Author: Phill Goldman

Hallmark Keepsake is Enterprise, Strangely

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Have you been collecting Hallmark's Keepsake ornaments since 1991?  Did you have to buy another tree to hold them all?  Fear not, we were not left in the cold this year.  Hallmark and Paramount waited until after the premiere of Strange New Worlds to announce this year's starship.  It's Chris Pike's Enterprise.

The ship is a little over 3" long, and the bridge, nacelles, and lights work. There is no connection to tree lights or power.

The ornament will be available October 8th.  For full details, click through to Hallmark's Ornament Page

 

Did You Know..

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When someone says "Get A Life", consider this:

  • All 13 Star Trek films have a combined total of 25 hours and 17 minutes, or just over a full day.
  • Every single television series, both currently airing and retired, total up to 626 hours and 31 minutes, or just over 26 days.
  • Every series and movie combined totals to 651 hours and 48 minutes, meaning it will take over 27 days to watch them all uninterrupted.

We've watched at least 39,000 minutes of Star Trek (not counting repeats).

Picard Fans – Here’s One of those Thousand Ships…

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Yes, the October Hallmark Premiere Day includes the La Sirena from Star Trek Picard.

Warp to the year 2399 with this Christmas tree ornament featuring La Sirena, the non-Federation cargo freighter hired by Jean-Luc Picard and owned by former Starfleet Commander Cristóbal Ríos. The highly detailed decoration plays audio of some of Picard's quotes from "Star Trek: Picard" (battery-operated). Engage!

Buy a dozen and a very large orchid and re-enact the ultimate fight scene.

Details at the Hallmark website.

2021-2022 Calendar is Available on the Website

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In September we set our calendar for the coming year.  It's now available online in the Nokomis Website.  Click on the EVENTS tab to see the upcoming events.  You'll find preliminary details, links to new articles or signup sheets (if any) and the times associated.

Where an event is shown as Penciled In, we've loosely scheduled it - be aware it can move as the event plan forms up. Want to try your hand at running an event?  These are tailor made for practice.

It's gonna be a fun year, and hopefully the world remains healthy enough for all of this to happen.

Happy New Club Year!!

Anniversary Picnic 2021 – New Month, New Day, New Location

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Greetings, and Good News - the Pandemic is receding from view each and every day.  That means we get to meet in person for the first time since February of 2020.  What better way to kick off some semblance of OK than to have our Anniversary Picnic!

Back in March we decided to leave a little more time for recovery, so we postponed the meeting from June to July.  Since Saturdays in summer get busy, we put the picnic on Sunday, July 11th.  And we are still meeting at West Bush Lake Park but we have a different shelter this time.  It's the same park, just one shelter to the South.  Click on the map image for a larger view.

What to look forward to:

  • A very short business meeting
  • Actual People in 3-D
  • The smells of good grilling
  • And a few games, perhaps involving PEEPS

We'll also be setting up a virtual camera and speaker so you can visit if you just can't make it to Bloomington.

NLC “Light Dawns”

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Mark Uecker is a good friend and supporter of the Nokomis, in addition to being a member.  The National Lutheran Choir is very important to Mark, and you can imagine how hard this COVID year has been on the entire organization.

Here is the information from the NLC about "Light Dawns", their spring celebration and replacement for the Benefit Gala.

Beer over Zoom? Here’s the result

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After the last meeting we had our first (and hopefully final) Zoom-Remote Journey to Nowhere Beer Tasting.   Seven households provided 14 different brews, with quite the variety.  The gallery shows you what we had on hand.

The adventure began with collecting all the beer and figuring a way to conceal it from view.  Contact brand Shelf Liner worked well, in case you ever need to cover your can. (wait, that sounds wrong somehow).  Hand them all back out in a box of 14, and the contest was on.  There were 5 rounds with 2 or three beers, two semi-finals and a champion choice.

