Happy 80th Birthday, William Shatner! 226
gregg writes "Today another geek legend celebrates a birthday. Best known for portraying Captain James T. Kirk, William Shatner has cemented himself into geek science fiction lore forever. Today he begins his ninth decade on this planet — yes, Captain Kirk is now 80 years old."
OK, maybe I'm a bit grumpy today. (Score:5, Interesting)
Why is it every time there's an article posted in connection with some soap opera in space, so many /. denizens are all over it with 100's of posts. Yet whenever there's an article on the real thing (space probes, man in space, deep space observation, etc.), either there are only a few tens of posts (many frivolous), and/or there's actual opposition (waste of money, rich bastards in space, etc.).
Fun and entertaining as he is (and indeed, happy birthday to the man), Shatner is an actor. Neil Armstrong, Wernher von Braun, Burt Rutan, Carl Sagan are/were the real deal - scientists, engineers, astronauts.
Of course, I might be jumping the gun. Perhaps this article will garner few posts.
Why is my karma going up in smoke? :-)
Re:Live Long and Please End Raw Nerve (Score:2, Interesting)
I guess at least his infamous ego seems to have ebbed a bit in his advanced years. But he still can't appreciate why Walter Koenig and others hated him in the Star Trek days. In his appearance on the show, Koenig looked like it was all he could do to keep from grabbing him and yelling "YOU STOLE ALL OUR LINES, MOTHERFUCKER!" It probably didn't help that Shatner kept saying stuff like "I'm sorry that you *perceived* me as being selfish or hostile to you back then."
I've heard this said a lot, and I want to agree with it, but honestly, who is the bigger douche: the person who (badly) rationalizes his behavior decades ago, or the person who is still offended over it ~30 years later? It's just so vain either way you spin it.