Random Trip Pics

Nanton, Alberta

Vul-Con Celebrity Guests

I attended all the guest Q&A's except for Julie Cobb/Rosemary Morgan, which cost extra.
Adam Nimoy, Leonard's son

Garrett Wang, who was not an official Vul-con guest but shows up almost every year (Voyager)

Sally Kellerman (appeared in TOS 2nd pilot Where No Man Has Gone Before)

Robin Curtis (Star Trek III and IV)

Manu Intiraymi (Voyager)

Robert Beltran (Voyager)

Andrew Robinson (DS9)

Dominic Keating (Enterprise)

I found the Q&A's illuminating.  Some of the actors didn't like their colleagues.  Some didn't like the way the writers treated their characters.  Some seemed to be acting, not being all that genuine ("actor's gonna act").  Some seemed to be real people.  Well worth the money.

Jive Turkey

In the aftermath of what clearly seems like a staged coup to give cover to a purge, Turkey's government has (rather quickly identified and) rounded up over 50,000 people, teachers among them:

Teachers, journalists, police and judges alike have been caught in a net authorities are casting wider by the day, in what is increasingly looking like a witch-hunt to suppress dissent.

Last month, when teachers clashed with police in Oaxaca, Mexico, the press was all over it.  The National Education Association has certainly addressed Oaxaca.  If you want to hear crickets chirping, however, go see the lack of any mention of Turkey over at NEA's web site.  Why do you think that might be?  Hmm, I wonder.

Random Trip Pics

Seen in Calgary

click to enlarge

Bridges By Santiago Calatrava

I've now crossed three Calatrava bridges:
Redding, California

Venice, Italy

Calgary, Alberta

Random Trip Pic

Reflections of Calgary:

Home! Now Let's Look At Some Pictures!

Living out of a small travel trailer for almost 2 weeks and having to rely on campground wifi certainly imposes limitations! I promised pictures, though, and now you shall have them (in addition to what I showed previously).

First, the town of Vulcan, Alberta:

Note the empty plaza with the Spock bust in it. The first morning of the convention that changed, though, when Leonard Nimoy's son Adam unveiled a new plaque in honor of his father:

The convention itself was 2 days of great fun. Yes, there were plenty of people dressed in costume, including yours truly for a bit:

There was a dinner/dance on Saturday evening, and the food was great. Dessert was awesome!

I even won some goodies in the silent auction on Sunday! And then it was off to Calgary:

The Olympic Park is used for outdoor sports these days:

Drove through the Rockies on the Trans-Canada Highway, passing through Banff and Revelstoke:

And then stayed a couple nights in Kamloops:

What a great trip--and I'm going camping for a couple days next week!

Star Trek Continues, Episode 6

Star Trek Continues, Episode 5

Star Trek Continues, Episode 4

Pictures

Looks like the wifi is strong with this one tonight, so I'll try to post a few pictures.  Currently I'm camped just across the river from "downtown" Kamloops, British Columbia.  Looks like a storm might be a-brewin', the wind was so strong that I had to take down the canopy!  But anyway, pictures (as usual, click to embiggen):

 View from the 600+ foot Calgary Tower

 My new friend, no squirrel

Calgary Tower

Wifi is crapping out, all I could get uploaded before that was these three pics of Calgary.  Hope I can post this!

Star Trek Continues, Episode 3

Star Trek Continues, Episode 2

Second Base Hit

The Calgary Stampede is going on right now, which means any place of lodging, including campgrounds, is full.  Why Vul-con was scheduled at the same time as Stampede, I can't say, but it was, and I've spent a bit of time this morning calling around to different RV parks looking for a place to stay tonight.  The convention ends at 5pm and I'll need to get under way.

I finally found a campground--with water and power hookups!--not far from Calgary itself.  You'd think that's a home run, but then I add that they don't have wi-fi there, hence the title of this post :-)

My plan is to spend the entire day in Calgary tomorrow, and to head to Banff on Tuesday.

Star Trek Continues, Episode 1

Axanar uses some Star Trek terms--Star Trek Continues is a studio-quality series using the same characters as the original Star Trek.  If you liked TOS (the original series), you'll like Star Trek Continues:

A Flavor of Vulcan

I still can't figure out how to get the pictures from my phone via my Chromebook, and I didn't really want to go out and retake the pictures with my camera so I could just insert the SD card--but I did go out and get a couple today, just so you can get a flavor of the town.  When I get home I'll be able to use the desktop and upload more pictures from the phone.

click to enlarge

County admin building (notice the font):

The tourist information center:

The starship that welcomes visitors to Vulcan:

Street signs.  Crosswalks.  Pictures/references.  The town has embraced Star Trek, and it's paying off for them.

As I said, pictures of such things when I get home.

The events start tomorrow:

Made It To Vulcan

This town is geek Heaven!

Can't get pics off my phone via my Chromebook right now, I'll work on that.  But this is a great little town.

Prelude to Axanar

Assuming you already watched Whom Gods Destroy (discussed here), you know what happens to Captain Garth of Izar.  What were his exploits, what was so important that Captain Kirk studied him at the Academy?  Find out in Prelude to Axanar, a "documentary".


CBS and Paramount are working to ensure the feature length film Axanar never gets made.  Their newly-released fan film guidelines were created specifically to stifle Axanar, and the lawsuits are still in effect.

The only hashtag I've ever used:  #IStandWithAxanar

End of Day 1

It was a lot of driving, including 2 state lines and a time zone, but I'm in for the night at a KOA outside of Twin Falls, Idaho.  The goal for tomorrow is to get close to the Canadian border without needing to stop for a nap like I did today!

