The world has lost perhaps its most famous icon for promoting logic and science. Mr. Spock aka Leonard Nimoy.

Courtesy of The New York Times:

Leonard Nimoy, the sonorous, gaunt-faced actor who won a worshipful global following as Mr. Spock, the resolutely logical human-alien first officer of the Starship Enterprise in the television and movie juggernaut “Star Trek,” died on Friday morning at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles. He was 83. 

His wife, Susan Bay Nimoy, confirmed his death, saying the cause was end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. 

Mr. Nimoy announced that he had the disease last year, attributing it to years of smoking, a habit he had given up three decades earlier. He had been hospitalized earlier in the week. 

I am one of a vanishing breed who remembers actually watching Star Trek when it made its first appearance on television in the sixties.

I, of course, was too young to pick up on the not so subtle messages inserted in each episode against war, against organized religion, and against racism. Instead I was incredibly fascinated with the whole beaming of people on and off the Enterprise, and of course the space monsters, aliens, and green skinned women.

However as the years have gone by, and I have seen every TV episode multiple times, and each of the movies at least once, I have become incredibly impressed with the concept of the show and its amazing cast.

And of course for me the most impressive cast member was always Leonard Nimoy.

For an awkward, precocious child trying to make sense of the world, and questioning the "facts" being presented by the adults, I always found myself relating to Mr. Spock most of all.

But let's face it, EVERYBODY loves Spock.

Even the President of the United States.
 
I personally have always thought that this Mr. Spock quote was his best:

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one."

And one I should mention that I have adopted as a personal creed. Which of course puts me at odds with certain political ideologies I could name.

Finally I would offer Mr. Nimoy the traditional Vulcan send off of "Live long and Prosper" but considering the circumstances that would be.....illogical.

"To Be Takei." New documentary about the life of George Takei.

Courtesy of Fox News:  

Takei's life is the subject of a new documentary, "To Be Takei," which is available on Direct TV from July 3 to August 5 and will be released in theaters August 22. The film explores everything from Takei's childhood imprisonment in a Japanese internment camp to his relationship with his husband, Brad. 

"It documents my story, my life, from the time I was a child imprisoned in US camps, barbed-wire prison camps, simply because we happened to look like the people who bombed Pearl Harbor," Takei said. 

Takei preaches acceptance in diversity in every facet of life - which is why he posts "Star Wars" content as often as he shares "Star Trek" photos. 

"'Star Trek' was science fiction. 'Star Wars' is science fantasy, and that's a lot of fun too," Takei said. "We're a diverse country with many different races, many different religions, many different histories and backgrounds and we have to respect each other and that's the essential message of our documentary 'To Be Takei.'"

Seriously is there anybody who does not love George Takei?

I remember really being a fan of his during his Star Trek days, but what he is doing these days on social media is actually more impressive than the fact that as a gay Asian actor he played such in important role in an iconic television series that his still believed to this day.

By the way if you are not following George on Twitter you are really missing out.

Conservatives freak out over sci-fi show's use of original Pledge of Allegiance.

Courtesy of the Friendly Atheist:  

In the year 2024, they apparently still say the Pledge of Allegiance in school, but it doesn’t include the phrase “Under God” and there’s still controversy when people don’t stand during its recitation. 

At least that’s the world envisioned in the new CW show “Star-Crossed.”

Now as many of you probably already know, the original pledge did not contain the words "under God."

However that did not stop the conservative outrage.

I live in One Nation UNDER GOD, thank you very much #StarCrossed
— Tammy Swanger (@popcult_maven29) February 18, 2014

I'm not watching this show because they took God out of the Pledge of Allegiance #StarCrossed
— Samantha Sutton (@Sammy_Sutt) February 18, 2014

@seanhannity Another L leaning new show on the CW, just cut "UNDER GOD" out of the pledge of allegiances. Another example of the PC police
— Cathy G (@southpaw816) February 18, 2014

Personally I think the show is probably onto something, I have every confidence that in the future we will probably no longer have religion forced down our throat at every turn.

Then we can live finally in a country that REALLY appreciates the separation between church and state.

