TALONS EDGE
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2001

Deadline for Next Issue: February 24, 2001

• Officers 2
• Bulletin Board 3-4
• Briefing Room 5
• Video Viewpoints 6-8
• Cadet Corner 8
• Chaplains Corner 9
• Helping Hands 10
• Project Genesis 11
• Galactic Gems 12

- IKV Harbinger (BLA):

Currently meeting on-line

- USS Aquila (MFA):

Second Saturday at 4pm

Florence, KY

coffee shop

- USS Camelot (Independent):

Third Friday at 7pm (except December)

Dayton Museum of Natural History

2600 DeWeese Parkway, near Triangle Park

Dayton, OH (exit 57B from I-75 N or S)

- USS Melbourne (SFC):

Second Sunday at 6:30pm

Thomas More College

Room 3320

- USS Polaris (Independent):

Fourth Monday at 7pm (except December)

Pierce Elementary School, Freeman Avenue,

Hamilton, OH

Park Lane Apartments Social Room

4201 Victory Parkway, Cincinnati, OH

SFC = Starfleet Command

BLA = Broken Lands Alliance

MFA = Maquis Freedom Alliance

Events & Activities

Birthdays & Anniversaries

January

23-Tina Widener Snodgrass

24-David Gerrold

26-Chris Langsdale

30-Leonard Robinson

Ships Log

0101.13

The 107^TH meeting of the MAV (USS) Aquila was held on Saturday January 13, 2001 at the Barnes & Noble bookstore on Mall Road in Florence, KY. The following were in attendance: Linda & Tammy Widener, Tammy Borchardt, Sam Hearld, Nelson Charette, and Rob Langenderfer.

• Rob bought stamps today for the newsletter exchange & has newsletters ready to mail out to the U.S.S. Columbus, the U.S.S. Odyssey and the U.S.S. Yorktown. Rob will give a newsletter to Art Lauer on Sunday to give to the U.S.S. Melbourne. They are the only clubs that are regularly publishing newsletters that have sent them to us on a consistent basis.(The U.S.S. Ohio also sends us its newsletter every month. They have been the most faithful of all, and they are content to just read our newsletter on-line.)

Tammy B. is planning to have a painting party at her house to get stuff ready for Dover. The date for the party will be determined in February.

• Tammy & Rob expressed her interest in being on the Milennicon panel. Topics to be decided.

• Rob’s parents are open to having a video party at their sometime to watch the last episodes of Deep Space Nine (that Rob has on tape). The date will be determined at some point in the future. Let Rob know when a good date might be.

• Aquila will be in charge of Friday night programming at Dover 2001. Death by Chocolate, Slave Auction, & Talent Show are in the planning stages.

• A recruiting booth is being built. A new Recruiting Officer will be chosen.

• For the next few months, at least, Talons Edge will be published bimonthly.

"On the human chessboard, all moves are possible."

--Miriam Schiff

"It's never too late -- in fiction or in life -- to revise."

--Nancy Thayer

"You have no idea how big the other fellow's troubles are."

--B. C. Forbes

Video Viewpoints

As I write this, it is January 17, 2001. It has been well over a year since I saw a new episode of Babylon 5 or its sequel series Crusade. It's been almost two years since Crusade was officially canceled. Although Babylon 5 is generating good ratings on the Sci-Fi Channel, there has been nothing substantive occurring in the way of either Babylon 5 or its sequel series Crusade resuming production. However, next month the first of a new trilogy of Babylon 5 novels will be published. The flame of light that is Babylon 5 refuses to go out.

Long ago I believe I wrote a review of the second half of season one. However, I have been unable to find it. If it ever turns up in either my computer files or Glenna's papers, it should provide an interesting comparison with this review.

"Survivors" by Marc Scott Zicree was a story in which Garibaldi's

long-suppressed drinking problem reemerges as he is accused of a crime he did not commit and is forced to face a ghost from his past in the form of Lianna Kemmer, aggressively portrayed by Elaine Thomas. This is an entertaining and dramatic story that has some outstanding moments, including the scene where Londo comforts Garibaldi in his darkest hour.

"By Any Means Necessary" by Kathleen Drennan (series executive producer Joe Michael Straczynski's wife) is a different type of story in which Sinclair is put in the unenviable position of negotiating a labor dispute.John Snyder portrays the arrogant and intransigent Orin Zento very well. It's a very interesting tale, and, although I think some people (including occasionally Straczynski himself) are incorrect when they see Deep Space Nine as copying Babylon 5, in this particular instance I think that the fine DS9 episode "The Bar Association" would never have existed if this story had not been made. This tale has got some surprising twists.

"Signs and Portents" by J. Michael Straczynski is my choice for the best episode of the first season. It is the episode upon which the rest of the series largely hangs. Morden, creepily underplayed by Ed Wasser, is introduced and asks each of the three Ambassadors what it is that they want. What occurs which each of them is quite revealing. Fredi Olster gives a good performance as Lady Ladira. This is a story with many shocks and wonderful twists and turns. The ending of the story is a classic in which the dialogue and music work together to create something truly memorable. Don't miss this story.

