Charles Napier Has Reached Eden Character actor Charles Napier, known for his ability to play just about any type of role, from serious military man to wacky comic goofs passed away earlier this week at the age of 75. It is hard to pinpoint the role for which he might have been best remembered, as he has appeared in so many popular films, including “Rambo: First Blood Part II,” “The Silence of the Lambs.” “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery,” and “The Blues Brothers.”</p>
For much of his career, Napier was one of those character actors that you knew you had seen somewhere before and liked, but you could not quite put your finger on it. However, that is not exactly how things started out for Napier. While he was often tapped to play authority-types, in the early part of his career he starred in a number of films made by porn director Russ Meyer. This turned out to be a blessing, as this is how he came to the attention of other directors, including John Landis and Jonathan Demme. Landis gave him one of his cult favorite roles as country singer Tucker McElroy in “The Blues Brothers.” Working with Demme, he played a variety of roles, from the guard whose face ends up as a mask for Hannibal Lecter in “The Silence of the Lambs” to an effeminate hairdresser in “Married to the Mob.”
However, Napier holds a special place in Star Trek history, as one of only a few actors to have appeared in both The Original Series and Deep Space Nine, thus appearing in two different eras of the franchise. His portrayal as Adam in The Original Series episode “The Way to Eden” is often considered one of the most memorable moments of the series, especially for the music featured, even though many dislike the episode itself.
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New Star Trek Comic Goes Where No Man Has Gone Before Recently, the first issue of the new “Star Trek” comic debuted from IDW. I had been looking forward to this new series for quite some time, especially with it being set in the 2009 movie timeline. I was hoping to see some great new stories, and see these characters come together in new and exciting ways. However, I have to say that I have mixed feelings about this series and the apparent direction they have decided to go.</p>
The first two issues are based on the classic series episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before” and the next two issues will take on “The Galileo Seven.” In an interview with TrekMovie.com, writer Mike Johnson indicated that future issues would also be based on series episodes, but that “…events will deviate more and more from the TOS versions as the new timeline evolves.” He also says that the stories in the comic series will foreshadow events we will be seeing in the next movie.
Johnson wrote a very nice treatment of this story, as least for this first issue. It stays true to the original script in most ways, while also giving us the altered character interaction necessary for this timeline. Additionally, we are starting to see deviations, such as Dr. Dehner not being part of the crew. It will be interesting to see next issue if that change has any major effect on the ending.
Remembering William Campbell A lot of actors become well known for a particular role in a series of movies or in a television show. For one to become well known and beloved for two different roles in the same franchise is not only rare, but almost unheard of. That is the unique position William Campbell held in the Star Trek Universe.
As Trelane in the original series, Campbell gave birth to a character that was, many believe, the forerunner to the legendary character Q that would appear years later in “Star Trek: The Next Generation”. Campbell displayed a quick wit and sharp delivery, combined with a dramatic flair as he appeared in various types of images as the character, from a gentleman of leisure playing a harpsichord (in an outfit you would expect Liberace to have worn) to a hanging judge, attempting to sentence Captain Kirk to be hanged by the neck.
Each of those manifestations of the character was played with such a zeal and ferociousness, it kept the viewer totally wrapped up in the episode and enthralled by the actor’s work. It also helped make the surprise ending of the episode an even greater shock.
** Free to be cross-posted to other STARFLEET related lists. IE: Regional / chapter lists. **
* As originally posted on STARFLEET-L, SFI-L, ECAB-L and SFI-ANNOUNCE-L. *
Good afternoon, STARFLEET;
As was noted in my last report, a vote was under way to vote upon chapter requirements. That vote was completed shortly after my report was sent out with all votes in favour of the chapter requirements determined by the committee.
The next item for discussion was in regards to the Corporate Officers, AKA, the STARFLEET Executive Committee.
We have been having a very good discussion in regards to various aspects of the Executive Committee, with some additional contribution to be coming later this coming weekend by one of our AB Committee Members.
At the present time, here are the points that have been established by the committee:
- The organization shall have officers - The Officers shall collectively be known as the Executive Committee (EC) - The Officers shall be: -President -Vice-President -Chief of Operations -Chief of Communications -Chief of Educational Services -Chief of Information Services -Chief Financial Officer
- The duties of these officers will be in accordance with generally accepted duties for Officers of not for profit corporations in North Carolina and elsewhere. - The Corporate Officers will be charged with the daily operations of the Organization in accordance with standard corporate practices and as further set out in the Membership Handbook. - The President and Vice President will be elected together on a slate to serve a term of three years
In regards to naming the EC, the following has been discussed:
- the President-elect proposes their proposed EC for AB confirmation (a simple majority vote); - in the event that the AB confirmation fails, the AB advises the President-elect as to the concerns with the proposed EC, wherein the President-elect revises their list and presents it to the AB for confirmation (back to the first bullet point above); - the President may terminate a member of the EC at any time for any cause; - the AB may, by super-majority vote, request that a member of the EC be terminated; - a terminated EC member may appeal their termination (whether that termination was by the President or the AB); - the Vice Chief of the EC who was terminated will serve as the Interim EC member of that department until which time as the President nominates a replacement and it is confirmed by the AB.
