The return of Mr Thelin!

(Cover art by John Picacio)

A few weeks ago, Paul Simpson, editor of the Titan "Star Trek" magazine suggested that I'd be very pleased by the next issue of magazine, and I assume that means there'll be something Thelin-related with the extract of "The Chimes at Midnight". Maybe the distinctive cover art, by the talented John Picacio, which features Thelin the Andorian, from the alternative timeline of "Yesteryear" (Filmation's animated Star Trek series of the 70s)?

Pocket Books' "Myriad Universes: Echoes and Reflections" collection is due in August. It contains three alternate universe stories. "The Chimes at Midnight" is by Geoff Trowbridge. "In a continuum where Spock died during childhood, an Andorian named Thelin became Captain Kirk’s stalwart friend and first officer. But at the moment of Khan’s final defeat, history takes an even stranger turn, and the emerging potential of Project Genesis is revealed as the galaxy’s greatest hope... and its most ominous threat." I can't wait!


Thelin in "Yesteryear"! - this image was tinkered with in Photoshop, several years ago, to give him Andorian blue skin. Famously, on TAS as televised, Thelin's skin is a more of a greyish/causcasian colour, and varies from frame to frame. Although, more recently, on the "Enterprise" TV series, we met the pale blue/white Aenar subspecies who share Andoria with the blue Andorians.

Captain's Log: Supplemental. Here it is: Thelin from the Titan extract:


Issue #12 (US), July/August, 2008, p. 56. Thanks Paul! So cool!

Iron Man and the Dark Knight

I'm hearing nothing but positive reviews for "Iron Man", the latest superhero movie based on the Marvel comic. Robert Downey Jr has been Down Under last week promoting the movie, and he's been on his best behaviour and very charming - and so passionate about the film.

Everyone is saying "Make sure you stay through the credits at the end". I always do, but it's great when you know there's a bonus for the ones who do stay! Can't wait. It opened here last Thursday. I've never really followed "Iron Man" in the comics, but I recall the animated series of the 70s(?) very well, and my younger brother's stunning yellow and red Mego action figure.

Tonight, the TV news shows have been running an intriguing new trailer for "Batman: The Dark Knight", featuring the late Heath Ledger as the Joker. This too looks amazing! A bit longer to wait for this one, though. They are predicting a posthumous Academy Award for Ledger. The media is also suggesting that the regimen (and solitary confinement) the actor voluntarily put himself through, as preparation to get into the Joker's head, is partly to blame for his ongoing problems sleeping, and his dependence on the cocktail of drugs which claimed his life. Sad.

Writing better blog posts

Sue Waters, of The Edublogger, says, "Here’s My First Five Tips For Writing Better Blog Posts — What Are Yours?"

My five tips, to add to Sue's five would include:

1. Use of humour - especially if I find myself telling a funny anecdote more than once. That usually tells me it's worth repeating as a future blog entry. (It's amazing how often I check back through old entries now, and find humorous stories I've almost forgotten writing. If they hadn't ended up in the blog, they'd perhaps be gone forever.)

2. Know your topic(s). I think that sometimes bloggers try to be too eclectic. Focusing on a few topics you know well helps the audience to anticipate your future blog entries in those areas. You become "the guru" on a topic.

3. Know your audience - but also remembering that your audience may well be bigger than you think. (If you miss blogging for an extended period, you are likely to hear from them! I had no idea my two young nieces regularly checked my blog - until I was on vacation, far from an Internet cafe, and they emailed me wondering where I'd vanished to.)

4. Keep in mind the international nature of the World Wide Web. Be prepared to be informative by embedding a few clues in your posts. Remind them where you are writing from. Some quirky, localized things will seem quite bizarre to those of your readers not familiar with certain terminology, places, customs, the local slang, etc.

5. A picture is worth a thousand words. A picture can help explain many of the above mysteries for international web surfers. Most of my new visitors seem to come via people following a link to posts after locating one of my Flickr photos, which they found during a search of Google Images!

Revenge of the mousse

Yesterday afternoon I made a quick dash to the supermarket and, on a whim, decided that I would gather up the ingredients to make the Quick Chocolate Mousse recipe from my school's cook book that was made for, and distributed at, the recent reading picnic. I'd been given a sample of the finished mousse on the big day, and I have been curious to see if it was really as easy to make as it seemed.

I guessed a little enthusiastically on quantities while shopping, and managed to buy twice as much chocolate, cream and marshmallows as necessary, so I simply doubled the amounts. Unwise, on reflection, because the melting marshmallows grew enormous in the microwave oven, and the mid-procedure cleanup was tricky - melted marshmallow mixture is not only very, very hot, but it sticks like the strongest adhesive ever invented. If the mess didn't attract ants, it would make amazing quick-set glue!

The sensible quantities, as described in the actual recipe, required 125g dark chocolate, broken into small squares, 100g marshmallows, 300ml thickened cream and 1 teaspoon vanilla essence. (Oh, I just realised I used ordinary cream last night, and it worked fine!)

You then simply combine the chocolate and marshmallows over a double saucepan, stirring over simmering water until melted, or microwave on "High" for about one and a half minutes. (I microwaved the marshmallows separately, but in a bowl too small for the job, intending to stir in the chocolate squares later, but that was a decision made before I glued a fork, a spoon, my fingers and several other things to the sides of the container, and the inner walls of the microwave oven, when the hot marshmallow overflowed! (You know, I had a latent memory fragment of marshmallows melting into a clear liquid, but these were just white, cumulus fluff.) It was like karmic payback that I ended up with a panicky clean-up job before the housemate arrived home and discovered what I'd done to the kitchen.

Anyway, you then just gradually stir in the cream and vanilla, and pour out into separate serving bowls if liked. (I left mine in the big bowl I'd turned my melted marshmallows into, and it worked.) Refrigerate overnight - and secretly enjoy the huge wad of stickjaw chocolate fudge that may accumulate on the stirring fork, if you're lucky. (Those last few scrapes of hot chocolate/marshmallow hitting the cold cream mixture was a yummy, fortunate mistake of an afterthought.)

Serve with more cream and more chocolate, as mentioned in the recipe's extravagant "serving suggestion". And thank the heavens it's Junk Food Day today.

Sunday's magic number: 94.0. Ooopsie. Mmmm, pass the mousse, but hold the antlers.

The Top 100?

Over in Dipping into the Blogpond, Meg has been challenged about her "Top 100" index of Australian blogs.

I’m confused. I can think of hundreds of ways someone could create a "Top 100" list, but I don’t see any problem with Meg calling her list "THE Top 100"and not "A Top 100". On Meg’s blog, the list IS a definite article. The guy doing the complaining, Lee, is entitled to think of it as an indefinite article on his blog.

I check out my own stats (on Site meter) every so often, mainly because they are… fascinating. Maybe if my blog was used for revenue raising, I’d worry what they really meant? Even trying to imagine how open to interpretation my stats are, depending on which stats are given priority over others, that someone could challenge Meg over there being better ways to calculate a "Top 100"...

I've visited the list of the "Top 100" twice in the last year. It's a handy way to check out blogs I hadn't discovered before, but many of those listed are not of interest to me, no matter how their stats are calculated. I never thought of it being definitive for anyone beyond Meg herself. And I understand that Lee is on the list (currently #76, up from #86); maybe just not high enough for his liking?

I’m confused... and bemused.

Greedy for blogs

In the last year at work/ie.school, we've formed at least three new professional learning groups that extend beyond our one school and take in other local schools with similar goals and projects. Inevitably, these networks mean even more after-school committee meetings, but the value of the results these groups can produce, means it's usually well work the time invested.

