HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: MLINDROOS@finabo.abo.fi (Marcus Lindroos INF)
Subject: Re: Federation boundaries (WAS:How fast really?)
Organization: Abo Akademi University, Finland
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 09:18:36 GMT
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.23

In <1992Nov12.220307.24829@clark.edu> gsnow@clark.edu writes:

> In article <1992Nov10.123151.5440@abo.fi> MLINDROOS@finabo.abo.fi (Marcus Lindroos INF) writes:
> >
> >2) In "Heart of Glory," Riker says that they have to wait two days for
> >Starfleet Headquarters (San Francisco?) to respond. They were close to the
> >neutral zone in that episode. 
> >If "Where no One Has Gone Before" is to be believed, subspace
> >signals need about fifty years to travel 2.7 million ly.. Again, the neutral
> >zone is some 150ly. from Earth.
> 
> 2,700,000 lys / 50 yrs / 365 days * 2 days = 295.89 lys

Exactly, divide this distance by two and you have the correct distance. The
message sent by the Enterprise needed one day to reach Earth, the answer from
Starfleet would need another day to reach the neutral zone.
 
> Gary

MARCU$

> 
> -- 
> -----
> Gary Snow
> uunet!clark!gsnow  or  gsnow@clark.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.tech
From: lcotton@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Leeroy F Cotton)
Subject: Re: The Next Class of Starship...?
Keywords: beyond galaxy....
Organization: The Ohio State University
 <rawdon.721811178@cs.wisc.edu>
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 05:05:02 GMT

There are a few hints that all is not well with the Federation. At the very
least, its vigor is not at the same level as in TOS times. Consider the
examples of corruption or misuses of power that we see. A starfleet admiral
uses refugees (forget their ethnicity) as pawns in an under the table deal with
Cardassians (Ensign Ro eps.?) with the intent of increasing his own personal
power. Kinda reminiscent of a corrupt Roman general on the border of the empire
cutting a deal with the Visigoths.....
     The "high inquisitor" admiral that almost railroaded Picard is another
example. Wonder how many good officers and servicefolk lost their careers at
her whim? Then there's the matter of the infiltration of High Command officers
by the arthropod-like parasites. This is an indirect example of decline in
Federation leadership (Starfleet plays a vital role in the Federation's
prosperity) because they way in which Starfleet command was so easily coopted
suggests vulnerability in the command structure. Ok, this is not the strongest
of points.
     By the way, if the Federation is suffering from a little rot, so are its
neighbors: the Klingon and Romulan empires. They, too, have their share of
structural kinks.......i.e. civil wars and dissident movements.
     Now, about this economy issue: I'm not sure about the role of Marxist
philosophy in the economy but we know they don't control or manipulate the
means of production the way we do now (stocks, bonds). There doesn't seem to be
room for Merrill Lynch   :-)  . Does this make for a bad economy? Don't know
here but a lot of it seems to work on this basis of technological might. Kind 
of like a post post-industrial economy.Heck, if the technology's good enough 
even a command economy has a small chance of making it because coordinating 
information for supply decisions based on demand  assessments is theoretically 
possible. 
     But hey! they know how to rebuild a fleet fast! Whoo boy! What 
productivity....


Lee Cotton
lcotton@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.tech
From: happy@garfield.catt.ncsu.edu (Rusty Soots)
Subject: Re: The Next Class of Starship...?
Keywords: beyond galaxy....
Organization: Computer and Technologies Theme Program, NCSU, Raleigh
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1992 18:23:02 GMT

In article <1992Nov14.214119.25581@cs.tulane.edu> oberoc@bourbon.ee.tulane.edu (Tino W. Dai) writes:
>In article <Bxpnwz.25r@cck.coventry.ac.uk>, coakley@cck.coventry.ac.uk (Cpl.Flash ) writes:
>|> In article <1992Nov12.231705.17535@ncsu.edu> happy@garfield.catt.ncsu.edu (Rusty Soots) writes:
>|> >  Hi all.  Based on the creative juices of the people who read this group,
>|> >yeah right :), what in your opinion should the next class of starship
>|> >(after galaxy) be like?  What kinds of modifications, advances, etc.
>|> >would you like tosee in the next class of starship?  I'm just curious
>|> >to hear everyone's two cents...thanks!  :)
>|> >
>|> >								Rusty
>|> >
>Well probably, the next class of starships or the ones after that will have
>Wesley Crusher Desgin for the new engines. If you remember in "There will
>always be Paris"(no flames, if I got the episode wrong), the Traveller dude
							      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   >said that Wesley will design the next class of engine.
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

  The episode I think you're referring to is "Where No One Has Gone Before"
where the big E, through a freak warp engine accident, is sent hurling
through several galaxies and further.  However I don't recall the
traveller ever saying anything about Wesley designing the next class
of engine.  I do remember him saying that, paraphrased of course, Wesley
is to warp technology what Mozart was to music or something along
those lines.  Can anyone confirm this?  Much thanks.

