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Probes on the Edge
Voyager 2 has now reached the edge of the solar system. This sounds like a good excuse for a party. Link
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Mozilla Makes Me Happy
Firefox 3.0 was released a couple of days ago, to great geekly acclaim. The browser has a new Easter egg, accessible by typing about:robots in the address bar. (Click the thumbnail to view full size) Also click the “Try Again” button for a bonus reference. (via The Presurfer)
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w00t Indeed
The Phoenix Twitter feed reports: Are you ready to celebrate? Well, get ready: We have ICE!!!!! Yes, ICE, *WATER ICE* on Mars! w00t!!! Best day ever! Phoenix was keeping an eye on some bright stuff at the bottom of a trench, and it sublimated. Link (via BoingBoing)
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Stross in Second Life This Saturday
Charles Stross, whose novel Halting State explores virtual worlds and augmented reality, will be a guest in Second Life on Saturday, June 21, from 1-2:30 pm SLT (which is Pacific Time in the real world). He’ll be appearing at Sophrosyne’s Special Salon in Extropia, a large futurist/transhumanist city. He plans to discuss the Singularity in…
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The Name Makes Me Wince a Little
The Isle of Thanet in Kent, England is doing a little terraforming. They’re placing an astonishing 220 acres of land under glass so they can grow vegetables year ’round. The 1.3 million plants will all be grown hydroponically, resulting in a relatively small carbon footprint. When the greenhouse is fully functional it will increase the…
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Algis Budrys
From Locus: Monday 9 June 2008 SF author, critic, and editor Algis Budrys, born 1931, died this morning, June 9, 2008, at the age of 77.
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Rocket Man Wanted
The Canadian Space Agency is looking for astronauts. Two applicants will be chosen to join the Canadian Space Agency Astronaut corps and a pool of qualified candidates will also be created for future positions. The Canadian Space Agency is seeking outstanding scientists, engineers and/or medical doctors with a wide variety of backgrounds. Creativity, diversity, teamwork,…
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Bugs, Mr. Rico!
Starship Troopers may not be so far away. Utah-based Sarcos, Inc., under contract to the U.S. Army, has developed the first practical robotic exoskeleton. Rex Jameson bikes and swims regularly, and plays tennis and skis when time allows. But the 5-foot-11, 180-pound software engineer is lucky if he presses 200 pounds — that is, until…
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Pope: Aliens are A-Okay
Yesterday the Vatican stated that it’s acceptable to believe in extraterrestrial life and that such belief in no way contradicts the Church’s teachings on faith in god. The Reverend Jose Gabriel Funes, the Pope’s chief astronomer, said that the vastness of the universe surely suggests that there could be other forms of intellligent life outside…
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Best/Worst SF Endings
SF Signal’s latest Mind Meld invited authors to weigh in on the best and worst endings in SF novels. There’s the potential for spoilery (obviously), but their choices are interesting. As anyone who knows me can attest, I’m an endings kind of gal. (As in, I nearly always read the ending before committing to the…