"TKO" by Larry DiTillo was a story that I didn't care for much the first time I saw it, but it improved dramatically the second time. A friend of Garibaldi's gets involved in an alien boxing competition while Ivanova tries to come to terms with her father's death. Theodore Bikel gives his usual good performance, here acting as Ivanova's friend and mentor, Rabbi Joseph Koslov.

"Grail" by Christy Marx is one of the weakest episodes of the season (and the series). Even David Warner can't save this story. There's not much that I can really say about this tale. The idea of someone going on a quest for Enlightenment is a very Romantic idea, and it could have made for a decent story if it had been handled differently.

"Eyes" by Larry DiTillo is a very good story in which the crew are investigated for some of their past actions. Gregory Martin is menacing as Colonel Ari Ben Zayn, and Jeffrey Combs is sympathetic as Harriman Gray. Gray would later play a key role in the first Babylon 5 novel "Voices". Combs would also go on to play Brunt and Weyoun on DS9. This story really has a great sense of drama that never lets up. Don't miss this one. It's one of the best of the season.

"Legacies" by D. C. Fontana is an OK story in which Delenn's rival Neroon, portrayed very well by John Vickery, is introduced. Straczynski was the only writer who could make Delenn perform devious actions and yet still remain in character. Fontana could not do it effectively here. The subplot of Alica Beldon having to choose whether or not to go with the Psi Corp is actually more interesting than the main plot, with special acting honors going to Grace Una. Claudia Christian and Andrea Thompson each do nice turns as Ivanova and Talia Winters.

"A Voice in the Wilderness" by Straczynski is an OK story that seems to promise much for the future, but much of the foreshadowing is never really brought out from the bank. Louis Turenne does a much more effective job as Delenn's mentor Draal than John Schuck later in the series. This two parter is fine, but the series other 2 parter "War Without End" is much much better.

"Babylon Squared" by Straczynski is a very good story in which the missing Babylon 4 space station reappears. Many events that occur later on in the series are alluded to here. Tim Chaote appears as the quirky Zathras for the first time. Delenn is forced to choose whether or not to lead the Grey Council. Mira Furlan does an especially fine job in this story. This is a story that you will not want to miss.

"The Quality of Mercy" by Straczynski is a decent story, but there is little in it that would cause one to give it a strong recommendation. June Lockhart guest stars as Laura Rosen. Rosen uses a machine to take away people's illnesses while it causes her own life force to be drained. It will become important later on in the series.

"Chrysalis" by Strazynski is a great story. It's the finale from the first season. The dangling plot threads from "Signs and Portents" are continued in this tale in a big way. Sinclair's attempts to discover what happened to him in the 24 hour period during the Battle of the Line in the Earth-Minbari war that he could not remember also bear fruit in this episode. It truly is a turning point for the series, and it is not a story that should be missed. It is a classic story, one of the year's best as the crew attempt to stop the assassination of Earth Alliance President Santiago. It moves several plots along at one time, and it handles it brilliantly. Michael O'Hare gives a very good performance as Sinclair, and it would be his last in the series, aside from "The Coming of Shadows" and "War Without End".

"Chrysalis" is a story that you should not miss because it really provides many clues as to where the series would head in the future. In many ways, as Sinclair says during the story, it is the end of an era. With Julie Caithlin Brown leaving after this story as well as O'Hare, things would never be

Galactic Gems

Early Valentine Customs

People in England probably celebrated Valentine's Day as early as the 1400's. Some historians trace the custom of sending verses on Valentine's Day to a Frenchman named Charles, Duke of Orleans. Charles was captured by the English during the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. He was taken to England and put in prison. On Valentine's Day, he sent his wife a rhymed love letter from his cell in the Tower of London.

Many Valentine's Day customs involved ways that single women could learn who their future husbands would be. Englishwomen of the 1700's wrote men's names on scraps of paper, rolled each in a little piece of clay, and dropped them all into water. The first paper that rose to the surface supposedly had the name of a woman's true love.

Also in the 1700's, unmarried women pinned five bay leaves to their pillows on the eve of Valentine's Day. They pinned one leaf to the center of the pillow and one to each corner. If the charm worked, they saw their future husbands in their dreams.

One of the oldest customs was the practice of writing women's names on slips of paper and drawing them from a jar. The woman whose name was drawn by a man became his valentine. The custom of sending romantic messages gradually replaced that of giving gifts. In the 1700's and 1800's, many stores sold handbooks called valentine writers. Commercial valentines were first made in the early 1800's. Many of them were blank inside, with space for the sender to write a message. Esther A. Howland, of Worcester, Massachusetts, became one of the first U.S. manufacturers of valentines, in 1847.

Many valentines of the 1800's were hand painted. Some featured a fat cupid or showed arrows piercing a heart. Many cards had satin, ribbon, or lace trim. Others were decorated with dried flowers, feathers, imitation jewels, mother-of-pearl, sea shells, or tassels. Some cards cost as much as $10.

