Dauntless News

To interfere or not to interfere... General order 1

Heidi Hertz — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 03:19:13 -0700

For the uninitiated (although if you are reading this, chances are you're not)ￂﾠthe prime directive states that "No starship may interfere with the normal development of any alien life or society." The most important law in Starfleet, it appears it is also the one most often violated.ￂﾠ

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Reading the directive the following is apparent:

1. It only applies to Starfleet personnel, not federation citizens

2. The nature of the interference is not qualified so any interference be it directly/indirectly would constitute a violation

3. It only relates to the normal development of alien life or society

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Is it because of point 3 that Picard and Janeway conveniently overlooked the directive in cases where the society was enslaved or stagnated, thus not developing? Or is it just because the hereos can do no wrong? Just putting it out there. The only officer ever convicted of violating the prime directive appears to be Ronald Tracey (TOS- The Omega Glory).

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An officer that violates the general order 1 may be court-martialed (see http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Court_martialￂﾠfor more information on this process).

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The prime directive does not apply where a civilization has already been exposed to alien species and information. It may also be violated where an extreme threat to the Federation exists.

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Which brings me to TOS - A Taste of Armageddon. In this episode the USS Enterprise encounters two groups, the Eminiar and the Vendikar, who have been waging a war for many years using computer simulation.ￂﾠ Victims in the simulation become real victims as those "hit" in the war have to report to disintegration stations within 24 hours to be executed.ￂﾠ After ignoring a message from the planet to stay away the Enterprise enters the orbit and is "hit". As such, the crew has to report to the disintegration station.

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Long story short: Kirk destroys several disintegration stationsￂﾠand hasￂﾠthe war computers destroyed and so manipulates the Eminiar into breaking the treaty that governs the computer war.ￂﾠ The Eminiar now have to either go into real war with the Vendikar or make peace.

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A violation of the prime directive - definitely. Justified because of an extreme threat to the Federation? I submit not. They were told to stay away, and they went anyway.ￂﾠ And the death of one ship's crew hardly constitutes an extreme threat. Surely an extreme threat would be the destruction of earth?ￂﾠ Kirk's actions were totally motivated by self-preservation (you can read it on his face all through the episode) and a little by lust (Token blonde woman character was also "hit") and his violation of the prime directive was not justified. He should rather have left the planet and have gotten his crew out of harm's way.ￂﾠ But then, that doesn't make for good tv.

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Justice

Heidi Hertz — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 02:53:29 -0700

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"Justice is a collective name which can be divided into two broad perspectives. Just behavior; a concern for genuine respect and treatment which is to be regarded as fair and equal. The Administration of Law; which ordains legislation composed by a judge or magistrate of a supreme court to a country or state, with objectives to protect the victims and pursue the perpetrators lawfully" - Wikipedia

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Living in a country with one of the highest crime rates in the world and having a legal background, my thoughts often go to what can be done to bring crime under control. The death penalty was declared unconstitutional and abolished in South Africa during 1995 (this was in the matter of the State v Makwanyane) and many argue that crime is out of controlￂﾠdue to the abolishment.ￂﾠ I am against the death penalty, partly because I know how flawed the legal process is in many respects, partly because I think locking someone up for the rest of their lives is more just than offing them.ￂﾠ But in South Africa we are dealing with overcrowded jails, prosecutors with unmanageable workloads and policemen that are undertrained and underpaid.

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I recently watched an episode entitled Justice (TNG, seeￂﾠhttp://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Justiceￂﾠfor the synopsis) which got me thinking about these matters again. In this episode the Edo have an interesting legal system where punishment zones are randomly selected on the planets surface. Mediators are sent to patrol the zones and any perpetrators that are caught are summarily executed. This is the case regardless of the severity of the crime. One's first reaction is to exclaim that this is an untenable situation, but on closer inspection there may be some justification.

