vol. 18 no. 2 - March 2002 The U.S.S. Alaric is a North Carolina chapter of STARFLEET, the International Star Trek Fan Association. Starfleet and the Alaric recognize Paramount's sole ownership of all Star Trek copyrights. Annual individual member dues to the international club are $15.00 per year. U.S.S. Alaric How To Join: The U.S.S. Alaric currently does not charge local membership dues. However, since the Alaric is a Starfleet chapter, in order to join the Alaric, you must first join Starfleet. When you join, you will receive a member packet which includes a Little White Card (LWC, or LBWC). To join the Alaric, bring this verification to a meeting, or mail it to the Alaric chapter president at the address below: U.S.S. Alaric P.O. Box 2072 Asheville, NC 28802 U.S.A. Membership Renewal: The first step is to renew your membership with Starfleet. Once you receive your LWC, send it to the chapter president. It is important that you renew your Starfleet membership 2 to 3 months in advance, since it might take that long for headquarters to process it. Other means of verification include an address label from the national newsletter, or a canceled check or money order in case of delays. Alaric Meeting Schedule: The Alaric holds regular monthly meetings at the South Buncombe Branch Library meeting room, 260 Overlook Road (near TC Roberson High School, in Skyland, NC), generally the afternoon of the second Saturday of the month. April 13 - monthly meeting, 1 p.m. (See the CO report regarding future meeting time/place) Staff meetings, when necessary, are held generally the weekend before the regular monthly meeting (i.e., first Saturday of the month). However, most staff meeting-related business is conducted via email. Check out the USS Alaric's club home page at: http://home.sprynet.com/~ian/alaric/alaric.htm The U.S.S. Alaric is the oldest and first Starfleet starship in North Carolina. The Alaric's logo, a starship silhouette orbiting a Starfleet insignia over the state of North Carolina, reflects our roots. The U.S.S. Alaric, a starship in Starfleet's Region One, is the science flagship for Region One. Click Here to Return to Table of Contents Carolina Communicator CC 0203 Contents: Club Information (see left) How to Join Membership Renewal Alaric Meeting Schedule Newsletter Information (see below) Next Issue Deadline Submission Guidelines Subscriptions Command Reports: Captain's Log First Officer's Log Second Officer's Log Department Reports: Chief Science Officer Chief Engineer Chief, Computer Operations Chief, Social Sciences Chief, Tactical OIC Marines Chief Medical Officer Carolina Communicator (c) 2002 by USS Alaric. Promotional materials copyrighted by Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios, and other companies, and selected submissions copyrighted by individual contributors. NEWSLETTER EDITOR: Ian "Krell" Johnsson Next Issue Deadline: All submissions for the next CC are due by: April 23, 2002. Please observe the deadline. This helps get the CC out on time! Submission Guidelines: Send submissions via email to: ian@sprynet.com Please follow these guidelines: Include the submission as an attachment to your email. ASCII text file format is preferred, but I can also handle WordPerfect 8.0 or MS Word 2000 formats. Large text files and picture files should be zipped. Subscriptions: The Carolina Communicator is published six times a year. You can subscribe one of two ways: To subscribe to the online electronic CC, send an email to AlaricRH@sprynet.com telling me so and include your name, mailing address, and affiliation (ship, regional position, etc.). I will send you an email every two months telling you the url for the latest published issue. To subscribe to the paper copy of the online CC, send a letter to: Carolina Communicator, P.O. Box 2072, Asheville, NC 28802. Include your name, mailing address, and a check or money order for $8.00 made payable to RICHARD HEIM. Back issues of the CC are available for $2.00 plus $1.00 S&H each.   The views expressed in the Carolina Communicator do not necessarily reflect those of the staff, or all of the members of the Alaric.   Alaric Command Reports ELECTED OFFICERS: President (Captain) - Richard Heim Vice-President (First Officer) - Dale Anderson Executive Secretary (Second Officer) - Sheila Thomas-Hand   FCapt. Richard Heim I had originally planned to start my Captain's Log report for this issue with my usual greeting, thanking our editor, Ian Johnsson, for a great job putting together the issue, then talk about the travails of being a chapter CO (FCapt. Bud Cullum had a good article about this, "Do You Have What It Takes To Be A CO?", in the Dec/Jan 2002 issue of the Starfleet Communique, # 108). But, instead of talking about all of that, I want to discuss what happened at the March meeting of the USS Alaric. When I arrived at the library yesterday (March 9), I went to