"People often have more determination in their eyes than energy in
 their bodies."  R. Soots
NCSU - SED+SMB+GN - *********************************************************
From: lord@tradent.wimsey.bc.ca (Jason Cooper)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.tech,rec.arts.startrek.current
Subject: Re: Why is Data so limited?
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 11:48:50 PST
Organization: TradeNET International Trade Corp.

ogoh@fraser.sfu.ca (Oon Goh) writes:

> cboerm48@ursa.calvin.edu (Christopher Boerma) writes:
> 
> >joseph@odie.cs.mun.ca (Joseph Dawson) writes:
> 
> >>Why is data so limited.  He shouldn't need a communicator.  He should
> >>have one built.  Data should be able to talk with the ship without
> >>talking out loud.  He could also have a phaser built in, and that is
> >>only a start.
> >> 
> >>What do you think?
> 
> >I think that Data doesn't have those things to allow him to work more
> >conviently with the other on the ship. If he was able to directly communicat
> >with the ship, would even speak much? If he moves away form the human aspect
> >much, He'll become dissociated from the human population in general.
> 
> 	This is an Asimovian idea. Isaac Asimov explained in one (or more) of his ma
> it won't be mush use elsewhere.
> 	Data's humaniform design makes the most efficient use of his positronic
> brain and electronics (or whatever). A built in laser, phaser, transporter
> remote, communicator means more computing resources channeled to control and 
> monitor these devices. Moreover, I should hate to be in the same room as Data
> if for some reason his phaser overloads and goes critical.
> 	An external phaser can just be chucked while you duck.
> 	This is not to say that these implants cannot be used or adapted as
> the situation warrants. Riker and Troi had subcutaneous communicator implants
> in one episode (Who watches the watchers... I think). So it is not just Data.
> 	The specialisation for efficiency that Data utilises is not adapting
> his valuable positronic brain resources, but the Ship's computer. I believe 
> he has modified the the console in his room to accept and display data at
> a much faster rate, more efficient for him.
> 	The current Data seems to combine the irritating (yet comic) features of C3P
> 
> 	Still, the best argument against the "dehumanisation" of Data would be
> that it would alienate him.
> 
> Yellow/Strange Skin coloration -
> 	Hey! we've got blue-skinned barbers, why not a yellow-skinned bartender?
> 
> .
> 

Now, I could be wrong here, but Data is also not FROM star fleet, right?  
So, if he isn't from star fleet, he wasn't designed with all this stuff 
simply because it wasn't necessary in his original design.  I mean, he 
was discovered by starfleet, but if they don't understand his positronic 
brain, how are they supposed to alter it to output to a phaser, 
communicator, etc?  

                                                Jason Cooper

Just my two bits worth...
From: 2261as@gmuvax2.gmu.edu ( )
Subject: Re: Where's the bowls?
Organization: George Mason University, Fairfax, Va.
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 04:41:53 GMT

In article <gp2001-131192011956@m248-101.bgsu.edu> gp2001@andy.bgsu.edu (Greg Pallenik) writes:
>Does anyone know what happens to the plates and bowls and stuff after
>people are through eating?  I'm sure Picard has a closet full of used tea
>cups.


Picard wouldn't waste the Ent's Ship-fill (no relation to land-fill)
he would simply replicate a recyling bin and toss it in.
Then instead of separating paper, plastic, glass, he would
point a phazor at it and atomize it. (or on TOS, it would turn
red and dissappear).  then he'd replicate a broom and dustpan
and sweep it up, and then replicate a small wastebasket then dump
everything in it, broom and all, then he'd put it into the 
ship's anti-matter converter so it would all get annialated.

OR

Picard would point an anti-grav unit (one thing I wondered was
when picard an the starfleet science fair participants were worried
that the turbolift would fall, why didn't Picard just isolate
the turbolift so's to shut off the artificial grav.  Why would there
be grav in a turbolift anyway?  To hold the guys to the floor)
Picard would point an anti-grav unit, lift part of the rug and
sweep the dust under it.
BTW:  Now that ST:NG is coming to a close, is Picard (not Stewart,
Picard) now reduced to becoming the voice for those RCA VCRs?
recall that bumper sticker:  "Picard-Riker '92"  or my personal
favorite...
"This is Locutus of Bob Borg Pontiac.  Right now, all our Pontiacs
are 15% off.  Have bad credit?  Credit is irrelevant.  You will be 
assimilated into the Borg easy-payment plan..."

