Picofarad #9 contents | Next: The Deathly Predictions
Obligatory Harry Potter item: Someone at Google Maps has located 12 Grimmauld Place-- but located it far too close to King's Cross Station, creating a new round of arguments among Potter fans about how it could possibly take 20 minutes to walk a block and a half.
James Doohan and Gordon Cooper went on one last posthumous adventure together, being blasted into space, going off-course on return, and being lost for three weeks in the New Mexico mountains.
SpaceX, PayPal's founder's orbital transport company, finally managed a successful launch of its Falcon 1 spacecraft on March 21st, meaning it is now available to carry your payload of up to 640 kg for a mere US$7 million. Particulars available at http://www.spacex.com/falcon1.php.
In a crucial moment that future generations will have to memorize for history tests, the case of Reynoso v. Frankfort Digital Services, Ltd. brought an appeals-court ruling declaring that a piece of software, the "Ziinet Bankruptcy Engine", was guilty of practicing law without a license. This would appear to be the first legal recognition that artificial entities are capable of practicing a trade at all.
On the other hand, EVE Online, an online RPG, has hired a real economist to manage its game world. His name is Dr. Eyjólfur Guðmundsson, and you may all start envying him now.
eWeek recently compiled a list of "The 15 Geekiest Vacations", with Worldcon coming in at #13. Being considered distinct from movie geekdom, it would inevitably seem a bit less geekier than a Star Trek convention (#4), the Star Wars Odyssey Tour (#6), or The Quark Bar (#8), but losing out to Pennsic (#5)?
Once again, volunteers are being solicited for a simulated Mars trip, this time by the ESA, which might actually be able to carry the experiment through. (I'm telling you, all someone really needs to do to fund this is turn it into a reality show.) Application forms at http://spaceflight.esa.int/users/index.cfm?act=default.page&level=16&page=2203.
Picofarad #9 contents | Next: The Deathly Predictions