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The practice is an excellent deterrent as is evidenced by the extremely law-abiding nature of the Edo. Because the punishment zones are selected randomly, would be violators would find it difficult to identify a location to commit aￂﾠcrime. ￂﾠ If implemented in our society it may deter petty thiefs as well as the more hardened criminals. The selection of particular punishment zones also makes it easier to enforce from a resource point of view as mediators will only patrol the particular zones for violations and not the whole of Rubicun III.ￂﾠ This certainly would make life easier for our police force.

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The fact remains though that the punishment is extremely severe. This rule can lead to very unjust situations as is aptly illustrated when Wesley is sentenced to death for breaking a plant box. Most legal systems today are designed around the idea that the punishment should fit the crime.ￂﾠ One could argue though that the Edo would be less law-abiding if lesser punishments were employed for certain crimes as is evidenced by the level of crime in many countries in our world today.ￂﾠ But I think that it is not the re-introduction of death penalty that is the answer, but rather solving all the underlying inefficiencies in the SA legal system.ￂﾠ And to ensure that there is funding to make this possible, I would like to see prisoners earning their keep by paying for their food & lodging through selling products that they have madeￂﾠ or rendering services whilst imprisoned.

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SciOps Review - Where No Man has Gone Before

Owen Swart — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 05:20:15 -0700

I'd like to begin my sceptical analysis of the Original Series episode,ￂﾠWhere No Man has Gone Before.

The premise of the episode is that theￂﾠUSS Enterpriseￂﾠpicks up the flight recorder from a long lost Earth starship, theￂﾠSS Valiant. The recorder reveals that the crew underwent some severe catastrophe after passing through an energy field at the edge of the galaxy. The Enterprise flies off to investigate, and encounters the same energy barrier, which transforms two members of her crew.

Lieutenant Commander Gary MitchellￂﾠandￂﾠDoctor Elizabeth Denherￂﾠare suddenly imbued with psychic powers, including photographic memory, telekinesis, telepathy, remote viewing and so on. They become a danger to the crew, andￂﾠCaptain Kirkￂﾠmust figure out how to save his friends and his ship.

The point of interest I'd like to examine in this article is a plot device that was used to describe the mechanism by which the two crewmembers were imbued with special powers while the others were spared: the ESP Scale.

The premise of this idea is that allￂﾠStarfleetￂﾠpersonnel are subjected to a series of tests during their training, which are designed to evaluate their inherent psychic abilities. The assumption made by the writers is that everyone has some inherent psychic power, and that some are more talented than others with these gifts. And that's where they dropped the ball.

We have to remember that this was written in the 1960s. I don't think we can judge the writers too harshly for harbouring a hope that some kind of psi could be discovered. Forty two years later, we can say with a high degree of confidence that there is no such thing.

How can we say that?

Because it's been tested, that's how.

Although some government-funded studies were performed into a number of possible psi abilities (including aￂﾠCIA-endorsedￂﾠinvestigation into remote viewing so as to allow US spies to observe Soviet military secrets), possibly the most damning experiment against any kind of psi is theￂﾠJREF $Million Challenge.

Years ago,ￂﾠJames "The Amazing" Randiￂﾠput up a prize for anyone who could reproducibly demonstrate any kind of psychic ability. The requirements weren't difficult: all a claimant had to do was prove (through testing) that their claim was for real, and they would walk away with the prize. Years passed and the prize-money grew to a Million Dollars (US), which is the amount at which it currently sits.

It's still there because nobody has yet claimed it. Not for lack of trying. The James Randi Educational Foundation is willing toￂﾠprovide detailsￂﾠof hundreds of applications who have been tested, and not a single one passed even the first round of testing. Not one.

The JREF Challenge has been widely criticised by believers in the paranormal as being unfair, rigged, fraudulent or irrelevant. Yet the JREF are tenacious in their willingness to present their methodologies, results, bank statements and cooperative attitude to anyone who asks. The challenge is being retired, since the JREF can put those funds to much better use, but Randi remains committed that if anyone were to demonstrate real paranormal abilities, they could still win it... as well as theￂﾠmany other similar prizesￂﾠoffered by other organisations.

