Weblog Licentiae Moeticae

Mind you, I knew this already.

PSA

While we're waiting for Eric Burns' excellent Gossamer Commons to start up again - and is that Amadan who I think it is? - I would like to take this opportunity to remind our dear, dear friends from the other side of the Veil:

Never trust a Human.

Never.  Trust.  A.  Human.

NEVER TRUST A HUMAN.

Remember Space 1999?

Neither did I, but that show has fans.  Then again, as my wife reminded me, so does Jem and the Holograms.

There's some indication that both ancient Greek and Egyptian history has some fairly significant gaps to it; areas where anything from years to centuries are just - gone.  There have been some very entertaining theories on the subject, often coming from Ken Hite, but I submit that the answer is more prosaic: they were deliberately imposed in order to hide the ancient equivalents of Space 1999, Jem and the Holograms, pet rocks and anything found here.

I believe that we may need to emulate this policy.  Feel free to add your own candidates.

I have finally watched the Battlestar Galactica miniseries.

My God.

My God.

I mean, I knew that the original series sucked.  I watched it, you understand.  I was aware of the bad acting and plots and well, just about everything except the ships and the flight costumes.  And the Cylons looked neat.  But it was awful, in that very special way that only Seventies television programs can aspire to.  And I thought that I knew how awful it was.

But I didn't, because I didn't know how it could have been done.

My God.

My God.

I hate having to write posts like this.

Because I want a space elevator, tanjit.

Mind you, this IEEE Spectrum article (via Glenn) on the subject is pretty interesting, and tries to address my major worry on the subject (what happens if the cable breaks?): particularly of note is the info on carbon nanotubes (Tim Worstall provides a link to a breakthrough in the mass production of same).  We're all used to blue-sky statements on space; this may be more of the same, but this stuff looks like a genuine advance, and slashing the per-pound cost to put stuff in orbit is the Holy Grail of private space exploration.

But.

Geopolitically speaking, we start building a Beanstalk and all the crazies* start lining up to either bomb it or crash an aircraft into it.  It may very well be that a successful strike will not be a global disaster - Edwards' article specifically addresses that concern - but as of right now I remain unconvinced that the hidden costs of counterterrorism procedures would not drive the numbers into the red.  To say nothing about actual replacement of a half-constructed and completely sabotaged Beanstalk.  And I'm not going to be the only one to have this worry; somebody in the USA or PRC or... damn,that's pretty much it, isn't it?  Anyway, there are government officials in either country that are going to point this same point out, probably with real regret.

But, on the bright side, at least it isn't a technical issue anymore.  Which is nothing to sneeze at.

Moe

UPDATE: Video of the nanotube extrusion here.  Jaymiel comments offscreen that this humble video just made the researchers a "veritable assload of money".  Funding agencies apparently love videos.  Don't ask me: I was a liberal arts undergrad.

My Inner Superhero?

See, it goes like this: we need wedding cake toppers, HeroClix figurines are just the right size* and it will fit in with our generally defiant geekery at the reception.

Only problem is, who am I, in HeroClix terms?  Jaymiel's just going to find a superheroine/villianess that looks good, but I'd like to have some resonance to my choice, you know?

Those who know me, feel free to chime in: those who don't, geek out generally on superheroes in general.  Those looking to schill their own fine products may also do so, with my permission; nay, my good countenance...

Moe

And, while I've got the computer on...

Richard Feynman?  What's the consensus on his greatest contribution to the field of physics?  Not being a science-type, I don't know and I was mildly curious.

Moe

PS: If the answer is "Nothing spectacular, past inspiring a whole bunch of kids", that's cool; that's a pretty big hunk o'something impressive, right there.  Just wondering if he did anything else.

In which Dale Franks Outgeeks me...

...without raising a sweat.  Curses (not really)

Moe

PS: Although I will note that, should Eric Flint get his way, the part of post-Revolutionary France will be played by the Solarian League, who frankly come across as deserving a Napoleon I with a serious mad-on about neocolonialism attached.  But that's just me.  And Eric Flint, I guess.

Anyway, the folks over at the People's Republic of Haven are too decent these days to make really satisfying mooks, and I don't want to see a Santy/Grayson War of I Don't Have My Books With Me For The Year, Sorry - so we need some new bad guys, anyway.

In which our hero awakens, and finds himself in the future.

The little bugger crept up on me while I wasn't looking and blindsided me.  I mean, I knew about the communicators (excuse me; 'cell phones') and the handheld computers and personal digital mass music storage devices and of course the entire concept of a worldwide computer network permitting a close approximation of universal communication.  I knew about nerve regeneration research and cloning and the entire left-handed sugar thing.  I knew about the powered exoskeletons and the laser gun research and the X-Prize and even the invisibility suit prototype.  I didn't know about the rollers in kid's sneakers that allow them to go from walking to skating in a second, although I can't say that I'm surprised.

But I don't want to talk about that.  I want to talk about the modern music industry, and how it's going to change.  Yesterday, I got to hold a prototype of the silver bullet that may just transform the beast.

I clearly need a better agent.

Christopher Lee's, preferably; he gets all the good gigs... which apparently included SOE, if I'm reading that right.

Color me suitably envious.

(Via The Protocols of the Yuppies of Zion)