One evident danger of Facebook or MySpace activity is the increased risk from stalkers and predators. Kids and teens, and even those beyond their teenage years may unintentionally place themselves at risk from stalkers and sexual predators. Your friends aren’t the only people who may be looking at your profile, and MySpace is a stalker’s haven where personal photos and information are a click away.

Most interesting are those who claim the variety of health problems that come about from social networking. Aric Sigman, a highly acclaimed British scientist has inflamed and enraged the population through his books like Remotely Controlled: How Television is Damaging Our Lives. Sigman is to be respected for taking the minority stand on unpopular issues. His talks on alcohol and technology are equally scintillating, but it’s his comments regarding social networking with which we are interested. In his influential paper, “The Biological Implications of ‘Social Networking’” (Biologist, February 2009), Sigman attempts to prove his thesis that online social networking has biological effects that adversely alter our health. In other words: Facebook is bad for you. If you can navigate his medical verbiage, you will discover that online social networking subjects you to increased risk for cancer, genetic mutation, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia, lupus, arthritis, strokes, and yes, even the common cold. His charts which trace the size of one’s social circle and its direct impact upon the diameter of one’s arteries are really quite insightful.

With a pointed application, Sigman closes his work with a haunting question: [Having considered th the enormous evidence of these calamitous effects] “we should now explain the true meaning of the term ‘social networking.’”

I will admit that I have a few Facebook friends, who don’t seem to sleep, judging by the constant regularity of their status updates, even in the odd hours of the morning, but I’m not sure it’s given them lupus…yet.

No doubt, it would do us all good to maintain an awareness of the way we spend our time. Few would argue that such an exercise could produce significant improvement, but you will have to judge personally whether or not you’re at an increased risk for dementia as a result of your Facebook activity.

Researchers at Portsmouth University are looking to preserve the history of our software past, by creating an emulator that could read any software dating back to the 70′s. Yea, I wish I could get in on some of that research as well. Maybe test some games out, make sure they work. Hey, somebody has to do it.

The emulator is part of an European program called KEEP (Keeping Emulation Environments Portable), who’s initiative is to make sure that everything is being done to make sure digital media is being kept safe and will always be available for years to come. The project goes beyond games, and will be able to read text, sound and image files, multimedia documents, websites, databases.

Dr David Anderson, one of the head researchers of the project provides insight into the reasons behind the project, “Early hardware, like games consoles and computers, are already found in museums. But if you can’t show visitors what they did, by playing the software on them, it would be much the same as putting musical instruments on display but throwing away all the music. For future generations it would be a cultural catastrophe”

That’s quite an interesting take on the idea behind how we treat digital media. Just look at cassette tapes. They are hardly more than a decade out of being a prime source of media, and now it’s a dinosaur format. I’m sure most of you, and myself included have no idea where any of our tapes are. But how important are they in terms of defining our culture, and painting a portrait of life in the 80′s and 90′s?

I’m definitely going to be keeping up with this research project, and see how far they can take it. Trying to develop a device that can read any software from the past 40 years, is a lofty goal indeed. But it’s one that could be very important. Maybe not now, but in the future when our civilization is considered archaic, and kids are listening to music through microchips in their head.

[via: Tech Radar]

They are kind of pretty and shiny in a hard bitten, vaporware sort of way.  But wait, could this be the proof that we’re all waiting for?  Will DNF be an actual product in our lifetime?  I’ll let you decide that while you gaze lovingly at the once familiar mug of our long lost protagonist.  Let’s hope that if it is real, it makes a better impression than Spore.

Technorati Tags: dfn, duke nukem forever, pics, screenshot, kick ass and chew bubblegum, video games, vaporware

The remake, Bionic Commando: Rearmed (Rearmed! Get it?!), features the same story and gameplay as the the original, but enhanced with modern graphics and sound effects. Fans of the original will recognize levels and bosses throughout the game, as well as some nostalgia-heavy cutscenes. The remake is still a 2D scroller, and you still can’t jump (forcing you to rely on your bionic arm swinging abilities).

First, the positives. This game is absolutely beautiful. Everything from the stellar 3D characters with full ragdoll effects to the campy back and forth dialogue to the modernized 8-bit soundtrack are incredibly gratifying. It’s so much fun to combine the nostalgia of playing a side-scrolling shooter with the graphics of modern gaming machines. The visuals of this remake are at times better than those of modern original titles.

BCR also features split-screen multiplayer campaign as well as up to 4-player versus modes. The campaign can be a lot of fun, since the opponent AI alters itself to require teamwork. However the versus modes are only fun for a short while and quickly become repetitive and boring.

