Asteroid Named After Douglas Adams 314
tc writes "MSNBC is reporting that an asteroid has been named after Douglas Adams of Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy fame. Fittingly, the asteroid carried the provisional designation 2001 DA42, thus commemorating the year of his untimely death, containing his initials, and incorporating the famous answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything. This seems like a fitting tribute to me."
What else to say ? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What else to say ? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What else to say ? (Score:3, Funny)
What's in a name? (Score:5, Funny)
Why not call it a rock?
Cheers,
Ian
First thing to say when it hurdles towards Earth: (Score:5, Funny)
Re:First thing to say when it hurdles towards Eart (Score:4, Funny)
Re:First thing to say when it hurdles towards Eart (Score:2)
No, not really.
Re:First thing to say when it hurdles towards Eart (Score:4, Funny)
This Just In (Score:2, Funny)
Re:This Just In (Score:2, Funny)
If you look closely the license plate says "sltfatf" (so long thanks for all the fish)
Tribute to who? (Score:5, Funny)
This was a tribute to you?
DNA42 (Score:3, Informative)
Douglas was always proud of his full initials. (Douglas Noel Adams.)
Re:DNA42 (Score:5, Informative)
Re:DNA42 (Score:2)
I still this his birth (and DNA) has had a greater impact in most peoples lives than the discovery DNA itself.
Laughter is the best medicine, also you might try talking to a matress. I hear that can be quite depressing.
They are just begging for it (Score:5, Funny)
Don't toy with fate.
Re:They are just begging for it (Score:2)
Re:They are just begging for it (Score:2)
Re:They are just begging for it (Score:2)
(Sudden Massive Existence Failure)
Re:They are just begging for it (Score:5, Funny)
Mostly harmless (Score:2, Funny)
It's a relatively unremarkable space rock...
Re:Mostly harmless (Score:2, Insightful)
It's a relatively unremarkable space rock, orbiting 224 million miles (358 million kilometers) from the sun in the main asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter.
In Adams terms, "It's a relatively unremarkable space rock, orbiting 224 million miles from an unregarded yellow sun far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the galaxy."
Timeless tribute. (Score:5, Interesting)
I hope he found some peace, and that his publicist hasn't found a way to contact him about his deadlines yet.
The ultimate dreamer, genius, slacker, geek and philanthropist. I hope his works continue to reach people and make laugh and sigh as much I as did.
Was this a special delivery from Magrathea?
Re:Oh jeez (Score:2, Insightful)
Fuck off, and die in a rat hole. Really. Douglas Adams touched a lot of people's lives, and a lot of us were deeply saddened by his death.
I understand that you're rolling along fine, repressing your feelings of loneliness and inadequacy, until they form a bitter ball of bile that splashes out into trolling, without the fucking balls to even do it without hiding away like a coward.
Some people however are a touc
Not just HHGTG... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Not just HHGTG... (Score:2)
Who wants to calculate the probability... (Score:3, Funny)
If the asteroid hits Earth will it think "Oh no, not again"?
Re:Who wants to calculate the probability... (Score:2)
(And since the lameness filter won't let me get away with the pithy, direct reply, I'll point out that the only possible answer for something that's already happened is "1." But if you want to engage in retroactive prediction, and are asking "what is the probability that, given the existence of an asteroid designated 2001 DA42 but otherwise unnamed, and a small campaign to find an appropriate rock to memorialize Douglas Adams, the two will be combined," I'd also say "pretty close to 1, given the societal
The asteroid was already called 2001 DA42 (Score:3, Interesting)
Which means the asteroid name is/maybe Douglas Adams, or they may keep the original incidental naming.
Either way, I know where my towel is.
Re:The asteroid was already called 2001 DA42 (Score:2)
Don't Panic (Score:2, Funny)
A rock eh? Let me guess... (Score:5, Funny)
Wouldn't it be a more fitting end if... (Score:2)
(Note to fanatics: Yes I know it was a construction ship in the Hitchhikers series)
timing (Score:5, Insightful)
I think maybe we should try to do more retrospectives of those still with us. Who has lived a full life and made major contributions to our understanding, knowledge or culture. Then, give them an asteroid. Things like this are done, no doubt. Just something that struck me.
