I can not believe, no one in this group has posted anything about one of the most important stories today.

No, I am not talking about the elections, or the debates, or the war(s), or the terrorism, or…

I am talking about the X-Prize and Spaceship One . The first flight, in the attempt at two successful flights into space (generally 62 miles up) was completed successfully, yesterday and now, only the second leg remains.

Mark your calendars. Return flight scheduled for October 3rd.

I am excited, are you? Space will finally be opened for the rest of us.

In my daily walk into (and hopefully out of) the Twilight Zone, I came across this item: ‘Scorpion woman’ breaks record.

The BBC News website has an article about a new Klingon website by The German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

For those Klingons among us, I can only say: “it’s about time we had a website in our own language!”

A question: “Are Klingons related to pirates?”. Arrr!

If you have not seen the story at CNN.com you need to go visit.

Apparently though, this happens ALL the time because animals are after us!!!

I originaly was going to post this to say that animals are smarter than what we give them credit for. I also believe that in this case, God intervened to save the rest of these puppies. It amazes me also that so many people are cruel to animals.

Have you seen this movie yet?

You haven’t? Why not? This is one of the most beautiful movies to look at in a long time. Read Roger Ebert’s review if you don’t believe me. Some of the effects are spectacular, and some of them are even accomplished through color filters on the lense (an old movie and photo trick that my brother – who is an accomplished photographer – taught me). I really don’t want to describe it beyond that much, because it deserves a viewing in (on?) a large theater screen.

Since I am in such a posting mood, I had to share this:

Scientists in Britain are supporting (pushing? putting forth?) the idea of creating “A Noah’s Ark” on the moon, in case humanity gets done in by an asteroid, or worse (horror of horrors, by ourselves!) You know, that bad day (which according to the Maya is the end of this current period of humankind) is approaching rapidly, we better leave something behind as a species. This is sort of what the wonderful author, Donald Moffitt had in mind in his “Genesis Quest” Series. Of course, in those books, humans put their legacy in a Radio signal which they then broadcast to the entire universe before the end came.

Have any of you seen these things? I thought I did one night, but then again, I might have been hallucinating, driving back from working late at Dell’s Business Technical Support Operations Call Center. Since I no longer work such hours, I don’t get to drive dark, deserted highways and byways. Therefore, I don’t hallucinate very much anymore.

Of course, a top secret government project/plane/unmanned drone could be the explanation for this phenomenon. Remember Aurora ?

This whole subject has serious Science Fiction connections. Are we being prepared for a first contact situation that is imminent? This book,
so much as predicted this a few years ago. (…and yes, I have not yet finished the Galactic Milieu Trilogy which this book – and a book 2 – are precursors to).

Another explanation of course is the one offered by Stargate SG-1. You know, we’re seeing these things because the US government is already out there, and we have been visited and/or attacked a number of times…! (Humorous thought). The reason I am plugging this series is because it is such a frigging good TV series. It has an arc (like Babylon 5) and it believes in character development (since not much else that the Sci-Fi channel shows nowadays has ANY character development).

So, if you do see any of the flying triangles,
take a snapshot with your new, cool, camera equipped, cellular (or should I say mobile, since cellular is like so 80s?) phone.

Almost 10 months ago, I reported that BBC Radio is adapting the last three Hitchhiker’s Guide books into radio dramas. These begin airing on 21 September 2004, and it looks like we’ll be able to listen to them on the BBC Radio web site.

Also, the Infocom Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy game that several of us played back in the day will be revised with illustrations from the person who did the graphics for the Hitchhiker’s Guide TV series. The revised game will also be available on the BBC Radio web site.