So, in here there are two major changes and one relatively minor change. Let's start with the explanation of the minor change.
The minor change is in regards to the naming of the departments - the Commandant of STARFLEET Academy would be known as the Chief of Educational Services, and the Chief of Computer Operations would be known as the Chief of Information Services.
The reason for this naming change is to remove as much of the Trek language from our bylaws as possible, as was advised to us by our corporate attorneys.
The first of the major changes of this that most people will immediately notice is that Shakedown Operations appears to be missing. In the discussion of the EC departments, it was felt that it may be worthwhile to combine the Shakedown Operations Department (AKA, ShOC) into the Operations Department.
The reasons behind this were:
- the two departments do very similar things, one is specific for new chapters-in-training while the others is specific to established chapters; - putting the two departments together may make things smoother for new chapters-in-training that are forming through to when they become established chapters, with less chance of something being missed in the hand-off; - to hopefully reduce some degree of confusion in regards to who to contact about starting a new chapter, who the chapters (both in-training and fully commissioned) would report to, who to contact for assistance, and the like.
The second of the major changes is in regards to the naming of EC members - one of the recommendations from our corporate attorneys was to have the AB appoint the Corporate Officers.
This has the benefit of being able to retain EC members who are doing a good job past the term that they are presently serving, as well as those who wish to be able to continue on and working within their present department.
Further, this puts some degree of control in the hands of the AB where they can request a member of the EC to be terminated if they are not doing their job appropriately.
This also puts STARFLEET into line with what other non-profit corporations similar to STARFLEET are doing in terms of naming their Corporate Officers.
That all being said, this still does allow a Commander, STARFLEET to choose his/her EC, terminate EC members who aren't working out and still choose the EC that he/she thinks will best serve STARFLEET and best be able to work together as a team.
This second major change is probably one which will be one of the more difficult ones for members who have been around for a long period of time in STARFLEET since it is somewhat of a departure from the way that we have been doing things for quite some time.
The next update from the committee should be on or about October 16th, 2009.
For those who would like to follow on in the discussions, please feel free to read the list archives at:
Position Name: Cuban Membership Amendment Committee Coordinator
Job Description: To steer a small committee that will be made up of an EC member, and AB member and three members-at-large to keep them on-track with reviewing STARFLEET's Membership Handbook and Constitution and writing recommendations for amending the STARFLEET MHB and Constitution to allow for Cubans to become members of STARFLEET.
This individual will report to the VCS and his Chief of Staff but will work in cooperation and conjunction with other committee members and the VCS Policy Advisor.
Skill Level Desired: The following are requirements / nice-to-have skills for this job:
- Must be a member-in-good-standing of STARFLEET: The International Star Trek Fan Association, Inc.; - A clear understanding of the STARFLEET Membership Handbook and Constitution; - Proven team leadership skills and/or project management skills; - Ability to politely and courteously communicate with team members; - Participation on an E-Mail list in a timely manner is an absolute must; - Appropriate time management skills.
Position Development: The position is obviously not a permanent one, meant solely to act as a coordinator of a committee that once the amendments are prepared and sent for approval to the membership, the committee will have completed its function and be dissolved, and this position with it. Timeline is the biggest concern regarding this as I'd like to have the amendments prepared and sent to the EC and AB for review by May 31, 2009, thus the Committee Coordinator and the committee participants must be able to get up-to-speed as rapidly as possible.
Deadline for applications should be received no later than January 15, 2009 for appointment shortly thereafter.
Please send applications to personnel@sfi.org with the subject line reading as "#211: Cuban Membership Amendment Committee Coordinator". Please provide your name, contact information, and state if your resumes are on file with this office or attach them to your email.
The Personnel Office will be forwarding on all applicants to me for review.
subsidize hypothermia - watch me turn blue for a good cause It's almost that time again... time for another Polar Bear Plunge at Sandy Point Park near Annapolis, Maryland for the benefit of the Maryland Special Olympics - http://www.plungemd.com . It's a cause I've personally supported for years and a cause I strongly believe in.
If you're interested in joining me in a few moments of voluntary hypothermia on Saturday, January 24th, drop me a line and we can set up a team. If not, please consider making a donation if at all possible:
Before I get started, I'd like to take a moment to wish all of our members who celebrated Thanksgiving this past Thursday a very good Thanksgiving and a good start to the holiday season. I hope that you've all enjoyed your time together with family and friends and were able to get some good deals on Black Friday.
