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George Takei Now an Asteroid
ineedbettername writes "In recent news, the International Astronomic Union has decided to rename the asteroid "1994 GT9" to 7307 Takei in honor of George Takei, the actor who played Sulu in Star Trek. He now joins the ranks of other famous sci-fi figures in space, such as 4659 Roddenberry, 68410 Nichols, Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov."
Hey may be getting a little soft in the middle, but come on... that's overstating things a bit.
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... and name a rock in my backyard after him. Now he has his name applied to two hithertofore anonymous rocks which he will never see.
Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
I never knew Gene Roddenberry's first name was really 4659. "Gene" must be a stage name.
Plus, I'm not sure who this Nichols cat is, but Issac Asimov; I know. Now there's a sci-fi guy who's not afraid to use his real name!
khasim (12/9/06): In a blind taste test, more people preferred Coke over the Pepsi that I had previously pissed in.
Renaming a quasar CowboyNeil?
I bet Shatner is pissed over this one.
I want a new quote. One that won't spill. One that don't cost too much. Or come in a pill.
my.
I thought he had died!
Thinking his ashes might've been sent to space and then come down again.
Not reading those summaries are bad...
"All I got was a rock."
Mongrel News all the news that fits and froths
hey stop with the 'if Tim Hardaway were a black hole' jokes already
Oh wait
Do you need the Starship Enterprise to go see it?
Take Nobody's Word For It.
As long as we don't hear Shatner singing anymore.
As a matter of fact - yes.
The Strugacki brothers already have one. No 3054 is named after them.
Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
http://www.sigsegv.cx/
Do you need the Starship Enterprise to go see it?
What does Takei need... with a starship?
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
I just never dreamed it would happen in my lifetime!
So the Strugackis are now the 3054 brothers?
Oh! You mean Hiro Nakamura's dad! :)
I honestly can't believe how people blur the edges of reality and sci-fi series. So now people deserve special honour because they played in Star Trek? I mean, the guy was probably a great actor, but what the heck.
Reminds me of the 20-th century museum in Futurama, where they have messed up the entire history and thought The Honeymooners were the first people to step on the moon ("Bang! Zoom! Straight to the moon, Alice!"), and reimaging the astronauts as movie-style space cowboys complete with cowboy hats and attractive behavior.
It's just idiocracy happening slowly before our eyes.
Found this list of asteroid names. Looks like anyone can get their name on a bit of rock if they want. Nice to see one called Zappafrank though.
I have excellent Karma and I am not afraid to Troll it.
Geez....It's in Soviet Russia, r-tard.
C'mon, get your /. memes right. It's only been around for, what, 3 years?
History is entertainment.
And CleverNickName posted a warmly personal take to his blog earlier.
-- Our systemic servants do not good masters make.
Please do not plot an intercept course with Earth. Or any Earth space equipment for that matter.
I am officially gone from
...it [IAU] warns would-be namers to avoid anything "in questionable taste" and any names honoring political or military figures sooner than 100 years after their deaths.Well that odd. I have nothing against George and I'm fan of most of the recipients listed. But it seems out of perspective to honor actors hundreds of years earlier than people who accomplish such monumental, world changing achievements. "Here's a guy who died to take out a bunker so that others can free France. Oohh, No wait, here's an actor!"
So when does Wil Wheaton get his own asteroid?
{ahem} How about: "In Soviet Russia, they give asteroids' names to YOU."
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
(1337) Gerarda
(13376) Dunphy
Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
C'mon, it's not that hard to get an asteroid named after you. I've got an asteroid named after me: 23128 Dorminy. If I have one, why is this important?
"So now people deserve special honour because they played in Star Trek"
.. :)
A lot of people were inspired to take up science because of StarTrek. In fact StarTrek was one of the first TV series where you had an 'African American' (Nichelle Nichols) playing a character with some authority.
She was going to leave after the first season but a meeting with Martin Luther King changed her mind. Admittedly she only worked the telephone exchange and had to sit at the back of the Bridge
Re:Don't mix entertainment with history
davecb5620@gmail.com
In recognition of his outstanding contributions to being a pain in the arse, I've decided to name my most recent haemorrhoid in his honour. Now he can take his rightful place nestled in between "Rush Limb-owww!" and "Rosie O-ring'Donnel"
----------------------------------- My Other Sig Is Hilarious -----------------------------------
"To keep things organized please post all gay jokes under this posting. Thank you for your cooperation"
..
