Tomorrow, August 12, the world population will reach 6 billion. This is up from 1.5 billion just 100 years ago. Many, many people have written dire essays regarding the population boom, but I’d never seen a well-written paper actually applauding it. Until Memepool passed on this article.

I saw a local production of Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile Sunday. This is a wonderfully written play, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. If it’s in your area, get yourself a ticket.

I’m finally over my cold/pnumonia thing. What a bear!

On the astronomy front, two articles on a massive tenth planet or brown dwarf inferred orbiting our sun, one from the BBC, and one from MSNBC. Inferring is all we’ll be able to do until the next-generation infrared orbital telescope is launched. We just don’t have anything that could see it right now.

According to the New York Times, the US has taken to filling bombs with concrete instead of explosives to minimize casulties in Iraq. Sounds like a good idea to me, and I really enjoyed the summarization I saw on Fark: We are dropping laser guided rocks on Iraq.

This reminds me of one of my favorite movies, Until the End of the World:

A team from Harvard and Berkeley implanted electrodes into a cat’s brain and fed the results to a computer, which displayed what the cat was seeing. While not directly discussed in the article, the long-term results from this line of research include artificial eyes that enable the blind to see and video cameras that record what the “cameraman” is seeing, directly from the brain.

A gameshow set on a remote island (well… Borneo, anyway), where the last contestant left is the winner of one million dollars. No, really. This’s scheduled for CBS next summer, and they’re taking applications now. I’m strangely drawn to this…

I’ve passed this on before, but it’s worth another look: They’ll soar like a glider, race like a Stealth, and, when overflying a barnyard or kennel, turn into a wicked-awesome dive bomber.

The hockey game last night was wonderful. The Thrashers got clobbered 7-1, but it was great all the same. I was in the next-to-cheapest section of seats, but was right center behind home goal and elevated enough that I could see the whole ice easily. The next time I go, I’ll request the same seats. Section 303, Row J or less, seat 17ish.

I’m going to go see the Atlanta Thrashers host the Detroit Red Wings tonight. I’m quite excited – I’ve seen many NHL games on TV, but this’ll be my first one to watch in person.