Is it possible that psi really does exist, and that the JREF (and their counterparts) simply failed to find it? Of course. No open minded individual can rule out the possibility. But given the complete failure of all applications to the JREF to demonstrate any psychic abilities, the probability seems pretty small. It's probably safe to say that Terrestrial life-forms are not capable of psi. And that any government organisation screening all their members for it according to a predefined scale would be wasting their time - all the applicants would have a rating of zero.

Of course, not all members of the Federation Starfleet are terrestrial life-forms. Who knows what species of other planets might be capable of? But the characters of Mitchell and Denher were most certainly Terran, and should not have registered a ESP rating above zero if that aspect the episode were consistent with scientific reality.

Beta Team Meeting - Dinner and a Trek

Jim Nave — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 02:29:11 -0700

This September the Beta team had their first official meeting at the home of LCDR Jim Nave. Over a dinner of spaghetti, there was much talk about SFI, fellow crew-members, and the all around sheer awesomeness of the USS Dauntless.

After dinner, Voyager - Caretaker was enjoyed by all.ￂﾠ This marks the first of hopefully monthly get togethers.

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ￂﾠDauntless crewmembers inￂﾠattendance:

Alpha Team: Blood Drive Away Mission, Stardate [-28] 02020

Owen Swart — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 04:57:49 -0700

On Saturday the 17th on October, members of Alpha Team rendezvoused at MacDonalds in Bruma, Johannesburg for a filling breakfast before heading across the road to the local SANBS clinic to donate blood. They were joined by a number of civilians who were their to offer both blood and moral support.

One Dauntless Officer (LT van der Berg) and one civilian (Bruce Reid) donated blood for the first time, and were given theￂﾠtraditionalￂﾠwelcome gift-bags, containing heart-shaped stress-balls and SANBS lapel-pins. Several of the crew were there to donate for the fourth time in 2009, and they received their traditional thank-you gifts: pre-packed first-aid kits.

The mission was a success, and resulted in eight lives saved.

Crewmembers inￂﾠattendance:

FCAPT Owen Swart (Commanding)
MCPT Paul Nott
LT Shaun van der Berg
LT Gordon Reid
SANBS Clinic
SANBS Clinic
LTJG Anya den Teuling
ENS James Hough
LCDR Jim Nave (telepresence)
ENS Darren Higgins (telepresence)
Colleen Reid (civilian donor)
Bruce Reid (civilian donor)
Fabienne Walther (civilian supporter)
Luna van der Berg (civilian supporter)

SciOps Away Mission - Sceptics in the Pub, Gauteng: August 2009

Owen Swart — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 01:07:00 -0700

Report by ENS James Hough:

On Monday, 3 August, members of theￂﾠSpecial Scientific Operationsￂﾠteam, ENS Hough and CMN Schroder, met with civilian sceptics at The Dros in Cresta, Johannesburg.ￂﾠ In a relaxed atmosphere with good food and drinks of choice, the open discussion ranged over many topics.ￂﾠ Some of the topics of discussion included:

The release of Richard Wiseman's new mass market psychology book;ￂﾠ59 Seconds
Discussions and critiques of other sceptical books including Derren Brown'sￂﾠTricks of the Mindand James Randi'sￂﾠFlim-Flam.
Richard Wiseman's latest ambitious project based at theￂﾠScience of Happinessￂﾠwebsite.
A tale of Astrologers who visited Astronomers to discuss whether a particular significant celestial event in their field was as significant in the Astronomical field, only to discover that the event wasn't happening.
The safety concerns of many homoeopathic remedies.
A discussion about SciFi movies.
The lamp of Galileo at the cathedral of Pisa and Galileo's early contributions to science.

We all look forward to the September meeting, keep your eyes peeled for the notification about the next meeting.