OR

Picard would warp down to the AAA disposal station and drop off
the waste.  I've a better idea.  Picard would replicate a whole
bunch of aluminum cans, sell them to the recylcers, then pop the
$0.50 into the nearby Sorian Cola machine and pop the top.  Of
course, Picard dropped the can which is highly unstable so
BOOM! and Picard is dripping with Sorian Cola.

OR

Picard would replicate a fireplace, then toss all the wine glasses
into it yelling something Scandinavian.

Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.tech
From: chris@keris.demon.co.uk (Chris Croughton)
Subject: Re: Not the Technical Manual Sections 1 and 2 
Distribution: world
Organization: Keristor Systems
X-Mailer: Simple NEWS 1.90c (ka9q DIS 1.18, CC 1.18c)
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 08:56:54 +0000


In article <8767@dirac.physics.purdue.edu>
           hinson@bohr.physics.purdue.edu writes:

>I have seen simple experiments in chaos which show this sort of thing.  Try
>as hard as you can to create the same initial conditions for a system,
>and you still can't get the outcome to be the same.  The more complicated
>the system, the more likely this is to be the case.
>
>With a system as complicated as our society, I have little doubt that
>small chages can have tremendous effect in the future.

Yes, small changes *can* cause large ones in an unstable system.  An
example is changing one bit at random in a computer program - very large
unpredictable events!  However, some systems are more stable.  Drop a
stone into a large lake, and the changes are undetectable after a few
seconds (unless the lake is supercooled, and the stone causes it to
crystalise <g>).

The emphasis is on the word 'unpredictable'.  Chaos theory does not
mean that any change *will* cause a large effect, just that it *might*.
I think in practice that although the movement of a butterfly's wings
*might* cause a hurricane, it's unlikely to do so unless the current
state is just on the edge of change already.

With the society, would it really have made any difference whether the
telephone had been invented by Bell, or the guy next door?  If the Iliad
wasn't written by Homer, but by someone else?  If Shakespeare's plays
really were written by Bacon (or the other way round)?  My opinion is
that in most respects, there would have been no real difference to our
society...

Chris

***********************************************************************
*  chris@keris.demon.co.uk      *                                     *
*  chriscr@cix.compulink.co.uk  *  FIAWOL (Filking Is A Way Of Life)  *
*  100014.3217@compuserve.com   *                                     *
***********************************************************************
From: adrian@cs.hw.ac.uk (Adrian Hurt)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.tech
Subject: Re: Why turn the lights off on the Enterprise ?
Date: 18 Nov 92 14:48:41 GMT
Organization: Dept of Computing & Electrical Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland

In article <1992Nov9.193144.4207@nessie.mcc.ac.uk>  
stu@black.ursa.cns.umist.ac.uk (Stuart Quick) writes:

> Why are so many lights turned off in the cabins ?
> 
> One could argue that many of the crew are sleeping. Or maybe this a  
> demonstation of 'green' issues.
> Surely the electrical drain from keeping these things on is *trivial*
> compared with propelling this beast through space at warp speeds.

Q: How many red-shirts does it take to change a light-bulb?
A: Two.  One to find out the light is still switched on, and one to
   switch it off and change the bulb.

For this reason, the captain wants to make light bulbs last as long as
possible, so there are enough redshirts for the next ground mission.  This
is why all lights are switched off when they are not in use.

-- 
 "Keyboard?  How quaint!" - M. Scott

 Adrian Hurt			     |	JANET:  adrian@uk.ac.hw.cee
 UUCP: ..!uknet!cee.hw.ac.uk!adrian  |  ARPA:  adrian@cee.hw.ac.uk
From: ppawels@eos.ncsu.edu (PAUL  PAWELSKI)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.tech
Subject: Re: Re: The Next Class of Starship...?
Keywords: Next class, Asimov, Roddenbury
Date: 18 Nov 92 22:54:19 GMT
Reply-To: ppawels@eos.ncsu.edu (PAUL  PAWELSKI)
Organization: North Carolina State University, Project Eos
Originator: ppawels@c00571-1403br.eos.ncsu.edu


How about having the next Galaxy class ship (we'er supose to see it this year?)
named Asimov or Roddenberry?  Not as big of an honor as having a whole class
of ships named after you, but it would work into the show where the next class
of ship might not.

Paul Pawelski
MAE Dept, N.C.State U
(just another engineer who can't spell)
Xref: sparky rec.arts.startrek.tech:6452 rec.arts.startrek.current:19053
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.tech,rec.arts.startrek.current
Subject: Re: Why is Data so limited?
From: starman@crash.amigans.gen.nz (Robin Halligan)
Date: 22 Nov 92 19:13:25 PST
Organization: No organisation at all
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]

Colin J. Wynne (cwynne@liberty.uc.wlu.edu) wrote:
: Mark Brodsky (markb@casbah.acns.nwu.edu) wrote:
: : >This has been answered in the Data-Lore episode.  Dr. Singh created Lore
: : >first, and he *was* correct in skin tone and eye colour and all that, but
: : >the people felt uncomfortable in dealing with him because, despite his
: : >human appearance, they knew him to be an android, and they found this
: : >disconcerting.  So, when Positronic Brain Unit Mark II (i.e., Data) came
: : >out, Singh deliberately made him identifiable as non-human.
: : 
: : Wait a Sec, Lore looks EXACTLY like Data. Same strange eye and skin color.
: : Nope sorry, wrong answer. The reason is (as stated by Data's grandfather)
: : that Dr. Singh has no aestetic taste!
: 
: Watch the episode 'Data Lore' again if you can find it.  The argument I
: presented above is straight out of that episode.

The main difference between Data and Lore was Lore's Positronic Brain
was more human in it's responce and use thus Lore acted human but looked
like a droid this was what freaked out the people so Data was made to act 
less like humans and more like a droid.

--
Starman@crash.amigans.gen.nz  (Robin Halligan)
Amigans Public Access UUCP Node Wanganui New Zealand

I'm a K 1 W 1 from the land of the long white cloud
    from the day i begun till the day i'm done
                     I'm a K1W1
From: bwebster@pages.com (Bruce F. Webster)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.tech
Subject: Re: kiloquad????
Date: 17 Nov 92 00:21:50 GMT
Reply-To: bwebster@pages.com
Organization: Banzai Research Institute

In article <wRP6TB22w165w@west.darkside.com> max@west.darkside.com (Erik Max  
Francis) writes:
> rkolker@nuchat.sccsi.com (Rich Kolker) writes:
> 
> > In article <gf06ciW00WB0020ERJ@andrew.cmu.edu> "Stephan A. Zdancewic"  
<sz24+@
> > >A kiloquad is a unit of energy.
> > 
> > As I remember...
> > .
> > A quad is a quadrillion BTUs (British Thermal Units, who's definition I
> > forget, but you can find in any physics book).  A kiloquad is a thousand
> > quads.  That's a whole lot of energy.
> 
> _Kiloquad_ seems to be an undefined unit of data storage within Star Trek 
> the Next Generation.
> 

The term "quad" is commonly used in computer architecture as shorthand for  
"quadword", a four-word (eight-byte, 64-bit) unit of measure. (For example,  
check out the Motorola M68030 user's manual, page 2-2.) If that's the  
derivation, then one kiloquad = eight kilobytes. On the other hand...

In article <1992Nov12.224140.25567@clark.edu> gsnow@clark.edu (Gary Snow)  
writes:
> In article <1992Nov12.222054.25244@clark.edu> gsnow@clark.edu (Gary Snow)  
writes:
> >
> >kiloquad = 1000 x quadrillion bytes [= 1*10^18 bytes]
> 
> I'm starting to like that amount even more after doing a little figuring.
> 
> Using one of our standard large format pieces of media (the CD ROM), that
> would mean that a kiloquad was the equivalent of between 1.5 and 1.7 billion
> CD ROMS, and if a single isolinear chip is 2.15 kiloquads, that would be
> the storage of about 3.5 billion CD ROMS.
> 

I'm not sure why each isolinear ("identical line"?) chip would require that  
much storage, given that you could store the current sum knowledge of humanity  
in a fraction of that space. Maybe they contain very large look-up tables? :-)

Note that in _Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing and Computation_  
by K. Eric Drexler (Wiley Interscience, 1992), he posits a nanoscale mass  
storage device with an anticipated maximum storage density of 5x10^21 bits per  
cubic centimeter, which works out to 625 kiloquads/cm^3. That would let you  
store 2.15 kiloquads in about 4 mm^3 of space.  ..bruce..

