Sunday post of incredibly nerdy link salad
All kinds of fun things that fall under the general rubric of "nerdy" today :)
1) Soon-to-be world's first African-American female chess master is only seventeen. You rock, Rochelle Ballantyne! Here's hoping that budget cuts don't kill your chess program.
2) I'm a big WWII buff, particularly the code-making and code-breaking, so this is pretty damn cool: A Bletchingley man renovating his chimney finds the tiny bones of a pigeon, with a little capsule strapped to its leg. Turns out it was a WWII carrier pigeon, with a coded message for...whom??
3) All five Star Trek captains on stage together. Best quotes came from Sir Patrick: "On Star Trek we are wearing costume, and just like Elizabethan costume, no pockets. Sometimes actors would stand awkwardly because they didn’t know what to do with their hands, but if you’ve spent half your career acting in tights..." and "All those years sitting on thrones of England were nothing but preparation for sitting in the captain’s chair." Yessssss...
4) How many of you remember Omni magazine? I had a subscription starting when I was about 12 and I loved every issue -- big and glossy, with its strange and gorgeous cover art. It gave me a passion for science fiction and sci-fi art which has never left me, with authors like George R. R. Martin, Stephen King, Harlan Ellison and William Gibson; artists like H.R. Giger and Rallé. Well, guess what? The entire run of Omni is now available online for free! ::does happy dance::
5) This last one is for the truly nerdy among you: Watch nine big-name sci-fi authors -- including one woman! -- rediscover their inner high-school geek as they play an old-style game of Dungeons and Dragons. Not only did they voyage to The Keep on the Borderlands (D&D Module #2), they recorded it, edited it, added some clever Terry Gilliam-style opening animations, and put it online for your edification and jollification :)
1) Soon-to-be world's first African-American female chess master is only seventeen. You rock, Rochelle Ballantyne! Here's hoping that budget cuts don't kill your chess program.
2) I'm a big WWII buff, particularly the code-making and code-breaking, so this is pretty damn cool: A Bletchingley man renovating his chimney finds the tiny bones of a pigeon, with a little capsule strapped to its leg. Turns out it was a WWII carrier pigeon, with a coded message for...whom??
3) All five Star Trek captains on stage together. Best quotes came from Sir Patrick: "On Star Trek we are wearing costume, and just like Elizabethan costume, no pockets. Sometimes actors would stand awkwardly because they didn’t know what to do with their hands, but if you’ve spent half your career acting in tights..." and "All those years sitting on thrones of England were nothing but preparation for sitting in the captain’s chair." Yessssss...
4) How many of you remember Omni magazine? I had a subscription starting when I was about 12 and I loved every issue -- big and glossy, with its strange and gorgeous cover art. It gave me a passion for science fiction and sci-fi art which has never left me, with authors like George R. R. Martin, Stephen King, Harlan Ellison and William Gibson; artists like H.R. Giger and Rallé. Well, guess what? The entire run of Omni is now available online for free! ::does happy dance::
5) This last one is for the truly nerdy among you: Watch nine big-name sci-fi authors -- including one woman! -- rediscover their inner high-school geek as they play an old-style game of Dungeons and Dragons. Not only did they voyage to The Keep on the Borderlands (D&D Module #2), they recorded it, edited it, added some clever Terry Gilliam-style opening animations, and put it online for your edification and jollification :)