ENS James Hough
Intelligence Technician
USS Dauntless NCC-74214

Crewmembers inￂﾠattendance:

ENS James Hough (commanding)
CRM David Schroeder

Alpha Team Blood Drive Away Mission - July 2009

Owen Swart — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 07:26:03 -0700

On Saturday the 18th of July 2009, a group of members from the USS Dauntless' Alpha Teamￂﾠrendezvoused at Bruma McDonalds in Johannesburg, South Africa for breakfast. The breakfast was to allow them to fuel up before heading across the road to the local SANBS Blood Donor Clinic.

From the Away Team, two members were able to donate: FCAPT Owen Swart and MCPT Paul Nott.

Dauntless crewmembers inￂﾠattendance:

Spirit Riders/Alpha Team Away Mission - ICON 2009

Owen Swart — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 12:41:30 -0700

Mission Site

SciOps Away Mission - Sceptics in the Pub, Gauteng: July 2009

Owen Swart — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:04:21 -0700

A delegation from the USS Dauntless' elite Special Scientific Operations team undertook an important Away Mission yesterday. The objective: to have a few drinks with civilian sceptics, to discuss matters sceptical and scientific, and to have a good time. The mission was successful!ￂﾠ

SciOps members joined their civilian counterparts at Ogilvy's Pub & Grill in Midrand, Gauteng, South Africa last night for a few drinks and something to eat. Topics forￂﾠdiscussionￂﾠranged from new books being published to the Homeopathy Masters Degree offered by the University of Johannesburg.

A great time was had by all, and the SciOps team eagerly anticipate next month's Sceptics in the Pub.

Star Trek XI Opening Day (Beta Team) - (2009-08-05)

Jim Nave — Thu, 14 May 2009 10:47:16 -0700

The Beta-team of the USS Dauntless (currently on temporary shore-leave in Oregon, USA) met with the CO of the Wolf 359 and two of his senior officers for the opening day viewing of Star Trek XI. After the movie a lively discussion of time-lines, Trek History, and the actors of TOS was enjoyed by all.

With the success of this first joint venture between the Dauntless and the Wolf 359, the door has been opened for more joint ventures in the future.

Attending Crew:
LT Jim Nave (USS Dauntless)
Ensign Lisa Nave (USS Dauntless)
Ensign Matthew DeMaris (USS Dauntless)
CMDR Jordan Bouray (USS Wolf 359)
LT Lauren Witten (USS Wolf 359)
LT Connie O'Brien (USS Wolf 359)
Civilian Gary Nave
Civilian Richard DeMaris

Blood Drive (2009-02-03)

Jim Nave — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 04:28:51 -0800

The crew of the USS Dauntless in Swaziland met for an early breakfast at LT & Ensign Nave's house and then went to give blood in Manzini.
Due to a case of Rigelian Flu, Civilian Petros Kunene stayed behind.

Upon arrival at the blood bank the crew was informed that they could not give blood due to recent vaccinations that were taken for a trip to Malawi. The mission was still a success however, as everyone had fun, went to the craft market, and drank caffeinated beverages.

Attending Crew:

LT Jim Nave
Ensign Lisa Nave
Ensign Matthew DeMaris
Civilian Hlengiwe Shongwe
Civilian Richard DeMaris
Civilian Petros Kunene

All Day Star Trek RPG (2009-31-1)

Jim Nave — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:24:13 -0800

The crew of the USS Dauntless at the home of FCAPT Owen Swart for a braai and all day Star Trek RPG .

During our 5 hour session, we the crew of the RPG managed to survive an attack on our ship by a Romulan D'Deredex class Warbird and took out a handful of (suspiciously) non-Romulan soldiers using Romulan disruptors. Later in the day, there was an attack of xenophobia on the bridge, and the non-Terran crew had to scramble to protect themselves from hostility by the fellow crew, whilst finding a solution to the problem. In a (literal) flash of excitement, the game came to an end, as the crew (mistakenly) tried to overtake a friendly Romulan outpost. One of the crew (who shall remain nameless) charged the bridge with stun grenades. Whilst throwing his first stun grenade, he failed a dexterity test miserably, and had the stun grenade bounce back at the crew incapacitating them all.

