Blog Archives
I Want – A Personal Lunar Lundar
Missed this over the weekend. The XPrize Lunar Lander Challenge is giving 1,000,000 buckaroos to the first team that can build a lunar lander that:
- make a round trip between two landing pads
- refuel at the 2nd landing pad
- hang in the air for at least 3 minutes during each leg of the round trip
- land on a pad that is littered with fake lunar boulders
Here is the first leg of flight #1 from Armadillo Aerospace
Geekout My Work Desk
All your databases are belong to us
Since moving into my new job, my work desk is kinda boring. Part of the reason is that I am not sure what would constitute “appropriate” for a contractor at a government facility. But still, I really need to get some inspiration going in my workspace.
I saw this pic over on IO9.com today. I’d love to put this wee lil’ Cylon near my computer to let folks know my steez. Here are links to a few other desktop goodies I’d love to have. Anyone want to donate? I accept checks, money orders, cash, and will sign up for PayPal if you want to go that route.
- Love this BSG poster (also from QMx)
- The Cubes (from ThinkGeek)
- Gotta have Lando (from starwars.com)
- Can’t forget Geordi (from startrek.com)
Nice! Geordi Skys With The Tricorder
Methinks I'll be buying this
Via Loiter as found on Levar Burton’s Twitter page…
Cover Artist Appreciation Post
Kurt Miller's artwork for The Last Centurion
Last week, I blogged about the ongoing development of exoskeletons which was inspired by mechas that were in a book about Mars that caught my eye because of the cover art (whew!). After writing that post, I thought I’d find the artist and drop him/her an email and let them know how badass I think their work is. It was a little hard to find, but I eventually found my way over to Kurt Miller’s KMI Studios site (note: Kurt also did the cover for The Last Centurion (image at left), which was a bangin read too). After browsing around his art gallery (his work is pretty prolific), I sent him some SMTP love. To my surprise, he wrote back and showed a lot of gratitude. Classy…
So this post is dedicated to those cover artists that help us to visualize the stories we love. Here are a few artists whose work was featured on some of my most recent reads:
- John Harris – Jack McDevitt’s “The Devil’s Eye”
- Chris Moore – Alastair Reynolds’ “Revelation Space”
- Larry Rostant- S. M. Stirling’s “Dies The Fire”
- Yuko Shimizu – Cory Doctorow’s “Little Brother”
- Peter Bollinger – Jack Campbell’s “The Lost Fleet”
- Tomer Hanuka – “The Darker Mask” Anthology
Don’t see you favorite in this list? Then check out this great summary from Locus Magazine.
I Want – Icon A5
I’ve always wanted my pilot’s license. I’ve looked into pricing and talked to a few instructors. But the time commitment (and in 2008, the cost of gas), has put a damper on the plan. But after seeing the Icon A5, I might have to reconsider. The first production orders are due in 2010. Sign me up!
Via The Danger Room @ Wired
