For whatever reason, over the last few days, I've been re-watching Torchwood: Children of Earth. I figure its a run-up to Torchwood: Miracle Day which I never quite got around to seeing.

Children of Earth worked for me, including the ending, because of the horrific price the good guys paid for their victory. The pivotal moment, of course, was when ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

Twenty percent into The Mote in God's Eye the following is written:

"The Mote is only 35 light years from New Scotland, and there had been a number of observations, some dating back to Jasper Murcheson himself.
[...]
Rod had known about the gas giant before they started. Early astronomers had deduced it from pertubations in the Mote's orbit around ( Read more... )

Don't forget the online lecture "The Astronomy of Middle Earth!" tonight at 1900hrs (2300UT)! Sign up and find details at: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/719114822 .

April is Astronomy Month this year at the AAVSO. In celebration we're holding several free "webinars" with prominent astronomers from all over. Most of these webinars are of interest to astronomers, but there is one coming up that I think is going to have a lot of cross pollination among my friends which is why I'm talking about it here ( Read more... )

Those who know me know that I have a small collection of heroes, people I look up to. These include Dr. Alan Turing and my namesake Professor Stephen W. Hawking. Somewhat unusually, I think, some of my heroes are not real. They include Dr. Sivasubramanian Chandrasegarampillai and Dr. Susan CalvinAs with almost any money-making machine, the creator ( Read more... )

And a message that I think some of my friends may be able to use as well!

Click to view

...by Mitch Benn, that wonderful bard also responsible for last year's classic, "I'm Proud of the BBC!"

A Roleplay Too Far?

I'm a good roleplayer. Actually I'm an excellent actor. Face it, with a lifetime's experience of either hiding what I was feeling, or projecting something I thought other people wanted to see, its not really shocking, I guess. I never really considered it as a profession, per se, due to the unemployment rate. But acting feeds ( Read more... )

All of my friends growing up were into comic books. They tried for decades to get me into them and it never took. But comics are, to some degree, part of American culture. They've transcended books and gone to radio, then TV, then movies. You couldn't grow up without some knowledge of Superman, Batman, and Spiderman ( Read more... )

Click to view