Today, I found myself volunteering to create another blog for the teachers, teacher-librarians and consultants involved in two of the groups - this one a little more in-house in theme, purpose and audience/participants, so I won't be promoting the URL far and wide at this point, although if it takes off it may well find a niche beyond its original brief. It's only very early days yet.

Essentially, it's a blog about our school (and other schools in our learning support group)'s quest to select, purchase and efficiently utilise interactive whiteboards (IWBs) in our school programs. I had suggested to the network that involving ourselves in some group projects would be a great way to support each other, proactively on several learning journeys with the IWBs. Me and my big mouth. (A new wiki activity just wasn't enough!)

As my third blog (fourth if I count helping out with the Wilfrid rap blog last term), I was astounded how quickly I could go to Edublogs, throw together a few pieces of already-created information and have a slick-looking set of posts, attachments, links and models of previous examples in about an hour, with a few hours of after-work tinkering to get the presentation looking user-friendly.

It's empowering!

Living in a vacuum

Tonight I had the pleasure of meeting three new members of our monthly Star Trek Meetup group. One, a recent "migrant" from north Queensland is happily making new Star Trek acquaintances. The other two of them, a young couple, have lived in Sydney all their lives, have always been fans of various aspects of the Star Trek phenomenon, but somehow have managed to not have encountered organised Star Trek fandom before.

Furthermore, as big "Lost" fans, they didn't know that JJ Abrams was directing the next "Star Trek" movie, or that it was highlighting the characters from the original series (ie. TOS)! It made my night being able to fill them in with all the hot gossip on casting.

I found this great interview with Anton Yelchin (the new Chekov) on Youtube. Leonard Maltin, who is practically bubbling over with excitement for this new movie, conducted an exclusive chat for ReelzChannel.com :

Synthesis!

On Monday, the staffs of seven schools in our learning community gathered in my school’s assembly hall to hear Jamie McKenzie speaking on the importance of authentic learning in today’s schools.

I first became aware of USA-based Jamie McKenzie (and his online writings in From Now On) when commissioning one of my first articles as editor of the teacher-librarians’ professional journal, Scan. It’s amazing to look at the date on that article and recall that it was in 1998 when Lyn Hay, of Charles Sturt University, provided “An interview with Jamie McKenzie” (for Scan, vol 17, no 2, pp 5-7). Jamie had become a guru among teacher-librarians around the world for his then-current investigations into power learning and imagining the “post modem” school. The printed interview ended up being a prelude to his visit to Sydney, later that year, for a professional development day attended by many teacher-librarians and a few intrigued school principals. Teacher-librarians following Jamie McKenzie’s work found much to bolster their efforts in collaborative teaching, and Jamie has continued to be a great advocate for the work being done by Australia’s teacher-librarians. But how far did his message reach?

A full decade on, some of his emphases have certainly evolved but it was rewarding for me to be back in the teacher-librarian role, and seeing Jamie’s latest messages about questions of import, authentic learning and assessment, the “smart use” of information communication technologies (ICT), quality teaching and learning, and the embracing of complexity, being shared with a room full of attentive teachers, executive staff, teachers’ aides, not just the seven teacher-librarians. It was also pleasing that he, again, complimented Australia’s teacher-librarians for their ongoing proactive role in supporting teachers and students grappling with authentic learning and the smart use of technologies (and he included print books as one “technology”).

More commentary follows on my other blog, where I attempt to synthesise about synthesis!

Falling off the wagon - deliciously

I expected bad news. Stepping onto the bathroom scales today was never going to be anything else, but it was a worthy experiment. I can now say with confidence that a two-week celebration, with a food frenzy free-for-all can add over a kilogram eeach week. Especially when the weather has been too dismal to do much walking (ie. the dog ducks off under the bed when he suspects there is rain outside).

This is definitely how I reversed last year's dieting efforts so effortlessly! Fifteen weeks of carefree eating leads to fifteen kilograms of ugly fat; I didn't need to really repeat the experiment, but gosh it was fun doing so. Two Krispy Kreme donuts on Thursday - despite walking the length of Pitt Street, Sydney, in the rain - was not the wisest move. But then, neither was today's Big Mac - my first Big Mac in about eight months!

You know, you can really taste the vinegar in Big Mac Special Sauce when you haven't eaten it in eight months.

Sunday's magic number: 93.7. Okay, I detect a pattern here. After the catered morning tea and lunch tomorrow, for the professional development day at school, the diet's back.

A sequel and a prequel

This school vacation, I've managed to squeeze in the reading of two hardcover novels, of in the science fiction media genre - d'uh - and both of them rather controversial in their approach, yet very enjoyable... despite some frustrating faults.

First up was Kenneth Johnson's long-awaited novel of his long-promised sequel to "V". Now, although I already knew that this novel, set twenty years after the first mini-series ended, would be ignoring both "V: The Final Battle" and "V: The Series", there was nothing in the book to introduce such a premise. A little unfair to fans, I think, especially as picking up an old copy of AC Crispin's "V" novelization would present a thick book where the entire second half was overlooked. At the very least, a text summary of the first valid-for-the-novel "V" instalments would have been appreciated.

Although the Visitors, as of "V: The Second Generation", have been cruel overseers on Earth for two decades now, not a lot else has changed. The Visitors' technology does not seem to have advanced much in twenty years; they are still processing humans into hibernation pods, siphoning our water supply, and the alien motherships have black and white security monitors. Why do the reptilian invaders continue to wear false human skins, and why do new arrivals from Sirius also adopt human names? Why does "nice alien" Willy still make dreadful malapropisms after so many years living in the USA - and why has Martin gone two whole decades in the Vistors' Fifth Column of turncoats without being discovered?

The action of "The Second Generation" also seems to be centred on now-inland San Francisco; Los Angeles is rarely even mentioned, although it was the focus of so much of the story in the various TV episodes. The book doesn't really get into any character's head for very long; a lot of the action is described in much the way as it would have appeared in the teleplay Johnson was expanding into regular prose.

Freedom fighter human leaders Juliet Parish and Mike Donovan are featured players, as expected, as is the sultry, manipulative Visitor, Diana. Diana is joined by a new rival, Jeremy, and the supposedly mysterious Sirian Leader - whose gender is kept unmentioned, on purpose, for much of the story arc.

Unfortunately, humans and Visitors who appear in "V: The Second Generation" are sometimes humans and Visitors who died heroically in either "V: The Final Battle" or "V: The Series". Robert Maxwell, Willy's girlfriend Harmy (she did die in the second mini-series, didn't she?), and Fifth Columnist Martin, are all alive and kicking in "V: The Second Generation". Other characters, such as Robin Maxwell, Leader John, Brian, Steven, Daniel and Elias, who could have all been featured, or at least mentioned by the novel, are essentially ignored, or glossed over.

There is also an annoying overuse of names. There is a Charles and a Nathan, but these are definitely not the Charles and Nathan of "V: The Series". There is a new Visitor, Shawn, but there is mention of missing human, Sean Donovan, Mike's son. Instead of the hybrid Starchild, Elizabeth (of whom Johnson did not approve), there's a new halfbreed character, Ruby - and she's been named after an elderly character, from "V", who is said to have died. In addition, there are many other halfbreed teenagers, and these are treated in very similar ways to the Newcomers of Johnson's similar allegorical TV series, "Alien Nation".

Despite my many misgivings, the action certainly comes thick and fast. Three insectoid aliens in hominid guise, representatives of the powerful, vengeful race, known as the Zedti, attempt to use the hapless, weary humans' ongoing dilemma to resolve their own feuds with the reptilian invaders.