Re:timing (Score:5, Funny)
Re:timing (Score:3, Insightful)
Are you sure this doesn't happen already and you're just not noticing it? It's not as if Douglas Adams wasn't recognised in many other ways before he died, and this is just ongoing.
Having an asteroid named after you isn't all that big-a-thing, either, and he probably only got it now because it took this long for someone to notice that he d
Re:timing (Score:2)
Re:timing (Score:2)
Re:timing (Score:2)
Comet Brittany Spears, anyone? I'm all for it, as long as she's dead first. Besides, she already has a celestial body, doesn't she?
Re:Thank you, Mr. Marconi (Score:2)
You're right, they mostly build statues to people who have power and money and who want to pose for them. Your real heroes who had flaws and who weren't posing as preening saints for PR's sake -- Helen Keller, Edward Howard Armstrong -- either wind up being sanitized against their will (Keller) or mostly forgotten (Armstrong).
The parent story is just a little reminder that, sometimes, science can give the right person that little slice o
Re:timing (Score:2)
So Bill Gates isn't really a computer scientist, per se, but he'll be remembered by history as a serious mover and
DNA off by one? (Score:3, Insightful)
Am I the only one who thinks that the answer to life the universe and everything has to be an off-by one error?
If the answer is 43 this suddenly gives a lot of meaning. 43 represented in hex is 2B. And if the answer is 2B then the question gives it self and it all suddenly makes all the sense in the world.
"Fitting" (Score:2, Funny)
Fitting would be if that astreoid collides with earth to clear way for an intergalactic hyperway system...;)
Re:"Fitting" (Score:2, Funny)
This seems like a fitting tribute to me. (Score:4, Funny)
IMDB movie page updated 2 days ago (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0371724/ [imdb.com]
Asteroid Arthur Dent (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_294648.htm
Of course (Score:5, Funny)
...and so adequately described! (Score:2, Insightful)
Perhaps more fittingly, it was described as "relatively unremarkable". Sounds vaguely familiar...
And at the naming ceremony... (Score:4, Funny)
2001 DA42 orbit, position, and brightness (Score:5, Informative)
The current distance from Earth (as of 25 Jan 2005) is about 1.734 AU (equals about 259 402 932 kilometers [google.com] or 161 185 509 miles [google.com]).
The asteroid in inclined about 1.73 degrees from Earth's orbit. It lines outside of the orbit of Mars with a Semimajor axis of about 2.41 AU. As of 26 Jan 2006 12:30 UTC, it was located approximately:
2001 DA42 is currently a very dim object: with a apparent visual magnitude [wikipedia.org] of approximately 20.4. That is about 360 times fainter than Pluto. You will not be able to visually see 2001 DA42 with your typical "bark yard telescope".
Around March 2005 DA42 will peak at about magnitude 19. Around May 2009 it will peak at about 18.5. Around June 2013 it will peak at about 18.0. That is about as bright as 2001 DA42 typically gets.
Re:2001 DA42 orbit, position, and brightness (Score:3, Informative)
HHGG (Score:3, Informative)
It goes no where what so ever, makes no sense, has very little character developement, but it's perfect just how it is. If there was ever a book which truely ignored all the "rules" and still proved to be better then anything before (or after) HHGG is the book.
Plus you can hear/see the whole thing again in audio and video which changes enough to make it different and intresting.
Funny, Authur Dent was first.. (Score:2)
Here I am, brain the size of a planet, and they give me this lousy asteroid. An asteroid! Me, who has travelled the length and bredth of the universe, and is 4 times older than time itself..
You plastic pal whos fun to be with..
Other tributes - "rock and roll minor planets" (Score:2)
Google anyone (Score:2)
!2u (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I always liked Douglas Adams (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I always liked Douglas Adams (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I always liked Douglas Adams (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I always liked Douglas Adams (Score:5, Interesting)
We got talking about the Internet. "What browser are you using?" he asked. "Mosaic" I replied. "Well, I only use Netscape now, you should check it out the beta". Sounds silly now, but it was a hot tip back then!
He was a nice guy. I had been to see Pink Floyd at Earls Court some time before meeting him, and he had actually been on stage playing guitar on "Brain Damage". He seemed rather pleased with himself about that.
All the time I just wanted to ask lame HHGTTG fanboy questions though. Managed to curb that. I did ask for more Dirk Gently books though....
