StargateHK

Imagination connoisseur. Sports, film and science fiction enthusiast. Democracy defender. A little music 🎼and humor 😊to keep everything light. 4K HDR 📺

[PBS News @NewsHour]

New concerns are emerging about President Trump’s sweeping pardon of Jan. 6 defendants after a report found that nearly 100 of them have been arrested, charged or convicted of additional crimes since the attack in 2021.

It comes as continuing efforts by Trump and his allies to recast the events of that day have reignited debate over accountability and the rule of law.

@ElizLanders has more.

[Mike Levin @MikeLevin]

A brand new bridge between Detroit and Canada is finished and ready to open. It would speed up traffic for millions of trucks, cut delays for American businesses, and help the auto industry that employs people in every state. There is just one problem.

Donald Trump won’t let it open.

Here is why.

The family that owns the old bridge stands to lose business when the new one opens. So in January, they gave one million dollars to a pro-Trump super PAC.

Weeks later they met with Trump’s Commerce Secretary.

He called Trump.

Hours after that, Trump announced he would block the new bridge. The opening was set for June 12. It got canceled the day before. The bridge sits there finished and empty.

Now here is the part that should make every taxpayer angry.

Canada paid for the entire bridge.

Every dollar. And the United States already owns half of it for free. Trump is holding up a bridge we got for nothing, to protect a donor who wrote him a check, while picking a fight with our closest ally and biggest trading partner.

This is corruption in plain sight.

A billionaire pays, and the President delivers. American workers and businesses pay the price.

Open the bridge. A government should work for the people, not for whoever writes the biggest check.
https://t.co/9o9Gz9UrBo

[ABC News @ABC]

Former President Barack Obama praised the legacy of American democracy ahead of the country’s 250th anniversary during the dedication ceremony for the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.

Read more: https://t.co/eQE0XpeGk8

[StargateHK @StarBaseAI]

@JamieBonkiewicz @IAmSophiaNelson We’ll give his prison cell or hospital bed a nice nameplate.

[AnatolijUkraine @AnatoliUkraine]

Enough.

Obama brings together presidents, first ladies, rivals, and allies.

Trump brings together lawsuits, scandals, and conspiracy theories.

One legacy builds institutions.
The other builds resentment.

History is already choosing.

[New York Magazine @NYMag]

MAJOR KEY ALERT 🔑. The Knicks got their keys to the city from Mayor Zohran Mamdani. “There's a lot of people that have a lot of opinions. But when you prove them wrong, you don't have to say shit to them,” Jalen Brunson told a crowd at city hall. “Damn. We really did it, dawg.”

Follow our live updates from today’s Knicks parade and ceremony: https://t.co/qNDHI4105U

[Joseph Mallozzi 🏴‍☠️ @BaronDestructo]

Stargate Trivia: Casting Stargate: Atlantis

While SG-1 was my first love (We were together for seven years!), my time on Atlantis proved equally memorable. The show was possessed of a similar tone in its mix of high adventure and humor, yet proved distinct in its exploration of Ancient mythology and an unfamiliar galaxy as seen through the eyes of a new set of heroes. Atlantis offered a sense of wonder and camaraderie born of isolation and constant danger.
Whereas team SG-1 could always go home at the conclusion of their adventures, the members of the Atlantis expedition (at least for those first few seasons) could only draw comfort from the city of Atlantis itself – and, of course, each other. It was unique and compelling yet, at the same time, comfortingly familiar.
Nowhere is this more evident than in its opening theme, composed by the late Joel Goldsmith, which is, at turns fresh, haunting, stirring and, throughout, discernibly Stargate.

Stargate: Atlantis wasn’t originally planned as a companion to Stargate: SG-1. It was intended to replace the long-running series. The only problem was, with eight seasons under its belt, SG-1 wasn’t quite done yet. And fans (and the network) weren’t done with it either. And so, instead of passing the torch and segueing to a new Stargate series, we ended up producing both. In retrospect, it was quite an achievement: 40 hours of television in a year! Today's productions can barely manage a quarter that output, but Stargates SG-1 and Atlantis delivered two fantastic 40 episode seasons before SG-1 took its final bow. It wasn’t easy, but it was certainly made easier by all of the enormously talented individuals who made it happen, from the office staff and crew to the cast and my fellow writer/producers.

