Ancient history[edit | edit source]
There is some controversy over the origin of the Vulcan species, and on whether their homeworld is actually their birth place, or if it was colonized some six million years ago. (STO video game: Star Trek Online)
Much of Vulcan pre-history was a mixture of myth and legends, one of which stated that their race was seeded by the Preservers, or the race that Sargon belonged to. Another myth spoke of the Vhorani, who were known as the Ancient Ones, who came from the Wellspring of Creation known as Vorta Vor. Once they reached the harsh world that was the planet Vulcan, they created the Vulcan species. (Last Unicorn RPG module: The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans)
Among the Vulcan species, it was believed that the first of their kind, known as The Wanderer, was the one who developed speech and the first word. These same primitive Vulcans witnessed the intense damage done to their world by their sun's solar flare, which wiped out much of the planet's surface and transformed it into its desert form. In the aftermath, the planet was divided into numerous clans that sought refuge in the few locations left on the now-desolate world. Locations that held water were prized, but the dangers of daytime travel meant that it was difficult to wage conflict when the sun was up. However, one clan, which possessed the "Eye" - an inner eyelid - held an advantage, as they were able to travel during the day. They attacked the well spring at Pelasht. After taking it, they decided to hold their advantage by allowing other clans to breed with their women, so that those clans' offspring would develop the trait. In exchange, they gained access to resources, as well as the other clans' own unique advantages, such as the ability to touch minds. This primitive form of eugenics program formed the basis of modern Vulcan marriage customs. In time, various telepathic and other traits spread throughout the race. (TOS novel: Spock's World)
Early in Vulcan history, their planet was occupied by the demonic Furies, who ruled much of the Alpha Quadrant and Beta Quadrant. (TNG novel: The Soldiers of Fear) Like many other species, such as Humans and Klingons, the Vulcans were cowed into submission by their masters' fear-generating technology. The Fury of Vulcan was recorded by the testimony of many witnesses when a Vulcan warrior known as Torkas of the Vehm killed 97 of his own village through the use of a leaf bladed Toth spear before he was killed. Ok'San was the most of the despised of all the demonic Furies. The Furies left Vulcan when they met the Unclean menace, and knowledge of the Furies disappeared, forming a racial fear in the Vulcans and other races the Furies had ruled over. (VOY novel: The Final Fury)
Age of antiquity[edit | edit source]
The ancient Vulcan people were divided into tribal lines and consisted of extended clans that were organized together for protection against the harsh environment of the desert. These tribes existed in a nomadic fashion, where they traveled between different reservoirs of water. Some eventually established permanent settlements in areas that provided adequate food, water and shelter, these sites being the source of the first city-states. Much of this part of Vulcan history is uncertain, as there were many legends that spoke of angry gods, wars in the sky and tales of psionic might. The only trace of such events were the scattered ruins that dotted the planets' surface. It is believed that certain Vulcans demonstrated moderate amounts of psionic talents at this time, their abilities making them revered by their people, who viewed such individuals as favored by their deities. Such Vulcans were often focal points within their tribes, and the source of many alliances between the different families, though some resorted to violence in order to acquire such individuals. In addition, there was violent and bitter competition for natural resources, leading to fierce conflict. (Last Unicorn RPG module: The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans)
During the early eras of Vulcan civilization, it was difficult to gather sufficient metals and ores. This was not because the world was resource-poor, but rather because valuable minerals were located too deep below the surface to be easily mined. As such, Vulcan metalsmiths had to work extremely hard in order to craft the items that they needed, from simple weapons to agricultural tools. This changed as mindsciences developed that allowed adepts to locate veins of ores and pull them from the crust psychokinetically. (TOS novel: Spock's World) At one point during ancient Vulcan history, the world was invaded by a race of non-corporeal entities that relished in causing death and destruction. Conventional weapons were incapable of killing these creatures. Fortunately, the Vulcan S'chn R'xun Sajik created the Sword of Sajik, which was used to slay many of the creatures, eventually driving them away from Vulcan. (Last Unicorn RPG module: The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans)
Eventually, Vulcan began to develop weapons of mass destruction, including atomic weaponry. Initially, these weapons were used frequently, but such use did not provoke a worldwide disarmament program, as was the case on other worlds. (TOS novel: Spock's World) These ancient atomic wars ravaged the surface of Vulcan, permanently distorting a region of its magnetic field, and leading to frequent energy discharges in the red sands. (TOS novel: Captain's Glory) Rather than stop the use of such destructive weapons, the ancient Vulcans instead refined their usage to create "cleaner" weapons, such as "neutron bombs" designed to kill the inhabitants of a city but leave the surrounding region unharmed. (TOS novel: Spock's World) Records indicated that even at their most violent phase of their existence where they committed a number of atrocities in the name of conquest, no Vulcan had ever hunted another or treated their brothers as if they were beasts. (TOS novel: Legacy)
Experiments in space flight technology began early on Vulcan, with legend stating that the first flight-capable starship was built in the city of Devlarmby the Warlord D'Vir. It was believed that the first to reach the stars would gain ultimate status and a crucial advantage over the other factions. Many petitioned to meet with D'Vir, with some negotiating for use of his developing ship and others attempting to sabotage it. Ultimately, a rival Warlord by the name of Nu'Val decided to stop the project at all costs and attacked the settlement. Archaeological records indicate that a devastating air strike, with neutron bombs employed, killed the one million inhabitants of the city and turned it into the ruined "City of Shadows". (Last Unicorn RPG module: The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans) This was thought to have occured in the year 855 B.C.. (Last Unicorn RPG module: All Our Yesterdays: The Time Travel Sourcebook) Despite this failed attempt, others strove to attain space flight, such as the House of Suvin, which allied with Lady Evekh in order to exploit the minerals of T'Khut. Suvin managed to complete the hulls of two starships, with instruments being installed by various lesser Houses. However, Lady Evekh's desire for the Last Thought technique from a union of her grandson Mahak with T'Thelaih led to the latter going mad with rage when she discovered the true purpose of the union. Lady Evekh's High House was exterminated, which set back the first manned landing of T'Khut by fifty standard years. Psi-communication technology was also lost, and had to be bred and rediscovered once more. (TOS novel: Spock's World)
Eventually, T'Khut was colonized and mined, whereupon the Vulcan race went off to the outer planets within their star system. It is known that several small wars broke out on Vulcan at the time of the first successful landing, due to the shifting balances of power that were always feared by the various factions. Marriages at this time were conducted, not out of love, but eugenics, in order to breed specific psionic talents. Eventually, T'Khut's surface was scarred with mines, and the wars on Vulcan continued for centuries. Limited sub-light space travel continued within the star system as the Vulcans began mining from the asteroid belts and the other worlds around their star. This period became known to later Vulcans as the Age of Expansion, and the petty kingdoms of Vulcan eventually achieved an unwilling unified peace with one another. Warfare and terrorism, however, eventually began to spread into space around Vulcan itself. The destruction of the mining ship Rasha at Ashif Station sparked hostilities once more, with Mahn'heh Protectorate beginning its attacks against the Lalirh by detonating a matter/antimatter bomb at their orbital stations in the asteroid belts. New fires began to emerge on Vulcan as warfare once again consumed its surface. (TOS novel: Spock's World)
This era saw Vulcan society being torn between its earliest traditions and the lure of space travel. (TOS novel: Legacy) It was known that Vulcan space travel was achieved as far back as the 3rd century. During that time, at least one group of Vulcans left their world and crash landed on a planetoid later known as Darien 224, where they formed a colony known as the Last-of-all-Cities. Retaining their warrior heritage and psionic technology, this isolated settlement remained unknown to the galaxy at large for two millennia. (EV comic: "Cloak and Dagger") By the 9th century, the Vulcans had also established a monastery on the world of P'Jem. (ENT episode: "The Andorian Incident")
- LUG sources indicate that the Vulcans attained warp travel in the 13th century, which contradicts both of the above colonizations, though its possible that they were made by sublight, "sleeper ship" means.
