-
I Find Your Lack of Postage Disturbing
Already planning the launch of R2D2 mailboxes, the US Postal Service has announced that a set of 15 stamps commemorating the Star Wars movies will be released in May. Fanboys people will be able to vote on their favorite from the set, which will be reissued as a single stamp. Link Update: Fark picked up…
-
Retrocausality Experiment in the Works
Okay, this one makes my head hurt a little. There’s nothing in the known laws of physics to preclude the idea that the present can influence the past (or the future the present), and now there may be a way to see if it’s possible. Researchers are on the verge of experiments that will finally…
-
Immense Ice Deposits Found on Mars
The European Space Agency Mars Express spacecraft has found a deposit of water ice at Mars’ southern pole which is sufficiently large to cover the the entire planet in water 36 feet deep. Looks like we might not need to import water when we start terraforming.Link
-
The Brave Little Mailbox
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of Star Wars, LucasFilm is working with the USPS to temporarily turn mailboxes in 200 cities into R2D2. (Me, I’m just verklempt that it’s been thirty years. Egad.) Link
-
AI Busted for Practicing Law
A (weak) artificial intelligence in the form of an expert system has been cited for thinking too much. A web-based “expert system” that helped users prepare bankruptcy filings for a fee made too many decisions to be considered a clerical tool, an appeals court said last week, ruling that the software was effectively practicing law…
-
Another One of Those Headlines
Swiss accidentally invade Liechtenstein Interior ministry spokesman Markus Amman said nobody in Liechtenstein had even noticed the soldiers, who were carrying assault rifles but no ammunition. :::giggle:::
-
2006 Nebula Final Ballot
The 2006 Nebulas will be awarded at the Nebula Awards Banquet at the Marriott, Financial Center in New York City on Saturday, May 12, 2007. Novels From the Files of the Time Rangers by Richard Bowes The Girl in the Glass by Jeffrey Ford The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner To Crush the…
-
I Vote We Use Beer
Researchers at MIT are using bubbles to do computation: The “microfluidic” chip uses a network of tiny pipes with nanoliters of fluid pumped through them, and the presence or absence of a bubble represents a single bit of information. The team used nitrogen bubbles in water, but say that oil and water or other fluids…
-
Help Save the Pandemonium Bookstore
Boston’s Pandemonium SF bookstore is in danger of going under due to a costlier-than-expected move. They’re trying to raise money to keep the store open by selling T-shirts (“Buy a shirt, or the store gets it!”). There are far too few good SF bookstores left, so if you want a neat T-shirt (I love January’s)…
-
Interview with Buzz Aldrin
The Table of Malcontents blog has posted an interview with astronaut Buzz Aldrin about his new documentary In The Shadow Of The Moon. He also talks a bit about Mars colonization, and the genre of science fiction. Me: You’ve written science fiction books. Are you fan of the genre? Aldrin: I read a lot of…