Now, on to the update - I need to apologize for the lateness of this update. It's been a while since I last dropped a line about the Time Warner issue and given a status update.
I want to again thank James Cecil for his efforts in trying to get Time Warner's tech support to help us in regards to the problems that some of our members who are Road Runner subscribers are encountering with getting onto STARFLEET's website.
Unfortunately, we seemed to be only batting .500 with their technical and customer support when it was raised through the User Support channels - one tech and one customer support rep agreed that it was a problem on their side, while two other techs pointed the finger elsewhere - one to anti-virus software loaded onto James' laptop, another to the fact that James does not rent one of their routers.
That being said, we haven't given up and have a call in with our provider, Dreamhost, to have them pursue it from the business side as well - since they "own" the IP that the server is on, we've engaged them to contact Time Warner to try and address the problem as well.
Obviously we still don't have a long-term fix for it at this point, but for those who need a quick-fix to get information off of the STARFLEET website, we have found that the proxy work-around does function for a few people well, with the obvious exception of being able to login to the site.
We haven't given up, but we obviously have been a bit delayed as a result of Time Warner's technical staff redirecting, as well as people being off for Thanksgiving.
In addition to the network side of things, we looked at the potential of the site having some kind of rating on it which would prevent web browsers from viewing pages that were listed as "adult content" and have verified that does not appear to be the problem.
Dave Ryan, could you please drop me a note privately to let me know:
- if you're using one of Road Runner's routers; and - if you're using their anti-virus and computer security software.
Thanks in advance, Dave.
Additionally, I do want to thank those people who have stepped up and contacted myself or Matt in regards to offering to help with the database and website - I know that a few people have been in touch and offered assistance again, which I personally appreciate. If those who have volunteered haven't heard back from Matt by December 7th, please let me know and I'll do what I can to help connect you with him.
I obviously wish that I had better news for everyone in regards to the problems that people have had in getting to the website, but I do want to assure you that we haven't given up and that we are working on the problem.
I know that everyone would really like to see this said, done and fixed, and I agree with all of you, but at least some news is better than no news at all.
Finally, as we go into the holiday season, everyone's schedule is going to become increasingly busy and challenging. For those who are looking to get in touch with me through the month of December, the following dates are definitely ones where I'll be out of touch due to personal and family obligations:
- the mornings of December 6th and 7th; - the evenings of December 10th and 17th; - December 24th through 26th; - December 31st through January 1st.
I'll still be somewhat around, but will otherwise be in classes or with family and friends - I can still be contacted in an emergency, but hope that you'll understand if I'm delayed in getting back to you.
Just wanted to give you a quick update as to what's happening with the 404 problem that is being experienced on the STARFLEET website for people who are on Time Warner's Road Runner internet service.
I received an E-Mail this morning from James Cecil of the USS Commonwealth letting me know that after reading my E-Mail from earlier this week, he took the liberty of contacting Time Warner's tech support through their Chat Support line.
James tells me that from that session Time Warner confirmed that the 404 issue is on their side of things and that the Tech Support Representative provided him with a phone number and a ticket number to provide when he calls the telephone support team.
We're obviously not out of the woods with this yet, but we at least have Time Warner becoming aware of the problem and they may be willing to move forward in correcting their issue.
In regards to David's note about the 405 Programming error after using the proxy, it's entirely possible that, for whatever reason, the proxy server that he connected to may not be passing through all of the information to/from the STARFLEET website which could result in that 405 Programming Error. That's not completely unheard of when dealing with proxy servers.
> On Thu, Nov 13, 2008 at 6:15 AM, <starfleet-l-request@fleetlist.org> wrote: > > Message: 6 > Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:14:35 EST > From: Larry Neigut > Subject: [SFI] what's up with the web site? > To: starfleet-l@fleetlist.org > > how long will it be unavailable?
I think that Sean (Niemeyer) has already covered it off as being noted by Matt Moyer as a problem with Time Warner's Road Runner service, but I'm not 100% sure whether or not it's an actual problem with the website, a module or something else entirely.
For those who haven't already heard, we are trying to track the problem and determine how widespread it is so that we can address it with the appropriate support teams, ISP's, whatever the case might be so that we can find a way to universally fix the problem.
One thing that I thought of that might be able to help us determine whether it is a specific network segment related issue with an ISP, or if it is a browser specific issue is to configure your web browser to use a proxy server to route your web browsing traffic through. This might help us to isolate it somewhat.
What a proxy server does is to allow your web browser to use a third-party server as a relay. Essentially you'd be telling your web browser to send web page requests up to a third-party server, that third-party server goes out and gets the web pages for you from the site that hosts them and then your web browser pulls it down from that third-party server and displays them on your screen.
