Youtube link
A Japanese group built a rocket fist like in Mazinger/Tranzor Z.
Enjoy the multiple angles.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

So yeah, just what it says on the subject line: I do not read Baen-published books.
And that's just ridiculous. Sure, it's understandable that I not read a particular author, but to avoid an entire publisher? Simply ridiculous.
And yet, I avoid Baen books like the friggin' plague.
I do have reasons, though. And they may or may not be good reasons.
The first reason is that their covers, damn near all of their covers, are repellant. And I do mean that literally. When I catch sight of one of their photo-realistic covers, I am pushed away by my aesthetic sense.
I do not like photo covers on books. They are wrong.
(It doesn't help if one of those covers has a cat on it either. When a cat is in a genre book, it is doubly wrong.)
Secondly: I am a big-time, tax-and-spend, why the hell do we need A gun much less a military, people should be allowed to marry their pets (except cats because cats are wrong and deserve no love) and then abort the chimeric child if they choose in a government-run hospital, controlled economy, liberal.
I gather from things I have read about Baen Books that many of its authors hold much the opposite view.
And . . . um. That's about it. Bad covers and rumors about authorial political viewpoint. Like I said, they may not be good reasons.
So: given this, do you good people believe that I would indeed enjoy a Baen book, if I could just avert my eyes from the cover and ignore that nagging feeling that only writers born before 1940 get to write positively about crypto-facists? Because I would like to try some Baen books, if only to know what the heck the rest of you are talking about.
Honor-what? Miles-eh? 16-huh?
So: help?
-murmur

The last time, the X-Prize gave us the first privately-owned suborbital spacecraft.
This time, the X-Prize is going to the Moon.

Quote:

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It has been many decades since we explored the Moon from the lunar surface, and it could be another 6 - 8 years before any government returns. Even then, it will be at a large expense, and probably with little public involvement.
The Google Lunar X PRIZE seeks to create a global private race to the Moon that excites and involves people around the world and, accelerates space exploration for the benefit of all humanity. The use of space has dramatically enhanced the quality of life and may ultimately lead to solutions to some of the most pressing environmental problems that we face on earth energy independence and climate change.
The X PRIZE Foundation could think of no better sponsor and partner than Google. We share a common vision for opening frontiers and a belief that a small dedicated group of individuals can accomplish amazing feats at very low cost.
With the Ansari X PRIZE, we were able to demonstrate that personal spaceflight is possible. Now, a new industry is emerging making it possible for anyone to fulfill their dream of spaceflight. With the Google Lunar X PRIZE we hope to usher in an era of commercial exploration and development, in which small companies, groups of individuals and universities can build, launch and explore the Moon and beyond.
We are very grateful to Google for their support, vision and courage and look forward to working with them to extend the online community to the Moon and beyond.

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Gamma Ray Annihilation Lasers!
------------------
Epsilon
I just like saying Gamma Ray Annihilation Lasers!

www.nbc5i.com/news/14069203/detail.html

You've all read about it - young, ugly, blonde, big breasts, harassed by Southwest Airlines for dressing 'provocatively'
It just happened again.
www.nbc5i.com/news/14090043/detail.html#
I can't believe that there wasn't a memo about this, I can't believe someone was dumb enough to pull this shit off this soon after a nearly identical PR nightmare.
I'm thinking that the stew in question acted with malicious intent, to smear SouthWest's name.Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070...7f4EkPLBIF
Science! The fun never stops!
(Now this claim has not been confirmed by Peer-reviewed evidence - and has a bit of a whiffy odour of snake-oil about it - so take it with, he says, with a grain - a grain of salt.)

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you The Curbstomp Song.
www.samuraipenguinstudios.com/audio

any other linux heads here? I just switched my first machine in 5+ years (XP to Ubuntu), and I'm pretty impressed. Autodetection of everything, foreal!Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979

posted in a thread discussing the young woman who was recently booted from a southwest flight for dressing provocatively.

Quote:

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(Avoid decending below 10,000 agl here (there is a mountain))

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Completely divorced from COH canon, so she can publish:
Here's the site.
And apparently, she's podcasting as a "book on tape." With presumably a print book coming out if enough interest is gathered....
Personally, I'd love a BOT new Diana Tregarde novel...
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll