestar Galactica has been rebooted after the original show aired in 1978.

Jack Paglen, the writer of the upcoming Transcendence, has agreed to pen the reboot's screenplay..."  Read More

The Imaginarium
A place to recharge....

Good wins over evil one kindness at a time.

 

Things have changed since my childhood

A Blast from the Past Post, April 1, 2001. This Week in Technology and Science. The Imaginarium.

Hello Troops,
     Both the Space Center and the DSC were closed yesterday for reasons beyond my understanding, but they are both up and running during Spring Break.  
     Except for that bombshell news yesterday that the Space Center would be getting a new director, this is pretty much a no Space Center news weekend.  That means I've no one to pick on this weekend.  That's depressing.  I look forward to my Saturday snoop around both centers to find your average Farpoint volunteer or staff member blissfully going about their business completely unaware that I'm there with my trusty iPad taking photos for entirely fabricated stories held together with a few strings of truth.
     You know what that means, don't you?  It's time to go back to the pre Troubadour days and find an interesting post from the Space Center's old YahooGroup "Spaceedventures" to repost here for everyone to enjoy.  Old timers can read and reminise.  Space Center Younglings can read and see what life was like at the Space Center when their grandparents attended as children.  
     Today's resurrected post from the past comes from Sunday, April 1, 2001.  

Mr. W.      

From: "Victor Williamson" (my old email address)

  

Thoughts on this last week.

Date: Sun, 01 Apr 2001 03:39:21 -0000

Hello Troops,
Just a few thoughts on this last week.

1. 

Smith Grocery food poisoned me. What a way to suffer through an overnight mission. I bought some lunch meat and ate it before the overnight mission and paid dearly for it. It's Saturday evening and I'm still suffering. This isn't anything a couple of photon torpedoes launched from orbit into the PG store couldn't handle.

2. 

A special thank you once again to our great daytime staff for working a five day week.  Usually we do field trips four days per week, with one day off for office work.  I gave in to a teacher's crying a month ago and gave away this last week's office day. The lucky school that took our day off didn't come prepared! The kids were not briefed for the mission, nor did they have boarding passes. Again, nothing a few photon torpedoes couldn't handle from a passing starship. Of course, the targeting would have to pinpoint a few classrooms at 2:00 A.M. to avoid loss of life at the offending school in Huntsville, Utah. What a fireball that would make. Wake up the whole town. I'll bet they never forget their boarding passes again.

3. 

Summer registration are pouring in. Last week we deposited over $10,000.

4. 

The contractor hired by the District to put new ceilings and electrical features into Central School stopped by this last week. He has some great ideas for the school and the Space Center. He proposes a new dropped ceiling with recessed florescent lights and
track lights running along the Voyager's walls. He tells me the Magellan will get a new ceiling and lighting.  In addition to the new lights and ceiling, the contractor said the Magellan's stairs will get blue floor lights, like the lights in the carpet at a movie theater. This will be the coolest!  (None of this happened by the way, but this record shows the district electricians were all over the Space Center's simulators as far back as 2001 and didn't seem to have a problem with anything.)

5. 

A special congratulations to Aaron Yeager from our daytime staff.  Aaron has been accepted into UVSC's flight school. Aaron begins training to become an airline pilot next month. Aaron is an Odyssey flight director. You Go Aaron!

6. 

District electricians came by and fixed the blue bulb burn out problem in the Voyager. We are still waiting for the Voyager's smoke machine to be cleaned and repaired. (hint hint Kyle).

(What, another instance of district electricians all over the Voyager and not seeing a problem?) 

7. 

We found a mouse in the Briefing Room. Again, nothing a photon torpedo can't take care of, with precision targeting so as not to disturb my desk.  You know how I like to keep everything in its place and symmetric.

8. 

The Odyssey's staff think they have a dead mouse hidden in the their control room. If you work an Odyssey mission this week and smell an interesting aroma, please rest assured it is not my new cologne (which doubles as mosquito repellant).

9 

Mr. Daymont had a couple of crews he wanted to launch a few photon torpedoes into,  but I stopped him before the button was pushed. 

10. 

A special Happy Birthday to Mrs. Houston's daughter, Chantell. Many of you remember Chantell. She chaperones from time to time. We had bunny birthday cake on Friday.  Sorry if you didn't get a piece (actually, I'm not sorry at all if you want me to be completely honest. Not saving a piece for you meant more for me).  

11. 

Last Wednesday, Mrs. Houston brought one of her award winning fresh apple pies and a half gallon of vanilla ice cream to share with the field trip staff. Now, don't get the wrong idea about the field trip staff.  We really do work during the day. I've heard some say that Mr. Schuler has been spreading an evil rumor that all we do is sit around and eat good food instead of work during the school day.  That rumor is nearly entirely and almost completely false.  Mr. Schuler and I will be sitting down this week and discussing his future at the Space Center.    

12. 

The Falcon staff told me yesterday's Falcon overnight mission was the worst flight they've ever worked. The Falcon was beset with problems throughout the mission. Then, during the wrap up, vote counting, post overnight camp staff meeting, we discovered the Falcon's crew really liked the mission. They had no ideas there were problems with the simulator. Now, if the Falcon staff can pull off those kind of reviews with a ship that works half the time, why do the rest of us knock ourselves out for perfection and get the same reviews as the Falcon? Life isn't fair! But.... as I've always said - nothing a photon torpedo couldn't take care of.