the front desk to reserve the room for the next set of meetings, as was my custom. I was greeted with the news that the library system is now charging non-profit organizations for using their meeting room facilities. It will cost us $10 for every 3 hours of meeting time. No more free use of public meeting room facilities (which, by the way, we pay for with our tax dollars). This was like a slap in the face. No, not a slap. Rather, a punch in the face. Throughout the meeting, this gnawed at my gut, making me more upset as the afternoon wore on. I feel like we've been cut off at the knees. Here's why: We've been meeting at the Asheville-Buncombe Library branch meeting rooms since the early 1990's. We've had a very good working relationship with the library system, even giving presentations on astronomy and space exploration at their functions several years ago. This meeting room usage fee is a barricade that the library has erected between us, and it hurts. At our January meeting, we had decided to hold our 20th anniversary celebration in a different format. Although the March Alaricon mini-convention celebration had been cancelled, we would still call the celebration Alaricon, but we would hold it on 3 or 4 consecutive Saturday's during the summer. The all-day (10 a.m.-6 p.m.) events on each Saturday would have a different theme: one day would be a video festival, one day would be games (ST Uno, computer games, ST monopoly, ST puzzles, trivia contests ... there are tons of games we could play), another day would be panels and guest speakers, etc. In order to minimize costs, we would hold this new Alaricon at the downtown Pack Library meeting room. In years past, we've held our annual open houses (and 10-year anniversary meeting) in this room. This is a central location, good parking, great facilities. Since it would be in the library meeting room, we couldn't charge admission, but that doesn't matter, since use of the room was free. When I spoke to the library staff in January, they were very positive about it. Well, that was January. Since then, this new policy has gone into effect. There is no way we can afford to pay $120 to use the facilities for 4 Saturday's and not be allowed to charge admission to recoup our cost. Besides, we refuse to pay for using public meeting facilities as a matter of principle. Bottom line: the new Alaricon 20th anniversary plans torn to shreds. Since we can't meet at any library any more, where will we hold our monthly meetings? Restaurants are out -- we can't watch videos, play games, etc., an eating environment is not conducive to conducting business, and the restaurant will want everyone to buy a meal. That leaves church meeting rooms, members' homes, or other facilities. We are investigating all of these, but a few words of caution: It would be an unreasonable burden for one member/family to have to host club meetings every month, and rotating meetings between different members' homes could get confusing, especially for those members who miss a meeting or two. Churches may charge for using their meeting rooms. The Library is honoring our reservation for April 13. But after next month's meeting at the South Buncombe Branch library meeting room, we'll be shifting to a new location. We don't know where yet. We'll keep you posted. Here's a little bit of irony. At the January meeting, the subject of the Alaric changing from a meeting chapter to a correspondence chapter was brought up. Last month I surveyed the crew on the subject. The almost unanimous feeling was to remain a meeting chapter. Well, in light of our meeting place hassles, converting to a correspondence chapter is becoming more and more inviting! I'd like to remind everyone of the special club activities. These include collecting Campbells product labels in support of Eliada Children's Home, and aluminum can recycling as a club fund raiser. Our XO is heading up our participation in the Vessel Readiness Certification Program. I call upon the Alaric crew to please support these activities. ALARIC WEB CONTACTS: Home page and backup: http://www.ussalaric.org/ http://home.sprynet.com/~ian/alaric/alaric.htm Online newsletters web page and backup: http://www.ussalaric.org/cc/ http://home.sprynet.com/~ian/alaric/cc/ccYYMM.htm, where YY is the year and MM is the month of the issue. REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING REPORTS At the January (0201.12) meeting, we discussed the possibility of changing to a correspondence chapter and holding a revised Alaricon 20th anniversary celebration series of meetings. (Details are above.) Second Officer Sheila Hand reported on her recent ill health which has prevented her from attending recent meetings. Joe, David, and Richard were the winners in our monthly doorprize drawing, winning a ST book, card, and memo pad. At the February (0202.09) meeting, we continued the correspondence chapter