UF Weekly 9-24-2006 Part 2

[jenmorgan]

Technical Database
HOLOGRAPHIC TECHNOLOGY

Since the first primitive "virtual reality" systems were created in the 1990's, Humans have advanced hugely in their ability to recreate the sights and sounds of real environments within an artificial setting. The early VR environments could by no means be called realistic, but by the mid twenty first century computers had advanced to the point where VR systems had gone into common use both in entertainment and many other more serious applications. VR technology was virtually abandoned in the aftermath of World War III, and no serious effort to pursue simulated environments was made again until near the end of the twenty first century.
The major stumbling block to Virtual Reality as it existed at this time was physical - no matter how good the computer became at projecting images, sounds, and suchlike to the user, he or she was not actually in a real environment. Although body suits capable of simulating tactile impressions had come into use by 2120, these where never considered a serious substitute for actually handling real physical objects.
What was needed was a way to physically recreate an environment which the user could then interact with freely. This did not become possible until the invention of the replicator unit in 2315; based on transporter technology, the replicator allowed actual objects to be created in an instant and deleted as needed.

The first "holochambers" emerged in 2328; they used a small room equipped with a set of holographic projectors which could generate a realistic image of an outdoors scene onto the walls and ceiling. A replicator would then materialize objects within the room to go with the image - plants and trees, for example. The users where then free to pick up and use the objects without having to wear any kind of projection equipment themselves.
Early holochambers suffered from several limitations; a careless user could easily walk into a wall, for example, and if several users where in one chamber then they could only be as far away from each other as the size of the chamber allowed. The major limitation was in the creation of characters within the holochamber; although reasonably realistic images of people and animals could be projected, users could not physically touch these characters in any way.
More recent models have largely overcome these problems; a modern holochamber projects a force field across the floor of the chamber, and should a user walk towards the wall this field begins to act as a 'treadmill' to keep the person stationary; the computer automatically moves the replicated objects within the holochamber and adjusts the holographic projections to simulate the movement the user should experience. Replicated objects reaching the wall are dematerialized, while images of objects reaching the space within the chamber are replicated for real.

The second hurdle was overcome by 'internal partitioning' of the chamber. Should two people enter a holochamber and walk in directly opposite directions, they would previously only be able to go so far before reaching the walls. While the 'treadmill' effect can convince a user that the environment is passing them, it cannot make the users continue to move further away from each other and so the illusion would be broken.
In modern holochambers, the computer would sense that this was about to happen and throw up an internal divide; halfway across the holochamber the computer would throw up a hologram showing each user an image of the other, continuing to move further away - essentially this process creates two miniature holochambers within one. Should the users head back towards each other the computer would reverse the process, merging the two into one again. A modern holochamber is capable of sub-dividing into many separate environments, allowing groups of people to wander around independently of each other.
Perhaps the most impressive advance in holochamber technology has been the advent of 'holomatter'. This is solid matter created within the holochamber energy grid and manipulated by highly articulated computer driven tractor beams; although early efforts where crude, modern holochambers can use holomatter to create and animate totally realistic characters within the chamber.

The basic mechanism behind the holochamber is the omni-directional holo-diode (OHD). The OHD is a small unit (several hundred million per square meter in modern holochambers) which is capable of projecting both full color stereoscopic images and three dimensional force fields. The OHD's are circuit printed onto large sheets, which are then subdivided into tiles of 0.61 square meters. A typical Starfleet Holodeck wall consists of twelve sub processing layers totaling 3.5 mm thickness, diffusion bonded to a lightweight cooling tile. The panel is controlled by an optical data network similar to that used for standard panel displays. Dedicated subsections of the main computer system drive the holodeck, and it is the memory and speed of these computers which determines the number and complexity of the holodeck programs available.
Although modern holochambers are often touted as being just as good as the real thing, in practice there are still limitations. Even the best holochamber can only subdivide into a maximum of twelve separate environments, and many holochamber programs are not complex enough to make full use of the holochambers technical capabilities. Perhaps the biggest limitation is in the holomatter itself; this is only stable within the energy grid, and looses cohesion almost instantly if removed from the holochamber.
Holochambers come in various sizes and types; the federation is reputed to have the best models, with Earth boasting some of the largest known holochambers. Starfleet 'Holodecks' are probably the most technically sophisticated, while the Ferengi are known for having some of the most advanced and creative entertainment software.

