The Flight Deck for March 2003, Issue 118
From the Bridge:
Greetings all and welcome to the busy, busy month of March! I apologize for the tardiness of this newsletter, but as they say, it's just been one of those weeks! And I would like to publicly thank ADMs Paul and Sandy for keeping a roof over my head and clothing me after I got snowed in last month.
I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome aboard two new crewmembers. First, ENS Katherine Kough joined the C-in-C staff last month. Second, a longtime member of SFC, COMM Amy Merritt, has rejoined the 'Fleet and come aboard the Halsey, applying for the position of Chief Science Officer. Welcome!
There's been a bit of moving around for a pair of senior Halsey members. I announced at the last meeting that I've resigned from the post of Deputy Fleet Training Officer to take over the position of Fleet Archivist. Considering half of the Archive is sitting in my garage, this is a logical move. Our XO, RADM Mary Bischoff, has left the job of Deputy Chief of Records and joined the C-in-C Staff.
In other news, the Halsey website has moved. After I couldn't remember the Area/Nova/whatever number, Webmaster Paul moved the site to http://www.oocities.org/uss_halsey
There's been a bit of a bump in planning for the plane wash--due to circumstances beyond our control, the wash will have to be bumped to May. Rearrangement plans will be presented at the next meeting.
The March meeting is slated for Saturday, March 15th at the residence of FADM Mark and RADM Mary Bischoff. It's a potluck, so we're asking everyone bring a covered dish of some sort. And don't forget assorted raffle items....with any luck the weather will be semi- decent! Things will get underway at 6pm, and we're looking at turning it into a "dinner and a movie" affair, perhaps catching a show at the "Dollar Theater" after the meeting.
Hope to see everyone there!
FCAPT Cathy Dailey
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Upcoming Events:
March 15th--March Halsey Meeting, 6pm, the Bischoff Domicile
March 21st-23rd--Millinicon, Cincinnati, OH Galatitcon, Chattanooga, TN
March 25th--USS Adventure away mission to Butler Observatory
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Beamdown Coordinates:
The Family Bischoff 6643 Earlswood Drive, Indianapolis
Directions:
1. Take 465 to 37 south.
2. Proceed south on 37 to Southport Road (the 4th stoplight).
3. Turn right onto Southport Road.
4. Follow Southport around a curve. On the right
is the entrance to C.P. Morgan's Bayberry Village.
5. Turn right onto Earlswood.
6. Follow it past the play ground and it will curve around
to your left. 6643 is a gray two-story on the right.
Hope to see you there!
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Birthdays & Anniversaries
March 2nd--Honorary CAPT BarBara Luna
Honorary CAPT Gates McFadden
March 3rd--Honorary CAPT James Doohan
March 10th--FCAPT Alice Doty
March 13th--FCAPT Cathy Dailey
CAPT Janet Dailey
ADM Paul & ADM Sandy Sundstrom's Anniversary
March 17th--LT Amanda Dailey
March 21st--FCAPT Maryann Simson
March 26th--FADM Don Dailey
March 28th--LTjg Sarah Sundstrom
March 30th--ADM Paul Sundstrom
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>From the "Is There An Echo In Here?" Desk:
Map reveals strange cosmos
By Dr David Whitehouse
To see article picture:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2814947.stm
The best map yet of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) Radiation - the so-called echo of the Big Bang - shows the Universe may not be the same in all directions.
The image has been produced from data collected by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe which was launched in 2001.
"It is a photo of the most distant thing we can see; our best photo yet," said Dr Max Tegmark, of the University of Pennsylvania, US, who processed the image.
Dr Tegmark and colleagues present the CMB as a sphere: "The entire observable Universe is inside this sphere, with us at the centre of it."
In so doing, the team find something unexpected and so far unexplained in the symmetry of the CMB.
In producing the image, Dr Tegmark removed all sources of contaminating foreground radiation leaving only the cosmic background itself.