Still, it was not without its challenges. Take casting, for instance. It may surprise you to know that, when it comes to producing a show, not everybody cares about costumes or set design or whether the script’s fifth act denouement is emotionally satisfying - but everybody, and I do mean EVERYBODY, has an opinion on casting. Studio and network execs, producers, hell, even your significant other peering over your shoulder as you screen the auditions on your laptop, will want to weigh in. Of course, the more voices in the mix the more likely there are to be disagreements. So it is with every production and Atlantis was no different. Various individuals envisioned these characters in various ways and, as a result, consensus was only achieved after many auditions, calls-backs, heated discussions, and not-so-gentle reminders that our start date was fast-approaching and we really needed someone to say the lines on camera.

The part of Carson Beckett was one of the first we cast. The other producers were in Rob’s office, screening the first batch of local auditions when Brad called me in and told me to check out the guy onscreen. I hadn’t imagined Beckett with a Scottish accent but, after watching Paul McGillion (@PaulyMcGillion) in the role, I couldn’t imagine him without one. He’d brought something unexpected to the part, something we all responded to.

Elizabeth Weir was not an easy character to pull off. She had to be smart, confident and strong yet needed to exude a certain warmth and empathy we were looking for in the civilian leader of the expedition. When it came time to (re)casting the role, several established names were considered (One had her own hit genre show back in the day while another went on to break out on a hit show soon after), but it was Torri Higginson (@torri_higginson) who managed to strike just the right balance and vault her name to the top of the list.

The role of Teyla Emmagan was a tough one to cast. Like Weir, she needed to be a strong, empathetic leader. But she also required something even more important – quite literally, an other-worldly quality that made her unique. Some equally talented actresses auditioned for the role but, as good as they were, they were never quite able to achieve that gravitas Rachel Luttrell (@rachel_luttrell) pulled off with such grace and seeming ease.

Former VJ Rainbow Sun Francks (@RainbowFrancks) won the role of Lieutenant Ford on the strength of a great audition, preceded by an equally great audition with a funny hat. I recall Brad Wright on the phone with our casting agent, advising him to ensure there would be no hat worn in the callback for fear the network would fixate on it. There wasn't, they didn't, and Rainbow delivered.

The role of John Sheppard was the second to last one cast. It came right down to the wire and there were several candidates in play. The character was originally conceived as a good ole southern boy, so it only made sense that Ben Browder’s name was bandied about early. However, he was too busy shooting Peacekeeper Wars to warrant consideration. A number of other actors were considered (one went on to play the lead in a hugely popular show the following year while another made his mark as a handsome heart throb on another hugely popular medical series) but it was Joe Flanigan (@JoeFlanigan) who won the part based on his ability to pull off the devil-may-care attitude Brad and Robert were looking for.

We come to the final role cast, a character who, in many ways, embodied everything Atlantis was about: exploration, discovery, fun, humor, and seat-of-your-pants-Holy-Sh&%-how-the-hell-am-I-going-to-get-out-of-this-adventure. And he almost didn’t make the trip to Pegasus. Originally, the casting call went out for a completely different character, an earnest young doctor who would lend the team much-needed medical support on their off-world ventures. Unfortunately, no one could agree on an actor to fill that role.

If the casting of Sheppard went down to the wire, then the casting of this final part went a step past it. Finally, days away from production, Robert Cooper had an idea: Forget the doctor character. Why not use an established character from SG-1? How about Rodney McKay played by David Hewlett (@dhewlett)? The writers were on board, but some executives weren't weren’t sold on the idea. They found him annoying! I mean, hell yeah, but he’d be sooo much fun to write for! Rob got on the phone and went to bat for Rodney, pointing out that the character had come a long way since first being introduced way back in SG-1’s 48 Hours. He’d evolved, going from annoying jerk to endearingly irritating. To this day, I’m convinced that they weren’t totally convinced but, with production poised to commence, they relented, I suppose figuring they could just replace the character somewhere down the line. No one, even those who loved the idea of having the endearingly irritating Rodney McKay on board could have predicted how hugely popular the character would become.

How do you think we did?

[DiscussingFilm @DiscussingFilm]

A multi-part Knicks documentary is in the works at A24 & HBO.

The series will follow the Knicks' entire history up to their first NBA championship in 53 years.

Directed by Ben Stiller.

