When will people learn that advertising doesn’t work on the Web? Apparently, not until they try every colossally stupid idea first.
The private space race heats up!
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, has started a private space development company called Blue Origin. It’s nice to see all this interest in private space exporation, especially by folks with money to spend. Oddly enough, Neal Stephenson is being listed as one of the advisors. I say “oddly enough” because all of his sci-fi stories (to date, at least) have been set firmly on Earth. He has his own reasons for joining, though.
Nyaaarh! Rrraaauugh.
Looks like Chewie will be back in Episode III, along with C-3PO and R2-D2. Specifically, Peter Mayhew, Anthony Daniels, and Kenny Baker have been signed to star in the next (and final) Star Wars prequel. Go Chewie! (Thanks to Deana for the scoop.)
New Toyota Prius
Deb writes: Put this on your global blog and smoke it!:
Toyota announced a new Prius that manages to have more interior room and better gas mileage (about 55 mpg). They also reiterated that the hybird is profitable at its $20,000 price point.
More on SpaceShipOne
Of all places, MSNBC has a good article with specifics on SpaceShipOne’s flying characteristics. It really looks like they’ve put a lot of thought into it, down to using the same flight controls for the carrier ship and rocketplane so that maneuvers can be practiced in either.