Early Vulcan also developed several advanced psionic technologies, including psionic weapons such as the Tol par-doj and Vorl-tak. Most of these technologies were lost during the Time of Awakening. (Last Unicorn RPG module: The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans; EV comic: "Cloak and Dagger") During these early periods, tribes of Vulcans were known to have possessed significant martial skills, especially in the area of archery. The arid climate of their home world was conductive to accuracy over long distances, though the heavier gravity led to some challenges. However, those that learned to shoot an arrow on Vulcan were capable of using the skill easily on other worlds. (TOS novel: Catalyst of Sorrows)
Time of awakening[edit | edit source]
By the 4th century, Vulcan was rife with violence and war, as the Vulcan people fought one another in countless battles that stained the sand of the deserts with their green blood. Wars arose from the desire for conquest and need for water resources, which were scarce on the planet. The most well-recorded of the Vulcan warlords was the tyrant Sudoc, who gained power by assassinating the previous ruling leader. Using his powerful psionic abilities and skilled tactical mind, he led his vicious barbarian armies in campaigns that dominated most of the homeworld. Those who resisted were slaughtered, and those who fell under his rule were subjected to telepathic "adjustments" to make them loyal. (Last Unicorn RPG module: The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans)
Into this time was born a boy named Surak, in the city state of ShiKahr. His home city was one of Sudoc's chief rivals, and the warlord attempted to assassinate the ruling generals, who included members of Surak's family. (Last Unicorn RPG module: The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans). Surak became a skilled computer scientist, but his creations were used as weapons of war, which provoked him into developing the goals of logic and peace. (TOS novel: Exodus) In the desert, gazing upon Mount Seleya, Surak received an epiphany when he encountered an Underlier. Afterwards, he returned to civilization and did not initially speak of his experience. He later met numerous sects and groups in order to learn from them, and to develop his own philosophies, which he began to write daily, and to spread through the populace. (TOS novel: Spock's World) According to legend, he also gained healing techniques and teachings from the Adepts of Seleya, along with the Adepts of Gol. (TOS novel: Exodus) He formed a circle of colleagues that sought to wage peace and master emotions, with this group consisting of Jarok, Nirak, T'mor and Vithek. While the Vulcan people were initially resistant, the teachings of peace and logic began to rapidly take hold, eventually ending the period known as the "Years of Chaos". (Last Unicorn RPG module: The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans; FASA RPG module: The Romulan War) During his time, Surak gained another pupil, S'task. (TOS novel: Spock's World)
- Other novels, such as The Devil's Heart, state that Surak's father was Stef, who was killed in battle on the Ishaya Plains when Surak was a boy.
Eventually, the chief councilors of Lhai called upon Surak to advise their emissaries to Irik, in order to prevent a full-scale war from erupting between the two nation-states. Surak gladly joined the emissaries and shut himself with them for a day and a night, whereupon he sent them on their way. After two days they returned, and the Lhai councilors were shocked to see that they brought with them the High Council of Irik, who had signed a peace treaty following a week-long negotiation. Each nation made major concessions to the other, and many were dazed at this remarkable change, except for Surak. His peace ultimately held until the unification of the entire planet, despite the maneuvering of various belligerent power blocs in both nations. (TOS novel: Spock's World) The warlords of other nations began to lose, and the captured territories of Sudoc began to fracture as his empire disintegrated. Sudoc's rule and empire finally ended with the tyrant's death, though members of his loyal cadre did and survive formed the Children of Ket-Cheleb, who were led by the warrior Tellus. (Last Unicorn RPG module: The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans)
At some point, a group of devotees to the new Vulcan philosophy of logic decided to seek perfection by developing a method of removing their emotions and sealing them within bottles. However, this process diminished the soul of the individual and thus the device that accomplished this was destroyed. The philosophers abandoned the experiment and devoted their lives to teaching the value of logic. The bottles that contained the removed emotions survived through the centuries, and in honor of their mentors, the Vulcan people created a shrine on the planet Beta IV where the artifacts remained hidden in Room 101, where they were meant to be preserved for all of life. (TOS comic: "The Brain Shockers")
First contact[edit | edit source]
In the climate that followed, the Vulcan people were still fractured into various groups while Surak spread his message. It was at this time that the species made their first contact with another form of life, the people of Etosha, who appeared at Shikahr before the assembled delegates as a peaceful race. In actuality, the Etoshans were pirates who used deception to capture slaves and hold planetary leaders for ransom. At Vulcan, they took hold of numerous leaders, along with Surak's student S'task. Surak himself was spared this fate due to transportation difficulties at a port facility, which prevented him from attending the meeting.
The conflict that followed, known as "Ahkh", or "the War", reduced all previous conflicts to simple skirmishes as the Vulcan species worked to defeat the invaders. S'task proved instrumental, liberating many of his kinsmen and killing thousands of pirates in his escape from their vessel. While primitive compared to the advanced technology of the pirates, the Vulcans had well-developed skills in the psionic arts, which allowed them to unravel the metal ships of the enemy or set their pilots on suicidal courses. Through such actions, Vulcan freed itself from the invaders that had terrorized them. (TOS novel: The Romulan Way)
Sundering[edit | edit source]
Though Surak had worked hard to ensure peace and spread logic, the Etoshan invasion had taken their toll on the Vulcan race, which once more became divided over the issue of pacifism. (TOS novel: Spock's World) Numerous factions still competed with one another, including the Northeastern Alliance and the Southern Hegemony, both of whom wanted to acquire dominance over the other by developing space capable warships. The climate was further complicated by the vicious raids and attacks by the aggressive Te-Vikram Brotherhood that lived deep in the deserts. All these actions threatened to destabilize the planet and bring about the destruction of Vulcan-kind. While Surak still believed he could save Vulcan, the very real chance of self-annihilation prompted him travel to ShiKahr in order to meet the engineer Karatek. Befriending him, Surak asked the engineer to re-purpose the starships he was creating into long-range colony ships, in order to continue their civilization elsewhere in case Vulcan destroyed itself. He even gave Karatek a special psionic coronet to record his memories of the journey in order to bring it back to Vulcan, if it still existed. (TOS novel: Exodus)
- Varying books portray a different period of the Sundering. The Vulcan's Soul books portray it as an inter-racial warfare, while Spock's World states that it was an invasion by Orion pirates.
While Surak managed to convince the various competing factions to allow the conversion of the starships, a surprise attack came on the day of the launch. Chaos ensued, and both families and friends were separated, with some accidentally being left behind while others mistakenly boarded the transport ships. (TOS novel: Exodus) One such group was Tellus and his Children of Ket-Cheleb; Surak attempted to dissuade them from leaving but he failed. The failure would forever haunt him, and his colleague Jarok never let him forget it. (Last Unicorn RPG module: The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans) Remaining groups that opposed Surak's logic fought a final war with the rest of Vulcan. They were known as "Those who marched beneath the Raptor's wing", who were eventually forced to leave the planet. Eventually, Surak died as a result of radiation sickness as he stood at Mount Seleya. (ENT episode: "Awakening") This era became known as the Sundering, and was one of the most traumatic periods to befall Vulcan civilization. (Last Unicorn RPG module: The Way of Kolinahr)
Though Vulcan survived, the colony ships in space splintered, with many being lost along the way. (TOS novel: The Romulan Way) The largest contingent traveled through a wormhole to a distant star system, with a habitable world they called Romulus, and its sister planet, Remus. They were the genesis of the Romulan race, who visited cruel slavery on some of their kin by leaving them on Remus, where genetic engineering was used to create the offshoot race called the Remans. A small group attempted to flee Remus and later crash-landed on a hostile planet, where they formed their own colony and called themselves the Watraii. TOS novel: Epiphany)
Other of the colony ships departed under the command of Admiral Debrune and formed their own colonies, naming themselves after their leader, though none of these colonies survived. However, at least one branch of this fleet made it into the Rigel system, where it forcibly conquered Rigel V and became known as the Rigelians. (Decipher RPG module: Worlds)
- See Romulan history to see the details of the Vulcans-in-Exile.