He told BBC News Online that there were many sources of radiation that could "pollute" the CMB. Dust in our galaxy radiates microwaves and electrons moving through magnetic fields give off this radiation as well.
These effects have to be removed if the CMB is to be studied properly.
The radiation that we detect as the CMB comes from a time when the Universe was less than half a million years old; from the so-called recombination era when hydrogen atoms formed in the cooling, expanding fireball of the Big Bang.
It was a time when the stars and galaxies had yet to form. There was only gas.
In general, the relic radiation from these clouds is almost isotropic - the same in all directions.
For decades, astronomers knew there must be secrets about the Universe in the CMB, if only they could observe it at a high enough sensitivity.
Octopole: Looking at the symmetry of the CMB, curious patterns emerge The expected variations in the CMB's intensity turned out to be so hard to detect that it was only in 1992 that they were first seen - variations of about a few parts per million on scales of the same angular diameter as the apparent diameter of the Moon.
The variations in the CMB contain information about the formation of the galaxies, the composition of the Universe and its fate.
Having produced the cleanest map of the CMB yet, Dr Tegmark displayed it in an unusual manner. Instead of a flat projection on a computer screen, he showed the data as ripples on a sphere - "after all the CMB comes from a sphere", he says.
"Space continues outside the sphere but this opaque glowing wall of hydrogen plasma hides it from our view. If we could only see another 380,000 light-years we would be able to see the beginning of the Universe," he told BBC News Online.
And he added: "We found something very bizarre; there is some extra, so far unexplained structure in the CMB.
"We had expected that the microwave background would be truly isotropic, with no preferred direction in space but that may not be the case."
Looking at the symmetry of the CMB - measures technically called its octopole and quadrupole components - the researchers uncovered a curious pattern.
They had expected to see no pattern at all but what they saw was anything but random.
"The octopole and quadrupole components are arranged in a straight line across the sky, along a kind of cosmic equator. That's weird.
"We don't think this is due to foreground contamination," Dr Tegmark said. "It could be telling us something about the shape of space on the largest scales. We did not expect this and we cannot yet explain it."
It may mean that the CMB is clumpier in some directions than others. Some theories of the structure of the Universe predict this but observational evidence to support it would be a major discovery.
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>From the "This Just In From Our Middle Earth Affiliate" Desk:
War Protestors Flood Gondor, Denethor Flees
MINAS TIRITH (Gondor News Network) - Thousands of peace activists took to the streets of Minas Tirith and other cities of Middle Earth today to protest what they termed a rush to war with Mordor.
"We need more time for diplomacy," said a key member of the Middle Earth Security Council, Saruman the White. "I am not convinced by the evidence presented by my esteemed colleague, Gandalf the Grey, or that the Dark Lord Sauron presents an imminent danger to the peoples of the West."
Many of the people protesting war in Mordor agreed with Saruman's remarks. "Sauron says he's destroyed his Rings of Mass Destruction (RMD) and that's good enough for me," said one fellow carrying a sign that said, "Elrond is a Balrog."
Another demonstrator urged, "Give the RMD inspectors more time. There's no reason to rush to any judgment just because Mount Doom is belching lava, the Dark Tower is rebuilt, and Osgiliath has been decimated."
A third protester piped up, "I haven't heard a single bit of convincing evidence connecting the Nazgul with Sauron. I think they destroyed Osgiliath on their own initiative without any support from Sauron. Besides, it's understandable they're angry with Gondor. We haven't done nearly as much for the Orcs and Goblins and Easterlings as the Nazgul and Sauron have. It's understandable they throw their support to them. It's our own fault really."
As the protesters continued their march through the city, they chanted, "No blood for Mount Doom," voicing a common sentiment that the leaders of the Western peoples are really seeking to get their hands on the powerful Mount Doom, where the One Ring of Power was allegedly forged.
Gandalf the Grey was unavailable for comment. A spokesman said he was in an undisclosed underground location, which sources codenamed: Moria.
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end transmission
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