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Earth Two
NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has spotted a belt of warm dust swirling around the young star HD 113766. It’s about 424 light-years away, and the formation is interesting because the star is just a bit larger than our sun and the dust belt is right in the sweet spot where temperatures will sustain liquid water.…
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Time Bandits Map Reproduction
Just look at this gorgeous thing. Working from a series of scans, graphic designer Jon Heilman has created a replica of the “time portal” map from the movie. The newest DVD of Time Bandits contains a small foldout of an actual screen-used map. It’s very beat up, has lots of weathering and seems to have…
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CA Wildfires
DerHexer forwarded this note from Gandalara: Writing this quick before I lose power again. The remains of my neighbors’ 2 trees are in my driveway and front yard. Power outages and can’t go to work (MSJC) – never even tried to go on the road Monday. College is closed – air-conditioning units were blown off…
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One Gigabyte
On the left, 1 GB of storage in 1987. On the right, that little teeny thing in the person’s hand? That’s 1 GB today. Huh. (via Twenty Sided)
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Online Game Based in the “Honorverse”
Honorverse: The Online Game is, unsurprisingly, a game based on David Weber’s Honor Harrington series. The game itself isn’t due until next fall, but the Website has recently launched and includes a game description and trailers. (And not a whole heckuva lot else. The Web developer in me is unimpressed.) As the leader of a…
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Sam Raimi to “Reinterpret” 20,000 Leagues
He’s producing rather than directing, but his next project is an “updated” 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. [“Leagues”] is something that has very rich characters, that can be realized in a very different way. I don’t think it’s screaming to be re-envisioned because of the special effects, but that naturally could be updated. There’s a…
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O*W*C Message Boards Currently Disabled
It’s been pretty rare for legitimate users to post in the boards lately, and I’m getting three or four bogus signups every day. I’m temporarily disabling the boards until the spammers decide to go play elsewhere. If you’ve got news you’d like to post, please e-mail
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Halloween – Dalek-style
EXTERMINATE!!! EXTERMINATE!!! EXTERMINATE!!!
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A Rare Descent into Politics
First, go read this post on BoingBoing. Now, go here, get your rep’s phone number, and remind them that pulling their head out of their fundament is worth the cold ears. I’ve been following the telecom “retroactive amnesty” issue on Threat Level and a couple of other blogs, and given the recent rumblings that this…
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Science Fiction in the National Interest
Sigma is a group of science fiction writers put together by author Arlan Andrews 15 years ago. To join, authors must have at least one technical doctorate degree. The group currently includes Jerry Pournelle, Arlan Andrews, Greg Bear, Larry Niven and Sage Walker. Their mission? To advise government officials on what the future might look…