plain-text version
program files

STARDATES IN STAR TREK FAQ -- Part VI

PART VI: POINTS OF ORDER

VI.1. OBTAINING THE LATEST VERSION OF THIS FAQ

This FAQ is posted to the USENET newsgroup rec.arts.startrek.tech every 30 days. It is cross-posted to rec.answers and news.answers. It can be found by searching any of these newsgroups for the subject line "Stardates in Star Trek Mini-FAQ" (without the quotes). Depending on the configuration at your site, it is possible that it may be expired earlier than intended, and therefore not be available.

It is also available for anonymous FTP from rtfm.mit.edu (18.70.0.209) as file /pub/usenet/news.answers/star-trek/stardates. This will contain the last version to be distributed via USENET. rtfm.mit.edu also has a number of mirrors, in which it is archived as star-trek/stardates. These URLs point to a selection of mirrors around the world -- pick the one closest to you:

<URL:ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/star-trek/stardates> <URL:ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/usenet/news-faqs/news.answers/star-trek/stardates> <URL:ftp://ftp.pasteur.fr/pub/FAQ/star-trek/stardates> <URL:ftp://ftp.sunet.se/pub/usenet/news.answers/star-trek/stardates> <URL:ftp://hwarang.postech.ac.kr/pub/usenet/news.answers/star-trek/stardates>

If you do not have access to FTP, you can obtain a copy from rtfm.mit.edu by email. To do so, send an email message to <mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu> containing the line:

send usenet/news.answers/star-trek/stardates

VI.2. OBTAINING THIS FAQ IN OTHER FORMATS

The canonical version of this FAQ will always be the plain ASCII text version, as posted to USENET. Conversions to other formats may become available from time to time, however.

An HTML version can be found at Joseph Creighton's Star Trek web page, <URL:http://starchive.cs.umanitoba.ca/?stardates/part1>. (At the time of writing this is actually an encapsulation of the ASCII version, but it should become a proper HTML conversion soon.)

VI.3. RELATED MATERIAL

A stardate calculation computer program is available. To get the program in the form of a compressed `tar' archive, send email to <zefram@fysh.org> with the subject line "send stardates.tar.gz". To get the program as a DOS zip file, use the subject line "send stardates.zip", and to get a Unix shell archive use the subject line "send stardates.shar".

VI.4. CONTACTING THE AUTHOR

Comments on this FAQ are always welcome. Send email to <zefram@fysh.org>. PGP encrypted mail is welcome: the author's PGP public key may be obtained from any of the PGP public key servers, and the key fingerprint confirmed by fingering his address.

VI.5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Major thanks to Jason Hinson <hinson@physics.purdue.edu>, for writing the Relativity and FTL FAQ. (That document is recommended reading for all Treknologists.)

Credits go to the following people on the Internet, either for interesting USENET postings or for helpful email messages:

Dewitte A. Baisch, Jr  <dbaisch@osf1.gmu.edu>
Greg Berigan           <gberigan@cse.unl.edu>
Joseph Chen            <jchen1@fate.eng.buffalo.edu>
Ted Clancy             <s341282@student.uq.edu.au>
Edgar Governo          <arphaxad@cyberspc.mb.ca>
Scott F. Ichniowski    <sichniow@umuc.umd.edu>
Krauss                 <Krauss5667@aol.com>
Joseph M. Osborne      <jmosbo0@sac.uky.edu>
Steve Pugh             <ptolemy@meta.physics.ox.ac.uk>
Boris Skrbic           <ibctel@ibctel.anet.cz>
Michael M. Welch       <mwelch@netcom.com>

VI.6. HISTORY OF THE TEXT

Version 0.*

Pre-release versions. Mostly consisted of a few thousand digits on a lot of paper.

Version 1.0 (1994-05-23, SD [-31]3892.64, 400 lines, 21kB)

The initial release version. This version is in the public domain.

Version 1.1 (1994-11-05, SD [-31]4723.71, 449 lines, 23kB)

Minor changes were made to clean up small sections. Section numbering, a table of contents, and the history section were added. This version was the first to be posted to the USENET newsgroup rec.arts.startrek.tech, and is in the public domain.

Version 1.2 (1994-12-05, SD [-31]4872.95, 709 lines, 36kB)

A fairly extensive revision, including a rewrite of almost all of the text. The introductory sections were slightly rearranged, and the main investigative sections were renamed to be more consistent. New sections were a detailed description of 20th century stardates and a C program to calculate contemporary stardates. The document became a FAQ.

Version 1.3 (1995-01-08, SD [-31]5042.92, 883 lines, 43kB)

An intermediate release. The previous flat numbering scheme was changed to a two-layer hierarchical system, making the document easier to use. A new section on time standards was added, and the section on other stardate theories was expanded to become a major division.

Version 1.4 (1995-04-19, SD [-31]5547.00, 1782 lines, 77kB)

A new part was added to the document, detailing and explaining away some objections to the theory. The stardate program was improved and moved to a new part, and another related program was added. An error in the original calculation was discovered while testing the new stardates program: the 20th-issue stardate for 2323-01-01 was previously given as [20]5006.5, whereas it is actually [20]5006.0. This change does not have any significant effects.

Version 1.5 (1996-03-28, SD [-31]7269.00, 1139 lines, 57kB)

A revision of the previous version. The only major change is that the stardate calculation programs added in the previous version are now distributed separately. (They took up a lot of room, and seemed out of place in a textual document.) Parts of the text have been reworded, and some minor sections have been added.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

This document, entitled "Stardates in Star Trek FAQ, Version 1.6", is
Copyright (C) 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 by Andrew Main.  It may not be
distributed or incorporated into another document without the explicit
permission of the copyright holder.

Permission is granted to distribute this document, unmodified, in its
entirety, by (i) any means provided that no profit is generated from the
distribution; (ii) normal USENET means; (iii) making it available for file
transfer from an installation offering unrestricted anonymous file transfer on
the Internet.

This article is provided as is, without any express or implied warranty.

All trademarks, registered and unregistered, are properties of their
respective holders.  Failure to indicate the status of a trademark should not
be interpreted as a challenge on that status.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.6.i

iQCVAgUBMVsXzXD/+HJTpU/hAQH0ZgP+IxDjbA56/S+4MmxyTjiINLbKJaXN0rbN
jYRgQp4tWAOn1mpPPzcJP+Yvv1WNnYY2k+yuMCrtVRhUvwJD+BPg3GfCGQji7IAo
DHm8IwvtCSwuVgTcqAumAtKgJ8EimMHhiuBWzmQjL9qob8wr+Sd8wdIY0xZOlyXm
IGErzV+iank=
=3OzH
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----