Instead I'm staring in awe at these awesome vintage space travel posters by Steve Thomas. I've been dying to replace one of the pictures in my dining area so out with the dorky castle/dragon fantasy poster! In 2-7 days this will be what I see at breakfast everyday:
And they're showing some really cool stuff.....Here's eating tea with chopsticks in micro-gravity.
1) NBC is making ridiculous claims to the FCC in order to stifle P2P technologies. I find it so amazing big entertainment companies make such colossal PR blunders. If they want to know why revenue and sales are down, it’s because people don’t want to be hassled with poorly-functioning copyright control software. If NBC succeeds they will be nailing their own coffin shut for when Internet-distributed TV serials hit the big time.
And lists like this one make it easier for users to generate their own content instead of being dependent on big media. There's over 400 tools for multi-media blogging there. I just flipped through them but really cool. I have a feeling I will be spending some time here in the near future.
2) Two weblogs of Interest:
Ars Technica creates Open-Ended, a web journal on Open-Source software. Looks promising.
Life Hacker: Weblog provides a variety of tips on everything from time management to computing to how to slice a watermelon. So book-marking this one.
3) Possible liquid water in the Kuiper Belt. The more I read about our Outer Solar System, the more excited I get about the upcoming New Horizons Mission.
Very miscellaneous today.
1) In anticipation for the new Harry Potter book, I give you the Harry Potter Spoiler of Doom generator! My results:
Hmmm, I haven’t done one of these in a while.
1) New Spacesuits from MIT: Researchers are working on developing a revolutionary spacesuit that could allow for greater mobility & dexterity for the astronaut. Not quite ready to go but very cool.
2) The previously mentioned Genesis II inflatable module launched successfully and has already begun sending pictures back. Here’s my favorite so far.
3) Ubuntu Competition? Great idea. I looked around at other distributions of Linux when I ran into my RAM memory troubles. Although many looked good and came with a bunch of applications, no one could touch the documentation, help forums and we-assume-you’re-a-beginner stance of Ubuntu.
4) Article on throttle-down engines. New NASA research in variable acceleration rockets. This is a good example of NASA doing what it does best. Very cool.
5) More Farscape!!!! How awesome is this? (Not strictly tech but too cool to not mention)
In conclusion, I give you Full Metal Aztec: 
NASA Signs Commercial Space Transportation Agreements. Another commercialization milestone for NASA. Here’s the key bit:
"...said Scott Horowitz, NASA associate administrator for Exploration Systems. 'First there were two, and now there are a total of five private companies cooperating with NASA by dedicating entirely private funding to help establish a robust commercial space transportation industry.' "
NASA provides design requirements but the private sector provides the design and not on the taxpayers’ dime. Hopefully, if this works we can expect more such ventures in the future.
1) Scientists discover 24 new species, including this pretty little amphibian: 
2) Season 4 will be Battlestar Galactica’s last, but at least it sounds like the producers decided to go out with a bang. I’m glad I don’t have to wait quite as long for a new episode (2hr “Razor” in November 2007).
3) The Planetary Society has some pictures up of entrants into the Lunar Regolith Challenge to design an automated digging machine that could work on the Moon or Mars. The pictures include everything from the super simple to the weirdly complex. It sounds like the technology’s there; a couple of the current entrants made progress but did not meet the criteria necessary to win the challenge. I am really glad NASA seems to be doing more challenges and the like.
There are several other open challenges. From the NASA Centennial Challenges website, the following are all underway:
4) This day in history: D-Day. I'm a little ashamed to admit I almost forgot about this. Interesting information & background here. The comments include some excellent stuff as well such as musings on the leftovers from WWII still present on the British coast and that fact the allies made ginormous floating ports to supply the troops after the invasion.
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