A few blogs I like include The Way The Future Blogs, Frederik Pohl’s entry into the online world, and a bit of a play on his book title, The Way The Future Was. Another good one is Today in Astronomy, and both blogs give a historical perspective to the business of the future. Battlestar Galactica does its final episode tonight, and just a few days ago the cast spoke at the U.N. about human rights. Joss Whedon did a Q and A about Dollhouse, and Fancast covered it. For the 10th anniversary of Farscape, Season 1 is online on Fancast, so you can watch the whole thing. Finally for tonight, a friend passed me a link to an amazing video; this maniac creates an outer space painting using spray paint and random items from his kitchen… in 60 seconds! Enjoy…
Mike Brotherton has posted a thought provoking article about Why Science Fiction rules, and why most people just don’t get it. It’s worth a read, and if you communicate to the public (Teacher, Journalist, etc.) you should also be aware the next round of his Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop still has a few days before registration closes, but you have to hurry. Funded by NASA, the training is free and comes complete with an observatory or two at the University of Wyoming. Even Lex Luthor is looking for a Bailout these days… what is the world coming to?
JPL has a searchable database of exoplanets that currently lists the 340 known planets around other stars. None of them is Earth-like, most being gas giants, several orbiting pulsars, and a handful being on the border between planets and stars (the so-called Hot Jupiter model). That may change in the next few weeks with the launch of Kepler, an orbital telescope designed specifically to find habitable planets. It’s about time we get a realistic idea how common potentially life-bearing worlds are, and either meet the neighbors or get ready to move.
The Hubble Space Telescope is at risk of no longer being maintained, according to BBC News (and lots of other sources). The best place to find the latest info, as well as a detailed background, is at The Hubblesite. And if you’re in the mood for more things Hubble, you might want to check the European Hubble Homepage, a great place to get another perspective.