There are currently 2 challenges in progress at STARFLEET Medical:
STARFLEET MEDICAL READING CHALLENGE 2024
Duration: Ongoing, no set end date
Scope: Fleetwide (open to all members of SFI)
Description: Reading has been linked to the following benefits: improved brain connectivity, encourages better sleep, reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, lowers heart rate, fights depression symptoms and prevents cognitive decline associated with aging (
link)
The STARFLEET Medical Reading Challenge commenced on the 1st of March! But you can join at any time.
You must answer the questions and provide your SFI membership number (SCC) to join as per STARFLEET regulations. You will not be permitted to join if you do not answer the questions.
All files required for the challenge have been added to the facebook group.
The challenge is simple, you just read. Read whatever you want, as much or as little as you like, any genre, any age. You will fill out a live excel spreadsheet (that is in a post in the featured section) with your name, SCC number, ship name, region, book title, author, and pages read. The spreadsheet will auto calculate totals.
Certificates will be awarded to everyone who participates.
There will also be monthly awards for the most read per person, per ship, and per region.
There will occasionally be monthly challenges, for instance, this month we may give double pages read for Sci Fi, or historical…etc.
JULY’S SPECIAL TOPIC IS HISTORY / HISTORICAL FICTION
PREVIOUS SPECIAL TOPICS
March: Star Trek
April: Comedies
May: Star Wars
June: Romance
As always, any Star Trek books or STARFLEET manuals will be double pages scored.
PLEASE TELL YOUR FRIENDS…AND TOGETHER WE CAN ALL REACH FOR THE STARS, ONE PAGE AT A TIME.
STARFLEET PROXIMA CENTAURI STEP CHALLENGE
Duration: March to Dec 2024 (you are welcome to join at any time)
Scope: Fleetwide (open to all members of SFI)
Description: Walking can offer numerous health benefits to people of all ages and fitness levels. It may also help prevent certain diseases and even prolong your life. Walking is free to do and easy to fit into your daily routine. All you need to start walking is a sturdy pair of walking shoes. Read on to learn about some of the benefits of walking – (link)
Each month, we will travel along another leg of our journey to explore and establish a human colony in the Proxima Centauri system. At 4.25 light years distance, Proxima Centauri is the closest star system to our own Terran system. Research has shown that one of the planets in the Proxima Centauri system exists within the habitable zone of that star. We aim to travel there and establish the first extra-solar system human colony on that planet.
Each month’s new destination and step turn in dates will be announced on the SFI Members Only, Fleet/Regional STARFLEET Medical and Regional Fleet Facebook groups, as well as on the medical channel on the SFI Discord server.
PREVIOUS MONTHS
March: Take Me to the Moon
April: Slingshot past Saturn
May: Fly by Pluto
June: Interstellar
JULY 2024: OORT CLOUD
We are now well past heliopause and have been travelling through interstellar space for some time. We’re technically in an area called the “Oort Cloud” which creates a giant spherical shell around the solar system. It’s like a big, thick bubble that surrounds our sun, made of icy, comet-like objects. The Oort Cloud’s icy bodies can be as large as mountains – and sometimes larger. Most scientists believe that this is the source of most of the comets that orbit the sun and travel through the solar system.
The distance from the Sun to the Oort Cloud is so enormous that it’s useful to describe it not in the more common units of miles or kilometers, but astronomical units. One astronomical unit (or AU) is the distance between Earth and the Sun. Pluto’s elliptical orbit carries it as close as 30 AU from the Sun, and as far as 50 AU. The inner edge of the Oort Cloud, however, is thought to be between 2,000 and 5,000 AU from the Sun. The outer edge might be 10,000 or even 100,000 AU from the Sun – that’s one-quarter to halfway between the Sun and the nearest neighboring star.
It will take us over 8 years at 1/4 the speed of light to cross. After that, we will begin our retrograde burn to slow us down before we enter the Proxima Centauri system.
As a participant, you will keep track of your own steps using an app, a smart watch, a pedometer, etc. and submit your steps to your Regional Assistant Surgeon General. The schedule for May will be:
Week 1: July 1st to July 5th
Week 2: July 6th to July 12th
Week 3: July 13th to July 19th
Week 4: July 20th to July 31st
Once the week ends, you will total up the steps you have travelled over that period. You will then have 48 hours to submit those steps to your Regional ASG (ie. Week 1 ends on Friday, May 10th, therefore you have until Midnight PST on May 12th to submit your steps). Any steps submitted after that time will not be accepted. Please submit steps and only steps, no other units will be accepted. Here is a handy conversion guide: (link)
If you do not know who your Regional ASG is, please consult the following website:
https://medical.sfi.org/office-of-the…/serving-officers/
If your region does not have an ASG, please submit your steps using the following form:
https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSeOFfOYPqv…/viewform…
Settle in for our long crossing through interstellar space. It will probably be very quiet but with any luck, we may see one or two more familiar objects out there!!!!!!
If you do not know who your Regional ASG is, please consult the following website:
https://medical.sfi.org/office-of-the-surgeon-general/serving-officers/
If your region does not have an ASG, please submit your steps using the following form:
https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSeOFfOYPqv…/viewform…
STEP UP TO THE CHALLENGE. PROXIMA CENTAURI AWAITS!
