My friend Pete Young's pictures in various categories at Flickr. Various subjects, including SF author's with pending Big Works A'Coming.

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NASA's PlanetQuest website allows you to keep track of the discovery of exoplanets. Need a new setting for that epic space opera you are writing during November's novel in one month project?

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Omnibus review can now be found here.

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George Tarsoudis is a amateur astronomer who specializes in photographing our Moon and the other bodies in our Solar System. Some very good stuff here!

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Hey, I'm a pirate! Well, according to some people, anyway.

Pariser has a very broad definition of "stealing." When questioned by Richard Gabriel, lead counsel for the record labels, Pariser suggested that what millions of music fans do is actually theft. The dirty deed? Ripping your own CDs or downloading songs you already own.

Gabriel asked if it was wrong for consumers to make copies of music which they have purchased, even just one copy. Pariser replied, "When an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song." Making "a copy" of a purchased song is just "a nice way of saying 'steals just one copy'," she said.

Shiver me timbers.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:17 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The John Grimes tales of A. Bertram Chandler.

Omnibus review can now be found here.

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Dark Roasted Blend takes a look at the Soviet version of the shuttle. They have a very nice selection of pictures, but don't show the ultimate fate of some of the test vehicles: stranded in a foreign land or converted into a theme park attraction. more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 10:44 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I'm vastly amused to see that the forces of religion and the forces are secularism are both apparently annoyed with Phillip Pullman and the movie based on his book.

Me? I've tried to read them. Several times. I got bogged down...from boredom. Poor fantasy, at best. I have no plans to inflict them upon my daughter, or even to go see the movie.

By raising a stink, The Catholic League (they don't represent me!) is just going to raise curiosity, and folks will go, rather than boycott, the flick. But they'll never learn.

(I do congratulate The Catholic League for sticking with the books and reading them to develop all these half-assed theories, though. Much better than feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, bringing justice to the oppressed and all that boring stuff.)

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:20 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Illusion TV interviews Syd Mead, an artist that gave much of the "look" to films such as 2010: Odyssey Two, Blade Runner and more. With the ultimate fanboy edition of Blade Runner coming later this year and a documentary on his work in release, maybe we'll see a comprehensive print edition of his work soon?

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Via Dark Roasted Blend, a great collection of space art from Russian, America and more!

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Just like to point out that Baen Books is offering a whole pile of fine works of science fiction, fantasy and more in their Free Library. Just in case you think Amazon has invented the world of electronic books. (And while you're at it, surf past the media hype and also look at Project Gutenberg, Memoware, Manybooks and other folks who have been on the frontier far longer than the Amazon effort. Heck, I recall downloading Project Gutenberg works for my Apple Newton!)

(There's no reason, by the way, to spend several hundred dollars on a poorly designed, hard to hold comfortably, overpriced, DRM-crippled reader. Some smart shopping in second-hand outlets can get you a perfectly capable laptop, eBook reader or PDA for far less.) more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 11:27 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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A review of a direct-to-DVD film that sounds like it has a lot of promise. I'm seeing echoes of Clifford D. Simak's Grotto of the Dancing Deer as well as stuff by Lester del Rey and others here. The screenplay author, Jerome Bixby, was no slouch, either.

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Given the Moon's lower gravity, future missions will have to be careful that their own rocket plumes don't cause trouble for bases, supplies or scientific instruments.

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Here's hoping all of my American friends have had a happy Thanksgiving today. We celebrated with my family in Dallas, enjoying the traditional meal, some football in the back yard, and a great (if boring) Dallas Cowboys football game on the TV.

Long-time friend-of-the-blog Robbo reflects on what he is thankful for this year, in a nicely written piece. His co-Llama Steve also posts the Thanksgiving proclamations of Washington and Lincoln, reminding us of the heritage and original meaning of the holiday.

Another old friend of the blog, Timothy Sandefur, has a neat post and picture about how we have fulfilled many of the ideals of our forebears.

I've gone in a somewhat different direction than Robbo with my faith over the last couple of years, and my ordeals this year have done nothing to change that. But I still find my personal response to life and this awesome universe to be one of humble gratitude for my many blessings.

Just a few I celebrate today (and every day!):

1. My wonderful wife, a true life-partner who not only loves and supports me, but also completes me and makes me a better person than I would be without her presence.

2. My three healthy, brilliant, active, and ever-growing children, who make me burst with pride.

3. The gift of music, which enriches my life in the good times and sustains me in the bad.

4. A stable job that provides for my material needs while allowing me some degree of freedom and capacity for growth.

5. All those who serve our country and local communities. Our military, which puts their lives at risk keeping us safe from external enemies and our local fire, rescue, and police workers who help keep us safe in our homes and communities.

6. Last but not least, our country, which despite its occasional shortcomings, still shines as a beacon of liberty and hope for much of the world.

Posted by: JohnL at 07:36 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 I heard a rumor that the site was undergoing a redesign around this weekend...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at November 25, 2007 07:40 PM (q4mcg)

2 Very nice site! is it yours too

Posted by: John1184 at October 22, 2009 05:53 AM (Qpy1c)

3 Very nice site! is it yours too http://apxyieo.com/qyoxar/4.html

Posted by: John1184 at October 22, 2009 05:53 AM (/0ihr)

4 Very nice site!

Posted by: John1184 at October 22, 2009 05:53 AM (dkstP)

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In the evening sky, Mars is getting quite bright. It'll never get "as big as the Moon" as that internet tall tale that circulates now and again claims, but now is the time for some good views.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:36 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Are "carbon credits" a real solution to "global warming" or just another way for somebody to get rich?

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Slightly...off color. So the jokes are below the fold for sensitive types. more...

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Fighting hamsters from the sky
Some will live and some will die
Hamsters have nothing to fear
The fighting hamsters of Calontir

Silver tape upon their backs
A broadsword is all they lack
Fifty hamsters fight a war
They won't win without fifty more

Trained by jumping off a roof
Trained in combat tooth to tooth
Hamsters fight both far and near
The fighting hamsters of Calontir

Riding high upon our helms
Their war cry it overwhelms
All opponents become weak
At their fearsome squeaky squeak

Back at home Paval waits
His fighting hamster has met its fate
He has died while drinking beer
The fighting hamsters of calontir

Once again its off to war
This time we number a dozen more
We will fight for those in need
so this year it's with Caid

Fighting hamsters jump from planes
Fighting hamsters fall like rain
Some will live but most will die
Stupid creatures cannot fly

Words by : Chrystofer Kensor & Andrixios Seljukroctonis
Tune of : Ballad of the Green Berets

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 10:29 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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(A repost from 2003...)

Take a look at this entry to this blog.

The author discusses the famous non-fiction work The World, the Flesh and the Devil by J.D. Bernal. This book influenced authors from Olaf Stapledon to Arthur C. Clarke, and even showed up in the space colony work of Gerard K. O'Neil and others (most notably in the design known as the "Bernal Sphere"). more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 10:46 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe."

(De Forrest Kelly as Dr. "Bones" McCoy" in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)

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