and Alaricon discussions. After the regular officer and department chief reports and Alaric Treasury report, we watched the Enterprise episodes, "The Andorian Incident" and "Cold Front", as our fun activity. Doorprize drawing winners were Thomas, Joe, and David, prizes were a Babylon 5 book, ST book, and ST buttons. The March (0203.09) meeting focused on the Library meeting room use policy change. We also reviewed responses to the correspondence chapter, Alaricon, and Region One Summit surveys. Alaric Commendations were awarded to David, Dale, and Shirley for their invaluable help in collecting and crushing aluminum cans, which is our primary source of income. The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "Second Chances", was our fun activity. Doorprize drawing winners were Joe, Dale, and David, prizes were a ST book, card, and button. I'll end this section of my report with another plug for Pastimes. If you're looking for music, comics, or gaming material, check them out! Pastimes, 175 Weaverville Highway, Asheville, NC 28804, phone (828) 658-0588 (email pastimesnc@earthlink.net). These great folks have been distributing our newsletters and flyers for years! Tell 'em "Richard of the Alaric sent me"! That's all for this report. Live Long, and Prosper! FCapt. Richard Heim Commanding Officer, USS Alaric AlaricRH@sprynet.com Click Here to Return to Table of Contents   Cmdr. Dale Anderson Archeaoastronomy in the Americas The Mesoamerican civilizations constructed numerous administrative and ceremonial centers and erected numerous monuments. These reflect astronomic knowledge and expertise in numeration and calendrics. Information comes from architectural relationships, stone monuments, codices and ethnohistorical manuscripts. The primary sources are the inscribed stone monuments and, in particular, the Dresden Codex. Ethnohistorical sources furnished useful keys for deciphering primary sources. One of the primary resources for study of Maya astronomy is the epigraphic record in four Mayan codices containing hieroglyphic writings that survived the widespread Spanish book burnings of the conquest period. The rediscovery of these volumes in European libraries in the mid-ninetheenth century marks the beginning of modern inquiry into the intellectual achievements of the Maya. During the 19th century Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg recognized the day glyphs after discovering de Landa's Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan. Landa provided drawings with the corresponding month names, and the four glyphs that fall on the initial days of the months, the year bearers. He also provided a calendar with European months correlated with the Native calendar, the names of calendar cycles, and some other hieroglyphic symbols related to European alphabetic signs (Leon, 1994) This information led to understanding the sequence to read the glyphs and the decipherment of the Long Count notation. Brasseur de Bourbourg also identified the sun or kin glyph, the glyph associated with the day. By this time it was generally accepted that the prehistoric civilizations of Mesoamerica had advanced astronomic knowledge relative to their contemporaries in other parts of the world. In the remainder of this paper those understandings are examined by the areas of evidence, beginning with the fundamentals underlying the practice of astronomy, numeration and calendrics. Mayan architectural alignments have been shown to relate to horizon positions of astronomical bodies. Both Edzna and Teotihuacan have orientations to the sunset on Aug. 13, the first day of the present Long Count. It is noted the coincidence of the alignment of the two principal pyramids at Edzna (Cinco Pisos and La Vieja) with the lunar standstill. He concludes the Cinco Pisos may have been the earliest lunar observatory identified in Mesoamerica. Some have the view that the astronomy of Mesoamerica was not precise, perhaps in part due to the influences of many previous writers on the topic, and, of course, because we do not recognize a decimal system in Mesoamerican numeration. Testing the accuracy of just several dates and time spans, using astronomic variable commensurate with the dates under consideration instead of comparing Mesoamerican astronomic values to present day quantities, we can conclude that the accuracy of Mesoamerican astronomy may have been precise. A more complete examination of the material is therefore recommended. Perhaps the view in contemporary scientific literature, holding that the astronomy of that era was at the service of diviners and prognosticators and had to conform to readily divisible intervals for rituals, fails to recognize scientific achievements during this prehistoric era. Click Here to Return to Table of Contents     Second Officer Cmdr. Sheila Thomas-Hand [No report filed] Click Here to Return to Table of Contents

