2018 Roster Freak Out - Week 11

Evidently an oddly shaped interstellar asteroid flew threw our solar system recently, called 'Oumuamua. It's 6x longer than it is wide, making it unlike any asteroid in our solar system (and it may actually be a comet).

What's most fascinating to me is that the object apparently displays "nongravitational acceleration." The prevailing notion is this is the cause of "outgassing" - a process whereby solar heat warms frozen gasses on the surface to provide a form of propulsion. This is not to be confused with the better known form of outgassing, which is when a person is running and gets extra propulsion from their own farts.

The alternate explanation is that this object is actually an alien probe sent from another star system to gather data on ours. This hypothesis is basically Star Trek IV but with a much less cranky probe - which is pretty sweet.

Whatever the case may be: we need to save the whales (especially humpbacks).

These Are the Voyages of the Starship... - Weekly Trivia!

Yorktown?! That's right: Gene Roddenberry's original script chronicled the adventures of the starship Yorktown. He named the ship after the last major battle of the Revolutionary War - an apt moniker for the birth of a society with a new ideology. Whoever guessed correctly, make yourself known!

Fun factoid for my nerds: evidently in a nod to the original name change, the Enterprise-A was actually just a recommissioned Yorktown, which explains why Kirk got a new ship so fast after the original Enterprise blew up in Star Trek III.

This week I'm away for work, so I'm going to pose a question about my destination that's hopefully challenging. The subject: English monarchs. They're sometimes mad, often silly, and I know I didn't vote for them! Nevertheless, they exist against all odds, and have for many centuries. Starting with William the Conqueror, I ask this week's question:

Which of the following has NOT been the name of a monarch of England?

• Mary
• Anne
• Stephen
• John
• Andrew

Cheerio!

The Quadri-ding-dong Club - Weekly Trivia!

It was another great week for trivia - not only was the question a tough one, but it also became highly topical, as "The Natural," Josh Hamilton, blasted four home runs against the Orioles last Tuesday. He now has 18 on the season and is batting over .400. Could we be seeing the first triple crown winner in my lifetime? With Matt Kemp doing work in the N.L., the odds are looking better than normal, but there's still a lot of baseball left to play.

Swing and a drive...

As for this week's question, Jimmie Foxx was the player who never hit four homers in a game. As a guy that's easily associated with hitting large numbers of home runs, I figured he'd be a tough one to guess. To try your knowledge further, play this Sporcle quiz and see how many of the 16 4-homer players you can name!

Lately I've been mulling a side project, and in so doing, I've been thinking about a certain sci-fi series lately. The codename for this project is "Operation Dilithium," so I'll let you put 2 and 2 together. Anyways, I came to find out something new about the series recently, and it involves the following:

What was the original name of the central starship in Gene Roddenberry's first pitch to NBC for Star Trek?

• Enterprise
• Plymouth
• Yorktown
• Independence
• Endeavor

Live long and prosper this week. Also, enjoy a bonus sci-fi related Sporcle quiz.

TDZ March Madness - Kirk Triumphs Yet Again

It was a wild rollercoaster in the inaugural TDZ March Madness tournament. Here's the final leaderboard:

Kirk: 45-18, 127 points

Lore: 35-28, 105 points

Scotty: 32-31, 102 points

Troi: 38-25, 72 points

Spock: 36-27, 66 points

Congratulations to Kirk (aka Matt-O), who was nearly the wire-to-wire winner, falling into second place only briefly until Kentucky took the title. As the grand prize winner, he's entitled to a free TDZ blog post of his choosing! Holy moly!!

Oh, did I win? This is just how I pose normally, I can't keep track of all the winning.

I earned a respectable but meaningless second place finish, while Scotty was the real story of the tournament, surging from the cellar to the top of the standings at warp speed in the late rounds, but Kansas ultimately let him down. Troi and Spock meanwhile had already traveled back to Betazed and Vulcan respectively.

Thanks to all who participated! Now back to your continuing missions.