Where BCR suffers is in gameplay. The original Bionic Commando is known for being somewhat difficult to master, and I found the remake to hold true to that assessment as well. It took me a long time to master the swinging technique needed to traverse even the earliest levels, and many of the areas you encounter feature spiked floors or lava that will kill you almost immediately. After struggling to get through the first few levels, I went back and lowered the difficulty level to the easiest setting. This blocked off the traps on the floor and made enemies easier to defeat, thus refocusing gameplay on navigating using the bionic arm, which is where this game really shines.

For a remake, Bionic Commando: Rearmed is a stunning success. Original gameplay is left mostly untouched, with stellar graphics and soundtracks added and enhanced to really make this one of the best $10 video games out there. I definitely suggest this game for any fans of the original Bionic Commando, or for fans of retro gaming in general.

Technorati Tags: Bionic Commando, Bionic Commando: Rearmed, Grin, Capcom, XBox Live Arcade, Playstation Network, PC Games, Nintendo, NES, video games, video game reviews

Remember in grade school there was this kid who could make fart noises with his armpit? How cool that was? You wanted to be able to do that too, but never seemed to be able to pull it off. And remember how in high school, the same kid was still making fart noises with his armpit? But now you thought it was gross (You never admitted to anyone you still tried to make it work alone in your room).

Have you ever wondered what happened to that guy?

Well, you’ll be happy to know he’s alive and well. And he’s still making fart noises (though he’s since traded armpit farts for hand farts, less rashes I guess).

Meet Gerry (Jerry) Phillips. Gerry calls himself a manualist. A manualist is someone who plays music with their hands and no other instruments.

Sounds easy? Try it.

Gerry has a real talent. He’s got over a hundred videos posted on YouTube. And they are all amazing. He handfarts his way through all sorts of old favorites (Bohemian Raphsody, Killer Queen, Mario Bros. Theme) and makes some songs better than they’ve ever been (Hit Me Baby, One More Time, The Final Countdown).  Here’s Peter Frampton:

I highly suggest you check him out if you’re looking to waste some time, get a good laugh and be totally amazed. Here’s a link to his YouTube page:

http://www.youtube.com/user/gunecologist

Technorati Tags: geek, manualist, handfart, music, classic rock, super mario bros.

The best part of the video is when Adam breaks from the itinerary to show a slow-motion video of fellow co-host Jaimie Hyneman slapping him across the face in an attempt to sober Adam up.  While locating the file on his laptop, someone in the audience points out the somewhat suspiciously named “Batman The Dark Knight.avi” on Adam’s desktop, to which Adam responds, “Well, I hadn’t seen it yet.”

The video is an hour long, but totally worth watching.

Edit: It turns out the video in question was just the trailer of Batman.  But still, Adam is a Batman fan, he recreated a Dodo skeleton, he hand-drew a map of Middle Earth, and his official occupation entails blowing stuff up on TV.  He would be hard pressed to be any geekier (or cooler).

Technorati Tags: Mythbusters, hackers, H.O.P.E., Adam Savage

This particular piece really stirs something within me. Sure, I love zombies and that’s part of it but it’s more than that.  The look on the kid’s faces, the thought of being trapped at the top of a playground set as hordes of undead children swarm, wondering if they’ll make it with their improvised weapons.  It could also be that one of the children bears a passing resemblence to my own.  It makes me want to go out and write young adult zombie survival fiction.  A group of children, seperated from their parents just at the breaking point of an undead uprising.  How would they survive? What would they have to do?  Would they ever see their parents again?

Definitely stop by Jason’s site and have a gander at his gallery. It will be worth your time.

