Month: January 2015

The USS Enterprise is, in popular imagination, a futuristic spaceship. The actual USS Enterprise model used on the Star Trek show is, in reality, a 50-year-old creaker that has endured at least one misguided new paint job. The Smithsonian is hard at work restoring the model, though, and they’ve even got the National Zoo’s vet techs involved.

In an interview with TrekCore, the Smithsonian’s conservator Margaret Weitekamp dropped some fascinating hints about how the restoration is going. The model was donated to the Smithsonian five years after the show was canceled, and it had been on display at the Air and Space Museum. Earlier this year, they started to restore the sagging, stress-fractured model in earnest, boldly going where no conservator has gone before.

One of the first things the conservators did was bring in X-ray vet techs from the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. Weitekamp explains TrekCore:

The Enterprise has been X-rayed before, but that was done by sending it out for analysis. This is an opportunity – since the Zoological Park team had a portable radiography unit – to bring the equipment in house and save us the trouble of having to move the model an additional time.

It was really interesting. You can get a good sense of the interior; all of the little penny nails and things like that. I’m excited to get some of that imagery back. It comes in very large files that are specific to the scanning system that they have; they are in the process of converting them to a more standardized image file that we can use when working with the model.

Ultraviolet photo of the spaceship model. Credit: Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum.

In the 90s, an earlier attempt to restore the model led to new detailing and paint, which is a big no-no in modern conservation. So now, the museum also has to figure out how to undo its own mistakes. More from Weitekamp at TrekCore:

The museum has been doing its own work and evaluation which has included using UV light to analyze the paint, and to figure out where we have clearly repainted areas and where we have areas that seem to be more uniform in their paint. The top of the saucer section, for example, leads us to believe that it is original paint – it all fluoresces in the same way.

There’s plenty more to nerd out over at TrekCore. As for the model itself, expect to see it on display again in its former glory in 2016, just in time for the original series’ 50th anniversary. [TrekCore]

via Gizmodo
How the Smithsonian Is Restoring the Original USS Enterprise Model 

An anonymous reader writes: We’ve all been wondering how the U.S. Judicial branch will deal with the NSA’s bulk metadata surveillance. Getting a case to the Supreme Court isn’t a quick process, so we haven’t seen much movement yet. But later this year, several cases have the potential to force a Supreme Court ruling on the NSA, whether they like it or not. Ars summarizes the five likeliest cases, and provides estimates on their timelines. For example, Klayman v. Obama was one of the first lawsuits filed after the Snowden leaks were published. The first judge to hear it actually ordered the government to halt the metadata program and destroy all data, but stayed his own order pending appeal. The case is now awaiting a decision from the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals, and several other high-profile lawsuits are awaiting its outcome. The decision in Klayman will have a domino effect on NSA-related court battles across the country.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

via Slashdot
The 5 Cases That Could Pit the Supreme Court Against the NSA

Some people say "I’m not here to make friends" when they talk about work. That’s fine, but the truth is having friends at work leads to longer-lasting, more fulfilling work experiences. Here are some reasons why.

Jeff Fermin of OfficeVibe shared some survey results that shed light on the real benefits of having friends in the workplace. Here are some of the best ones: n.

• Employees feel like their opinions matter to their coworkers and their boss.
• 50% of employees with a best friend at work reported a stronger bond with their company. Having close friends at work will make you like the company you work for more.
• They’re 1.3 times more likely to receive feedback on their progress in the last 6 months.
• They reported being 1.4 times more likely to receive praise in a week than those who don’t.
• Employees say they have the opportunity to do what they do best every day.

These are just a few of the reasons it’s great to have friends at the workplace. While the "do my job and go home" mentality feels safe, the truth is that you’ll benefit drastically working with people you like, and many reported refusing higher paying positions because of it. Employee friendships make for a happier, healthier, and more productive company culture and workplace atmosphere. After all, you spend 8 or more hours a day at work. No one wants to spend that much time around people they don’t like.

11 Incredible Reasons Why Having Friends At Work Is Important | OfficeVibe

Photo by Collegiate Inventors Competition.

via Lifehacker
Why It’s Important to Have Friends at Work