Just received confirmation that this Friday night, during the series finale of BSG, viewers will be treated to the sneakiest of sneak previews of Stargate: Universe. It’s a great-looking promo so, if you happen to be in the neighborhood, check it out.
You know, one of the great things about this job is the opportunity it presents to meet or connect with some very interesting people you may not normally have crossed paths with had you, say, opted for a career in law or gone and opened up that Detective Agency. I’m not necessarily talking about actors or producers or even writers, but the men and women who supply one half of the science fiction equation. Individuals like Bill Nye, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and astronomers David James Tholen and Roy Tucker, the co-discovers of 99942 Apophis. Now 99942 Apophis may sound familiar for a couple of reasons. One: It’s the near-Earth asteroid that had everyone abuzz when it was revealed that there was a 2.7% probability it would strike the Earth in 2029. Further observation quashed the likelihood but did suggest the asteroid would pass through a gravitational keyhole, thereby raising the specter of possible impact in 2036. Even further observation revealed the asteroid would probably miss the keyhole, drastically reducing the chances of an impact to a remote but nevertheless unnerving 1 in 12.3 million (last time anyone checked). And two: The asteroid happens to share a name with a certain SG-1 villain.
As it turns out, this wasn’t mere coincidence (The part about the asteroid headed towards us IS a coincidence. At least, all indications are it’s a coincidence. No, I’m referring to the naming of the asteroid.). Apparently, Dave and Roy are big Stargate fans. According to Bill Cooke’s article, “Asteroid Apophis set for a makeover” that appeared in the August 18, 2005 issue of Astronomy:
“However, mythology may not have been the only consideration in naming Apophis. Codiscoverers Dave Tholen and Roy Tucker are fans of the TV series Stargate SG-1. The show’s most persistent villain is Apophis, an alien also named for the Egyptian god. “We considered a number of names, but ‘Apophis’ kept floating to the top,” says Tucker. “Apophis was a very fitting name for 2004 MN4 not only because of its threatening nature, but also because of its evolution from an Aten asteroid to an Apollo asteroid during the 2029 encounter.”
How cool is that? Wait, I’ll answer for you: Very! Not only the fact that astronomers watch our show and enjoy it (rather than, presumably, screening it so that they can point and laugh at the ridiculous science which, in all fairness, they may well do anyway), but that they’d demonstrate their affection for SG-1 by naming a potentially catastrophic asteroid after one of its recurring villains. Of course the fact that it will miss us negates the possibility but I couldn’t help but think of the terrific amount of publicity the franchise would have received if, say, Apophis took out Australia. “Hey, did you hear? Australia was obliterated by an asteroid named after Apophis from the t.v. series Stargate: SG-1.” “SG-1? Really? I should go pick up the box set!”
Anyway, I remember reading about the asteroid many years ago and, when it came up in conversation the other day, I thought “What the hell.” and dropped Dave and Roy an email, thanking them for the tribute and petitioning them to name their next big discovery after me (preferably NOT a gas giant). We ended up trading emails in which they declared themselves free for guest cameos, offered to go 12 rounds onscreen with Neil deGrasse Tyson over Pluto’s planetary status, and promised to do their darndest to ensure that, if any future compositional analysis of the asteroid turned up a new mineral, they would name it “naquadah“. I suggested they should swing by the blog for a friendly Q&A. And they kindly agreed.
So, start gathering up your killer asteroid, astronomy, and plutoid-related questions. What kind of instruments are used to detect extrasolar planets? Why aren’t accretion disks around giant stars as hot as accretion disks around black holes? Who do you think would win in a fist fight, Teal’c or Ronon? Let’s ensure that, in addition to being a generally annoying time-waster, this blog can occasionally be interesting and informative.
Speaking of Q&A’s – I have more than enough questions for Kate in the Art Department to keep her busy for a while. In fact, I think she may have to quit her job at Stargate in order to fully dedicate herself to answering them all.
A good day today. I spent the entire morning sitting in Director Peter DeLuise’s office talking about past experiences on the Stargate franchise and looking ahead to Universe – and the episode he’ll be directing, Fire, in particular. To those of you asking – Yes, Peter has kindly agreed to do a fan Q&A as well BUT I will not be gathering questions for him until he has completed work on his episode. So file them away for now and I’ll let you know when.
After lunch, I read a script and made some significant progress on the short story. I may well make that June 2009 deadline after all!
