About 20 years ago I got it into my head to write a screenplay: an update of “When Worlds Collide,” based on the book from the 1930’s not the movie from 1951. When originally written, the question was “can we build a rocketship to fly to another planet?” My rewrite would set it a century…
United Nations moves to stop Alabama from carrying out America’s first nitrogen gas execution “U.N. experts argue there has been no evidence to suggest that nitrogen gas would not “result in a painful and humiliating death.”” Oh FFS. Nitrogen asphyxiation has been dangerous in industry specifically *because* it’s painless. If you find yourself in…
Well, *some* of our jobs: AI-created “virtual influencers” are stealing business from humans Pink-haired Aitana Lopez is followed by more than 200,000 people on social media. She posts selfies from concerts and her bedroom, while tagging brands such as hair care line Olaplex and lingerie giant Victoria’s Secret. Brands have paid about $1,000 a post…
Tech Billionaires Need to Stop Trying to Make the Science Fiction They Grew Up on Real Today’s Silicon Valley billionaires grew up reading classic American science fiction. Now they’re trying to make it come true, embodying a dangerous political outlook This was written by Charles Stross, a sci-fi author whose work I tend to like.…
Movie and TV remakes are often garbage. But covers of songs? Sometimes the remake is a triumph. Some examples: “My Body Is A Cage” by Arcade Fire, then covered by Peter Gabriel. “Smooth Criminal” by Michael Jackson… then perfected by Alien Ant Farm. “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails. It was good… but what…
Long story short: I’ve been a *casual* watcher of “Dr. Who” for 40+ years. From watching it from time to time on PBS back in the 80s – the Tom Baker era, mostly – to catching the revived version in more recent years, I would generally find it amusing if somewhat baffling. The fact that…
The Case of the Missing Vega AVUM Propellant Tanks Turns out two of the propellant tanks for the fourth stage of the final Vega launch vehicle – a European launcher that first flew in 2012, designed for small payloads – went missing. That’s kinda inexcusable and inexplicable. But at least they found them. That’s good,…
Black and white concept art, Rockwell illustration from the early 70’s represents the almost-final B-1A configuration, from back when being very supersonic was the goal rather than being stealthy at low altitude. Most obvious differences between this and the as-built B-1A are the ride control vanes (the small canards) and the discontinuity in sweepback angle…
On one hand, the utility of this ad for selling Chevy’s seems limited. After all, it doesn’t tell you much about how they perform or what they cost, though there is the suggestion that they can last a long time. On the other hand, the nature of the ad is such that people will be…