During the gaming session the crew enjoyed a braai, which was excellently cooked by the Captain. After the game was over, the crew checked out the Captain's new surround sound system and played Guitar Hero. To end the night, a couple of games of "Race For the Galaxy" was played.

Attending Crew:

FCAPT Owen Swart
LT Gordon Reid (Game Master)
LT(JG) Anya denTeuling
LT(JG) Jim Nave
PO3 Lisa Nave
PO3 Matthew DeMaris

Blood Drive (2008-27-12)

Jim Nave — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 08:16:07 -0800

The crew of the USS Dauntless in Johannesburg met for an early breakfast at McDonald's and then went to give blood.

Attending Crew:

FCAPT Owen Swart
LTJG Gordon Reid
LTJG Anya denTeuling
LTJG Jim Nave (via telepresence)
Civilian Colleen Reid (Gordon's Mother)

Visual Log.

Dauntless End Year Social (2008-12-20)

Jim Nave — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 15:09:07 -0800

The year end social was held at the home of LT Shaun van der Berg. The crew enjoyed a braai, discussed the upcoming movie, and played a boardgame.

Those attending were:

FCAPT Owen Swart
LT Heidi Hertz
LT Shaun van der Berg
LTJG Gordon Reid
LTJG Anya den Teuling
CMN Zak Mbhele

Visual Log.

Dauntless Social Event (2008-October)

Jim Nave — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 15:02:47 -0800

The meetup was held at the home of FCAPT Owen Swart and LT Heidi Hertz. The crew held a braai, played Guitar Hero, a couple board games, and RPG'd briefly.

The following crew were in attendance:

FCAPT Owen Swart
LT Heidi Hertz
LTJG Gordon Reid
ENS Any den Teuling
PO3 Jim Nave

The event was initiated as an introduction to the USS Dauntless for PO3 Nave. who visited from Swaziland

Dauntless Joburg Meetup (2008-06-02 16:02)

Owen Swart — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 07:06:51 -0700

Johannesburg members attended the first regular Dauntless Joburg Meetup, on the 31st of June 2008.

The Meetup was held at the home of CAPT Owen Swart and LTJG Heidi Hertz. The crew watched the fantasy film 'Ladyhawke' and then wrote the STARFLEET Academy exam based on the film.

The following crew were in attendance:

CAPT Owen Swart
LTJG Shaun van der Berg
LTJG Heidi Hertz
LTJG Gordon Reid
PO3 Any den Teuling

This event was intended to be the first in a series of regular events providing an opportunity for Dauntless members to meet in person and enjoy Trek fandom together.

Conserve III

Owen Swart — Thu, 29 May 2008 06:50:58 -0700

Johannesburg members attended Conserve III, an alternative gaming convention, on the 29th of March 2008.

See the Mission Report:

Mission Report

SFSA Star Trek MiniCon 2008

Owen Swart — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 05:44:13 -0700

Johannesburg members attended Science Fiction South Africa's Star Trek MiniCon on the 19th of April 2008.

See the Mission Report:

Blood Donation - 26 April 2008

Owen Swart — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 05:21:44 -0700

Johannesburg members met for breakfast and donated blood together.

Crew Assigments

Owen Swart — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 01:33:38 -0700

Effective immediately, the following appointments are in place:

ENS Darren Higgins is appointed to Deputy Chief Security Officer (SecurityￂﾠDepartment).
CRM Dennis Brock is appointed to Systems Analyst (Operations Department).

Crew Assignments

Owen Swart — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 07:36:12 -0700

Effective immediately, the following appointments are in place:

ENS Darren Higgins is appointed to Security and Tactical Officer (SecurityￂﾠDepartment).
ENS Rachael Hall is appointed to Deputy Chief Science Officer (Science Department).