Golden age[edit | edit source]
As a result of these actions that were less than five centuries before the mid 23rd century, the Vulcan people barely managed to avoid self-extinction as a result of their intraspecies wars. Following the wake of this disaster, their kind began to develop a system of disciplined logic which had eliminated the curse of their barbaric heritage. (TOS novel: The Starless World)
With the departure of the more violent element of Vulcan society, the remainder of the Vulcan people were left to flourish in a new era of peace and logic. An adherent of Surak's teachings known as Selok rose to prominence and formalized the unity of his species by creating the Theorems of Governance, which merged the traditionalist functions of Vulcans past with the new peaceful approaches needed to form a world government. As Tu-Surak spread throughout Vulcan, the Great Houses saw the wisdom in Selok's proposal and approved it. This unified the entire race under the principles of logic, pacifism and emotional suppression, and drove the species into an era of scientific discovery and enlightenment. What followed was the Vulcan Golden Age, where they turned their former aggressive tendencies to scientific pursuits. Geologists mapped the unstable tectonic plates of their world, and built geothermal plants that tapped the planet's heat for energy. Chemists used this new energy source to create desalinization plants that replenished the wells in Vulcan cities. Ecologists put their thoughts to slowing down the spread of the desert, seeding new plants and rescuing old ones, thus preserving the dwindling supply of fertile land on their homeworld. Thus, for the first time in their collective history, there was enough food, water and energy for the Vulcan race, with the development of hydroponics removing famine entirely from their society. In addition, they attained space-flight capabilities, but were limited to their own star system. (Last Unicorn RPG module: The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans)
In the newly created Great Library, itself a wing of the Vulcan Science Academy, the Vulcans began to archive the collective knowledge of their race. They began probing ancient archives of forbidden knowledge, ruined cities filled with lost inscriptions, as well as the the top secret projects of the many warlords. This process that took over a century to complete. The cataloging and correlation of all this information led to remarkable developments in the field of genetics, physics and mathematics. In addition to the collection of knowledge, the teachings of Surak and his counterparts led to the self-exploration of the Vulcan mind. Anthropology, sociology, psychology and pure logic made great strides during this period, with many Vulcans founding schools of thought that survive to the modern age. This exploration of the mind led to the challenge of studying the ancient psionic arts, techniques once known only to elite adepts. Where once it was restricted, the knowledge became free to all of Vulcan, with tests made on children at a young age in order to chart their talent. Those that showed promise were selected to study in a monastery or a university in order to nurture their growing power. After two hundred years, almost every Vulcan had some form of psionic control and ability. Techniques such as calm, concentration and meditation helped cement the peaceful ways of Surak to the point that new generations had forgotten that violence was an option for them in the past. (Last Unicorn RPG module: The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans)
The peace of the Golden Age was shattered in the year 1270, when a wormhole formed near Vulcan itself. From it came an armada of invading starships that attacked a peaceful Vulcan. The attackers did not respond to any form of communication, did not reveal themselves visually, and destroyed themselves with atomic weaponry rather than be captured. While the stories of the Children of Ket-Cheleb had long been forgotten, some Vulcan theorists believed these attackers to have been the proud warrior Vulcans that had departed in the exodus long ago. Using their own starships, the Vulcans defended themselves, and the Vulcan Council ultimately decided to protect their race rather than retreat to an impregnable fortress beneath their homeworld's crust. Fortunately, the wormhole opened irregularly, limiting the attackers' ability to send new fleets and ships. The Vulcan Council later assembled their own forces rapidly, creating logical surveillance patterns and convoy techniques that tracked down the last of the invader bases within the Vulcan star system. A grim-but-silent war was fought, with deadly tactics based on logic being used against their attackers. After a century of constant warfare, the wormhole that linked the invaders' territory to Vulcan finally closed and ended the conflict, with the Vulcans never discovering the identity of their attackers. (Last Unicorn RPG module: The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans)
Despite the devastating war, new scientific achievements had been made, particularly in the field of robotics, computers, and atomic power plants. Other societal changes included the removal of the pagan festival of Rumarie. The Vulcans' limited space technologies took a great leap when the scientist T'Vran discovered the secrets of warp drive in 1440. (Last Unicorn RPG module: All Our Yesterdays: The Time Travel Sourcebook) T'Vran's team was responsible for the construction and testing of the first warp engine, using unmanned, automated probes. These were successful enough that T'Vran herself participated in a manned flight. Following this event, the Vulcan people quickly began the construction of faster-than-light exploratory vessels in order to begin charting the regions around their homeworld. The Vulcans soon established colonies on worlds such as T'Khut, Kethri and Mevet. This new age of exploration lasted six hundred years. A secondary aim was locating the hostile force that attacked them earlier, but the Vulcans did not discover the Romulan Star Empire during this time. As their first contact with an alien race turned out to be violent, the Vulcan exploration corps had strict instructions to not make contact with other species until all gathered data could be analyzed. (Last Unicorn RPG module: The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans) This era of expansion led them to encounter a number of worlds, including Haurok leh-keh, with their survey determining that its population consisted of a matriarchy, with the male sex being viewed as the weaker of the pair. (ENT - The Romulan War novel: Beneath the Raptor's Wing)
Early contacts with numerous primitive and violent races provoked the Vulcan belief in remaining hidden from such races until they "matured" or developed themselves. This would later form the initial basis for the Prime Directive. (Last Unicorn RPG module: All Our Yesterdays: The Time Travel Sourcebook) During their encounters in space, the Vulcans encountered the Andorian Empire and were distressed by the violent and emotional nature of the Andorian species, to the point that they sought to guide that race. However, the Vulcans' actions were seen as both overt and covert attempts to coerce and control the Andorian people, who reacted volently. This sparked a series of conflicts and skirmishes between the two races that ended with the signing of the Tau Ceti Accords and left a state of cold war between the two governments. (Decipher RPG module: Aliens) This was not the Vulcans' only attempt at guiding other species. They encountered the dilithium-rich world of Coridan III and sought to help the native inhabitants develop a stable world government. While such an act would seemingly be against the policy of non-interference of developing worlds, the Vulcans logically reasoned that Coridan's resources would benefit the Vulcan government, and that by stabilising the planet they could facilitate a mining agreement. This was crucial to the Vulcan state, due to the significant economic and material gains, as well as continued tensions from Andoria. Vulcan's close economic and political ties with the Coridan government spawned dissident rebellious factions, who in turn were supported by the Andorians, who also sought to acquire Coridan's resources. This cold war for Coridan continued for many years. (Decipher RPG module: Worlds)
In addition to conflict with the Andorians, the Vulcans also had skirmishes with the Tellarites, with the two species reverse-engineering Vulcan technology into their starships. (ENT - The Romulan War novel: Beneath the Raptor's Wing)
Guiding humanity[edit | edit source]
The Vulcans also kept watch on the planet Earth, and they may have reached the world as early as the 19th century. However, continuous warfare on the planet's surface made the Vulcan's weary of any contact, and they kept their activities discreet until the 20th century. At that point, Vulcan exploration programs were cut back due to the expansionist tyranny surrounding the planet Vega. (Last Unicorn RPG module: The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans) During the early 1900s, an unmanned Vulcan probe prevented a cometary fragment from wiping out half of central Europe by diverting the body, forcing it to explode over an uninhabited region of Siberia known as Tunguska. Though humans remained unaware of this activity, between 1955 and 2018 there were at least eighteen legitimate two-dimensional photographs taken of the Vulcan probe ships. These were without exception dismissed as frauds and hoaxes. (TOS novel: Prime Directive) In 1990, a Vulcan trade fleet was passing by the Lambda Sector, with their ships visible by the primitive Hubble telescope over Earth. However, Gary Seven, who sought to preserve the timeline, sabotaged the telescope, thus preventing humanity from establishing first contact with the Vulcans too early, unbeknownst to either species. Seven felt that mankind was not ready to meet extraterrestrial intelligences.. (TOS novel: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volume 2) The Vulcans continued to observe the conflicts that raged over Earth's surface in the early 21st century, starting from the Eugenics Wars, when the DY-100 class Botany Bay was launched, to the eventual cataclysm of World War III. The Vulcan Science Academy suspected that the Humans would ultimately destroy themselves in warfare. (Last Unicorn RPG module: The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans)
On reference stardate 0/2001 the Vulcan scientist Sardax proved the feasibility of interstellar travel by using base camps to extend long-range exploration. This led to the creation of a number of supply and support colonies founded in a ten light-year radius around Vulcan, with succeeding generations of colonists continuing this wave of expansion. (FASA RPG module: The Federation)
During the mid-22nd century, the Vulcans began to suffer the predatory attentions of the Klingon Empire. Many raids were conducted by Raptor class scouts, a designation that the Vulcans initially gave the ships due to their physical nature and combat roles. While the strategy initially worked, the Vulcans quickly learned the simple tactics employed by the Klingons and began to avoid telltale signs of such traps, such as distress beacons in asteroid belts, journeying through the upper atmosphere in Class J giants or areas that were suffering from ion storms. The Klingons eventually turned their attentions to other neighboring civilizations. (Decipher RPG module: Starships)
At some point, the Vulcan Science Academy authorised a probe mission to chart gravitic anomalies in the Alpha Centauri system. However, three months before reaching its destination, a new order was sent from the communications division of the Vulcan Science Academy that diverted it to the Sol system in order to track wormhole eddies, which the suspected were generated by Jupiter's intersection with its sun. (TOS novel: Preserver) In 2063, the Vulcan science vessel Vesaya, led by Captain Sevak, was dispatched to the Sol system after detecting a warp signature. (Last Unicorn RPG module: The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans) This led to the eventual first contact between the Vulcans and Humans on April 5th, 2063, when the T'Plana-Hath detected a manned warp flight from the planet Earth and became the first extraterrestrials to formally make contact with Humans. The T'Plana Hath landed in Montana, the launch site of the warp ship, to greet its creator, Zefram Cochrane. (TNG movie: Star Trek: First Contact)
- In the Spaceflight Chronology and novels which draw from its timeline, first contact between Humans and Vulcans occurred in 2065, when a disabled Vulcan ship sent a distress call to the UNSS Amity. The Amity rescued the crew and towed the ship back to Vulcan. In the SFC, this marked humans' first encounter with a truly alien species (as opposed to the virtually human Centaurans). At least one novel (Spock's World) contradicts this and states that humans had encountered Andorians first, which allowed humans to shed their xenophobia before meeting the Vulcans. The specifics of both these versions have been rendered obsolete by later canon, but adapted versions of some events may still have taken place.
