It’s time once again for TrekMovie to present the bits of Star Trek from around the interweb that are fun, interesting or just plain weird.
Beware Of Your Computer Getting Kirked
There is a new bit of ransomware floating around that has a Star Trek theme. Originally discovered by malware researcher Jakub Krostek and reported by Network World, this “Kirk Ransomware” takes over your computer and encrypts your files with a “kirked” extension leaving behind a ‘ransom note’ text film. The ransom note tells you that unless you pay up (over $1000 in the new cyber-currency Monero) you will not get access to your files. If you pay the ransom, then you get sent a “decrypted password file and program called Spock” to unlock your files. Sad to see Star Trek used for evil, so beware of getting “kirked.”
Having Captain Kirk take over your computer is not as fun as it sounds
Klingon Invades German Children’s Show
Each week the long-running German Children’s show Die Sendung mit der Maus (The Show with the Mouse) introduces each new episode in a different language, then repeats the intro in German. This week the foreign language they chose was Klingon. Watch the intro:
Connor Trinneer Feels The Math of Khaaaaaaan
The National Museum of Math in NYC is holding two special “Star Trek: The Math of Khan” presentations on April 5th (4:00 pm and 7:00 pm). The presentations will delve into the interesting times Star Trek and math collided. The talks will be introduced by Star Trek: Enterprise star Connor Trinneer (Trip Tucker). Tickets can be reserved at MoMath.org.
The Museum of Math is offering superior arithmetic
Rob Lowe: Set Phasers on Stoned
On the occasion of his birthday last week Civilized.life decided to highlight an interesting passage from Rob Lowe’s 2014 memoir “Love Life” on how Star Trek factored into the actor’s life when, back in 7th grade, he tried to fit in with his weed-smoking peers:
“At the record shop, standing in front of the glass case containing the various dope-smoking accoutrements, I decided on a tiny, pocket-sized wooden pot pipe, mostly because it looked like one of Captain Kirk’s phasers from Star Trek,” Lowe wrote. “And in truth, over the coming weeks I got more use out of it as a toy, running through the sage-scented gullies and swales of the Malibu hills pretending to be shooting Klingons, than I did using it for its intended purpose. Because my dark secret was that I hated pot.”
Young Rob Lowe played with a phaser pot pipe – really!
Crafting Of The Week: Shuttlepod the PC Mod
Random Design in Germany built a custom gaming PC designed to look like like a shuttle from Star Trek: Voyager. Called the “USS Dragon-1,” this high-powered rig is water-cooled and chock full of state-of-the-art components and lighting, even down to pulsating nacelles. The video below shows it off and details how it was made.
Tweet of the Week: Mayim Bialik (And Family) Trek Out
Last week, Big Bang Theory’s Mayim Bialik decided to share a fun Star Trek-themed photo on Twitter, although with the masks her kids are wearing, it is a bit of a mashup.
Best family photo ever #StarTrek pic.twitter.com/lBPfccHb4L
— Mayim Bialik (@missmayim) March 19, 2017
More random Star Trek links:
- Agony Booth presents The 10 most underrated episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. (part 2)
- Getting in on the TNG Love ScreenRant offers 15 Reasons Jean-Luc Picard Is the Best Captain Ever. (written by TrekMovie’s Laurie Ulster)
- The Wall Street Journal has a blog post titled “How Star Trek Has Helped Me Solve Workplace Dilemmas“
- Army Times reports on how first black, female 3-Star General Nadja West was inspired by Star Trek and Mr. Spock.
That’s it for this week, but keep up with all the Great Links of fun bits of Star Trek from around the web at TrekMovie.
Thanks for the article about Nadja West; that was really cool! And I continue to be amused that while NBC thought no one could or would identify with an alien, all kinds of people identified with Spock, including Ms. West. :-)