It’s called the summer slide, and no, it’s not one of those big plastic things kids play on at the park.The summer slide is what educators say happens to students’ academic proficiency after school lets out.CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Anybody who doesn’t think this is the cutest little news story of the day must be a Klingon.
The American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming is holding a “Name the Tribble” contest. The idea is to promote American Archives Month and show people that archives aren’t just repositories of musty old documents – they can be home to cool stuff, too.
Such as a tribble, a small creature from the “Star Trek” TV series. The American Heritage Center houses items donated by several celebrities including the late Forrest J. Ackerman, a science fiction publisher credited with inventing the term “sci-fi.”
Ackerman had no ties to Wyoming but years ago donated many boxes of manuscripts, photographs, movie stills, correspondence, books, movie posters and artifacts including a tribble from the “Star Trek” set.
“A tribble is a little furball-type thing. It looks like a hairy softball that is very soft and cushy,” said Lander journalist Ernie Over, who was “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry’s personal assistant from 1985 to 1990.
Tribbles have no arms, legs, heads or even eyes. The idea was to mass-produce them as simply as possible, Over said.
In the famous 1967 “Star Trek” episode that first featured tribbles, the prolific creatures multiplied and overran the Enterprise until Montgomery “Scotty” Scott beamed them onto a Klingon ship.
