The destroyed craft was launched by one of the "budget" contenders and cost about $20,000 to build. They're hoping to get more financing and do a second launch. Read the full story.

Why Armstrong's Tour de France victory makes Old World collectivists so darn uneasy. Read the full story.

Reactions to the Libertarian Gamers Project have been largely positive -- in the month since I started promoting it, we've had 21 members join up, and a few good conversations over at the UncleBear.com forums, where people wanted to know what the heck a "libertarian" was. But there have been a few who've been uncomfortable with this mixing of politics and gaming.

For most gamers, I think gaming -- be it on the computer or with pen-and-paper -- is an escape from the real world. I don't mean that in any negative way; I simply mean that it is a chance for them to forget, at least for a time, the complexities of politics, religion, and current events, and just lose themselves in a reality where bullets can fly without consequence, and good always triumphs over evil, even if the nature of what constitutes good and evil is never closely examined. To bring politics into gaming is to sully this fantasy sanctuary with real-world concerns.