Timing Error

REMEMBER: THEY'RE NOT MONSTERS IF YOU CAN TAX THEM

Another neat 365 day project: Monsters.

Another DRB pinch.

SERENISSIMA DEUX

A floating city concept; love it.

via io9

RETRO "BURLESQUE IN THE CITY"

Covered in the NYT:

STROSS: THOUGHTS ON FERMI

Charlie Stross throws off more in random thoughts than I do complete, well reasoned arguments. Here's some ruminations on Fermi's Paradox, with good links.

LIFE'S "MISTER COFFEE"

Nick Bostrom on why he hopes there is no intelligent life out in the universe:

That discovery would suggest that the emergence of life is not very improbable. If it happened independently twice here in our own backyard, it must surely have happened millions of times across the galaxy. This would mean that the Great Filter is less likely to be confronted during the early life of planets and therefore, for us, more likely still to come.

Th conceit I've used in some of my stories is the maybe life, when it sufficiently advances, merely slips out the back door.

Via Instapundit.

YEAH, YEAH: ROBOTS WILL DO...

...Until we can really get down to business.

Near term: self reassembling robots.

Mid term: More heat-tolerant and able to twist in ways its natural cousin can't, scientists want to use GNA as a self-assembling scaffold for the nano-robots of the future.

Long term: plasticity.

THEY ALMOST WON

Neanderthals, I mean:

Paleontologist Meave Leakey, a Genographic adviser, commented: "Who would have thought that as recently as 70,000 years ago, extremes of climate had reduced our population to such small numbers that we were on the very edge of extinction."

Wow.

TRAMP STAMP ACTIVE WEAR

Google image searching the two posts below and I came across this:

Cool. Next up: tribal space suits for your weekender virgin galactic space romp.

(Something is boiling here. I've got a character named Johnny Rocket who needs some backstory)

UNTOONING

I want more...

Pixeloo's untooning is incredible. It reminds me of the "toon skeletons" that were floating around awhile back.

Update: Some more untooning from Dylan Marvin.

LAKE VOSTOK

I've always been fascinated by Lake Vostok, the fresh water lake in Antarctica locked below about two miles of ice. DRB has a great pot on the thing.

(and yes, I've been to the Corn Palace. How desperately sad)

METER HIGH MUPPETS

They were probably ergonomic and fuel efficient:

The discoverers and many other scientists think the so-called “hobbit” is its own species, Homo floresiensis. The bones, they say, resemble species much older than our own. Yet the Flores individuals lived as recently as 12,000 years ago, long after Neanderthals had perished in Europe. The find upended our smugness over the idea that Homo sapiens had remained the lone hominid on Earth since.

MINIFIG MAYHEM

New too me: an entire world of mayhem based on my childhood toy staple, Legos.

Wiki entry

Brickwars

Brickarms

Halo Bricks

I mean if you're looking to ditch quotidian reality, mind as well do it in style.

BARBARELLA

To young (actually not even born) to see. Love the retro-fturism. Thanks to DRB for the reminder in pics: I need to find a copy and watch.

SLIMSUITS

Hermetically sealing, sexy and appealing. The future. Travelodge jobby. Sport and activity type.

US DEPARTMENT OF CHALLENGES

I always thought fat prizes to encourage individual innovation was a good use of Government Loot.

This private venture, a One Billion Dollar Prize, works just as well. My back of the envelope ciphering tells me Bill Gates could do about thirty of these and still make groceries.

Hell, ten million dollars got us a private space industry. Good trend.

H/T Instapundit.

GENERAL BUTT NAKED AND GHETTO CHIC

Ghetto chic is my word for structures (government, cultures, etc) that have entered entropy. They all behave the same way. Cheap crap substituting for a paucity of any structural energy. Like all those crap palaces Saddam Wozhisname built in Iraq.