With the addition of the Zedti, there is certainly lots of promise for a new ongoing series of episodes, telemovies or a sequel mini-series. However, I'm sure ignoring huge slabs of "V: The Final Battle" and "V: The Series" would be ultimately confusing for many viewers, unless there is to be a remake of the first "V" mini-series to accompany any new stories.

I've also just finished "Star Trek: Academy: Collision Course", by William Shatner, with Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. This hardcover received extremely mixed reviews when it came out last October, so I put it beneath several other novels.

While it is well known that Shatner's previous nine-part hardcover saga (of Kirk's return from death beyond "Star Trek: Generations"), the so-called "Shatnerverse", has always operated within its own, ummm, pocket universe, this new prequel-to-TOS novel doesn't necessarily quash anything canonical (ie. onscreen, live action material), although it certainly stretches a few "fanonical" friendships.

I usually enjoy Star Trek hardcovers very much, but I began this one with great trepidation. Not many people online seemed to like it. Essentially this novel ignores most previous ST novels, especially the ones about Kirk's father, and Kirk Sr's career on the Enterprise under Captain Robert April. But the premise is intriguing, if not requiring suspension of disbelief. We see both teenaged Jim Kirk and teenaged Spock consorting with criminals, being shunted of to Starfleet training without a fair court martial, not to mention seemingly numerous links to young Kirk's very traumatic experiences under Kodos the Executioner, long before the secret events of "The Conscience of the King" (TOS) are revealed.

As Vulcan Ambassador Sarek, and Eugene Mallory - son of a redshirt we already know will one day die under then-Captain Kirk's command - discover, a little logic can go a long way when solving a crime. Annoying though,

And deja vu!: despite my many misgivings about this hardcover as well, the action in "Collision Course" certainly comes thick and fast. A real collision course, actually. People may have slammed it for ignoring "Final Frontier" and "Best Destiny", two very strong George Kirk Sr stories by Diane Carey, but there's also lots to enjoy.

There'll be frustrations no matter what. Jim's Dad is called George Joseph "Joe" Kirk is this one! And, for those who disliked "Star Trek: Enterprise", the TV series prequel to TOS, you may well be tetchy about Academy buildings named for Archer, Tucker and Mayweather - and even a non-"name drop" for Hoshi Sato and her husband, via their little great grandson! (It pays to read the fine print!) For those of us who are fans of Enterprise, it's a nice bonus. I should note that Shatner's regular ST novel co-authors were staff writers on "Enterprise" during its fourth (and many say, best) season.

This is a novel with a new, but still valid, take on the Sarek/Spock relationship. And it's about an extremely troubled, very different Jimmy Kirk, one far removed from the Kirk we met in previous prequels to TOS, (and sure to be overruled by the upcoming ST XI) but after the Tarsus IV experiences related in "Collision Course", who can blame him?

If you can make it through the first four or five chapters, it's easy to keep reading! I went into the book expecting it to be horrid, based on all the negativity it seemed to garner, but I was surprised how involving it became.

Sweet coincidence

My site meter tells me that a recent visitor to my blog had typed into Google "Ian McLean cupcakes" and I was a bit bewildered as to how they knew I'd mentioned them a few times, especially last Midwinter Christmas, even if only briefly, but I followed the Google link and it led to this page... of posters for sale!

They weren't painted by me, no, but they do look delicious. Mmmmm, cupcakes...

Speaking of junk food - gosh I'm so hungry now -

Sunday's magic number: 92.6. No cupcakes for me, he says, eating his fifth Lemon Crisp bikkie. (What? I'm celebrating my big toe's return to full health. Any excuse.)

The Enterprise Experiment

I picked up my copy of IDW Publishing's "Star Trek: Year Four: The Enterprise Experiment" #1 yesterday and read it in the train on the way home. A major role for "Star Trek: The Animated Series" (TAS)'s tripodal Lieutenant Arex - yay! - and a great, page-turning beginning for the new story arc by DC Fontana (Mrs TAS herself!) and Derek Chester.

I loved the TOS/TAS rendition of the San Francisco airtram station, soon to be upgraded in time for TMP, I presume.

The story is, of course, a sequel to the TOS episode, "The Enterprise Incident" (in which Captain Kirk disguised himself as a Romulan to steal a cloaking device from the female Romulan Commander). This time, in a story that takes place during the TAS years, the Enterprise is testing a cloaking device of its own.


Arex: such a handy crewman to have around


No "Quad Covers (TM)" for this storyline (as per the "New Frontier" issues)? When I arrived at the comic shop, they'd put aside the "Year Four" Spock cover (Cover B) issue for me, but I really wanted the great Mr Arex and Kirk (Cover A) instead, of course. But all the shelf copies had sold already! (Stock only arrived the day before.) Luckily, my trusty comic seller rummaged through the standing order boxes, found the last unclaimed Arex cover issue, and did me a swap. Too bad if the other guy preferred Arex, too.

I'm really enjoying IDW's efforts; I just wish the multiple and "rare" covers didn't cause as many heartaches for me, or for the completists out there who must be driven crazy by now.

"Melting, melting, I'm melting..."

Okay, it's the age-old mystery:

"How did the Wicked Witch of the West ever take a bath?"

It was raining in Mittagong today, our last pitstop before arriving home from our Canberra vacation. I just couldn't resist snapping this witch's hat, which was sitting so forlornly on the pavement in the constant drizzle.

It was perfect weather for fish, chips, battered savs and potato scallops. But please don't tell anyone. (Sadly, every day of this holiday has been Junk Food Day. I just hope I did enough walking...)

Roar like a dinosaur!

I've been reading a wonderful book, "The Wollemi pine: the incredible discovery of a living fossil from the age of the dinosaurs" by James Woodford (Text Publishing, new ed. 2005), which I picked up a few months ago from the Botanical Gardens in the city. The book reminds me of a political thriller or a whodunnit, only it's real and the blithely ignorant star of the book is a grove of trees which forgot to go extinct. Amazing stuff.

The trees were only discovered in 1994, in the almost-inaccessible wilderness of the Wollemi region of New South Wales, it was the botanical analog to the discovery of a living coelacanth (a primitive fish, previously only seen in fossils) in the waters off Cape Town, South Africa, in 1938.

I think the discovery of the Wollemi pines has even more indelible for me, in that the big press announcements were made on my birthday, 14th December, of 1994. Nothing like having one's birthday swept off the news radar by the discovery of a tree that had survived since the Cretaceous Period!

Ever since, there has been a concerted effort to propagate Wollemi pines and they've been on public sale for some time now. I'm determined to buy myself one of these amazing plants, onesdayrealsoonIhope - and how ironic if I don't care for it properly and it goes extinct on me? - but this vacation gave me a chance for us to pretend we were in a whole rainforest of Wollemi pines at Greengold Heritage Nursery in Yarralumla.




At Greengold Heritage Nursery, Yarralumla.

Jack lives here

Well, Jack seems happy to live anywhere I happen to be; such is the loyalty of a Jack Russell terrier. He really is a wonderful little traveller. He seems to eagerly anticipate each leg of the journey and, even after wandering for hours on his lead and harness through various country town centres, or around the perimeter of Lake Burley Griffin on a warm afternoon, he always seems ready to do it all again, gleefully, at the next pitstop. (Even when those nasty swans keeping chasing one all around the lake and honking at one to make one want to bark... and get one into big trouble from the Master's housemate!)



Pet-friendly bed 'n' breakfast venues usually request that dogs not be left alone in the accommodation, and in summer it's impossible to leave an animal alone in a stationary car for even a few minutes, so having a dog on holiday can be a burden at times - ie. no trips to the cinema, and only brief sojourns into air-conditioned shopping arcades, while one human waits outside with the four-legged "child" - but mostly it's a joy to take Jack on vacation.