Technorati Tags: zombies, playground, art, painting, jason chan, braaaaaains

• You are actually afraid of Chuck Norris, and have a respectful fear of Christopher Walken.
• J00 c4n und3r574nd wh47 7h15 54y5.
• Your fingers are permanently in the WASD formation.
• You have one or more Manga Girl Wallpapers on your computer.
• You know the answer to: Life, the universe and everything.
• You don’t know how far it is to your state capitol but you know exactly how may miles it is from Hobbiton to Mt. Doom.
• Rem Lezar changed your life.
• You cried when Chewbacca died.
• Your only form of exercise is DDR.
• You have had a crush on an animated character…recently.
• You learned everything you need to know in life from Wikipedia and GI Joe PSA’s.
• You wish you could visit a modern day faire and then come back to renaissance life.
• You wish talk like a pirate day was celebrated year round.
• You consider the Geek national anthem to be: Ballad of Bilbo Baggins by Leonard Nimoy.
• You consider your dyslexia a second language.
• You think the real reason The Lone Gunmen went off the air is because the writers were “silenced” by the shadow government.
• The predictive text on your phone knows words in drow, klingon and elven.
• The last time you read a book, you accidentally read 3 extra chapters before you realized that there are no ‘save points’ in real life.
• You really do think you’re turning Japanese.
• Greatest musicians of all time: Beethoven, Led Zeppelin and Weird Al.
• You’ve been out in the middle of the night wearing a costume, and you weren’t trick-or-treating.
• You are fluent in 7 languages and none of them will help you speak to another human being.
• You own 8 pounds of dice, but don’t know how to play craps.
• You refer to those dice as your ‘jewels’.
• Said ‘jewels’ are also the most expensive jewels you own.
• You have no clue who the 39th U.S. president was, but you can list back 100 generations of elven royalty.
• You know what Mjolnir is but don’t have a degree in Norse mythology.
• You’ve used you replica of the One Ring to try to sneak past/hide from someone you didn’t want to see.
• You feel the need to explain the difference between geek and nerd if someone calls you a nerd.
• Your favorite number is an irrational number.
• Every time you get hurt you say “its just a flesh wound”.
• You wear skull and crossbones not because it’s a fad but because you actually are a pirate.
• You thought the X-files was a documentary.
• You consider the game of Risk just a warm up.
• Your dresser is filled with computer parts and your clothes are on a pile on the floor.
• you are well prepared for the coming zombie uprising.
• you know what, up up down down left right left right B A start, does.
• You find yourself breaking your neighbors potted plants because you think there might be hearts, arrows or bombs inside.
• Your vacation itinerary looks like this:

1. Area 51
2. Loch Ness
3. Dragoncon
4. Silicon Valley
5. Narnia

*special thanks to my pal dsp311 for help compiling this list*

Technorati Tags: geek, humor, lists, sci-fi, fantasy, not nerds

Which do you prefer?  Or should we just stick with Robot Chicken?

Technorati Tags: star wars, original flavor, special edition, han shoots first dammit, wookies, cgi, movies, entertainment

I was in Beijing a few months ago and got to snap a few pics of the building as they were still putting the windows in.  My friend Chen, who lives in Beijing told me that they refer to this building as “the Giant Pants”, which got a chuckle out of me.  It really is quite big though, when driving below it.

Here are two pictures I took of the building in late May of this year.

Click on them for much bigger versions (1600×1200).

Here are some facts about the new building, also courtesy of OMA.

FACT SHEET
Status:
Competition 2002; Completion 2009

Client:
China Central Television (CCTV)

Site:
20 hectares in new Central Business District

Program:
CCTV total 465.000m2 including administration, program offices, news production, broadcasting, program production, staff facilities, parking. TVCC total 95.000m2 including hotel, public facilities, parking and service building

Budget:
5 billion RMB (850 million euro)

Tower 1
Height 234m  54 floors footprint: 40*60m, 2400m2

Tower 2
Height: 210m,  44 floors,  footprint: 40*52m, 2000m2

Overhang bottom
162m, 14 floors

Overhang cantilever
75m to the west, 67m to the south

Base height
45m,  9 floors footprint 160*160m

Basement
-18m, 4 floors

Technorati Tags: cctv, china, buildings, giant pants, beijing, pictures

From the article:

The Association of the Sovereign Order of the Temple of Christ has launched a court case in Spain, demanding Pope Benedict “recognise” the seizure of assets worth €100bn. The Spanish-based group of Templars apparently says in a statement: “We are not trying to cause the economic collapse of the Roman Catholic Church, but to illustrate to the court the magnitude of the plot against our Order.” This might come as a surprise to those who believe that the order of warrior monks – also credited with possessing the Holy Grail and laying the foundation of the European banking system – was smashed in 1307 by Pope Clement V and Philip IV of France.

Now that’s a lot of money, and a lot of history to overcome. No mention has been made about Mary, Jesus’ kids or any other conspiracy type things but you can be sure that both parties have documents they don’t want to show the public. Probably in the form of financial statements.

Technorati Tags: templar, medieval, church, suing, history

PC Gaming

1. Keyboard baby.
2. PS3′s and Xbox360′s don’t glow in neon colors or feature water cooling.
3. Framerate.  PC’s will dominate in the area of graphics and performance for some time to come.
4. I don’t need to buy three game consoles to have complete title availability.  If it’s made for the PC, I can play it.
5. Multifunction – game, email, web, financial apps, office – all for one price.
6. Console getting a little long in the tooth?  No upgrading for you! You’ll have to go out and buy the newest version.

Console Gaming

1. Buy it once and you’re done.  No installing graphics cards, memory, etc.
2. If I buy a game, I know it will work with no updating drivers or tweaking display settings.
3. I can buy an Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii (if I can find one) for about the same price as a good gaming rig.
4. Exclusive titles means no waiting for bad ports.
5. Rentals!  Try before you buy is real nice.
6. Multiplayer made easy for people in the same room.  Sit on the couch with a budy and game on.  Try that on your PC.

There’s my take – now which do you think is better?  Or have you bitten the bullet and do you have both a gaming PC and a console?

