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Hello World!

I don’t often use this column to make political statements... I prefer to complain about innoxious things like the weather. There’s not much point in latching onto something controversial because it tends to result in nasty emails flooding my mailbox pointing out the usual gaping flaws in my arguments. But then again, it's 3am and what’s the use of having this nice little site column where I can spout off about anything I do so please if I don’t use it? So, today I will. And my topic? Gun control in the US of A.

I suppose gun control is always going to be one of those topics that will divide the US - though I’ve never really understood why this needs to be so. It’s written into the American constitution that all citizens have the right to bare arms. Well, fine. I don’t dispute the fact that they have a place in US history and society, and I recognise the need for weapons for personal defence. What I *don’t* get is the seeming complete and utter lack of anything approaching regulation. I mean, come on – you have to sit an exam and get a license to drive a car, which isn’t even *designed* to be a lethal weapon. Quite frankly, my mind refuses to wrap itself around the concept of being able to buy a shotgun or a revolver in a Wal-Mart in some states.

Or, for that matter, I don’t get the lack of a law requiring child-safety locks. I’ve yet to hear a good reason why someone would be willing to leave a fire-arm in reach of a child, let alone a *loaded* firearm, within the reach of junior, be it their own child, or the mere possibility of one wandering into reach. Locked gun-cabinets too could help in that matter as well. This is just simple accident prevention.

In Australia, as my rather sketchy grasp of the law informs me (if I’m wrong with any of the following, do correct me), it is illegal to carry a weapon in public and all automatic weapons, if not semi-automatics as well, were banned by law after Martin Bryant went on his rampage in Tasmania. You must also register your firearms and store them, when unused, in a secure, locked cabinet. Certainly, regulation will not and has not prevented guns from being sold on the black-market, but it has made it one hell of a lot harder for your teenage son or daughter to buy one, not to mention the local potential juvenile thug.

I’ve yet to actually here a good argument for gun-deregulation, let alone one for the absence of child-safety locks. A common slogan for pro-guns is ‘Guns don’t kill people, people do’, but for Pete’s sake, do you honestly have to make it easier for it to happen because of some seriously out-dated constitutional amendment dating back from the time when every gun was needed for the militia?

In other news, and something trivial, have you seen the ‘Scooby Doo’ cast shot? Thelma and Lousie or whatever their names are (ok, it’s been years since I last watched that show) look ok, but the two guys? Ewww...

Trek BBS Today

Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:

-Starfleet uniforms of the 25th century

-Does Trek Need A Break?

-unresolved scenes in Drive ***spoilers***

More topics can be found at the Trek BBS!

Trek Two Years Ago

Two years ago today, the 7th of March, 1999, these were some of the headlines at Trek Today:

• Starfleet Academy Tournament: YnrohKeeg at Star Trek Gaming Central had just posted some information on a then-upcoming Starfleet Academy Tournament, sponsored by Interplay and Kali.

• TV Week Interviews Jeri Ryan:
  Q What does he [Jeri Ryan's son - TT] think of the characters on Star Trek?
  A: He's completely unfazed and he knows who they all are, which is a little scary. He knows who's a Borg, who's a Ferengi. His teachers at preschool were a little disconcerted for the first couple of days until they realized I was on Star Trek They thought he was a little weird, because he was talking about all these aliens he knows.

• Gamecenter Previews Starfleet Command: Here's a nice little walk down memory lane - a preview of the original StarFleet Command - where as we saw the sequel released some time ago.

Happy Birthday!

Today is the birthday of Donna Murphy who played Anji in Star Trek: Insurrection.

Today's Television Listings

• At 9:00pm (8:00pm Central), UPN will be showing the new Voyager episode 'Human Error'. Here's how UPN describes the episode:

  As the U.S.S. Voyager enters a hazardous region of space being used as a weapons-testing range by unknown parties, the ship must count on Seven of Nine's long-range scans to steer it out of danger. Seven of Nine, however, is becoming more and more distracted with a personal experiment, one that could change how she deals with her crewmates forever.

  If you want to find out even more about the episode, we recently posted an summary of new spoilers from the 'Human Error' script. As usual, please be aware the the above photo is copyrighted by Paramount.

• The Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the infamous Original Series episode 'Spock's Brain'.

• In Canada, Space! will be showing Voyager's 'Life Line' at 4:00am Eastern Time, the Original Series' 'Friday's Child' at 10:00am, TNG's 'Gambit, Part Two' at 12:00pm, 'Friday's Child' again at 4:00pm, DS9's 'Profit and Lace' at 5:00pm and Voyager's 'The Haunting Of Deck Twelve' at 10:00pm.

• In the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'Our Man Bashir' at 17:00 and at 00:30 GMT. Thanks go out to the Great Link for this!

• In the Netherlands, Veronica will be showing DS9's 'Nor The Battle to the Strong' at 17:15 CET, while Net5 will be showing Voyager's 'Phage' at 18:40. Thanks go out to StarTrek.nl for this!

• In Australia, the 9 Network will be showing Voyager's 'Extreme Risk' at 11:00pm. Thanks go out to the Australian Babylon 5 & Star Trek air schedule

Tomorrow's Television Listings

• The Sci-Fi Channel will be showing TOS's 'The Enterprise Incident' at 5pm.

• In Canada, Space! will be showing Voyager's 'The Haunting of Deck Twelve' at 5am, TOS's 'The Deadly Years' at 10am (repeat at 4pm), TNG's 'Phantasms' at 12pm, DS9's 'Time's Orphan' at 5pm and Voyager's 'Unimatrix Zero, Part 1' at 10pm.

• In the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'Home Front' at 1700 (repeat at 2330) Thanks go out to the Great Link for this!

• In the Netherlands, VOO will show DS9's 'The Assignment' at 1715 while Voyager's 'The Cloud' will be broadcast on Net5 at 1840 Thanks go out to StarTrek.nl for this!

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