Regular readers know I have an marginally unhealthy crush on Felicia Day. Of course, so do millions of other people, so she’s probably relatively safe from me.
But are we safe from… colliding galaxies? Apparently, only Felicia knows for sure, as she demonstrates in this NASA PSA:
Hey! That was funny! Like, really funny! Lots of inside jokes for Felicia’s fans, too ("Is this your first time doing an internet video, Miss Day?") A lot of times videos like this are just painful, but this one is actually really good. Felicia is great, and the Sean Astin stuff cracked me up.
And I think someone’s been reading my book… OK, probably not. But the way she talked about all the astronomy was very natural and smooth, so I just know deep in her heart Felicia’s harboring a strong and undeniable love for astronomer. I mean astronomy. Yes! Astronomy! Of course that’s what I meant!
Sigh. We’ll always have Comic Con.
Tip o’ the Guilded lily (see what I did there?) to Javier Pazos.
October 26th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
That was horrible! Oh wait, the penny just dropped.
October 26th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Who is Felicia Day?
Did that mess with your chi?
Will astrologers still be around in 3 billion years?
October 26th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
This was wonderful! Is it a satire on the current trends at Naked Science? I keep seeing sensationalistic elements on that series and it really stuns me every time. The one that leaps to mind talks about the sun growing larger in billions of years and eventually eating up the planets one by one and while they don’t actually say that humans will be on the planet and suffer this fate, they suggest it by describing what it will look like from earth which gives a very dishonest impression.
It’s really maddening to see a series that seems dedicated to truth, disseminate ANY misinterpretation of the facts at all.
October 26th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
(insert nerdy “I wouldn’t mind colliding with Felicia Day” joke here)
October 26th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
isn’t she in that web thing with WilW?
October 26th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
A little too painful to watch for my tastes. Sorry, BA, but your (well-placed) crush on Ms. Day has blinded you!
October 26th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Oh my Joss Whedon, that was awesome.
October 26th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
[...] De volgende tien minuten durende video van Felicia Day, welbekend Amerikaans actrice, MOET je echt zien. Tien minuten hoogst vermakelijke sterrenkunde, met name botsende sterrenstelsels. Schitterend gebracht, nietwaar? Komt nog bij dat ik vanavond tot 9 uur een vergadering had, toen nog een uur terug reizen naar huis. Ergo, dan komt zo’n video erg handig uit. Bron: Bad Astronomy. [...]
October 26th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
I love the IRrelevant Astronomy videos! This replaces the “Back in Time” episode with Linda Hamilton as my favorite.
October 26th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
I had no idea who she is until I looked up her bio. I do not remember her from any of the dozen or so TV appearances I must have seen. Ah well, my heart was reserved for Emma Caulfield in any case.
October 26th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
Are we pre-rolling? Yes.
When will we stop pre-rolling and start rolling? How can you tell the difference?
October 26th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Don’t you have a wife, Phil?
October 26th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Felicia Day! Hot damn. *sigh*
October 26th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
That was hilarious!
And quite informative too.
October 26th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
The following line killed me. Luckily I was resurrected.
“What in the name of Joss Whedon was that?”
October 26th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
I have a marginally unhealthy crush on Felicia Day, too. I loved that video. And The Guild. And you got to meet her. I’m not jealous, though. Really. (ok. I am).
October 26th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
@Cory
I have to respectfully disagree. This was quite funny. The combination of parody of sensationalism and the inside Felicia Day jokes makes this a total WIN in my book.
I do have to disclose that I actually kind of enjoy many of the videos that Phil describes as “painful to watch” (I enjoy eating cheese as well). But I think that this video rises above the usual fromage*. This is actually the kind of video I’ve come to expect from Sean Astin, but this is the best one yet. A large portion of the videos from the YouTube channel that posted this video are from either Sean Astin or Robert Hurt. Dr. Hurt makes straight-up educational videos (which are quite good IMHO) and Dr. Astin tends to go for the quirky, funny presentation. This is his best one to date (getting a geek goddess/web celebrity to participate sure helped).
*For those of you who are Paul & Storm fans, might I recommend their FROMAGE t-shirt. It’s a simple black t-shirt with fromage written in French, Semaphore, and ASL on the front. I know it seems silly, but it’s a great conversation starter.
October 26th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
If you like this, I would urge you to watch this…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGK84Poeynk
October 26th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Did I think the videa was funny? yes! Entertaining? YES. Do I now have a crush on Felicia? Discretion is the better part of staying married…
October 26th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
I don’t usually watch videos that are longer than about 3 minutes, but I stayed with this one. What a hoot!! A spoonful of humor makes the science go down.
October 26th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
Awesome video.
@Blue
Also awesome. Thanks for posting that.
October 26th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
OK, so I saw “Dr. Horrible” and all, but really had no inkling about this woman. Now this video comes along, and it’s absolutely brilliant, so I have to hit the IMDB.
What’s the result? I presently must – *MUST* – watch all of “The Guild”.
I’m afraid my crush will be all too healthy before I’m done.
October 26th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
My favorite line is “Is this your first internet video?” and Felicia slowly shakes her head… Very nice, especially since I use Spitzer and have lots of friends who work on the instruments. A little goofy, yes, but it’s for a good cause so I don’t mind.
October 26th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
That was one video presentation! Loved it – THX BA!
I have an marginally unhealthy crush on Felicia Day.M
Me too now!
Hmm .. Perhaps the BA could propose a collaboration with her on the next book?
Or do a video or even audiobook version of the current Death from the Skies maybe?
October 26th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
Hold on a minute here.
A galactic-sized cloud of crushed glass?
For real?
October 26th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
Great video!
