A state-of-the-art optical observatory that produces images which are sharper and far more detailed than those obtained from the Hubble Space Telescope is scheduled for construction atop the Magdalena Mountains in central New Mexico. The university I attended has pulled off another coup in the Astrophysical world. Long a Mecca for radio astronomers, Socorro will soon be known for its optical observatory as well. One of these days I ought to put my astrophysics degree to use, I suppose…

From Fark:

Comedian Rowan Atkinson has crashed the sports car he bought to celebrate the success of his movie in the role of Mr Bean. He was unhurt. Featured on the same page is a link to a BBC story on the Blackadder movie to be shown in England after the new year. I like the goatee.

Kirk: “Where’s your crew?”
Decker: “They’re on the Tenth planet.”
Kirk: “There is no tenth planet”
Decker: “Don’t you think I know that!”

(By the way, you can see the classic Star Trek episode “The Doomsday Machine” with state-of-the-art digital effects here.)

Douglas Adams (author of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – but did I really need to say that?) has completed a new series for BBC radio on the past, present, and future of the Internet. I’ve not yet found a full transcript, but here’s the BBC’s official pages on the series. Riding the wave of change is Douglas Adams, who recognised nearly ten years ago that information technology was set to revolutionise the way in which we communicate.

I’ve been waiting all month for a new Landover Baptist newsletter, and today they deliver a few days early! I guess so they could tell us about their exciting trick or tract program.

Welcome to my home page ! Kiss you !!!!!!!!!!!! Could this be the winner of the hotly contested “International Player of the Year” trophy?

Yet another reason to love Iceland: In the next few weeks, road authority contractors will gently move a cracked gray boulder known as Grasteinn, said to be owned by dwarfs, that blocks the expansion of a highway on the outskirts of Reykjavik. The dwarfs could not be reached for comment.

McSweeney’s has a list of Less Popular Bars (in no particular order). My favorite: Karaokefenokee.

At this point, we began to consider the probability that these objects in the Turkish video were not actual Taurid objects, but rather symbolic Taurid objects, appearing in the skies over the symbolic 33degree longitude, during an eclipse in a country whose very flag is an eclipse! How does this guy continue to get people to listen to him. I mean, the face on Mars was at least imaginable, but he’s moved way beyond that now.

When describing the gold burial mask Heinrich Schliemann (discoverer of Troy and Mycanae) found, he said, “I have gazed on the face of Agamemnon.” Now, some accuse Heinrich of faking the whole thing. This is potentially explosive stuff, and this Month’s Archaeology treats the subject with care.