On nights when he's quite tired, we are usually able to leave him in the car outside a restaurant and have something more substantial than fast food, or sidewalk cafe fare. We left Jack outside a pizza restaurant last night, and he was still wrapped in his blanket when we got back. He hadn't even moved to peek out the window to see how far away we were going to be! It does take a lot to make a Jack Russell tired, but there have been a few times when we've achieved such a feat.

Toe-tal healing

As you may recall, I injured my left big toe two Saturdays ago, by dropping an eight-VHS boxed set on it. I've been hobbling ever since.

Happily, the injury seems to be healing very nicely. Twice-daily bathing in Dettol, lots of Savlon cream, etc, seems to have kept all trace of infection away. I was able to wear slip-on, covered shoes to work on the Thursday and Friday, and the area around the cuticle seems to be repairing itself, and no trace that the nail will drop off. Whew! (I was determined not to see a doctor unless infection sprung up, either under the nail itself or deep under the damaged cuticle; I simply couldn't see what else a doctor might do for it - would it be worth the several hours of waiting for my name to be called down at the medical centre?)

I am fascinated with the human body's amazing ability to repair itself, and to remember where everything needs to go; if you'd seen my toe last week you wouldn't have been able to imagine what was needed to get it looking normal again, at least not without antibiotics, or maybe some medical glue. Certainly, although the skin near the nail had split in two places, there was nowhere to even consider putting in stitches, so I figured waiting it out was all I could do.

Today, the toe's looking almost normal again. Luckily I've been able to spend most of the week shoeless and sockless. Despite the lower Canberra temperatures at night, the days have featured glorious thong-wearing weather (that's flip flop-wearing weather for all you suddenly-horrified US readers). Getting some fresh air to my toe has definitely helped.




Rainbows are possible, even on sunny days, in Canberra!

Marathon efforts

Yesterday, while waiting for the Old Bus Depot Sunday Markets to open, we wandered over to watch the runners finishing up the annual Canberra Marathon race.

While I did worry that the announcer might say something like, "Ladies and gentlemen, the new record has just been set by a Jack Russell chasing a seagull across the finish line", we were quite close to the action.

The most amusing action was happening a few bends away, where a group of local teens had armed themselves with binoculars and a thick printout of participants' names and registration numbers. As numerous very sweaty runners would approach this group, the teens would select someone to barrack for. To the (lucky) chosen runner's absolute bewilderment, the youths would then start yelling, "Come on Bruce, you can do it mate!" or "Go for it, Jennifer!", or "Yay, Davo, keep going, man!", and so on. I swear we saw these runners transform, and they'd pick up a little speed and/or confidence to appease their young (supposed) fans' efforts.

The kids' collective enthusiasm wilted just a little, though, when they picked out one particular runner and yelled, "Onya George! Good effort! Keep it up!"

The bemused runner called back, "You guys know me? That's great! You can take care of this for me. I'll get it back from you some time."

With that, the runner stripped off his sweat-saturated shirt and tossed it to the barrackers. Now they had the bewildered looks. Priceless.

A capital idea

There's something rather ironic about me calling this blog "Have Phaser, Will Travel" and the only time it goes dormant is when I'm travelling.

One reason is that I don't have a laptop (yet) and, when on vacation, the last thing I really want to do is race off to an Internet cafe, and do hilarious and/or witty blog entries on-the-spot, live from the scene. While the concept is exciting, I guess, I'm not so sure it's a good idea to announce to the world, "Hey, I'm on vacation, so's the housemate, the abode is unattended - and I even have the watchdog on holiday with me, not guarding the house, while I blog to you daily from this poky cafe!"


We are taking the
blankie, aren't we?"

A complete break from the Internet is not a bad idea, either. If I had a laptop, I just know I'd never get anything else - but a little blogging - done. I almost cherish time away from emails and web surfing so I can get some Star Trek novels read!

We departed on Saturday morning and were at our Downer (ACT), dog-friendly bed 'n' breakfast by the afternoon, having spent a brief time in beautiful Berrima on the way. We bought some pumpkin bread there, that will taste scrummy, and some sweets from the good ol' Lolly Swagman to keep us munching along the way.

On Friday night, before we left, I'd paid a few bills via the Internet. Then I realised during the car trip south - to my horror - that I'd forgotten to organise payment for some vintage Star Trek metal miniatures I'd won from a US seller on eBay earlier in the week. Thanks to the wonders of the Internet and public libraries, I effortlessly booked 30 mins Internet time at Dickson Public Library yesterday afternoon, just before closing. I even managed to check my emails online, change my PayPal password and send $$$$$ to my toy seller. Whew!

And no, despite the date and time on this entry, I didn't write it (or the next five entries) in the library, although i was tempted. I did it the old fashioned way - handwritten notes on a scrap of paper. Yay post-vacation "Post Options" hyperlinks!

Sunday's magic number: 91.0. Yeah, the French food and red wine did it, I think.

Summers past

Based on our enjoyment of the wonderful teachers' preview of "Bateaux Jouets: toy boats from Paris 1850-1950" of a few weeks ago, last night I forfeited my regular race-through-the-CBD, collecting my comics and books, to attend, with a work colleague and her teacher sister, the opening of two more exciting exhibits at the Australian National Maritime Museum, "Summers Past: Golden days in the sun 1950-1970" and "The River: Life on the Murray-Darling". Both exhibits have just returned from successful national tours.

What a great way to soak up some great Australian nostalgia! I'm not sure what else to say other than, if you're in Sydney when these exhibits are still running, then go see them! They are well worth a lingering look.

My colleagues and I then wandered across to The Little Snail French restaurant, Pyrmont, where we enjoyed an impromptu meal. In fact, we'd been secretly desiring a visit to that restaurant ever since the manager had promoted it at the previous "Bateaux Jouets" night. Last time I was at "The Little Snail", it was absurdly decorated with palm trees, monkeys and surfboards (courtesy of previous owners of the space "The Little Snail" moved into). I'm happy to report that the food is as delectable as ever!

So how weird is that? "The Little Snail" serves French food and promoted itself at an exhibition of French toys, but it used to have a beach theme for its decor. But we didn't get there until we saw a beach-themed museum exhibit, by which time the restaurant had a more French decor again.

And how weird that I gave up Kings Comics and Galaxy Bookshop for a week, just to eat French cuisine! Mind you, my left big toe has only just started to resemble a toe again, so the close proximity of "The Little Snail" to the museum was most welcome.

Hey, today's the last day of the school term. I made it!

Number one in comics

Star Trek author Peter David has written a comic mini-series for IDW Publishing that continues his excellent, quirky "New Frontier" novels. It's not his first time contributing to a "New Frontier" comic - "Double Time" (2000) was a one-shot for WildStorm (and later collected as a trade omnibus, "Other Realities" in 2001). The first new issue, "Turnabout, Part 1", is nicely done, and the mini-series promises to show us plenty of the cast additions since the timeline jumped forward three years in Pocket books' "After the Fall" (2004) and "Missing in Action" (2006).

This time, Peter David made sure to show us the face of Morgan Primus! Last time, he hid her face under a towel, and then behind a hand mirror. Of course, she's a dead ringer for Number One, of "The Cage", Star Trek's first pilot - but we knew that! In the books we've heard characters notice a resemblance to Number One (ie. Majel Barrett), Christine Chapel (ie. Majel Barrett), Lwaxana Troi (ie. Majel Barrett) and even the distinctive voice of Starfleet computers (ie. Majel Barrett).

