European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 21, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Focus Star trek7 course aimed at intelligent life forms  Seattle Post intelligencer students detect an alien life form. A reporter another reporter activate the cloaking device Power up the phase weapons it s unfortunate about All the  one student warily begins As an interviewer moves in for a one on Ohe Campus confidential. Ever since the revelation that a course based on Star trek had been initiated to and radio stations from across the country have beamed Down to Evergreen state College Olympia was sector 001 planet Earth Alpha quadrant Milky Way Galaxy. And the spotlight s wearing thin on students taking the course titled where no one has gone before. I be never been asked so Many questions about a class before says 21-year-old Nellie Gibson one of 52 students devoting two entire quarters to the 32-credit Multi studies course. You re always having to explain that it s a real  teachers at this unconventional College squeezing photo opportunities Between lectures try hard to focus the attention on academics not entertainment. Sure no Hub students watch Star trek in class the 1960s to original by Gene Roddenberry As Well As its spinoffs Star trek the next generation and Star trek deep space nine All devoted to exploring space the final Frontier " but Check out this Reading list Stephen hawking s a Brief history of time Al bus Huxley s Brave new world Arthur c. Clarke s 2001 a space Odyssey and thick texts on psychology and pop culture that defy soundbites. The curriculum could be lifted from Star trek s intimidating Sta Fleet Academy. No Hub classes dig into physics 3-d animation cognitive classic heroes Star trek stars from left William Shatner As capt Kirk Deforest Kelley As or. Mccoy and Leonard Nimoy As or. Spock psychology anthropology literature filmmaking cultural evolution cosmology. This is deep deep space. And the teachers probing it Are As deadly serious As or. Spock the highly logical pointy eared science officer. There is a great Deal of scholarly literature out there on Star trek/1 says course professor Argentina Daley who praises the show for its intelligence racial and generational diversity advanced scientific extrapolations and optimistic Outlook. In the end Good always triumphs Over evil he Points out Daley s involvement is not entirely intellectual. Ive been a fan for 28 years. That fact comes to you when you re talking to students who weren t even alive when we landed on the   v. Where no one has gone before was born several years ago when Daley noticed colleague Carrie Margolin s office had Star trek posters on the Wall. The conversation boldly took off. Yes she was a fan too she told Margolin. Yes she d been to Star trek conventions. And yes she agreed there might be a course in Here. From Star trek s sophisticated androids evolved discussions of artificial intelligence. Can machines be alive can they have rights what Are the ethics involved asks Daley. From the Good ship uss Enterprise a ship capable of travelling faster than Light came puzzles in physics. And from the millions of trekkie came fascinating cultural studies in the phenomenon of fandom. There Are people who identify with Star trek so strongly they be created a whole mythos out of the mythos says Daley. The class started its own newsletter to keep track of its exploits. In it Shannon Flowers 22-year-old desktop publisher has chronicled a recent week s Media coverage apr can lbs and More. Csc French radio wants an interview in French. Flowers concludes with a final thought from the final Frontier. Have All of our 15 minutes been used up she muses. Will Evergreen get a better reputation because of this stay tuned museum s Enterprise teaches and by the associated press when the emitter array falters the Roulan Harbird Powers up its Forward disruptor array or the transporter s pattern Buffer scrambles a Security officer s molecules it Means one thing somebody s watching Star trek. But behind the techno babble recited with such sincerity by the Crew of the fictional uss Enterprise Lurk genuine scientific principles about space physics and Medicine. Now Star trek fans and science but s can play with the accoutrements of the popular television show and movie series and learn something about their world and their universe. Federation science at the Franklin Institute science museum in Philadelphia uses the future s Appeal to teach the science of the present. It s a natural idea that adeptly weaves together fact and fiction. I m not going to say people watch the show because of their interest in science. But the science comes through and it s a great draw said Franklin spokeswoman Elaine Wilner. The exhibit created by the Oregon museum of science and Industry from an idea by the late Star trek creator Gene Roddenberry has been on tour for two years. In it touch screen displays Are interspersed with uniforms and props from the Star trek shows and movies the exhibits Are mostly computers programmed to match the look of the show. The Centrepiece is a copy of the Enterprise s Bridge Complete with a Gargantuan vie screen and an assortment of navigation consoles where visitors can locate pulsars plot courses Between Orion and the Trifid Nebula or use a tractor beam to change an asteroid s trajectory and save the planet Kutta. Beyond teaching science the exhibit proposes a More Universal theme that today s science fiction no matter How outlandish and foreign it appears could be tomorrow s scientific fact. Short subject More change coming to vending machines Brand Miller Cox news service a is served at a Cool 61 degrees. Hot Fries in 45 seconds from Coin to cup. Calzone and cappuccino at your fingertips. Look out for your Loose change folks. Vending machines old and new have something to satisfy everybody s tastes from health conscious Frozen dinners to the Standard gooey stuff. The vending Industry s munchies and state of the Art technology were on display earlier this month at the Georgia world Congress Center in Atlanta where about 7,500 manufacturers suppliers operators and distributors attended the National automatic merchandising association annual convention and Trade show. . Vending machines sold an estimated $28 billion in products in 1993, up from about $16 billion 10 years ago. That growth said Nama spokesman Sheldon Silver comes from the r convenience variety and competitive pricing that vending machines offer Consumers. While the Industry s three c s Candy Coffee and cold drinks i still bring in lots of Cash nutritious fare has swallowed a bigger share of sales. Many buyers Are demanding Low fat or fat free products snacks that Are Good for them said Mary Kilbride of Triangle vending service of Michigan which operates about 300 machines. As in other industries smart cards and computers have invaded vending. With some machines you Don t even need change. For example it systems markets a prepaid debit card to remove the hassle of coins at vending machines cafeteria checkouts photocopiers or College laundromats. The consumer does t have to carry a pocket full of change said it s Campbell Richardson. Microprocessor computers allow some Coffee machines to clean themselves every few hours. They can even be programmed to deliver a free cup every 50 sales. And wireless technology has made it possible for companies to keep tabs on their machines performance. Sky wire of Memphis has developed a system that allows machine owners at a computer screen to pinpoint what items have sold out for each machine at Remote locations. There s a 5-Watt radio Modem in each machine said sky wire s Lela Simpson. It can help eliminate theft by tracking How much Money is in each machine she adds. Other new vending trends include cooled Candy such As from Mars machines which can deliver unmelted a is in hot outdoor locations and More hot food such As Ore Ida s machine with an oven inside that warms up precooked Frozen Fries in a matter of seconds. Machine Coffee from fresh Beans to disposal cup. 20 the stars and stripes monday november 21,1994