All posts by Chris

pack your ice skates

Space

According to an article in New Scientist, “Mars may have a frozen underground sea”:http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7039 right near the equator. If it’s there, it’s just under the surface, is about 45m (145ft) deep, and covers thousands of square kilometers, about the size of the North Sea.

In related news, I just finished reading “Red Thunder”:http://www.strangehorizons.com/2003/20030929/red_thunder.shtml, John Varley’s recent novel about plucky youngsters launching a mission to Mars. It’s a fantastic read, the kind of book that would be written by the mutant prodigy love-child of Varley, Robert Heinlein, Carl Hiaasen, Spider Robinson, Douglas Coupland, Neal Stephenson, and Carl Sagan.

exurban wasteland

Architecture

A recent “Guardian story”:http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,1418173,00.html provides insight into what our new US “exurbs”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exurb look like to the UK:

“As US towns sprawl into the countryside, creating anonymous zones dominated by soulless malls, one of Britain’s leading historians asks if it could happen here…”

Scariest quote:

“After a closely fought referendum, Phoenix, a city of 3.5 million (roughly half the population of London), has only just agreed to a light-rail system.”

the best defense is a good… lie

Politics

OK, so let me get this straight. We’re spending “$9 billion a year on a ‘missile defense’”:http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-02-17-rumsfeld-missiledefense_x.htm which a) doesn’t stop missiles even in simple testing and b) wouldn’t deter anyone from developing or deploying missiles. If that’s the case, I have a “bullet defense” here that consists of waving a pen vaguely in the direction of a loaded gun. How much is that worth? Do I get extra points if having the pen constitutes a treaty violation?

earth berms are easy

Architecture, Art, Oddly Enough

As I was fixing my Hobbit breakfast (four waffles, cream cheese, banana, and tea), I thought once again about Bag End. Each time I see the Bag End scenes from Fellowship of the Rings, I think, “I want to live there.” Today, I thought, “Has anyone tried to build a house like that?”

The answer, sayeth Google, is yes. And yes. Oh my, yes. Just thought I’d share.

UPDATE: If your budget is more modest, perhaps a Bag End dollhouse would be more manageable.