SF Signal says:
Jim Baen’s Universe made a splash last year as an online-only, DRM-free short fiction magazine. It has since attracted big-name authors and numerous accolades.
It didn’t splash on me; I had no idea this site existed. Neat!
NASA has partnered with the Internet Archive to build a giant, free, online repository of still and moving images from its enormous collection. Here’s a link to a CNET article about the deal, although Cory Doctorow notes that the article gets one important fact wrong: The agreement is nonexclusive, as agreements with government agencies should be.
(via BoingBoing)
Researchers at France’s International Space University have suggested that NASA’s planned moonbase be expanded to include both a “biological and historical archive” of human civilization, and also to include a scheme for extending the Internet from the Moon to Earth. The idea is to get all of our eggs out of one basket and be able to recolonize Earth with plants, animals, and even people–who will immediately have Internet access–should a major catastrophe befall us.
Link (via BoingBoing)
XhasyXha3 brought our attention to this over on the message boards.
In January 2005, Asteroid 2001 DA42 was given the name Asteroid Douglasadams, named for the author Douglas Adams who popularized the number 42 and died in 2001. With even his initials in the provisional designation, Brian G. Marsden, the director of the Minor Planet Center and the secretary for the naming committee, said, “This was sort of made for him, wasn’t it?” (Wikipedia)
I knew nothing of this. Thanks for the tip, X!
…is why you don’t piss off Iggy:
(via Schneier on Security, which is a very sober-minded blog about security and technology, except on Fridays when it indulges in Friday Squid Blogging. Huh.)
SF Signal reports:
Keanu Reeves is set to star as Klaatu in the 2008 remake of 1951′s Robert Wise classic, The Day the Earth Stood Still.
This will not end well.
Researchers at the University of Tokyo have unveiled the Haptic Telexistence glove, which allows its user to “feel” the sensation of holding an object in a remote robot hand.
…it’s horrible, but you just can’t seem to look away.
There’s a rumor goin’ round that J.J. Abrams is in talks with a certain well-known celebrity to have a cameo as Captain Christopher Pike in the upcoming Star Trek debacle movie. You’ll never guess who.
Give up?
ForeverGeek has the answer, along with stomach-churning pic.
Here’s a neat look at some of the “cliches” that originated with Smith’s Lensman stuff. As the author notes, they didn’t become cliches until everybody started copying his ideas.
Smith was one the first science fiction writers to see that there was, inherent in sapience, the possibility of a peaceful resolution to the struggle for survival between species, and was most certainly the first science fiction writer to make this the theme of a major work.
Jeff Goldblum Dressed as a Cowboy
This shot alone is worth the price of admission.
(via Miss Cellania)