 

Alaric Department Reports

 

DEPARTMENT HEADS: Chief Science Officer - Richard Heim Chief Engineer - Sheila Hand Chief, Computer Operations - Robert Saucier Chief, Social Sciences - Dale Anderson Chief Medical Officer - Susan Bolick Chief, Tactical - Chad Trantham OIC, Marines - Chad Trantham Recruitment Officer - Mark Bolick Chaplain/Counselor - Shirley Heim

 

Chief Science Officer

FCapt. Richard Heim

The Science Lab listserver is a cool place to find news and web pages on neat developments in science. If you're interested in receiving fascinating science posts, including a list of upcoming science shows on tv each week, go to the yahoo web page and sign up! Here's how: Go to the egroups (yahoo groups) web page (http://groups.yahoo.com/) Under the "Join a Group" section, type in the name of the group to join and click on "Search". The name of the group is: Science-Lab You'll want to join the first Science-Lab group listed. Recent posts to the Science-Lab list include: Antimatter Atoms Captured For The First Time Researchers on the ATRAP experiment at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics near Geneva, think they have made and stored thousands of antiatoms in a particle trap, something that has never been done before. For details, go to http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991957 Puzzling X-Rays From Jupiter Astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have spotted a mysterious pulsing x-ray beacon near the north pole of the giant planet. Every 45 minutes a gigawatt pulse of x-rays courses through the solar system from Jupiter. Above: A composite image of Jupiter, its glowing auroral ring (blue), and a north-polar x-ray pulse (pink). Gladstone notes: "The x-rays we detected were 'soft' -- less energetic than 1 keV and less penetrating than the mildest of medical x-rays." It poses no danger to astronauts or Earthlings. For details, go to http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/07mar_jupiterpuzzle.htm?list647810 UK Travel Pod Makes Science Fantasy A Fact A shiny white pod that began road tests this month may well be the taxi of the future. The pod, known as ULTra — Urban Light Transport — could make driver-free transport a reality and not just the stuff of futuristic fantasy. "It will be the first in the world," said Richard Treychenne, director of business development at ULTra's makers, Advanced Transport Systems Limited. The driverless ULTra pod is designed to carry up to four passengers and runs on battery power. For details, go to http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/02/26/britain.travel.reut/index.html or http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/02/02272002/reu_46518.asp Take this Global Warming IQ test! The test is at http://www.enn.com/features/2000/01/01092000/globalwarm_7222.asp and is part of the ENN Climate page: http://www.enn.com/indepth/climate/ This issue's science facility discussion focuses on the Catawba Science Center, which is located in Hickory, NC, about an hour's drive east of Asheville on Interstate 40. According to their brochure: "The mission of the Catawba Science Center is to further the public's understanding of science and technology in the Unifour, through the use of educational programs, exhibits, teaching collections, and activities which emphasize physical participation. The Center's offerings will support and enhance science education in both formal settings, such as within the school systems, and in informal situations involved with lifelong learning." The museum's three levels of hands-on fun include permanent, temporary, and traveling exhibits. Permanent exhibits include: Hall of Life Science: observe, by geographic areas, the plants and animals of North Carolina. Experience a living mountain stream and meet its native inhabitants. Physical Science Arcade: an arcade unlike any other. Experience hands-on exhibits about light, sound, physics and more. EarthWatch Center: experience the motion of an earthquake, monitor current weather conditions, become "part of the scene" of volcanic eruptions and tornados, and explore the world of plate tectonics with a touch-screen computer. Science Courtyard: From the mountains to the coast, there's much to explore in CSC's outdoor science exhibit. Scale a mountain, stroll through a forest, dig for fossils, experiment with sound travel and more! KidsSpace: full of exciting experimentation including live animals, magnifiers, a kid-sized generator, and more! Footprints Preschool Gallery: an exciting area designed especially for ages 0 through 5, with age appropriate items for exploration and play. Naturalist Center: Observe live reptiles and amphibians, as well as preserved animals of many types. Make use of microscopes, magnifiers, nature identification field books and an internet capable computer to enhance your educational experience. CSC's Science Emporium gift shop offers science-related gifts, toys, educational resources, and other items for all ages. The Catawba Science Center is located in the Arts and Science Center of Catawba Valley, on the SALT (Sciences, Arts, and Literature Together) Block, at 243 Third Avenue NE, P.O. Box 2431, Hickory, NC 28603, phone (828) 322-8169. Check out their web page at: http://www.catawbascience.org/ The Catawba Science Center recently hosted the MarsQuest traveling exhibit (http://www.spacescience.org/Outreach/TravSciExhibits/MarsQuest/1.html). The MarsQuest schedule for 2002 and 2003 can be found at (http://www.astc.org/exhibitions/mars/imars.htm). The exhibit will be at the Virginia Air & Space Center in Hampton, VA, until April 30. Check out the Alaric's science department web page: http://alaricrh.home.sprynet.com/science/AlaricSci.htm FCapt. Richard Heim Chief Science Officer USS Alaric AlaricRH@sprynet.com Region One Sciences is looking for an Assistant RDC and a newsletter editor. If you're interested, contact me