(Oh, and even though I'll be in Mountain Daylight Time for the next several days, I'm going to keep the blog setting on PDT.)

Trip #2

I've been back from Mexico for maybe 10 days, now it's time to head to our neighbor to the north.  I've mentioned in a few posts that I'm going to Vul-con 2016, so in that spirit, I'll link to some Star Trek--the actual stuff, and some fan films.  I'll schedule one for every other day, and try to fill in the blanks if I can get wifi to my laptop while I'm up there.

I've linked a few times to Prelude to Axanar, but let's start with the Star Trek episode that was the impetus for the Axanar movies, Whom Gods Destroy:

click to view

For The Left, It's All About Compulsion

California's very own Governor Moonbeam, Crazy Ole Uncle Jerry, thinks young people should be forced to participate in community service--for the greater good, of course:

Q: Some people think a national, mandatory period of service for young people would be …
A: I think it would be very helpful, something that would integrate middle class and lower income people. I think that would be very good...
Q: Why would it be a good idea? What do you think you would gain from a national mandatory service program?
A: First, it’d be an integrative experience, which increasingly is very remote, since the country’s being stratified so much by income. So that’s one thing. Also, it helps to instill ideas and understandings of public service and the larger ... issues that go beyond the individual person and that person’s convenience. So it is, it’s a character-building exercise, as well as doing good things for the community. But that, you know, I think it would be helpful. I think a lot of people get a lot out of being in the Army. Now that’s mostly low-income people, but it would be very good for everybody to have the same experience.

You'll note that everyone in the army today is a volunteer.  I doubt there's one draftee still in, considering that the draft ended in 1973.  But that's not the real issue; no, the real issue is the compulsion, the belief that "I know better what's good for you than you do", the lack of individual choice and freedom.  How appropriate to point this out on American Independence Day.

Over 5 years ago I wrote about why requiring community service as a high school graduation requirement is a bad idea.  The points are still valid when considered against Jerry's ideas.  And in a post a few weeks shy of 8 years old I made a couple other cogent points on the topic of forced volunteerism.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article87008602.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article87008602.html#storylink=cpy

Happy Treason Day, Fellow Colonials!

Is it only treason if you lose?  Or is it always treason, and you just get away with it?  Do such distinctions matter when your side wins?

Brexit version 1.0.

We Came Close, But No Cigar

So sad.   You get a shot like this once in a generation:

In one of the last acts of the current term, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition from plaintiffs in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association to rehear the case that the court had already ruled on in a 4-4-opinion in March.

The lawsuit sought to eliminate “agency fees” that require teachers to pay a portion of union dues. If the plaintiffs – Rebecca Friedrichs and nine other California teachers – had won, it could have inflicted a potentially devastating financial blow against the CTA, and by extension all public employee unions.

The split opinion, which came about as a result of the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, represented a major victory for the CTA and public employee unions. It kept the court’s earlier decision, requiring mandatory fees, intact.

I'm Told Voter Fraud Is A Conservative Myth

Funny how every time voter fraud is uncovered, it always leans one direction--and that direction isn't to the right:

Same day registration and other liberal “reforms” have made it easy for ineligible voters to cast ballots in many states. When law-abiding citizens point out that liberal policies enable voter fraud, the left’s response is always that 1) voter fraud hardly ever happens, so 2) you must be a racist. Typically subtle liberal argumentation.

Here in Minnesota, a case is pending in our Supreme Court that challenges same day registration and various actions by our Democratic Secretary of State that have enabled illegal voting. I haven’t yet had time to evaluate the plaintiffs’ legal arguments, but the factual allegations are explosive:

A new voter fraud case before the Minnesota Supreme Court claims 1,366 ineligible felons have cast at least 1,670 fraudulent votes in recent statewide elections, possibly tipping the outcome of close contests, including the 2008 U.S. Senate race.

The Golden State

There was gold in 1848, but not so much today:

CALIFORNIA WATCH: Crumbling Roads? Let’s Build Bike Lanes! Plus this: “A Senate Transportation and Infrastructure Development Committee backgrounder from last July noted that ‘68 percent of California’s roads are in ‘poor’ or ‘mediocre’ condition, putting California behind 43 other states in road condition, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers.’”

We can't maintain our roads with some of the highest taxes of any state in the country, but we can afford an overly-generous social safety net (I've read that 1/3 of all welfare cases in the country are in California) as well as a bullet train from nowhere to nowhere.

What party has run this state pretty much my entire life?  Do you think there might be a causation factor in play?

TSA-holes

My despising the TSA knows few bounds, and here is yet another reason why:

19-year-old Hannah Cohen was returning home from St. Jude's Hospital with her mother for treatment of her brain tumor (a trip they had made for 17 years), when Hannah somehow set off the metal detector at the security checkpoint.

TSA wanted to do a further scan on Hannah, but she was reluctant. Hannah's mother, Shirley Cohen, tried to inform the agents that her daughter was disabled. She is partially deaf and blind in one eye, paralyzed, and becomes easily confused. “They wanted to do further scanning, she was reluctant, she didn't understand what they were about to do," she said.

Despite her concerns, Shirley was kept away from her daughter by police. Hannah, obviously afraid, tried to get away from the grips of the TSA. “She's trying to get away from them but in the next instant, one of them had her down on the ground and hit her head on the floor. There was blood everywhere,” said Shirley.

Authorities have thrown out the charges and the family has filed suit.  I don't care if they become rich or not from this, what I hope is that the lawsuit's spotlight on the lack of common sense, lack of decency, and lack of results eventually causes the TSA to go away.