Star Trek | At Home with Tech

November 15, 2015

My Child Brought Home One of his School Teachers

I’ve just realized that student book bags don’t need to carry so much anymore thanks to learning websites out there that are assigned as homework.

There’s an early scene in 2009’s “Star Trek” movie that shows the boy Spock in school. While sitting in one of several dozen sub-floor pods, he’s rabidly bombarded with math and philosophy questions enveloped by a 360-degree virtual reality screen and cool computerized voice.
(A nifty homage to a similar scene from 1986’s “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home”)

It’s a complete teaching and testing system without a teacher in sight.
A fantastic, sci-fi view on the future of our educational process…

Or is it?

Hello, Cyber School Teacher
My son has been experiencing kindergarten for the last few months. One day a few weeks back, I came home and found my son and wife at the dining room table looking intently at my wife’s MacBook Pro.
(It was like he had suddenly learned to read, found my blog and realized he’s a topic of this ongoing conversation!)

I walked closer and heard a new voice coming from the laptop. It was talking to my boy:

“What significant contribution to bioengineering was made on the Loonkerian outpost of Klendth?“

“The Universal Atmospheric Element Compensator.”

“Correct!”

…Okay, those are lines from the “Star Trek IV” scene between the adult Spock and the Vulcan computer.

What was actually happening was a word recognition quiz for my human boy from a website called Reading Eggs. It’s a subscription-based tool that teaches kids to read for $59/year.

I thought it was simply a new resource my wife had found and was trying out. But it wasn’t. In fact, our boy had brought the entire idea of it home, because he uses the website at school.

Huh.

Computer-Based Learning
In fact, his teacher had recommended that the students spend time with Reading Eggs at home.
(Part of their early homework regiment)

I know there are plenty of learning apps out there for kids, and we’ve used a number of them on our iPad over the past couple of years with our five year old. So computer-based teaching is certainly not new to us.

And of course I’m generally aware that computers have been completely integrated into all grade levels for many years.

But this was the first moment where I witnessed it up close and personal.
And in my home.

Of course, why wouldn’t the school suggest we use a good learning website, along with books, flashcards and sound charts that still involve letters and words on paper?

But I still stood there, trying to integrate this experience as a baby-boomer parent whose tech contact in grade school was limited to first-generation calculators and analog mimeo copy machines that created exam sheets reeking of alcohol-like ink no kid could resist from sniffing.

How Do You Feel?
I wasn’t upset. And I certainly shouldn’t have been surprised.
Maybe I just needed to have my little ‘Aha’ moment.

And acknowledge how ‘fascinating’ it all was… the similarity this scene had to the Vulcan learning process expressed in both “Star Trek” flicks.

I just had to recognize the presence of computers already so close to the center of my son’s formal education process.

And how do I really feel about all of this?
(pause)

To quote another line from “Star Trek IV”…

I feel fine.

November 8, 2015

Star Trek is Returning to Television?

Incoming message from Starfleet: Cancel all of your plans for the beginning of 2017. There’s a new starship traveling at warp speed to a TV near you.

I’m not really sure how to react… I stumbled across the news last week that
a new “Star Trek” series is coming to television in January 2017.

Well, actually only the first episode is coming to conventional television. The rest of the series will only be available on CBS All Access, CBS’s digital video-on-demand streaming platform.

You’ll have to pay $5.99/month to be able to access to this new Trek.
(Unless you’re a personal friend of the “Q”)

The series will not be connected to the current movie universe, though the new show will be executive produced by Alex Kurtzman, who co-wrote and produced both of the current generation “Star Trek” films directed by J.J. Abrams.

Red Alert!
I am a life-long “Star Trek” fan.

I started watching the first reruns on WPIX TV in my parents’ bedroom when I was seven years old while my parents ate dinner. My father wasn’t too happy about that arrangement, but my mother allowed it, I think because she saw how connected I was to the series.

