"Would You Like To Go To Mars?"

Well, now you can. NASA wants you to send your name on a CD-ROM to Mars. This disc will accompany the Mars 2001 Surveyor Lander, when it begins its journey to the Red Planet in April of that year. If you want to be involved in a part of human history, all you need to do is drop in at the NASA website and sign up now. It's not only fun, it's also free. Way to go NASA! Now can you please just build me a TARDIS?

"What Do You Meany It's Too Late?"

As an avid science fiction fan I am a member in a number of different fan clubs and groups. Just recently I ran across a fan club for one of my favorite Star Trek actors, Colm Meany, called "Temporal Mechanic." I was really excited to have found this little gem of information and raced home immediately to find out more, only to be greeted with the disheartening news that his fan club had disbanded. How sad.

"What To Chase"

After finding out about "Temporal Mechanic", I ran across another little gem of a fan club (just over a hundred strong). This one belongs to the very beautiful and talented actress Chase Masterson. Her fan club's website is well maintained and is quite interesting. Later that week I actually got a look at one of their newsletters, "D'abo." It made for some very good reading, and I would highly recommend joining or just checking out their website at . I can tell you that I'm joining. I hope you do too!

"The Pipes Of MacCrimmon"

In the past, piping was taken very seriously by the Scots. Each clan had its own full-time piper, who didn't fight in the wars or do any manual labor, although he showed great bravery by leading the soldiers into battle. The art of teaching the pipes has always been associated with the MacCrimmon's, the hereditary pipers of the Clan MacLeod of Dunvegan Castle. Patrick Mor MacCrimmon established a unique piping school at Boreaig on the shores of Loch Dunvegan, attended by students from far and wide for hundreds of years. He would write down a simple tune on the wet sand of the beach as the tide began to ebb, and expect his hard-working students to play it faultlessly before the tide came in.

The harmonies of traditional pipe music can be haunting. This is reflected in their titles, such as "The Flowers of the Forest", "The Massacre of Glencoe", MacCrimmon Will Never Return" and the tragic "Lament for the Children", which MacCrimmon wrote after seven of his eight children died of fever brought to Dunvegan by a ship home from the East. MacCrimmon and his successors held their lands rent-free from the Clan Chieftains, and he always insisted on a boy carrying his pipes before him wherever he decided to go.

Just thought you Jamie McCrimmon fans would find that interesting. (Different spelling, but interesting nonetheless.)

"Author & Creator Jill Sherwin?"

Yes, believe it or not, it is true. Jill Sherwin, author of the book "Quotable Star Trek", has not only put together a great reference guide to Trek's wonderful gift of gab, but she has now unleashed on the science fiction world the most exciting new drinking trivia game in the galaxy--"Quotable Bar Trek". I attend quite a few science fiction functions here in the South Bay area of Southern California, and have been lucky enough to participate in 3 such competitions to date, and look forward to playing again and again. A fun way to socialize with others, and at the same time stay sharp on your Star Trek knowledge. One person reads a quote from the book, and another person has to guess who said that line. If you get it right the game continues, if you miss it you drink. For the real diehard fans, you have to name the episode the quote came from as well, and for you teetotalers out there it can be played without the alcohol and be just as fun. If you haven't tried it yet, do so in the near future. You will enjoy yourself very much. Thank you Jill Sherwin for not only writing a great reference book, but for also giving us a greater way to relax. The book can be found in most bookstores. Buy one today, no make that two. "Drink long and pass out", or is that "Live long and prosper"? I can never remember.

"As Far As I'm Concerned, TNT Doesn't Equal Dynamite"

Well, well, well, now we come to the Turner Network Television portion of our information page. Boy, won't this be fun. (Heavy on the sarcasm!) I'm not big on negativity or criticism, but the Turner Network has gone out of its way to annoy me. I am an avid watcher of TNT, and enjoy many of their programs, but any network that would prematurely cancel a new show in which the first season episodes are already the quality of any 4th or 5th year program, well, that's a network who seriously needs some help in its Programming Department. The show I speak of is "Crusade", and its cast, although new to the Babylon universe, is excellent from top to bottom.

Now as to the specifics of the falling out and eventual cancellation of Crusade, I will not go into them here. But I would appreciate it if you would. So I am asking all of you out there to write in, email or call the Turner Network, (I'm doing all three) and let them know how you feel about this. I can tell you I'm not very happy about the way TNT treated creator Joe Straczynski. So let's all get involved and show Mr. Turner that he's out of touch with his viewers.

Turner Network Television, 1010 Techwood Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30318
Email at: tnt@turner.com/Phone them at the TNT Viewer Comment & Question Line (404) 885-4538

Another possibility is to encourage the Sci-Fi Channel to pick up the show.
Ms. Bonnie Hammer, Senior Vice President of Programming, Sci-Fi Channel, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, F115, New York, NY 10020-1513
Stephen Chao, President of Television and Marketing, USA Networks, Inc., 152 West 57th St., New York, NY 10019

"Attention Please/A Galactic News Flash"

It was found out today that the alien lifeform known as Yoda was actually the illegitimate offspring of Kermit the Frog & Miss Piggy.

"Adventure Lies Through The Stargate"

Another of my personal favorites on the web is the Stargate SG-1 site. Especially of late, since they have just updated it with a whole slew of new things to check out. The best of these being the re-designed Interact page, which now allows you to communicate with other fans in Stargate discussions. It is a lot of fun, and you can chat with people from all over the world. Another new feature will allow you to view new images of the set, in a 360° panorama. You can also star travel to 2 different planets. Check it out, it may even interest you in the show (which by the way is a really great program).

"BobbyCon I Report"

What is BobbyCon? Well, right now it is a very small convention in the South Bay area put together by Paul Steib and Tony Dunn, that is dedicated to science fiction as a whole. The first such event took place June 19-25 1999 in Manhattan Beach, California, and was in small terms a great success. Our attendance for the first in a line of hopefully many small conventions to come was a whopping 16 people. Much fun was had by all over the week-long event. The highlights included a panel on "Star Trek -- Insurrection (#9)" hosted by sci-fi expert Mark Werner and writer Joshua Lou Friedman. A screening of the film courtesy of video room organizer Tony Dunn went well, followed by a great Q & A panel that lasted 30 minutes beyond its scheduled time. Throughout the week we were also treated to a "Land of the Giants" marathon, some really wonderful and rare episodes of "Electra Woman & Dyna Girl", and a 24-hour gaming room run by Derek Scott. On the final Friday night there was a barbecue and luau, followed by a dance. Thanks to everyone who attended. I just hope I am able to continue with this in the future, and special thanks to the 2 dealers who made up our quasi-Dealers Room. Believe it or not there were a few really good deals. I hope some of you can attend if and when BobbyCon II occurs. (Hopefully soon) Keep you posted.

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Last update: Thursday, April 4, 2002