Wow.

Okay. This is fantastic. This is a story, not just about a dead star. And not just about a star that shoots death rays.

But about a DEAD STAR THAT SHOOTS DEATH RAYS. According to Scientific American, at least.

That is so freaking awesome. Thanks, io9, for bringing us this installment of Space Porn.

I think I ruptured something, guys.

Okay, this made me laugh HARDER THAN ANYTHING IN THE HISTORY OF LAUGHING. You MUST read this.

The 40 Worst Rob Liefeld Drawings.

I don't even know who Rob Liefeld is (well, I do now, obviously) but this is made of pure, uncut, 100% win. Enjoy.

And many, many thanks to Dan for passing it along.

Judgment Time

So. Just what the hell is my problem, huh? Why haven’t I posted anything to this page in, like, forever?

I know. Excuses, excuses. The actual, real, really for real reason is that I don’t have internet access at my house right now. I have to steal wifi from a super weak signal, so all I have patience for is checking email and Facebook. Posting blogs and images and links is just too much for my intermittent interwebs. Also, you can totally forget about Xbox Live.

And it doesn’t help that I don’t have TV either. I can’t talk about any new geek-related goings on, since I have no idea what’s happening. Final Cylon? Beats me. Doctor What Now? No clue. Lost? Well, I never watched Lost anyway.

So where does that leave the loneliest nerd? Well, I’ve been chasing easter eggs in Bioshock. I’ve been practicing clarinet a bunch. And I’m learning to read the Tarot without looking up every single card. But to be frank, I’ve been engaging in some behavior which is essentially antithetical to the Nerdiverse: I’ve been going out and spending time with friends.

I know, I know. Please don’t tell anyone. They’ll revoke my Nerd License if they find out I have a social life. Look, eventually I’ll be wired again and I’ll be able to talk about the latest Star Trek trailers and such. So do a girl a favor, will ya, and just keep news of this little dark time to yourself? I’m doing my best here. I have a whole box set of Robin of Sherwood DVDs to watch, so I promise I’ll be back in shape in no time. Really. Cross my heart.

Be seeing you.

I found out this morning that Patrick McGoohan died. He was 80. This made me unutterably sad.

McGoohan was one of the creative forces behind The Prisoner, one of my favorite shows. In addition to starring in the show as No. 6, he also wrote and directed many of the episodes, using various aliases. He even helped write the theme song.

I recently watched all of the episodes of The Prisoner over the course of a couple of days. I watched it so much I inadvertently started using the Village Salute. It's really a work to be commended for its vision, use of symbolism, and perspective.

Anyway, I have nothing to add to the many obituaries celebrating his life and work. I just wanted to say that I'm sad he's gone.

Eureka!

I'm not the only one who thinks science is funny. Here's proof:



Oh yeah. Punnett squares = comedy gold. Thanks babybeebooks!

In case you haven't checked it out, Beartato can be found on Nedroid, which is basically made of awesome. You should become addicted to it the way I am. It's what all the hep cats are doing these days.

I can't stop messing!

Okay, so here's the final version of the desktop. I got rid of Rainmeter, because I don't really need it, and I futzed with the background and icons (I actually made a couple of these icons myself). I'm pretty pleased with the results:

Wintastic.

Check your HUD finally unveils the mystery of the Square Enix archetype. I love it.

It's the most nerdiest time of the year.

I love Christmas. No, listen. I LOVE Christmas. I am one of those people who is literally full of Christmas cheer between Thanksgiving and New Year's. Yes. And don't even set your phasers to "scorn" - I am immune.

Let's be honest. Nerds can be a... cynical demographic, myself included. In an effort to spread the cheer, I am requesting you spend 55 seconds watching this video*. Thank you for your cooperation.



*This is my Dancing Santa music box. It is about thirty years old and was purchased for me in Japan by my aunt and uncle. It is one of my most cherished possessions. Don't you judge me.

My new obsession.

I recently caught on (some would say I grokked) to the lifehacking trend of customizing your desktop.

I'm a nerd, but not a computer geek. So I never spent any time thinking about my desktop, really, aside from occasionally wiping off the gazillion old shortcuts that accumulate or changing the wallpaper. But I've been reading lately about how the look and feel of your desktop can improve your productivity. The theory being that the more icons and alerts you have going, the more distracted you will be.

So I downloaded a couple of little gadgets (namely Rocketdock and Rainmeter) and made myself a fresh new look:



I'll let you know how it goes as far as improving my productivity. I'm still tweaking the icons a bit as well. Looks cool, anyway.

Grumblecakes.

So a quick search of the blogosphere shows that everyone is wetting themselves over the new Xbox Live Experience.

Yeah. Um. Huh?

I mean, yes, the new features are great - Netflix on demand, easier party systems, and the community games stuff. Yay. Fine.

My biggest problem is the look and feel of the dashboard. For one thing, forcing me to create a Mii-knockoff avatar is ridiculous. I mean, yeah, I did it, and she looks exactly like me, (except with fangs). But why? If I wanted to dick around with a cutesy-wutesy avatar of myself, I'd turn on my fucking Wii!

To make it even more jarring, I deliberately chose a grim, urban dystopia for my dashboard theme. So now when I log on, there's a roly-poly avatar of me admiring her shoes and looking coquettish, except she appears to be dropped into a set from Blade Runner.

And the other problem I have is that the dashboard now seems to be chock full of advertisements. The new interface has about eight menus, including Spotlight (on things you can buy), Game Marketplace, Video Marketplace, and Inside Xbox (added content for things you can buy). It's also very graphic-heavy, so to see your gaming acheivements, you have to flip through pictures of the covers of the games. It just feels very much like living inside a flier for Target or something.

Anyway, rant over. What did you guys think?