Cthulhu phone-in podcast, steampunk drawings and realities, space mission funding…

• 1 – OTF – Mixed Bag #3
  “Twenty of the coolest recent technological developments, listed here at Our Technological Future for your leisure.” Yeah, what he said. Go lookee.
  (tags: internet mechanics electronics futurism roundup news developmnent technology)
• 2 – MegaTokyo – ‘undocumented jumper settings’
  Pencil-drawn anime girls trying to assemble a 1337 gaming computer in their underwear – today’s Megatokyo has everything an online geek comic could possibly need to provide.
  (tags: art humour computer PC gaming underwear Japan anime online comic geek Megatokyo)
• 3 – Calls For Cthulhu
  The mightiest and most evil of the old gods now has his own call-in podcast show! Listen in now, lest you pay your soul as price…
  (tags: horror Lovecraft humour show advice phone-in podcast blog Cthulhu)
• 4 – How to draw Steampunk Machines
  “This page is to only to inform artists who want to draw steampunk machines, but doesn’t quite fully understand how steam works.” Mechanical pencils at the ready for creating your own steampunk vehicles …
  (tags: drawing graphics design comics art research steampunk tutorial instruction illustration howto)
• 5 – Steam bicycles
  …and here are some examples of the (sur)real thing!
  (tags: vehicles engineering reproduction Victorian mechanics steampunk bikes bicycles steam)
• 6 – Peake performance
  “The fantastic, baroque imagination of Mervyn Peake expressed itself in prose and painting, in poetry and illustration. Michael Moorcock introduces a new book and exhibition of his work.” Link via Cheryl Morgan.
  (tags: review exhibition biography allegory gothic fantasy author writer UK Gormenghast Peake Mervyn)
• 7 – Early ’90s Networked-Communications Acronyms
  ” … definitions for some of the early 1990s acronyms associated with the Internet and networked communications. It is not complete, but it represents the most-used acronyms of that period.” Thankyou, Bruce Sterling.
  (tags: business geek language acronyms internet computing communications networked 1990s)
• 8 – 500,000 RPM matchbox-sized gas turbine produces 100 watts
  “The matchbox-sized motor generates the equivalent of 100 watts, including the power electronics interface, and has an efficiency of close to 95 percent.” Blimey.
  (tags: generator efficiency power engine turbine gas miniature mechanical)
• 9 – Tesco takes on might of Microsoft with cheap own-brand software
  “Tesco is aiming to substantially undercut Microsoft, offering software titles for less than £20. It claims to be the first retailer to offer a range of own-label software …”
  (tags: computers market competition Microsoft undercut cheap software supermarket UK Tesco)
• 10 – Mars probe returns first detailed images
  ” … it has beamed back images taken from less than 300 kilometres above the planet’s surface. The new images were taken on 29 September and show parts of Mars in unprecedented detail.”
  (tags: detail surface planet orbit low pictures imaging satellite HiRISE Mars space)
• 11 – New study explores role of theater in Maya political organization
  “Magnificent stone sculptures of Classic Maya culture (AD 250-900) have long fascinated archaeologists and the general public alike. But what did the scenes depicted in these monuments mean in their society?”
  (tags: display public theatre feudalism politics Classic Maya anthropology archeaology history)
• 12 – How Far a Frontier?
  “When is a space mission too expensive to fly?” Seems there’s no shortage of money, just other things to spend it on – no change there, then, but maybe we’ll see a shift in the future.
  (tags: economics futurism direction enthusiasm willingness money finance budgets cost exploration space)
• 13 – Architectural Wind: Clean Energy, Birds Like It Too
  ” … a relatively small 6.5-foot, 60-pound turbine … designed to mount on the top edge of a building, taking advantage of the unique aerodynamics of tall buildings, catching the wind after it’s been funneled up the facade.”
  (tags: safe urban sustainable building high-rise architecture electricity generator turbine power wind)
• 14 – Seeing Action
  “EYCIN consists of a monitor linked to a camera that tracks the eye … an on-screen pointer follows eye movements and when the user glances at a designated area for half a second, EYCIN interprets this as a mouse click.”
  (tags: psychology hands-free technology system interaction motion eye controlled gaze interface GUI computer)
• 15 – HP researchers patent foot activated user interface
  ” … a prototype in which humans can use their feet in order to mimic cursor movements more traditionally handled by the keyboard’s right-hand man.” Good call.
  (tags: disability technology UK Packard Hewlett device computer interface user controlled foot invention patent)
• 16 – United Nations Use Second Life to Fight Poverty
  “Second Life residents will be able to Stand Up and be counted as supporter of the Millennium Development Goals and help abolish extreme poverty around the world.” OK … just no virtual Bono, please?
  (tags: metaverse eradicate campaign global poverty UN Nations United Life Second)