and nigel tufnel prolly has 3...

Nanoguitar: "Made for fun to illustrate the technology -- the world's smallest guitar is 10 micrometers long -- about the size of a single cell -- with six strings each about 50 nanometers, or 100 atoms, wide. Just one of several structures that Cornell researchers believe are the world's smallest silicon mechanical devices. Researchers made these devices at the Cornell Nanofabrication Facility, bringing microelectromechanical devices, or MEMS, to a new, even smaller scale -- the nano-sized world."
See World's smallest silicon mechanical devices are made at Cornell.

((i dont know where i found this))

Infrared Images of Saturn's Poles

((i dont hear the word "hexagon" used much in planetary science. this particular hexagon is, like, half the width of the earth.))
from jpl

This is a side-by-side view of large cyclones at both poles of Saturn obtained by the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer onboard the Cassini spacecraft.

These high-spatial-resolution polar orthographic projections of the north (left) and south (right) polar regions show rings of clouds and hazes circling the poles, as observed in the near-infrared at a wavelength of 5 micron, some seven times the reddest wavelength observed by the human eye. The resolution is 200 kilometers (149 miles) per pixel.

The left image is the first detailed image of Saturn's entire north polar region ever obtained. The movie covers a six-hour period at close range, as close as 240,000 kilometers (149,000 miles) above the clouds from a nearly-overhead viewpoint.Winds reach over 150 meters per second (325 miles per hour) at 88.3 degrees south latitude, just outside the first bright ring nearest the pole. The pole itself is covered by a small cloud some 600 kilometers (about 375 miles) wide. The cyclone reaches out some 12,000 kilometers (7,500 miles) from the pole, bordered by the hexagon. This hexagon is populated by fast-moving clouds which also reach speeds of over 500 kilometers per hour (300 miles per hour).

The south pole image (right), acquired just a few hours after the north polar image also shows a polar cyclone, complete with a central eye clear of clouds. This cyclone extends out some 15,000 kilometers (9,000 miles) from the pole.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team homepage is at http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu.
Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Star Trek 2009

im gonna post spoilers for a while
Do Not read this blog if you are allergic to Star Trek or Star Trek spoilers

new Star Trek movie ((spoiler alert))

costume details emerge Dont Look!
Do Not read if you avoid spoilers for Star Trek
spy cam pics from a starfleet academy location shoot here

Quote

Using the mark test, we obtained evidence for mirror self-recognition in the European Magpie, Pica pica. This finding shows that elaborate cognitive skills arose independently in corvids and primates, taxonomic groups with an evolutionary history that diverged about 300 million years ago. It further proves that the neocortex is not a prerequisite for self-recognition.

upcoming marvel movies

this from marvel

As Marvel Studios powers up to begin production on its next highly anticipated slate of films, the studio has made an agreement with Raleigh Studios to film each of Marvel's next four films at Raleigh's facility in Manhattan Beach, CA.

The four projects to be produced at the studio facility over the next three years include "Iron Man 2," "Thor," The First Avenger: Captain America" and "The Avengers."


The Marvel live action releases to be filmed at Raleigh Manhattan Beach Studios are scheduled to arrive in theaters beginning in 2010 and going through 2011. Specifically the release dates are "Iron Man 2" on May 7, 2010; "Thor" on July 16, 2010; "The First Avenger: Captain America" on May 6, 2011; and "The Avengers" on July 15, 2011.



and this from wiki


Punisher: War Zone 2008 Lions Gate Entertainment / Marvel Studios Distributed by Columbia Pictures outside the US
X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2009 20th Century Fox / Marvel Studios Post-Production
Announced
Iron Man 2 2010 Marvel Studios In development.
Thor 2010 Marvel Studios In development.
The First Avenger: Captain America 2011 Marvel Studios In development.
Spider-Man 4 2011 Columbia Pictures / Marvel Studios In development.
The Avengers 2011 Marvel Studios In development.

NOTE: The subsidiary Marvel Studios has two films planned for every year, starting in 2008. They will all be distributed by Paramount Pictures with the exception of The Incredible Hulk, which, according to a prior arrangement due to Hulk, was distributed by Universal Studios.

