this makes me very nervous about the new movie. Star Trek is NOT star wars. and if jj Abrams has made that happen, a pox on him and his house. Via Andrew Sullivan (continue reading…)

i am sorry, but it’s probably the greatest franchise ever. two great articles about star trek and torture on slate, and the geek chic that is spock (way of ninly.net). THERE ARE TWO LINKS! i still have not seen the movie.

but what about the romulons and their singularity (black hole) warp drive? could that make it happen?

(continue reading…)

‘Today, now more than ever, we are all Trekkies.’
- greg, stardate 62901.2

(continue reading…)

One of my favorite moments in the star trek universe, when deep space nine shows how baseball describes the entirety of human existence. It’s a long argument over two clips, but to understand it, pay attention to the black actor, Captain Sisko, as he describes to an alien race what it means to be corporal beings. This is also related to my prior post, NY Times: the sabermetric edge in baseball.

(continue reading…)

my original thoughts on the episode here.  for jim:

(continue reading…)

Courtesy of todayinsci.com:

In 1859, Lescarbault, a French medical doctor and amateur astronomer reported sighting a new planet in an orbit inside that of Mercury which he named Vulcan. He had seen a round black spot on the Sun with a transit time across the solar disk 4 hours 30 minutes. He sent this information and his calculations on the planet’s movements to Jean LeVerrier, France’s most famous astronomer. Le Verrier had already noticed that Mercury had deviated from its orbit. A gravitational pull from Vulcan would fit in nicely with what he was looking for. However, it was not consistently seen again and it is now believed to have been a “rogue asteroid” making a one-time pass close to the sun.

(continue reading…)