to find out how to apply: Richard Heim, P.O. Box 2072, Asheville, NC 28802, or by email at AlaricRH@sprynet.com In science news across the region, reports have been received from the Chief Science Officers of the USS Heimdal (VAdm. Willy Smith), USS Hornet (Cmdr. James "Jamie" Delantonas), USS Jurassic (Lt.jg Joe Lamantia), USS Tycho (Chief Petty Officer Adam Gorrell), USS Yorktown (Lt.jg Tina Walker/Davis), Shuttle Francis Marion (Cmdr. Dee Okolotowicz), and a science reporter from the USS Reprisal (Operations Officer FCapt. Greg Franklin), in addition to the USS Alaric. Jamie provided some very interesting science reports which were posted to the Science-Lab listserver, including the discovery of a dozen newly found stars all within 33 light-years of Earth -- next-door neighbors by cosmic measures. All the stars were found in the southern sky, where surveys are less comprehensive than from the Northern Hemisphere. Because of their proximity, the newly identified stars could prove useful as targets for planet hunters. Details can be found at http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/missing_stars_020111.html At a recent Tycho meeting, Adam gave a report on the basics of gravity. Willy reported on a visit to a Heimdal meeting by guest speaker Pam Early. She was his area's NASA education representative until 1998, but still maintains contact with NASA and visits launch sites when possible. Pam Early was an interesting guest but is not optimistic of the future of our Space Station because of cutback on size and number of occupants. Dee, whose main interests lie in the area of environmental and wildlife conservation, reports that she is in the process of creating a form report for Science Department members that will be put in the Science Department web page area, and is working on an interactive Science Department Log. Capt. Edith Padgett, CO of the USS Charleston, reported on an away team to the SC Aquarium on January 20. "We had a great time. The tour starts with a mountain forest that really feels like you're in the mountains with the dampness of a running stream and otters. We then traveled through many other exhibits ranging from the forest mountain to the ocean which includes a large two story fish tank. One of the highlights came while we were on the riverside terrace -- a screen enclosed balcony -- when one of the birds started an aerial displace back and forth inside the enclosure. "We had a great time identifying the different species on display from sharks to frogs to snails. I would recommend a trip to anyone who likes to learn. The last thing we did was stop at the Discovery Lab, a hands on exhibit that allows you to touch horseshoe crabs, spider crabs, sea stars and sea urchins. Microscopes allow you to look at small marine life that live along the docks and pilings." Check out the Region One Sciences web page: http://alaricrh.home.sprynet.com/science/R1Science.htm FCapt. Richard Heim Regional Division Chief, Sciences Starfleet Region One AlaricRH@sprynet.com The Starfleet Sciences web page is partially completed. The parts that have been uploaded to http://alaricrh.home.sprynet.com/science/starfleet-sciences.html include links to a variety of science resources, both in the real-world: real-world science web sites and listservers science museums and facilities across the country science experiments and educational tools and within STARFLEET: STARFLEET science contacts (RDC's & CSO's who wish to be listed) STARFLEET science-related lists STARFLEET's Vulcan Academy of Sciences Eventually, I'd like to include links to web pages listing Star Trek science-fiction becoming Real Science, so if you know of any such web sites, please send their url's to me. In an effort to serve as a communications resource for the Science RDC's and RC's throughout STARFLEET, here is the latest science contact information I have: Region RDC Science RDC Contact 1 RDC FCapt. Richard Heim AlaricRH@sprynet.com P.O. Box 2072, Asheville, NC 28802 http://alaricrh.home.sprynet.com/science/R1Science.htm 2 RDC Capt. Neil Yawn CMOSNUFFY@aol.com P.O. Box 733, Graysville, AL 35073 3 RDC Capt. William Downs krazydog@juno.com Science@region3.com 2025 Peachtree Rd. NE #244, Atlanta, Ga. 30309-1421 4 RDC FCapt. Charles Flowers charles@migmaster.reno.nv.us 90 Silver Reef Drive, Reno, NV 89506-1822 5 Science Liasion FCapt. Thomas Rutledge tomkhatt@excite.com 16821 Smokey Pt Blvd #812, Arlington, WA 98223 10 RDC Cmdr. Nan Dooley nancyrae@alaska.net HC1, Box 500, Gakona, AK 99586 http://r10.hypbus.com/sciences.html 11 RDC Comm. Alan Yates scarab@ay.com.au 15 RDC LtCmdr. John Prushko jprushko@together.net 103 Main Street Upstairs, Vergennes, VT 05491 Science News from Around the Fleet: Capt. Yawn reports that Region 2 Sciences published the second issue of their new bi-monthly newsletter, Exploration. He will be happy to email a copy of the pdf file to anyone who contacts him (CMOSNUFFY@aol.com), and any Science officer may summit an article to the newsletter. Capt. Downs is continuing science education in his region by submitting articles and reports to FleetChannels, the Region 3 newsletter. He is working on two projects, one involving presentations at the regional Summit in June and the other determining if there is sufficient interest in a R3-Sciences newsletter and/or webpage. Alan Anderton, a Region 11 member in Australia, has posted several very interesting articles to the Science-Lab list and Science-Lab Yahoo group web site. Science by Email, the source of his information, can be subscribed to by going to the Double Helix Science Club web site (http://www.csiro.au/helix/). Commodore Jeff Marlowe, Region 13 Finance Officer, pointed us in the direction of the antimatter atoms discovery news item. Thank you to all for your reports! FCapt. Richard Heim Fleet Division Chief, Sciences STARFLEET fdp-science@sfi.org Click Here to Return to Table of Contents

