Yeoman Janice Rand, Fifth Beatle of Star Trek
Saturday, October 20th, 2012
You’ve heard of the so-called Fifth Beatle, a designation that could be shared by any number of individuals (but hopefully not Yoko) who weren’t part of the crux of the Fab Four, but may have been right on the cusp. There are two so-called ‘Fifth Beatles’ in the Star Trek world. Obviously they have nothing to do with the Beatles, but ‘Eighth Trekkers’ just sounds stupid. The first would have been Majel Barrett, who portrayed Nurse Christine Chapel in 34 episodes of the series. The second would be Grace Lee Whitney, who portrayed Yeoman Janice Rand. Read the rest of this entry »
Calvin Coolidge was our nation’s 30th President, serving from 1923 through 1929 during a time of great prosperity in our country. Some criticize his notion of small government and laissez-faire ideology as leading to the Great Depression which then ensued in the 1930s after he had left office. Although highly skilled at giving speeches during his Presidential campaigns and press conferences, he was known as “Silent Cal” for his dour, stiff disposition and quiet personality at social events. Some speculate that this was part of an act to give the public what they wanted. Others think that his sadness grew out of the death of his son, who died from blood poisoning after getting a blister while playing tennis at the White House. 
So many sitcoms, so little time. Sigh. I mention this because I know it’s going to be quite some time before I ever getting around to viewing the sitcom Hazel, which ran for five seasons from 1961-1966. It will be even longer until I’d get to the fifth season of it, if in fact it ever gets released on DVD (the fourth is scheduled for later in 2012). Of interest in the aforementioned fifth and final season is that this was when Lynn Borden became a regular cast member. 
You may recall that my step-brother Bryan and his wife Erine re-located to Germany last July, as Erine’s government job as an auditor took them to town near Kaiserslautern known as Trippstadt. My mom began to brew and simmer the idea in her head to take a trip to visit them as soon as they hit the door. I initially hoped to put off the visit until 2013, knowing that the vacation schedule of 2012 would be pretty full. I ended up bypassing both a trip to India and a possible one to Easter Island and instead opted to tag along to Germany. I was mostly excited that our visit would coincide with Oktoberfest, as that’s most certainly a bucket-list event. My aunt Diana and uncle Tom decided that they’d go along too and pretty soon plans were underway. 
If you’ve seen the horror flick Christine, or read the original novel by Stephen King, you’d probably say that the antagonist of the story is the 1958 Plymouth Fury, who comes to life and make the world a living hell for anyone who gets in her path. However, I maintain that the real bad guys of the story were the bullies from Arnie’s school, who eventually become prey to Christine themselves. It was because of their ill treatment that Arnie went ballistic and turned to Christine to be his protector. That’s the way I see it anyway.