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Scotty To Be 'Beamed Up'
joel_archer writes "James 'Scotty' Doohan's remains will be launched into space in accord with his last wishes. Commercial space flight operator Space Services Inc. will launch the late actor's remains into space aboard its Explorers Flight on December 6. Along for the ride will be 120 others including an unidentified astronaut and Mareta West, the astrogeologist who determined the site for the first spacecraft landing on the moon. Fans can post tributes to Doohan at the Space Services Web site. Those messages will be digitized, packed with 'Scotty' and blasted into space."
Everything I've ever heard from fans and co-workers has described James "Jimmy" Doohan as a man who was funny, caring, and a great guy to be with. Unlike certain unnamed Trek actors, he was never too big to attend the smallest convention and he was always pleased just to be there for the fans. He will be truly missed.
No penguins were harmed in the making of this post.
Those ashes aren't really going into space, just low-earth orbit, and their orbit will decay in a decade or so.
They're sending it in to space, (presumably) never to be seen again by anyone ever. Does it really matter if the tributes contain a few goatse references or whatnot? As an added bonus, if an alien civilization manages to stumble across it and reverse-engineer the storage medium, it'll be the first inter-galactic goatse.
Although that probably violates the "healthy development of alien life and culture" part of the Prime Directive...
I canna do it Captain.
Seriously.
Robert Anton Wilson
Please stop APK.. you're only hurting yourself.
BBC ran this article months ago:
Scotty's ashes to hit outer space
I'll be your candy shop of infinite deliciousity if you'll be my discotheque of endless rump-shaking.
Not that I have anything against Mr Doohan personally, but this strikes me as an incredibly stupid idea.
Why waste all that money, time and effort putting *dead people* into orbit so they can float around for a while being a space junk hazard?
As Mr Spock would say...
-- Braden's law of data: All data spends some of its lifetime in an excel spreadsheet.
Well, having already been incinerated once, at least Scotty will be able to consider himself an old hand at these things if the rocket explodes on launch.
Las qué passoun
tournoun pas maï
Knowing the damage one of those capsule would cause to a satellite, it's like allowing people to put their tombstones on the highway ...
http://www.transparency.org
Q: How many members of the U.S.S. Enterprise does it take to change a
light bulb?
A: Seven. Scotty has to report to Captain Kirk that the light bulb in
the Engineering Section is getting dim, at which point Kirk will send
Bones to pronounce the bulb dead (although he'll immediately claim
that he's a doctor, not an electrician). Scotty, after checking
around, realizes that they have no more new light bulbs, and complains
that he "canna" see in the dark. Kirk will make an emergency stop at
the next uncharted planet, Alpha Regula IV, to procure a light bulb
from the natives, who, are friendly, but seem to be hiding something.
Kirk, Spock, Bones, Yeoman Rand and two red shirt security officers
beam down to the planet, where the two security officers are promply
killed by the natives, and the rest of the landing party is captured.
As something begins to develop between the Captain and Yeoman Rand,
Scotty, back in orbit, is attacked by a Klingon destroyer and must
warp out of orbit. Although badly outgunned, he cripples the Klingon
and races back to the planet in order to rescue Kirk et. al. who have
just saved the natives' from an awful fate and, as a reward, been
given all light bulbs they can carry. The new bulb is then inserted
and the Enterprise continues on its five year mission.
- fortune-mod
May the great actor rest in peace.
I'll answer my own question. I'm 42 years old, and with that age (including a family with two amazing daughters that I scarecly deserve) comes a belief that there's something bigger than my not-so-amazing life... that the two children I fathered (and especially the wife who bore them) are somehow more wonderful than me, or anything I could imagine. A surprising consideration from someone who has developed a sense of wonder but who doesn't have a belief in the supernatural. I'm in awe of my progeny and the woman who agreed to share her life with me...
Why is it that the news of James' passing makes me think of this, here in the wee hours of the morning? I guess it's not hard to deconstruct... I think we'd all like to be the one who worked behind the scenes, the one who made things possible but never got the credit for it. It's a romantic thought that is powerful in me...
With the most reverent "I'm givin' 'er all she's got, Captain!",
- Leo
You don't use science to show that you're right, you use science to become right.
Yeah. Just replace "Scotty" with "Pile of ashes". and "Beamed up" with "rocket launched" and we'll have an title that reflects reality.
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
Now don't stone me for this, but I am about ten years too young to have grown up with the classic Star Trek. I grew up on TNG and that is by far my favorite. I never really cared for the Classic. However, when I was 14 (I'm now 25) and heard Scotty was coming to town for a Star Trek convention, I was there. I got a couple of autographs, got to shake his hand, and hear him tell stories.
The thing that impressed me the most about him was that he didn't seem to have a self-inflated "I'm-an-American-Icon" attitude. He had a very gentle "grandfather" like attitude and spoke with a soft voice. James Doohan is the man.
Alien Overlord: Looks like we're going to need bigger probes.
The next Cmdr Taco duplicate will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
Why do we do anything with dead people other than run them through meat grinders and then drop the result in a compost heap? Obviously, whether with or without religious convictions, most of us want to show respect to the dead and the people they have left behind. This is far more important to most people than the value of a few pounds of solid matter that make up a typical human body. When you think logically, even the practice of encasing each dead person in a wood or steel box, and then dropping said box in a plot of land, leaving that land unusable for any other purpose forever is unsustainable. If human custom remains this way long enough, the entire Earth would be one giant cemetery with billions of steel boxes wasting incredible resources. I suspect our customs will change long before this becomes an issue. On the other hand, perhaps it is hubris to assume that humanity will survive long enough for this to become a problem.
RETURN without GOSUB in line 1050
Let's review the past few years. Space shuttle launches, gets damaged by debris on lift off. Of course, it wasn't proven, just highly speculated that the debris came from some foam that fell off during launch. Several people burned alive upon reentry because of the damage.
Most recent shuttle launch, part of the voyage's purpose is diverted to make a repair, presumably because of more debris damage.
Most recently, a private firm is allowed to launch a bunch of shit into orbit to make more debris danger and to commemorate a few people with enough money to waste on this kind of stuff, rather than give the wealth away to charitable organizations who are fighting disease or trying to make the world a better place. Great idea.
...::----::...
I am in no way affiliated with this sig.
"Very funny Scotty, now beam up my clothes!"
If Microsoft was mass, stupidity would be gravity.