Technorati Tags: gaming, video games, pc, console, geek, platforms, xbox, wii, ps3

How are things going for Anonymous?  How much progress have they made, and what changes have come about in the six months or so that they’ve been in existence?  You can catch the second video here.

EDIT: Nice – the COS appears to be targeting posts about anonymous with ads via Google, like in this image (click for a larger version).  Looks like some keyword blocking may be in order.  It didn’t take long either, that ad appears minutes after the post went up.

Greetings to Anonymous and their allies in the fight against Scientology,

Recently, an invitation was issued to those who left Project Chanology to return and reclaim it. There may be some who are newer to Anonymous, or are associated with them who may have misunderstood the charge and are wondering if they and their methods are still welcome.

In any conflict of this magnitude, every part plays a role. A hive would be nothing more than a horde of insects if not for its singularity of purpose. No part is greater than the other. Is the eye, less useful than the hand – because it cannot grasp?

In sum: all Anonymous are welcome, regardless of their origins, tactics, beliefs, and reasons for their fight. Some may not understand those that created Anonymous in the first place or their tactics, and people fear what they do not understand. What must be realized is the nature of that very fear is what brought attention to Anonymous in the first place by the media, and by the Church of Scientology. It works. So does what you do, but in a different way.

Without darkness, there is no light. Without decay, there is no life. Without fear, there is no hope. The V for Vendetta masks, currently worn by so many Anonymous, is the trademark symbol of a dark vigilante character. Anonymous was born in darkness, and currently some of the symbols of darkness have been embraced. They are powerful, protective, and strong. As Anonymous, or allies of Anonymous, you are free to conduct yourself as you wish as long as you stay on target and keep in mind that you alone are responsible for your own actions. You do not have to cease protest and activism methods such as hug raids or candlelight vigils. Continue to dance and sing. Continue to offer help to those that wish to escape the cult.

If activism of a darker nature leaves a bitter taste in your mouth, do not participate in those actions. If it resonates with you, feel free to contribute your ideas and actions in order to effectively fight this corrupt organization your way. As other Anonymous do not interfere with your works, do not interfere with theirs. Cast aside your ego and your preconceived notions. There is work to be done.

To those who are still in scientology: your orgs are closing. Your friends and family members are leaving. The corruption is coming to light. Course materials are now free for you to find on the internet. People are speaking out in the media and in the streets. It is time to leave. The storm is coming, and in the end it’s up to you to decide where you’ll be standing when it strikes.

We are Anonymous.
We are Legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
United as one, divided by zero, we are unstoppable.
Expect Us.

Technorati Tags: anonymous, scientology, internet groups, the shadow organizations, culture

Technorati Tags: knight rider, television, geek yet macho, kitt, knight industries, oh geek

Just throw in your Zip and you’ll be given a print coupon (that looks like what I have below) and the location of participating stores.  Or you could try and be sneaky and just print out the coupon below and head on over to a Toys R Us with a pocket sufficiently empty to handle the Millenium Falcon.

Technorati Tags: star wars, pocket model, force, droids, geek, science fiction, sf, games, collectible

The federal government already regulates royalty rates. Pandora isn’t asking for special treatment, they just want the same treatment broadcasters in other mediums get. This isn’t a matter of Pandora trying to compete unfairly, this is a matter of the recording industry still being engaged in a campaign against independent & digital media that started with Napster. They have the information and the intelligence to know what an internet radio station can afford to pay in royalties, and they have intentionally set the bar too high because they want to make it impossible to compete with their favored distribution methods, or more to point because they’re still terrified by any form of media distribution outside their control. We are talking about an organization, a cartel really, that is willing to lie under oath and to subvert U.S. diplomatic leverage to force illegal police raids on foreign soil.

This is what happens when you allow monopolistic entities to flourish unabated: they use their economic and political power to crush competitors and innovators that threaten their business model. Choosing to do nothing about it ultimately damages free trade, especially when there are already regulations in place that happen to favor this kind of behavior in the market.

The result is disastrous for everyone, including Big Media; they have already managed to alienate many of the artists and trendsetters that are ultimately responsible for their success. What we are going to see is a continued increase in piracy, and the motivation will be political, not out of ignorance of intellectual property law or willful criminality. The modern pirate doesn’t download music because he can’t pay for it, or because doesn’t think the artist deserves money for the work, as much as because he wants the industry to fail and he wants to prove that DRM is ineffective and hinders legitimate use more than piracy.

None of them are afraid that if big media goes under music is going with it. They hope and expect that without this exploitative and inefficient monster we’ll start seeing music that is simultaneously more affordable for consumers and more profitable for the artists. Many pioneers in the music industry, as well as traditional independent artists who have always made their living more on live performances rather than record deals, are proving it’s possible, and they will continue to grow and improve as long as we push back against Big Media hard enough to give them room.