'He now joins the ranks of other famous sci-fi figures in space, such as 4659 Roddenberry, 68410 Nichols, Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov '
At least they didn't try and start their own religion
davecb5620@gmail.com
Its only a matter of time before major celestial objects are re-named after corporate brands and entities. Saturn is the only planet that keeps its original name, however (TM) is apendid to the planet's name just so people know they cannot use the name without permission. Southern Bell, McDonald's, Vagisil, Entertainment Tonight, Michelin, Jack In The Box, Saturn(TM), United Parcel Service, Nike, Pepsi
According to James Doohan (aka "Scotty") William Shatner is a real asteroid.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
Baba Booey!
Camping on quad since 1996.
Also Leiji Matsumoto, author of the wildly popular manga (and anime) series Ginga Testudo (Galaxy Express 999) among others (000 is a cool one too) also had an asteroid named after him. Though I can't figure out how to find it. I remember when I was reading the manga for the first of many times and being totally blown away by a proud note that some friendly astronomers had named an asteroid after him. Matsumoto envisioned an adventurous boy and a mysterious woman on a danger-filled trip to planets around the galaxy on the most advanced spaceship, which in order to combat homesickness was camouflaged as a much-loved steam locomotive passenger train.
...you know, since he already is one and this way he could truly be a flaming homosexual.
Sigh!
No comment really, just sing "Suuu Luuuuuu"
Guns are for wimps... Use a crossbow.. this way you can pin them to their chair when you go postal.
Agreed. "Has Been" is an awesome album, thanks to Shatner's partnership with Ben Folds on the project.
It also helps to have some solid backing musicians like (yes, that) Joe Jackson, who provides some great guitar work and backing vocals on the first track.
And the rant between Shatner and Henry Rollins is worth the price of the album. Just buy the damn thing already. Prepare to be amazed.
--- The American Way of Life is not a birthright. Hell, it's not even sustainable.
It's Boston Legal, and he's very good on it as an aging lawyer fighting off Alzheimer's.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
A lot longer than that, I think.
[lameness filter is biased against fast typists]
I want a haemmoroid named in my honour.
I thought it was the name of the engineer who invented transparent aluminum.
Constitutionally Correct
I hereby nominate asteroid "65535 Gates".
What was amazing was George Takai's comments to Shatner's face during the infamous Roast for Shatner. Takai rocks!
Rumor has it that Shatner killed the idea of a Star Trek movie as Captain Sulu. It would have been fun to explore the other characters than Kirk, Spock and Bones for a change.
http://www.gofish.com/player.gfp?gfid=30-1083535
He was a grade school kid in a WWII internment camp for Japanese-Americans. Says he remembers looking at the guard tower from his classroom window.
Instead of getting hate-filled and going ballistic, he's a humanist and a gentleman. That probably took some conscious will, so I think the honor couldn't happen to a nicer person.
Unless it's changed recently, names for asteroids are decided by the person (or programme) who discovers it, and I don't think it's fair to hold those people responsible for the names they choose. The IAU merely rubber stamps the name and makes sure nobody chooses anything potentially embarrassing.
It was a great system a couple of decades ago when it was an unusual achievement to have discovered an asteroid, but I personally think it's a bit dated now that technology has improved so much, and particularly with several large telescope programmes whose purpose has been to scan the sky for uncharted rocks. There are tens of thousands of asteroids that are attributed to only a small group of people, and those people would have started to grasp at straws a long time ago trying to think of names for them all. Actually the fact that so many remain un-named suggests that those people have probably decided they have better things to do with their time for the most part.
One of my good friends has an asteroid named after him. He's a mathematical modeler buried in a research institute who also does a lot of orbital modeling as a hobby. Not many people would have heard of him. He's very good at what he does, and personally I think he deserves to have something like this named after him at least as much as anyone else. His work helps, but the primary reason he has an asteroid named after him is because a couple of his good friends are career professional astronomers. It was their decision to propose that his name be attached to one of their discoveries. They still have quite a lot of others which they could name if they wanted to, simply because of the amount of undiscovered rocks they pick up in images they've taken for other reasons.
Apparently someone decided they wanted to name an asteroid after George Takei. Good for him -- I guess he's well known. But it doesn't really mean much, nor does it diminish the achievements of other people.
>> and more of a woman than you'll ever have
... and more of a woman that you'll ever BE, sweetheart.
Ahhh.. such anal-retentiveness...
- - - (tee hee!)
> > Does that make me a bad person?
Yes.
Yes, it does. And you must be punished. Now, if you can provide me your phone#...
I can provide exquisite punishment.
=>= Gay jokes and calling him names is pretty foul.
I know! I know! It's so... TERRIBLE!
You would think they'd treat him better than BRITNEY!
They are BOTH saints in my book!
So sadddd....
William Shatner films a commercial for Priceline.
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