TDZ March Madness Leader Board - The Final (4) Frontier

Just 3 games remain for the contenders, but already the final standings are coming into focus. Kirk is chasing TDZ immortality and just needs a Kentucky championship to clinch it, but look who's poised for a comeback: Scotty!

No, cheers to you, laddy!

TDZ March Madness Leader Board - Sour 16

Two rounds of action are in the books, and look who's back from the dead: Spock!

Kirk: 37-11, 47 points

Spock: 31-17, 42 points

Troi: 32-16, 40 points

Lore: 27-21, 33 points

Scotty: 22-26, 30 points

Not so fast, Jim. It's Jim, right? My body was just regenerated by the Genesis matrix, you know how it is.

Logic dictates that the top seeds advance, but ultimately the Vulcan's selection of Duke in the finals will be his undoing. The other highlight for me is Scotty picking NC State to reach the Sweet 16. At this point, there's a serious possibility that the engineer will make a come back and put me in dead last, bringing shame upon Dr. Soong's programming.

TDZ March Madness Leader Board - Round of 32

Just one round of games in the books and already we're seeing some disparity between the brackets. Here's the standings as of right now:

Kirk: 25-7, 25 points

Troi: 24-8, 24 points

Data Lore: 21-11, 21 points

Spock: 20-12, 20 points

Scotty: 14-18, 14 points

Kirk is in the captain's chair right now, and his shields are holding following the opening salvos from Norfolk State and Lehigh since he had Missouri and Duke failing to reach the Sweet 16 anyways. My original speculation of space-time hacking is gaining legitimacy.

It's still early, don't get cocky.

Troi had a strong first round as well, but her Elite 8 was rocked by the dual 15 seed upsets. Only a championship run by Michigan State will do the job, but with the remaining depth in the West division, might I suggest pre-arranging some counseling sessions to overcome the disappointment.

These 15 seeds are driving me crazy!

Yes, that's right, I tricked you all. I'm actually Lore, Data's snickering, contraction-wiedling, emotionally unstable brother. And as I'm teetering on the brink right now, I'm more motivated than ever to kill all biological life... through snide remarks, lethal satire and Star Trek references!

I'm an android on the edge and I'm firing at Will!

Of my friend Spock, I can only say this: of all the brackets I have encountered in my travels, his was the most... human.

If only there was a Genesis device for brackets.

Scotty brings up the rear with a truly busted bracket. With a ship this beyond repair, I suggest crashing into the nearest Dyson Sphere and hiding yourself in your transporter's pattern buffer for decades until no one remembers your ignominy.

See you in 75 years!

TDZ's March Madness - To Boldly Go...

Thanks to all the contributors to the first March Madness Melee here at TDZ! Now that I have some competition in the bracketology department, you enter upon a brave new world for my blog. It's a land where hubris is cheap, and the local currency is tears.

Without further ado, let's introduce the contenders:

Heheh, ENGAGE (giggity)...

As we all know, life without a Star Trek series on TV is hardly life at all, but one television powerhouse is looking to bring it back on the air: Seth MacFarlane.

In a recent interview, he mentioned his desire to have Trek back on the air, modeling it after the revival brought about in the 90's (TNG and its progeny). Given the positive reception of the J.J. Abrams reboot (and its profitability), there's - at best - a non-zero probability of another series on TV. Nevertheless, I'd be ecstatic to get a new series on the air, ideally using the existing Roddenberry canon rather than the Abrams one where Vulcan is gone.

MacFarlane clearly knows his Trek... I don't think I'd want him leading a Trek project, but as an Executive Producer and driving force for its revival on TV, I'm all for that!


Captain's Log: Additional

News reports from Hollywood are that Benicio Del Toro will play the villain in the next Star Trek movie. No word yet on the role he'll undertake, but if I had to bet, he'll be playing... KHAAAANNNN!

No one will ever replace the incomparable Ricardo Montalban, but Del Toro is a great choice for a villain no matter what the role is, so I'm eager to hear more in the coming months.