It's also possible the immortal mother of Robin Lefler was also once the immortal Morgan LeFay, of the Excalibur/Arthurian legends (USS Excalibur being the name of the ship upon which Morgan now serves), or maybe it's simply the role which Majel Barrett would have played had "New Frontier" been a TV show!


The enigmatic Morgan Primus (left: "Double Time", 2000; right: "Turnabout", 2008)

Alas, this time there's no Ensign Janos. The sentient mugato security officer's fate was sealed in the novel instalment, "New Frontier: Stone and Anvil".


Janos in Ten-Forward
("Double Time", 2000)

Sunday's magic number: 89.7. Yay!

Star Trek: Signature Editions

If I ever give a longish answer to a poster over on TrekBBS or Psi Phi, I like to copy it to the blog for posterity. It makes life much easier when the same question gets asked again a few months/years later. I realised a while ago that people often hyperlink my Star Trek items from places like Wikipedia, Memory Alpha and Memory Beta, and two of my most popular blog posts ever - according to SiteMeter - concern fannish Faces in the crowd on the Rec Deck in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" and The truth about Efrosians.

Today, someone wanted details on Pocket Books' "Signature Edition" omnibuses of reprinted Star Trek novels. I knew I had it saved in an email somewhere. And here it is:



There are seven ST "Signature editions" from Pocket Books in all, trade paperback omnibuses of popular past novels, collected by theme or author. In brief, all of the "Signature Editions" have new introductions and/or afterwords, and the four in the first batch have interviews with the authors by Kevin Dilmore, and facsimile signatures. In order on my shelf they are:

"Worlds in Collision" (Nov 2003) reprints "Memory Prime" and "Prime Directive" by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens and features TOS Kirk (a lower quarter portrait) on the cover, a new introduction by the authors, and an interview with the authors by Kevin Dilmore.

"Duty, Honor, Redemption" (Oct 2004) reprints the novelizations of "ST II: The Wrath of Khan", "ST III: The Search for Spock" and "ST IV: The Voyage Home" by Vonda N McIntyre and features movie-era Kirk (a lower quarter portrait) on the cover and a new introduction by Terry J Erdmann interviewing Harve Bennett, "the man behind the movies". The book has had minor errors corrected, such as "McGivers" for "McGiver". Sulu's promotion to captain (in ST II) is removed, since the line was dropped from ST II and then ignored by the other movies.

"Sand and Stars" (Dec 2004) reprints "Spock's World" by Diane Duane and "Sarek" by AC Crispin and features TMP Spock (a lower quarter portrait) on the cover and a new introduction about Vulcans, with quotes from Tim Russ (Tuvok, VOY) and Gary Graham (Soval, ENT), by Terry J Erdmann.

"Pantheon" (Sept 2003) reprints "TNG: Reunion" and "TNG: The Valiant" by Michael Jan Friedman, with an all-new bridging arc that connects the two tales (ie. seven extra paragraphs from a reflective Guinan.) It also features Stargazer-era Picard (a lower quarter portrait) on the cover, a new introduction by the author, and an interview with the author by Kevin Dilmore. The bookend historical chapters for "The Valiant" are widened to embrace both stories in the SE.

"The Q Continuum" (Oct 2003) reprints the TNG Q trilogy ("Q-Zone", "Q-Space" and "Q-Strike") by Greg Cox and features Judge Q (a lower quarter portrait) on the cover and an interview with the author by Kevin Dilmore. Cox took the chance to make several stardate error corrections, and changed a few mentions of "the original Enterprise" to "Kirk's Enterprise", to avoid confusion with Archer's ship since "Star Trek: Enterprise" was the current series on the air.

"Imzadi Forever" (Dec 2003) reprints "TNG: Imzadi" and "TNG: Imzadi II: Triangle" by Peter David and features TNG-era Troi (a lower quarter portrait) on the cover, a new introduction by the author, and an interview with the author by Kevin Dilmore.

"The Hand of Kahless" (Nov 2004) reprints "The Final Reflection" by the late John M Ford and "TNG: Kahless" by Michael Jan Friedman and features TNG Kahless (a lower quarter portrait) on the cover and a new introduction about the evolution of Klingons over the generations, with quotes from Marc Okrand (linguist, writer of "The Klingon Dictionary") and Dan Curry (TNG visual effects), by Terry J Erdmann.



Only the 2003 omnibuses contain facsimile signatures from the authors. The series title continued, presumably because these are books you'd present to authors for signing(?).

The omnibus for the Reeves-Stevens' "DS9: Millennium", which is not a "Signature Edition", has a bonus Allyn Gibson timeline (of the complex plots) that didn't appear in the original MMPBs. The MMPB omnibus collecting MJF's "Starfleet: Year One", which was originally serialized over a whole year, has new material and new characters. Its original chapters were divided up and blended with each other, too. The "Rihannsu saga" omnibus, "The Bloodwing Voyages", also not a SE, corrects Diane Duane's assumption that there was a second five year mission between TOS and TMP and corrects some dates and ranks. The first DS9 Relaunch omnibus, "Twist of Faith", has a new foreword by David R George III.

Although some early ads for "Odyssey", the omnibus collecting the first three Shatner/Reeves-Stevens novels about Kirk, claimed to have new linking paragraphs, the final result did not seem to include any new material.

No other Pocket ST omnibuses (to date) have new material, or I'd have bought them. :)

Seeing stars? Call a toe truck!

Ouch. I just dropped a boxed set of the first eight "Star Trek" movies on VHS on my foot. Strangely, there was no immediate pain... until I retrieved the heavy giftbox had a closer look at my injury - and saw that the corner of the box had landed right on the edge of the big toe nail on my left foot.

Now there is pain! And blood. I've applied a makeshift tight bandage with an Elastiplast and a piece of material, but I'm really not game to have another look yet.

Guess what was on the shopping list I made this morning, that I will now not be able to complete (until my housemate arrives home from a week's vacation tonight)? Yes, I needed to restock Dettol antiseptic, since the old bottle I tossed a few weeks ago was almost empty, and the last dregs had turned to jelly in the bottom of the bottle. Ick. (Mind you, at this point I'd apply 1998 vintage Dettol jelly if I could guarantee my toe will be infection free as it recovers.

I needed to shop badly. The only food in the house at the moment is a punnet of strawberries I put into a bowl of Boronia marsala this morning. I think I might just drain them now and drink the marinade.

Ouch, ouch, ouch.

I just know I'm gonna lose the nail...

(And stop looking at me that way, Jack. It might be Saturday afternoon, and beautiful weather outside, but no walkies today! For reasons that should be obvious.)

What's under the stairs?

It's been frantic at school this week: the annual Book Fair in our school library and today is the culmination, Grandparents' Day! (I'm the teacher-librarian, up to my neck in Book Fair books and overly-decorated stationery.)

I just had to share a wonderful moment from yesterday afternoon. One of the Year 1 students came racing into the library, wild-eyed - just as I was trying to slip away from the Book Fair for a quick lunchtime coffee.

"Mr McLean! Mr McLean!" he exclaimed, "There are some Bad Words out here, under the stairs."

I'd noticed some chalked arrows on the steps earlier in the day, but I hadn't thought to investigate further. Crouching down, I could see some choice four-letter words on a support beam of the stairs attached to our portable building.

"Well," I reflected. "You'll just have to make sure that you don't read them until I can get them removed."

"It's okay, Mr McLean," he said, beaming at me. "I can't read!"

(The funny thing is, he's quite a talented little reader.) It was just the release I needed towards the end of a tense day, topped off only by numerous parent visitors, getting a sneak preview of the Book Fair stock.

