OK, now you know what to get me for Newtonmas.
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From TrekMovie.com.
Tip o’ the VISOR to io9.
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Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He's written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic and fights the abuse of science, but his true love is praising the wonders of real science.
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December 21st, 2008 at 10:00 am
December 21st, 2008 at 10:03 am
“Newtonmas”? Where does *that* one come from?
December 21st, 2008 at 10:06 am
Funny, but by just reading the title, I knew what this was. Maybe I’m psychic!
December 21st, 2008 at 10:06 am
Dude, the birth of our Saviour, Isaac Newton, on December 25th 1642.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:07 am
ioresults: Don’t you know that Dec 25 is our savior birthday?
December 21st, 2008 at 10:18 am
December 25th on the Julian calendar, but January fourth on the Gregorian calendar! You’re stretching it a bit there!
December 21st, 2008 at 10:21 am
KHAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!!!!!!
December 21st, 2008 at 10:24 am
And you have plenty of time to shop–in our Gregorian (current) calendar, Newton’s birthday is January 4
December 21st, 2008 at 10:49 am
Forget these unimportant trinkets – I want a working replica of the Antikythera Mechanism (one of which has been constructed already).
Whoever gets round to mass producing those things will make a fortune.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:10 am
I like “Seven” – oh my.
And here’s a Newtonmas tree topper:
http://www.newtonmas.com/images/einstein.jpg
December 21st, 2008 at 11:11 am
Is it life size? I really want a life-size cylon centurion, and a life size Cylon Raider
December 21st, 2008 at 11:22 am
I don’t know aboot the US, but here in Canada we’re celebrating Trek-mas on the 25th. Space channel is playing all 10 Trek movies starting at 6:30am!
“On the first day of Trek-mas, Space channel beamed to me–ten remastered Star Trek movies~!”
December 21st, 2008 at 3:20 pm
A Joe Piscopo doll?
Does that mean you already have one of these?
December 21st, 2008 at 3:45 pm
That’s quite clearly obscure, and camper than a row of tents, British TV “star”, Lionel Blair!!
http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00438/snf19tvbizf280_438363a.jpg
See??
December 21st, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Happy Khaaaaaaaaaaannikah!
December 21st, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Like a Fool Marksman, you keep . . . Missing. . . the Target !
I thought ST2TWOK was the best ST Movie ever. Much better than ST Saves the Whales.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Sure. The Wrath of Khan, my rubber chest! Please. Hundred-thousand-ton starships fly nose to tail to shoot at each other, and if you’ve ever shot at anything, you know how sorry all of ST is at understanding targeting. It’s not classic Batman (Biff! Pow! Ka-Zowie!) but it’s damned close.
Yeah, I know, dramatic license, right? Yes, I hate every use of The Battle of Britain for its dogfight model, because it shouts STUPID PEOPLE CAN’T UNDERSTAND SPACE.
Y’know? Warships right now have all the instrumentation to fight space battles, and they have for years. Producers are just plain lazy. “Tell the writers to invent a magic button that fixes everything.” Yuck.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Um…what’s wrong with classic Batman?
December 21st, 2008 at 10:39 pm
What’s great is that the action figure is really only good for playing one scene out of the whole of the Trek universe.
“Hey, let’s play ‘Kirk shouts at Khan’ again!”
December 21st, 2008 at 11:38 pm
In case anyone hasn’t realized yet, the blue lettering “KHAAAAAAN!!!” above is a link (click on it).
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:20 am
Didn’t the Gregorian calendar begin in 1752 in England? I’m puzzled…
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:37 am
I just took myself off to the Star Wars Exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. A little pre-christmas fun. Big action figures there. Click my name for pictures.
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:35 am
Isaac Newton was born Christmas Day (25 December) 1642, retroactive calendar modifications notwithstanding.
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:25 am
Dean Baird, depends on which country you were in. In England in was indeed the 25th of December. But not in France et al.
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:28 am
But where I am, as I write this, it is now Tuesday the 23rd but this comment will be time stamped the 22nd…
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:31 am
Well, that’s settled, then. He was born in England (I assume), therefore Dec 25th is correct!
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:35 am
That’s what I reckon… I think…
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:14 am
I too had not heard of Newtonams, so I Wiki’ed it, here’s what I found:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newtonmas
It’s been deleted! I smell conspiracy!
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:30 am
Sir Isaac Newton, FRS (Gregorian: 4 January 1643 – 31 March 1727 [Julian: 25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726]). At Newton’s birth, Gregorian dates were ten days ahead of Julian dates: thus Newton was born on Christmas Day, 25 December 1642 by the Julian calendar, but on 4 January 1643 by the Gregorian. By the time he died, the difference between the calendars had increased to eleven days.
Britain and the British Empire (including the eastern part of what is now the United States) adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752, by which time it was necessary to correct by 11 days. Wednesday, 2 September 1752 was followed by Thursday, 14 September 1752 to account for 29 February 1700 (Julian).
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:01 am
The Khaaaan link takes you to a moment that is perhaps William Shatner’s finest moment as an actor.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:22 am
It would be cool if the figure had a “Kung Fu Toupee”… (Or if you pressed the button on it’s back twice, and it said, “Denny Krane!”
Seriously, how come they keep putting out these action figures, but they can’t be bothered to put out some decent, well detailed toys of the space station from that movie… or a bust of Baylock from the Corbomite Manuver, or the rebel blockade runner from Star Wars, or…
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:40 am
SO many Shatnerisms from that movie! One of my faves:
Still! Old! Friend!
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:46 am
Thank you IVAN3MAN. I can only assume that you agree Newton was born on Dec 25th, though it’s far from clear :\
If somebody adjusted our calendar right now so as to move my birthday by a week or two, I wouldn’t go back and alter all my diary entries to say “oops, celebrated my birthday on the wrong day again”. So I don’t see why we should do that to poor old Isaac!
December 24th, 2008 at 10:31 am
[...] my psychiatrist asked me what the proper greeting was for a Pagan at this time of year. And? The BA appears to have taken to wishing everyone a cheerful Newtonmas, since Newton was born on December 25 (Old [...]