I know I should be jumping up and down for joy at this week’s revelation. My inner nerd entirely sated. What could be better than the return to a weekly “Star Trek” experience?

It’s been a decade since the last “Star Trek” series (“Enterprise”) limped off the air. And the last “Next Gen” movie “Nemesis” crashed and imploded back in 2002.

The entire franchise withered, because not enough humanoids on this planet simply cared to watch anymore.

“Star Trek” was in trouble.

Two Mr. Spocks Were Better than One
Then, J.J. Abrams revived the Federation in 2009 with his early-days version of “Star Trek.” And though his two movies were relatively faithful to the original… in so many ways, it’s totally an alternate universe.

Amazingly, he successfully created another “Star Trek” without alienating the old fan base. He made it his own and yet kept all the important foundational elements. In fact, he brazenly stole iconic moments and old plot points, smartly reengineered them and then placed them front and center.

Those are insane risks… and he pulled them off flawlessly.
He boldly made “Star Trek” his own.

Which is why the known universe is nervously wondering what he’s done with Luke Skywalker, who is noticeably absent from any of the new trailers for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”

But I digress…

Fresh Dilithium Crystals
Make no mistake; the “Star Trek” you grew up with is long gone.

That said, I’m quite satisfied with the current iteration of “Star Trek.”
The third movie installment, “Star Trek Beyond” comes out next summer.

It’s been something of a journey for Trekkies but that’s where we’ve happily landed.
(If I may speak for all of us…)

Now, there’s yet another disturbance in the Force.
(I know… mixing movie metaphors)

And I’m not sure I’m ready for it…

I am Expressing Multiple Attitudes Simultaneously
A new TV Star Trek is coming out six months after the hopeful positive glow of “Star Trek Beyond?”

I’ve got so many unanswered questions:

Which timeline does this series live in…?
(The original, the one Abrams reengineered or perhaps a new one?)
When in the future is this one set?
(Circa Kirk? Pre Archer? Post Picard?)
Why isn’t this one ‘related’ to the current movie series?

So this Trek lives on its own without the benefit of being a part of the overall whole? That could be a huge limitation. “Star Trek” has always benefited from its own mythology that’s developed through almost fifty years of storytelling.

But perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself.

I’m just a little nervous trying to process this sudden news with practically no details other than ‘January 2017’ and ‘Alex Kurtzman.’

And the idea of having to pay to watch the new series…. that’s also a little unsettling.
(Of course you wouldn’t think twice if HBO picked the show up.)

And CBS will point to the thousands of hours of other programming you can also watch with your monthly subscription, including all of the other “Star Trek” series.

Okay… so what’s my problem?

Live Long and Prosper
Successful science fiction television has proven hard to do. For every hit like the newer “Battlestar Galactica,” “Babylon 5” and “Farscape,” there were also plenty of big duds like “The Starlost,” and “seaQuest DSV.”

Both “Voyager” and “Enterprise” were weaker Trek efforts, though I must admit I stuck with both of them.

Creating yet another “Star Trek” reboot is not going to be a slam dunk…
And not to be attempted just to cash in on the success of the current Abrams’ movies.

I’m just saying…
This new series had better be good!
(I’m not going to rummage through my attic to unbox my toy phaser, tricorder and old model starship collection for nothing.)

Yes, I’m a little anxious, like doting parents watching their child perform in the school play. As a Trekkie (or Trekker), that’s the level of connection I irrationally feel.

Of course, I want this new “Star Trek” to be great!

So Mr. Kurtzman… Let’s get to it!

May 31, 2015

Upgrading the Chandelier from Hell

One of these bulbs is not like the other. One of these bulbs just doesn’t belong… The good news is my father’s fifty-year-old chandelier has just entered the 21st century… invigorated with LED bulb tech.

For 50 years, the chandelier in my father’s dining room has been chewing up light bulbs. Year after year… Decade after decade…
It’s like the Guardian of Forever on “Star Trek.” Sitting there… as time streams about it, causing its fourteen bulbs to randomly fizzle.

