Rare, antique maps and prints.

Link thanks to Philos

Ananova - Scientists find mystery 'orphan planets': "Astronomers have discovered planets that appear to have been formed without a parent star."

Scott Dierdorf (whose blog is linked at the right), just had a peice published in the Baltimore Sun:

sunspot.net - op/ed: "You're a technophile. "

What is the Meatrix?
Prepare to be shocked. Maybe even a bit dismayed.

Salon.com Comics | Tom the Dancing Bug

Just in case you were thinking 'Ahh.. Tony's finally stopped blogging that political stuff he was going on about,' Tom the Dancing Bug presents some pretty damn brilliant comic-ing.

style.org > Estimating the Airspeed Velocity of an Unladen Swallow: "And there was much rejoicing"

Link thanks to Philos. As seen on Slahsdot!

Note: also on the same sight: a way cool discussion of mapping votes in the California election.

The Diplomatic Pouch: The Diplomacy Home Page

Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | The penguin is mightier than the sword

Berkely Breathed is back with a new comic to run Sundays as a half page in 160 newspapers.

"For his part, as mentioned above, Breathed is demanding half a page for his bird. "We heard a little bit of grumbling from some editors who thought it was too much space," says Suzanne Whelton, Breathed's editor at WPPG, "but once they saw the artwork, they were all easily convinced that it was deserving of that kind of space. He's really honed his talents as a painter over the past years. It really has a more painterly look than 'Outland' or 'Bloom County.'" "

And when you're done with that, check out Tom Tomorrow's This Modern World for further proof that the medium of comics isn't dead.

Dan Abnet Interview transcript from RadioSciFi. Dan Abnett wrote the excellent Warhammer 40k Gaunt's Ghosts novels, as well as heaps of other fiction and comic books.

Games Workshop - Black Gobbo E-zine: Black Gobbo is a biweekly online magazine produced by Game Workshop's US Studio. Similar to its print counterpart, White Dwarf (Get it? Black Gobbo, White Dwarf? Ahem), Black Gobbo is devoted to the games and hobbies created by GW.

It looks like this online mag might have some good stuff in it.

Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | Meat Loaf collapses on London stage: "Pop star Meat Loaf is being treated for exhaustion brought on by a virus after collapsing on stage during a concert, hospital officials said Tuesday. "

Today I finally started playing with iTunes, and I found somthing amazing. The visualizations are so cool that I actually WANT to keep watching them. This kicks Win Media Player's buttinsky.

Forbes.com: Hot Wheel: "The Embrio concept also uses one less wheel than the Segway and will attract, Bombardier hopes, a younger demographic. The vehicle is designed as a guess at what transportation in the year 2025 might look like. "

Despite having a really dumb name, this thing is way cool. Thanks to Philos for the linkage.

James Howard Kunstler: Eyesore of the Month: "Behold the new $30 million Ontario College of Art & Design classroom and studio building by British architect Will Alsop -- a totemized retro-futuroid coffee table joined umbilically to its Soviet-style predecessor below. The message, apparently: art and design are nothing but fun fun fun. Nothing to get serious about. A playful spirit of induced hazard will keep students wondering when the checkered box might wobble free of its cute swizzle-stick legs and come crashing down on their heads. This exercise in hyper-entropic avant garde faggotry is so cutting edge that it is already out of date. The only question: which of the two conjoined buildings is more cruelly ridiculous?"

Link thanks to cjc.

Go Game - Home

No, it's not played on a board, and apparently there's a Seattle chapter.

Out of ideas for your next RPG game? Check out RPGnet: The Inside Scoop on Gaming, and then come over to Attacks of Opportunity and join the discussion.

Salon.com News | Deported Canadian reports torture in Syria custody: "A Canadian citizen deported to Syria last year by the United States spoke publicly about his ordeal for the first time Tuesday, detailing beatings he received in Syrian custody and calling for a public inquiry. "

Although I'm not one of those intrepid persons celebrating National Novel Writing Month by writing a 50,000 word novel in November, I have secured an entire week off work in order to work on the difficult center of the novel I've been working on all year. Woot!