Daystrom Institute



Alien Corner: 40th Anniversary edition
Q


The Q is undoubtedly one of the most interesting and peculiar species ever encountered. Little is known of them for certain but they are known to reside in a place they refer to as 'the Q continuum', which is apparently a higher dimension of some form. The Q is thought to have once been a relatively 'normal' species, but at some point they acquired incredible powers to control matter and energy, space and even time itself. Some Q maintains that they are omnipotent, but at least one individual has claimed that there are in fact limits to their power - although what these limits might be has never been ascertained.
The Federation's first contact with the Q came when one of them intercepted the Enterprise-D on its maiden voyage. Appearing in a variety of costumes, Q placed the ship's senior officers on trial for the 'crimes of Humanity' - although the crew convinced Q to release them, years later he claimed that this trial was a never-ending process.

In subsequent visits Q demonstrated a mixture of astounding power and knowledge combined with an almost childish sense of self-importance and selfishness. On his third visit to the Enterprise, Q reacted negatively to an offhand comment by Captain Jean Luc Picard; he threw the ship across thousands of light years to the system J-25, leading to first contact with the Borg and eventually to two devastating attacks by that species. He constantly berates and belittles other life forms and takes every opportunity to assert his own perfection.

During her travels in the Delta Quadrant, the USS Voyager encountered a second Q - known as Quinn - who had been imprisoned in the nucleus of a comet for political dissension against the Q. Quinn, was dissatisfied with a life in which there was nothing left to explore to accomplish, and had sought to end his existence. Q appeared on Voyager and a hearing was held which resulted in Quinn having his abilities removed so as to allow him to lead life as a Human. Despite this offer, Quinn took his own life shortly afterwards with the help of Q.

This act apparently triggered a civil war within the Q continuum; Q proposed to end this conflict by mating with Captain Janeway of the USS Voyager in order to produce a new breed of Q - an offer the Captain forcefully declined. Later the crew of Voyager where taken to the Q continuum where, given the abilities and weapons of the Q, they where instrumental in ending the war.

Q troubled Voyager on relatively few occasions, but he did place his young son in Janeway's care for a time in an effort to teach the boy some sense of responsibility. This was actually somewhat successful, though it is hard to believe that a Q could ever really reform completely.

Daystrom Institute

The Board Count

Last weeks Board count was taken at 3:37 pm, September 16, 2006.
This weeks Board count was taken at 2:54 pm, September 22, 2006.
Last weeks board count was 12,892
This week’s board count is 13,429.

Total Post 537


Live Sims
USS LONDON UFMV-16052A


Ship Name This Week Last Week Total Post
London 334 247 87
New York 1901 1825 76
Expedition 659 632 27
Pegasus 2138 2124 14
Frontier 849 844 5
Aryes 375 372 3
101st Pathfinders 426 426 0

6682 6470 212

Top Posters

This week goes to Amirah Murasaki.
The Top Ten
Name Current Last Week Total Post Ship
Amirah Murasaki 125 90 35 London
Rey Drek 84 65 19 London
Anarra Danrrea 363 348 15 New York
Mark Danrrea 43 30 13 New York
Yhea Hrienteh 248 236 12 New York
Captain Eviess Radaik 311 301 10 New York
Zandille Rey-Baccus 166 156 10 New York
Tecaz 28 18 10 New York
Stephanie Morgan 39 30 9 London

Board Sims
USS TARAWA UFMV-70251

Ship Name This Week Last Week Total Post
Tarawa 682 403 279
Terrasect 2503 2471 32

