Fantasist's Scroll

Well, more like a thruster.

Actually, according to this article on Australian IT, it is a thruster. A new plasma thruster developed at the Australian National University is being heralded as a breakthrough in deep space exploration. The thruster, called the “Helicon Double Layer Thruster”, uses solar electricity to create a magnetic field through which hydrogen is passed to make a beam of plasma, which powers a ship through space.
HDLT inventor Dr. Christine Charles says,”For deep space exploration, like going to Mars, you need to use plasma propulsion because it is a lot more fuel efficient and you can go a lot faster.” And, in this case, faster is definately better.
All I can say is, “Good on, ya’, Mate!”

On the cheap!!

Here’s a website called Fontifier that lets you make your very own, hand-drawn font. For free. At least, it’s free right now. It might cost something eventually, but this week, it’s still free. So, get it while it’s hot!
You just go to the website, download the template, fill it out, scan it and send it back. Then, you get a personalized font. The only thing you need is a printer to print the template, a felt-tip pen to write the font, and a scanner to scan it in. They pretty much do the rest. Cool stuff.
Make sure to read the FAQ if you’re interested in doing a font for your conlang.

No, this time, they mean it!

According to this article on Australian IT, the long awaited vaporware of e-paper is finally a viable reality. This has actually been around for quite some time, but now they’re able to put it into something that resembles production. What a shame that so many of the e-book readers have gone the way of the dodo. Well, maybe we’ll be lucky and someone like Palm will take this technology and run with it.
In any case, it’s nice to see this finally take hold a bit.

Not the usual Fantasist’s Scroll book.

But, well worth looking into. I first got interested in Rastafarianism by way of William Gibson, who had several characters who were Dreadlocks. My ignorance of what that was all about was, well, somewhat shocking for me at the time. So, I started poking around. Quite a few years ago, I found Rastafari: Roots and Ideology by Barry Chevannes. It followed me around, unread, in a box for several years. Well, I finally read it this past week. What a shame I waited so long!
This was a very good book about the history and origins of a relatively new religion. Among other things, it was fascinating to track the birth of a new faith from its very start through the modern day. As a sociological look at a small, but growing, religious or spiritual movement, this is a great book. It is, however, a rather schollarly look at this movement and, as such, is somewhat dry at times. Still, it presents not only a well-rounded look at the religion, but also the socio-economic forces that shaped it. One of the main “pillars of faith”, for instance, is the concept of “repatriation” to Ethiopia. This would never have come about if not for the practice of black slavery in the New World.
I’ll not attempt to describe the intricacies of Rastafarianism in a short message, but, if you’re interested in knowing more, this book is a great place to start.

Why We Fear Friday the Thirteenth!

I always thought it was because Judas was the Thirteenth Apostle or something like that. No, according to this article on GlobalPsychics.com, it has to do with the plot to suppress the Knights Templar. Hey, stop laughing! That’s what it says!! And, I quote:

The modern basis for the Friday the 13th superstition stems from Friday October the 13th, 1307. On this date, the Pope of the church in Rome in Conjunction with the King of France, carried out a secret death warrant against “the Knights Templar”. The Templars were terminated as heretics, never again to hold the power that they had held for so long. There Grand Master, Jacques DeMolay, was arrested and before he was killed, was tortured and crucified. A Black Friday indeed!

So, there you have it, Friday the Thirteenth is a global conspiracy!
Enjoy it.
(Yes, I also posted this on my other blog.

3D ID.

According to this story on WiredNews, holographic “mug shots” are the identification of the future. And, DuPont Authentication Systems and A4Vision, who developed the newest, easiest 3D ID system, think so, too.
Actually, the idea is pretty cool. Basically, the idea is to make it harder to counterfeit ID’s by incorporating a holographic picture of the correct, legal carrier of the ID. I think it’s a good idea. I know that the holograms on credit cards really made them harder to rip off, so the same should be true of other ID. Also, it would help keep passports secure, too. Considering the weight that the Department of Homeland Defense throws around these days, that could be a big deal.
In any case, go to the article and look at the pictures. They’re cool.

Noticed a few changes?

Well, that’s because I’ve relocated, yet again. Apparently, my old web host thought that my scripts were killing their server. Oddly enough, they seemed to think they were okay when I asked them to test them and make sure there were no problems before I released them to the public. Funny how that works.
In any case, I’ve found a new home at Amzia.net. And, I’ll probably be a little scarce for the next week as I move my other domains over, too. Oh, and, should it turn out that the last folks were right, I’ll be modifying my scripts to slow them down. Actually, to make sure that they only run one at a time. Though, I have to admit, I doubt there’s really a problem. Unless, of course, the problem occured when they moved my account from a Unix server to a Windoze server. But, that’s an entry for my other blog.

I was Wolverine.

No, really, stop laughing. Or, better yet, go take the darned quiz for yourself. It’s right here on Liquid Generation. But, as a quick disclaimer, I cannot be resonsible for what else you find on this website. I don’t think all of it is best viewed at work, if you know what I mean.

Happy Friday.