Remember the X-Prize, the $10 million (U.S.) reward offered to any team that could create a privately funded-and-built spacecraft capable of lifting three humans to a sub-orbital altitude of 100 kilometres on two consecutive flights within two weeks? Of course you do. One of the 23 competing teams, the daVinci Project, was supposedly poised to …
Category: Blog
Paging Sherlock Holmes…
Japanese scientists have developed a smart carpet that can detect a person’s age and gender just by the way he/she walks.
Photo of the (Yester)Day: The Sharper(ner) Image
More photos here.
An aviation first for Canada
Earlier this month, a team at the University of Toronto successfully achieved sustained flight of a piloted ornithopter–an airplane with flapping wings. It only lasted 14 seconds, but you’ve got to start somewhere!
Invisibility:
It’s closer than you think.
Bad news for Martian life?
Two new studies say Martian dust storms could be generating toxic peroxide snow. That could be bad news for hopes for finding Martian life. On the other hand, it could just mean we should be looking for little blonde men instead of little green men.
Calculating my "Sci-fi" credentials
Over at SCI FI Weekly, Michael Cassutt offers a quiz to calculate your “sci-fi credentials.” Let’s see how I do. There are 10 questions, with a maximum of 10 points each, for a total of 100 possible points. 1. Have you ever used a calculator when writing a script or story? (And not just, as …
Photo of the Week Which Explains Why There Weren’t More Photos of the Day: Sage Hill Teens
Here’s the outstanding group I just spent a week with as instructor of the Sage Hill Teen Writing Experience. It was great! There’s a lot of talent sitting on that Sherwood Village Public Library staircase… I should be blogging more often in the coming week.
And you call yourself a blogger!
Apologies for the lack of posts yesterday; I’ve been a little (OK, a lot) busy as the instructor for the Sage Hill Teen Writing Experience this week. It’s been fun, and the kids are all very talented, but it’s almost like having a (gasp!) real job. Fortunately, it’s only for a week. Back to normal …
Chicago, Cabaret, and The Pajama Game…
…are the focus of a great new feature at Mark Steyn Online called “Summer Stock.” They’re three of my favorites, though I’ve only had the chance to be in a production of one, The Pajama Game. Regina Lyric Light Opera did a killer version of Cabaret a couple of years ago, though, and I’ve seen …
The Stones are coming to Regina!
And I’ll probably be in Vancouver when they’re here. Of course, they’re also going to Vancouver…at which time I’ll be back in Regina. And so it goes.
Ancient book of psalms found…
…in an Irish peat bog. I couldn’t help noticing this: “Painstakingly copied in Latin script, it was found open to a page describing Psalm 83, in which God hears complaints of other nations’ attempts to wipe out the name of Israel.” If one were the sort ot believe in signs and portents, that could almost …
My latest live walk and vlog
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