13. 

We have the world's best staff and volunteers (except the Peace Corps). On second thought, maybe I shouldn't compare us to the Peace Corps. World peace and the Space Center? Our Space Center, where everyone wants three phasers, one for himself and two for his ego.

Naw, they don't go hand in hand. 

 

14
I'm feeling rumblings in my stomach, so I'd better prepare to make a quick trip to the water closet.

Well there it is. An overview of last week at the Space Center.

THE SPACE CENTER: TAKING THE WORLD ONE MISSION AT A TIME.  

THAT IS ALL.........................................

Mr. W.  

Space and Science News

Life on Venus?  

From Quarks to Quasars.
Despite the information we have about the planet and its volatile environment, one scientist, who was a senior researcher at the Space Research Institute, has examined some of these panoramic images sent back from Venera-13 and believes that there are three objects in one of the photos that have characteristics of living organisms. Dr. Leonid Ksanfomality was also a contributor to the Venera missions that took place in the 1970-80′s and his discussion of these objects was published in the January 2012 issue of the journal “Astronomicheskii Vestnik (Solar System Research).” Read More

This Week in Technology

➤ Smart Skin: http://is.gd/zTGo2z
➤ Smart Computers: http://is.gd/zEp4Cp
➤ Protective Suits: http://is.gd/KTOJ1E
➤ Smart Nanoparticles: http://is.gd/wMBAxp

Science Summary of The Week

➤ Enceladus’ Ocean: http://is.gd/4uI9qU
➤ Bionic Kangaroo: http://is.gd/dujIcj
➤ Revolutionary Syringe: http://is.gd/Z8jQwU
➤ Dark Matter: http://is.gd/TTFIFa
➤ Gene Editing: http://is.gd/Y91rPN
➤ Bee Sting: http://is.gd/35Sto0
➤ Weight Loss Signal: http://is.gd/OjML54
➤ Blood-sucking Ants: http://is.gd/k0Zsvb

The Imaginarium

Time to relax....

The Space Center to Get a New Director! Life Changing Video. Space and Science News. The Imaginarium.

Hello Troops,
     The Alpine School District is advertising a job opening for a Teacher on Special Assignment to replace Megan Warner as Space Center Director.  Megan replaced me as the director of the CMSEC when I retired last May and took a position at Renaissance Academy to direct the Farpoint Space Education Center when it opens in the Fall of 2015.    

     Megan has done a wonderful job directing the Space Center.  She is a gifted and talented flight director and excellent manager who is greatly admired by the Center's staff and volunteers.  She has worked tirelessly to maintain the spirit and vision of the Space Center.
     District administrators want a certified teacher directing the Space Center.  Megan is an hourly teacher aide and therefore does not qualify for the position.  Megan is not sure what she will do once the new director is hired.  She may return to school to finish her degree, remain at the Center and work as an assistant to the new director, or work at Farpoint or another school with a Space Center program.

      It's weird looking at this job posting for the directorship of the Space Center I founded over two decades ago.  I read the qualifications posted and wonder what this new TSA will do with the program. Will he or she continue our pioneering blend of science and science fiction, or change the Center's focus to something more Common Core as the district wanted when the Center was closed in October 2012 (and then reopened only because of the outcry from Utah County's citizens)?  

     The District's true intentions will be known once the new TSA is given his or her marching orders from above in August.  Regardless of what happens at the Space Center, it is important to know that the Space Center concept you've all come to love will continue at Renaissance Academy, the Discovery Space Center and other select charter schools in Utah County.  We've a lot to do and I'll need your help, so please be ready to put your shoulder to the wheel when called upon.  

Mr. Williamson

 Lives Change when Paths Cross and One's Eyes and 

Heart are Open...

     Raimundo Arruda Sobrinho was homeless in São Paulo, Brazil, for nearly 35 years, and has become locally known to sit in the same spot and write every day. In April 2011, he befriended a young woman named Shalla Monteiro. Impressed with his poetry she decided to help him with his dream of publishing a book, she created a Facebook page to characterize the writing of Raymond. Neither could have expected what happened next.

Space and Science News 

Scientists Create an Oxygen Particle Allows You To Live Without Breathing

 in the summer of 2012 scientists were able to keep rabbits with blocked windpipes alive for up to 15 minutes without a single breath. This feat was accomplished after researchers injected oxygen-filled microparticles into the animals’ blood.  Read More

Your Guide to Witnessing the Biggest, Brightest Mars in Over Six Years

On April 8th, Earth will soar between the Sun and Mars. When it does, the Red Planet will reach what astronomers call "opposition" in the night sky. Just a few days later, Earth will be closer to Mars than it's been in more than six years. The resulting views should be extraordinary. Here's what you need to know to catch a glimpse yourself.  Read More

How Soviet Artists Imagined Communist Life in Space

Artists from the Soviet Union didn't just imagine a worker's Utopia on Earth. They also thought that the great communist experiment would eventually reach other worlds, too. Here are some incredible works of art and conceptual design that put the Soviet Union in space. Read More

The Imaginarum

Just what you need, when you need it.