Oh, and speaking of interesting aspects of my job – Paul called us into his office today and pointed out the window. Down below, a gathering was being treated to what looked like a falconry show-and-tell. No idea what the hell was going on, but it certainly looked like fun. So much so that I’m considering dropping my aspirations to become a reiki master so that I can pursue falconry whenever Stargate ends. What other job woudl allow me to enjoy the great outdoors, learn a unique new skill set, AND possess the means to claw out my enemy’s eyes. What fun!
And, finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t make mention of our new office assistant, Ashleigh, who has, in three short days, demonstrated impressive skill in her ability to address inter-office issues in a prompt and courteous manner, head off potential crisis situations, taste our lunches to make sure no one is trying to poison us, and track down and capture a ferret running loose in Stage 2 without a proper visitor’s badge. Despite the fact that she’s vegetarian, I like her a lot – although her attempts to make us more environmentally conscious may prove her undoing. I already miss those helicopter rides to the Destiny set.
Today’s entry is dedicated to Jedi43. Happy Birthday! or Get Well Soon! I can’t remember which.
Now, no offence, but if Australia’s gonna be wiped out by some space flotsam, I’d rather it was something named after an aspect of SGA, not SG1.
And \o/ for vegetarians! Go Ashleigh!
The Syracuse Orange will win the NCAA Tournament!
Ahh, yet another woman to help things run as they should. Now if you could find a female writer to contribute, things would be as close to perfect as they could be…
Sounds like you’re having a blast, between scouring up guests for the blog, hanging around on set, and otherwise tending to your duties. I’m also pleasantly amazed to see that Sci Fi will actually air their teaser at a time and night I will be watching.
Oh my. Questions for Mr. Tucker and Tholen. First, what is your area of expertise in the field of astronomy? Which other objects have you discovered and named? Do you have any names you would like to bestow on a discovered object, and what type of object would you like to bestow those names? Astronmer Phil Plaitt is known as the Bad Astronomer. What nom de’guerre would you choose for yourselves? Thanks for all the work you do and for helping us marvel at how much there is out there beyond our own little pretty blue mudball.
Mr. M, a very strong book recommendation. Playing God, by Sarah Zettel. I haven’t had a book grab me from the early chapters till the end like this in months. A good, solid sci fi offering with steadily mounting tension and bursts of action.
That would be awesome if they did end up calling something naquadah. Then geeky seventh-graders can get as excited as I did when I had to make a model of the element krypton using styrofoam balls.
Questions for the astronomers:
– What percentage of your time working do you spend doing math? (I ask because I thought about being an astronomer in high school, until I realized the amount of math involved, so I decided to become a writer instead. But I still wonder exactly how much math is involved.)
– If you discovered a new M-class planet (or, you know, Earth-like planet for the non-Trekkies) and had free rein to name it whatever you wanted, what would you name it?
– What do you think are the chances of their being intelligent, sentient life elsewhere in our galaxy? What do you think are the chances of there being non-sentient, animal life?
– What do you think is the better term for people from Earth: Earthling? Terran? Something else?
Aw, man! I squandered my opportunity to inanely squeal “FIRST!!!11!!” and have it actually be meaningful.
Wow Joe! You’re really treating us to some truly interesting guest bloggers!!!
I’m really excited about the sneak peek of SGU on friday, but don’t want to watch the finale of BSG when I have yet to watch the rest of the episodes! Will it be airing during the SG-1 repeat that night as well?
Questions for Dave and Roy:
1) How far away do you live from your primary telescope? (I live in Cleveland and the astronomers at my school have to travel to Tucson, Arizona to collect data!)
2) What inspired you to pursue astronomy?
3) What is your favorite scifi novel?
4) What is your opinion on the possible existence of wormholes?
Ohhh, and regarding Ashleigh (who seems AWESOME!): wasn’t Alex Levine an office assistant at first? He ended up writing a couple episodes. So there’s hope for those of us who’d like a female represented in the writing process, right?
Also, I’ve heard Scalzi’s Zoe’s Tale was written very well from the female perspective, so hopefully he’ll keep the scales balanced a bit, even if he isn’t female 😉
Questions for Drs. Tholen and Tucker:
1. Given the US refusal to go metric any time soon, couldn’t we keep an imperial list of planets that includes Pluto?
2. Are Nico Marquardt’s numbers really that ridiculous? Was it a probability of impact issue or a negligible effect from a satellite impact that made his calculation so unlikely?
