My favorite reality show

(via Lucy in the soup with croutons)

Gerry Anderson announces that he has Alzheimer's

Truly a tragedy. If the name Gerry Anderson doesn't sound familiar, maybe some of the shows he created do: Thunderbirds and Space: 1999. There are other shows, but those are probably the two most prominent. I only ever saw bits of Thunderbirds and never saw an episode of Space: 1999, but Anderson was a major figure in science fiction and I know a lot of older geeks and nerds grew up watching his shows.

My hat's off to him. Alzheimer's is a terrible disease that no one should ever have to deal with.

A question of blogrolls

Specifically, how many is this blog on? I'm going to be asking this on two of my other blogs, but I'm just a wee bit curious as to who is linking here. :) I know TamsinP, Desert Scribe, Maj. Diz Aster, and Matgc do. Part of the curiosity is born from the amount of traffic Rayguns has been getting almost since its inception; clearly I must be doing something right!

Anyone ever hear of this game? Orion: Combat Near the Speed of Light?

Click to embiggen.

I heard about this game while reading an article on Atomic Rockets and it looks interesting. Here's BoardGameGeek's description:

This is a game of combat between ram ships moving at near light speed in the Great Nebula of Orion. Each player commands a fleet or ram ships armed with missiles, X-ray lasers, etc. The primary tenet of the game is Einstein's theory of special relativity and how it affects movement and communications. The game includes 7 scenarios which may last from 1.5 to 8 hours. Also included are advanced rules and notes from the designer on the game mechanics, concept, and how these relate to physics.

On the next How I Met Your Carnifex

Shield Brother.

I would love to see the reaction if this happened during a WH40k game.

"How in the hell did a dude in a flak jacket and armed with a rifle take down a Carnifex!?"
"With lots and lots of ammo, apparently."

(via ThunderStorm)

Finished The Honor of the Queen

I'm feeling a bit under the weather at the moment, so I'll try and write something more about it during the week. In nutshell, however, I really liked it. The space battles were absolutely brutal, but exciting. I already mentioned my least favorite part of the book, but it didn't detract from the book as a whole. The ending felt a bit rushed and overdone, however.

Gundam, it's a Gundam!

Check out what I snagged at a yard sale last Sunday.

Toyarena.

According to Toyarena and several other websites, this thing retails for over a hundred smackers and I got it - and hold on to your britches, boys and girls - for five dollars. Clearly, the Nerd Gods like me. The Strike Freedom Gundam is a beast of a model that when completed, will measure 1.7 feet in height and just shy of 2 in width. I've never watched Gundam SEED, but this sucker looks like a real badass!

Progress, however, has been slow. I'm not going to lie, my enthusiasm for this project has been sapped a bit by the amount of wire work required. You see, the thing comes with LEDs for the head, arms, and chest, and it took several hours just to assemble the head (which required assembly of its light and battery compartment), right arm, and base (another battery compartment assembly). The latter came with two long, flat metal pieces that run up from the base to the pole that the Gundam will sit on. I'm going to work on it again tomorrow and try to put the left arm together and make progress on whatever comes after that.

I have no idea where the heck I'm going to put it. I don't even want to consider that yet.

In which I almost stopped reading The Honor of the Queen

Because of one section. I'll explain it after the jump, to spare anyone who might become uncomfortable by it. Also, spoilers. Suffice to say, however, I almost quit reading the book for good.

RIP Caroline John

Admittedly, I wasn't aware of who she was until just now, which is unfortunate. John played Liz Shaw, the Third Doctor's first companion on Doctor Who. She died today at age 71.

xkcd's Exoplanets will make you feel small

xkcd.

Imagine if just some of those planets contained the right conditions for life and some of those had life. While not a believing in the UFO/alien abduction nonsense, I do wholeheartedly believe that there is life in the universe - it's simply too vast for there not to be. If, on the other hand, we are the only living things in this great big mess, then it is the most tragic thing ever and something worth weeping over.

Now, if you really want to feel insignificant, hit the jump.