3185 2874 311


This week goes to Major Jaylas Aniri.
The Top Five
(The week of 9/10/06)
Rank This Week Officer Ship # of Posts
1 Major Jaylas Aniri Tarawa 25
2 1st Lt. Chuck Norris Tarawa 17
3 Ensign Kasia Kaz Tarawa 12
4 Akoval Irdani Tarawa 12
5 Ensign Melvin Moon Tarawa 11
6 Lance Corporal Thomas Kinsely Tarawa 10
7 2nd Lt. Kyah Richardson Tarawa 10









General board areas
Announcements

Marine Captain Andrus Elbrun wrote:

I, MCpt Andrus Elbrun, am very happy to announce that Ensign Ariel Wrenn asked me to be her bond mate and I have said yes. I will make another annoucment when a date for the bonding will take place.

Commander Vanessa Ann Lucifel wrote:

Ok I have a few announcements:

I have recently acquired the Alien morphs for males. I now can do Klingons, Andorians, and a selected list of other aliens for males.

Unfortunately, I do not have the Klingon sash of yet, so that’s a work in progress. Also those who need new alien images please e-mail me with the description. So far Colissians, Avirex, and GEM have been created. Now working on Ketrians.
Klingons wishing for facial hair, give me another 2 weeks, I can't afford the prop as of yet.
Lastly, I also can do signature blinkies of pre-rendered characters only. The turn around time on this is slow. Please forward all request to mailto:[e-mail]

Crio's Trivia Corner
===From the Office of Captain Crio Ijoula --- USS Terrasect===


==============================

This week's trivia comes from the logs of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D, and carries a difficulty level of 5, and is a tough one pair. So far I only got 3 responses, hopefully I will get some more.

=/\= During the battle over Veridian 3, what was the shield modulation of the USS Enterprise-D, in megahertz (MHz)?


*Eager-Beaver Question*
=/\= What type and vintage was the wine that christened the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-B?

==============================

The answer will appear in a later edition of the UF Weekly newsletter, due to the difficulty level. Good luck to everyone.


As always, please email your answers or guesses to [e-mail] Please put either "Trivia” or "Crio's Trivia Corner" in the subject line

Humor
By Andrus Elbrun

Ten Things Not Heard Inside the Borg Cube

10 "Wait a minute. If resistance is futile, how come they keep kicking our butts?"
9 "You know, I'm starting to miss Locutus."
8 "Did you see last night's 'Friends'?"
7 "Do you ever get tired of this hive mentality?"
6 "Excuse me, but do you have any Grey Pupon?"
5 "I'm sensing PAIN, PAIN, terrible, horrible, PAIN!"
4 "We are Bgro ... uh ... Brog ... uh ... Grob ... OH NEVER MIND!"
3 "I know! Let's NOT blast this small helpless planet to smitherines!"
2 "I have to pee!"
1 "Heeey Macarena! Aiie!"


Star Trek Top Ten List




Trek Life
Star Trek.com


Images of the week
By Cdr Vanessa Lucifel

This week I completed 3 Avatars, one of which is Andorian. Whats special about this is it’s a male,


Ensign Shran

Then came two more recruits.

Ensign Alyssa Ashford


Ensign Penny Dancer

Finally, what do a Ketrian Cruiser look like?

Here the USS Expedition maneuvers for a close engagement.


so any request e-mail me at [e-mail]



UF Weekly Staff:
Marine Captain Jenn Morgan – Editor and Chief
LtCdr Vanessa A Lucifel – Assistant Editor, Reporter, and Visual Graphics
Ensign Ashley Morgan – Field Report for Naval Operations
1st Lt Stephanie Morgan – Field Reporter for Marine Operations
2nd Lt Victoria Love – Field Reporter
Ensign Michael Redman – Field Reporter
Lt Anarra Danrea – Board SIM Post Reportrer
Lt Candela Greene – Reporter, special assignment
Captain Crio Ijoula – Staff writer, reporter
Admiral Kenneth Basaal – Humor, and contributor
Field Marshall Jenina Weslynes – UF Weekly Chief Executive Officer

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