3. The largest of dwarf planets? Isn’t that like being the smartest guy in the dumb class? Seriously, guys, Tombaugh’d roll over in his grave if he hadn’t been cremated and shot into space (partially).
4. Did you ever consider Inubis in naming (being fans, you likely know he once sent an asteroid on a collision course with Earth) or did you think it would be in rather poor taste if it turned out the thing would hit us after all?
5. Who is your second favorite Beatle?
6. Look, confound the entire criteria! If we find some rock way out in the boonies of the Oort cloud that’s twice the size of Pluto and they wanna call it a dwarf, so be it. Let’s just keep this one, man(s). Seriously, guys, Tombaugh’d roll over in his grave if he hadn’t been cremated and later shot into space.
Heya Joe,
Pft! An asteroid won’t wipe out ALL of Australia. If Apophis hits Australia, it will only hit the Sydney Harbour Bridge. If there’s something that apocalyptic movies have taught me, it’s that asteroids and aliens always know their cliche Earth landmarks.
Definitely going to have a think about some questions. You are very fortunate to have your life cross the paths of some fascinating people.
As for your football, I put money on dumb luck and there’s some semi-Scientific evidence as a backing to that statement. I did say semi.
The office footy tipping competition over the years of 2000 – 2003 proved an interesting insight into the anomaly that is, the more you know about a sport, the worse you become at predicting it.
My first year at a new company and I was a relatively new girlfriend to the AFL (Aussie Football) ranks only being privy to what was discussed at group dinners and general comments on injuries that a player I didn’t know, had. There was expectation from other participants in the firm because, according to them, I had inside information. Allegedly I’d like to add.
So, first year at footy tipping and I was judging each game based on the eyes closed with random finger pointing method. I won that year’s tipping.
The second year I was fully ensconced into the AFL girlfriend fraternity and I was starting to compare last year’s games to the year before that, noted members of teams that had been drafted to other teams and mentally logged some of the player’s injuries and how this may effect their game. I came 4th.
The third year I was making this game vs last game comparisons, vs long-term trends, watching the player ins and outs for the weekend, knew the childhood stories of groups of players, their fears, what long term injuries they had, whether their kids were keeping them up at night. I had all of the information! That prize money was as good as mine. Mwha-haha-hahahahahahaha.
I came last.
The 4th year, when I thought about how much information I’d accumulated over the years on football, I decided there was no chance of moving up that tipping ladder so I decided to cut my losses while I was, well, last.
My apologies to Peter De Luise, but each time I see his name or his grinning face pops up, I get the Cannonball Run theme song stuck in my head. I have issues with theme songs. I can still sing you the Chickadee Chicken ad from the early 80’s if you ever find an occasion it would be required such as, such as, nope, can’t think of any reason you’d ever need that. Shame I can’t mark it for deletion.
Deni B – Oh, no trouble at all with the confusion. Looking forward to seeing your pooch! And a $7k vet bill. Ouch. They are tremendously expensive dogs when it’s time to go to the vet and they also seem to be rather accident prone.
Anne Teldy – Hip, hip, hooray to some decent news for you.
Riley – I’m now hiding under my desk with embarrassment. It’s rather dusty.
Patricia Lee – Happy belated Birthday!
Sparrow_hawk – Thanks for the heads up on the BOTM. I’ll let you know about the other thing when I get a chance to do some hunting. Was that vague enough?
Das – This post out-rambles any of your posts!
PS: Joe – Cool bird! So many uses.
Note To Self: Do NOT perform technical support on the phone will typing a comment to post on Joe’s blog. Little things like closing your HTML can be overlooked. Bugger. Sorry Joe.
I’m hungry.
Check.
question for Dave and Roy –
why are so many things (including those thingies floating in space :P) in nature round?
Hey Joe! Check this article out:
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/150527-NEAR-EARTH-OBJECTS-Preparing-for-Doomsday
Should do wonders for your fear of cosmic gravel.
BTW, Ashleigh looks like she’ll be turning all you guys into Stepford Bosses doing her bureaucratic bidding by the end of the month. Watch out for those “coloured” paperclips…
—————————————————————
And a question for Tucker & Tholen:
Don’t know if he was before your time, but did either of you ever know Dr. Peter Millman? I used to deliver our library’s copy of Marsden’s Minor Planets Newsletter to him as soon as it arrived in the building [NRC/HIA-Ottawa]. He was a great guy!
