Warped idea of star time
QUESTION Star Trek always begins with a Captain’s Log and a set of numbers. Are the numbers meaningful or random?
THESE numbers are Star Trek’s dating system known as Star Dates. The latter are not coherent throughout the Star Trek Universe, though later series have imposed basic logic upon them.
In the original television series, starring William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, creator Gene Roddenberry attempted to impose a vague chronological order. But delays in production of episodes and poor editing soon meant that the dates were out of sync.
According to Roddenberry: ‘When we began making episodes, we would use a Star Date such as 2317 one week, and then a week later when we made the next episode we would move the Star Date up to 2942, and so on. Unfortunately, however, the episodes were not aired in the same order in which we filmed them. So we began to get complaints from the viewers, asking, “How come one week the Star Date is 2891, the next week it’s 2337, and then the week after it’s 3414?”’
There was a get-out-of-jail card, though. In space, the Star Date is a function not only of time but the ship’s position in the galaxy and its velocity. Star Dates progress normally while the ship remains in one place, but warp distorts time, disrupting any meaningful chronological order.
Nevertheless, later series attempted to impose some order. For Star Trek: The Next Generation, the show’s creators devised a formula with a reasonable level of continuity. So a Star Date became a five-digit number followed by a decimal point and one more digit, for example 42125.9. The first digit of the Star Date was always 4 which stood for the 24th Century. The second figure indicates the season number. The additional three digits were to progress unevenly during the course of the season from 000 to 999. The digit following the decimal point may refer to a day or part of a day.
The formula was followed by subsequent series such as Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager with the caveat: ‘Because Star Dates in the 24th Century are based on a complex mathematical formula, a precise correlation to Earth-based dating systems is not possible.’
Andrew Sampson, Bedfordshire.
QUESTION Is it true that there are no bridges over the Amazon river?
DESPITE being more than 4,300 miles in length, the Amazon has no bridges. That’s even though the river flows through Peru, Colombia and Brazil.
In contrast, more than 50 bridges span the Nile, while over 100 have been built across China’s Yangtze in the past 30 years.
However there is no particular need for an Amazon bridge, and any such would pose significant engineering challenges.
The Amazon largely meanders through sparsely populated areas, meaning there are few roads of any significance to connect. Cities and towns that border the river already have well-established ferry links for people and goods.
Building a bridge would prove extremely costly as the banks of the Amazon are marshy with soft soils. A bridge would necessitate a string of access viaducts supported by multiple arches, each with deep foundations.
Seasonal changes in the river’s course and concomitant changes in water depth would make design and construction extremely challenging.
The Ponte Rio Negro which crosses the Negro River was completed in 2011. This connects Manaus and Iranduba, and it is to date the only major bridge that crosses any Amazon tributary.
Mrs S. I. Freeman, Portsmouth.
QUESTION Why were Henry VIII’s guard known as the Gentleman Pensioners?
THE Gentleman Pensioners were an elite troop of fighting men, all sons of nobility. The name came from the original sense of pension, a ‘payment for services’, especially ‘a regular reward or annual payment out of a will or benefice’.
The word was used in this way from the 14th Century onwards, having been derived from the Old French pension (‘payment’, ‘rent’). The Honourable Band Of Gentleman Pensioners was first formed as the Troop of Gentlemen in 1509 when formed by King Henry VIII to act as the King’s personal bodyguard. They accompanied Henry to France in 1513 and took part in the second Battle of Guinegate, and were present at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, a summit between Henry VIII and Francis I of France, in 1520.
During the reigns of the Tudors and Stuarts, they were under oath to reside within 12 miles of the King and worked in shifts, with around 20 in attendance on the monarch at any one time.
They last fought in battle during the English Civil War. A troop of 50 Pensioners were at the Battle of Edgehill (1642) under William Howard. There to observe the battle were the 12-year-old Prince of Wales (the future Charles II) and the nine-year-old Duke of York (the future James II).
At one stage a Parliamentary soldier broke through the Royalist line. The princes were saved when Miles Matthews, a Gentleman Pensioner, rode back and killed the attacker with his poleaxe.
The Gentleman Pensioners continued to serve as the monarch’s closest bodyguards until 1834 when they became Her Majesty’s Body Guard of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms.
They still provide protection to the monarch on ceremonial occasions. They were also the first royal bodyguards to stand vigil over Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin as she lay in state in Westminster Hall.
Kenneth Holman, Bath, Somerset.
■ Is there a question to which you have always wanted to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question raised here? Send your questions and answers to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Irish Daily Mail, DMG Media, Two Haddington Buildings, 20-38 Haddington Road, Dublin 4, D04 HE94. You can also fax them to 0044 1952 510906 or you can email them to charles. legge@dailymail.ie. A selection will be published but we are not able to enter into individual correspondence.