Promotions

Owen Swart — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 04:55:00 -0700

As of today, the following promotions are in effect:

CRM Rachael Hall, Recruit, is promoted to ENSIGN
CRM Darren Higgins, Recruit, is promoted to ENSIGN

Crew Assignment

Owen Swart — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 06:55:18 -0700

Effective immediately, the following appointment is in place:

CRM Bruce Smith is appointed to Computer Engineer (Engineering Department).

Promotion

Owen Swart — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 01:50:26 -0700

As of today, the following promotion is in effect:

CRM David Schroder, Field Technician, is promoted to PETTY OFFICER THIRD CLASS

Crew Reassignment

Owen Swart — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 01:49:35 -0700

Effective immediately, the following appointment is in place:

ENSￂﾠJames Hough is appointed to Intelligence Officer (Security Department).

Dauntless Haiku

Owen Swart — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 04:32:34 -0700

A sample of haiku from MCPT Paul Nott:

Fleet Captain Swart
an iron anchor
in the ocean of stupid

Commander Nave
the airlock door
needs inspection

Borg cubes---
starboard aft
raise the shields

Promotion

Owen Swart — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:58:12 -0700

As of today, the following promotion is in effect:

CRM James Hough, Intelligence Technician, is promoted to ENSIGN

Crew Reassignments

Owen Swart — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 04:56:10 -0700

Effective immediately, the following appointments are in place:

ENS Xavier Rainier is appointed to Deputy Chief Medical Officer (Medical Department);
CRM Angie Abed is appointed to Ship's Archaeologist (Science Department);
CRM James Hough is appointed to Intelligence Technician (Security Department).

Promotion

Owen Swart — Thu, 14 May 2009 03:15:26 -0700

As of today, the following promotion is in effect:

CRM Xavier Rainier, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, is promoted to ENSIGN

Promotions

Owen Swart — Tue, 26 May 2009 03:22:16 -0700

As of today, the following promotions are in effect:

LT Jim Nave, Chief Operations Officer, is promoted to LIEUTENANT COMMANDER
PO3 Ewan Waterson, Senior Staff Yeoman, is promoted to PETTY OFFICER 2ND CLASS
CMN Andrew Williams, Ship's Historian, is promoted to PETTY OFFICER 3RD CLASS

In Loving Memory

Owen Swart — Thu, 14 May 2009 03:17:20 -0700

Today we mourn the passing of one of our longest-running crewmembers, CAPT Matt Brooks.

Matt has served at a variety of posts aboard the Dauntless, including most recently as Security and Tactical Officer. We join Matt's mother (VADM Kim Donohoe), sister (CAPT Morgan Kirby) and stepfather (COMM Tom Donohoe) in commemorating the life of this exceptional individual who left us far too early at the tender age of 24.

The Helm is ordered to dim the running lights, and the 360th MSG are to lower their flags to half-mast.ￂﾠ

Away Teams beaming down!

Owen Swart — Fri, 08 May 2009 01:45:56 -0700

Today is the day the new Star Trek movie opens. Away Teams Alpha, Beta and Xi will be beaming down to localￂﾠtheatersￂﾠin their areas to catch the film as soon as they can.

If you'd like to join them, check the events scheduled in our ship's calendar (on the Home Page) for more details.

Good hunting!

Star Trek XI and Twitter

Owen Swart — Thu, 07 May 2009 04:52:11 -0700

As you may expect, the crew of the Dauntless are hectically busy preparing a number of exciting specialￂﾠactivitiesￂﾠsurrounding the launch of the film, Star Trek.

If you'd like to keep up to date on what we're all doing, probably the best way to do that is by following our new Twitter feed (@ussdauntless).

We hope to catch you at one of our many Away Missions over the next few days!