———————————————————————
Joe, you would have loved talking to Peter! He had the coolest *stuff* in his office – some great Trek items [this guy was in his 80s!]. Unfortunately he passed away before Stargate, otherwise, if he was still around, his office would have ended up looking a *LOT* like Dr.Jackson’s AND probably with a Gate stuffed behind the door! He was one of the original members of the IAU Nomenclature section.
oh man, I have to say today’s entry was one of the most chuckly happy I have read in a long time – you always succeed in cracking me up. Falconry? hahaha!
Look forward to the astronomer Q&A, though I have no idea what kind of question to ask without sounding like a complete dumbass.
And oh, the NEXT ginormous rock to suddenly be “discovered” the day BEFORE *almost* hitting us, should be named “Samantha Carter”!
BUT, if it *does* hit, then it can be named after McKay!
;-]
That is awesome about them being fans. I’ve always been impressed by the accurate science in the Stargate series. Recently in discussions about the BSG ending and the black hole, some people think they are going through the black hole and find an earlier version of Earth, and I pointed them to the SG-1 episode where the away team gets stuck on the planet near the black hole where time is passing at a normal rate to them, but back at Stargate Command, they appear not to be moving, and that that is actually correct about black holes; they aren’t portals for time travel.
And belated Happy Birthday to PatriciaLee, too. My birthday was March 17th. And yes, I have Irish blood in me.
Can’t wait to see the preview of Stargate Universe Friday night. Surely Scifi.com will have it on their site afterwards for those people who don’t want to watch BSG. If I knew how to get my DVR from my satellite TV to my computer, I’d upload it to YouTube, but I’m not that computer literate.
I, too, love the commentaries, especially Mr. DeLuise’s. I was recently re-watching episodes of Seaquest on Netflix where he was on seasons 2 and 3. There was one episode where his brother and his father and him were all in the same episode. It was very funny.
You get all the interesting people to answer Q&As.
I have questions. I just hope they’re not weird or stupid.
1) What university are the two of you associated? Do you teach or do research or both?
2) Do you ever watch a television show and groan at how bad the “science” is? I sincerely hope that Stargate isn’t one of them.
3) How do you spend your downtime? I hope it’s not to break out the telescope you have at home?
4) I have many friends and family that are into that hobby. Do either one of you even have a telescope at home? It can’t compare to some of those monster telescopes on Mt. Wilson in California.
Thanks so much!
Coucou Joseph!
Oui j’ai entendu parler de cette astéroide, et j’adore son nom^^. Sa fait class de se dire “Apophis va détuire la planet”.
De toute façon il y tellement de catastrophe que je me demande bien comment la terre sera détruite.
Bon je ne serais pas la jusqu’a Dimanche car je passe 4 jours avec mon cheri.
Bisou, a bientot.
@ Narelle from Aus
Thanks for the b-day wishes… I had a great day! Any chance you are coming to the Vancouver Con this April?
Cheers
Anyone know how crazymom1 and her family are going?
Hey Joe,
Allie and Jeremy did some falconry on our last trip to Ireland. It was fun! I think you’d be good at it. Think of all the interesting things your bird could get you to try! It’d be like a Weird Food Acquisition of the Day kind of thing. 😆
Right now I have one question for Drs. Tholen and Tucker:
If another asteroid is headed for earth do you think you could name it Ba’al? Or maybe Todd?
I’ll try to think of something brilliant to ask later.
Trish
@Green: And now I’m hungry! 😛
Question for Dr. Tholen and Tucke: if you had a faster than light ship which object in our sky would you like to visit first and why.
If you could discover or prove anything in astronomy what would it be.
What do you consider to be the most accurant use of science that you have seen use in an episode and what was the most inaccurate use of science you seen us in Stargate.
Do you think we will discover lots of earth type planets out there or do you think they are rare. How do you think until the first one is discovered.
Which side if the debate are you on in argument over whether pluto planet or a dwarf planet. And if you agree it a planet, should every object discovered, It there expected to be hundreds be class the same or should pluto be kept special and class differently from the rest.
I would love an asteroid to be named after Baron Destructo actually…think of the media reports!
Amz
Oooh!!! Totally looking forward to the future guests. Can you track down the falcon lady too? How about Ashleigh? (I’m a “Go-to-Girl” too! Not as easy as it looks…especially backwards, & in heels!)
Fist fight? Ronon. Remember, Teal’c spent like 70 years in that SG1 season finale thing so he’s essentially an old man now. Ronon would probably do a swift kick against his hernia and he’d be out of it for the rest of the season.
Questions for Dave Tholen and Roy Tucker:
What was first: Interest in Science or interest in Science-Fiction?
How many astroids of “to the earth dangerous”-size are running through the neighbourhood of earth?
Do you know them all or do new ones keep “popping up”?
Are you going to name more of them after SG1 villains?
What do you think about the end of SGA and the beginning of SGU?
Take out Australia!?
But havent you seen only America gets astroids, earthquakes, tidal waves, aliens, plagues, zombies and vampires. Nothing ever touches us. The world could end and we’ll still be sitting here in 5 years wondering why SGU hasnt aired yet.
I thought Ba’al was SG-1’s most persistent villain.
DD
YAY! got my ‘puter back with all new innards and it works better than ever! Now I’ve just got to remember my passwords for all the sites I visit- DANG!
Ashleigh is looking very competent, she’ll be running the place in no time!
Now back to de-virusing my daughter’s laptop after she let her antivirus software run out! bloody kids!
My question for Dave Tholen and Roy Tucker is a simple one: what can we do to convince our governments across the world to do more to track Near Earth Objects? Last I checked, we weren’t putting enough resources into protecting this planet. (I can’t be the only one who worries about a Tunguska-level event taking place over a populated area.)
Anyone interested in the global threat of asteroids should check out http://www.space-explorers.org and the PDF they have called “Asteroid Threats: A Call for Global Response.”
@ Narelle – Actually, that post out-italicized any of my posts! I think that means, in this, you come in first. 😉
Questions for Dave & Roy:
What are your thoughts on the Hubble vs its proposed replacements, the JWST & ATLAS Telescope, and do you think the latter (ATLAS) is just a dream that will be made obsolete before it ever comes to be?
Thank you for your time.
Deirdre/das
Hah … Apophis. Nice. I would’ve gone for Ba’al, but that could just be me. I’ve always been a Ba’al fan. Apophis was great, but he kept coming back! I found myself groaning in irritation whenever I found an episode he was on. That said, I enjoyed every episode. So, maybe I don’t hate him as much as I thought…
I love birds of prey. They’re so majestic and beautiful. I’ve always been told that if a hawk crosses your path it’s good luck (Cherokee belief). I can’t find any source that backs this up, but it’s a nice thought.
I will DVR BSG tomorrow! I’ve never watched BSG. I’ve always wanted to, and I’m still trying to get a hold of the DVDs. I’ll get caught up eventually…
Hi again Mr M!
Just curious..re: your short story…How did our hero get out of the room? I was thinking about this over the weekend, and, as I have no clue how he ended up in the room or in what time frame…How about a discarded mobile phone stuck in the corner behind the sofa..with just enough battery life to make ONE call!!
HELLO ASHLEIGH!! Welcome to the madness that is Stargate!! You look like a decent, sensible and intelligent lady….what in God’s name are you doing working here???? (only joking!)Also, I would wager you have Irish ancestry? In any case, welcome and I hope we see more of you on this blog!
Best to all Mr M!
Shirt’n’Tie
Hey Joe,
Have you heard of any talks about a potential Behind The Gate special being aired 1 week in front of the SG-U Series Premiere?
Y’know, Like SG-1 and the first few SG-A seasons used to have? (Before including that Battlecrap Galactica show in em)
Thanks for your time,
Angelus
That should prove to be an awesome Q&A
I think I have a new food for you to taste if you haven’t already. One of our freelance editors shares a Polish background with me and kindly brought in a box of Pazki for me to wrap my mouth around at my leisure (on account of my looming birthday tomorrow).
The delightful smell and taste of those bad boys reminded me of my time spent teaching in Poland and I thought I would pass it on to you.
If you are ever in a Polish bakery try some freshly baked Pazki, I would go with the plum ones myself as they are my favourite but they put different fillings in them if you are not into the plum.
Cheers!
Ack, ack, ACK!!!!!!!! 😯
http://www.newson6.com/global/story.asp?s=10025233
Geez…now I gotta be afraid of bananas…
das
Your p.o.v. shots of the Falcon is exactly where I’d be given my intense and irrational fear of birds, sugar gliders, and monkeys, even sock monkeys (shudder).
How are the fur-babies doing? Are they keeping down their meals?
You do birthday wishes. Mine’s October 28th, I will be Scary 35 years old!!!
Joseph, this is a bit off topic. If my memory serves me right you are a fan of The Tudors. Wowway and Showtime are allowing people to view The Tudors: Season 3, Episode 1 online at:
http://portal.wowway.net/video/?vendid=48&vid=235180
I’m not sure if you or anyone who is not a subscriber of Wowway can view this. But you never know…..
