Month: December 2006

Handout Republicans

The most solidly red states in the nation tend also to be the most reliant on federal handouts — farm subsidies, water projects and sundry other earmarks. It’s hard to be the party of small government when you represent the communities that benefit most from big government.

the sweet irony of red state republicans. They’re called red states because they’re net beneficiaries.

Gears of War

Thus it is with Gears of War. Every element is simultaneously totally familiar and a bit surprising. Sure, you have to dodge enemy fire, just like every shooter in history. But the mechanics of hiding behind objects are executed with iPod-like elegance. A single button lets you feint from object to object, and a single trigger lets you pop out to fire off a shot before ducking back again. The ease of dodging transforms each rubble-strewn scene into a spatial puzzle: What can I hide behind? Where can I scootch over to get a better shot?

not being a gamer made me miss that the gaming industry has totally taken over from hollywood in creating compelling ideascapes. this stuff ropes you in.

Phobos


that’s an awesome render.
2015-10-13:

​NASA wants to land a human crew on Mars in the 2030s. But to succeed with such an ambitious, expensive, long-timescale project, the agency needs a roadmap that inspires confidence that it really can send people to the Red Planet. Firouz Naderi, director of Solar System Exploration at NASA-JPL, has a budget-conscious idea: Let’s land on Phobos first.