 

Chief Engineer

Cmdr. Sheila Thomas-Hand

[No report filed...it has come to this Ferengi's ears that the Commander has not been feeling very well recently, and I'm sure I speak for the rest of the club when I say that we all hope that she is completely 'ship shape' soon!] Click Here to Return to Table of Contents

 

Chief, Computer Operations

Ensign Robert Saucier

[Ensign Saucier is in the process of changing living quarters this month and last I heard all of his computer equipment had somehow been accidently sent down to the hydroponics bay, so needless to say he was unable to prepare a report in time for this newsletter.] Click Here to Return to Table of Contents

 

Chief, Social Sciences

Cmdr. Dale Anderson

Beginnings of a Universal Translator Major elements of science fiction have been imagination, theoretical science, the advant of culture, as well as society and practical science/technology to come. Gene Roddenberry had a marvelous vision of science fiction. Star Trek has always been known of its observation into our society, but more importantly has been a breath-taking forerunner of technologies that would eventually come to age. As a person interested in the social sciences, a universal translator would be a great instrument to cross the barriers of language and culture. We can see the developmental progress from the series Enterprise. We have also see the initial development of mechanical aided translation technology. As a general introduction of what has begun to take place, I have tried piecing together some information off the Internet to form an introduction. One technology that has been created is Computer Aided Translation (CAT). Even though universal translation is becoming more of a reality, at this current date in 2002, we will start with this technology that has already been around for and is already blossoming into other realities. Over the past years, the computer has had an immense influence on the professional life of a translator. While only ten years ago, the computer did not play a significant role for many translators, today it is becoming more and more important. Computers are of course widely used to process text, but they are also often used to store and retrieve terminology, consult online reference material, and so on. One term which you will probably come across in this context is 'Computer Aided Translation' (CAT). We need to differentiate two different technologies. CAT is not machine translation. A machine translation (MT) program uses an extensive dictionary and an algorithm to describe the structure of both source and target language. It is then able to analyze the source text and automatically create a corresponding target text with relatively good accuracy. A CAT program is a program that refers to previously translated material and offers suggestions to the translator. The intention is not to replace, but to assist the translator. The database of previous translations is often referred to as a 'memory', and programs, which use this technique, are also called Translation Memory programs. Although you could argue for a broader definition of CAT, the term Computer Aided Translation is used as a synonym for Translation Memory in this article. Big translation companies for internal use originally developed many CAT programs, but they were eventually put on the market and have enjoyed a growing popularity over the past couple of years. Examples include Translator's Workbench (Trados), Transit (Star), Translation Manager (IBM), Optimizer (Eurolang) and Déjà Vu (Atril). A CAT program works on 'segments', which is what the program considers the smallest translatable unit, usually a sentence. As you are translating, you go through the text segment-by-segment, i. e. usually sentence by sentence. The program integrates all translated segments into its database. This means that while you are translating, the program is continually increasing its database, or 'translation memory'. One vital feature of a CAT program is the capability to search very fast. The program will search its database for every new segment. It is essential that this search process is carried out very quickly, even with considerably large translation memories, so that you will not have to wait for the program to find possible matches for the current segment. If you are translating a segment that has already been translated, the CAT program should immediately offer this as a suggestion. However, if CAT