Site Columns

Hello World!

Southern Cross University will launch the first Australian-developed surfing course next year, according to The Australian. The university will introduce a "one-year diploma of sport management (surfing studies) and a two-year associate degree of sport management (surfing studies)" with plans to expand to a full three-year degree course.

It's yet more evidence of the declining state of the university system when money is being chanelled into this and other "vocational courses" instead of more traditional areas of learning such as English, History - and yes, Classics - which are given the shaft because they don't immediately qualify you for a job.

The old jokes about "basket-weaving courses" are no longer funny when we have courses such as this which get funding, simply because they have immediate practical applications. I've always believed that universities should be centres of learning, not large job training centres which churn out square-peg graduates so they can slot right into the box. The contempt held TPTB for more traditional courses is evidenced by their continual cost-cutting and trimming of courses (see the excellent documentary 'Facing the Music' for a real-life depiction of this).

To quote from the old UQ Classics page: "An executive from a world-leading computer firm has said: We want first class thinkers so thay can be trained and retrained in this age of fast technological growth. We would prefer a first class honours in Classical Greek than an average computer science degree."

Trek BBS Today

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

- Have you seen William Shatner's (James T. Kirk) Priceline ad?

- Does Enterprise feel like the Original Series?

- What is Trek X's box-office potential?

More topics can be found at the Trek BBS!

Trek Two Years Ago

These were some of the major news items on September 20, 2000:

• UPN Bullets
  Voyager - and now Enterprise - network UPN picked up the reality series 'Road Rage,' which then president Dean Valentine said "it marries demolition derby with great storytelling."

• Excelsior Campaign Launches Trailer
  The 'Star Trek Excelsior' campaign debuted a 2 minute 46 second trailer to promote the idea of a Captain Sulu television series. The promo consisted of footage from the feature films and the Voyager episode 'Flashback,' declaring "the Adventure has just begun."

  More news can be found in the archives.

Today's Television Listings

• TNN will be showing the Next Generation episodes 'The Defector' at 8:00 p.m Eastern Time, with 'Legacy' at 11:00 p.m.

• In Canada, Space! will be showing the Original Series episode 'The Savage Curtain' at 10:00 a.m and 2:00 p.m Eastern Time, with TNG's 'Hollow Pursuits' at 3:00 p.m, DS9's 'Battle Lines' at 4:00 p.m, and Voyager's 'Threshold' at 5:00 p.m.

• In the United Kingdom, E4 will show the E4 episode 'Friday's Child' at 14:00 GMT, with Sky One showing TNG's 'Who Watches the Watchers?' at 17:00. Thanks go out to the Great Link for this!

Tomorrow's Television Listings

• TNN will be showing 'Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home' at 4:00pm Eastern Time.

• In Canada, Space! will be showing the Original Series's 'The Menagerie, Part II' at 10:00am Eastern Time, TNG's 'The Most Toys' at 11:00am, DS9's 'Battle Lines' at 12:00pm, and Voyager's 'Threshold' at 1:00pm.

• In the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'Melora' at 06:00 GMT, Voyager's 'Resolutions' at 15:00, Voyager's 'Basics, Part I' at 16:00, and Channel 4 will be showing Enterprise's 'Dear Doctor' at 16:25. Thanks go out to the Great Link for this!

• In Germany, Sat.1 will be showing TNG's 'Phantasie oder Wahrheit' ('Frame of Mind') at 17:00 CET.

• In Australia, TV1 will be showing the Original Series's 'Requiem For Methuselah' at 19:30, TNG's 'A Matter of Time' at 20:35, Voyager's 'Macrocosm' at 21:30, and DS9's 'Improbable Cause' at 22:30. Thanks go out to Sci-Fi TV Schedules International!

Discuss this news item at Trek BBS!
 Add TrekToday RSS feed to your news reader or My Yahoo!
Also a CSI: Crime Scene Investigation fan? Then visit CSIFiles.com!