Neither I nor David Bowie know for sure. But the Phoenix Lander is on Mars … and with it – among quarter of a million others – is my signature, thanks to the Planetary Society and me spending a few minutes a year or so ago. Which feels both weird and cool at once, to be honest.

As far as life on Earth is concerned, today was a pretty majestic FAIL, thanks to circumstances beyond my control. But hey – it’s not all about me. And tomorrow is another day, as the saying goes. The species progresses, even when I do not. This is comforting, somehow.

It’s random blog pimping time again! This time, I’m going to suggest you go take a look at a post on Subtopia, which bills itself as ‘A Field Guide to Military Urbanism’. Don’t be put off – it’s not full of pictures of people who take Neighbourhood Watch too seriously. Instead, it’s about the incursion of military thinking and architecture into urban spaces.

The post you should go and see is all about bunker touring in Berlin, complete with photos from exploratory trips into the old Nazi bunkers under the German capital:

[Image copied from Subtopia post, in turn borrowed from Berlin Underworlds Assn. Please contact if you require take-down.]

“I wonder, how much volumetric space is taken up in underground bunkers, how much air capacity exists trapped in these concrete structures? I’ve asked this before, but could we estimate exactly how much real estate, or in this case, air space, is devoted around the world to the underground?”

There’s plenty more like that, too, plus lots of other fascinating material, all wrapped up speculative musings and philosophy that has a similar flavour to BLDGBLOG.

And talking of BLDGBLOG, I may as well give it another plug, because there’s a new post about the solar observatories of ancient cultures – a subject I’m a real sucker for, much like BLDGBLOG’s author:

“Meanwhile, I’m a genuine sucker for solar-alignment theories involving landscapes and architecture; in fact, I was just talking to someone about this the other day. Yet I’m even more of a sucker for unintentional examples of such things – like houses with pitched gable roofs that accidentally line-up with the sun every summer solstice…”

Good stuff. Take a break from the writer blogs for five minutes; you’ll not regret it.

Thanks to a number of people for dropping me a line about this – I’d have caught it in the daily news-trawl anyway, but it’s flattering to know that you care about my coverage!

So, yes; Earth-like exoplanet spotted. Lot’s of poor journalism about though, which I’ll not bother linking to. For the more detailed facts of the matter, I refer you on to the ever-reliable Centauri Dreams, which discusses what is known for certain (and what is mere conjecture) about the planet and the solar syastem it is situated in, and then looks at the potential of the planet as an environment habitable to humans.

Of course, not everyone is particularly impressed by this – transhumanist philosopher Michael Anissimov believes (with some justification) that we should use our time and effort more effectively, and stop getting excited about other planets until we’ve properly addressed the issues and potentials of the one we find ourselves on already.

That difference in attitudes throws an interesting light on the post I just made about modern (and post-modern) science fiction themes, come to think of it. While I’m overjoyed that we’re exploring space (albeit only by telescope at the moment), I’d dearly like to see a lot more focus on issues closer to home – though not at the expense of the gosh-wow space stuff, if at all possible. Yes, I’ll have my slice of hypocrisy cake and eat it, thanks.

[This post adapted and expanded from an original at Futurismic, because I don't have the time to write things out twice if I can possibly avoid it. Shout-outs for news alerts to Jetse and Ariel - thanks, guys.]

I was hanging around in Second Life last night, and gatecrashed a bunch of people chatting about Robert Charles Wilson’s Spin (which I have yet to read, so I mostly listened to what everyone else was saying).

Inevitably someone brought up the passing of Kurt Vonnegut, and someone else mentioned that he’d not only been to Second Life, but been interviewed there too. The things you find out from random people that you’d have never thought to Google for, eh? So here’s a video of Vonnegut being interviewed in the metaverse.

Talking of Second Life, I’m considering buying a plot of land in The Junkyard. One just came free, and I’m looking into the financial considerations (which are quite low for a single small parcel, all things considered) before laying out some Lindens and begging Jason Stoddard and Co. to build me a cool hangout in keeping with the local ambiance …

… the local ambiance being very much post-apocalyptic, a la Mad Max. My kind of place. Pop by and visit – the locals have some diverting (and deadly) entertainments should you feel the urge to join in. Otherwise you can just wander around, chat to people and check out the scenery. And not have people try to sell you crap you don’t want, quite unlike a huge swathe of the rest of the metaverse.

Oh yeah; Warren Ellis has a new gaff in SL, which I also dropped in on. It’s called Winterstate. And being the sort of host who understands his client demographic, he’s laid on entertainment in the form of a set of zombie-infested tunnels for you to blow off steam in, should you wish – you’ll need to buy a gun elsewhere, but that’s not much of a chore. There are also little helicopters, and it snows a lot. Mr. Ellis wasn’t around at the time, regrettably.

Any VCTB-reading SL users, please friend me, because I still hardly know anyone. Just IM for Isambard Portsmouth.

As might be considered fitting on the birthday of Copernicus, a few items regarding the Fermi Paradox turned up in my feeds today, so I thought I’d share the wealth. Continue reading “Fermi Paradox manifests”

Where are we going, and why are we going there? Continue reading “Roadmap required”

The time is ripe to move off-planet. Continue reading “We’ve made the maps. Now it’s time to colonise.”