From the mid-1800's to the early 1900's, many people sent comic valentines called penny dreadfuls. Many penny dreadfuls and other old valentines have become collectors' items.

Valentine, Saint, is the name associated with two martyrs of the early Christian church. Little is known about them. The Roman history of martyrs lists two Saint Valentines as having been martyred on February 14 by being beheaded. One supposedly died in Rome and the other at Interamna, now Terni, 60 miles (97 kilometers) from Rome. Scholars have had great difficulty in finding historical fact among the Saint Valentine legends.

The Saint Valentine who died in Rome seems to have been a priest who suffered death during the persecution of Claudius the Goth about A.D. 269. A basilica was built in his honor in Rome in A.D. 350, and a catacomb containing his remains was found on this location.

Another history of martyrs mentions a Saint Valentine who was bishop of Interamna and who may have been martyred in Rome. By being remembered both in Rome and in Interamna, he may have come to be considered as two people, but this is not entirely certain.

The custom of exchanging valentines on February 14 can be traced to the English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer. He mentioned that birds began to pair off on that day.

~Above information taken from The World Book Encyclopedia 1998~

Chaplains Corner

"Come in," God said. "So, you would like to interview Me?""If you have the time," I said. God smiled and said: "My time is eternity and is enough to do everything; what questions do you have in mind to ask me?"

"What surprises you most about mankind?"

God answered: "That they get bored of being children, are in a rush to grow up, and then long to be children again. That they lose their health to make money and then lose their money to restore their health. That by thinking anxiously about the future, they forget the present, such that they live neither for the present nor the future. That they live as if they will never die, and they die as if they had never lived..."

God's hands took mine and we were silent for while and then I asked..."As a parent, what are some of life's lessons you want your children to learn?"

God replied with a smile: "To learn that they cannot make anyone love them. What they can do is to let themselves be loved. To learn that what is most valuable is not what they have in their lives, but who they have in their lives. To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others. All will be judged individually on their own merits, not as a group on a comparison basis! To learn that a rich person is not the one who has the most, but is one who needs the least. To learn that it only takes a few seconds to open profound wounds in persons we love, and that it takes many years to heal them. To learn to forgive by practicing forgiveness. To learn that money can buy everything but happiness. To learn that two people can look at the same thing and see it totally different. To learn that a true friend is someone who knows everything about them... and likes them anyway. To learn that it is not always enough that they be forgiven by others, but that they have to forgive themselves."

I sat there for a while enjoying the moment.

I thanked Him for his time and for all that He has done for me and my family, and He replied, "Anytime. I'm here 24 hours a day. All you have to do is ask for me, and I'll answer."

People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did ... but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Helping Hands

2 words meaning Instructin on how to execise and take care of the body:

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ACTIVE FRUITS RELAXATION

REST

BREADS GUIDELINES

BREAKFAST SOCIAL

HAPPINESS

CALORIES TEMPERANCE

CARBOHYDRATES KNOWLEDGE

CLEANLINESS VEGETABLES

CONFIDENCE MEDITATION

MODERATION WALKING

DENTAL CARE WELL-BEING

OUTLOOK

EDUCATION

ENERGY POULTRY

HUNTING

SECRET WORD:

Meaning Game birds _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

AMMUNITION        FIELD         NATURE

ARROWS (Bow and)  FLUSH

                                ON SAFARI

BEARS            GAME

BIRDS            GUIDE          RABBIT

BOAT                            RIFLES

BOOTS            HOUNDS

BULLETS                         SHOTGUNS

                 JEEP           SLEEPING BAG

CAMOUFLAGE                      SPORTSMAN

CAMPING OUT      LAKES          STALKING

CARIBOU          LAWS

CATS, (Big)                     TRACKING

                 MOOSE CALL     TRAP

DEER             MOUNTAINS      WILDERNESS

Galactic Gems

1. Beginning approximately 6-7pm & 8-9pm in Zeisberger Room, DEATH BY CHOCOLATE! Each club in attendance is asked to bring at least one food dish containing chocolate to be shared. There will also be a contest for those wishing to enter with prizes for Best Tasting & Best Display. If your item contains alcoholic beverage & should not be eaten by anyone under age, please make a card to place in front of item.
2. OPENING CEREMONY 7-8pm in Main Room.
3. SLAVE AUCTION – Main Room – 9-11pm. Auction will be run like a Masquerade - All entrants must have a service (such as neck or foot massage, etc.) or a skit (3 min or less) to be auctioned separately. All others will be sold in groups. If time runs out, all remaining entrants will be sold as a group. All entrants will be presented at beginning of auction, then sold individually (except as noted above). As always, "slaves" serve their "masters" for an hour, but only do what is mutually agreeable to do by parties involved. Monies raised will go to the charity of the conference.
4. TALENT SHOW in Main Room immediately following Slave Auction. A small fee will be charged for entry, proceeds go to the charity of the conference.
5. DANCE immediately following Talent Show approximately 11pm in Main Room.
6. MALTS AFTER MIDNIGHT at, of course, midnight..