After about 45 minutes of tasting, the winners were

First Place New Glarus Spotted Cow Ale, provided by the Patzmans
Second Place Lupulin Javatized Coffee Stout, provided by Phill Goldman and Lynne Tauer
Bad Beer Board, for the drink with the lowest score Brew Dr Blood Orange and Ginger Kombucha, provided by Emma Frazee

Thanks to everyone who purchased and provided drinks for tasting.  I had a lot of fun figuring how to do something we've done more than a dozen times before while still being safe and healthy.  That's the first time healthy has been used in association with drinking 14 beers.   It was fun, and I hope we don't have to do the remote tasting again - it's more fun in person.

  • Phill

 

The entire tasting list:

1 Kona Big Wave Golden Ale, from Jim and Pam
2 New Glarus Spotted Cow Ale, from the Patzmans
3 Indeed Pistachio Cream Ale, from the Hills
4 Summit Extra Pale Ale, from Jack L
5 Central Waters Laid Back New England IPA, from Ben S
6 New Glarus Moon Man Pale Ale, from the Patzmans
7 Ska Brewing Modus Hoperandi IPA, from Rich P
8 Heineken Alcohol Free, from the Hills
9 Indeed Mexican Honey Imperial Lager, from Phill and Lynne
10 Sam Adams Sam '76 Lager,  from Karen and Mark
11 Miller High Life, from Mary P
12 Brew Dr Blood Orange and Ginger Kombucha, from Emma Frazee
13 Lupulin Javatized Coffee Stout, from Phill and Lynne
14 New Belgium Voodoo Ranger IPA, from Mark and Karen

 

 

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="21" gal_title="Beer Gallery 2021"]

Changing emails? You can handle it!

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Is your email address changing?  Please keep your address up to date in the Nokomis' web page too.  You can handle it yourself.  Log in to the site, click on the My USSNOKOMIS button on the main page, then Manage My Subscriptions.  You can change your email address there, and it takes effect immediately.  Now you don't have to wonder if your email is right, you can check it right there too!

Como Zoo’s Wine Event, Bouquets is Next Week

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Last year, the last in-person thing I did was volunteer at the winter fundraiser, Bouquets.  It's an event full of good food and drink, beautiful warmth and scenery in the middle of winter.  Normally the ticket sales are limited by the size of the Conservatory, but not this year.

Visit comofriends.org/events/bouquets/ to see all the options, from a free-will donation Live presentation at 7PM, to a few tastier box with wine, beer, and food samples.  Lynne and I will be there in spirit(s), consider joining us. Tickets are available online, and all proceeds benefit Como Friends, the charitable arm of the Como Zoo and Conservatory to fund educational programs and Zoo improvements.

Slainte Mhath!

-Phill

How would you have done in the Scavenger Hunt?

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We held the first online Scavenger Hunt after the last Nokomis meeting.  There were 20 clues or questions in the 30 minute hunt;  if you knew the answer you got points; if you brought the answer to the screen you got even more points.  How would you have done?

Here's the clues. Some are Trek related, some are not.

  1. What is yours but is always used by others more than by you?
  2. Some take me in the morning, some at night. But when I'm taken I don't go anywhere.
  3. I have eyes but cannot see. With great power comes my great responsibility.
  4. The more I dry, the wetter I become
  5. Just one of me you can have not, because if you have one you have a lot.
  6. What starts with a T, ends in a T, and is full of it?
  7. What has teeth but cannot eat?
  8. I make something black and blue, and Red all over? Who am I?
  9. King or Queen I may not be,  but your measure is what I see
  10. I rise to the occasion when put on the spot, you'll know who I am and who I am not. Who am I?
  11. I have ring, but I have no finger.
  12. I am full of holes but still hold water.
  13. One sheet, two sheet, three sheet, four - some use less, some use more
  14. I have a face but never frown, I have hands but do not wave. I answer one question with many different answers.
  15. I have not flesh, feather, or bone, yet I have fingers and thumbs of my own
  16. Forward I am heavy, backward I am not.
  17. I can be held in your left hand but not your right. You give a thumbs up when you get this one.
  18. Sometimes I'm portable, sometimes I ain't. When interacting with mice I am called quaint.
  19. I appear ones in every minute, twice in every moment, not once in a thousand years?
  20. I cannot be burned in a fire nor drowned in water.  I'm an enemy of one and friend to the other.

I'll post the answers in next week's newsletter.  Good Luck!