Promotions

Owen Swart — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:21:25 -0800

As of today, the following promotions are in effect:

LTJG Jim Nave, Chief Operations Officer, is promoted to LIEUTENANT
PO3 Lisa Nave, Ship's Nurse, is promoted to ENSIGN
PO3 Matthew DeMaris, Laboratory Technician, is promoted to ENSIGN

Promotions

Owen Swart — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 03:42:40 -0800

Effective immediately, the following promotions are in effect:

LTJG Gordon Reid, Deputy Chief Communications Officer, promoted to Lieutenant.
CMN Zak Mbhele, Laboratory Technician, promoted to Petty Officer 3rd Class.

Dauntless Trivia Challenge

Heidi Hertz — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:31:24 -0800

So you think you know your Star Trek? Test your knowledge by participating in the monthly Dauntless Trivia Challenge! Submit your answers to the first quiz by 15 January 2009. For more information contact LT Heidi on heidi.hertz@gmail.com

Crew Reassignments

Owen Swart — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:47:04 -0800

Effective immediately, the following crew assignments are in effect:

LTJG Jim Nave is the Chief of Operations, USS Dauntless.
2LT Paul Nott is the Officer in Charge, 360th Marine Strike Group.

Crew Reassignments

Owen Swart — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 06:37:48 -0800

Effective immediately, the following appointments are in place:

LTJG Jim Nave is appointed to Ship's Historian (Operations Department);
LTJG Anya den Teuling is appointed to Ship's Quartermaster (Operations Department).

Uniform Page Goes Live

Owen Swart — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 04:01:55 -0800

The official USS Dauntless uniform guide is now live. Go to this address to view it: http://sites.google.com/a/region8-sfi.org/dauntless/crew-resources/uniforms

New Crewmembers (2008-09-09 16:17)

Owen Swart — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 07:17:16 -0700

The following new crewmembers are recorded in the ship's log, as of this date:

Lieutenant Michael Jarvis, Tactical Officer;
Ensign Eric Charpentier, Deputy Chief Engineering Officer;
Second Lieutenant Darren Woodward, Marine.

Promotion (2008-09-09 16:13)

Owen Swart — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 07:12:57 -0700

As of 18 July 2008, the following promotion is in effect:

Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Shaun van der Berg, Chief Communications Officer, is promoted to Lieutenant.

Promotion (2008-09-09 16:11)

Owen Swart — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 07:10:55 -0700

As of 18 July 2008, the following promotion is in effect:

Lance Corporal Paul Nott, Security Guard, is promoted to Second Lieutenant.

In Loving Memory

Owen Swart — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 07:06:22 -0700

Brigadier General Deb Kern, founding crewmember of the USS Dauntless and outstanding Starfleet Marine of distinguished service passed away on the 16th of July 2008.

She will be greatly missed by the Officers and crew of the USS Dauntless, and in particular by Colonel Jack Kern, USS Dauntless Second Officer and Deb's husband.

K'Debwov, we offer a howl of warning to the honored dead, warning them of your approach to Sto'vo'kor.

Graduation (2008-09-09 16:03)

Owen Swart — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 07:03:32 -0700

LTJG Shaun van der Berg completed the OCC (Officers Command College) course at STARFLEET Academy with Honors!

Apologies for the Inconvenience

Owen Swart — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 03:21:43 -0700

If you are an RSS subscriber to the USS Dauntless' site, you'll no doubt have noticed that about 50 or so old posts from the website appeared in your feed as "unread" this morning. Here's why.

Last week, Google announced that Google Sites were to start offering XML feeds for each individual "announcements" page on a Google Site.ￂﾠ

Before that announcement, our Engineering team had improvised an impromptu RSS feed aggregating the various announcements pages using a complicated sequence of publishings to various different web-based services. This new technology has allowed us to simplify and improve the process substantially.

Using a combination of Yahoo! Pipes and Feedburner, we've streamlined our RSS output, but an unfortunate side-effect of the switch-over was that all old posts were added into the feed again. So we're sorry about that, but we hope you'll enjoy the new efficiency and speed (thanks to Feedburner's PubSubHubbub technology) of the new system.