Re:I always liked Douglas Adams (Score:5, Interesting)
Personally I think the most disconcerting thing I've heard recently was Adams playing the part of Agrajag in the radio adaptation of his later books. Disconcerting because he was dead at the time they made the series (he'd recorded the part previously as, essentially, an audition to be in the series).
As you may remember, Agrajag is the character who gets reincarnated and then killed by Arthur Dent (accidentally) over and over again. Which is a bit spooky when you think about it...
Re:I always liked Douglas Adams (Score:2)
Re:I always liked Douglas Adams (Score:2)
I'd say that there's a certain similarity between Dilbert and Arthur Dent, for a start. Everyman up against the lunacy of bureaucracy (and technology) is a recurring theme in his books.
Then there's the obvious sci-fi/geek connection, and it's what originally drew me into them well before I und
Re:Enlighten me please.. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Enlighten me please.. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Enlighten me please.. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Enlighten me please.. (Score:3, Interesting)
So, the rule is, you always pronounce the result in base 10, regardless of the base you're actually using?!?!? That can't be right. I think you're a basist (one who believes one numeric base is better than the others).
All your base are belong to ten.
Just because the hexadecimal 2A is difficult to pronounce for those accustomed to base ten, does not indicate that the correct pronunciation is "forty two".
Re:Enlighten me please.. (Score:3, Insightful)
(shaking head, muttering) Some people could spoil anything....
Re:Enlighten me please.. (Score:5, Informative)
Short version: Earth gets destroyed by aliens building a Hyperspace Bypass, but that was only an excuse, as the Earth was in fact a giant "living" computer created to find "the ultimate question" (about, of course, "Life, the Universe and Everything") to which the answer (42) was already found (but the question was uncertain), and a group of philosophers and psychologists wouldn't have liked to have the question coming out (so they contracted the Vogons to destroy Earth before it could finish the calculations)... and so on.
SPOILER ALERT! (Score:4, Informative)
A race so advanced that it hardly could reach anything more (mice) built a supercomputer that for a long time (something like a million years?) worked on an answer to the question of Life, the Universe and Everything.
It came out with "42". And politely explained that you still have to figure out the question itself yet. So another computer was built, ultimately huge and powerful, to guess the question. This computer happened to be the Earth. And got destroyed in really silly circumstances.
Re:SPOILER ALERT! (Score:2)
And don't crash the computer ship by trying to get it to produce real tea!
Re:SPOILER ALERT! (Score:2)
Re:Enlighten me please.. (Score:3, Informative)
A very good and funny read.
"He hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife, then realizing the contradiction involved here, he mearly hoped there wasn't an afterlife" - Douglas Adams HHG2G
"The knack of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss." -Douglas Adams HHG2G
Re:Enlighten me please.. (Score:5, Funny)
Not that reading the book is going to help you understand much of anything (much less certain ultimate answers), but it's certainly worth the read.
Re:Enlighten me please.. (Score:2)
Or with brewing a liquid that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.
Re:Perhaps a more fitting tribute? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Perhaps a more fitting tribute? (Score:3, Funny)
Unfortunately, given the current state of our Art, there's no way we could keep the cup up.
I mean, come on. We have reality TV. Forget the shoe-shop event horizon, we're really screwed...
Re:Perhaps a more fitting tribute? (Score:3, Funny)
Now, it would have been more fitting... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Now, it would have been more fitting... (Score:2, Funny)
Are you retarded or something? (Score:3, Insightful)
There are tons of things that are more fitting than to have your name attached to some dead rock floating in space.
Give $100 to his family?
The asteroid naming is meant as a tribute dumb-shoe - not as welfare....
Re:Are you retarded or something? (Score:2, Insightful)
The asteroid naming is meant as a tribute dumb-shoe - not as welfare....
And if his family are getting any royalties from his books and any derived works, I think they're probably able to pay the bills on their own...
Re:Perhaps a more fitting tribute? (Score:5, Funny)
Daniel
Re:Perhaps a more fitting tribute? (Score:2)
Re:Perhaps a more fitting tribute? (Score:2)
I guess with current rates it will be financially viable about the time of the end of the Universe.
Re:Perhaps a more fitting tribute? (Score:2)
Re:Perhaps a more fitting tribute? (Score:5, Insightful)
Didn't someone name a new species of beetle after DNA a year or so ago? If so QED. If not... I wish I knew why I thought so...
