Site Columns

By Michelle
May 2, 2004 - 9:16 PM

Hello World!

Science fiction has arrived in Washington, DC a few weeks early.

We were expecting it in May, when the seventeen-year cicadas are expected to make their once-every-couple-of-decades appearance. These bugs are about two inches long, with black bodies, lovely filigree wings and protruding red eyes, like enormous grasshoppers. They're very noisy and they eat the leaves of all the regional trees. During peak season you can't walk down the sidewalks downtown without stepping on them.

But the locusts (as they were called during my childhood, even though then, as now, they were cicadas) have been upstaged, by the discovery of the dreaded snakehead fish in the waters of a lake in Wheaton. The snakehead is an Asian fish that isn't supposed to exist in American waterways, but some idiot let a pair go a few years ago in a pond, and now they show up every once in awhile and cause widespread panic.

There are good reasons for this - the fish can devour pretty much anything living in the water, as they have no domestic predators, and quite substantial teeth - as well as silly reasons, like the fact that they can grow to forty inches, can travel out of water for a few feet and look like miniature sharks. The lake in which they were found connects to the Northwest Branch, which feeds both the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers, so if the fish has spawned, it will mean very bad news. So, the plan? Drain and poison the lake.

The news here regularly shows pictures of huge, toothy, bug-eyed snakeheads slithering in the grass near ponds, and of huge, buzzing, red-eyed cicadas chomping on the leaves of trees. This not only serves as a distraction from real environmental issues but also strikes fear in the hearts of people who are afraid of insects, snakes, fish with teeth and the like.

It's like living in a bad movie.

Trek BBS Today

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

-Why don't we hear about Archer's missions in Trek history?

-The USS Excalibur!

-Could NX01 survive the galactic barrier?

More topics can be found at the Trek BBS!

Trek Two Years Ago

These were some of the major news items from early May 2002:

Logan To Write 'Enterprise' Romulan Episode?
Executive producer Rick Berman said that shen the time came for the Romulans to appear on Enterprise, he wanted Star Trek: Nemesis writer John Logan to pen the episode.
'Fallen Hero' & 'Desert Crossing' Promo Released
UPN released the trailer the upcoming week's unusual Enterprise double bill of new episodes, "Fallen Hero" and "Desert Crossing".
Trek Stars Shine On Stage & Screen
Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Robert Beltran (Chakotay), Terry Farrell (Jadzia Dax) and Michael Dorn (Worf) all announced upcoming theatrical and movie projects.

More news can be found in the archives.

Poll Results

Below are the results of the most recent TrekToday poll:

How Would You Rate 'The Forgotten'?
9-10	53.6% - (759 Votes)
7-8	22.6% - (320 Votes)
Wasn't able to see it	8.3% - (118 Votes)
Didn't want to see it	7% - (100 Votes)
5-6	5% - (71 Votes)
1-2	1.9% - (28 Votes)
3-4	1.2% - (18 Votes)
Total Votes: 1414