Mississippi bans red light cameras (YAY!!)

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour has signed into law a bill - which passed overwhelmingly in that state's legislature - that bans those treacherous "red light cameras" at intersections. The new law sets a deadline of October 1st to have the cameras taken down.

I hope and pray that this will be an ever-increasing trend. Especially since some cities using the cameras have been found to be illegally altering the traffic signals so that the yellow light is shorter in duration, in an attempt to make more money from the cameras.

Read More

Philip José Farmer passed away? NOOOOOOO!!!

I don't know how this very sad news has stayed off my radar screen for the past few weeks. Earlier tonight I had read that the Sci-Fi Channel (or Syfy, whatever it's supposed to be now) is making another attempt to adapt the Riverworld saga for television. Well, as these things happen, one thing led to another and...

Philip José Farmer was the very first "hard science fiction" writer that I ever read. It was a 1990 interview he did with Starlog that piqued my curiosity about him. Wasn't long afterward that I went out looking for a copy of To Your Scattered Bodies Go, the first Riverworld novel. It remains one of the most original books that I've ever read. Let's face it: you gotta respect a man who writes a novel starring every single person who ever lived. Then my already-demented young brain came across his Venus on the Half-Shell, which Farmer wrote under the pseudonym "Kilgore Trout" (to this day some people still think it's a book that Kurt Vonnegut wrote).

All told, Farmer wrote more than seventy books, including the World of Tiers series and the Dayworld trilogy (which would make for a kick-butt film adaptation if done properly). Farmer also wrote many short stories, of which his first, "The Lovers", is probably his best known.

Philip José Farmer, one of the most prolific writers of the science fiction genre, died on February 25th at the age of 91.

Think I might read To Your Scattered Bodies Go again, in his honor.

Read More

Bunch of familiar faces to feature in Tennant's final DOCTOR WHO

It's been awhile since this blog had anything Doctor Who-ish to report. So it's due for some...

Billie Piper, Catherine Tate and Freema Agyeman will appear in the final Doctor Who episode starring David Tennant as the Doctor. They will reprise their roles as Rose, Donna and Martha, respectively (though how they are gonna bring back Rose and Donna is beyond me). The episode, scheduled for later this year, will also mark the end of Russell T Davis' tenure as head showrunner (what, you mean "The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End" wasn't a big enough send-off?!). Tennant's Doctor will face off once again against arch-nemesis the Master before regenerating into the Eleventh Doctor, played by Matt Smith.

And this coming April 12th - Easter Sunday - will be the next Doctor Who special. "Planet of the Dead", incidentally, will be the 200th Doctor Who story since the show began in 1963. Mash down here for some pics of the upcoming show... which will doubtless be on the Intertubes for downloading a few hours after it premieres for our Brittish brethren!

Read More

Warner Bros. launches on-demand DVD service

Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze is coming to your living room... and he's bringing a few thousand of his friends with him. The 1975 action film based on the classic pulp hero is just one of many movies that Warner Brothers is making available via a first-of-its-kind "on-demand DVD" service that's launching today.

By visiting warnerarchive.com you can select from many films that have previously not been made available in the DVD format. You pay twenty bucks and a week later a custom-made DVD - complete with nice case - comes in the mail. I just scanned through the catalog (only a fraction thus far of the complete library that Warners aims to make eventually available) and there are some real gems in there, including Abe Lincoln in Illinois and Countdown, the 1968 pre-Apollo 11 flick starting James Caan as an astronaut caught up in a mad race between the United States and the Soviet Union about which country will be the first to land on the Moon. There's even 1982's Yes, Giorgio starring Luciano Pavarotti (wait a sec... Pavarotti made movies too?!?).

This is one site that I am going to be watching with great interest. I think this is a very cool business model that Warners is experimenting with, and hopefully it will succeed enough for other studios to consider doing likewise.

Read More

The return of cold fusion?

Twenty years after the infamous Pons/Fleishmann experiment (debate still rages on whether or not it actually worked) there is now substantial new evidence that "cold fusion" is a reality. At the 237th national meeting of the American Chemical Society which is going on now, researchers will be presenting date indicating that neutrons, excessive heat, X-rays, and tritium (a fusion by-product) were produced at room temperatures. Fusion has traditionally been thought only possible in environments of tremendous heat (like, say, the Sun, which is powered by fusion reactions involving hydrogen).