[edit] Planned films

* Ant-Man - In development
* Black Panther - In development
* Iron Fist - Announced
* Daredevil 2 - Announced
* Doctor Strange - In development
* Ghost Rider 2 - Announced
* Nick Fury - In development
* Silver Surfer - Announced
* Runaways - In development
* Venom - In development
* X-Men Origins: Magneto - In development
* X-Men: First Class - In development


((Ant-man?!?!?!!))

a trip to Annapolis part 2

same annapolis, different view

lego 2009 review

> From: mitt
> Subject: Re: Lego Dr Horrible
> To: dusty37.geo@yahoo.com
> Date: Tuesday, October 7, 2008, 3:02 PM
> Hola! In addiction to the wonderful Renn Fair like lego set
> I found more
> 2009 lego sets. If you do a search on you tube of 2009 Lego
> you'll see some
> people have put together slide show of pictures from a
> catalog. Most
> important ones is a Temple of Doom set that includes Short
> Round and Willie
> and is a car chase scene from the beginning if I remember
> that film right.
> But even more exciting is a Flying Wing set is coming too.
> It looks like
> they used Anakins star fighter canopy for the canopy of the
> Flying Wing as
> well but it still looked cool. There are more Clone Wars
> sets coming and
> they are relaunching the Pirate line, basically the same
> sets they had when
> I was a kid, but better with the new faces and outfits for
> the mini figs.
>
> Lego overload.



-----Inline Attachment Follows-----

If you wish. I also wrote this about the Renn Fairre Lego on a transformers board.
******
Medieval Market Place
I found out about this from a Lego community I am part of through my blog service. The poster found out about it from a Lego blog:
LEGO Blog: The Brothers Brick | LEGO news, custom creations, MOCs, set reviews, and more!
Its where I got these pictures from.
Comes out in 2009 I think it may come out in January.

Okay I am not sure if I can describe why I fell in love with this set right away but I'll try. First lets start with the mini figures.
(BTW, Brothers brick has some more high res pics which provide greater detail I'll post them if everyone wants or you can go see them there)
This set comes with 8 figures. Most of them have new faces, and all but the knights have new "clothes" especially the women who have bodices! It also has a "boy" mini figure, basically a regular mini figure but with non moving legs like those that came with the drawfs or Yoda.
Next, the food, mainly the new turkey! Turkey legs have been out for what a year or so now? But now we get the rest of the turkey! (Going to very fun to have for a Thanksgiving set next year)
Animals: Cows! (My brother says they are bulls, me being a city girl, doesn't know the difference) there is also a rooster and a chicken! Plus a duck! The duck only sports new color pieces from what I can tell but the rooster and chicken have new feather elements that are new! White colour rat I think is new, I think I only have grey ones. And fish! Actually maybe I should file the new dead fish in the basket there in the food, oh well.
Now onto the buildings. The buildings can close up so they can appear to have a front and a back, not just a facade. Plus the interiors are decorated with pictures and fireplaces. The fire is sporting new flame elements which seem to me to be a transparent orange of the red feathers from the rooster. (Two new pieces and in two different colors in the same set!) Also it was pointed out to me that the supports around the windows of blue building and at the market stand look like telescopes, which are also new pieces and may mean we are getting new pirates sets. *Hope*

This set looks totally fun and has a lot of play value plus rebuilt value. I am so excited to get it. It was cost about 100 USD or about 90 UK Pounds.
*******
And I posted a picture of the front of the box and the back.

Isn't that more formal?

-end of line-

a steve todd production

horrible legos

and now for something completely different...
a middle-aged Lego Dr. Horrible

the real trip to Mars

Original Caption Released with Image:

This enhanced-color image from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera shows the Phoenix landing area viewed from orbit. The spacecraft appears more blue than it would in reality. From top to bottom are the Phoenix lander with its solar panels deployed on the Martian surface, the heat shield and bounce mark the heat shield made on the Martian surface, and the top of the Phoenix parachute attached to the bottom of the back shell.

The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.
Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

quote

"I have this friend from New York who, most of the time, speaks in a normal (that is to say, southern) accent that she's acquired as a result of being surrounded for so long by people who speak the King's English ('cause Elvis was a southerner)."
-unknown blog commenter circa 2008

a trip to Annapolis