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bruce F. Webster             |  I have seen the Altair live and die
CTO, Pages Software Inc      |  And software startups score on sorry score--
bwebster@pages.com           |  And millions made by men like Mitch Kapor.
#import <pages/disclaimer.h> |            -- Jeff Duntemann
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.tech
From: jwindley%asylum.cs.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Jay Windley)
Subject: Re: SAD
Date: 23 Nov 92 19:58:56 MST
Organization: University of Utah CS Dept

agiblett@cch.coventry.ac.uk (CENOBITE) writes:
>YOU SAD BUNCH OF TREKKIES GET A LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!
>YOU ARE JUST A SAD BUNCH OF LOOSERS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hm.  Leave ourselves logged in, did we?  At least this sad bunch of
Trekkies can spell "losers."

>             BYE

Don't call us, we'll call you.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
         Jay Windley  *  University of Utah  *  Salt Lake City
                    jwindley@asylum.cs.utah.edu
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.tech,rec.arts.startrek.current
From: steveg@iplmail.orl.mmc.com (Steve Gabrilowitz)
Subject: Re: Handicaped in Star Trek TNG.
Organization: Martin Marietta
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 22:12:10 GMT

In article <1992Nov16.095528.20681@dcs.warwick.ac.uk>, gothick@dcs.warwick.ac.uk (Matthew B. M. Gibson) writes:
|> jhk1@cec1.wustl.edu (Jonathan Howard Krivitzky) writes:
|> 
|> [stuff deleted]
|> 
|> >	Dr McCoy was in "Encounter at Farpoint" and was merely walking slowly
|> >The episode "too short a season" contained a wheelchair bound man - Admiral
|> >Jamoson (sp?) he took his wheelchair all over the ship (one of those cool, 
|> >24th century jobs)
|> 
|> >	I read somewhere that the design of the bridge was specifically
|> >created to be "open access" - I only wonder how the transporter can be 
|> >wheelchair accessed - with those steps up to the platform.
|> 
|> Good *God* man - do you really think that by the 24th century wheelchairs
|> *still* won't be able to go up steps?  There are several models around which
|> can cope with them now...

What even makes anybody think that they still have wheelchairs in the 24th
century?  Seems to me that anybody who was disabled so badly as to not be able to
be "fixed up" by the medical technology of the time would be cruising around in
some sort of anti-grav chair...

-- 



I think
I think I am
Therefore I am!
I think...



                            Steve Gabrilowitz
                            Martin Marietta, Orlando Fl.
                            steve-gabrilowitz@orl.mmc.com
                            Fidonet 1:363/1701 (407-380-1701)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.tech
From: chris@keris.demon.co.uk (Chris Croughton)
Subject: Re: Possible FAQ, but... 
Distribution: world
Organization: Keristor Systems
X-Mailer: Simple NEWS 1.90c (ka9q DIS 1.18, CC 1.18c)
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 16:01:55 +0000


In article <tomcat.722317826@cwis> tomcat@cwis.unomaha.edu writes:

>I hope I don't start a major discussion about this, but there has been a
>discussion on a BBS about sound in space...how is it possible that we (the
>viewers) are to hear ships jump to warp speed, or the rumble as the Enterprise
>slips past.  I don't mind it, just what about the physics of it all.  I know
>Gene Roddenberry added the sound effect because he said that the ship going
>by in silence was "boring".  Any suggestions?

Oh, come on, *do* start a major discussion!  It's more fun <g>.

OK, answers.  The mundane answer, as you pointed out, is that the
audience will get bored watching two ships blow each other up in total
silence, and probably would think there's something wrong with their
TV set!

The treknobabble answer is that the warp drive causes subspace
distortions that will interact with the viewer's ship, causing a
characteristic rumbling.

Incidentally, it has been pointed out in psychological studies that in a
real fight situation, it may be necessary to simulate the noise of a
weapon so that the user gets feedback.  Similarly wit hthe noise of
engines.

However, there is much less justification for music when a ship goes by,
or on the Bridge...

***********************************************************************
*  chris@keris.demon.co.uk      *                                     *
*  chriscr@cix.compulink.co.uk  *  FIAWOL (Filking Is A Way Of Life)  *
*  100014.3217@compuserve.com   *                                     *
***********************************************************************
From: squigg@gssec.bt.co.uk (Stephen Quigg)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.tech
Subject: Re: Software/hardware
Date: 16 Nov 92 16:10:12 GMT
Organization: BT Glasgow Systems and Software Engineering Centre, Scotland.


-- 
RE : Light as a storage medium ...

I've seen optical electronics in action , and mighty impressive it was
too ,but how is the concept of light storage explained ??

thanks in advance ...
Stephen Quigg
squigg@gssec.bt.co.uk 
British Telecom , GSSEC , Glasgow
(Nothing in any of my mail represents my Employer in any way)
Xref: sparky rec.arts.startrek.tech:6321 rec.arts.startrek.current:18583