"My kid talks about the library all the time," several of them said. "He/she just loves coming to this library!"

Yes, enough ego-boo to get me through Grandparents' Day, I reckon.

The magic cupboard

Poor little Jack dreads what comes out of the magic cupboard. Sometimes it's doggie chocs (Yay!), sometimes worming medicine, sometimes itch tablets, and sometimes Puppy Milk - or liver sprinkles to put on his morning puppuccino.

This week, I've been pulling out my own treats from the same cupboard: contents of several showbags from the Royal Easter Show. Wicked! My resistance is low. No such thing as a half-empty packet!

Today, I headed into the city for a lunchtime meeting of Sydney's blogging community at Star Bar. Five of us turned up this time - improved from the last meeting, certainly, but still not very representational of the whole membership list.

However...

Sunday's magic number: 91.3 - Yay! Doing okay. Not much progress, but still stable.

Earth Hour '08

Earth Hour

School libraries leading learning: Day 2

The alarm clock was again set to go off at 6:00 am and, of course, I was awake - wide awake - at 4:20 am. Ross Todd's advice from yesterday was still ringing through my brain.

Nothing to do except turn on my computer, dig through all my hand-scrawled notes from Circle Time evaluations of last year’s Kindergarten wiki fables project, and add them to the new wiki page I intended to use in my presentation today.

Of course, now that I'm home I realise exactly which bits of my material I should have used yesterday (my ten-minute segment of a 70-minute panel), when the captive audience was huge. I also should have started off the panel talk on the Saturday with a reading of my favourite student-written fable. But I'd been so focused on using it to kick off my tutorial today (a one-hour session), which was in a comparatively tiny room, and a much smaller group. Sigh...

Why is it always so clear the day after the event?

School libraries leading learning: Day 1

I set the alarm for 6.00am this morning, fully intending to swing past the school, on my way to the railway station to attend the first day of School Libraries Leading Learning, the NSW State Conference of ASLA and the Department of Education and Training.

To my horror, it was still pitch dark outside. Little Jack looked at me, quite bewildered, and wanted to refuse the only chance he’d have to relieve himself, and I eventually decided to phone in the last-minute instructions to my replacement in the school library. By sheer luck, it wasn’t a heavy teaching load day; much of her day was to be spent policing the preview browsing of the annual Book Fair, which starts in earnest next week.

Follow the link above to find out how the day went.

Dreamland arrives

I forgot to mention that my personalized, autographed copy of Dreamland, a new musical-for-CD by Brent Spiner and Maude Maggart, arrived last week. (Check the great Youtube clip in the above link.)

I'm playing the CD at the moment, and it's delightful! Lots of well-known songs, strung together with new, fun dialogue. Highly recommended! (I can't say too much about the plot without spoiling it.)

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of receiving this CD was when I noticed that the green US Customs Declaration sticker, affixed to the padded postbag, had also been signed... by Brent Spiner!

This CD may get played as often as "Ol' Yellow Eyes Is Back" did in 1991. Brent's first CD of show tunes has become quite a rarity (both publishers went defunct, leaving distribution very spotty) in Star Trek fandom, and it consistently fetches amazing prices on eBay. I've had my copy of that since its first week of release, when Richard Arnold brought a small batch of the very first copies to a Brisbane Star Trek convention.

My Easter pilgrimage

Not counting the religious significance of the holiday, somehow it never seems like Easter Down Under without a trip to Sydney's Royal Easter Show. Due to my ongoing dieting attempts, there has been a noticeable shortage of chocolate temptations around the house this year - although the supermarkets really seemed to go overboard this year. (I haven't checked, but I'm anticipating lots of cut-price chocolate Easter goodies to be offered this week. Resist, I must.)

Some years I've attended the Show with friends, and sometimes I've given it a miss altogether, but I often feel like I've missed out on something when I don't go at all, so I took myself today. It was a glorious day for it and, while the attendance seemed high, it never really felt claustrophobic, except for some of the bargain areas of the Showbag Pavilion.

Nothing much to report. I make a point of watching Shane St James, the hypnotist, when he's at the Show - always good for a laugh - and a brisk tour through all the commercial stalls and the arts, crafts and bakery displays is essential.

I didn't really pick up any bargains of note, although I did stock up on some packets of Bondi Chai Latte Tea, my current fascination in beverages. Yummo.

It's times like the Show, the Zoo, and toy stores at Christmas, that I get wistful that all four of Uncle Ian's nieces and nephews spent most of their childhoods in Queensland. Sigh...

The glorious weather held until my return train approached Penrith Station - and thus I got to trudge home in a raging thunderstorm.

Happy Easter from Happy Tree Friends

I hadn't heard of these bizarre little guys until a few years ago when the action figures of the TV show started turning up in the comics & collectibles shops. I noticed this link to Youtube on Kelley's hilarious blog, Magneto Bold Too!



Meanwhile, my happy tree friends and I went off to Hog's Breath Cafe and the movies, to "see" the voices of Jim Carrey, Steve Carrell and Carol Burnett in the animated "Horton Hears a Who", based on the popular old picture book by Dr Seuss about the elephant who meets, and tries to save, the tiny population of a speck of dust. A lot of fun, probably funnier that "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (with live action Jim Carrey and lots of Whos), and heaps funnier than "The Cat in the Hat" (which, despite its talented cast was a big flopperoo storywise).

Sunday's magic number: 91.7 - Disappointingly higher than last week, but I guess I'm paying for the always-wonderful meal and wine at the Meat and Wine Co on Thursday night... I went for a big walk last night to equalize today's amazing Mars Bar Sundae, which was my Easter junk food treat.

Finally, I see The Lights

Over on TrekBBS, someone asked "What are your missing, or lost, episodes of Star Trek"?

For the longest time, my elusive episode of the original series was "The Lights of Zetar". I'd heard it wasn't too good but written by Lamb Chop's puppeteer Mum, Shari Lewis(!). Finally, it was advertised as airing on a Sunday afternoon in the 80s, when a group of diehard "Star Trek" fans were committed to dressing in Starfleet uniform to sell food at a "Doctor Who" function that was being filmed for a TV news segment. (The TV journalist was very impressed that I'd gone to the trouble of Andorian makeup - blue makeup, white hair, blue antennae - in addition to my red Starfleet shirt.)

I set up the VCR and we ventured off for the big event. We finished much earlier than expected and I arrived home, with me still dressed as an Andorian - but with just minutes to spare before the episode began its broadcast. Since I was now home to watch (and tape it), I had to switch tapes to my commercials-free version, and line up the new tape at its proper place. A frantic few moments, which my parents thought was quite hilarious and quite unnecessary. Breathlessly, I collapsed into a chair just as the episode started.

Suddenly, a carload of unexpected relatives arrived: my brother, his wife, her parents, I think, and perhaps even my sister-in-law's sister!

My mother let them all in, and was asking who wanted tea and coffee, just as the camera on TV was panning the dead researchers of Memory Alpha - and there were two dead Andorians lying on the floor! Now, I'd read the "Star Trek Concordance" many times, but Bjo Trimble had never mentioned there were Andorians in that episode! So I was getting quite excited and animated.

My relatives, who knew I was an avid fan, just stood there, shaking their heads sadly.

"We knew he liked 'Star Trek'," they said, "but we had no idea he got dressed up just to watch the episodes..."


Dead Andorians and Tellarites at Memory Alpha

On the Warpath

I finally finished the David Mack's "Star Trek" novel, "Deep Space Nine: Warpath" yesterday. It was great!