programs were only able to retrieve exact matches for previously translated segments, they would be very inefficient. Even a change of one letter would prevent the program from recognizing a segment as a match. So, the second vital feature of a CAT program is to recognize previously translated segments that are 'similar' to the current segment. This is often called 'fuzzy matching'. The degree of similarity is usually indicated as a percentage value and you can customize a threshold above which similar segments are considered as potential matches. These two vital features, a very fast searching capability and a fuzzy matching algorithm, are common to all CAT programs. CAT programs will differ in the other features that they offer. A CAT program might include an analysis feature to help you determine up front what percentage of previously translated segments already exist in the translation memory, or a terminology checking feature which checks terminology according to a user-specified dictionary. When translating with a CAT program, the CAT program will display the source text and any possible matches one segment at a time. You then have three possibilities: 1) accept the suggestion if it is a good translation for the new segment. This means that the suggestion is a 100% match or that it is similar, but that the difference does not matter in the current context. 2) Edit the suggestion if you are not completely satisfied. 3) If there are no suggestions or if they are not usable, ignore any suggestion and translate the segment from scratch. Once you have translated this segment, you accept it (i. e. save it into the database), go on to the next one, the program searches its database and the procedure is repeated. This means that your way of working probably will change if you are using a CAT program. You will probably be focusing more on individual segments instead of paragraphs or pages. Thus, if you are not careful, you could to some extent loose the overall context of your text. With experience this can be avoided. If you are just starting to use a CAT program, you will probably need some days to adapt your way of working. You might argue that your style deteriorates by focusing on segments and the quality of the translation suffers. I do not want to argue either for or against this, but I would like to mention a strong argument in favor of CAT programs: consistency. Click Here to Return to Table of Contents

 

Chief, Tactical/OIC Marines

1st Lt. Chad Trantham

[No report available at time of publication...I think he's out on war game maneuvers or something.] Click Here to Return to Table of Contents

 

Chief Medical Officer

RADM Susan Bolick

All's quiet in Sickbay this month except for a CMO with tendonitis in both wrists. Finally getting better. Things in the Bolick house are busy as usual... Sarah is working on her OTS exam online. It's almost ready to send in. She's also on the second half of her last year in middle school before making the big jump to high school! Sam just had his state writing test at school, and at home is up to his ears in botany and piano. He's getting pretty good at both. Mark is substitute teaching at the kids' school and hoping to find permanent employment soon. He's decided he likes being a teacher! I'm keeping busy working with the high risk Latina prenatal clients in the community, and have just finished doing something I didn't know I could do...I taught a bilingual CPR class at the local Red Cross! I don't know all the vocabulary but I had some sources to look them up, and I was very proud of all the participants, especially the women from Central America who took and passed the course in spite of having only a basic understanding of the English language. That takes a lot of courage. I hope to have the opportunity to teach CPR in Spanish again. I also have CPR recertification classes coming up for my fellow employees as well. The kids and I are also enjoying talking with other Fleeters from all over several times a week in IRC. And we're looking forward to traveling to Pigeon Forge in April to attend the Region 1 Summit. Several of our friends from the IRC channel will be there, I'm sure. John Adcock has promised Sam a chance to sit in the driver's seat of his new Corvette. Mama doesn't know how afraid she should be -- ! Hope to see several of you there! RAdm Susan Bolick Click Here to Return to Table of Contents

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