If this new research bears out and scientists can discover how cold fusion works, that might be a very large step toward potentially cheap and renewable energy.

(And I think now's a good opportunity for some smart entrepreneur to trademark the "Mr. Fusion" brand :-)

Read More

World's cheapest car has been unveiled

For 100,000 rupees (or about $2000 American) the Nano, built by Indian car company Tata, can be yours...

The Nano seats four, and the basic model has no power steering, air bags, radio, or air conditioner. Oh yeah, and instead of welding the plastic and sheet-metal parts of the exterior are joined with adhesives: a glued-together car.

The Nano has a maximum speed of 70 kilometers per hour... or 43 miles per hour.

This thing would get eaten alive by most of the roads around where I live.

Read More

BIOSHOCK 2 is SEA OF DREAMS (again)

I've seen confusion and misinformation relating to upcoming movies and TV shows, but never like this for an unreleased video game...

Eurogamer is reporting that 2K Games honchos have let it be known that the forthcoming sequel to 2007's mind-blowing BioShock is still being called BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams. Late last week the story got out (originating from another 2K source) that the "Sea of Dreams" was being dropped from the title.

Eurogamer also notes that it will have plenty more to report on the much-awaited sequel in the weeks to come.

Read More

The final episode of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA...

...should go down in history as doing something that had never, ever been done before:

It found common ground between Evolutionists and Creationists. And provided a reason to make peace between the two.

Just finished watching the episode. I'm now greatly enticed to buy up the season DVD sets, and check out what else I might have missed of this apparently very fine show.

Read More

Today is "International Talk Like William Shatner Day"

It... has been reported, to this blogger... that today, March 22nd, has been declared, International Talk Like William Shatner Day.

You are, urged... to modify your speech patterns, accordingly.

Read More

JR Hafer recounts "The Legend of Popcorn Sutton"

Over the past several days there have been a lot of tributes to Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton, the incorrigible moonshiner whose rascally and entrenched ways endeared himself to a devoted following not just in Appalachia but across the Internet. As has been reported here and elsewhere in the media, Popcorn took his own life this past Monday, rather than report to federal prison later in the week to begin serving an 18-month sentence for "illegally" making likker.

(If you'd like to read more about Popcorn Sutton and his illustrious career, click on the "popcorn sutton" tag" and you can find lots of material that this blog has linked to over the course of the last year.)

Earlier today JR Hafer, a longtime friend of Popcorn's, forwarded along an essay that he had written. I personally think it's one of the finest that has been written about Popcorn Sutton: a man whose life story sounds like the kind of movie that Tim Burton or Terry Gilliam would probably make. You'll understand why I say that when you read JR Hafer's "The Legend of Popcorn Sutton".

Brace yourself y'all: this is one wild tale. Some stuff here, I didn't even know about until now :-)

Read More

Tonight, a triumph

This evening, at approximately 7:15 p.m. EST, the most long-term project that I have ever embarked upon - something that has taken up almost 17 years of my life - came to fruition.

And against the fears of how I had thought it would bear out, I am compelled to regard it as a far greater success than I had ever dared hope.

No rest for the wicked though. On to the next endeavor. But tonight, I will allow myself an all-too-rare sense of satisfaction, and share from experience that with patience and steadfastness, just about anything is possible.

Read More

Watching LOST and wondering about the Hydra Island runway?

We got a hint of it a few weeks ago in "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham". But this week's episode of Lost, titled "Namaste", gave us our first-ever confirming look at what Kate and Sawyer were put to work on early in Season 3: the runway on the smaller Hydra Island off the coast of the main Island. In this week's show, it was just "conveniently there" for Frank Lapidus to pull off his own "Chesley Sullenberger"-style miracle landing. And it let him bring Ajira Flight 316 down more or less pretty safely (considering that the only know fatality was his co-pilot).

So in late 2004, Ben had Kate and Sawyer helping the Others clearing the runway. It must have been fairly well known among the rest of the Others what the purpose of the activity was, because Juliet told them later that it was "a runway" (before joking that it was for the aliens). But the Others have never been seen with any aircraft.