While the Vulcan Science Academy had believed that humanity had either destroyed itself or reduced itself to the Stone Age, the contact made by Sevak proved otherwise. Captain Sevak later returned to Vulcan and spoke to the Vulcan Council, where he voiced the opinion that despite their emotional nature, the human race was advanced enough for further relations. While there were fears of cultural contamination, as well as exposure to their emotions, this was drowned out by the desire for peaceful negotiations. Thus, the Vulcans decided to make further contact and help guide humanity out of ruin and possibly bring an era of peace and rationality to the species. (Last Unicorn RPG module: The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans) It is known that an Earth Franklin series probe encountered a Vulcan colony on Stardate 0/6511.12, and that the Vulcans substantially improved the design of human warp drives. (FASA RPG module: The Federation) In the same year, it is stated that the UNSS Amity encountered a distress call from a "non-violent alien vessel" adrift in orbit around Neptune, which turned out to be a Vulcan starship. This act led to the rescue of the 42 surviving Vulcans, including its captain Sparon. (TOS reference: Spaceflight Chronology, TOS novel: Strangers from the Sky)
- The FASA RPG indicates that it was the discovery by the Franklin series probe that led to first contact with the Vulcans.
After first contact, it took decades for humans to accept Vulcans on Earth. (VAN novel: Open Secrets) With their new Human allies, the Vulcan High Command established the Vulcan Advisory Council, which coordinated with United Earth Starfleet Command and monitored Earths progress. The Vulcans refused to provide their technology to Earth, which resulted in Earth's first warp five starship launching a century after Humanity first developed warp technology. For some Humans this was a source of much resentment; they believed that the Vulcans had impeded their progress. (ENT episodes: "First Flight", "Broken Bow") This period lasted for decades, as the Vulcans believed that mankind was not ready for the dangers inherent in exploring other worlds and intended to curtail their expansion and establishment in the galactic neighborhood until they were deemed ready. (ENT - The Romulan War novel: Beneath the Raptor's Wing) Despite this, the Vulcans were crucial in protecting their Human allies when one of their exploratory vessels made first contact with the Andorians. The Terran ship came under fire from their Andorian counterpart, with the hostilities between the two nearly erupting into war, on Stardate 0/7511.29. While the Terrans prepared for war, the Vulcans managed to convince Earth's leaders to negotiate with the growing Andorian Empire. On Stardate 0/7703, the First Alpha Centauri Conference was held and helped maintain galactic peace when Vulcan diplomats convinced the Andorians that there was little to gain in entering into a war against Earth and her allies. (FASA RPG module: The Federation)
- The FASA material contradicts elements from Enterprise which shows that the Andorians were on hostile terms with the Vulcans and that no major point of contact had been made between Earth and Andoria before that point.
Later, between Stardate 0/8110 and 0/8206, the first joint scientific project was made between Earth, Vulcan and Alpha Centauri which showed tangible benefits for the three planets when research probes were launched from their homeworlds. In the same year, a series of meetings took place on Vulcan in order to establish a unifying single government for the five major space-faring civilizations. However, this failed when its primary goals and policies were not defined. Despite this being the case, diplomats continued to work on the roles and responsibilities if such a government came into formation. (FASA RPG module: The Federation)
- FASA once again contradicts events from Enterprise, which showed that the Vulcans were not involved in large relations with their neighbors, though elements of the above material may have occured in the background (though this is speculation).
22nd century[edit | edit source]
As far back as 2105, a Vulcan outpost was established on Berengaria VII that consisted of pacifists and scientists, who studied the world's diverse ecosystem for pharmacological reasons. (ENT - The Romulan War novel: Beneath the Raptor's Wing) Following first contact with Humans, the Vulcans began to form a close relationship with the inhabitants of Earth. In the early part of the 22nd century, a physician of the Vulcan Science Academy known as Sobon joined the scientific contingent working on Earth. Unlike his comrades, Sobon advocated a closer cooperative relationship with the humans and championed the cause of sharing technology with them in certain fields, such as medicine. It was largely through his efforts that human medical science made several leaps in a short span of time and led to gradual increase in the life span of mankind during this century. (VAN novel: Open Secrets) By the mid-22nd century, the Vulcans were a regional power, involved in an ongoing conflict with the neighboring Andorian Empire. Meanwhile, Earth's first warp five starship, the Enterprise (NX-01), was launched in 2151. While reluctant to allow humanity to begin its period of exploration, the Vulcans consented to the launch of the Enterprise in order to avoid a diplomatic incident with the neighbouring Klingon Empire after the crash of their courier Klaang on Earth. When the Enterprise was launched, the Vulcans stationed subcommander T'Pol on the ship to aid and monitor the humans' journey. (ENT episodes: "The Andorian Incident", "Broken Bow")
Sometime before 2151 the Vulcans established a monitoring station beneath the P'Jem monastery, which was tasked with spying on the Andorians. In that year a team of Andorians, led by Shran, and Captain Jonathan Archer of the Enterprise discovered the listening post. Shortly after the monastery was destroyed by orbital bombardment from the Andorians, and the incident eventually led to the dismissal of the Vulcan First Minister. (ENT episodes: "The Andorian Incident", "Shadows of P'Jem") After the Xindi attack on Earth, a new wave of xenophobia erupted, which threatened the relationship between Humans and Vulcans. (VAN novel: Open Secrets) In fact, many Humans believed that the Vulcans held mankind back from their true potential of being explorers. However, the Vulcans considered Earth to be one of their most important allies in over a hundred years. (ENT episode: "Awakening")
Vulcan reformation[edit | edit source]
Inside the Vulcan government, the Vulcan High Command grew in power, with Administrator V'Las attempting to persecute the new Syrrannites movement. By 2154, V'Las attempted to provoke a war with the Andorian Empire, stating that intelligence had gathered evidence of the Andorians using Xindi technology to create a superweapon that would be used to destroy Vulcan. Trying to frame the Syrranites, V'Las had the Earth Embassy on Vulcan bombed, which brought the Enterprise to Vulcan to investigate. Not long after, the Enterprise discovered the truth of the matter, and Commander Charles Tucker III and Ambassador Soval went to warn the Andorians of the impending invasion. Meanwhile, on Vulcan, Captain Archer discovered the Kir'Shara. With V'Las's deception uncovered he was forced from power, while the discovery of the Kir'Shara brought about a new age in Vulcan history as the Vulcan people rediscovered the true uncorrupted teachings of Surak. (ENT episodes: "The Forge", "Awakening", "Kir'Shara") Despite the toppling of V'Las's administration, there were still certain Vulcans loyal to his ideals operating on the Vulcan homeworld in the years that followed. (ENT - The Romulan War novel: Beneath the Raptor's Wing)
In 2155, following the discovery of a powerful Romulan weapon capable of remotely taking control of Vulcan ships, Administrator T'Pau decided to remove the Vulcan Defense Directorate from the front lines. This was for two reasons: to cover up the genetic relationship the Vulcans had with the Romulans, and also to stop themselves from undergoing aggressive actions that would take them away from the ideals of Surak. The Vulcans' removal from the conflict caused a great deal of resentment from their Coalition members. They did, however, provide a highly sophisticated warp detection system at Alpha Centauri and at Sol in order to provide early warning in case the Romulans attacked. This proved to be ineffective, as the Romulans later struck the Human Deneva colony, joint Vulcan-Starfleet Berengia colony and the Andorian Threllvia colony, where they massacred the populations of those worlds. (ENT - The Romulan War novel: Beneath the Raptor's Wing)
The Federation[edit | edit source]
In 2155 the Vulcan government signed the Coalition Compact, which made them officially part of the Coalition of Planets, alongside Earth, Andoria and Tellar. (ENT novel: The Good That Men Do) The Vulcans also supported a closer union of the five worlds at the Babel Five-Power Conference in 2159, which was first proposed by T'Shenn. Though other races differed on this opinion, Vulcan diplomats such as T'Shenn and Suvok who played a critical role in the writing of the Terran Conventions in 2160 on Epsilon Eridani. (Last Unicorn RPG module: The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans) At some unknown point, Vulcan scientists such as Sunok were responsible for he refinement of transporter technology which led to these devices being virtually impossible to malfunction except for operator error. (TOS novel: Crisis on Vulcan)
In 2161 the Coalition worlds joined together to from the United Federation of Planets. (ENT episode: "Azati Prime") At the time, Vulcan nearly became the capital of this new Federation, though the fear that this would be culturally dangerous for their species led to Solkar and other conservative elements of the Vulcan Council ordering Suvok to reject the idea. Instead, Suvok chose Earth to be the capital, highlightin humanity's pride and curiousity as vital qualities that could be harnessed for the United Federation of Planets. Once agreed, Vulcan joined the Federation following the ratification of the Articles of Federation, though conservative elements warned against much involvement in off-world affairs. A great stir was also caused when a young Vulcan matriarch known as T'Pau refused a seat on the Federation Council and instead devoted her time to her own people. Suvok instead volunteered to take her place on the Council, and Vulcan became a core member of the Federation. Despite this, many Vulcans were hesitant about serving in the Federation Starfleet, as they believed such an organization would lead to violence. (Last Unicorn RPG module: The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans)
23rd century[edit | edit source]
