Heroes Will Rise

With the exception to LOST, broadcast TV hasn’t been kind to speculative fiction. Science fiction series died by the bunch last year, with only Invasion surviving long enough to have a full season run … and not being renewed. Before LOST, Fox killed off Firefly, the most promising SF series in years without even trying … Read more

Serenity/Firefly is Mostly Dead

The net is abuzz with Joss Whedon’s proclamation that there will be no Serenity sequel. Except … that’s not quite what he said. He said there’s no movie in the works, and that in follow-up comments said it was unlikely unless a studio asked for it … but that’s a bit different from saying we’ll never see Serenity again.

Personally, I’ve accepted this. Serenity was a good capstone for the series, and while there are still unanswered questions I’d love to see answered (what was the deal with Book anyway? And those blue-handed assassins?) I can live with the fact that I’ve got 13 episodes and one movie to remember the series by.

Nerds with (Virtual) Dice

If you’re ever feeling like, gee, you’re just not geeky enough … try downloading some polyhedral dice icons for your computer. Available for Windows and for Macintosh. Now if only they had one that matched my glow-in-the-dark d20…

“Hotel Minibar” Keys Open Diebold Voting Machines

Now doesn’t this just instill you with confidence in our new fangled voting system?. Kind of makes me long for the days of the hanging chad. Wired had it right a few years ago when they published a back page “relics of the future” shot that had a validated voting receipt indicating when, where and … Read more

The Case of Neil Armstrong’s Missing “A”

Neil Armstrong long maintained that when he uttered his famous phrase “One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Mankind”, there was an ‘a’ in there between ‘for’ and ‘Man’. Austrialian programmer Peter Shann Ford analyzed NASA’s recording of the phrase, and says Armstrong was right. It’d be nice to if other researchers confirmed the existance of the missing “a”, which has dogged Armstrong for years (as this account on Snopes.com shows).

In related Neil Armstrong news, despite myriad rumors to the contrary, he has not converted to Islam. And no, Mr. Gorsky didn’t get lucky when Armstrong touched down at Tranquility Base.

Radio Active #38: Painting Ghosts, Portable Apps, A Feast for Crows

Radio Active starts glowing again as the Great Fall Painting Project of ’06 winds down. This time around I’ve got updates on said project as well as the far geekier AirTunes setup I finally got working. Sites of Note looks at Jonathan Coulton music videos shot using World of Warcraft, the world-building third season of … Read more

Preparing to Paint, Preparing to Listen

We’ve entered Phase III of the Great Fall Painting Project which involves spackling, priming and then painting the ceiling, arch and door in the foyer. With my trusty iPod shuffle having slipped off its mortal coil and my ancient iPod in need of an extended recharge, I’m trying a different way of listening to podcasts: … Read more

215 lbs: 9 Down, 25 to Go

The headline pretty much says it all: according to the gym scale, I’ve now 215 lbs. It was something of a surprise — I haven’t been hitting the gym as hard as I should have been the last week (going something like 3 out of 7 days) but I’ve still been watching what I eat and walking to working so I was still able to make some progress.

I’m switching to rabbit food (with an occasional helping of humus and some Triscuits) for lunch, which is undoubtedly healthier than my normal roast beef sandwich. Combined with drinking water instead of Coke, I’ve probably cut 350 calories out of my daily diet with that change.

Adequate Goblet of Fire Soundtrack Fails to Inspire

John Williams’ original Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone soundtrack was a whimsical, wondrous album with a hook that was instantly as memorable as anything he’d done for Star Wars or Jaws. The Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire soundtrack (Amazon) retains elements of Williams’ themes, but its musical evolution is nowhere near as … Read more