@ Joe – Oh come on, Teal’c – hands down 🙂
@Narelle – still trying to get used to this new computer with the Vista (POS), but getting a blog up with some pics, so as soon as I figure it out, I’ll definitely post some. You’re right about them being accident prone, but then add some Potassium Bromide and some Phenobarbital to their diet and you’re talking walking disaster. So, now I stay home to take care of him, get much BS over it from friends and family, but he’s here, he’s well and he’s happy 🙂 By the way, my daughter saw your pics and thought it was Elway (not remembering that Elway has a white spot on his chest).
You’re hilarious! We have the same humor…you’re just a heckuvalot funnier. I hate that.
Did you try the “Old Man’s Diet”?
Hi Joe
Got a couple questions if you don’t mind
1. What is the budget for Air (all three parts)?
2. What will the budget for a normal one part Universe part be?
3. Will the Atlantis movie budget be 7 million dollars?
4. Will you help Paul write Project Twilight?
Thanks so much,
Major D. Davis
Hey Joe, where’s the love?
I’ll think up some questions today, been a bit busy and distracted lately.
Cheers, Chev
Das – Longest italicised post is only trumped by the longest bold post. Although longest capitalised post may trump bold because it feels like you’re BEING YELLED AT!
**shudder** re that spider. I showed my business partner. He says, “”Brazillian Wandering Spider”? Doesn’t sound too dangerous to me. Ever seen someone wandering and think, “Man, that person looks deadly just wandering around like that””. We’ve both agreed that when you see the spider, point at it and yell “Brazillian Wandering Spider!” that it doesn’t invoke the panic it should so we’re going to work on renaming it to something more appropriate. We’re watching a large database upgrade, we need the amusement.
The asteroid being named after Stargate is the coolest thing ever!
Questions for David and Roy:
1. You both appear (based on google anyway) to be observational astronomers. How do you and the theoreticals get along? Do mixed-astronomer cocktail parties quickly turn ugly over string theory etc?
2. Do you think there’s any practical way to clear out all the space junk orbiting Earth?
3. Do you think the US manned space program is worth the cost, discovery-wise, vs robotic exploration and science?
4. I wanted to be an astronomer coming out of high school but switched to aero engineering after I found out a) you have to get a PhD and b) even if you get a PhD, the odds of getting a job in astronomy are small. Is that still true? Did I make the wrong choice?? 🙂
5. Will you be looking at the results coming back from the new Kepler planet-finder? I have friends who work on the science data processing. 🙂
Is it just me, or does “Dr Tholen” sound like a character from Star Trek: The Next Generation?
Awesome name.
Hi, Joe!
Woo-hoo! John Scalzi was nominated for THREE (3) ’09 Hugo Awards!
http://www.thehugoawards.org/
Best Novel – Zoe’s Tale
Best Related Book – Your Hate Mail Will be Graded: A Decade of Whatever, 1998-200
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form – METAtropolis
Congratulations to Mr. Scalzi!
🙂
Questions for David and Roy–
-If I was a wanna be look-at-the stars,kind of person, what brand/strength of telescope would you suggest?
-Do you think we are alone in the universe?
–I love looking at the night sky, how cool!
– -thank you for your time.
—
To Dave and Roy – I cannot begin to express how cool it is that you even get to name asteroids, let alone the fact that you named it after a Stargate character!
I read an interview of Peter Williams, who played Apophis, and he was beyond stoked that you had done that. He kept saying, “Apophis may defeat Earth yet!”
So, questions.
How do you live with your overwhelming coolness?
What is a typical day for you at work like?
And this may have already been asked – If you were to discover something else to name (other than a mineral), what would you name it…Stargate related or not?
Btw, naming a mineral naquadah would be hilarious and awesome.
Thanks for your time and I hope you get guest spots on Stargate Universe!
@ Narelle – You’re doing it wrong. You’re supposed to point and yell, “POISONOUS BIGASS SPIDERBEASTY!!!!!!”
Then run. Really, really fast.
Ya know – this makes me wonder…is Todd afraid of anything? I mean…when you’re at the top of the food chain, you really shouldn’t be afraid of anything, right?? But I’d love to see Todd afraid of something (well, besides death and over-sexed earth girls 🙄 ). Maybe cats…
das
More on killer asteroids:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20127015.600-how-to-save-the-world-from-an-asteroid-impact.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news