Poof!
As a boy, I always felt like a day wouldn’t go by when one of these old school incandescent bulbs blew out.

In the chandelier’s early years, my parents happily fed it with a fresh supply of tiny candelabra bulbs. But recently, I’ve taken over the responsibility to maintain this relic.

My dad is quick to whip out his cell phone and call me every time one of the little 15-watt flames burns out…!
(Not that I mind coming by for dinner after I screw in a light bulb or two for him… He’s not quite nimble enough at 82 to climb the stepladder to reach the chandelier.)

And this is not the only electronic antique still hard at work in his apartment…
For example, the Sony cassette player from his ancient sound system was just fixed for the billionth time. Actually, the repair shop gave him a new ‘used’ unit instead of attempting to rebuild the old monster.
(Why a repair shop had a working cassette player hanging around is beyond me. But I digress…)

Time to Upgrade
I’d say over the last half century, the Lester family has literally screwed in over 2,600 bulbs into this freaking chandelier.
(That’s an average of one bulb a week for fifty years.)
Last week, I finally decided I’ve had enough…

It was time to make a change and find a more permanent lighting solution for the dining room.

The fix?
Upgrade to LED bulbs!
You know I have a soft spot for shiny LED tech.
(Plus, these bulbs last for years…)

Unfortunately, as I started to shop around on Amazon, I realized there wasn’t a lot of choice out there for this kind of replacement bulb. Though frustratingly fragile, little candelabra incandescent bulbs with their tiny bases are actually quite elegant. Their simplicity is difficult to replicate with the additional guts baked into the LED structure.

The closest I found in form factor was GE’s Energy Smart Bent Tip LED.
But this handsome replacement costs $15.21 per bulb!

That’s a huge jump in price from the standard GE incandescent 12 pack we’ve been buying. The short-lived beasties are easy to forgive when they net out at just over a buck a bulb.

As I pondered the value proposition of an expensive LED bulb replacement program, I thought I heard the evil song of the ‘incandescent bulb sirens.’ It gently compelled me to continue throwing dollar bills at our chandelier from hell.

But I remained undeterred in my mission…

An Eighteen-Year Fix
I eventually came upon this more affordable LED solution:

The TCP 3 watt non-dimmable bulb
It’s $11.99 for a six-pack.
We’re talking two bucks a bulb.
That’s still a big jump in price compared to Thomas Edison tech.
But it’s a ‘permanent’ fix.
(These LEDs are rated for an eighteen-year life span. When my father hits 100, I’ll buy him more bulbs for his birthday!)

Click.

Problem solved, right?

Not quite…

The Show is About to Begin
This particular LED’s form factor is different from the its incandescent cousin:

It doesn’t have a matching bent tip.
It’s built with a stubby, white base.
And it doesn’t dim.
(Which isn’t a problem for my dad’s on/off chandelier)

So these TCP LEDs don’t really match the old bulbs…
…At all!!

After I considered the obvious discrepancy, I had a solution…

I decided to simply ignore the problem and rationalize it as a transitionary limitation! One day soon, my replacement program will be complete, and uniformity will be restored throughout the chandelier.

One remaining question:
Would my father actually buy into my evil plan to fuse LED tech onto his 1965 chandelier?
(No, I didn’t tell him I was about to create a ‘Franken-Lamp!’)

Fast forward to the moment of truth as I screwed in the first LED bulb…

It’s Alive!
I stepped back and looked at the ugly duckling.
Its light quality matched the others.
But who was I kidding…? It still stuck out.

Oooh… maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.

I turned to my father.
He looked up.
I listened for a response…

“Good. Let’s get some dinner.”
And then he walked away to get his coat…

Did I mention my dad’s vision isn’t quite 20/20 anymore?

Hey… he’s happy.
I’m happy.
The planet is happy. (We’re saving energy with LEDs.)

Our Guardian of Forever is set to shine bright through 2033…

Problem solved.

Tag: Star Trek

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