Northern Hemisphere Pwnage

This week's trivia question was not a simple one. Obviously the northern part of the globe has more than 50% of the Earth's population, but how many of the soon-to-be 7 billion people live south of the equator?

You may be surprised to learn that estimates say that 90% of the world's population lives in the northern hemisphere. More precise measures have that percentage at 88% (2000 data). Anyone else find it weird that the population is so lop-sided in favor of one hemisphere? I guess it's due to water covering so much of the planet, but given a random sample of similar planets you'd expect a balance over all hemispheres.

And "north" seems so arbitrary anyways. You could flip the solar system upside down and say Antarctica is the "northern" part of the planet. It kind of irks me how in space battles in movies the ships are all practically on the same plane and "right-side-up." I don't know where I'm going with this.

Genetically enhanced super-humans done in by a lack of 3-dimensional thinking - it can happen to them, it can happen to YOU.

Anyways, this week's trivia question is not trivia, but in fact a poll: where should I go on vacation next summer? I just got back from 11 days in Turkey and am thinking ahead to what I should do next year.  Below are the options, and feel free to comment on the pros and cons you see.

• Japan
• Pros: baseball, sumo, sushi, anime, twisted TV game shows.
• Cons: the language barrier could be insurmountable, freaking crowded.
• Brazil
• Pros: land of soccer, great beaches, totally different country/culture, Brazilian babes.
• Cons: crime, not nice to white gringos like me, could be entirely under construction for the World Cup ('14) and Olympics ('16).
• East Germany
• Pros: know some German, never made it to Berlin last time, lots of revamped post-Cold War areas, beer.
• Cons: Already been to Germany.
• Somewhere in the USA
• Pros: plenty of options, less of a travel hassle, no language/cultural barriers, keep $$ in 'merica.
• Cons: potentially less of a "wow" factor.

Thanks - real trivia next week, I promise. Plus I hope to be posting more now that I'm back.

Star Trek: TNG - The Boston Red Sox Casting Call

You know you're legendary when you get the Star Trek treatment from TDZ.

Reppin' that NCC-1701D, baby.

When you combine two of the best things in life, awesome happens. Don't take my word for it though - read on.

More trivia! Plus, taking requests.

This week I gave a tough trivia question, especially for the non-Trekkies out there. The actor that has never made an appearance in any of the Star Trek shows or movies is Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad and Malcolm in the Middle fame.

• The Rock was a guest star as a gladiator-type character in an episode of Voyager. 
• Before she was ****ing Matt Damon, Sarah Silverman also made a guest appearance as an astronomer in a time travel related Voyager episode. (She's also 40 years old, isn't it weird to think of her as that old?) 
• Lastly, Andy Dick needed some money and I guess Rick Berman was only too willing to give it to him to play the Emergency Medical Hologram Mark II, an update for "The Doctor" in use in the Alpha Quadrant.

Moral of the story: Voyager had a ton of guest stars to try to boost ratings. Congrats to Matt O. for the correct answer!

This week's question is for all the Greek mythologians out there: Which of the following was not the name of a Greek deity? Hopefully it's not too easy (see below for choices).

I also want to mention that I am taking requests for future articles. My coverage of the Gold Cup was on special request, and having requests actually gives me the impetus to write, so I enjoy it. They can be on any subject, just comment or email me directly!

This Week's Trivia Question

Time to get my act together and make this trivia thing a regular deal, so this week's question is displayed down near the bottom.

As you ponder the answer, I invite you to visit this link I came across when I was researching the question:

http://www.startrekcruise.com/

At first I was excited by the idea... then I saw the "celebrities." The actress who played Tasha Yar, the crew member who perhaps creeps me out the most (and that's saying something, Reginald Barclay); some rando guy who played a Vulcan once; Gene Roddenberry's son, who as far as I know has little to do with the franchise; and former Dabo girl Leeta, who evidently is now a bleached burlap sack. Time is seriously unkind to the Star Trek actor.