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Caves Discovered Near Mars Equator
The Mars Odyssey satellite recently spotted seven dark spots near the Arisa Mons volcano that researchers believe could be entrances to underground caves. This is exciting stuff, because caves would offer protection against the harshest effects of the Martian environment and might preserve evidence of past or current microbial life. The caves might also provide…
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:::whew:::
When I saw the headline, “‘Matrix’ producer plans remake of sci-fi classic,” I feared the worst. What beloved film were they going to savage? Forbidden Planet? Blade Runner? Nah.Joel Silver, who was responsible for producing all of the Matrix movies–in rather the same way that the Japanese were responsible for producing the Bataan Death March–has…
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Things Are Getting Weird on Saturn
I found this link via Fark, and don’t think I can improve upon the submitter’s description: Scientists spot “bizarre hexagon” on Saturn. As opposed to all the other normal hexagons on Saturn. In related news, Yahoo science writer actually writes, “This thing is a hexagon.” Link One of the stories linked to from this article…
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2007 Hugo Finalist *Correction*
Seems the Hugo Administrators made a goof. They mailed all the ballots out. I have mine. BUT! In the Dramatic Presentation (Long Form), “Pirates of the Carbbean” is not a finalist. “Pan’s Labyrinth” is. See www.nippon2007.us/hugo_correction_press_release.html
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Tote That Barge…Offplanet
Researchers at MIT are designing software to handle “interplanetary logistics:” Figuring how how to move materials and supplies from Earth to off-world destinations such as the ISS, a lunar base, and so forth. Transportation delays could be significant–as much as six to nine months in the case of Mars–and shipping capacity will be very limited.…
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Beware the Hotspot Hackers
Here’s an interesting new scam: Hackers are setting up “evil twin” wireless hotspots in public places, hoping to dupe users into connecting through them. The trick is simple: A hacker just creates a hotspot with the same name (or a very similar one) as a legitimate hotspot nearby, hoping to dupe web surfers into connecting…
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6 Little Words
I think Margaret Atwood should be invited to be an O*W*C’er … From wired.com (Issue 14.11 – November 2006) “We’ll be brief: Hemingway once wrote a story in just six words (“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”) and is said to have called it his best work. So we asked sci-fi, fantasy, and horror writers…
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It’s a Ubik Kind of Day
Frolix-8 blogger “Palmer Eldritch” runs a regular feature called “Which Philip K Dick Story Are We In Today?,” comparing the day’s news items to various PKD stories. A Scanner Darkly – “The state tells its people that the cameras are there for their benefit and to prevent crime, but the crime they are preventing is…
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Twitter: Offering New Ways to be a Smartass
By now Twitter has filtered through teh intartubes sufficiently that most of us have at least heard of it. For those of you who are thinking, “Hey! She spelled ‘the’ wrong up there!” a quick recap may be in order: Candy bar : fun-size candy bar :: Blogging : TwitterChris Livingstone of Not My Desk…
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Hugo and John W. Campbell Award finalists, 2007
Winners will be announced in the Japan Worldcon: Novel Michael F. Flynn, Eifelheim (Tor) Naomi Novik, His Majesty’s Dragon (Del Rey; also, Voyager, 1/06, as Temeraire) Charles Stross, Glasshouse (Ace) Vernor Vinge, Rainbows End (Tor) Peter Watts, Blindsight (Tor) Novella “The Walls of the Universe” by Paul Melko (Asimov’s, April/May 2006) “A Billion Eyes” by…