Via the recently-launched io9 site, tips for organizing your living space...in space!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:19 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 18 words, total size 1 kb.

Via Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools, a 1,500 (!) free (!) textbook on physics.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 11:40 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 17 words, total size 1 kb.

The chances of that asteroid hitting Mars on January 30, 2008 have increased from 1 in 75 to about 1 in 25. Watch out below!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 03:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 39 words, total size 1 kb.

I believe I forgot to post this hilarious bit from XKCD.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 01:10 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 15 words, total size 1 kb.

A selection of science-related...tattoos.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 06:46 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 8 words, total size 1 kb.

The second voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle started today in 1836.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 12:34 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 15 words, total size 1 kb.

Some interesting bits about the bone trade.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 10:51 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 13 words, total size 1 kb.

Planetes #01 (Tokyopop, 2003). Planetes #02 (Tokyopop, 2003). Planetes #03 (Tokyopop, 2004). Planetes #04a (Tokyopop, 2004). Planetes #04b (Tokyopop, 2004), Makoto Yukimura.

Combined review can now be found here.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 10:54 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 31 words, total size 1 kb.

Looks like we've finally found the Giant Rat of Sumatra!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 06:19 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 18 words, total size 1 kb.

A professor of physics is finding fame on the internet. (Sounds like he's a fantastic teacher. Alas, at my alma mater, they went for "world-class research" not boring stuff like teaching ability. Being a good teacher was a sure-fire indication that you would not be recommended for a tenured position!)

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 02:27 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 70 words, total size 1 kb.

You look out at the stars and galaxies with your backyard telescope and you ponder how peaceful the universe is. It's easy to overlook test runs of planet-destroying weapons or bad driving on the galactic scale.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 11:59 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 42 words, total size 1 kb.

A recently discovered asteroid has a 1 in 75 chance of hitting Mars on January 30, 2008. Aside from any photo-op interest, there are a couple of interesting things that could come out of a actual strike. The flash could be examined by orbiting telescopes. It would be interesting to see what an impact would do to Mars, in terms of any climate change. And, the resulting crater might be a interesting place for a future probe to explore (almost like having a drill go into the planet).

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:55 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 94 words, total size 1 kb.

The Astronomy Picture of the Day site has chosen their best astronomical pictures for the year 2007.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:18 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 19 words, total size 1 kb.

How would you like to have to deal with this much information at once?

I'd be willing to bet this is partly for show. Most of the screens probably only track a single stock, so this is more a "time saving device" so you don't need to flip between windows on a single screen. I'm willing to bet that there are studies out there that show how much information you can handle under stress...too many active windows would probably mean indecision rather than decisive action.

(And yes, this came out of some work-related research. So I can post while I'm at work!)

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 02:14 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 106 words, total size 1 kb.

An article implies that Robert A. Heinlein's influence is declining. The evidence? That the literati don't take him seriously anymore. Is being compared to Heinlein a help or hindrance to a new science fiction writer? One such writer speaks up (and to be honest, the main reason I picked up John Scalzi's books was because of the comparison to Heinlein!)

Looks like it is time to trot out this 1980 essay by Spider Robinson again! more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 04:01 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 109 words, total size 1 kb.

Expedition: Being An Account in Words and Artwork of the 2358 A.D. Voyage to Darwin IV; Wayne Barlowe (Workman Publishing, 1990, ISBN 0-89480-629-7, cover by Wayne Barlowe).

The review is now found here.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 11:51 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 35 words, total size 1 kb.

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?

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 10:17 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 34 words, total size 1 kb.

(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
Post contains 393 words, total size 4 kb.

Is the Sloan Great Wall the largest "structure" known in the universe? There's a SF novel in here somewhere...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 01:49 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 25 words, total size 1 kb.

Phil Harrington, author of several excellent books for amateur astronomers, has released his equally excellent Touring the Universe Through Binoculars Atlas as freeware.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:30 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 25 words, total size 1 kb.