For more information about the Internet Radio Equality Act, and what you can do, check out savenetradio.org.

Technorati Tags: ditko, comics, spider man, geek, comic books, avenging world, bizarre

Cheers to you Tenille and Thomas! May the force be with you both.

By Sarah Tippit

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) – The bride and groom grasped one another’s dart launcher-clad wrists and stared into each other’s starry eyes.

Fifty armor-clad guests, including several “Jedis” and a white caped “Elvis” in a rhinestone-studded ammo belt, stood reverently at attention. A couple of superheroes showed up late.

What better place to hold a “Star Wars” themed wedding than a green patch of grass just outside the famed Comic-Con convention where thousands of fans have congregated this week to revel in all manner of superhero and sci-fi lore?

Friday’s wedding ceremony, based on the language, costume and lore of a fictional Mandalorian race in the “Star Wars” movies, was the brain child of Tenille Kuhlman, 30, and Thomas Kuhlman, 39, avid fans who decided that the convention was a perfect place to gather far-flung members of their close-knit “Star Wars” fan club to celebrate their special day.

The couple met online two years ago, said Tenille Kuhlman, who said she was at first was hesitant to embrace the Mandalorian lifestyle. “When I met him I knew what every Joe Blow knows about ‘Star Wars.’ It just sort of turned into life for us.”

Last winter they married in a civil ceremony and settled in Yuma, Arizona, yet Thomas Kuhlman longed to receive a Mandalorian blessing of their union. “I said, ‘Hey, that’s never going to happen,’” Tenille Kuhlman said.

But according to clan creed, Mandalorians don’t make threats, they make promises. The wedding quickly began to take shape. Yet 10 minutes before the ceremony was to begin, despite her careful planning, Tenille found herself still wearing her “I Love Nerds” T-shirt, nervous and without makeup.

Friends stepped in to help. “Hey, come on guys I’ve got jobs for you to do!” one Mandalorian shouted. “Bounty hunters are all about jobs!” an eager warrior replied.

With that friends quickly set up a makeshift arch and helped the bride, blushing from the heat of the hot summer sun, into her homemade armor, which included metal thigh plates, metal collar, cape, belt, and plastic cuffs known as gauntlets which in movie lore, are capable of shooting darts.

The guests — in full regalia including helmets, boots and jet packs — formed two lines and created a light saber arch leading toward the altar.

“I don’t have my fake gun!” somebody shouted. “That’s OK,” said another guest. “This is a wedding ceremony. I left mine in the car.”

The crowd fell silent as Tenille, escorted by armor-clad P.J. Reindel, a police officer from California who she met online, walked her down the aisle toward Thomas, who stood under an archway decorated with white faux roses.

The bride and groom held their helmets in their hands, a solemn sign of Mandalorian respect. As they grasped wrists, Tom Hutchens, a 30-year-old IT professional and erstwhile Mandalorian preacher, began the ceremony.

“Vodas,” he said, using the Mandalorian word for “friends,” “Outsiders, Jedis, everybody, welcome. This is a contract between two Mandalorians who made a journey and future together and bled together and will continue to bleed together until their last day,” he said.

After reciting their vows in both Mandalorian and English translation, the jubilant crowd shouted: “Oya!” which in Mandalorian language means “celebration.”

“I now pronounce you Mandalorian husband and wife,” Hutchens said.

(Editing by Bill Trott)

I could use the excuse that I don’t have iTunes, but really, is that a good enough excuse? No. No it is not. For those of you who have been like me, living in a cave- I give you ‘A brand new day, last song act 2′. It should be coming out on DVD, but in the meantime you can catch pieces of it on Youtube (thanks Cavtroop for showing me the error of my ways and pointing me in the right direction. One day, year, decade; I hope to be on good side of the Whedonverse again).

For those who have that iTunes thingy… (that I’m downloading right now, although if you read the following… I MISSED IT!!!) As Joss is my witness, shall never be in the dark again! Gee, what happened this past month that could have possibly distracted me other than the car accidents, whiplash, finding a new car, etc…

A LETTER FROM JOSS WHEDON

Dear Friends,

At last the time has come to reveal to you our Master Plan. BEWARE! Those with weak hearts should log off lest they be terrified by the twisted genius of our schemes! Also pregnant women and the elderly should consider reading only certain sentences. Do not mix with other blogs. Do not operate heavy machinery while reading this blog. You must be this tall to read. ‘Kay?

It is time for us to change the face of Show Business as we know it. You know the old adage, “It’s Show Business – not Show Friends”? Well now it’s Show Friends. We did that. To Show Business. To show Show Business we mean business. (Also, there are now other businesses like it.)

ONE WEEK ONLY! AN INTERNET MINISERIES EVENT!

“Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” will be streamed, LIVE (that part’s not true), FREE (sadly, that part is) right on Drhorrible.com, in mid-July. Specifically:

ACT ONE (Wheee!) will go up Tuesday July 15th.

ACT TWO (OMG!) will go up Thursday July 17th.

ACT THREE (Denouement!) will go up Saturday July 19th.

All acts will stay up until midnight Sunday July 20th. Then they will vanish into the night, like a phantom (but not THE Phantom – that’s still playing. Like, everywhere.)

And now to answers a few Frequently (soon to be) Asked Questions:

1) Why, Joss? Why? Why now, why free, why us?

Once upon a time, all the writers in the forest got very mad with the Forest Kings and declared a work-stoppage. The forest creatures were all sad; the mushrooms did not dance, the elderberries gave no juice for the festival wines, and the Teamsters were kinda pissed. (They were very polite about it, though.) During this work-stoppage, many writers tried to form partnerships for outside funding to create new work that circumvented the Forest King system.

Frustrated with the lack of movement on that front, I finally decided to do something very ambitious, very exciting, very mid-life-crisisy. Aided only by everyone I had worked with, was related to or had ever met, I single-handedly created this unique little epic. A supervillain musical, of which, as we all know, there are far too few.

The idea was to make it on the fly, on the cheap – but to make it. To turn out a really thrilling, professionalish piece of entertainment specifically for the internet. To show how much could be done with very little. To show the world there is another way. To give the public (and in particular you guys) something for all your support and patience. And to make a lot of silly jokes. Actually, that sentence probably should have come first.

2) What happens when it goes away? Does it go to a happy farm for always like Fluffy did when mommy was crying and the neighbor kept washing his fender?

No, Dr horrible will live on. We intend to make it available for download soon after it’s published. This would be for a nominal fee, which we’re hoping people will embrace instead of getting all piratey. We have big dreams, people, and one of them is paying our crew.

And somewhat later, we will put the complete short epic out on DVD – with the finest and bravest extras in all the land. We’ll go into greater detail about that at Comiccon, but we’re changing the face of Show Friendliness a second time with that crazy DVD.

3) Joss, you are so kind, and generous, and your forehead is like, huge, like SCARY, like I think I can see Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint hanging off it… what can WE do to help this musical extravanganza?

What you always do, peeps! What you’re already doing. Spread the word. Rock some banners, widgets, diggs… let people know who wouldn’t ordinarily know. It wouldn’t hurt if this really was an event. Good for the business, good for the community – communitIES: Hollywood, internet, artists around the world, comic-book fans, musical fans (and even the rather vocal community of people who hate both but will still dig on this). Proving we can turn Dr Horrible into a viable economic proposition as well as an awesome goof will only inspire more people to lay themselves out in the same way. It’s time for the dissemination of the artistic process. Create more for less. You are the ones that can make that happen.

Wow. I had no idea how important you guys were. I’m a little afraid of you.

4) Joss, do you ever answer a question simply or coherently?

Shledzguohn?

There’ll be more questions, and more long, long answers, but for now I’m just excited that we’re actually making this happen. We (and a lot of other people — gushing to commence soon) worked very hard on the show and we hope/think you guys will be pleased.

Until July 15th , I remain, yours truly, -j, of the firm j, j, m & z.

Two years I’ve waited anxiously for this day to come, ever since I saw the picture of Heath putting on the make-up. He looked gritty, psychotic, awesome!

By no means am I a film nerd, so my review of the film will more than likely be a little dumbed down and lacking intense details. It’ll be raw, excited and perhaps slightly ADHD.

Upon Heath’s passing I questioned how it would feel to see the haunting images on screen, especially with the controversal body bag scene they were rumoring that would be taken out. I didn’t know the man, but the tragedy hit me pretty hard (which is rare because I don’t really get emotional upon the passsing of someone I’ve never met). I am a film buff and felt he brought a new talent to a increasingly comedic and insulting industry. I  was actually looking forward to what he’d bring to world of film and it was sad to know that his talent could no longer be tapped and shared with the world.

Come tomorrow morning at this time I will be part of the opening weekend statistics, feeling excited, perhaps sorrowful, but definitely satiated because the first film caused me to gain respect once more for comic book world to transition onto the big screen. Many times I’ve felt they didn’t do the heroes justice, that the film makers made a mockery of the art. Batman Begins did it right and thankfully Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk followed in those steps and age regressed my passion for getting thrilled for a block buster hit once more.

Yes, this year I have become a hypocrite for seeing mainstream films in a theater, but I’m good with that.

Arecibo Observatory, the world’s largest radio telescope and the source for
the SETI@home data that your computer analyzes, faces massive budget cuts that
will END its ability to continue the search for life beyond Earth. The decision
to ensure full funding currently rests upon votes in Congress on Senate Bill S.
2862 and House Resolution H.R. 3737. These bills desperately need more support.