Folder Sharing in Google Docs

Owen Swart — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:19:27 -0700

Google has announced that it is now possible to share entire folders in Google Docs with your friends, or even to make them public.

This may prove useful for us aboard the USS Dauntless, as we use Google Docs extensively as a collaborative and publishing platform for our internal documentation.

For a detailed overview of the new functionality, see the story at Google Operating System.

Tim Russ - Amateur Astronomer

Owen Swart — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 03:17:14 -0700

As part of the International Year of Astronomy's new media outreach, the IYA committee produce a daily podcast called the 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast. The 365 Days ofￂﾠAstronomy is a collaborative podcast in which listeners themselves are invited to submit recordings relating to astronomy. The episode published on the 15th of September 2009 featured an interview with actor Tim Russ about his interest in astronomy.

Russ is better known to us a 'Tuvok' from Star Trek: Voyager.ￂﾠ

Ed Sunder, a member of Flintstone Stargazing, asked Russ a series of questions about his hobby: astronomy. Russ gave details of the equipment he uses, the organisations he associates with and some of his favourite objects.

Read the transcript or listen to the podcast here.

International Talk Like a Pirate Day

Owen Swart — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:23:00 -0700

Arrr, we, aboard the good ship Dauntless, have chosen t' honour the historical tradition o' pirates and pri'ateers: indi'iduals who chose t' sacrifice comfort and ease in fa'our o' freedom and self determination upon the high seas.ￂﾠ

ￂﾠThis is reflected in our coat o' arms, which bears a resemblance t' the Jolly Roger, and in the attitude each and e'ery Dauntless crewmember.ￂﾠ

ￂﾠE'ery year on September the 19th, we celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate day, in order t' further celebrate that rich cultural history. So, this comin' Saturday, prepare t' trim the mainsail and batton down the hatches. A'ast, ye mateys, gar! Yoho!

Dauntless News

To interfere or not to interfere... General order 1

Justice

SciOps Review - Where No Man has Gone Before

Beta Team Meeting - Dinner and a Trek

This September the Beta team had their first official meeting at the home of LCDR Jim Nave. Over a dinner of spaghetti, there was much talk about SFI, fellow crew-members, and the all around sheer awesomeness of the USS Dauntless.

Alpha Team: Blood Drive Away Mission, Stardate [-28] 02020

SANBS Clinic

SciOps Away Mission - Sceptics in the Pub, Gauteng: August 2009

Alpha Team Blood Drive Away Mission - July 2009

Spirit Riders/Alpha Team Away Mission - ICON 2009

Mission Site

SciOps Away Mission - Sceptics in the Pub, Gauteng: July 2009

Star Trek XI Opening Day (Beta Team) - (2009-08-05)

Blood Drive (2009-02-03)

All Day Star Trek RPG (2009-31-1)

Blood Drive (2008-27-12)

Dauntless End Year Social (2008-12-20)

Dauntless Social Event (2008-October)

Dauntless Joburg Meetup (2008-06-02 16:02)

Conserve III

Mission Report

SFSA Star Trek MiniCon 2008

Blood Donation - 26 April 2008

Crew Assigments

Crew Assignments

Promotions

Crew Assignment

Promotion

Crew Reassignment

Dauntless Haiku

Promotion

Crew Reassignments

Promotion

Promotions

In Loving Memory

Away Teams beaming down!

Star Trek XI and Twitter

Promotions

Promotions

Dauntless Trivia Challenge

Crew Reassignments

Crew Reassignments

Uniform Page Goes Live

New Crewmembers (2008-09-09 16:17)

Promotion (2008-09-09 16:13)

Promotion (2008-09-09 16:11)

In Loving Memory

Graduation (2008-09-09 16:03)

Apologies for the Inconvenience

Folder Sharing in Google Docs

Tim Russ - Amateur Astronomer

International Talk Like a Pirate Day