During the course of the 23rd century, many attempts were made to place Vulcan in a more comfortable position as a valuable part of the United Federation of Planets with such efforts being championed by the likes of Sarek. However, there were many voices that called for Vulcan to return to its traditional isolation. In 2248, an attack on the Sarek family led to genuine fears that Vulcan would become a closed planet once more. The situation was successfully resolved despite the warning of the fears of outsiders with the power of the Vulcan opposition party waning thus not leading to Vulcan closing off itself to other worlds. (TOS novel: Crisis on Vulcan)
Despite the years of peaceful cooperation within the Federation, the Vulcans contemplated at one point leaving the interstellar state when numerous groups, for various reasons, believed that the Vulcan race's ideals were not being fulfilled through their continued contact with Humans. A Referendum was called and a debate made, with the idea being ultimately rejected, allowing the Vulcans to remain with the Federation. (TOS novel: Spock's World)
In 2268, the Vulcan crew of the science ship T'Pau were believed to have been killed at Alnath while supporting an archaeological dig on that planet. However, it was later discovered that the Alnathian pyramid had granted the crew their innermost wish and allowed them to shed their corporeal forms and become beings of pure thought. (TOS novel: The Klingon Gambit)
Alternate reality[edit | edit source]
In 2258 of the Kelvin timeline, the Vulcan homeworld and six billion were destroyed when Romulan terrorist Nero drilled to Vulcan's core and launched Red matter and created a black hole that consumed the planet. The remnants of the Vulcan race, some ten thousand, soon founded a new homeworld, naming it New Vulcan and the government the Confederacy of Surak.(TOS movie, novelization & comic adaptation: Star Trek; TOS movie & novelization: Star Trek Into Darkness)
Vulcan civilization would thrive on New Vulcan over the next 3,000 years. By approximately 5259, a statue of Spock was built on the planet. While many of the surrounding monuments were larger than life, the monument of Spock was life size. This was at Spock's request, as he felt a larger than life monument would not be logical. (TOS - Legacy of Spock comic: "Part 4")
24th century[edit | edit source]
The Vulcan homeworld became infected by the "demonic" entities found within artifacts from the Hydrillian sector. Numerous Vulcans became possessed by the entities and spread the infection; however, it was eventually contained and the artifacts sealed within the Vulcan Science Academy, where they remained under study. (TNG novel: Possession)
Despite generations of social differences and open hostility between the Vulcan and Romulan people, the legendary Vulcan ambassador Spock began in the mid-24th century to attempt to bring about a "reunification" of the species. However, on one occasion, this nearly brought about the conquest of the Vulcan homeworld by the Romulan military, who attempted to use the concept as a smokescreen to smuggle troops onto Vulcan. This attempt failed, but did not deter Spock in his goal in bring about bringing the Sundered together in peace with their Vulcan brothers. (TNG episode: "Unification")
In 2377, the disciples of the Vulcan N'Kal attempted to cure their master of Bendii syndrome through the use of Borg nanoprobes. However, they lost control of the nanotechnology. Rather than assimilate N'Kal and his followers, the incident created a splinter group of the Borg Collective known as the Wardens. This group combined the Borg's desire for perfection with N'Kal's thirst for logic, leading to the spread of the faction within the Federation after establishing a foothold on Vulcan. Through the use of their cranio-necrotizer, they kept in contact with one another and infected others with their unique strain of nanoprobes. The conspiracy was ultimately uncovered and stopped by the crew of the USS Incursion. Rather than admit to such a crisis emerging from a Federation member world, Starfleet claimed that it was the latest attempt at assimilation by the Borg. (TNG video game: Away Team)
In 2381, the planet Vulcan was one of many worlds that suffered from the insidious infiltration and control of the dark matter based intelligence known as the Totality. Norinda, a representation of the Totality, attempted to appeal to the Vulcan's sense of logic and managed to create a stronghold within that region of space through projections formed by the Totality in order to enforce their will. When Joseph Kirk sacrificed his life to defeat Norinda, all the Vulcans on the planet were returned to their physical existence, as they were never tempted by the Totality's offer of peace. (TOS novel: Captain's Glory)
Alternate timelines[edit | edit source]
In one alternate timeline where Humanity never evolved, the Vulcans continued a similar pattern of development but never joined a unified Federation of planets. After encountering the Klingon Empire, numerous wars erupted between the two powers, with the Vulcans always emerging the victor and allowing the Klingons to return to their territory. This continued several times until finally the Klingons attempted diplomatic negotiations, headed by Roth. The Vulcans managed to convince the Klingons to make peace with their neighbors, which included the Ri'ani. However, the Romulans disguised one of their agents as a Vulcan and lulled the Klingons into a state of complacency, allowing the spy to strike the Klingon homeworld. The Klingons saw the Vulcans as traitors and liars, and war was only prevented by a treaty that confined the Vulcans to their world and a permanent neutral status.
The Vulcans of this timeline shared many of the normal characteristics of the Vulcans of the normal timeline, but were known to be quite aggressive, making use of deception as well as sudden strikes from their merchant ships. Though they had made treaties of neutrality with both the Romulan Star Empire and the Klingon Empire, the Vulcans planned to ensure that those two powers would remain at war until both were destroyed. As such, they advised the Klingons to make use of suicidal tactics against the Romulans, and also made covert negotiations with other worlds in order to warn them of the threats of the Klingon and Romulan empires. They advised these worlds to lie low and provided technology in order for them to be ready for the future. This was a dangerous action made by the Vulcan High Council, as if the Romulans or the Klingons had discovered this deception, they would have attempted to destroy the Vulcan people. This timeline was erased when Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise went back in time to ensure that Humans would develop on Earth. (TOS novel: First Frontier)


Entries related to misguess
prefix of Germanic origin affixed to nouns and verbs and meaning "bad, wrong," from Old English mis-, from Proto-Germanic *missa- "divergent, astray" (source also of Old Frisian and Old Saxon mis-, Middle Dutch misse-, Old High German missa-, German miß-, Old Norse mis-, Gothic missa-), perhaps literally "in a changed manner," and with a root sense of "difference, change" (compare Gothic misso "mutually"), and thus possibly from PIE *mit-to-, from root *mei- (1) "to change."
Productive as word-forming element in Old English (as in mislæran "to give bad advice, teach amiss"). In 14c.-16c. in a few verbs its sense began to be felt as "unfavorably," and it came to be used as an intensive prefix with words already expressing negative feeling (as in misdoubt). Practically a separate word in Old and early Middle English (and often written as such). Old English also had an adjective (mislic "diverse, unlike, various") and an adverb (mislice "in various directions, wrongly, astray") derived from it, corresponding to German misslich (adj.). It has become confused with mis- (2).
c. 1300, gessen "to infer from observation, perceive, find out; form an opinion, judge, decide, discern; evaluate, estimate the number, importance, etc. of," perhaps from Scandinavian (compare Middle Danish gitse, getze "to guess," Old Norse geta "guess, get"), or from or influenced by Middle Dutch gessen, Middle Low German gissen "to guess," all from Proto-Germanic *getan "to get" (see get (v.)).
The prehistoric sense evolution then would be from "get," to "take aim at," to "to estimate." Meaning "to hit upon the right answer" is from 1540s. Spelling with gu- is late 16c., sometimes attributed to Caxton and his early experience as a printer in Bruges. Related: Guessed; guessing. Guessing game attested from 1650s. To keep (someone) guessing "keep him in a state of suspense" is from 1896, American English.
[T]he legitimate, English sense of this word is to conjecture; but with us, and especially in New England, it is constantly used in common conversation instead of to believe, to suppose, to think, to imagine, to fancy. [Bartlett, "Dictionary of Americanisms," 1848]


Ramsey science students applaud '21st century skills' initiative
RAMSEY — It's only been three months into the school year and science students at Eric S. Smith Middle School have not only learned how to formulate a hypothesis on their own, they are creating slide presentations to post online and fueling discussions through a blog.
"There are no answer booklets to flip through when you have a job," eighth-grader Chrissy Long said when speaking to the members of the Board of Education at the Nov. 17 meeting. "You [need] to have the skills, plus the ability to look through data, to find the best answers."
Teachers and students of the Introduction to Physical Science classes and leaders of the district's science departments shared with the board their first experience in using the district-wide 21st century skills initiative that incorporates more critical thinking and problem-solving lessons within the K-12 curriculum. Officials also said the initiative familiarizes students with the workplace and prepares them for the post-secondary education level.
"It's extremely important to every class they [students] will ever take and every job they will ever have," Holly Falcone, a Ramsey High School science supervisor, said of the initiative.
Long and eighth-grader Hannah Mulligan gave a slide presentation at the meeting on how their counterparts in the science class were conducting a recent project in the subject of matter.
They also explained the movement of dry ice and the process of it converting from a solid to a gas when submerged in a liquid.
The teens said they were required to fill in the blanks on a questionnaire that was provided by their teacher, who the teens said act more like a guide or coach.
"We want them to question their assumptions, validate evidence and ingrain it in their minds," Falcone said. "We also want them to communicate ideas written and orally to each other."
That doesn't exclude communicating to others while online.
Brandis Stracuzzi, a science teacher at the middle school, has created a Web site called "The Blog Zone," where students can have conversations with classmates and a teacher or access a video or materials pertaining to the science lesson of the day.
