hopesdead

If you have not seen this documentary, you now have no excuse. Go watch it.

In “The Ultimate Computer”, the duotronic M-5 computer was deemed a failure which sent its creator Richard Daystrom into a nervous breakdown. Not only did Daystrom experience psychological distress (probably the most polite way to describe it), but was responsible for a machine that killed upwards of 53 people.

Why would a person responsible for the invention of a computer that unintentionally killed (unintentionally as in, not ordered to do so) get their name enshrined? Is there anything to explain why such a troubled person that ended up killing others in a quest to eliminate the risk of human death, would inspire anyone to name an organization after them?

EDIT: I need to add some complicating facts to this. “Chose Your Pain” (DIS season 1 episode 5) gives Daystrom Institute a founding date of 2256, which is before TOS. So based on comments, likely the duotronic computer is why the name was picked.

William Shatner will be touring the U.S. from July 30-November 16 (he is already scheduled to appear at STLV, so a lack of August dates). He is screening Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan with a Q & A.

Does anyone have experience attending an event of this type or specifically a Shatner centric event? Would you recommend attending this? I have an opportunity to go to one of the tour dates. A single general ticket is $64.70

So last week for my birthday, I went to Universal Studios for Fan Fest Nights. You can read all about it here.

I had a question that I wonder if it could be answered: how long would a trip from Earth to Vulcan be? The walking attraction Red Alert starts off at Spaceport Los Angeles which advertises shuttles to various places, one of them being Vulcan. According to NASA, Vulcan is 16.5 light years away. Can the length of this trip be calculated? I couldn’t find much information on Type 14 shuttlecraft featured in Picard season 3. Memory Alpha simply says they can go high warp speed.

I found this website that does warp speed calculations but I don’t know if it is accurate.

It is a Displate poster of the Enterprise NCC-1701-D senior crew. This was unexpected. I only see this person in passing for an hour before I leave (they work overnight). Trekkies really are great people.

Also the card they got is of Kirk with stickers inside.

If you want to see a better quality image of the artwork (the poster is metal), here is a link to the Displate website.

Sharing my photo of me at Vasquez Rocks that I mentioned in a different post.

Looks much smaller in person. Didn’t get a chance to get upclose. I was cutting it close on time to make it to Universal Studios Hollywood for Fan Fest Nights (it was a 2 hour drive in stop and go traffic for me).

But um, yay! I got to see the Famous Rock (the formation featured throughout Trek). There is another formation called Witch’s Hat (for looking like a witch’s hat).

So I wanted to start off by saying, yesterday was my birthday, the reason I chose to go on the second to last night of Fan Fest Nights. Earlier in the day I drove out to Vasquez Rocks (approximately 40 miles from Universal Studios). It was such an amazing night.

For those unaware, Fan Fest Nights is a new (first year) after hours event at Universal Studios Hollywood celebrating fandoms. Specific to the event, not preexisting were: Star Trek, Dungeon & Dragons, Back to the Future (the backlot had the entire Hilly Valley town square built for the event), One Piece, and Jujutsu Kaisen. This event included themed walking attractions (aka shows), characters (photo ops), food, drinks, and merchandise.

For Star Trek we got Red Alert a walking attractions that emulated the attraction from Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas years ago. Red Alert set in 2403, where you travel from Spaceport Los Angeles to Athan Prime to visit the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D (featuring the actual bridge set from Picard season 3) located at the Fleet Museum. Depending on when you went during the night, different actors/aliens would be seen. Among the species were Human, Trill, Bajoran, Andorian, Vulcan, Orion and one I couldn't name (I swear was Elaysian but didn't make sense due to gravity). At certain points actors would look for guest wearing Picard era uniforms (like myself) and ask them to check their Combadge.

Aside from Red Alert, the park featured Quark's Cafe for themed food and beverage and Ten Forward for additional alcoholic beverages. I had a Cardassian Dog, Vulcan Fritters and Bajoran Hasperat (I forgot to get a photo of the hasperat since it wasn't available when they opened for general admission). As for the beverages I had a Orion Hurricane (real delaq not included) from Quark's and Ceti Eel Margarita at Ten Forward (gummy eels in it).

I bought myself one piece of merch, Ceti Eel earrings. I need to get my right ear pierced now.

The video linked is my recording of Red Alert.

This recipe comes from once again The Star Trek Cookbook by Chelsea Monroe-Cassel. The best part of this recipe is getting to pick your own seeds and cheese!

This box and toy itself are showing its age. The view screen is hard to rotate, the battery compartment has erosion (but no batteries), the strap is very short. I wanted this all for the looks (cosplay), till the day I might be able to purchase The Wand Company’s Tricorder (probably never at this point; 😕).