This is the first of eight related posts constituting our April 2022 MonSFFA e-meeting.
1) INTRODUCTION
Welcome to our 25th virtual MonSFFA meeting, and to the sixth wave!
Almost all Public Health mandates were recently lifted across Canada, even as an exceedingly contagious sub-variant of Omicron began to spread and virus-related infections and hospitalizations again climbed. Exhausted governments around the world seem to have given up on trying to beat the tenacious bug and are now espousing a mantra of learning to live with COVID-19. Mandatory restrictions have been rescinded across the board, but many doctors are warning that with this sub-variant on the rise, now is not the time to drop safety measures, especially masking.
Reasoning, however, that a high percentage of the population is, at this point, fully vaccinated and so protected from serious illness or death, governments here in Canada have apparently decided that society can no longer tolerate COVID-19 limitations. And so, we have all been left to our own devices, free to maintain now-familiar cautions, or not. The Quebec government has just acknowledged that we are, indeed, in a sixth wave, and the province’s mask mandate, which was set to be lifted next week, has now been extended for the remainder of the month. Also, a fourth shot of the vaccine has been authorized for a larger cohort of older Quebecers.
Many folk have opted to continue social distancing whenever possible and are staying away from large, indoor gatherings in order to minimize their potential exposure to the extremely communicable sub-variant. Probably a sensible strategy given current circumstances, especially if you’re older and/or part of a high-risk group, medically speaking.
We welcome a special guest speaker to this afternoon’s get-together, which will unfold both on ZOOM and right here on the club’s Web site over the course of the next few hours, beginning with this first post, and followed by subsequent posts at 1:30PM, 3:00PM, 3:15PM, 4:15PM, 4:30PM, and 4:45PM, with a final post at 5:00PM. All posts will be available concurrently on MonSFFA’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/MonSFFA), however, note that the interface best suited for taking in this meeting is this very Web site.
With a sixth wave upon us, we cannot yet, with reasonable safety for all, assemble in large numbers indoors. As such, this April 2022 virtual meeting has been prepared especially for you, MonSFFA’s membership. Sit back, check out each of the afternoon’s posts, scroll down leisurely through the proffered content, and enjoy!
Don’t forget to comment on what we’ve presented. Let us know what you think of specific topics or the meeting overall. Your input helps us to tailor these virtual meetings for maximum interest and enjoyment.
And, of course, you can participate, as well, on ZOOM!
2) JOIN THIS AFTERNOON’S VIDEO-CHAT ON ZOOM!
To join our ZOOM video-chat, which will run throughout the course of the meeting in tandem with the Web site-based content presented, simply click here and follow the prompts: This Afternoon’s MonSFFA e-Meeting on ZOOM
If you’re not fully equipped to ZOOM by computer, you can also join in by phone (voice only); in the Montreal area, the toll-free number to call is: 1-438-809-7799. If you’re from out of town, find your ZOOM call-in number here: Call-In Numbers
Also, have this information on hand as you may be asked to enter it:
Meeting ID: 881 5338 5883
Passcode: 486931
3) MEETING AGENDA
In This Afternoon’s Virtual Meeting…
4) QUICKIE QUIZ!
We offer, for your amusement, another Quickie Quiz like the one we posted at the outset of last month’s e-meeting. How well do you remember the titles of old genre television productions or movies?
We all, on occasion, have trouble recalling the title of a classic SF/F TV show, or of a particular episode, or that of an old sci-fi movie we haven’t seen in many, many years! It’s on the tip of our tongue, but we simply can’t remember the title of the thing!
We fondly recollect having thoroughly enjoyed the production as a youngster, and we recall certain particulars—a memorable alien or monster featured, a cast member or guest star, a specific scene, an unforgettable ending—details major or minor that, for whatever reason, have stuck with us all these years. But we just can’t quite put our finger on the exact title!
We stammer, we sputter, we cluck our tongues, and we finally utter something like, “It starred what’s-his-name, that guy who was in that other movie!” Or, “You know, the episode where they…” Or, “the one with the…”
Below are a baker’s dozen such paltry descriptions of SF/F television series, episodes, or of films; can you extricate the exact title for each from the cobwebbed recesses of your mind?
Good luck and play fair; no resorting to Google for the answers! You can, of course, ask a friend for help, provided that friend’s name isn’t Siri or Alexa!
1) What was the title of that old science fiction anthology series produced back in the 1950s, I think it was? You know, the one that began each episode with the host demonstrating a simple science experiment which was related to that week’s episode!
2) What was the title of that classic Star Trek episode, the one where Captain Kirk delivers a stirring speech about risk?
3) What was the title of that 1960s science fiction/horror movie featuring an exotic, green-skinned alien woman who turns out to be a vampire?
4) And then there was another science fiction/horror picture I remember seeing many years ago, with Hammer stars Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. You know, the one where a frozen primeval monster discovered in a cave is being transported to Europe on the Trans-Siberian Express. The creature awakens and begins picking off passengers one by one! What was the name of that one, again?
5) What was the title of that Saturday-morning sci-fi show about young cadets attending a space school built on an asteroid? The old guy from Lost in Space was their commander!
6) What was the name of that Thunderbirds episode where an attempt to jack up and move the Empire State Building goes catastrophically wrong, requiring the involvement of International Rescue?
7) What was the title of that old science fiction film about an advanced supercomputer that evolves at an exponential rate and soon exercises complete control over the entire world as a nuclear-armed, God-like guarantor of global peace?
8) What was the title of that Night Gallery story? You know, the one where Count Baltar is rescued at sea by the Lusitania, distraught at his cowardly behaviour, that of having dressed as a woman in order to get into a lifeboat and escape certain death when the Titanic went down. Then later, he finds himself once again adrift in a lifeboat, one of the Lusitania’s, as the Andrea Doria maneuvers closer to rescue him!
9) What was the name of that NBC sci-fi series about sea monsters that aired in the mid-2000s? There was a baby sea monster called “Nim.”
10) What was the title of that movie, again? It was released not so long ago; you know, the one about a group of guys on a pub crawl who find themselves in the middle of an android take-over!
11) What was the title of that mid-1970s made-for-television movie about an android in search of his creator? Two Star Trek actors were in it, and so was B. J. Hunnicutt from M*A*S*H!
12) What was the name of that animated series about this boy who can breathe underwater by way of a special kind of chewing gum?
13) What was the name of that old macabre suspense series on NBC? You know the one; it was hosted by Boris Karloff!
The answers will be revealed later this afternoon in our 4:45PM post!
This is Post 2 of 8. 
Lastly, you may want to visit online the United Astronomy Clubs of New Jersey, a networking group for the Garden State’s amateur astronomy clubs; Lonny was a co-founder of this group: UACNJ