I've found a decent one that doesn't seem to work too critically slow. The information is as follows:
Proxy Server Address: 129.82.12.188 Proxy Server Port: 3124
It displays a brief message to you about not abusing their system, etc, etc, but it worked for me when I used it to surf over to STARFLEET's web site.
If you are experiencing problems getting to STARFLEET's web site and you try this, please drop us a line at the Help Desk and let us know if it works as this may help us narrow down the problem somewhat.
That all being said, I'm not 100% sure if news has travelled out or not in regards to recent events about EC family issues.
It was my understanding that Matt Moyer had pretty much finished up the project at work and that life was going to be returning to some degree of normality relatively soon when he had two separate issues at home, one specifically with his grandmother - she had fallen down the stairs and was in critical condition in the hospital. Unfortunately, Matt's grandmother later passed away.
As a result, Matt is presently dealing with some family issues and is obviously out of the office at this time. Many of you have already been very patient with Matt during his absence due to work related issues, but I ask that you continue to be patient with him as he deals with this family tragedy.
Also, please be aware that Sal is also presently out of the office as a result of family issues - his mother is presently in the hospital and he is attending to that with his family through the remainder of this week and this weekend and hopefully will see his return to the office on Monday.
Of course we aren't in any way sure how things are going to turn out, but we do wish our best to both Sal and to Matt during these very troubling times.
StarFleet Academy The good old SFA has been quite entertaining for me, and quite helpful in ensuring I know the material of the SFI handbook, rules and regulations. I love being able to take a course online, either with their FAC option or through e-mail. It's quick and easy, and means I have saved both paper and personal funds; okay, so it's not much, but when you're between jobs (as I am), penny pinching ends up required at times.
But what I'm amazed at is how few of the SFI and SFMC members actually participate in taking SFA's courses except for the select few that the Association says are a must to run a ship, become an effective regional coordinator or achieve those higher ranks and positions within STARFLEET. Yes, OTS and OCC will teach you where to find certain things that every good STARFLEET member should be aware of, and what sort of things are a requirement for running a ship, or being a part of such a wonderful, impressive organization. And FOS is a remarkably insightful source for testing your knowledge of those things, and expanding upon it with the related materials that every Flag Officer should know by heart.
But when you're a good fan, who doesn't want to be an expert on the Q Continuum or Tribbles? Why wouldn't you take the leadership courses, even if you aren't planning on being an officer; isn't it in your best interest to know how the organization works that you support by being a card-carrying member of and paying money to? For those of you who participate in air-soft, paintball or lazer-tag games, why wouldn't you want to learn more from the Strategy and Tactics exams? And bringing more friends in for the fun is all part of recruiting, why not take the recruitment exam to help generate new and better ways to get those last hold-out types to signing on as members of the club you participate in being a part of?
I've had no end of fun with the courses I've studied. I've found myself amazed at the amount of things I've been able to not only increase my existing knowledge and heighten my previous skills with, but also been able to learn all new things to amaze potential employers. I continue to wow my friends; and even influence complete strangers into taking a different look at things, too, with the new discoveries I've made through not only SFI as a whole, but from what I've learned by doing more with the SFA in particular too.
So, my question remains, why aren't more of the SFI members taking advantage of this wonderful tool that's been offered?
Mara Yoresh: 1970-2008 Pardon. I would just like to mention the passing of one of the founding members of the USS Justice, Region 7. Below is a link to my blog:
For Those Interested We are in the beginning stages of launching a new ship (going to send in our ShOC paperwork in a couple more days) and have begun posting in a new community we set up, here in Live Journal. I'll be trying to keep it updated, so if you wish to check on it, here's the link.
(CNN) -- Author Arthur C. Clarke, whose science fiction and non-fiction works ranged from the script for "2001: A Space Odyssey" to an early proposal for communications satellites, has died at age 90, associates have said.
I know he and other great thinkers like him will be sorely missed. There's something special about people like Clarke and I fear we're losing our futurist shamans. Makes you wonder...
Yup, we're doing it again... On January 26, 2008, I have committed to grin and “bear” it for the athletes of Special Olympics Maryland by taking a chilly dip into the Chesapeake Bay alongside about 7,500 other warm-hearted people. It's cold as the ninth plane of Hell but it's a good time for a good cause.
If you want to learn more about this wacky winter event, visit http://www.plungemd.com to find out all the chilly details. Think warm thoughts for me at January 26 approaches. I will do my best to “Be the Bear” and make my supporters proud!
Thank you!!!
Click this link to visit my personal web page and help me in my efforts to support Special Olympics Maryland.
Football anyone? With the NFL season comimg up fast, marco235 and I have started our Yahoo! Fantasy Football league again. We have three spots left if anyone is interested in joining. The league number is 199154 and the password is forthegoodofthegame. Spots are first come first served so sign up quick. Draft is on Friday. Hope to see you there!
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