Please take a moment to help us SAVE ARECIBO.

Clicking THIS LINK will direct you to a web page that allows you print
out letters prepared for your Senators and Congressional Representative urging
them to support Arecibo. Printing and mailing the letters is really easy, too!
You will also have the chance to add a few personal thoughts, if you wish, to
let your Senators and Representative know why this funding is important to you!
And if you’re really feeling passionate about saving Arecibo, please use these
letters as the basis for letters you write yourself, urging your congressmen
and women to vote to save Arecibo.

Because our representatives in Congress rarely give much attention to all the
email they receive, printing out and MAILING these letters via standard U.S.
Postal mail remains our best option for contacting them and our best hope for
saving Arecibo (The second best option is to call your representatives). Your
42 cent stamps on these letters could help us get the millions of dollars
needed to save Arecibo.

Our search cannot continue without the necessary support. Your work, as
SETI@home participants, represents an indispensable resource for conducting the
search. Now, we need your help to ensure that our other most valuable resource
- our eyes and ears to the cosmos – can continue to probe the universe as we
seek to answer the question: Is there anybody out there?
Photo courtesy of the NAIC – Arecibo Observatory, a facility of the NSF

While certainly looking a bit creepy, a little more digging turned up this site:  www.facelesspeople.com - which a quick whois shows belongs to the Lotus Group, PLC.  You know, those fast sporty cars that made an appearance in that movie Pretty Woman?

The domain was registered on the 13th of June – which leads me to believe that this is some sort of PR stunt which will end with trendy faceless mobs trying to sell you high end cars, and not with trendy faceless aliens attempting to enlighten the poor, faced beings of Earth.  Also, in another close up picture, you can see itty-bitty holes that the faceless folk can use to see.

Technorati Tags: aliens, faceless humans, lotus, pr, stunt, oy

Fourth Edition D&D has been out for a bit now and I’m starting to see lots of discussions on why it’s great or why it sucks.  So which is it?  Is it great or does it suck?

I’ve read through some bits and pieces for the books but due to upgrading from a one kid family to a two kid family I just haven’t had time to really dig into it yet.

I’d love to hear from you all what your thoughts and just as importantly, what your experiences have been with 4.0.  If you’ve played it and have some thoughts please feel free to discuss them here (but keep it civil).   There has been an interesting discussion going on in an older post about this but I’d like to update it and keep it going here.

I could spend $60 and get the three core books and be off and running – or I could stick with my 3.0/3.5 stuff as  well.  What, in your opinion, should I do?   While I’d love to hear anything you have to say about it, I’m particularily interested in thoughts on the MMORPGifiying of the game (Massive Multiplayer Offline Role Playing Game?), the use of miniatures in 4.0 and thoughts on multi-classing.

A lot of “professional” reviews seem pretty positive about the changes while a lot of player reviews seem to fall somewhere between “eh” to “screeching death”.

So give it to me straight.  What do you think of D&D 4e?

Technorati Tags: dungeons and dragons, 4th edition, D&D, wizards of the coast, role playing game, opinions wanted

It’s a fairly simple idea which can I think have pretty far reaching effects.  It lets you chat in IM style directly over a television broadcast by laying two lines of text at the bottom of the image.  Simple, right?  But ground breaking at the same time.   In this demo video, there’s a chat going on over one of President Bush’s addresses.

You can see where this could lead.  Imagine many different chat channels, some populated by well know and respected commentators, some by you or me or anyone else.  You could be watching your favorite sports match and reading comments from fans, ESPN commentators or even the moms of some of the players involved.

Think of a standard CNN broadcast with a chat channel featuring some of the writers from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.  Or the unfolding of a natural disaster with relief being coordinated real time on several chat channels.

This is I think a first step, but an important one in user generated television content.  Will there come a time when the comments are as important as the show being broadcasted?

The instructions are available here and they are fairly simple but do require you to telnet to your Neuros.  Did I mention that I love this little gadget?  As does everyone I’ve introduced it to so far.

Technorati Tags: Neuros, hacks, open source, technology, geeks,   television, chat, coolness

I forgot all about it by the time I made it home and then for some reason today it was triggered again. Thankfully in this modern age of course, nostalgia is just a click away and I found the following!

KISS on 3 2 1 Contact- How to make a KISS concert.

Technorati Tags: 3 2 1 Contact, Kiss, Rocking programming, PBS, bite me Dora

They then used Britain’s Data Protection Act to request the footage that was shot of them.  Grab some decent and inexpensive video editing tools (say. . . an iMac) and presto!  They got themselves a unique and in my opinion quite interesting music video.

