The Flight Deck for October 2003, Issue 125
From the Bridge:
Hello all, and welcome to the month of October!! Once again, I am recovering from the experience of Archon 27 last weekend and wondering exactly what I did for the documentary film crew that got me a discount on the DVD they were shooting for. Hmmm.
It was great to see everyone who came out for the trip to the Ohio Ren Fest. A good time was had by all....even by me, who walked out completely broke.
Next up is the October Bonfire/Weenie Roast/Hayride meeting at the Milhous Abode. Festivities get underway at 5pm, with food, meeting, and raffle soon thereafter. As usual, we'll be cooking out. Everyone please bring a covered dish, munchies or drinks....ya'll know how it works!
We also have a family for our holiday Adopt-A-Family program. Look for information on said family to be provided at the Oct. meeting.
Hope to see everyone there!
FCAPT Cathy Dailey
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Upcoming Events:
October 18th--Bonfire & Weenie Roast at Milhous Abode, 5pm
November 15th--November meeting
December 13th--X-Mas Party & Gift Exchange
December 14th--Adopt-A-Family party (tenative)
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Beamdown Coordinates:
The Milhous Abode 5662 S County Road 200 W Clayton, IN
1. I-70 West of I-465, West side on Indy, go west to exit 59.
2. Turn right (north) to Belleville, about 4.5 miles.
3. At the stop-and-go light, turn left (west).
4. Travel about 4 miles to County Road 200 W, marked by a caution
light and a sign that says Cascade High School. Turn right (north).
5. 5662 is 1.6 miles on the left with a white wagon wheel on each
side of each drive.
Hope to see everyone there!
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Birthdays & Anniversaries
October 21st--ADM Sandy Sundstrom
October 27th--ENS Charissa Bihl
October 30th--Honorary CAPT William Campbell
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From the "Alright, Surf's Up, Dude!" Desk:
Titan may have oily oceans
By Dr David Whitehouse
What lurks beneath the clouds?
Titan - Saturn's major moon - may have a surface of oily lakes or oceans, according to the latest radar research. The giant Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico has transmitted a beam of radio waves towards Titan, and detected a faint echo over two hours later.
Analysis of the dim signal suggests the presence of craters filled with oily oceans or lakes beneath the clouds.
In January 2005 a European Space Agency probe - Huygens - will parachute on to Titan's surface to see what is there.
Down to a sunless sea
Titan is one of the most intriguing and significant bodies in the Solar System.
Optical observations cannot see through the photochemical smog that shrouds the world, but infrared and radar radiation can get through, revealing a varied surface beneath the clouds.
Ground-based telescopes and the Hubble Space Telescope have produced coarse maps of the surface, showing what could be a continent of rock and ice surrounded by hydrocarbon seas or lakes.
Hydrocarbons - methane and ethane - could form oily oceans on the surface - whose waves lap against shorelines of ice stained by hydrocarbon drizzle from the sky.
The Arecibo signals took 2 hours and 15 minutes to return. A tiny fraction of the transmitted energy was detected at Arecibo as well as at the Green Bank radio telescope in the US.
As expected, the echo contained a broad diffuse component. In most cases it also had a sharper signal just like that expected from a broad flat region like the surface of an ocean.
Confirmation will come next year when the Cassini space probe reaches the Saturnian system and begins a series of close flybys of Titan.
In January 2005 Cassini will drop the Huygens probe on to Titan, which may land with quite a splash.
The research is published in the journal Science.
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From the "Cats Are Planning to Take Over the World" Desk:
--Rules for Cats to Live By--
BATHROOMS:
Always accompany guests to the bathroom. It is not necessary to do anything. Just sit and stare.
DOORS:
Do not allow any closed doors in any room. To get door open, stand on hind legs and hammer with forepaws.
Once door is opened, it is not necessary to use it. After you have ordered an "outside" door opened, stand halfway in and out and think about several things.
This is particularly important during very cold weather, rain, snow, or mosquito season.
CHAIRS AND RUGS:
If you have to throw up, get to a chair quickly. If you cannot manage in time, get to an Oriental rug. If there is no Oriental rug, shag is good.
When throwing up on the carpet, make sure you back up so it is as long as a humans bare foot.
HAMPERING:
If one of your humans is engaged in some activity and the other is idle, stay with the busy one. This is called "helping," otherwise known as "hampering."
Following are the rules for "hampering:"
1) When supervising cooking, sit just behind the left heel of the cook. You cannot be seen and thereby stand a better chance of being stepped on and then picked up and comforted.
2) For book readers, get in close under the chin, between eyes and book,unless you can lie across the book itself.
3) For paperwork, lie on the work in the most appropriate manner so as to obscure as much of the work as possible or at least. Pretend to doze, but every so often reach out and slap the pencil or pen.
4) When a human is holding the newspaper in front of him/her, be sure to jump on the back of the paper. Humans love to jump.
5) When human is working at computer, jump up on desk, walk across keyboard, bat at mouse pointer on screen and then lay in human's lap across arms, hampering typing in progress.
WALKING:
As often as possible, dart quickly and as close as possible in front of the human, especially: on stairs, when they have something in their arms, in the dark, and when they first get up in the morning. This will help their coordination skills.
BEDTIME:
Always sleep on the human at night so he/she cannot move around.
LITTER BOX:
When using the litter box, be sure to kick as much litter out of the box as possible. Humans love the feel of kitty litter between their toes.
HIDING:
Every now and then, hide in a place where the humans cannot find you. Do not come out for three to four hours under any circumstances. This will cause the humans to panic (which they love) thinking that you have run away or are lost. Once you do come out, the humans will cover you with love and kisses and you will probably get a treat.
ONE LAST THOUGHT:
Whenever possible, get close to a human, especially their face, turn around, and present your butt to them. Humans love this, so do it often. And don't forget guests!
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end transmission
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