In addition, students compete for extra credit to have their slide presentation that summarizes the science lessons for the week posted on the Web site.
"Our aim is to build a community of learners outside of the classroom," Falcone said.
Trustee Anthony Gasparovich applauded the 21st century initiative and said it must be working because he was "impressed on how both students presented."
"You guys knew what you were talking about," a student council representative from Ramsey High School, who attended the board meeting to give the public an update on high school events, said to the teens. "Good job!"


The words “diversity” and “inclusion” are big buzz words in today’s society, and they should be as they are very relevant and important in today’s times. But although these words are often thrown around, it is important for us to think critically about what they mean. And to assess their impact on business and society as a whole.
Many large companies are hiring for diversity in race and gender, amongst several other categories. But why, so often, is culture left out of the equation? Should it be? Definitely not. And here’s why.
The word “diversity” carries a connotation of variety. It pertains not just to categories such as race, gender, and religion, but to other areas less focused on such as age and experience as well. If we want to have a truly diverse organization, we must make sure to be diverse not only in one of these arenas, but in all of them.
And diversity pertains to culture too. Cultural diversity is just as important, if not more so than diversity in the other categories. Why is that?
Teams with higher cultural diversity have been shown to produce extraordinary results. This is because culturally diverse teams have the power of drawing upon a variety of perspectives and problem-solving approaches. Which leads to more creative and effective solutions to problems.
When the culture of each member of a team and/or organization is understood and respected, these differences transform from barriers into synergistic catalysts. But accomplishing this is easier said than done. Cross-cultural training is a phenomenal way of providing the guidance, support and empathy needed to ensure that cultural differences are used to catapult productivity and revenue, rather than decrease them.
Because we have suddenly become a more interconnected world, we have seen a significant rise in global teams. And therefore, in cultural diversity among these teams. The importance of understanding and championing this diversity is vital. This is an important trend that has arrived. And it’s here to stay.
Many organizations have made great strides to hire and retain diverse talent. But that alone doesn’t mean these organizations are inclusive. Diversity is an excellent start, but INCLUSION is what is really needed to move organizations to the next level.
At present, we mostly see diversity WITHOUT inclusion. Many organizations employ members from various groups, yet many of those powerful voices are never heard. We are on the brink of an extraordinary change as organizations become aware of this major problem, and look for solutions to fix it.
So how can organizations become more inclusive?
In order to be truly inclusive, an organization must listen to and factor in the thoughts, opinions, and solutions of all of the diverse people, on all levels, whom they employ. This can be as simple as asking for feedback in a meeting, to having a dedicated process set up where all employees can provide input. And then those thoughts must be considered and applied to key decisions and company operations.
As organizations become aware of the dire need to better understand and utilize cultural diversity as a competitive advantage to both survive and thrive, we are seeing a rise in inclusion as well. Companies, organizations, and global teams are starting to better see and understand the positive and powerful impact of creating an inclusive environment in the workplace. And they are beginning to take action. This too, is not a trend that will be going away anytime soon. This too, is a trend that is here to stay. This too, is both the now and the future.
So let’s embrace cultural diversity with open arms. Let’s acknowledge its challenges. Let’s utilize its advantages. And let’s use it to foster a more inclusive environment in corporations, on global teams, and in this world as a whole.
- Here to Stay: Cultural Diversity & Inclusion – by Robert Maisel - January 7, 2021


THE SHOCKING AND tragic events of September 11, 2001, have affected not only the United States but the rest of the world as well. This impact, however, is not limited to an increased awareness of the dangers from networks of international terrorists. Nor is it limited to a heightened awareness of the global reach of the U.S. government and its technological capabilities in response to this terrorist attack.
It has also made many people once more think about the relationship and connection between freedom and security. People expect their government, at the very least, to protect them from violent attacks against their person and their property. In 1830, the English free-market economist William Huskisson observed, “Security of persons and to property is the ultimate object and end of the institution of government.” This, he said, “is the only good reason that can ultimately be assigned for keeping up civil and military establishments.” Neither individual freedom nor society can long exist if men do not believe their lives and their possessions are safe from banditry and plunder.
Yet throughout history that same institution of government has been the greatest threat to men’s freedom and property. Political scientist R.J. Rummel has devoted most of his scholarly career to documenting mass murders committed by political authorities around the world in the 20th century. In his 1994 volume Death by Government, he summarized his research with the conservative estimate that during the previous 100 years, governments had killed for various political and ideological reasons at least 170 million unarmed civilians — men, women, and children. That would be equal to the mass execution of almost the entire populations of the United Kingdom, France, and Italy.
At the same time, governments have functioned as the agency for legalized plunder in the service of those in political power and of the spider’s web of special-interest groups that manipulate political processes for their own purposes in virtually every country around the globe. Domestic regulations on commerce, industry, and agriculture; international trade barriers; income redistribution programs; wage and price controls; monetary and price inflation; and preferential policies for the benefit of various racial, gender, or social groups in society serve as the methods for the coercive transferring of the income and wealth from some in society to other more politically privileged and favored groups.
The greatest threat to liberty
Governments are also the single greatest threat to people’s basic civil liberties — freedom of speech and the press; freedom of religion and peaceful voluntary association; the writ of habeas corpus; an impartial trial by jury; and the individual’s security in his person, property, and privacy from unjustifiable search and seizure. These hard-won freedoms have constantly been threatened by governments that have imprisoned and tortured people; abolished or abridged freedoms of speech, the press, and peaceful assembly and association; violated people’s homes and possessions; and intruded into their private and personal, noncriminal affairs through wiretapping and other electronic methods of listening and eavesdropping into residences and places of work.
No group of bandits or thieves, no private network of terrorists — no matter how violent or destructive — has had the negative impact on freedom and security that governments have had throughout the ages, and especially during our own time.
Without in any way meaning to be insensitive or callous about the horrible events that occurred in New York and Washington, D.C., on September 11, the approximately 2,900 people killed in the terrorist attacks were far fewer in number than those killed in the United States in the year 2000 in various accidental circumstances: automobile accidents, 43,000; falling down, 16,200; accidental poisoning, 11,700; drowning, 3,900; fires or burns, 3,600; ingestion of food or objects, 3,400.
Yet it is because of these fewer than 3,000 tragic deaths that the United States has undertaken a large military engagement in Afghanistan, including a massive bombing campaign that has cost the lives of at least several hundred and perhaps thousands of innocent civilians and destroyed even more of an already shattered land. And the U.S. government has declared its intention to undertake additional military steps in a variety of countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia in the name of a global war on terrorism.
At the same time, it has created a new Office of Homeland Security within the United States, and the United States Congress has passed legislation that gives the federal government far more power and authority to intrude into the personal and private affairs of the citizenry.
The government arrested more than 1,000 noncitizen residents of the United States, most of Middle Eastern ethnic background, and has held them without filing charges against them. It used its regulatory authority over television broadcasting to influence the form and the content of the news reporting from Afghanistan and about the fighting there. It has frozen the financial assets and accounts of numerous private organizations and charities accused of supporting or subsidizing terrorist groups, but without any public evidence or judicial hearing to legally demonstrate the validity of the accusations.
The U.S. government has also threatened other nations around the world with economic sanctions and restrictions on trade with the United States unless the governments of those nations also freeze or seize the financial assets and accounts of suspected private organizations. They are also expected to collaborate with the United States in fighting and repressing any group or organization that Washington declares to be “terrorist” in nature and purpose.
President Bush stated this very clearly in his state of the Union address on January 29, 2002, when he said that if other nations appear to be “timid in the face of terror” in the eyes of the United States, “make no mistake about it: If they do not act, America will.” With that declaration, the American government laid down its intention to police the world and use its financial muscle and military power to cross any border, shoot at any suspects and either capture or kill them, and even overthrow governments in foreign lands if they are viewed as threats to U.S. government-defined security.
International assaults on liberty
At the same time, in the name of a U.S.-declared international terrorist crisis, a variety of non-democratic governments in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia have used the current “security crisis” as an opportunity to justify and reinforce their own repressive policies against domestic opponents and dissidents. Political authorities and opposition groups in countries such as Yemen and Somalia have declared their domestic rivals to be part of the international terrorist conspiracy in attempts to obtain U.S. government financial and military help to defeat and destroy their local competitors for power and control. And it is certainly comforting to know that Fidel Castro has joined the international war on terrorism by promising to imprison and punish anyone who tries to overthrow his communist regime. Equally comforting is Russian president Vladimir Putin’s commitment to this antiterrorist war expressed in his intention to use any amount of force necessary in the continuing attempt to crush the independence movement of the Chechens in southern Russia. Under the fear and concern of terrorist attacks, even traditional democratic regimes in France, Germany, and Great Britain have either already passed or proposed legislation that would seriously curtail the civil liberties and privacy of their own citizens. Added to these countries’ already intrusive and excessive interventionist-welfare state will now be an enlarged surveillance state to track the movements of their own citizens and all visitors. Huskisson had argued,
The people will take sufficient care of their own happiness, if they enjoy full security themselves and remain free from all constraints that are not absolutely necessary for the security of the persons and property of other parties.