MOD PARENT UP (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Perhaps a more fitting tribute? (Score:5, Informative)
Googling turned up:
Erechthias beeblebroxi Robinson & Nelson, 1993 (tineid) with a false head; after Zaphod Beeblebrox, two-headed character from Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
From Here [earthlink.net]
Re:Perhaps a more fitting tribute? (Score:5, Informative)
<i>Bidenichthys beeblebroxi</i> Paulin, 1995 (triple-fin blenny) with a false head pattern.
<i>Erechthias beeblebroxi</i> Robinson & Nelson, 1993 (tineid) with a false head; after Zaphod Beeblebrox, two-headed character from Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
<i>Fiordichthys slartibartfasti</i> Paulin, 1995 (triple-fin blenny) Named for Hitchhiker's Guide character Slartibartfast, who is noted for designing fjords.
on a humorus note I also ran into:
"<i>Eristalis gatesi</i> Thompson, 1997 (flower fly) Named after Bill Gates "in recognition of his great contributions" to dipterology, presumably referring to money, not to bugs of another sort."
Lots amusing stuff on that page. Harrrison ford has two critters named for him, as does Smeagol (a.k.a. Gollum). There is at least one that used Tolkien elvish instead of latin or greek for naming (Tolkien's works are well represented in that list).
Thanks for the link, just my sort of useless but amusing knowledge (i've often contended my improves in direct ratio to the uselessness of the knowledge).
Mycroft
Re:Perhaps a more fitting tribute? (Score:3, Informative)
It is very fitting. His most famous piece of fiction is about space.
You must also remember that this comes from a group of astronomers - so they honour them in their way. Other pay tribute in different ways. Where do you think Alta Vista got the name Babel Fish [altavista.com] from. Where do you think the band Level 42 [level42.com] got their name from.
However, I still think the coolest thing in the world would have bee
Re:Perhaps a more fitting tribute? (Score:2, Funny)
And sometime, somewhere, if the improbability field is still operational (probably) DA42 will be hurtling through space, threatening the complete destruction of some inhabited planet in the deepest reaches of space.
And somehow, someway, even though the inhabitants of the planet have never heard of the Hitchhiker's Guide, much less earth; one of the inhabitants will scream out: "Fucking Vogons!" and SETI w
Re:Perhaps a more fitting tribute? (Score:2)
his family has enough money, unless they've wasted it somehow.
museum of him? frankly, I think douglas adams would have been disgusted of such a thing.
send 'em a hundred bucks and see if they care more about that than what they would care about this. it's the thought that matters.
Re:Perhaps a more fitting tribute? (Score:2, Funny)
It would be much more fitting, though, if the asteroid eventually collided with Earth, destroying it
Re:Perhaps a more fitting tribute? (Score:2)
I suggest a fifteen-mile-high statue of him throwing a cup.
Re:Perhaps a more fitting tribute? (Score:3, Interesting)
I think, based on that talk and talking with a friend of a friend of his, that if you want to honor Douglas Adams, you should work to help save those animals.
Re:Fitting tribute? (Score:2, Funny)
Everybody runs to the internet to find the source of the name for what will soon be their demise. "Oh. kaedemichi255. A guy that posted on
Wouldn't you love to the talk of the whole world...even if for a little while?
Re:Fitting tribute? (Score:3, Interesting)
So, excuse me for not sensing the "un-fitting-ness" of naming a (even very small and otherwise anost) space object after somebody who is remebered for his "space humour".
Also,
Re:Fitting tribute? (Score:2)
Also, most "biblical researchers" nowadays tend to place the actual birth to the year we know as 4 BC (or even 8 BC).
But, yes, I was confusing something (not the meaning of BC/AD, but the "accomplishment" related to it) - you'd have to forgive the lack of precision of an insomniac close to bedtime - you got the ideea anyway, didn't you ?
Re:Fitting tribute? (Score:3, Insightful)
It's a pretty good tribute - it's the kind of tribute that stays in the charts for a looooooong time after most people who enjoyed his books are dead.
wtf would you consider to be flattering then? you'd need one billion guys chanting your name or what? a page in a newspaper(which would be fame for a day only)?
I don't think that he was the kind of an asshole that would have wanted people tributing their whole lives to him - and would ra