Yesterday's News
May 2008

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Base Commander’s Log—May 08

Greetings, crew...

            Hey, I’ve got some exciting changes to tell you about this month. It seems that when this club starts moving, we just can’t stop!

            Firstly, our latest Historical Document, A Quantum Leap Back, is in full swing! As you might recall, this story centers around the character of Tony Mirabi (VAdm. Dave Jones) and SBK’s journey back to Earth’s 1980’s. So get out your old Madonna CDs, E.T. doll, bring your friends and come join us! Comp Ops Chief Chrystalline Lauryl has posted an open invite to writers, both members and nonmembers, on our website to join us for the adventure—and we already have a couple of new people working on their segments, as well as upcoming episodes penned by Dave Jones and Michelle Turchiano. Many other members have sent me their updated character profiles. If anyone needs help writing theirs, please contact me.

            Next, we obtained two recruiting tables for Marcon which will be attended May 24th and 25th in Columbus, Ohio by myself, Dave, Michelle, and other crewmates. Any of you who wish to volunteer to staff the table sometime that weekend, there are definite Twinkie Points in it for you! (grin) We could also use assistance in the next couple of weeks with designing new flyers, our banner, and other embellishments for the tables. Please contact Dave if you can help.

            Bigger changes this month involve NEW DATES. As many of you already know, I have been hired by a new employer and have decided to move the SBK meeting dates to the 3rd Wednesday of each month. Also, beginning in July, we’ll be scheduling every 3rd SBK meeting at a location equidistant between Lexington and Covington, Ky, in order to make it easier for Third Officer Laura Begley to attend—more about which weekends and the location we’ll be choosing as the dates approach.

            Because of the meeting changes, reporting dates have also changed, and will now be as follows:

• XO reports to the CO: 10th of each month

• Second Officer & Division Chiefs report to the XO: 5th of each month

• Third Officer & Public Relations reports to the Second Officer: 1st of each month

            Also, per the responses I asked for from the crew by April 20th, we will be discontinuing the SBK Online Forum and moving entirely to the SBK community on Live Journal. So I will be working over the next few weeks with Laura, who is the mod there, as well as Ops Chief Jan Popp, who has volunteered to assist any of our members who aren’t sure how Live Journal works.

            And last, but not least, I’d like to personally welcome home Rear Admiral Aurelia Burkett, who has returned from a brief hiatus. Glad to have you aboard again, Panthera!

            Wow, can you believe we suddenly have all this going on aboard SBK? Woo hoo! What a summer this is going to be!

            Until next time—love ya, guys! :*

            Addy J

It's a Musical World?

Earth's Hum Sounds More Mysterious Than Ever

Star Power

It is the store run by Chris Doohan, Jimmy's son. And right now, proceeds from sales there go to help Walt Koenig get his star on the Walk of Fame--finally!

http://www.dilithiumcrystal.com/

Computer Corner Q&A

Q: Do you know of a program to check your computer that removes incidental files? I’ve gotten a couple of e-mails at work that basically states you can download this and it will delete unnecessary files.

My computer takes at least 15 minutes to boot up, so I know there’s stuff on here I probably don’t need, but I have no idea what! So I’m hoping you can give me some advice. Thanks.

A: I'm leery of programs promoted via email like that; unless I know the sender is computer-savvy and uses the program personally, I won't use it. Too many spyware/virus-laden programs are distributed that way, and I lost a lot of data when that first computer died due to viruses I'd unwittingly installed on it.

If your machine is running slow, the first thing to check is spyware. If you don't have it yet, download Spybot and install it. It's pretty thorough, though it will warn you that, if you're running software that is adware-supported, you need to exclude it from Spybot's cleanup or you'll violate the TOS you agreed to when you installed the adware program. Generally, I don't recommend using adware; there's usually an ad-free program that will serve the same purpose somewhere.

You might also uninstall stuff you don't use. (Start>Settings>Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs) Uninstall any program you are certain you'll never need/want to use. If you're not sure, leave it on until you can find out. If you're not sure what a program is or does, use your favorite search engine to find out. I always check the processes running on my computer so I know what's there; sometimes, you can catch things that shouldn't be there.

I assume you have antivirus software; check to make sure it's up to date. Try defragmenting the hard drive(s) as well; if you delete/uninstall a lot of stuff, run the defrag afterwards to clean up the drive. Start>Programs>Accessories>SystemTools>DiskDefragmenter is included with Windows. If it's been a while since the last defrag, it can take a long time; let it run overnight if you have to.

Checking through Kim Komando's site, the closest thing I could find is CloneSpy:

http://www.komando.com/downloads/category.aspx?id=2803

It compares the files on your computer and deletes duplicates. Be careful with this; make sure you know what you're deleting. Hate to find out after you emptied your recycle bin that you still wanted those files. Speaking of which, using the recycle bin uses hard drive space, so try to keep it empty when you can. It's that much more data it won't have to read through when starting up. I haven't used CloneSpy yet, but I may give it a try. I have a lot of redundant media files myself ;)

If you use Firefox, add the Adblock Plus plugin.  It's also available for Seamonkey: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/seamonkey/addon/1865

If your only firewall is the one built into Windows, download ZoneAlarm.

A good program for additional protection against websites loaded with ads and/or malware is PeerGuardian.  It's aimed at P2P filesharers, but if you don't want any of that, you can have it only update the ads and spyware lists. It's another layer of protection; it's saved me from a couple of mishaps that I know of, and who knows how many I never realized.

Have a computer or web related question? Email me: CDLauryl@gmail.com
 

 Upcoming Events

• Monthly Meeting at Mary Ann Mongan/Kenton County Library, May 21

 Upcoming Movies

• Iron Man 05/02/08

• Speed Racer 05/09/08

• The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian 05/16/08

• Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull 05/22/08

• The Happening 06/13/08

• The Incredible Hulk 06/13/08

• Get Smart 06/20/08

• Wall-E 06/27/08

• Hellboy 2 07/11/08

• The Dark Knight 07/18/08

• The X-Files 2 07/25/08

• Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince 11/21/08

• The Day The Earth Stood Still 12/12/08

• Star Trek 05/08/09

 Treasury Report

  By: Janice Popp
  Second Officer/Treasurer

sbkco@starbasekarma.com or call (513) 685-0772.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Commanding Officer:
Adm. Joy Jones
sbkco@starbasekarma.com
AIM ID: StarbaseKarmaCO

Executive Officer/Chief of Science/Recreation Chief:
Vice Admiral Dave Jones
DaveyJones@starbasekarma.com
AIM ID: TonyMirabi

Second Officer/Chief of Operations/Base PX/Records Officer/Treasurer:
Lt. Cmdr. Jan Popp
patcruise@starbasekarma.com

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Other Logo Merchandise

Third Officer/Chief of Communications/Newsletter Editor/Recruiting/First Contact Officer/Fund Raising Coordinator:
Fleet Captain Laura Begley
pandria@aol.com
AIM ID: Pandria

Submissions to Yesterday's News should be sent to Pandria@aol.com on or before the 25th of each month.  Please include the byline as you wish it to be displayed.

Chief of Medical:
Contact VAdm. Dave Jones

Chief of Security:
Lt General John Barnes
survic84401@gmail.com

Chief of Engineering:
Contact VAdm. Dave Jones

Chief of Computer Operations:
Ensign Chrystalline Lauryl
CDLauryl@gmail.com
AIM ID: CDLauryl

Public Relations
Vice Admiral Gary Pilkington
Gary.Pilkington@kentonlibrary.org
AIM ID: Garyrp116

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