Here's a new concept weapon that suggests the first step toward the smart bullets that Peter Novilio was ducking in Chapter 1 of The Cunning Blood. How hard could it be to give the damned thing a CCD eye and steerable fins?
I managed to get a new free Carl & Jerry story uploaded. Grab it here. This one is interesting since I think the gadget the boys build is workable, though much depends on its calibration. If anyone has tried this I'd love to hear about it. (I see some patents of such a device from 1970 onwards, which Frye anticipated by at least ten years.)
Many have written to tell me that the alien grafitti I spotted on a freight car a couple of weeks ago (and described in my June 28, 2007 entry) is Aurebesh, a completely synthetic alphabet from the Star Wars universe. Many writeups are online, though my favorite is from WookiePedia, for the name of the site if nothing else. (Thanks to Thom for the pointer.) Here's another, from Vince Weaver. That same tagger has done other work. (This last from Bill Roper.)
As for what the graffito is supposed to say, well, something like "Le Force / Jaamo Fett / slc rock". The last line, set below the rest, is obscure.
There is an album cut from the 1970 vinyl album Aliotta, Haynes, and Jeremiah (but not the CD!) called "Leaving Chicago." Like the song says...
