I wasn't around when the original Star Trek premiered on September 8th, 1966; I was but a fleeting thought to my parents. However, I did watch plenty of the series as it ran over-and-over again in syndication. As I got older I noticed that the show wasn't just entertainment, but a teaching tool as well. So, in honor of this breakthrough science-fiction show's 40th (!) anniversary, I present to you the five things I personally learned from Star Trek (not what I learned from All I Really Need to Know I Learned from Watching Star Trek, written by Dave Marinaccio.).

Alien babes are hot (and apparently easy): They're also extremely warm all of the time, because they barely wear any clothing. I guess there weren't any Puritans that landed on other planets in this galaxy (the only place they landed was at Plymouth Rock. Thanks alot, guys!). Maybe it was due to the era that the show was broadcast in, but it seemed like Captain Kirk was getting a little sumthin' sumthin' every episode. Didn't he ever think he could get Venutian VD, or Klingon Clap? Not very smart for a starship captain.

Rumors have been circulating for many years that the only way William Shatner could maintain the physique of Captain James T. Kirk was to wear a corset under his uniform. Well, that's not true, claims Shatner. The actor claims the seed of this particular rumor actually began when he was working on TJ Hooker. During a break in filming he went horseback riding and wound up with a broken rib. An assistant was sent to fetch a bandage for the injured Shatner, and somehow the rumor mill eventually turned "bandage" into "girdle."

Okay, I don't believe Shatner ever wore a corset/girdle on Star Trek, but his explanation seems a little suspicious. Is he claiming this rumor didn't exist until long after Star Trek went off the air? Do any of you older readers remember hearing this rumor pre-TJ Hooker?

Yo, I wanna give a shout out to all my homies who used to rock a Commodore Computer. Can I get a "hells yeah?" While my friends were all pounding away on their Tandy Computers, I was playing The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy text adventure game on my C64. At least, I would play up to the point where I had to figure out how to operate the Infinite Improbability Drive, then I'd always get stuck. Speaking of space exploration, I found this old Commodore ad, featuring William Shatner, to be quite interesting. Holy cow, it's like an Atari... with a keyboard!