Just one minor technical nit of sorts. Something that the wonderful Felicia could’ve mentioned but didn’t :
Assuming I recall correctly for the BA’s book, by the time Andromeda and our Milky Way collide, our Sun will already be a red giant star won’t it?
And when our Sun balloons out into a red giant won’t that pretty much be curtains for Earth anyhow? At best it’ll be a molten lava ball with a Venus like atmosphere being stripped away by the denser faster red giant solar winds. At worst Earth’ll spiral into the tidal bulge it’ll raise on our Sun and be utterly and completely destroyed.
Then again, isn’t that five billion years away not three? Although I think I did hear /read that the Earth will only be habitable for another billion or so years regardless with even the aging main-sequence / pre-sub dwarf / or sub-dwarf Sun getting considerably hotter and brighter as it runs through more of its Hydrogen fuel. Right?
Upshot is, the collison with M 31 and the formation of “Milkomeda” will be the least of our worries then.
PS. What happens to the satellite galaxies of each of the main spirals here – assuming there’re still around? Will the Magellanic Clouds, M32 & M110 play any role in this celestial drama or will they have been gobbled up by then or will they just orbit as satellites of the newly merged ellipitical giant?
October 26th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
Hold on a minute here.
A galactic-sized cloud of crushed glass?
For real?
Please explain.
October 26th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
@Blue,
Don’t forget “Glorious Dawn” from the same vidder:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgiXGELjbc
October 26th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
The last time I did the research, Andromeda was 1 – 2 billion years away. I don’;t know where they got the 3 billion figure, but their research is probably more up to date than mine. The Sun won’t be a red giant for several billion years past that time, though it will already have heated up to the point where life on Earth will be difficult if not impossible (think boiling oceans).
Plenty of time to find a solution, though!
October 26th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
Shes a doll.
October 27th, 2009 at 12:11 am
Ms Day is indeed most crush-worthy!
More astonishing is someone that has anything to do with NASA made a hip, funny video. They are usually one small step up from the pain of a Microsoft product launch video, but this one was wonderful.
October 27th, 2009 at 12:16 am
[...] Felicia Day does a NASA PSA – Felicia Day, best known for her role in Joss Whedon’s hit internet musical Dr. [...]
October 27th, 2009 at 1:11 am
FTW. Very cute vid. The Sean Astin thing was hilarious.
October 27th, 2009 at 4:42 am
I see what you did there Dr. Plait. You wrote a book?
October 27th, 2009 at 5:19 am
This is fantastic, I loved it. I usually don’t watch an entire vid if it’s long but that was good.
The satire etc with the final movie’s just great. Even with Felicia, it’d be good
October 27th, 2009 at 8:12 am
Just so it doesn’t go unappreciated, comment #1 made me chuckle. Get thee to a punnery.
October 27th, 2009 at 9:06 am
How many film awards do you have Phil?
October 27th, 2009 at 9:48 am
Heck, I have a crush on Felicia Day, and I am the wife
October 27th, 2009 at 10:04 am
For those of you with a crush on Miss Day (of which I am one), here is a video to make the crush all the more… um, crushing. Or something.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urNyg1ftMIU
October 27th, 2009 at 11:08 am
39. DemetriusOfPharos:
OK, now I just HAVE to watch Guild. Felicia was great in Dr. Horrible. Now I know why.
GAry 7
October 27th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Sorry but,
Booooooooring ! And not funny.
Signature: The call of truth.
October 27th, 2009 at 11:41 am
@DemetriusOfPharos
Yes. That video is rather crush-inducing. And it makes even more sense once you’ve watched The Guild.
October 27th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Oh my. That was a great video. Who’ll join me in voting Felicia as empress of the Earth?
October 27th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Yes, I do want to date your avatar….
J/P=?
October 27th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Waddya mean voting Felicia as mere empress of the Earth? Earth schmerth!! Felicia for Queen of the Galaxies!
October 27th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
Phil: You think it was *your* book she read to get her astronomy? No. I think it was *my* book.
The 3 billion year figure for the Andromeda/Milky Way merger is based on one possible set of the transverse velocities. The radial velocities show Andromeda moving toward us but we don’t know the transverse velocity part of its motion to distinguish between two galaxies orbiting each other in elliptical orbits from those on a collision course.
John Dubinski created some of the simulations used in the Spitzer/Felicia Day video and he gives the 3 billion year figure on his page about the Andromeda/Milky Way merger at http://www.galaxydynamics.org/tflops.html
That page includes a simulation of what the merger will look like from the Earth’s vantage point. Cool spacey music too. (Also see his article in the October 2006 Sky + Tel)
October 28th, 2009 at 3:13 am
Eh, she’s a bit plain for a redhead. Semi-interesting personality though.
November 3rd, 2009 at 10:53 am
Dr. Phil, I have seen a credible argument that radiative frequency pollution from vaccine production has partially prevented the galaxy from naturally correcting its course, contributing to the collision problem the so-called experts are pretending to address. Apparently, this was allowed because it would cause solar system warming which could be passed off on carbon dioxide, and also because of a mistaken belief that the fine tuning of the galaxy was not intelligently designed but evolved, and therefore it would not be a problem because of natural selection. Once again, we see the Butterfly Effect of mankind’s tampering with the system God or whatever higher power you accept has created. It might seem like something out of a fantastic novel, but apparently it’s all true. Until our paradigm shifts, we’re essentially “flying blind” in the belief that Mother Nature does not know best, or that scientists know more than the contents of their labs. Keep in mind that what you, an astronomer, see of the great, wonderful universe is literally a reflection and often a computer comes between you and what you are “seeing.”
October 16th, 2011 at 10:28 am
@ Fishing #45
Queen of the COLLIDING Galaxies! Kaboom!!!