Technorati Tags: brilliant, cctv, nanny state, music, video, technology, big brother

Enter Elementeo – a collectible card game featuring magic, combat and 121 cards based on the elements. Chemistry folks, chemistry. This game was created by an 8th grader with an eye for games and entrepreneurship.

He expects to sell the game for $25 a pop and is currently taking pre-orders for the late April release.   Sheesh.  I’m way out of 8th grade and all I’ve got is this blog!

Technorati Tags: games, card game, elementeo, science, chemistry, geeks, business, young dude with chutzpah

Earlier I wrote about mothers being non-existent in the upbrining of future superheroes- I forgot about Wonder Woman! She had a mommy (although wasn’t her mom killed later on?) I knew I had to be wrong and there *has* to be others.

The following was found on Youtube while I was researching a crush that a friend wants me to give his number to (and no, his crush isn’t Olivia… well he likes her as well and probably wouldn’t mind if I passed out his number to her as well.)

The annoyances of being a superhero!

Technorati Tags: Wonder Woman, Olivia Munn, superheroes

What is it? It’s a self replicating 3D printer. Yeah, that doesn’t sound as high and mighty as an autobalancing transportation device that Presidents and mall security have been falling off of but it’s much, much more important.

RepRap is short for Replicating Rapid Prototyper. It’s got two purposes in it’s existence. The first is to be able to manufacture inexpensive, solid parts made out of various types of plastic. Think about that for a second – most 3D printers available today are very expensive to purchase, maintain and operate. A cheap 3D printer however opens up all kinds of doors. Put a few of these in the poorer parts of the world and you can manufacture parts to fix, build or keep up lots and lots of things, improving the quality of life for everyone and reducing their reliance on third parties.

It’s second purpose is to be able to replicate itself. Give a community one RepRap and soon they can have dozens. Self replication is a wonderful concept – one that we should all be paying attention to. Combine these two aspects and you’ve got yourself a real breakthrough.

Look at the implications. You’ve got a machine that can produce itself endlessly given an adequate supply of raw materials. And each machine that is made can then produce other objects, from drinking glasses, tools, small construction materials to sex toys. It’s mind bogglingly simple and elegant and a real way to make a difference where such parts may be scarce. It’s also completely open source, from the software used to design 3D objects to the electronics used in building a RepRap.

They haven’t announced complete replication yet but they hope to this year. Here’s what the Darwin 1.0 RepRap can build of itself as of now.

While it’s not completely self replicating like a cornucopia machine (a machine that can create anything from the atomic level, including ice cream, weapons, robots and itself) it’s a good start, created by people not looking to profit off of it. It’s certainly got some limitations as well, such as it’s reliance on plastics as a building material, it’s need of basic electronics and it’s inability to create a working prototype from scratch – i.e. some assembly required.

Those limitations will be overcome eventually and for now it’s good to see a working, self replicating machine out in the wild. In fact, you can check this Google map to see just where all the reported RepRaps are, or get the plans to build your own Darwin 1.0 model and join the community.

In the SF world, Cornucopia machines (known also as molecular assemblers) are construction devices you feed raw materials into and get stuff out of. Often, they’ll break down anything you put into it to the molecular or atomic level, and then build on demand what you ask of it. They often come with their own store of hard to find things like radioactive materials or rare elements. They can spit out anything from coffee to a working spaceship with all the appropriate electronics and moving parts. It sounds very futuristic but may not be all that far off, particularly as we get more practice at manipulating really small things.

Self replicating machines have another interesting place in our future as well. Exploration of the Universe. Launch a self replicating probe with some basic intelligence at a nearby star system. That probe arrives, completes a survey, sends its information back to us and then builds two copies of itself. The original probe remains and updates our information while the two copies find two nearby star systems and head off to do their thing. What you have here is exponential expansion. One probe becomes two, become four, become 8, become 16 . . . until you start hitting really big numbers, really fast. As your numbers increase, your time to see every star system in the Galaxy decreases. In a relatively short amount of time we could have eyes and ears just about everywhere.

Seem pretty far fetched? Well some serious people with real science degrees are talking a lot about this. NASA type folks, in fact. This isn’t just the realm of Science Fiction authors. I’ll leave the implications of shadow projects to you conspiracy minded folks.

Of course, there are cons to such things as well. Would the probes introduce glitches to their self replication, causing evolution? Think rise of the machines.

Thinking even further, would it be possible to upload our conscious selves – who we are – in the form of data to a probe, and have it start colonizing? Stopping at each star system, replicating with our data, until it found a suitable planet to sustain life and then simply replicating us? Hundreds of copies of ourselves on distant worlds.

Then the ideas start getting funky. All this from a little 3D printer that can make it’s own parts.

Technorati Tags: sf, printer, reprap, self replication, change the world, geek, technology, mechanics, plastics, third world, second world, wealth without money