I have a few regrets; try as I did to remain spoiler free for this novel (published April 2006), things kept bobbing up on the Internet message boards that led me to guess several major plot twists and resolutions, and I really wish I'd been able to read the whole thing before ever seeing the great "flip book" cover for the upcoming, twice-delayed, "DS9: Fearful Symmetry", because lots more events in "Warpath" may have taken me by surprise.

Also, I regret that I took so long to read such a fast-paced book. This would have been amazing to devour over the first weekend of its release, stopping only for meal breaks. But I so rarely get time to do that with a ST novel ("Star Trek: The Motion Picture" and "ST III: The Search for Spock" novelizations; "The Entropy Effect"; "Andor: Paradigm"; "Gateways: Cold Wars"; "New Frontier: Stone and Anvil", to name a few).

I very much enjoyed the Prynn/Vaughn stuff. Prynn Tenmei has really grown as a character through "Paradigm" and now "Warpath". She's one dynamic, resilient, loyal gal! Also, I really liked the storytelling possibilities that made the chapters I came to think of as "Dreams of a Jem'Hadar" so much fun. I also appreciated David Mack's addition of some Andorian cameos.

Hey, if they'd ever made a movie of this novel, poor Nana Visitor (Kira Nerys) would have been exhausted! And you'll have to read the book to find out why.

Great stuff, David!

RIP (again?) Sydney Webloggers?

The Sydney Webloggers Meetup Group was supposed to be meeting last night, at the delightful ArtHouse Hotel's attic room in the CBD. Eight people had RSVPed "Yes" (plus one "Maybe") through the website, I'd sent out several reminders, and had several phone calls groveling with the ArtHouse staff to please, please, please find us a spare corner in their fully-booked Attic.

Yesterday afternoon, I had a 50 minute train trip into the city (cost $10), arrived 15 minutes early (as suggested by the Meetup site), and patiently waited half an hour before I actually found someone to talk to. (Thanks Neerav for turned up, especially since he'd actually changed his RSVP during the day when he realised he might well get caught up at work, and it was only a fluke he could make it after all.) Then a 60 minute trip home. If any Webloggers arrived after 8.20pm (for a 7pm meeting) then they missed us as, by then, Neerav and I were walking disappointedly to Central Station.

The last ArtHouse attic meeting, I told the staff I was expecting fifteen people and we got six. The last Bloggers coffee shop Meetup attracted only four people. Note that I scheduled yesterday's meeting for a Wednesday night, rather than Thursday, based on member suggestions; people had complained that Thursdays weren't good for them.

What does it say about my social life, that I actually keep a date free to meet with people I assumed were interested in meeting a fellow blogger? Maybe I'd have had more luck going home instead, to play on the Internet?

It's embarrassing when I sell my soul to the devil convincing the ArtHouse to sneak us into the only (busy) room they're allowed to take bookings for after 5pm - with me telling them I have confirmed RSVPs for at least eight people (which I did), and then the barman sees me taking up room for eight people and drinking alone. That's happened twice now. Each time I was so confident I had the meeting under control, but I end up looking like a dork. And a liar.

Most of my feedback told me that bloggers are highly unlikely to travel too far from the CBD if they've been at work all day, and a lot of the members seem to work in the CBD. They also tell me they have "family responsibilities" on weekends. I'm not sure I want to investigate suburban bars and restaurants on the off-chance that some bloggers might turn up when they're not playing weekend sport, or working overtime, or spending time with their kids. (I can just see me travelling off to some suburb I've never visited before, to sit in another strange bar or coffee shop... waiting for nobody again.) Please do think of me sitting by myself at the next meeting. I'll be easy to find; I'll be the one not at home writing my blog.

I'm getting very good at this, you know. I've recently had sketch group meetings for eight confirmed attendees - at which there were no models and only one artist, ie, me. And I've sat in restaurants at a table for 15 people, apologising to the waiters that we "seem to only have five people after all and yes, you can take away the other ten chairs because I can see that every other section of your restaurant is fully booked and we look like greedy, lying idiots".

I think I blame mobile phones. People seem to be way too spontaneous now that they can get distracted from keeping an appointment on their way to said appointment. Mind you, even if they do call me to cancel ten minutes before they're due to arrive, it still doesn't help me explaining the situation to the place that had kept my booking for me.

Will these Meetups survive? I think I'm beyond caring.

Happy Harmony Day

Happy Harmony Day

'Tis the day to wear orange and consider... world harmony. Bill the Cat seemed fairly incongruous in today's hat parade at school but - hey! - at least he was orange!

Happy St Patrick's Day

To be sure, to be sure.

Even though she wasn't of Irish descent, my grandmother Jessie made a point of wearing green - and carrying her leprechaun charm - on St Patrick's Day, which was also her birthday.

A blog entry in the hand is worth two elephant books online, or some such proverb

It's been a busy week, but I haven't been too motivated to blog (here). I think it's probably because I'm blogged out, spending a chunk of every work day jointly-constructing numerous blog entries with Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2 at primary school) on a blog format with our current book rap: on the picture book, Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox & Julie Vivas. And helping to moderate other entries. And designing wiki pages to go with them.

The quality of the students' answers has been very exciting! The blog format and the wiki pages, are working out very well, and the ability for the moderators to edit out errors in posts - never possible on a listserv - means that we can model better examples for the students.

Predicting what the next few years will bring for the so-called "Generation Web 2.0" is almost impossible. Tomorrow's school students will have such a different outlook on technology and its possibilities than their teachers, or even their older siblings. I'm guessing all homework will be completed (and marked) online, once every student is assumed to have home Internet access. Heaven help those who never get it...

This week, the Internet, Google, Wikipedia and online shopping all came in handy to help me track down an old classic Australian picture book, "Jessie the Elephant: Her Story" by WM Fleming (New Century Press, 1939), the true tale of one of Taronga Park Zoo's icons, who gave elephant rides from 1883 to 1938.

Actually, I managed to find two copies, in different online stores, on the same day. I had missed the first copy by a matter of days, I was informed, but there was a similarly priced one at another site. I shall explain later why I need it, but I'm rather excited about finding it, especially when I found a few on overseas sites for a lot more!



Sunday's magic number: 90.8 - Well, speaking of elephants, I've mastered the art of staying the same mass for a whole month. Obviously, I will be much happier to see a downward procession of numbers again, but I am going to have to change more things about my weekly routines to make that happen. If I go back to that fateful day when my mass was 104kg a few years ago, then I can grin and say, "Hey, I lost over 13 kg!" (In fact, I've now lost that amount twice in recent years, having let most of my loss creep back on in just a few months early last year.)

On the other hand, I can think back to the very first time I went on the "Fat Free Forever" diet in the mid 90s - when I started at 90.2 and got down to 75kg. Sigh. It was so much easier then.

I'm not messy, my cupboard just backed up!

So says the fridge magnet my mother sent me a few years ago. (She knows me too well. But she should talk. She turned my old bedroom into an ironing room when I left home in the 80s.)

I'm still swimming in unboxed junk since everything on the bedroom and lounge room floors got moved into the family room so that the floor coverings in the carpeted rooms could be steam cleaned recently, prior to the arrival of the new lounge suite. (Now quite some time ago.) It was the first time in seven years for the steam clean effect - the previous owner had them steam cleaned annually. Ooopsie.

The contractor had to go out to his van at least three times... to clear his hose of matted white Jack Russell terrier fur. He kept shaking his head; the dog's hairs are barely visible from eye level, but plenty numerous as they clogged up his equipment. He wrote in the "Comments" section of the invoice: "Many hairs from the Jack".