It's the name's that kill me, thought:

"General Butt Naked"

And,

" His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea, and Conqueror of the British Empire [CBE] jaffain Africa in General and Uganda in Particular",

GENERAL BUTT NAKED AND GHETTO CHIC

Ghetto chic is my word for structures (government, cultures, etc) that have entered entropy. They all behave the same way. Cheap crap substituting for a paucity of any structural energy. Like all those crap palaces Saddam Wozhisname built in Iraq.

It's the name's that kill me, thought:

"General Butt Naked"

And,

" His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea, and Conqueror of the British Empire [CBE] jaffain Africa in General and Uganda in Particular",

Think Gaia

Instapundit is blogging up a storm at the CES (the de facto warm up for Macworldexpo). He notes the amount of Gaia and Eco friendly branding going on there.

Corporations: Slaves to their Cultural Masters. Ha ha.

The old labels are dead. Rebrand me some new labels.

(plus, this post is an opportunity for me to nick some eyecandy for my blog)

Hip Hop: Rescuing a thought

Hip Hop as the new rock and roll (Barnett)

I can attest to that. As a young/aging black man, I've been asked to perform rap stylings in places as diverse as Cork, Hoedspruitt and West Rashid (where the youth flash 'westside' gang signs. Cute).

Unfortunately, I'm not very good.

Flipside: hip hop contains some very destructive elements. Elevates anger, disillusionment, grievances, etc. It's more a symptom of structural failure than a positive movement. My old neighborhood in Roxbury declined in inverse relation to the rise of hip hop.

Just saying, if you've got hip hop, you've got problems.

On the writing tip, it would be cool to name dictatorial characters "Grand Master Flash: Pimp Daddy for the People."

Xmas Synthesis

Can't find a link, but I heard on the radio about the scarcity of Christmas Trees due to a lack rise in demand in the Gulf States and China (hey, like oil). Might be anecdotal. But:

1. Worlds heading for a macrodecision.
2. Everything settles down (jihad gets trounced; US settles into middle east bases; EU 'project' continues along integrationists lines; etc).
3. You get a merging of structures.
4. Christmas is a rather ecumenical holiday: peace on earp, family, material well being etc.
5. Gets absorbed into the new structure, once macrodecision is reached.

END STATE: Family sits around the xmas tree singing hadiths to the workers paradise.

A one size fits all world. Not bad, but will require an escape valve.

Just in case, you know.

"My fellow Earthicans..."

My fascination with all things Kucinich continues. I really think the dood is running for the President of Earth but, you know, timing error.

A very Kennedyesque pose with the misses.

Don't get me wrong, I think Representative Kucinich is kooky, but he appeals to my sense of humor. If the Presidency of the United States didn't matter, then I'd love to see Kucinich and Paul square off.

As it is, I'm still undecided.

I might vote for Romney, because I like that robotics have advanced far enouh to give us The Perfect Presidential Candidate. We had the technology, and we built him. Besides, I'm pretty sure Asimov's Three Laws will still apply.

Or, I'll be voting for Obama, because Oprah so loved the world that she gave her only begotten stem cell to clone The Most Compassionate Presidential Candidate.

This is for the 2012 election, right? Wake me up when it's done.

Great taste, tho...

I've always thought of Representative Kucinich as a bit kooky. Guess I was wrong. He's more of an opportunist. Still, a fascinating character study.

via LGF

Obligatory cheesecake:

A kinder, gentler war

I am ganking this logo redesigns from one of Danger Room's commenters:

Reminds me of this BB post on cutesy personal force protection measures:

One day you wake to the sounds of birds chirping outside your window, the next day waking up to rockets detonating around you. Next day birds. The mind adapts.

Or so I've heard.

Dangerously seductive

Elizabeth Kuchinich ne Harper.

Quite the femme fatale, a great character for a story.

Needs a better name though:

Muffie Potter Aston

Topsy Taylor

Bunny Mellon

Did a story where one of the character's was named Luscious Delirious Franks, M.D. Seems right in line.