[Culture Crave 🍿 @CultureCrave]

Midjourney announces the world’s first full-body ultrasound CT scanner

• Goal is to bring affordable full-body imaging to everyone on Earth

• Users are submerged in water during the scan

• Creates detailed 3D body maps in under a minute

• Can map more than 25 organs and anatomical structures in detail

• No radiation is used

• Working with the FDA for approvals on diagnostic use

• Plans to bring the tech to market by the end of 2027

(via @midjourney)

[MP Arizona☀️🏳️‍🌈💙🌵🐕🐕‍🦺🫂💦🏜🐟🌴🎙🌎🌻♍️🌊 @AzPetrich]

No NBA champion has ever visited the White House during a Donald Trump term:

2017 - Warriors declined.
2018 - Warriors declined.
2019 - Raptors declined.
2020 - Lakers declined.
2021 - Bucks visited Biden.
2022 - Warriors visited Biden.
2023 - Nuggets declined.

[IndieWire @IndieWire]

The "Project Hail Mary" star will be the 40th recipient of the American Cinematheque Award at it's annual fundraiser on November 2. ⁠

[Science News @ScienceNews]

The oldest-known traces of plague, around 5,500 years old, have been discovered in hunter-gatherer burials in Siberia.
https://t.co/8tD6VezaU6

[StargateHK @StarBaseAI]

@YourAnonNews @IAmSophiaNelson Correct decision.

[Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦 @AdamKinzinger]

Truest cartoon to date

[Indiana Fever @IndianaFever]

"Sophie Cunningham has been breathing fire." 😈🔥

her 6 threes last night helped propel us to a 113-91 win over Toronto, and she's now knocked down 11-for-15 from deep over the last three games 🎯

[Ross Coulthart @rosscoulthart]

NEW: The White House has created a UAP Governance Board, which oversees the @ProfAviLoeb Advisory Council. @ODNIgov says the Board will "integrate" & "optimise" the investigation of UAP incidents and assist in timely coordination of declassification.

There is nothing in this statement that says this Board - or Prof Loeb's Advisory Council - will be given legal powers - such as subpoena - to enforce these aspirations. It's still @DeptofWar deciding what they get to see.

Both the Governance Board and Advisory Committee are to be in support of @AARO, the Pentagon's UAP investigation office, so this new structure is all under @DeptofWar & IC control.

Unless these bodies are given teeth, it means the gatekeepers retain control over disclosure. Unless the @WhiteHouse @POTUS gives a UAP transparency oversight body independence and teeth, so-called Disclosure will be ineffectual and evasive for as long as the gatekeepers want to conceal.

This risks being yet another ineffectual effort like Project Bluebook, humouring public demands for truth but continuing the cover-up. Credit: @ddeanjohnson

[StargateHK @StarBaseAI]

@ObamaFoundation Main building looks like a radar or early warning system.

[TheNewPhysics @CharlesMullins2]

🚨 NASA IS ABOUT TO LET A PRIVATE SPACECRAFT RESCUE ONE OF ITS MOST IMPORTANT TELESCOPES.

The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory has been hunting gamma-ray bursts the most powerful explosions in the universe since 2004. It’s still working perfectly, but Earth’s atmosphere has been slowly dragging it down toward a fiery reentry.

Now, NASA is turning to a commercial company to save it.
Katalyst Space Technologies’ robotic spacecraft Link will launch later this month, rendezvous with Swift, dock with it, and boost the telescope into a higher, safer orbit extending its life by years.

Why this matters:

• It’s the first time a private spacecraft will perform an orbital boost on a U.S. government science satellite
• Swift remains one of the best tools we have for studying gamma-ray bursts and other high-energy cosmic events
• Without this mission, the telescope could have deorbited as early as this year
• It shows how commercial space companies are now capable of performing complex servicing missions that were once only possible for governments

The deeper implication:

We’re entering a new era where valuable scientific infrastructure in orbit doesn’t have to be considered disposable. Instead of building and launching entirely new telescopes when old ones start to decay, we can now extend their lives through commercial servicing.

This approach is faster, cheaper, and more sustainable and it could become a standard model for protecting high-value space assets in the future.

Sometimes the most important space missions aren’t about discovering something new. They’re about making sure we don’t lose what we already have.

Would you support more commercial missions to rescue and extend aging space telescopes?

Follow for more frontier space exploration, satellite servicing, and NASA missions.

[WNBA Communications @WNBAComms]

🚨5⃣0⃣🚨

The WNBA announced today that the league will expand its regular season schedule to 50 games in 2027.