“New photographs from space suggest that water occasionally flows on the frigid surface of Mars, raising the tantalizing possibility that the red planet is hospitable to life, scientists reported Wednesday. The new images, taken by NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor before it lost contact with Earth, do not actually show flowing water. Rather, they show changes in craters that provide the strongest evidence yet that water coursed through them as recently as several years ago, and is perhaps doing so even now.
“This is a squirting gun for water on Mars,” said Kenneth Edgett, a scientist at San Diego-based Malin Space Science Systems, which operates a camera on the Global Surveyor. The news excited scientists who hunt for extraterrestrial life. If the finding is confirmed, they say, all the ingredients favorable for life on Mars are in place: liquid water and a stable heat source. In all of its Mars exploration missions, NASA has pursued a “follow the water” strategy to determine if the planet once contained life or could support it now.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 6, 2006 in Japanese TV
“Tensai! Shimura Dobutsu-en” (aka Genius! Shimura Zoo) is a kids show from Japan in which each episode is focused on the plight of a specific animal. In this episode several baby Panda Bears have moved into Becky’s apartment:
So you may ask just who is Becky? Becky is is Rebecca Eri RayVaughan, Born on March 6, 1984, in Kanagawa, she is the daughter of a Japanese mother and an English father. And she most often refers to herself as Bekiko (ベキ子 or 絲子). She got her start the popular children’s show Oha-Suta (おはスタ) in 1999 reading out the English names of various Pokémon characters in a section of the show called “Pokémon: The World.”
“Paramount will auction off costumes and props from various incarnations of Star Trek starting Dec. 16 on eBay and It’s A Wrap!, another online auction site. Items for sale will include costumes and props from 10 Trek motion pictures and five television series and will include furniture from Star Trek: The Next Generation’s U.S.S. Enterprise-D, a Borg alcove and prop Borg, a Starfleet rifle, a Klingon bat’leth bladed weapon and costumes.”
Below: Paramount executives inventory the merchandise.
“Remember those super-cool space ships you doodled on graph paper in Middle School? Pen strokes furiously waging massive intergalactic battles in History class with the fate of humanity hanging in the balance? Well they have sprung to life in SketchFighter 4000 Alpha!”
“NASA announced Monday it will establish an international base camp on one of the moon’s poles, permanently staffing it by 2024, four years after astronauts return to the moon. It is a sweeping departure from the Apollo moon missions of the 1960s and represents a new phase of space exploration after space shuttles are retired in 2010.
NASA chose a “lunar outpost” over the short expeditions of the ’60s. Apollo flights were all around the center of the moon, but NASA decided to go to the moon’s poles because they are best for longer-term settlements. And this time NASA is welcoming other nations on its journey.”
Below: This painting was used as a visual at an April 1988 Houston-hosted conference titled “Lunar Bases and Space Strategies of the 21st Century.”
Now you no longer have to trek out to your local Planetarium! Sega has created the “Homestar Planetarium Pro” which looks pretty nifty to this astronomy fanboy. Here’s a video demo:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 3, 2006 in Videogames
According to an article in Variety, the Japanese snaped up 400,000 Wii units, and stores across the country are reporting first-day sellouts of the new game console. Nintendo plans to release 4 million units worldwide by the end of the year, compared with an expected 2 million units shipped for the PS3.
This is not-so-clever interview by MTV VJ Mark Goodman with Terry Gilliam on his “new film” Brazil from 1986:
Ah yes the good old 80s when MTV showed music videos and directors made films that weren’t remakes. When the film came out I managed to watch it quite a few times as I made it the subject of a term paper for a film class, I knew the film was good but little did I know it would be a future classic.
It looks like the most powerful radiotelescope yet devised is to be built on the Moon, under plans being put together by NASA for its 2018 lunar mission:
“The most powerful radiotelescope yet devised is to be built on the Moon, under plans being put together by NASA for its 2018 lunar mission. Mike Griffin, the head of the US space agency, said the construction of a telescope is being “factored into” the mission. A radiotelescope on the Moon would offer astronomers and physicists an unrivalled opportunity to see farther into the cosmos than ever before and in more detail.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 2, 2006 in Star Trek
This is a must watch clip for any true Star Trek fanboy, here are two discarded scenes from Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan, that are not on the DVD or ABC versions. It includes a scene where Saavik is revealed to be half-Romulan, and a scene where Kirk introduces Saavik to David Marcus:
