Fantasist's Scroll

Well, at least another possible Earth-like solar system.

According to this article on Wired News, scientists may have found solar system that meets the requirements for Earth-like life. All the right ingredients are there. The star is the right type and age. There’s a gas-giant at the right orbital distance. And, it’s far enough away that we can’t really tell too much else about it. Ah, well, at least there exists the possibility that life exists on other planets.

One day, I hope that interstellar travel is possible. I love the idea of going to other planets and seeing totally different ecosystems. Of course, travelling around our own world could be interesting enough, but alien life…. I guess I’m just a sci-fi junkie. The idea of aliens is just so appealing to me. Though, based on that last entry I made, maybe I should start learning Mandarin! I might well have a better chance riding a Chinese space-craft than a US one! C’mon, NASA, let’s get it in gear!!

Well, it sort of looks like they might.

Of course, they haven’t gotten to the moon, yet, but according to this article on Slashdot, they’re already making plans. And, pretty aggresive plans, too. I can’t help but wonder why they’re pushing so hard to get into space all of a sudden. Do they think it will suddenly catch them up to us technologically? Do they see us as weak and vulnerable, so they’re trying to take advantage? And, how are they getting all this development done? Is someone passing them secrets? Again?!

Actually, I don’t think it’s a bad thing. After all, it might just spur us on to greater heights in that neglected arena. Maybe they’ll come up with some interesting, new astronaut meals! The Chinese have always been food innovators. It might just be the best thing to happen to our space program!

It’s been a little bit since I mentioned anything about conlanging, so I thought it was time.

I was tooling around on Project Gutenberg the other day and came accross Mr. Honey’s Tourist Dictionary, English-German. At first, I thought it was just sort of interesting, but then, I started looking at it, and the other “Mr. Honey’s Dictionaries”. Suddenly, it clicked! What a great source for phrases to translate into a conlang! I already have Conlang Phrasebooks, but here are even more ideas for phrases that people use in daily life. In some of these, there is even generic or generalized technical jargon. For instance, there’s the Banking Dictionary, the Insurance Dictionary, the Large Business Dictionary, the Small Business Dictionary and even the Workstudy Dictionary.
In any case, these all really sparked some ideas about how language is used and what really goes into a real, fully-formed language with complete vocabulary.

No, actually, I guess it’s methanol.

Well, according to this news story on Yahoo, NEC has developed a methanol-powered laptop. No more recharging for me! Yahoo indeed!
Well, okay, you’ll have to keep refueling, but still… And, it’s supposed to last ten times longer than a normal battery, so, that’s cool, too.

What’ll they think of next?
Oh, and, yeah, I first mentioned this at my other blog.

Neal Stephenson is at it again!

He’s written a new book called Quicksilver, which is part of his new Baroque Cycle. It is, in part, about very old cryptography as described by John Wilkins in his book Mercury. What’s interesting to me, though, is that Mr. Stephenson used this old code to run a contest. (The details can be found here.) But, it’s already been solved! What’s more, the person who solved the mystery had never heard about Mercury, John Wilkins, or the cryptography system. Here’s a blow-by-blow account of how he did it.

Nope, it’s not Star Trek science…

Though, I have to admit, when I saw the article, the term “phage” caught my attention. The Phage was a kind of disease or plague that a species of “bad guys” suffered from on Star Trek Voyager.
In this article from Wired News, though, it’s something different. In the real world, it may be a viable alternative to the massive use of antibiotics that we’ve fallen to using everytime someone gets the sniffles. My wife still suffers from a wounded resistance to common colds and flus thanks to an overuse of antibiotics. Though, a far more disturbing trend is strains of bacteria that are more and more resistant to antibiotics. That is what these “phages”, short for “bacteriophage”, are designed to attack. Bacteriophages, or “bacteria eaters”, are designed to destroy one particular bacteria, leaving all the beneficial bacteria alone. Unlike antibiotics.

Okay, now for the science-ficiton bent… Can anyone see how this technology might go horribly wrong?

A notable author noted my website!

Well, he may not be the most well known author, but he’s written some real gems. The author in question is Joe Clifford Faust, author of The Company Man and Ferman’s Devils. He apparently found my other website, Diary of a Network Geek, where I mention him briefly. I have to admit, until I wrote that little entry, I hadn’t thought about The Company Man in a very long time. But, it was a good book, which I still have, and well worth finding, if you haven’t read it. Come to think of it, so is everything else I’ve read by Mr. Faust. So, go buy his books and maybe the old stuff will come back into print.

Anyway, it was a small thrill to be found by a Real Writer and exchange e-mail with him. Always is for me. Writers are my celebrities. God, I’m a geek.