And it's all thanks to Firefly fans.  According to this, Fox's reason for not canceling Dollhouse was because they didn't want to deal with the outcry from Joss Whedon fans.  Terminator got canned - but after the last season, it kind of got what it deserved.  Leave a comment

I found this article on a new movie coming out soon. It's science fiction, social commentary, and it's also in Spanish with subtitles, so it probably won't do all that well in the mainstream market and mass advertising. 
In the future, Mexican physical labor can be transmitted to the US the way IT work is outsourced to India today.  American ( Read more... )

Evidently, the new administration is actually serious about transparency.  They are starting with the latest recovery bill, requiring that all the expenditures be documented in terms of where the money is spent and what results come back, and putting it all on the internet where anybody can check it out.  It's not exactly what I was saying we need ( Read more... )

Evidently, those road signs rigged to say "Zombies Ahead" were prescient - today on NPR they were explaining "Zombie Banks."  These are banks that by all rights should be dead, but unnatural means (i.e. government bailout) are keeping them from actually going out of business and selling their assets at firesale prices, which would help the market ( Read more... )

Potential TMI behind the cut - short version is I've got gall stones and it hurts if I eat the wrong stuff. Hurts like "they gave me morphine."

( You have been duly warned )

So yesterday we finally got rid of Bush and Cheney. It certainly took long enough. I don't expect Barack to be a miracle worker, he can't be worse than Bush. I hope that the precedent of transparency he is setting will stick, though they will never truly show everything (some things really are a matter of national security and do need to be kept ( Read more... )

I am all registered and got myself a room booked - alone at the moment. If anybody wants to split a room, let me know and we can work something out. It's Jan 23-25 at RPI.

I just preregistered for GeneriCon 2009 Jan 23-25, 2009 at RPI. I don't have lodging arrangements yet - anybody up for splitting a room?

If you have any old TVs that don't have built in HDTV tuners, you will need a converter box come February if you want to pull in any signals in the US. There is a program for you to get a coupon for $40 off on such a box, but act quick - there is a December 31 (tomorrow) deadline to apply for the coupon. You can apply for the coupon at www. ( Read more... )

Scientists have constructed a neonatal incubator using old car parts. Nice hack - this sort of project is sure to have its instructions made free and public, which will be a boon to Doctors Without Borders and the third world. Much of modern western medical equipment brought to the boondocks like that fails within a few years and there is nobody ( Read more... )