Onedayrealsoon I must fire up the courage to box up all this stuff and... hide it again. Before it gets covered in dog hair. Again.

Wicked pedia

Judy O'Connell's recent post about students and Wikipedia reminded me that there was a very funny post about Wikipedia a few months ago, on a teacher-librarians' listserv, whereby someone had found, incidentally, that some fool had sabotaged the entry on the Newcastle (NSW) Earthquake... to say that it was started by someone stamping their foot in anger.

Of course, before the first post to the listserv was barely in people's "In" boxes, someone else, a registered contributor to Wikipedia, had gone into the site to edit the entry back again. And then announced their restorative action on the listserv. Which caused more consternation because several teacher-librarians had already bookmarked (but not thought to "Save to file") a copy of the sabotaged entry to use as an example when doing explicit teaching about online research.

Slam it all you like; Wikipedia is invaluable as an orientation tool. A living, breathing, evolving encyclopedia of everything, written by people who fancy themselves as experts in areas of trivia. (Sounds like me!)

I've been know to use the wiki when I hit a topic I know nothing about, and it usually gives me at least a feel for the type of more authoritative information that is likely to be out there, beyond the Wikipedia entry. Or whether it's a more obscure topic. And when I've found topics that have rather lean (or totally wrong) information, and I know something about them, I've been known to add data myself: Number 96, The Magic Circle Club, Luna Park Sydney, Star Trek, Andorians... important stuff like that. ;) Even cataloguers keep a watch on it.

Of course school and university students will be drawn to Wikipedia - like moths to a flame! The key is how we all, as researchers, use that information to keep on investigating!

Sunday's magic number: 90.6. Okay! Until just now I actually thought it was the third week in a row with no change. But it's down by 0.3. I guess that's good?

My Mego "Star Trek" movie bridge playset

Some email pals asked me about this, so I figured it was easier to put it in a blog entry:



My cool vacu-formed white plastic Mego bridge set, from "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", was bought on eBay about 1999 or 2000. They were quite rare, and I'd always coveted them.

I plan to paint it eventually. It's populated with my Mego TMP action figures and customised alien ambassadors. Several of these were also eBay purchases. I love the way it looks like the ambassadors have just walked out of the framed lobbycard.

To think I once wrote to Heroes World and had the chance to buy the aliens at these prices, but didn't complete the order:



Sigh...

Uhura's last song - for Janet

From Susan Casper, on SFF Net:
"Sorry to have to report the news that Janet Kagan died today [Saturday in US] of acute chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). She was on hospice care toward the end, but ending came fairly quickly. A small memorial service will be held at the Kagan home, next week. Please don't send flowers. I will let you know if and where charitable donations are in order."

I feel like I've lost a very good friend. I knew author Janet Kagan only through her 1985 "Star Trek" novel, "Uhura's Song", and a series of wonderfully warm and friendly emails (which I was only discussing earlier today on TrekBBS.) I know another Trek friend who'll be devastated. "Uhura's Song" was very special to many fans.

RIP, Janet.

Let's do the Time Warp again

Big day today. It was off into the city for lunch with 20 Star Trek fans at Star Bar, site of the former Planet Hollywood Sydney. A good roll up and a great venue, if kept a little too dark and moody. Maybe they keep the lights low so you can't notice that most of the showbiz memorabilia that used to be on display was dismantled years ago. Our table was underneath the huge, central, metal rotunda that was part of the staging of a naked Sylvester Stallone's resurrection from cryogenic freezing, a key scene from "Demolition Man".

Then it was off, on foot, to Pancakes at the Rocks (at Darling Harbour, confusingly) and then onwards to Star City Casino to see the latest revival of "The Rocky Horror Show".

Thoroughly enjoyable! I really enjoyed the performances, staging and costumes. Different enough to previous productions to be fresh and interesting, but plenty of nostalgia-stirring memories of previous renditions. Highly recommended. And yay iOTA, John Waters and Sharon Millerchip! Excellent work!

Sunday's magic number: 90.9 - level pegging with last week, meaning that yesterday's sausage roll for lunch, and last night's pizza restaurant meal, counted as a successful Junk Food Day treat.

The tail end of the tale

I've only just discovered the wonderful (just ended) blog of Mike the human and Bondi the Alaskan Malamute, el Loco & el Lobo, who have just returned from an epic journey of 2.5 years roaming Europe and UK together.

While I'm disappointed to have found their adventures only once it was all over, I've barely scratched the surface of reading about their shared experiences. I've travelled with my Jack Russell to Queensland, Victoria and many parts of New South Wales, but it hadn't crossed my mind that international travel with a dog was even possible, let along viable. With planning, Bondi only needed to spend one month in quarantine when they returned!

What really topped the week was meeting Mike last night! I was invited to my third Thursday night bloggers' meeting in three weeks - and Mike was there, relating tales of Bondi in person! (Poor ol' Bondi wasn't allowed into the beer garden.) It kinda felt like meeting a celebrity. I'd known of Mike and Bondi's blog for less than 24 hours but I felt an immediate sense of camaraderie, and it was great fun to listen to his stories firsthand.

Jack would love to meet Bondi, being very familiar with two local malamutes who flop above the rim of their fence to watch Jack and me walking by their yard every day.

Thanks Andrew for the invitation. It was a great night with some fascinating blogging personalities!

The modern slideshow

Ever gone to one of those awful "slide nights" when you were a kid? Some neighbour would invite your whole family over to see slides of their family holiday to... wherever. And the slide projector always developed a fault, or blew a globe. Or someone would spill the box of slides, or the screen would be blank and someone would make those tired old jokes about the white screen representing a snowman in a blizzard.

May I present the modern slideshow, which I'm using as a teaching tool in my job as a teacher-librarian. I Photoshop and upload the photos to the Internet from home, select them as a group for a slideshow, and design lessons around the use of the images (that have no copyright problems).

My first three Flickr slideshows have proven to be very useful. But I learned something very exciting yesterday: when the mouse is dragged across the middle of the frame, a large "i" icon appears. I assumed this meant "information" but I never thought to test it. Children don't seem to have that lack of impulse to click a button; thus I discovered that my photo titles and description, in white text, superimpose the photos at the click of a mouse! Simple, but effective. Technology makes adults feel dumb sometimes!

Chinese New Year K-2
Bridges - Stage Two (Years 3 & 4)
Antarctica - Stage Three (Years 5 & 6)

Catching up with Aunty Pat

Today's plan (for several weeks now) was a sketch group gathering in Sydney's Botanical Gardens. Even if there'd been a shortage of live human models (and there threatened to be), the Gardens are filled with plenty of life-size statues. It turned out to be a glorious day for it, but unfortunately coincided with the arrival of two huge ocean liners, Queen Victoria and the QE II, in Sydney Harbour - and the media encouraging everyone to go and check 'em out, again. Ick! So much for the usual tranquility of the Gardens on a Sunday.

Yesterday, my aunt suggested I meet her in Bondi Junction instead, so I piked out on sketching (only three others of about eighteen people had RSVPed anyway, much to my disappointment) and had a great day catching up on family gossip. I scored a late Christmas present, too; a great polo shirt with white sides that will have a wonderful optical illusion slimming effect!

Speaking of which:

Sunday's magic number: 90.9 - slightly up on last week, but one of the students' parents from school presented the staff with a record-breaking, huge Black Forest cake on Monday. So all my diet promises for last Monday lasted from 8.00 am till exactly 11.20am. Sigh.

However, it was about this time last year that I began a six-month stint of denial, ie. refusing to check the scales each week, resulting in me putting back on about eleven kilograms and ruining about a years work of dieting. So I'm sorta excited I'm holding steady.