It's only four years later, in 2008, that the runway finally gets used, when Ajira 316 makes its landing.

So are you wondering also: Why did the Others put a runway there? Almost as if someone knew that it would be needed at that exact spot, waiting for Ajira 316?

I found the answer on Lostpedia: probably the definitive Wiki devoted to Lost.

According to the Official Lost Podcast for March 19th, 2009, it was none other than Jacob who ordered the runway to be built.

That both makes perfect sense and begs even more questions about Jacob. Hope we'll get to find out more about him soon, 'cuz he's the most captivating mystery that this show has.

Read More

Two chances to watch Popcorn Sutton make THE LAST ONE this weekend

Neal Hutcheson's new and already extremely popular documentary The Last One, about legendary moonshiner Popcorn Sutton (who passed away earlier this week) making what at the time was said to be his final batch of "likker", will be shown tonight at 8 p.m. on The Documentary Channel.

Then tomorrow night at 9 p.m., UNC TV (the PBS network here in North Carolina) will also be broadcasting The Last One.

If you have not had the pleasure yet, I heartily recommend catching The Last One however you can. Neal sent over a DVD of it a few months ago and ever since then it has been making the rounds among friends and relatives. Everyone has said that it's an absolute hoot to watch! Now because of the sad events of this past week, it is also a fitting memorial to an American original character.

Read More

Anyone else find this movie poster rather disturbing?

The first poster for Spike Jonze's upcoming adaptation of Where The Wild Things Are...

Read More

Financial Post writer asks: Is America ending?

Terence Corcoran of Financial Post has written a sobering article on his blog about the decline of the United States across the spectra of finance and politics...

As an aghast world — from China to Chicago and Chihuahua — watches, the circus-like U.S. political system seems to be declining into near chaos. Through it all, stock and financial markets are paralyzed. The more the policy regime does, the worse the outlook gets. The multi-ringed spectacle raises a disturbing question in many minds: Is this the end of America?

Probably not, if only because there are good reasons for optimism. The U.S. economy has pulled out of self-destructive political spirals in the past, spurred on by its business class and corporate leaders, the profit-making and market-creating people who rose above the political turmoil to once again lift the world out of financial crisis. It’s happened many times before, except for once, when it took 20 years to rise out of the Great Depression.

Past success, however, is no guarantee of future recovery, especially now when there are daily disasters and new indicators of political breakdown. All developments are not disasters in themselves. The AIG bonus firestorm is a diversion from real issues , but it puts the ghastly political classes who make U.S. law on display for what they are: ageing self-serving demagogues who have spent decades warping the U.S. political system for their own ends. We see the system up close, law-making that is riddled with slapdash, incompetence and gamesmanship...

It's hard to disagree with the upshot of Corcoran's argument: that America has become a house of cards that's been living on borrowed time (and money that it doesn't really have).

Read plenty more at the link.

Read More

BIOSHOCK 2 is SEA OF DREAMS no longer, will get simultaneous multi-platform release

Ever since that teaser trailer was released this past fall, the upcoming sequel to 2007's BioShock has been called BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams. Now comes word from 2K Games that the "Sea of Dreams" has been dropped from the title. So from now on we can just refer to it as...

"What's in a name?" More like "What's in the game?" So long as it is at least as thrilling and terrifying and thought-provoking as the original BioShock, doesn't matter to me what they choose to call BioShock 2.

And speaking of BioShock 2, 2K has announced that the game - now widely whispered to be coming out this October - will be released for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC at the same time. Which will make lots of people very very happy :-)

Read More

The $100 aerospace camera

Four teenage Spanish students have earned worldwide acclaim for the photographs they have taken of the edge of space, 20 miles above the Earth. The students pulled off the remarkable feat with a weather balloon, and a digital camera costing about $100. The instrument packaged that the kids whipped-up contained a means of tracking the balloon after its ascent via Google Earth.

Plum amazing. And very cool, what young people are capable of doing these days (or anybody for that matter). Wouldn't surprise me if in the not too distant future, we'll be reading news of some high school student flying into orbit in a home-built spaceship :-)

Read More