Yet under the cover of a terrorist-caused national security threat, the U.S. government is to further intrude into the lives and choices of the American people. This goes beyond the additional $38 billion being asked by President Bush for his new Office of Homeland Security.
Collectivism versus liberty
In his state of the Union address, the president declared that because of the tragic events of September 11, Americans should now be conscious of a new collectivist responsibility “with obligations to each other, to our country, and to history.” He left unanswered the question, Who is to determine what “history” demands of any one of us? The president must believe that he and its advisors have some special source of knowledge about what “history” wants that any critics of the administration’s policies would lack.
In the free society, every individual determines for himself what will give him happiness and each individual, guided by his ethical philosophy and moral beliefs, decides what responsibilities and obligations he may owe to some of his fellow men. But the president of the United States has now informed every one of us that we owe 4,000 hours, or two years of our life, to providing “service to your neighbors and your nation.”
And he even knows the channels through which this “service” should properly be provided: the USA Freedom Corps, Ameri-Corps, and Senior Corps. He even knows how many of us should be involved, having set a target of 200,000 Americans, along with a doubling of the Peace Corps from 7,000 to 14,000 over a five-year period.
And the president knows on what project those Peace Corps participants are to focus their time: “a new effort to encourage development and education and opportunity in the Islamic world.” No one in the Bush administration seems to have asked whether the people in predominantly Islamic parts of the world desire or view themselves as needing to be reeducated and “developed” by Peace Corps missionaries for the “American Way.”
Furthermore, the president said that these collectivist “obligations” include more federal involvement in education, federal government subsidies of medical drug prescriptions for the elderly, a renewed federal guarantee of Social Security, a government-sponsored patients’ bill of rights, government subsidies for uninsured workers to purchase health coverage, and more government-assisted home ownership for minority groups in America.
With U.S. government officials threatening to reach around the world in the name of America’s “national security” and to impose any degree of force to destroy whomever they classify as terrorist enemies, the rest of the world is now more insecure and at greater risk than at any recent time. Fail to follow Washington’s lead and implicit foreign-policy orders in this regard and your freedom, property, and safety are no longer ensured in any country in the world.
Here at home, if you fail to accept your “obligations” — as that term is defined by the federal government — to your “nation” and to “history,” you might find yourself viewed as “un-American” and out of step with our national mission, as President Bush expressed it — the “great opportunity during this time of war to lead the world toward the value that will bring lasting peace.” After all, he added, it is only leading the world to what is “right and true,” and Americans must be willing to give up their freedom to establish these foreign and homeland security designs of their government.
Toward the end of his address, the president referred to our time as “a decisive decade in the history of liberty.” He is right. But the importance of this moment in time is that it is the government’s pursuit of a self-proclaimed “security” that is the greatest threat to our remaining freedom.


FIRST Robotics for Informal Ed.: The How & The Why
FIRST Robotics programs are a great opportunity for informal education organizations, such as libraries and museums, to provide access to STEM learning experiences for underrepresented youth. However, implementing teams can be a daunting task. In this workshop, we will guide attendees through the process of writing a proposal to start a FIRST Robotics team. We will address common concerns and obstacles, including how to secure continuing funding, how to recruit and train staff & volunteers, team management & retention tactics, and planning for sustainability. Attendees will get a hands-on crash course in robot building & programming, leading a research project, and the FIRST Core Values.
Additional Supporting Materials
- How FIRST Robotics programs can support the mission of informal educational organizations and provide 21st century skills to youth.
- How to manage the administrative and logistical issues that may arise during implementation of FIRST programs and develop a sustainable program.
- How to build and program a basic robot, direct an engineering research project, and manage a team of youth ages 9-14.
- Megan Clark, Youth Services Library Technician, New Braunfels Public Library
- Gina Watts, Information Coordinator, FIRST in Texas
Megan Clark, Youth Svcs Library Technician, New Braunfels Public Library
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Oxfam America launches new research report on local accountability and foreign assistance.
Few Americans would disagree that the aim of US foreign assistance to developing countries must be to help people help themselves. But Americans also don’t want their foreign aid to be lost to corruption—or worse, to fuel corruption.
Traditional top-down, donor-driven approaches have failed to deliver lasting results on fighting corruption, however. The US needs new ways to help people hold their governments accountable:
1) Treat corruption like the common cold.
There is no cure for the common cold—rather, the best therapy is to nurture the immune system. Likewise, the most sustainable and effective way to fight corruption is to nurture a country’s domestic accountability system. Aid can do this by supporting a locally-driven approach that affects the root causes of corruption, not just the symptoms.
2) Stop investing in form over function.
The reliance on technical fixes comes from the mistaken impression that corruption comes from a lack of local technical capacity “to govern like developed countries.” This misunderstanding of corruption leads donors to help countries set up new agencies and pass new laws and regulations, without paying enough attention to the whether they will work in practice.
3) Don’t turn off the aid spigot automatically.
Stopping aid sends a signal to domestic taxpayers that donors are serious about avoiding corruption. But there is no evidence that cutting off aid to a country with deteriorating governance conditions has any long-term effect on reducing corruption or increasing accountability. Cuts to aid disproportionately hurt people living in poverty, who are already experiencing the brunt of the effects of corruption, while having little impact on the power or comfort of corrupt elites.
4) Stop investing in white elephant projects.
Aid agencies fear that if aid money is corruptly diverted, political support for aid will disappear. However, when narrowly focused on only one type of risk, agencies lose sight of the equally significant risks to program outcomes, and to a donor’s reputation when locals view aid as unhelpful or badly targeted. Too often, the conventional approach leads to projects where donors can account for every dollar spent, but the project has little impact on helping people lift themselves out of poverty.
Aid should be a tool that helps countries and citizens take ownership over the development process. Congress, the American people, and most especially the citizens in the countries receiving assistance want aid to be accountable as well as effective. US foreign assistance can help unleash people’s ability to demand accountability from local authorities and instill a culture of integrity in public services. Invested in the right local leaders, foreign assistance can actually help push governments to do the right thing for their citizens.
Learn more in Oxfam America’s new publication, To Fight Corruption, Localize Aid. Oxfam America is working to deepen the US government’s commitment to making poverty-reducing foreign aid more effective. We can’t let Congress miss out on the vast, untapped potential of effective local leaders who are fighting corruption, and that’s why right now Oxfam needs your voice to stand with people around the world who make demands of government, fight for accountability, and get results.


Creighton University Psychologist Dr. Maya Khanna recently conducted a study of 40 children living in Omaha’s Lead Superfund Site – the largest residential clean up project in the nation.
Kara Henner Eastman is President & CEO of Omaha Healthy Kids Alliance and says the children were ages 3 to 6 and they were tested for school readiness and cognitive skills.
The study shows evidence that boys experience the negative cognitive consequences of lead more than girls and those functions include attention and memory more than reading skills.
Henner Eastman says, “Once there is lead in the body of a child there is nothing really to reverse the affects. What she, (Dr. Khanna) is looking at now is if we do some learning activities, cognitive testing with the kids, innovations that actually works with their brain function, there might be some ways to improve their learning for the future.”
The EPA designated the Omaha site in 2004. Since then officials have been removing contaminated soil. The project should be complete this year.


Urea nitrate is a colorless, crystalline compound of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen with the chemical formula (NH2)2CO.HNO3. It is prepared by the reaction of urea with nitric acid: (NH2)2CO + HNO3 -> (NH2)2CO.HNO3. The compound is ionic in nature with the urea — bonded to the hydrogen atom from the nitric acid — forming the cation, and the nitrate (NO3-) group forming the anion. It is soluble in water, but much less so in nitric acid, and so it tends to crystallize out following the above reaction. Urea nitrate decomposes explosively when subjected to shock; however, its sensitivity is fairly low, making it relatively safe to handle under normal circumstances, although it can explode on prolonged heating.
Explosives generally require a fuel, which would be some kind of oxidizable material, and an oxidizer, which in this context is normally a substance which supplies oxygen. In the case of urea nitrate, as with most commercial and military explosives, the fuel and the oxidizer are present in the same molecule, and like most compounds of this type, it is classed as a high explosive. It has a detonation velocity, that is, the speed at which the shock wave travels through the explosive, of around 11,155 feet per second (3,400 meters per second), about half that of trinitrotoluene (TNT). High explosives can be classed as primary or secondary depending on whether they can explode without a detonator; urea nitrate is classed as a secondary explosive, as a small explosive charge is normally required to provide sufficient shock to cause detonation.
Urea nitrate does not normally explode if ignited, but burns easily in air, producing carbon dioxide, water and oxides of nitrogen. It can, however, detonate if subjected to prolonged heating or on contact with some other chemicals. The compound is less likely to explode if it is wet, and in the presence of water, it tends to decompose non-violently into urea and nitric acid.
