"From a biological standpoint, I'm curious as to what makes the Chan and Thaan different"

I vaguely remember something about Galactic Panspermia in a ST:TNG episode that is probably several years in the future from our stardate... Hence the Spocks and Alexander Rozhenkos of the Trek universe. Which is to say, like it's not much, mostly cosmetic things like skin and hair colour, etc. It'd be interesting to see how genetics have drifted from the various humanoid races that are related in Trek - which ones could safely have children together and how many of those combinations would result in a child that will eventually be capable of reproduction itself.

***

Horse Laxatives? No wonder Lt Tal was seeing strange colours around everyone. Earth Laxatives have a strange affect on Betazoids... makes the treatment of constipation rather difficult at times 

By the way,

Not only did I get a new pretty set of dice (a Chessex Festive Carousel/white Polyhedral 7-Die Set), but I got most of my Halloween costume. I'm going to be Raven from Teen Titans, but I'm going with the white variant of her 1980s costume, because that era is the one I grew up reading about and I look great in white IMO

There's a pretty decent article on the physiological differences of the Andorian genders on the Starbase 118 wiki.

Kind of interesting... kind of WTF... A retractable what?!?

It also answered my "question" about hybrid babies... doesn't look like it's possible for Andorians to reproduce with anything other than other Andorians or Aenar.

That is interesting.   And... whatever.

The Rigellians also have four genders (exomale, exofemale, endomale, endofemale).  Well, at least, the Jelna subrace do.

Yep - a species with three subraces, one of which is hermaphoditic, one has four genders. 

Aliens, amirite? 

I mean, if you appreciate variety, you've go some choices there. Ah the wondrous life of the space pansexual.

... for Tal and Zai. I just edited it into the OOC post that Josie made earlier.

Huzzah!!!

...and a soft toss for Crowe, to boot! (No pun intended.)

Toch has called an all hands for FCO personnel and will be arriving in Shuttlebay 1 presently. This is where he'll introduce Ens Garner to the rest of the department (and, quite possibly where Megan fixes him with one of her nicknames). Following that, Crowe, be prepared for a one-on-one with Zai.

Got "grandbaby duty" happening, right now, but have ideas for "fluff posts" from Kook and Megan, at a minimum, to come. If those don't go up tonight, expect them sometime tomorrow. (Crowe has informed me that he's out of town and likely won't return until Monday, anyway.)

For everyone else - If you see fit to "run into" Tochi on his way to said meeting, feel free! He'll be happy to speak with any of you.

Hey, so I've been pondering a question pertaining to the duties of the Operations department. Some of the duties confuse me a bit, mainly that of supply, requisition, and food services. As I understood it, all that would just be done using a replicator and there wouldn't be a need for Catering Specialist or any sort of requistions.

I imagine I'm missing something here, anyone able to help me out and clarify for me?  

I am guessing we have a mess that prepares foods for people who want something cooked in a more traditional manner. While replicators are widely in use, that's possible. But also, catering specialists probably arrange nutritious replicated meals that people can simply pickup without having to make a choice or use their own replicator. Or at, like, a sit down meal, they would make all the courses in the replicators, then serve them.

Technically, operations covers A LOT of ground where it's officers and staff aboard starships, bases, and spacestations are concerned. Members of the operations division may have specialized in a ship or base service, administration, or military operations, or served as staff officers. Operations officers included engineers, security and tactical, and some service specializations such as communications. Operations division personnel also filled administrative posts as yeomen, personnel officers, and portmasters.

Requisitions, in this case, would apply to coordinating with starbases for items that may need replenishment during visits to starbases (from torpedo casings/warheads to entire modules of the ship that may need to be reconfigured/replaced for whatever reason). As to the "catering specialists," you are correct, in a sense, since most food is handled by replicators, there is technically no need for this position in general; however, in situations such as when Peregrine had the Rytain and Kuldar delegates aboard and hosted a reception for them, our "catering specialists" were responsible for seeing to the menu and preparation/presentation of the event so as to do away with the need for each individual attendee to visit the replicator one-by-one, etc... The food was replicated, put together, and displayed "buffet style." The same sort of thing would apply to similar larger scale events - formal staff dinners, etc. Also, abaord the Peregrine, at least, a catering specialist serves as "host/hostess" in The Aerie (our ship's version of 10 Forward) and is responsible for programming the menus and such, there.

Now, that being said, you're right - there is no critical need for catering specialists and such (especially as a full-time position). Those NPCs listed as such in our roster are really your standard OPS personnel who happen to have specialized knowledge/training/talent in planning and preparing events such as those mentioned above and don't have to spend all day, every day tending to "catering concerns." 

In the end, Giddy, OPS is run however Lt Nyle sees fit (unless, of course, it conflicts with the Captain's orders), so, you do what you'd like with it.

See the entry for Operations Officer at Memory Alpha for more info.

I've added a couple entries to the logbook for 2365-02-19. With any luck, I'll manage to keep up with these better than I have in the past.

I'll have to check that out, maybe I can make some entries to help. Good morning/etc by the way!

As always, you can treat answers from Eol as Trek canon (since they always will be, if canon exists). 

Let me point out a couple of things.  There are events, yes, where a catering specialist might apply. 

Also, remmebr that it's very established that replicated foods often lack "something".  Many hold that the replicator does fine on simple recipes, but that things requiring some touch are never quite right.  Also note that, IIRC, enlisted quarters don't have their own replicators - they have to come to mess to eat. 

I was reviewing the roster and updating the logbook, this morning, and one of Ens Garner's posts got me thinking about crew quarters. Per the Crew Quarters Systems write up on ACTD, Ensigns typically share quarters (2 ENS per suite). Currently, our rsoter shows a total of 5 Ensigns assigned to the Peregrine, sooooo, it appears, one lucky junior officer will be getting a billet all to him/herself. In my mind, I'm almost seeing the quartering looking something like this:

Ens Garner and Ens Farb share a suite (both males), Ens Blackmon and Ens Jenneric share a suite (both females), and Ens Maize gets to "fly solo" (as I think she's been aboard longer than the rest).

Alternatively (assuming gender of the occupants doesn't really matter as they each have their own bedroom and share a living space) they could be assigned like so: Ens Blackmon/Ens Forb (both TAC/SEC); Ens Jenneric/Ens Maize (different depts but already familiar with one another); Ens Garner (flys solo since he's newest on board... but, since Vaela's promotion technically hasn't been addressed, just yet, it could be that she and Garner will be sharing quarters temporarily since they're both Flight Control Officers).

Make sense? Any objections? Does it really matter?