You know, like our Founding Fathers intended.

(H/T to Raw Story)

Karl Rove takes his cues from the ScyFy network in newest attack on Obamacare.

Courtesy of Political Ticker: 

Karl Rove-backed Crossroads GPS has a new online attack video criticizing Obamacare in a howling, chomping mass of fury and destruction that shall forever terrify the shark/tornado/health care-phobics of the world. 

Parodying the SyFy network's phenomenon "Sharknado," the anti-Obamacare version is called "ObamaCareNado." 

"Just when you thought it was safe to go to the doctor," the schlock-stick narrator tells viewers, "a rising tide of health care costs." 

Tornadoes rip through scenery and people in the 47-second 'trailer,' bearing the faces of prime Crossroads targets like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, and of course the president. 

"Nobody is safe from its wrath," the video says of "ObamaCareNado." "Leaving a path of destruction through our economy."

Sharknado for those of you who had the good taste to hear nothing about it was a ridiculously over the top low. budget cable, film that took advantage of the Discovery Channel's Shark Week by combining a natural disaster with sharks.

References to it exploded all over Twitter and other social media outlets, and apparently that was all it took to get Karl Rove's attention.

After all combining actual problems with the imaginary ones inside of his own head is a Karl Rove point of pride.

Interestingly enough this comes while news of the incredible savings enjoyed in New York due to the Affordable Care Act are all over the news, and on the same day that President Obama gave a speech touting its many positive impacts on the lives of the American people.

You know at this point it is becoming almost impossible to miss the fact that the Republicans are living in abject fear that Obamacare will be a huge success and they will forever be the party of obstructionism that did everything in their power to keep the American people from receiving better healthcare and lower insurance premiums.

At some point you would think that some GOP politicians might start jumping off from this Republican version of the Titanic and start swimming to safety before the waters of public opinion pull the party into the inky blackness of obscurity and irrelevance.

But instead they simply keep steaming ahead as if completely oblivious to the monstrous icebergs rising up out of the fog before them. And yet no such clarity seems to be asserting itself.

Well as a Democrat I do not feel compelled to point out the obvious, however once all the dust has settled I do plan to dance on a couple of partisan graves. Just letting everybody know.

Mr. Spock's amazing 1968 letter to a young biracial fan who felt isolated and all alone.

In 1968 Leonard Nimoy received a letter from a young fan, that he thought not only required a response but that the response be reprinted in a teen magazine called FAVE so that other bans dealing with similar problems could read it.

Here is how that letter appeared in FAVE in 1968:

Click here if image fails to enlarge.

Click here if image fails to enlarge.

You know I am ALWAYS more impressed by individuals who stood up for equality when it was still risky to do so. In 1968 Leonard Nimoy certainly ran the risk of turning off certain fans who were not yet ready to treat all people the same, but clearly he did not care.

He felt this young person's pain and responded to it like a human being. (Despite being half Vulcan of course.) And that is admirable on ANY planet.

I have always been a fan of Star Trek, and Spock was always my favorite, this just reinforces that I have good taste in TV shows and the actors who work on them.

(H/T to My Star Trek Scrapbook)

Your early Sunday morning, "moment of geek."

Special brownie points if you recognize which movie this image is from.

Here is an absolutely INCREDIBLE timeline dedicated to science fiction.

Even if you are not a fan of Sci Fi, you simply have to check it out.

P.S. By the way I am pretty sure I have seen virtually ALL of the movies and television shows that make up the timeline. And not ONE of the hundreds of hours spent doing so were wasted in my opinion either.

Apparently if Sarah Palin WERE to be elected President, Moon Nazis would attack earth. See what you almost did Republicans?

I have to admit when I first saw this I thought, WTF?

So I did some web surfing and found out that this is a movie that was made in Finland, ans is meant to be a dark comedy. (I think we can agree that ANY film that has Palin as our President sort of has to be a dark comedy.)

Any how I think we can put this in the "just for fun" category. After all politics can be so depressing sometimes, and this is certainly a change form that!

Check out the movie poster!

Gee you don't think that Gingrich was on to something about those moon bases?

And here we thought he was crazy!