The explosive properties of this compound have led to some commercial uses, but it has gained notoriety for its use in improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Urea and nitric acid are both manufactured on a huge scale for use in the fertilizer industry — urea is itself a widely used fertilizer — and the availability of these raw materials in bulk quantities combined with the ease of urea nitrate synthesis has led to this explosive often being favored by terrorist groups. Explosive devices which employ it are sometimes described as “fertilizer bombs,” but this term is more frequently applied to bombs based on ammonium nitrate, which is another commonly used fertilizer. It is thought that urea nitrate was the main explosive used in the 1993 car bomb attack on the World Trade Center.
A simple field test can identify urea nitrate by exploiting its reaction with p-dimethylaminocinnamaldehyde (P-DMAC) to form a strongly colored red compound. Urea and other related compounds do not produce this reaction, reducing the chances of a false positive result. Following an explosion, however, it is difficult to verify chemically if this compound was involved as it would then be present only in trace amounts and the decomposition products are similar to those of some other nitrate-based explosives.


Every year 4,000 patients end up with “retained surgical items” left in their bodies after surgery, the vast majority are sponges used to soak up blood. These “retained” items can cause lifelong distress and discomfort. New technology and sponge counting methods are available to make it easier to address the problem, but hospitals are resisting. Dr. Verna Gibbs, a professor of surgery at the University of Calfornia, San Francisco, is director of “NoThing Left Behind” a national surgical patient safety project. The New York Times recently reported that all sorts of tools are left in patients by mistake – not only sponges, which account for 2/3 of the left items, but clamps, scalpels, and even scissors! The new technologies include radio-frequency tags, which tracks use of sponges with a tiny radio frequency tag. When the operation is complete, a detector alerts the surgery team if any sponges are inside the patient and is very effective in spotting things left behind. Another tracking system relies on bar codes for every sponge, but apparently, according to the Times, fewer than 1 percent of hospitals employ it. One doctor quoted in the article was sued before he became an advocate of electronic tracking, and now he won’t do surgery without the technology at work to make sure he and his team don’t leave any “retained’ items inside patients. Why don’t more hospitals use this technology? “In my heart, I think it comes down to hospitals not wanting to spend the extra 10 bucks,” he told the Times. That’s troubling, especially when $10 per operation cost for the added technology could save millions in malpractice costs. Professor Gibbs says technology should be used in combination with other methods for accountability among surgery teams. Sure, the whole team must be involved in making sure items are not left inside patients, but technology can help a lot. Hospitals should be adopting it across the board because it’s the most foolproof way – in a system full of potential human errors – to protect patients. It’s that simple.


A pilon fracture is a type of fracture involving the distal tibia. These are considered to represent 1 - 10% of all lower limb fractures. 6
Typically occurs as a result of an axial loading injury which drives the talus into the tibial plafond.
Several classification systems exist. Frequently adopted is the one proposed by Ruedi and Algower : 5
- type I : articular fracture with minimal or no displacement
- type II : displacement of the articular surface but with minimal or no comminution.
- type III : marked comminution as well as articular impaction
Plain film / CT
Exact features vary with type, but commonly:
- fractures lines are seen extending into the tibiotalar articular surface.
- oblique fracture components may extend proximally into the tibial shaft.
- depending in the severity, fractures may also involve the fibula.
Derived from the French word pilon (pestle), an instrument used for crushing and pounding and usually used with a mortar.
- 1. Cheung Y, Perrich KD, Gui J et-al. MRI of isolated distal fibular fractures with widened medial clear space on stressed radiographs: which ligaments are interrupted? AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2009;192 (1): W7-12. doi:10.2214/AJR.08.1092 - Pubmed citation
- 2. Topliss CJ, Jackson M, Atkins RM. Anatomy of pilon fractures of the distal tibia. J Bone Joint Surg Br. 2005;87 (5): 692-7. doi:10.1302/0301-620X.87B5.15982 - Pubmed citation
- 3. Haapamaki VV, Kiuru MJ, Koskinen SK. Ankle and foot injuries: analysis of MDCT findings. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2004;183 (3): 615-22. AJR Am J Roentgenol (full text) - Pubmed citation
- 4. Tscherne H, Schatzker J. Major fractures of the pilon, the talus, and the calcaneus, current concepts of treatment. Springer Verlag. (1993) ISBN:0387558373. Read it at Google Books - Find it at Amazon
- 5. Chen SH, Wu PH, Lee YS. Long-term results of pilon fractures. Arch Orthop Trauma Surg. 2007;127 (1): 55-60. doi:10.1007/s00402-006-0225-3 - Pubmed citation
- 6. Sirkin M, Sanders R. The treatment of pilon fractures. Orthop. Clin. North Am. 2001;32 (1): 91-102. - Pubmed citation
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Introduction: SCARA Robot: Learning About Foward and Inverse Kinematics!!! (Plot Twist Learn How to Make a Real Time Interface in ARDUINO Using PROCESSING !!!!)
An SCARA robot is a very popular machine in the industry world. The name stands for both Selective Compliant Assembly Robot Arm or Selective Compliant Articulated Robot Arm. It is basically a three degrees of freedom robot, being the first two displacements rotational ones in the XY plane and the last movement is performed by a slider in the Z axis in the end of the arm. The two degrees of freedom were planned to offer more precision; nevertheless, due to the quality of the servos that are available for us to use, the built arm did not have as much mobility as one would expect because of its two degrees of freedom.The electronic part is easy to understand. It is tough to build, though. As the arm needs three actuators, we have three channels. Instead of programming with the common Arduino interface, we decided to use Processing, which is a very similar software to the Arduino one.
Bills of materials:
In order to build the prototyping several material were used, in the follow list there are mentioned all of those materials:
- 3 Servo Motors MG 996R
- 1 Arduino Uno
- MDF (3 mm thickness)
- Timing Belts GT2 profile (6 mm pitch)
- Nuts and bolts
- 3 Bearings
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Step 1: The Prototype
The first step was making the model in a CAD Software in this case Solid works is a pretty good software for it, other option can be Fusion 360 or other CAD software of your preference. The pictures attach in the Step 1 was the first prototype due to a various error we must modify, and we end up with the Model Show in the video and introduction.
Laser Cut was used in order to make the prototype, I don’t have any video of the manufacturing process, but I have the files that I used. The must important part of this project is the Coding of the Interface so you can make your own model and used our code into your own SCARA Robot
Step 2: Motors Conections
The electronics are simple as cookin cereal. Just connect everything as is show on the picture (In the main code the signal send to the servos comes from the pins (11,10 and 11))
Step 3: Undestand Foward and Inverts Kinematics
The way in which the code works for the trajectories is the following: After selecting this mode, you must select a shape to draw. You can choose between Line, Triangle, Square and Ellipse. Depending on the selection, a variable is changed which then functions as a 'case' argument for a select type programmed later in the sequence. Thanks to the flexibility of Processing, we can interact with the interface with commands known by Windows and other operating systems, which allows assigning the position of the cursor (mouse) to a variable within the program, which through the connection to Arduino commands the servomotors what angles to drive in what sequence.
The algorithm for drawing can be reduced in the pseudocode: assign value to x1, y1 assign value to x2, y2 calculate difference between x1 and x2 calculate difference between y1 and y2 calculate points through which the down will pass (triangle, square, circle) (geometry is used with these two points) if (botondibujar == true) complete sequence in the case of recording, the variables sent to the servomotor are saved in an array of 60 units, which by pressing the 'record' button allow us to save the data obtained with any mode (Manual, Forward, Inverse, Trajectories) and then be replicated when you press the start button with a simple change of variable.
The inverse kinematics problem consists on finding the necessary inputs for the robot to reach a point on its workspace. Given the mechanism, the amount of possible solutions for a desired position may be an infinite number. The robot we have built is a serial mechanism with two degrees of freedom. After a geometrical analysis, two solutions have been found for this particular mechanism. Figure 13. Inverse Kinematics example Where: θ1 and θ2 are the input angles of the two DoF serial mechanism robot and X1 and X2 are the position in the plane of the tool in the final arm. From the picture above:
It also exists and elbow UP configuration, but for the purpose of the program that was written, it was only used the elbow DOWN configuration. Once the input angles are found, that information runs on the direct kinematics program and the desired position is reached with an error of less than a centimeter due to the servos and the belts.
Step 4: Manual, Trajectory and Learning Mode
For this mode you only need to move the mause in the interface and the robot will follow the pointer of the interface, you can program this in programing that is an awsome plataform
For this model we use the resources of the inverse kinematics and make the figures request by the client that was a: Straight Line Square triangle Circle The figures can be drawn on the interface with the shapes that you want. The trajectory use the inverse mode to calculate each point of the lines of each one of the figures so it makes easy to follow the figures when you click play after you draw the figure that you put as input in the interface
The learning mode consider all other modes that are the manual, forward, inverse and trajectories, so you can made any move that you want into the interface and then replace with the same movement as before but slow as it reproduce and try to do it more exactly.
Step 5: The Code
Actually the code is kind of hard to explian so I left the code so you can read ir If you have any doubts about it, you can ask in the comments and I will explian to you (I will update this step with a full explanation of the code be patient) for the moment you can email me for any doubt: firstname.lastname@example.org
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